U N I VER.5 ITY Of ILLINOIS 9a3.& Sm 6s Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. A charge is made on all overdue books. University of Illinois Library JUl 2 9 19^ i 1 1 1 8 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/successfulfolkshOOsmit HOW THEY WIN. ILLUSTRATED IN THE CAREER OP EIGHT HUNDRED EMINENT MEN. BY MATTHEW HALE SMITH, (“ Burleigh ” of the Boston Journal.) AUTHOR OP “Sunshine and Shadow in New York,” “Bulls and Bears in Wall Street,” “ Mount Calvary,” “ Marvels op Prayer,” Etc., Etc. “ The race is not forever got. By him who fastest runs; Nor the Battel by those peopell, That shoot with the longest guns .” — Old Psalmody. “ My father was a farmer, upon the Carneck Border ; And carefully he brought me up, in decency and order : He bade me act a manly part, tho’ I had ne’er a farthing. For without a honest, manly heart, no man was worth regarding.”— Rwms. NEW YORK : Copyright, 1878, by G, IV, Carleton & Co., Publishers, LONDON : S. LOW & CO. MDCCCLXXVm. Samuel Stoddeb, Stereottper, 90 Ann Street, N. Y. Trow Printing and Book Binding Co., N. Y. CONTENTS SZ 3 . 5 m (e c Bf) n PAGE I. Lend me your Ears vii II. Who are a Success 9 III. Sudden Winning 11 IV. Infatuation of Money 14 V. J. M. Beebe’s Style 18 VI. Lawrence Wins a Customer 19 VII. Civility in Trade . 20 VIII. How some Men Rise 21 IX. Smart Conductor 23 X. Death on the Pale Horse 24 XI. Webster Earns a Quarter 25 XH. Hold my Horse 26 %XIH. Rotten Inside 27 XIV. Diamond Cut Diamond 28 XV. Grant’s Dish Right Side Up 29 XVI. Whistle out of a Pig’s Tail 31 XVH. Hon. Russel Sage 33 XVHI. Woman’s Heroism , 40 XIX. Business Repute 41 XX. Nothing to Do 42 XXI. Sharp Practice 44 XXH. Washington, the Boy 47 XXHI. Millionaire’s First Step 48 XXIV. Webster as a Boy 49 XXV. Webster and Ezekiel 51 XXVI. Webster chooses a Profession 52 XXVH. Webster’s Audacity ; 53 XXVHI. Webster at the Bar 54 XXIX. Webster’s Money Matters 56 XXX. Webster’s Habits 57 XXXI. Forces that WTn 58 XXXH. Start of some Folks - 62 XXXIH. Vanderbilt’s Boyhood 69 XXXIV. Vanderbilt’s Grit 70 XXXV. The Commodore’s Traits 73 XXXVI. Luck in Business 75 [iii] IV CONTENTS. PAGE XXXVII. Keep up the Stroke 78 XXXVIII. Darling keeps a Hotel 80 XXXIX. Paran Stevens. 81 XL. He will Win 82 XLI. Accidental Success 83 XLH. Proverbs of Trade 93 XLHI. Mutual Life Insurance Company 99 XLIV. Folks on the Pacific Coast 106 XLV. James Clair Flood 109 XL VI. Isaac Lankersheim 110 XLVH. W. C. Ralston 112 XLVHI. James Lick 113 XLIX. Leland Stanford : 114 L. Rev. John Hemphill 116 LI. Right Rev. Bishop Kipp 116 LH. Rev. Isaac S. Kallock 118 LHI. Hon. A. N. Towne 119 LIV., Rev. A. L. Stone, D.D 120 LV. William Sharon 121 LVI. John C. Duncan 122 LVII. Peter Donahue 123 LVIII. James R. Keene 124 LIX. Chief Justice Charles P. Daly 125 LX. Bogardus, the Photographer 132 LXI. The House of Lawrence 134 LXH. Paddle your own Canoe 139 LXIH. Edward Everett 145 LXIV. Wilson’s Struggles 146 LXV. John Quincy Adams 149 LXVI. Harvey D. Parker 150 LXVH. Anecdotes of Eminent Folks 152 LXVHI. The Bent of a Boy 174 LXIX. Nelson 182 LXX. Stewart’s Business Traits 184 LXXI. Jay Gould’s Boyhood 187 LXXH. Theology as a Trade 190 LXXIH. Jeremiah Curtis and Soothing Syrup 195 LXXIV. Rich, the Oysterman 199 LXXV. Morrissey’s Story 201 LXXVI. Location for Business . 202 LXXVH. Romance of the Astors '. . . . 204 LXXVHI. James Harper’s Set-Out 206 LXXIX. Demas Barnes rolls m some Cotton 208 CONTENTS. V PAGE LXXX. Morgan Dix and Trinity Church 211 LXXXI. Equitable Life Assurance Society 213 LXXXII. Sam Colt 216 LXXJnil. Buying a Country Seat 217 LXXXiy. House of the Stuarts 218 LXXXV. Glamor of Public Life 219 LXXXVL Trades that Ruin 224 LXXXVII. Blur of Impertinence 225 LXXXVIII. Business for Women 228 LXXXIX. Detectives at Work 231 XC. Susan A. King 232 XCI. W. A. Frits 236 XCII. Breach of Trust 239 XCIII. Isaac Hall, Iron Merchant 242 XCIV. Powers, of the Grand Central 245 XCV. Wild Oats and their Harvest 247 XCVI. Cheating the Dominie 251 XC VH. Clerical Irregularities 252 XCVHI. Choate as a Lawyer 259 XCIX. Flies in the Ointment 264 C. Trade of Authorship 270 CL Claflin as a Merchant 271 CH. Moses Taylor — A Steady Pull 273 CHI. Boutwell, of the United States Senate 275 CIV. Gen. Grant at School 276 CV. Muller, of Bristol 277 CVI. Bryant, of the Post 282 CVH. Spurgeon’s Industry 283 CVHI. Young Stout, the Banker 285 CIX. House of Phelps & Co 292 CX. Rocks in the Channel 295 CXI. Prof. J. Jay Watson 299 CXH. Childs, of the Philadelphia Ledger 309 CXHI. Victoria a Business Woman 312 CXIV. Imposture a Trade 317 CXV. Marshall O. Roberts 319 CXVI. Business Traits of Napoleon HI. 323 CXVH. Prominent Englishmen 327 CXVHI. Baroness Coutts. . . 331 CXiX. Delmonico 333 CXX. Perils of Avarice 336 CXXI. Henry F Durant.-.. 337 CXXH. Dwight L. Moody 338 VI CONTENTS. PAGE CXXIIL Gen. Benjamin F. Butler 344 CXXIV. James R. Kendrick 349 CXXV. Beecher’s Advent into Brooklyn i . . 350 CXXVI. Humor of Sober Men ' 352 CXXVII. Joseph P. Hale 368 CXXVIII. Rev. George G. Loiimer. 378 CXXIX. Alpheus Hardy ■ 383 CXXX. Frederick Tudor 384 CXXXI. Simmons, of Oak Hall 386 CXXXH. Rev. E. L. Magoon ’ 388 CXXXHI. Edward A. Sothern 390 CXXXIV. William J. Florence 393 CXXXV. Lotta 394 CXXXYI. Ole Bull, Violinist ’. . . . . 396 CXXXVII. Rev. Henry M. Scudder 402 CXXXVHI. Rev. T. He Witt Talmage 406 CXXXIX. Habits of Eminent Ministers 411 CXL. Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Company 424 CXLI. W. Jennings Demorest and Mme. Demorest 427 CXLII. Literature a Business 431 CXLHI. Halsey Wing Knapp, D.D 441 CXLIV. Forty Years of Mercantile Life 448 CXLV. William Emerson Baker 454 CXLVI. Mason & Hamlin Co 457 CXLVH. Charles J. Cragin 460 CXLVIII. Rufus S. Frost 461 CXLIX. Boston Christian Union 463 CL. Dexter Smith 466 CLI. John M. Crane 468 CLH. The House of Hook & Co 471 CLIII. Alvin Adams 473 CLIY. Oregonia — Outlook of the State 479 CLY. Boston takes a Hand 480 CLYI. City of Portland 481 CLYH. Government of Oregon 482 CLVIII. Hon. Henry Y/. Corbit 483 CLIX. Bishop Morris 484 CLX. Ben Ilolladay 484 CLXI. Religion in Oregon 485 CLXII. S. G. Reed 485 CLXHI. James W. Ranney 486 CLXIV. James Gordon Bennett 489 CLXV. Mercantile Outlook , 496 I. LEND ME YOUR EARS. HAVE chosen the style of anecdotal bio- graphy, which Macaulay affirms is the true form of history — enforcing practical lessons by illustration and incidents, rather than by reasoning. I present the inside life of marked men that bears on their success. Incidents in the life of over five hundred eminent men, of all nationalities, illustrate the methods of winning. I have little to do with the fathers or grandfathers of successful people. I take famous folks as I find them, and show how they became so. From my standpoint men who fail have a successful side that is worth looking at. Much of my material has come from original sources. I have aimed to make a book, readable, racy, entertaining and of permanent value to young men who desire to win. I have not exhausted the role of successful people. Those I describe are only selections or samples. A spoonful of wheat is as good as a carload ; an ounce of flour, for body and whiteness, to a grain broker, is as good as a barrel ; a thin slice from a quarter indicates the character of the meat. [vii] SUCCESSFUL FOLKS HOW THEY WIN. ( II. WHO AKE A SUCCESS? lEN are a success who win. Those who make fortunes by trade ; who become eminent in the law ; are star preachers ; earn repute as surgeons ; are celebrated as architects and artisans — are a success. Prosperity need not be con- tinuous. Men, in the struggle for fame and fortune, often exhibit a vigor, persistency, prudence and integ- rity, that desert them when they get money. A man may be a model in one direction, and a failure in another. His defeat may be as instructive as his vic- tory. The history of trade shows that failure is the rule, and winning the exception. One can count on ten fingers the mercantile houses of any great city that have had continued success for quarter of a century. Boston is one of the most prosperous and prudent of commercial towns ; yet her record is significant. Out of 100 firms on Long Wharf, in 40 years, only 5 es- caped failure. Out of 1000 accounts in a leading bank, in 40 years, but 6 remained good. In the probate court, for the same period, out of 100 estates 90 were insolvent. In a half century, only 3 mercantile houses [ 9 ] 10 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. out of 100 acquired independence. Should 95 percent, of our crops fail ; 95 per cent, of our ships go to the bottom ; 95 per cent, of our warehouses topple down, society, in alarm, would soon know the cause. Men spend years in making money, and scatter it in as many months. Property seldom goes to the third generation. The sons of rich men are not the rich men of to-day. Few of our prosperous men in- herited their business from their fathers. The sons of porters or coal-heavers jostle the pampered sons of rich men off the course, and take the money and take the trade. The men who go under were a success in their day, and their early winnings were worth studying. An ocean steamer maj^ make the quickest voyage on record. She is a success, though she rolls her mast overboard on the next voyage, and founders. The gamey horse may win in one trot, and in the next break a leg or dislocate a limb. A man on a wager may climb by the lightning rod to the cross on old Trinity, tie wins. On the ball he cuts up antics and comes to the pavement. The Law of Success is as certain as the law of the seasons, and the law of tides. All must obey these laws if they would prosper. A desire to win, — integrity, honor, and piety, do not save a man from disasters, if he fails to observe the law of success. Good inten- tions will not help a man on his way, if he takes the wrong road. A pious man on an errand of mercy, if he mistakes a precipice for a highway, will iDrobably break his neck. A mother who administers iDoison to her child at night, mistaking it for medicine, will find, when it is too late, that mateiaial love cannot atone for carelessness. The boy wlio shot his brother, mistak- ing him for a black bear, killed him as really as if he had intended to take his life. No two men apply these laws of trade in the same manner. Stewart’s SUDDEN WINNING. 11 metliods would ruin forty-nine men out of fifty. Through all Stewart’s mercantile career there run cer- tain golden threads, indispensable to success. Not one stock-broker in one hundred could handle • Van- derbilt’s combinations. But the old commodore had to obey the law of success like common mortals. Men are often ruined by attempting to imitate prosperous traders ; as ministers are laughed at for putting on the airs of star preachers. One man starts out^^wi^h money, inherits a good name, begins with a fine business, and takes the road to failure at the start. Another has no money, no friends to back him, his surroundings are adverse, yet with the first step he moves on to fortune. A pechanic with a hand-saw, a jack-plane, and a ham- mer, will do a better job than some men would do with a chest of tools. Enterprising, resolute, intelligent persons, out of fragments and bits of opportunities, will make a fortune, as the apprentice made the famous cathedral window, out of bits of glass and refuse material his master had filing away. III. SUDDEN WINNING. OBTUNES suddenly made are suddenly lost. Many fortunate men are more of a warning til an a guide. Money wrongfully acquired, though kept, often has a curse in it. Men who can draw their check for fifty thousand dollars cannot enter society, and the doors are barred against their children. 12 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Townsend made himself famous by his sarsapa- rilla. His mother gave him an old receipt and out of it he made a fortune. His labratory was a small room in a tenement house. He was his own porter, salesman and chemist. He advertised largely, and made his compound famous in all the land. He was keen, cool, sagacious. In time he placed himself among the mag- nates on Fifth Avenue. His good judgment forsook him when he became rich. He ran into all sorts of financial vagaries. His gaudy mansion was known as ‘‘ Townsend’s folly.” His investments were as bad as bad could be. As a moneyed man he soon passed out of sight. Horace H. Day was at one time very famous. He had more law-suits on hand than any man in America. Goodyear sold him a license. As Day inter- preted it, it was of immense value. A powerful corpo- ration tried to take it away. Day fought like a tiger. He defended his claims with a jfiuck and ability that commended universal admiration. He made his foes answer in every State in the Union. A decision won in Baltimore enabled him to dictate terms. Day went out of the struggle with a half a million of money. Then his folly began. He tied up his wealth in all sorts of ways. His lawyers could not find investments bad enough for him, so he summoned Webster and Clay from the grave. These eminent men, when alive, were very poor financiers. Judging from the nature of these investments, these men had not improved in these matters since their translation. From an elegant mansion in upper New York, Mr. Day moved to a -tenement house on Tenth Avenue. P. T. Barnum wrote a book to show young men how to make money. He could write a better one to SUDDEN WINNING. 13 show them how to fool it away. Should a young man start out on Barnum’s plan, the chances are ten to one that he would bring up behind the bars of a prison. Barnum’s key-note was bad. With him success was getting money. In the race for gold, anything was lawful that was not criminal. Humbug, tricks, deceit, low cunning, false stories, were stock in trade. After repeated failures he wrote himself down a rich man. The next thing was the entree of society. This was not hard to get when a man has money. The doors of fashionable life often swing bacl^^xm golden hinges. In a fatal hour he resolved to write his life. He did for himself what his worst enemy could not have done for him. He made a clean breast of his methods, and told the world how he made money. He lifted the curtain and asked the public to see how he did his little tricks. He showed the ];)ulleys, the ropes, the trap-doors, and the machinery by wdiich he had amused himself and duped others. He talked about the woolly horse, Joyce Heth, Washington’s nurse, and the mermaids. The public did not enjoy it. It was bad enough to be humbugged— quite too bad to be laughed at. Society closed its doors on the new-comer, and the showman went back to the circus. Helmbold led all the patent medicine men in the land. His career w^as a sensation. Everything was an advertisement. His fine drug-store, his four-in-hand, his burly negro driver all made him famous. His name was on all lips. He had his day, as do all auda- cious men. He made a short turn in the road and was seen no more. Clews was an eminent banker. He worked his way up from a subordinate position in a dry-goods house, and won both fame and fortune. He had ex- 14 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. cellent business gifts, and won the confidence of moneyed men by his judicious investments. Had he remained a banker as he began and let speculations alone, his fortune would have remained with him. When the panic came he had six millions of assets. He was advised to fling them on the market and realize. Had he lost half of his fortune, with his three millions he would have weathered the storm, and been the lead- ing financier of New York. He had not courage to’ make the sacrifice, so he lost all. The Street has always a king. He struts his brief hour, is dethroned, and another reigns in his stead. The infatuation of stock speculation is so potent that men allow a fortune to be swallowed up before their eyes. Hostlers and horsemen ; ticket-takers and boat- men ; grocers and speculators ; farmers and gamblers, have in their turn, led the street. Each in their turn have been swallowed up in the great maelstrom. IV. INFATUATION OF MONEY. “ I’m a dealer in stocks and in gold and such like Said a stranger, ‘ ‘ and sometimes I make a bad strike ; I am anxious to know some infallible rule, To decide when I should be a bear or a bull.” HE Bible points out the infatuation of gain as the great peril of men. That peril is set forth in this graphic language : — They that will be rich fall into tempta- tion and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful INFATUATION OF MONEY. 15 lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil ; which while some coveted after they have erred from' the faith and pierced themselves through with many sor- rows.” A passion for gain is almost universal. With a travesty on the Bihle^ men say: — ‘‘Get gold, get silver, in all they gettings get gain. Hold it fast. Let it not go. Retain it, for it is thy life.” The infatua- tion of money is graphically set forth by the poet. “Gold, Gold, Gol(LTrold. Bright and yellow, hard and cold ; Molten, graven, hammered and rolled; Hard to get, and light to hold; Hoarded and bartered, bought and sold ; Stolen, squandered, borrowed and doled; Spurned by the young, and hugged by the old, To the very verge of the church -yard mold; The price of many a crime untold. Gold, Gold, Gold, Gold.” The great temptation that besets young business men is the love of gain. They see with their own eyes what money can do. It gives men a solid standing in society. Men of money have a potential voice on ’change. Money builds costly palaces, with servants, statuary, paintings, elegant turnouts and display. Some of these moneyed men dug gravel, wheeled coals, were tide-waiters and stevedores, beat out iron on an anvil, peddled milk, ran gin-mills and kept corner groceries, run with the machine and slept on bulk- heads. But for money they would have no position to-day. Some of these splendidly-dressed women who loll in their carriages and throw dust in the face of honest toil, once took in washing, scrubbed offices, walked the streets all night because they couldn’ t pay for a bed, kept shilling lodgers, and except in the mat- ter of wealth, are the same women still. 16 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Money is king, — not bayonets, nor troops. Doub- loons in the cellar of Frederick the Great had quite as much to do with his victories as his tall grenadiers and his famous generals. “Who hold balance of the world ? Who reiga O’er conquerors, whether Royal or Liberal ? Who rouse the stubborn patriots of Spain, That make old Europe’s journals squeak and jibberal ? Who keep the world, both old and new, in pain, Or pleasure ? Who make politics run glibberal ? The shades of Bonaparte’s noble daring ? Jew Rothschild, and his fellow Christian, Baring.” Wall Street rules America as Lombard Street rules England. Money moves the crops that make the great West the granary of the world. It builds railroads, endows colleges, erects theological seminaries, builds costly churches, and pays star preachers. Vile men, because they are rich, fill important ofiices. Men of base lives, and dissolute conduct, are regarded as fit company for delicate maidens because their bank ac- count is large. The bad influence of the infatuation of gain comes out in the selection of a calling. Young men see what money can do, and they start out to get it. Their aim is not business, reputation, character, and a fortune by and by, but their point is money, and money in hand. They have a fortune to make, and must be about it. Good places are scarce, and men in paying places seldom resign, and few die. Banks are full. Insur- ance companies are filled with relatives. An eligible position pays small at the start, if it does not demand payment for a green hand to enter into the service. Few young men are willing to take what they can get, and trust to the future. They want wages. If repu- table employment will not furnish this, a bad trade INFATUATION OF MONEY. 17 will. ‘ ‘ I don’ t like this work ’ ’ a young man says, ‘ ‘ but I must take what I can get.” The work will stick to him, for he that ‘‘ touches pitch Avill be defiled.” Mr. Odell had a great number of young men in his school. A foreign rum-seller who sold liquor on Sundays ap- plied to Mr. Odell for a good boy to keep the bar. “But my boys are Sunday-school boys.” “I knows dat, I vants a Sunday-school boy. He von’t drink up de liquors nor steal de moneys.” However humble a calling may be, if it is an honest one, a man may make a success of it. The largest periodi;CaFdealer in New York, who is a millionaire, began life a penniless boy selling his papers in rain and in storm. The head of a heavy paper-house in New York began life by picking and assorting rags. A wealthy merchant wore the red shirt and ran with a machine for several years. A well known philanthropist laid the foundation of his great wealth by picking up the hoofs and bones of horses, out of which he made a sux:)erior article of glue. A wealthy banker, when a boy, sought a place. The first order given to him was to black a pair of boots. “You have given them a good shine.” “ My mother told me to do everything well,” said the lad. The boy is now a well known banker, and the man whose boots he blacked lives in a tenement house. A man who has a good trade and brings to it brains and diligence, and can aft’ord to wait, will be a success. 2 18 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Y. J. M. BEBEE’S STYLE. AMES M. BEBEE was one of the solid men of Boston. At the start he was a small trader. He worked his way ux) till he became a mer- chant prince. His style was peculiar: he was iinimpassioned — gentle in his manners--spoke soft and low — and seemed to be taking every one into his confidence. He was as bland and conciliatory to a woman buying a paper of jpins, as he was to a proud lady bargaining for a satin dress. He was a gentleman to every one, from the porter to the head clerk. He seldom gave a command. He usually requested that a thing might be done. It was not safe for an emyloyee to neglect that request. One day a Western trader came into the store and demanded to see Mr. Bebee. He was under great excitement, evidently expected to produce a sensation, and was x)rex)ared for the worst. The little tra^D-door was thrown open, and the merchant looked iileasantly down on his irate visitor, and asked him what he wanted. This cool iiroceeding did not mend matters. “ I have been greatly misused in this house, sir. I xmrchased a bill of goods, and when they reached me at tlie West, they were not the goods I purchased.” A tap of the bell brought up the culx)rit who sold the goods, and he was asked to exjdain. “Nearly all the line was the one purchased that run out, a better class was put in at the same price to fill up the order, and that was all there was about it.” This sensible statement only made the man more mad. He saw he was doubly in the wrong and was getting the worst of it at every move. “I don’t care about a LAWRENCE WIN8 A CUSTOMER. 19 better style — I want the goods I buy. I don’t thank any one to change my order.” The merchant took the man in hand, and gave him all the line he wanted. “Yon are quite right, sir. The salesman should not have sent you anything you did not order. Send back the goods, we will pay the expenses and make good your loss.” “You can’t make good my loss ; I have lost the sales ; the season is gone for the styles that I wanted.” “Don’t you think we can approximate towards the damages?” said the bland merchant. “ You can’t have lost more than ydur^ whole season, and this store is good for a million.” “Oh ! well, if you can be a gentleman, I can be a gentleman too. Show us what you have got.” YI. LAWRENCE WINS A CUSTOMER. BBOTT LAWRENCE was a princely mer- chant. He was courteous and lordly to his customers. He exhibited his goods as if he were doing a personal favor. He was liberal in his style of doing things, throwing in the odd quarter of a yard of cloth, and the odd shilling in change. When he gained a customer he kept him. The house of the Lawrences held a monoi)oly of heavy beavers and wide broadcloths. A country trader bought a few yards of cloth at ten dollars a yard. On measuring the goods at home they ran short a quarter of a yard. The trader wms almost afraid to speak of 20 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. SO small a matter to so courtly a merchant. On his next visit to Boston, he plucked up courage enough to say: ‘‘Mr. Lawrence, when I was here a few months ago, I bought a few yards of hue broadcloth.” “Yes, at ten dollars a yard.” “According to my measure- ment it fell short a quarter.” “ Fell short a quarter ? That will never do ; it should have overrun a quarter.” Turning to his bookkeei)er, he said : “Credit this gen- tleman with half a yard of our best broadcloth.” That customer was nailed for life. VIL CIVILITY IN TRADE. NDREW Y. STOUT is president of the New York Shoe and Leather Bank. As a lad he had a good education, and started business as a school teacher. He went into trade. After several reverses he made a fortune. He has no equal among bankers for integrity and good judgment. His urbanity and courtesy have been winning cards. He is accessible to all comers. He is never so busy but he has time to say : “ Sit down, sir ; I will be at leisure in a moment.” A well-known merchant came to the bank to open an account. He handed in a heavy certificate of deposit. “You may like to know, Mr. President, why I open an account with your bank.” “ I suppose you think your money will be safe.” “It was safe enough in the other bank. No ; I came here because you are civil. I went into my old bank this now SOME MEN RISE. 21 morning, and accidentally laid my hat on the cashier’s desk. He looked at me with the air of fifty millions, and said, ‘ Take your hat off from my desk, sir. Now I will hear you.’ ‘ I want nothing to do with you,’ I replied. I went to the bookkeeper and ordered him to make up my account. I will never cross the threshold of that institution again while that impertinent cashier holds his position.” VIII. HOW SOME MEN EISE. YOUNG- MAN was promoted to the position of cashier over the heads of a score of asso- ciates. He was capable, energetic and civil. He entered the bank as a subordinate, and rose rapidly. He was always at his place ; did his own work, and often the work of others. He came first in the morning, and left last at night. He assisted the clerks who were behind in their work, or who wanted go away. He studied the comfort of the public and was very popular. He became paying teller. As three o’clock approached men rushed in to draw their money. He would say, ‘‘ Don’t crowd, gentlemen, don’t crowd ; you shall have plenty of time.” When a discount was denied, or was less than a customer asked for, the young teller was chosen to break the intelligence. Men would take a refusal from him with a better grace than a favor from some others. On the morning of the election he had no more idea of being cashier than he had of being president. 22 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. !V In one of the large hotels a Room Clerk has an ’ extraordinary salary. He is bland, attentive, and cor- dial. He can stow away more people in the nooks, crannies, and corners of the house and make them feel comfortable, than any living man. He came down one morning and found a well-known customer pacing the office in evident temper. To his cheery good morning the clerk received a gruff reply. /‘When did you come in?” “Last night.” “I hope you have a good room.” “I have not. They sent me up to thunder, and there is not room in my quarters to swing a cat.” “Oh! that stupid night-clerk did not know you brought your cat with you. I’ll manage it after break- fast. You shall have a room big enough to swing a half a dozen cats.” With a hearty laugh the customer turned off to breakfast. At the Cashier’s desk in a large restaurant near the City Hall, a young man can be seen day after day in his place. He is quiet, prompt, and gentlemanly. He has no words for anyone outside of his business. Everyone is treated with perfect civility. He was a hall- boy at the start, and did his work willingly and cheerfully. He was put at the oyster stand and won custom. The best patrons of the house wanted to be served by the cheery lad. By sturdy persistency he worked his way up to his present responsible and pro- fi table position. Everywhere politeness is at a pre- mium. Ladies who order a coach call for a driver who is civil. Families take a train because the conductor is good-natured. Men stand in rows at an eating- house, and wait to be served by a favorite waiter. Some traders are so crusty that customers will not buy of them. A cheery face and a civil tongue go a long way towards helping one on the road to fortune. SMART CONDUCTOR. 23 If a man is not sound and true, Ms exposure is only a question of time. A young man held a position of great importance in the city of New York. He was an elegant fellow and an earnest worker in the Sunday- school. He built a handsome Sunday-school building and presented it to the church of which he was a mem- ber. He adorned it with all modern improvements and with every luxury. He lived in line style, and it was said he could afford it. His salary was large, but was not sufficient for his outgoes. He betrayed his trust, used his office for personal ends, lofi^ blackmail, is under indictment, and will either ffee the country, or wear the garb of a State’s prison convict. Another young man was a great worker in Christian associa- tions. He was connected with a great cash company, and his repute was unquestionable. With all his loud professions he was an embezzler, and was arrested while a delegate to a national convention. IX. SMART CONDUCTOR. RASTUS CORNINO was president of the Central Railroad. He was a lame man, and not very prepossessing in looks. He stood one day on the platform, and was about to step onto the cars. A conductor who did not know him, shouted: ‘WV^me, hurry uj) old man; don’t be all day about it, the train can’t wait.” The con- ductor went round to take up the tickets. A passenger said to him : ‘‘Do you know the gentleman you ordered 24 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. on board?” ‘‘JSTo, and I don’t want to know him.” ‘‘It may be worth your while to make his acquain- tance. He is your boss, the president of the road, and he’ll take your head off.” The conductor gave a low whistle, and looked as if he'd think about it. He put a bold face on the matter, sought out the president, and offered an apology. “Personally I care nothing about it,” said Mr. Corning. “ If you had been so rude to anj one else, I would have discharged you on the spot,” he continued. “You saw that I was lame, and that I moved with great difficulty. The fact that you did not know who I was, does not alter the complexion of your act. I’ll keep no one in my em- ploy who is uncivil to travelers.” X. DEATH OX THE PALE HORSE. HAXCELLOR WALWORTH held private court at the Sjjrings. He was not a stylish liver, but moved about Saratoga without os- tentation. A young lawyer, who was sitting on the piazza, had a motion before the court at the hour of noon. An old man on a bony white steed rode up to the hotel, suggesting, as the lawyer said, “Death on the pale horse.” The young counselor was ripe for fun. He walked down to the curbstone, and opened a conversation with the old gentleman ; asked the j)rice of the horse, his si)eed, his age, and his record, and made himself quite entertaining. A friend said as he WEBSTER EARNS A QUARTER. 25 came back, “I thought you did not know Chancellor Walworth “ISTever saw him in my life.” “ That’s a pretty story. You have been talking and laughing with him for a half an hour.” “Then I’ve ruined my case. My motion is an important one, and I dare not look the judge in the face.” He got some one to ap- pear for him, and learned that civility, at a venture, never misses its mark. XI. WEBSTER EARNS A QUARTER. EBSTER loved to be known as the “Far- mer of Marshheld.” His farm dress was a slouched hat, a blue blouse, with pants tucked into his boots. He was more at ease in the woods with a hatchet in his hand, than in the Senate, or in the saloons of fashion. The Webster mansion was not easy to find. A Washington official attempted to reach it “across lots.” He came to a stream, and ojDened conversation with a woodsman, who was cutting brush. “Is Mr. Webster at home?” “He is.” “ How can I cross the brook?” “Jump, or wade.” “ Here, old fellow. I’ll give you a quarter to carry me over.” The woodsman took the stripling on his brawny shoulders — landed him safely — declined the fee — pointed out the road to the mansion, and soon followed. He met the young official at the library door — transacted the business without a change of dress — the visitor at his ease — and drove him to the station in his own carriage. 26 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS, XII. HOLD MY HOUSE. OV. FRANCIS of Rhode Island was a farmer. His salary was less than a thousand dollars a year. This did not justify much style. The Governor carried on the farm, and his wife — after the order of New England women — did her own housework. A young man, aid to a Governor, rode up to the mansion and asked an old man digging post-holes to hold his horse. The aid went to the front door, and made his presence known by a severe rapping. The mistress of the house, direct from her kneading trough, answered the door and invited the caller in. The Governor was in, and she would sum- mon him.” But he was not to be found. The peculiar halloo towards the barn elicited no response. He was not at the side door, nor in the field. The coat hang- ing behind the door indicated that the Governor was not far away. The lady at length looked towards the carriage — gave a slight scream — exclaiming : ‘ ‘ La ! a mercy ! there’s the Governor holding your horse.” The abashed messenger transacted his business and de- parted, fully satisfied that ’tis not always safe to judge by appearances. BOTTEN INSIDE, 27 XIIL EOTTEX INSIDE. 0 banking bouse seemed to stand firmer than that of which W. Butler Duncan was the head. He inherited a bu^inhss, had a large cash capital to start with, and exhibited real estate amounting to over a million. The Hothschilds were his correspondents, and his letters of credit were good round the globe. Men pressed their money on him for safe keeping. Widows and orphans w^ere con- gratulated that their little property was in such hands. It was a fool’s trade when all this was bartered for wild speculation. This seemingly safe house rested on a sandy foundation, and its ruin was only a ques- tion of time. It paid six per cent, for deposits, while sound houses paid but four. It professed to be doing a purely legitimate banking business, while it was chin deep in all sorts of financial vagaries. The real estate securities belonged to others. In the midst of all this seeming prosperity, the firm was like a granite block erected in Boston. The builder said it would stand if filled with pig lead. It came down with the first stock of goods, for its foundations were rotten. 28 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. XIY. DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND. ANY people live by their crimes. They unite in gangs, make war on society, have head- quarters, agents, expressmen and bankers. No trades are prosecuted with more vigor. No people are more adroit, skillful or successful. An ocean steamer left the Mersey for New York. Among the passengers was a lady who seemed to be traveling alone, and a young lawyer who paid her marked atten- tion. In a journal on board there was an account of a trial of a well-known man for forgery. His wife, sup- posed to be an accessory, had fled the country. All efforts to save the culprit from prison failed. The lawyer got an impression that the woman on the ship was the fugitive wife, and the woman knew that she was suspected. She resolved to make the counselor pay for his knowledge. Soon after the ship reached the dock, the young man received a note asking him to call at her hotel on business. The important business turned out to be a request for a loan of $500. The woman had the lawyer in her toils. He held an im- portant position, and his reputation was without a stain. To connect his name any way with a woman would harm him. She kept a record of his little at- tentions on shipboard. He was that moment in her private room at a hotel. He took in the situation at a glance and was equal to it. He obtained ten days in which to affect the loan. Those were busy days. It was the time of the Tweed regime. A petition was got up, largely signed, and sent in to the governor asking for the pardon of the forger. The day the money was GRANT^S DISH BIGHT SIDE UP. 29 to liave been paid, the criminal walked in to the aston- ishment and alarm of the wife. An indictment hung over her, and she had to follow her husband over the seas. To outwit a blackmailer a criminal had to be pardoned and a woman banished. XY. GRANT’S DISH RIGHT SIDE UP. ENERAL GRANT is a lucky man. The war found him in a tan-yard keeping books at $600 a year. He was lucky in getting a West Point education. But for this, the war would have left him where it found him. He started for the Capitol, but had no friend at court. He kicked his heels against the lintels of the State house waiting for employment. No one recognized in the needy applicant the coming man. He offered his services to the War Department, and the snobby official threw the letter into the waste basket. It was neither answered nor preserved. His manners did not inspire confi- dence. He was snubbed by porters, grinned at by corporals, and laughed at by officers who were fuss and feathers. Grant was always on hand. He took the first thing that turned up, and did thoroughly and cheerfully everything he put his hand to. He was clerk in the State house ; an ornamental member of the Governor’ s staff ; sent trooi^s to the front and got praise from the Secretary of War ; subdued a mutin- .ous regiment, and was sent out West with a colonel’s commission to get rid of him. He was in the way out 30 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. West and efforts were made to remove Mm. A recall was signed by President Lincoln, but as luck would have it, before Grant could be found, Vicksburg sur- rendered. He bought an old worn-out farm for a song on the outskirts of St. Louis, on which to raise horses. It is now in the heart of the city, cut up into house lots, and its owner is a millionare. A young man, un- known to fame, with neither money nor influence, with no patrons or friends, in six years flghts more battles, gains more victories, captures more prisoners, takes more sjjoils, commands more men, than Napoleon did in twenty years. His enemies put into his hands the commission which up to that time no one but Wash- ington had ever borne. He occupied the seat that Washington graced, and carved with his own sword his name imperishably on the facade of the republic. Grant met his luck half way. He pulled where he was hitched, and did what he was bid. He was self- reliant, acting on his own judgment. He called but one council of war, and rejected the advice it gave. He is a man of few words, keeping his own purposes to himself. Napoleon’s secretary of war pronounced on him this high eulogium : Grant is a remarkable man. In a nation of talkers he seems to be the only silent person.” He is a man of iron nerve and his boldness is memorable. On the Black Friday he walked into the treasury building and gave an order that demoralized the gold conspirators. He is noted for his obstinacy. In the war, committees could not control him, nor cliques in peace. Nobody wanted him in the army. His old comrade McClellan turned Ills back on him Avhen Grant asked for a place on his staff. His energetic talks about seizing forts and crip- j)ling armies were not jfleasant to hear. Unconditional suiTender had a popular ring in it that politicians did not like. Like Napoleon, Wellington, and Nelson, WHISTLE OUT OF A PIG'S TAIL. 31 Grant became disgusted with his treatment, and pro- posed to leave the service. But for the advice and influence of Sherman he would have done so. Six months after his letter of resignation was written Hal- leck was removed, and Grant became lieutenant-general of the United States army. XVI. WHISTLE OUT OF A PIG’S TAIL. TALENTED man can make a success out of anything. Tourjee wanted music in schools, as reading, arithmetic and grammar were taught. A stubborn trustee said it could not be done. ‘‘You might as well make a whis- tle out a pig’s tail,” he said. Tourjee bought a pig’s tail— dug out the bone — made a whistle stout enough for a locomotive— blew it in the ear of the astonished trustee, saying, “There’s the jug’s tail — here’s the whistle — now let us have the music.” A stupid fellow will fling away the best chances ; a third-rate man in a first-rate place is still third-rate. A first-rate man in a subordinate position will come to the front. Every day men are taken from coach-box and put into the ofiice ; from an oyster-bed and promoted ; from a low place on a railroad or in a store to a suj)erior one. “We can’t afford to have you down here, you are worth too much ; come up higher.” Hilton was not a smart man nor a talented man, but he was just the man Stewart wanted — cool, cautious, accurate. He wrote a handsome hand, and Stewart’s papers came to him in 32 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. elegant order. He did wliat Stewart wanted him to do and did it after his emj^loyer’s fashion. The founder of a paper house who began business as a rag-picker was honest at the start. His bundles were what they professed to be. First-class rags were by themselves, the weight and quality never failed. He won the confidence of the trade and has kept it to this hour. Some of the proud men on Brooklyn Heights peddled milk, and made fortunes from cow pastures turned into city lots. Others were in trades that would not now be considered reputable. These men had sense enough to get out of the business as soon as they had money enough to do so. A woman saved money sufficient out of cheap lodgings to buy a lot. On it she ran up a rude shanty, nailing on the boards with her own hands. Out of her customers she supported her old motlier and invested her savings in real estate. She is now worth ten millions. A smart lad got into a down- town store. He kindled fires, ran errands, and did chores. He set up for a small trader, bought a few pounds of soap and a few pounds of sugar and coffee. He founded the great coffee house of Small & Bacon. A young man came from the State of Maine. He had a handsaw, a hammer and a small kit of tools. He was a sober, industrious and frugal. He saved money, put it into real estate, built Rutgers Row, and no mechanic in New York is better known than Higgings. Carman was a carpenter. He made a specialty of sugar boxes. He put his Avages in real estate, and Carmansville is a monument to Ins prudence and success. EON. RUSSEL SAGE. 33 XVII. HON. RUSSEL SAGE. SSEL SAGE stands foremost among the financial men of the country. He leads the mammoth stock operations on Wall street. His rooms on William street are as plain as a New England barn. His private office is a little den of a room, opening into two spacious chambers. An oil-cloth covers the ffoor, and an iron railing keeps back the crowd. In this unpretentious office, gigantic operations take place. Mr. Sage’s movements are watched. Speculators dog his steps ; they head him off in the street ; interrupt his meals ; and spring upon him in all the out-way places of business. He is a bold and successful railroad man. His banking trans- actions are heavy. Without controversy, he is the leader of the street. He has the confidence of busi- ness men who will not trust each other. Men put mil- lions into his hands, having the fullest confidence in his financial ability and integrity. Quiet, reserved and modest, he comes to the front in all the great transactions of the street. Mr. Sage was born in Oneida county. New York. He received a good education, and at ten years of age he entered a mercantile house in Troy. He showed marked business capacity and superior judgment. At twenty he went into business for himself. Soon after, he opened a wholesale trade. He earned the repute of being honest, capable, and being endowed with sterling- integrity. In a ward opposed to him politically, he was elected alderman. He kept his seat in the city councils seven years. H« was elected treasurer by the 34 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. popular vote, and held his position till transferred to the Thirty-third Congress. His career from 1853 to 1857 was distinguished by political sagacity, marked ability and executive force. He did excellent service as a committee of ways and means, and occupied a place on other important committees of the house. An incident occurred when Mr. Sage was twenty- four years of age, which shows the esteem in which Mr. Sage was held by the eminent men of his party. An attemi)t was made to jostle Senator Seward off the track. The Tyler administration did not like him. His counsels were unheeded. His friends could obtain no appointments. Mr. Sage was selected to visit Wash- ington, and if possible remove the ban, and to have justice done to Mr. Seward’s principles and position. Mr. Sage accomplished the mission with great adroit- ness and success. An offensive appointment was re- voked at a cabinet meeting. A friend of Mr. Seward received a commission. Mr. Sage watched the api^oint- ment through all its phases, and took the commission home with him to Troy. With Mr. Sage originated the idea of purchasing Mount Vernon, and making it a national domain. Mr. Sage agitated the question at home, and introduced into Congress the original resolution for the purchase. He made an effective speech on the measure and car- ried the House of Representatives with him. He advo- cated the appointment of a committee of ladies, which grew into the Mount Vernon Association. The success of the measure was the subject of general congratula- tion. His constituents were proud to say “ our repre- sentative did it.” Seward jocosely said, ‘Won have stolen my thunder. Sage.” Mr. Sage found in the railroads of the country a field suited to his tastes and ability. On leaving Con- gress he entered upon the construction of these iron nON. RUSSEL SAOE. 35 pathways. He built and managed more lines than any other man in America. His name is identified with the most successful roads of the country. He displayed great talent for developing and managing this gigantic interest. He has built over three thou- sand miles of road, and has been contractor and presi- dent of the heaviest lines in the land. He built three roads in New York, four in Wisconsin, two in Indiana, one in Illinois, two in Ohio, four in Min- nesota, beside roads in Schenectady, St. Paul, and Milwaukee. Like all men of marked business ability, when Mr. Sage has outgrown one great interest, he turns his at- tention to another. For the past -three years Mr. Sage has controlled the great money interests of the street. His peculiar business required a great amount of ready money, and he became a prominent banker. He was known in the city as one of the heaviest real estate operators. With an enormous push and force, his ex- cellent judgment made him conservative. He believes that the prosperity of a city or country depends on keeping its banks, railroads and moneyed institutions sound and healthful. In times of panic and alarm, he has used his great wealth and influence to uphold these institutions. In periods of mercantile disaster, he is always appealed to, and his foresight, sagacity and good judgment has more than once averted threatened convulsion. ‘M)uring my business career in New York,” he says, “I have seen over fifty i)er cent, of the moneyed men go under.” Mr. Sage is a man of fine presence. He is tall, slim, erect as a Mohawk warrior. His hair is dark, his expression pleasant, manner genial, his voice low and magnetic, his action prompt and decided. His in- fluence over men has always been great. He is cool, sagacious, level-headed, a judicious adviser and a 86 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. steadfast and liberal friend. ‘‘ I have no rules of suc- cess,” he said, have no plans and no special methods of doing business, I meet the matters that press upon me day by day, I do the best I can with everything that demands my attention. I settle each case by the light I have, I settle each case on its own merits, I have no regret when a thing is done, and I have done the best I could.” Mr. Sage’s style of business wins confidence. He is systematic, prompt and decided, he never betrayed a trust. When moneyed institutions get by the ears, men say : ‘ ‘ Call in Sage ; he will straighten things out.” In attempts at consolidation when parties cannot agree Mr. Sage is called in as an arbitrator. All sides ac- knowledge his fairness. Privileges, as they are called, better known as straddles, originated with Mr. Sage. He originated the business to remove despondency ; to help men who are down ; to enable men to trade in a small way who need assistance. The jMnciple is simply a loan of capital and credit to impoverished men. By privileges he can help others and not damage himself. The busi- ness demands a very large sum of money. Such is the confidence in Mr. Sage’ s ability and integrity that his privileges are eagerly sought for. Whether his losses are heavy or light all men know that he will take care of his x)romises. Vanderbilt was reputed to be worth eighty millions. The old millionaire was caught in the panic of seventy- three. He was in a terrible fix with the Lake Shore road. Money could not be obtained from any quarter. There was danger that one of our heaviest banks would close it doors. Twelve millions must be secured in seven days or the crisis would come. All eyes were turned to Mr. Sage, as they had often been before. He could have used his funds for private purposes, and HON. R US8EL SA GE. 37 reaped the golden harvest. His great public spirit in- duced him to listen to the public cry. He secured the sum needed ; the bank maintained its credit, and the State was saved a terrible mercantile disaster. Mr. Sage has always contended that the great money center of New York must be kept sound ; that men of business must be attracted to the city. No bank or well-regulated institution, he argued, ought to go to the wall for want of a little timely aid. Probably no busi- ness man in New York has so large a cash account as Mr. Sage, and he is always ready to assist a struggling institution with temporary aid. Mild and genial as he seems to be, he is as firm as adamant in matters of busi- ness. He is even autocratic. will assist you,” he would say, “but you must commit this whole matter to me ; give me unlimited power, and submit to my decision.” The Union Trust Company was heavily embarrassed. Money could not be obtained at any price. Mr. Sage was appealed to. He took in the situation at a glance. He saw the linancial ruin that would follow. He secured the necessary relief, — much of it was his own money, — and saved the great public interest. Many would have used his position for their private ends. Mr. Sage chose to serve the public. The ablest business men in the country had labored for years to unite under one management the great telegraph lines of the nation. The union was deemed a public necessity. All attempts at a consolidation had failed. Mr. Gould grasped the Atlantic and Paci- fic lines. He could bear the stock at will. Nobody could control him, no Avriting bind him. As usual, under such a crisis, Mr. Sage was called in. He re- garded the union of the telegraph interests as of na- tional imxAortance. So far all efforts failed ; meetings 38 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. came to nauglit, and agreements Avere drawn np only to be broken. A new element appeared in Wall street. Keene in California introduced the tactics of the coast and be- came an ally of Jay Gould. Keene was bold, daring and successful. He had made five millions in five years, and in the stock board made an unusual stir. In a few months Keene fell out with Gould and Mr. Sage saw his oiDport unity. He joined forces with Keene and got control of Gould’s own stock. Gould saw he was outwitted, and placed his interest in Mr. Sage’s hands. The vdiole movement was bold, keen and successful. The futile work of years gave way to a successful consolidation. He had put a capital of fifty millions under one management. It subjected six thousand miles of line to one key-board. The Western Union stock went up from fifty-six to sixty- four. The Atlantic and Pacific from seventeen to twenty-five. What Orton, Morgan and other eminent financiers could not do, though they were years about it, Mr. Sage accomplished in a few months. Management of the Pacific Mail came into the hands of Mr. Sage. The company was embarrassed and on the eve of bankruptcy. A crushing debt of five mil- lions rested upon it. Stockwell’s administration was disastrous. The extravagance of other officials para- lyzed the company. Mr. Sage was called to the helm b}^ universal demand as the only man who could save the company. He loved the Pacific coast. He resolved to sustain the only line that bore the American flag. The Golden Gate and China must be kept open to American commerce. The great coast trade belonged to America and must not be diverted to England. Mr. Sage took command with his usual vigor, telegraphed funds to the Pacific coast to save the line from bank- ruptcy. HON. R USSEL SA GE. 39 From boyhood up Mr. Sage’s career has been a remarkable one. He early displayed talents and traits that, rightly guided, unerringly win. His industry was a habit. Economy was a necessity. He had an aptitude at trade when a mere youngster. He walked surely up through all the grades of store boy, clerk, salesman, retailer, and wholesale dealer. The same trusted and capable trader in each relation. He seemed a born leader, and came to the front naturally. He relied on no chances, but trusted level-headedness, fidelity, and strong common sense. In his earlier busi- ness life he was distinguished for force, And financial keenness. He grew rich and conservative. Fast horses, yachts, and genteel dissix^ations had no charm for him. Mr. Sage has a marked eye for beauty. Though not a fast man he likes a good stex3X>er on the road. His team is elegant, gentle, fleet, and in his recreation takes nobody’s dust. He is x^roud of his horses. They whinny his coming, and respond to his gentle touch in the stable with marked affection. . He uses his great gifts with wisdom, and gratefully as a Christian should do. He lives in elegant style, has his home on Fifth avenue, where he despenses a genial hosxutality. His gifts are large, but unostentatious. He is identi- fied with the large philanthropic institutions of the city. He is modest, cheery, and attractive in social life, and has hosts of friends. Mrs. Sage is an attractive lady, and is of one of the wealthy Germaine families of Long Island. She is a lady of quiet disposition, re- fined, and intelligent. She has much to do with the great charities of the city. She is a lady of great ex- ecutive ability. There is scarcely an institution that assists the suffering with which she is not officially connected. 40 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. xyiii. WOMAN’S HEROISM. WOMAN in New York is reputed to be worth two million dollars. When a girl she left her New England home to seek a for- tune. She passed her first night in New Y ork walking the streets, for she had not money enough to pay for lodgings. She kept her destitution to herself. She engaged a small room, and sol;cited pupils from house to house. Her cheery face, neat attire, and reso- lution won. She opened a school with six puj)ils. She had but one dress and that she washed at night. Her school grew in fame and in strength. Some of the most eminent men of New York were her patrons. She had a great knack at trading, traveled in the west and the south as a saleswoman, invested wisely, and became rich. One of the most eminent physicians in New York owed his wealth to his wife’s mother. This woman was a Philadelphia milliner. During the war of 1812, she bought a large bankrupt stock of ribbons and mil- linery goods. The war closed, and the stock rose on her hands. She invested her gains in a farm on the Bloomingdale road. A few hundred dollars invested in fancy goods swelled into a colossal fortune. Two ladies were left heirs to a large landed estate. The property yielded nothing, while the taxes and assessments nearly ate everything up. The girls suf- fered every privation, but held on to the land. I heard Bishop Onderdonk say, thac while he was rector of BUSINESS BE BUTE. 41 Trinity Church, the ladies gave up their pews, for they were too poor to pay their rent. They held on, and are now millionaires. XIX. BUSINESS REPUTE. EPUTATION is as good as capital ; character is better. Reputation is what a man passes for ; character is what he is. A man on the Pacific coast sent a box of gold dust to a Boston chemist. He had a mountain full he said, enough to pay the National debt. The dust was worthless. The repute was gold ; character was iron pyrites. Calling iron pyrites gold dust don’ t make it so. Reputation is invaluable, but men rise by charac- ter. An intelligent row boy will keep a hotel. A smart and fair news boy will edit a journal or own a book store. A bright store boy will grow into a mer- chant. A trademark is often a fortune in itself. The pioneers on the Pacific coast demand axes from a par- ticular factory in Massachusetts. One style of Ameri- can prints are in demand at Manchester. Plated ware of a particular house sells in Sheffield. Some brands of flour and sugar lead the market. Merchants who are millionaires are men of repute. Lawyers who take thousand-dollar retainers and grow into judges, are men of character. A doctor who wins golden fees, earns them by years of honor, study and skill. 42 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. XX. XOTHINe TO DO. MPLOYMENT is both the duty and the charm of life. Indolence and sloth enervate, and both take from man the capacity to enjoy. The crime of Sodom, as the Bible records it, was, Pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idle- ness too much to eat, and nothing to do. When Poman emperors were taken from the plow the empire was mistress of the world. When idleness was a crime in Judea the valleys were hot -beds of vegetation, and the mountains were terraced to their summit with fruit and verdure. Young America takes his first false step when he enters business to make money that he may idle away life in sensual enjoyment. It is no unusual thing for an avaricious, grasping man, to make toil so distasteful to his boys as to drive them off from the farm into trade. Farm life, to the average boy, is drudgery. All the day is filled up with work. Time is money,” and “A penny saved is two pence clear,” are proverbs drilled into him from the cradle. If he turns the grindstone his father will hold on hard to encourage him. The boy’s mother works like a galley slave, and will till she drops into the grave. His sisters are denied music, amusements, and pictorials, for they cost money. Nobody can take an afternoon’s drive, for man and beast are wanted in the field. The boy has no time to hunt, fish, snare rabbits, or mend his skates. A country cousin finds his relative chop- X)ing wood in the back yard. Visitor has come up from the city. He wears shiny boots, a tall hat, and store clothes. He is loaded down with brass jewelry. NOTHING TO BO. 43 and has more money in his pocket than the farm boy ever handled in his life. The first opportunity that boy has, he will run away from this drudgery, attracted by the glamour of trade. This is one view of toil. In spite of this, occupation is a duty. There was not an indolent bone in the Apostolic college, unless it was in Judas. Our Lord selected the rugged trade of a car- penter. Adam was a gardener. Noah was a husband- man. Moses kept sheep. Jacob was on a business journey v/hen God appeared to him at Haran. Elijah was taken from the plow. David acquired the skill to sling a stone through the skull of Goliah by his i^rac- tice as a shepherd lad. Eminent men have put the seal of their approval on regular labor. E. G. Shaw was a wealthy mer- chant. At sixty he was as deep in commerce, as when he was earning his fortune. I shall die,” he said, ‘Gf I stop.” Dr. McKnight had regular employment for thirty years on his commentaries. His friend urged him to do for the Gospels, what he done for the Epistles. He declined, — he had earned rest and meant to take it. In a few months he was a driveling idiot. Isaac Spaulding was asked : ‘‘ What will you do with your great fortune, as you have neither chick nor child?” He replied, If any man takes as much comfort in spending my money, as I have taken in earning it, he will have a good time.” Governor Marcy, after forty years of active life, retired to Ball- ston for repose. He could endure toil, but he could not endure inaction. In a short time he was borne to his burial. A Wall street broker made a fortune and con- cluded to retire. He proposed to enjoy himself in his elegant villa on the Hudson, with his books, paintings, and horses. In the autumn, he was back in his old place. He told his story. “At first I was charmed. 44 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Life was new to nae, and the rest was delicious. I drove out daily, saw the trains come and go, and wel- comed my neighbors. I walked over my grounds and planned improvements enough to occupy me a year. In a month I was sick enough. I knew every rod of wall, and every turn in the road ; I fell asleep over my books, and my pictures tired me. I had no gas or water, and my papers came at night, or the next day. Worse than all, the world went on without me, and I was voted an old fogie. No one asked my advice on the market, and no one accepted it when I. tendered it. I am back at my post, and propose to die with my har- ness on.” A well-known New England man attained great success in trade. He retired that he might enjoy the fruits of his labor. He had a city mansion and a country home. He tilled his palaces wdth every luxury. ‘‘ Whatsoever his eyes desired he kept not from them, and he withheld not his heart from any joy.” He had nothing to do, and life became a bur- den which he could not bear. One morning he was found floating in the dock in front of his island home. He had thrown himself into, the water. XXL SHARP PRACTICE. N the teeth of the experience of six thousand years, men argue that sharp practice in trade is profitable. This popular idea is embraced in certain pithy maxims: “Take care of yourself;” “Keep your eyes peeled;” “Have your SHARP PRACTICE. 45 eye-teetli cut “ Look out for number one ‘‘If you buy the devil, you must sell him again.-’ With all these line maxims and this sharp practice, the fact is patent that ninety-live per cent, of business men fail. Hardly more could go under if all business was trans- acted on honest principles. It was said of a merchant : “A half cent failed him, and he did not know it.” He was very sharp, very shrewd, and the odd half cent was always in his favor. People saw through the little trick and waited. When the right time came they took reprisals. A well-known New Yorker was grasp- ing and hard-hearted. He had no compassion for men who met with reverses. When a poor fellow came to him to ask him how he would settle, he would point to the sign over his head, on which was written: “No compromise.” Thrusting his thumbs into the arm- holes of his vest, and leaning back in a lordly way, he would add: “There is one way in which I will settle, pay me one hundred cents on the dollar. I can wait.” Everybody knew that such a man would go down. His failure was terrific. People breathed freer as he went out of sight. A well-known stock operator drove his four-in-hand through the streets at church time to show the people that he neither feared God nor re- garded man. His horses were sold under the hammer for express purposes, and his fine mansion became a club-house. Business men who show such traits have others. These will crystallize and eventually ruin a man. Willottson began a poor mechanic. He gave of his penury to charitable and religious purposes. To help her husband make a donation to foreign missions, his wife made a few silk buttons that were sold in the New York market. More were called for, a profitable business sprung up, a fortune was made, and Mr. Wil- lottson became one of the greatest givers in New Eng- land. 4G SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Men neither win nor lose in the same way. One man fails, and is smart ; another wins, and is dull. Some men carry too much sail, some too little. One man ruins his business because he is a sloven ; another ruius his because he is a fop. One man is irreligious and gives offence by his unwise utterances ; another parades his Bible before his customers, and is disagree- able. One man is over-nice and becomes fussy ; an- other steps over a book on the floor instead of picking it up and loses his place. A young man got a position on Saturday night being recommended by his Sunday- school teacher. He lost his pla,ce on Monday for being out sailing the day before. A merchant saw a cashier riding on Sunday with a sporting man, and closed his account with the bank the next day. Six janitors of as many cash institutions were out on a “lark” on Sunday. They were all dismissed for a breach of trust. A city bank has a custom of celebrating its annual election. Liquors flow in abundance, and officials, directors and clerks get mellow. Young men wdio drink in the bank drink outside. Men who drink out- side will have company. Men who have company must have money. Embezzlements and defalcations follow. More than one official has left this bank under a cloud. WASIIIIWTOI^, THE boy. 47 XXIT. WASHINGTON, THE BOY. PEOKGE WASHINGTON was made of com- mon flesh and blood. He had no advantages over the com mon ran of American boys. His early life was a nigged one. He had a limited education, and he made up all deficiencies by intense private study. He learned to read out of the Bible and the jjsalters, his mother being his tutor. He was too poor to pay for private instruction, and there ’were no free schools in Virginia. He worked through the day, and studied at night by the light of pitch-pine knots. At ten he committed to memory the “Moral Maxims” of Sir Matthew Hale, and these became the guide of his young life. He was head and shoulders above his mates, as in after years he overtopped his peers. If the boys quarreled, George Washington was the judge. When they played soldiers, George Washington was the captain. He took the part of the weak, and one of his earliest exploits was the thrash- ing of a bully who was the terror to the lads. When quite young, he understood that he had got to make his own way in the world. The most that his relatives ever proposed to do for him was to send him to sea, and this they nearly accomplished. When a boy he took to farm life and surveying, and farms are sold to-day on George Washington’s survey. At nineteen he sent Hour to the Alexandria market. The colonial authorities ordered that the Mt. Vernon brand should pass without inspection, that brand being a guarantee of weight and quality. Washington was an athlete. He could run faster, fling a stone farther, ride better, 48 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. throw a man to the gi’ound harder and quicker than any other person in Virginia. He had a hot and hasty temper, which was under complete control. A prize fighter taunted him with cowardice. Washington seized the blackguard, and hurled him to the ground with such violence as nearly to break every bone in his body. When an old man he threw a stone across the Rappahannock, and hurled an iron bar twenty feet beyond that of a champion who was the boast of the country. XXIII. MILLIOXAIRE’S FIRST STEP. OXATHAX STURGES left his humble home on Cape Cod to earn a living and help his mother. The captain of a coaster gave him a passage, and a letter to a dealer in sail- cloth. Sturges landed in Xew York on Saturday night, a stranger and penniless. On Sunday morning he looked round for a church. He found the old Wall Street House of Worship, near Broadway. He stood on the steps while the gay throng passed in. He was not fashionably dressed, and knew it. The grandeur of the place appalled him. Robert Lenox, a promi- nent member of the church, was always on the lookout for young men. He saw the rustic lad, and went up and spoke to him. Are you a stranger in the city ‘‘Yes, sir. I arrived last night.” “So you came at once to the house of God?” “ Yes, sir. My mother told me not to forsake the God of my fathers.” “ Would you like a seat ?” “I would,” and the bash- WEBSTER A BOT. 49 fill lad was ushered into Mr. Lenox’s own pew. Sturgess thanked his courteous friend, went back to the vessel, and passed the night. The next morning he sought out the dealer in sail-cloth, and presented his letter. He wanted work and wanted credit for a little canvas. “Did I not see you in Mr. Lenox’s pew yesterday?” said the Scotch merchant. “I don’t know whose pew I sat in, sir, but a kind gentleman gave me a seat.” “Well, lad, that was Mr. Lenox, and it is no common honor to be asked to sit in his pew. I will trust any boy with goods who has that honor conferred upon him.” To the day of his death Mr. Sturgess said that his success dated from that Sunday. There was no miracle or fanaticism about the matter. Sturgess was at once introduced to valuable business acquaintances. He had credit and standing with the most influential men of the city. He was shielded from bad company and hurtful recreation, and started fairly at once on his career of success. xxiy. WEBSTER AS A BOY. ANIEL WEBSTER boasted that no white man’s cabin stood between his father’s log hut and the snows of Canada. The boy took his share in the tough, hard work of a fron- tier life, and roughed it with the best. His father was farmer, tavern-keeper and justice. My father trav- eling in Xew England put up one night at the tavern kept by Squire Webster. The door of the public room 4 oO SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. was cut in halves. On the lower half the squire was leaning, the upper half was thrown back. Mr. Web- ster shouted, looking towards the barn: “Dan, take this man’s horse.” A tall, slim, dark-complexioned boy responded to the call. His pants were home-spun, dyed with butternut, and he wore no coat. A straw hat, badly torn, was on his head, and he wore neither shoes nor stockings. He took the horse by the head- stall and put him up in the barn. Daniel learned to read from the Bible and Psalm book. His memory was prodigious. He committed everything he laid his hands on. He had a dispute with Ezekiel about a piece of poetry he learned from an almanac. He got up in the night to verify his quo- tation, and nearly burned the house down. He gave the first quarter he earned to a peddler, and obtained a handkerchief, on which was printed the U. S. Consti- tution. He committed the instrument to memory, lying fiat on the hearth at night and studying by the light of the fire. He had a great thirst for knowledge. His destination was determined while he was turning hay by the side of his father in the “ south hay- field.” A man rode up and held a conversation with Mr. Web- ster. When he left the father said: “Dan, that man beat me by a few votes, because he has an education. Had I had learning, I should now have been in his place as a member of Congress. Your mother and I have decided to send you to college. You must then work your own way into Congress.” WEBSTER AND EZEKIEL. 51 XXY. WEBSTEK AND EZEKIEL. EBSTEK, refused to go to college. It was a boon he desired above all things else ; yet he would not accept it unless Ezekiel could share it. No persuasion could change his resolution. Mrs. Webster cut the ‘‘ Gordian knot.” She said: ‘‘Husband, we have but one life to live. Let us mortgage the farm. Send the boys to college, and Daniel and Ezekiel will take care of us when we are old.” Through all his preparatory course he took care of his brother. When he kept school his first quarter’s salary was drawn in favor of Ezeldel. His salary was not enough for both, so he supplemented his income by writing up the records of Fryburgh at fifty cents a night. His love was as strong as that which knit David and Jonathan — stronger than the love of woman — which death could not divide. In col- lege Webster was not brilliant. He had no speaking talent and steadfastly refused to declaim. He took no part in the graduating exercises. But he had some traits better than brilliancy. His memory was marvel- ous. He astonished his tutor at a j^reliminary exami- nation by the offer to commit the whole Latin gram- mar. During his whole educational career he was never late — never out of his place — never absent from the chapel exercises — never had an imperfect lesson, nor a reprimand, and no mark of disapproval ever stood against his name. 52 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS xxyi. WEBSTER CHOOSES A PROFESSION. ANIEL’S father had the New England idea that a boy ought to do something for the suj)port of the family. Daniel was smart and capable, — he had been educated at a great sacrilice, — he ought now to settle down on some- thing that would put money into the family coffers. His father was now a man of consequence, and he ex- erted his influence to obtain for his son the clerkship of the court. The position was an honorable one, it was for life, and had attached to it the handsome salary of flfteen hundred dollars, — a great sum in those days. The astonishment of the family, and the indignation of the father was great, when the lad an- nounced his purpose to reject the glittering prize. He uttered his intentions in words truly Websterial : ‘‘I purpose to be an actor, and not a register of other men’s acts.” “You are mad, Daniel,” said the old man. “ The profession of law is now crowded.” “ There is room enough at the top,” said the undaunted boy. “The lad is clean daft,” the neighbors said. Study law he would, and he commenced a purpose. He soon learned all that the country lawyers could teach him, and he turned his face towards Boston. Nobody en- couraged him or aided him, but he was a host in him- self. WEBSTER 8 AUDACITY. 53 XXYII. WEBSTER’S AUDACITY. OYERNOR GORE was the leader of the Bos- ton bar. He was aristocratic, distant, and a man with whom few would venture to be familiar. He found in his office one morning a young man waiting for him, who gave the name of Webster. He had no letters of introduction or recom- mendation. He was tall, slim, and spare, with a coun- tenance that entitled him to the sobriquet of Black Dan. His uncle Stark told him that he ought to be a soldier, for gunpowder wouldn’ t hurt his complexion. He addressed the genteel advocate with a hearty good morning, announced the name of his father, gave it as his opinion that Governor Gore was one of the Gama- liels of the law, at whose feet he proposed to sit, add- ing, “I have come for work, and not for play.” He was not repulsed, and took a seat at an unoccupied desk. He was evidently not welcome — nobody paid him any attention, and alone and solitary he worked away. One day Rufus King came into the office. He wsis one of the most eminent men in the State. He noticed the solitary student, and entered into conver- sation with him. On learning his name, Mr. King reached out his hand, saying : “I’m glad to know you. Your father is an old friend of mine. I am under heavy obligations to him, which I shall be glad to repay to his son. Come and see me, for I can help you.” He told young Webster that the profession of law was a noble one, and if he was industrious and resolute he would win. He gave young Webster some excellent advice, and retired. That was a red-letter 54 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. day in Daniel Webster’s history. When Mr. Webster was the foremost man of the nation he said the cheery words of Mr. King had followed him through all his life. xxyiii. WEBSTER AT THE BAR. EBSTER’ S elocution was peculiar, his enunci- ation clear and distinct, and he impressed the jury that it must be so, that it could not be otherwise. He was deferential to the court, and courteous to his associates. He dressed his person with as much care as he dressed his thoughts. When he had an important case, he arrayed himself after the manner of George James Fox, — blue coat with brass buttons ; black pants and buff vest ; a turn-down collar over a white cravat. He was almost omnipotent with a jury, and his brethren used to say that he ought not to plead against the man tried for his life, for he would be sure to hang him. His point was to win a verdict. If lawful means would not do, sharp practice Avas resorted to. One day he was pitted against Choate. Choate had mesmerized the court, the jury, and the spectators. Webster knew he could do nothing until he had broken the spell. He arose and denied the testimon3^ on which the whole case turned. Choate was aston- ished, and appealed to the court. The court took no minutes, and Webster knew it. Choate then referred to Mr, Webster, but the great advocate did not take WEBSTER AT THE BAR. 55 the evidence. Choate handed to Mr. Webster a large bundle that he called min-u-tes. He wrote on half a sheet of letter-paper on one side, in a hand that was a cross between Sanscrit and a poor imitation of a China tea-chest. Webster seized the package and im- mediately began to distribute it. ‘‘Gentlemen of the jury, would you like to examine brother Choate’ s min- utes ? Would your Honor be kind enough to examine this strange medley ?” Before Choate knew what was going on, his notes were scattered beyond recall, amid the roar of the court-room. Holding up one of these strange-looking sheets, he said: “Gentlemen of the jury, what does this paper look like ? A Christian hand- writing? No. It looks like a small gridiron struck by lightning. You won’t take away my client’s little property on any such testimony as this !” The jury did not. A crowd was in the court-room one day. An emi- nent Bostonian was on trial for forgery. Webster came in and took a seat wuthin the bar. He heard the indictment read, and a i)art of the government’s testi- mony. He walked over to the dock and said’ to the prisoner: “ Retain me.” “I cannot, for I have no money.” “ITou need no money. You gave me a thousand dollars when I was in trouble, and that stands to your credit.” The trial went on, and the case was turned’ over to the defense. Webster’s practiced ear detected a variation as he sat in the room. He moved that the indictment be quashed. The bill laid the crime in one county, while the proof showed if it was com- mitted at all it was committed in another. “A fatal variation,” said Mr. Webster as he sat down, and so the court ruled. The dock flew open and the prisoner, after shaking hands with his astute counsel, walked forth free. Webster came prominently to the front in the great 56 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Dartmouth suit. A powerful State was pitted against a poor college. The case was a desperate one, and the brief was given to Webster because the college was poor. Judge Marshall was on the bench, and the ablest lawyers of the land were opposing counsel. Webster was young, unknown to fame, and had no precedents to guide him. His forlorn case attracted the sympathies of the court as he arose to make his plea. He arose to plead, an unknown barrister. He sat down having placed himself among the foremost forensic advocates of the age, leaving bench and bar in tears. He laid down the principles of law which have guided the courts to this hour ; yet the governor of New Hampshire refused to appoint him attorney- general, saying: ‘‘Mr. Webster does not know law enough.” XXIX. WEBSTER’S MONEY MATTERS. R. WEBSTER was dragged from his law office, where a fortune awaited him, and against his will was sent to Congress’ One Saturday he sat in his office, in Boston, and some eminent men called on him and said that he would be elected to Congress next Monday. They promised to take care of his money matters in view of the sacrifices he would make. Had he stuck to the law and let politics alone, he never would have wanted mone}^ His salary never paid his expenses, much less did it sustain the style he was bound to maintain. His devotion to his country embarrassed him, and his ene- WEBSTER’S HABITS. 57 mies taunted him with not paying his debts. One editor was especially insulting. Mr. Webster wrote him a letter : ‘‘ I do not always pay my debts, because peo- ple do not pay me. If I had been less lenient and more exacting I should have more money. As a proof I enclose you a note for five hundred dollars that I loaned your father to pay for your education.’’ A man held a note against him. Mr. Webster was Secre- tary of State, and the creditor thought he must have a good deal of money. He took a trip to Washington, and Avhen he came back told his friends the note was paid. “I will tell you all about it. I called at Mr. Webster’s house; he met me at the door, said I was the son of his oldest and best friend, and asked me to- dine with him. We talked about Hew Hamspliire people, and I never passed so pleasant an evening in my life. Not a word was said about money. I went to my hotel, tucked the note under the grate — satisfied that I had got my rxioney’s worth.” XXX. WEBSTER’S HABITS. T his great ovation on Boston Common, given him just before he died, Webster said : ‘‘Work has made me what I am. I never ate a bit of idle bread in my life.” To an unreasonable teacher, he said : “ My industry can make me great ; no punishment can.” At sixty, as he looked over the old Fryburgh record, he said: “The ache is not yet out of my fingers.” He wrote much. 58 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. and mainly in the morning. He wrote a small delicate hand, and with difficulty. He was Puritan in taste and religion. His name was on the old Salsbury Church books when he died, where he put it when a young man. He took all his grand Marshfield company on Sunday to a little Orthodox church that he attended. He was an attentive and considerate hearer, always thanked the minister for his sermon, and sent him presents from his table. He left the Brattle Square Church, when Palfrey preached, because the preaching was like throwing shot on shingles. He declined to discuss the Trinity with a politician, saying: “You and I know very little about the mathematics of Heaven.” To Dr. Codman he said : “You will find me no half-day hearer on Sunday.” He summed up his faith on his dying coach, b}^ saying : “ Heavenly Father, forgive my sins, and welcome me to Thyself, through Jesus Christ.” XXXI. FOHCES THAT WIK EX of mark have few advantages over others. Successful men seldom follow the trade of their sires. It is seldom wise for a man to preach because his father is a minister, or to be a lawyer because his father is eminent at the bar, or to take a diploma as a doctor because his father is a surgeon. If a boy has no taste for the profession of his father, and declines to follow it, his very independ- ence augtirs success. The history of business men FORGES THAT WIN. 59 shows how little they are indebted to their relatives for their eminence. Shakspeare was the son of a butcher. The father of Florence, the painter, was a custom-house officer. Gray, the poet, was brought as a notary. Beattie worked on a farm. Tom Moore was apprenticed to a grocer. Rembrandt worked in a mill, the sides of which he covered with etchings and drawings. Whitfield displayed his marvelous oratory while dealing out beer for his father’ s customers. Bun- yan was brought up in a tavern, a profane and ungodly youth. Massilon was the son of a turner. The father of Romilly the great lawyer, was a watchmaker. Ben Jonson was the son of a stone-mason. Men win who leave their trademark on their call- ing. The great mass of men are common men. People are content to be third or second class. They drift down the current and pass out of sight, and are re- membered no more. Out of the thousands of lawyers in America, a dozen alone are competent to try an important case. JN'ot ten names in ten thousand spring to the lip as ijresidential candidates. Were the office of chief justice vacant, not live names in five hundred would in the popular judgment be connected with the vacant seat. Theological schools turn out men in shoals, as uniform as bullets run in the same mould, or peas in the same pod. Star preachers are as rare as comets. One or two in London, one or two in America — that’s all. Few are happy in their work. Each man knows where the harness chafes. The great mass of business men wish they had some other trade. Stewart, worth forty millions, thought if he had been a real estate trader he would have made money. Men of Fame are usually men of excellence in some particular thing. Drew was a financier when he 60 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. was a cattle-driver. Vanderbilt led all the boatmen on Staten Island. Lincoln was head and shoulders above the Mississippi raftsmen when he was a boy. Nine- tenths of Power’s statuary can be chiseled by an ordin- ary stone-cutter. The other tenth gives the statue its value. A pious but inefficient man will fail. Men must have grit as well as grace to succeed. Often men become a success by changing their callings. Ministers fail in the pulxut and make a success at teaching. Poor sticks in the law often turn out efficient railroad men. Gerard was an ordinary coasting captain at forty and died a first-class banker. Walter Scott did nothing till he was past middle life. Lamphire, who founded the Fulton street prayer-meeting, and whose name is known in all parts of the world, failed in everything he undertook till he was nearly fifty. Dr. Alexander and Dr. Kirke were friends in college. They were fast boys ; Alexander was great at billiards, and Kirke was a tippler. Had they kept on they would have both been vagrants. Dr. Carey when a boy was very plucky. In attempting to climb an apple tree he fell and broke his leg. The first thing he did when he got out was to climb that tree. The key-note of his life was to over- come difficulties, and he became the great missionary of the age. Lord Eldon, a poor lawyer, was regarded as a plodding advocate. He asked of the Premier a small office. He received the gruff reply: “I will not give you an office, Eldon. You are indolent, and will not work if you can help it ; you must dig for yourself.” Long afterward, when plain John Scott wrote himself Lord Eldon, he told his friends : Had I gone into the custom-house I should never have been Lord Chan- cellor.” FORCES THAT WIN. 61 Lord Thurlow was proud of his early poverty and obscurity. When Chancellor of Britain a flatterer said to him: ‘Won descended from Thurlow who was secretary to Cromwell.” “No sir. No sir. There were two Thurlows. One was secretary. One was a carter. I descended from the carter.” DiJNiN'mG, the great advocate, tells his own story : “ I selected the law with small hope of success. I had no patron, no friend, no money. I worked like a galley slave. I ate at a cheap tavern at seven pence a day. I slept on the bunks at night. I kept up my studies as if I was in full practice. I read everything, copied everything, and attended all the great trials. I was ready for the first brief that came into my hand.” Wambell, the great painter, was distinguished for his generosity. He took down his own picture at the academy, and put in its place the t>ainting of a promis- ing young artist who had oftended the management. A young painter struggled a year for a prize. His picture was hung by the side of Wambell’ s, and its merits were hid by the extraordinary brilliancy of the great artist’s picture. Wambell passed a night in blackening the sky, and dimming the beauty of his own work, to give the young man a chance. Hetermixation is often a good business capital. A box of pills, a little ointment, a plaster, or a lotion, is as good a capital to start with, as bonds, stocks or real estate. A bottle of blacking and elbow-grease has made the fortune of more than one man. Holloway had a pill, and he told all the world what it was worth. He put it in the London exhibition, spent a hundred thousand dollars to advertise it, and made a fortune. Schenck fretted the world with his mandrake pills. 63 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Sea-weed tonic, balm of Gilead, and kindred medicines are known wherever the English language is spoken. The well-known preacher had a knack of turning his hand at anything. He shod his own horse one day in the absence of the blacksmith. As he was winding up his work, the smith arrived. He looked at the job, and said : Young man, follow horse-shoeing and you will make your fortune.” Dr. Jaynes was a quack when quackery was a stain. He was read out of the medical society — threw himself on the public — flung away a fortune in adver- tising, and became a millionaire. A young man stood by the side of a farmer and asked the man for his daughter in marriage. All the while the young man was whittling vigorously at a stick, and shaped out of it a very respectable fork. ‘'You may have the girl,” the old said, “because you have made something out of your whittling.” There is a spool of thread that leads the market, a style of needle that no lady will be without, a stove polish and baking powder that Bridget demands. XXXII. START OF SOME FOLKS. IR JOSHUA REYNOLDS when a young man resolved to found a school of his own. Hudson, who taught him to paint, aided him to visit Rome. On his return he set iij) his easel in Martin’s lane, and alarmed the profession START OF SOME FOLKS. 6S by Ills heresy. His friends crowded his studio, ex- claiming : ‘‘You are ruined — this will never do. You don’t paint as well as when you left England.” Rey- nolds was unmoved, kept steadily on his course, and put himself at the head of the profession. Hogarth was a poor man’s son. He sketched al- most from his cradle. He sketched with charcoal on barn-doors, fences, and sides of the wagon, inimxitable caricatures. He formed a run-away match with Sir James Thornhill’s daughter; he was turned out of doors and left to starve. Sir James saw on his break- fast table one morning some etchings of a very re- markable character. He found in the artist the person of his poor son-in-law. He was so struck with his genius that he forgave him on the spot. An accident made Wilson a great landscape painter. While in Rome he was sent on an errand to the studio of an artist. Waiting for the painter, to be- guile the time, he sketched on a rough j)iece of paper the scene he saw through the window. The j)ainter entered and caught him at his work. “Have you studied landscape painting, young man?” “ Yo sir.” “Then I advise you to begin ; you are sure to succeed.” And he did. No punishment could keep Gainsborough at his studies in school. He was fascinated with the beautiful woods of Suffolk. He i)layed truant that he might ramble in the groves, and forged notes of excuse to get a holiday that he might pass the day in sketching. Benjamin West had a romantic career. His parents were Quakers, and pictures and paintings were denied him. It is said he never looked upon a paint- ing or an engraving till he drew the picture of his 64 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. little sister in the cradle. The prejudice of his parents against the trifling art was unyielding. He drew from his infancy. A band of wandering Indians taught him to mix rude colors. A favorite cat furnished him with pencils, and soot from the chimney was his earliest paint. JSTo censure and no frowns from the Meeting or the family deterred him. The lad seemed to act under a kind of inspiration. The elders were afraid to op- pose the boy. A public meeting was called to see what should be done with the strange child. The result of the meeting is thus given.- ‘‘ To John West and Sarah Pierson, a man-child has been born, on whom God has conferred some remarkable gifts ; something amounting to inspiration ; and the youth has been induced to study painting. Such rare gifts cannot but be for a wise and good purpose. The Divine Hand is in this. W e shall do well to encour- age this youth.” The scene that followed this de- claration was an extraordinary one, and its influence followed West through all his life. The lad was called in to the Meeting. His mother stood on one side, his father on the other. The society surrounded the three. The famous John Williamson spoke for the community : “This genius is given by God for some high purpose. He hath in this remote wilder- ness endowed with the rich gifts of a superior spirit this youth. He hath our consent to cultivate his talents for art.” The Quaker women kissed the young artist as they passed round. The Quaker men placed their hands in benediction on his young head, and thus, by the holiest of ordinations, he was set apart a painter. WooLCOT, better known as Peter Pindar, was a physician at Truro. He took a boy into his service to run errands, clean knifes, and do the drudgery of the START OF SOME FOLKS. 65 office. He was sent daily to the butcher’s for dog’s meat, and took more time than the vigilant doctor thought needful. He went after the drudge and caught him painting the butcher’s x)ortrait. Woolcot, instead of caning the boy, expressed his delight at the picture, and ordered him to paint a portrait of himself. He was even more successful with the doctor’s than with the butcher’s. He advised the boy to study paint- ing, gave him means to become an artist, and aided materially in placing the name Opie among the great painters of England. Barky, the painter, was an Irishman, friendless and nearly destitute. He worked years in obscurity, and at last obtained assistance to place a painting on ex- hibition. The picture was founded on an old tradition of the baptism of King Cashell. The work was uni- versally admired, and a demand made for the author. He came toward, so poorly clad and forlorn in look that his claim was derided. To hide his emotions, he attempted to leave the room. Burke arrested him, in- quired into his situation, furnished him money to visit Borne, and thus laid the foundation for his great reputation. Wedgewood, the son of a potter, was destined to the rugged trade of his father. He was lame, and at best could only be a thrower of clay. He lost his leg, and with it his rough employment. He was a resolute lad, and resolved in some way to earn his bread. He turned his studies to some practical account. He pos- sessed the gift of imitation, and turned rough clay into the resemblance of agate and jasper. He studied chemistry, and by its aid he produced metallic clay that made elegant knife-handles, boxes, and mantel ornaments. He invented the yellow ware known as 5 66 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Queen’s ware, which became the rage. Queen Char- lotte patronized him, and permitted him to write over his factory the cabalistic words, ‘‘Potter to her Maj- esty.” Court favors did not turn his head. He kept perseveringly and persistently at work. • He discovered and purchased a bed of porcelain clay in Cornwall, out of which he made the finest china ware. He imitated cameos, antique vases, and other works of art, and be- came the most famous man, in his line, in the world. A poor lad, a cripple, without education, money, or friends, turned his very misfortunes into- elements of success, and by industry, integrity, and genius, ifiaced his name among the most honored of his nation. A You^g Mechanic passed to his work daily over X/ondon Bridge. Occasionally he tossed a penny to a beggar who held his seat towards the end of the bridge in sunshine and in storm. One day the mendicant stopped the mechanic, and said to him: “I’m going into the country. You have been kind to me, and I want to make you a present. There is a fortune in this little piece of paper. I am an old Waterloo soldier, and I got the paper in the army. Follow the instruc- tions faithfully, and you will be rich.” That paper was the original receipt for Day & Martin’ s blacking. Young Hiciiakdson, of the house of Heynolds & Co., has proved himself one of our most prosperous young business men. Besides possessing very rare business qualities as a salesman, he has certain traits that make him of great value to any paint house. He is a superb judge of colors. He has a sort of intuition in deciding on the purity of lead before it is mixed. This talent, with rare capacity, forecasted his success from the start. Burns, in the blackest hour of his ob- scurity and poverty, caught a glimpse of coming START OF SOME FOLKS. G7 honor. He said, ‘‘I shall be eminent as Thomas a Kempis or John Banyan. My birthday shall be in- scribed in the Aberdeen Almanac, with Black Monday and the Battle of Both well’s Bridge.” Stephenson, — ‘‘Uncle John,” as he is called, — is the great car-builder of the world. He was a wagon- maker, and located his shop near the omnibus stables, when this method of locomotion was new. Stephen- son thought he could make an omnibus as well as a wagon. When the street cars were introduced, the Harlem road gave the young mechanic the job to make street cars. He worked till he got the monopoly of the business, building a better car at a lower price than any other maker. London and Liverpool can get better and cheaper cars in New York than at home. Stephenson’s cars are running to-day in St. Petersburg and Berlin ; in Austria and Australia ; in London and Bombay ; in Canada and South America. The most popular restaurant in Paris is that of Duvals. He was a butcher, and quite a genius in his line. He proposed a restaurant near the Tuilleries. He fitted up an eating house in elegant style, and adorned the rooms with mirrors, paintings, and fres- coes. First-class viands are offered at a low cost. The principle has earned a fortune for the proprietor. Dr. S. I. Prime has made a fortune out of The Ohsermr and Ilarpef s “ Drawer.” He adroitly created a local interest for the “Drawer” in a hun- dred towns. He located the 'old jokes, puns, proverbs, Joe Millers, and old saws in Wisconsin, Illinois, Maine and Missouri. Like a thief back from transportation these old puns wore a new dress but had the same old face. They answered their end and made a very read- able monthly column. 68 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. U^^CLE Tom’s CAsm was begun in Mrs. Stowe’s kitchen when the authoress was poor enough. The closing pages were written in the publisher’s store in Boston. It was a biting cold morning. Her calico dress was not worth sixpence a yard ; her straw hat and trimmings would have been dear at fifty cents. She stood a half hour over the stove before she was limber enough to work. She was writing for bread. In three months it gave her a check for ten thousand dollars. One of my Schoolmates was a rich man’s son. He had more pocket-money in a week than I ever handled in my life. He had every conceivable luxury. Penknives, jewelry, gold watch and diamonds. He is now a conductor on one of tlie street cars in ISTew York. A young man proposed to give up business. He asked his landlord to take the lease off his hands. I have lost my money and I am going elsewhere.” ‘‘ When I lose my money I look for it where I lost it,” the land- k)rd quietly replied. The young man took the hint and became rich. Dore was wayward and indolent as a boy. He would not paint, but roamed through the hospitals watching the sick and dying. To the disgust of his friends, instead of studying painting, he studied anat- omy. When he became eminent it was found that he was studying when people thought he was idling. He studied anatomy that he might be perfect in his know- ledge of the human form. He studied faces flushed with despair, revenge, remorse and ecstacy, and so made himself the great master of human passions that he is. VANDEBBILT^S BOYHOOD. 69 XXXIIL YAXDERBILT’S BOYHOOD. AXDEBBILT at eighty was a match for the whole street. He dressed like a college pro- fessor, or a well-endowed clergyman, whose salary was promptly paid. His necktie was snowy, like his hair. He was tall, slim and as linely- proportioned as a Mohawk warrior. He lived in a down-town mansion, roomy and full of comfort, after the order of the old Knickerbockers. His style of busi- ness was peculiar. He opened his letters, dictated his answers on the margin, spent an hour in regulating affairs that required a million to move them, and then turned to his stables. His office was a plain unpre- tending room, and his style of life very simple. Xo hot rebellious liquors consumed his blood. His meals were light and frugal. A man worth eighty millions can go to bed Avhen he chooses. Xo matter who was present, when bed-time came he took his candle and bade the company good-night. He was an attentive listener to a man who had anything to say. He usually stood with his hands in his pockets when one was talk- ing to him, or if he sat, one foot rested on a table, and a nervous twitch indicated when he was annoyed. He had a knack of bowing people out when he was through with them. As a lad he was athletic, energetic and daring. He could’ row farther and row better than any boy in the State. If any extraordinary thing was to be done by the boatmen, ‘‘Cornele” was expected to do it. Crowds watched him from Battery, as he rowed in a gale through Buttermilk channel, to put six men on a 70 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. ship. In a terrilic snow-storm a boat was lost. “ Cor- nele” started out alone, and guided the bewildered rowers to the shore. A violent gale raged, during which a ship went ashore on the Hook. The under- writers spent three days in the vain effort to find some one who would go down to the vessel. On third day a bulletin was nailed on the Battery, announcing that ‘‘Cornele” Vanderbilt would start for the Hook at twelve noon. A banker called for him. A young fel- low bronzed by the sea, his pants in his boots, coat off, collar thrown back and no cravat, with a face indicat- ing daring and strength, responded. ‘‘Ho you think you can reach the Hook, young man “I will never come back unless I do.” “ Our bank has forty thou- sand dollars on board that ship. Bring it up. WeTl pay you well for it.” At midnight the cashier was aroused from his slumber, and the money was safe in the bank vault. The young boatman got fifteen hun- dred dollars for his night’s work. He said afterward : “ If I had known as much as I know now, I would have half of that forty thousand dollars as salvage.” XXXIY. VANDERBILT’S GRIT. T is a common belief that when the- Gen. Jackson blew up on the North River Van- derbilt jumped ashore exclaiming : “Wasn’t I a lucky dog?” I heard Vanderbilt deny that he uttered those words, and in addition he said : VANBERBILT^S GRIT. 71 ‘‘he was not in command of the Jackson at the time.” Yet lucky he was. He had the luck that a,ttends a brave, resolute man, who is on the outlook for oppor- tunities. A man was detained at Staten Island by a storm. He offered a handsome sum to any one who w'ould row him to the city. The boatmen shook their heads and declined the hazardous service. “Cornele Vanderbilt can row you if any one can. YouTl tind him at the store.” Negotiations were opened after this manner : “I want to go to New York.” “ Why don’t you go, if you want to?” “Can you row me to the city ?” “Yes, or to h if you want to go.” A few terse orders were given : “Lay dowm ffat in the boat, don’ t speak or stir ; if you do 1’ 11 crack your skull with the oar,” and the boat pushed off into the darkness and the temj^est. Some months afterwards a capitalist proposed to run an opposition steamboat. His son was the passenger whom Vanderbilt rowed to the Bat- tery. He said to his father: “If you want a daring captain, send for Cornele Vanderbilt.” An interview was sought. Vanderbilt was asked : “ Would you like to command a steamboat to run against a great mo- nopoly ?” “I would like nothing better.’ ’ ‘ ‘ Can you obey orders?” “I can.” “If I should order you to run into a rival boat, what would you do?” “Run into her, by G .” He became a terror to steamboat men. Combinations were formed to to run him off the course, but they were all in vain. His employer was unreasonable and almost brutal. One day Vanderbilt stepped ashore — told the owner of the boat to go to the dogs — assured him that he would have a boat of his own, and would run the moneyed man off from the river, — a threat he lived to carry out. The commodore ran a boat from Elizabeth to New York. Something gave way one morning. The engi- neer said the crank was broken. The owner, who was 72 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. on board with some friends, started for the city in a wagon, and invited Vanderbilt to join the comi)any. He refused to do so, and remained with the boat. He went below^ to see wdiat was the mattel'. In thirty minutes things were put to rights and the boat headed for the Battery. She Avas half unloaded before the owner reached the city. Vanderbilt bought a house up town with all the furniture and elfects. He found a lot of railroad bonds in an old desk. He thought they w^ere worth keeping, and put them into his safe. The astonished company were notified to pay uj). The bankrupt company laughed at the request. The corporation found they had to deal with a man avIio was not to be fooled with. A compromise was effected, and the lucky buyer se- cured a golden harvest. A young man Avas put on one of the Staten Island boats as a ticket-taker. His orders were, to start on time, wait for no one, and alloAv no one to ride free. The next morning he left the commodore on the dock, walking leisurely towards the boat. He Avas sur- rounded by friends aaTio kneAv the lines Avould not be cast off till the commodore was aboard. The lines were cast off exactly on the minute, and the oAvner had the pleasure of Availing for the next boat. The auda- cious ticket- taker said Avhen he met the commodore : ‘‘ Modify your rules, if you don’t Avant to be left.” An English friend wanted me to call on the com- modore and make inquiry about a steering apparatus. I found him in his little office walking up and down with his hands in his pockets. He came to a full stop, looked me square in the face, but said nothing. “Do you knoAv Mr. “Yes.” “ HaA^e you his steering apparatus on your steamship?” “Yes.” “ What is it worth ?” “ It is not a worth a d .” THE COMMODORE'S TRAITS. 73 XXXY. THE COMMODORE’S TRAITS. HE commodore was a great judge of men. He knew where to put his money, and when to withdraw it. Months before one of the great trust companies failed Vanderbilt drew his money out. He didn’t like the looks of things. He forecast the failure of Duncan, Sherman & Co. The house paid too much for deposits to be safe. He was once a very heavy depositor in the Bank of the State of New York. He thought it shaky when everybody thought it sound. Some one asked him, ‘‘What are your rules of success T’ “I keep my own counsel and can change as often as I please. I never buy what I can’t pay for, and never sell what I have not got.” Sharp as he was, he was cauglit by the Schuyler frauds. He told the New Haven road that he would yet have a hundred cents on the dollar, and he got it. Sloan, of the Hudson River road, snubbed Vanderbilt one day, and Vanderbilt said: “IMl be your master yet.” And he had the pleasure of hand- ing Sloan his walking papers. He asked Collins to allow his steamer to take the place of a disabled boat for a single trip. Collins thought, if Vanderbilt got his foot in he would get in his whole body, and declined the proposal. “I’ll run you off the ocean,” said the enraged commodore. And he began from that moment to attack the subsidy. He did not relax his efforts till Collins’ Ocean Line was bankrupt. One of his young captains was a decided Presbyte- rian. The manager ordered him to fire up his boat to run on a Sunday excursion. He refused to do so, and 74 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. sent in liis resignation. Vanderbilt met the captain on Saturday, and invited him to come and dine with him on Sunday. The captain said, ‘‘I have got through with your line, and am going home.” He told the com- modore his story. The owner exclaimed impatiently : “The man’s a fool — we have got men enough whose principles cannot be hurt by running a Sunday boat. Go about your business ; if anybody meddles with your religion, come to me.” Vanderbilt was very proud of his horses and of his driving. It annoyed him to have any one go by him. It was a delicate piece of flattery to let the old man keep ahead. He invited an old Southern merchant to take a ride with him. He drove on the road at a break-neck speed, and crossed the track just ahead of the express train. Commodore exulted in the feat, exclaiming: “There is not another man in New York could do that.” “No,” said the frightened merchant, “ and the next time you will do it alone.” In literary matters, Vanderbilt was not much to boast of. He could write his name, and that’s about all. His name, very valuable on a check, is not much to look at. He could not speak the letter V, and always called himself Wanderbilt. A new clerk in the post-office greatly annoyed him by looking for his let- ters among the W’s. “Don’t look am^ong the W’s; look among the Wees,” said the millionaire. LUCK IK BUSINESS. 75 xxxyi. LUCK IN BUSINESS. N ricli and poor — men high and low — men wise and simple — have faith in luck. Every- thing that some men touch withers ; they buy when they should sell ; sell when they should buy ; and are always on the eve of fortunes and are always grasping at shadows. It was the rule of the Rothschilds to have nothing to do with an unlucky man or an unlucky house. Many are born to bad luck as the sparks tly upward ! They are industrious, prudent, and even religious, but never succeed. An- other class, with no more character or resolution or sense, move right on to fortune. The English express it: “If an unlucky man is a hatter, people are born without heads ; if he trades in winding-sheets, nobody dies.” The old ship Coxstitutiox was lucky in the popu- lar esteem. When seamen were pressed into other ves- sels, the old frigate could have been doubly manned by volunteers. The Scotia was a lucky ship, and her berths were engaged six months in advance. Another line is notoriously unlucky. If a steamer of this line sails, the fog will catch her, the gale will be in her teeth, she will run on to an iceberg, if there is a chance she will go ashore, if nothing else hapi)ens — a man will fall overboard. Some men will stej^ oh from the train just before a smash-up — run in vain for a steamboat that blows up — sell just before the stock goes down — and remove their deposits just before the cashier runs away with the money. 76 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Billy Yan Cott is a noted horseman, not cele- brated for any more religion than is necessary for a reputable horse jockey. He never trades on Sun- day ; he believes the day to be an unlucy one. Some gentlemen visited his stables one Sunday to look at his stock. They found the ]3roprietor in his clean linen sitting outside the stables smoking. In answer to the request that he would show his trotting stock Billy said, “Come to-morrow, gentlemen, and ITl be glad to wait on you.” The gentlemen could not come to-morrow ; they were going from the city, they must buy then or not at all. “ Then I can’t trade with you, gentlemen ; I neither buy nor sell on Sunday.” The men expressed their surprise at finding a horse-trader so scrupulous. “Tin not re- ligious,” he said, “but perhaps you would call me superstitious. Once all days were alike. I made a good trade on Sunday when I had a chance, but I never prospered ; I made a great trade one Sunday and on contract put the horses on board of a steamer before sundown. The vessel was wrecked and the whole was a total loss. I took an oath that I would never trade again on Sunday. What I can’ t do in six days I won’ t do at all. What little money I have made I have made since I formed that resolution, and I shan’t break it if I can sell every horse that I have in my stable.” A man in Maine out of bravado resolved to give Friday a fair trial. He laid the keel of a vessel, launched the craft on Friday, finished the freight on Friday, sent the vessel to sea on Friday, and she was never heard of afterwards. When it is perfectly convenient, the owner seeks some other day on which to lay the keel of his vessel. Jackson was one of the luckiest of men. By the merest accident he was elected captain of his com- LUCK IN BUSINESS. 77 pany. It was sheer luck that allowed him to be at New Orleans at all, for his command was rejected over and over again. The battle was a blunder, and the victory was won through a series of mistakes that would have ruined anybody else. Luck did for him at Nashville what years of hard toil as a lawyer under ordinary circumstances would not have done. The day he hung out his shingle, some well-connected young men, seventy -two in number, real scapegraces, got into trouble. The few lawyers in Nashville were retained against the young men, and nothing remained to the accused but to secure the services of the young advocate. Attempts were made to intimidate him, but without success. Jackson fought the thing through wdtii the daring and pluck that in after years marked his generalship at New Orleans. That day’s work settled his rank as a lawyer. A Bais'kino House in Europe took United States bonds when they were first issued. People said those men are fools ; the American government is lost. When the bonds became profitable, men exclaimed, What a lucky house ! Mason and Slidell were taken from under the British flag ; the English would demand their surrender and the United States v/ould refuse, and war was inevitable. A member of the banking house referred to said to our ministers : ‘Mf Mason and Sli- dell have been seized unlawfully, will they be re- leased U’ “ Yes.” The banker went into the market and bought up all the United States securities offered. When war was averted this forecast secured a golden harvest, and men shouted. What a lucky firm ! A Wool Merchant counted up his gains. He had six hundred thousand dollars to dispose of. He was going out of business. For the sake of a young man 78 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. wliom lie brought up, he concluded to go on one year more. The luck not only turned against him, but there seemed a conspiracy to ruin him. He continued the same style of business that had led to fortune. He was as just, as vigilant, as cautious, as before. He lost money every day and lost it on every hand. Every- body that failed owed him ; every panic stripiied him ; every Avave struck his craft ; every fire burned his goods, and finally, the young man for whose sake he continued in business stole his projierty and turned him into bankruptcy. XXXYII. KEEP UP THE STROKE. OATMEN know that to win the stroke must be kept up. The same principle applies to business. A great sugar house had fifty years of success. It relied on the old methods, and steadfastly refused to adopt modern ones. Its past success availed nothing with the new generation, and the house had to withdraw from the market. Many men fail because they leave a busi- ness they understand, and are. attracted towards one that they know nothing about. A prosperous mer- chant may ruin himself in stocks. A well-known Xew A"oi*k merchant had unbounded confidence in his own judgment. His boast was that he never made a mis- take. He saw a chance to make a fortune out of a railroad. He put in fifty thousand dollars ; he put in fifty thousand dollars to save that ; twice he could 79 KEEP TIP TEE STROKE. have got out of his troubles by sinking a hundred thousand dollars, and he would have had a fortune then. He hung on till he was utterly ruined, and he learned to his sorrow that there were no friendships in trade. Men throw on the market an article that becomes popular. Success turns their heads. If it is food, they adulterate it ; if it is cloth, they reduce the quality. In other words, they do not keep up the stroke. A celebrated band began to grow into disfavor. The leader was tired, disliked his uniform, hated to i^arade. A merchant inherited the name and fortune of an eminent house. He reversed the rules by which a for- tune was made. He sunk the house in seven years in disgrace, and tied the country to avoid punishment. ’Tis the common remark, that men who trade in adulterated goods are seldom a success. The busi- ness of adulterating food is very largely carried on in a great city. Mustard is made of yellow ochre, poor ]3epper, and terra-alba. Tlie pepper of commerce is made of maggott}^ hard-tack and bad crackers, brought home from a long, long voyage. While this style of business invariably leads to ruin, the old spice house in Hutch street has never made nor sold an ounce of impure spice, and has made the fortune of two or three generations. All boatmen know the value of keeping up the stroke. Hepute is nothing. Practice is nothing. But a long, steady, con- tinuous stroke, does the work. It is the same in trade. IMo past popularity, no fame earned by a lifetime will avail, if men do not keep to the front, and keep up the stroke. 80 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS.. XXXYIII. DARLING KEEPS A HOTEL. LFRED B. DARLING began liis hotel life in the Broomfield House, Boston, kept by Selden Crockett. He was a hall -boy at twelve dollars a month. Crockett took a great interest in the capable and ambitious lad. Crockett said to him, ‘‘Alfred, if you will get up early ril take you to market and show you how to buy.” He outran his teacher, and the market men said : “ You had better stay at home, Crockett ; the boy can buy better than you can.” Stevens wanted an assis- tant, and Crockett recommended Darling. He spent a summer at Newport. He became a clerk at the Ge- rard House, Philadelphia, and everywhere showed great capacity for hotel life. In 1858, Stevens sent Darling to Mobile to take charge of the Mobile House. The salary was thirty-five hundred dollars a year, and a small interest in the business. The house was filled with planters and their families, who demanded sumptuous fare and expensive wines. The business was a great success. Every night Darling telegraphed to Stevens the profit and loss of the day. Darling saw the storm-cloud at the South ; sold everything, and started for the North. His golden cargo entered the Narrows as the hurricane burst over the land. There was room for him at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. He soon became a i^roprietor, and the firm divided in one year, as profits, four hundred and forty thousand dollars. PARAN STEVENS. 81 XXXIX. PARAX STEVENS. TEVENS began life as a stable-boy in Ver- mont. When quite a young man lie went to Boston and kept a small stage tavern. The Revere House was otfered at a low rent, without takers, in 1847. Men said there was no money in it ; ’twas too stylish for Boston, and would ruin any man who attempted to run it. Stevens took the lease and oiiened the Revere at an auspicious time. The water was introduced and the city was thronged ; every hotel was full, and the Revere House had its share. The rooms were elegant, the table sumptuous, the price reasonable, and the multitude spread the fame of the Revere all over the land. Stevens made the house what it has been ever since — the foremost hotel in Boston. The Fifth Avenue Hotel was unfinished, boarded up, wore the look of general dilapidation, and was known as ‘‘Eno’s Folly.” Stevens, in 1859, took a lease of the hotel and obligated himself to finish and open it in a given time. Stevens, as he rode up and down in the omnibus, had the benefit of the popular opinion : ‘‘That fellow is a fool; he’ll soon come to grief;” “I’ll give him ninety days to fail in ; ” “ He might as well open a hotel at Sandy Hook.” The hotel was finished, was opened, and became an immediate suc- cess. Stevens said to me one day: “ It has been my ambition to do everything better than anybody else. I groomed my horses well when I was a stable-boy, and many a dollar has found its way into my ]30cket from gratified owners. I have always attended personally 83 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS, to my own business. I have never trusted any one when it has been my duty to look after the thing my- self. I kept out of debt, and neither drank nor gambled. I never owed a dollar in my life that I could not pay on time. In my hotel I bought low and close, and gave the customers the benefit of my bargains. Cream is as cheap as milk, and I always bought the best. I gave my guests their money’s worth, and gave them whatever they wanted.” XL. HE WILL WIX. WO engineers were in a depot. One of them was a merry fellow, smoking and laughing with the crowd. He was a good hand as engineers go, ran a freight engine and di- vided his work with the fireman. The other engineer was burnishing his engine with some cotton stuff. He was well-educated and smart, evidently muscular, though slim and somewhat frail. He asked for the position of brakeman. The superintendent told him that he wouldn’t like the business, it was rough, dirty and dangerous. He was not stout enough — the first time he attempted to ^‘down brakes,” he would be thrown off from the platform. The young man thought otherwise, and pressed his request for the position. He soon knew how to make up the train. He then ran an engine on short routes, doing everything skillfully and everything well. He was always at work, oiling. ACCIDENTAL SUCCESS. 83 polishing, tightening the screws and keeping his engine in order. The superintendent asked him one day if he purposed to spend his days as an engineer ? He an- swered, ‘‘No sir. I purpose to be a superintendent and know everything from the driving of a spike to the opening of a throttle-valve.” XLI. ACCIDENTAL SUCCESS. CCESS, like greatness, is thrust on one man ; it comes not at the earnest wooing of another. Inventions that have changed the world and made the fortune of thousands, were purely accidental. A spark of a candle on chemicals gave us gunpowder. Goodyear’s neglected skillett, heated red hot, gave us vulcanized rubber. The casual rubbing of a piece of glass revealed elec- tricity. The skin of a frog suggested Galvanism. The vibration of a chandelier at Florence taught Galileo the uses of the pendulum. Bits of glass put together to amuse children originated the telescope. The ac- cidental putting of a tube over a lamp gave us the argand burner. What men call accident is often the fruit of years of careful study, patient endurance and devotion. The Duke of Wellington through all his military studies was mindful of little things. He was laughed at when a cadet for his fussiness. His victories in after-life were mainly attributable to that trait in his character. He never went into battle 84 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. without looking after the knapsacks of his men, saw that every buckle was in place, and that the linch-pins were right. After a victory he expected a surprise, was always prepared for it, and never caught napping. The night before the battle of Waterloo he was at a ball. No one saw signs of that fatal conflict. Before he laid his head on his pillow at night, he was ready for the storm of battle that beat upon him so fiercely the next morning. The fall of an apple was sufficient to reveal to Newton the law of gravitation. The fall of a pumpkin would suggest to some men nothing but a poultice. A kite string gave us practical electricity ; but years of hard study prepared Franklin for his great discovery. The fleet with which Perry drove the British from the great lakes was a forest when war was declared. The sailors felled the trees, hewed the timbers, laid the keels, finished and manned the skips, and hauled to the mast-head the famous motto : ‘-‘We have met the enemy and he is ours.” An emi;n'ent English lawyer studied years to gain a position at the bar. He had little success. He rode several circuits without a brief. A friend gave him a case because it was hopeless. There was an immense amount of property in the suit, and the whole depended on the date of a borough which could not be found. The young lawyer went to work as if his life reputation depended upon winning. He remembered that it was the custom of Sir Christopher W ren to place the date of his churches on the key-stone. This borough had in it one of Wren’s churches. All efforts to find the date were in vain. The young counselor had an im- pression that the date must be behind the command- ments and the creed. He bribed the sexton, worked nights, chipped away the plaster, found the date, won, ACCIDENTAL SUCCESS. 85 and worked his way up to the woolsack. He used to humorously say that his success began with the break- ing of all the commandments on one night. Wachtel, the great singer, was clerk in a mercan- tile house. He w^as exact in small things ; whatever he undertook he did well. He was a superb rider, and was very popular as a tenor singer. A nobleman who was attracted by his voice and horsemanship, invited him to a soiree. He modestly declined to sing in a quartette, because he was not in practice, though he could sing better than any one in the room. The nobleman was pleased with his diffidence, knew that he had in him the elements of a great singer, furnished funds to send him to Rome, that he might enjoy a first-class education. He devoted himself exclusively to study, avoided all society, worked more hours than a porter, and refused all offers to sing in society, until the masters pro- nounced him the most finished tenor in Europe. The very famous Mrs. Howard worked her way up into society. She resolved to shine at court. She had neither patron nor friend. Her education had been sadly neglected. She had talent, resolution, and au- dacity. The few" that knew her, j^raised her fine black tresses. These she cut off, imrtly to keep herself out of society, and partly to obtain funds to employ a teacher. In the solitude of her garret she made her- self one of the most brilliant and fascinating women of her age. Her indomitable energy and pluck secured for her the position she coveted. Lady Walpole was in disgrace at court. The new Queen was to receive, and all unbidden, her ladyship Ijressed her way to the Presence Chamber. She 86 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. elbowed her passage through the crowd amid the jeers and scoffs of the courtiers. An accidental surging oi the crowd pushed Lady Walpole to the very footstool. The Queen ordered her to advance, tendered her her hand for a salute, and ordered her to take her place among the nobles that surrounded her. The lady said : — ‘‘ When I came away, had I wished, I could have walked over the heads of the fools.’’ Gov. Clive, as a boy, was wild and reckless. No- body could control or tame him. He was the terror of the shop-keepers of the town. Marching at the head of vagrant lads, he exacted tribute from everyone. Be- fore he was ten years of age he climbed the tall steeple of the Marnette Church. Hie father regarded him as a vagrant, and shipped him off, to die of the fever in Madras. He exchanged his pen for a sword, became the great statesman and cajjtain, and saved to the British their possessions in India. Long after the English nation were wild with enthusiasm over his name, his father — father-like — refused to believe that ‘‘Bob Clive” would ever come to anything but a gibbet. Lokd Melbourne Avas opposed a member of the Cabinet because he lacked nerve and was a dandy. He lacked decision, and was not fit to receive a port- folio. In spite of his unpopularity he became a secre- tary. A mob one hundred thousand strong came to his office to jjresent a petition. There was an ominous threat in the number. The secretary opened the win- dow, looked down on the seething crowd, and said in a clear strong voice, without a quiver in it, “ There are too many of you.” He closed the window and re- tired. That settled the question of courage. The mob, ACCIDENTAL SUCCESS. 87 staggered by tbe boldness and audacity of the act, re- * tired. Sir Astley Cooper was born a surgeon. When a lad he picked up a boy by the wayside who had fallen from a cart, and seemed likely to bleed to death, and staunched and bound up the wound in so artistic a manner as to command the approval of the first sur- geons of the age. He was apprenticed to an apothe- cary and soon mastered the business. He was distin- guished for independence and boldness, and never shrank from any case offered to him. George TV. had a tumor and the London surgeons were afraid to touch the king. Sir Astley was sent for. He looked on the king and said : “I shall hack and cut your majesty as if you were a plowman.” His benevolence was equal to his courage. No poor person was ever turned from his door without assistance. In the mountains of Bis- cay the wild followers of Don Carlos allowed a party to pass without molestation when they exhibited the sig- nature of Sir Astley Cooper. The fame of Kirke White as a poet rests on a single hymn. He was jeered at by critics as a maker of poor verses. His critics are dead and forgotten. White immortalized himself by his hymn: “When marshalled on the Nightly Plain,” written on a boat, by the light of a dim lantern, on a dark and stormy night, as the poet was rowed along the cost from head- land to headland. CiiANTREY was a stone-mason. He had a taste for chiseling, and his early efforts were rude enough. His ambition to be an artist excited general ridicule. He worked in poverty and neglect for many years, was utterly friendless, and nearly starved. He accidentally 88 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. formed the acquaintance of Rogers, the poet. The banker poet lived in too grand style to cultivate very intimately the acquaintance of a struggling sculptor. One night Rogers was called to his door ; Chantrey stood there with a chest of drawers on his back, which he had made. ‘‘You must buy this,” the sculptor said, “or I shall starve.” Rogers helped Chantrey to introduce a bust into the Academy. Chantrey was still a stone-mason in the estimation of artists, and his work was put in a mean place. Nollekins stood at the head of his profession at that time. He came into the Academy one day, and as his manner was, he looked this way and looked that. His eye fell on Chantrey’ s bust. He exclaimed: “That’s line; the maker must be known. Remove one of my busts and put this in its place ; it well deserves it.” That kindly act gave Chantrey his position. Scott was unknown to fame until he was over forty. He wrote Waverley in 1806 . The critics con- demned it, and he threw the manuscript into a rubbish drawer, where it reposed seven years. Searching for fishing tackle, Scott unearthed the story. The critics still condemned it, and it slumbered on till 1816 , when its publication astonished the world. Dll. Petek Parker, when quite a youth, devoted himself to the missionary cause, and selected China as his field of labor. To make himself useful he studied both theology and medicine. The doctors refused to license him because he was too much of a minister ; the ministers refused to license him because he was too much of a doctor. He was very resolute and persist- ent. He finally obtained his diploma as a doctor and a preacher. His medical knowledge gave him access to the people, and his skill in the treatment of the eye, ACCIDENTAL SUCCESS. 89 opened for him the imperial palace. He proved one of the most influential missionaries the American Board ever sent into the fleld. Judge Bradley, — still called by the Schoharie boys Jo Bradley,” — of the U. S. supreme court, was born in Schoharie county. His father was a charcoal-burner, and the boy was intended for the same rugged calling. Without help or friends the boy undertook to educate himself ; by the glaring light of the coal-pits he fitted himself for college, fought his way through, and earned the eminent rank he now holds. Turner, the eminent artist, was the son of a barber, whose specialty was a ‘‘penny a shave.” The boy had a natural taste for colors. His earliest efforts with very rude tools was drawing the emblazoned arms on a lordly mansion. A gentleman sitting in his fathers shop was struck with his genius, and presented him with a box of paints. He worked steadily and alone in his father’s garret. A painter offered him six cents a night for washing in India ink. He thankfully ac- cepted the offer. The result of that engagement fol- lowed him through life. His own words are: “I learned to earn guineas by that midnight toil. I never slobbered over my work because I was ill-paid. When 1 worked at all I worked well. I was not toiling for a living when I got six cents a night ; I was learn- ing to be an artist.” The softness that marked Turner’s work, which was the envy of artists, was acquired by those nights of drudgery. Bishop Whipple, of Minnesota, was an accidental bishop. He was assigned to a mission fleld in Chicago, with no more prospect of being an American bishop than he had of being elevated to the arch- 90 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS, bishop’s chair in Canterbury. He was an intense worker with a marvelous amount of magnetism. He was a sort of Peter the Hermit among the lowly, and had the faculty of filling every thing he preached in. A convention was called to elect a missionary bishojj. Dr. Tucker, of Troy, and Dr. Patterson, of Chicago, were prominent candidates. After several ballots, the convention was a tie. A solitary vote was cast every time for a Hev. Mr. Whipple. The vote was traced to Dr. Patterson. This vote was thrown, not to elect Whipple, but to defeat Tucker. The con- vention called on Dr. Patterson to give some account of his candidate. He did so, and the statement was so favorable that Mr. Whipple was elected on the next ballot, to the surprise of every one. Bishop Whipple j)roved himself equal to the honors conferred upon him. Patriarchal in look, long hair prematurely gray, head and shoulders above most men, he is a man of indomitable force and rare executive ability. His diocese is a feeble one ; but he entered it as a farmer enters a tough field — to subdue it. He can turn his hand to anything — beg and collect donations, cut out clothing for his assistants, and is equally at home in a miner’s tent or a mud hovel, comforting the emigrants, or thrilling an audience in a cathedral. Dii. PuiDEAux was the great scholar of his age. He proposed to educate himself. He walked from his own cabin to Oxford, a distance of two hundred miles, with his bundle slung over his shoulder. During his long tramp he lived on bread and water, and slept in barns and under the hedges. He entered college as a menial ; scoured pots and pans and did the dirty work of the kitchen. While he was engaged in this drudg- ery, his book w^as ahvays open before him, and he kept at the head of his class. His gentle spirit and faithful- ACCIDENTAL SUCCESS. 91 ness won Mm the love and esteem of all. He sought the position of parish clerk, and was greatly mortified when it was given to another. In after years he was used to say : — ‘‘Had I won the clerkship of Ugborongh I never should have been Bishop of Worcester.” He entered Oxford as a “poor scholar,” and graduated with distiuguished honors. A Young Man worked in the Swamp in New York. The church of which he was a member proposed to remove a debt, and his name was put down for twenty- live dollars. He was not worth that sum, but was ashamed to make his poverty known. At the close of his day’s work he went on to the dock to think matters over. He saw a musk rat. He shied a stone at it and killed it. He took off the skin, and half in banter, half in earnest, showed it to a furrier who was a friend of his. He learned that tiie skin of muskrats had a market value. He saw a business opened before him which lie immediately took in hand. He prospered in it, and was able to make his church a centennary offer- ing of fifty thousand dollars. A Farmer’s son got a place in a mercantile house. His clothes were home- spun and his boots country- made. The boys made fun of him, and he begged his father to give him a better suit. “My son,” said the father, “if you want better clothes, earn them.” The lad became a merchant, and died the other day, leaving a fortune of half a million. Stephen Gerard helped those who helped them- selves. On his way to the bank he was attracted by a young bricklayer who attended strictly to his work. After the business was completed the young man called at the bank and asked Mr. Gerard for work. The 92 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. banker ordered him to wheel a pile of stones from one end of the yard to the other ; he came for his pay. ‘ ‘ How much ? ” ‘ ‘ One dollar, sir. ” “ That’ s honest ; you take no advantage ; come to-morrow.” For one full week those stones were wheeled from one, end of the garden to the other. On Saturday the mechanic was called into the bank. Gerard said : ‘‘I like you ; you shall be my man ; you mind your own business ; you do whatever I tell you ; you ask no questions ; got a wife ? ” “Yes, sir. ” “ Any little chicks ? ” “ Five. ’ ’ “ Here are are five pieces of money for your five little chicks. You shall never want work any more.” Judge Seward gave William a thousand dollars, sent him to college, and told him he must graduate on that. He came home at the end of the Freshman year, out of pocket, and with habits more ornamental than useful. As the vacation neared its close the judge told his son it was time to return to college. The young man informed his father that he had no money. “ You’ve got all that I can give you,” said the father. “You can’t stay around here. You must work your own way through.” The young man went on his way, graduated at the head of his class, became eminent in law, filled the office of Governor and Senator, and became the most famous Secretary of State since the days of Madison. PROVERBS OF TRADE. 93 XLII. PEOYERBS OF TRADE. ROYERBS hold the wisdom of nations. Substantially they are the same in all ages. The aphoristic sayings of Solomon are re- peated in Egypt, Arabia, Hindostari, and the Islands of the Sea. They commend Honor, Justice, Industry, Integrity and Yirtue. Whatever the life of a nation may be, Rs proverbs are right. Proverbial sayings are the common coin of the world, and pass from one generation to anotner. The tomes of the learned x)erish, but the pithy utterances are immortal. ‘‘Shoot him on the spot.” “England expects every man to do his duty.” “Don’t give up the ship.” “ We’ve met the enemy and he is ours.” “ The King never dies,” — with other aphoristic sayings will live while history endures. Out of thousands of proverbs, we select a few. “ Give me neither poverty nor riches.” Poverty leads to theft ; money to denying God. “A fool uttereth all his mind, but a wise man keepeth it till afterwards.” Keep your own counsel. ‘ ‘ Bray a fool in a mortar with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.” He is incorrigible, will be a fool still. “Give me room to sit down, and I’ll find room to lie down.” A man should make his own place. “ When the tale of brick is doubled, Moses comes.” Never despair. 94 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. ‘‘He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife be- longing not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.” Keep out of other peoples’ broils. “ Remove not the old land-marks.” Be honest. “ Riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away. ’ ’ W ealth is insecure. “ Buy the truth and sell it not.” Hold on to prin- ciple. “He that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.” Evil company is ruinous. “ Thy father’s friend forsake not.” Tried advisers are best. “A man that hath friends must show himself friendly.” A man must give as well as take. “He that is greedy of gain trouble th his own house.” Avarice is an unwelcome lodger. “ It is not meet to see servants on horses, and princes walking.” There is a fitness in things. “ If the iron be blunt and he do not whet the edge then must he put to more strength.” Wisdom will direct. “ Birds are caught in a snare ; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time.” Temptations carry men under. “ Riches kept for the OAvners thereof to their hurt.” Wealth ruins more than poverty. “ A man diligent in his business shall stand before kings.” There is profit in labor. PROVERBS OF TRADE, 95 ‘‘The inills of the gods grind slow, but they grind fine.” Retributive justice is sure. “The feet of the gods are shod with wool.” Dis- asters don’t herald their coming. “A diamond with a flaw is better than a pebble without.” A talented man with a foible is better than a stupid man with none. “ A fool will do in the end, what a wise man will do in the beginning.” A prudent man foreseeth the evil. “ A stone fit for the wall is not long out of place.’’ Talent will make room for itself. “Draw the snake from the hole with somebody else’s hand.” Profit by the folly of others. “ Don’t give your flour to the devil, and your bran to God.” Waste not your strength on your appetites. “ It is better to boil over, than not to boil at all.” Mediocrity never wins. “ He who says what he likes, will hear what he does not like.” “Better the child weep than the mother.” “ Of the word unspoken. Thou art master.’ “ Evil from thy mouth falls into thine own bosom.” “ Tell thy friend nothing that thine enemy may not hear.” “In prosperity no altars smoke.” “Men cut broad' thongs from other men’s leather.” 96 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. XLIII. MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK. Located at No. 144 Broadway., City of New York. OREMOST among the attractive public build- ings of New York, stands the headquarters of the Mutual Life. It is elegant in situa- tion, attractive and costly, and at once ar- rests the attention of visitors. This company is the great cash company of the metropolis. It handles more money, makes heavier loans, and transacts more business in money, than any institution in the State. Its style of doing business is seen in the fact, that its magnificent headquarters — which would rent easily for $50,000 a year — are rent-free to the company. The portion of the building not wanted by the Mutual Life is rented at a sum sufficient to defray the interest on the entire cost. The fame of the company for integrity, liberality, economy and success, has spread over the land and over the sea. No accident, no luck, no speculation, has given the company its marvelous prosperity. It has earned it by industry, indomitable perseverance, and by securing the confidence of the public, which is and ever has been its business capital. The Start . — The company had no patron. On the 2nd day of February, 1843, it began work, and issued its first policy. Its headquarters was a desk-room in a back law office in Wall street. It had two officers ; one had a salary of $800 a year, the other worked for nothing. The caj^ital could have been carried in a man’s vest pocket ; its business in a man’s hat. The MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. 97 first premium was $102. With this cash basis the concern began its career. Its present cash assets have reached the astounding figures of nearly eighty millions. The Mutual Life, being the original company, had the fate of all pioneers. It had to battle with igno- rance and bigotry. Little was known of life insurance, and that little was not liked. During its long career, the Company has never halted. Its prosperous march has never been arrested or impeded. Panics, civil war, business reverses. Black Friday, and financial tornados have shaken the foundations of commercial life, top- pled down the heaviest houses and swept out of exis- tence honorable institutions. These have never embar- rassed the workings of the Company, nor shaken its credit. On its fair business fame, during the thirty years of its operation, no stain has ever been cast. The State officials have borne affluent testimony to the hon- orable career of the Mutual Life. The commanding position of life insurance to-day is due, so the officials say, to the course pursued by this Company. The Foundation Capital . — Men and institutions stand on character. Certain styles of goods lead the market. The brand of these houses has a market value. Third-rate and second-rate institutions must take a third or second-rate rank. It is possible for companies to obtain a temporary success. Banks and bankers, insurance companies, life and fire, without credit and without integrity, seem to prosper for a while. The race is a short one. A lightning express train, with the locomotive off, runs on a while without per- ceptible abatement of speed. But a heavy grade tells a story. The Mutual Life did not start to be a great institu- tion, nor to be a rival to any one. It started to do a safe business, a business based on industry and integ- rity. It purposed to be a foremost institution in intel- 7 98 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. ligence, honesty, and ability. It has lived to see hun- dreds of institutions that were famous when it was weak and unknown, pass out of sight. Its rule of business has been the common sense rule of success. Men who invest in real estate want to know if the title is good. There are eminent real estate lawyers in the city without whose approval prudent men will not ac- cept a title. Men who make large deposits select a bank whose credit is unquestionable, and whose man- agers are above suspicion. Men who insure early, and carry a policy for a lifetime, select, if they are pru- dent, an institution whose credit has survived the re- verses of a generation. A man who loves his wife and children desires that his widow shall inherit the money that is laid up for her, and not a lawsuit. What changes thirty years show ! The millionaire banker who sneered at the idea of insuring his life for twenty thousand dollars, and who said, in the pride of his heart, “ I will turn my thousands into millions,” left his children penniless. The rich broker, whose letter of credit was good at London or Berlin, became bankrupt. Men are in subordinate positions to-day who were once merchant princes, and builded up a fortune and a name by toil and capacity. Trust companies, whose rolls of directors contain names the most honorable in the city, have not only lost their entire capital, but have carried dismay and ruin into a thousand homes. Savings banks, after years of honorable repute and success, have had their whole capital stolen, thus robbing the widow and wronging the fatherless. Such disasters can never happen to the patrons of the Mutual Life. Its style of business, the guards thrown around its investments, the laws by which it is regulated, make the bonds of this company as safe as those of the U. S. Government itself. Besides the ample security afforded to all de- MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. 99 positors, rich or poor, the policy-holders are partners, and share in the company’s gigantic earnings. Why the Mutual Life Leads . — In every line of bus- iness some house must lead. In railroads somebody will be king. On ’change some voice will be potent. One or two men on the street can shake the market when they will. In a gigantic lawsuit it is known be- forehand that certain advocates will be engaged. In cases of extreme peril certain medical men will be sum- moned, though a thousand miles away. There are not a dozen banking houses in which an operator would keej:) on deposit four millions. But there are such houses. They have earned their position by years of integrity. A rich corporation, resolute in its purpose to fight to the bitter end, paid its opponent half a mil- lion, and took the suit out of court, on the opinion of a lawyer of repute that the company had no case. Alongside of these successful men and successful in- stitutions, in the forefront, is the Mutual Life. It has earned its position. It is the oldest wholly mutual company in the land. AVithout controversy, it is the most reliable and the most successful. It can com- mand all improvements, and can issue all forms of policies that promise safety and profit. It is run on the line of true economy. Its immense assets, gigantic earnings, and huge business, enable it to offer its pro- tection cheaper than the so-called cheap societies. During all the years of its life, no calamity or disaster has touched it. ISo advantage is taken of technical- ities. A liberal policy is adopted, and in all cases the insured have the benefit of a doubt. No widow pleads with tears for the little j)ittance to keep the wolf from the door. The Mutual Life a Benefactor . — It is not a genial thing to pioneer reform. Men resist changes, and are slow to receive new improvements. Generally people 100 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. liad ratlier bear the ills they have, than fly to others that they know not of. The populace usually fight an innovation, and curse the innovator. The crowd that saw Fulton off in his steamboat jeered and hooted, and hoped that he would fail. Harvey was rewarded for his discovery of the circulation of the blood by the loss of practice, and nearly the loss of life. Waterhouse introduced vaccine. He dared not go out at nights. A crowd surrounded his house to mob him, and give him a coat of tar and feathers. Life insurance was not popular at the start. It was denounced as a lottery and a game of chance with Di- vine Providence. It tempted Grod, and presaged an early death. High up among the names of eminent benefactors will be found that of Alfred Pell. The system of life insurance, as he stated it, was the forma- tion of a company based on the average of deaths. The company to insure its own members, the premiums to be the capital. All the earnings and XDroflts to be divided among the policy-holders. Taking this sys- tem, the Mutual Life began its career. It battled ignorance, bigotry and prejudice. It secured the best ability, and set up a high standard of business honor. It purposed to deserve public confidence ; to win cus- tom and keep it ; to fix the company on the solid basis of public esteem. With a capital of eighty millions, it walks by the same rule that it did when its funds amounted to $102, the amount of the first premium. Fraud in Trade . — At home and abroad men are victims to frauds. Travelers in Europe take letters of credit on mushroom institutions, who promised to do business under the accustomed rates. These find them- selves often penniless in a strange land. In London and Paris gaudy establishments spring up and entrap the unwary. Those who prefer glare and glitter to solid safety are caught. Dingy banking-houses with MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. 101 a half century’s repute upon them are passed by. When the crash comes, patrons find that jiromises are one thing, security another. Great business houses are often at their wits’ end, with all their tact and shrewdness, to prevent imposition. In life insurance officials have to be specially watchful. Diseased men try to pass for sound subjects. Men cheat in their age ; they hide hereditary taints ; disguise their phys- ical condition ; will pass the doctor and try to insure another person. All departments of trade feel these attempts to de- ceive. Ingenious devices are introduced. Banks suf- fer from forgeries, from raising checks and bonds. These devices are subtle and dangerous. Men and women make a trade of cheating. Pastors give money to furnish food for the starving that are full ; and to furnish a coffin and a shroud for persons who are not dead. Fraud has little chance in the Mutual Life. A sickly person is not likely to be insured in place of a stout healthy one. Cunningly-executed certificates of death will not pass. The relatives of pretended dead men seldom obtain money. Life Insurance not a Hazard . — The laws of storms and tides are certain. But not more so than the basis of life insurance. Old Probabilities makes his an- nouncement on the basis of the law of average. Life insurance rests on accurate calculations. A certain number will die young, a certain number die in old age. An average number will die in a generation. A certain number of deaths will occur in every ten years. The law of average will hold good in all life. An av- erage number in ten years will be drowned, or be burned to death, or be crushed under the wheels, or be run away with, or be swept off by pestilence or fever. The average number of careless i^eople in the land can be counted. The number of letters flung into the post- 102 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. office without superscription or stamp keeps pace with the increase of population in all the large cities. Life insurance does not pretend to forecast what man or woman will die within a certain period ; but the num- ber that will die can be accurately estimated. The law of gravitation is not more invariable. Business Reverses . — In the violent commercial pan- ics and reverses, a well-managed life insurance com- jiany seems to be the only thing that panics and re- verses cannot shake. Banks blow up. Men witlf mil- lions fail. Trust companies are vainer things for safety than princes. Men who have enjoyed the confidence of the business world for years disapjiear in a night with the funds of others in their trunks. Men cry out : “ Whom can we trust The security which the Mutual Life offers is ample. Men now insure to live. They make an investment in life insurance that they may have an elegant support in age. The shrewdest and most successful men carry the heaviest policies. It is a common thing for active merchants to insure for $10,000, or even $50,000. Some men have carried policies as high as $250,000. But men want ample security who make an investment like this. Every man is liable to reverses who is in trade. ISio man risks a venture at sea without taking into ac- count storms and huricanes. The stoutest barque succumbs to the cyclone. To all business men there are disasters that no foresight can predict, and no skill avert. A merchant died the other day — a member of one of our most resputable houses. Nobody placed his for- tune at less than one million and a half. His burial was very grand. His casket was lined with satin and covered with black velvet. The fioral decorations were ver}^ costly. The undertaker warned the widow not to fling her money away. The bill for the coffin has MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. 103 not been settled, nor liave the flowers been paid for. The rich man died a bankrupt. A merchant took out a handsome policy when he was a young man. Reverses came upon him, and he could not pay his premium. He went to the oflice to see what settlement he could make. To his great sur- prise and joy, he found that the policy could take care of itself. The earnings of the company not only car- ried the policy, but added a handsome sum to the original. Four thousand dollars lay in the bank. The owner made up his mind to take out an Endowment policy. Other counsels prevailed. He tells the story thus : was temiDted to go on the street. I lost my money, and am ruined.” On one of our ferryboats can be seen daily a man who is prematurely old. His walk is sad and slow. He keeps apart from men, a hermit in the midst of a crowd. He retired from business with an ample for- tune. He was fond of speculation, and the cotton trade had a great fascination for him. A man made his acquaintance who ^‘knew all about cotton.” A business arrangement was entered into. The man who had “run a plantation ” was to reside in New Orleans, buy and ship cotton. The capitalist was to remain in the city, cash the drafts, and sell the merchandise. It was the old story ; on one side misplaced confidence, on the other fraud. The fortune melted away like snow from a hillside in April. The poor fellow was stripped of every dollar. His brain reeled under the misfortune. In his sunny days he could have taken out an endowment that would have stood between him and want and despondency. Life Insurance as an Investment . — It was a grand service to bring forward life insurance as as a safe and profitable investment. The intelligent and beneficent 104 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. improvements enable a policy-holder to invest for his own good, as well as that of his family. Under the shield of this company a policy-holder can travel abroad, enjoy iiictures and statuary, live elegantly, and even if reverses overtake him, can have an ample reserve for age. The old objection is nailed to the counter, that in life insurance ‘^one must die to win.” A man may spend all his income, yet with a sound policy to be paid to himself at a given time, the future is secure. By one form of policy a man may be rich at lifty, when most he needs money. A mean, nig- gardly, seltish spirit, that prevents a man from insur- ing will prevent success. ‘‘A half a cent ruined him, and he did not know it.” This was said of one who failed. He was sharp, grinding and 'exacting. He always got the best of the bargain. In making change the half cent was always in his favor. He was smart, and could look out for number one. Had he flung in the half cent as an advertisement — cheerily allowed others to share in his prosperity — had he possessed largeness of heart, he would have crystallized round him these other elements that would have carried him to success. His meanness carried him down. Personale . — Elegant as the central offices are in ex- ternal api^earance, they bear no comparison with the quiet and subdued beauty of the interior. The rooms are fitted up in artistic style, such a style as is befitting a society that is the special guardian of widows and orphans. Without confusion, turmoil or excitement, the great business of the company runs like a well-ad- justed machine. Courtesy and jDoliteness is the rule of the house. A merchant opened an account with one of our banks, and deposited $42,000. He said to the presi- dent, “ I have not come to your bank simply because I believe my money will be safe. It was safe in the MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. 105 Bank, where I have deposited for twenty-five years. But I want to do business with you because you are civil. The cashier of my former bank is smart but impudent. I called at the bank to-day to do some business with the cashier ; I laid my hat on his desk, which, perhaps, I ought not to have done. He looked at me with the air of eighty millions, and said with an imperious wave of the hand, ‘Take that hat off, sir.'^ I removed the hat. The official then said, ‘ ITl now hear wliat you have to say.’ ‘ I have nothing to say to you,’ I replied. I went to the bookkeeper, had my account made up, and I propose never again to cross the threshold of the institution.” No such complaint can be made against the officials of the Mutual Life. The President, Vice-President and Secretary, who are brought into immediate personal connection with the throng that fills the central offices, are patterns of politeness, with whom it is a ifieasure to do business. The heads of the various departments are not only talented but polite. The employees are expected to. be not only smart but civil. Eight hours a day is all that is required of the subordinates ; but the Presi- dent has no limit to his labor. He arrives early and remains late. He has full and complete oversight of the immense business of his company. He looks to every investment, and examines personally every check. The recent failure of a large trust company re- vealed the fact that the directors attended to their own business ; the i3resident was employed outside, and that the concern was run by a mere boy, who had every facility to steal. This line of business is in marked contrast with the active vigilance of the Presi- dent of the Mutual Life Insurance Company. 106 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. XLIY. FOLKS OX THE PACIFIC COAST. USIXESS OUTLOOK. — California, though scarcely thirty years old, exhibits the same elements of success that mark the older portions of the country. Talents that win on the Atlantic coast win on the Pacific seaboard. Traits that carry men under elsewhere ruin men on the Golden coast. The rich men of California are very rich. They are few in number. The railroad magnates are millionaires ; there are four of them, but one is not. A few men own all the farms. They buy land, but never sell. The great mass are hewers of wood and drawers of water. A ranche of three hundred thou- sand acres, a herd of fifteen thousand cattle and ten thousand sheep are not uncommon. Wheat-fields thirty miles long one man claims for his own. Every- thing is a monopoly. Four men control the gold market. One man has the monopoly of gas and ice. Friedlander is king of the grain market. Lux and Miller are the princes of cattle men ; they cannot count their herds nor name their miles of j)asture. There is hardly a rich man in California that has not failed many times and tried his hand at a dozen things before he was pronounced a success. General Williams came across the Plains ; he landed in San Francisco penniless and unknown. He turned his hand to anything that would give him bread. He drifted into the law. A client gave him some worth- less stock as a fee. He threw it into his safe and it was regarded of no acconnt. The despised stock was Con- FOLKS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 107 solidated Virginia. It lifted the general into a million- aire. Michael Reese is the money-lender of the coast. He is as mean as dirt. He eats at third-class restau- rants, because there is no fourth. On his way up to fortune he has been dragged through the mud and mire of a great city. His great passion is gain. Yet he sometimes does a nice thing. He loaned the Bank of California in its extremity one million dollars. When Flood and O’Briex were keeping a rum- shop, their horse was groomed by a Mr. Finegan. He took good care of the animal. Oat of gratitude for his fidelity in small things. Flood gave him a hint when the Bonanza Mine bloomed. Finegan took the hint and came out of the experiment owning two millions. He is a ruddy, florid Irishman, about forty — with the culture and refinement of a horseman. General Redington turned his hands to all sorts of things before he made a fortune. His history shows the value of putting this and that together. He was a dealer in quicksilver. The demand for this article in mining is limited. The Bonanza men gave Redington an order for a large amount. He thought something was the matter. He filled the order — went out on the street and bought stock, and secured a fortune of four hundred thousand dollars. Alonzo Haywood was flat broke. He could not get trusted for a sack of flour or a piece of bacon. Without these he could not prospect. He begged hard for one more indulgence. With his bacon on his shoulder, and his flour under his arm, he started for the mines. He was not seen for a month. When he returned he was a millionaire. 108 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Baldwin, of California, is known as ‘‘Lucky Baldwin.” He is a “jack at all trades,” and a suc- cess everywhere. He was a farmer, a blacksmith, and a stable-keeper. He has run a grocery, owns a hotel. He managed a theater. He appeared as a boatman on a canal at St. Louis. He became a perambulating tradesman. He made his wagons in the shape of boats to cross rivers. He drove a spirited trade with the saints at Salt Lake City in tobacco and rum. He ex- changed his wagons for mules and packed them for the coast, trading all the way. His luck shadowed him over the Plains. He was just behind a party who were scalped. He was a little ahead of a party who were robbed. The Indians stole everybody’s horses but his. He reached San Francisco in the morning, and before night had imrchased a temjierance hotel. Other things failing him, he went to brick- making and made a handsome profit. Ophir was ruining everybody. Baldwin tried his hand at it and made eighteen millions. His moral status is not high. He is about fifty, tall, wiry, slim, dark, nervous and energetic. Darius 0. Mills is best known as the President of the Bank of California. For a while he was sub- ordinate to Balston. He was greatly indebted to Ralston for his business success. His friendship did not blind him to Ralston’s faults. He left the bank, and in so doing, greatly raised his own credit. Mills is a fortunate man. He is not rash enough to make things unsafe. His very luxuries are to him a source of wealth. His fine estate at Milbrae is a milk ranche, and he makes money out of his imported cattle and his dairy. Brown, the cashier of the Bank of California, must owe his iiosition to being the opposite of the president JAMES GLAIR FLOOD. 109 and vice-president. He is gruff and uncivil. He has a fashion of waving people off when he is through with them, that is very offensive. He half shuts his eyes when he talks to customers, as if it pained him to be condescending. There is nothing in his history or abili- ties that would justify his rudeness. He officially signed the over-issue of stock under Halston, that wrought such ruin on the coast. He came from Ohio X 30 or enough. He now lives in fine style in a fifty- thousand-dollar house, and drives a spanking team on the road. XLY. JAMES CLAIK FLOOD. R. FLOOD is said to be the richest man on the Pacific coast. His income is larger than that of Rothschild. Five millions a month is the yield of the Bonanza mines, and that sum is divided between four persons. Flood is about fifty years old, stolid, resolute and energetic. He kept what is called in San Francisco, a gin-mill. It was a rude establishment, yet patronized by the market, the stock board, and the wholesale trade. He kept no bar. His liquors were drawn from the cask, piled one above the other. He j^i’ospered and was forehanded. He now lives in plain style in an ordinary dwelling, and with his wife, secures the comforts of a moderate home. Flood’s own story is this : was on Montgomery street one day, and a friend said, ‘Tread me.’ I re- plied, ‘I have no money.’ ‘Buy Consolidated Vir- 110 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. ginia,’ was the answer. Partly in jest, and partly in earnest, I said: ‘Buy me a thousand shares.’ The mine was an old one, and supposed to be exhausted. My order was filled at six dollars a share. I continued to buy until I got control of the mine, which was about five thousand shares, and which cost me about sixty thousand dollars. My friends thought me crazy. I thought I had a good thing. I ran a secret drift through the neighboring mines, and struck a rich body of ore. In ten years we have paid thirty- three millions in divi- dends, and we now pay a dividend of two dollars a month in gold, on five hundred and forty thousand shares.” XLYI. ISAAC LAXKERSHIEM. ,. LANKEPSHIEM is a Christian Jew — a man of resolute and decided Christian prin- ciples. He is about sixty years of age, short and compact. He is one of the best busi- ness men in the State. He has never broken with his Jewish brethren. They have great confidence in his business ability and integrity. He can command any amount of money that is needed in any speculation in which he chooses to enter. He is one of the largest and most unostentatious givers in the land. He do- nated to the Baptist college what he called a “little farm.” The farm was worth ten thousand dollars, and the grain housed was worth three thousand more. He sent a check of one thousand dollars to a mission- ISAAC LANKERSIIIEM. Ill ary’s widow in India, to bring her family home. A mere accident brought to light this magnificent gift. When things draw heavy in the church Mr. Lanker- shiem looks out for his minister. It is no uncommon thing for this gentleman to mail a check for one thou- sand dollars to his pastor to encourage ” him in his work. Mr. Lankershiem formed a very strong attachment to Elder Knapp, the evangelist. He urged Mr. Knapp to make California his home. Do this,” he said, ‘‘and I will buy a ranche, pay for it, and take care of it, and give you one half the increase.” Mr. Knapp’s family would not leave Illinois, and the scheme was aban- doned. “Perhaps you would like to sell out,” said the capitalist. “ I don’t own anything.” “You own half of the ranche,” was the reply. “It cost eighteen thousand dollars ; it was worth thirty-six thousand. Here is your eighteen thousand, go home and be happy.” • Mr. Lankershiem is one of the great agriculturists of the State. His ranche is measured by miles. His wheat-fields cover fifty thousand acres. His cattle and sheep are numbered by the thousands. Few operators in San Francisco equal him in the magnitude of his enterprises. The great monument of liberality is seen in Met- ropolitan Temple, in which Rev. Dr. Kallock preaches. It is a center and popular place of resort, costing over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. There is lit- tle doubt that this magnificent property wall be trans- ferred to the church without the incumbrance of one dollar, through the liberality of this extraordinary man, whose name should be enshrined in the affections of the Baptist world and grouped with the millionaire givers on the Atlantic coast. SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. m XLYII. W. C. EALSTOX. ALSTON was long the popular idol of San Francisco. In the fullness of his manhood and the fullness of his strength, he gave all he had to the city he loved so well. He was pre-eminently great, and was never more so than the day his body was drawn from the sullen water. As a business man, no one surpassed him in boldness and force. His intuitions never failed him. He made the Bank of California, which he founded, the financial power of the State. It was the center of all great en- terprises, and the rendezvous of bold, daring men. His talent brought him to the front. He came promptly and XDrominently ito the front. He entered into every scheme that promised to honor the State. He was a public man in every sense of the word. He took ux)on himself the exx)ense of a public host. He dined and wined, and sent on his way the visitor with gratitude and wonder. He drove his friends in his team and relay horses to Belmont, even ahead of the railroad, that his guests might receive deserved attention. His style of life would have killed most men. He rose at six, and every hour of the day was occupied. He was the Bank of California, and his word was law. He owned the water-works, valued at millions. He furnished funds to move the crops. No man could present a cause designed to helj) or benefit California, that did not find a friend and helx^er in Ealston. Had his moral character equalled his business ability, he would have been the most popular business man of the JAMES LICK. 113 nation. The crisis came upon him, and he was not equal to it. A man of untold wealth, he died poor. He died as he had lived, the most popular man on the coast. He died at fifty, and his sun went down in the darkness. The day before he, died his repute wms never higher. He knew his time had come. He knew that six millions of the Bank capital was missing. He knew that in twenty-four hours he would be exposed and ruined. He turned from his splendid mansion, and he passed the night with a relative. The next morn- ing he met the directors in the little room where so long he had reigned a sovereign. The worst was known. He turned from the office by a side door, threw himself into the waters of the bay, and was a corpse before the discussion closed. XLVIII. JAMES LICK. R. LICK gave Fortune a long chase before he overtook her. In the marble hotel that bears his name he lived like a hermit in a den that would not have been tidy for a hostler. He died at war wfith Grod and man, and denied the Saviour with his dying breath. He made and revoked three trust deeds, and would have re- voked the fourth had he lived long enough. His eccentricities grew out of a love affair when he was a young man. He loved a miller’s daughter, but as he owned no mill the father packed him off. He kept her 8 114 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. memory ripe, and when he had money he erected a mill and adorned it with mahogany and costly woods. Mr. Lick never married. Mr. Lick was an adventurer. He made pianos and failed. He drifted about from pillar to post, and at last landed in California. His common sense displayed itself. His companions rushed for the mines. Lick remained in the city. In the sand-hills, in the paper and cloth houses, and streets knee-deep in mud, in a city unpaved, unlighted, and without sidewalks, he saw the future queen of the coast. He invested eighteen thousand dollars, his entire fortune, in city lots, which he bought by the mile. In taking posses- sion, the squatters and the Chinese resisted him. He served his writs of dispossession personally, and at the mouth of a pistol. He held on to his purchases, and the rise of property gave him untold wealth. A full- length portrait hangs in the rooms of the Pioneer Club. It represents a well-preserved man of sixty, who might pass for president of a college, or the late Abraham Lincoln. XLIX. LELAND STANFORD. OVERNOR STANFORD is one of the four great railroad magnates of the coast. No- body puts him down at less than fourteen millions. Like most of the rich men of California, he engaged in a dozen enterprises before the right thing turned up. He is about forty years of age. LELAND STANFORD. 115 He is a stocky, compactly-built person, with a resolute, half-defiant air, a complexion like W ebster’ s, of which his uncle said: “Dan, go into the army; gunpowder won’t sj)oil your face.” Mr. Stanford was a farmer, a trader ; during all the while he was student, and when he came to the front he possessed a capital busi- ness education. A silent man, he had great energy, tact and push. In every failure he recovered himself. He was the first Republican governor of the State. He insisted upon being inaugurated as the constitution required, though the capitol was under water and had to be reached by boats. California was isolated. The Rocky mountains must be passed and railroad connections opened with the East. Four men believed this could be done, — Stan- ford, Colton, Crocker, Hopkins. The rest of the world denounced the enterprise. The project was met by a storm of ridicule. Shrewd men said the scheme was visionary ; its conception, folly ; its end, ruin. Any man who had a hundred dollars had a chance to invest. The gigantic enterprise of an overland route from the Atlantic to the Pacific owes its success to the dogged obstinacy and perseverance of Leland Stanford. Let those laugh who win. Stanford has fourteen mil- lions. Hopkins died worth fifteen millions. Colton and Crocker live in princely style. These four men, who had not money enough at the start to buy a sup- per, are now the railroad magnates of the world. On one of theloftj^ sand-hills on which the city of San Francisco rests — known as Nob Hill — stands the home mansion of Gov. Stanford. It is more gorgeous than any private dwelling west of the Rocky mountains. It has no rival in the land. The grand salon of the Tuil- leries ; the library of the Marlborough house ; the ball- room of Buckingham palace, are not as elegant. The blue room, the red room, the Pompeiian room, the 116 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. dining-room, the ijicture-gallery, library, drawing- room, conservatory, and saloon par excellence, open- ing one into the other on the same floor, are regal. The harmony is exquisite, running even into the knobs of the doors, the bell-pulls, the shades, the lamps, curtains and ornaments. The house is not on show. Occasionally to personal friends the lady of the mansion throws open its treasures to inspection. L. EEV. JOHN HEMPHILL. H. HEMPHILL is the popular pastor of Cal- vary Presbyterian Church of San Francisco. He is an Irishman by birth, fluent, magnetic, attractive. He is a natural orator, enthusi- astic, picturesque and illustrative. His voice is reson- ant and magnetic, full and clear. He is afiiuent in social gifts, and without disj)ute is the leading Presbyterian clergyman on the coast. Calvary Church ranks foremost among the churches of the city, and is worthy of its young pastor. Mr. Hemphill is distin- guished for indomitable industry. For years he has held his high position -with honor and success. He came to the coast in 1869 on a mission of charity. The call to Calvary Church was unexpected and flat- tering. He returned to Ireland, took an honorable dismission from the Union Road Church, and entered upon his popular career in 1870. He is a sturdy de- fender of Evangelical truth, and everywhere honors the Cross. RIGHT REV. BISHOP KIPP, 117 LI. RIGHT REV. BISHOP KIPP. 'ji^v^HE Bishop of California was consecrated in 1853. He has maintained with distin- guished honor the high fame of his family. He was trained for the law. His tine execu- tive ability and business tact comes from that early training. He changed his profession, went through the general Theological Seminary of New York, and was ordained over St. Peter’s in Morristown. He served for a season the aristocratic Grace Church of New York. He was transferred to St. Peter’s at Al- bany, where he distinguished himself by his eloquence and authorship. He won national fame by his Double Witness.” He was called with great unan- imity to the bishoprick of the Pacific coast. He took the crude materials of California, and moulded them into a compact and thriving denomination. He spent thirty thousand dollars to make his diocese what it is. His social rank has always been high, and he has a great hold on the wealth of San Francisco. He is a learned, eloquent and catholic pulpit orator. He has marked artistic and msthetic tastes. His library, stat- uary, and other adornments of his residence, make his home one of the most attractive of the State. 118 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. LII. REV. ISAAC S. KALLOCK. R. KALLOCK is a popular orator, and has the masses at his command. They come when he calls them. Before his house was built he preached in a hall, cold, uncomfort- able, and barn-like. It was full, rain or shine. In his own massive audience-room, the crowd laugh or cry, as he suggests. His collections, which are an indication of popular feeling, average four hundred dollars a month the year through. The United Churches proposed to have a popular service on Sunday night. Six thousand dollars were needed to carry on the work. A preacher and two pastors to support him were indispensable. While the discussion was going on, Kallock went out and hired a hall at his own expense ; kept it crowded for six months ; he asked no odds, his plate collections pay- ing everything, and leaving him a magnificent surplus. Mr. Kallock is in the prime of life ; he is tall and robust, over six feet high, and of magnificent propor- tions. He is fearless and dashing. A massive crop of curly auburn hair, which he never brushes, covers his head. He is a man of indomitable industry and never tires. He runs the Baptist denomination on the coast from necessity. He does what other men will not do. He owns and edits the Evangel. He is a great power in conventions and councils. He controls the college and holds the educational interest in his hand. He has hot friends and deadly foes, as such a man must always have. He has fought his way to position through incessant hostility. He came to the coast to HOK A. N. TOWNE, 119 do work which he will probably finish. As he put it in his opening sermon : — ‘‘ I shall make San Francisco my home. I have brought my knitting work, and pro- pose to stay.” LIII. HON. A. N. TOWNE. HE Central Pacific Hoad is one of the best managed lines in the country-. It has one of the ablest general superintendents. He looks anything but a railroad man. His style of dress is scholarly, and he could easily be taken for a merchant or banker. He has a quiet reserve that impresses one. His eye is bright, his manners pleasant and winning. He is a Massachusetts boy, and began his railroad experience as a brakeman on a freight train. He was bright, capable and winning. His methods attracted attention, illustrating the proverb : “A stone fit for the wall is not long out of place.” A telegram one day stopped his train and he was ordered to the general office. He was pointed to a chair, told to take a seat at the desk. ‘‘ I know nothing about clerking it,” said young Towne. ‘‘You can do what you are told, I snj)pose,” was the senten- tious response. He did what he was bid, and did it well. The Pacific Central was in search of a siij^erintend- ent. It was nearly impossible to find a man who had executive ability sufficient to control turbulent opera- tives. Towne was recommended as the right man for 120 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. the right place. The liberal offer nearly took Towne’s breath away: ‘‘twelve thousand dollars a year to begin with.” Enijoloyees of the road were more amused than startled at the advent of the “superin- tendent.” A quiet, pleasant, gentlemanly-spoken man. The executive ability for which Mr. Towne has always been celebrated, began to work. The manage- ment was kept out of sight. There was no noise, no bluster, no threats. Turbulent and ungovernable men somehow slipped out and loyal men came in. The road assumed a movement not unlike a w^ell-oiled locomotive. Of his methods Mr. Towne says : “I systematize my work. . It never drives me. I keep ahead of it. Every day’s work is finished before I leave my office. 1 use all persons alike, whatever may be their positions on the road. In business I con- sider everyone entitled to courteous treatment. When I deny a favor I try to do it as though it was painful to myself.” LIY. KEY. A. L. STONE, D.D. K. STONE is an influential man, and a model pastor. He has earned his position by years of labor and success. He was the popular pastor of Park Street Church, Boston. He accepted a call to the coast. And few men have more to show for the years of toil for which he has labored, than Dr. Stone. He is firmly built, with a healthy organization. His presence in the pulpit is winning. WILLIAM SHABOK 121 His voice is sonorous and clear as a bell. His pulpit manners are in excellent taste. His sermons are short and attractive. He has held his position over the head of the First Congregational Church for more than a dozen years. His own society has ke]3t pace with the secular growth of the city, in wealth and beauty. He began his ministry of the First Church in a small wooden structure, near what is now Chinatown. His present house of worship is one of the most commanding in the city. The church is large, the location fashiona- ble, the spire lofty, and all the appointments line. He is necessarily a leader. He is discreet, prudent, fraternal, eloquent, and his judgment is weighty. It is probable Hr. Stone will close his life-work with this people. LY. WILLIAM SHARON. R. SHARON is a member of the United States Senate from Nevada. His home is in San Francisco. He is not much to look at — blonde, slim, wiry, restless. He is keen and smart. In Ohio he practised law. He went into Real estate and failed. He became a broker in San Francisco and was cleaned out. Ralston, then in his glory, formed his acquaintance, and found in Sharon a man after his own heart. Ralston sent him to Nevada City to look after the interests of the Bank of Califor- nia. He showed marked ability in protecting Ral- ston’s loans. He secured some valuable mines, among 123 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. them Belcher and Ophir. He secured the monopoly of a profitable railroad. He made money for himself and his employer. Working with Ralston he became very rich. When Ralston died, he assumed his debts and took the estate. He gave the Bank of California five millions to repair Ralston’s waste. He settled on Mrs. Ralston, after she had been abandoned by all her friends, a fortune of nearly half a million, assigning as a reason, ‘‘ She is the widow of my benefactor.” LYI. JOSEPH C. DUNCAN. • !!H men suddenly go out of sight on the coast. A year ago, Duncan would have been written down as one of the successful men of San Francisco. With business men, who did not know him thoroughly, he had a fair standing. He began as an auctioneer. He made some money in a gift lottery scheme. He was believed to be rich, and won i3ublic confidence. He erected a costly banking house, and as a trustee held the xhttance of the poor, and funds of the widow and fatherless. His business was a sham from foundation to turret. His relations, who were in office, were mere pupi)ets moved hj his will. One day his house came crashing down. Great frauds were exposed. Disastrous sxDeculations used up the deposits. Stock was over-issued ; gigantic frauds laid bare, and the great robber himself fied between two days. He was captured skulking about the dark PETER DONAHUE. 123 places of the town. Bold in the wrong — heroic in crime — daring in theft, when arrested he cried and whined and supplicated like a coward. He begged for mercy, who had shown no pity. He prayed the public to spare his family, for whom he had no regard. He left his elegant home for a prison. He gave up an honored name at sixty for the repute of a perjurer and the wages of sin. LVII. PETER DONAHUE. R. DONAHUE is one of the few men on the coast who have made a fortune by hard blows, well directed. He is a Scotchman, about fifty, resolute in build, and rugged. He was a blacksmith, and carries about with him the air of a man who has had hard usage. When quite young he proved himself to be too able and too intelligent to work at the forge. He displayed great ability to man- age men. He found his sphere when put in charge of a machine-shop. As a machinist he worked slowly and sturdily toward the front. He built the city gas works and took that valuable stock as his pay. As a steamboat owner, he threw himself against the Pacific Coast Railroad monopoly. He built the Santa Rosa road with his own money, without subsidy or outside aid. He connected it with San Francisco by steam- boat. His commercial honor stands high. His word is as good as his bond. He is worth four millions, and his donations to charity are large. 134 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. LYIIT. JAMES R. KEENE. R. KEENE’ S father was a merchant in Eng- land. Commercial disaster overtook him. He came to America to mend his fortune. The son had a good business education. The lad knew that he had his own fortune to make, and went about it. He was a sharp and daring boy. Speculation had a charm for him. A considerate broker gave him a start. He did the street work for the house that helped him. He was bold, daring, rash, and improved every opportunity to rise. He made himself so useful to his employers, that they bought him a seat in the Board. His j udgment was quick and accurate. His style was mysterious and dazzling. He could mis- lead and demoralize the market when he chose. He was popular, and often was cheered when in the mar- ket, when he made one of his dazzling dashes. His lirst great operation was in ‘ ‘ Belcher and Crown Point,” through which he cleared a quarter of a mil- lion. In 1874 he wrote up three millions. He tried Ophir, and in one week won six hundred and forty thousand dollars. He bearded Flood and O’Brien in their den ; denounced Consolidated Virginia, and pre- dicted its demoralization. His daring and dash won him renown. In an incredibly short time he was regis- tered as worth five millions. The failure of the Bank of California showed of what stock Keene was made. The house that helped him in his struggling days was involved by the bank, at the amount of two millions. Before the worst was known, Keene went to his friend, and said; ‘Hf a CHIEF-JUSTICE DALY. 125 quarter of a million will help you, here is my check.” He was as liberal in the distribution of his funds as he was successful in gaining fortunes. He gave his father one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He made his relatives rich. His private charities were often in donations as large as fifty thousand dollars. He was fiesh and blood ; his nerves were neither iron nor steel, and no living man could bear the strain of his style of business. His health gave way, and he sought relief on the Atlantic slope. In Wall street he created a sensation, and made himself a man of mark at once. Want, like an armed man, came upon the working fam- ilies of San Francisco. Mr. Keene placed a liberal sum of money at the disposal of the churches, with the re- quest that suffering might be relieved without regard to sect or nationality. LIX. CHIEF-JUSTICE DALY. X. CHAHLES P. DALY, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, is eminent as a jurist, and a literary and scientific writer. As a geographist his fame has crossed the seas. In a recent visit to Europe he was honored by the scientific world. The treasures of the museums were thrown open to him, and he was the guest of the prominent jurists of London. Judge Daly was born in the city of Xew York. His father came from the North of Ireland, and worked at 12G SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. his trade as a carpenter for many years. He was a man of character, talented, intelligent, and energetic. He soon outgrew the workshop, and established himself in business on the spot where the Tribune building now stands. His father died, leaving him in tender years de- pendent on his stepmother. Young Daly determined to earn his own living, and be a burden to no one. He obtained a clerkship in Savannah, where he was over- worked and badly treated. He secured the rugged position of a sailor before the mast, and spent three years on the sea. He returned to New York and ap- prenticed himself to a trade, working vigorously by day and employing his nights by study. He joined a literary society, and became an earnest and eloquent debater. An accident turned his attention to the Law. The society embraced an unusual number of talented men. Most of the boys became celebrated — eloquent clergymen, eminent lawyers, rich merchants, learned jurists, actors and journalists. Among the members, Mr. Soule was distinguished as a lawyer. He was attracted by the rare gifts, the in- dustry and intelligence exhibited by young Daly.. He sought an introduction, and advised the young me- chanic to study law. This could not be thought of, as young Daly had no means to devote to education, and his time was not his own. The lawyer was so earnest that he proposed to furnish funds to send the young man to Union College. This proposal was not accepted, as Mr. Daly could not put himself under such heavy obligations to any one. Soon after this offer was made, the master died. Mr. Soule renewed his offer immediately for Mr. Daly to take a seat in his office as a student-at-law, as death had canceled the indentures. A year and a half of service remained unfulfilled, yet the apprentice was CHIEF-JUSTICE D.-x^Y. 127 now his own master. With a delicate sense of honor which has marked Judge Daly’s whole public career, he refused to take advantage of his position. Legally he was a free man ; morally he felt himself bound to serve out his time. The widow was embarrassed and needed his services. He could aid her by conducting the business. No j)ersuasions could induce him to re- linquish his purpose to serve out his apprenticeship. When his indentures were fully canceled, he com- menced the study of law, under the guidance of his steadfast friend, Mr. Soule. He started on a pittance of one hundred and fifty dollars a year. He roomed in the office, was always on hand and always at work, and soon made himself so useful that his salary was raised to three hundred dollars. In those days a student had to study seven years before he could be admitted to the bar. For three years young Daly toiled on, distinguished for diligence and integrity. Mr. Howley, the senior member of the firm, was so captivated by the close application of his student to study, that he made a movement to have the seven- year rule relaxed, and an allowance of time granted to Mr. Daly. This motion was seconded by some of the eminent men of the bar, who regarded young Daly as a match for any one. Chief- Justice Nelson heard the motion. The examination was made in the presence of the Court and Bar. At the expiration of three years and six months of study, Mr. Daly was admitted to practice in all the courts in the State. He opened an office with Mr. McElrath as partner. Soon after, Mr. McElrath turned his attention to journalism. He pur- chased the New Yorker^ changed it to the Tribune^ took the position of publisher, introduced Mr. G-reeley as editor, and swung that influential sheet on the tide of success. Mr. Daly formed a partnership with Mr. 128 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Bloomfield, and entered at once npon a successful practice. Political honors were in store for him, and in 1843 he was elected to the New York Legislature. Here the great temptation of his life assailed him. The glamour of political distinction threw on his pathway its fascinating glare. He was offered a nomination for the State Senate, and to a seat in the Congress of the United States. Each nomination was an equivalent to an election. A young man in the flush of youth, on the threshold of life, had to choose between the drudg- ery of the law and the fascination of political posi- tion. He took a judicial view of the situation, and ex- amined both sides. He knew that legal eminence was incompatible with the life of a politician. He rejected the glittering bauble and bowed down to hard work. Eminence came to him sooner than he thought. A vacancy existed on the bench of the Common Pleas Court, Judge Inglis’ time being out. Candidates were numerous, and tlieir friends were active. First and foremost. Judge Inglis was a candidate for re-nomina- tion. He was a Whig, and the appointing powers were Democratic. Many Democrats were opposed to intro- ducing x)olitics into the judiciary. They said a good judge should not be lost to the State because he was a Whig. Judge Daly was an earnest and active friend to Judge Inglis, and urged his re-appointment. The movement split the party, and Gov. Bouck was in a quandary. He needed the votes of both sides. He would make enemies should he nominate or refuse to nominate Judge Inglis. Gov. Marcy, with his sturdy common sense, advised the Governor to throw both candidates overboard, and select a new man. Mr. Croswell, of the Argus ^ gave his voice in the same di- rection. Gov. Marcy added, “ If I were in your sit- uation, Gov. Bouck, I would nominate Charles P. CHIEF-JUSTICE DALY. 129 Daly.” Mr. Daly was ignorant of Avliat was going on. He was invited to the Governor’s room, and to his as- tonishment was notified that he was to be appointed to the vacant seat in the Court of Common Pleas. He jiromptly and peremptorily declined the honor ; Judge lug] is was his friend ; he had pressed his nomination with earnestness and sincerity, and he could not suj)- plant him. Further, he said he was too young a man to aspire to the judicial ermine.. Gov. Bouck assured the young candidate that youth was a disqualification that he would soon outgrow. A kind and earnest let- ter from Judge Inglis assured Mr. Daly that the nomi- nation was beyond his reach, and Daly’s declinature would not serve him. Thanking his friend for his un- selfish labors, he begged him as a friend to accept the nomination. This removed the remaining difficulty, and in 1844 Judge Daly took his seat on the bench as one of the Justices of Common Pleas. He won dis- tinguished honors as‘a jurist, and many years ago was elevated to the rank of chief justice. A national repute was won by Judge Daly in the Astor Place riots. It was a general theory that no man could be convicted for a riot ; that a popular tu- mult was a sort of outgrowth of our free instititutions ; outbreaks were not desirable, but were unavoidable ; were to be dealt with leniently and in no wise to be severely punished. It was an accidental thing that Judge Daly was assigned to try the Astor Place rioters. The duty belonged to Hecorder Talmage, but he was sick, and the unpopular trial was assigned to Judge Daly as the youngest judge on the bench. According to the custom of the day, two aldermen were elected to sit with the judge. One was a Democrat and one a Whig. They had equal authority and could overrule the judge. The Democrat openly sympathized with the rioters, and determined to clear them. Should the 9 130 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Whig alderman side with the Democratic, every prisoner in the dock would go clear. The judge was a Democrat, and the friends of the accused were cer- tain of speedy acquittal at the outset. Judge Daly’s position excited astonishment. He grappled with riot- ing as a great crime against law and order ; a rioter was a despot, and despotism must be put down at all hazards ; men who stir up a popular tumult to advance their own selfish ends, must take the consequences, as do other criminals. As the trial proceeded Judge Daly was anxious to know the bias of his Whig associate. He was a stranger to the judge — a mechanic by trade — a man of moderate ability — saying nothing, but watching the presiding officer. A decision was called for on a point raised, and Judge Daly appealed to the Whig aider- man. He replied : ‘‘Judge, I have been watching you since this trial began. You understand your duty, and mean to do right. Don’t ask me any questions. Try the case fairly in the interests of justice, and I will stand by you to the end.” The rioters were convicted, and the leader sent to the penitentiary. The civil war broke upon the country. Judge Daly threw himself at once boldly and earnestly on the Union side. He was the orator of Tammany Hall in 1862 , and made fervent and patriotic appeals to that ancient society to uphold the Union and prosecute the war. He believed that an exchange of prisoners was demanded as an act of humanity. His pleadings cap- tivated the heart of President Lincoln, and he invited him to address the Cabinet on that question. He won over an unwilling audience, and the Federal and Con- federate prisoners were exchanged. The Trent affair threatened to involve our nation in a foreign war. Mason and Slidell had been taken from under the British flag on the high seas. The Secretary CHIEF-JUSTICE BALT. 131 of State, Mr. Seward, was for holding them captives at all hazards. Eminent lawyers sustained the Secretary of State, and gave it as their opinion that the seizure could be maintained by law. Judge Daly visited Washington to plead with the government to release the captives. He argued that the seizure was not only void by the law of nations, but was illegal judged by our own practice. Doggedly resolute as Mr. Seward was on the matter, he had so much confidence in the sound wisdom and learning of the New York judge, that he demanded the authority on which Judge Daly based his opinion. He spent one day at the law li- brary at the capital, made up his brief and argued it before the Secretary of State, who became satisfied that the captives would have to be given up, and persuaded the President to order their discharge. Personally Judge Daly is popular with the masses. He was a fervent orator in all the great Union gather- ings. As President of St. Patrick’s Society, he was a great favorite at the annual benevolent banquets of other bodies — able, witty, winning, genial. • Twelve years ago he was elected President of the American Geographical Society. He has qdaced himself in cor- respondence with the thirty-four kindred societies of the world. His correspondence, his printed addresses, and published works, have made his name familiar to the scientific of the old world. He has brought up the Geographical Society from a feeble thing to a robust membership of nearly two thousand. He was one of the commission of sixteen to frame the judicial sys- tem of the State, and to his industry and ability, the system is greatly indebted for its existence. As an orator, he is eloquent ; as a writer, captivating, lucid and learned ; as a jurist, discriminating, impartial and bold. 132 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. LX. BOGARDUS, THE PHOTOGRAPHER. HE art of photography is young in years. It is the modern invention, and at once com- mends itself to men of artistic tastes and intelligence. A knowledge of photography was easily acquired, and men left their counters and workshops and fields of employ to enter a new vocation, where large rewards followed little effort and no skill. The operator, by a little mechanical trick and a regard to certain conditions of light and chemicals, could pro- duce a picture. The dark age of photography was at its start. Men who could not paint a common tavern sign were able to set up as expert photographers. The man who did more than all others to elevate this grand art from its degradation and place it on the high ped- estal on which it now rests, was Abraham Bogardus, the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this paper. Mr. Bogardus was born in Duchess county, in the State of Xew York, in 1822 . He was a farmer’s son, and at the age of fourteen turned his steps toward the great city of New York, that loomed up before his eye as he was turning the furrow or doing the drudgery allotted to a boy on a farm. He began his career in a store ; but measuring tape and selling ribbons was not to his taste. He had an artist’ s eye and a poet’ s fancy, and the right thing for a life-work did not turn up. J ust then daguerreotypes attracted public attention. There was a mystery and a magic about a sun-picture, and young Bogardus was fascinated by the art. He learned to take pictures, and found an employment that was BOGARDUS, THE PHOTOGRAPHER. 133 suited to liis genius. He gpened a gallery at the corner of Barclay and Greenwich streets, which afterwards be- came so famous in the metropolis. His gallery was an humble one, and his whole outfit did not cost fifty dol- lars. The gains were slow, but Bogardus’ Dutch pluck stood him in good stead. He had faith in the future, and toiled on. Daguerreotype gave way to photography. Earnest, energetic, ingenious men, were exploring the mysteries of chemistry, and daily bringing to light new discov- eries and perfecting the art of photography. Among this class, Mr. Bogardus stood in the forefront. Beside his own inventions, he seized and eagerly applied all the new discoveries that made his art a success. He gave personal attention to his sitters, and presided over the camera, and saw that every picture was per- fect. This close jiersonal attention raised him in the popular estimation, and gave his pictures a perfection and value not found elsewhere. When the card de visite was introduced, photography received an impetus that has never been lost. Mr. Bogardus opened a new gallery on the corner of Broadway and Franklin street, and it required all the time of an active man to take orders and answer the calls of the great rush. Three skylights were used, and forty hands employed to meet the popular demand. Sometimes a hundred dozen were ordered in a day. Before the removal, one assistant was sufiicient ; afterward, the pay-roll ran up to five hundred dollars a week. The next improvement that Mr. Bogardus introduced was the production of life-size pictures and family groups. The accuracy, the elegance of the x^ictures, and the rapidity of their production, made them every way superior to a first-class oil-painting. In this style of work Mr. Bogardus stands confessedly at the head of his profession. It has been a close study with this 134 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. artist to select the fitting po^ure for his pictures. He has great artistic taste. Knows how to group families together, give pose to the head, bring out the telling expression, and furnish an artistic as well as a faithful likeness. In Bogardus’ gallery business is conducted on a regular system. Everything is first-class about the establishment, — the camera, chemicals, skylight and employees. Pictures can be taken indoors or outdoors. The sitters can be takeain any attitude and any place, in an arbor or on the rocks, in a forest or on the ocean, under a parasol or amid a drenching rain. Each patron is numbered, and a negative will keep a hun- dred years. Should a sitter who is traveling in Europe desire ]3ictures, he cam send his name across the Atlantic, and the order will be immediately executed. Many families, whose members have suddenly died, liave the satisfaction of securing a correct likeness of their friend from the negative preserved. Some of the finest life-size likenesses in existence are from Bogar- dus’ gallery. Among these may be named the elegant picture of Professor Morse, the classic head of Bryant, and the accurate likenesses, of the ministers of the Collegiate Church, whick hang in the Fulton Street Church. Among the most important services which Bogardus has rendered to the- art of photography, was the for- mation of the National Photographic Association. He presided at its birth, and at five annual gatherings was elected President by acclamation. The eminent men in the profession came together and founded what has jn'oved to be a Photographic Academy of Design. In the annual address of 1871, President Bogardus graphically grouped together the benefits conferred by the asso- ciation. It lifted photography out of a rut, enabled artists to compare their work, created a desire to excel. BOGABDUS, THE PHOTOGBAPHEB. 135 crushed burdensome and unjust monopolies, brought Europe and America together, made posturing a pro- fession, and delivered artists from the extortions and unreasonable demands from their jiatrons. Selfish and unjust men secured patents on chemicals, which ought to be as common as the sunlight. With these patents they annoyed the profession, and interfered with the success of the art. The most obnoxious of these was the bromide patent. The national association, led by Mr. Bogardus, resolved to break up this monopol}^. To accomplish this, funds were needed, and the influ- ence of able counsel was demanded. Mr. Bogardus advanced his check for five hundred dollars, and went to Washington with a vigorous committee, and the ob- noxious monopoly was abolished. Mr. Bogardus is among the oldest photographic artists of New York. There are a few of those who started with him, thirty years ago, that remain in the profession. He has lived to see the art he loved so well, elevated to the position of a science. The crude, coarse counterfeits of the human face that marked the early days of the art, have passed away ; a better class of work and a better class of workmen are de- manded ; fewer pictures are made, and better ones. In this, as in other departments, talented men, artistic men, men who live to excel, are the useful men. All over the land and across the sea, wherever art is honored, Bogardus’ name is known, and the eminent services he has rendered to photography are acknowl- edged. Mr. Bogardus has a remarkable presence. He is of commanding stature, finely imoportioned, with a bright eye and an expression of countenance that wins the confidence of all who approach him. He appears as he is, the master of his position, and, with a desire to please, blends great dignity of manner. He has few 136 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. equals as a presiding officer. His wit and humor are magnetic. He has great ability as a presiding officer, keeps convention close to its work, can smooth down the asperities of debate, keep the elements in harmony, and causes good fellowship to abound. Withal he is dignified and cheery, and ‘is personally one of the most popular men in the State. His success, covering the lifetime of a generation, lies on the surface. He selected a profession suited to his taste, which he has followed without faltering through good and evil re- port. He early resolved to be first-class in his profes- sion, and was never satisfied unless he was improving. He studied everything about his art that could make him intelligent, and his industry never flagged. He gave personal attention to his business, and never trusted his work to strangers. His work needs no guarantee, and his integrity has never been questioned. Daily in his gallery, corner of Broadway and Eigh- teenth street, he attends personally to his sitters, and welcoming all who desire his attention. LXI. THE HOUSE OF LAWRENCE. HIS famous mercantile house in Boston was founded by Amos. He was reared on a farm in Groton. He sought business in Boston. From an errand-boy in a store, he began trading in a small way. He was not as poor at the start as common rumor has x^resented. He had a capi- THE HOUSE OF LAWRENCE. 137 tal of one thousand dollars. This was secured from his father, who mortgaged the old homestead to obtain the money. This wms only a loan, but if it had not been paid the old homestead would have been ruined. After Amos had commenced business, Abbott joined his brother in Boston in 1808, and as the custom was, bound himself to his brother as an apprentice. Amos had previously served as apprentice seven years in a store, and he had twenty dollars in his pocket when he opened business in 1807. In those early Puritan times, commercial clerks and shop-boys were in peculiar peril. Everybody drank, — principals, subordinates and errand-boys, — and the dram known as the ‘‘eleven o’clock ” and the “four o’clock ” w^ere drunk with the same regularity that the dinner was eaten. Traders who bought a bill of goods were treated. The language of the bargain was — so much and the drinks. Ail hands smoked, took snuff, and played cards during business hours. Young Amos found the appetite for strong drink growing upon him. He had moral sense enough to see the drift of things, and put a stop on it. He took a vow to let the cup pass by him at eleven o’clock and four o’clock for one week. He extended the vow for one month, and then made it final. He bought gallons of liquors for mer- chants, but drank none himself to the day of his death. He had a large share of IN'ew England thrift, a sturdy, independence and a disiDOsition to copy nobody. He kept an accurate account of his expenses, his profits, and his losses, from the start. Long credits and un- limited credits were the fashion of the day. He stur- dily refused at any time to owe more than forty per cent, on his stock. Amos Lawrence attributed his solid fortune to the disappointments of his first year. He made up his mind that his profits in the twelve months would be 138 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. four thousand dollars. He was deeply mortified to find his balance only one thousand. This threw him back on himself. He increased his hours of work, cut down his store expenses, cut off all superfluities per- sonal to himself, refused to go into company, and gave himself Up thoroughly and resolutely to business. His habits of diligence, economy, and thrift, that he brought to this dark period of his career, attended him through life. He closed the second year of his busi- ness career with the coveted earning of four thousand dollars. His own words are: “Had I made four thousand dollars the first year I should probably have failed in the third.” The year 1814 was an especially black one for trade. Prices of goods were ruinously low, the shrinkages fearful, and the more goods a merchant had on his shelves the more certain he was to be ruined. Abbott was discouraged, and proposed to leave the concern. This was the turning-point in the lives of these two eminent men. The dissolution w^as not effected, and Abbott was sent to England to l6ok after the business of the House. The letters written by Amos to his brother while in London, would make valuable read- ing for business young men. The corner-stone of this house was punctuality and exactness always, and sterling honor and integrity in all things. Amos was a large giver, and he regulated his donations on a perfect system. He set apart a percentage of his earnings for beneficent and religious purposes. At his death he left a mercantile name honored in all parts of the world. Those to whom the name and fortune of the Lawrences were transmitted reversed the honorable rules on wdiich the house was founded. A short period carried this great house under a cloud from which it will never emerge. PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE. 139 LXII. PADDLE YOUP OWN CANOE. HIS is a PROVERB, popular among tlie working j)eople of Europe, indicative of independ- ence, and the necessity for men to help them- selves. It is seldom that a man gets any good from his relatives in a matter of business. The old saw, uttered three thousand years ago : — ‘‘ Go not to thy brother’s house in the day of calamity,” is good for to-day. Relationships and friendships hinder more than they help. Critics are the poorest judges, and literary men are the most unjust toward literary men of any class. The songs and ballads that have come down to us from former generations, and that are popular now, were universally condemned by the self- styled learned of their day. We should have had nothing worthy of being read if the critics could have had their day. Authors were stubborn, and refused to burn their manuscripts. Their sturdy self-independ- ence sustained them and they were able to “ Paddle their own canoe.” This the history of literature proves. A Bishop of the Church of England denounced Paradise Lost as a “Blasphemous book written by one Milton, who has been struck blind ;” inferential! y, struck blind for his blasphemy. Nobody but Johnson saw anything in the Vicar of Wakefield ; no publisher would touch it ; the critics derided it ; and it came near going under the grate. A publisher took it because J ohnson said, ‘ ‘ Poor Goldy must not starve. ’ ’ He ke^Dt it two years before he had courage to print it, and it 140 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. was predicted that it would fall still-born from the press. De Foe gathered his literary friends into his garden at Stoke-Newington, to hear him read the sheets of Kobinson Crusoe. They laughed him to scorn, and advised him to throw the foolish thing into the lire, — a story which has outstripped everything in popularity, except the Bible and Pilgrim’s Progress. Mason, a mean-spirited poet, nearly persuaded Gray to destroy his Elegy. The claims of Sir John Franklin, as an Arctic explorer, only excited ridicule. In stature he was under-sized, his sight was imperfect, and his abilities accounted small. An explorer he purposed to be. In his marriage contract a clause was inserted, that his wife should not interfere with his visits to the North Pole. Cowper was written down a failure when his first effusions were j)rinted. But for Johnson’s in- terference, his early publications would have involved him in commercial ruin. Bunyan’s best friends advised him to destroy Pil- grim’s Progress. Such a travesty on religion would ruin his reputation for piety. The dreamer refers to this advice : “Some said, ‘John, print it;’ others said ‘No.’ Some said it might do good; others said ‘ Not so.’ ” Fulton, on the eve of his great discovery, was ac- counted a lunatic, and was starving in Paris. He failed in the exhibition of a panorama, and was thrown into prison. Chancellor Livingston came to him in his distress — paid his debts — purchased a steam boiler, and sent it home under the charge of Fulton, who passed all his hours on shipboard in mastering the intricacies of that wonderful machine. Mr. Shiel was black-balled by the London Aca- demical Society. He resisted the injustice and stood PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE, 141 his ground. He lived to read himself as the Hon. Richard Lawlor Shiel, Grand Orator of the Academi- cal Society. Goldsmith’s friends, as they could do nothing else, attempted to introduce him to orders. He ajipeared before the bishop in red plush breeches, and to the question: “Can you accept the Thirty-nine Articles?” replied, “Oh, yes ; forty, if your lordsliii) pleases.” Johnson refused wine. “ I can drink to ex- cess ; I can abstain ; but I can’t drink a little.” There was a dark room in St. James’s Palace known as “ hell,” where gambling was carried on. Pitt was in- fatuated with the passion for play. He saw he must abandon gambling or yield a desire to rise in the State. He flung his cards in the fire and vowed he would never enter that hell again. That resolution saved him. Like the young men of his day, Wilberforce was fond of play. He kept the faro bank one night, and saw a poor wretch blow his brains out. He took an oath never again to gamble, and started upon his high ca- reer. Dr Waylais’d used to tell of a student who keiDt school in vacation, and kept a very poor one. His ex- cuse was, that he intended not to be a schoolmaster but a lawyer. The iDoor schoolmaster made a very poor lawyer. Webster made the best chowder in the State, on the principle that he would not be second- class in anything. The Duke of Marlborough was pro- nounced a failure as a soldier and ordered into retire-" ment. He insisted that he was right. The nation re- versed the opinion of his superiors. He became the great captain of the age, upheld the British banner in the darkest hour of battle, and the Marlborough house, from corner-stone to turret, is ornamented with pictures illustrating his victories. 142 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Frattklin" worked while other boys spent their time in idle sports. The money they spent in beer he spent in books. He pledged himself against strong drinks, and lived frugally. While working at the press he found ample time for severe study. The Spectator gave him style ; He Foe on Projects made him an inventor ; Mather on Doing Good made him a philanthropist ; Locke and Zenophon made him a philosopher ; and the Bible made him a Christian. After Burke had delivered his matchless oration on Warren Hastings, and England was filled with his praise, his brother Richard said : ‘‘ I wonder how Ned contrived to monopolize the talent of the family. Then I remember when we boys were carousing, Ned was always at study.” Abraham Likcolh was postmaster of the little village of New Salem. He was hard pressed for money just as the collector came round to receive the balance for the Government. A friend, who knew the young postmaster, offered him a loan. He took down an old stocking, and poured out seventeen dollars and sixty cents in copper coin, the exact sum due the Govern- ment, and the exact amount received for postage. Witli a twinkle in his eye he turned to his friend and said : What do I want of money ? I never use Govern- ment money for joersonal purposes.” That was the key-note of his life. Arioc Wentworth was the largest marble-worker of Boston. He began in a small way and worked him- self ui^ to a millionaire. When a young man he bought a horse, and paid the then great price of seven hundred dollars. That horse will fail you,” men said. “No mechanic can drive a seven-hundred-dollar horse, and PADDLE TOUR OWE' CAiNOE. 143 prosper.” The animal developed into a marvelous trotter. He proved a perfect road horse, gentle, relia- ble and easy to handle. Wentworth was offered a large sum for him, and everybody said : Sell him, sell him; you will never have another such offer.” “No man in Boston has money enough to buy the Vermont Boy,” the sturdy marble-man said. “He is worth three thousand dollars to me in my business. I draw the reins over an intelligent and reliable horse. No man can pass me on the road, and every business man of Boston knows me and my team.” Haerison was a machinist in Philadelphia. He worked at the bench, and was noted for his civility. A party of gentlemen visited the establishment one day, and in the absence of the chief, HaiHson did the hon- ors. He threw everything open, and answered intel- ligibly all questions asked. The chief expressed his surprise at the courtesy shown the strangers, saying they found it very difficult to get access to other manu- factories. A card was handed to the young mechanic, with the request that he call on the gentleman in the evening. The visitors were a commission sent out by the Emperor of Hussia to acquaint themselves with the machinery of America. An offer was made to the young man to return with the embassy to Hussia. He made a contract that night that won him both fame and fortune. He carried his courtesy and capacity to a good market. Wellin-gton- on the battle-field, looked first after his horse, — his life might depend upon him. Next he looked after his men, — he might need them before morning. Then he took care of himself. His little iron camp-bed to the last occupied a little closet off from his library where he slept. A lady visitor ex- 144 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. pressed her surprise one day, at the narrowness of the little trundle-bed, saying : ‘‘ There is not room enough in that bed to turn.” The Iron Duke replied, ‘ ‘ Madam, when a man turns in bed it’s time to turn out.” The war office complained when he was in the field, that his dispatches said nothing about his plans, but were filled with complaints about rice and bullocks. An answer came back : ‘‘ My dispatches are short because r ve nothing to say. With rice and bullocks I get men ; with men I beat the enemy.” When he was at the head of the Government, a friend asked the Iron Duke : — ‘‘Did you utter the gasconade at Waterloo : ‘ Up guards, and at them?’” “No. It was a dark and anxious hour. I had done all that was possible to secure a vic- tory. I felt that the issue must be left to the Great Disposer of Events ; I swept the field with my glass and saw the hour had come. I said, ‘ Let the column advance.’ ” Brentat^o had an extraordinary career. He is the most singular specimen of a business man in New York. Statuaries might copy his head ; attached to this is a body shockingly deformed. He is under-sized, with hands cramped and disfigured by disease. He was born in the Tyrol, and landed on our soil poor and friendless. He bought a few papers and sold them, lodged where he could, and took his food where he could find it the cheapest. Ill-fed, hard-worked, with bare feet x)inched with the cold, he sat on a curb-stone in front of the New York Hotel offering his wares. Cranston had pity on the deformed suffering lad, and on cold and stormy nights allowed him to warm him- self in the halls of the hotel. He scraped together three hundred dollars, and set up business ; his part- ner stole the capital, and ran away. Brentano fell back on selling papers. A friend advised him to take EDWARD EVERETT. 145 a better class of periodicals, and strike for Wall Street. He purchased the best European and American picto- rials, and secured customers. He made a iioint of being the first in the field, and when he opened a paper- store, he served his patrons before he sold a paper across the counter. He soon obtained a profitable run of business. The poor, deformed boy, who warmed himself, as a charity, at the hotel registers, is now a millionaire, and for many years occupied a splendid suite of apartments in the same public house before whose doors he cried his wares. LXIII. EHWAKD EVERETT. R. EVERETT’S history is an uninteresting one. There are few elements in it that can be of any service to young men. He was a brilliant rhetorician, and had he been so dis- posed, future generations would have been benefited by his writings. His Ledger papers were the tamest of periodical literature. Instead of being worthy, as they •should liave been,' of a republication in all the school- books of the land, they passed at once out of the mem- ory of the generation. He was fitted for the ministry, and a boy of nineteen he was settled over the most im- portant congregation in Boston. During his brief min- isterial career he shone as a star. He had a voice of marvelous compass and sweetness. He cultivated the graces of oratory, and committing his sermons to mem- 10 146 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. ' oiy, lie poured forth liis impassioned utterances to the delight of crowded audiences. In the height of his popularity he turned his steps toward Harvard College, and informed the Faculty that he could no longer oc- cupy the pulpit, but must have the position of tutor, and trust the future for something better. He married a' rich man’s daughter, and all incentive to work was removed from him. His wealth and social position led to that easy, desultory point-no-point sort of life which marked him. He enjoyed the luxury of learned lei- sure, an indulgence that so often paralyzes a man’s en- ergies. He ehtered political life on a side issue, during the Masonic excitement. He was fond of place and honor ; a timid man ; following, but never a leader. He filled nearly every office in the gift of the State, but was never popular, and when taken, was taken as a neces- sity. He opposed the nomination of General Scott, but would not join Mr. Webster’s friends ; yet he was willing to lend his name to the Bell and Everett clique against his party. He was appointed an elector with- out its being known whether he was even favorable to the election of Mr. Lincoln. LXIV. WILSON’S STRUGGLES. R. WILSON’S early career is worthy the study of American j^oung men. He was more of hero while he was struggling for a position, than after he obtained it. He was never a statesman, and outside of slavery and temper- WILSON^S STRUGGLES. 147 ance, lie was unable to discuss any of tbe great ques- tions of the hour. The theories on which he arose he accepted when they were unxjopular, and adhered to them unwaveringly through all his life. He was the leader of the Free-soil party, which coalesced with the Democrats, and overthrew the Whig reign. The coali- tion was successful and carried Mr. Wilson into the chair of the Massachusetts Senate, and from thence into the position of jiresiding othcer in the United States Senate. He was born in 1812, and at ten was bound out to a farmer. One holiday and three cents in money were all he received until he was twenty-one years of age. With his freedom he started out to earn his living. A farmer gave him work at six dollars a month. His own story is thus graphically told : “ I used to get up long before daylight, feed the stock, get breakfast, and just as the East was beginning to be streaked with red, start off for the woods with my team. I used to place my dinner-pail on the sunny side of a tree, and continue ‘drawing saw-logs to the mill until after dark. Then I went home, fed the stock, ate my supper, and went to bed. My father tended the saw-mill most of the time for many years for fifty cents a day. In the spring of the sam3 year I took my pack on my back, and started afoot for the town where I now live, — Natick, Mass., — one hundred miles away, and that journey cost me just one dollar and twenty-five cents. I worked there at shoemaking, averaging fifteen hours a day, and the last week’s work I did at the bench, was bottoming shoes at five dollars a week. Out of this I paid fifty cents for pegs, and two dollars for board, so that I had left just two dol- lars and fifty cents. I have bottomed fifty- four pairs of men’s shoes without sleeping, and that for a little more than fifty cents. But even at this rate I got some money ahead, and made up my mind to work my way 148 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. through, college. I lent my money to a man in Boston, and went to the academy at Concord, IS". H. I had been there only six months, when the man to whom I intrusted my fortune failed, and I lost all. I was so reduced that, although I owed for two or three weeks’ board, I was absolutely unable to pay it, or even to take a letter from the post-office without borrowing money to pay the postage. But a friend invited me to remain and board with him, and pay him when I was able. So I stayed through the term, and in the win- ter earned money enough to pay him, by teaching school.” Men, like some vessels, weather the gale, and roll their masts overboard in a calm. Mr. Wilson showed but little wisdom in his high position, and no statesman- ship. He early conceived the idea that the succession was in his hands, and must be taken care of. He had the presidency on the brain. His friends encouraged the idea, and at some of their cosy club dinners in Boston, . actually nominated him as president. He regarded Gen. Grant as a rival, and turned white at the specter of the third term. He got terribly excited if any one suggested that he was not well, and when he should have been shut up in a sick-room under the care of a doctor, he was tearing over the country, from Maine to Florida, dashing from the Hudson to Missis- sippi to convince people that he was well. He had no influence with the Government, from his indiscriminate use of his name and letters. Butler loved to tease him. Wilson complained one day that his letters were not attended to, and he couldn’t get any appointments for his friends. Butler replied that he had obtained from the administration everything he had asked for. Wil- son went to the president, and complained of the unfair treatment. Gen. Grant showed Mr. Wilson that he had had over thirty appointments — that if he JOHN qUINGT ADAMS. 149 sliould appoint every one to an ofRce that brought let- ters from Mr. Wilson, there would be none for anyone else. Butler had got all he asked. He had asked a small appointment in the navy yard, to which he was clearly entitled, and got it. I was sitting one day in the private secretary’s office at the White House wait- ing for a Cabinet meeting to break up. A lady, expen- sive! y dressed, came in, said she had a letter from Mr. Wilson, and wanted to see the president on important business. She said she had a carriage at the door, hired by the hour, and she might as well ride, while waiting for the president to be disengaged, as to have the carriage stand still. In an hour the lady came back, had an interview, and the important business, that justified an introduction to the jjresident from the vice-president of the United States, was a proposal to borrow one hundred dollars. LXY. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. NDUSTRY was the corner-stone of John Quincy Adams’ success. He earned his liv- ing when a lad by riding post between Braintree and Boston. He was appointed private secretary to his father, when he was twelve years of age, and accompanied him to France. Through all his public career, he was one of the most economical and thrifty of men. While Secretary of State, he built a dwelling in Washington, divided it into two tene- 150 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. ments, and reserved a riglit to occupy both parlors at a levee. During all his public life he was an early riser, building his own fire at four o’clock in the morn- ing. He walked to the capitol daily, and was in his seat for prayers. He attended church regularly, through storm and sunshine. I saw him one Sunday wade knee-deep through the snow, to show his good will to the preacher. His library was his work-shop. A plain square room, with shelves lining every side loaded down with books. His table was of pine, cov- ered with green baize, and filled with manuscripts, letters, papers, and general litter. His ink-stand was of Revolutionary pattern, ancient and heavy. He wrote an angular, cramped, heavy hand, with a quill pen. I heard him say : ‘ ‘ I am not orthodox according to the standard of the Presbyterian Church, but I am not as far from it as many suppose. As I advance in years, I feel more and more distrust of all self -formed oioinions on religion. I throw myself back on the simple word of God. I receive what that teaches. I go where that leads. I enjoy the worship of the Presbyterian Church. I am edified by its ministry.” LXVI. HARVEY D. PARKER. HE Parker House, Boston, is one of the best known hotels in New England. It was founded by the gentleman whose name it bears. Parker began as a waiter in a small restaurant on Court street. He set up business for HARVEY D. PARKER. 151 himself in a basement, on the corner of Court square. He spread his own table, and served his own customers. He is a millionaire now ; but I’ve seen him with his coat off, sleeves rolled up, white apron on, broiling steak, and placing it rich and juicy on the iDlates of his guests. After years of honest hard work and suc- cess, he outgrew his quarters, and built his elegant hotel. He has made his house famous in all parts of the world. It’ s the great exchange of Boston, and the annual profits are estimated at a quarter of a million. Parker is a general favorite. He gives his customers just what they ask for, and his liberality has earned him a golden harvest. Any man who becomes a pop- ular favorite is sure of success. The favorite preacher has ten thousand a year and a quartette choir. A popular lecturer can farm himself out for forty thou- sand a year. A star singer can get a guinea a note. Some xjeople cater to the x)ublic taste ; they resolve to put a hat on every man’s head ; a coat on every man’s back ; a box of xfills in every man’s stomach ; shoes on every man’ s feet ; a box of soap in every one’ s laundry ; and a newsx)aper at every man’ s table. If the purpose is carried out, a fortune will be the result. Parker early won over the lawyers and judges of Boston. He furnished to his guests liquor when they wanted it. The Maine-law men harassed him year out and year in. It was one of the curious things in the en- forcement of the liquor law that juries were often try- ing Parker for selling- liquor contrary to law, and during the trial were eating his dinner with a ‘‘ ” of brandy thrown in. A peculiar trial took place, in which Parker was defendant. The Government broke down in its x^rosecution, for want of x)roof. Those who drank at Parker’s bar would not peach, and each man X^retended not to know what he was drinking. At length a witness was found ; he had drank at Parker’s 152 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. bar, had paid for his liquors, and was willing to swear to it. The man was put on the stand. Parker, the old war-horse of the court, as district-attorney began: “Do you know Parker?” “Ido.” “Did you ever drink at his bar? ” “ Yes.” “ Pay for it ? ” “Yes.” “ Did you drink brandy ? ” “JSTo.” “Gin?” “No.” “Pum?” “No.” “ What did you call for ? ” “Frank Pierce.” “What did you get?” “Frank Pierce.” “Was it drawn from a cask?” “It was.” “Was there anything on the cask?” “Yes, several things.” “Name one!” “ Otard brandy.” “Oho! Then you drank Otard brandy.” “No! I drank Frank Pierce.” “Now tell the court and jury why you believe Otard brandy was not in the cask when the name was on the outside.” “Well, J. D. and M. Williams were on the cask, but I don’t think those gentlemen were inside.” Amid roars of laughter the witness stepped down. LXYII. ANECDOTES OF EMINENT FOLKS. LL men have not the same gifts, and do not jirosper in the same manner. Men must be content with positions suitable to their tal- ents. Men make positions ; positions don’t make men. You can’t degrade a llrst-class man by putting him in a menial office. A third-rate man is the same, though he accidentally stand in a first-rate position. The more intelligent a man is in his calling. ANECDOTES OF EMINENT FOLKS. • 153 I other things being equal, the higher he will rise. In every trade and profession there are swarms of ordin- ary men. Talented men are rare. The ability and scholarship of onr colleges are low. Out of a thousand graduates not a dozen will be eminent. Dr. Ware said that he had students studying theology that were so stupid, that when they stole a sermon, they always stole a dull one. England has only one great soldier at a time. In an army of a thousand men, one hun- dred might handle a regiment ; fifty, a brigade ; twenty, a division ; not two in the thousand could conduct a campaign. One hundred men in a mercantile house make a good living in subordinate positions, who could not carry on business for themselves. Stewart wel- comed to his store men who failed elsewhere, if they failed without dishonor. Each had a circle of friends, and could do for him what they could not do for them- selves. In a great mercantile house the man who seems to have nothing to do is the brains of the house. With- out him the establishment would come crashing down. He walks about, seemingly without x)ur|)ose. Up-stairs, down-stairs, this way and that. He knows the price of gold, the rate of exchange, the run of the market, and the value of men. He knows what grade is full and what is lacking. His orders are sharp, like a pilot on the coast: '^‘Fill your orders.” '‘Take no more.” “Keep up your line.” “Stop buying.” “Don’t send those goods out.” These sentences in- dicate commercial ability — they are worth gold. Business men come into steaits, as shij^s founder on sunken rocks. They develope character, good and bad, that astonishes their friends. You can judge very slightly of a man by what he says or what he does. The ridiculous story of John Gilpin was written by Cowper in one of his blackest fits of dejection, when he meditating suicide. La Fontaine, one of the purest of 154 SUGGESSFUL FOLKS. men, filled his writings with impurity and intrigue. Cervantes, pining in a loathsome dungeon, wrote his comical adventures of Don Quixote. Sterne allowed his mother to starve while he was drawing tears from the eyes of the public, by describing the agony of a dying mule. Swift filled the whole world with the praises of two unfortunate girls, whose fame and hap- piness he blasted. Petrarch refined his race as an author, and deserted and neglected his family. Zim- mermann was eloquent in praise of benevolence ; yet his tyranny drove one son to madness, and one daughter to infamy. Gibbon subscribed to EpiscoiDacy, and balanced his life between Infidelity and Pome. Marco Polo wrote his marvelous stories in a dungeon at Pisa. The beautiful measures of Sellachio were penned while he was a x)risoner in the Tower of London. Blacks tone wrote his Commentaries in the Temple, with a bottle of port at his side, while Goldsmith and his boon com- panions held their revels over his head. Thompson, while writing his Castle of Indolence, lounged in the garden of his friends, biting off the sunny side of peaches. The son of Chesterfield, to whom he ad- dressed the celebrated letters on politeness, and whom he proposed the make the first gentleman in England, was the great sloven of the age, helping himself at a public table with his fingers, and licking his plate with his tongue. The Iron Duke was a great martinet in religion. He believed in the book of common prayer. He be- lieved in the articles of war. He was the guest of Wadsworth at Mount Drydal. On retiring for the night, the Duke was informed that prayers woidd be read in the morning. He was in his place with military precision. Wadsworth read from Thornton’s Codec- ANECDOTES OF EMINENT FOLKS. 155 tions. At tlie close Wellington said: ‘‘You have fancy prayers, I see,” and he never came again. Scarcely two eminent men have the same peculiari- ties. Moore bought no books, but read from the pub- lic library when he read at all. The small library he owned was filled with xiresentation copies, from au- thors whose names were on the fly-leaf. Rogers was very kind and considerate to poor writers. He saved the national Academy from extinction by his royal gifts. Schiller could only write when under the stimulus of strong coffee, and he composed at mid- night. Tally dictated to his attendant under the influ- ence of snuff. Salaro composed in the street with pen and pencil in hand while eating bonbons. Haydn before he composed touched the ring Frederick the Great gave him. Mozart gathered inspiration from ten-pins, and Beethoven from solitude. Theodore Parker was at one time the most popu- lar platform speaker in Boston. The Music Hall con- gregation numbered two thousand. He informs us that during all the years of his ministry, only two hundred people contributed anything to his support. JoAKXA Baillie was Wadsworth’s model of an English woman ; yet she was insignificant in appear- ance, small in stature, with a mean, shuffling gait — but sensible, vivacious, and gentle. Madame He Stael, without apology, received her company in bed, with face like a person in undress. She did most of her writing in bed. Mrs. Walter Scott was Frenchy, thin, and spare. She wms a capital housekeeper, trained well her children, advised her husband, and left literary matters to him. Lady Mary Montague was celebrated for being dirty as a child, and filthy as a woman. She 156 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. carried painting to sncli an excess that she was often put into a warm bath and scraped by her servants. Soms of her letters are so broad that they could not, to-day, be read in polite society. Dr. Harvey was persecuted almost unto death, for his now famous work on the circulation of the blood. His practice fell off, the mob chased him through the streets, and his life was threatened. For thirty years his theory has been universally adopted. PoRSOX, the great linguist, used the plainest Saxon. When in conversation he used a foreign lan- guage he translated it. Campbell’s father inspired him with a love for naval songs. An old harper sang at his father’s hearth-stone, “Poor Dog Tray,” and from it came the ballad, “Brittania needs no Bul- warks.” Walpole drew a sad picture of Goldsmith’s clos- ing hours. The poet was poor and forsaken. He lay sick of a purple fever on a Hock bed, deserted by all of his gay friends and literary companions. But for an old charwoman, he would have died in absolute want, without an acquaintance to close his eyes. The celebrated actress, Faxxie, had the short sum- mer day allotted to a brilliant comedian. She was brought down with a stroke of apoplexy. She lay on her poor couch, without food, medicine, or attendants. Her dying words were : “I am deserted and neglected whom all the world worshiped.” JoiTxsox ate like a starved man ; till his appetite was satisfied, he was wholly engrossed with his food. His veins swelled, and perspiration ran down his face. His diet would have killed most men. He poured ANECDOTES OF EMINENT FOLKS. 157 melted-butter into liis cbocolate, and emptied boats of lobster-sance over liis plum-pudding. He took his breakfast in bed, no matter who his host might be ; ate at the table with his lingers, beat the servants, and kept the house in a turmoil. Dr. CirAivNiNG took his drift toward liberalism when he was ten years of age. He heard a sermon from Dr. Hopkins on the judgment. It greatly ex- cited the young man, who thought that if that doctrine was true, his preparation should at once be made. The conduct of the father that night had a life-long influence on the son. The elder Channing said nothing about the sermon ; removed his boots on entering his house ; called for his paper, and sat down to read. William Ellery concluded that his father did not believe one word of the sermon, and he would trouble himself no more about it. Dr. Dewey was a charity scholar, and was carried through his education by the ladies of Dr. Spring’s church at Newburyport. He was on a visit to Dr. Sprague, of Springfleld. The doctor sent him to Boston on an errand. Dewey made the acquaintance of Dr. Buckminster and other leading Unitarians. On his return to Springfleld he found Dr. Sprague sick in his bed. During family prayer he leaned over and whis- pered in Dr. Sprague’s ear that he entertained doubts about the Trinity. A conversation revealed the fact that he had gone clear over. He formally united with the Unitarians and became one of the shining lights of the sect. David Madole was a roadside blacksmith. A carpenter called on him one day for a hammer, ‘^as good a one as could be made.’*' “Will you pay for it,” 158 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. said the blacksmith, ‘‘and pay my priced’ The car- penter said he would. Before sundown six workmen ordered each a hammer. The village storekeeper on the same day ordered two dozen. When they were delivered, a New York merchant was in town, and he left an order. The fame of Madole’s hammers from that hour traveled over the land. The roadside black- smith became famous ; for twenty-nine years he kept up, and kept at his work. His hammers are known all over the civilized world. He has no rivals, and no competitors. The market has no effect upon him ; he never made a poor hammer. He never asked an unfair price. Mu. Tilestois” was of the well-known firm of Spof- ford & Tileston. He came from Cape Cod, a poor boy, in search of em]Dloyment. He took a seat on a shoe- maker’s bench, earned a living and laid up a little money. He opened in a small way, a coast-wise trade. He was reliable, attentive, prompt and honorable. The house was a small one, but merchants spoke well of it. An agent attempted to start a steamship line between Charleston and New York. No one among the mer- chants would touch it. One man said : “ Spofford & Tileston want business ; perhaps they will be consign- ees.” It was a lucky day for the young firm. A con- tract was entered into which resulted in a fortune. When the Crown Prince and his cousin moved the German army, Moltke was scarcely known to the military world. The campaign exhibited a vigor and a wisdom that indicated an able and an experienced liead. The two princes were admitted to be good soldiers, but they had no such ability as was displayed by the military movements of the hour. A sharp watch was put upon the German headquarters. In the ANECDOTES OF FAMOUS FOLKS. 159 rear was a tent occupied by an old man ; his table was covered with maps and drawings, and the German commanders made a nightly visit to this mysterious person. In a few months the name of Moltke was known throughout the world. Samuel J. Mills, of hay-stack memory, was the son of an old preacher, known as Father Mills. He was a sort of missionary in and around Springfield. In his day drinking was one of the fine-arts. Ho one was or- dained, baptized or buried, unless the social cnp went round. There was a famous tavern on father Mills’s route, where he rested. Sling was a poimlar drink — half and half — a gill of water and a gill of rum. The preacher said : Make me a sling, Mr. Jones, and put in a half a gill of rum.” Instead of being weaker than usual, it seemed stronger. After the glass was emptied, the preacher turned to the tavern-keeper and said : “ Mr. Jones, how much Jamaica did you put into my sling?” “I put in what you told me to jiut in. I made the sling, and then added half a gill of rum.” Mr. Jones, please bring up my horse.” Mr. Himmock when he was thirty-six years of age became one of the lions of Wall street. He came suddenly to the front and was one of the most daring speculators. At the start he worked for two hundred and fifty dollars a year as a clerk. He became a gold operator, and was distinguished for his success. The story was that he cleared five hundred thousand dol- lars in one transaction. He lost in one stock in a day over one million. He then turned to real estate, operating on the same gigantic scale. Like Stewart, he resolved to build up a town. Besides his mansion costing him half a million, he settled a minister on speculation, and iDroposed to establish a oh arch on the IGO . SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. same glittering basis. Of course the whole thing was a grand failure. The life of the boy Antoine is a very romantic one. He was heir to an ancient name. He was born at Cremona, and near his home was a quaint old work- shop of Nicholas Amati. In this house the famous violins had been made for over a century. The boy Antoine was fascinated with the sweet sound of the Cremonas. He would do no business, but hung around the old work-shop. He was filled with joy when the master accepted him as an apprentice. The boy was sensitive, delicate, and artistic. He soon mastered every branch of the trade. At the age of twenty-six he left the work-shop to set u]3 for himself. He startled the world by daring to change both the size and form of the famous instrument, adding to the power, while he retained the original sweetness. He departed at the age of ninety -three, having attained fame and fortune, and left his secret with his son. There is nothing more delusive than the Glamor of Biciies. Great men when analyzed usually prove to be very small men. Their fame usually hangs on a very slender thread. They came into notice by some sudden turn or some simple event which they did their best to avert. Celsus, the renowned prototype of Paine, lived in the third century. He would have been wholly unknown, but for the notice Origen takes of him in his apology for the faith. Mahomet dictated the Koran when he could neither read nor write. It was written on bones and skins, and produced at vari- ous times to suit an emergency. Saint Athanasius was a small, slender, spare man, and passed a stormy life between ovations and disgrace. As Arians repeated the Apostles’ Creed, he issued his famous creed as a bulwark against Unitarianism. A summer residence ANECDOTES OF EMINENT FOLKS. 161 on the Seine, built by J ulian the Apostate, was really the foundation of the city of Paris. He took a vow to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem to falsify the x^redic- tion of the Saviour. In the fatal battle with the Per- sians he was pierced with a javelin. He drew out the fa- tal bolt, stained with his blood, shook it toward the sky, and shouted : “Oh, Galileean ! thou hast conquered,” and fell in death. Constantine was defender of the faith, sat among the bishops, and decided the miracles and mysteries of the Gospel. A^et he was not a iiro- fessor of religion. He was baptized on his death-bed, by the Bishop of Hicomedia. Cromwell died a ruler of England, and was buried in the tombs of the kings. He was disinterred by order of the Government, and his body subjected to every mark of indignity. His head was cut olf and stuck on a iiole at Temx-)le Bar. His mutilated body was hung in chains on a gibbet. At Tyburn, the most infamous jiart of London, a hole was dug, into which the bones of the great soldier were thrown, and in which his ashes now rei)ose. Tyburn is now the most fashionable part of London. Near the dishonored grave of Cromw^ell, is the magnificent me- morial erected by the Queen to Prince Albert. A brass plate on the tomb of the kings still bears the name of Cromwell. The descendants of the Puritan ruler, and the descendants of Charles the First, inter- married in the fourth degree. ✓ Few persons succeed through genius or -talent: These are valuable allies, but they are damaging when they usurp the x)lace of solid labor and endurance. Versatility can do little for a man in the race for per- manent xirosj^erity. It’s no advantage to a man if he can turn his hand to anything. It a common saying that an English sailor can tie a knot only in one way, while a A^ankee can knot a rope in a dozen w'ays. But 11 162 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. the English knot never slips. The Archbishop of Can- terbury was a very modest, painstaking, hard-work- ing parish priest. So he promised to live and die. The cholera broke out in London, and the nurses, panic-stricken, fled, leaving the poor to suffer. Dr. Tate and his wife commenced a visitation among the hovels of the lowly. They took the place of nurses and doctor. They went from cot to cot, administering tem- poral relief as well as medicines. This devotion touched the heart of the Queen, and she elevated the devoted and faithful priest to the noble position of Bishop of London. He never forgot the poor, and the same traits that won liim the mitre of London, made him primate of all England. A Coffee-House, supported mainly by actors and actresses, who dined when most people went to bed and retired when the busy day awoke London, cele- brated for its gay company and aromatic punch, was not exactly the place to look for a fortune. Yet one of the most eminent chancellors of the English bench took his first step toward the woolsack from Mando’s Coffee House. He was a briefless lawyer without friends or home. He wrote a little for the papers, and thus obtained the run of one or two theaters. Out of pity he was asked occasionally to step into the coffee- room among the wits and actors of the times. A case was given to him which was utterly hopeless. He passed eight years of his life in intense toil — sometimes on the verge of starvation, and sometimes nearly mad with despair. To the astonishment of the bar and the world he won a verdict. The authorities he cited, precedents and cases he hunted up, and the amount of learning he gathered was simply stupendous. On that solid foundation, amid those years of penury and toil, he built his claims to the chancellorship. ANECDOTES OF EMINENT FOLKS. 163 IN’apoleon’ was a young soldier out of favor with the Government and out of employment. He did a kind thing for Abbe Raynal, and the jiriest found him one night on the Grand Plaza sullen, despondent and resolved to throw up his commission in the morning. The Abbe took the young soldier by the arm, and led him into the salon of Madame De Stael. It was a brilliant party, and among the guests were Lafay- ette, Talleyrand and others. The city was thoroughly alarmed, being in the hands of the mob. The Bastile had fallen, the troops had fraternized with the mob, and society was unhinged. These outbreaks were dis- cussed with great animation. Napoleon w^as silent. He w^as a slim, grave, dark-looking youth, and mid the fiercest discussions not a muscle of his face moved. Turning to the Abbe, Madame I)e Stael said : “What does your young military friend think of all this?” Naiioleon stepped forward and with great boldness an- nounced his views. He scouted the effeminate tempo- rizing views put forth to preserve peace. He answered, with the eloquence of later years, the arguments put forth by Lafayette and other eminent men of the party. “ The government is x^owerless,” he said, “because it’s wreak ; blood must flow ; the streets must be enfiladed. Give me a park of artillery and I will govern Paris.” His opinions fiew" over the city like electric light. The Committee of Safetj^ called for him the next morning. He had wmrk enough to do. He entered the party a nonentity, meditating suicide ; he left it the lion of the hour, having taken the first step toward the Empire. Erskixe, the great English barrister, owed his rise to an accident. The path-wmy to eminence at the English bar w’^as a rugged one. Erskine was a briefless barrister, wdth scarcely enough in his pocket to buy a frugal dinner. He was at a rural inn ; called for his 164 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. frugal meal and soon devoured it. A stranger sat op- posite, with an elegant spread before him. Out of sheer fun, Erskine, one of the best talkists of the age, re- solved to entertain his companion, and see how far he could go without irritating him. The stranger was so delighted that he insisted that Erskine should share his meal, and inquired his profession. Erskine had wit enough to keep his poverty to himself. Strange enough, the man was in search of a barrister, and put a brief at once into the hands of his entertainer. He gave the young advocate more money as a retainer, than he ever saw before in his life. That single case elevated the poor lawyer into a prominent practice. Ho one who knew Disraeli’s early life, would have promised him distinction in the government. He was a thorough coxcomb, “all fur, lace, and ruffles.” Yet underneath the froth was the genuine liquor. Rubens always contended that he rose as a painter from his avarice. His table was lean and mean, and the gay crowd that led the talented in dissipation seldom crossed Rubens’ threshold. He gave the time to labor that others spent in dissipation, and so made himself the artist of the age. Few Americans are as worthy of study as Silas W RIGHT. The office in which he studied law was a saw- mill. He began to practice before he had ever read the simplest elements of legal lore. He was an equity law- yer from necessity. He had that sense of justice which marked Washington, which led the very boys to abide by his judgment in their disputes. Clients came to him while he was sawing logs — nor did the mill rest for the consultations. He gave advice to all comers. He healed divisions among neighbors, re- moved family alienations, united husbands and wives, and advised everybody to settle their cases out of ANECDOTES OF EMINENT FOLKS. 165 court. He seldom charged over fifty cents, — the poor had nothing to pay. He took the fee from the miserly landlord, and gave it to the oppressed tenant. His fair- ness, candor, justice, and ability, spread his fame far and wide. Everybody talked of the young judge at the mill. He was so popular that when nominated for an office, in a district that was politically opposed to him, two to one, he received every vote except three. New York has had many honored in the United States Senate, but none more honored than Silas Wright. Gex. Scott had a quarrel with the Secretary of War. Every one was surprised when the Secretary accompanied Gen. Scott to the Canadian frontier. The Secretary said: ‘‘The country has no quarrel with Gen. Scott; it needs his services, and he is too much of a patriot to allow private grievances to interfere with public duty.” The Carolina affair had an ugly outlook. The presence of the head of the War De- partment and the General of the Army was required in Canada. But more than once the Secretary was mortified that j)eace or war was in the hands of Gen. Scott. He would talk of nothing but Lundy’s Lane, and his part in the war of 1812. He was conceited, dogmatic and supercilious. So the parties separated for the night. The Secretary could not sleep. He rose at four, but early as the hour was it found Gen. Scott stirring. He was another man, clear, simple, concise in his statements. He had a plan completely drawn, and appended to it was an answer to every question the Secretary of War had asked the day before. The plan for settling the difficulties needed no amend- ment. It was carried out, and was successful. The Secretary said : “ Men that don’t know Scott call him fuss and feathers, but with his sword drawn he is the bravest and ablest man I ever knew.” 166 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. The Sweets were natural bone-setters. The gift has descended to the third generation. No matter how men account for it they have a talent which amounts to insxDiration in connection with human bones. A well - known merchant was thrown from his wagon, and broke his legs at the ankles. The bones were artisti- cally set, and a cure pronounced, yet the man could not walk. He lay for months on his bed unable to rise though the surgeon pronounced the cure complete. “Things can’t be any woisse,” he said, and sent for Dr. Sweet. The rough surgeon entered the room— gave the patient a look in the face — threw up the bed- clothes at the foot, and said : “ Your right hip is out of joint.” He took the leg in his hand, gave a snap that sounded like the report of a pistol ; simply said as he left a lotion : “Bathe and walk.” He turned from the house leaving the patient cured. De. Physic had a feeble bodily presence, and looked more like a lad in poor health than like the first surgeon of his age. Few got the advantage of him in repartee. He was once asked how he, a mere boy, felt when holding a consultation with six burly doctors, and replied : “I feel like a silver six- pence amid six coppers — worth the whole lot and a quarter over.” When visiting yjatients he was often attended by his students. He visited an aristo- cratic patient whom it was difficult to control. He felt of her x)ulse, and ordered her to run out her tongue, when he said: “Madame, you have been eating oys- ters. If you again disobey my orders, I will throw up the case.” On retiring, the astonished student said : “ Could you tell by the looks of that woman’s tongue, that she had been eating oysters ?” “No, you fool. I saw the shells under the bed ; you must keep your eyes open if you want to know anything in this world.” ANECDOTES OF EMINENT FOLKS. 167 Ph3^sic looked so iioorly, tliat it is said a lady once offered him a piece of bread and molasses, supposing he must be hungry. This incident will remind one of the banker Coutts. When he could draw his check for ten millions, he dressed as meanly as a porter. In the bluest cold weather he wore no overcoat, and his attenuated, tall, lean frame looked like the genius of famine. A kind-hearted mechanic saw him one morn- ing shuffling down the Strand, and offered him a shil- ling. ‘‘ I am not in immediate want,” said the banker, as he shuffled on. When Fulton was residing in New York, the heads of the people were turned over the discover}^ of perpetual motion. It was a jiractical fact ; an}" one could see the machine, by visiting a loft on Cedar street. As a practical mechanic, Fulton derided the idea, saying : ‘‘You can not have perpetual motion, till a -man can pull himself up in his boots.” At length he yielded to the entreaty of his friends to look on this marvelous piece of mechanism. The moment he heard the sound of the machiner}", he exclaimed : “That’s crank motion.” His practiced eai> detected at once the inequality of the motion. An axe was brought, the floor ripped up, the band brought to light, and the humbug exploded. I heard Daniel Webster say that he was once overreached by a Quaker who farmed him out. The Supreme Court was held once a year at Nantucket. The island was then occupied by wealthy merchants, whose wealth lay mainly in whale fishery. Though the court was held but a week, some of the heaviest cases were tried in Nantucket. A Quaker sought to retain Mr. Webster. The lawyer said he should de- mand a fee of one thousand dollars ; he would have to si)end the week on the island ; would as soon argue the whole docket as one case. The Quaker 168 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. agreed to give Mr. Webster one thousand dollars on condition that he would argue any case that he should present to him that preceded his own. The contract was signed between the parties. The Quaker went home and visited all the leading litigants, saying : ‘‘What will thee give me if I get the great Daniel Webster to argue thy case?” He drove the best bargain he could, running his fees up from one hun- dred to five hundred dollars each. When Mr. Web- ster landed on the island, he found twelve cases waiting his attention. He argued them like a man, now for plaintiff, now for defendant ; now a verdict, now a de- feat. The Quaker won his suit, and he footed u'p the balance. It read: “Verdict and two thousand cash, after paying counsel fee^i and expenses.” One morning a well-known merchant called on a friend as he was going down town. He wore a dilapi- dated look and appeared to be thoroughly demoralized. His friend exx)ressed astonishment at his ajjpearance. The explanation was : “ I have failed ; I’ve got to come to this, and I may as well begin to-day.” “ I would not be a fool if I had failed. Go down town as you are and you’re ruined sure enough. Go home ; dress yourself in your best; wear diamonds, if you’ve got any; bring out your horses ; dash into the streets with your head up.” The bankrupt had sense enough to see the value of this advice. As he drove past the windows where the men sat who held his fate in their hands, they exclaimed : “ Hello ! there goes Jones ; I dorr t think things are as bad with him as men said ; I guess he will come out all right.” And he did. Dean Tillottson’s forethought and shrewdness made him archbishop of Canterbury. He was dean of the church, and out of favor with James II. He was ANECDOTES OF EMINENT FOLKS. 169 in such fear of liis life that he went to sea. He had scarcely landed on his. return, before William and Mary set fo5t on the British Isles. William needed nothing so much as money. The dean took all the silver he could collect from any and every source, melted it down as bullion, and introduced himself to the new ruler with this acceptable gift. The donation made a very favorable impression on the new sovereign, which he gratefully remembered by raising the giver to the primacy of all England. Soon after his intro- duction to Lambeth Palace, Tillottson heard an alterca- tion between his porter and a visitor. Soon the indig- nant official appeared, and announced that an insolent old man was at the door demanding admittance, asking if John Tillottson was at home. The door had been slammed in his face, and still he refused to move. ‘‘ It must be my father,” said the archbishop, and hastened down to embrace him. He was a plain old Quaker, giving titles to neither juries t nor king. The STAU-SpAiiGLED Banner will be sung while the nation endures. Hot the least remarkable thing about it was its origin. Key watched the bombard- ment of Fort Henry from the dock ; at night he saw the banner by “ the rocket’s red glare.” He was early on the lookout, and saw that the ‘‘flag was still there.” He was ordered to visit the fleet, bearing a flag of truce. In an open boat he wrote his “ Star- Si)angled Banner” on the back of a letter, while Ad- miral Cockburn held the tiller. The Kemps, who control the wealthiest drug- house in the city, owe their success to the fidelity and sacri- fice of their mother. Forty years ago she was a widow with several small children depending on her. She opened a small grocery-store on the corner of Broome and Kidge streets, in Hew York. She laid up a little 170 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. money by constant toil and perseverance, gave her children a good education, started them off with good principles, and they are among the merchant princes of the hour. Bishop Janes’ celebrated farm in New Jersey is now owned by Francis Oliver. He worked his joassage from the North of Ireland to the Hudson. He made friends on board the vessel, and the officers and jias- sengers gave him a letter of recommendation. The letter fell into the hands of Mrs. Janes, who wanted a steady, sober, reliable farm-hand. She sent Mr. Oliver to the farm, where he has remained for over thirty years. He now owns the bishop’s farm, and is a wealthy and honored man. Abel Stevens, the histo- rian of the Methodist Church, was taken out of the streets by a Christian, clothed, and put in a Sunday- school, where the first steps of a Christian life began. McDonough, himself a religious man, knew the power of religious sentiments on seamen. Before a battle he cleared the decks, threw the flag over the capstan, ordered the crew to divine worship, and always drew his sword when the chaplain made an appeal to the God of Battles. Some men are helped on their way by quick-witted- ness. A man who was not a regular customer called at a mercantile house and was shown goods. As he left the store the merchant called to the salesman and said : ‘ AVhat have you been doing all this forenoon ? ” ‘‘Customer has been buying very heavy, and buying an unusual line.” “Don’t deliver anything till I tell you ! ” The merchant walked coolly into a store and said: “When do you expect Mr. Jones?” “He’s here now.” “Is he buying largely?” “He ordered largely, but we are not willing to deliver.” “Put ANECDOTES OF EMINENT FOLKS. 171 back those goods,” the merchant said when he entered his store. ‘‘ Your customer can’ t get trusted else- where. I suspected as much.” In ten days Mr. Jones suspended. Mr. Hopkins was the son of the paralytic signer of the Declaration of Independence. In 1770 he com- posed “Hail Columbia,” and called it the President’s March. It was called out by a prospective war with France. It was never popular, and fell into disrepute. To help Hopkins some friends proposed a compliment to him in one of the theaters. A little theatrical finesse was resorted to, to give eclat to the song. The President promised to honor the occasion with his pres- ence. And as he took his seat in the gorgeously- arrayed box, the band struck up Hail Columbia. The audience came to their feet, and amid grfeat applause joined in the chorus. That evening settled the popu- larity of the composition, and Hail Columbia has held the front rank among our national ballads for a hun- dred years. The MARINES would have held Washington when the British burned the capitol, had Commodore Bar- ney’s powder held out. The President and Cabinet fled and hid themselves in what is still known as the “cave of secretion.” The cowardice of the officials was lampooned in the doggerel of the day : ■ “Fly, Armstrong, fly; run, Monroe, run; Were the first words of Madison.” Commodore Barney and the marines resisted the ap- proach of the British. With a swivel gun they held the force at bay until the powder gave out, when the brave soldiers retreated in good order. 172 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. The popular tune which Mason' affixed to Heber’s Missionary Hymn was as accidental as the hymn itself. Saturday night found Heber at the house of a relative, in whose pulpit he was to preach the next morning. The sermon was to be a missionary one, and as Heber took the candle to retire, his relative suggested that he should write a hymn to be sung on the occasion. He appeared at the table next morning in good spirits, and read to the delighted company his famous song, “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains.” It was sung that day to an old naval tune, known as “’Twas When the Sea was Roaring.” The hymn became instantly and almost universally popular. Lowell Mason was in Savannah, a clerk in one of the banks, in 1818 . On his way to church one morning, he met a friend who called his at- tention to Heber’s hymn. The verses so impressed him that he could think of nothing else during the sermon. On reaching home he put his fingers on the keys of the piano and the tune rolled itself out without effort. The tune attained a popularity quite as wonder- ful as the hymn. It called him to Boston ; gave him the lead of the Handel and Haydn Society, and gave him the publication of its music — and a fortune. The fame of the Rothschilds rested on the solid foundation of integrity. Mayer Rothschild was a broker in a small way. He lived in humble style, and was content with small earnings. The revolution raged, and the French were at the gates of the city. One dark and stormy night the Landgrave knocked at the door of the banker’s cottage, and said : “ Here are my treasures, my jewels, with three millions of tha- lers. I must fly ! You are honest, but are too poor to be suspected ! Keep this fortune till better times. If the French sack your house, it will be no fault of yours.” The city was sacked, and the house of the ANECDOTES OF EMINENT FOLKS. 173 Rothschilds was not spared. Long after, the Land- grave knocked at the banker’s door: “Peace is come at last ; it has cost me dear, and I’m penniless. Will an old friend loan me a small sum on an indemnity I shall receive in Hesse Cassel?” “I will loan you,” said the banker, “three millions of thalers, with no security at all. I lost my own money, but I have kept yours. I used it as a capital. Out of it I’ve made a fortune. I will return it to you with five per cent, for its use.” Zedlitz, the famous Prussian general, won his spurs by an act of daring. The eagle-eyed Frederic had singled him out as a hero, when he was lieutenant in the army. He was ordered to attend the king in a reconnoitre. Crossing a bridge, the king suddenly said to the young soldier: “What would you do if both avenues to the bridge were in possession of the enemy f’ “I would do this,” and leaped his horse over the rail into the Oder. He swam safely ashore, and was saluted by the delighted king as major, before he landed. Oakes Ames worked out a fortune on an anvil. He was shovel-maker to the world, producing from his forge a half a million a year. Men digged with his shovels on the coast of Guinea, in the Arctic snows, in the mines of California, and in the collieries of the old world. He hammered out a fortune which ought to have sufficed him. He had become great as a shovel- maker, why not equally great as a banker? He buried one hundred thousand in speculations on the Pacific Coast. He sunk thousands in cotton, stocks became playthings, and he blew bubbles in the air that cost him millions. He failed for eight millions, and in his fall ruined more men politically, financially, and morally, 174 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. than any man of his age. His victims were strewn from the Bay of Newfoundland to the Golden Gate. Dr. Hawes was the son of a blacksmith. His father was a drunkard and an unbeliever. At an early age Joel was converted, and was aided by a lady school- teacher in securing an education. He studied while at the forge. The swing of his arms with a big hammer in the ten pound ten,” was his emphatic gesture in his palmy days. He was a famous rider, and groomed his own horse. He was fond of a race, taking the early morning and back road for a good run. He wrote slowly, composed with great labor, and paused between his sentences. He was impatient at interruption, and when called from his study, came down pen in hand, a hint to the visitor to be brief. LXYIII. THE BENT OF A BOY. ITCH that is called Government in families, is nothing but tyranny. Parents punish when they are mad, and announce laws when they are at the white heat of passion. These they carry out to be consistent, as Herod cut off the head of John the Baptist, because he said he would. No punishment is of any advantage, that doesn’t carry the conscience of the child with it. A boy that is un- justly dealt with, and unfairly treated, is harmed for life. Boys have likes and dislikes, and in a projjer THE BENT OF A BOY. 175 wav, their tastes are to be respected. Usually, out of many dishes, if there is one the child dislikes, he will be heljjed to that, with the injunction to eat it, or go to bed without supper. This tyranny over the lads is especially cruel when it keeps them from a calling they desire, and binds them for life to one that they hate. Some boys hate farming, and want a trade ; some dis- like preaching, and ask for the law ; some will not stand beliind a counter and measure ribbon, but run away and go to sea. The bent of a boy usually comes out, and if the calling he seeks is an honorable one, it is an unwise father and improper guardian that hedges up the way of the lad. ISTelsox was a sailor at six. When his nurse missed him, she looked for him on the docks, where, sitting on a string-piece, he watched the sailors. Watts, when his mother’s back was turned, tied down the cover of the tea-kettle, and se- curing the nozzle, he improvised a steam boiler that nearly blew things sky high. Dr. Bedell, of Phila- delphia, when a child of four, marshalled into his mother’s parlor a string of shoeless, hatless, dirt}^ and hungry children, which he had picked up in the street, and insisted that they should be clothed. Bishop Heber was distinguished, when in Calcutta, for his humanity. He would walk under the molten sky of India to speak to a dying Musselman of the better land. When he was sixteen years of age he did the same thing for his mother, comforting her in her sor- row, and reading consolation out of the Holy Scrip- tures. Hadyn was pronounced, when a boy, as a ne’er to do good.” He would do no work, and punishment and entreaty were alike of no avail. His voice was fine, and he spent his days and nights in singing. A wandering musician gave him one lesson. His en- 176 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. thusiasm and industry gave him the rest. Out of some old boards and odd pieces of wire he improvised an instrument, on which he learned to play. The vagrant minstrel became the delight of kings. Burkett, the learned blacksmith, showed his love of learning while working at the forge. He divided his hours between toil and study. He exhausted the books in the town library, became master of many languages, and without slacking his work, placed his name among the scholars of the age. Alexat7DER Murray tended sheep. He was re- markable only for his laziness. Yet he had genius enough to frame an alphabet out of his catechism by which he learned to read. With bits of charcoal and a board he learned to write. The few pennies he earned were spent on cheap histories and ballads. He com- mitted to memory the grammar loaned him for a few days. He was competent to teach after six week’s schooling. Robert Hall, the eloquent English preacher, could not read when he was eight years of age, and was pronounced a dunce. His school-book was a tomb- stone in the old churchyard, and his teacher his nurse. Dr. Ritteniiouse was a joiner. His thirst for learn- ing was intense. He passed his nights in study, and committed to memory the few books he could lay his hands on. He covered the fences, the barn-doors, and the loose shingles with diagrams. He mended the clocks of the poor, and repaired the rude machinery of the town. Alone and unaided he became an accurate *■ surveyor, and by indomitable study, placed himself among the great mathematicians of the world. THE BENT OF A BOY. 177 George Fox was a born Quaker. He was appren- ticed to a shoe-maker, but had no traits like the lads of his town. After the work was over, the boys went shouting to their play; but Fox, Bible in hand, would retire to a hollow tree, and spend the eventide in meditation. The age was very wicked, and drinking, gambling, and visiting the play-house, were the com- mon pastimes of the young. At nineteen, the Spirit came upon him. He threw aside his lapstone, and went out to found a sect. The costumes of the Friends indi- cated that they were pilgrims and strangers. He had divine revelations, and these obliged him to travel from place to place. He was a man of peace, yet lived in turbulence all his life. He refused to remove his hat in the presence of kings or judges, and was fined and imprisoned for contempt. The mother of Hans Axdersox took in washing, and the lad gleaned in the field. He read, when a boy, the “ Arabian Nights,” and the fascinating book tinged his wdiole life. He was iDut to trade as a cabinet- maker, and at the bench he mastered the Danish, German, and other languages. He earned his reputa- tion by his indomitable industry. Falconer was a poet of the sea. He inherited nothing from his father but poverty. The sire was a barber, a wigmaker, an idler, and a failure in every- thing. The boy was sent to sea as a common sailor before the mast. His poetic gifts buoyed him up. His gentle spirit won the regard of his messmates, who did his work while he studied in the cockpit. It was the ambition of the father of Sir Humphrey Davies that his boy should earn his own bread, and helj) support the family. The lad was fond of study 12 178 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. and took every opportunity to indulge Ms bent. The father was a carver, but the boy refused to accept the trade, and was bound to an apothecary. He studied chemistry with great success, and with a few rude, rough tools, he worked out experiments that astonished the world. Dodsley, of poetic fame, was a footman, and marked by his steadiness of conduct, and attention to duty. He studied while others of his class idled. He wrote verses on his coach-box, while waiting for com- pany, that drew the attention of the learned. Some of his verses were thought worthy of being ascribed to Chesterfield. The critics sought him out, and gave him a position which he had earned. Caxoya, the great sculptor, was a friendless orphan boy. He hung around the marble yards and studios, and was always chipping bits of marble. He astonished the city, when a boy, by modeling a lion in butter. A nobleman bought the work, and took the lad to his palace. He scorned the luxury of his surroundings, and worked like a stone-mason. A iiurse was pre- sented to him, and with it he visited Home. The Venetian ambassador took a fancy to the young artist, and presented him with a block of superior marble. At once he took rank. Out of that block he produced a style of sculpture hitherto unknown. His freedom, delicacy of touch, and elegance o! finish, com- manded universal admiration. Men of genius admitted his superiority, and eminent artists begged his criticism. William Huttox, the great merchant, was a dull boy and gave no jDromise of success. His friends used to say that his skull must be broken to get anything into it. He was put to work as soon as he could walk, THE BENT OF A BOY, 179 he had no education, and was brutally treated. He was stunted for want of food, and suffered often for the necessaries of life. He broke from this tyranny and ran away. He secured an old trunk, and with a hammer, knife, a bit of wire, and a few nails, he con- structed a harp on which he learned to play. With this instrument he wandered about trying to get a living. He sold his harp for a few shillings to keep from starving. After his hunger was satisfied, he bought with the balance a stock of cheap goods. He made a little money and bought more. He got the run of the country, knowing that market days were red letter days in his calendar. He husbanded his gains, avoided loose company, and kept clear of the ale- houses. A refuse library, owned by the Yicar of Bray, was put up at sale. The books brought but a few pence, and found their way into the traveling sack of Hutton. He peddled books by day, and with a rush candle mastered the library at night. He became a famed author, and one of the most successful mer- chants of his time. Yayrange was a famous iron-worker, and the wonderful mechanic of the seventeenth century. His stepmother was a tigress and the boy suffered every- thing that cruelty could inflict. He often wished him- self dead. One day he looked in at a window and saw a man repairing a lock. He begged the man to give him work, promising to be faithful, and asking nothing but food and shelter. In a month Yayrange could take the most complicated lock to pieces. He was delicate and skillful in handling firearms. He had never seen a watch. Taking home the one that was loaned him, he si^ient the night in taking it to pieces, and making himself master of its mechanism. He re- solved to construct a watch but it would not run, nor 180 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. could he overcome the difficulty. With the force of character peculiar to him he started for Paris, and ap- prenticed himself to a first-class watch-maker of the city. In a week he found out the secret that he sought. With tools and materials suited to his purpose he slip- ped away at night and started for home. At Lorraine, * where he settled, he became the most eminent mechanic of the old world. His ornamental gateway to the king’ s palace was pronounced one of the wonders of the world. SiE Thomas Lawrence, as a boy, was distinguished for his marked musical ability, and was regarded as a prodigy in painting, taking a prize at the age of thir- teen. He studied more than he worked. A few hours was all he gave to his easel, the rest of the day he bowed down to his books. He was an intense worker, allowing nothing to leave his hand that was not per- fect. The father of Gifford was a wild, dissipated young man. His mother was wronged out of her little property, and the problem was, what to do with the boy. He was too small for a farm, too feeble for a store, and the family were too poor for a school. The lad was sent to sea. He was a strange boy, and passed his leisure lying on his back and watching the heavens. He was cruelly treated, ran away from sea, and became a shoe-maker. He thirsted for knowledge, and spent all his leisure among such books as he could command. Astronomy interested him, and having no paper and no i7ik, he made his calculations on bits of leather with an awl. After years of privation and toil, he became eminent as a scholar, a contributor to the Edinburgh Review, and editor of the Quarterly. THE BENT OF A EOT. 181 Stephenson, as a boy, earned a few pence attend- ing cows in a turnip field. He became a stoker in a coal-pit. He taught himself to read, and devoured the lives of eminent men ; biography had a charm for him. He was a genius. He could patch boots, repair old clothes, and mend clocks in the cabins of the lowly. When he found a piece of machinery, he took it apart to see how it was made. While working in the dark and dirty mine, he resolved to build a locomotive. After years of toil and failure his model was complete. In his joy, he shouted : ‘H’rn a man for life.” He be- came eminent as an engineer, kings consulted him, and parliaments sat at his feet. Sir Hichaed Arkwright was the son of a cheap barber. The sensational sign over the shop was : ‘‘Come to the subterranean barber; shave for a penny.” The father dealt also in wigs and human hair. The boy detested the trade, and idled his time in constructing w^hirlagigs and curious models. The incensed father broke into the workshop and destroyed all the works. Hichard found a friend in a watch- maker. Under the guise of learning a trade, the boy was permitted to use the tools of the shop, and to spend his time as he pleased. The country w^as alive with efforts to advance cotton over wool. In secret, Ark- wright made a machine that contained the principle of the spinning jenny. Those secret hours of toil laid the foundation for Arkwright’s great fame. Eli Whitney was a boy on a farm. He had a fac- ulty for making things. At sixteen he set himself up as a nailmaker. He constructed all the tools he used. He never joined in the juvenile sports, but spent his leisure hours in studying mechanics. He fitted him- self as a teacher, and went South and opened a school. 182 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. He resolved to make a machine to clean out cotton- seed. His first invention was smashed by a mob. He persevered ; won over the unwilling populace, and made a machine whose superiority could not be disputed, and was hailed as the benefactor of the South. Bowditch was the son of a cooper. He was put into a ship-chandler’s shop. He was distinguished by strict attention to duty, and by keeping a slate and pencil by his side while he worked. A storm drove a ship ashore at Salem, which had on board a fine library. It was affluent in the sciences, and had works in twenty languages, ^his library was a boon to young Bow- ditch. He made a voyage to Europe, and used the hold of the vessel as a studio. He robed the vessel with his problems, and studied day and night. His Practical Navigation is known the world over. LXIX. NELSON. was no accident that gave Nelson the com- mand of the British fleet, a title, and a statue at Trafalgar Square. He gave the key note of his own character as he said : ‘‘ When I don’t know whether to fight or not, I always fight.” He was distinguished for personal attention to things on his ship, and by attention to most minute matters. His last order showed this. He was borne from the deck to the cockpit to die after his fatal NELSON, 183 wound. He saw a rope out of place, and feebly gave the command: ‘‘Tighten that tiller rope.” His ad- vance in the navy was very slow. He was not favored — had no patron to push him ; while in the government he had many enemies. He was shamefully treated. His gallantry and bravery gained the battle of Calvi. He lost an eye and was otherwise wounded. Though his gallantry saved the fleet, his name was not men- tioned in the Gazette, and was omitted among the wounded. Hurt by the shabby treatment, and urged by the presence of heroism, I^elson is reported to have said : “Never care ! I will one day have a Gazette of my own.” He was allowed to retire from the navy, there being no place for him, and he vrent to farming. A message from the government found him among the plows. A stray bullet had killed a post captain, and Nelson was in the succession. As he started from the plow toward the quarter-deck, he exclaimed : “Now for the Gazette or Westminster Abbey.” Off duty, Nelson seemed very little like a hero. He was under- sized, had a pale, interesting face, wore a mournful, placid look, and his speech was mild and gentle. He never passed a sailor in the streets without speaking to him, and always had a small gift for any one that had been under his command. 184 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. LXX. STEWART’S BUSINESS TRAITS. R. STEWART came to America in the latter part of 1818 . His parents had preceded him twelve years before. His father died and left his mother a little money. She set up a second-hand furniture store on Chatham street, near what was then known as the Jews’ burial-ground. The locality is still devoted to the trade in second-hand goods. There was a w^ell-known schoolmaster in that locality, belonging to the Society of Friends, known as Isaac F. Bragg. One night Mary Stewart ran over to Mr. Bragg’s house with the information that her brother Alexander had just arrived, and begged Mr. Bragg to give him the position of assistant teacher in his school. Alexander came over for examination. He knew no Greek, no Latin, no French. He passed a fair examination in arithmetic, writing, the elements of grammar, and spelling. Ho was emjjloyed as usher on a salary of three hundred and fifty dollars a j^ear. So the great merchant started in this city. The story of his classical studies goes to the wall under the hand of Mr. Bragg himself. Stewart was intended for the Episcopal ministry. An accident made him a trader. He was a school- teacher, and was induced to visit Ireland to claim a small inheritance that fell to him. A shrewd Scotch- man advised him to invest his little fortune in dry- goods, and sell them in New York. He traded in a small way in a little store on Broadway opposite to his down- town palace. I have heard Stewart describe his little shanty in which he began to trade. Besides STEWART^S BUSINESS TRAITS. 185 needles, tapes, and nick-nacks, he had a higher class of goods, and commanded a higher custom than his neighbors. The old Knickerbockers traded with him, because the Stewarts were ‘‘decent industrious people.” At the start, Stewart introduced a style of business not common in New York. Near Stewart’ s little shanty stood the store of the lordly Kickers, the great mer- chants of the day. When Stewart’s stock was low, he sold everything off at cost. With the money he filled up his store with goods in new style. The Kickers warned Stewart that that stjde would ruin him. He thought otherwise, and as his wont was, followed his own counsel. Stewart was a close, sharp buyer, and the traders soon found out where fresh goods could be had at a low price. The result was Stewart Avent up, and the Kickers went down. Stewart was an autocrat in trade, and a hard master. His rules were as rigid as those in the Penitentiary. Clerks were fined for everything. If they were late. If they went out. If they misdirected a bundle, mis- called a name, or mistook a number. If they sat in the store, or over-stayed the lunch hour. Sometimes a month’s wages were spent in fines. Stewart had partners in profits ; but none in management. He could sell what he pleased, and when he pleased, and put the key in his pocket when he chose. He ran his store by the month, putting money in the bank in advance to meet all the expenses. He controlled the market in many things, and compelled the universal America to pay him tribute. Though a hard trader, ho was emi- nently fair. Hemas Barnes made a contract for a quantity of cloth, which was made in England. The goods were sent direct to Mr. Barnes, but they were inferior to the samples, and for tlie purposes intended were useless. The salesman contended that the goods 186 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. were those ordered, and an appeal was taken to Mr. Stewart. The merchant said: ‘‘Show me the goods and the sample.” Turning to the salesman, he said : “ This is not the quality of cloth you agreed to fur- nish. Mr. Barnes, are these goods worth anything to you?” “JSTo, sir.” “Then leave them, I will send your order to-day, and all loss will be made up to you.” Strict as Stewart’s rules were, the list of applica- tions for service in his store was always large. It was a good start for a young man to get a place under Stewart. If he met the rugged requirements of the great autocrat, and continued a year, he would go any- where. Good salesmen would work for their board, or a mere nominal price, simply to say, they had been to Stewart’s. Civility was a winning card. One day, Stewart said : “ I can command the wholesale trade, for I can make it an object for heavy buyers to deal with me, but people who buy pins, needls, thread and but- tons, must be catered to, and out of these I make my profit. A salesman is valuable to me, not when he dis- poses of goods through a misrepresentation, but when he states fairly what my goods are, and what are the prices. Exaggeration, misrepresentation, and having two prices for articles, are as damaging to merchants, as it is wrong in principle.” I saw Mr. Stewart at Garden City a short time be- fore his last sickness. He was one of the best pre- served men I ever saw. He did not look a day over fifty. His form was lithe and. genteel — his clothes were cut in fashionable style — his manners were quiet and liis tones gentle. At that moment he was control- ling two of the heaviest warehouses in the world. He was in the midst of his Garden City property, a terri- tory eight miles long and four wide. He was expend- ing on this property millions. Railroads were grid- JAY GOULD'S BOYHOOD. 187 ironing the estate, sewerages opening, roadways being n>aoadainized, costly dwellings by the score going up, on all which Stewart looked with the air of a man wholly at leisure. He lived in the simplest style. At Long Branch he was offered pickles and salad ; he de- clined, saying: “ My appetite is good ; I reserve such stimulants until I’m an old man.” LXXL JAY GOULD’S BOYHOOD. Y common consent Jay Gould is the boldest and most successful operator on the street. He has fought his way up, with an enter- prise and desjjeration that always triumphs. As his manhood is, so was his boyhood. He was born in the county of Delaware, in the township of Box- bury. The modest cottage in which he lived, the school where he studied, the store in which he worked, still remain. He received a good education at the hand of his father, who was a schoolmaster. One of Jay’s boyish freaks was to j)redict his future wealth, and to map out methods of spending it. He was a sturdy resolute, industrious boy, and could turn his hand to anything. He was a self-made surveyor. He put his few rude tools into a wheelbarrow, and trundled it before him from point to point. One of the best maps of Delaware county has on the corner, — Surveyed by Jay Gould.” 188 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Gould had a knack for trading, and was very sharp as a cattle-dealer. In one of his tramps he got a lesson that lasted him all his life. A farmer had a herd of cattle, and Jay went out to look at it. In the midst of the bartering a woman apx)eared, who had a little talk with the farmer. Gould caught a word now and then: ‘‘Now don’t, husband, I beg of you not to; if you have any regard for me, don’ t. I shall die if you do.” “What’s the matter with that woman?” said Gould. “Oh nothing, — my wife has a favorite cow, — she is called ‘ Old Pailful,’ and the woman is afraid I’m going to sell her.” The woman hung round, and of course Gould demanded that “Old Pailful” should be brought out. She was a picture, and the young trader said that that cow must go with the lot if he made the purchase. The cattle were driven home, and the father sent Jay out to see what kind of a milker “Old Pailful” was. He had scarcely seated himself, before the cow threw him, pail, and stool, sky- high, she tore around the i^asture, leaped the fence, and started for home. Ever after Gould never bought anything that a woman wanted to keep. Young Gould tried his hand at country store keep- ing. He chafed under the hum-drum style of country trade. He was very smart, very cajjable, and soon had a chance to introduce a few improvements. The trader started on a visit to New Jersey and left his young clerk in charge. The out-going wagon was hardly out of sight before Gould commenced operations. He pro- posed to sell the store out and lay in a fresh stock of goods. He marked everything down ; covered the country with show-bills, promising great bargains for a few days. He stirred the country, and the town looked like a muster-day. The store was crowded from dawn till dark. When the trader came home he found his year’s stock sold, the store emjDty, and his clerk count- JAY GO VLB'S B 0 YHO OD. 189 ing U13 the gains. He was too smart for the position, and was obliged to leave. Zadoc Pratt was the great man of the region, and Gould could scarcely have overlooked him if he would. In his great tannery Gould seemed to have found a field equal to his ability. Jay was able as a clerk, and in- valuable as a draughtsman. Pratt was building, en- larging and altering continually, and the skill of the young draughtsman found constant employment. The counting-room was covered with papers, siiecifications and plans. Two such sharp men could not very well occupy the same position, and principal and subordi- nate had a falling out. Gould seized all the drawings and plans, and removed them. Pratt demanded them, and proposed to take them by force. Gould organized a band of stout, hardy yeomanry to defend his rights. He showed his pluck and tact then, as he did years after- wards in his Erie fights. Gould won, as any man will win, who has right on his side and courage to defend it. No two men were ever less alike than Jay Gould and Jim Fisk. Yet no two men were ever better fitted for each other. Gould was cool, cautious, and wily. Fisk, daring and audacious. Gould had brains to organize. Fiske had executive force. Fisk told me that he controlled more gold on “Black Friday” than the Hothschilds ever held, and if the president had kept out of the fight, he would have made thirty mil- lions out of the “Black Friday” operations. Gould worked secretly, like a mole out of sight. Fisk wrote his transactions on his frontlet. Gould respected out- ward morality ; Fisk took no pains to show his disre- gard for the decencies and conventionalities of life. Gould works through agencies, and covers his own tracks. His house, where he transacts his business, is fitted up like a war department. Wires run to every part of the city. Sitting at his table, he can talk to 190 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. his brokers on the street, and advise speculators in a secret conclave. His bell is on the jump from mornicg till night. A dozen persons sit in his x^arlors at a time waiting for an interview. One rule is meted out to ail who have not a jorevious appointment. In answer to a card, the messenger quietly whispers, ^‘Mr. Gould will see you in one minute.” His great business is in his own hands. He trusts to his own judgment, and keeps his own counsel. His personal presence is not impos- ing. He is under-sized, and his head looks as if he must have had the ‘‘rickets” when a boy. His coun- tenance is swarthy, and his features are decidedly Jewish. Brokers say that he keeps twenty millions on deposit to meet any little exigency that may arise. He understands the power of the press, owns an editor or two, and runs one of the great newspapers of the day. He is keen, far-sighted and audacious. LXXII. THEOLOGY AS A TRADE. ISr select preaching as a business, as they select law or surgery. It takes more years to train a minister than it does to train a man for any other profession. It takes as much talent to run a church as it does to run a country st{)re ; yet a country store-keeper is a business man, cud a minister is not. The study that fits a man to ])reach usually unfits him for anything else. Yet men select Theology as a trade, gather families upon it, and THEOLOGY AS A TRADE. 191 devote their years to its work. The ministry has ad- vantages and disadvantages peculiar to itself as a calling. A minister must live up to the style of the lawyer, merchant, and doctor without a tithe of their revenue. He must keep a hotel where strangers, agents, and beggars in orders must find quarters. He must send his sons to college, and his daughters must be accom- plished in all the refinements that belong to a mil- lionaire. O tiler professions require years before a paying practice is secured. A minister’ s best salary is when he is young. Other men pass years in working themselves up into a social position ; the minister takes his with a bound. He may have been a wood-chopper, and his father a blacksmith, yet with his first sermon he takes rank with the judge, store-keeper, and the aristocrat. His wife may have been a dairy-maid, a milliner, or a house-servant ; yet the elite and the titled stand back and let her jiass, as she out-ranks them all. Like all business, preaching is sometimes a failure and sometimes a success. Men often select the sacred calling, not because they are fitted for it, but because their father was in it. But talents, like grace, are not hereditary. A well-known family, made up of a dozen children, put every boy into the ministry. The boys were stout muscular fellows and would have been at a premium as stone-masons or longshoremen. With one or two excei)tions, the batch was very ordinary. Spurgeon refused to go to college because it would spoil him as a preacher. In English families where there is a living the stupidest boy of the family, fit for nothing else, is usually assigned to it. Should a cadet at West Point be educated for a soldier as men are educated for the ministry, he would 192 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. be tbrown over. Students in theology learn a great deal ; they know theology, languages, and polite litera- ture. But they are not taught to preach. The man who teaches them elocution could not keep an audi; ence awake ten minutes. The man w^ho instructs them in pastoral work doesn’t attend live funerals in live years. Suppose a cadet to graduate who ranks num- ber one in moral philosophy, stands equally high in chemistry, but can’t draw a sword, neither can he ride, load, or lire. The armorer at Springfield would lose his head, if he burnished and mounted a' costly sword without trying its edge. Who would send his boy to an engineer who never ran a mile of chain ; or put him to merchandise with a merchant who failed annually ; or put him to study navigation with a captain who always ran his ship ashore ; or put him under a soldier who never fought a battle? The ministry is a sad trade for men who have no heart in it. Men who were born horse- jockeys, politi- cians, speculators, and jesters, seldom become a suc- cess in the sacred office. Sterne would have made a first- rate pot-house politician. Swift would have ranked high as' a bar-room joker. Churchhill should have been poet laureate to alow theater. A coarse jest cost Sydney Smith a mitre. His brother, a heavy, stupid man, out-ranked him, and the merry preacher used to say : “My brother rose by his gravity, and I sank by my levity.” There are no better business men than the American clergy. They broke down all opposition, and led the Puritans from Holland to Plymouth Pock. They founded Harvard College, and at Saybrook furnished the nucleus for Yale College. President Edwards was an office-holder under the Massachusetts govern- THEOLOGY A8 A TRADE. 193 ment. Dr. Dwight gave Connecticut her constitution. The boldest man in the Continental Congress, the one the most loud-mouthed for independence, was the preachei* John Witherspoon. About fifty years the American Board was conducted by the clergy, and the Methodist Book Concern, that runs the denomination, was founded by ministers, and by them exclusively controlled for nearly a hundred years. The ministry is the only trade in which it is a crime to GROW OLD. The old lawyer blooms into a judge ; the successful merchant becomes a capitalist ; and the old doctor is of priceless value. When a minister fails to attract, and can’t pay church debts, or sell costly pews, he is turned out, “when the men who knew not Joseph” are in power. The large cities are full of once popular and attractive ministers without a charge, — who lived up to their income, — saved nothing, — and have been turned out to take care of themselves by people to whom they gave the freshness of their youth and the strength of their manhood. These persons live from hand to mouth, — sell books, — get a little insurance, — traffic in a small way, earn a little brokerage, and live a dog’s life with hard work and poor pay. Brooklyn had the Prince of Preachers, — eccen- tric, but poi3ular. Men came from the four quarters of the country to hear him. He had a commanding church, had a beautiful house, in beautiful grounds, kept his carriage, and maintained style. To-day he would be in actual want, but for a little annuity settled on him by his old charge. A Connecticut pastor, who was once one of the most influential men in the nation, and held his pastorate forty years, was broken-hearted when his people demanded a fresher man. He said if 13 194 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. he could begin life over again, he would not be a Puritan minister. The Apollos of the American pulpit was settled in Albany. He was a model pastor of the land. During his long settlement in Albany, he received, on an average, a call a year, from the most important churches in the country. Every city bid for him. He would grow old. There were whispers about a fresher man. His life-long services were forgotten. He was dismissed, and would have been dismissed without a settlement if two prominent men had not had a quar- rel. Small as the annuity was, it was opposed on the ground that the minister had fifty thousand dollars’ worth of manuscripts that he ought to sell. “ Sell my autographs?” said the indignant divine. ‘‘I’d as soon sell my children.” The founder of a well-known ministerial Family was influential above his peers. He was called here, called there, and always to an eminent position. He had a large salary, but saved nothing. Age came upon him, and found him without a support. A few Boston friends kept him from want till the close of his life. A Gentleman called on me one day to make known what he regarded as a special hardship. He was getting a small salary as a missionary, often was in a strait for bread. The church where he worshipped had raised his pew rent and he must leave. Yet I had known that man as one of the great popular ministers of Boston ; his salary was large, his style of living ele- gant, his position enviable. Alienations arose ; they culminated in his dismissal. An associate of his, set- tled near him, was a sort of Pope. He was a man of marked prejudice and obstinacy. He would use pub- lic occasions to make known his prejudice, and to JEREMIAH CURTIS AND SOOTHING SYRUP. 195 strike a brother who had no means of defending him- self. His tnrn came at last. He went abroad for his health. A cruel letter met him at the Gate of Naples, asking his resignation, as he stood in the way a settle- ment which the parish wished to make. Men fail in business as theologians, as they fail in other trades. Some get a position above their ability. Some get their heads turned, and become vain. Some grow loose in doctrine as they grow in years. Some give their strength to merchandise, authorship, lectur- ing and stock-raising. Some, who have real talent, are well described by the poet : — “ His talk is like a stream that runs With rapid change from rocks to roses ; It skipped from politics to puns, It passed from Mahomet to Moses ; Beginning with the laws that keep The planets in their radiant courses, And ended with some precept deep For skinning eels and shoeing horses.’’ \ LXXIII. JEREMIAH CURTIS AND SOOTHING SYRUP. HIS gentleman has made a fortune out of soothing syrup. By extraordinary advertis- ing, an immense sale has been created for the article. Mr. Curtis is a man of com- manding stature, a courtliness of the old school, and dispenses an elegant hospitality. He worked his way up in his New England home, to the position of justice 193 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. of the peace, a member of the legislature, and could, if he wished, have been governor of the State. Mr. Curtis was brought up in Maine, where a boy is expected to do a man’ s work. Idleness was a crime, and a lad that would not dig, mow, chop, hoe, was born for a poor-house or the jail. Young Curtis despised these social maxims, and neither the poor-house nor the jail had any terrors for him. A trade he wouldn’ t learn. He detested farming, and menial work had no charms for him. He was a vagrant, but no idler. He could hunt and lish with the best, snare birds, trap fowls, and strip the otter of its skin. His traps, self-made, were ingenious, and the tools he constructed for his pastimes v/ere the envy of the boys in the town. His industrious neighbors thought it a sin and a shame that a boy that could hammer out on an anvil such curious devices wouldn’t work. It was sinful that such parts should be thrown away. At the birth of Jeremiah, the genius of speculation must have pre- sided. Trading was as natural to him as whittling to a Yankee. He made a business of his sports. He drove a thriving trade in furs, and bartered the animals he caught and the birds he snared. He opened a mart for the farmers ; brought their produce in bulk ; took the ashes of the country and opened a soap factory ; opened a cooperage and encouraged men to cut hoops and staves ; and traded in hides, horns, hoofs and beef. He was a public benefactor. He was square as a die, and true as a bevel. The disasters of 1837 overtook him, and swept everything away. His wife, a heroic woman, found him one morning walking the floor, ap- parently in great distress. “ What is the matter, Jere- miah f’ “I dare not tell you; it will kill you.” “ Have you murdered anybody?” “No.” “Any- thing short of that won’t kill me.” “ I’ve lost all my money ; I must fail.” “ Is that all ? Why don’t you JEREMIAH CURTIS AND SOOTHING STRUP. 197 suspend ? You can pay when you are able ; nobody can prevent you doing that.” Out of the wreck one vessel was left. This was des- tined for the West Indies. Mr. Curtis sailed in her as supercargo. But the luck was against him. Yellow Jack boarded the vessel, and the captain and all the hands were taken down. The captain was on shore, and the doctor said he would die if he was moved. ‘‘ He will die if he is not moved,” said Mr. Curtis. ‘‘If he dies at all, he shall die on board my vessel, and ITl take him or his body home. Mr. Curtis was captain, mate, crew and nurse, and when the vessel reached Calais, all on board were convalescent. Not disheart- ened, Mr. Curtis loaded his vessel and proposed to trade along shore. A fleet anchored at the mouth of one of the rivers in a gale. Curtis believed that the river would freeze up before morning. Against the protest of the captain, and in the teeth of the gale, with the risk of an overturn, the anchor was raised, and the vessel went up to port. The next morning everything was frozen fast. The daring owner had everything to himself, and sold his cargo of jDrovisions at a high price. Success came at last, and from an unexpected quar- ter. Mr. Curtis bought out a small drug store in Maine. Among the stock in trade was a receipt for soothing syrup, which bore the name of an old and honored nurse. The remedy was popular and in constant de- mand. Mr. Curtis thought he saw a fortune in that lit- tle piece of paper, and it was a small thing to found a fortune upon. But men have become millionaires on articles quite as small as the soothing syrup receipt. A handful of tobacco, a pile of hoofs and horns, a pan- full of candy, a bag full of rags out of an ash barrel, a bundle of furs, and a bunch of kindling-wood, have made men both rich and famous. 198 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Mr. Curtis resolved to give his medicine a national reputation. He removed the manufactory to New York. He used the press in a manner that was as- tounding. He made the virtues of the medicine known in every kingdom under heaven. The demand was enormous from all parts of the world. Especial agen- cies for its sale were opened in London, Paris, Berlin, Australia, Japan, China, and in the Islands of the Sea. Fortunes have been spent to supplant the soothing syrup. Combinations have been formed to drive it from the trade. Druggists, chemists, and doctors con- spired to detect the secret of its excellence, or furnish a substitute. The medicine leads the market to-day, as it has for years ; it meets a great public v/ant ; is simple, economical and effective. Mr. Curtis is one of the best business men of the age. He needed a few thousand dollars at one time to meet an exigency. Most men would have thrown the medicine in the market at a reduced price. He kept his» embarrassment to him- self ; filled the land with circulars, announcing that on a given day the price of the medicine would be raised. The plan was successful. Orders came rushing in from every quarter. He had all the money he wanted, yet he raised the price as he said he would. RICH, THE OYSTERMAN. 199 LXXIY. RICH, THE OYSTERMATsr. SAAC RICH gave away in his lifetime over half a million. He left a million and a half to be distributed after he died. He was a Cape Cod boy, and was trained to catching fish and lobsters. A stranger in Boston, he commenced business as a lad by selling oysters. With a canvas bag slung over his back he tramped through the streets of the town, shouting ‘‘Oys ! buy any oys !” It was the days of Boston simplicity, when everybody lived at the North End. A maid came to the door with a candle and a can. The oysterman followed the maid into the kitchen, opened the 03^sters, threw the shells into the fire, and passed out on his way. This was young Rich’s business for years. His work was hard, his pay light, his gains slow ; but he had emplojmient, earned his bread, saved a little money, and he was satisfied. He was industrious, honest, and economical. By and by he rose to the dignity of a handcart, and added fish to his stock in trade. He worked his way to a stall in Faneuil Market. His peculiar style of business here came out. He was always on hand ; no customers came too early, none too late. His stock was complete and fresh. He at- tracted the attention of hotel men. If fish was wanted as a specialty, or wanted at an unusual hour. Rich was called for. Boyden, then of the Tremont, took a lik- ing to the young fishman, and said to him one day, ‘‘ Why don’t you keep salmon?” “I’m too poor.” ‘ ‘ What has poverty to do with salmon ?” “ It has every- thing to do with it. Salmon is sold by the cargo, and 200 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. the heavy buyers charge us so much that we can’ t make anything.” ‘‘‘How much money will buy a cargo?” “ Six hundred dollars.” “ Secure the next cargo that comes in, and I’ll loan you the cash.” Before dawn young Rich was on the dock. He saw a vessel coming up, jumped on deck, and bought the cargo before she was made fast. The heavy buyers loitered on their way. They were astonished to know that the cargo was sold and largely disposed of. Rich cornered the market, got his own price for the fish, and made money enough by that lucky venture to furnish his own capital. Rich turned his hand to nearly every- thing, — bought a vessel, speculated in flour, wheat, and corn ; yet never departed beyond the line of his own business. He opened a profitable trade with Baltimore, sending salmon to that market packed in ice. He sent it in his own vessel. He loaded the ship with flour as return cargo, and made both Baltimore and Boston contribute to his fortune. Through all his career he kept up the same style of business. He did his business as thoroughly and as honestly with a bushel of oysters over his shoulder, as he did when his capital was a million. He gave personal attention to his business till the day of his death. MOREISSET'8 STORY, 201 LXXY. MORRISSEY’S STORY. HERE one man succeeds wlio has Morrissey’s habits, character and business, a thousand go to ruin. Since he took his first start as a shoulder-hitter among the politicians, to the present hour, he has been a gambler by trade. He can draw his cheque at any time for a hundred thou- sand dollars. He is a large-sized, heavy-moulded man ; his hair crystal black, with a face disfigured by a broken nose, gained in a fight. There was no lower round of the ladder than that Morrissey stood on when he came from Troy to Xew York. The city was ruled by roughs who smashed up ballot-boxes and broke the heads of voters. He was employed by the Whigs to organize a band and strike back. With the money obtained from this source he bought a suit of clothes, opened a small business place, and to liquors added gambling. He drank little and played less. His own story, as he tells it, is this: “I was a stout lad and made fighting my business. My father-in-law kicked me out of the house, and I started for New York. I was poor as a wharf rat, and could hardly pick up my bread. I offered to fight Rynders, Hyer, Sullivan, and the whole crowd. Nobody would fight me, and I started for California. After fighting Sullivan at Bos- ton Corners, I got married, and went into business. I refused to fight any more, but they would not let me alone. Heenan threatened to thrash me, my father was whipped, my family abused, and my friends beaten. I went into training to defend myself. I went into battle and won ; cleared out my enemies, and got 202 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. a broken nose. I resolved to do something for the rep- utation of my boy. I chased up the seat in Congress to say, ‘Your father began in the prize-ring, but he wrote M. C. after his name.’ ” LXXYI. LOCATION FOR BUSINESS. OCATION has a great deal to do with a man’s success, — not only in relation to business itself, but to his own capacity. Some are large men in a small town, and very small men in a large town. Some make money in a limited trade, and throw it away in an extended one. Men who ask a wider field must be sure that they have capacity for the new situation. Men make a hundred thousand dollars as country bankers, and are thrown fiat on their back in Wall street, before they know what’s the matter. For an energetic daring man the city is the place. London holds the trade and wealth of England. Paris is the center of the commerce and money of France. The metropolis of a country is the great money center where fortunes are made. It was so in the time of the prophets. It was the ambition of men to “go into the city and buy, sell, and get gain.” The merchants of old Tyre were “princes, and her traffickers were the honorable of the earth.” A conversation in “the south hay field” at Salsbury, induced Webster to resolve when a boy that he would LOCiiTION FOB BUSINESS. 203 live in a city. He opened his office in Portsmouth, found his way to Boston, and it was a life-long regret that he did not move to JNTew York. Choate opened his rural office in Danvers, and on moving to Boston, took his place at the head of the bar. JoHi^^ Hall was as much of a preacher in Ireland as he was in New York. He had no fame above his brethren. His congregation was small and made up of Scotch-Irish. At the head of a wealthy influential city church he was another man. For twenty-five years Dr. Taylor was rector of Grace Church. It was one of the most fashionable churches in the metropolis. Position did everything for him. He was a very ordi- nary preacher, and could hardly have got a call to a country church. His readings were nearly inaudible — he had an impediment in his speech — with a choking that suggested apoplexy. His pews were always at a premium, and his church was, par excellence, the church of the elite. To be married or buried from Grace Church was the height of human felicity. I knew Rev. E. P. Rogers when he was a wagon-maker in Hartford. He studied under Dr. Hawes, and came into the ministry through the cabin windows. His settlement on Fifth avenue places his name among dis- tinguished men. Few people know that Rev. W. H. H. Murray was ever settled in New York. He was colleague with the Rev. E. H. Hatfield. He made no mark, and .when Dr. Hatfield was dismissed no one thought of retaining the assistant. At Meriden and Greenwich he had only an average success, but as pas- tor at Park street he became prominent. Had Hastings remained at Daylsford he never would have won back the paternal estate. Had Clive remained in the home of his boyhood, he would prob- 204 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. ably have been familiar with the rough side of the re- formatory. Cass in New Hampshire would have been justice of the peace, — perhaps governor. Douglass among the Green Mountains would have been a smart politician. Lincoln, in the blue-grass of Kentucky, might have been a good stock-raiser. A boy at home seldom has a chance. Nobody believes in him, — least of all, his relations. His indiscretions will be flung in his face, and his follies written with a pen of iron. A doctor has a small chance of success in a town where he has sown his wild oats. And few parishes want a minister who had not vim enough to kick foot-ball. LXXYII. HOMANCE OP THE ASTORS. HE Astors are an exception to the rule that property does not descend to the third gen- eration. The style of business introduced by John Jacob is observed by the children. The origin of the house was humble enough. All the Astors know the value of money, and never waste it. They do not spend a shilling except under the x)tes- sure of necessity. The boys never ride when they can walk, never call a coach when they can take an omni- bus, never take an omnibus when there is a street car handy. They secure a dollars’ worth of merchandise for every dollars’ worth of money. The habits of the elder As tor were as regular as a Dutch clock. Spirits he avoided ; three games of chequers and a glass of ale crowned the dinner. ROMANCE OF THE A8T0RS. 205 Henry, one of the brothers, was a butcher in the Bowery. He was a banker in a small way, and loaned money on good security. John Jacob was an occa- sional borrower, and his brother said to him : ‘‘ John, I will give you a thousand dollars, if you will never ask me for another loan, and never ask me to indorse.” Astor knew a good bargain when he saw it, and accepted the offer. When he became known in trade he was a terror to merchants, he bought so heavily. A cargo of tea was in the market, and a merchant saw Astor coming down the dock. He inter- cepted him, and said, ‘‘I will give you a thousand dollars, Astor, if you won’t attend this sale.” Send up your cheque before three o’clock,” was his reply, and Astor turned on his heel and walked up the dock. Mrs. Astor did her part toward making the for- tune of the house. She was an energetic, clear-headed and decided woman, an excellent housekeeper, and an expert accountant. She could select a cargo of furs, and was often seen, in a plain rig, assorting pelts where the Astor House now stands. She cared little for society, and less for style. She was a member of the old Nassau street Baptist Church, and her house was the home of ministers. She heaped logs on the fire, lighted the candle, placed cider and apples on the table, and entertained her guests. John Jacob is the business man of the house. He is a brusque, massive fellow, stout, strong, and rugged — over fifty — standing six feet in his stockings. His features are coarse, his expression repulsive, and his face indicates stolid indifference. He is a man of few words, frank, decided, and gentlemanly. He can be found in his little office on Prince street — a cross be- tween a country store and a bank — attending to his immense estate. He is accessible to every one. No walking gentleman guards the door ; no snob demands 206 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. your business. He attends to tlie work usually as- signed to a clerk. ISTo lawyer can better trace a chain of titles. He knows every tenant in every house on his great rent-roll. No tenant can place a penny’s worth of repairs on a building without his consent. During the long lease of the Astor House, not the slightest improvement could be made without the over- sight of the owner. Putting in a pane of glass, mend- ing a lock, or driving a nail without inspection. An incident will show the style of business. The mer- chant refused to let a house at a good rent because he did not like the trade of the tenant. Soon after, a man came in and asked him if he had declined to rent his house. He said he had several houses in the city, and would be glad of a tenant, and started off to find the applicant. That man was William B. Astor. LXXVIII. JAMES HAEPEH’S SET-OUT. AMES HAEPEE founded the house of Har- per Brothers. He was a rugged, robust, healthy boy, and was put to a boy’s work on a farm. His parents were respectable, hard-working people, and trained their son to industry and Methodism. The mother was a woman of decided talent and resolute piety. I was sitting one day in Mr. Harper’s counting-room on Franklin square when he gave me the following account of his business strug- gles and life. JAMES HARPER'' 8 SET OUT. 207 ‘‘It was decided that I should learn a trade, and a place was found for me in a printing-office on Franklin square. My mother led the family devotions the morning I left home, and was deeply affected. As I took my seat in the wagon she came out, and said to me, ‘James, you’ve got good blood in you. Don’t disgrace it.’ Wealthy merchants lived round the Square, and their sons made fun of the printer’s boy. I was especially the object of ridicule. They laughed at my dress, my shoes, asked me for my card. I kicked one fellow down stairs, and told him that was my card, and when he was out of work if he would come to me I’d employ him. Twenty years after he came and begged me to give him work to keep him from starving. “ When I was mayor of New York a young woman called at my office and wanted me to give her emploj^- ment. She was a daughter of a wealthy merchant whose sons had ridiculed my poverty when I was doing the dirty work in the printing-office. She was very attrac tive and very accomplished. She had been the belle of the city, and was now forlorn, friendless, and an outcast. I begged her to return to the society she had once adorned. She rose from the seat, looked me square in the face, and said: ‘Mr. Harper, you’re a humane man ; you would help me if any body would. You have daughters. I’m thoroughly competent to be their governess, companion, and instructor. Would you place them under my care ? Would you give me shelter and a trial V I could not speak for a moment. ‘You need not answer,’ she replied, was out of sight in a moment, and I never saw her more.” 208 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. LXXIX. DEMAS BARXES ROLLS IX SOME COTTOX. STOOD at the Park gate one day, when an elegant carriage drove by. My compamon said : ‘‘I knew that gentleman when he had no more money than I have ; he is now a rich man, owns his carriage, and I am battling to keep the wolf from the door.” Had my friend passed his youth as Mr. Barnes passed his, he might have driven his four-in-hand if he would. Demas Barnes was the son of a farmer who lived back of Albany. The boy wished to earn his own living, and Xew York seemed to be the place to do it in. There was not money enough to pay the boy’s fare, so he footed it to Albany. He found a sloop bound for the city, and offered to work his passage, but the captain wanted no boys on board. Demas did not argue the i^oint, but joined the crew, and went to work. He was too useful to be put ashore, so he was landed at the foot of Canal street, a stranger, hungry and penniless. It was early in the morning, and near the landing was a vessel loading with cotton. The overseer was in a hurry, for he wanted to catch the tide. Demas seized a pair of idle trucks and fell into line. He spoke to no one, no one spoke to him. After an hour a gong sounded. What’s that for ?” said Demas. ‘‘Breakfast,” and the lad followed the crowd below. He fell into line, when the wages were paid, received his, and started for Broadway. The old Park Theater attracted him, but the lowest admission was thirty-seven cents, and his daily earnings did not reach that sum. Chatham street was more considerate, and he entered her play-house for a shilling. DEMAS BARNES ROLLS IN SOME COTTON 209 Demas sought work, and he was inured to toil. His uncle brought him up after the death of his father, and idleness was no part of the farm culture. An almshouse pauper could not have been used worse. The boy was smart and capable, and at ten did a man’s work. The uncle went west, and left Demas in charge of the farm. He worked alone the whole season, took care of the cattle, planted the crops, cut the hay, and took care of the harvests. His fame was heralded miles around for stacking wheat and doing fancy work. Farming was not to his taste, and he proposed to be a trader. His relations opposed his plans, but he had force enough to act for himself. His savings out of three years’ toil were two dollars ; to this was added a half-crown. Away from home, hard work was diffi- cult to get. The outlook was not promising. To go home and confess failure he would not, and the only thing open to him, was to go to sea. Barnes shipped on board of a whaler for a five years’ cruise. He was sent to New Bedford, and his outfit was locked up to keep him from running away. As the vessel dropped down the bay the boy took in the situation. His five years’ cruise would sever him from everything he held dear, and he would throw away five years of the best jDart of his life. The vessel dropped anchor preparatory to her sail in the morning. Barnes got his clothes, jumped overboard at night, and reached the shore. As he lay hidden in the bushes, he heard his pursuers on his track. He traveled at night ; begged a morsel of food here and there, slept in barns and under the hedges, and after three days’ tramp the sjjires of Providence hove in sight. He worked his way back to New York penniless, but not discouraged. He heard of a vacancy in a store, twenty miles off, and he went &)r it, walking the whole distance. The store-keeper was taking down his shutters when 210 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Barnes arrived ; he wanted no boy, but Barnes thought he did, and proceeded to help him open the store. The man liked his i3luck, and offered him a place for little more than his board. Anything was better than idle- ness, and Bemas went to work with his accustomed energy. After the store was opened, the tire built, and the horse cared for, the business of the day was blacking stoves. One day he called the merchant up- stairs and pointed to a long row of nicely-polished stoves, and said: “Can I improve my work?” “I think not.” “Then I’ll graduate.” h^ext he went into the dry-goods business on his own account, taking a partner who had a splendid capital on paper, but had neither cash nor credit. At last Mr. Barnes found the place fitted for him. He became a clerk in a drug-store. He learned every- thing he could learn as subordinate, and then in a small way set up business for himself. His capital was indomitable industry, pluck, and personal atten- tion to business. No store was opened so early ; none closed so late. No dray-man, no stone-mason, worked as hard. He made his own fires, purchased his own goods — and delivered the packages with his own hands. He worked at night when there was work to do. He slept under the counter, and often sold a bill of goods before breakfast. The trade learned his habits and bought goods of him out of business hours. He was frank and honorable in trade, and had marked execu- tive ability.’ His business became great in New York, and he extended it to St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Cali- fornia. He found it nearly impossible to get men to attend to his affairs and let outside matters alone. His business, scattered over the entire country, had to be watched and cared for by himself. During his long business career, he never had an indorser, and he never failed to meet an obligation when it was due. MORGAN DIX AND TRINITY CHURCH 211 Mr. Barnes prospered, and spent his money with marked liberality. He furnished his mother with an ample and elegant support. He arranged his elegant grounds so the public might enjoy their beauty. Had his suggestions been carried out in regard to Prospect Park, the deformity of that beautiful promenade would have been avoided. His marked public spirit is seen in his gifts of statuary to the Park, the loan of his costly works of art for charitable purposes, with his large donations to benevolent associations. He has rendered important service in the halls of Congress and the cause of education. He owns the fine property on which the Park Theater stood, from whose doors he was turned away as a boy when too poor to pay for admission. He has kept the home of his boyhood bright and beautiful. His taste was offended by the irregularity of the trees on the farm. He ordered them taken up and placed in aline. ‘‘Your trees are all dead,” said the overseer. “Nevermind,” said the owner. “ They died all in a row.” LXXX. MORGAN DIX AND TRINITY CHURCH. T is a matter of general surprise that so young a man should secure so important a position as rector of Trinity Church. When the keys were handed to him from the north porch of old Trinity, he appeared like a young colleg- ian just graduated. The vestry of Trinity Church, of 212 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. which the rector is chairman, controls millions, and there is an immense amount of business to be done. Through the influence of his father. Governor Dix, young Morgan was made assistant minister. He was cut out for a lawyer. He was gifted with accurate business habits, great executive force, and possessed the exactness of a banker. His department was always in order. His papers were accurately drawn, properly filed, and regularly red- taped. Dr. Berrian was the rector ; an old man, genial, gentle, and easy to be helped. His duties were too onerous to be borne cheer- fully by a rector with a heavy stipend. Young Dix saw the weakness of his superior and availed himself of it. He was a nervous, wiry and active man, who was only wretched when he had nothing to do. He took the laboring oar off from Dr. Berrian and did the rector’s work as well as his own. Everything was admirably done, done on time, and under the nervous enginery of the young assistant. The rector’s department never lagged. There was an office in the gift of the rector which had not been filled in twenty-five years. Few persons knew of its existence. The vestry were aston- ished one day by the announcement of Dr. Berrian that he proposed to revive the office* of assistant rector and appoint Dr. Dix to the vacant chair. The pro- posal was vehemently opposed, especially on the part of the assistant ministers. The rectorsliip was a prize anxiously looked towards. Dr. Berrian could not live forever, and somebody must take his place. Some had been assistant ministers for years, and by the law of promotion they would have a right to the im- portant post. Some had left important charges, and accepted subordinate ijositions in Trinity Church, ex- l^ecting promotion when the rectorship was vacant. Should young Dix be appointed assistant rector, with his superb business qualities, and with his father, all EQUITABLE LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY. 213 potent, in the vestry, his ascent to the high dignity would be easy. All opposition was useless. The ap- pointment was with the rector, and he placed Dr. Dix in power. The fears of his rivals were realized. On the death of Dr. Berrian, young Dix was unanimously appointed rector of old Trinity. The disappointed were saved all mortification, as the induction was sim- ply of a legal order. The young rector stood in the porch of the church — the vestry handed him the keys ; these he quietly put in his pocket, and turned on his heel, the head of the richest corporation in the land. Young Dix owes his magnificent position to his superb business * talents, and his adroitness in using well a subordinate position. Talents, like blood, will tell. LXXXT. EQUITABLE LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY. O one can write the history of the Equitable Life without writing the business career of Henry B. Hyde. Though a young man, he has won bj^ his energy, ability and success, a name among our most successful young men. He entered the life insurance as a business in 1855, when he became connected with the Mutual Life of New York. He rapidly worked his way up until he be- came cashier of that influential institution. He had confidence in life insurance as the business of the age. He believed there was room for a new company, and proceeded to form one. Mr. Hyde took a leading part 214 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. in the formation of the new company in 1859 . He toiled as few men are willing to toil ; took the position of canvasser, and solicited business on every hand. His individual labor nearly paid the entire cost of the hrst year’s expense. His untiring industry, indomit- able energy and persistency overcame every obstacle. His intelligence and fertile genius brought to life in- surance new lines of work. Nothing was too small for him, nothing too great. To make the company a suc^ cess, he worked night and day, with a magnetism pecu- liarly his own. He won over opponents, removed im- pediments, and made the company friends everywhere. Certain principles were laid down at the start, on which the prosperity of the society was to be be based. A board of directors was selected to win the confi- dence of the public. In the list were some of the most prominent business men of the city. Though nominally not at the head of this board, Mr. Hyde was the ruling spirit. Nothing satisfied him ; when one point was gained he sought to gain another. Like a general scaling a barricade, the carrying of one parallel only incited him to take the next. If a month’ s work was uncommonly good, he did not exult over it, but would quietly remark : “Yes; we’ve done well, but we must do better next month.” To an expert so- licitor he would remark : “You have done very nicely ; make a better report when you come in again.” Mr. Hyde was sure of the co-operation of all his associates. His good common sense and enthusiasm won their con- fidence. He kept nothing to himself. A successful plan known at lieadquarters was at once sent to every agent. The most distant post was as w^ell instructed as the home office. All the solictors and agents were gathered from time to time to discuss the methods of business. Hints were thrown out, difficulties removed, obstacles dis- EQUITABLE LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY. 215 cussed, new plans suggested, and thus the prosperity of the company promoted. Sometimes a whole year’s work was mapped out, and every man everywhere pushing forward on the same system. All the em- ployees had not the same intelligence, push, nor force, but all had equal opportunities to know the best methods. The Equitable worked on Webster’s idea of crowd- ing a great deal into a small space — “When you work, work ; when you play, play.” The Equitable preferred to do a year’s work in six months rather than spread six months’ work over a year. Everybod^^ in the land knew of the existence and the claims of the Equitable. The press was used with vigor and liberality. First- class ability was demanded and paid for. The society increased from year to year in the number and size of its premiums and the better class of its risks. The great aim of the society has been to secure risks of a higher grade, where the mortality has decreased. Sta- tistics show that a prosperous and well-employed man, living in an airy and well- ventilated situation, is a better risk than one dwelling in an over-crowded tene- ment house, and breathing the atmosphere of contagion. For seventeen years the Equitable has held in its prosperous way, increasing in breadth and strength. Its financial policy has been a guarantee of its safety. The business for the first year reached the sum of two millions, distributed among 612 policies. In 1869 it reached fifty -two millions, distributed among 11,986 policies. The headquarters on Broadway is one of the land- marks of INew York. The granite structure without a rival fills a block from Broadway to Nassau street, and has entrances on Liberty and Cedar. The cost of the structure is covered by its rentals, and saves to the policy-holders a hundred thousand a year. Clerks and 216 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. agents are cared for in well- ventilated and elegantly- fnrnislied rooms. The foresight of the company has grafted on to its new methods the Tontine plan. This method is in great favor with wealthy insurers, who desire the security of a life-policy, joined to a proiita- ble investment. It is an endovrment policy, at the cost of an ordinary one. It provides for a man’s household if he dies, and gives him a competency if he lives. The Tontine is a life policy after the first premium. Taken early, the insured secures a handsome income at forty, — an income that reverses can’t touch, his for- tunes can’t shake, and the sheriff can’t handle. A man may spend his salary early, and have a reserve laid up for a rainy day. LXXXII. SAM COLT. LT was a blacksmith. He was an unedu- cated, rough, coarse fellow, and fond of strong drink. It is denied that he was the inventor of Colt’s revolver. At any rate, there is a genuine Colt revolver hanging in the London Tower, where it has hung for over five hundred years. The tradition is that Colt saw a copy of this revolver in the Tower. As a man of genius, he took in at a glance what a few improvements would do this efficient weapon. He was a genius in his way, and a man of very marked abilities. A company was formed for the manufacture of Colt’s jjistols. Colt had a terrific tern- BUYING A COUNTRY SEAT. 217 per, and was so unreasonable that no one could do business with him. He bought out the company for a song, and set up for himself. A lucrative contrac-t from the Grovernment made the foundation for a magnificent fortune. He bought a large tract of swamp land in lower Hartford, and by complete drainage and a liberal outlay, he brought these useless lands up to the value of a million. LXXXIII. BUYHSTH A COUNTRY SEAT. P. HUBBARD has been for a great many years secretary of the New England Society. He has an original way of doing things. He took to tobacco when he was twelve, both chewing and smoking.* He united with the church when he was a young man. Some one suggested to him that chewing tobacco was a disgusting habit, and not exactly cleanly for a Christian. Thinking the matter over one night, he said he would count up how much his tobacco bill cost him in a year. He resolved then and there not only to abandon the practice, but to open a tobacco account. He charged himself with six and a quarter cents a day, and this sum he put aside from week to week. Forty years run by and a country seat was needed. One was selected on the Sound, with lawns, gardens, and orchards. After the house was completely furnished, a horse and carriage bought, and a boat secured, the cost footed up the 218 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. round sum of $33,641.42. The tobacco fund furnished that exact amount, and paid for the whole establish- ment. LXXXIY. HOUSE OF THE STUARTS. HE father of Stuart, of candy and sugar fame, was a Scotch merchant. He was surety for a relative, and smarted for it. His entire property was taken from him, and a debt of about seven thousand dollars stood against him. To retrieve his fortunes he emigrated to America. He was energetic, clear-headed, with strong common sense and a robust constitution. To this capital was added a small stock of money, and he opened business on Bar- clay street in 1805. He manufactured and sold candy in a small way. He worked fifteen hours out of twenty-four, toiling not only for bread, but to pay the Scottish debt that hung over him. In six years he wiped out the foreign claim. Each of his eighteen creditors received twenty shillings to the pound, with interest. The thrifty Scotchmen were delighted with the prosperity of Kinlock, as they had regarded the claim as a bad one. In their gratitude they executed a parchment, bearing date 1812, expressing their ap- proval of his honorable course. Kinlock Stuart was a plain man with great sim- plicity of character. He was distinguished for shrewd- ness, joined with untiring activity and integrity. He was fond of company, and welcomed his friends with generous hospitality.. He was a large when GLAMOUR OF PUBLIC LIFE. 219 large gifts were rare. A member of the Presbyterian church, he bore his share in its beneficent work. He died in 1826 at the age of fifty-one years, leaving an estate of one hundred thousand dollars. With this capital the house of the Stuarts was founded. Robert was born in Barclay street, in 1806, and Alexander in Chambers street, where he still lives, in 1810. The firm of R. L. & A. Stuart was formed in 1828. It has continued without additional partners until now. As manufacturers of sugar and candy, the firm became famous in all lands. It was the first to introduce the steam refining process and make it a success. All previous attempts ended in bankruptcy. No work has ever been done on the Sabbath, — not even the repairing of machinery. Between 1861 and 1872 the sales of the house reached thirty-six millions, and not a dollar was lost by bad debts ; no obligation was ever protested, and the firm never paid over seven per cent, for the use of money. Having made a j)rincely fortune, and unwilling to introduce the new machinery of the hour, trade was relinquished, the machinery cleared out, and the mammoth building rented for mer- chandise. LXXXY. GLAMOUR OF PUBLIC LIFE. ORE men are euined by the fascination of public life, than by almost anything else. Every man is a sovereign, and every sove- reign feels that he is entitled to office. The trade of politics is a poor one, and few men make any- 220 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. thing out of it. Webster cursed the day that he was seduced from his law-office in Boston to become a poli- tician. Choate was offered a seat on the United States bench. He declined with thanks. In a letter to Presi- dent Fillmore he said : The salary can’t support me, and I won’t steal.” Those who had the entree to Wash- ington society, will recall the elegant manner in which the daughters of Chief Justice Taney entertained. Yet those same elegant girls begged writing of the Treasury department to give them a little bread. Post- master Jewell was waited upon by two young ladies, daughters of an eminent senator, and asked employ- ment to get bread. ‘‘If I continue in office,” said the official, “my daughters may do the same thing.” Doug- lass was reputed to be a millionaire. ISo receptions were so popular or as elegant as those held by Mrs. Douglass. He was able, out of his landed estate, to give property to a college worth half a million. He periled everything he had in a political cast, and bankrupted himself and nearly all his friends. He died suddenly, and his wife had not property enough to give him a grave. From the elegant saloons of fashion the wife turned to a small room in the Treasury building as she wrote for a living. Daniel Dickin- son made a fortune in his law business. He became a politician, lost all he was worth, and would have left his family in want, but for a timely life-policy secured by his friends. A well-known New York LAWYER was very successful at the bar. His friends put him into office. The governorship was sure to him, with the United States senatorship in reversion. His friends used him and betrayed him. He lost every- thing. He has begun on the low round of the ladder where he stood twenty-five years ago. The glamour of iiublic life seized on a well-known banker. He had been in trade and earned a fortune. He stood at the GLAMOUR OF PUBLIC LIFE. 221 head of a large and liberal denomination. He was pres- ident of a large bank. Wily politicians got hold of him ; promised to make him secretary of the treasury; nsed his money freely ; bankrupted him in estate, morals, health, and he died in an insane retreat. Nearly every public man who has devoted his life to political pursuits has been financially mined. The country has never paid enough to its officials to justify the extravagance of public life. There are but two things to be done : either officials must steal or be financially ruined. Washington was a rich man when he drew his sword as commander of the Hepublican forces. The seven years’ war would have ruined him had he not maintained the strictest economy. Through all the war he watched with a jealous eye the expendi- tures of Mt. Yernon. The bills for the purchase of laces and satins passed under his eye. The farm at Mt. Vernon embraced fifteen square miles. Mrs. Washing- ton had the charge of this and of six hundred servants. Every acre sown, harvested or sold, was known to the master in the camp. Jeffers ox had a fair fortune when he embarked on the career of public life. He inherited nineteen hun- dred acres, and he increased the possession to five thousand. His income above this farm revenue was three thousand a year. His wife’s cash dowry was forty thousand dollars. His public life began in 1774 and ended in 1809, and for nineteen years he was ab- sent from Monticello. He was abroad seven years. On his return in 1809, he found his estate neglected, the property squandered, and his fortune scattered to the four winds. All attempts to retrieve his fortune were in vain. A lottery was proposed, but the scheme failed. Jef- ferson entered into a humiliating negotiation with the 222 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS, government to buy the library. After passing through the deepest mortilication Congress offered for the books $28,950. The effort to dispose of Monticello failed and the third president of the United States was publicly adjudged a bankrupt. The city of New York made a donation of $8,500, and other cities were alike generous. But for this timely aid Jefferson would have died poor and died in absolute want. Had he left public life alone and attended to his farm and his legal business, Jefferson could have lived and died in affluence. The Adams, father and son, left Washington with- out financial discredit. There is not a Treasury clerk in the city who would live in the style which marked the public career of John Adams and John Qu-incy. The boys were trained to industry, and Mrs. Adams was not ashamed to have it known that John Quincy earned an honest penny by riding post between Brain- tree and Boston. Mrs. Adams was the first mistress of the White House. The building was unfinished and ■unfurnished, and she maintained but little style. The building could neither be lighted nor warmed. The famous East room was used for drying clothes. Madisom and Mojtroe both were financially embar- rassed and died poor. Jackson lived upon his income and carried to Washington plain manners of the Her- mitage. He spent his summers at the little island opposite Norfolk, known as the Hip Haps. Here, in a room without a carpet, sitting in a rush-bottomed chair, tipped back, coat off, feet in slippers, with a cob- pipe in his month, he gave audience to ambassa- dors. Van Buren had the Hutch thrift. During his full term he lived upon his private fortune, and carried his salary home with him to Kinder- hook in gold. Polk was accounted the meanest GLAMOUR OF PUBLIC LIFE. 223 President that ever sat in the chair of Washington. He knew the value of a dollar. His team was the shabbiest in the capitoL His coach was a second-hand hack, and his horses looked like broken-down beasts who had served their time in a city omnibus. The presidency found Frank Pierce boarding in a story- and-a-half wood cottage at Concord, with a carpenter. He was economy personified. He kept a working suit which he wore in his office, and which he changed when it was necessary to see company. He carried out of the White House fifty thousand dollars which he saved out of his income. The Bachelor Presi- dent, James Buchanan, was a rigid economist. No lawyer’s clerk would dress as slouchily. He main- tained no style. On Sundays, he walked from the White House to the little Presbyterian church on F street. He usually came late, shuffled up the aisle, dodged into a wall pew, and seemed to doze through the service. One day I stood on the piazza of a mansion that had been occupied by one of the most eminent men of the land. Two young men were reclining in the shade. They were handsome fellows, highly educated and talented. They were born to everything that men covet. They could have been merchant princes or been eminent in the law. Had they selected public life, family influence would have carried them high. The public life of their father ruined them. They flung everything away, and when they were sober, earned a precarious livelihood by exhibiting the mansion in which their distinguished relative died. 224 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. LXXXVI. TRADES THAT RUIN. T is not possible to conduct some kinds of business on honorable principles. Some trades defile like pitch. Riim- selling, haz- ard-policy business, horse-jockeying, and kindred pursuits, impart their flavor to all engaged in them. Theatricals, without discussing the question of morality or immorality, is a terrible trade for all en- gaged in it. This is proved, not only by the life and and death of actors, but from the testimony of the most successful of the profession. Macready’s Rem- iniscences and the recently published statements of Fanny Kemble Butler, show that breaking stones on the road and shoveling coal are pastimes compared with the stage. Not twenty- five in twenty-five years make anythin'g by the trade. Ninety-five out of a hundred die poor, and but for assistance would die in want. The income to star actors during a few brief sunny days is very large. The extravagance indispens- able to popular life forbids economy. To the actor the winter of want comes early and remains long. This is especially true of women on th3 stage. With the least roughness of voice, grossness of person, or pallor of cheek, the favorite is whistled down the wind, and a new idol installed. A woman radiant in diamonds, — in satins and lace, — imperious to managers and haughty to the public, is one person. The same woman lying in a back attic, depending on charity for her surgeon and her broth, scarcely able to command the offices of religion, shows another side. The dra- matic profession reverse both the rules of trade and morality. Extravagance is a law, day is turned into BLUR OF IMPERTINENCE. 225 niglit, heated viands are demanded, stimulants are necessary to keep up the tone, and no handwriting is needed to predict the end. Booth in the height of his fame with a lordly in- come squandered half a million and became a bank- rupt. For a hundred years this has been the record of theatrical life as a business. Any city will aiford illus- trations of the trades that ruin. One of the lordly mansions on Brooklyn Heights, was owned by a man who began trade in the smallest way. When he be- came rich all his judgment and prudence forsook him, and with the fragments of his fortune he retired to the country. Albert Barnes, like Milton, Dr. Dwight, and other eminent men, ruined his health by violating physical law. With the labors of a large city charge upon him he became a noted author. He worked when other men slept. He paid for his extravagance by the early loss of his eyesight. LXXXVII. BLUB OF IMPEETINEXCE. ME SMART young men ruin themselves by allowing their smartness to slide into imper- tinence. Talent and temper often go to- gether. It is rare to find a sharp man that is a courteous man. It is true, as the proverb saith : “A diamond with a fiaw is better than a pebble without.” But the fiaw adds nothing to the value of the diamond. 15 226 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. What is known as old-school politeness is a rare com- modity in trade, for our young men seem to cultivate rudeness and incivility. A smart salesman lost his place because he was rude to small buyers. A bright room- clerk was turned adrift because, as the landlord said, he sassed the boarders.” A well-known adver- tising agent in New York vv^on a fortune by his bland- ness and civility. He is losing custom every day by the impudence of his employees. It is noted that in- civility increased as customers go down, the line, till they reach the porter, who is generally civil. On Broadway, near Canal, in a very large dry -goods house, a walking-gentleman drives away custom from the house every day. I stood in the store one day and heard a question put to the man. It was one that a gentleman might ask and one that a gentleman would certainly answer. The walking-gentleman was doing nothing, yet he returned not only an impertinent but a rude reply. The visitor turned upon his heel and walked out. If he had a bill of goods to purchase, he would not have bought them at that house. A SLIP OF A BOY was Selling tickets at the office of the Brooklyn City Kailroad. A lady in deep mourn- ing asked for a package of tickets and laid down a two- dollar bill. The lad threw down two packages of tick- ets. The lady declined to receive but one, and asked for her change. The boy flew at the woman ; covered her with abuse because he made a mistake in giving her two packages when she asked for but one. I was amused at the astonishment of a New Yorker who had his first experience in being waited upon by a Yankee girl. We were at a restaurant on the line of the Con- cord Railroad. Her father ran the restaurant, the mother cooked, and the daughter “ waited and tended.” The girl had been two quarters at an academy, read the BLUR OF IMPERTINENCE, 227 Atlantic Monthly,, and was as ‘‘good as anybody.” The merchant had been served by Germans, Swedes, and Dutch, by Jew and Christian ; by black waiters and by white. This was a new experience, being served by a New England young woman. She stood stijff as a broom-stick, saying nothing, waiting for orders. “ What have you got?” “There’s the bill of fare.” “Can I have some hard-boiled eggs ?” “I 'presume you can.” “ Have you nice coffee ?” “You must judge for your- self. ” “ Are your pies fresh ?” “We don’ t bake old pies here.” She got her order and walked away the worst- used girl in the State. She was a simpleton ; having volunteered the work she should have done it cheer- fully. PoETER, of the Fall Piver line, is the most popular conductor in Massachusetts. He is known the country over for his civility. For twenty years he has run the steamboat train from Fall River to Boston. He began life as a brakeman on a freight train in Vermont. He came to Fall River and took the same position on the line. He soon became conductor of a freight train. When his value was found out, he was put upon the passenger train. Women and children are put in his care, and are as well cared for as if the husband and father had been along. He is x'>i*ouipt, civil, intelli- gent ; he has a civil word for everybody ; he never tires answering questions, and answers the last man as civilly as the first one. He is as important a part of the Fall River line as the steamer Bristol. A gentleman went into a well-known store on Beek- man street, to look at some garden vases. The clerk was reading a paper. The price of the vases was asked. The clerk, without looking up, pertly replied : “ Look on the card and you’ll see.” The man did not 228 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. look on the card, but walked out of the store, and bought his goods elsewhere. A hairdresser in one of the principal hotels had an assistant who made himself very unpopular. He was a good shaver, and artistic in hair-cutting, yet nobody wanted him. It turned out that the fellow had a cate- chism for every customer : ‘‘ Who shaved you ? Shave yourself? Your hair’s thin! Have a bottle of sage tea, bring your hair all out ? Shampoo ? Take a bath ?” If no attention was paid to this gabble, the man had a way of giving the head a twist, for admonition. LXXXVIII. BUSINESS FOB WOMEX. HERE is no law human or divine that pro- hibits a woman from doing anything that she is competent to do. According to the Bible, she has been priestess, lawyer, doctor, ruler, warrior, judge, navigator, horticulturist, trader, author, poet and sculptor. There are two domains in life. W Oman can take her choice, but she can’ t occupy both. She can’t select what is nice and delicate in woman and what is delicate in man. H she takes a man’s place she must do a man’s work, and rough it like a man. She must train, be on the police, run with the engine and stand up in the cars. If she is success- ful, it will not be because she is a woman, but because she does well what she does. If she is an eloquent BUSINESS FOR WOMEN 229 preacher, she will have hearers ; learned in the law, she will have clients ; a skillful doctor, she will have patients. So she will have contracts if she knows how to paint, builds well, and is good at speculation. The Queen of England is one of the best business women in the kingdom ; every inch a queen ; an ac- complished house-keeper ; a great economist, who knows how to get a shilling’s worth of goods for a shilling’s worth of money. She is said to higgle with her butcher, and knows what the green-grocer leaves at the castle. I heard a debate in the home department of the castle whether a curtain should be mended or a new one put up. Economy carried the day. An American Bridget would not have had the curtain up in her room any way. The Royal children were all trained to a trade. The Prince of Wales is a good mechanic. The Royal Alfred can wear his ship in a gale. The Princess Royal is one of the best house- keepers in Germany. The Princess Louise is an ad- mirable sculx)tor. All the girls can sew, mend, brew and bake. The Queen knows what her ministers are about. She signs no papers that she does not read. She does up her immense personal correspondence daily before breakfast. Maetha WASHmaTO^fiT was a business woman. She spent her winters in the camp during the war ; not in idleness, but rendering efficient services. Besides her domestic talent, her ability to take care of the stock, to sell the crop and run the farm at Mt. Vernon, in elegance and grace she was every inch a queen at her levees. Lucy Knox was the daughter of the Provisional Secretary. She took sides with the Revolution when it broke out, and fled from her father’s home, sewing up her husband’s sword in her 230 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. cloak. Elizabeth Endicott heard the guns at Bunker Hill. In front of her house she saw a troop of soldiers loitering in the tavern. In her night-dress, with her hair falling over her shoulders, she presented herself to the astonished soldiers, who thought her a spirit, and shouted, ‘‘Why on earth don’t you march? Don’t you hear the guns at Charlestown?” The affrighted men tied, and gave a good account of themselves in the day’s conflict. Sixty miles out at sea is a tufted sandbank. On it lived a young lady celebrated for her domestic virtues. She was a friend of children, and kept a little arsenal to repair mutilated whips, tops and dolls. By day she took the burdens from an invalid mother. By night she assisted her father, sweeping the heavens with her glass. The King of Denmark offered a prize of a gold medal. Nobles and scholars contended for it. The island maiden bore away the gift from unwilling hands. A YOUNG girl came from the banks of the Merrimac ‘ and offered herself as a missionary to India. The mis- sion cause was less popular then than now. It was de- nounced as an outrage that a young girl should be sent to the heathen. She was accepted, notwithstanding. She did her life-work on heathen ground, and was buried among the women she sought to save. Her monument — an opia tree — is honored in all the world. Shipmas- ters of all nations dip their flags when they pass it. DETECTIVES AT WORK. 231 LXXXIX, DETECTIVES AT WORK. network of detective influence covers a great city. It is one of the most efiicient systems in the land. Its meshes spread ^ everywhere. Bank clerks and salesmen are shadowed for weeks without their knowing it. A per- fect chart of a man’s life is written out, and he has not the slightest idea he is suspected. It is a lever of great power in the hands of jealous men and maddened women. Men who rank high in commercial and social life often maintain two or three establishments. The surrogate’s court shows the saddest side of city life. Two, three, and often four women, quarrel over a dead man’s property, each claiming it. It costs monej^ to run two or three houses, and this is indispensable to avoid exposure. A clerk runs away with his master’s money ; cashier uses bonds intrusted to his keeping ; man of fifty soils the fame he has been twenty-five years in earning. Heavy houses come down with a crash, and detectives alone can tell the cause. The life of a detective is full of romance, as a single instance will show. A woman, fifty years old, the wife of a merchant, was invited to call upon her doctor. The doctor had an unpleasant duty to perform. Her husband was alienated from her, and would live with her no more. He would provide handsomely for her, and with that she must be content. The blow felled her to the floor,, and it was weeks before she recovered her reason. The wife knew that there was a woman in the case, and 332 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. she resolved to break the infatuation. She called in a detective, and placed the whole matter in his hands. In a short time the detective had the whole matter within his grasp. The woman was a rich widow with large possessions in Virginia. The merchant gave her a fine house, furnished from cellar to garret, dressed her in silks and sables, and footed all her bills. The detective believed the widow to be a fraud. She kept boarders, and prominent among them was the husband of her sister. The detective put a shadow in the house, and kept a run of matters. The merchant had to draw heavily upon his firm, and was nearly ruined. A new call was made; the widow wanted a coupe, a set of diamonds for Christmas, and money for her sister’s husband. One morning a stranger called upon the merchant and wanted to show him a fine turnout. He seemed to know all about the merchant’s business, and what he wanted. A little startled and a little curious they jumped into a carriage, and drove to a well-known up- town hotel. Here he was brought face to face with his wife, whom he had not seen fof months. The widow was unmasked and her crimes laid bare ; he saw how his money went, and that he was the laughing-stock of the street. The infatuation was at an end — the man proposed to denounce the woman and forsake her. The cool detective had other plans laid — he invited the widow to meet a friend at a well-known trysting-place to look at some diamonds and a coupe, urging her to remain from eleven to one in case business should de- tain the merchant. The woman was promptlj^ on hand. She had hardly left the door before a number of vans drove up, attended by a small army of men. The house was riddled in an hour ; Parisian furniture, stat- uary and pictures, silverware and damask curtains, Moquet carpets, and wines disappeared. The widow SUSAJY A. KING. 233 waited half the afternoon, and came back in a fury. The bell was answered by the detective, who said to the astonished woman, “Your game is up. This house is empty — you have no rights here. But, mark, don’t annoy the merchant ; keep away from the store ; don’t send any notes to the family or to the house, or I will pull you for your past crimes.” The infatuation and the blackmailing were both at an end. XC. SUSAN A. KING. ISS KING is one of the best business women in New York. From poverty she has worked herself up to the position of a mil- lionaire. As a trader, she is keen, judicious and successful. Some of her speculations, which would have ruined most operators, have yielded her thousands in profit. Her success grows out of her methods of management. The trustees of the Union Theological Seminary comprise some of the most emi- nent business men in the State. Miss King sold to these gentlemen, at an enormous profit, a piece of land for the new building, for a price that no other specula- tor could have obtained. Miss King is about fifty years of age. She is of medium height, with features very plain, but marked. Without any style, dressing ' plain as a washerwoman, holding in contempt the fem- inine graces, wearing her hair with a careless twist fastened behind in a knot. She is a fluent talker and 234 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. coins money with her tongue. She could outargue the schoolmaster, and defend her views anywhere. Miss King was born in Maine. Her childhood was a rough one. She caught a little schooling here and there, but her young life was doomed to hard toil. In the parlance of the village, she w^as old King’s daugh- ter. When a child she did a woman’s work. She was called up before light in the winter, and waded through the deep snow to the woodpile, and kindled her tires with green brush. Beside being a poor farmer, her father was a drover. The girl had a knack for trading, and often tramped with her father from place to place. She showed great tact at a bargain. She was not so engrossed in trade as not to know the value of an edu- cation. Algebra and the higher mathematics had a charm, but they were denied to her. The pampered school children asked, ‘ ‘ What does old King’ s daugh- ter want of algebra The girl did not propose to be a drudge all her days. As her relatives would do nothing for her she undertook to do something for herself. She found her way to Kew York with a few shillings in her pocket, and a guitar in her hand. She r-esorted to all sorts of expedients to live, doing no dishonorable thing, and nevor running into debt. Miss King threw a little light upon her early conflicts when she said a loafing acquaintance who wished to borrow money: ‘‘Go to work and not be loafing around here. What would I do if I hadn’ t any money ? I would do the dirtiest honest work in New York. When I had earned twenty-five cents I would invest in peanuts and sell them at the corners of the street — sleep on bare boards — live on bread and water till I earned something better.” Susan’s guitar stood her in good stead. She got pujjils by it, opened a school and earned money enough to trade with. With her, employment was to SUSA]:^ A. KING. 235 get money. Her friends were alarmed at lier course. They predicted that a girl that was tramping around New York selling small wares would come to no good end. Every step in trade was an upward one. In 1859 she had her agents with wagons and horses selling goods, East, West and South. The bowlings of civil war were heard on ever}- hand, Miss King bade her little company scamper North. Before she could dispose of her pro]3erty the conflict began. She sold everything she could sell, belted her gold round her waist, and started homeward. She was arrested over and over again. She was quick-witted, and made the best of the situation. She talked treason with traitors, was a rebel with graybacks, and with two or three thousand dollars’ worth of gold on her person she arrived safely in New York. This money she wisely invested, and the conflict which seemed to ruin her financially laid the foundations for immense wealth. Miss King is a great friend to women. She spends no time in talking or depicting on platforms Woman’s Wrongs. She looked round to see if anything could be done to give women remunerative employment — work that should be light and profitable. Banking was thought of, but that was too complicated. Life in- surance was impracticable. The founding of a W oman’ s Tea Company was resolved upon. Its success would dexjend upon the brand of tea. To select this. Miss King must visit China. She had no adviser, associate, patron, or friend. She had money and good common sense. Against the protest of the officials, British and American, Miss King mapped out an excursion into the interior of China ; where no white person had ever gone except two Jesuits, and they were killed. The Chinese authorities could not protect her, and the American consul washed his hands of the conse- 236 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. quences. Miss King asked no favors ; ske took a chair and some coolies, and proposed to be responsible for the rest. She took her perilous Journey alone, and without harm. She dressed like a Chinese ; chow- chowed with the natives ; burned sticks in the Joss houses, saluted the gods with fire- crackers, ate monkey, rabbits, rats, or whatever was set before her, climbed up the sacred eight-story Pagoda, looked down upon the seething crowd, shouted hurrah ! and received the assuring response : Hi-lii ! Miss King re- turned safe to her native shores, having accomplished the aim of her visit. Many of her early acquaintances who treated her with scorn and contempt are very glad to make her acquaintance and borrow her money. She led the Midnight Mission movement, founded the Home for Old Ladies, and lent a helping hand to re- lieve want and sorrow everywhere. XCI. W. A. FRITS. HIS gentleman is famous as being the succes- sor of the Stuarts in the manufacture and sale of pure candies. From 1806 to 1853 the Stuarts, father and sons, were the great candy-makers of the nation. No house had a humbler beginning. It was not proposed that the boys should be candy-makers. Robert went into a dry-goods house ; he was not then Robert L. Alexander was born on the spot where he now lives in Chambers street. He took to W. A. FRITS. 237 sign painting. There is now a sign in lower New York still in existence which Alexander painted. He had such a love for the brush that long after the business was large, he sat on a little stool made for the purpose and marked the boxes for candy in an artistic manner. The firm of Ridley & Co. was made up of Robert A. Ridley, Wm. Kennedy, W. A. Frits, Wm. Force, all old employees of the Stuarts. As the Stuarts were to abandon the manufacture of candy, and these men had made all the candy for years, they proposed to take the business into their hands. The principle adopted by the firm was to manufacture pure candy, to buy the iDurest materials, sugars, colors, flavors, without regard to cost, and to make nothing and to sell nothing but the purest and best article that could be made. For a quarter of a century this rule has been adhered to. The good name of the house has never suffered, and the Ridley candy is known and used in the four quarters of the globe. Adulteration is a com- mon trade in New York. Everything is adulterated. Food, coffee, spices, and candy. Science aids in pro- moting the frauds in trade. Cheap mustard is made out of yellow ochre, poor red pepjoer and terra-alba. Pepper, mace, allspice, and cloves are made from maggotty shipbread and impure ingredients. There is scarcely a spice or a flavor that is not adulterated, and the vilest stuff imaginable is sold by the ton. The candy of commerce is more than anything else adulterated. There is an immense trade in this impure manufacture. It ranks with mock auctions, counter- feit diamonds, sham jewelry, and shoddy cloth. * One hundred pounds of impure candy is sold to one x)ound of sugar candy. A box of candy of commerce con- tains poison enough to kill an ox, and that which is not poisonous is too filthy to be eaten. Terra-alba, which takes the place of sugar, is an Irish earth with a 238 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. peculiar grain. With this dust is mixed, turpentine, coal-dust, lampblack, blacking, fusil oil, prussic acid and glue. These materials are worked up into candy, sugar-plums, gum-drops, and chocolate cream. The refuse of slaughter-houses is used, and butchers notify their customers when they have a barrel sufficiently filthy. Young veal — the younger the better— takes the place of gelatine ; prussic acid for almonds ; poison- ous pear-drops for peach ; rotten cheese and sulphuric acid for apple, and tonka bean for vanilla. A favorite brand of sugar for adulterated candy is known as ship sugar. This is a sweeping from the hold and deck of a vessel, moistened with bilge water. These sweepings are so profitable that lawsuits have arisen with regard to the division of the profits. A pound of ship sugar mingled with four pounds of Irish earth yields five pounds of cheap candy. The coloring of adulterated candy is often poisonous, red lead, aniline, and other equally pernicious matter being used. Cheap chocolate cream is often made of tallow, coal-tar, a thin layer of chocolate, with flavoring to suit. The great market for adulterated candy is the West and South. Men who buy it know what they are doing. They know that they are not buying sugar candy, gum arabic, liquorice and genuine oil. They buy Irish dirt, ship sugar, lampblack, fusil oil, red lead, rotten cheese and the refuse of slaughter-houses. Against this style of business Eidley & Co. have placed the mahufacture of pure confectionery, running over a score of years. Not a house stands to-day that manufactures adulterated candy that was in existence when that of Ridley started. The fame of the Ridley candy has crossed the seas. The Honorable Mrs. Bates received from the Barings a box of Ridley’s hore- hound candy. Visiting the Duchess of Sutherland, she found her ladyship suffering with a cold. She BREACH OF TRUST. 239 sent her a package of candy. This package the Duch- ess divided with' Her Majesty, who was also afflicted with a cough. She obtained such relief that the Queen ordered through Brown & Bro. a hundredweight of the candy. This order was annually renewed for a series of years. N^ow De Castro in the Strand, grocers to the Queen, keep a supply on hand for use at the cas- tle and the Royal family. XCII. BREACH OF TRUST. ORE business men are ruined by breaches of trust than by downright dishonesty. It is the stepping-stone to embezzlement and crime. It is a snare set in sight of the bird. Men who would not steal a dollar or put wrongfully a shil- ling into their pocket, will betray their trust. Men in charge of public funds will allow them to go on the street under solemn promise of making the loan good. The little pittance of widows and orphans is squandered in wild speculations because men are not faithful to their stewardship. A man wants an office. There is a great deal of money to be handled, and he must have bondsmen. Bondsmen are ready, for they expect to use their vic- tim. The official means to do right. The wily bonds- man watches his opx)ortunity. He pours a fine tale into the ear of the confiding treasurer : “We have got the best thing out ; we want a few thousands ; you have 240 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. money lying idle ; yon may as well turn it ; you shall fare as well as the rest of us ; the security is ample ; the payment certain ; the gain large.” If the hope of gain does not answer, then a threat is tried : ‘‘ Others accommodate us and you must, or we shall take our. name from your bond, and then where are you?” The timid fool yields, and loans a small sum. Demands are frequent and the sums larger. The man is at the mercy of sharpers. His moral force is gone. He lies, falsi- fies ; lives on his nerves ; spends his nights over his accounts, and finally flees the country of goes to State prison. All this without a cent’s advantage to himself. Honest men often betray their trust by loaning their names to sharpers and upholding fraudulent institu- tions and bogus corporations. Their names are wanted as decoys. They are directors in institutions which are run by mere boys, and they have no more idea of the soundness of the institution or the principles upon which it is run, than they have of the Bank of Kams- catka. By the aid of famous names men handle thou- sands whom their acquaintances would not trust with ten dollars. Business men wake up some fine morning and find that an official is on his way to Europe ; a cashier has taken the entire funds of a savings bank and departed, and a trust company, “sound as the government,” has gone down with a crash, ruining thousands. In each case the list of directors was long enough and honorable enough, but the men paid no at- tention to their duties ; did not intend to do so when they were appointed. The State of Maine elected a treasurer. He was a clergyman, but not in charge of any church. He was a great reformer, and his repute was like gold tried in the fire. He had not been in office a year be- fore he was removed and removed because he misused BREAGE OF TRUST. 241 the funds of the State. For his own use he would not have abstracted a copper. His bondsmen used the money. Politicians speculated with the public funds, and left worthless collaterals as security. The man was as much of a wreck as though he had stolen for his own use fifty thousand dollars. In twelve months he threw away the reputation of a life. The Treasurer of the American Board held his position for years. He conducted^ its financial affairs with consummate prudence and skill. The drafts of the Board were honored in all parts of the world. He re- signed, without a stain upon his repute. He opened a banking-house, and had the confidence of the religious world. Trust moneys were jiut into his hand. The savings of a lifetime were given to him for safe- keeping. Missionaries abroad and poor preachers at home were only too thankful that in such honest hands their gains were lodged. Seamstresses and girls out at service put into the house their slender sav- ings. The treasurer was honest enough. IN’ot so a relative who ran the business. He used the funds on deposit with the wildest kind of speculation. The house came down, carrying ruin and dismay on all sides. The crime of the treasurer was a breach of trust — taking money he did not intend to guard. A young man rose very high in a Boston Bank, through his integrity and ability. The trait which distinguished him from childhood was truthfulness. One morning the bank was not open. The facts came out that the cashier was a defaulter, and had run away during the night. The sum lost to the bank was a very large one, yet the cashier was not one dollar the richer. It was the old story of a breach of trust, — infiuential men tempted him, bank officials got loans on bogus 16 243 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. security. He was kej)t under the harrow for years, with exposure hourly staring him in the face. Expo- sure came at last, with the loss of everything, with, the ruin of all his friends, with death in a mad house. A man of EMmENT financial ability was president of an important bank. He was one of the most infiu- ential men in the State. His integrity was Avithout a stain. The business community was shocked to learn that the directors had demanded his resignation, and that the bank examiners were overhauling his affairs. The president had placed to his oAvn account tAA^elve thousand dollars for speculative purposes. The bank could lose nothing, for the security was ample. But the act was an indiscretion which could not be over- looked — in other words, he Avas guilty of a breach of trust. From the consequences of that act he never recovered. XCIII. ISAAC HALL, IRON MERCHANT. R. HALL is an iron merchant, dealing jjrinci- pally in chains and cables. For thirty years he has done business upon the same spot. He is a man of fine presence, with a stature that attracts attention, and is a cool, persistent, intelli- gent and successful business man. He is descended from the English Friends, and inherited little except a healthy constitution and a steady determination to do right. He took his first lesson in self-control ISAAC UALL, IRON MERCHANT, 243 when a lad. He was at work on a farm, and was ordered to clear up the brush. He gathered the stud around a stump and set it on lire. A high wind spread the conflagration on all sides, and as he looked upon the devastation, he firmly resolved never again to act from impulse. He was a resolute, painstaking lad, hard- worked and poorly-paid. He was self-reliant, and sold berries from the blueberry patch, and snared rabbits, with which he bought his toys and his clothes. He resided in Hudson, and the city at that time was heavy in the whale fishery. Ships were fitted out every year for the Pacific. Isaac was fascinated with the work of a blacksmith. The glaring forge and the ringing anvil filled him with delight, and he resolved to learn the trade. After the order of the day he was bound out at a salary of thirty-five dollars a year. He was over- worked, under-fed and shamefully treated. Yet he carefully hoarded his little gains. When he was free his master owed him one hundred dollars. This he refused to pay, api^lying it to an old debt due from Isaac’s father. He found work in Hew York in 1838, and went at it steadily and prudently. Year by year he laid up a little money and was enabled to set up business for himself. He found the work of the shipsmith very profitable, but an accident opened to him a new field of wealth. A Chinese junk was moored off the Battery. Her ground tackle was wood, her anchor, teek, her cables rattan. This rigging was not suitable for our w^aters, and Mr. Hall was ai^plied to to furnish anchors and chains. He saw a profit in this, and added cables and anchors to his regular busi- ness. He can now furnish a vessel of any tonnage at a moments’ notice. He had adroitness enough to make friends with the cori^oration and he covers the side- walk and the highway with his stock. Mr. Hall was appointed Healthmaster and Hock 244 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Warden in 1843. He liad ample opportunity to make money by levying tributes on the captains, as was the custom. He refused to extort money from any one, and never charged anything beyond the legal fees. He had ample opportunity for speculation. He had early notice of improvements which the city proposed to make. He refused to enter the seductive helds of speculation, and chose rather to beat out a fortune on his own anvil. His principles forbid over-reaching or taking advantage of any man’s necessity. He acquired a large fortune by industry, probity, and liberality. His celebrated baths at the Battery were opened in 1857. For extent and thoroughness they ‘have no equal. Draped with flags, pendants and bunting, they give a gala-day appearance to the Battery, and are a popular resort of the citizens of New York. Mr. Hall has the rare gift of making his mistakes benefit him. tie never but once burnt up a farm ; no man but his master has been able to cheat him out of his wages ; and once was enough for him to pay with his earnings other peoples’ debts. He was frank and manly as a boy. Tired of turning the grindstone, he run off the handle and sold it. He did not sleep well that night. The next morning he confessed his wrong, repurchased the handle, and put it back in its place. Mr. Hall owns his own stock, buys for cash, and can- not be undersold. His long and unvarying success established the fact that it is profitable to sell honest goods at an honest price. Mr. Hall has an elegant home on the Heights, where he dispenses a liberal hospitality, and devotes his fortune in aid of the benevolent and religious charities of the age. POWERS, OF THE GRAND CENTRAL. 245 XCIY. POWERS, ‘OF THE GRAND CENTRAL. LLIS L. POWERS is one of the most suc- cessful hotel-keepers of New A^ork. The Grand Central was constructed from his own plans, and is admitted to be one of the most commodious and elegant in the State. Hotel-keeping is an uncertain trade. It is like editing a newspaper, — every man thinks he can do it, but only one here and there makes a success at it. Taking the last fifty years, only about ten out of a hundred have escaped ship- wreck in the hotel line. Boys inherit the hotel, but do not inherit their father's character or cajjacity. Young Powers was born in Vermont, and he left home to secure emj)loyment. He found it in the United States Hotel in Boston, where he began life as a hall- boy. He was genial, intelligent, and useful, and soon won a clerkship. He passed a summer at the St. Law- rence Hotel, Philadelphia. At that time Mr. Earle was keeping a small hotel opposite the Astor House. The house was well run, charges were moderate, it was always full, and made money. Earle, who had an eye for smart men, secured young Powers as an assistant. He exhibited marked talent and tact in hotel life, mak- ing himself very popular as room-clerk, and display- ing an unusual force of character. He was prudent and saving, to which traits he joined great enterprise. He knew a good bargain when he saw it, and made a good deal of money, while Mr. Earle supposed he was fully absorbed in the hotel. He had the gift of silence to a remarkable degree ; he seldom spoke, except in 246 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. the way of business, had no confidants, managed his own affairs, and kept his own counsel. The lease of the Earle hotel was a valuable one, and the proprietor intended to renew it. He was a sharp man, and did not wish to seem anxious. When the renewal was offered to him he declined to accept it at once — jnoposed to consider it, hoping the rent would be lower. Powers saw his opportunity and followed it up. He took the lease on the terms offered, pocketed his bargain, and went about his work. Mr. Earle was astounded at the audacity of his clerk when he found what he had done, and could not express his feelings when he found himself turned out of doors and his silent clerk in possession. A iDractical and an accom- plished hotel proprietor Powers proved himself to be, able to turn his hand to anything. He knew all the details of hotel life. He soon outgrew the little tavern. He looked around for a position equal to his ability. The Grand Central was in the market, though unfin- ished, and w^as a prize worth taking. The location was superb, and the capacity of the house could not be excelled. Powers secured a sixteen years’ lease and completed the house according to his own ideas of ex- cellence and comfort. He could handle anything from the furnace to the skylight. He had some rare traits for his position. Elegant in stature and attractive in manners, courteous but decided, a willing listener, but not to be imposed upon, of fine taste, and one of the best dressed men in the city. He had great command over men, seldom speaking to any one except on busi- ness, and holding a personal inspection over every part of the hotel ; a great economist, yet generous to the poor, often filling the baskets with his own hands. His application to business was marvelous, and he seemed never to tire. His investments have been judi- cious, and he could if he would live on his fortune. WILD OATS AND THEIR HARVEST 247 His hotel gives him no trouble, and in the wildest ex- citement he remains as cool as a general on a battle- field. XCY. WILD OATS AND THEIR HARVEST. YOUXGr man who sows his wild oats in youth often reaps them in mature life. A colonel of one of the regiments, who is especially cold-blooded and selhsli, used his regiment for his own advancement. He moved his regiment on a terrific hot Sunday thirt^^ miles without halting, and had no compassion, though men were sun- struck. To ]3lease gay ladies in the camj), he ordered dress-parades under a tropic sun, though men dropped down in the ranks. He obtained what he coveted — rank and position. He held his position without honor and was dismissed with heavy charges resting upon him. He began life bad, and but for merciful judges would have been adjudged criminal. Dyke, a well-known peanut vender on the Kansas Railroad, was intelligent and civil. He drove a fine trade, for the nuts were fresh and the measure large. One day he visited a banker and asked the loan of five dollars. He had no security. He wanted to buy a paper stand, and named what bonus he was willing to give. The banker said: ‘^That’s 200 per cent.” ‘‘I don’t care, I can make it.” The banker made a bar- gain, bought the stand, and when the boy had made 248 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. five dollars, lie transferred it to him. In less than a " month he was the owner of the stock in trade, on his way to a fortune. With few exceptions, costly RESTxiURANTS and exorbitant bills of fare don’t bring a fortune. Men who make money out of hotel keeping have low prices, snug rooms which they keep always full. In lower New York, there are half a dozen hotels which have made the fortune of a dozen men. The same is true of eating-houses. A popular house, mth a good run of custom, is a fortune to any man who can wait. Some of these chop-houses are fifty years old. They are not much to look at. The rickety, tumble-down ruins are in narrow lanes. The seats have no backs, the tables no cloths, and the only attempt at ornament is sand on the floor. The keeper waits on his customers. In his white apron, coat off, he puts the reeking steak on the table. He stews, fries, and broils. Eminent merchants stand in a line from twelve till one, waiting to be served. The man who waits upon them could buy out half, and live on Fifth avenue if he would. At one time the sux-dial in trade and honesty, and even decency, seems to have been put back. A man with very marked talent and audacity came to the sur- face. He did openly what others do secretly, and carried his vices on his sleeve. He drove his four-in- hand, filled with frail ladies, through the Park on Sunday to show his audacity. He made money, and it Avas nobody’s business what he did with it. He made a Garden Mabille of Plymouth Rock, run it on Sundays, and filled it with music, dancing, wine and women. He imported French actresses for his Sunday theater, and fathers and guardians were seen around the house looking for their sons. The man’ s end was WILD OATS AND THEIM HARVEST. 349 tragical, and lie left behind him lawsuits which will last his widow all her life. On one of the city eailPwOADS a man rides up every morning between three and four o’clock. He dresses well, lives in style, has given his daughters a fine education, and has a pew in a fashionable church. He is a gambler by trade and has followed his profession twenty-five years. He has done what not one man in ten thousand could do, and had nerve enough to follow a style of life that has made his calling a success. He never drinks, for he must have his nerves under perfect control. He acts under a perfect system. He iilays while he wins. He limits his losses, and no persuasion can induce him to risk his luck beyond the sum named. This line of life he has pursued for a quarter of a cen- tury with the average in his favor. A LAWYER eminent in the real estate business for twenty-five years built up and amassed a fortune. His judgment was excellent and he held in his hands large trusts. Through all his life little tricks were charged on him, and there were little blurs on his busi- ness repute. The probability is he was never honest, but the exact temptation did not reach him till late in life. He collected all the money he could collect, bor- rowed all he could borrow, and fied in the night, leav- ing thousands in sorrow and ruin. A ISTew York politician bought some Rochester oil land. A spout of oil came up on the working full fifty feet high. People from miles around came to look at the sight and every one was allowed to carry away a cup of oil. The man was offered a quarter million for the property. Ten thousand dollars would have exceeded his wildest thought at the beginning. 250 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Why should he sell for a quarter million what was worth a million ? Ten thousand dollars were expended in machinery to develop the well. One day an ex- X)losion took place, and men, crowbars and tools were blown sky-high. An acre of land would now be dear at twenty-hve dollars. Some men trade on their religion. They carry a Bible under their arm on ferry boats, and about their business. They distribute tracts to customers and relate their experience before they trade horses. Nobody thinks any better of them for this, for the}^ are no better than other people. Some men make a living at Fulton street daily prayer-meeting by borrowing money, and the leader has to constantly guard strangers against imposition. A well-known railroad man had scruples about letting the street cars run on Sunday, but he had no scruples about over- issuing stock. Men work harder to be infamous than they would have to work to get an honest living. Kascality is a trade that requires more talent than honesty. The convicts in the State prison have worked harder to wear a prison garb than any college student works to obtain his diploma. To be vile, men ding everything away that is worth possessing, and devote themselves to rascality with an energy worthy of a better cause. Men study chemistry that they may be expert crimi- nals. They become splendid penmen that they may commit forgery ; skillful engravers that they may counterfeit ; ingenious mechanics that they may forge tools for burglary. Men spend months in laying plans to defraud a bank, and all their labor and skill is re- warded by dog’s wages and dishonor, with the State prison. Ten thousand men have worked their way up from penury to fortune, but not a single case can be found of permanent success attending rascality. All up and down Broadway are elegantly-furnished CHEATING THE DOMINIE. 251 offices with velvet carpets and rosewood furniture. Handsome as these rooms appear, they are simjjly dens to entrap the simple. The rooms are selected with an eye to fraud. They open on two streets. Jewelry, gloves, silks, watches, and valuables pass the threshold and are never seen more. These frauds drive a brisk, sharp, short trade, and then disappear. Social frauds are conducted on a complete system. The post-office is used to secure victims. Agents tra- verse the country and select their victims, promising them work, position, situation and money. Hundreds of innocent people are decoyed into the great cities, .are ruined by sharpers, who prey upon the unwary. XCYI. CHEATING THE DOMINIE. CLASS of men live by defrauding ministers. A well-known pastor was visited by a young woman, evidently at service. Herself and friend had been converted by a sermon preached by the pastor. Both proposed to unite with the church, but sickness and death prevented. It was her friend’s dying request that the pastor should attend the funeral. ‘ ‘ Was there any society that aided in bury- ing the dead Sickness and death had consumed the little earnings of both. Everything was provided for but a grave. There was no society, but the pastor ten- dered the young woman five dollars. This she refused stoutly, and finally accepted it as a loan. At the ap- 252 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. pointed hour the pastor took a coach and started for the funeral. He found the street and the number: there was no funeral, and there was no corpse ; nobody had been sick, and nobody died. The whole story was a pure invention to secure five dollars. A pastor came out of his pulpit one Sunday and was met by an invalid. He was just discharged from the hospital : had heard no preaching for three months, and was delighted to hear a Gospel sermon. He called the next morning at the parsonage. He was quite lame ; had failed in his remittance, and wanted a little money to get home. The pastor had heard of a similar case, and asked the invalid to step around with him and see a brother minister. As the minister ]3ulled the door-bell, he accidentally looked around, when he saw his lame friend a half a block otf, running like a deer. XCYII. CLEHICAL IRHEGULARITIES. H all professions and callings there is an aver- age of bad men. The ministry is no excep- tion. The ministry is well guarded, but in every age ‘‘wolves have entered, not sparing the flock.” The Saviour struck boldly at priestly cor- ruption. Men who made long prayers often devoured widows’ houses. The wonder is not that there are bad men in the ministry, but that there are not more. It has rare attractions to mediocrity. It pays better for moderate talent than any other x)rofession. Like every CLERICAL TRUE a CLARITIES. 253 other calling, some succeed — some fail ; some are very good men — some are very bad. Too Much Makried. — A j^oung man was settled over a very poor parish. A wealthy gentleman gave him a home. The young man repaid the kindness by making love to an invalid daughter. The father made the discovery when it was too late to avert the evil, and the marriage took place. It was an unhappy union, followed by crnelt}^ and neglect. The child- wife soon died and left the minister free. He obtained a city charge with the infatuation of marriage still upon him. He engaged himself to a mere child, bound her by a solemn oath to secrecy, and sent her to school to complete her education. He tired of his new toy and deserted her on the ground that she had broken her contract. He found a new church and a new victim, — this time a widow, who was too much for him, and who compelled him to marry her, though the marriage was secret. A watch was put upon him ; he was tracked to the widow’s house, and showing a certificate of marriage alone saved him from a coat of tar and feathers. He deserted both the church and his wife, turned up on the Pacific coast, where he was found ped- dling milk on Sundays. Bad Rhetoric. — A well-known merchant was in a bad humor one Monday morning. A friend said to him : “ Jerry, I am afraid the preaching yesterday did not do you much good.” “It did not,” was the an- swer. “My pastor preached yesterday on the liquor traffic. He said a man who would sell liquor at this age would not quail if the gates of hell were shook in his face. There is my ledger ; look at it ; there is an account against that man for seventy dollars. Thirty dollars are for liquors that he has not paid for.” 254 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Forced into the Ministry. — A young man wanted to practice law. His father was a minister, and his mother had consecrated him when a babe to the sacred office. Every step in his education looked towards the pulpit. He had no heart for the work and really hated the pastoral office. A mother’ s tears prevailed and he graduated with high honors. He was brilliant, and secured a prominent pulpit, but he had no heart for his work. He was fond of company, would wear white gloves and read novels. His pastorate was a short one, and he was dismissed by a council without honor. A first-class lawyer was lost that a very poor minister might be created. Speculation in Oil. — A j^oung man was settled over a city church. He made a venture in oil, and won. He knew that he was cut out for a trader. His head was fairly turned. He gave up the pul^jit and went on the street. He lost his money quicker than he made it and resorted to practices not credible to raise the wind. Ho Trial. — It is no uncommon thing for base men and base women to attempt to blackmail preachers. A woman preferred a charge against a well-known rector. The rector walked into the office of the district- attorney and took out a warrant for the arrest of the woman for blackmailing. The newspapers gave him credit for great pluck. The woman answered the sum- mons, gave bail, and told the authorities that she could be found when wanted. She was offered a discharge if she would retract. She refused the offer, and de- manded a speedy trial. The indictment lies in a jiigeon- hole in the office, and the case probably will never be called. CLERICAL IRREO ULARITIES. 255 Money Borrowers. — Some men stain their honor by being professional money -borrowers. There was a case in New York where this passion amounted to an infatuation. A man stood very high in letters and in theology, but he had no charge, and went from place to place on Sunday, usually occupying a seat in the pulpit. He overlooked the congregation, and selected his men. He spent the week going from store to store, borrowing small sums, from five dollars to twenty-five. He called one Sunday night on the pastor. A friend had been arrested the night before. His wife was nearly crazed, for she could get no bail on Sunday. The bail was raised within twenty dollars. Would the pastor loan that till Monday, or get some of his society to do it? Six dollars was all that could be raised. The minister took that and departed. The whole story was a fraud. There was no man in jail, no woman crazed, no jjarty arrested ; the whole was an attempt to get twenty dollars. Concealment. — Education helps concealment. The eye is educated not to quail, the cheek not to blanch, the nerves not to tremble, and the brow to be un- clouded. The villain walks as a saint, and does holy things. There was a college church in the north-west. The pastor was very gifted, an eminent revivalist, and claimed a high order of holiness. Notwithstanding, his repute was not good. Rumors followed him from year to year. His name was connected with a deacon’ s wife. She was a demure, strait-laced, devout woman, apparently without temptation and without charity. She was present at every sermon, and was never absent from the communion. In time distinct charges were preferred against the parties. They solemnly swore on the Evangelists they were innocent. Proofs accumu- 256 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. lated, and at length were overwhelming. The scandal of a public trial was avoided by confession. Almost Cleaeed. — A well-known Massachusetts minister was settled with high honor. Rumors com- passed him about. A council was called to investigate his case. The council voted him not guilty, and ordered the result to be made up. A member refused to sign the result because one particular scandal had not been investigated. The brother was no doubt innocent, but he could not say that all cases were investigated when they had not been. It was voted to adjourn the coun- cil and examine this case. Before the council could adjourn the accused came in with a confession, full and humiliating, which came on the brothers like a clap of thunder from a clear sky. Swearing to One’s Hurt. — Charges were preferred against the pastor by his deacons. Prominent minis- ters were appointed to look into the matter. This tribunal dismissed the charges as unworthy of consid- eration. In a new field of labor a worse scandal broke out. A young woman who had lived in his family charged the minister with being the father of her child. He admitted that he had supported the mother and child, and had paid an annual sum for hush-money. He sent a friend, had advised him to do it, binding him by an oath to secrecy. The name of this friend was demanded. The minister refused to give it up, referring to his oath. Nobody believed the story, for it was said that the man did not live benevolent enough to give the minister five hundred dollars, and then re- fuse to own it. All efforts to regain public confidence failed, and the poor man passed under a cloud and went out of sight. CLERICAL IRREGULARITIES . 257 A Stock Broker. — A man is preaching to a little congregation in New Jersey that once held a large charge in New York. He had large wealth of his own. He saw no reason why he should not invest in stocks and make his fortune larger. He got caught in the undertow. To save himself he resorted to a little sharp practice. He lost his money, lost his pulpit, lost his character, and lived abroad for some years. Too MANY Irons in the Fire. — A preacher who was very well known in New York, was a distinguished moral reformer. He was versatile in talent and turned his hand to a great many things. He was editor of a prominent religious paper, a great revivalist, and pastor of a large church. Rumor accused him of visit- ing the third row of the Park Theater. A committee was appointed to look into the rumor. In the saloon of the theater the man was found drinking with some women. He had been leading this line of life for years. His dismissal from the church and deiDosition from the ministry rapidly followed. A Standard-Bearer Falls. — A minister had a national repute. He was wise in council, and eloquent in speech. He became secretary of one of the great in- stitutions of the church. Whilst he was pleading the cause with great eloquence and success, rumors at- tacked his character. Detectives were put on his track, who followed him to haunts of infamy. His fall was terrible as it was sudden. Robes taken off. A young man was converted at sea. He wished to study for the ministry, and graduated with honor. He was settled in Washington, and occupied several x)ulpits of importance. His set- tlements were short ones, and everywhere something 17 258 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. seemed to be the matter. His case culminated in a charge near Boston. He invited a young woman into the study in the church to talk over the subject of religion. He locked his study door and offered her personal indignities. She was a girl of spirit, and de- manded that the door should be unlocked, or she should break through the windows. The key was turned back, and the girl lied like a frightened fawn. The i)astor anticipated the popular verdict, fled be- tween two days, and died in disgrace. SERvma Tables. — Men who serve tables cannot administer the word of the Lord. Men have attempted to join horse- jockeying, stock- jobbing, and sx)eculating with i)reaching. The result has never anywhere been a success. One of the most eloquent rectors in New York undertook to build an educational institution. He bought right and left, made contracts he could not carry out, incurred debts he could not pay, and formed obligations only to break them. He lost his fine city church, and was crip^ffed by his ventures all his life. Indisceetions. — These hurt like crime. “ There are evils wrought by want of thought, As well as want of heart.” Age has its x^erils as well as youth. It is no uncom- mon thing for the New York police to lift out of the gutter a minister and take him to his home. Company woiLs mischief to a young man. Parochial flattery and indiscriminate praise, turn the head of many a IDox^ular |3astor. Too much tea-drinking and too little study has ruined many a bright man. Bad Rumors. — A well-known evangelist was very pojiular. His style was liberal^ his delivery effec- CHOATE AS A LAWYER. 259 tive,’ and Ms manner courtly. A cliurcli was gathered for him, and he was petted and cossited like a child. As his house of worship was being completed, rumors about his social habits were abroad, and the press was outspoken and loud. Indiscretions were admitted, and the charges were never pressed. A libel was threatened, but nothing came of it. A Mai^ of Versatility. — A gentleman who was for some time pastor of a city church has been a play- actor, a stock-jobber, a dealer in horses, a pastor, and everywhere a speculator. He is known on the street as Doctor, and keeps Rev. before his name for specu- lative purposes. He has no church, and seldom enters the pulpit of his denomination. In his early career he speculated in churches, involving both himself and his friends. He visited England and contracted to bring Spurgeon on a starring expedition to this country. Spurgeon was to preach a certain number of nights — admission to be obtained by tickets, and the proceeds were to be divided; one half to be left to build a memorial church for the speculator, and the other half Spurgeon was to take with him to London. XCYIII. CHOATE AS A LAWYER. UFUS CHOATE was an eminent lawyer and an eloquent speaker — the most so in the na- tion. He was an extraordinary looking man. His face was as wrinkled as an old woman of eighty. His hair was black and kinky. He 2G0 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. was tall, spare, nervous and ethereal. He was very de- ferential to the court, but could strike when he would a heav}" blow. Judge Shaw was a man of eminent learn- ing, but he was very surly to the bar. He snubbed Choate one day, and the great advocate said, ‘‘Judge Shaw is no lawyer, but he is a perfect gentleman.” His retorts were terrible, and nobody got the better of him in a repartee. To his doctor, who ordered him to cease work if he would save his constitution, the great advocate replied : “ My constitution was gone long ago. I am now living on the by-laws.” He was an un- daunted student through all his college career, and found his recreation in hard work. He read every- thing he could lay his hands on, and his prodigious memory treasured up everything he read. He arose early and worked until midnight. He never tired himself, and had no idea that anj^one else could be fatigued. He went to Dartmouth to spend August. He took a cart-load of law books with him, enough to hold a term of a court. On the third morning he came down to the breakfast dressed for a journey. “ I shall die here,” he said. “I must go home and go to work.” His law office was always crowded when he was in town. Whoever got his attention was sure to keep it till the matter was disposed of. He was especially con- siderate to the poor ; and he listened as attentively to a case involving ten dollars as he would to one involv- ing ten thousand. He was constitutionally a cold man, and a tire blazed on his hearth in July. He came into court with three or four coats on, and took them otf one after the other as he warmed up. His favorite suit before a jury was a black frock coat and gray pants. He kept no appointments except legal ones. He had a habit of going to bed after supper, wholly undress- ing himself, and getting up about nine and working till CHOATE AS A LAWYER. 261 midnight. If he had a literary or political appoint- ment, he had to be watched. Committees often went to his house, dragged him out of bed, and carried him to Faneuil Hall, where he had a sj^eech to make. He never put a case before the jury till he had manipu- lated that panel. He studied the jury, knew their trade, their x)olitics, and their religion. His wild rhap- sodies, his rantings and his sentimentalisms were stock in trade. His extravagant and incoherent talks about Marie Antoinette and General Jackson, the French Revolution and Foreign Missions, were designed to manipulate the jury. His voice was melody itself, sonorous, bell-like and bewitching. His stage whisper made the flesh creep and his roar jarred the chande- delier. His affluence of learning, his frenzy, his humor, his repartee were irresistible. He could mesmerize the jury at will, and demolish a swift, unwillingly, or perjured witness with terrible powel*. On a cross-ex- amination he had no peer. He knew when to stop, how much to make a witness say, and like a skillful artist, he would cut out the exact blo@k he wanted to All the hole in the wall. He kept sight of the jury through all the trial. At recess he would say to his as- sistant, ‘‘ Drift out, drift out, and hear what they say.” He knew every book in the Boston libraries, the shelf on which it stood, the alcove in which it v/as placed. He wrote everything, and had the faculty to com- mit by the act of writing. All his motions and his address to the court were written, but lay untouched on his table. He wrote standing at a tall desk, wrote on a half a sheet of letter-paper, and piled one upon another. He wrote an extraordinary hand which no one could read without learning. He dashed ink over his manuscript, had a way of flourishing which covered his writing up, and then he would cover the whole with a profusion of black sand. When he wrote a SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. 2Q2 lecture or oration, he left the manuscript wet on his desk, and delivered the lecture without a scrap of writing before him. I saw him on the Saturday pre- vious to the delivery of his eulogy on Webster. He told me that not a word of the address was written. He sx)ent Monday in traveling to Dartmouth, and the eulogy was given on Tuesday. It was fully writ- ten out, but delivered without notes. While taking testimony at a trial, he kept two sets of notes. One held the evidence, and the other was a digest and an argument. As soon as the testimony closed, he was ready to argue the case. He knew everything about law, both American and European ; the law of entail and the black-letter law of England were as familiar to him as the criminal code. He sometimes found his match in a witness. One desj^erado told him that bad men never committed a crime without first asking after Choate’s health. There was a conspiracy to commit murder ; one man turned State’s evidence, and Choate tried to break him down. ‘Hn the conspiracy you took all the conse- quences into account “We did.” “Were you not afraid of being hung ?” “No sir. If worse came to worse we had money enough to employ Choate, and he would see us through.” Choate laid up no money till he was past forty years of age. He earned a great deal, but collected little. He was always in want of money, and always under the harrow. He kept no books, and if a man came to pay a bill he charged him just whaf he hap- pened to need at the moment. If a man exx)ected to X)ay a thousand dollars Choate would let him off for three hundred. He had two or three partners, but they never aided Mr. Choate in his money matters. His loose financial habits cost him ten thousand dollars a year. Things changed when young Joe Bell became CHOATE AS A LAWYER. 263 a partner. He was sharp enough for anybody. The retainers were high, his charges heavy, and he sent in his bill as soon as the verdict was recorded. A rail- road company sent a retainer of a hundred dollars in an important case. Bell sent it back and demanded a thousand. When the defendants saw Choate’s name in the case they compromised. One day Mr. Choate said, ^‘What retainer did the road pay usf’ ‘‘One thousand dollars.” “We will let them off at that. We did nothing.” “You are too late,” said Bell. “ Your name settled the suit. I charged the company five thousand dollars, and the money is in bank.” Choate was very considerate to young lawyers. He was very proud of his profession, and delighted to aid young men. He knew how to put a young advo- cate at his ease. He never assumed anything. “Yes,” he would say, “you have stated that very well, but how would it do to put it so ?” “ Suppose we turn to one of the decisions and see how that reads f’ “ That is a good point, but I am afraid the court will go against us.” “ That is an excellent decision, but it strikes me that that has been overruled.” He came early to court, but never so early but that he had done a day’s work. For years he was on one side or the other of all the great cases argued at the Massachusetts bar. He de- clined the office of the U. S. attorney-general, and also a seat on the U. S. bench, for the salary was not ade- quate to his support. 264 /SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. XCIX. FLIES IX THE OINTMENT. LITTLE folly in a wise man, the Bible says, ruins him. A whole life is inadequate to atone for a single false step. One of th(3 ablest financiers in the State of Massachu- setts was president of a bank near Boston. His salary was large, and his social position high. He wanted to use some money, with which to purchase land. He took it from the bank, leaving his own check as a memorandum. Had he called the directors together, he could have had all the money he wanted. He had an enemy in the board. This man discovered the check, and made a noise about it. The act was pro- nounced a breach of trust. In an hour the president lost his position, his money, his honor. Nobody stood higher than Jacksot^, a Boston law- yer. He had earned through a long life the repute of integrity and prudence. He held large trust estates, and men and women begged him to invest their funds. His legitimate income was not less than twenty-five thousand a year. To make it a hundred thousand, he became the great forger of the age. The indictments against him would keep him in State prison all his life. Social DRiNKiNa customs ruin business young men. These habits seldom go alone. Men who live on their nerves should have cool heads. The champion billiard- players drink nothing. Dan Mace drinks nothing but lemonade on the road. Men who keep their own cop- pers hot would not trust their costly teams to Mace, if FLIES IN THE OINTMENT, 265 his own nerves were not steady. The young business men of New York are prematurely old. They are older at thirty than their fathers are at sixty. They are bald and gray, walk Avith a cane, with their under- pinnings knocked out. Many drink a bottle of wine before they are fixed for dinner, and cover their meat with sauces and spices before they can get an appe- tite. These are known as fast young men who don’ t live out half their days. Farragut, when his son was ten years old, put a thousand dollars in the bank for him, on condition that he would neither drink nor smoke till he was twenty- one years old. Foote was the best disciplinarian in the Navy. No swearing was allowed, or harsh treatment. When he took command of a ship, he approached the crew with a pledge in one hand and a cat in the other, saying : ‘‘ Boys, take your choice. You must take one or the other.” Ball, the sculptor, was the Michael Angelo of America. His drinking habits ruined him. He worked just enough to keep him in liquor. When he was clear doAvn he made poker pictures. With a hot iron on the head of a barrel he would burn out an exquisite work of art. This he would sell for fifty cents, and invest it in rum. An eminent organist, who plays in one of the churches, has often had to be held on his seat, being too drunk to sit upright. Commercial disasters affect men differently. Some are ruined beyond the hope of recovery, take to the bottle or a rope ; others remove the debris, and lay the foundations only the firmer. One of the wealthiest men in Salem was mayor of the city. He was born to wealth, and his manhood was passed in luxury. He failed disastrously. He went to Canada, and camped 266 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. out as a lumberman. He resolved to retrieve bis for- tune. In the midst of his labors, he perished on board of a burning steamer. A Quakee has for years made a specialty of selling corn-fed pig pork. For fifty years he has driven a trade in an unfashionable part of the city, in a room nearly underground. Here, on tables white as snow, are spread out chops, loins and sausages. The coaches of the aristocracy drive up and down the narrow street, onl}^ too thankful to be served. The Quaker waits on his customers in person, and his style of business, un- changed for half a century, has made him rich. Speculatioi^ is an. infatuation. A man will make a fortune on the street, and stay there till he fiings it all away. A well-known operator made a fortune and retired. He took his family to Europe, and resided there a year. He came back, and visited his old haunts. His friends gave a dinner to the man who had strength of mind enough to retire with six millions. Some of the shrewdest speculators on the street were in a great venture, and ofi'ered to let their friend in at the bottom prices. He went in to add a little to his six millions. The treacherous seas swallowed up his whole fortune, and the man has to be watched to keep him from suicide. Sunday work is usually bad work. The statistics of New York show that merchants who keep their counting-houses open on Sunday fail. A heated brain like a hot box is not the best thing for work. Paraly- sis and softening of the brain are the great diseases of business men. The regular periodical repose of tire Sabbath is absolutely necessary for health and cool judgment. Castlereagh had no Sabbath and worked himself into frenzy and suicide. Sir Matthew Hale FLIES IN THE OINTMENT. 2G7 during forty years of liis circuit life never lost a day by sickness, and was not out of his pew on Sundays for half a century. He attributed his good health to an early resolution, never to do secular business on the Lord’s Day. Men make or mar their fortune by insig- nificant trifles. Tidiness has a commercial value. Talent comes out in the tying a bundle or displaying goods in a window. The material of a coat may be coarse, but the fit be complete. A sloven or a slattern is a nuisance anywhere. A doctor cannot afford to be a sloven, and a minister ought not to dress like a butcher. One of the dirtiest men in Boston was old Ben Wheeler. He was a man of large wealth, but his habits and methods were too disgusting for mention. He lived eleven months on beans, and when he was seventy years of age he boasted of it. He owned the filthiest rookeries in the city. In rooms not fit for a dog kennel he often sat down and took his rent out in a dinner. A man over fifty years of age works in a piano fac- TOEY. For twenty-five years his sole business has been to cut red cloth into bits and squares and glue them on to a hammer. Not one in a hundred can do this work artistically. The excellence of a piano de- pends mateiially on the manner in which this bit of cloth is pasted on. The artist has a life position and a handsome salary. It is not only not best to go to a beother’s house in a day of calamity, but it is not always safe to let your troubles be known. A panic swept over the city, and a well-known merchant was at his wits’ end for money. He kept his own council and walked leisurely into the bank. After talking about indifferent things the mer- chant said : “I know it is difficult for banks to get re- 268 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. liable paper in these panicky times, I thought I would show you some notes that I have. I think the paper is good, you may put the money to my credit or not, just as you please.” With this cool method of asking a loan as a favor to the bank, he walked away. He got the money, nevertheless, which would not have happened if the bank had known his condition. Men fail often because they have no margin. Men in trade and in stocks live sharp up to their income. Men hire palaces for stores, tit up offices like a church chancel, and spend their profits before they are earned. When I was in Paris an American house tried to in- duce a large company to put their funds in his bank. He had a gorgeous establishment, with carpets, mirrors, paintings and elegance, and all his fitting-uj3 was done with other peoples’ money. The ruin was only a question of time. Beside this gorgeous establishment was an old-time banking-house, not an inch of room for show or loafing ; no wining or dining customers ; in dingy rooms with the selvedge of civility, positive safety was guaranteed and the letters of credit of the house were good around the globe. On the Street men lose their personality. The street decides what the merchant shall pay for gold ; whether greenbacks shall be flush or locked up ; whether the lumbermen on the Penobscot, the rafts- men on the Mississippi, the fishermen on the Grand Banks, the farmers on the prairies, shall have money. The street is a dangerous place for men, not only because the chances are ten to one they will lose money, but because of the habits formed. Out of the young brokers who yell themselves hoarse every day, not ten will be left in ten years. They must do as others do, whether they like it or not ; they must eat FLIES IN THE OINTMENT. 2G9 as others eat, drink as others drink, drive fast horses, and go to the bar, spend their nights in degrading company, sleep till noon, and pay the heavy bills that the fashionable restaurants charge. IS'obody expected to see Daniel Drew bankrupted. He opened a drover’s exchange at Bull’s Head when he was very young. He began his steamboat life with the ‘‘Emerald.” Vanderbilt saw in him a decided enemy, and tried to run him otf the river. He joined Newton in his great steamboat enterprise and made money. His great power lay in combination. He was very sly, worked through agents, and took the stock market by surprise. Concealment and cunning were his weapons. While he followed Vanderbilt’s lead he made money. When he ought to have retired with six millions he plunged into the Erie troubles and periled everything he had. His friends did everything in their power to get him out of the street, but the infatuation of stock siDeculation is as strong as the infatuation of gambling. He is simply a beacon to young business men. An old man resided in Leicester square, London, who was accounted a lunatic. He was a harmless gentle- man, and on sunny days took a seat in front of his house amusing himself and entertaining his neighbors by blowing soap-bubbles from a clay pipe. This poor lunatic was Sir Isaac Newton, studying the refraction of light as the bubbles floated in the sunshine. Some men can turn the follies and frivolities of life into sources of wisdom. Copernicus occasionally vis- ited the Sunday wine-gardens of his city. He was greatly attracted by a German waltz in which the parties whirled themselves around rapidly, yet made the circuit of the room. That waltz suggested to 270 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Copernicus the two-fold motion of the earth. I heard Admiral Farragut say that the idea of passing the forts at Mobile was suggested to him by a book he read when he was ten years of age. It was the resolute landing of the troops at Quebec under the direction of an old Scotch sailingm aster, who landed the troops in defiance of the judgment and order of Wolfe. As the troops w^ere landed Wolfe insisted on taking com- mand or he would be a ruined man. He took com- mand, and the story of his tragic end is well known. Bunyan was a genius. He beguiled his jjrison life by music on a fiute. All such recreation was prohib- ited, and the jailer searched his cell over and over again. He improvised the fiute out of the leg of his prison stool, and when the rattling of the chains and the grating of the bolts announced the coming of the keeper, the dreamer hastily replaced the leg and the jailer was none the wiser. C. TRADE OF AUTHORSHIP. UTHORSHIP goes by favor. The writer of the feeblest novel of the century received twenty -five thousand dollars for the use of of his . name. Ten thousand dollars were paid for a series of articles that could scarcely have gotten circulation in an ordinary country paper. The saddest chapter in literature is that entitled the “ In- TRADE OF AUTEORSniP. 271 firmity of Genius.” The ‘‘Vicar of Wakefield” was sold for a song. Five iionnds Avere paid for “ Paradise Lost.” Johnson worked like a scrub, was constantly in want, and would hai^e died in poverty but for a small pension. CoAvper made the fortune of his pub- lisliers, but lived in constant fear of the King's Bench. The love of literature made Sterne, Swift, and Church- hill paupers. Timbs, the local historian of London, printed over one hundred and forty volumes. He worked like a galley slave, and never earned his bread. Carlisle denounced literature as a humiliating calling. Southey pronounced the man foolish avIio followed writing for a living. Lamb was reduced by book-mak- ing to an intolerable serfdom. Irving pronounced the years in which he wrote for his bread the most dis- tasteful of his life. Scott toiled harder than any ditcher in Scotland, and literally worked himself to death. Burns called the bread he earned with his pen the bread of sorrow. At least a thousand men and women are trying to get their bread with their pen in 'New York, and don’t earn dog s AA^ages. Hr. Sprague sjoent his manhood on his “Annals of the Pulpit.” At the close of his Herculean task he told me he had not re- ceived money enough from his books to pay his x)ost- age. Literature and liberality do not go together. A well-knoAvn actress, in the height of her fame, Avhen she was a reader, and was coining money, ordered a basket of A\dne from Boston. She refused to pay tA\"enty-five cents expressage, and the driver refused to deliver the basket. She drove after him to the depot, paid the expressage under protest, and opened a cor- respondence with the president of the comjmny, threatening him Avith all kinds of penalties if he did not return the twenty-five cents. 273 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. CL CLAFLIN AS A MERCHANT. UCH of Claflin’s success is due to his good common sense. He possesses marked busi- ness ability, and knows how to till the ave- nues of trade. Those who look for him in business hours seldom find him in the office. His favorite place is on a dry-goods box, nursing his leg and talking to a customer under his breath. He was never a brilliant man but won by his steadfastness and endurance. He began business in Worcester. He traded in a small way, bought his goods in small par- cels, and delivered them with his own hands. He courted popularity as a trader ; kept a sort of people’ s store, buying close and selling at a small advance. He brought little capital with him when he came to New York. He opened trade in a loft in the fourth story of a Maiden lane store. He bought his first bill of goods of Winston, now President of the Mutual Life. The bill was seven hundred dollars, and Claflin always maintained a good mercantile credit. He was an ex- cellent salesman, and worked his way uj) alone. He always did a large business in proportion to his capital. Clafiin prided himself more on the quantity of goods sold than he did on the profit he made. Clafiin could outsell Stewart any year. But Stewart would make double the money. Claflin had none of Stewart’s ava- rice and none of Stewart’s tyranny. He took young men into his em^floy, not to see what he could get out of them, but to see what he could make of them. Young merchants who had a fair repute were always sure of credit and a helping hand from Claflin. MOSES TAYLOR— A STEADY PULL. 273 He early learned the art of securing influence in the great centers. Representative men from a distance, if they had talent, were sure of employment from Claflin. If they failed at home, and failed without dishonor, they were just as useful to the great merchant. These men had influence and custom, and they could trans- fer it to New York. Claflin scoured the country to se- cure men of talent and ability. If men came to trade from Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, or St. Louis, they would be introduced to a head of a department from their own section. The customers would at once feel at home, and would And topics of conversation inter- esting to both parties. Claflin catered to the public. And as he did in Worcester, so he did in New York. He made himself popular with the masses. He was celebrated for a cheap line of goods. This demanded less capital and gave him a huge stock. His xmoflts were very small. Prints that he bought for nine cents, he would sell for nine and a half. Men went to Claflin’ s for cheap pat- terns, and to Sewart’ s for richer and more costly fabrics. Claflin sold the most goods, but Stewart made the most money. CII. MOSES TAYLOR— A STEADY PULL. R. TAYLOR is a very rich man, and has made his wealth in trade. He would be a guide to no one, for not one in a thousand could adopt the line of trade that gave him a fortune. If money is everything, and is to be had 18 274 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. at any price, the business life of Mr. Taylor will show a young man how to get it. Mr. Taylor’s father was an alderman of the city, and through him Moses ob- tained the favor of John Jacob As tor. The young man began to trade for himself in a very small way. He can to-day open a small memorandum book, and show the prolit and loss of every sale. He made money in the West India trade. He early entered upon the career of a banker, discounting commercial jjaper at short time at a large, prolit. Independ- ent of his bank and his railroads, he keeps a set of books which he writes up every night. It is said should his bank burn up he could replace all his ac- counts in an hour. He has lived till sixty to make money. Horses, yachting, fast living and heated viands have no charms for him. He prefers his well- venti- lated chamber on Fifth avenue to the sweltering rooms of a summer watering-place. He rises early, takes a bath, eats a simple breakfast, and is down to the bank before his clerks. After banking hours he takes a frugal dinner, takes a bath, then a na]D, and sits down to work, which closes at ten o’ clock. Mr. Taylor is a shrewd, far-seeing and successful banker. A railroad in the coal regions was earning nothing. There were two or three heavy grades on the road, and the trains were light. To the surprise of everyone, Mr. Taylor bought the road. He called to his assistance one of the ablest engineers of the day. “ What will it cost to put a stationary engine at those points of the road ?” An estimate was made. “ I can double the capacity of my freight, can I not ?” “You can.” Ilis dividends the first year were a million. Moses Taylor was a born trader, sharp and keen, with- out sympathy or sentimentalism. He pays a hundred cents on the dollar and expects the same in return. He touches nothing out of which he does not make money. BOUTWELL, OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 275 All who confide business to him know that it will be well and safely done. Whoever employs him has to pay him. cm. BOUTWELL, OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE. EORGE S. BOUT WELL has great versatility of talent. He is not now an old man, yet he has been a trader, a lawyer, governor, mem- ber of Congress, cabinet officer, and senator. He was born in Brookline, near Boston, and spent his boyhood on a farm. Farm life was not congenial to him, and he entered a store at Luninburg, on a salary of a hundred and twenty dollars a year. He removed soon after to Groton, following the same line of life. His work was hard, his pay poor, and one- half of his salary was taken in store pay. He had a great desire for an education, and was allowed to attend school. In a room over the store, he found a small, but select library. He devoted all his leisure and much of his nights to devouring this mine of wealth. At sixteen he was competent to teach a public school. Mr. Boutwell obtained a situation in a law office. Besides being in full practice, the attorney with whom he entered his name was master in chancery. Boutwell became clerk, and for five years transacted the entire business of the insolvency court. He had great oppor- tunities, which he thoroughly improved. Being a young and prosperous lawyer, the friends of reform in 276 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Concord, without regard for party, nominated him for the Legislature. He was defeated — nominated again, and again defeated. Third time he was elected. He was held so high for industry and ability, that the Democratic party nominated him for governor. He was regularly nominated for ten years, and every year defeated. A coalition was formed between the Demo- cratic and the Abolition parties, and the combined forces put Mr. Boutwell in the chair of state. During all the years of his public life he has resided in Groton maintaining the simplicity of rural life — a practical farmer and a friend of the people. CIY. GENERAL GRANT AT SCHOOL. RANT’S boyhood had very small promise. As far as is known he was distinguished for the same traits which have marked his pub- lic career. His schooling was not affluent. In the town of Amelia, in Clermont county, Ohio, there is an old weather-beaten tumble-down hovel. . In this building U. S. Grant received his early education. In study Grant was nowhere. The bright boy of the school was Harry Wally. He is now running a forty- acre farm in Warren county. Grant would not get his lessons, but he devoured the biography of Napoleon and other great men. In his attendance he was punc- tual, and was never late at school. He had a native courtesy, but seldom spoke to any one. He never MULLER, OF BRISTOL. 277 joined in plays except in a snow-ball fight. He usually sat on a fence or on a stump and watched the boys at play. He was very obstinate. He had one fight with the schoolmaster, and won. Some boys attempted to take Grant’s knife from him. The master sided with the school, and ordered Grant to give it up. He refused to do so. The teacher took a long black hickory switch and belabored the boy till his arm ached. Grant neither begged, flinched nor surrendered, but clung to the knife, and the master had to give in. There must be something wrong in our system of education that makes a boy of talent a fool, and the charlatan carry off the honor. Liebig was a booby, having no talent but memory. He was held up as a boy that would bring ruin on himself, and shame on his mother. His proposal to study chemistry only ex- cited derision. His companion in stupidity was Healing, who would not study, but scribbled music by stealth. He was a born vagrant, the master said. He reached the rank of imperial composer and conductor of music at Vienna. CY. MULLEH, OF BHISTOL. is one of the most extraordinary men age. He has six or seven great stone 1 houses on the Downs. He has built institutions, controls them, has fed, clothed and educated thousands of orphan children 278 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. without a patron or fund. For over thirty years he has been at this work. During all this time he has never wrote a begging letter, never had an agent in the held, never solicited a penny. Without solicitation he has received and exi^ended in his great work over a million dollars. Any one of his six mission houses would be creditable to any government on the earth. Each house is complete in itself, and enclosed with a stone wall, with lodges, play-ground, and everything complete for comfort and enjoyment. His revenue comes from all parts of the world ; in sums from hve pence to a thousand x>ounds. His institution is one oi the wonders of the British empire, and strangers visit it from the four quarters of the globe. He is a man of marvelous executive power and could run the British government. Her Majesty’s high steward learned from Mr. Muller how to warm the Parliament build- ings. Muller’s life is a romance. He was a Prussian soldier, — a wild, riotous, reckless fellow. His conver- sion was marvelous, and he resolved to devote his life to the lowly. He started on foot for London, believing that was a better field for labor than Berlin. He begged his way from day to day, and slept under hedges or in barns. Night found him foot-sore and weary. He saw in the distance a grand house that he supposed was the home of some nobleman. He went to the door to beg a morsel of bread and permission to lie down in the barn. The door swung open at his approach, and a voice said : “ Come in, thou blessed of the Lord.” A bountiful repast was provided, and a clean couch spread for his repose. He was awakened in the morning by the voice of praise. After break- fast, a lunch was handed to him, that he might refresh himself on the way. Muller was profuse with his thanks. “Praise the Lord, and not man,” was the MULLER, OF BRISTOL. 279 response, and he was told the story ; how a poor trav- eler was benighted, and nearly perished on those bleak hills. He made a vow, that if he ever had money, he would build a refuge on that spot for benighted trav- elers. He received a sum of money in an extraordinary manner, and as he believed in answer to prayer. He built and endowed the edifice, and ordered that through all time it should be a home for the needy and suffering of every clime. This night’s rest changed the whole of Muller’s life. He reached England, unknown and penniless. The established church assigned him in the ancient city of Bristol. There were no common schools, and the chil- dren of the poor had neither employment nor culture. Vagrant children roamed about the street, with no one to care for them. Mr. Muller’s sympathies were speci- ally drawn towards the orj^han children, who were growing up in idleness and crime. He tried to do them good. His work was not approved by the Lon- don Society. He was ordered to give uj) his labors among the children, attend to his preaching, or his salary would be stopped. As he kept steadily about his work, the impending doom came upon him, and Muller resolved that he would never again look to man for his support. Cut adrift from the Establishment, Muller gave himself to the work of rescuing orj)han children. He hired a small room, gathered together half a dozen, and went to work. He had no capital, and no patron. He needed rent, coal, clothes, food, and money. His simple resource was ijrayer. He closed the year out of debt, with his work every hour growing on his hands. He needed an orphan house, one in size and capacity worthy the British nation, and worthy the Great Master who was to furnish the funds. He wanted a plot of ground that would cost £200. He heard of a wealthy lady in London, who he believed 280 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. would furnisli the money. She was no such woman as Muller supposed. She was a votary of fashion, frivo- lous and extravagant. She was indignant at Mr. Mul- ler’s impertinence. She read the letter to some of her friends, and among them was a woman who had both the heart and the means. She furnished the money that was needed, and the orphan house on the Downs was erected. Muller’ s style of business is very peculiar. Through the thirty years of his labor he has never incurred a dollar’s debt. He buys the ground when money comes to him to pay for it. He builds a stor^^, and that is paid for the same way. The building is completed and furnished, and all the funds necessary come with- out solicitation. He has no board of directors, but holds in his own hands the management of the whole property, worth millions. He has absolute sway over the management, government, education and distribu- tion of the property. ISTo person but the Queen can enter the buildings but under the rules promulgated by Mr. Muller. Should he die to-morrow, his family would not have a dollar’s worth of property. Every building when it is completed is made over to the Lord Chancellor in trust for the orphans in England, till the end of time. He lives in a small brick house in the plainest style. His floors are without carpet, and he has neither lounge nor easy chair. He indulges in no luxury which the orphan children do not share. Three large chapels are needed to accommodate his orphan children and their friends. They are called Bethesda, Ebenezer, and Salem. They are unpainted, the seats are benches without backs, and the services are of a Methodist love feast. No accommodations are made for strangers, and they are not welcome. Muller is one of the Plymouth brethren, and does not affiliate with other sects. He is no preacher in the American MULLER, OF BRLSTOL. 281 sense, but simply an exborter. He speaks with a strong German accent. “He Lord vill provide.” He is over seventy years of age, slim and erect, with the carriage of a soldier. He wears a black frock coat, buttoned to the throat, and a white neckcloth without a collar. The work he has on hand is simply immense. He has charge of six .spacious institutions, any one of which is as large as the largest on Blackwell’s Island. He feeds, clothes, and educates five thousand orphan chil- dren a year. All the money needful is sent him from day to day, and he has not the slightest idea where it is coming from. His huge storehouses are filled with provisions to the very attic, looking like a commissary’s department. He personally superintends his house- hold, and provides daily for his immense family. He controls his three great congregations, manages a Bible society, and controls a large Tract house. He has missionaries in all quarters of the globe, who are sup- ported by voluntary contributions sent in to him. Out of the one hundred and twenty-five missionaries in the foreign field, not one has ever been called home for the want of support, nor has the remittance failed. The missionaries are in Tajjan, China and Australia, India, Asia, and the Islands of the Sea ; and in ISTorth and South America. He sends any one abroad who wishes to go, and trusts entirely to prayer for their support. 282 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. CYI. BRYANT, OF THE POST. LL kinds of habits are not suited to all kinds of men. The hours of rising, resting, work- ing that suit one constitution would be the death of another. A young man died the other day from a cancer on the tongue.’ He was poi- soned by tobacco. Some smoke till they are eighty and die in comfort. Some men work best at midnight and reach a vigorous old age. Others go to bed with the chickens, and wear out their constitutions before they are forty. Whisky and cotfee demoralize some. Others use both, and are hale and hearty at threescore years and ten. Mr. Bryant was an old man with great health and vigor. Few could adopt his habits with satisfactory results. An early riser, furiously exercising dumb- bells, climbing poles, or girating around horizontal bars, he has found this essential to his comfort. His eating has been simplicity itself. Oatmeal, brown bread, and baked apples make his breakfast. No tea or cotfee at any time. A three mile walk daily, with two meals a day, in which fruit and water abound. No meat for breakfast. Meat and fish for dinner ; in the afternoon a garden for diversion, and no literary work after dark. The great study of the day follows the morning meal. Eating by pounds and ounces, and living by rule, would suit very few constitutions. SPUMGEOJ^^S INDUSTRY, 283 CYII. SPURGEON’S INDUSTRY. HARLES HADDON SPURGEON is a marked business man. For twenty years he has preached to the largest Protestant congrega- tion in the world. His congregation would be larger if his house was bigger. Massive iron gates, high enough for a i^enitentiary, have been erected to keep people out. Spurgeon’s marvelous success has been attributed to his voice, genius, orthodoxy and power of illustration. His business ability must be counted in. He runs his church superbly. There is not a bank in England conducted with more system. He owns and controls the Tabernacle, does what he pleases with the rentals, and if there is any trouble the church-members leave and Spurgeon don’t. He is the autocrat of his society. His elders and deacons are his Cabinet, doing his will. He controls the funds of the Lay College, and the great donations to his Orphanage are given to him personally. He began his life-work in the Sunday-school. He preached at nineteen, find- ing his congregation among the lowly. He talked wherever he could get people to hear him. In barns, on an anvil, on a carpenter’s bench, by the roadside, or in a school-house. His earnestness and force carried everything before him. A rich Christian offered to send him to college. He refused, as he could not spare the time. A small country church called him to the pastorate, and he went to work earnestly and zeal- ously. There was a feeble Baptist church in London. It had had a royal history, though now it was reduced 284 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. to about seventy souls. This church asked Spurgeon to come up and preach. He had so little idea of his pulpit abilities that he thought the letter was not for him, and he gave it no attention. Soon a committee waited upon him, and the boy preacher went into the New Park Church pulpit. Thirty persons listened to the sermon. In a month a crowd clamored around the doors. Nothing would hold the people of London till Spurgeon built his huge tabernacle, seating comfort- ably live thousand people. His congregation had no money, and he went out to beg. He preached and lec- tured, and talked everywhere he could get a hearer and a contribution. He went to Bristol to spend Sun- day, and a nobleman asked him to dinner. He de- clined, when the nobleman sent him word that he had lost a hundred pounds by his churlishness. When the corner-stone was laid the nobleman’s check was on the foundations. Should a costly church be erected at Five Points, the trustees would be the laughing-stock of the city ; yet the location of Spurgeon’s great taber- nacle is scarcely better. It is on the unpopular side, — the Surrey side ; it is in the midst of warehouses, pub- lics, theaters, factories, and a low population. All London knows where Spurgeon’s church is. The site was selected with an eye to business. It is opposite the old “ Elephant and Castle tavern.” London is eight miles square, and the leading omnibuses draw up at the “ Elex-)hant and Castle.” From the steps of the tabernacle one can be taken to any part of the city. Ask an omnibus conductor or a cabman or a hack- driver, if he can take you to the “Elephant and Cas- tle,” he won’t say yes, he will not say no ; but he will answer,' “ I can take you to Spurgeon’s.” No business man in London relies so much, or uses so much the press, as Sxmrgeon. He takes care that T ,B : 3 T'CUT, YOUNG STOUT, THE BANKER. 285 all the world shall know what he is doing. When he takes any great step he x^lacards London. Every bar- room, gin-palace, garden, and place of resort, liames with his notices. By the means of his popular teas he makes friends of all classes. His basement has ar- rangements for feeding live hundred persons. All classes have their turn. Policemen and sweeps, street- walkers and costermongers, newsboys and por- ters. Spurgeon has coals for the shivering, bread for the hungry, medicine for the sick, rent for men out of work. If a i:)Oor man or poor woman is in trouble they fly to Spurgeon. As he walks from his church to the curbstone, the halt, the sick, the blind, and the sinful, form a line and beg to kiss his hand. He is an intense worker. He reads, writes, corrects proof in his coach. He has five hundred lay students out at work, and he makes every one preach to the lowly. He has great physical and moral courage. A fanatical priest inter- rupted him at a funeral. He was twice Spurgeon’s size. Spurgeon took him by the collar, flung him down stairs, and went on with his work. CVIII. YOUNG STOUT, THE BANKER. HEOHORE B. STOUT was born in 1839, and died 1870, being thirty-one years of age. “ His sun went down while it was yet day.” The impression is, that sons of rich men seldom become rich ; and the sons of successful men 28G SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. seldom achieve success. Young Stout was an exception to these rules. He began life as if his father was a poor man, and worked his way up to eminence and fortune by his own talents, toil and character. He was un- exceptionably attractive in his personal address. He overtopped the tallest, and stood six feet three inches, with admirable proportions. He had great physical vigor and endurance. He never had a day’s illness till he laid down on his bed to rise not again till the heavens be no more. Young as he was when he died, he had achieved a success that usually attends a long and prosperous career in trade. He stood in the fore ranks of business men in Yew York. On the street, where men are weighed, measured and known, he was honored both for his talents and character. In the Stock Exchange he was a manager, — a position reserved for men of age and experience. He was a member of the Judicial Council of the Board, to whom disputes and disagreements were referred. In this delicate re- lation he displayed commanding ability, integrity that could not be warped, and such eminent fairness that the decisions were received without question. He had power over in?u tliat was marvelous. He would enter a bank in critical times — a bank controlled by a hard, cautious financier, and say, “I want $100,000.” have not got it.” Give me your check.” I cannot do it.” “You must, I want the check now. I can’t wait. I can give you the security of the street.” In every instance young Stout was successful in obtaining the money needed. His career, the steps of his ascent, his methods of success, are worthy the study of every young man who wishes to secure busi- ness re|)utation and a fortune. Mr. Stout entered the Free Academy in Yew York when he was fourteen years old. The same traits that dis- tinguished his business career marked his school life. YOUNG STOUT, THE BANKER. 287 He was noted for his manly character and frank and unselfish spirit. His father wished him to obtain a thorough education and pass through college. Theo- dore had other aims. He was too active for study, and too restive to be happy under the restraints of school. He was born a banker and loved the exhilara- tion of business. He was not sordid, his aim was not money ; but he purposed to secure an honorable posi- tion among commercial men. His father could have given him an allowance ; could have made him an ornamental member of his house, or trained him in genteel idleness. He did nothing of the kind. He said : “Theodore, if you will not go to college, if you will go into trade, go out and find a place for business and go at it.” A resolute boy, active and cheery, with a vigorous constitution, enthusiastically searching for work, would not be long in finding it. The father said : “Theodore, if you are really going into business come into my store ; but you must begin at the bottom and work your way up.” Mr. Stout, senior, was in the wholesale boot and shoe trade, and in this line of trade the son was intro- duced. The boy was plucky, and asked no favors. He was the first man on the ground in the morning and the last to leave at night. He began as second clerk, and opened and closed the store. Prom this position he was advanced to a salesman. He became exceed- ingly pox^ular for his magnetism, flow of spirits and ability. He vras .always at hand ; to be found when he was wanted ; never tired in his work ; with a force of character ready for anything. An order was given to him and there was no more to be said about it. Every- body knew that young Stout would mind his business, fill an order with accuracy, and ship the goods in time, by the right conveyance. The senior Mr. Stout concluded to leave business. 288 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. and two clerks bought out the stock. They set u ]3 for themselves. Theodore, then eighten years old, joined the hrm. The senior partners knew all about business, or thought they did. Like many others, the firm un- dertook to improve on the prudent and successful methods on which the business had been run. Like a pilot who leaves the safe lighthouse on the shore, at- tempts to sail by a lantern hung from his bowsprit, the concern went ashore. Theodore gave up everything he had, with all his personal property, and effected a settlement at fifty cents on a dollar. Some of his heaviest creditors refused to compromise. His ability and integrity stood in the way. Men said: “Stout will come out of this all right. His little account will bear salting.” And they salted it down. His integrity, industry, perseverance, and high com- mercial faith, were connected with other traits that aided in his success. He had great executive ability and great command over men. He was interested in the Star Arms Company. There was a revolt among the workmen, and the manager could do nothing with them. The company had a large contract, and a strike would be ruinous. Theodore was sent up to see what he could do towards quelling the disturbance. He ordered all the authorities out of the yard, closed the gates, gathered the workmen together, 500 strong, bade them tell their grievances, justified them in what they had a right to complain of, made a ]Droposition to them, and in less than an hour from the time that the gates were closed, the work started with every man in his place — the crowd shouting : “We’ll go to work for you, Mr. Stout, but we wouldn’t budge an inch for those other fellows.” He studied financiering, and made himself a pro- ficient in that wonderful art. He became a great favorite with the customers of the bank of which his father YOUNG STOUT, THE BANKER. 289 was president, did liis work without shrinking, gave a helping hand to his brother clerks who were behind- hand or who wanted to be absent. The Shoe and Leather Bank opened a branch in Wall street. Over this department young Stout was placed with a salary of $5,000 a year. At the head of this department he developed that marvelous organizing power which dis- tinguished his brief but brilliant career. He chafed as a subordinate, and resolved to be master of a business for himself. He refused a salary and a position in the bank at $10,000 a year, offered by the directors, and refused to be a subordinate at any price. One morning he presented himself at his father’ s desk, and asked a loan of $50,000, with which to commence a banking businessmen the street. Beside the ordinary perils of stock transactions, there were extraordinary obstacles in the waj^ of this young man. Old debts hung over him which shrewd men had kept alive. No man could do a successful stock business unless his financial record was clear. Sure of a capital, 3 ^oung Stout addressed himself to removing the obstacles that stood in his way. Solitary and alone he began his task. No one could aid him, and his purpose demand- ed all the energy of his well-rounded life. He faltered not, neither was he faint-hearted. When he opened his banking-house a few months later, no living man had a claim upon him. He held a receipt in full for all forms of indebtedness. He took the confidence of the street at the start, and held it to the last. He had no favorites in business, but enforced one rule on the rich and poor. At the close of the first year’ s business his house on Broad street was well known from the Atlantic slope to the coast of the Pacific. He was cool,, autocratic, resolute, immovable in business. As a member of the judicial committee of the Stock Exchange, his rare executive ability came out. There 19 290 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. was scarcely a day passed wlien lie was not selected as a referee or an abitrator in settling difficulties between brokers. His rule was to bind all parties: ‘‘You must accept my decision,” lie would say, “and beat peace among yourselves afterwards.” He had no fa- vorites, and settled every case on its own merits. The oldest and richest bankers chose him as a judge on important matters. When he saw that a case was clearly against a man, he would go to him privately and advise him to settle, assuring him that he should decide the case against him ; and every man knew that he would do just what he said. A heavy operator, whose custom was very valuable, gave Mr. Stout a large order. “Ho you wish me to carry that stock for you?” “Cbrtainly.” “Then you must put up a margin.” “ A margin ! I am worth two millions, and sha’n’t fail to-night.” “ If you were worth ten millions it would make no difference in my house. I have but one rule for the rich and poor. We carry stock for no man without a margin.” The gentleman went out. The dealers hanging round the office said : “Stout, you are a fool ! That man is the heaviest operator on the street ; his business is a for- tune ; there isn’t a banking-house in New York that wouldn’t have jumped at the chance of filling that order.” “I shall break the rules of my house for no man’s custom, and you will see I am right in the long run.” Before three o’clock the capitalist returned and said : “ How much margin do you want ?” “Ten or fifteen per cent.” “ Send out and get what you want.” The young banker did so, and secured fifteen per cent. “ You were right, young man,” he said. “ I know my money will be safe in your hands. You shall have my business and all that I can control.” Asa banker, Mr. Stout was very successful. In his frank and manly way he said : “I have been success- TOUNQ STOUT, THE BANKER. 291 fill and have made money. I am making money fast. I have covenanted with God that it shall never be hoarded.” His first business was to search out and pay up all his former indebtedness. The failure was not his fault, but came about through the mistaken judgment of the elder partners. All those men were still poor and could do nothing. The creditors of the old house and managers of institutions to whom the firm was indebted were astonished to receive a letter from young Stout, saying : “I propose to pay you the full balance of your claim, with interest to date, al- though legally discharged from the obligation.” He was a minor when the indebtedness was created. He gave up all his personal property, and borrowed money to make up the percentage his creditors were wulling to rec five. No one had a legal claim upon him. Yet the first use he made of his money was to square him- self morally and financially with the world. Many young men regard religion with distrust from a business standpoint. Its obligations, restraints and principles are supposed to interfere with the dash and enterprise needful for a successful prosecution of trade. No such fears entered into the mind of young Stout. In early life he became a Christian, and entered into church life and Christian labor with the intense enthu- siasm of his nature. He entered into the Sunday- school vrork as a scholar, advanced as a teacher, and closed his brilliant career as a superintendent. In his church life he ‘‘minded not high things, but conde- scended to men of low estate.” He was no idler in business or in worship. He neg- lected nothing, and to his over-work probably his sud- den decease is to be attributed. The Board of Brokers proposed to attend the funeral of Mr. Nathans, who was so tragically murdered in his bed. Young Stout was one of the number aj)pointed to do honor to the 293 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. late member of the Stock Exchange. He stood two hours in a torrid sun. At the close of the funeral ser- vices, Mr. Stout returned as usual to his summer home at Madison. After dinner he took a drive with his wife and child ; on his return he was suddenly taken ill, and after live days’ delirium he passed away. His mother, to whom he was fondly attached, was far away in a house of affliction in the interior of the State. She hastened on the wings of affection to his bed-side, but her beloved son could give her no token of recognition. His funeral was one of the most honorable known to the city. Eminent merchants and men in eminent sta- tions assisted in bearing young Stout to his burial. The Bishop of his church, with eminent clergymen, officiated. Men mourned over him ‘^as one mourneth for his only son, and were in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.” ‘‘And there was great mourning as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.” CIX. HOUSE OF PHELPS & CO. R. PHELPS is the founder of the great fur- niture house of Phelps & Co. He is a lead- ing man in one of the great denominations ; one of the founders of Howard Mission; President of the Baptist Board of Education, and of the Sunday-School Union. There is hardly a charity in New York with which he is not identified His father was a farmer — a man of sturdy, common sense. HOUSE OF PHELPS & GO. 293 and he gave his boy many lessons of practical wisdom. Two maxims the lad never forgot : “Be master of your own business — never work for anybody else.” “ Own your farm, if you are a farmer ; own your stock of goods if you are a trader.” In the family council William was to be a farmer. The boy resolved to learn a trade, and he was put out to cabinet-making. He worked a week when his father brought down his trunk. He found the lad on the curb-stone, apron in hand, ready to go home. “What’s the matter?” said the father. ‘ ‘ I don’ t like the place. Every day I have to go out and bring in the ‘ eleven o’ clock ’ and the ‘four o’clock ’ for the men, and I will not buy rum for anybody.” “ There is no shame in coming out of bad company,” the farmer said, and the boy rode home. It was not difficult to find a place for a smart, resolute, intelligent boy. He was soon apprenticed to a cabinet- maker, where the work was hard and the pay x)oor. Small as the salary was, — thirty dollars a year, — young Phelps laid the whole of it up, and earned his clothes by extra work. As his freedom approached, his master encouragingly assured him that he should never want employment. The self-reliant boy told him that he proposed to work for no one but William Phelps ; if he made a bureau, a bedstead, or a table, he would sell it and secure the profit. In a small town near Boston, Phelps set up busi- ness. He filled his room with furniture and attracted visitors. A wealthy man offered Phelps capital if he would take his son as partner. The young man was a dandy and was attracted by the elegant show-room. Phelps had a plain talk with the young man. “You know nothing about cabinet-making. You look into my show-room, examine the furniture, and think the trade is genteel. It is nothing of the kind ; it is hard work, dirty and repulsive. You must work early and 294 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. late ; load and unload lumber ; saw, plane, lift, and toil like a mill-liorse. You must load your wagon at niglit, get up before day-break and feed and harness youi horse, drive your furniture to your customer’s, any- where within a circuit of thirty miles, drive home, groom your horse, and be ready for your next day’ s work. If you cannot do this, you cannot succeed in my business.” Young Phelps soon outgrew the trade of a country town. He thought a large city would suit him, and he started out on a prospecting tour. He . visited New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. In New York he secured a store on liberal terms, took a refusal, and came home for the funds. He encountered a furious opposition from his family. • It was madness, they said, to throw away a good business for the uncertainties of city traffic. The scheme could lead to nothing but disaster. The risks were heavy, the gains uncertain, and New York was a bad jjlace for a young man. Phelps was resolute and defied the opposition. “ I will go anyhow. I will not be deterred till all the evils you predict come upon me. If you won’t help me I will go alone and fight the battle out by myself.” The New York store was taken, and every obligation met at maturity without recourse to his friends. So far Phelps had carried out all his plans. He would have a trade, would be his own master, and would trade in the city. He next addressed himself to the cherished plan of owning the stock of goods. He accomjjlished this before the great disaster of ’ 37, and so escaped the general ruin. He had no debts, no notes to pay, the stock of goods ■‘vas his own, and he would turn the key in the door when he pleased and wait till better times. He took special care of his credit and kept it gilt-edged. If he wanted money on tliiee months he would borrow it on four, and take up ROCKS IN THE CHANNEL. 295 tlie note a month before it was due. His theory was that time was nothing to a creditor, exactness in pay- ment everything. He discounted his own paper, paid his twelve months’ notes in nine, and took up his six months’ paper in four. He was surety for no one ; he even refused to indorse the notes he offered for dis- count. He would say, ‘‘You must take these notes on your own judgment.” Such was the confidence of the bank in his shrewdness and integrity that the paper was usually accepted. He saw the ruin of outside ven- tures, and firmly resolved to stick to his legitimate trade. No store was opened so early, none closed so late. Mr. Phelps sold many a bill of goods before breakfast, and turned the key late at night on the last customer. A man who had had no success in trade, said to an old merchant : “To what does William Phelps owe his great success?” “You can see for yourself. The shutters are doAvn first in the morning, and up last at night. He is always to be found in the store, always prompt and courteous. He sells honest goods for honest money ; he is close-moutlied, keeps his own counsel, and that is half the battle.” CX. KOCKS m THE CHANNEL. CARCELY a man fails unless he is dabling in outside matters, or carries more trade than his capital will warrant. If a man is doing a good business he will tie up his surplus or take a venture on the street. Men generally 296 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. fail with a large amount of property in their hands. They are so greedy and avaricious that they are not content with small and sure gains, but risk all they have in one trade and so lose all. In his day Henry Keep was one of the most potent men that ever ruled the stock market. He ran away from the poorhouse, and one cent reward was offered for his return. He was a hotel waiter, a porter, and a hackman. He began banking by buying Canadian shillings for twenty cents, and selling them in Hew York for twenty-five, bringing his merchandise over the river in a sack. He opened a small broker’s office in Watertown, and was distinguished for his business capacity and level-headedness. He attributed his success to an early motto: ‘^Always coojd your chickens;” that is, take care of your small gains. When he got money he violated his own rule, went into the wildest specula- tions, hazarded all his gains, and passed out of sight. Fanny Kemble gives her idea of the comforts of catering to the public : “ The stage is a business which is incessant excitement, and factitious emotion, un- worthy of a man ; a business which is public exhibition unworthy of a woman. Never have I presented myself before an audience without a shrinking feeling of reluctance, or withdrawn from their presence without thinking the excitement I had undergone unhealthy, and the personal exhibition odious.” Miss Mitford wrote for bread. She had on her hands a poor spend- thrift father. Of the slavery of literature, she speaks these bitter words : would rather serve in a shop, rather scour fioors, rather nurse children, than undergo this unwomanly publicity. I am chained to my desk, eight, ten, twelve hours a day, a mere drudge, writing for hard money.” ROCKS m THE CHANNEL. 297 Brooklyn had the chance of securing the finest driveway in the world, except Naples. The laying out of her fine Park was in charge of a man wholly desti- tute of taste. He was originally a dirt contractor, and made money in railroads. He had not taste enough to keep his own grounds in order, and his blank high board fences made that a deformity that might have been a beauty. The high points of the Park that would have made a roadway of unsurpassed magnifi- cence, and secured a x)anorama of beauty for a drive of six or seven miles were assigned to the cows and the dairymaids, and the travel located in the valleys and marshes of the park. A You^^G MAN married a rich man’s daughter. He seemed to have no aim in life, and nobody supposed he would amount to anything. One morning his father-in-law announced to the family that he was ruined. The decks had been swept by a gale, and the sails blown to ribbons. The listless, inefficient young man said nothing. The next day he went down-town and secured a place in a banking-house. He exhibited marvelous financial ability, became allied with an eminent banker, took a front rank among business men, and is to-day a leading and successful broker on the street, giving an elegant support to his entire household. Besides the commercial and social perils that beset a business man, he is often a prey of adroit rogues. There is a set of men in all large cities who lire by preying on business men. They go in droves, have an organization, and bring intellect and cunning into service to entrap the unwary. These men do not live in the slums or rookeries of the city. They live in palaces, and fare sumptuously every day. They em- 208 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. ploy women who dress well, and move in the best society, often glittering with diamonds, in silk and satin. The dangerous women get ujj charity balls, and are the life of fashionable sociables. This class are familiar with the habits of prominent business men. They know their outgoing and incoming, and this knowledge is often stock in trade. A young man was at the head of a large cash in- stitution. He often remained after oiRce hours to do a little private writing. One day he lifted his eyes from his paper, and saw in front of him a well-dressed, modest-looking woman. ‘‘Excuse me, sir, I want to show you some books. “ I do not wish to look at any.” “It is very hard for a woman to get a living ; she has to resort to all sorts of devices.” “ Won’t you please retire, madam ? I am very greatly i^ressed for time.” “No, I won’t, unless you give me ten dollars. In ten minutes it will be thirty dollars. In twenty minutes I’ll scream.” At that instant a burly Irish- man entered, seized the woman by the waist, and landed her on the pavement. A touch of the footbell brought the timely interruption. A PROMINENT LAWYER was late in his office. A woman in costly apparel, with manners very engaging, begged the privilege of a personal interview. A sor- rowful story was told that deeply touched the coun- selor. To prepare for a suit the lawyer visited the woman at her room. At a proper time the mask was thrown off, and it cost the lawyer ten thousand dollars to get rid of his client. The Banks close business at three o’clock. It was a iDresident’s custom to remain till five. He was a m^n of wealth and of great repute. One day after bank PBOFESSOR J. JAY WATSOK 299 hours a woman walked into the directors’ room, closed the door, and stood erect in front of the table at which the president was writing. She was an elegant woman in costly attire, and desired, she said, to see about some investments. Before she had stated her case, a brutal fellow, with the look of a prize-fighter, walked in, laid his hand on the shoulder of the woman, ex- claiming : “ What are you doing here this time of day, I would like to know?” Just then the cashier stex)ped out of the private room, and put an end to the little game of blackmailing. Schemers find field for their work in fashionable hotels. Elderly men with money are favorite victims. Drawing-room, hallway, and dinner- table acquaintan- ces are formed, walks are suggested, theaters visited, supper at restaurants follow, when the father or hus- band appears suddenly, and the game ends usually in the payment of money. Few people are prosecuted in the panel game, for the reason that few victims give their names or appear to prosecute, and in almost every case are found in company that few are willing to have exposed. CXI. PROF. J. JAY WATSOX. ROF. WATSON is a well-known teacher of music and musical director. He founded, by an act of theLegislature of New York, the University of Music and other Liberal Arts. The objects of the University were so practical and benefi- 800 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. cent that the charter received the universal approval of the general court. The objects were to secure for the students of the beautiful, liberal, and useful, the ad- vantages which universities of philosophy and science bestow. Prof. Watson is a magnetic teacher and suc- ceeds where others fail. No pupils are too young and none too old, on his theory, to become proficient in the divine art of music. His own son was a prodigy at five years of age, and performed on the piano at public concerts. Christian B. Morrison, a wealthy merchant of New York, began the study of the piano and guitar at the age of fifty-nine, and made successful progress under Prof. Watson for several years. As an organizer Prof. Watson has no equal. All attempts to get up a Centennial concert were a failure till he came to the rescue. Himself and daughter as solo artists not only crowded Steinway Hall, but filled it with enthusiasm. How substantial the results of f the concert were, two letters from Gov. Bigler will show. The one a card of thanks ; the other a letter of introduction to Director-General Goshorn of the Cen- tennial Commission. Cet^teivnial Headquakters. St. Nicholas Hotel, N. Y., April 24th, 1875. Prof. J. Jay Watso^v : My Dear Sir: — I embrace the first leisure moment to tender you my sincere thanks for the efficient manner in which you managed the Centennial entertainment in Steinway Hall, on Saturday evening last. Without your skillful aid I fear we should have failed to meet the public expecta- tion. And you will indulge me in the expression of my sincere feelings, when I say, that from the begin- ning to the end of this matter your generous and skill- ful direction, not less than your exquisite performance PROFESSOR J. JAY WATSON. 301 on the violin, has commanded my unqualified admira- tion. With sincere esteem, I remain yours truly, Wm Bigler, Centennial Manager. Hon. a. T. Goshoen : Dear Sir : — This note will be presented to you by Prof. J. Jay Watson, who is one of the most eminent teachers of music in this city. It was he who had charge of the great Centennial demonstration at Steinwaj^ Hall. He not only managed the musical, but the business department with remark- able skill. He is a gentleman of tireless energy and great diligence in whatever he undertakes. He has been a firm friend of the Centennial from the beginning, and I bespeak for him your si^ecial courtesy and con- sideration. With sincere respect, I remain yours, William Bigler. Prof. Watson was born in Gloucester, Essex county. Mass. His father and mother were Robert and Elizabeth G. Watson. He was the youngest of ten children, all of whom possessed extraordinary musical talent. This was inherited from his parents, who were able exponents of the divine art. Watson evinced an intense love for music when a child. He sang popular airs when three years old, and accompa- nied himself on an old-fashioned “ Yankee tin baking oven.” At eight years of age, John made his first voyage with his brother, who was master of a fishing- schooner. He was well whipped at school by a well-meaning pedagogue, as he developed his musical idiosyncracies, and whistled and drummed out his crude ideas on his desk. In after years his kind old teacher used to say ; ‘‘ John, I did not understand you.” One day he heard a country violinist perform. His ambition was fired to 303 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. own a violin. His family were religious, and had serious objections to liis playing on so wicked an in- strument as a fiddle. But the young enthusiast was the victor, and having earned some money, was per- mitted to purchase the coveted instrument. His genius developed itself in his rapid progress on the in- strument. He attracted the attention of the towns- people and musicians of note. He was constantly in demand at country fairs and parties, and though his pay was small, his performances were remunerative. He earned money enough to place himself under the in- struction of Manuel Fenalossa, an eminent teacher. His progress under this master soon warranted his appearance in public, and he had an eminent success. His intense application brought on a severe and dan- gerous illness, which laid him at death’ s door. On the recovery of his health, a new life dawned on young Watson. He was selected to lead the music with his violin in the church. If the church indorsed the violin, the family could do no less. Out of grati- tujie for his services, the religious society j^resented him with a superb violin. When a lad, his pluckiness and persistency in following what he deemed to be right, was as apparent as in his more mature years. On a dark and stormy night he drove through Hock- port. His sleigh struck a large edge stone that had fallen from a cart, and overturned. Watson was thrown on the frozen ground, his horse was killed and his sleigh damaged. The next morning he went after the authorities with his usual vigor. Lonnson Nash, a well-known lawyer, was his counsel, and after a hard fight, he obtained the full amount of damages from the town. The lawyer, speaking of his plucky boy, said : “He has as much business as musical capacity.” Every Gloucester boy takes to fishing, as the ducks take to water. John was no exception. In his fre- % PROFESSOR J. JAY WATSON. 303 quent trips on the fishing vessels he took his violin with him for practice. On one of these cruises, an event occurred that changed the whole course of his life. His vessel was lying at anchor off the coast of Maine. Watson came on deck with his violin to amuse the fishermen on the vessels at anchor. Captain 0. H. Gross, master and owner of the schooner ‘‘Rival,” of Truro, Mass., put off his boat, came on board, introduced himself, and asked for the artist who was such a proficient on the violin. The young artist presented himself, and the two musicians, for Gross was no mean per- former, became fast friends. The season of 1851 found Watson on board the “Rival” as first officer. The crew was a musical one. Capt. Gross, violinist and vocalist, Watson, violinist and vocalist, Adrian Lufkin, violinist, George Urqu- hart, violinist, Hiram S. Buffington, violincellist, with two sailors and a colored cook. The cook owned a fiddle. Some one greased his bow, and he took the insult so much to heart that he left the vessel at the first opportunity. The “Rival” made a splendid cruise, and the crew were a merry -hearted set ; but the dread- ful gale of October 3, 1851, overtook her. Many of the fleet were wrecked. Hundreds of poor fishermen found a watery grave. The ‘ ‘ Rival ’ ’ barely escaped founder- ing, and was stranded on Prince Edward’s Island. The sea made a clean sweep over her, and one of the sailors was thrown into the yawning gulf, by the main boom sweeping the quarter-deck. Watson, regardless of his own safety, seized the rope, ran to the leeward, and by superhuman efforts saved the poor fellow’s life. John Conroy, an eccentric character, an Irishman, who saw the landing of the crew, thus described the scene to the magistrate who settled the affairs of the wreck : “ Och, honey, have yees heard the news ? and would ye belave 304 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. it, darlin’, there is a little schooner called the ‘ Rival’ just come on shore, and she’s chuckfull of feedles and feedlers.” The musical ability of the crew was utilized. Wat- son and Gross proceeded to Charlottetown, the capital of the island, and gave four concerts. The entertain- ments were such a success that hundreds could not gain admittance to the hall. The little company paid their way through the States by giving public enter- tainments on their route. The fame of the musical fishermen proceeded them. At Gloucester, Watson’s native town, a public ovation awaited them. One old adage was reversed, that “A prophet hath no honor in his OAvn country.” Another proverb was confirmed: ‘‘Yankee ingenuity is equal to any emergency.” Two events of importance transpired during this year. He heard Jenny Lind sing, and her orchestra play. The Norwegian violinist. Ole Bull, was intro- duced to him, and the wizard gave Watson encourage- ment and advice, with a cordial invitation to visit him in Norway. He presented Watson with an orange, the peel of which the young musician carefully pre- served. On the recent visit of Ole Bull to Watson’s Musical Institution in New York, Watson showed him the preserved orange peel. Ole Bull showed his ap- preciation of the incident by a genuine Norwegian hug. Almost unknown. Prof. Watson settled in New York as a teacher of music in 1853. He found some kind friends whose assistance and fidelity he warmly cherishes. John J. Herrick, Esq., a noble-hearted and generous citizen, furnished the young musician means to pursue his studies under favorable auspices. In 1858, through the munificence of his brother-in-law, George F. Wonson, Esq., he visited Europe and en- joyed the teaching of Franz Liszt and other European celebrities. On returning to New York he resumed PROFESSOR J. JAT WATSOF. 305 his vocation, and entered upon a career of success. His career has been an unprecedented one. His pupils gather from all parts of the country, their ages varying from four to seventy. Prof. Watson induced Ole Bull to visit this coun- try for the third time in 1867. The tones of his magic violin were first heard by a few friends in Prof. Wat- son’s private music rooms. At a second musical re- union at his own rooms, the professor and his pupils presented to Mr. Bull a costly and magnificent gold watch and chain. On accepting the donation. Ole Bull highly complimented Prof. Watson on his success as a teacher. In return he presented his host with a val- valuable Amati Cremona violin. He added : ‘ ‘ As the violin is now in Norway, you must accom- pany me thither in order to receive it.” This invi- tation was accepted, and Prof. Watson spent the sum- mer of 1868 at the beautiful country seat of Ole Bull among the mountains of his native land. This famous violin is Pvo hundred and sixty-one years old. It was on exhibition at the Centennial, where Professor Wat- son performed upon it before the visitors in the main building. Copies of the violin have been manufactured by Emmons Hamlin, which took the highest honors of the Centennial. The violin is valued at five thousand dollars in gold. Ole Bull parted with the instrument as a mother would part with her cherished child, as this tender and affectionate letter accompanying the presentation shows : ‘Walesteand, Norway, August 10th, 1868. ‘‘My Hear Friend Watson: In handing you this Antonius and Hieronymus Amati violin I promised you in the United States — which promise you so kindly accepted in anticipation — you will not, I trust, be sur- prised if I entreat you to be careful of the rare instru- 20 306 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. ment committed to your charge. You can safely trust your musical sentiments to this medium and to the genius of the brothers Amati, whose embodied spirits will console you in sorrow, temper you in joy, and bring blessed ideas and good tidings to all your friends and hearers. “With the best wishes, I am your sincere friend, “Ole Bull.” Professor Watson again visited Norway in 1870. In company with Ole Bull he visited the principal cities of Europe, and was in Berlin and Paris during the most exciting scenes of the Franco-German war. His versatility was exhibited in his extensive correspond- ence with American journals. Some of his letters were singularly proxDhetic. During this year he managed the musical business of Ole Bull in California, and ex- hibited consummate ability. The great artist was so much gratified with Watson’s success that he presented him with a magnificent watch, bearing the following inscription in English and Norwegian : “San Fran- cisco, Feb. 27th, 1870. To J. Jay Watson, from his friend. Ole Bull.” He managed the Adalaide Phillips Concert Company, in which Miss Phillips, Levy, the cornet- player, and Boscovitz, the pianist, were the principal attractions. In founding the University of Music and other Liberal Arts, Professor Watson pro- posed to give our youth, for the least expense, the ad- vantages of the highest culture, now afforded only by foreign institutions. At the same time to guide our own national taste and genius^ forming a school dis- tinguislied from the schools of other eras and nation- alities. To secure this end, the incorporators unani- mously elected Professor Watson the president of the university — rolled on him the responsibility and the chair he now fills. PROFESSOR J. JAY WATSOF. 307 Our artist is distinguished for liis unselfishness and noble acts of generosity. He is one of the most magnetic players of the age on the violin. He can fill any house anywhere. His daughter Annie is an ac- comxolished pianist, and accompanies her father at his concerts. He has probably given more free entertain- ments for benevolent and religious purposes, than any other man in America. Shortly after the Modoc war, and the tragedy of the lava beds, in which Canby and Thomas met their sad fate at the hand of Captain Jack, Commissioner Meacham arrived in New York. Among the savages who arrived with Meacham was Win-e-ma, the Indian woman who saved Meacham’ s life. Meecham’s public lectures were a failure, and the commissioner and the woman were in actual want. Watson stepped up at the close of one of the lectures and gave the commissioner a ten-dollar bill. The next day he contributed fifty dollars more. He organized a series of musical entertainments to relieve the em- barrassments of the party. Meacham writes his grati- tude to Prof. Baxter, of Boston : “The good Lord made Prof. J. Jay Watson of the best material he had on hand. I have tried him and know what I say. He is a man after your own heart. Watson can make a violin talk a little plainer than any other man in the United States. Please receive him as my friend, and believe me ever yours truly, A. B. Meacham.” The characteristic generosity of Prof. Watson touched the heart of Wendell Philips, and drew out the following characteristic letter : “ My Good Friend : I shall remember j^our generous aid to our efforts for the Indians in New York. But if I could forget such prompt and hearty friendship, the music with which you and your daughter wrapt that audience in Elysium will never pass from memory. I hear it still, and still wonder at the magic which lent such freshness to old 308 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. tunes. The tears, the ecstacy, the enthusiasm, the pro- found silence which testified to deeper emotion still, may be familiar to you, perhaps, as you daily magnet- ize your audience. To me they were a revelation of power I had seldom seen, and altogether gave me an hour of pleasure rarely equalled in my life. Grate- fully yours, Wendell Phillips.” Prof. Watson is still a young man. The vigor and elasticity of youth is yet upon him. His magnetic nature wins him friends. His enthusiasm enables him to scale every barrier. His magnetic touch and musi- cal genius captivate alike the learned and the com- mon mind. His sesthetic nature revels in art, and his practical business ability makes him one of the best managers of the age. His unselfishness has kept him from fortune, but the sunny cheer of his life no gold can buy. He is an admirable artist, a benevolent helper of every good work, and a true friend, a genial and intelligent companion. Knocking about the world, and often roughing it, he has preserved a cheerful siiirit, husbanded his strength by avoiding excesses, and turning his lips away from hot, rebellious liquids that drown a man in sorrow. He has yet a brilliant future before him in which he will increase his repute as one of the most successful artists of the age. Prof. Watson is not only a musical man but a director. He is both a composer and inventor. Some of his compositions have been immensely popular, and have secured an enormous sale. Among the most celebrated are ^‘The Frolic of the Frogs,” ‘‘Beauti- ful Dream” Waltz, “Ben Lomond,” “Mondamin,” “Happy New Year” March, “Merry Christmas,” “Hercules” Waltz, “Centennial” Waltz, “Kenil- worth.” “ The Frolic of the Frogs,” a descriptive w^altz, was not copyrighted by the original publisher, and was lost to the author by being published every- CHILDS, OF THE PHILADELPHIA LEDGER. 309 where. ‘‘Ben Lomond’’ was a Scotch air written by Mr. Watson, wdien a boy, on a fishing vessel. “ Souve- nir of Happy Hours ” is a collection of twenty-four duets for piano and violin. His two most popular songs are “Silence and Tears ’’and “Love Thee, Dearest.” His chin rest is an ingenious and useful invention to aid violinists in holding firmly the instrument while playing. When a lad he kept constantly fingering his violin while in his berth at sea, and so secured that touch and delicacy, and power of execution that seem so marvelous. His rooms are crowded with presents from his friends. Among the gifts peculiarly dear to him are a diamond pin and a gold-headed cane, pre- sented by his pupils ‘ ‘ in appreciation of his merits as a teacher and his bearing as a gentleman.” CXII. CHILDS, OF THE PHILDELPHIA LEDGER. HE Ledger building is a monument to liber- ality, genius and business ability of George W. Childs. The publication ofiice has no equal in the world. The composing-room was built with special reference to the comfort and health of the occupants. The machinery and fixtures are of the newest invention, and combine to make the Ledger printing-office the model of the world. Mr. Childs walked the streets of Philadelphia thirty years ago, as Franklin walked them a century before, friend- 310 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. less and unknown. He sought employment and had neither patron nor friend. He had a sturdy independ- ence, and was restless under patronage. He developed the faculty of trading, and at an early period was able to take care of himself. When at school he made his vacations profitable. He had a taste for literature and a position in a book-store enabled him to follow his bent. This love of books was not destroyed by fifteen months’ service in the navy. He showed a great apti- tude for business, and he exhibited such coolness and common sense that when a mere youth he was selected to make purchases at the trade sales. Childs took a boyish fancy to -the Ledger building. He passed and repassed it on his duty, and never with- out an impression that some day he would call it his own. At eighteen he set up business for himself. He had a few hundred dollars, the confidence of the trade, and marked business ability. He had the keenness to perceive that publishers made the money, and not the authors. He entered on the book trade in a small room hired in the Ledger building. He secured the interest of his employers by making them partners in the profits. After years of weary waiting, watching, and working, he obtained a foothold and began to prosper. He never lost sight of the Ledger building, and the fascination of the daily press kept its hold on him. He learned what was known to very few — that the Ledger was in a critical condition, and that the paper could be bought. Some capitalists, who had confidence in the ability and integrity of Mr. Childs, offered him money to make the purchase. He kept liis own coun- sel, and privately negotiated for the purchase of the Ledger establishment. One morning he gave the city a genuine surprise — he announced himself as owner of tlie establishment, and that all orders must emanate CHILDS, OF THE PHILADELPHIA LEDGEP. 311 from him. The Ledger was running behind-hand at the rate of a hundred thousand dollars a year. Mr. Childs took absolute command, and changed the course of things at once. He put his office in the center of the news room, and every subordinate was under his eye. He divided the city into districts, placed each district in charge of a carrier, and supplied the carriers before a paper was sold over the counter. Without counting the cost he turned out of the Ledger all fancy and questionable advertisements which pay so well. Thousands of Ledgers were stopped, and letters came from Baltimore, Hew York, and. Boston, advising Mr. Childs not to commit suicide. The ulti- mate result of that step shows that his business judg- ment was correct. Having made the Ledger a family paper, the next step was to make it a public necessity — a medium through which the masses could make their wants known. He watched the style of business done in his own office. Well-dressed, intelligent people were treated civilly ; working people and domestics were snubbed. His clerks refused to write advertisements for the illiterate, and often ordered them out of the office. He obliged every clerk, on pain of dismissal, to write all the advertisements that his customers desired. All nationalities and all religions were sure of a fair treatment. Every influential organization. Catholic or Protestant, benevolent or political, had a representa- tive on the Ledger. Any employee on the paper, who wished to join any society, whether Mason or Odd Fellow, Protestant or Catholic, was not only allowed to do so, but the fees were paid by the proprietor of the Ledger, and the men were allowed to go as high as they pleased. To add to the popularity of the paper, Mr. Childs made the Ledger establishment a great bureau of in- 312 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. formation. Strangers in Philadelphia who find it diffi- cult to get access to the public institutions, are always assisted by the Ledger peo^Dle, and tickets to all prom- inent places can be had for the asking. Mr. Childs has always kept the confidence and sympathy of the citizens of Philadelphia. To meet the demands of the best portion of the population, changes have been made in the Ledger^ that, in the estimation of good judges, periled its prosperity. In every case the change has increased the success of the paper. The public spirit and liberality of Mr. Childs are household words through the nation. Having earned a princely fortune by his enterprise, integrity, and industry, he distributes it in donations large as the seas. CXIII. VICTORIA A BUSINESS WOMAN. HE sovereign lady of England is a woman of very marked talent. As a ruler she is as adroit as Elizabeth, as obstinate as George III., and as dearly loved as the Princess Charlotte. Her domestic home is at Windsor Castle, where she exhibits the woman, and displays her ex- traordinary domestic and financial ability. Bucking- ham Palace is the town residence of the crown. St. James’ is the State palace. The Queen has not slept a half-dozen times in London, since the death of Prince Albert, and since the Prince’s death the Queen has never entered Buckingham Palace through the royal VICTORIA A BUSINESS WOMAN. 313 gate. The Prince’s horses were dying for want of ex- ercise, yet no one was allowed to mount them. The Queen will not ride in the state coach, nor wear the State robes. These robes are tiung over a chair, when the Queen opens Parliament. Her majesty pushes them aside before she sits down. She is often seen in the streets in a plain dress, looking like a well-to-do housekeeper. She rides about London in a plain car- riage, which stops oftener at a hospital than at a fash- ionable residence. In person the Queen is short and stout, with a decided German look. Her face is not pleasant to look at. She has an imperious walk, steps quick, and strikes heavily on her heel, appears very haughty, and receives cheers and salutations with marked indiffer- ence. In her gayest hours, she was never much on dress. In the center of elegantly-arrayed women she looked ill at ease, and as if her robes were made for another. Her light hair she wears in a loose negligent manner ; her round, full and very red face would appear dogged and sullen if not relieved by her clear sharp eyes. In domestic life the Queen is quiet, considerate and amiable. She detests style and publicity. She drives her own pony team in her grounds rather than be gazed at by the populace. In the Highlands she drives from cot to cot, leaving medicines, food and appropri- ate gifts for the sick and suffering. To her ladies-in- waiting, most of whom have families, she is very gen- erous. She does not oblige them to keep coaches of ceremony, nor attend at the x>al^ce. She notities them in advance when they are wanted, and conveys them to the royal presence in her own coach with ser- vants in livery. She performs exactly and faithfully all state duties, but does nothing more. As a sover- eign she is very exacting, and allows no infringement 314 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. on lier prerogative. She is painfully prompt, and re- quires promptness in all who serve her. Her coach- man must be at the door at a given hour. The roads must be clear for the royal cortege when she rides. At her drawing-room she steps from a closet to the throne on the minute. When the hour closes she steps down and disappears, though a line of carriages is waiting from the Palace gates to the Horseguards. The Queen is one of the best business women in Great Britain. She is very rich, and knows how to take care of her property. Besides her salary of a thousand dollars a day, she has a regal income to over- see. She is a hard worker, and her domestic life might safely be copied by the grand ladies of the land. Her style of living is scarcely above that of any wealthy, high-born woman. She has tons of gold plate in the castle — enough, it is said, to spread a table with all the courses for a hundred kings. Her own table is spread with silverv/are bearing the royal monogram. Her breakfast is eminently social, all her guests read their letters and papers placed by their plate. She attends personally to her household, employs and discharges her own servants, keeps an exact account of the funds distributed. She manages her state affairs as she manages her household. She knows everything that pertains to her as a ruler. Beginning at seven o’clock she devotes one hour before breakfast to state matters. Messen- gers with ‘‘baskets” leave Downing street dail}^ and find the Queen at Windsor, Osborne or Balmoral. These “baskets” are boxes a foot long covered with maroon leather. They are filled with dispatches from the premier, the admiralty, the home office and the Horseguards. The Queen holds one key, the minister who sends the dispatch the other. The messenger rides in a first-class car attended by an officer of the VICTORIA A BCSIiIESS WOMxiK 315 guards. The Queen reads every paper sent for her sig- nature before she attaches her name. Every day’s business is despatched and nothing allowed to accumu- late. The Queen holds a ready pen, has a very large personal correspondence, and pays her own postage like an honest woman. Princely as the royal revenues are, economy is ab- solutely necessary at AVindsor. The expenses of state are enormous. She has four palaces to maintain, with an army of retainers that cannot be dismissed. There are numerous and heavy iiensions to be paid out of the privy purse. The Queen is surrounded by an army of ladies in waiting, mistresses of the bedchamber, and ladies of honor, that have to be well paid. It costs the Queen five hundred dollars whenever state biisiness calls her to London. One hundred railroad coaches, vans and carriages are required to convey the household from London to Balmoral, or from Balmoral to Osborne. The Queen’s personal attendants are numerous enough to people a good-sized town. The household is made up of the lord high steward, under steward, treasurer, comptroller, master of the horse, secretary of the board, paymaster of horse, lord high almoner, sub-almoner, sub-dean and household servants, lord chamberlain, vice- chamberlain, inspector of accounts, clerks, and keeper of the privy purse, master of ceremony, assist- ant master and groom of the robes, eight lords in waiting, ten grooms in waiting, six gentlemen ushers, usher of the black rod, deputy chamberlain, nine gen- tlemen ushers, eleven officers of the body-guard, mas- ter of the buckhounds. The royal stables are manned by master of the horse, clerk, crown equerry, superin- tendent of stables, equerry in ordinary, honorary equerry and pages of honor. Besides this, the heavy expenses of four royal chapels are paid by the Qaeen. 316 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Jokin’ Browk, the confidential servant of the Queen, is one of the best-known and the best-hated man in England. When Prince Albert bought the estate at Balmoral, John Brown’s father was a day-laborer, and J ohn was employed in gardening. The Prince took a fancy to the boy and put him in charge of the ponies. He attended strictly to his duties. He was always on hand and responded when called for. No hours were too early and none too late. He shrank from no servile work, and from time to time was promoted. He be- came a body-servant to the Prince. He carried the shawls and umbrellas and made himself handy at picnics and sails ; blunt and coarse, a man of few words, but deferential and obsequious, the Queen seems to have paid little attention to him. On the death of the Prince Consort, Brown remained in the gardens. He was sad and often in tears. The Queen was told he loved the Prince and mourned him. Brown watched his opportunity and offered services that the Queen might accept. He gathered flowers that the Prince loved and presented fruits from the Prince Consort’s tree. The Queen made inquiry about him ; was told that Brown was Prince Albert’s favorite servant, and that he had not smiled since Prince Albert was borne to his burial. The Queen was not well served. The routine of royal life annoyed her. She could not get anything done, and a message ran through a dozen hands. The army of servants was divided into three classes, each class serving a month. The routine of palace life had to be observed, and the royal menials would not depart from their accustomed duties. A dozen men were needed to do one man’s work. The servant who opened one door would not open the next. He that brought up the pitcher would not fill the glass. The equerry who handled the horses would do nothing with IMPOSTURE A TRADE. 317 tlie carriages. The Queen, exact, prompt, and imperi- ous, chafed under a routine that made the simplest order of the Queen pass through a dozen hands. The portion of Windsor Castle occupied by the Queen is entirely shut olf from the rest of the building. The Queen is as solitary as if she were a thousand miles away from the six hundred retainers in the castle. Her drives, her roadways, and her railroad station are out of the public view. The Queen refused to have her servants changed monthly. She turned away from the glitter and gold lace of the royal servants, to the Highland attire of John Brown. He is the confidential body-servant of her majesty. He does not wait on the Queen indoors, nor w'ear the royal livery nor the dress deputed to the Queen’s servants. He dresses as a menial, and does the work of a menial. He works in the garden, orders the carriages, hands the Queen in, holds her hand while she mounts, cleans her riding habit, and eats with the servants. All this is very dis- tasteful to the English officials, who make reprisals by calling the Queen Mrs. Brown. CXIV. IMPOSTURE A TRADE. ONDON can beat the world in imposture. Vagrancy is a science, and beggars are better off than British workmen. The wretched, ragged, shoeless woman who begs a penny, has more money than the tidy girl that sells greens 318 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. from the donkey-cart. The forlorn mother with a dirty child has better living than the street-sweeper. The girl with the swollen foot can walk as briskly as the tidy woman who offers you a bunch of flowers at Covent Garden. Begging is a trade taught to children. They learn to spit blood, have convulsions, fall down before an omnibus, or fall into a pond. Men and women learn to hang themselves and take up a col- lection from a sympathizing crowd who see them cut down. Others tear vegetables with their teeth as if starving. There are storehouses where impostors hire clothes. They go out in the morning to beg as clergy- men, as shipwrecked officers, decrepit men, blind and cripple ; some of these vagrants have fine apartments, and at the close of the day dine like a lord, dress up, and walk through Hyde Park. Billy Bowlegs made a handsome fortune by begging. He kept a school and taught the art of vagrancy. His pupils were blind, dumb, stumi)ed around on wooden legs, spit blood, counterfeited various diseases ; he taught men how to exhibit their tongue cut out by pirates. An impostor who for years passed as an idiot, was arraigned before the lord mayor, and a thousand pounds were found on his person. Locations are assigned to beggars and cannot be in- terfered with. The man who begs on the end of London Bridge has a vested right, and bequeaths the location to his children. The woman who sweeps at a particular crossing can secure the arrest of any other person who should interfere with her prerogative. Some positions require a livery. The average of beg- ging is put at a shilling a day. Many well-dressed men keep an institution where vagrants congregate. The house furnishes beggars with disguises, routes, letters of introduction to eminent people, and lists of personages on whom to call. For years one woman MARSHALL 0. ROBERTS. 319 has swept the crossing in front of the lord mayor’s mansion. She is at her post in all weathers, the sorriest-looking female in all the metropolis. Yet she has fine apartments in Duck Lane, and is a notorious money-lender. The same trade is carried on in all the American cities. Organ-grinders have a home, headquarters, and a system of trade ; children are let out by the day and week, and little girls ply a regular trade of vagrancy. Scores of boys earn money enough to pay their way into cheap theaters. They beg their bread, and sleep in some lodging-house at night. These children want no trade, and have no idea of a regular calling to earn their living. They will not attend school, and choose to be reckoned among the New York Arabs. CXY. MARSHALL O. ROBERTS. ARSHALL 0. ROBERTS is sixty-five years of age, and of fine personal presence. He began his business career in New York, in 1833, as a ship-chandler. He exhibited at an early day a taste for the beautiful. His first sav- ings he invested in a fifty-dollar picture he saw in the window of Colman’s show-room. He was very for- tunate in his early business acquaintance. Some of these were eminently serviceable to Mr. Roberts in his strides to fortune. Prosper M. and Robert C. Wet- more were of this class. Prosper was a Democrat, and 320 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Kobert a Whig. By a sort of Yicarism of Bray the twain kept in office. When the Democrats ruled, Prosper was a naval officer. When the Whigs came into power, Robert took his brother’s chair. Under Tyler, the Wetmores gave Robert a contract for naval supplies. The two Wetmores and Roberts shared in each others’ prosperity. Another valuable business ac- quaintance was Sloo. He was a noted lobbyist, and always had his dish upright when it rained good things. On the opening of California, Sloo obtained a valuable contract for carrying the mails between New York and San Francisco. Sloo was too poor to avail himself of his great prize. He had to call in the aid of capitalists. A company was formed to run a steam- ship line to the isthmus and transport the mails. The principal actors were P. M. Wetmore, George Law, Edwin Cross well, and Sloo and Roberts. Wetmore supplied the political influence, Roberts the dash. Law the money, and Sloo was dismissed with the promise of so much a head on each passenger. Wetmore went to the wall and became bankrupt. Poor Sloo fared worse. He not only became bankrupt, but died in the poor-house. The steamship enterprise was joined to the Panama railroad with the addition of Aspinwall. All sorts of schemes were joined with this enterprise on the isthmus. Oliver Charlick became agent of the com.pany at San Francisco. Like most stock- jobbing schemes, the company came to a bad end. Roberts’ luck saved him, and he took an assignment of the postal contract. This contract plunged Roberts into a lawsuit with the government, which lasted fifteen years. Everybody knew the contest was a hopeless one ; everybody said Roberts would be ruined. He stuck to his rights, and kept his grip on his assignment, and, while I am writ- ing, a judgment has been rendered on that contract in MARSHALL 0. ROBERTS. 321 his favor against the government for one million of dollars. Wetmore died poor. We have seen what was the end of Sloo. Law drifted into city railroads, and became a millionaire. Charlick bought the Long Island railroad, and was the terror of the country people, whom he ruled with a rod of iron. Roberts stuck to his steamships. His little office, at the foot of Warren street, was as well known as the den of the Astors on Prince street. Wickham, mayor of Hew York, was Roberts’ steamboat clerk. The chief run from there in 1865, and was defeated by the defection of Grreeley. Wickham, his old clerk, ran for the same office in 1873 and was elected. During the war Marshall O. Roberts was a stanch Union man. To sustain the credit of the government he put all his available money in government bonds at 90 per cent. Of course he made money, but nobody knew at the time whether he would make or lose. He did not serve the government for naught. He had the pick of the valuable business afloat. He chartered steamers for the government and bought supplies. He was a personal friend of Lincoln, and had facilities for making money that he never neglected. His Hew York home is in a commanding and aristo- cratic locality on Fifth avenue, a frontage of eighty-five feet by one hundred and fifty feet. Opposite is Belm.ont’ s lordly mansion, near this is the elegant house of Moses Taylor; Burnham’s abode, the donor of Webster’s statue, is hard by, a nd near that of Mason — to whom the Sixth avenue road owes so much. Belmont is worth fifteen ipillions, Taylor forty millions, Roberts ten mil- lions, Burnham and Mason three millions each. Mr. Roberts has remarkable aesthetic taste ; his picture-gal- lery is one of the finest in the city. From an American standpoint, the collection is unequalled anywhere. Mr. Roberts has always been a great friend to American art- 323 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. ists. The noted painting of Washington graces this gal- lery and keeping it company are the noted works of East- man Johnson, Elliot, Shattuck. The gallery cost over six hundred thousand dollars, and no one sets its value at less than seven hundred and fifty thousand. To his own industry and study Mr. Eoberts owes this culture in the fine arts. He started with that boon of the lowly — a good common school education. He had strong common sense, a natural keenness, and an ad- herence to the right that never shrank. He possessed pluck and boldness ; was prompt and decided in his convictions ; courteous in manner, and a patient listener to argument. When his mind was made uj^, no one could divert him from attaining his end. He knows how to gain and how to distribute ; a cheerful and gen- erous giver to humane and religious objects. He is a prominent member of the Congregational church in New York. He is a devout millionaire ; averse to X3omp and show ; with no cards, no balls, no theatres. The domestic life of Mr. Eoberts has been a singu- larly happy one. He is now living with his third wife. The second Mrs. Eoberts was a very refined and dis- tinguished lady from the city of Hartford. She was an ardent worker in the fields of Christian labor. She organized the Woman’s Christian Association, and the Home for Girls. To the latter institution her husband donated the sum of forty thousand dollars to help the cause along. The present Mrs. Eoberts, a Miss Endi- cott, is a lenial descendant from the ‘‘Mayflower” Endicott. She is a lady of youth and splendor, well qualified to adorn the elegant home over which she presides. Pluck, plod, and probity have made Marshall O. Eoberts what he is. BUSm£ISS TRAITS OF NAPOLEON III. 323 CXVL BUSINESS TRAITS OF NAPOLEON III. NE of the finest villas in Paris stands at the entrance Tlmperatice avenue. It is owned by Dr. Evans, the American dentist. He became the personal and confidential friend of Napoleon, and possessed more of his secrets than any living man. Dr. Evans was shrewd, practical, modest, talented, and his practice yielded him two hundred thousand dollars a year. Nearly every crowned head in Europe sent him a medal of honor. Above all these jeweled gifts was a pewter medal, a present from the University of Philadelphia, donated when he was struggling for fame and fortune. One day Dr. Evans visited the Imperial office, holding in his hand a roll. The Emperor, always curious in architectural matters, asked the doctor what he had. He exhibited the plan for a villa. ‘‘ That won’t do,” said the Em- peror, and taking up an envelope he sketched his idea of a gentleman’s cottage with a pencil. ‘‘The drawing- room must be ,here. There is your library, — your saloons must run in this direction ; j^our conservatory must open out of your dining-room. Your oriel win- dow must be at this point ; your stairs must be out of the way of the grand entrance, and your doors ar- ranged so your rooms can be thrown together, making one grand saloon.” This hastily-sketched plan hangs in a gorgeous frame in the library of the American dentist. During the reign of Louis Philippe, Napoleon was a soldier of fortune in London. He was shabbily-dressed, and often hungry ; he loafed at the clubs, and slept in a little den in King street. A nobleman asked him to SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. 324 ^ pass a month at his country seat. Rambling over the grounds one day, the nobleman pointed to a high rock, and said : ‘ ‘ I have offered five hundred pounds to any architect who will draw me a plan of a summer-house that will fit that spot.” Napoleon sat down on the grass, took a ragged piece of paper out of his pocket, used his hat for a table, sketched a plan which he pre- sented to the astonished and delighted lord. The building was put up under the supervision of the needy architect, and has been the delight of thousands. The nobleman said: ‘‘Napoleon, when my head gar- dener dies, I will give you his position.” Before the promise could be made good, the needy adventurer controlled the Imperial revenues of France. As a civil ruler Napoleon had no equal in Europe. He understood the temper of the French people, and was every inch a monarch. If he had left foreign wars alone he could have sat on his throne to the day of his death. He was bold, defiant, resolute, and his reign of seventeen years produced monuments as im- perishable as the Code of Napoleon. He modernized Paris, bought real estate by the mile, broke up the nesting places of disease and revolt. He pulled down the rookeries, and drove vagrants from the center of the city to the suburbs. He kept the soldiers busy, made Paris the hot-bed of pleasure, furnished work for the masses, and made royal roads from the capital to every part of the Empire. He was a man of indomitable courage. He furnished a royal guard for the Chapel Expiatory, where prayers were daily offered for his dethronement, fie allowed the masses to look upon the bloody earth that sur- rounded the coffin of Marie Antoinette. The sanguin- ary and bloody deeds of the Revolution, which most rulers wished to hide, he kept on show. The divorce of his grandmother, the retreat from Russia, and Robes- BUSINESS TRAITS OF NAPOLEON III. 325 pierre’ s bloody work were kept on view in the great gal- leries of the nation. His personal habits were very simple. He was an early riser and a great worker. His cabinet was dingy, full of old furniture, and resembled an English law office. He worked with his ministers till twelve o’clock, when he took breakfast. After breakfast ambassadors, officers and distinguished visitors were received. N’o business of the Empire was transacted without his per- mission. He read all dispatches, dictated all orders, answered all letters, and directed the government. He daily gave orders for the pulling down houses, widen- ing streets, opening boulevards, directing palaces, throwing bridges over the Seine, and raising funds to carry on his gigantic work. He touched everything, from the moving of armies to the regulation of omnibus fares. He made himself felt in all parts of Europe. Home was a French colony, and the Pope was borne to his prayers between French bayonets. He made his cousin a cardinal, and had the Empire remained, he would have made him successor to Pius IX. Under Xapoleon there was no state religion. All religions were suxjported out of the public treasury according to their size. He allowed the Bible to be sold in Paris, and tracts distributed, against the earnest protests of the Catholic clergy. The Emperor never allowed a re- ligious procession in the streets of Paris. He arrested a whole crowd of Baptists who were prepared to immerse in the Hiver Seine. Napoleon was one of the best preserved men of his age. He was careful and temperate in his habits ; he was secretive and very keen in observation, and had the faculty of drawing others out while he said nothing. He was very subtle, and adapted himself to the tastes and prejudices of other people. He was a theologian 326 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. with priests, a diplomat with ambassadors, and liberal with the Church. He made religion subordinate to the state. Every church had a trustee appointed by the Emperor, and he could close any sanctuary he pleased. A state marriage was legal without a priest, but the Archbishop could not make a marriage valid without the sanction of the state. When Burlingame was in- troduced as ambassador from China, he made a French address. Napoleon replied in the language of Amer- ica. In the height of his power, servants annoyed him. He waited on himself rather than ring the bell. He bustled about the office, opened and closed the win- dows, put wood on the tire, wmtched the thermometer, and took delight in doing things. The Empress was his principal adviser. She usually spent the morning hour in the Imperial Cabinet. Silent at her small work- table unless addressed, but always ready for a ride, a w^alk, or a question of state. She was the Emperor’s good genius, and seldom erred when he took her ad- vice. She presided over the Council wuth great tact, and allowed no discussions that would be distateful to her husband. Every morning a digest of the affairs of the Empire was laid on his table. He took in by intuition everj^- thing at a glance. He dictated his answer briefly and rapidly. All admitted to his presence recognized his genius, his business tact, and his ability. Cool, self- possessed and penetrating, the ablest and oldest diplomats felt that they \vere in the presence of a master. He vindicated his right to rule not only by exacting honor from sovereigns in his realm, but an appeal to history. To an English nobleman he said ; “Who are the ancestors of your queen? Were they not attainted for treason ? Was not William the Conqueror a usurper ? By what right did William III. sit on the throne of England ? Who were the ancestors PROMINENT ENGLISHMEN 327 of the Barons of Runnymede, who gave you the great charter ? By what authority do the Stuarts claim to reign by divine right ? If your kings reign by revolu- tion, by the choice of the people, or by the power of the sword, by this triple title I hold the scepter of France.” The personal bravery of Napoleon has never been questioned. He anticipated his enemies when he seized the Empire. If he had not made himself emperor, he would have ceased to be president. The night of the coujp-W eiat^ conspirators were assembled to assassinate the prince president. Napoleon beat them at their own game. cxyii. PROMINENT ENGLISHMEN. HERE is a dearth of able men in England. There are few men of talent in any profes- sion or calling. Second or third-rate men sit in Parliament. The English judges are honest and fair, but an eminent jurist who can find ? The English bar astonishes a stranger by its slovenly dress and small ability. Tories confess with bitterness that there is not a born nobleman able to lead the Com- mons. Small men bear noble names, wear lofty titles, and occux)y positions filled by the giants of other days.. The crowd that sweep through Westminister Hall from Parliament chambers embrace very few who have made themselves eminent. The Duke of Wellington,, a de- 328 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. crepit old man worn out by dissipation, without force or talent, represents the Iron Duke. Glajdstoin'e attracts attention. He is a tall, slim, bony man, prematurely gray. He came into notice under the Peel Reform Parliament, and took the man- tle of that nobleman when he fell. He has a tart tem- per, which fires up quickly, and has so schooled him- self as to be seldom thrown off his guard. He comes to the House quietly, salutes no one, slips in behind the Speaker’ s chair, curls himself up on his seat, and, with hat over his eyes, seems to have no interest of what is going on. His voice is clear and ringing. He seizes the table with both hands, and rocks himself back from toe to heel. He is an earnest, effective speaker, subtle and ingenious, and can hold the House for hours when he will. He is always at his post and al- ways ready. He is the idol of the Liberals, has never deceived them, never deserted them, never fiinched. He is a keen debater, as quick as a flash, and can un- horse his opponent at any time. Disraeli is a man of small stature, thin face, black curly hair, and a look decidedly Jewish. He is a silent, lonely man, walking with his eyes on the ground, and wearing a subdued and sad look. There is little about him to-day to justify the title given him in the Commons of ’37, of the dandy member. He wears a black frock coat, gray pants and vest, and dresses very neatly. He watches Gladstone like an Indian scout. He comes into Parliament with a cat- like step, as if he expected to catch somebody at some- thing. He sits unmoved like a bronze statue under the fiercest castigation, and the vehement debate. He is unrivaled in selfish sarcasm, and his speeches are without feeling, sympathy or charity. His voice is PROMINENT ENGLISHMEN 329 clear, but cold, and without heart. He talks like one who hates his race, or who has been wronged. He is always in good condition, and speaks like one who knows he is not wanted. The world recalls his taunt when the House crushed him beneath its jeers : “ Some day I will compel you to hear me !” and marvel at the fulfillment of the prediction. John Bright. — The House of Commons is divided into four parts. One side is ministerial and is occupied by men who sustain the Premier through thick and thin. Opposite sit the opposition, who follow the Liberal leader wherever he goes. Half way of the House is a gangway or small aisle. On the ministerial side below, sit the Tories who support the Tory government when they have a mind. Opposite, below the gangway, sit the Liberal members who don’ t respond to the party whip. John Bright always sits below the gangway, on the Liberal side. Before he took office he was a popu- lar leader and held an informal levee every day in Westminster Hall. Then he was an audacious speaker, saying what few men were willing to think. As mem- ber of the Cabinet he became austere and impatient when arrested on his way to the House. He was always an effective orator with the masses. His voice clear, manner vehement, gesture violent, and language nervous. In speech his face flushes, his eye kindles, and he puts himself completely in sympathy with the hearers. He has a reputation of being a hard master, exacting and unsympathetic among his workmen at Bochdale. Bean Stanley is the leader of the Badical party in the Establishment. He owes his position to the Crown. He is entirely independent of the Establish- ment, cannot be touched by the archbishop, and could 330 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. if be would sit in the House of Lords. Through his wife’ s influence, Lady Augusta — the confidential friend of the Queen — Stanley was elevated from the position of a schoolmaster to be Dean of the Abbey. His next remove will be to the see of London, the most valuable gift in the Crown. He is a small, dean, wiry, nervous man, and he wears his gray hair cropped close to his head. He is very unattractive as a speaker ; his voice is husky, keeps his eye on a certain angle on the roof while he speaks, jerks his sentences out, and jumps up and down while his hands and arms are still. He contends that the Establishment is large enough to accommodate all opinions. Ritualists, Evangelicals and Rationalists ought to stand on the same platform. Colenso is as sound as Tait ; Bunyan and Wesley should not have gone out ; Whitfield and Milton were servants of the Lord. Stanley refused to allow the Pananglican Council to meet in the Abbey, because Colenso was not invited. It costs something to be buried in the Abbey. Every tablet has to be paid for. The Dean decides who shall have the honor, what shall be paid, and the revenues are his own. The ordinary services of the Abbey are very thinly attended. On state occasions no man in London can draw out so many coronetted carriages as Dean Stanley. Lord Shaftesbury. — This gentleman is the leading Evangelical peer of England. He is a tall, large- sized, bony man, with the coarse features of a backwoods- man. He is bluff and hearty in his manner, and is the Magnus Apollo of Exeter Hall, tie founded the Boot- black Brigade and the Ragged Schools, which have worked such a change in the life of the London poor. Twenty-five' years before Peabody made his great donation, Shaftesbury^ carried a law through Parlia- ment improving the homes of British workmen, and BAB0NE8S COUTTS. 331 tlie Peabody houses are only a co^^y of those which originated with Shaftesbury. He originated a society to drive bad pictures out of London, and secured en- gravings for the lowly at a low cost. As the workmen would not enter the churches, Lord Shaftesbury led a movement to open worship in theaters. He preaches every Sunday in halls, school-houses, mission stations, and on the curb-stone. He drives up in his coronetted carriage and every place is crowded in which he speaks. The street-sweepers salute him as he passes, coster- mongers take off their hats, roughs come to hear him preach, and exclaim : ‘‘ God bless your lordship.” CXYIII. BARONESS COUTTS. ISS COUTTS stands in the fore-front of shrewd, energetic bankers. She inherited her fortune and her business from her grandfather. He founded his London house in 1768. He was a sharp, shrewd man, with but one purpose, and that to make money. He was tall, pallid, sickly in look, curly hair with a Duke of Wellington nose. At sixty, he shambled along the Strand, wear- ing shabby clothes and a brown scratch, as intent on gain as he was at eighteen. When he was worth millions he looked so poor, so forlorn and destitute, that a stranger pressed on him a shilling. I am not in immediate want,” said the millionaire as he shuffled on. He died at ninety-one, leaving an immense prop- 332 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. erty and a lucrative business to bis grandchild. Miss Coutts assumed the business of the house in 1822. She understood her business perfectly, and displayed a rare business ability. In person she is tall, thin, erect and energetic ; her features, coarse and masculine, are marred with erysipelas. She decides all questions of loan and discount, signs checks, orders all the business, and from her decision there is no appeal. The baroness is one of the most benevolent women of the age. She erected the elegant church of St. Stephen, in a forlorn neighborhood, and presented it with an endowment to the poor. She sent a blank check to the Bishop of London, to be filled by him for reformatory work among the poor. The Bishop filled in the sum of £6,000. Miss Coutts made it £10,000. Her great gift was Columbia Market, which cost a million. In the most degraded and dissolute part of London she purchased a square. The region was crowded with narrow streets, vile alleys, and rookeries crowded with the squalid and wretched poor. Palaces took the place of rookeries ; filthy lanes became well- paved boulevards ; the nestling jdaces of pestilence and plague were thrown open to sunlight. Elegant buildings filled the square ; one of the finest markets in London was run up. A hall for public meetings, a chapel for worship, with clock, bell and organ, hospi- tal for the sick and disabled, substantial tenements for the better class of the poor were embraced in the gift. The opening of the market was attended by semi- royal honor. The royal family and the nobility were present. The Lord Mayor of London and the corpora- tion came in state. Boj^al troops filled the streets and coronetted carriages were as thick as omnibusses on the Strand. The Queen’s band conducted the music. The proud Duchess of Cambridge, who stands nearest the throne, graced the occasion with her presence. On the DELMONIGO. 333 approach of the baroness, the corps of trumpeters gave the flourish as if a royal personage was approaching. Royalty, aristocracy, and the commons came to their feet. The sharp order of the commander of the royal troops — ‘‘Attention! Present arms!” rang through the hall. The crash of the band and the cheer on cheer rent the air. The Duchess of Cambridge led Miss Coutts to the chair of state, and took her seat be- side her — her inferior on that occasion. The baroness was all dignity and self-possession. She wore a purple satin suit, hat and gloves to match — a black velvet sacque, heavily embroidered, and a collar of w^hite ermine. Such regal honors were never before conferred upon subject. CXIX. DELMONIGO. ONICO has made a famous name among ! restaurant-keepers of New York. The n, a nest of brothers, have made a success their business, in which a great majority of caterers fail. They keep four eating-houses, each celebrated in its way. The new^ and elegant establish- ment just set up in upper New York is the rage of the city. It is thronged by ]Tch men and proud dam- sels. The price is in advance of similar restaurants. This is rather a recommendation, as it makes the thing select. The aristocracy of New York is a money aris- tocracy. To be any thing in the city, a man must have money. His father may have wheeled in coal, ‘ his 334 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. motlier may have scrubbed office floors, but if he has a good number of gold-bearing bonds, he can knock at the door of the upper-ten certain that he will be ad- mitted. When laboring New York is asleep, Delmonico will be crowded. Late at night, after parties have broken up, theaters have closed, and soirees ended, it is quite the thing to take a lady friend to the gorgeous rooms of Delmonico, and order a costly supper late at night. Snobby young men who breakfast at noon do so at Delmonico’ s. Young men on their way down town to what they call business, halt and ask for coffee with brandy. Ladies take their nooning here because it is the fashion, and whatever is fashionable is a success. The whole of the house, huge as it is, is devoted to the patrons of the establishment. Private dinners are common. Clubs meet for dinner ; societies, - charitable and political, take their little snacks in the cosy rooms that abound. Numerous as they are, it is often quite impossible to find a spare table. Bankers, brokers, and merchants entertain their friends in regal style. The elder Delmonico in an interview thus states the system on which the business of the house is conducted : “We attend to our own business and to nothing else. You never hear of us on the road nor driving four-in- hands. We do not go to the theater, but wait on those who do. We have no outside business — no ventures or speculations in oil, wild lands, patents, or stock. What money we have we put into our house. We take care of our business, and our business takes care of us. We give personal attention to everything which is going on. We buy the best the market affords of everything we use, at the lowest rates, and we give our patrons the benefit of our purchases. We require civility and jprompt attention from all our employees. DELMOmCO. 335 We keep abreast of tlie times. Tliis principle drove ns from Chambers street to Fourteenth street, and from Fourteenth street to our present location. We built from necessity and not from pride. Our patrons moved up town, we had to follow. We could find no rooms suited to our trade, so we built.” Delmonico illustrates the value of a business name. The four establishments run by this house are each a success. A dozen houses have been opened in a dozen years on the Delmonico style. Many of these were in fashionable localties, with rooms and garniture of the newest patterns. These would have run Delmonico under had he not been equal to the hour and kept his establishment up. The fame of the house is known in all lands. No intelligent foreigner steps on our shores to whom the name of Delmonico is not familiar. The coffee room — the social drinking room of the house — is a study. Sitting at one of the little tables in the great room, can be seen any evening the prominent business men of New York. Railroad magnates and money kings ; famous bulls and bears, and heavy operators ; the owners of fast trotters, and betters on the turf ; gamblers and divines ; soldiers of fortune and specula- tors ; star actors and merchant princes. The drinking is often heavy, and always costly. Imported cigars are smoked and foreign liquors flow free and constant. To a young business man it is an indication of fast life if he patronizes Delmonico’ s. 336 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. cxx. PERILS OF AVARICE. 00 much grasping, like too much indolence, is ruinous. Many are not content with a good thing or a fair profit. They plunge into real estate, mining, oil, and stocks, and in their attempt to grasp all, they lose all. Men load them- selves down with real estate, and try to buy every- thing that touches their property. This is well enough when things go smoothly, but things will not always move smoothly. Reverses come sooner or later, and come to all. Men leave no margin for disaster. Cur- rents that were to bear them on to fortune bear them under. They are like the man on the ill-fated steamer on the Pacific coast. The vessel was doomed. He loaded himself down with gold he had been toiling for years to gain. He was carried under the seas by its weight. A well-known banker was talented, keen, and suc- cessful. He made money. He could settle a fortune on his wife, on each of his children, and then have money enough left for himself. He was annoyed that he had fifty thousand dollars lying idle. He found a fine opening. He put in fifty thousand dollars into a bankrupt railroad. He added twenty-five thousand to take care of that. He added twenty -five thousand more to take care of the seventy-five thousand. Three times he could have got out of his embarrassments if he would have let fifty thousand go. He could not afford that, and so periled his whole fortune. Before he got through, he sank one million and a half. He went rashly into speculation, and lost — made contracts HENRY F. DURANT. 337 — was wild as a maniac. His five years’ struggle nearly cost him his life. He came out. a bankrupt, with his honor stained and his fame soiled. He fled to a dis- tant city to avoid arrest and hide his disgrace. CXXI. HENRY F. DURANT. BOUT twenty years ago a young lawyer, whose name was Smith, studied in the office of Ben Butler at Lowell. He was keen, smart, and full of strategy and resources. He moved to Boston, took an office in the old State House, and made rapid strides in a paying practice. He made the acquaintance of a builder, who was also a gigantic speculator. This man had more lawsuits on hand than any man in the State. His affairs were always complicated and in a snarl, and he wanted a sharp lawyer to help him through. He found the man he wanted in young Smith — a bold, adroit lawyer, and a man of unlimited expedients and resources. Smith was an ordinary speaker, but he had great success with a jury. He made himself famous with the bar by gaining one or two verdicts in desperate trials. He gained one of the heaviest verdicts against a railroad company ever known at that time. He soon had a regal income from his practice. In the midst of his success he changed his name, and was known as Henry F. Durant. The Rubber suits attracted national attention. Nearly every lawyer of note was retained on one side 23 338 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. or the other. Many are living who remember when one of these trials was called how a platoon of lawyers filed in, over twenty in number, and took their seats. Durant was among the number. His peculiar traits came out in the Rubber suits, and he led in a peculiar part of the trial. He saw what many others did not see — that the rubber interest was to be the great inter- est of the country. He took his fees in stock. He was soon able to set up an establishment, and own a sump- tuous home in Boston. The death of his son produced in him a marked change. He united with the church, and entered into a religious life. He abandoned the law and became an evangelist. He conducted divine service and preached in pulpits that were opened to him. His rubber stock made him rich. On a farm in Wellesly, a few miles out of Boston, he has erected one of the most beautiful educational institutes in the commonwealth. The ex- penditure is over a million. The location is unsurpassed for beauty of situation. The college is exclusively devoted to the education of women. All the teachers, professors and artists are ladies. Mr. Durant devotes his whole time and energy to the Wellesly college. GXXII. DWIGHT L. MOODY. EW men in the United States have done so much business on the same amount of capi- tal as has Mr. Moody. He started out with- out education or learijing. Even now, with all his practice, he cannot read the Bible correctly, DWIGHT L. MOODY. 339 and would be disgraced in a primary school. He is boorish in his manners, and has the rudeness of a Tam- many Hall politician. Conceit and vanity are promi- nent traits of his character. Yet he is the teacher of teachers. He draws the largest audience in the land. He is welcomed to the homes of the cultivated and re- fined. Men ask what is the use of culture, of a college education, or any education, or of years spent in learn- ing to preach, when a man who cannot talk the Eng- lish language or read the Word of God correctly, com- pels the learned and cultivated to trample each other down that they may hear him preach, while scholars and theologians preach to empty pews. Moody, when a boy, would not study. He could have had the advantages of a good common school edu- cution if he had seen fit to imiirove them. He came to Boston when a boy to earn his living, and went into a store. He was brought up in a Unitarian parish, but he drifted into a Sunday-school connected with Mr. Kirk’s church. He was as unpromising a specimen of a scholar as any teacher ever tried to instruct. He was early interested in the subject of personal religion, and presented himself to the committee of the church for membership. He was ignorant of everything pertain- ing to religion. He could not read, knew nothing of the Bible, had .not the slightest idea of the system of doctrine entertained by the Church. He professed to believe in Christ, but did not know what He died for, and told the committee he was very certain that He had done nothing for him that he knew of. Of course so unpromising a subject was rejected. The committee have been soundly rated because they did not recom- mend Mr. Moody for admission to the church. On a subsequent examination he was admitted. During all his connection with the Mt. Vernon Church he was 340 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. only an ordinary member. He showed only common earnestness, no desire to toil or do any extra work. He went West and early exhibited an ambition to lead. He could bear no yoke, and no church work could confine him ; he set up a little mission station in Chicago, became a lay preacher, and became cele- brated for his bluntness and eccentricities. He criti- cised the church work of the city, and was not nice in his utterances. He announced himself through the press as a preacher and the reporters occasionally drew his likeness. One of the Chicago papers draws this picture of Mr. Moody while conducting Divine wor- shij). ‘Mn the evening I heard the city missionary, Mr. Moody, ‘preach’ in Far well Hall. He wore gray pants, had a swaggering gait, and looked very much like a green-grocery pedler. He spoke disparagingly of ‘the church.’ Thought his ‘jjreaching’ was as good as that of an ordained minister ; and boasted that he wore neither ‘gown’ nor ‘white cravat.’ Poor man ! he need not have gone to all the trouble he did to tell us that ; anybody could see that — or if any one was blind, he could clearly tell that the man is not living who could so murder preaching, and at the same time support a ‘gown’ or ‘white cravat.’ Certainly these two ministerial garments would be out of place on Mr. Moody. A white cravat would kill Mr. Moody’s ministerial peculiarity in two weeks.” I was in London at the close of the war. Mr. Moody was visiting some of his relatives in the capital of Great Britain. He was dogmatic, fault-finding, and uncomfortable. Nothing pleased him ; he took no pains to hide his disgust, but grumbled from dawn to dark. In the matter of lay preaching, London is ten years in advance of New York. Outside of the estab- lished church all are laymen, whether in orders or not. DWIGHT L. MOODY. 341 Rectors, vicars, deans and divines, meet on a common platform with dissenting Christians. They have no quarrel with lay preaching outside of the church. I have heard Varley, the butcher, Stott, the carpenter, and Weaver, the coalheaver, with deans, canons, peers of the realm and noblemen. One day at Exeter Hall the prominent speaker was a layman. Moody sat at my side. When the speaker sat down. Moody turned to me and said : “I can talk as well as that man, I can preach better than he does. Do not you think so ? When I go home I mean to try ; you see if I do not.” His subsequent career has put emphasis on this crop- ping out of his desire to preach. Good men are not agreed as to the good of the mon- ster Moody and Sankey meetings. Eminent pastors who have been identified with it admit deep disap- pointment at the results on their own churches. As a dissipation, a wild delirium, a sort of ecstatic excite- ment in worship, the movement was a success, but on steady church work and church life the movement has been demoralizing. The main persons influenced were members of churches, while the waste jilaces were un- touched, and the lowly and abandoned uninfluenced. The church now demand a delirium of service. Trained singers from all denominations, a huge chorus and the exhilaration of the masses no doubt bear the feelings along, but they do it like a fourth of July parade. In England the power of movement was mainly due to Mr. Sankey, and to a kindred agency the future success of such movements will be due. In London the ministry of laymen was a popular one. It was led by the Earl of Shaftesbury, Lord Bury and Lord Radstock. The working people were slipping out of the hands of the church. The masses would not enter chapels built in their neighborhood. Theaters were opened on Sunday night, but when 343 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. clergymen preached the people kept away. Laymen Avere put forward and met the case. Crowds filled hall and play-house, when earnest workmen talked. Under this influence Weaver and Yarley came to the front. At one time Spurgeon had six hundred work- ing people in the field as preachers. These laborers went out two and two — one to preach, and one to sing. The singing was not American, but the heavy psal- mody a hundred years old. Into this atmosphere Sankey stood up to sing. He put his organ in the right place. His magnetic voice, racy, music, fiery Avords, modesty, took the peo]jle by surprise and storm. The same element appeared in the Hippo- drome seiwices. A much less adroit manager than Moody could have made a success of his surround- ings. The conditions on Avhich he works would make an ordinary evangelist a power. He is an autocrat in the services, dictating who shall speak and who shall not sit on the platform. The entire church of the place has to come into the arrangement. The elite of the religious community are pledged to the work with time, talents, and money. No meetings are held at the hour of Moody’s service. The adver- tising is enormous, and would carry any business in the State. The best- trained voices for miles around unite in the choir. The personal and official influence of the leading pastors of the land are laid at the feet of the evangelist. The good done by such monster meetings must be evanescent. No meetings conducted in such a style, and on such a scale, would be tolerated or desired. No church would allow a pastor to preach as Mr. Moody preaches, or read the Scriptures as he reads them, or use the dogmatism which marks his style. No man could get a settlement in an Evangelical church who should avow Mr. Moody’s well-known theological opin- ion or adopt such tactics as mark his ministration. He DWIGHT L. MOODY. 343 will have many imitators but no successors. The move- ment will be remembered as one remembers a mill built on a dam, that broke away from the main stream during a freshet. The work ended leaves weak churches still weak, x)rominent men still unreached, and church work in a great measure demoralized. Mr. Moody’s income is undoubtedly very large. There is no reason why it should not be. Those who demand his services ought to pay for them. The pre- tense that he gets no pay for his work is a mere pre- tense. He has no salary and will allow no collection to be taken up ; but private donations are generous, and are seldom refused. Moody cannot feed his wife and children on air, nor bring up his household on the east wind. When he began his work as an evangelist he was as poor as a wharf rat. He is now in good cir- cumstances, owns a line mansion, well furnished, and has as good an income as any preacher in the land. From a business standpoint evangelism is a success. No business is better run or is more remunerative. He is like a large number of evangelists, who have not only had a competency, but have become forehanded. One of the best-known men of this class lives in the neighborhood of Boston. Every spring he returns to his home from his winter’s campaign, and adds to his real estate, having built quite a little village. 344 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS, CXXIIL GEX. BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. EN. BUTLER has ardent friends and intense foes. He is the best-known and least-nnder- stood man in the United States. His name is a* terror in the South, and he is more feared in the House of Representatives than any man North of Mason and Dixon’s line. Nobody denies him consummate ability. Pew out of a charmed circle ac- credit him with integrity, honesty of purpose and con- scientious actions. The popular belief is that he is unscrupulous, carrying his points without regard to truth or honor. His friends believe him to be honor- able, courageous, trustworthy, and doing what he believes to be right, without fear, favor, or hope of re- ward. Gen. Butler never acts on policy. He has none of the adroit weighing of consequences which statesmen call diplomacy. He often says what it would be better for him not to say. He avows what it would be better for him to conceal. He has no opinions that he fears to express, and no line of action that he is afraid to defend. If there is an unpopular side, he takes it. If there is an unpopular opinion, he expresses it. He carries his opinions on his sleeve and wears his views on his forehead as a frontlet. His very intuition harms him. He sees at a glance what other men learn by patient study or processes of reasoning. When he reaches a conclusion, he states it, no matter how un- popular it may be at the present moment, nor how much in advance of the age. He takes no pains to ed ucate men, leading them along, giving them a little OEN. BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 345 light to-day and more to-morrow. But he stakes out his opinions and passes on leaving men to come on at their leisure. He makes an address which gives great offense, his friends say : ‘‘Butler, what did you want to say that for?” “ It is true, isn’t it ? ” If he was a man of policy he would be guarded in his utterances. As a lawyer, Gen. Butler is a great success. He is a safe counselor in desperate cases. He is not a man of forensic eloquence. His style of speaking is bad, and one need not argue whether he is or is not learned in the law. He wins cases. He has the best practice in the State and country, and his fees are immense. Butler’s success as a lawyer turns on his preparation. He spares no pains, and makes a dead sure thing on his evidence. A man from New Orleans called on Butler and asked his assistance in getting into Con- gress. He represented himself as a Union man, and said that he had suffered from his sentiments during the war. Butler told him to call the next day, when Butler said to him : “ You are an enemy of my coun- try, and you did your best to ruin it. You were a rebel during the war, and ux)lield the Confederacy with all your might.” The man denied the charge. Butler opened a drawer, and drew out a copy of the ordinance of secession, and put his finger on the man’s name, appended to that document. In the trial of the United States against William W. Welles, of Boston, Butler was retained for the gov- ernment. That the house prosecuted had defrauded the revenue nobody doubted ; the difficulty was to prove it. At one time the case looked very blue for the Treasury. Butler went into the trial with his ac- customed energy and audacity. On the morning of the trial he said to one of the employees of the court : “You watch this case. When that little name is called,” pointing to one of the witnesses, “the defend- 346 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. ants will compromise.” The calling of the name pro- duced a marked sensation in the court. Sure enough, an adjournment was called for, a settlement proposed, four hundred thousand dollars were paid to the gov- ernment, and the case ended. Butler’s memory is prodigious and never fails him. In a trial he can direct his junior counsel to every case that bears on the matter in hand, wdth the decision, the book, and page. He is a great worker, stud^dng at home ; studying late ; is very regular in his habits ; a light eater, with an occasional glass of wine. He has the reputation of being fair as an advocate, desirous of winning, and resolved to win ; yet he shows his hand and resorts to no tricks to deceive the opposing coun- sel. He seldom badgers a witness ; but if a man on the stand is fast, unwilling, or unscrupulous, Butler will catch him before he gets through, and do it fairly. In an ordinary trial Butler never “ goes ” for a witness, as the phrase is. As a politician, Butler is a failure. He is an am- bitious man, but refuses all the arts and blandishments essential to winning. His friends say that if he had more policy and could play the hypocrite better, he could put Massachusetts in his trousers pocket. He has always been the friend of the poor man. He be- lieves that capitalists are selfish, grasping, and tyran- nical. He has never disguised his sentiments at any time, or anywhere. He will take up a poor man’s case where there will not be a dollar of fees, as quick as that of a capitalist where the retainer is one thou- sand dollars. A poor man’s land was taken by a rail- road, and the compensation was not a tithe of its value. Butler took up the case and made the corporation do what was right towards the laboring man. He is a man of indomitable courage. His Hew Orleans life clearly shows this. One day he walked up from the GEN. BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 347 levee through lines of men, every one of whom was a desperado, and had sworn to take his life. Butler is a man without malice. He is easily cheated and imposed upon by his friends. He is so real and sincere himself that he cannot believe that men who are fair to his face are maligners behind his back. Men will pitch into him and then fawn before him. They will take his money and eat his bread, and then betray his secrets to his enemies. In a week if they come into his presence with a long face and express contrition they are forgiven. He will say, Poor fel- low, I don’t think he meant anything, or I can’t be- lieve he said such a thing. I think you must be mis- taken.” He has the faculty of attaching his friends to him by hooks of steel. They will disagree with him, disapprove his plans, dislike his utterances, get mad with him for want of diplomacy, but they never ques- tion his honesty or integrity of purpose. Butler will take up anybody’s fight when he believes the party to be in the right. But he will take up a poor man’s fight when he has none to help him, whether he is right or wrong. It was regarded as a very unpopular act for Butler to defend Whitemore in Congress. His reason was characteristic. “He is a poor devil out of cash and out of friends, with no one to help him, and I v/ant him to have a chance.” He defended Oakes Ames because he believed in him. He believed that Ames’ motives were right, and that he was no thief, and no robber. He thought he had a good thing and went in to win. He acted like a fool, but he was no thief. Butler was equally conscientious in his fight with the press. As a politician it was a very unwise thing to array the press against himself. The press has a thousand chances to strike back while the arraigned its making a tardy opposition. For all this Butler 348 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. cares nothing. He regards the press as nnscrupulous, writing up one man, and down another from mere caprice. In assailing the newspapers Butler proposes to see whether a man can be lied down by the papers. In his opposition to the press, he regards himself as waging a warfare in which every honest man has an interest. A man of policy would not bring the press down upon him, if he wanted public favor. His at- tacks upon capitalists have brought upon him what is known as State House influence, with all State street at their back. The general rather enjoys this warfare with such antagonists to contend with. He is fond of money, knows how to make it, and does not care who knows that his services cannot be obtained for nothing. He came to 'New York during the draft riots, when the government was in feeble hands. His measures to sustain the national authority were not only vigorous but audacious. He seized the ferry-boats, loaded them with cavalry, with light horse artillery, and kept them in the stream ready for instant use anywhere at any moment. His very presence carried consternation to rioters, and in a week New York was as safe and quiet as Boston. Whatever Butler may be in the heat of a contested trial, on the stump, or in reply to a personal or political attack, he is a gentleman at home, and a liberal and genial host. He is delicate and considerate to ladies, and is distinguished for a politeness almost Frenchy. There are few happier homes, and his family are de- voted to him. His style of living is elegant. His hospitality is unbounded, and he knows both how to earn and how to dispense. JAMES R. KENDRICK. 349 CXXIY. JAMES R. KENDRICK. R. KENDRICK is superintendent of the Fall River railroad line. He is a small, slim, frail-looking man, with a presence not at all imposing. He is master of all departments of railroading. He was trained under Gov. Stearns, one of the most efficient railroad men in the land. The lad worked his way up through all grades on tlie rail- roads of New England. Gov. Stearns was called to the presidency of the Old Colony road, when it was a small affair, and not over-prosperous. There was a conflict between the president and the superintendent. The officer was capable, but cranky. The president had his own notions about what a superintendent ought to be. He liked Kendrick’s methods, and told him before he went South, that he would have a place for him on his own road. Kendrick preferred a Northern residence, and started for the North. His fame preceded him. Five railroads made him flattering offers. The Eastern, the Lowell, and the Pittsburg were among the number. He chose to connect his fortunes to his old friend and instructor, and enter at once on that career which has been so honorable. Many were disappointed with the personal appearance of the superintendent. Some wanted a larger man ; others thought he was too quiet ; others thought that he could not be much of a super- intendent who put on no style, wore a slouched hat, and made himself busy among the men. In a few months all opposition gave way before the marked ability of the new executive. Mr. Kendrick is distinguished for caution, vigilance 350 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. and industry. In the midst of the wildest excitement he is cool, clear-headed and self-possessed. He does the right thing at the right time. He is kind and con- siderate to the employees, and maintains strict dis- cipline without tyranny. With tact and good sense he maintains the good will of the patrons of the road. He knows when to yield and when to resist. He discriminates between a clamor and a just demand for accommodation. He has proved himself equal to every emergency. He is a growing man and bids fair to be one of the leading railroad men of the nation. cxxy. BEECHER’S ADVENT INTO BROOKLYN. LYMOUTH CHURCH was founded by advanced Congregationalists. Prominent among the number were David Hale and Henry C. Bowen. The Congregationalism of New York and Brooklyn was a modified Presby- terianism. The pastor and standing committee stood for the minister and elders in the Presbyterian Church that ruled everything. The Plymouth brethren pro- posed to have a church in which the laymen should come to the front. The preacher was to be simply a la3mian in church matters, and to-day the pastor can- not preside at a church business meeting unless he is formally elected. For marn^ years the pastor was not allowed to conduct the Frida}^ night meeting. The church has never belonged to anj^ organization, though BEECHER'S ADVENT INTO BROOKLYN 351 in fellowship with other churches, and it is absolutely as independent as though there was not another church in the world. A peculiar minister was needed for so peculiar a church. Henry Ward Beecher was settled over a small Presbyterian church in Indianapolis, all un- known to fame. A traveling salesnian called the attention of Mr. Bowen to the rising young man out West, a son of Lyman Beecher. Howto hear him was the question. The church did not wish to hear him as a candidate, and did not wish to call him till they knew something of his metal. Bowen urged the Home Missionary Society to invite young Beecher to come on and preach the annual sermon. The society did not know enough of Henry Ward to invest the expenses of his visit. Mr. Bowen offered to be responsible for the cost, and paid out sixty dollars that the church in this roundabout way might hear Mr. Beecher. He came on and spent a Sunday with Plymouth Church. The society worshiped in the house built by the Presbyterians where Hr. Cox ministered for so long a time. The location was considered so unfavorable for church service that the house was abandoned, and David Hall, Mr. Bowen and others bought it. Young Beecher preached to a fair congregation in the morn- ing. In the evening the house was thronged and the outsiders could have tilled it three times over. On the site of the old church, abandoned for its unsuitable- ness for public worship, the present Plymouth struc- ture Avas built, and it has been maintained for nearly thirty years the largest regular congregation in the land. A call was made out to Mr. Beecher. But money matters stood in the way of its acceptance. Mr. Beecher was poor and in debt. His letters often lay over in the post-office because he had no money to take 352 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. them out. He owed a thousand dollars which must be paid before he could leave the West. Mr. Bowen came to the young man’s relief. • He agreed to send out to Indianapolis five hundred dollars when Mr. Beecher accepted the call, and send out five hundred additional when he left to come to Brooklyn. The drafts for the money advanced, Mr. Bowen holds to this day. In due time Henry Ward Beecher arrived in Brook- lyn. He was a dilapidated specimen of a preacher. His hat was shockingly bad, his coat seedy, and his pants darned, his boots and his shirts equally out of repair. Mr. Bowen purchased for him an entire outfit. Purchased' the cloth and had a suit of clothes made up so the pastor of Plymouth Church could be presentable on Sunday. Mr. Beecher’s career in Brooklyn the world knows by heart. CXXVI. HUMOR OF SOBER MEX. lUMOR is a business power. It is a lubricat- ing force. It acts on life as oil acts on the joints of a locomotive. It adds nothing to the natural abilities of a man, but it gives ease and xfiay to every faculty. Morose men are not good men. Stern, miserly, bigoted, misanthrophic men, are not the best business men. The ‘‘Fathers,” as they are called, were humorous men ; their sermons are so broad that they could not be read to-day in our fastid- HUMOR OF SOBER MEN. 353 ious cliurches. The clergymen who have outlived their time and come down to us, were men of humor. South, Jeremy Taylor, Rowland Hill, Robert Hall, and Sidney Smith, are specimens. The old Puritan clergy were humorous men, and were not afraid to put their wit into the pulpit. They had no modern clackers, but when the minister said a good thing, the people said h-u-m, and the preachers rather liked it. Rowland Hill was nearly fifty years minister of Surrey Chapel. He rarely preached a sermon in which he did not both make the congregation laugh and cry. One night there was a disturbance in the gallery. Hill directed his attention to the tumult, and said, very slowly, ‘ ‘ When the sons of Grod came together, Satan came also among them,” shaking his finger slowly at the noisy crowd. A workman arose in the gallery, pulled down his forelock, and replied : ‘‘ May it please your reverence, ’ taint the devil neither. It’ s a woman wots fainted. She’s a fat un, and they can’t get her out.” “Oh, that’s it,” said the preacher, “is it? Then I ask the woman’s pardon and — the devil’s too.” Dominie Johnson was one of the early Episcopal preachers of Brooklyn. He was not as strict a church- ^ man nor as exact a follower of the Rubric as the fol- lowers of modern days. He was a sort of Presby- terian in robes using the prayer-book. He had good strong common sense with a vein of humor running through all his life, and his methods of reproof won, but did not wound. One day a couple of young men sitting in the front gallery annoyed him by their con- versation. He stopped in the sermon and asked their attention a moment ; he said, ‘ ‘ I am sorry the sexton treated you so badly. He gave you an uncomfortable seat, and I don’ t wonder you have been talking about 33 354 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. it ever since you have come in. You need not say any thing more about it, for I will see that when you come next Sunday, you have just as good a seat as any body in the house.” The young men joined the parish, and their children are now members of old St. John’s. Lyman Beechek was a very humorous specimen of the old-time clergy. He did not always keep his humor out of the pulpit. He needed exercise on Sun- day. He would not work; he dared not ride, so he shoveled sand in the cellar ; he choose sand because it made no noise. A young man came to town with an Episcopal ordination on him. He tried to convince Mr. Beecher that he had no right to preach, because the bishop of his church had not laid his hands upon him. I will tell you a story,” said the old divine. “ There was a blacksmith in our town, and his father was a blacksmith before him, and his grandfather before him. He was a clumsy shoer, his tools were coarse, and his scythes without temper. A new-comer disturbed his peace and took the town custom. He regarded the new-comer as an interloper, and thought he ought to have the custom because of his descent from his father and grandfather. ‘ I care nothing about your father nor your grandfather,’ said the new blacksmith. My scythes cut. I would rather have this brand on my tools than a certificate of descent from Tubal Cain.’ ” • I>r. Beecher produced a great excitement in Boston. He attacked Unitarianism with a vigorous hand. He had blows to take as well as blows to give. Some of the assaults on him were clearly libelous. His friends advised him to sue the maligners. He said, “No. When I lived in Litchfield, I wanted a book from the library of Yale College. On my return, I walked up the hill with the folio under my arm. I saw a black and white squirrel before me, and I said. Shoo ! The HUMOR OF SOBER MEM. 355 squirrel did not run, but turned and looked at me. I shied a stone, and it missed. In my excitement I hurled the volume. The book was ruined, and I had to burn my clothes. Since that time I have never thrown a body of divinity at a skunk.” T was one day at the noon prayer-meeting at the Old South. Dr. Beecher sat in front of the desk. A western man told the story of a minister, who preached a sermon on a stormy day to a single hearer. That hearer was converted and became a minister. Pointing his finger to Dr. Beecher, the stranger said: “I am happy to see the man who preach d that sermon, in this house this morning.” Dr. Beecher sprang to his feet greatly excited, and in a loud tone of voice said : There is not one word of truth in what that man says. I should not be such a fool as to preach a sermon to a single individual. I have chased that lie all over the country.” It is well known that Henry Ward Beecher keeps a EEPOETER in his church. The form of Mr. Ellenwood is as well known as that of the Plymouth pastor. He has sat for years at a little table in front of the plat- form, and takes down everything Mr. Beecher says, — his notices, prayers, and sermons. These Mr. Beecher revises before they are published. Sharp, racy, humor- ous utterances, keen remarks, sentences thrown off in the heat of speaking, witticisms that shake the Plym- outh audience, as the forest leaves are shaken by the _ winds, are often missed in the public report. Many of the illustrations lose much of their point, because no reporter can take down the manner of their utterance. His familiar illustrations are drawn from his own family, and these are constant. On a Sunday morning he brought his stepmother on to the platform. He de- 356 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. scribed lier as a woman of great excellence, but as a great martinet, strict in her religious practices and teachings, and like the mistress of Dotheboys Hall, she gave her children weekly a stiff dose of the catechism. She was the pink of propriety, and held in abhorrence all vain and trifling amusements. Hr. Beecher had a weakness — that of playing on a fiddle. He mixed up ‘‘ Yankee Hoodie,” a round country-dance, and ‘‘Old Hundred,” and he did not exactly know where the one began and the other ended. One day he was amusing himself on his favorite instrument, and struck up a genuine jig, which, unsanctified, had been running in his head ever since he was a boy. Just at that moment the mother came in and, catching the inspiration of the tune, placed her hands on her hips and actually danced a minuet. Mr. Beecher described the scene. He stepped back on the j)latform, placed his hands on his hips, and showed the audience how his mother did it. He described the con- sternation of the children. He clasped his hands, rolled up the whites of his eyes like a regular Maw- worm, opened his mouth, drew down his lips, and stood the personification of rustic horror. The whole scene w^as irresistibly comic. He wound up with the moral that if his mother had danced more and plied the cate- chism less, he would have had a happier childhood. There are few sharper men at repartee than Henry W ard Beecher. There are few livelier places than Ply- mouth Lecture Boom on Friday night. Mr. Beecher treats his people as he does his family. He sits in his chair as cozily as he would at his fireside, and says any racy, jolly thing that comes into his mind. When anybody bores him with a long speech he brings them up with a round turn. If they retort, he brings the laugh upon them, and they sit down covered with con- fusion. Very few Plymouth people try a retort with HUMOR OF SOBER MEN. 357 the pastor. A very venerable and solemn deacon was one night pronouncing a funeral oration over the past members of the church. “I was recalling,” he said, (and this was uttered in a very whining and solemn tone), ‘‘ the large number of people who used to take part in this meeting, who are now dead. I have the names of thirty or forty at home written in a hymn- •book, I think, Mr. Beecher, by yourself.” Mr. Beecher sprang up, and said, ‘‘There! I missed that hymn- book, but I did not think. Deacon , you had stolen it. Won’t you send it back?” A general laugh ran around the room, and the deacon suddenly terminated his funeral oration. One Friday night while the congregation were sing- ing a beautiful hymn, in which Mr. Beecher was join- ing heartily, the assistant minister came up, arrested the pastor’s attention by pulling his pants and handed him a note. At the close of the hymn Mr. Beecher re- buked the irreverence that grew out of a defective education, which did not regard singing as a part of devotion, which took the time of song for opening and shutting windows, rushing round and doing chores generally. Even ministers would use that time to scribble their notes, look over their sermons or call up the sexton and send him around the church on errands. He then read very impressively two verses of the hymn they were singing when he was interrupted, to show that it was really a prayer. “Had I heen making a prayer and brother had come and twitched my pants and handed me a note, the whole congregation would have been shocked.” To ward off the blow brother said : “ Mr. Beecher, I hadn’ t any hymn- book.” “And you hadn’t any prayer-book,” was the quick retort which the people relished keenly. 358 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Senator Dickinson was a very adroit man. A party of gentlemen were together, and were telling old- time stories. One referred to Senator Dickinson. He was not over-learned, but was very shrewd. He knew absolutely nothing of the classics and was greatly annoyed when one quoted Latin. Van Buren had swung off into Free Soil and the burden of the party was on Dickinson’s shoulders. A friend of Van Burem was eulogizing the ex-president in a speech. He spoke of Cur tins and compared Van Buren to that noble Homan. Dickinson went over to a seat occupied by a senator who was at home in all that relates' to the Romans. “ "Who is this Curtis, the senator is talking about O, he is not talking about Curtis at all. He is talking of a noble Roman patriot. His name was Curtius, not Curtis. ” “ W ell, what did he do “ Why, in the time of a great public calamity he threw himself into the breach, and saved his country.” “ 0 ! that’s it, is it. What did you say his name was ‘‘ Curtius.” “ Won’t you spell it?” C-u-r-t-i-u-s.” “ All right. Thank you,” said Dickinson as he went to his seat. As soon as the defender of Van Buren took his seat, Dickinson arose, fresh, confident, exuberant. He closed like a man fresh from the classics. ‘‘ And who is this Curtius, to whom the honorable senator com- pares Martin Van Buren? He was a noble Roman. He was a patriot. But how unlike Mr. Van Buren ! Curtius threw himself into the breach to save his coun- try. But Martin Van Buren threw his country into the breach to save himself.” Just before Mr. Seward handed over the depart- ment of state to the premier of Gen. Grant’s Adminis- tration, I called on the secretary at his official resi- dence. He was in fine health and spirits, and spent an hour in chatty conversation. President Lincoln being HUMOR OF SOBER MEN. 359 the subject of the talk. Mr. Lincoln, he said, carried with him through his whole career as President, the simple habits which marked him in his law practice in Springfield. If he wanted anything of the depart- ments, instead of ringing his bell and calling his mes- senger he would take his hat and run around from one office to another, just as one lawyer would run round to the office of a brother practitioner. If missed at night those in the secret could track him from place to jjlace and be sure to come up with the President in some one of his favorite haunts. He saw no reason why he should not enjoy himself as President as well as when he was plain Abraham Lincoln. The President had the utmost horror of form and red tape. He did not care how things were done, provided they were done. Adjutant-General Thomas was sent out to relieve Gene- ral Grant. Before he had a chance to serve his papers Yicksburgh surrendered and Thomas did not dare dis- turb matters, so he came home to make his ijeace with the President ; for as a soldier — and in time of war — he had violated orders. He sent a friend in to sound the President on his return to Washington. The Presi- dent was delighted at the surrender. Rubbing his hands he said : ‘‘Tell Thomas to come in. He did just right. He ought to have been shot if he obeyed orders.” One day a lady came to Mr. Seward’s office and handed him a scrap of paper on which was scribbled a few lines. The jmrport of the note was : “ Let this woman have one hundred dollars on account of the secret service fund, and send her on her mission.” The note was signed A. L. It is well known that Congress votes the President from sixty thousand to one hundred thousand dollars annually, as a secret service fund. Of this, the Secretary of State is custodian. He must 360 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. countersign the President’s order, or not a dollar of the fund can be used. But after the President receives the money, nobody can inquire what he does with it. Mr. Seward inquired of the woman what secret service she was to perform, that would justify his paying her one hundred dollars. “ Well, she was going to England to create a public sentiment there in favor of our coun- try.” The case was what Mr. Seward supposed. The woman had been hanging around the White House, bothering the life out of the President, and to get rid of her, he pro] 30 sed to give her a hundred dollars. I can give you no money for such a purpose,” said the Secretary of State. ‘Wour services are worth noth- ing. In London you would be a damage and not a benefit to us. I can’t throw away the people’s money in that fashion -for you.” The lady was not only in- dignant but astonished. ‘‘So you refuse to obey the President’s order ?” “I do.” “And you are a greater man than Mr. Lincoln, and when he says let me have a hundred dollars of his own money, you say I sha’n’t have it.” “Well, madam, if the President wants to give you a hundred dollars out of his own salary, he has a perfect right to do it. But you can have no money out of the secret service fund for such a tom fool’s errand as you are starting on.” “Give me my papers, sir, if you please,” said the excited lady, and off she started to find the President. Mr. Lincoln groaned as she crossed the threshold. “Well, what now ?” “ Mr. Seward won’t give me the money,” and she told her story. “Well, madam,” said the Presi- dent, ‘ ‘ I can do no more for you. I told you that I had very little influence with this administration !” A well-known newspaper publisher of Boston was celebrated for his penuriousness. A patron of the paper came in one day for an extra copy. Almost any HUMOR OF SOBER MEN. 361 one would have handed the customer a paper, and said, ‘‘You are welcome to a copy.” The publisher demanded the customary price. The gentleman had only a ten-dollar bill. JNTot at all dismayed the pub- lisher took the scrip, and went out to get it changed. In speaking of the affair one day one gentleman said to another: “I am not surprised, for I was in college with him.” “What sort of a boy was he?” “He was the meanest fellow you ever knew. He went be- hind the college buildings to eat his nuts and raisins, so that he need not give the fellows any.” The son of a rich Bostonian was light-headed. He was as near a fool as a rich man’s boy could be. He knew enough to build a house. He had a little den of a room he called his library. To his friends he said : “You see I can shut myself in here, it is so re- tired, and study a month ; nobody would be the wiser for it.” He had a quarrel one day with a gentleman, and he went down to Choate’s office to consult him on the matter. He paid tifty dollars as a retainer, and said, “I have been grossly insulted. I want you to advise me what to do.” “What was the nature of the insult?” said Choate. “The man told me to go to h .” “He told you that, did he?” and the great advocate arose to look into the law of it. He turned to his client very gravely, and said, “I wouldn’t do it. There is no law in Massachusetts to compel you to.” And the young man departed greatly relieved. In re- lation to bail the court asked Mr- Choate if he consid- ered a man presented responsible. Mr. Choate replied that the party in question had one piece of personal property for which he had refused to take ten thousand dollars. The piece of property so named was the man’s own nose. 3G3 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. A professor called on the late Deacoi^ Shute to bay a hat. He selected a four-dollar cotton hat. The hatter took down an elegant French hat very much in use at that time, and wished him to take that. ‘^The price of the hat is six dollars ; you shall have it for four.” “Well,” said the professor, “that is very kind ; but would you just as soon let me take the cotton hat, and give me the two dollars in money f ’ The boys used to say that the professor had dumplings for dinner on Monday because they could be boiled with the clothes and save fuel. John Todd, in the early part of his ministry, was always in hot water. In G-roton he had a violent con- troversy with one of the prominent men. The parish- ioner named one of his pigs, “John Todd.” The preacher sent him a letter, thanking him for the com- pliment, and especially as he had named one of the likeliest of his family after him. Dr. Sprague, of Dublin, N. H., was a very eccen- tric, as well as a very witty man. The clergy were divided, at that early day, between Liberals and Calvinists. A neighbor of Dr. Sprague was a very severe theologian. The gentlemen were together one day, when the visitor said: “How is it. Brother Sprague, that our hogs are so much fatter than yours ?” “Your hogs have brimstone once a week, and ours don’t ; and brimstone is good for hogs.” He read his text one day : “ Is thy servant a dog that he should do this great thing?” He added, quaintly : “And yet the dog he did it.” One of his customs in preaching was to turn round in the pulpit and catch flies that lighted on the window. Kev. Mr. Hopkins, of Salem, had an impediment HUMOR OF SOBER MEM. 363 in his speech which made some of his readings very ludicrous. Thus : “ The Lord spake unto Moses, say- ing — boo.” One day he said to his congregation : ‘‘As I was walking to church to-day, two irreverent youths walking behind me said : ‘ Let us go and hear Old Hopkins say boo. ’ Boo, my brethren.” Dr. Emmons preached a sermon against Universalism. The sermon was replied to, and Dr. Emmons was asked for a copy of his sermon, that the two might be pub- lished together. “It can’t be done,” said the sage of Franklin. “ The law of God forbids the yoking of an ox and ass together.” The Universalists had the best of it when they asked the preacher which was the ass. He had a trunk full of sermons. He lifted the lid one day, and said to Dr. Hawes: “Joel, I have got all these to answer for.” Dr. Strot^g, of Hartford, was part owner of a dis- tillery. He lived opposite the church, and he used to take a little mug over with him on Sundays. When asked why he did not let the sexton carry the mug into the pulpit, he replied, “ That his sexton had a weakness for white mugs.” He built an elegant house for the time, which gave great offense. A devout brother rode several miles to administer a rebuke to the city divine. Dr* Story saw him hitching his old horse to the post, and went to the door to avert the bolt. The reprover stood on the steps, looking up, exclaimed: “Brother Strong, you have got all swept and gar- nished?” “Certainly. Please to enter,” was the bland reply. Dr. Chapin, of Wethersfield, was celebrated for his wit. On his death-bed a sober brother stood by him. “ Brother Chapin, don’t you think you have been a little light and trilling in your day ? Are there 364 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. not some flies in your ointment?” ‘‘ Flies, flies,” said the dying man. ‘‘Yes, a good many of them, and some of them big as bumble-bees.” Dr. Howe, of Horthborough, sometimes met his match. A little boy was sent to the parsonage with a quarter of meat. He had visited the parsonage often, and had never gotten anything for it. One day he was quite rude and gave great offense to the minister. Dr. Howe said : “Boy, sit down in the chair and let me show you how you ought to visit the parsonage.” The doctor took the meat and went outside and gave a respectable knock on the door. “ Come in,” said the lad. In a very polite way Dr. Howe presented the meat. “You’re a nice lad,” was the response, “and here’s a quarter for you, v/hich you shall have every time you come.” A MINISTER complained of his congregation that they did not keei3 awake while he was preaching. He answered a railroad advertisement for sleepers, offering seventy and warranting them sound. Trouble arose in the parish and he was dismissed. He jjreached a farewell sermon from the words: “Sleep on now and take your rest.” I went up the North Diver in a steamboat. There were several ministers on board re- turning from an association. On the trip a notice ap- peared in the gangway reading in this wise : “Lost, a valise containing several manuscript sermons in writ- ing and other articles of clothing.” I sat down to a dinner in London, the table being laid in a prominent church. The liquors were abund- ant and varied. I never saw such a variety and quantity at any military dinner in New York. After the eating was over, the chairman, a well-known city HUMOR OF SOBER MEN. 3G5 pastor, arose, and said : Brethren, till your glasses. Here’s to the health of the pastor of this church.” This was drank with all honors. The glasses were tilled again to the pastor’s wife. Then to the elders each. It was curious to see how many men it took to run a church in London. The Father of Mills, of the haystack memory, was known as Father Mills. He was a sort of bishop in his way, traveling from point to point, everywhere welcomed, and everywhere honored. He drove his own wagon, and had favorite taverns on the road at which he was accustomed to stop to refresh man and beast. No man was thought the worse, if he was regular with the ^‘eleven o’clock” and ‘Mour o’clock.” Sling was the popular drink — half-and-half — a gill of Jamaica and a gill of water. The weary minister sat in an arm-chair in a public room. ‘‘ Deacon Jones, can I have a glass of sling with a half a gill of rum in it?” ‘‘You can.” It was prepared, and Father Mills sat by the tire enjoying the favorite mixture. As he took the last swallow he said : “ Deacon Jones, how much rum did you put into that drink ?” “I put in what you told me. I made the sling and added a half a gill of rum.” “Deacon Jones, won’t you bring up my horse ?” The dominie was drunk. Dr. Sprague, referred to above, was once preach- ing on the miracle of the loaves and fishes. He said they were no such paltry loaves as we have in these days. They were big, yes, quite as big as the Monad- noc Mountain. Looking out the pulpit window on the mountain, he shook his head, and said : “My brethren, I don’ t know about that. It’ s a tough match. ’ ’ He had an infidel in his parish, that annoyed him greatly, that sometimes got the best of the dominie. The doctor €66 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. preached one day on the devil, as a roaring lion. The infidel, who was a regular attendant on public worship, met the preacher as he came out of church. ‘‘ Your devil is a fool. Eoars, does he 1 when he wants to catch somebody. Clever fellow ! let’s them know he’s coming.” Me. Mooee, of Milford, was a witty and forehanded divine. He saw at the start, that his salary was to be small, and, to use his own phrase, he thought the min- ister of the parish should be well supported, and he concluded to support himself. By saving and farm- ing, he became one of the wealthiest men in the county. A secret society held a meeting in his church, and he was invited to make a prayer. He declined, because he knew nothing about the organization. He finally yielded, and his prayer in substance, was this: ‘‘Oh, Lord we have met, for we know not what. If it is a good thing, wilt Thou bless it, if it is a bad thing, wilt Thou curse it.” The society was greatly incensed. The pastor quietly replied : “ When I go into my cel- lar and tap a barrel of cider, I have to take what runs.” JosHUE Flago was an old-time Universalist minis- ter, — a man without education, whose moral standard was not very high. He possessed a rough vehement or- atory. He kej^t a tavern at one time, and his house was so demoralizing, that the town took away his license. The General Convention met at Winchester, and Thomas J. Sawyer was to be ordained. Out of respect for his years and services, Mr. Flagg was as- signed the ordaining prayer. He brought the house down by this x)assage : “Oh! Lord, wiU Thou bless Andrew Jackson, the Democratic candidate for Presi- dent of the United States, and grant that he may beat all his political enemies, as he beat the British band at the battle of New Orleans.” HUMOR OF SOBER MEM. 36 ? A PAKiSHiOT^ER sent to Dr. Howe a quaiter of meat. When the servant announced the donation, the old man said, “ I will go out and look at it.’’ He jjoked it with his cane, and with an expression of disgust on his countenance exclaimed : It’s nothing but a fore-quar- ter, but you may bring it in, boy.” A SEXSATiox preacher of Brooklyn used occasion- ally to shake up his congregation by his illustrations. One day he preached on prayer. He told the story of a man who turned pious, went to his minister, and had a prayer written for him. This he pasted on his foot- board. When he turned down his light he would point to the paper, and say, “Lord, them’s my sentiments,” as he Jumped into bed. Dr. Bextley, of Salem, during the War of 1812, found a hat full of notices awaiting his attention in the pulpit. He took up both hands full, held them up be- fore the people, and said : “ Brethren, here’s all sorts of people asking for all sorts of things. Let us pray.” Dr. Byles, of Boston, was the only Tory in New England. A guard was kept over his house to prevent the boys giving him a coat of tar and feathers. An elegant Boston girl refused to marry him, and allied herself to one of the Quincy s. When the divine met her he said: “So so, madam, you prefer Quincy to Byles.” “Yes, sir; and had there been anything worse than Byles, God would have brought them on Job when he afflicted him.” 368 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. CXXYII. JOSEPH P. HALE. R. HALE has placed his name among the emi- nent benefactors of the age. He has pro- duced an entire revolution in piano-building. This instrument, formerly a luxury and at high cost, has been placed within the reach of the mid- dle and artisan classes. The farmer on the prairie, the miner on the mountain, the fisherman on the sea-coast, and the intelligent mechanic anywhere, can adorn his home and educate his children with this elegant instru- ment. The system by which a substantial piano can be bought at less than half the ordinary price origi- nated with Mr. Hale, and by him has been perfected. He has been his own educator, the builder of his own style of business, the architect of his own fortune. He is one of the marked men of the age. His business is simply gigantic. It costs him a million a year to run it. From Christmas to Christmas he turns out five thousand five hundred pianos. He has twelve hundred men on his pay-roll, who are paid $12,000 a week. For sixteen years he has been manufacturing pianos in Xew York; during all this time Mr. Hale has never made a note, nor borrowed a dollar, nor incurred a debt that he did not pay on Saturday night. For ten years he had no clerk or book-keeper ; no foreman or collector. Immense, complicated, and distracting as the business was, he held everything in his own hands, made his own contracts, sold his goods, made all his purchases, and kept his own accounts. Not one man in a thousand could have done this and made it a suc- cess. JOSEPH P. HALE, 369 His system is a peculiar one. He does not believe in red tape, huge commissions, nor paying from thirty to forty per cent, to music-men or music-dealers for their good-will. Far-seeing, cool-headed, a mechanical exxDert with uncommon judgment, he proposed to revo- lutionize the piano trade. He saw no reason why the community should pay $800 for an instrument that could be afforded at $400 ; nor give $600 for what should cost $200 and allow a fair profit. He conceived it to be a duty to utilize the piano, and bring its boon to the masses as the printing-press and the telegraph-wire come to all. In carrying out this idea of reducing the incredible amount of profits, Mr. Hale has been emi- nently successful. He has built a piano of excellent qualities and elegant finish, and in material, range, compass, tone, wearing power, and durability, which, with the low price, has astonished the dealers of the world. He sells only at wholesale ; while he buys only for cash himself, he gives liberal credit to his cus- tomers. Once a year Mr. Hale makes his contracts with the principal dealers in the principal cities, — in Chicago and St. Louis ; in Baltimore and Nev/ York ; in Boston and Philadelphia ; and in all prominent cities West, North, and South. AYith all his facilities for business, Mr. Hale can not fill his orders. From three to five hundred are constantly ahead, and dealers wait their turn. The real value of the piano is attested by its popu- larity, by its increasing sales from year to year, and the system adopted in its manufacture. The pianos are cheap, not because the material is cheap or the workmanship faulty, but because the manufacturer knows how to economize ; knows how to turn out an instrument at the smallest possible cost. He gives the benefit of this economy to his customers. He contents himself with a small profit of ten dollars on an instru- 24 370 mCCESSFUL FOLKS. meixt, and Ms immense sales bring him in an income of $55,000 a year. A Hale piano can be purchased for a family or a school for $200, and from that upward to $300. In tone, finish, look and durability, it will be equal to those in the market for which the sum of $600 is asked. Place them side by side, cover up the name, and no one could tell the high-priced instrument from Hale’s low-priced one. Mr. Hale can manufac- ture a good piano cheaper than any other man in the United States. , He buys his stock in immense quanti- ties. He has the best workmen in the Slate. Many of his m«n have worked in the leading piano factories of the land. He buys his material of the same houses that furnish material for the costly pianos. The same men who manufacture parts for an $800 piano, do the same^ thing for Hale’s $200 ones. The same men make the jk'.ey-board, the frame, the screws, the wires and the feltin^ g. Borne of Hale’ s low-priced pianos have been in use in schools from six to ten years, and have been \ banged upon for ten hours a day, and are good and 'Sound I ‘■Ms moment. Mr. Hale’s customers not only continue- from year to year, but his patronage is con- stantly i ncreasing. One Western customer who sold sixteen pianos a year now sells a thousand. Mr. Hale’s personal history is as romantic as his business career. He was born at Bernardstown, Mass. His father, a hearty farmer, died when J oseph was three years old. His mother had. a hand-to-hand fight with poverty. She did her best to keep her little household together and give them bread. The spinning-wdieel and the loom afforded the narrow resources of support. Joseph was early put to work. School privileges were few, and those he was not permitted to enjoy. He was robust, intelligent and persevering, and at fourteen did the work of a man. In his boyhood he exhibited marked talent, and that calibre^ unbending integrity, JOSEPH P. HALE. 371 and firmness of purpose wMcli have marked his maturer life. Like John Quincy Adams, he “rode post.” Twice a week he took the mail on horseback, riding seventy-five miles, and leaving matter at seventeen post- offices. He took cheerfully any business that was hon- orable, and did it well. His theory was that business did not make the man — a resolute, vigorous person could achieve success out of anything. Such an one could go blindfold into life, lay his hands upon anything, and, if he choose, win. Acting on this principle, Mr. Hale took anything that promised a decent livelihood. His real business life began in W orcester . He had a faculty for building. He erected a large number of dwellings, and was con- tent with a small profit. Beside building, he had some business constantly on hand, hfow he was a painter, he kept a shoe store ; sold paper-hangings, crockery and house-furnishing goods ; then he was in the cut- lery business. All the while his building went on. He would build a house quicker and for less money than any man in the State. He used his own stock, painted some of his houses with his own hand, and furnished others. He bought largely from the great cities, and imported some of his own stock. His energy, his indomitable perseverance, fine judgment and busi- ness capacity, with his probity and manly manners, won the popular confidence and regard. He was ele- vated to positions of civil trust, had an honorable place in the great association of mechanics, and ranked fore- most among the citizens of Worcester. In the way of trade, he often visited New York. He saw at a glance that the metropolis — the great center of trade — was the place for a man who wanted to make a national repute. He sold out his business sixteen years ago, and came to the city. He had a capital of about thirty thousand dollars, was free from 372 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. debt, with no business on hand. He could not long be idle. He formed a partnership with a manufacturer of pianos ; for Mr. Hale saw that there was money in it. The connection proved an unfortunate one. The man misrepresented his business. He was a schemer, with- out capital, and deeply involved. Mr. Hale bought out this partner, and resolved hereafter to go alone. He purposed a revolution in the manufacture and sale of pianos. He would throw on the market an excellent instrument, at popular prices. The .industrial and middle 'classes should have a piano equal to the best, at a low cost — one that should meet the wants of the American people. Here his far-sightedness came in. He saw a great field for the sale of his instruments. Music was being introduced as a part of common-school education. Every farmer would want a piano as much as a cooking-stove. He had no sympathy with high prices and high commissions, and did not care whether the men who were enjoying these exorbitant rates were friends or foes. The system adopted by Mr. Hale became at once immensely popular. It embraced the following fea- tures : The production of first-class pianos, at a low price, and disposing of them so that dealers could sell them, at a profit, at two hundred dollars. To bring the price down, Mr. Hale gave personal attention to all the details of business. He watched every piece of work till the piano was complete. His factory is noted for holding all new improvements in manufacture. He buys only the best material — buys for cash, in large quantities. He buys at the lowest possible rates, and often has half a million feet of seasoned lumber on hand. Every workman is paid on Saturday afternoon, and every bill is paid before Saturday night. 'No liquor is allowed on the premises. A prominent piano- man said : “ Mr. Hale, you can not make pianos with- JOSEPH P. RALE. 373 ont Germans. You can not have Germans without beer.” “Well,” was the reply, “when I can not manufacture pianos without beer, then I will close up.” One thousand workmen are employed in the factory ; some of them came from the leading establishments in the city. If men do not like the rules, they are not obliged to remain. Once discharge’d, they are never allowed to return. The perfection of Hale’s pianos grows out of the methods of work. Men work by the piece. One man does one thing and nothing else. Each workman must be on time; he has a standard up to which his work must come. Every workman is allowed a certain number of young men who are apprenticed for three years. The lads work on the part of the instrument that the workman makes. The boy is instructed without troubling the principal. When the boy’s work comes up to the standard the workman gets the same pay he has for his own labor. At the end of three years the boy has a good trade, a bench of tools and regular employment. The musical profession appear to have given the low-priced piano a hearty, honest, and universal in- dorsement. A leading manufacturer who charges the highest price for pianos was recently out West. He looked into a large piano-house. He found six of his own instruments on sale— grand, square, and upright. The asking prices for these instruments was six, eight, and ten hundred dollars. In another room were fifty of Hale’s pianos. In look, tone, and finish, these low- priced instruments were equal to the costly ones in the other saloon. The city manufacturer complained of the meager display of his own pianos as compared with Hale’s lower-priced instruments. “ That is the way it is,” said the dealer. “We have fifty orders for Hale’s pianos to one of your high-priced ones. These low- 374 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. priced instruments are popular. They look well, wear well, sound well, and there is nothing but your name to distinguish your instrument from Mr. Hale’s. Mr. Hale says — and we believe him — that he uses the same material that you use ; puts in as good work as you put in ; buys the different parts from the men you deal with ; that substantially the work is equal to your own. Put a Hale piano into a school or family in any town in the South or West, and it will bring orders for a dozen more. The sale increases every year. My orders are behind, and I cannot get pianos enough to meet the demand. People are not fools. A man could not commit a big fraud on the public, continue it for a period of over sixteen years, and increase his business and his fortune all the while. Something besides low prices distinguishes Hale’s pianos. They have substantial merit, and prove themselves what they are recommended to be.” Mr. Hale’s personal traits have aided him in his career. He would attract attention anywhere by his tall and commanding stature. His face beams with intelligence and benevolence. His unquestioned busi- ness ability is manifest to all, with his strong common- sense, keen judgment, and what the world calls level- headedness. He early developed a talent for construc- tion, for executive ability, and intuitive knowledge of men, that made him everywhere master of the situation. Mr. Hale has kejjt his money out of real estate and out of speculations, held it in his own hands, and kept it strictly in his business. When reverses came that bring such devastation with them, Mr. Hale, having no interest to pay and fearing no shrinkage, has passed through panics without feeling them. His sales were never larger and his prospects never better than during the late linancial convulsion. Those who dislike his system of piano-building admire the manliness and JOSEPH P, HALE. srs integrity of the man. He is recognized as ’ a;' leader among the manufacturers of the nation. He has been called to positions of trust by acclamation. In matters of dispute he is accepted as an arbitrator. His tine judgment and probity seldom allow an appeal. His habits are very simple, and he practices what he de- mands of his men. He uses no liquor, and does not stimulate even with tea or coffee. When a lad, he saw the woes and sorrows of drunkenness. Like young Daniel in the king’s court, ‘‘ he purposed in his heart” not to drink wine nor strong drink, nor in any way contribute to the spread of intemperance. Mr. Hale’s manufactory is one of the most com- plete in the country. His buildings have kept pace with the increase of his business. He established him- self in 1860 in a small factory on Hudson and Canal. He soon outgrew his humble quarters and moved to larger ones. After three or four removals, each de- manded by the increase of his trade, Mr. Hale began the erection of his s]3lendid factory on Tenth avenue and Thirty-fifth street. The building is brick, eight stories high, with a frontage of four hundred and fifty feet. The r^oms are arranged to carry out Mr. Hale’s system, of manufacture. Each room is devoted to a specific part of the piano, and each workman spends his time on one part of the instrument, and does noth- ing else. In erecting this model building, Mr. Hale carried out his idea of pay as you go. Every story was paid for as it went up. All workmen were paid on Saturday night. When the roof was on and the fac- tory complete, there was not one dollar due any man for labor or stock. The grounds for a new and immense factory have been bought on the river at One-Hundred- and -Forty-sixth street. The new building will be eight hundred feet front, fifty feet wide, eight stories high, occuj^ying two blocks. The entire manufactory will be 376 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. under one roof. All parts of the instruments will be constructed in the building. Arrangements are made for ten freight-cars to run in and load under the roof. The present factory is eight stories high, to which an addition is being made of sixty by one hundred feet. Mr. Hale has constantly on hand two thousand pianos in process of completion. A piano is sent from the factory every thirty minutes during the ten hours of daily work. This establishment is run on a perfect system. Mr. Hale is master of details, making an instrument at the smallest possible cost. In the establishment there is no waste, no idleness, no confusion, no smoking, no- drinking, and no rioting. Every tool has its place, and every man is at his own bench. Mr. Hale is his own superintendent. Every improvement has been introduced to save time and insure economy, by Mr. Hale himself. One hundred pianos are worked upon a day. Each has a truck, so that the workmen can move it without assistance. Even in teaming the same economy is used — one horse is in the morning and another in the afternoon, so that no time is lost in feeding. This system of driving the work without waste runs through the entire establishment, and gives a clue to some of the methods by which an elegant piano can be afforded at so low a price. It has been charged that Mr. Hale could not sell pianos at his price and live, unless the instrument was an inferior one. He is charged with using green tim- ber and an inferior quality of rosewood, with cheap iron frames, screws, and wires. The answer to these charges is that such shams would not only be dishon- est, but foolish. Betw^een a ffrst-class article and an in- ferior one, the saving would only be fifteen dollars on a i:)iano. The profit on each instrument is only ten dol- lars, and the imperfect instrument would be thrown JOSEPH P. HALE. 377 back on him at his own cost. The fact stands ont that Mr. Hale makes and sells fifty-five hundred pianos a year. They go to all parts of the land, with a warran- tee that the maker is well able to back up. On these pianos, eminent houses are not afraid to stencil their own name. The trade for sixteen years has been in- creasing, and the oldest customers are still patrons of the house. Every consideration of policy and integ- rity demands of Mr. Hale an honest instrument. A piece of timber is not allowed to be used till it is two years old. The stuff must be clear or the tone will be harmed. The best material and the best workmanship are secured, both American and im^Dorted. This guar- antees the excellence of the piano, and the instrument makes its own sale. Mr. Hale is very bold in defending his workman- ship. He ordered from Stein way, Chickering, and Weber, each, one of their best pianos. These have been placed in his wareroom, between his own. A piano sold for six hundred dollars is put in contrast with one of Hale’s, which is offered for two hundred dollars. Customers can test each, and test the relative merits of the high price and the low. All unknown to fame, sixteen years ago, Joseph P. Hale began his career as a piano manufacturer in New York. From his little establishment on Canal street, he sent out a solitary piano destined to make a revolution in the trade. He has built up a gigantic business, holding on steadily to his motto of a good piano at a low price. His fame is as wide as the coun- try. His pianos are sold in every part of the land. His beneficent labors have made glad thousands of humble homes, and carried happiness to tens of thou- sands of hearts. It was a great step for humanity wdien Massachusetts put carpets and cooking-stoves among the ‘‘necessaries of life ” which the sheriff could 378 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. not touch. Mr. Hale has done more than this. He has not only made a fortune out of his trade, but he has placed the elegance and charm of music, hereto- fore a luxury, monopolized by the rich, within the reach of the great mass of families in America, and put a fine piano within the means of the middle and working people of the United States. CXXYIII. EEY. GEORGE C. LORIMER. R. LORIMER is without question the most popular pastor in Boston. He preaches, and has for years, to the largest regular congre- gation in Massachusetts. The Temple in which he officiates stands in a locality that has been abandoned by a dozen churches once strong and popu- lar — abandoned because a congregation could not be maintained in that locality. Yet the Temple is always crowded — crowded even on a rainy day, when fashion- able churches in fashionable localitievS do not hold a corporal’s guard. It is said that a chUrch cannot be maintained in Lower Boston. Y^et the Temple has no dwellings near it, all the audience come from afar, yet every Sunday crowds stand in the aisles and ves- tibules, and hundreds go away because standing-room is denied. It is said that people will not worship in a hall, yet the Temple is a hall, and used six nights in the week for lectures, concerts, enter- tainments and secular purposes. While the elegant ' ijyA5:r / REV. GEORGE C. LORIMER. 379 houses of worship in the neighborhood are deserted the Temple overflows. It is said that people will not go into a chamber to hear a sermon, yet all who hear Dr. Lorimer have to go up two flights of stairs, and this does not deter the rush. The thinness of many churches is accounted for on the ground that they are sectarian, and the day of sectarian worship is over. Yet the Temple Church is one of the strictest of Baptist churches, and the pastor is an out-and-out denomina- tional man. A free church, it is said, cannot be main- tained, yet the Temple is free as the ]3avement. The revenue is large, and the financial condition is as good as any Boston church that has not an endowment for its support. Mr. Lorimer was educated for the stage, and has had some experience as an actor. He is a slim, wiry, frail-looking man, with an Italian countenance. He possesses marvelous energy, a magnetism scarcely paralleled, and a delivery heated and impassioned, into which his stage education comes into full play. His sermons are very far above the ordinary level of preaching, and these he writes with care. He leaves his manuscript at home, and delivers his sermon with- out a scrap of writing before him. His congregations are huge, his Sunday-school is of mammoth propor- tions, and his Sunday night prayer-meetings have not an equal in New England. His temper is gentle, his manner modest, and he is popular among the clergy of the city, and especially so among the brethren of his own denomination. Mr. Lorimer came from Edinburgh v/hen he was nineteen years of age. He had a good education and selected the stage as a profession. He accidentally, or pi'ovidentially, entered the Walnut Street Baptist Church at Louisville, Ky. A revival was in progress, and the attention of the actor was at once arrested. 380 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. He committed himself to religion, was baptized, and found himself a stranger in a strange city with- out profession or income. He secured admission at the Georgetown college, and was soon drawn into the work of the Christian ministry. He preached in Frankfort, and was settled in Paducah, where his labors were crowned with marked success. The civil war broke out, and Mr. Lorimer’s pastorate was ter- minated by the civil strife. Paducah was an important military post, and the people were divided on the great questions of the war. An important church- at Louis- ville was vacant, and Mr. Lorimer was invited to occupy it for three months. During his occupancy of the pulpit he won all hearts, and an enthusiastic call was tendered him. He removed to Albany. He was invited to the important and responsible post of the pastor of the Shawmut Avenue, Boston, one of the most elegant locations of the favored city. The im-' portance of the Temple work was acknowledged every where. The church was embarrassed, and a man of peculiar gifts was demanded to lift the Temple congre- gation out of its difficulties. The fitness of Dr. Lorimer for the post was universally conceded. Would he leave his elegant retreat for the bustle of the Temple platform? Would he tear, himself from an affectionate, considerate and liberal people, and lay himself on the altar of public duty. Public considera- tions overruled private preferences. He at once en- tered on his new field, and the marvelous success which crowned his first work has crowned all his labors. He is in the height of his fame and prime of his life. There is no reason why a brighter future may not attend his industry and talent. The elements of Mr, Lorimer’s success can be stated in a few words. He has rare and peculiar popular gifts as a preacher. His manners are impressive and REV. GEORGE G. LORIMER. 381 suited to the popular idea of a minister. He has ex- ecutive ability in a marked degree. He governs his church by not seeming to govern it at all. His in- dustry is marvelous, and his zeal untiring. He does not rely on his ability to talk, nor on his popular gifts. He is one of the hardest students in Boston, and studies carefully every sermon he preaches. He is manly, liberal, and devoted to his work. He is sound and evangelical, and has ah unblenching faith in the truth and power of the gospel. A perpetual revival attends his ministry. The personal of Hr. Lorimer’s life throws light on his character. One Sabbath morning in 1867, he held service in the Walnut Street Church, Louisville. The house was crowded. The hand of fellowship was given to one hundred persons, and a distinct verse of Scrip- ture was given to each candidate, without the pastor once repeating himself. In the midst of the sermon a man arose in the back of the congregation, and fired a pistol in the direction of the pulpit. ' The bullet struck near Mr. Lorimer’s foot. The pastor was self-com- posed. He ordered the minister who was with him on the platform, to retire. He ordered the congregation to lower themselves in the pews, to be out of harm’s way. While he stood exposed, a bullet whistled over his head, and another by his ear ; he never budged, but called out for some one to secure the ruffian. This was done after a struggle, and a brief prayer relieved the excited congregation. The man was a monomaniac, and was trying to kill a cousin he had seen enter the church. He testified before the magistrate that he would not have fired at brother Lorimer if he had been minding his own business ; that is, had he been preach- ing himself, instead of having a brother preach for him. During a season of revival meetings, held at Paducah, Dr. Lorimer preached an exhortatory ser- 882 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. inon. At the close, he gave an invitation to sinners to come to the front seats. The surprise of the preacher was great when three or four couples came down the center aisle. The preacher rejoiced at the pungency of his sermon. The deacons fairly moaned out their interest. In answer to the question whether they came seeking Jesus, the the leading gentleman replied, ‘‘ ]N"o, sir; we have come to get married.” The audience fairly shouted, and the hilarity was tuned down by a suitable prayer by one of the deacons. Officiating at a wedding, the pastor detected in the breath of the groom the love of liquor-. Into the ordinary ceremony the preacher interjected the words, “You solemnly promise and swear that you will never taste or touch any intoxicating liquors as a beverage, so help you God,” thus making the bride and groom take the pledge at the same time. Dr. Lorimer never failed in revival services. From his ordination at Harodsburg in Kentucky, in 1859, to the present hour, he has been engaged in this work. In his earlier ministrj^ he was famous for preaching in the sparse settlements and in the open air. In Bardstown, the center of Catholic intluence, he held some remarkable meetings which resulted in great gains to Protestantism. Dr. Lorimer is very popular with the churches, and has been called to prominent positions in all parts of the land. He has been called several times to New York City, but never saw the Lord’s hand clear enough to accept. He works by system, divides the day and gives to each hour its duties. He works usually until twelve o’clock at night. Writes his sermons in full, does not memorize or read. He selects deacons he can trust, and never interferes with their duties. He knows all his members, does much pastoral work, and never forgets anyone. The poor of the church share his special attention. ALPHEV8 HARDY. 383 CXXIX. ALPHEUS HARDY. R. HARDY’S fame will rest on the ability with which he has managed the Sears estate. Joshua Sears was a grocer and trader on Long Wharf, Boston. He amassed a for- tune, and left it in trust for his son, an infant six months old. The property was estimated at the sum of seventeen hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Hardy was the principal trustee, though two others were asso- ciated with him in the care of the property. He invested the funds with great skill*, buying the most valuable estates in the heart of Boston, buying prop- erty for one dollar a foot, that afterward rose to the value of eleven dollars a foot. Before the great tire, the Sears estate was reputed to be worth eleven mil- lions. Mr. Hardy was born in one of the thriving fish- ing towns on the cape, and was early put to work to take care of himself. He was educated for the minis- try, and entered Andover Theological Seminary. His health failed him, and he took to trade. He was well educated in business, and located himself as a com- mission merchant in South Market street. He was smart, capable, industrious, and honest. He made some money, married some money, inherited some money, and was tolerably well off, and won the confi- dence of the business community. Mr. Sears was a near neighbor, and observed the talents and character of his townsmen, and he felt that his fortune would be safe in Mr. Hardy’s hands. Hardy was identified with the Congregational Church. He was an early and ^5l}eadfast friend of Rev. Wm. M. Rogers, one of the 384 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. most amiable and popular preachers of Boston. Such was the confidence reposed in Mr. Hardy’s religious character, that he became one of the commissioners of the American Board. Mr. Hardy’s position as trustee of the Sears estate was one of great pecuniary value. His salary of twenty -five, thousand dollars a year, enjoyed for twenty-one years, with his commissions from the estate, made a royal revenue that few merchants in Boston ever enjoyed. Had he possessed less ability, he would never have been elevated to this responsible trust. Had he less character, no matter how able he was, he would have been passed by like thousands of others. The estate has involved great responsibilities, which have been well met. When the Morning Star” was launched, Mr. Hardy asked a friend to take charge of young Sears, while he attended the send-off. On his return, his friend said : ‘ ‘ Mr. Hardy, I am glad you have come back. I never had an eight-million boy under my care before, and I never want one again.” cxxx. FREDERICK TUDOR. HAT beautiful peninsula, Xahant, the abode of the Boston aristocracy, is one of the most at- tractive spots in New England. Mr. Tudor was one of the earliest to discover its attrac- tiveness, and has left the mark of his genius upon the place. His great sea-wall, his caverns, his dens of lions. FREDEniCK TUDOR. 185 his attractive stone cottage and peculiar walls remain to attest his genius and public spirit. His peculiar garden walls with their perforated tops taught the i^eo- ple how to defy the rugged climate and tierce winds and raise choice fruits in spite of the climes. Mr. Tudor was a genius and above his age. As a merchant he was in advance of the slow conservative methods of business, no rules could confine him, and as a trader in coffee and sugars he attempted to control the market. He overshot the mark and failed. He made a frank statement of his affairs to his creditors, and told them if they would let him alone he would bring them out all right, and pay them dollar for dollar. He said he would want fifteen thousand dollars a year to live on, that he must have. His creditors were sensible enough to comply with his wishes, and he made good all his promises. He was a genius in his way, and proj^osed to cover Nahant with shade trees. He planted the buttonwood for rapid growth, and placed an elm be- tween. The buttonwoods have perished, but the elms now fiourish in beauty. In a small way he began the ice trade with tropical climes, made a success of the business, sent ice around the globe, and left a valuable trade to his heirs. His marriage was a romantic one, and his memory is kept green by his genius and enterprise, of which Nahant itself is his own best monument. 25 386 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. CXXXI. SIMMONS, OF OAK HALL. AK HALL,” Boston, is as well known as the State House. It is not much to look at. The building is low, two stories in height, and wears the air of dilapidation. The locality has been abandoned by the principal business men, who have gone up-town. Mr. Simmons does not follow the drift of trade, nor spend his capital in ex- pensive warehouses. He does an immense trade, and shows conclusively that it is not the location, but the man, that commands success. His father lived in the building known as “Oak Hall,” and the present pro- prietor was born in his own counting-room. He is a Napoleon in the clothing business. He can furnish an outfit for one thousand troops as easily as he can fit a suit of clothes on a farmer’s lad. Mr. Simmons made early inroads on the old style of doing business. His uncle, who made a fortune in trade, started George in business, but his success is his own. The merchants of Boston were old-fashioned and old-fogy in their style of doing business. They sat in their stores and waited for customers to call. If a man wanted anything, he asked for it. Mr. Simmons re- solved to make Boston acquainted with the goods he had to sell, and solicit custom. His announcements and advertisements were remarkable. He astounded Boston with the vigorous style he prosecuted his busi- ness. Boston was not pleased with the new departure. The, departure from the old-time custom was deemed an outrage. An attempt was made to put a stoj) to the audacious trader. The matter was grave enough for a SIMMONS, OF OAK HALL. 387 noon -day meeting in Faneiiil Hall. It was an indigna- tion meeting of Boston merchants publicly called to denounce Mr. Simmons’ manner of trade. Mr. Palmer, a well-known merchant and member of Park Street Church, was called to the chair. The meeting was as successful as an attempt to stop the flow of Niagara Falls. The efforts of his opponents were futile — the new system triumphed. Under his enterprising meth- ods, Mr. Simmons has secured a fame as wide as the business world, and become a millionaire in his own right. Mr. Simmons’ efforts to save the ‘‘Old South” from demolition have given him a national repute. The Old South Society is one of the wealthiest parishes in the nation. Its great wealth came from a plot of ground donated by Mrs. Norton, the wife of one of the pastors. The parish moved up-town, built an extravagant house of worship, and put the old church on the market. It was sold with a peremptory clause that it should be taken down within a given time. Mr. Simmons stepped in and arrested the vandalism. But for him the great revolutionary relic of the age would have been torn down and the material scattered to the four winds of Heaven. He put himself under heavy pecuniary obli- gations, arrested the destruction of the building, and put it in such a position that it could be purchased and devoted to history, art, and science for all coming time. 388 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. CXXXII. KEY. E. L. MAGOOK R. MAGOOX is the sesthetic preacher of the age. His love of art, of music, and of pic- tures, is all-absorbing. His taste and high culture do not help him as a Baptist min- ister. Had he entered the Catholic Church or adopted the ritualistic ideas he would have stood foremost among the artistic preachers of the age. The Baptists are the plainest people among the large brotherhood of Christians. They look upon the enthusiasm with which Dr. Magoon revels among the line arts, as the old Puritans would have looked upon a brother who should have built a cruciform church, embossed a cross on the pulpit panel, or tucked a lot of bodiless angels on the church ceiling. The love of the beautiful that has led Dr. Magoon to fill his residence with paintings from basement to attic, is a cultivated one. He was born among the hills of New Hampshire, among poverty and grinding toil. He had little edu- cation, and at sixteen left his home to secure a situa- tion and earn a living. His caihtal was two dollars and sixty-six cents. A tramp to Vermont reduced his money to six coppers. The state of his finances led him to halt and look around for work. He saw a farmer laying the foundation of a new house, and at once took hold and laid his first brick. He did his work so well that he found steady employment for four years. His pay was small, and it took all his time to keep a roof over his head, and furnish him him with food and clothing. He had an intense long- ing for an education, but he labored on in his ignorance REV. E. L. MAG 0 ON. 389 and in poverty. He removed to Lowell, and resumed his old work of laying brick. He had a great hatred for ministers of religion. He looked upon each one as a personal enemy. He regarded them as a class who prey on the community, living comfortably and giving nothing in return. He knew several of the Lowell clergymen by sight. One day Magoon was at work laying brick, with his hodman at his side. He saw a Baptist clergyman ai^proaching. He stopped to look at him, as a matter of curiosity. To the astonishment of the young man, the clergyman stopped, spoke a few kind words, and gave the young man a personal invi- tation to his church. The next Sunday he was in the congregation. He was converted, and resolved to study for the ministry. The Northern Baptist Edu- cational Society helped him in his preliminary studies. Three years were devoted to preparation, during which time the trowel was kept in active use. He entered Waterville College as a beneficiary of the society. He found that he could earn a good support by spreading plaster and laying bricks. He ordered the society to strike his name off their rolls, and aid some young man who had no trade. After his graduation he labored three months with his trowel, and then entered Newton Theological School. Dr. Magoon, since his ordination, has been one of the most prominent men in his denom- ination. 390 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. CXXXIII. EDWARD A. SOTHERN. OTHERN the actor is a creature of accident, or as his friends put it, of a mistake. To this fact he owes his fame and his fortune. He played at Barnum’s in 1853. He was an Englishman, but had never played in his own country. He went to W allack’ s and played small parts. He was a light comedian with very little promise of being famous. Matilda Heron opened her theater with “Camille.” By an accident the part of Duval was given to Sothern. He made quite a hit in the charac- ter of Amand. He showed little ability, and gave no promise of parts. Laura Keene’ s theater was bankrupt. It owed fifty thousand dollars. It did not pay anything — neither rent, gas bills, nor salaries. To keep along, the com- monwealth plan was adopted. The running expenses were paid. Out of what was left the company were to be paid pro rata. Heller came to the theater with a play written by Tom Taylor, a mere hodge-podge, with a sixteen-line part for Dundreary. This play had been sold to Silsby, a Yankee comedian, for the sum of twen- ty-five pounds, with the name of “ The American Cou- sin.” The company were desperate and took the play on a venture. It was agreed to pay five hundred dol- lars for the use of the play the first week. If the suc- cess warranted the going on another week, five hun- dred dollars more were to be paid, and then the play was to belong to the company. The actors rebelled — the thing was too ridiculous to stand, and the piece would be damned at the start. Sothern was essentially mad. EDWAMD A. SOTHERN. 391 The part of Dundreary, assigned to him, was a trilling one and too ridiculous to claim a moment’s attention. He flung it from him in disgust and refused to act. One of the company, an especial friend of Sothern’ s, said to him: “Come, Ned, don’t go back on us. It can’t be any worse if the whole thing fails, and some- thing may come of it.” Sothern consented to act. He resolved to make the part as ridiculous and nonsensical as possible, and throw the whole thing into a broad burlesque. A piece had been acted on Wallack’s boards in which there was a character known as Lord Peppery’s son. He was distinguished for his loud attire, his swallow-tailed coat, and a make-up that was extravagant. Sothern borrowed the swallow- tailed coat and flxings, adopted a stammer, put on a lisp, assumed a wig with his hair parted in the middle, and appeared a London swell, as ridiculous as one could be made up. On coming on the stage he tripped. The audience laughed, but whether they were laughing at him, or his ridiculous array, he could not tell. He went on with the play, and the part proved a great hit, and a great success. The audience laughed with him, and he held the people in his hands. The house was a small one, — about one hundred and seventy-five dollars. Before the week ended crowds were turned away from the door at night. On the second week the commonwealth system was abolished, and before the third week the debt of fifty thousand dollars was wiped out. Before the season ended the company had earned fifty thou- sand additional. Sothern, by an accidental cast in a low burlesque of an English swell, found himself famous, and on the road to fortune. He went starring it through the country, and was everywhere greeted by crowds. In the midst of this success Sothern received a pro- 392 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. posal from Buxton, the manager of Hay market Square Theater, London, to produce the play in that theater. He hesitated about an acceptance. He was fearful that the London public would not accept a stinging burlesque of an English fop. He weighed the matter and concluded to go to London and produce his burlesque on a British swell. Before the play was produced, the manager became shaky. He was told that the British public would hiss the actor olf the stage. Buxton tried to break the contract, and then to induce Sothern to change the play. He was plucky, he came three thousand miles to make the experiment, and he would make it anyway. No such hit was ever known. The pla}^ was produced one thousand nights, and never failed to attract an enthusiastic crowd. Every year Mr. Sothern visits London to produce Lord Dundreary. He is soon to return to Europe on his annual visit. He proposed to go round the globe and produce his part in every land wlien the English tongue is stjoken. Sothern is a rich man. He dictates his own terms. He has half the house, or live hundred dollars a night, and his steady income from his part is twenty-five hundred dollars a week. He is lifty-two years old, and never acted in England till he was famous in America. WILLIAM J. FLORENCE. 393 CXXXIY. WILLIAM J. FLORENCE. LORENCE bounded from a small actor into a star. Few can remember when he had not the same i^osition he has now. Barney Williams was his brother-in-law, and he obtained great assistance from that distinguished comedian. The Irish Boy and Yankee Girl, played by Barney and his wife, introduced a new style of play that was very attractive. Florence married a dancing girl, Miss Malvena, who was very handsome and very attractive. Florence got hold of some of Barney Williams’ parts, and resolved to adopt the same line, and the couple started out to star the country and to take the provincial towns by storm. Florence had a queer brogue, but it was a fortune to him. He had a genial way. His wife was pretcy, was a superb dancer and a singer of much merit. By dint of advertisement and much posting, making friends outside the theater, visiting saloons and bar-rooms, he became a star at once and a star of much attraction. He was a hard student, an indomitable worker, improved every moment of his time, became a charming actor for the country and realized a fortune of not less than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars by his acting. He possessed a remarkable memory, as a single illustration will show. He made an annual trip to Europe, and as he never stinted himself in the use of the press, his coming and going was carefully heralded. He saw Robinson’s play of “Caste” and thought it would make good capital for him in America. He night and made himself attended the play night after 394 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. familiar with its details. He secured a copy and brought it to America. The play had been sold to Wallack’s, and was to be produced at that theater. Florence cared little for this and went on his way. Wallack obtained an injunction. Florence claimed that Wallack had no claim to the play, either b 7 the law of copyright or by the right of authorship. He denied that he used any copy of the author, but produced the play wholly from memory after reaching America. He swore to this, and actors pronounce this the most marvelous example of memory ever known on the stage. CXXXY. LOTT A. OTTA is a good illustration of a heroic woman who achieved fame and fortune against the most disheartening odds. She was born of an English peasantry, probably in Aus- tralia, from whence she drifted to California. She had little education, and seemed doomed to a life of penury and toil. Her inheritance to which she was born, was great beauty, a pretty, sunny face, great animal spirits, and a voice for song. She began her life as a sort of tramp, in the mining regions. Here her lithe and agile figure charmed in the dance ; her cheery smile and song attracted attention. She danced on the boards in front of the miner’s hut, and accompanied the childish song with the delicate touch of the banjo. She played small parts in the rude theaters of the region. The name of LOTT A. 395 Lotta Crabtree was popular among tlie rude tents of earlier Californians. She earned money enough to help her parents, and to pay her passage to New York. She came across the Isthmus because it was cheap. Once in New York, her sunny face, the excellence of her disposition, and her unblemished morals, raised her up many friends. She played in little farces at odd times, was excellent at personation, and was a little witch as a negro girl. Mr. , the celebrated dra- matic writer, wrote a play expressly for Lotta. She was bewitching in it, with her pretty saucy face, and her weird-like motions, and curly hair. She had good strong common sense, and that English faith in good- ness, that stood her in good stead. In the country and provincial towns she was popular from the start, and starred it with success. An actress she never was in any sense, but she was popular everywhere, and retains her popularity to this hour. She had something better than mere talent. She was like the man who travels with the coin of realm in his pocket, who is better than his rich neighbor, who has his wealth in nuggets, never has change, and can buy nothing. To overcome the disadvantages of her small educa- tion, she has been compelled to study hard, and her health has often been impaired by overwork. To her mother, who has been her constant attendant, Lotta owes much. She has not only been the constant attend- ant and friend of the young artist, but has proved her- self a business woman of great capacity. Her father, who did not amount to much, was pensioned otf in England, where he lives in comfort, while the mother and daughter go along their swinging way to fortune. Lotta has proved herself an excellent girl, possessed of a fine character and good principles. SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. CXXXVL OLE BULL, VIOLINIST. ^fLE BULL was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1810 . His family were amateurs, and he was surrounded by music from his infancy. His uncle pronounced music the divinest of arts. He had a large collection of rare instruments. Musical clubs often met at his house. The boy. Ole, showed a great passion for music at an early age. His uncle often shut him up in a violincello-case while he was playing. Nothing could restrain the enthusiastic lad, and music nearly crazed him. AVhile his uncle played, the boy beat time with his feet, and seizing the yard- stick would imitate the playing. His father — after the fashion of fathers — was not pleased with the bent of the boy. He did everything in his power to repress this passion for music. His uncle was more consider- ate. He gave the boy, when he was five years old, a cheap violin with a cover as yellow as saffron. With- out an instructor he mastered the instrument, and was by everyone considered a prodigy. At seven years old he began his artistic career, and played at a concert at Bergen. Near by his home on the island of Valestrand, a cave is still pointed out as the place where young Ole perfected himself on the violin. He passed nights and days in his practice. The weird sounds that came from the cave filled the rustics with asi/Onishment and alarm. They thought the fairies were holding carnival. In that solitary dwelling-place he secured that wonder- ful mastery over the violin which has marked all his public career. He had undoubted talent, but it was his enthusiasm, magnetism and industry that bore OLE BULL, VIOLINIST. 397 away all barriers before Mm. When he reached the age of ten, an attempt was made to make him play by rule. The lessons agonized his spirit, and his suffer- ings found vent in cries and screams. His genius would not go in harness and he had to bring out his music as God had appointed unto him. He felt what Haydn had expressed long before. The critic said to the great composer: “You can’t be right, for your music is contrary to rule.” “I care nothing about rule,” he said, “I adopt what is most agreeable.” His precocity and genius were everywhere recognized. With no friend but his violin, at twenty, he started for Paris. He desired to hear the great artists of the world -and to perfect himself in playing. He formed alliances that tinged and affected his whole life. The gay capital recognized his genius, and he produced, through the French empire, a furore that had never been equalled. The old world was too narrow for his spirit, which claimed sympathy with the universe. Ole Bull was educated for the ministry. Afterward he studied for the law and was admitted to the bar. Ho study and no discipline could repress his love for the violin. The ministry in him and his inspiration carried him on to his destination. In Italy his star rose resplendent. Like so many men of genius, an ac- cident brought him to the front. He was at Bologna under depressing circumstances, trying to compose a piece of music. Mme. Hossini by chance passed his apartment. Her attention was arrested by the ravish- ing music she heard. The Philharmonic Society was in distress owing to the failure of distinguished artists. The directors were informed that a great treasure was within reach. Ole Bull was sent for, received with eclat, and entered upon a career of success that fol- lowed him around the globe. The sympathy that exists between Ole Bull and his violin bewitches an 398 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. audience. He talks to Ms instrument, pets it, caresses it, and breathes his soul into it. The violin responds to this caress, and with it the great artist sways the multitude as forests are swayed by the tempest. He plays into it as if he was indifferent to all other praise ; toys with it, lays his head upon it, and holds it as if he was afraid it would escape him. There is a sort of idolatry that Ole Bull exhibits towards the violin. Whatever he wills it, that it becomes, and enthusiasm is irresistible. The great artist possesses extraordinary physical strength, and this aids him in excelling all others in his playing. He can play three or four parts without the least scratch or the production of a disagreeable sound. His muscular power enables him to press the bow on all four strings at the same time. He has an ethereal look when playing, pure and vigorous, and his soul, intensely inspired, looks earnestly out from his speaking eyes. Ole Bull is liberal, large-hearted and unselfish. He has been wronged and robbed on all hands. He shared his room and his gains at Paris with a poor artist. The ingrate robbed him and even carried off his violin. Ole Bull made a business arrangement with Schuberth to visit America. The artist and agent landed in New York in 1843. He appeared at Park Theater, and re- ceived an ovation that had never before been tendered to a European musician. He took the city by storm, and the audiences were beside themselves with delight, while the orchestra threw down their instruments in ecstatic wonder. Bold as a lion, and courageous as Henry of Navarre, his body riddled with bullets in the cause of freedom, he was one of the most sympathetic ^‘f men, simjde-hearted and confiding, and most easily imposed upon. Himself a man of sterling honesty and ihe soul of honor, he would not believe that others OLE BULL, VIOLINIST. 399 would wrong him. He was cheated and defrauded on all hands. Without fault of his own, he was constantly involved in lawsuits. Men whom he trusted betrayed him. His great gains dissolved like snow before an April sun. His contract with Schuberth was an unfor- tunate one. A disagreement was followed by a lawsuit both expensive and vexatious. Amid all this Ole Bull’s heart never grew hard. He was still open- handed. He confided in men, trusted in them, only to be further betrayed and more deeply wronged. A correspondence was opened with Ole Bull by Prof. J. Jay Watson to induce the great artist to leave his Norwegian home and again visit America. The visit of Prof. Watson to Norway, the present of the Amati violin, worth five thousand in gold, has been al- luded to elsewhere. Ole Bull revisited our shores in 1852. He was delighted with his young correspond- ent, marked with pleasure his enthusiasm on the violin, and a sym 2 :)athetic bond seemed to be at once formed between the two artists. No man was ever more popu- lar among his people than was Ole Bull. The affection that the Norwegians bore him broke out like an eruption. He was a popular idol, a sort of household god. His face was in all the public x^^^ces of Norway. It was embossed on the tea cups, drink- ing cups, and household goods of the nation. Hon- ors were conferred upon him, and he scattered his great wealth in donations large as the seas. His face, luminous as a cathedral window lit up for Christmas, seemed to carry joy everywhere. As he landed on our shores he was hailed as the friend of America. Even now, in 1878, he exhibits the leniency of time. His mas- sive frame is tall and erect ; his stex9 firm and elastic ; his intellect clear and vigorous as when he drew his first bow in America, in 1843. The same kind smile, the same ox)en-handed beneficence, the same hearty 400 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. and trusty friend, as if lie had never been wronged, never defrauded, never been the victim of ingratitude or treachery. When his fortune melted away, as men wronged him out of his hard earnings, he could always recover himself with the wondrous magic of his violin. He plays after his own fashion. He is a great wizard, that enchants his auditors. His prodigious strength seems like the feat of a Sampson. His feats in double and treble stopping make an audience hold their breath. He seems to have aid from the invisible world as he performs two or three parts at once on his violin. Undoubtedly he owes much to his personal traits. His simplicity seems childlike. His awkwardness and timidness, whether real or affected, is a source of power. When he steps before an audience, those who don’t know him feel surprised ; next they give him sympa- thy ; then a desire is felt to receive him with kindness, as one would receive a child who does his best. He cossets and toys with his violin for a while, and then draws his bow over the strings, and is master of the situation. The mountains of Pennsylvania captivated Ole Bull, and he proposed to establish a colony on the Susquehanna. He selected a site peculiarly adopted to a freedom-loving race. He purchased a tract of one hundred and twenty-five thousand acres. He gathered a colony of Swedes, Icelanders, Danes and Norwegians. He lavished money on the tract to make it a home for his countrymen. He was not sharp enough for the swindlers that had surrounded him. The experiment cost him two hundred thousand dol- lars before he got out of it. He was saddled with law- suits, sued for services by schemers who had defrauded him. He was only delivered by a sharp New York legal frieiid who came to his rescue. On his return to Norway, Ole Bull found his countrymen estranged OLE BULL, VI0LLNI8T. 401 from him. They believed he had swindled the people in the colony scheme. He was charged with having seduced his countrymen from comfort and freedom, and had left them to servitude and want in an Ameri- can wilderness. His personal magnetism and presence put these evil reports to flight. He visited the Californian coast. Here a series of misfortunes overtook him. He was robbed by the In- dians. His violin was stolen. He was taken down by the yellow fever. At one of his concerts the sheriff tried to take his violin ; he fled from the place through fear of an indignant people. While he lay sick with the fever on a not unjust charge an officer tried to carry him from his sick bed to the jail. In the teeth of all this, Ole BulFs California trip netted him seventeen thousand dollars. For four years this species of persecution and rob- bery continued. His genius outrode the storm. His pure and simple life, his manliness and generosity, won at last. Again he visited Europe, traveling from city to city, filling all lands with his fame, dropping good acts from his well-filled hands, with his purse never empty. Of all the musical men who have visited America, Ole Bull to-day is the most popular. He is a liberal benefactor, a sympathetic friend, and a man whom all nationalities honor. 26 403 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. CXXXYIL KEY. HENRY M. SCUDDEK. EY. HR. SCUDDER has been for nearly six 3^ears pastor of the Central Congregational Church in Brooklyn. He was born in the island of Ceylon. In the early part of life he was missionary in India. His health failed him and he came home. Since he returned, his principal settle- ments have been in Jersey City, in San Francisco, and in Brooklyn. He left the Pacific coast because his health would not allow him to come up to his ideal of pastoral work. He has had almost an exampled suc- cess in Brooklyn, and his prosperity is without a cloud. He is a tall, slim, spare man, of the Cassius order, whose nervous force is remarkable. He is a man of very varied and extensive learning. He is acquainted with the French, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Tamil and Hindoostanee. He reads Sanscrit perfectly, and his wife and himself often converse in Hindoo to keep their knowledge bright. He read law two years and could be admitted to the bar. It is “^M. D.” as well as ‘‘ D. D.,” and is a capital surgeon. In one of his voyages to the Pacific coast, a man broke his leg. In the ab- sence of a surgeon Hr. Scudder made the splints and set the limb. It was done in so artistic a manner as to command the admiration of a surgeon. He is a finished athlete, a fine rower, and one of the best swimmers in the State. Hr. Scudder is a man of great method. Every hour of the day is appropriated, and with the work assigned to the hour, nothing is allowed to interfere. He does no outside work, refuses all calls for lectures and REV. HENRY M. 8CUDDER. 403 preaching, on the ground that in his own parish he works up to his full strength ; should he do more he would break down. His methods of sermon writing are peculiar. Monday is a day of entire leisure. Tuesday is given to his people. On Wednesday he selects his text and begins the frame-work of his sermon. Thursday he condenses his thoughts. Friday he writes out what he will speak, using only one side of his sheets of paper. Saturday he forms a brief out of what he has written. He studies the written sermon carefully, and thoroughly. He goes over the manuscript on Sunday morning, takes his brief into the pulpit, and preaches his sermon. He studies out his sermon after a fashion of his own. His Concordance and Bible are in the Greek language. He turns to every text in the Bible where his subject is referred to. Besides examining every word, he ex- amines every clause. As thoughts occur to him he jots them down. Out of this mass he makes the ser- mon, leaving of course a great amount of matter un- used. He is very affluent in illustration. He learned this power not only from the Bible, but from his inter- course with the Brahmins in India, who employ word- painting and illustration to accomplish their work. The sermons are expository, largely Biblical, and very practical. The points seldom exceed three, and are so expressed as to come within the comprehension of everyone. He is often eccentric and witty in the pulpit, and if a sharp thing comes to him, he is not afraid tO say it. All the institutions of the church partake of his spirit. The Bible is thoroughly taught in his Sunday-school, and his prayer-meeting is crisp, spirited, largely attended and cheery. The five-min- ute rule is in force, and in the i^rayer-meeting as in the pulpit the various exercises tread hard upon one another. 404 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Dr. Scudder is always in a hurry. This growing out of his immense nervous force. He acts like a man always on a mission of life and death. A lady met him one day and said: ‘^Dr. Scudder, can you give me five minutes Taking out his watch he replied, Yes, madam, just five minutes.” Yet to those who get at him he is found to be simplicity itself, with a tender, sympathetic spirit. In social life he is endeared to all the young. He seldom changes, and meets his people with something fresh and instructive at every service. He is very happy in his methods with children. His earnest talk, pointed measures, win with the young. He is always in search of knowl- edge. He has traveled around the world with a note- book in his hand, and it takes him but a short time to exhaust any place. He made a visit to the excavations under Hell Gate. One visit taught him all there was to be learned in that field of wonders. A sea captain took a pew in his churcli. He said he had been sailing to the African coast all his life, yet he learned more of Africa in one sermon than he ever knew before. Dr. Scudder belongs to a missionary family. He was one of seven brothers who gave themselves to missionary work. Two of his sisters are in India. His son is a physician on missionary ground. His daughter mar- ried a missionary to Japan, and a son in Union Semi- nary will probably give himself to the same work. His style of speaking is very magnetic. A great student of the natural sciences, and a metaphysician at heart, his preaching is plain, and not at all incum- bered with the technicalities of the schools. He is very generous, giving awa}^ a tenth of all his income. His nervous force leads to some eccentricities. He would die without hearers, or, as he puts it : ‘‘Before I would preach to empty benches I would dig pota- toes.” His pastoral work is immense. He takes care UEY. HENRY M. SCUHHER. 40i of a cliurcli membersliip of one thousand souls, and has the oversight of four hundred families. He never slops over. When he is made the recipient of a gift his thanks are rendered in a simple sentence. When he uses an unusual word he explains it. His manner sometimes seems brusque and uncivil. Some even have been afraid to send for him in sickness ; but when he enters a house he is gentle as a child. His methods of church work are very systematic. He keeps two parish books, one holding the names of all the parish, and the other the street in which people live. When he visits a street he goes through the entire member- ship. Hr. Scudder’s sermons are not built on a model of rhetorical form, though he is no mean rhetorician. He has a rugged earnestness in his speech that attracts, wins, and instructs. He has built up a great congrega- tion, which is now one of the largest and promises to be the most influential Congregational parish in Brook- lyn. He has gathered around him an able, influential and talented body of men. He has taken sides in none of the squabbles and flghts that have rended Brook- lyn, and has kept his church aloof from all distracting influences which have made the City of Churches so unfortunately notorious. Hr. Scudder will take rank with the most eminent and successful pastors of the age. 406 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS, cxxxyiii. REY. T. De WITT TALMAGE. R. TALMAGE is among the most popular pul- pit orators of Brooklyn. He has the largest place of worship in the State, and the largest regular congregation. His audiences are numbered by thousands, his communions by hundreds. For the last three years five hundred a year have been added to the church by profession. He builds on no man’s foundation. He has had no help in the great ■work that he has accomplished. Under God it is all his own. From any standpoint the work of Mr. Tal- mage is a marvelous success. He was called to the Central Church, and began his work in March, 1869. He had calls from Brooklyn, San Francisco and Chi- cago. Brooklyn seemed the least attractive. The Central Church was near extinction. A congregation meeting to call the minister was held, and cast but nineteen votes, and twenty-five people was an afiluent congregation. Nobody believed the church could live, and mourners were ready to attend its funeral. The house of worship was old-fashioned and inconvenient. The organ was wheezy, and the steeple was the laugh- ing-stock of the town. The profane called the church The Church of the Holy Wedge.” When the deci- sion came, it was a measuring cast between remaining in Philadelphia and removing to Brooklyn. Brook- lyn won. At the start the old edifice was crowded. Men came partly from curiosity and partly from interest. The old pulpit came away. The ‘‘sacred desk” had no i^lace in Talmage’s service. A broad open platform BEV. T. DE WITT TALMA(^E. 407 presented tlie preacher from his boots to his hair. He ranged np and down, enjoying the freedom with an open sea and no favor. His themes were not more ex- hilarating than his methods. Talmage was brought up on the Heidelbnrg Catechism and does credit to his training. He brought to his new field a firm faith in the Bible, and an intense love for its teachings. He talked about heaven, hell, repentance and damnation in the exact language of the Bible. 'Not because he loved to talk upon these things, but because he found them in the Bible. Men said, “This will never do. People won’t stand such preaching as that. It will make the men mad and frighten the women into fits.” It has done very well for eight years, and promises to do very well for eight years more. During the first year of Mr. Talmage’ s ministry the Tabernacle was built. This was burnt to the ground in 1872. The houseless congregation was driven into the Academy of Music. Against the advice of his friends the Sunday night prayer-meeting was opened in this house of players. It proved a great success. He inaugurated a revival which has lasted to this hour. For fourteen months the houseless congregation occupied the Academy till the present mammoth Tabernacle was opened in 1874. The congregation, which filled every part of the great house, has remained undiminished. Mr. Talmage has reversed all the ideas of jjulpit success. Churchly associations are not necessary to crowd a house with devout worshipers. He has shown that a free church can be financially i^rosperous and pay expenses. Sensational preaching, exciting topics are not necessary to secure an evening congrega- tion. If Mr. Talmage preaches on popular things he does it in the morning. His evening services, to use his own phrase, “are devoted to soul-saving.” His themes and services are strictly revival in character. 408 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Out of a congregation of three thousand, two thousand often remain to the praj^er-meeting after the sermon, and frequently one hundred rise for prayers. Mr. Talmage has been nineteen years a minister, and is now forty- three years of age. He follows no law in the making of a sermon any more than he does of its de- livery. He does absolutely nothing on Mondays. He studies when he feels like it. He keeps a book of subjects and is after live topics. He makes a careful plan of his sermon, and this is written on a half-sheet of note paper. He walks live miles on every sermon, writes it on his mind, and be- comes the master of it before he touches the plat- form. He delivers his sermons without a scrap of paper or a note on his table. His memory is prodig- ious, accurate and ready. He likens the readiness of his illustrations to a man coming out of a grove cov- ered with burrs. He don’ t know how they got on him, but he picks them olf one by one and throws them away. He hates cant and professionalism in the pul- pit. Whether natural or acquired, his peculiarities and blemishes become sources of power. He comes onto the platform and stands for a moment still as a statue. His voice is harsh and unmusical, with a Yan- kee twang, which, when one gets used to it, gives the sermon a positive relish. His utterances are abrupt and brilliant as a Homan candle. His cadences defy the schools, and his sentences, when they end, are like a cone with the base upwards. He preaches now without a particle of writing, yet a few years ago he was the veriest slave to a manuscript of any man in the country. He was settled in Belleville, N. J. The congregation was made up largely of Hew York merchants. Hegarding his hearers as very crit- ical, he wrote every thing. He preached twice on Sun- day and gave a lecture in the week, reading closely REV. T. BE WITT T AIM AGE. 409 from Ms manuscript. The parish introduced gas into the church, and a great crowd came together to see the house lighted. Unfortunately the pastor had but one sermon, and that he had delivered in the morning. What should be done at night ? He had an old college thesis, which occupied fifteen minutes in the reading. In desperation he decided to fall back on that, and fill up the lialf-hour, if he could, with extemporaneous remarks. With paper in hand he faced the great crowd, attached a text to his thesis and begun the read- ing. • He saw how shallow the pretext was and how near the end of his manuscript lie was coming. He was intensely excited, and beads of sweat stood out upon his forehead. Fourteen minutes were gone and one minute of manuscript remained. All at once the lights began to flicker. Oh, if they would only go out, thought the preacher, what a providence ; and out they went, just as he was uttering the last word. The benediction was pronounced in utter darkness and the congregation quietly dispersed. The preacher resolved to end that slavery. He made a plunge for extemporaneous preach- ing and has never read a sermon since. Of course Mr. Talmage is a brilliant mark for sensa- tional journalists. His dramatic ] 30 wer, his long lank form, his vehement gestures, his occasional tearing around 'the pulpit as in his passion, and his im- passioned declamation, with his long pauses and abrupt endings are easily burlesqued. His sermons on the theaters produced a great excitement. One of them was widely circulated and severely commented upon. The language was scarcely fit for the pulpit, and the extravagance of the denunciations, like a recoiling gun, hurt the utterer more than the pastimes against which it was aimed. That sermon was never preached. It was made up out of whole cloth, intended as a bur- lesque to neutralize the honest blows actually given. 410 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. One week evening, between Christmas and New Year’s, the pastor met his young people in the Lay College parlors. The object of the meeting was to prepare for a New Year’s festival. A man asked Talmage how he felt. In his jolly way the pastor said, I feel like the morning star.” The story appeared in a religious newspaper in this wise : that Talmage in the midst of his sermon stojiped and sang ‘‘Shoo-lly,” to the de- light of his congregation. Another religious paper asserted, and this was to show Talmage’ s dramatic power, that he came on to the platform on Sunday morning dressed like an Indian chief, with a hunting- shirt on, a tomahawk in one hand, a scalping-knife in the other. He gave a true savage yell, to which the people responded. Of course the whole story was false from beginning to end. As many nationalities hear Talmage preach as lis- tened to St. Peter at Pentecost. Swedes, Germans, Nor- wegians, English, W elsh. Hutch, are found nightly in his inquiry meeting, with representatives from every State in the Union. It is estimated that over six thousand people were converted by the ministry at the Taber- nacle last year. Talmage is an indomitable worker. He is tireless, and what would crush many men is sim- ply a delicious recreation to him. Either his church, his lay college, his lectures, or his newspaper work would be enough for most men. He is quite as popu- lar with his pen as he is with speech. His sermons go round the globe. His study table, covered with en- velopes in which are advance sheets of his sermon, resembles the table of a post-master. These advance sheets of his sermons are sent oif to London, Edinburgh, Montreal, Chicago and San Francisco, and all the principal cities of the nation. Talmage occupies his own j)ulpit, and does his own work. He has never exchanged since his settlement in Brooklyn, and but HABITS OF EMINENT MINISTEB8. 411 once lias h«eard a minister jireacli on his own platform. Talmage has the art of making everything interesting he touches. His prayer-meeting, one of the largest in the city, is never conducted twice alike. It is always interesting, always racy. The Sunday school of the Tabernacle is one of the largest in the State, and one of the best conducted. Major Corwin, who has been from the start both an Aaron and a Hur to the pastor, has made the Sunday-school what it is. CXXXIX. HABITS OF EMINENT MINISTERS. CCESSFUL men, star preachers, men of national and European fame, men distin- guished for learning, for theological dejiths, for eloquence, sensationalism, and magnet- ism, for pastorates of long duration, will be found in large cities, in every government, in every clime. No two of them owe their success to the same methods or the same talents. What sends one man upwards in a halo of glory, sends another down to the depths of ob- scurity. What makes one man famous, kills another. One man fails in one city and becomes a pulpit star in another. One man takes the lead of his brethren in the country, and is of no account in the town. One man hangs by the eyelids in a factory village, and draws a magnificent salary in a metropolitan pulpit. One man succeeds because he reads — another because he does not. One man is a pulpit success because he 413 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. is a digging, delving student, another is a better suc- cess because lie read nothing but novels in college, drav^s his materials from newspapers, and makes up his sermon in the cars. John Hall writes a sermon a week to keep up his style. Spurgeon, who talks the purest English of his age, never wrote a sermon till after it was delivered. He makes his sermons on the jump, oftener on the backs of letters than anything else, and says if he had six days to write a sermon in he would give it the go-by till the last half-hour of the sixth day. Hr. Hall was a success because he preaches without notes. Hr. Chalmers was a greater success, and he wrote and read every word of his sermons. Hr. Hice was a most po^jular man in the West. His church was always crowded, and his name for a platform speech would till any hall. In the Fifth Avenue Church he amounted to nothing. He might as well been settled at Sandy Hook. Hr. Paxton came to Hew York with a great deal of fame. He has only a cor- porals guard to hear him in his magnificent church on Fifth avenue. W. H. H. Murray was settled as col- league with the Hev. E. F. Hatfield, in the Horth Presbyterian Church. Trouble arose between the pastor and the people. The former was dismissed, but nobody thought of retaining the colleague. Murray preached with very ordinary success at Greenwich and at Meri- den, Conn. He accepted a call to Boston, and filled Park Street Church to repletion. Hr. Sprague wrote elegant sermons,* and read the manuscript from begin- ning to end. Hr. Edwards preached his great sermon on ‘‘The Smallness of the Elect ” in the Enfield Church. There were twelve hundred people present. At times the audience was so excited that men rose to their feet. The sermon was written in the finest possible hand on the leaves of a blank book such as a servant girl carries to the grocer’s. The preacher held the book in his left HABITS OF EMINENT MINISTEIiS. 413 hand, his elbow resting on a pulpit cushion, and he scarcely lifted a finger from the beginning to the end. Albert Barnes was settled for years over the richest, most fashionable, and largest Presbjderian church in Philadelphia. He was diffidence personilied. He read every word, kept his eyes closely on the manuscript, occasionally would dart a timid glance to the right or the left, and seldom moved a finger in gesture. Eev. T. L. Cutler. — Dr. Cuyler is one of the most successful pastors in the State of Hew York. He has marked ability and practical talent of a high order. A series of favorable circumstances welcomed his coming to Brooklyn. He had a sturdy, steady devotion to truth, was magnetic as a preacher, with a voice son- orous and agreeable, and with an unction that never deserted him. He has the finest church location in Brooklyn. It is neither up-town nor down-town, neither north nor south. The church edifice is of brown stone, as churchly as the most fastidious could desire. His house will seat comfortably two thousand auditors, and is always full. He has been sixteen years pastor of Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, and from a small handful of seventy-five church members he has added four thousand to the church roll, and with all the changes of a city population, his church has to-day an actual membership of twenty-seven hundred and fifty-eight. Dr. Cuyler was pastor in 1860 of the Rutgers Street Reformed Church. He saw the population drifting from Market street towards Central Park, and he begged his people to secure lots in upper New York, or the old Market Street Church would go by the board. The consistory, by a majority of one vote, decided to remain, and Cuyler accepted a call from what was then the Park Church, and began his career in Brook- 414 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. lyn. The Park Church was a feeble folk. It occupied a long, low and dingy chapel, on De Kalb and Carlton avenues. The congregation soon outgrew its accommo- dations and entered into a contract for the building of the well-known Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church. The edifice and appliances are worth one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It cost the parish, land and all, but fifty-five thousand. As the guns fired on Sumter, the cellar walls of the edifice were going up. The civil war was upon us, and it was proposed to sus- jjend the building. ‘‘You must carry on the work now,-’ said the pastor, with his indomitable energy. “ You shall do it, if I beg from door to door.” The last selvedge of debt was removed in June, 1876, the sixteenth anniversary of the pastor’s settlement. Dr. Cuyler has a way of his own in writing his ser- mons. He does no work on Monday. Saturday is a day of absolute rest from mental work. Tuesday is his golden day for composition. He studies in his church. He locks his door, and usually completes his work before leaving his study. He writes a third, — sometimes one-half, — seldom the whole of a sermon. He seldom reads what he has written, unless he is ex- act about phraseology. He sat at the feet of the great masters and learned from each. Prof. Hodge, his theological tutor, preached mainly from the Epistles. The elder Alexander preached almost exclusively from the Psalms. Addison Alexander, from the Gospels. Cuyler took the excellency of the three systems and gets his gospel from the three methods. He took a leaf out of his own experience in addressing the stu- dents of the Drew Seminary. He urged the young men to secure an abundance of sleep, good nutritious food, to make Monday their day of rest, and fill up Saturday with physical exercise, to blindly follow nobody, however successful they were, for success HABITS OF EMINENT MINISTERS. 415 came from all quarters and waited on the most contra- dictory methods. Dr. Cuyler is eminently a gospel preacher, practi- cal, experimental and evangelical. He is in no sense a sensational, though his gri^D on young men has been large. For twenty years he has been connected with the public press, and this has been a lengthening of his tranquillity. 'No writer is so universally read and copied from. This custom has kept him abreast of the times, furnished him with live topics, and has re- acted with power on his pulpit performances. He has been thirty years in the ministry, and over half this period has been spent with his church in Brooklyn. When he settled, there was not a new-school Presbyte- rian church within a mile. Since then large popular churches have arisen in the neighborhood. The La- fayette Church still holds its own. The pastor stands foremost among the eminent men of the city. Popular with the citizens, beloved by the brotherhood, honored and cherished for his catholicity by his sister sects, his fame will be handed down to coming time. Hexey Ward Beecher follows no scholastic law in preparing his sermons. He writes out what he calls a ‘‘nice little Episcopal sermon,” complete in itself. Should he read it from end to end, it would take, him about twenty minutes. Into this elaborate skeleton he infuses the life of his own magnetism as he passes along. His illustrations are caught at random. He seizes them as men seize a missile when surrounded by dogs, without regard to its form or fitness. In matters of illustration he repeats himself perpetually. Those who read his sermons printed in the palmers from day to day will find his metaphors and figures the same that are found in his Life-Thoughts. Beecher’ s sermons are like a kaleidoscope, and his illustrations like bits 416 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. of glass. Tlie same fragments of glass, the same color- ing, but slightly changed in form in the revolution. Beecher’s habits of sermonizing would kill most men. He studies everywhere. His active mind is constantly at work. He prepares his morning sermon after break- fast, and often takes it wet with him into the pulpit. He excused this practice to a friend, by saying: like my bread hot.” After dinner he -sleeps, and then lirepares the evening sermon, and takes that with him into the pulpit in the evening. He cannot run in ruts. Mr. Camp, the leader of his choir, never knows what is to be sung, till the hymn is given out. Camp wanted the hymns for rehearsal. The pastor refused to give them. “Let me have, then, the closing hymn,” says the leader. “ I do not know what I shall sing myself. If I did, I wouldn’t sing it,” was the reply. Mr. Beecher is a talkist, and can talk as well on one theme as another. Could probably preach as popular a sermon from an omnibus horse falling in the street, as from the giving of the Law on the mount. He is marvelously persua- sive, and after a ministry of thirty years, is as popular to-day, as he was the first hour. Men and women hang with rapture on the words of his lips, and his congregation is limited only by the capacity of his house. Hev. Dr. Storks. — Hev. Hichard S. Storrs is one of the leading minds of the Congregational Church. His fame rests on his solid judgment, his strong com- mon sense, his profound learning, and his masterly pulpit eloquence. He is pastor of the oldest Congre- gational church in Brooklyn, — one of the richest, and one of the strongest. Beecher sweeps in the masses. Storrs takes the wealth and conservatism of the denomination. He has held his present position through the lifetime of a generation. He has had HABITS OF EMINENT MINISTERS. 417 tempting calls, and offers of brilliant positions. Strong efforts were made to induce him to take the pastorate of the Brick Presbyterian Church of New York. The position itself was enviable, giving him the clear leader- ship of the Presbyterian body. The church was old, strong, and rich. The salary was ten thousand dol- lars, and tifteen thousand if he wanted it. To this was added a parsonage, worth forty-five thousand dollars, completely and handsomely furnished, and free of rent, while the pastor remained with the Brick Church. These brilliant offers could not tempt him to leave the people among whom he had spent his youth, and among whom he proposes to die. Through all the early ministry of Dr. Storrs, his method of sermonizing was after the old New England order. He passed his weeks in comjjosing, with great care and elaboration, his sermons, which he read from the manuscript on the Lord’s day. His congregations were never crowded, and the order and beauty of his services did not attract the masses. An important change came over his ministry, and altered all the method of thought and action which had passed nearly a quarter of a century of his pastoral life. No man knew better than Dr. Storrs that he did not pos- sess that magnetism that makes a man poi)ular in the popular sense. Brooklyn was a favorite field for sen- sational efforts. Every year Dr. Storrs saw men come into Brooklyn, hire a hall, and fill it to repletion, take a run-down church, and crowd it to the pavement, and though the reign of such men was short, it could not be denied that for a time they did run well. Many of these stars were uneducated — some of them, just before their advent, were, according to their own showing, engaged in the honest business of whitewashing, or carrying a kalsomining pail to their day’s work. The question naturally occurred to the mind of the pastor,. 27 418 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. why don’t I draw ; I certainly know as much as these men, and have as much force. There must be some- thing wrong in my methods. He felt that he was in a rut, that his people were in a rut, and something must be done to change matters. Just then Dr. Storrs received a call from an impor- tant church in Boston. The acceptance of it would give him the lead of the Puritan churches in that Pur- itan city. He had reached that period when ministers feel that a change is indispensable to their health, hap- piness, and success. Pastors usually relieve them- selves by seeking a new field of labor. The pastor of the Church of the Pilgrims decided that either he must strike out a new line of action or seek a new field of labor. His people to retain him jiroposed extensive alterations in the church edifice. The Academy of Music was secured till the repairs were completed. On entering the Academy of Music he saw he had an en- tirely new congregation to preach to, and that the old methods would not avail in the new place. He threw aside his manuscript and addressed himself to his new work with unaccustomed vigor. His eloquence, his vehemence, his impassioned delivery, his chaste and vigorous rhetoric, with his fresh and racy themes, told at once. The Academy of Music was crowded with a delighted auditory, and a new life as a preacher opened to him. His preparations were made with the utmost care, and his sermons were studied with the delibera- tion of a general planning a campaign. Whether his example could be followed safely by men of less ex- perience, less eloquence, less study, a lower standard of industry, less force of character, is a question. That Dr. S'orrs has made a successful change of base no one can doubt. His fame as a preacher extends over the continent and crowds listen to him when he can be in- duced to go abroad. HABITS OF EMINENT MINISTERS. 419 Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr. — Young Tyng, as lie is familiarly called, lias been fifteen years rector of Holy Trinity. He founded tlie parish and been its sole rector. He built the magnificent and commodious edifice that stands by the Grand Central Depot, from foundation to spire. The parish is one of the most eminently working parishes of the city. A religious service is held under its roof 'every night in the week. The rector preaches thirty sermons every month, — one for every calendar day. He has two thousand church members on his roll, and it costs sixty-five thousand dollars a year to meet all the expenses of the parish. His Sunday-school is one of the largest in New York, and when all the schools are brought together his great church is crowded to overflowing. He is personally a slim, frail-looking young man, light hair, of great elas- ticity of movement, of nervous organization, and doing daily the work of ten men. The organizations of his societies, which are numerous, center in him as the machinery at the Centennial centered in the Corliss en- gine. He holds everything in his hands, knows every dollar due on the church, every mortgage, and handles the finances with consummate ability. The parish, which is a monument of industry, is the work of his own hands. He has the organizing gift of Wesley. He could say, with that distinguished Metho- dist, who, when asked how he accomplished so much with so few helpers, replied: “ We are all at it, and always at it.” Young Tyng is distinguished as a Bible preacher. His sermons grow out of his work. He studies here and there, now and then. His sermons are composed on a sheet of note-paper. His illustra- tions and passages quoted are prominently marked. He places his brief in the Bible, and this he holds in his hand while he delivers his sermon. Occasionally he refers to his notes ; occasionally reads a j)a.ssage from 420 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. the Bible to make it impressive. He is a fluent speaker, with great command of language ; has great gift at ex- temporaneous speaking, and is free and magnetic in his utterances. His Bible is a store-house of helps. It is full of anecdote, illustration and marked texts. The margin is full of annotations and passages that point to the same thing. With this book in hand he is ready at any moment to preach, conduct Bible-reading, or give an exhortation. Mr. Tyng is catholic in his spirit, and is welcomed to the pulpits of all denominations. His church, nom- inally Episcopal, is really eclectic, embracing some of the best members of all denominations. Mr. Tyng has great social gifts, is cheery and joyful in his disposition, and is one of the most popular preachers and pastors of the age. His recreation is wholly in his ministerial work, and he lives for that alone. He prefers his Jeru- salem above his chief joy. He goes little into society ; is not fond of pastime, soirees, nor parties, but gives all his strength and all his hours to the ministry of the Lord in the church under his charge. How long a man can bear the strain that is upon him, and maintain his health amid such incessant toil, the future alone can tell. His life shows a success in a simple, earnest, gospel minister, in the midst of the fashion, wealth and dissipation of a metropolitan city. Bev. Henry J. Yan Dyke. — Dr. Yan Dyke has been for twenty-four years pastor of a leading Presby- terian church in Brooklyn. He has maintained a front rank as one of the most eloquent and instructive preachers. His manner of delivery is nervous, terse, and forcible. His sentences are sharp, short, and in- cisive. He does not believe in anything outside of his pulpit. The lecture held has no attractions for him. The turmoil and confusion and excitement of the HABITS OF EMINENT MINISTERS. 421 editorial sanctum have no power to allure him from his theological studies. He has no clap- trap and relies for success in the ministry on the preaching of an old- fashioned gospel wdth earnestness and sincerity. He devotes his mornings to study. He studies in his church. He enters his room about eight in the morning and closes his work about two in the afternoon. His sermons are not prepared till the last of the week, when the full pressure is upon him. His subjects come to him. He sits at his table and usually finishes his sermon before he arises. On Saturday he revises what he has written, impresses it thoroughly on his memory, commits nothing, makes a brief and takes that into the pulpit, and from it delivers his sermon. His illustra- tions are left blank. He can put them forth with more power when they gush forth with the impetuosity of the utterance than when they are written. Hr. Van Dyke is a great student of the Bible. His preaching is mainly explanatory and practical. He preaches a system of theology as he finds it in the Bible. He preaches the gospel from the Old Testa- ment as well as the 'New. The aim of his preaching is to make people acquainted with the meaning of the Holy Spirit. His evening service is always an exposi- tory one, yet taking all the form of a service. He believes, with Hr. Plumer, that “ there are a thousand ways to make a sermon, and each way may be good for some one.” He does not believe in Hr. Hall’s method of writing a sermon, committing it to memory, and delivering it. without notes. Nor does he believe in purely extemporaneous preaching His own method of carefully writing, and then making an abstract and taking that with him into the pulpit, to be the best method. He is a man of great force of character, with great command of language, and ready for every exigency. 432 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. While moderator of the General Assembly, he was called upon to make a response to the foreign dele- gates. Some ten or fifteen of them addressed the assembly, offering their salutations. To all these the moderator was expected to reply in a single speech. Dr. Van Dyke arose, and in an address lasting three- fourths of an hour, replied felicitously to every visi- tor, making apt references to each case, and doing his work in a chaste and eloquent manner. He shows a command of language and a ready utterance that was marvelous. Dr. Van Dyke has in him the stuff out of which martyrs are made. During the civil war he held some views that were not considered popular. He kept on with his church work as if every one agreed with him. His tranquillity was assured by the love his people bore him. They knew him as no other class did. They knew him as a man with a brusque and abrupt exterior, but with a tender heart and a sympa- thizing spirit. They knew him at the bedside of the sick, and in the chamber of death. He had buried their dead, baptized their children and consoled the living. They clove to him as Ruth clove to Naomi. To-day Dr. Van Dyke is one of the most honored and successful pastors in Brooklyn. Rev. George H. Hep worth. — Mr. Hepworth is a rhetorician. He has a line voice, a fine presence, a de- livery that is rarely equalled, and he has the best ele- ments that make up what is known as a popular preacher. When he left the Unitarian Church, in which he was very popular, he captivated the popular heart of New York. On opening Steinway Hall for worship the hall was crowded to repletion. His gifts as a pulpit orator were recognized, and his field of labor seemed to be in the central part of the city. When Henry Ward Beecher was getting subscriptions HABITS OF EMINENT MINISTERS. 423 for his new church he met a 'New York minister on Union square, near Fourteenth street. Stamping his foot on the pavement he said : ‘‘This is the place for a popular congregation. The mistake of my life is I did not begin my work here instead of in Brooklyn.” Mr. Hepworth proposed to gather a popular congregation and preach to the masses. He was advised by some of the wisest men in the city to build his church where the masses were. He bought lots near Union Square in the vicinity of his flourishing congregation at Stein- way Hall. Other councils prevailed. He swung away from the church population into the sparse but aristo- cratic Madison avenue. He cut loose from the popular sympathy by indentifying himself with the Congrega- tional sect. He entered upon a sea of trouble which culminated in the foreclosure and sale of his house of worship. His serm.ons are pleasant ones, and are usually on popular themes. They are delivered from a small card which the preacher takes with him on his platform, to which he seldom refers. He is as good a specimen of an extemporaneous speaker as we have in New York. He has a great hold on the young, and that element has never been wanting in his congrega- tions. 424 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. CXL. WHEELER & WILSON MANUFACTURING COMPANY. ’HE aristocracy of wealth and idleness have been driven away from Union square. This charmed locality has surrendered to the great industries of delicate and useful mechanism. Prominent among the costly warerooms of the locality stand the headquarters of the Wheeler & Wilson Company. The building is six stories, with forty- six feet front and two hundred feet rear. The main room is rich and imj^osing, ornamented with black wal- nut and ebony, elaborate and tasteful workmanship. The frescoing is violet and scarlet, with monograms of the company everywhere. Costly carpets cover the floors, and the walls are adorned with mirrors. Sixteen massive chandeliers flood the room with light. Sew- ing-machines of varied patterns are grouped together, with sample work of the most delicate embroidery up to the heaviest harness. • In erecting this costly build- ing, the company has only re-dedicated the fruits of honest invention and honored toil. Allen S. Wilson was the inventor of the Wheeler & Wilson sewing-machine. It was designed for domestic use and light manufacturing. For twenty- five years it has been distinguished over all rivals for perfection and beauty of stitch, speed and durability, with ease and quietness of movement. The rotary and stationary bobbin, and the feed-motion with the wheel tension are entirely novel. The machine owed nothing to the crude and heavy constructions that preceded it. The machine was compact and elegant in model and WHEELER & WILSON MANUFACTURING COMPANY. 425 llnisli, simple and tliorough in construction, and rapid and easy in movement. Mr. Wilson was a genius, and an inventor. He was a thorough mechanic, and could reconstruct any machine, however complicated, that he handled. He preferred to do a piece of work, rather than show an- other how to do it. He was too nervous for a business man. He needed a cool and resolute associate to make his invention a success. He was fortunate enough to find a man the exact counterpart of himself. Hatiianiel Wheeleu was a manufacturer, with first-class business capacity. He had courage, sound judgment, and great executive force. He had marked simplicity of character, and was not fond of show or parade. He had the exact business capacity needed, to introduce to the public the instrument which Mr. Wilson’s genius had invented. Underpins manage- ment the Wilson Sewing Machine Company is known in every part of the globe. Twenty years ago, when Mr. Wheeler became president of the company, the concern was a very humble one, and attracted but little attention. The company now has rolled to mammoth proportions, and manufacture six hundred machines a day, or one a minute for every working hour. Besides his fame as the head of the Wheeler & Wilson Com- pany, he is well known in j)ublic life. He has filled a chair in the Senate, and could have been governor of his State, would he have accepted a nomination. He was appointed commissioner to build the State House at Hartford. A man of few words, he is affluent in deeds, — public spirited, manly and fearless. He is not ambitious for senatorial or gubernatorial honors, but prefers to be known as the imperial medal of Austria puts it, — as The Founder and Builder of the Sewing- Machine Industry.” 42G SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. One great service rendered by Mr. Wheeler to tlie sewing-machine industry, was the skill and good judg- ment displayed in putting an end to litigation. The inventions and claims were so valuable, that litigation seemed to be inevitable, and promised to be intermina- ble. Amid fierce and zealous claims, Mr. Wheeler effected a compromise. Yielding nothing in regard to his own machine, he effected a combination of interests that took the controversy out of the courts. At the start, the company resolved not to send out a machine that was not perfect. The excellence and elegance of the machines are everywhere conceded. They have led in the exhibitions of Paris, London, and in all parts of the world. One-fourth of the machines constructed are made for the foreign market, and are distributed over the civilized world. It is the popular machine for schools of industry and instruction. It is a household necessity, with millions of purchasers. The Wheeler & Wilson machine has revolution- ized the homes of the land. It has emancipated woman from The burden of the wardrobe and the slavery of the needle. Through its agency, mothers are lifted from being bondwomen, and have time for culture and elegance. It furnishes remunerative and attractive employment to thousands. The perfect machine con- stituted the chief inventive glory of the Centennial year, and has extended the American name with honor throughout the civilized world. W JENN1N&5 DEM0RE5T & MME DEMOREST W, JENNINGS DEM0RE8T AND MME. DEMOREST. 427 CXLI. ♦ W. JEXmXGS DEMOREST AND MME. DEMOREST. HE house of the Demorests is famous in all the world. It is a good illustration of American industry and enterprise. Mr. Demorest appeared as a journalist. He edited the New York Illustrated News^ including the German edition. He edited a weekly comic paper, and also a paper for children. These periodicals were con- ducted with marked ability, and the editor made a great success of these papers. At the same time Mme. Demorest published a quarterly magazine which reached a circulation of fifty thousand copies. Mr. Demorest saw a wide field before him with a promise of a great journalistic triumph. He merged the News and Mme. Demorest’ s Quarterly into a monthly maga- zine. This magazine has now a national and world- wide circulation. It is the parlor and fashionable magazine of the age, with a subscription list of nearly fifty thousand. Its success and triumph are un- paralleled in the history of American journalism. The Demorests are the founders and representa- tives of the Pattern trade. From a small beginning it has grown into immense proportions. The house has agencies in all parts of the civilized world. The elegance, accuracy and cheapness of the patterns, has worked a revolution in society, quite as complete and beneficent as the sewing-machine or the piano. The X)atterns find their way into the most elegant houses of the city, and carry the latest styles into the cottages of the humble. The saloons of Mme. Demorest are patron- 428 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. ized by the leaders of society. They introduce the latest fashions of Paris and Vienna to the damsels on the prairie, and the maidens in the wilds of Arizona. Mr. Demorest brought great business tact and rare experience to the great business with which his name is identified. He was placed in a store at an early age, but his heart was in study and not in trade. He was a student under an eminent tutor, and had thoughts of the ministry. He attempted to run both his studies and his merchandise. His employer informed the stu- dious lad that he must abandon either his books or the store. The young man turned sorrowfully away to merchandise. He became an expert in trade. At one time he was in dry-goods, then in the manufacture of cloaks, then the millinery business engaged his atten- tion ; finally, he was a trader in wholesale clothing. His practical acquaintance with dry-goods and dresses gave him that large experience and that consummate skill to found and carry on the heavy trade which makes his house so famous. He introduced the sys- tem of dress-cutting that grew into dress-patterns. Economy suggested paper because it was inexpensive. Twenty-five years were consumed in building up the Pattern business to its present gigantic proportions. Mr. Demorest had a fine literary training. He had also great mechanical ingenuity, that he brought to his business. He has invented and secured many valua- ble patents, of which his customers have the benefit. He has kept up his interest in the religious work of the age. He was a member of the famous Tabernacle choir, and secretary of the Missionary Association of the Spring Street Church. Besides conducting his own immense business, he has time to look after one of the great printing establishments of the metropolis. He is equal owner of the immense printing house of J. J. Little & Co., in Astor place. In all these years, he has W. JENNINGS DEM ORE ST AND MME. DEMOREST. 429 passed tliroiigh. the vicissitudes of trade, he has won in every struggle. He is worth to-day a quarter of a million, the fruit of honest industry and enterprise. Mme. Hemorest is distinguished in her department. She is one of the best-known ladies in America. She is the acknowledged leader of fashions in this country, and in Europe. Stylish in dress, faultless in taste, she exhibits her artistic ability, as really as Lawrence with his pencil, Chantrey with his chisel, or Liszt with his mystic touch. Twice a year the saloons of the house on Fourteenth street are thrown o^jen, and crowded by the elite of the city. The artist herself, amid her stylish and showy goods, is worth looking at. A lady, tall, slim, with a graceful and queenly bearing ; tresses black as a raven’s ; eyes dark, and sparkling like diamonds, with complexion reminding one of an Italian countess, her robe simple and elegant, she would be distinguished anywhere, and pronounced the best-dressed lady in the room. She had a great passion for millinery when a girl. Her mother, wiser than most women, did not thwart her inclination. She gave her the means and allowed her to perfect herself under the best artists. Dress- making was added to millinery, and came of itself. The young artist displayed exquisite taste, and was dis- tinguished for the elegance and tit of the garments that left her establishment. Madame took an early and sincere interest in wo- man’s work and woman’s elevation. Her desire was to secure an elegant and remunerative business for girls. She gave them a substantial help. She said little at conventions or on platforms. She gave employment to respectable colored girls, though some were offended that negroes should be employed in an elegant house. To this cause she contributed all she had, — eloquence of speech, talent and vigor of pen, with great executive 430 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. force. To these gifts were added of her own earnings to elevate deserving women to positions in which they could help themselves. In the fashionable world Madame Demores t stands without a rival. At every exhibition she has led against the world. She has won more prizes, taken more med- als, and been voted more diplomas than any living woman. She bore away the palm at the Mechanic’s Institute, Maryland ; the New York State Fair ; at the World’s Fair; at the Crystal Palace, and at the Cen- tennial, in Philadelijhia. She has secured numerous patents, received twenty-five diplomas, and three silver medals. The paper pattern business is simply gigantic. The patterns are elegant and inexpensive, and place the lat- est fashions in the humblest homes. The business in itself wonderful. The envelopes that contain the l^atterns are struck off two millions at a time. These are sent over the land, over the sea, and over the world. The tissue paper for trimmings, which repre- sents colors, is imjjortedin large quantities from Europe. The thin, tough paper, from which the patterns are cut, is made expressly for the house ; it comes in mam- moth sheets, large as a carpet, and is turned into the warerooms by the ton. The headquarters are the large mansion on Fourteenth street, occupied from cellar to attic. At times two hundred employees are demanded by the exigencies of the business. Curiously-devised machinery has reduced the force and lessened the ex- pense of manufacture. The house has fifteen hundred agencies located in every principal American city. Beside these thei’e are agencies in Havana, South America, the Sandwich Islands and the Islands of the Sea. The Demorest patterns are sold on the Boulevards of Paris, and on the Strand in London. A recent order left for London LITERATURE A BUSINESS. 431 amounting to £500. The house buys its elephantine paper by five thousand reams at a time ; the annual cost for printing is a hundred thousand dollars ; the cost for advertising is as much more. Seven hundred letters containing orders with money reach the office in a day. Mme. Demorest is distinguished for her domestic virtues as she is for her executive ability and artistic taste. Her four children are representatives in their line of life. Yinna is distinguished for her musical ability, her voice and artistic power. Henry is a rheto- rician and an elocutionist of a high order. He also exhibits marked business ability. The younger chil- dren possess great intelligence and are full of xiromise. The x)opularity and success of this house show that tact, intelligence, ability and endurance will win ; and teach those win Fortune who chase the coy damsel through her chosen retreats, and do not tire in the race. CXLII. LITERATURE A BUSINESS. EN are as much of a failure who live by the brain as are men who live by the muscles. The standard of success is as low in litera- ture as it is in merchandise or mechanism. Men celebrated in poetry and song, in history and the fine arts, in romance and the sciences, have a measured success. Few hold on to the end with permanent re- nown. The same great lesson of failure is taught in the professions that is taught in trade. Running 432 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. tlirongli the life of man is' a vein that brings a cloud over the bright horizon, and sends down many a ‘‘sun while it is yet day.” One of the saddest books in the language is “The Infirmities of Genius.” Those who think that the path of learning is without thorns, or would like to know what those suffer who earn a year or two of popularity by the pen, would do well to be- hold the skeleton that is hidden in every scholar’s closet. They will find that it is not the “undevout astronomer,” but the author, that is mad. CiiAUCEK has the honor of reviving literature. He was born in London in 1328, seven years after Dante died, four years after Wicklifif’s death, and he knew Petrarch. He was purely a man of the world — a man of marvelous industrj^. He was a favorite at court, and was found in the retinue of kings. He was a soldier, a courtier, a diplomatist, and basked for a brief day in the sunshine of royal favor. Then the dark column was turned. He exchanged the palace for a prison, and the favor of sovereigns for the frown of the Lord of the Tower. SiDT^EY was a brilliant ornament of the Elizabethan era. Her Majesty would not allow him to accept the throne of Poland, as she could not part with “ the jewel of her court.” He had all the elements of a gay and brilliant career — a painter’s eye and a poet’s fancy. He was elegant in person, conrely and refined in manners. On the battlefield he was bravery i)erson- ified. When he lay mortally wounded, he grace- fully waved away a cup of water that a dying soldier might drink. Spencer was born in London. He was introduced to court life by Sir Philip Sidney. Under the ances- LITERATURE A BUSINESS. 433 tral tree of Penhurst, the home of Sir Philip, the poet passed the happiest years of his life. He made the acquaintance of Leicester, Elizabeth’s favorite, and came under the notice of his royal mistress. He joined the courtiers of the maiden queen, and exchanged hap- piness for a chain of gold. He early knew that “hope deferred which maketh the heart sick.” He describes the mortification, torment and ingratitude to which he was subject : “ Full little knowest thou, who has not tried What hell it is in suing long to bide; To lose good days that might be better spent; To waste long nights in pensive discontent; To spend to-day, and be put back to-morrow.; To feed on hope, pine with fear and sorrow; To have the Princess’ grace, yet want her peers' ; To have thy asking, yet wait many years ; To fret thy soul with sorrows and with cares; To eat thy bread in comfortless despair; To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run ; To spend, to give, to wait — to be undone.” Spencer was banished to Ireland under the plea of court favor. He became involved in the Ulster rebel- lion. He fled from the burning Castle of Kilcolman, leaving a child to be consumed in the fire. He re- turned to London a ruined and broken-hearted man. He died in poverty and disgrace at the age of forty-six years. Bacon was born in London in 1561. His father was one of the most eminent lawyers of his time. The bo}^ was precocious, and had an early longing for state preferment. He even asked a position of the lordly Burleigh, and was denied. He endured every species humiliation, to gain the favor of men in power. When advanced he soiled his ermine to stand well with the* eminent. When the measure of his ambition was full 28 434 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. and lie became the Viscount of St. Albans, he was called to the Bar of the House of Lords to be de- graded. Shakespeaee was an idle young man, and riotous after his order. He had an imperfect education, but he must have read much, and read constantly. His plays show that he had an intimate acquaintance with the Bible and with history. As a play-actor, a man- ager, and an author he made the most of his advant- ages. He held horses for the players when he could do no better. He finally made a position for himself, and entered the door his own genius had opened. He early joined a band of strolling actors, and made acting a business. He wrote twenty-seven plays ; laid up a little money ; built him a dwelling at Stratford-on- Avon near his birth-place, and died in dignified retire- ment in the fifty-second year of his age. BEit JoNSOit was born ten years after Shakespeare. He was educated at Cambridge, and chose literature as a profession. He failed as an actor, but became one of the most brilliant writers of his age. He carved out a new path for himself, and in it, attained the highest repute. Personally he was rude, slovenly and ungra- cious — arrogant and intemperate. He lived mainly by the patronage of the great. He called one day at a nobleman’s door who had expressed himself inclined to become a patron to a forthcoming work. Instead of sending in his card he bounced through the open door into the presence of the nobleman. Who are you said the astonished lord. ‘‘ I am Ben Jonson.” Ben Jonson ! You don’t look as if you could say Boo to a goose !” “Boo!” said the poet to his face. “Sit down,” was the response. “ You are Ben Jonson.” LITERA TUBE A B U8INE88. 435 The personal traits of Jonson turned his talents against him, and at sixty-three he died in poverty. Hooker was an eminent churchman. He took his first step in preferment by obtaining the tutorship of the Bishop of Salsbury’s son. Like other eminent men, he marred his fortunes by an imprudent marriage. His wife was not only a ‘‘silly, clownish woman,” but a regular Xantippe. His eminence produced such bitter persecution, that he begged the bishop to allow him to retire to “some quiet parsonage where. he could eat his bread in peace and privacy.” Bishop Taylor struggled through adverse in- fluences to the bench of bishops. His first step was an accidental one. He Avas in the right place at the right time. There was a sudden vacancy in the jmlpit of St. Paul’s Cathedral. His youth, his beauty, and his intelligence, captivated the metropolis. In the revolu- tion he was a staunch royalist, and Avas tossed on the sea of revolution. The army of Parliament j)ut him into prison. On his release he retired to the seclusion of Wales. That profligate monarch, Charles II., in his prosperity, forgot the preacher who suffered so much on his behalf. Tardy honors were conferred upon him. He AAms made bishop of Down and Conner, a short time before his death. Butler, the author of Hudibras, proposed in that famous poem, to lampoon both the Presbyterian Church and the Puritan party. He became a courtier and shared the fate of most men who consecrate their life to the service of jjrinces. When he could be used no longer he was turned adrift in poverty and neglect. He died in squalid lodgings in London without money enough to pay for his funeral. 436 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Deyden, the son of a poet, had a brilliant career. He became the most popular poet of the age. He harl a royal revenue, was poet laureate and histographer to the king. He became a convert to Homanism and vigorously defended his new faith. He raised up strong foes among eminent men, who embittered his life. He lost his office and his revenues. He closed his life in unremitting toil, dying in poverty. Claeendon inherited a fortune, and entered Parlia- ment when young man. He was a moderate man amid extremists. He kept out of England in troublesome times, but held his grip on the king. At the restora- tion he was made lord chancellor. The elements which secured his rise contributed to his downfall. His purity, moderation and economy, v/ere a rebuke to his associates. They conspired against him. The great seal was taken from him. The king, whom he had served so well, turned against him, and he died in exile in 1674. MiLTOTf was a child of the aristocracy. The great epic poet of the world, he espoused the plebeian side. He made an unsuitable match, and his married life was an unhappy one. He had ample warning that his sight was failing. His father, in extreme old age, could read without glasses. His mother had weak eyes, and Milton inherited from her that fatal tendency that cul- minated in blindness. While writing his great politi- cal work in defense of the Commonwealth, his sight began to fail. He refused to pause in his work, and paid the bitter penalty for his rashness. Bunyaist, the tinker, employed his time in Bedford jail in making tagged laces,” and in writing his im- mortal allegory. He drew his metaphors from the LITERATURE A BUSINESS. 437 Bible and from his own spiritual career. His style was coarse, homespun, never vulgar, and always popular. In boyhood he was profligate and wicked, and without education. His twelve years’ imprisonment worked wonders for him. He graduated an eloquent and fervid preacher ; an author of enduring reputation. His career proves that a man of parts and pluck can carve his way to fame in defiance of the most adverse and desperate surroundings. Swift, Dean of St. Patrick’s, was a man of splendid talent. He inherited wit and the facility for composi- tion. His gifts ought to have made him the most emi- nent Englishman of his time. They were overborne by a nature selfish, heartless and unloving. His cruel treatment of Yarnessa and Stella, two girls who con- fided their all to him, have consigned him to perpetual infamy. He had an intense longing for Church prefer- ment with great expectations. His conduct and writ- ings hedged up his way. The queen would not con- sent to put a bishop’s crook into the hands of a man who wrote the ‘‘Tale of a Tub.” His bitterest foe could not have wished him an end more sad. He be- came the victim of giddiness in his head, created by eating one hundred pippins at a meal. He was a hypochondriac, was prematurely deaf, and predicted he would die like a tree struck with lightning at the top, or like a poisoned rat in a hole. He died a sufferer both in body and in mind. Addison was born to a fortune. He was elegant and courtly in his manners. His ill-assorted marriage to the Countess of Warwick blighted his life. He had no capacity for business, and failed as Secretary of State. Walpole says he died under the influence of brandy, and could not, as tradition asserts, have said 438 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS to the young Earl of Warwick : ‘‘ Behold how a Chris- tian can die !” Sam J OHi^soi^ was poor and ambitious. Conscious of power, while penniless he launched himself on London society to win bread and fame. He made literature a trade, and it afforded him for years a pre- carious and suffering career. Everything was against him ; he inherited the scrofula ; was awkward and un- gainly in his person ; was constitutionally a hypochon- driac ; ‘‘ mad half his life,” and one of the lowest grubs in Grub street. He overcame all obstacles and became the autocrat of the press. Steene was a bad husband, and a bad priest.' His life, with that of Churchill, Swift, and Goldsmith, shows how degraded a calling that of a clergyman is, whose heart is not in his work. Swift lived on bad terms with his wife, in perpetual squabbles with his brother clergymen, and was always in an angry contro- versy with the government and men of letters. He drew tears from men and women, by his pathetic de- scription of a ‘‘dying mule,” while at the same time he was neglecting a living mother. His health gave way under his dissipation in London, while superin- tending his “ Sentimental Journey.” Goldsmith tried his hand at everything, — poet, author, novelist, strolling musician, doctor, and priest. He went to take orders in red plush breeches. When asked by the bishop if he could subscribe to the thirty-nine articles, he promptly replied: “Forty, if your reverence xjleases.” He lived a vagabond life, and it was feast or famine with him from day to day. One day he dined with a lord in velvets and laces, the next, he ate from a bulkhead, clothed in rags. His LITERATURE A BUSINESS. 439 gay associates deserted him in a garret, in which he breathed his last. He was in debt ; chased by baililfs ; oppressed by fears of tlie future; ‘411 at ease in his own mind,” and wept over by the old charwoman, to whom he had been kind. He Foe wrote two hundred and ten works. Pos- terity will honor him as the author of ‘ ‘ Hobinson Cru- soe. ’ ’ He was a bold and plucky man. He was burdened with fines ; was imprisoned in Newgate for writing in favor of freedom ; and wrote “Robinson Crusoe” late in life, while suffering from physical infirmities that made him a cripple. Could the critics have had their way, the story would have been burned. He Foe was cautioned, if he had any regard for his fame, to throw “Robinson Crusoe” into the fire. FiELDiNa had a noble ancestry. His father, a gay and dissipated man, squandered the family estate. The son gained a scanty subsistence by his pen. He had admirable spirits, and showed wit and vivacity, while starving in a garret. His life was irregular and dissi- pated, and he ended his career before he was fifty years of age. Richaedsois’ was a distinguished trader. He made literature a pastime. From a printer he graduated into a bookseller. He became the king’s printer and amassed a fortune. At fifty he began to write, and became eminent as an author of fiction. He aided Hr. Johnson in his affliction, and did much to help the sage emerge from his obscurity and poverty. ft Smollett came from Glasgow, where he was an ap- prentice to an apothecary. He was poor, friendless, raw and uncouth. He sent out his first work when he was 440 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS, nineteen years of age, and tlie publication was a failure. With a bitter, virulent temper he made himself felt as a political pamphleteer. He had clear grit, kept steady to his work, and had the honor to be fined and imprisoned on several occasions. As a historian he became a success, and died at the early age of thirty- three years. # Chatteeton began his marvelous career when at fourteen, as an apprentice to an attorney. He was the uneducated son of a Bristol grave-digger. He pro- duced poetry in the style of the fifteenth century, and deceived Grey, Walpole and Mason. Had he lived, he would have been the great poet of the age. He came to London to live by his pen and sank into the depths of poverty. He died at eighteen, from poison ad- ministered by himself, in a miserable garret, in an obscure lane of the metropolis. His form, in the garb of a charity scholar, chiseled in stone, occupies a prominent place on a column in his native city of Bristol. CowPEE was fifty years old before he had any re- pute as a writer. He had a tinge of madness in his nature, and his excessive timidity was allied to insan- ity. He turned his attention to literature to divert his attention from his malady. His most impressive and popular hymn was written after he had attempted to take his life. His earlier works involved him in pecu- niary ruin. Out of gratitude to his publishers Cowper wrote his Task,” and passed out of his hand the only work that would have yielded him a fortune. I liy A.xiTatcl^'® ■ EAL8ET WING KNAPP, D.D. 441 CXLIIL HALSEY WING KNAPP, D.D. R. KNAPP is one of the remarkable men of New York. He is a first- class business man and a talented and po^jular preacher. No merchant in New York is better known, and he leads in his department -of trade in Washington Market. He was born in the city of New York, Octo- ber, 1824. He studied in the Suflield Literary Insti- tute for the purpose of entering Yale College. His father was not rich, and he refused the boon of a col- legiate education, as the expense would entail a posi- tive burden upon the family. He saw that he had his own way in life to win, and he looked around for some- thing to do. He obtained a position in the publishing house of T. Robins, of Hartford. He saw that a man without capital had small chance of success. He re- solved to go to sea both to earn money and earn pro- motion. He made two voyages around the globe and obtained what he sought. He visited Asia, Africa, China, the islands of the sea, and came home at twenty- one mate of a ship. He took to trade in 1846, and was bookkeeper in Washington Market. His salary was twenty-five hun- dred dollars a year. His vigor, intenseness and capa- city won him a front rank. In one year he became partner in the house. The great revival of 1857 changed his entire career. He was leading a fast life. He was impulsive, energetic, convivial, and fond of jovial com- pany. He was popular among the Masons, and an en- thusiast in military affairs. The revival changed his life in an hour. Speaking was. not among his gifts, 442 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. and he had never displayed any talents as an orator. On his conversion the talent of speech developed itself. Within one week after his religious life began, he was preaching with acceptance and fervor. Mr. Knapj) was favored with a remarkably rugged constitution. In all his ocean life, sailing from sixty degrees North, to sixty degrees South latitude, and all the degrees of longitude, he never was kept from his duties a day, and never was sick an hour in his life. During nineteen years of pulpit service Mr. Knapp has never spent one dollar of salary on himself or family. His entire income as a preacher, with marriage fees, donations and perquisites, have been given to the cause of religion. He made a vow on the threshold of his ministry, that while he continued in business, he would never spend on cent on himself or his household that was not earned in trade. During his entire ministry he has lived in a per- petual revival of religion. The churches have called him up the river, and down the river, and on the island to assist in revival work. Few men could have endured the pressure laid upon Mr. Knapp. He does business through the day in the market ; preaching every night in the week ; traveling nights to keep his appointments ; accepting no gratuity from the churches, and always paying his own traveling expenses. When a poor church is desirous of a series of services, Mr. Knapp not only gives his own labors, but sees to it that the ill-paid pastor is not burdened. His coming is her- alded by a car-load of provisions — two or three sheep — crates of turkeys — with provisions enough to make the parsonage glad for a month. To the astonished minis- ter he says, “You take after the Lord’s work, I’ll look after our physical wants.” He gives a poor church a lift. Gives a dilapidated one paint.’ Helps to pay the salary that comes hard. In a single year. HALSEY WIHG KNAPP, D.D. 443 Mr. Knapp lias given to some churches, the round sum of ten thousand dollars. Amid these religious labors, trade is kept going. Mr. Knapp’s motto, is : “ ISTot slothful in business, fer- vent in spirit, serving the Lord.” Doing a large por- tion of the year’s business, he aided his salesmen, and was his own bookkeeper and financier. When jiartners were needed, he was remarkably successful in his selection. He systematized his business, could go out and engage in revival work, keep hold of trade by let- ters and telegrams, return at the close of the week, and make everything all right. Mr. Knapp was or- dained to the gospel ministry in 1859. The council that ordained him was a distinguished one, composed of every Bajptist church in the city of New York. Tbe preacher was the eloquent orator, Hev. William Hague. Few men have had as many calls extended to them from important churches as Mr. Knapx-). Every settlement, has been a success. He never staid so long but that the church wished him to remain longer. He never resigned, but under the protest of the people. He never left a society, but it was anxious he should resume the place. Eloquent, magnetic, and impressive as a preacher, he has marked dramatic talent. He is universally popular in his denomination. He moves under the divine guidance, in which he firmly believes. He declines an imxoortant call ; his friends are aston- ished. ‘‘Ido not see the divine approval,” he says. He leaves the field where he is abundantly blessed ; people wonder; the unanswerable reason is: “God gave the order ; I go where God leads the way ; I never leave, unless God orders it.” Salary, position, a pop- ular x)arish, and social infiuence, are nothing to a man, when he finds it, and gives to the cause all he earns in that work. Mr. Knaj)p possesses rare and valuable combina- 444 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. tions. He can manage a large business and a large church at the same time. His hours of business are unusual, and are peculiarly fitted to his style of life. His trade begins at two o’ clock in the morning and closes at eleven, leaving him the afternoon and evening for study and pastoral work. No minister in New York devotes as many hours to his study, or is more diligent in his calling. He is one of the heaviest dealers in Washington Market, and his business ranks with Clafiin in dry-goods, and with Colgate in gold. Preaching nearly every evening in the week, he pre- pares his sermons in the afternoon previous. There is nothing slipshod about him, and he is as methodical in his pulpit preparations as he is in trade. His method is to mark out a generous skeleton, noting down his points on separate pieces of paper. These points he takes with him into the pulpit, and delivers his sermon without reading, in a free, impassioned, magnetic manner. His hours of study are from one to dark, and from dinner till nine, unless he i^reaches in the evening. He is a fair Latin scholar, a natural linguist, taking in languages by intuition. He took a course of theological study laid out by that eminent master Hr. William H. Wiliams. Mr. Knapp believes in Biblical writers, in commentators, and, eminent men who have thrown light on the divine Word, but the Bible is its own best interpreter and requires the best key to unlock the sacred mysteries. In answer to the question Hoes your devotion to trade harm your spiritual or ministerial life,” Mr. Knapp replies, ^‘No! Business furnishes me with a healthy outlet for my nervous force. It has preserved me from exhaustion which has ruined many brilliant men. It has kept me alive and in good health to this hour.” Mr. Knapp had an honored ancestry. His father, HALSEY Wim KNAPP, D,D. 445 Rev. Henry R. Knapp, was a successful Baptist minis- ter. His mother was a woman of great force of char- acter, talent and godliness. At seventy-five she still survives with the vigor of middle life upon her. Her son has honors abroad as well as at home. The degree of doctor of divinity has been conferred upon him by a college in California. In the judgment of his friends, Mr. Knapp was called to the ministry at the age of sixteen. He was too proud to have the Church educate him, and too poor to educate himself. So, Jonah-like, he ran away and went to sea. Many things joined to bring him back to duty and to God. He lost a favorite child who was the idol of his heart. His brother Samuel’s con- version had great influence over him. Samuel became a Baptist preacher, and had few equals in the x\meri- can j^ulpit. He was faithful to his brother, and his fidelity bore rich, ripe fruit. Halsey was plunged into a gulf of despair, and his season of gloom covered a period of sixteen days. In his humility, the first ques- tion put by his conscience was: “Will you now preach'^” The reply was: “Yes, Lord, I will do any- thing.” At once a call came from Hudson City. On the tenth of January, 1858, he gave his first sermon, under which five joersons were converted. He has been settled at AVest Farms, N. Y. ; Hudson City, K. J. ; in North Bergen, and in the South Church ; Pilgrim Church and Laight Street Church, in the city of New York. Marked results liave followed his ministry everywhere. At Laight street, Mr. Knapp’s ministry has been re- markable. The house of worship in which he i^reaches had been abandoned ; the congregation scattered, and the churcli moved up town ; the field, it was said, was one in which no church could live, and no congregation be gathered. A mission church was organized, and Mr. Knapp begun his work with the assistance of one man. 446 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. In five years he gathered the largest Protestant congre- gation in lower New York. His house, holding eight hundred people, is crowded every Sunday night. He has an active membership in the locality in which people are constantly moving. Four hundred attend the weekly prayer-meeting. For three years there has been in the congregation a perpetual revival. The pas- tor’ s work is simply amazing. He seldom leaves his pulpit, conducts his own religious meetings through the week, and finds time to assist sister churches on every hand. He still adheres to the principle laid down in his earlier ministry. He makes his business support him- self and family. He gives, without ostentation or boasting, liberally. During the nineteen years of his public life he has donated to the cause of religion not less than one hun- dred thousand dollars. He is an ardent, magnetic friend, x^ossesses marked social gifts, and attaches his associates to him with hooks of steel. He has fine con- versational powers, and is an attractive parlor compan- ion. He has sympathetic words for the poor, the sick and suffering. His purse and labor are at the service of every good work. Hejjeatedly called from Laight street to other important fields of service, Mr. Knapp makes but one rejdy : When my works are done in this i)lace, God will make a new one for me. Until then I stand in my flock.” Mr. Knapp sx)ent the summer on Long Island. Among the visitors was the rector of a fashionable church. The rector proposed to have a conference, and to invite the bishop of diocese to be X3resent. He took a hall and announced the meeting. A large array of clergymen in robes filed into the hall. The audi- ence was a sparse one.. The rector gave this account of the affair: ‘‘1 thought it extraordinary, that there HALSEY WING KNAPP, D,D. 447 should be so slim an attendance, when the bishop was to be present, and preach. But what was more extra- ordinary, was this. It was announced, that the next night a Mr. Knapp, a chicken seller of New York would preach, and the hall was packed from the stair- way to the platform.” One summer, Mr. Knapp cruising in his yacht, dropped anchor in Nantucket Harbor. He put his yawl alongside of the vessel to exchange the compli- ments of the season. He accepted an invitation to enter the cabin, and had hardly got below before the craft was hailed: ‘^Was Elder Knapp on board?” The astonished owner answered, ‘‘No ! there is no Elder Knapp here.” “ Hold on,” said Halsey, “ you are not so sure as that,” and he went on deck to see what was wanted. And this was Eider Knapp in his commodore suit. “ Would Elder Knapi3 stay over Sunday ?” “No.” “ Would he preach that night ?” “ Yes.” The town was notified ; the church crowded. Twelve visiting ministers occupied the front. When Mr. Knapp announced his theme, that though he preached at a moment’s warning the subject was one to which he had given more study and on which he was better prepared to preach than almost any other, the ministers present complimented the preacher on not passing off as a hasty production a sermon which was the fruit of much study, prayer and meditation. 448 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. CXLIY. FORTY YEARS OF MERCANTILE LIFE. NE of our prominent merchants has had forty years of business experience in the city of New York. He has been connected with several large mercantile firms. During this period of business life, he has seen men who inherited the business fortunes of their fathers pass out of sight. Others, who began with nothing ; sold peanuts and notions ; peddled goods from a tray ; hawked news- papers from the curb-stone ; earned a small commis- sion, came up to fame and fortune. Some men have flung away a flne business, while others with no advan- tages make themselves rich. In the Flatbush, L. I., almshouse, are two men. One with a jack-knife will carve out of a bone, a piece of work, for beauty and skill, worthy of a Chinese artist. The other has a chest of tools, and cannot cut ofl a board on a line to save his life. Some men with capital, position, and opportunities will be failures. Others will wm for- tune in the teeth of the flercest adversity. “I will give,” said my friend, .“a chapter or two from my business life : ‘‘ I knew Alexander T. Stewart. He was a hard business man. His one aim was success. He knew a good bargain, and went for it. He knew how to make a contract, and how to hold a man to it. He drove tough bargains with his employees, and no man knew better than himself how valuable it was for a young man to be retained in his store. The man who held the contract for Stewart’s marble mansion was ruined. He expected to make something out of the extra work, FORTY TEARS OF MERCANTILE LIFE. 449 amounting to eigliteen thousand dollars. The con- tract, specified, in very fine letters, that all extra work must be ordered by the architect. The architect did not order this extra work, but the superintendent did. So this claim was disallowed. , The contractor had another claim on the marble quarr}^ in Westchester County. While talking the matter over with Stewart, the contractor dropped dead in the millionaire’s count- ing room. He claimed that over two hundred and twenty thousand dollars’ worth of marble was used in Stewart’s palace on Fifth avenue. ‘‘I knew W. C. Ralston when he resided in Hew York, and when he was poor enough. He was a clerk in New York, and his room was under the sky-light in the National Hotel. His room-mate was Clinton Wheeler, a man who afterwards became very famous. Twenty years ago Ralston went to the Pacific coast. He was sharp, keen, wily and unscru- pulous. He set his aim high, and worked up to it, and a great deal of money passed through his hands. Sev- enteen miles out from San Francisco, he erected a costly mansion. He had a quarrel with the railroad company, and he drove his own team over the road, keeping a relay of horses to make the journey a swift one. He w^as as regular as the sun ; he mounted his coach at a given hour in the morning, and left the bank promptly on his return. Nothing delayed him ; no business could detain him. He was a magnificent hos% and often entertained forty guests at a time. His house, table, wdne-cellar and coaches were at the dis- posal of his friends — everything but himself. However distinguished his company, at a given hour he took his candle and bade his guests good-night. Anyone who chose could make a night of it. The morning hour for starting for the city was announced. Ralston 29 450 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. waited for no one ; the unready were left behind. Men set their watches by his arrival at the bank. Once there, the company were left on the pavement to the care of themselves. On the minute, carriages were at the curbstone for his return. In his prosperous days he remembered his old room-mate, and sent him an ele- gant carriage costing twenty-six hundred dollars. ‘ ‘ T. R. Butlee is President of the Sixth Avenue Railroad. In his Ohio home he was the sexton of a small church. He was capable, industrious, prudent, and laid up a little money. He began his New York life as a clerk in a dry -goods store. He began trade for himself in a small way. When the war broke out he had a small Western trade in New York. He had fore- sight enough to see that the war was a fact, and would be lasting. He put all his money into cotton and woollen goods, and bought all he could get on credit. His stock arose enormously on his hands. Hoods went up from twenty cents a yard to ninety, and from twen- ty-five cents a yard to a dollar. He made money and invested it in Sixth Avenue Railroad stock. He has been adding to his fortune from year to year. A lucky merchant is S. B. Chittexden, — ‘Little Chit,’ as the merchants delight to call him. He had a small retail trade in Hartford. He brought to New York a cash capital of seventeen thousand five hundred dollars, with which to open a new mercantile trade. He invested his odd five hundred dollars in the stock of the Church of the Pilgrims. He became a member of the house of Phelps, Chittenden & Bliss. Mr. Phelps is now a rich man, and Mr. Bliss is a member of the banking firm of Morton, Bliss & Co. On the breaking out of the war Mr. Chittenden was on the verge of financial ruin. All he expected to do was to FORTY YEARS OF MERCANTILE LIFE, 451 save his homestead in Guilford. The war, instead of ruining him, changed Chittenden’s fortune, and the rise in goods made him rich. He bought his elegant estate on the Heights, at a very low price. Mr. Phelps had the reputation of being a very sharp, close man. He reserved desk-room in a dry -goods house when he went out of active business. He sold a store-boy a postage stamp. The lad could raise but two cents. The next day the millionaire called for his penny and got it. ‘‘Peter Gilsey was a German and kept a segar store on the corner of Broadway and Courtlandt. He was a painstaking, prudent, careful man, and laid up his money. He was prudent and cautious in in- vestments. He built the first iron building erected in the city. He made a shrewd contract that won him a fortune. He contracted to put up the iron structure and hold it rent free for fifteen years, then it was to be handed over to the owner of the land. He reserved a small room on the old site and carried on the segar trade. The remainder of the building he rented at a handsome profit. His gains were invested in up-town lots and he became a millionaire. “ Clinton Wheeler was the room-mate and life- long friend of Ralston. He made his money in Indian contracts. He made a bold strike to furnish Indian supplies to the value of half a million. The profits were immense. They were his own, but he shared them with the firm of which he was a member. “J. H. Wade, of Cleveland, was a small portrait painter. Apparently he had little force and no fame. Had he remained at his easel he would never have been heard of. He became a telegraph operator and bought stock in a small way. He became president of several small lines, and had influence enough to get into the 452 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS, employ of the Western Union. He developed into a first-class business man. He has a palatial house in Cleveland, and is a good illustration of a man who failed in one business, and became a marked success in the other. ‘‘ WuKTEMBERG COLLEGE is located at Springfield, Ohio. Its president. Rev. Mr. Hellway, worked his way through suffering and poverty to get an education. He was an orphan at two years of age ; indebted for shelter and schooling to the kindness of a friend. When fifteen years old he was offered a clerkship in a store at a salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year. He had made up his mind to preach the Gospel, and he refused the offer. He worked his way through college, being full of resources and pluck. He kex-)t school ; traded, and took shade-trees into Alabama and found a market for them. He is now the foremost scholar and preacher of the Lutheran Church. ‘‘ Ezra Cornell dressed like a farmer. He was a Quaker in principle ; a man of few words, but of indomitable energy. He became rich in spite of him- self. He took to telegraphing in a small way, and was the owner of a bunch of wires, supposed to be of no great value to any one. Silsby was a shrewd, level- headed man, and formed the acquaintance of Cornell. He told Cornell that he had a fortune in his hands if those scattered lines could be grouped together. Silsby did not rest, till he had formed the combination known as the “ Six Nations.” With it Silsby made a fortune for himself and for his associates. Mr. Cornell in 1863 was put on the State Board to fill a vacancy. The State scrip was worthless for educational purposes, yet Mr. Cornell offered for it the astonishing price of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He located the FORTY YEARS OF MERCANTILE LIFE. 453 land, and ran up their value to three millions. This sum he devoted to education, and Cornell University is his monument. “Caul Beegmat^ was at one time the delight of the Hub. He was the popular musical leader of the nation. No one who saw him wield his baton at Win- ter Garden in 1855, could believe he would die in neglect. Like most distinguished artists, his day waned. He was crowded from the platform to make way for new favorites, He became moody and sullen. He shunned his friends, and lived alone. He died in a German hospital before his friends knew that he was ill. Strangers closed his eyes and buried him. He who had drawn together delighted crowds, and hushed thousands by his magic sway, was neglected by his musical friends, and forgotten before he was borne to his tomb. ‘‘MyroETY years’ experience in mercantile life sat- isfies me that we have improved vastly in the morals of trade. The ‘eleven o’clock’ and the ‘ four o’ clock ’ drams were regularly handed around, and merchants, customers and clerks drank together forty years ago. Salesmen were allowed to play cards in the store, and fill up their idle hours with gaming. Customers were taken out and treated, and clerks fond of fast life con- ducted customers through gambling hells, and intro- duced them into dens of infamy. He was regarded as a poor salesman who could not palm off on this liberality a heavy bill of goods. Many men who plume themselves on the title of ‘ merchant princes,’ when I was a young man kept a gin- mill — a corner grocery — peddled milk, or ran a sailors’ boarding-house. The sons of the mag- nates of that far-off period are ‘ hewers of wood and drawers of water’ to modern millionaires.” 454 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. CXLV. WILLIAM EMERSON BAKER. IDGE HILL FARMS,” tlie home of Mr. Baker, is one of the best known country seats in vicinity of Boston. He was named for the Rev. William Emerson, father of Ralph Waldo. He was a playmate of the Lawrence boys, and the Lawrence mansion of Tremont street, was the play -ground of the lads. Young Baker’s studies while preparing for college were cut short by the failure of his father. William entered a jobbing house on a salary of fifty dollars a year. Before the first year closed he accepted a commission on sales in lieu of salary. His energy and tact ran up his income five hundred dollars. He was too ambitious, and too self- reliant, to be a subordinate, and early struck out for himself. He took a loft and made a specialty of goods bought from auction. He kept a good look-out for bargains, maintained a fair credit, and secured all the stock he wanted. In the third year of his business career he made the acquaintance of W. C. Grover. He was an inventor, and had a valuable machine for embroidering. It was imperfect, but Mr. Baker saw in it a gem of great wealth. Mr. Baker joined his fortunes with Grover ; aided him in overcoming the defects of the invention, and evolved a principle that has made the Grover & Baker Machine so famous. It was a stupendous work to win the favor of the public. For a time, everything seemed to consj)ire against the firm. Parties who con- tracted to furnish the machinery failed, and sums ad- vanced by Baker & Grover involved heavy losses. WILLIAM EMERSON BAKER. 455 Mr. Baker sailed for Europe in 1854. He went abroad to introduce his sewing-machine into France, Belgium and Germany. Peculiar and complicated law- suits detained him abroad two and a half years. A tricky American attempted to press through the patent-office of Great Britain a patent in advance of the rightful owner. It cost Mr. Baker over a hundred thousand dollars to expose the swindle and secure his rights. He triumphed at last, and received the con- gratulations of the leading lawyers of England. ‘ ‘ Ridge Hill Farms ’ ’ were purchased by Mr. Baker in 1868. The estate is located in Wellesly, about fifteen miles from Boston. It is divided into groves, grottoes, lawns, lakes, caves and canals, — eight hundred acres in all. The proprietor is a marvel of industry and activ- itj^, overseeing eighty persons who are employed on the Farms. Mr. Baker has expended immense sums of money in making liis home attractive, and he throws his acres open to the public, who crowd the homestead from dawn to dark. He has gathered a huge collection of curiosities, rare works of art, live animals in dens and cages, with treasures gathered from the land and the sea. He spends his wealth in providing unique and attractive entertainments for the people. Fetes and entertainments are the most extraordi- nary things about the Ridge Hill Farms. These are given in honor of distinguished strangers who visit Boston. He entertained the troops of Georgia and South Carolina in royal style for a week. He spread a relig- ious cloth of gold and invited one hundred clergymen of different denominations to meet together. He erected a chapel on his estaie and opened it to clergymen of every sect. Eminent poets, painters, artists, musicians, orators, authors-, and journalists, have been guests of Mr. Baker’ s festive board. Amazement and amusement strike the visitor. The 456 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. grotesque and the artistic blend. The Farms are cov- ered with queer arches, astonishing monuments, bridges in surprising places, statues, and pictures. Bears growl from brick dens ; gazelles feed upon the lawn ; monkeys and peacocks fill huge cages ; artificial lakes are covered with craft, from an Indian canoe to a steam- boat ; grottoes through the solid rock are a surprise. The Farms are studded with the “ Yalley of Fancies,” “ Smuggler’s Cave,” ‘‘ Stalactic Grotto,” “ Union Chapel,” “ Monkey House,” Black and Gold Stable,” and an arcade for children. Mr. Baker keeps the country excited by the num- ber and distinguished character of his guests. He is a liberal host and has reared a banque ting-room on his grounds for the entertainment of visitors. He drives his guests in his own carriages a mile and a half from the depot to his dwelling. His table is often laid for a hundred guests. In him science and folly, talent and bluntness, practical common sense with a love of the burlesque, unite. At an entertainment the bill of fare ]3romises canvas-back ducks in plaster, mock turtle in stone, French frogs in china ; grapes and peas from paradise — sound as when plucked. Mr. Baker seeks new avenues of amusement and usefulness, and abhors the beaten path. He is brimful of humor, wit, quaint- ness and fun. Affable and courteous to all, he is patient and forbearing under a provocation His energy and perseverance are wonderful. He annually spends large sums of money to afford healthy and agreeable recreation to thousands. He is a public benefactor. MASON & HAMLIN COMPANY. 457 CXLYI. MASON & HAMLIN CO. HIS firm is known from the snows of the North, to the Gulf, and from ocean to ocean. The cabinet organ has adorned and cheered thousands of homes. It has rendered effi- cient aid in the Sunday-school work. It has supplied a want long felt in small churches, and owes its j)opu- larity to its ability to meet the present demand for social and religious music. Instrumental music has always attended the service of song. On the banks of the Red Sea, “Miriam and all the women with their timbrels” joined in the acclaim. The dedication of the image on the plain of Dura, was aided by the cornet, flute, harp, sacbut, psaltery, dulcimer and all kinds of music. King Solomon made the worship of the temple attractive by men singers, women singers, musicial instruments and that of all sorts. At the opening of this century music was a luxury sparsely enjoyed. If anything was omitted in the worship, it was the singing. If anything was short- ened, it was the hymn. Firstly and secondly were never omitted in the sermon, but it was a very common thing for the minister to say “please to omit tlie second and third verses the only part of the service which the people could enjoy, and the only part in which they could join. A church still stands in a prominent New England city, where for one hundred years there was no singing. When music was introduced, but one hymn on a Sabbath was allowed. The introduction of a single hymn in the service was so hilarious that sober i3eople left the church and stood out in the cold until the song of praise was over. 458 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. The revival of singing in Sunday-schools, churches, and homes, has made a demand for a popular instru- ment. The elegance, artistic completeness, and comi- parative low cost of the cabinet organ has brought it prominently to the front. Reed organs are an American invention. The orig- inal patent for improvement in organs bears date 1818. It was signed by James Monroe, president, and John Quincy Adams, secretary of state ; Aaron M. Peasely was patentee. Those instruments now known as harmo- niums, melodeons, or seraphims, were neither popular nor remunerative. The Mason & Hamlin Company hold the original patent. The cabinet organ owes its perfection and |)opularity to the inventive genius of Emmons Hamlin. A quarter of a century ago he began his improvements in reed instruments. He was a young man working at the bench. He was remarkable for his tact in constructing musical instruments, and for his great inventive genius. He accidentally gave the reeds of a melodeon a twist one day while tuning, and was surprised to discover that the tone was greatly improved. This accidental dis- covery developed a process of voicing the reeds. Ex- periments were made from time to time, and these resulted in a perfect cabinet organ, the most popular instrument played by a key-board. It is popular because it has real excellence and capacity, and is the artistic instrument of musical culture. Over forty thousand were sold in America last year, and the sale of imported organs this season will amount to over two hundred thousand dollars. In 1860 the Mason & Hamlin Company changed the form of the organ, and introduced important im- provements. In a few years the melodeon was entirely superseded. The organs are exported to almost every civilized country, and to countries not civilized. The MASON & HAMLIN COMPANY. 459 inventive skill of the house has produced an instru- ment suited to every climate. The India models are marvels of ingenious skill. Neither glue, iron, nor leather are used. The organs are secured by rivets or bolts, and tacks of copper or brass ; the cases are of Florida red cedar, and the interior so defended by wire gauze that not even an ant can gain access. European artists of eminence have placed the stamp of their approval on the cabinet organ. An elegantly- finished instrument has just been turned out, for the special use of the great maestro, Franz Liszt. He designs to use it in his own orchestra. The experts of the company pronounce this the best organ of its size ever made. The Mason & Hamlin Company have been intro- ducing, during the period of fifteen years, valuable improvements into their instruments. Over thirty patents have been secured, of which the public have the benefit. Beside the most skillful inventors of America, the services of English, Scotch, French, Ger- mans, and Swedes have been secured. The firm has been singularly fortunate in blending inventive genius with business tact. The house began with a small, imperfect instrument, and has continued its improve- ments, till the cabinet organ commands the indorse- ment of the first artists of the world. 460 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. CXLVII. CHARLES J. CRAGIN. R. CRAGIX is the head of the well-known soap-house of J. L. Cragin & Co. He has made fame and fortune out of an article of merchandise, known as ‘‘Dobbins’ Electric Soap.” A poor Frenchman came to America; his whole capital was in a receipt for making soap. The Frenchman was poor, and he could not put his com- modity on the market. He sold it to a Mr. Dobbins, who entered upon its manufacture and sale. The soap recommended itself, and the business grew beyond the ability of its owner to manage, and he sold his interest in the article to Mr. Cragin. Charles J. Cragin was born in New England, of Puritan stock. He came in a direct and unbroken line from John Cragin, who in 1652 came to Boston from Scotland. Young Cragin entered the dry-goods house of Jordan, Marsh & Co., of Boston, and secured a practical knowledge of mercantile business. He began business for himself in a small way, selling Dobbins’ soap on commission. His capital was five hundred dollars, out of which his fortune has been made. Through all these years of business he has never bor- rowed a dollar, nor asked any favor at a bank. In 1869 Mr. Dobbins was unable to continue his business. Mr. Cragin saw his chance, and bought the whole business of Dobbins’ Soap. He paid fifty thou- sand dollars for the receipt, and cleared it in the earn- ings of the first year’s sale. Men thought he was crazy. But Cragin saw that there was a fortune in the article, and he proposed to press it. He had intelligence and RUFUS S. FROST, 461 forecast ; was shrewd and liberal. He knew the value of printer’s ink, and made the American people familiar with it by its power with the soaj) he had to offer. He spends annually in advertising from fifty to one hun- dred thousand dollars. He knows where his money goes. He keeps the standard of his soap up. A box opened in any part of the world is found to be pure and efficacious. He inaugurated the practice of giving away a sample of his soap, and each sample brings him a customer. The Centennial judges made a flattering report on the merits of this soap, awarding medal of merit and diploma of honor for its superior quality and good manufacture. Mr. Cragin, when a young man, had courage to begin life for himself. He did what he found to do at the start, and did it well. He saw his opportunity and seized it. He won fame and fortune while still a young man, and stands foremost among the business men of his city. CXLYIII. RUFUS S. FROST. R. FROST is a well-known Boston merchant. He is distinguished for unbending integrity and marked business ability. These traits have won the popular regard, and called him to positions of honor. He has been mayor of his city, one of the governor’ s council, a member of Congress, and been twice elected to each position. 462 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Mr. Frost was born in Marlborough, N. H., under the shadow of the Monadnock. He passed his boyhood on a farm. 0n the death of his father, his mother re- moved to the vicinity of Boston, that her son might have better educational advantages. Trade had a fascination for the lad, and he entered a store, where he proved smart, capable, and energetic. When he was twenty-one years of age, he became a clerk in the house of J. H. Osgood & Co. This was but a stepping- stone to a higher position and a wider field. While yet a young man, he became a partner in the well- known house of Gardiner, Colby & Co. He was con- tent with the gains of mercantile life, and saw a fortune in the legitimate channels of trade. He soon put his name over his own house, and enrolled himself among the leading merchants of Boston, with a branch in New York and Chicago. Mr. Frost became a manufacturer as well as a com- mission merchant. He has put on the market import- ant and leading styles of goods. He has won the confidence of his fellow merchants. He was sent on to Washington after the great fire, to secure a change in the bankrupt laws. He found in his Sunday-school a bright, cheery lad who was a splendid penman. He made him his confidential clerk, and then a j)artner. A young man called to consult him about an offer. ‘‘Come into my store,” said the merchant, “lean do better for you than any one else.” He is now one of the partners of the house, and son-in-law of the prin- cipl of the firm. Mr. Frost early identified himself with religious work. For many years he was a popular and efficient superintendent of a Sunday-school. He was elected president of the Congregational Club, composed of the leading clergymen and laymen of Boston. He was a born leader, needed and sought for. BOSTON CHRISTIAN UNION 463 Through all his success, mercantile and political, Mr. Frost has carried a love for his old homestead. He bought back the farm on which he had worked when a boy ; beautified it, and will hold it to the end. To honor his native town he built a costly stone edifice for a free library ; stocked it with books ; endow^ed it that it might be a perpetual blessing in the generations to come. To revive the church of his ^fathers, he secured the services of an evangelist. A series of meetings were held that resulted in the conversion of a hundred prominent persons in the town. The old church was enlarged and beautified ; an elegant organ — the gift of Mr. Frost — was put up, and the salary increased. The revival was a blessing to the temporal interests of the town. The library and the increased educational ad- vantages, with a revived state of religion, attracted the attention of strangers. Property improved, and business life was stirred. Mr. Frost came from a good stock. He was trained to independence and self-reli- ance. He earned much and gave liberally, and has been the architect of his own success. CXLIX. BOSTON CHRISTIAN UNION. IE Boston Young Men’s Christian Union was founded in 1851. It is a non-sectarian asso- ciation, and aims to secure the improvement and happiness of young men. Six thousand young men enjoy its facilities during the year. It has 464 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. elegant parlors opened as a place of pleasant resort. Its library is extensive, and its reading-rooms hand- somely htted up. It is affluent in its provision for en- tertainments — literary, musical, social — free as the air. It has a gymnasium, savings bank, and facilities for aesthetic and artistic culture. Its founders were men of renown — Lawrences, Appletons, Goddard, Gannett, Grant, Loring, Kidder, Peabody, Pice, Brooks, Keale, Hale and Collyer. The real work of the Union began after the war, when thousands of young men in the great cities were turned loose. William H. Baldwin saw the open field and entered it. The government of Christian associa- tions was limited to evangelical Christians. The Union was founded, bounded by no denominational line. It was founded to meet a want which existing associa- tions could not supply. The Union owes its prosperity and vigor to the in- telligence, to the tact and heroism of its president, Mr. Baldwin. He was a merchant, and knew the spiritual needs of young men. He knew the perils of a city life to which they were exposed, the temptations and se- ductions. He had marked popular gifts, which admi- rably fitted him for the post assigned him. The headquarters of the Union were fitted up with every appliance and beauty. A cotfee-room was con- nected with the institution, where, at a small cost, a wholesome meal could be obtained. An employment bureau v/as opened. A boarding-house committee secured economical and comfortable homes. Pews in churches were furnished to those who wished to wor- ship the Lord. A woman’s committee aided such as needed assistance and advice. Classes free to all were formed to instruct in book-keeping, penmanship, par- liamentary law, and vocal music. Entertainments were afforded during the season, and social gatherings BOSTON CHRISTIAN UNION. 465 were regularly held for members and their lady friends. Religious culture was the foundation on which all the work rested. All denominations stood on its platform, and eminent men gave their approval and countenance to the good work. The building erected for the purposes of the Union is one of the finest in the land. It cost three hundred thousand dollars, and is free to the young men of Boston. Funds for its erection were contributed by the ladies and gentlemen of the city. The rooms are furnished with every appliance for the elevation and improvement of the young. On the completion of the building the membership of the association ran up from ten hundred and thirty to five thousand. The librarj' holds five thousand volumes. The department of secular, religious, and periodical literature is full. The rooms are opened on Sunday, and afford an ele- gant retreat for young men who have no homes of their own. The beneficent work of the Union is not limited to young men. Poor and suffering families look to the Union for aid. Meetings are held, in which the chil- dren of want and penury are gathered together, who are fed and clothed, and take to their homes substantial gifts. A corps of workers are ready for any emergency at home or abroad. If the lurid flames lay a beautiful city in ashes ; if pestilence wmlks in darkness ; or fam- ine wastes at noonday, South, or IN’orth, or West, the Union, is ready for prompt relief. Its large and liberal endowment and its many generous donors enable the Union to offer prompt and efficient relief. 30 466 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS, CL. DEXTER SMITH. R. SMITH is celebrated as the author of many popular ballads and songs. He is the com- poser of some of the most popular music of the age. He was born in Salem, Mass., in 1839. When twelve years of age he received the bent that he never lost. He became acquainted with a man ninety years of age, who said in young Smith’s hear- ing : If I were to live my life over again, there are certain things that I would not do.” ‘‘ What are some of those things,” said the lad, that you would not do ?” ‘‘I would not drink liquor ; I would not smoke, snuff, chew, or use tobacco in any form. I would not swear ; I would not lie ; I would not gamble. I would give billiard-rooms and bar-rooms a wide berth. I would not keep bad company. I would keet) out of debt.” Young Dexter laid these counsels to heart, and resolved to abjure the vices that had clouded the life of his venerable friend. While attending the high school at Salem, Mr. Smith’s poetic talent displayed itself, and his pieces found their way into the newspapers. While at school he occupied his recess in printing with pen and ink a miniature newspaper, which he finished in artistic style, and he called his sheet, ‘‘Dexter Smith’s Paper.” In after years his boyish dreams had their fulfillment in a popular journal bearing his name over hill and valley, and in palace and hovel. He said to a schoolmate : “When I am a man, I mean to publish a musical journal. I intend to make it so cheap that the poorest man can buy a copy.” DEXTER SMITH. 467 At twenty-one years of age Mr. Smith removed to Boston and entered upon a mercantile career. He never lost sight of his purpose to establish a magazine of music for the million. He ate no idle bread. He spent his Sundays in Pitt Street Chapel, teaching young working men and boys. He labored evenings in some one of the schools of charity, giving his ser- vices without money and without price. In addition to other Sunday labors he taught in the Revere Sun- day-School — a school devoted to colored people. He started his journal in a small way and with a small capital. By industry, and personal attention to his work, and meeting his engagements, he maintained a fair credit and became a success. Years afterwards, when the paper was firmly established, he asked a printer, Why did you trust me to such an extent ‘ ‘ I knew your style of business and liked it. You took right hold of your own work. You did not squander your money in clerk hire, fast horses, nor in drinking, nor in billiard-rooms. You seem to have adopted the good old-fashioned way of ploughing deep, sowing generously, and expecting the harvest.” Dexter Smith attempted to purify the popular songs. He wrote a temperance ballad for the negro ministrel singers, which became the song of the day. Some of his domestic songs have a world- wide popu- larity. A celebrated American musician, on nearing the Queenstown dock, heard the children upon the wharf singing “Put me in My Little Bed.” The song “ Ring the Bell Softly ” has reached the sale of over a quarter of a million. The songs “ When the Little Feet are Waiting on the Golden Sand,” “Darling Minnie Lee,” with “Put Me in my Little Bed,” have been published and sung in all quarters of the globe. Many men ruin their business prospects and repute by out- side matters. Mr. Smith’s recreations have added to 468 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. his financial repute. For years he has been a personal worker in the charities of Boston. He has been foremost among those who have i)rovided excursions for poor children and sick women. His business ability, fore- cast and integrity ; his sturdy temperance principles, and his open-handed liberality were observed by the merchants. One of the leading music dealers of the day said : ‘Hs your business good ? ” “Yes, but I am not doing as much as I might if I had a little more capital.” The dealer instantly drew his check for two thousand dollars and laid it before the astonished young man. ‘ ‘ How do you manage to get such credit ? ’ ’ asked an unsuccessful publisher. “I meet my obliga- tions promptly and pay my bills.” The American News Company were not very enthusiastic over the proposition to sell Dexter Smith’s journal over their counter. “No musical journal has ever yet paid,” was the unwelcome response. ‘ ‘ Then I will make one pay, ’ ’ said the energetic publisher. To-day the News Com- pany sell more copies of Dexter Smith’s j)aper than all other musical journals combined. CLI. JOHN M. CRANE. R. CRANE is cashier of the Shoe and Leather Bank. He is a representative business young man. He is capable and talented, with great executive force ; an address that with business manners that attract. His father gave him a good education, — all he had to.give. JOHN M. CRANE. 409 The lad started on his way to earn a position for him- self. Young as he was, he adopted some rules. He would keep out of bad company. He would select a reputable business. He would not be idle because his pay was small. He would make every position a step- ping-stone to a better. He would make himself useful to his employer. Whatever he did, he would do cheerfully and -well. His uncle once told him that ‘‘ Civility was a poor man's capital.” He had some of that stock, and proposed to invest it. Employment was as difficult to get, twenty years ago, as it is now. Young Crane spent weeks among the business men of the city, asking the question, “Do you want a boy, sir ?” Nobody wanted a boy. Endurance was one of the lad’s traits, and he trudged on. Just off Broad- way a man kept a small seed-store. He wanted a boy, but the wages were very low. Crane wanted position more than money, and he thankfully took the place. He worked hard, never shirked, and never grumbled. The Ocean Bank wanted a check clerk. The cheery, smart way of doing things that Crane had, attracted the attention of the bank. He was offered the place. His master said, “ Take it ; I do not want you to go, but you are worth more than I can afford to give.” And Crane took his place in the bank. Everything was new to the young clerk, and the business was heav}^. The customers dealt in small sums, and out of fifty checks not one of them would exceed ten dollars. Mr. Crane was in delicate health, the work was too hard for him, and he nearly gave out under it. One day a friend said to him, “Your work is hard, your pay poor, and you can never rise here. A new bank is to be opened Monday. The board want a check clerk. Why don’t you apply ?” “I know you very well,” said the bank officer, “and would be glad to have you in our bank. We can pay you no more than 470 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. you are now receiving, and you would gain nothing.” “I shall be this much better off,” said Crane. ‘‘I shall have lighter work. Give me the position and I’ll take my chances.” And he began on the lowest round of the financial ladder. In four months he was pro- moted to the individual ledger. In six months he was bookkeeper. He became receiving teller, and then paying teller. In ten years from the time he entered on his banking life, he became cashier of one of the most influential moneyed institutions of ISTew York. Mr. Crane had marked financial talent. He was not content to be a machine, to run in a groove, and meet mechanically the duties of his position. He studied the principles of banking. He knew every principle of finance. He had the intuition of a woman. In the bank he was an influential and judicious adviser. He took the measure of a man at a glance, and seldom made a mistake. He came early and left the bank late. He had a helping hand for every department. If a clerk wanted to go away, he took his place. If a young man was bothered, he assisted him. In subordinate positions in the bank he was eminently popular with the customers. As it neared three o’clock and men with checks to be paid or money to deposit became uneasy, Mr. Crane would say, in his pleasant way, ‘‘Don’t crowd, gentlemen, don’t crowd. You shall have plenty of time.” When discounts were to be denied, ugly customers to be dealt with, or unreason- able people to be satisfied, young Crane was often de- tailed to do the unpleasant work. His bland and con- ciliating manner robbed the disappointment of half its sting. With capacity, intelligence and sterling integ- rity, Mr. Crane is capable of occupying any higher plane that may yet be opened before him. He knows “ how to labor and to wait.” THE HOUSE OF HOOK & CO. 471 CLII. THE HOUSE OF HOOK & CO. & a. Q. HOOK & HASTINGS are the* great organ builders of America. In every noted . city or town in the land, there is a church organ built by the Hooks. The great cathe- drals of the country have a Hook organ. Few suc- cessful men have been started in the business that have made their names famous. The father of E. and G. G. Hook was a cabinet-maker. The boys were brought up to the same trade. They early learned the use of tools, and followed their own bent in construction. They had a taste of making juvenile musical instru- ments. The made bird organs, and early showed great ingenuity in construction. They were musicians as well as mechanics, and at sixteen were competent to play the organ in church. The great organ builder in Boston was Thomas Appleton. The Hooks had the run of his factory, and became familiar with the great instrument of sacred service. Among their associates was Jonas Chickering, afterwards the celebrated piano maker. He was learning the trade of cabinet-making. Appleton divided his business. He gave the piano trade to Chickering, and kept organ manufacturing for himself. The Hooks early began to build organs in a small way. They had a country trade. The heavy and well-known builders monopolized the cities and towns. The churches were generally opposed to organs. Amid much opposition the Hooks contracted for an organ for the Tabernacle Church, Salem. The business increased, and with it the fame of the young house. They studied their calling. They formed the 473 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. acquaintance of the best builders. They became famil- iar with every famous stop within their reach. Their charges were reasonable and their work satisfactory. It was a great advance when the house gained a con- tract to build a three- bank organ at Providence. After forty years of use, tne organ was considered good enough, with a few slight improvements, to be used in the newly-modified house of worship. In the Episco- pal church. South Boston; and Dr. Dewey’s, JSTew York ; and St. Peter’s, Albany ; Dr. Adams’, Boston ; Collier’s, Chicago, and in prominent churches in cities from the Atlantic slope to the Pacific, the Hooks have established their reputation as leading organ builders of the age. Understanding their business perfectl}^, the Hooks are able to help parislies to just such an instrument as they want. They know what churches need. They ask how much money the contract will call for, how much space is allowed, how many stops are required, how much to be expended on the case, and other practical questions. When these are answered — as all the organs in this house are built on honor — an organ is constructed and put up on the integrity of the builders, and satisfaction is guaranteed. In 1864 the great organ in Plymouth Church was set up. No questions were asked as to price. Space was given, and the contract filled on time. The Arch- bishop of Halifax came to the factory and laid down six hundred sovereigns, simply saying ; ‘‘You know what I want, and I don’t ; make the best organ you can for the money.” The Tremont Temple organ was the largest in the land for years. The Jubilee organ was a marvel of artistic success. Four weeks only were allowed for the construction and putting up. It was to overpower an orchestra such as Boston had never seen, and to lead a chorus of ten thousand voices. The Cathedral ALVIN ADAMS. 473 organ of Boston afforded the Hooks an opportunity never before accorded. The space was unlimited ; the building immense ; the funds warranted any expendi- ture. The organ is pronounced the tinest in America. It is not. only superior in size and power, but in charac- ter. It holds all the modern improvements. The house put its own fame into this organ and it has no equal in the world. The last great work of the Hooks was the building of the great Centennial organ. Opportunity was given to show what an organ should be. The location was sui3erior. Permission was given to the builders to put in whatever they pleased. The organ astounded the world. The house of Hooks have the most complete fac- tory for organ building in the States. The hrm wears its success on its sleeve. It has an intelligent and artistic mastery over the business. Every instrument is made on honor. The best workmen in the world are secured, and many of them have been retained for years. The house has out-run all its rivals, and its own name is its own best recommendation. CLIII. ALVIN ADAMS. H. ADAMS is the founder of the Adams Ex- press Company. He did not originate the express business, but he systematized it, and made it the great basiness in the land. Two conductors on the Worcester road originated expressing 474 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. as a trade. Bankers sent money to Boston by their hands ; merchants ordered goods through them. Busi- ness increased and the conductors made more money by expressing than they did on the road. The corpo- ration interfered, and the men had their choice to give up carrying parcels or resign. Some one proposed to make the carrying of money and parcels, and buying small merchandise, a trade by itself. Hamden caught the idea, took a small trunk in his hand and started for Salem. Alvin Adams was a Vermont boy. He- was left an orphan at an early age ; he spent some years with his brother, on a farm. ‘‘ Go not to your brother’s house in the day of calamity,” says the Bible. Alvin knew what that meant. He started out to find work for him- self among strangers. He offered himself to a tavern- keeper to ‘‘do chores” around the house for his board. He had the stuff in him and made himself useful. He groomed the horses, harnessed the stages, mounted the box, and drove short routes. He was steady, resolute, prudent. He drifted to Boston. Picked up odd jobs here and there, and built up a good trade. A panic swept over the land, and commercial ruin followed. He had little money. His clothes were worn out, and the future was dark. One morning Mr. Adams went down-town. He did not care about seeing anybody, and as he turned into a small alley near Brattle street he came face to face upon an acquaintance, whom of all others he least de- sired to meet. His friend was full of a new business, express lines between Boston and New York. Ham- den was then running on the Providence road, and was doing w^ell. An express on the Worcester road would be equally successful. Hamden was again ahead. He had laid his hands on the Worcester. The road would listen to no overtures from Mr. Adams or his friend. ALVIN ADAMS: 475 “ There was not business enough for two lines. Ham- den had the franchise of the road. He did his work well, and the company would not interfere.” Alvin Adams was now fully awake. He saw there was money in the business. He proposed to take a hand in it. He did not mean to be headed otf by any- body. He started to New York to interview Coit, of the Norwich boats. Coit would do nothing. He de- nounced the expressmen as nuisances. One line was quite enough for the land,” he said. Adams next visited the office of the Stonington boat. He changed his tactics. ‘‘ I want two season tickets between Bos- ton and New York.” ‘‘How often do you want to travel ?” “As often as I choose. That is what a season ticket means, I believe.” “I know what you are after,” said the official, “but you shall have the tick- ets.” He put one in his pocket, and handed the other to his alternate. With the small sum of money he had borrowed, with a large reserve of industry, integrity, and good faith, “Adams Express Company” was formed, and started on its marvelous career of succsss. Hamden was in the field and was the expressman of the hour. His office — “9 Court street, Boston,” — was well known even then among business men. He vacated the premises because he thought he could do better. Adams at once leased that noted place and held it for years. He had no friends to back him, and no money to push him along. A small trunk held all the packages of the first day’s work, and the cash re- ceipts were two dollars and seventy-five cents. Every- thing was done in an unobtrusive manner. Adams went to New York one day and returned the next. His express matter he carried as personal baggage. A friendly hand took his bag holding his money. And the amount was small. Adams took his frugal lunch, lived like a hermit, and worked like a horse. Hamden’ s 476 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. messenger traveled on tlie same boat and traveled in style. He sat down to a sumptuous meal and lived on the fat of the land. He made himself merr}^ over his humble rival. He said one day, ‘‘Adams, what do you expect to gain ? There can be but one express between Boston and New York, and that is Hamden’s. You had better give it up.” All the advantages seemed to be on the side of Hamden. He had the public confidence, while Adams was struggling. Harden lived in luxury, while Adams had scarcely enough to eat. There was a great con- trast between the men. Hamden was seldom at his office ; Adams seldom away. Hamden delegated every- thing he could ; Adams gave personal attention to the smallest matter. Adams knew the power of the press, and won it to his side. He gathered news items and carried them to the editorial rooms. He got his re- ward by kind editorials praising him. He nearly ran his legs off in New York and Boston, leaving cards at business houses, soliciting customers. His rivals knew that such perseverance and courage would win. All sorts of stories were put afloat. It was said that Adams was poor and irresponsible. He could not make good any losses that might occur. These rumors did their work for a time. Moneyed institutions kept aloof from the new new company. Valuable packages sought other channels. The New York end of the express was not well managed. Adams was in want of capital. A man offered some money on condition that his son should be put in charge of the business in New York. The young man was wild, drove fast horses, and indulged in other fast things. He had a friend with whom he had made a covenant, that if a good thing turned up each should share with the other. The superintendent called in his young friend. He was an excellent ac- ALVm ADAMS. 477 coiintant and excellent penman. He was keen, enthu- siastic and pushing. His brother-in-law took him out of a harness shop and trained him to business. This young man was no other than William B. Dinsmore, the renowned president of Adams Express Company. He had clerked it in l^ew Orleans and other places South and West, and then drifted to New York. Adams was an excellent judge of men. He projjosed to make a change at New York ; to remove the fast young man and put Dinsmore in his place. Dinsmore had no money, and Adams wanted capital to enlarge his business. He had sense enough to see that an effi- cient poor man was worth more to him than a man with capital without capacity. He made an easy bar- gain with Dinsmore. He sold a part of the business for one thousand dollars — one-half cash, one-half note. Dinsmore proved to be the fitting man for the fitting place. His elegant iDenmanship, his marked financial ability, his business push, his integrity, had a fair field. He had great executive force, with an eye for smart men. He found John Hoey selling papers on the cars. He transferred him to the express office, and transformed him into one of the ablest expressmen of the age. A brighter day dawned for Mr. Adams. The Wor- cester road saw its mistake in shutting off so energetic a man, and sent word to him: ‘Mf you want our line you can have it.-’ The road between Norwich and New London was then not built. The Sound boats were poor, and often were laid up during the winter. Nothing dampened the ardor of Alvin Adams. He was prompt, resolute, unfaltering. He was always around. One day in the Suffolk Bank he saw several money packages marked ‘ ‘ New Y ork. ” ‘ ‘ You don’ t send money by us,” said Adams. “How do we know that you are sound ?” Adams went at once into the 478 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS, detail of his business. The next day a package came from the bank. Confidence increased. Adams Express Company became the great carriers of the nation. Stevens, of the Camden and Amboy road, was the railroad autocrat of his day. He looked upon express- age as an intruder and an antagonist. Express freight had to be smuggled over the road. Packages were nailed up in boxes, sent as freight, and distributed in. Philadelphia or Hew York. Money could only be car- ried in small bags. These were often ]3ut into friendl}^ hands. Mr. Adams attempted to mollify the position. He went to Hew Jersey, and met Stevens coming from a board meeting. He was cranky and uncivil. He charged Adams with defrauding the company, — smug- gling express freight over the road. Adams was frank and manly. He told Stevens that the Camden and Amboy road would have to carry express freight ; if not in one way they would have to in another. In a five minute talk he mapped out his plan, and said to Ste- vens : Give us a contract ; it will be for your advan- tage and for ours.” In his gruff way, Stevens said: “The Board go ujj the road to-morrow. If you are here at nine o’clock, you can go with us, and we will talk the matter over.” Adams was promptly on hand. The president was irritable and in ill-humor. He again charged Adams with defrauding the road. He re- peated the accusation of smuggling freight. Adams met the charge like a man. He threw the blame on the directors. They had refused all honorable terms. He showed. how much better it would be for the road to charge reasonably for express freight, than to send it as now in bulk. He made an offer, fair towards him- self and honorable towards the road. Stevens turned to the vice-president, and said : “ Make a contract with Mr. Adams for thirty days, and see how it works.” As the papers were signed, the vice-president said ; OREGONIA— OUTLOOK OF THE STATE. 479 This contract is for thirty days. It may last thirty years.” It did. Through all these years the express freight was carried on the contract so grudgingly given in the president’s car, going at the rate of thirty miles an hour. Mr. Adams kept the Boston end of the express line till the day of death. He became a man of large wealth. No home within sight of the State House dome was more elegant than the palatial residence of Mr. Adams. His ample grounds were laid* out like the lawn of an English lord. They were thrown open to the public one day in the week while the owner lived. He kept to the last the simplicity of his earlier days. With every luxury that money could command, and thirty horses in his stable, he took the horse-cars daily to his business, and sat in his office as long as lie was able to sit anywhere. He died in all honor, and his name will be handed down to generations that are to come. CLIY. OREGONIA— OUTLOOK OF THE STATE. REGON is the New England of the West. It has the New England climate in Its best estate. The grass is green from Christnias to Christmas. The cattle browse without shelter. The Walla Walla Valley is as fertile as the Nile. The lofty hills are terraced to the summit with heavy grain. The ships of the w^oiid, loaded with wheat, bear the treasures of Oregon to all parts of the 480 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. globe. Within herself Oregon has the elements of a great State. Drought is never known. Her wheat leads the market. Her pine is famous on all the coasts for building purposes. Her varied fruits are in de- mand wherever commerce floats. Her abundant coal is of more value than a gold mine. The grape, the fig, the almond, and other tropical fruits flourish. Her great river, ten miles wide at the mouth, and a mile wide for one hundred miles up, bears the commerce of the age. She has five millions invested in salmon fish- eries at the mouth of the Columbia. In Oregon men of religion and education come to the front. She offers small farms, lands with a royal yield and a ready mar- ket for everything raised. CLV. BOSTON TAKES A HAND. N the State Department at Salem, there is a silver medal voted to Captain Gray by the merchants of Boston. At the close of the Hevolutionary w'ar our commerce was de- moralized. The Boston merchants fitted out two ships. They were sent to the Northwest to trade with the In- dians for furs. These were to be exchanged in China and Japan for teas and silks. Captain Kendrick com- manded the Washington, Captain Gray the Columbia. The ships coasted along what is now Oregon and Washington Territory. Captain Gray believed there was a large river somewhere as an outlet to the moun- CITY OF PORTLAND. 481 tain streams. Captain Kendrick ridiculed the idea, and sailed down the coast. Gray followed his instincts, and what seemed to be a bay, turned out to be the mouth of a great river. He named the waters after his own ship. In the 54° 40' excitement. Captain Gray was a valuable witness against the British claims. Two prominent gentlemen settled Portland. A prominent citizen wanted the city named after the tri-mountain capital. A Portlander wanted Maine represented. A toss of a copper decided the contest, and Portland won. CLVI. CITY OF POBTLAKD. ORTLAKD is situated one hundred and twenty miles from the mouth of the Colum- bia river. The town is on the Willamette, twelve miles from its junction with the Columbia. The river scenery is that of Maine, so is the climate and heavy timber. The likeness to the city of Portland, Maine, is very extraordinary. The houses are mainly cottages, quite inexpensive, sur- rounded by gardens and shaded by trees. Some of the dwellings are very grand, and occupy an entire square. An Oregonian has a love of his home which resembles the love of a Jew for Mount Zion. No land is so fair, so fertile, so wholesome, with so brilliant a future. The people have great independence of character. They spurn the assumed patronage of California. They organized a government in advance of Territorial legisla- 31 482 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. tion. They made their own coin out of pure gold, with dies self-manufactured. To set up a paper, Mr. Curry, a Boston man, made his own font of type. Individually the Oregonians are the richest people on the coast. The snow-capped mountains which sur- round Portland, — Hood, Saint Helena, Adams, and Banier, — are picturesque in the extreme. The schools of Boston and New York do not excell the public schools of Portland. The churches are handsome, and the public buildings are built of dark sand-stone brought from Victoria. CLYII. GOVERNMENT OF OREGON. HE State government is very peculiar. The governor has a salary of fifteen hundred dollars, secretary of state, fifteen hundred dollars, treasurer, eight hundred dollars, judges, two thousand each. The district judges com- pose the Supreme Court, and can confirm or review their own decision. The legislature is biennial. The session lasts forty days, and the members are paid three dollars per diem. There is no lieutenant- governor. When the office of governor is vacant the secretary of state fills the unexpired term. The State salaries are ridiculously small. No man can live on the salary. Commissions help out wonderfully. The governor and secretary of state receive five thousand. The office of treasurer is worth more than that. The judges receive a thousand dollars for expenses. EON. HENRY W. CORBIT. 483 CLYIII. HOIST. HEJSTRY W. CORBIT. R. CORBIT is one of the successful men of the State. His house is one of the most ele- gant west of San Francisco. He occupies a square in the heart of the city valued at one hundred thousand dollars. He bought the lot for two hundred and fifty dollars, and built on it a log house with his own hands. He was brought up in a country store in Massachusetts. His small salary was traded out by his father. A country cousin was in New York on a salary of fifteen hundred dollars. Young Corbit could see no reason why he could not secure a like sum for himself. He began on a salary of three dollars a week. He was very capable, talented, and grew in favor. He selected Oregon as his future home. He declined a partnership which his employers offered him. The men whom he served drove a hard bargain with him. They offered him credit to the amount of twenty thousand dollars on condition that he would give the firm one-half of his profits. He divided nineteen thousand dollars with the firm. His shrewd- ness and success were so apparent that the offer of part- nership was renewed. On examining the New York books, he rejected the proposal. He had rather trade in Oregon than New York. He could make more money alone than hampered by partners. He is the richest man in Oregon to-day. He has sat in the United States Senate. He is held in all honor, and higher political distinction awaits him. 484 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS, CLIX. BISHOP MORHIS. R. MORRIS is a representative man ; he re- sides in Saint Helen’s Hall, an educational institution, the headquarters of the church in the Northwest. He was called from a church in Germantown to his diocese, which includes Idaho and Washington Territory. He is about sixty years of age ; a man of immense nervous force, with great executive ability ; a sturdy churchman, but pop- ular with outsiders. puted to dwelling. CLX. BEN HOLLADAY. REGON has been the home of many success- ful men. General Baker, General Williams are specimens. Holladay was for many years a potentate of Portland. He was re- be very rich, and occupied an ambitious He lived in state, — a hard, imperious, lordly with a rod of iron. He was a great stage-owner of the coast. His ambition made him grapple with the railroads, and steamboats, and the great enterprises of the day. When he trav- eled he made everybody uncomfortable, by taking the best part of the boat to himself. Everything he touched turned into gold. His time came at last, as it comes to every one sooner or later. His immense transactions, when the tide turned, carried him under. He has joined the great throng of bankrupt men. man, ruling his subordinates RELIGION IN OREGON— 8. G. REED. 485 CLXI. KELIGION IN OREGON. HE population which, settled Oregon were very unlike the men who settled San Fran- cisco. In Oregon, religion and education came to the front. They find supporters and friends in the leading men of the State. The dif- ferent sects, which are well represented, attend each others’ services. This is true of Jews, Roman Catholics, and Churchmen. General Howard and his staff give decided assistance to the popular religions movements of the day. The Presbyterians have a healthy and vigorous congregation. The Congregationalists lead in the aggressive movements of the day, with a dash of sensationalism. The Unitarians are represented by a small but very respectable congregation. The Episco- palians are wealthy, and the Methodists occupy the largest church in the city. CLXII. S. G. REED. REGON is greatly indebted to the public spirit of Mr. Reed, for its present prosper- ous condition. The great want of Oregon is carrying facilities. Steamboat routes have been opened and lines of railroad are being constructed everywhere to facilitate the transportation of fruits to 486 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. market. As vice-president of the Steam Navigation Company, Mr. E-eed has infused an energy and success into this department, that insures the future of Oregon. His large fortune, which he has earned by his own in- dustry and intelligence, he pours out like water to develop the resources of the Northwest. Mr. Heed reflects great credit on the prosperous town of East Abington, where he was born. CLXIII. JAMES W. EANNEY. E. EANNEY is an eminent physician of New York. He belongs to an eminent family. He is one of thirteen children, — nine sons and four daughters. Seven of the sons are prominent physicians. One holds the front rank at the Boston Bar. One was an eloquent, successful preacher, whose ‘‘sun went down while it was yet day.” The father of Hr. Eanney was a noted practitioner of forty years’ standing. His name was Watstill E. Eanney. In his Vermont home he held an exalted place as a physician, a patriot and a states- man. He was a member of the Senate and House of Vermont. He was elected lieutenant-governor, and filled that political position with honor to himself and party. His income from his profession was small, averaging not over seven hundred dollars a year. By economy, industry and prudence, he educated a huge family, and left a handsome legacy to his sons and JAMES W. RANNET. 487 daughters. He lived to see all his children successful in life. Dr. James W. Hanney was born in Townshend, Vermont. His early training developed both mind and body. He divided his boyhood between the school-house and the farm. At thirteen, he left the school for the academy. At fifteen, he began to earn his own living. That common resource of a smart New England boy, — ‘‘school-keeping” — was open to him. He accepted both the drudgery and the pay of the position. He taught school in the winter, and in the spring and summer he “hired out” on a farm. At twenty-two, he entered Middlebury College. By hard work he pushed his way through to his gradua- tion. He had no aid but what came to him through hard work. Teaching, manual labor, and close study, carried him through his collegiate and medical course. He graduated from the New York University of Medi- cine, and commenced practice in Bennington, Vermont. He took a front rank at once in his native State. His practice included a circuit of twenty miles, and he “doctored” nearly everybody within that circuit. He soon outgrew his position. . New York offered a full, fair field for his abilities. He wanted all the facilities for improvement afforded by the libraries, lectures, infirmaries, colleges and hospitals of a city. He left a brother to succeed to his rural practice. Within one year after his removal to the city. Dr. Ranney was elected to the common council. In three years, so great was his practice, that he had to wholly withdraw from political life. His increased practice demanded assistance, and he called in the aid of a brother from the country. This brother was soon able to take care of himself, and then another brother was installed. When his increased practice took him away. 488 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. Dr. Ranney aided another, and set him up in a pay- ing practice. In 1860 , Dr. Ranney was elected coroner of New York city, and for three years held the position with great credit and acceptance. Besides the great talents that make Dr. Ranney so eminent and popular as a superior physician, he possesses an eminent judi- cial mind, blended with tine judgment and fair- mindedness. For over twenty years he has been con- nected with twelve leading railroads, as surgeon and attending j^Fysician, settling suits for injuries, pre- venting lawsuits, and adjusting troubles, and doing more of that kind of work than any man in the state. He has been largely employed in the care of estates ; he has often been selected as the guardian for widows and orphans. In this field his fidelity and intelligence come into full play. He is the consulting physician in numerous cases, and is frequently from home in this capacity. He has made lunacy a specialty, and often has acted as a commissioner of lunacy. Dr. Ranney is one of the few professional men who never leave home in the summer, unless away on professional business. The only summer he has passed out of New York, was one in which he spent six weeks at Saratoga, under an appointment as physician at Congress Hall. Dr. Ranney has an elegant home in New York. He married a daughter of Dr. John Hunter, a lady of great intelligence, grace and accomplishments. Three chil- dren — daughters — have been born to him. The eldest was married to Mr. E. T. Clark, an eminent New York , merchant. Dr. Ranney has been as successful in busi- ness as he has been skillful in medicine. By indomitable energy and industry, he has amassed property valued at a quarter of a million. He is an active Christian man, cheery, intelligent, large-hearted, possessed of a JAMES GOBDON BENNETT. 489 good constitution, and gifted with good digestion. He is a pleasant companion in matters of family, of state, and of the church. Since the opening of Rev. Mr. Hepworth’s Society, Hr. Ranney has been a stead- fast friend, and a liberal supporter of this enterprise. He is senior deacon and trustee of the congregation. He has great control over the young. For years he has conducted a large Bible class composed of young men, and his influence for good will go down to many generations. CLXIY. JAMES GORDON BENNETT. DEEM it meet to close this work with a paper on one of the most remarkable busi- ness young men of the age. Mr. Bennett is about thirty-seven years old. He is known in every place where the English language is spoken and wherever the sails of commerce whiten any sea. He is as well known in London as is Beaconfield. He has more influence at the court of St. Cloud than Glad- stone. His paper is more thumbed by Bismarck than the London Times. This, not for what he has inherited ; but for what he has done, and is doing. Mr. Bennett inherited from his father fame, fortune, and a magnificent business. To have held the Herald business as it was received, like a steamer, teeth to the gale, would have been an exploit worthy the ambition of most men. To have carried the business onward to an enlargement, and to its mammoth proportions. 490 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. would have been beyond the wildest dreams of an en- thusiast. It was a measuring cast, whether young Bennett would follow in the wake of rich mens’ sons or not. Whether he would repeat the old proverb of a “price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom.” Whether he would let the glittering prize slip through his fin- gers ; fling away golden opportunities ; or whether he would arise to the dignity of the occasion and con- tinue the Herald as a power in the world. There has been no waning ; no falling off ; no retrenchment of circulation ; no wearing out of machinery ; no decrease of power at home or abroad. From the hour of young Bennett’s ascension as Editor-in-Chief of the Herald., vigor, life, enthusiasm, enterprise, marvelous and daz- zling, have distinguished his career. Few persons knew anything of Mr. Bennett’s busi- ness abilities ; of his executive force ; of his capacity to conduct the leading journal of the continent. He was known as a jovial, merry, large-hearted athlete, fond of manly sports, liberal, social, and happy in domestic life. Few understood his nature ; that he came from a hardy race, fond of athletic sports ; with whom the old English games were dear as home memo- ries. Few knew that Mr. Bennett regarded national pastimes as a national necessity ; that to cultivate manly sports was to give tranquillity to a people. Even to-day it is difficult to make men see how the med- dling of the Puritans with the old English customs made the nation sullen ; that had they let the amuse- ments of England alone, Cromwell’s descendants might have ruled the British Empire to-day. Fewer still are the number who discern how Mr. Bennett’s pastimes really aid him in the business he has in hand ; hoAv his sports are the mere froth of the pewter, indicating stout liquor below. James Gordon Bennett is the sole proprietor and JAMES GORDON BENNETT. 491 managing editor of the Herald. Solomon built the Temple ; but he did not hew down the cedars of Leba- non, nor chisel the marble in the quarry. Single- handed and alone Mr. Bennett does not attempt to run the Herald. He is assisted by a corps of thirty editors, embracing some of the brightest intellects and ablest writers of the country. A council of editors is held daily. Whether present or absent, Mr. Bennett breathes into this council the tone and policy of the paper, according to his own idea. When not present he reaches his associates by wires, whether in Europe or America, and directs the course of his paper. He is a liberal patron of the telegraph, and has spent for special service, since the completion of the cables, over a quarter of a million, gold. Mr. Bennett is the head of the Herald establish- ment. He is manager in detail, as well as in gross. It costs nearly two millions a year to run the Herald. No one puts the profits of the paper at a less sum than eight hundred thousand dollars a year. The business of the Herald^ with its army of employees, and its huge expenditures, follow the drum-beat of England, round the world. The profits of a single Sabbath’s issue have reached the high sum of fourteen thousand dollars. This mammoth business Mr. Bennett holds in his own hands. He knows every employee, what is paid him, and what he is about. He knows what it costs to run the Herald^ and where the money goes — from the price of a bunch of envelopes or a box of pens. His personal oversight enables him to know when he gets honest services for honest money. Such an oversight could only be secured by a system at once intelligent and rigidly adhered to. Mr. Bennett is economical where economy is a virtue ; lavish where it will make the Herald great. He can command any 492 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. assistance that he needs. He knows when he is well served, and is a generous paymaster. HEHALD ESTABLISHMENT. First comes the council of editors, at the head of which stands Mr. Bennett himself. He solely directs the course of his paper. The City Depaetment is manned by a force of nearly one hundred employees, who are organized under a chief. The compositors number one hundred and fifty, who can earn from twenty to one hundred dollars a week. The work is done between the hours of seven at night and three in the morning. On spe- cial occasions one million of “ ems ” have been set up in a single night — sufiicient to fill a volume of five hun- dred pages. The Herald is not printed from the type itself ; but from stereotype plates. The main sheet of the pa^Der containing the latest news, is not put to press till three o’clock in the morning. The Herald is then run off by the aid of six Bullock presses with one hundred and twelve stereotype plates, and one Victory press, with its folding machine, that the edition may reach early trains and mails. The metal necessary for the Herald plates for one issue weighs five tons. The plates are cast at the rate of one per minute. The stereotype department is the most complete of any newspaper in the world ; the machinery the best, and it is run by the best skilled labor. A force of sixteen men do the work. Mr.‘ Bennett’s genius, intelligence and liberality comes out in the press-eoom. The old presses and machinery have been removed. Six new double Bul- lock presses have been substituted — to which has been JAMES GORDON BENNETT. 493 added a new perfecting double Victory, that prints and folds sixteen thousand copies of the Herald per hour. The Bullock can print twenty thousand perfect copies of the Herald per hour. These presses receive the pa- per in a continuous web, printed oii both sides. They divide the twin sheets — cut them off — flirt them out in four piles and at the rate of twenty thousand per hour for each double press. The seven presses can easily turn out 127,000 copies of the Herald in an hour. They could turn out 140,000 copies per hour. Former- ly the paper had to go to press at one o’clock in the morning. The perfection of machinery enables the proprietor to hold back eight pages as late as three o’clock in the morning. A force of not over twenty- five men are needed to issue the daily Herald on the presses. The department for delivery'and mailing is perfect. The working is marvelous. Thirty men are employed counting, folding, wrapping, and distributing papers. A dozen wagons await their loads of the Herald for the fast mail-trains. The news companies take the papers to their own ofiices for distribution. Bags of various colors assist mail-masters in their duty. Thousands of papers are required for up-town, down-town, Brook- lyn, New Jersey, and along the shore. By five o’clock the demand is supplied. On Sunday morning a longer time is needed to distribute a. quadruple sheet, equal- ing 260,000 copies of the regular size of the Herald. The enormous adveetising of the Herald is ap- parent. A single Sabbath’s history tells the story of a a steadily -increasing business from month to month : Separate advertisements, nearly 4,000 ; classified under 73 headings — real estate, 360 ; religion, 30 ; amuse- 494 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS, merits, 76 ; dry-goods, 42 ; wants, 450 ; finance, 127 ; boarding, 445 ; marriages, 69 ; deaths, 87. The London Times is the only journal that in this department can compare with the Herald. But the Herald outdistances the Thunderer in the number of its advertisements, in classification, in lateness of the hour in which an advertisement can be received and inserted, and in the large force of messengers, boys and men, to do the work. Summing all up, one’ s breath is almost taken away by the vastness and perfection of the machinery that runs the Herald. It has leading bureaus in London, Paris, Washington, Boston, Richmond, and Philadel- phia ; steam-yachts at Sandy Hook and Whitestone to transmit ship-news through the London and Paris offices, cable shipping news in advance of the Asso- ciated Press ; notices to merchants and captains around the world, free of charge ; steam -yachts int^trcejjting vessels off the coast, and by special wire, giving the earliest and most reliable ship news. Yet more can be said ! The unrivalled foreign cor- respondence of the Herald ; the elaborate expendi- tures in the Franco-Prussian war ; the Turkish-Rus- sian war ; the Abyssinia news in advance of the Eng- lish government ; the Stanley expedition to Central Africa ; the discovery of Livingstone, and the source of the Mle ; matched reports and targets by cable ; special trains to the great cities of the country ; the expedition to the North Pole ; the trans-continental de- livery of the Herald in eighty hours, or four days in advance of all other papers ; the leading of the gov- ernment to a system of fast mail trains, and thus mak- JA3IE8 GORDON BENNETT. 495 ing the Herald known on both sides of the ocean. All this makes a record never surpassed. Mr. Bennett is still a young man, and admitted to be one of the most popular in America. The Herald establishment shows his executive force. His large gifts to charity, discovery, culture and art, display his unselfishness. He has gained European fame and national repute, and has placed himself among the benefactors of the age. He is proud of his city, and has done much to honor and adorn her. He has an elegant home on Fifth avenue, where he dispenses a regal hospitality, and where he has served to him those domestic comforts he appreciates so highly. He has the good sense to make the great gifts he inherited the stepping-stones to higher fame. His business qualities are known in the four quarters of the globe. His heroism is rehearsed under the black tent of the Bedouins, and on the burning sands of Africa. He will yet touch the North Pole, and hang the American flag upon it. In coming years, on some panel of a lordly museum, an artist’s pencil will perpetuate the touching story of the search for Livingstone amid the jungles of Africa. Mr. Bennett has placed his name on the facade of the industries of the land, that no wash of ages can blur, and no touch of Time’s finger can efface. 496 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. CLXY. MERCANTILE OUTLOOK. NE THOUSAND NAMES have been intro- duced into this book to illustrate the course of successful people. Incidents have been taken from every department of trade and every calling in life, — poets, orators, merchants, artists, farmers, mechanics, inventors, men from law, physic, and divinity have imparted their valuable instruction. Men who live by brain or muscle give ns the benefit of their experience. These men represent all nationali- ties and climes, speak all languages, and some come down from the early years of mercantile venture. All tell the same story. Without character there is no permanent success. Men may trade on borrowed reputation as they trade on borrowed capital. They stand as a huge building stands on an insecure founda- tion, ready at any moment to be a pile of ruin. As the rower must keep up his stroke, the runner his wind, the athlete his suppleness, and the artist his touch, so traders must keep up their character, and must keep abreast of the times. A heavy wealthy house aban- doned trade because it would not travel out of the old line of manufacture, and introduce new machinery. Ninety per cent, of all business men fail. Then ninety per cent are not honest. Valuable brands of flour have gone out of market because the millers threw on to the trade a debased article. The popularity of water-proof goods waned, when the standard fell. Cottons that every housekeeper asked for, no one wants. Blacking that is the rage one month is diluted MERCANTILE OUTLOOK. 497 and thrown out of market the next. Prominent men whose repute was a fortune have had to answer at the bar of public opinion when men mistrusted their in- tegrity. Christian statesmen held in high honor have retired to private life. Christian merchants iDay heavy fines to the government, and pulpit orators of great popularity, bound with fetters of brass, grind in the IDrison-house of the Philistines. When Daniel Deew threw away his old keenness, shrewdness, and foresight, what was there for him but bankruptcy? He did not lay the foundation of his fortune by speculation in fancy stocks. He was cool and cautious when he shaved the paper of the Bull’s Head drovers. From his little den in Wall street, where he bought uncurrent money, he saw how ruinous a thing stock speculation was. He treated with con- tempt the fears of his friends who followed him to Jer- sey, and begged him to abandon his ruinous course. He knew the street better than any living man. He knew the great bear, Jacob Little, and saw him plunge under the ruinous wave three times. He knew Lock- wood as a struggling operator, a millionare, and a bankrupt. He was familiar with the career of Morse^ Stockwell, Jerome, Fisk, Stimson, Kenyon, and knew what swamped them all. He knew that Canton, Quick- silver, Erie, Wabash, and Toledo were as dangerous as a powder-flask in a chimney corner. Yet he went like a fool to the correction of the stocks.” Brooks the clothier began life in a slopshop in South street. The trade was mainly with sailors and the profits were immense. Poor Jack took his toggery to sea, and complaint was of no avail if he was cheated. The house did a large business on the breaking out of the war, and by laying in a heavy stock of army and navy blue a fortune was made. 33 498 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. A mercliant of distinction and success, A. A. Low, has been, through the lifetime of a generation. He possessed marked talents, displayed an unbounded liberality, and his honor is without a stain. His father, a druggist in Salem, failed, and he came to New York to retrieve his fortunes. Abbott was placed in a tea store, where he distinguished himself for industry and integrity. When quite a young man he was sent to China as supercargo. There he laid the foundation of his great fortune. He obtained a footing in a large China house, and went on to wealth. With his first earnings he paid the debts of his father dollar for dol- lar, and earned the proud title of the merchants of the Bible — “a trafficker, the honorable of the earth.” It was the rule of Geoege Peabody to earn his money before he spent it. He had a rugged boyhood, and was willing to work. As a London banker his success was no accident. He was cool, cautious, slow, safe. In 1849 he was the only American banker in London. He bought up some railroad bonds on the market that were not popular, and these brought him into notice. He had talent that was good for a long run. He was not imaginative, was slow to grasp, and strong to hold an idea, when he had mastered it. The London bankers lived high. They gave generous dinners, and were distinguished for lavish expendi- tures. Peabody had none of this. He was economical and safe. He had no small talk, and was reticent. He was retiring and uncompanionable. He kept no establishment, never owned a carriage, gave vagrants a wide berth, and was charged with being penurious. He lived at the cheapest hotel, walked blocks to take a second-class car, and never rode when he could go on foot. He was economical in his dress and ex23enditure, and did his business in a little den, where there was no MERCANTILE OUTLOOK. 499 cliance for loafing and no room for a crowd. He had perfect command over his temper, never returned a ha^ty word, and kept his own counsel. He obtained great command over the moneyed men of the Old World. When patronized by royalty, and the street in front of his house crowded with coronetted carriages, he maintained his simple style of living, and to the last was a commoner and a republican. JoHiv Q. Jones was one of the most eminent bankers of New Nork. For years he was the president of the Chemical Bank. He was one of the old-time financiers of the city. He was less known than almost any eminent man in the metropolis. For fifty years he had plodded along in the same old fashion, making his bank a power. The bank is full, it has no stock to sell, and receives no deposits. It is a State bank still ; it has never suspended or changed. Its shares of the par value of one hundred dollars are worth sixteen hundred dollars, and none to be had at that. The bank has made itself rich by honest dealing. The president is a bachelor; takes no vacations, and never leaves town in the summer. The richest men in the city and the heaviest depositors are his patrons. E. K. Collins was at one time a power in New York. His great steamships, his captains and his sub- sidies made him a magnate. The dock was usually crowded on the day the steamers sailed. Collins, in his imperious way, paced up and down the pier. The crowd recognized his importance and made a path for him. Collins had a foolish quarrel with Vanderbilt. The old commodore told him that he would run him off the ocean. And he did. Jones, the poetek, was as well known to business men as the Astor House itself. For nearly thirty years 500 8UGGE88FUL F0LK8. lie was the baggage-master of the hotel. He carried iip-stairs the trunks of the most eminent men of the nation. He had no salary during all these years, but amassed a fortune. Every trunk paid him a tribute. When guests forgot him, he followed them to the coach, put his head into the window with a quarter in his teeth, and hoped their baggage was all right. He never blundered about the bags, and nobody was left who trusted Mr. Jones. At the close of a day’s work the baggage-master dressed himself up, drew on his gloves, and, cane in hand, would start for his elegant brown-stone house up-town. He left money enough to make all his relations rich. Petee Coopee donated five hundred thousand dol- lars to found the Cooper Union. He had a hundred and fifty thousand left as a private fortune. He had adhesiveness enough, like the material out of which his wealth was made, to plod along until he won back in trade the sum that the Union cost him. Mackinnon immortalized himself by seizing a for- tune at the fiood. He was a colonel of the Coldstream Guards.* He closed the gates of Hougom.onte in the face of Jerome Bonaparte and the French army. He saved the Duke of Wellington and the British forces. A lady left a fortune ‘‘to the bravest otficer in the army.” The executors sent the money to the Duke of Wellington. The Duke sent the bequest to Mackin- non. He accepted it, but was hero enough to divide it with the color-sergeant, without whose aid the memora- ble gates would not have been closed. The METHODS of gain are various. A man opened a segar store near the great money center of the city. He proposed to keep only imported segars, and those MERCANTILE OUTLOOK. 501 of the best quality. Every segar sold over his counter was perfect, but the price was high. His trade was slow, but winning sure. He made his fortune. There is an old-time chop-house near Wall sireet. It is fifty years old. The room is low, without orna- ment, and half under-ground. The seats are stools, without backs ; the tables are without cloths, and the floors are sanded. The specialties of the house, are chops, beef-s teaks, English mutton, and ale. The meats come on to the table reeking hot. The first merchants in New York stand in line awaiting their turn. The proprietor serves his customers with his coat off. He could buy a mansion on Fifth avenue, and live at his ease, if he chose. He made his entire fortune in that little den. A New York Quaker makes a specialty of corn- fed pig pork. He has sold the article for half a cen- tury. His shop is in an unfashionable spot, a mile west of Broadway, and below Bleecker. The coaches of the upper-ten stop at his door, and it is a great thing to be served by him. His stock is limited, but he has a good article or nothing. Of course he is rich. James Lenox, who bears the family name and honors, is very unlike his father Robert, the founder of the house. Robert was a very popular man, and earned his own fortune. James inherited his, and is a recluse. He has kept the finest statuary and paintings in the city locked up in his private gallery, because the public annoyed him in their visitations. Governor Morgan was introduced into New York business life by his father, an eminent Hartford mer- chant. Edwin began trade on Front street. He went 502 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. out on a tour of collection, and instead of bringing home money, as was expected, he made a venture that astounded his house. He saw that there was money in it, and boldly offered to take the speculation off the hands of the firm. He disposed of the goods at a marked profit, and his employers told him he was too smart to remain in a subordinate position. He soon became master of his own trade. He was distinguished for his ability in business, for his fairness, for per- sonal attention and integrity. He is now one of the richest and most honored citizens of New York. William E. HoDaE was born in New York. His mother kept a thread and needle store. His father was a weigher in the Custom-house. At one time he taught school. He early developed a faculty for trade, and entered into business in a small way. He married into a family anvd obtained a footing, first as a clerk, and then a partner. For many years he stood at the head of the mercantile community. He was a man of command- ing ability and distinguished for abounding charities. Lyman Heed had a peculiar style of business. He “ bulled ” and beared ” groceries as stock men ‘‘bull” and “bear” stocks. He “ cornered ” coffee, sugar and molasses, as men on the street “corner” gold and greenbacks. He kept the market on the jumj>, sold short, created a panic, and did things that would make matters lively. He did what was very unusual in his day to do : buy a cargo of coffee or of tea, one thousand hogsheads of sugar, or one thousand hogs- heads of molasses ; he would throw the market into a spasm by turning everything loose at once. He made money whether the articles went up or down. If the goods went up, he pocketed the profits, if they went down, he bought to win and created a corner. In ten years he made half a million. MERCANTILE OUTLOOK. 503 Chakles H. Marshall was a noted sMp-master. When a boy he ran away from home and went to sea. He came back second mate. He was a resolute, reliant, prompt man, and very rough in his way. He was ex- acting and imperious, but kind and generous in his own way. He founded and managed the famous Black Ball Line. His subordinates had to toe the mark. A ship lay at the dock ready for sea. The captain went ashore for his clothes. Marshall saw a captain stand- ing on the wharf, put him on board, and sent out the ship, leaving the tardy officer to settle his disapx)oint- ment as best he might. James Harper’s Card. — ‘‘I served my apiDrentice- shii3,” said Mr. Harper, ‘‘near the spot on which I am sitting. I did the rough work of the office. Rich men lived in this locality. Their sons were idle, and took pains to annoy me. One would say : ‘ Harper, who made your boots?’ Another : ‘ Jim, give me a card to your tailor.’ A stout, ugly boy, wdiose father was a rich lawyer, pushed me nearly down. I turned, gave him a kick, and said : ‘ There ! take that. That is my card. When I am in business and you are a poor worthless fellow in want, as you will be, call on me and I will give you work if you deserve to have it.’ Since I have been on this spot in Franklin square, that man called on me. He was in actual want. He reminded me of my card and solicited assistance. I gave it to him.” The present orthodoxy star is Rev. Joseph Cook. I shall consider Mr. Cook simply from a business standpoint. With his orthodoxy or his relations to the church, I have nothing to do. I refer to him in his business relations as I refer to Malfett and Moody, Earle and Sankey. A man wffio begins a line of busi- 504 SUCCESSFUL FOLKS. ness without a coat on his back, or a roof of a cabin to cover him, and receives sixty thousand dollars a year copyright on a hymn-book, and can give away five thousand dollars to a college, and seven thousand dol- lars to mission work in cities, has done well. An evan- gelist who makes a speculation on the coast, and comes back in six months with eighteen thousand dollars gold, has not made a bad venture. A man who spends six months in helping the churches, and carries away twelve thousand dollars, as the Bible puts it, “has done well for himself.” Mr. Cook illustrates the law of supply and de- mand. He had a marketable article that the commu- nity needs. He met a want. Infidelity was bold, ram- pant, defiant, popular. Lecturers coined money by at- tacking religion on the lecture platform. One of the most popular speakers of the day pocketed two hun- dred dollars a night by mingling politics with atheism. Semi-Christian men used the lecture field to attack evangelical truth. Some one was needed to strike back ; to return the jeer and the laugh ; to speak boldly from a scientific standpoint, for the truth that the masses receive. Mr. Cook was equal to the demand. His learn- ing was varied, and in the coin of the realm. He was bold, vehement, daring, defiant, trenchant, audacious. Two hundred dollars a night was his compensation. His time was occupied a month ahead. He will slip, where all men of his class always slip. Already criti- cism is on his track. His want of freshness ; repeating himself in various cities ; driving hard-money bar- gains ; being rude and uncivil ; a sort of social boor ; harmed by patronage, with his head turned by success. He will fulfill his mission, and take his place with other retired sensationalists. Outside of the pulpit, the churches have always had aid, and will have to the end ; but the evangelism of MERCANTILE OUTLOOK. 505 America bears no relation to the sturdy and steady church work, to which the pastor is called. Cornering gold is not trade. Black Fridays do not make mer- chant princes. Fifty years of experience show this. Whoever writes the history of our merchant, mechani- cal or agricultural life, must write the history of reli- gion. Church life is older than the State. The ele- ments that touched Plymouth Rock at the same moment, were the minister, the magistrate, and the soldier. The minister preached morals, the magistrate laid down the law, the soldier enforced obedience. Five years of business life did not pass without bring- ing the necessity of all three of these elements to main- tain the general tranquillity. When men dwelt in huts, the best log- cabin was the house of the Lord. When they dwelt in ceiled houses, the best was the sanctuary. To-day, in the sparse settlements of America, the pas- tor of the poorest flock maintains the average living with his people. In our costliest cities the most mag- niticent structures are the churches of the Most High. The pastoral ofiice, as of old, is to-day held in all honor. Religion is the foe of indolence, wickedness, and anarchy. These subtle elements are like a rat- hole in a dyke of Holland — insigniflcant in themselves — unless watched, and checked, able to flood and sweep away the glory, beauty, and the power of a nation. God save the State ! THE END. 1878 1878. The Publishers, on receipt of price, will send any book on ':his Catalogue by free All books In this list [unless otherwise specified] are handsomely bound in cloth board binding, with gilt backs suitable for libraries. Mary J. Holmes’ Works. Tempest and Sunshine 50 I Darkness and Daylight |i 50 English Orphans i 50 Hugh Worthington i 50 Homestead on the Hillside i 50 | Cameron Pride i 50 ’Lena Rivers 1 50 Rose Mather i 50 Meadow Brook i 50 | Ethelyn’s Mistake i 50 Dora Deane i 50 I Millbank i 50 Cousin Maude i -o j Edna Browning. ... ! i 50 Marian Grc' i 50 West Lawn i 50 Edith Lyle.' (New) 1 3^ 1 Mildred (New) 150 Marion Harla^jd's 'Works. Alone 50] Sunnybank 50 Hidden Path i 5° | Husbands and Homes i 50 Moss Side i 5° Nemesis i 50 Miriam i 5 At Last I 50 Helen Gardner i 50 True as Steel (New) i 50 Ruby’s Husband i 50 Phemie’s Temptation i 50 The Empty Heart i 50 Jessamine i 50 From My Youth Up i 50 My Little Love (New) i 50 Charles Dickens— 15 Vols,— “ Carletcn’s Edition.’ Pickwick, and Catalogue 50 Dornbey and Son i 50 Bleak Plouse i 50 Martin Chuzzlewit i 50 Barnaby Rudge— Edwin Drood.. i 50 Child’s England — Miscellaneous i 50 David Copperfield 50 Nicholas Nickleby i 50 Little Dorrit i 50 Our Mutual Friend i 50 Curiosity Shop — Miscellaneous. i 5c Sketches by Boz — Hard Times.. i 50 Christmas Books— and — A Tale of Two Cities 1 50 Oliver Twist— and— The Uncommercial Traveler 1 50 Great Expectations — and — Pictures of Italy and America .. . i 5c Sets cf Dickens’ Complete Works, in 15 vols. — [elegant half calf bindings] . 50 00 Augusta J. Evans’ Novels. Beulal 75 I St. Elmo fie 00 Macar.a i 75 Vashti 2 00 Inez I 75 I Infelice (New) 2 00 G. W. CARLETON CO:S PUBLICATIONS. May Agnes Fleming's Novels. Guy Earlscourt’s Wife 50 | A Wonderful Woman 50 A Terrible Secret i 50 I A Mad Marriage i 50 Norine’s Revenge i 50 One Night’s Mystpery i 50 Silent and True— (New) | Kate Danton 50 M. Michelet’s Works. Love (L’Amour)— Translation 50 | Woman (La Femme)— Translational 50 Miriam Coles Harris, Rutledge i 50 Frank Warrington i 50 Louie’s Last Term, etc i 50 Richard Vandermarck i 50 Italian The Sutherlands 50 St. Philip’s I 50 Round Hearts, for Children i 50 A Perfect Adonis — (New)4. i 50 Novels. Dr. Antonio — By Ruffini 50 | Beatrice Cenci — By Guerrazzi $i 50 Julie P. Smith’s Novels. Widow Goldsmith’s Daughter. . 50 1 The Widower $i 50 Chris and Otho i 50 Ten Old Maids i 50 His Young Wife — (New) 1 50 Victor The Married Belle i 50 Courting and Farming i 50 Hugo. Les Miserables— In English .$2 50 | Les Miserables — In Spanish $5 00 Captain Mayne Beid. The White Chief $i 50 The Tiger Hunter i 50 The Hunter’s Feast i 50 Wild Life I 50 Osceola, the Seminole i 50 Ward. The Scalp Hunters 50 The Rifle Rangers i 50 The War Trail i 50 The Wood Rangers i 50 The Wild Huntress 1 50 Artemus Complete Comic Writings— With Biography, Portrait, and 50 Illustrations $2 00 A* St Hoe’s Select Stories. True to the Last $i 50 I A Long Look Ahead 0 i 50 The Star and the Cloud i 50 I’ve Been Thinking i 50 How Could He Help It ? i 50 | To Love and to be Loved i 50 Charles ©ickens. Child’s History of England— Carleton’s New " School Editio?!.'' Illustrated. $i 25 Paper Covers, 50 Cents— Cloth, $1.00. Tom’s Wife — By G. D. Tallman That Comic Primer — By Frank Bellew. That Awful Boy That Bridget of Ours. .. .... Our Artist in Cuba, etc. G. W. Carleton. Why Wife and I Quarreled. Solomon Isaacs — By B. L. Farjeon That Horrid Girl Me — July and August. By Mrs. S. C. Coe. He and I — Sarah B. Stebbins Annals of a Baby — do That Charming Evening— Bellew Mrs. Hill’s Cook Book. Mrs. A. P. Hill’s New Southern Cookery Book, and domestic receipts $2 00 Hand-Books of Society The Habits of Good Society — The nice points of taste and good manners 50 The Art of Conversation — For those who wish to be agreeable talkers 1 50 The Arts of Writing, Reading, and Speaking — For self-improvement i 50 New Diamond Edition — Small size, elegantly bound, 3 volumes in a box 3 00 Carleton’s Popular Quotations. Carleton’s New Hand-Book — Familiar quotations, with their authorship 50 Famous Books— “ Carleton’s Edition.” Robinson Crusoe — Griset’s Il!us..$i 00 I Don Quixote — Core’s Ulus ...$i 00 Arabian Nights— Demoraine Ulus. . i 00 | Swiss Family Robinson— Marcel i 00 Josh Billings. His Complete Writings — ^With Biography, steel portrait, and 100 illustrations. $2 00 Trump Cards — Illustrated 25 | Farmer’s Alminax— Illustrated 25 G. IK CARLETON ^ CO: S PUBLIC ATIONS. New York Weekly” Series. Nick Whiffles 50 Lady Leonora i 50 The Grinder Papers i 50 A Bitter Atonement. (New) i 50 Thrown on the \A^orld $1 50 Peerless Cathleen i 50 Faithful Margaret i 50 Curse of Everleigh 1 50 Love Works Wonders. (In press) i 50 Frank Lee Benedict’s Novels. ’Twixt Hammer and Anvil 75 I Madame. cloth, ...fi 75 Violet Fane’s Poems. Constance’s Fate; or Denzil Place.^i 50 | From Dawn to Noon $i 50 M. M. Fomeroy (’“Brick.”) Sense. A serious book 5 ° Gold-Dust. Do I 50 Our Saturday Nights i 5° Celia E. Gardner’s Novels. Nonsense. (A comic book) 50 Brick-Dust Do i 50 Home Harmonies. (New) i 50 Tested $i 50 Rich Medways’ Two Loves i 50 A Woman’s Wiles. i 50 Stolen Waters. (In verse) Jjpi 50 Broken Dreams. Do i 5° Terrace Roses. (New) 1 50 Ernest Renan’s French. Works. The Life of Jesus Translated. 75 I The Life of St. Paul. Translated. 75 Lives of the Apostles. Do. i 75 1 The Bible in India— By Jacolliot. . . 2 00 G. W. Carleton. Our Artist in Cuba, Peru, Spain, and Algiers— 150 caricatures of travel 0i 00 Verdant Green. . A Racy English College Story— With numerous original comic illustrations .. 00 Allan Pinkerton. ^ . Model Townsand Detectives....^! 50 I Spiritualists and Detectives $i 50 Strikers, Communists, Etc Mollie Maguires and Detectives, i 50 A New Book I The Game of W^hist. , . Pole on Whist. — The late English standard work. New enlarged edition 00 Joaq^uin Miller. One Fair Woman. (Prose) $2 00 j Baroness of New York. (Poetry)$i 50 Joseph Rodman Drake. The Culprit Fay — The well-known fairy poem, 100 illustrations by Lumley $2 00 Mrs. Frank Leslie. Journey from New York to San Francisco — Profusely illustrated §2 00 Parlor Mnsical Aihnm. A choice collection of Vocal and Instrumental Music. Beautifully bound. . $2 co Edward A. Sothern. Birds of a Feather Flock Together— With character illustrations 50 Record of the Year, 1876. Two Bound Volumes — By Frank Moore, with 12 steel portraits each vol. $3 00 Life Insurance Companies. Stratagems and Conspiracies — Criminal attempts to defraud Insurance Cos. ..$2 00 Recent Puhlicat'ons. The Lily of San Miniato — A novel, by Mrs. C. V. Hamilton 0i 50 Housekeeping in Old. Virginia — Southern cook book, by M. C. Tyree i 75 Dr. Mortimer’s Patient— A novel, by Miss Fannie Bean i 5° Parlor Table Companion — Illustrated poetry, biography and anecdote i 50 Another Man’s Wife — A novel, by Irene Widdemer Le Baron Hartt 1 5° Morning Glories — A charming children’s book, by Louisa Alcott i 00 Hands Up — History of the Union Pacific Express Robbery, by Al. Sorenson 50 , Miscellaneous Novels. Janet — An English novel 50 I Conquered 5° Innocents from Abroad— Ulus i 50 \ All For Him i 50 For Each Other i 50 All For Her i 5° Mr. Ghim’s Dream i 50 | Flirtation — A West Point novel i 50 I 5a 1 50 50 4 G. W. CARLETON CO: S PUBLICATIONS. Miscellaneous 'Works. A Harvest of Wild Oats—A Novel, by Florence Marryatt 50 Milly Darrell — A Novel, by Miss M. E. Braddon, author of “Aurora Floyd”.,, i 50 Why Wife and I Quarreled — By the author of “ Betsey and I are Out” i 00 True Love Rewarded — A new Novel, by the author “True to the Last” i 50 Threading My Way— The Autobiography of Robert Dale Owen i 50 The Debatable Land— By Robert Dale Owen 2 00 Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism— By D. D. Home 2 00 Glimpses of the Supernatural — Facts, Records, and Traditions 2 00 Lion Jack— A New Illustrated Menagerie Book for Boys. — P. T. Barnum i 50 West India Pickles — Journal of a Tropical Yacht Cruise, by W. P. Talboys. . . . G. A. Crofutt’s Trans-Continental Tourist— New York to San Francisco.... Laus Veneris and other Poems— By Algernon Charles Swinburne Parodies and Poems and My Vacation — By C. H. Webb (John Paul) i 50 Comic History of the United States — Livingston Hopkins. Illustrated i 50 Mother Goose Melodies Set to Music— with comic illustrations 1 00 Jacques Offenbach’s Experiences in America — From the Paris edition i 50 How to Make Money ; and How to Keep It— By Thomas A. Davies i 50 Our Children — Teaching Parents how to keep them in Health.— Dr. Gardner. .. i 00 Watchman ; What of the Night ? — By Dr. John Cnmming, of London i 50 Fanny Fern Memorials— With a Biography, by James Parton 2 00 Tales from the Operas — A Collection of Stories based upon thaOpera Plots i 50 New Nonsense Rhymes — By W. H. Beckett, with illustrations by C. G. Bush, i oo Progressive Petticoats— A Satirical Tale, by Robert B. Roosevelt i 50 Souvenirs of Travel — By Madame Octavia Walton Le Vert, of Mobile, Ala 2 00 V/oman, Love, and Marriage — A spicy little Work, by Fred Saundens i 50 The Fall of Man— A Darwinian Satire, by author of “ New Gospel of Peace” 50 The Chronicles of Gotham— A Modern Satire, . . Do. . . Do 25 Ballad of Lord Bateman— With illustrations by Cruikshank (paper covers) 25 The Yachtman’s Primer — For amateur Sailors. T. R. Warren (paper covers) 50 Rural Architecture— By M. Field. With plans and illustrations 2 00 Transformation Scenes in the United States — By Hiram Fuller i 50 Kingsbury Sketches — Pine Grove Doings, by John H. Kingsbury. Illustrated i 50 Miscellaneous Novels. , Led Astray— By Octave Feuillet.. . 50 She Loved Him Madly — Borys... i 50 Through Thick and Thin— Mery, i 50 So Fair yet False— Chavette i 50 A Fatal Passion — C. Bernard i 50 Seen and Unseen i 50 Purple and Fine Linen — Fawcett, i 75 Pauline’s Trial— L. L. D. Courtney i 50 A Charming Widow — Macquoid.. i 75 The Forgiving Kiss — By M. Loth, i 75 Kenneth, My King — S. A. Brock., i 75 Heart Hungry — M.J. Westmoreland i 75 Clifford Troupe, Do. i 75 Silcott Mill— Maria D. Deslonde... i 75 John Maribel. Do. ... i 75 Passing t’ne Portal — TMrs. Victor. . i 50 Out of the Cage— G. W. Owen i 50 Saint Leger — Richard B. Kimball., i 75 Was He Successful ? . . . Do. 1 75 Undercurrents of Wall St. . Do. i 75 Romance of Student Life. . Do. i 75 To-Day Do. i 75 Life in San Domingo. . . . Do. i 50 Henry Powers. Banker. . . Do. i 75 A Book about Doctors 2 00 A Book about Lawyers 2 00 Manfred — By Guerrazzi i 75 A Woman in the Case — Turner. ..$1 50 Johnny Ludlow. From London ed. i 50 Shiftless Folks — Fannie Smith.... i 75 A Woman in Armor— Hartwell. . . i 50 Phemie Frost — Ann S. Stephens,., i 50 Marguerite’s Journal, For girls.. i 50 Romance of Railroad — Smith i 50 Charette — An American novel i 50 Fairfax — John Esten Cooke i 50 Hilt to Hilt. Do I 50 Out of the Foam. Do 1 50 Hammer and Rapier. Do i 50 Warwick — By M. T. Walworth i 75 Lulu. ' Do I 75 Hotspur. Do I 75 Stormcliff. Do i 75 Dclaplaine. Do i 75 Beverly. Do i 75 Beldazzle’s Bachelor Studies 1 00 Northern Ballads — E. L. Anderson i 00 O. C. Kerr Papers. 4vols. in one.. 2 00 Victor Hugo — His autobiography. .. 2 00 Sandwiches — By Artemus Ward. . . 25 Widow Spriggins — Widow Bedott. i 75 Wood’s Guide to N. Y. City i 00 Loyal unto Death i 75 Bessie Wilmerton — Westcott i 75 CHARLES DICKEI^S’ WORKS. A I^ew EdUSosi. \ iAmom? the many editions of the works of this greatest ^ < Knglish Novelists, there has not been until now that entkely I satisfies the public demand. — Without exception, they each have I some strong distinctive objection, — either the form and dimensions j of the volumes are unhandy — or, the type is small and indistinct— or, the Dlustrations are unsatisfactory — or, the binding is poor — or, the price ts too high. An entirely new edition is new, however, published by G. W, Carleton & Co. of New York, which, it is believed, will, in every re^ct, completely satisfy the popular demand. — It is known as “Car!et®n’§ Mew II9u§trated Edition.’’ Complete in 15 Volumes. The size and form is most convenient for holding, — ^the type b entirely new, and of a clear and open character that has received the ' approval of tire reading community in other popular works. The illustrations are by the original artists chosen ly Charles Dickens himself — and the paper, printing, and binding are of an attractive and substantial character. This beautiful new edition is complete in 15 volumes — at the extremely reasonable price of $1.50 per volume, as follows; — 1. — PICKWICK PAPERS AND CATALOGUE. 2 . — OLIVER TWIST. — UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER. 1 3. — DAVID COPPERFIELD. 4. — GREAT EXPECTATIONS. — ITALY AND AMERICA* 5. — DOMBEY AND SON. 6. — BARNABY RUDGE AND EDWIN DROOD. 7. — NICHOLAS NICKLEBY. 8. — CURIOSITY SHOP AND MISCELLANEOUS, 9. — BLEAK HOUSE. Sa — LITTLE DORRIT. 11. — MARTIN CIIUZZLEWIT. 12 . — OUR MUTUAL FRIEND. 13. — CHRISTMAS BOOKS. — TALE OF TWO CITIES. I 4. — SKETCHES BY i^OZ AND HARD TIMES. 15. — child’s ENGLAND AND MISCELLANEOUS. The first volume —Pickwick Papers — contains an alphabetic;*] catalogue of all of Charles Dickens’ writings, with their positioas 1 in the volumes. This edition is sold by Booksellers, everywhere — and single speci- men ewies will be forwarded by m^, postage free^ on receipt of pfke, |i.50> by G. W. CARLETON k CO., Publishers, Madison Square, New York, Mary J. Holmes’ Works. r-TEMPEST AND SUNSHINE. 8.— 1 --ENGLISH ORPHANS. 5. --HOMESTEAD ON HILLSIDE. ^ -'LENA RIVERS. i -MEADOW BROOK. A— DORA DEANE, f.— COUSIN MAUDE. i6, -WEST LAWN. 9 — II.- 13 . - 14. - 17.— MARIAN GRAY. DARKNESS and DAYLIGHT HUGH WORTHINGTON. CAMERON PRIDE. ROSE MATHER. ETHELVN’S MISTAKE. MILLBANK. EDNA BROWNING. EDITH LYLE. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. “Mrs. Holmes’ stories are universally read. Her admirers are numberless. She is in many respects without a rival in the world of fiction. Her characters Ere alw-ays life-like, and she makes them talk and act like human beings, subject to the same emotions, swayed by the same passions, and actuated by the same tnonves which are common among men and women of every day existence. Mrs. Holmes is very happy in portraying domestic life. Old and young peruse her atories with great delight, for she writes in a style that all can comprehend.” — VorA Weeify. * “Mrs. Holmes’ stories are all of a domestic character, and their interest, therelore, is not so intense as if they were more highly seasoned with sensational- ism, but it is r f a healthy and abiding character. Almost any new book which her publisher might choose to announce from her pen would get an immediate and general reading. The interest in her tales begins at once, and is maintained to the close. Her sentiments are so sound, her sympathies so warm and ready, and her knowledge of manners, character, and the varied incidents of 01 dinary tits is so thorough, that she would find it difficult to write any other than an excellent tale if she were to try it ” — Boston Banner. “Mrs. Holmes is very amusing; has a quick and true sense ol hemor, a sympathetic tone, a perception of character, and a familial, attractive style, pleasantly adapted to the comprehension and the taste of that large class si American readers for whom fashionable novels and ideal fantasies have bo dkarm .” — Henry T. Tuckerman. The voltames are ah handsomely printed and bound in doth.— sold itwywhore, and sent by mxA, postage free, on receipt of price [fi.50 each], by Q. W CARLETON & CO., Publishers, Madison Square^ Nav York.