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diff --git a/old/15161.txt b/old/15161.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c599ae7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/15161.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19301 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made, by +James D. McCabe, Jr., Illustrated by G. F. and E. B. Bensell + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made + +Author: James D. McCabe, Jr. + +Release Date: February 24, 2005 [eBook #15161] + +Language: english + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT FORTUNES, AND HOW THEY WERE +MADE*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Dave Macfarlane, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 15161-h.htm or 15161-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/1/6/15161/15161-h/15161-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/1/6/15161/15161-h.zip) + + + + + +GREAT FORTUNES, AND HOW THEY WERE MADE + +Or, The Struggles and Triumphs of Our Self-Made Men + +by + +JAMES D. MCCABE, JR., + +Author of _Planting the Wilderness_, etc., etc. + +Numerous Illustrations from Original Designs by G. F. & E. B. Bensell + + + + + + + +[Illustration: CONSTERNATION AT THE SIGHT OF FULTON'S MONSTER.] + + + + +"MAN, it is not thy works, which are mortal, infinitely little, and the +greatest no greater than the least, but only the _spirit thou workest +in_, that can have worth or continuance."--CARLYLE. + + + + +George Maclean, +Philadelphia, New York and Boston +Electrotyped at the Franklin Type Foundry, Cincinnati + +1871 + + + + +"The physical industries of this world have two relations in them: one +to the actor, and one to the public. Honest business is more really a +contribution to the public than it is to the manager of the business +himself. Although it seems to the man, and generally to the community, +that the active business man is a self-seeker, and although his motive +may be self-aggrandizement, yet, in point of fact, no man ever manages a +legitimate business in this life, that he is not doing a thousand-fold +more for other men than he is trying to do even for himself. For, in the +economy of God's providence, every right and well organized business is +a beneficence and not a selfishness. And not less is it so because the +merchant, the mechanic, the publisher, the artist, think merely of their +profit. They are in fact working more for others than they are for +themselves." + +HENRY WARD BEECHER. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The chief glory of America is, that it is the country in which genius +and industry find their speediest and surest reward. Fame and fortune +are here open to all who are willing to work for them. Neither class +distinctions nor social prejudices, neither differences of birth, +religion, nor ideas, can prevent the man of true merit from winning the +just reward of his labors in this favored land. We are emphatically a +nation of self-made men, and it is to the labors of this worthy class +that our marvelous national prosperity is due. + +This being the case, it is but natural that there should be manifested +by our people a very decided desire to know the history of those who +have risen to the front rank of their respective callings. Men are +naturally cheered and encouraged by the success of others, and those who +are worthy of a similar reward will not fail to learn valuable lessons +from the examples of the men who have preceded them. + +With the hope of gratifying this laudable desire for information, and +encouraging those who are still struggling in the lists of fame and +fortune, I offer this book to the reader. I have sought to tell simply +and truthfully the story of the trials and triumphs of our self-made +men, to show how they overcame where others failed, and to offer the +record of their lives as models worthy of the imitation of the young men +of our country. No one can hope to succeed in life merely by the force +of his own genius, any more than he can hope to live without exerting +some degree of influence for good or evil upon the community in which +his lot is cast. Success in life is not the effect of accident or of +chance: it is the result of the intelligent application of certain fixed +principles to the affairs of every day. Each man must make this +application according to the circumstances by which he is surrounded, +and he can derive no greater assistance or encouragement in this +undertaking than by informing himself how other men of acknowledged +merit have succeeded in the same departments of the world's industry. +That this is true is shown by the fact that many of the most eminent men +attribute their great achievements to the encouragement with which the +perusal of the biographies of others inspired them at critical periods +of their careers. It is believed that the narrations embraced in these +pages afford ample instruction and entertainment to the young, as well +as food for earnest reflection on the part of those who are safely +advanced upon their pathway to success, and that they will prove +interesting to all classes of intelligent readers. + +Some explanation is due to the reader respecting the title that has been +chosen for the work. The term "Great Fortunes" is not used here to +designate pecuniary success exclusively. A few of the men whose lives +are herein recorded never amassed great wealth. Yet they achieved the +highest success in their vocations, and their lives are so full of +interest and instruction that this work must have been incomplete and +unsatisfactory had they been passed over in silence. The aim of the +writer has been to present the histories of those who have won the +highest fame and achieved the greatest good in their respective +callings, whether that success has brought them riches or not, and above +all, of those whose labors have not only opened the way to fortune for +themselves, but also for others, and have thus conferred lasting +benefits upon their country. + +In short, I have sought to make this work the story of the _Genius of +America_, believing as I do that he whose achievements have contributed +to the increase of the national wealth, the development of the national +resources, and the elevation of the national character, though he +himself be poor in purse, has indeed won a great fortune, of which no +reverse can ever deprive him. + +J.D. McC., JR. + +NEW YORK, _24th October, 1870_. + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + +CONSTERNATION AT SIGHT OF FULTON'S MONSTER (Frontispiece) +GIRARD COLLEGE +GIRARD'S HEROISM +ASTOR'S FIRST TRIP FOR FURS +"MY MEN SHALL NOT SUFFER" +PORTRAIT OF GEORGE PEABODY +PEABODY PAYING FOR A NIGHT'S LODGING +PORTRAIT OF CORNELIUS VANDERBILT +VANDERBILT EARNING HIS FIRST HUNDRED DOLLARS +VANDERBILT CARRYING OFF THE SHERIFF +FOUNDING A GREAT FORTUNE +PORTRAIT OF ROBERT FULTON +AN AMAZING REVELATION +"THE MADHOUSE IS THE PROPER PLACE FOR HIM" +WHITNEY WATCHING THE FIRST COTTON-GIN +PORTRAIT OF ELIAS HOWE, JR. +HOWE'S FIRST IDEA OF THE SEWING-MACHINE +THE BOY COLT INVENTING THE REVOLVER +PORTRAIT OF SAMUEL F.B. MORSE +HOW THE NEW YORK HERALD BEGAN +MARSHALL'S DEFENCE OF CHRISTIANITY +PORTRAIT OF JAMES T. BRADY +"THEY ARE GOING TO HANG MY BROTHER; YOU CAN SAVE HIM!" +THE TRUANT'S SECRET DISCOVERED +PORTRAIT OF HIRAM POWERS +POWERS' DISTRUST OF THE HUNTERS +FILIAL DEVOTION SHAPES A GREAT CAREER +CARTWRIGHT CALLING UP THE DEVIL +PORTRAIT OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE +JEFFERSON, AS RIP VAN WINKLE +PRESCRIBING AT THE BREAKFAST-TABLE +"PRESIDENT LINCOLN HAS BEEN MURDERED!" + + +CONTENTS. + +I. MERCHANTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +STEPHEN GIRARD. + +The fog in the Delaware--News of the war--Alarm of the French skipper--A +narrow escape from capture--Arrival of Girard in Philadelphia--Early +history of Stephen Girard--An unhappy childhood--Goes to sea--Is +licensed to command--Becomes a trader in Philadelphia--Marries Mary +Lum--Unfortunate issue of the marriage--Capture of Philadelphia by the +British--Early commercial life of Stephen Girard--How he earned his +first money, and the use he made of it--Aid from St. Domingo--His rigid +attention to business--Thoroughness of his knowledge--One of his letters +of instructions--His subordinates required to obey orders though they +ruin him--Anecdote of Girard and one of his captains--His promptness and +fidelity in business--He never breaks his word--How he lost five hundred +dollars--Buys the old Bank of the United States and becomes a +banker--Cuts down the salaries of his clerks--Refuses his watchman an +overcoat--Indifference to his employes--Contrast between his personal +and business habits--His liberality in financial operations--He +subscribes for the entire Government loan in 1814, and enables the +United States to carry on the war--His generosity toward the +Government--The suspension of specie payments--Financial troubles--How +Girard saved his own notes--His public spirit--How he made half a +million of dollars on a captured ship--Personal characteristics--Why he +valued money--His ambition--His infidelity--Causes of the defects of his +character--A favorable view--Heroic conduct of Stephen Girard during +the prevalence of the yellow fever in Philadelphia--The Good +Samaritan--He practices medicine, and congratulates himself that he has +killed none of his patients--His industry--Visit of Mr. Baring to Mr. +Girard--A curious reception--Failing health and death of Stephen +Girard--His will--His noble bequests--Establishment of Girard College. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +JOHN JACOB ASTOR. + +Legitimate business the field of success--Reasons for claiming Astor as +an American--Birth and early life--Religious training--The village of +Waldorf--Poverty--The jolly butcher--Young Astor's repugnance to his +father's trade--Unhappy at home--Loses his mother--His desire to +emigrate to the "New Land"--Leaves home--His voyage down the +Rhine--Reaches London and enters the service of his brother--His efforts +to prepare for emigration--Learns to speak English--Peace between the +United States and Great Britain--The road to the "New Land" open--Astor +sets out for America--His first ventures in commerce--The voyage--How he +proposed to save his Sunday clothes--Arrival in the Chesapeake--The +ice-blockade--Astor makes a friend--The fur trader's story--Astor sees +the way to fortune--Reaches New York--His first situation--Learning the +business--His method of proceeding--An example to young men--His capacity +for business operations--He is promoted--His journeys to Canada, and +their results--Sets up in business for himself--The fur trade of North +America--A survey of the field of Astor's operations--His capital--His +tramps into the wilderness in search of furs--Predictions as to the +future settlement of the country--His first consignment to England--His +marriage--A good wife--Improvement in his prospects--Buys his first +ship--The secret of his success--Close attention to business--His +economical habits--His indorsement disputed by a bank clerk--Statements +of the profits on furs--He engages in the Chinese trade--How the +Government aided the early China traders--Amount made by Astor in his +legitimate business--His real estate operations--His foresight and +courage--How eight thousand dollars yielded eighty thousand--His real +estate in the City of New York--Purchases the half of Putnam County--The +Roger and Mary Morris estate controversy--Astor wins his suit, and makes +half a million of dollars--Astor's scheme of colonization--A grand +enterprise--Settlement of Astoria--Betrayed by his agents, and the +scheme brought to failure--Astor withdraws from active business--His +boyhood's vow and its fulfillment--Builds the Astor House--His voyage to +Europe--The return--The troubles of a millionaire--The great man +seasick--A curious draft--The last years of his life--His fondness for +literary men--His death and burial--His will--Opposite views of his +character--How his refusal to buy a chronometer cost him seventy +thousand dollars--He remembers an old friend--His gift of a lease--His +humor--"William has a rich father." + + +CHAPTER III. + +ALEXANDER T. STEWART. + +Birth and early life--Becomes his grandfather's ward--Designed for the +ministry--A change in his plans--Comes to America--Teaches school in New +York--Becomes a dry goods merchant--Receives a legacy--His first +importation--How he began business--An energetic trader--His sample lots +and their history--Success of his enterprise--He begins by encouraging +honesty in trade--Wins a name for reliability--The system of selling at +one price--Inaugurates the "selling off at cost" feature--His courage in +business--How he raised the money to meet his note--Improvement in his +business--He enlarges his store--As an inducement to the ladies, employs +for clerks handsome young men--The crisis of 1837--Stewart comes out of +it a rich man--How he did so--Builds his lower store--Predictions of +failure--The result--Compels the Government to purchase goods from +him--His foresight and liberality--Charged with superstition--Lucky and +unlucky persons--Story of the old apple woman--Remarks at the opening of +the St. Nicholas Hotel--Reasons of Stewart's success--A hard worker--How +he receives visitors--Running the gauntlet--How he gets rid of +troublesome persons--Estimate of Mr. Stewart's real estate in New +York--His new residence--His benevolence--Aid for Ireland, and free +passages to America--Home for women--Political sentiments--Mr. Stewart's +appointment as Secretary of the Treasury--Feeling of the country--The +retail store of A.T. Stewart & Co.--A palace of glass and iron--Internal +arrangements--The managers and salesmen--List of sales--Wages +given--Visitors--The principal salesroom--The parcel department--The +wagons and stables--Extravagant purchases--Mr. Stewart's supervision of +the upper store--The system of buying--The foreign agencies--Statement +of the duties paid each day--Personal appearance of Mr. Stewart. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +AMOS LAWRENCE. + +The Lawrence family--A poor boy--Early education--Delicate +health--Obtains a situation at Dunstable--Returns to Groton--Becomes Mr. +Brazer's apprentice--The variety store--An amateur doctor--Importance of +Groton in "old times"--Responsibility of young Lawrence--Is put in +charge of the business--High character--Drunkenness the curse of New +England--Lawrence resolves to abstain from liquors and tobacco--His +self-command--Completes his apprenticeship--Visits Boston--An unexpected +offer--Enters into business in Boston--Is offered a partnership, but +declines it--His sagacity justified--Begins business for +himself--Commercial importance of Boston--Aid from his father--A narrow +escape--lesson for life--Amos Lawrence's method of doing business---An +example for young men--His business habits--He leaves nothing unfinished +over Sunday--Avoids speculation--His views upon the subject--Introduces +double entry in book-keeping into Boston--His liberality to his +debtors--Does not allow his business to master him--Property gained by +some kinds of sacrifices not worth having--Forms a partnership with his +brother Abbott--Business of the firm--They engage in manufactures--Safe +business principles--A noble letter--Political opinions--His +charities--Statement of his donations--Requests that no public +acknowledgment of his gifts be made--Character as a merchant and a +man--Advice to his son--His religious character--Loss of his health--His +patience and resignation--The model American merchant. + + +CHAPTER V. + +ANDREW V. STOUT. + +Early struggles--Acquires an education--Undertakes the support of his +family--The boy teacher--Hard work--Is made instructor of Latin--A +trying position--How he conquered his difficulties--Is made principal of +a public school--His first business ventures--Engages in the building of +houses--His platform of integrity--His success--A great mistake--He +indorses a note--The consequence of a false step--Liberal action of the +bank--Mr. Stout resolves to accept no accommodation--Pays the notes, and +loses twenty-three thousand dollars--Establishes himself as a wholesale +boot and shoe dealer--Enters the dry goods trade--Close attention to +business--His system and its success--Organization of the Shoe and +Leather Bank of New York--Mr. Stout is made Vice President, and +subsequently President--Character as a citizen--Is made City +Chamberlain--Generosity to the police force--Interest in church +affairs--Kindness to the poor--Encouragement which his career affords +others. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +JONAS CHICKERING. + +The largest building in the United States--The Chickering piano +factory--Birth of Jonas Chickering--Early love of music--Is apprenticed +to a cabinet-maker--Is employed to repair a piano--Succeeds in the +undertaking--Consequence of this success--Becomes a piano-maker--Removes +to Boston--Is employed as a journeyman--The labor of his life--His +patience and skill--Is known as the best workman in the +establishment--History of the piano--Chickering's first discovery--His +hope of success based on intelligence--Becomes a master of the theory of +sound--His studies and their result--Makes an improvement in the framing +of pianos--Invents the circular scale for square pianos--Generously +makes his invention free--A noble gift to the world--His business +operations--Increase in the demand for his instruments--Death of Captain +Mackay--Mr. Chickering undertakes the sole charge of his affairs--Fears +of his friends--Magnitude of the business--The lawyer's question +answered--The mortgages paid--Rapid success of Mr. Chickering--His +varied duties--Sharp competition--A bogus Chickering--How a Boston bank +lost his custom--His independence in business--His character as a +merchant--Trains his sons to succeed him in business--The result of his +efforts--The present house of Chickering & Sons--Destruction of the +factory--Offers of aid--Mr. Chickering's kindness to his workmen--Sets +to work to re-establish his business--The new factory begun--Sudden +death of Mr. Chickering. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +NICHOLAS LONGWORTH. + +The grape interest of the United States--Growing demand for American +wines--Instrumentality of Mr. Longworth in producing this success--Early +life of Mr. Longworth--Apprenticed to a shoemaker--Removes to South +Carolina--Returns to Newark and studies law--Removes to +Cincinnati--Admitted to the bar--His first case--Is paid in whisky +stills, and trades them for lands which make his fortune--Rapid growth +of Cincinnati--The oldest native inhabitant of Chicago--Longworth's +investments in real estate--Immense profits realized by him--His +experiments in wine growing--History of the Catawba grape--Longworth +decides to cultivate it entirely--His efforts to promote the grape +culture in the Ohio Valley--Offers a market for all the grape juice that +can be brought to him--The result of his labors seen in the Ohio +vineyards of to-day--His wine cellars--Amount of wine made annually by +him--The process used--How "Sparkling Catawba" is made--Longworth's +experiments with strawberries--His liberality--Gift of land to the +Observatory--His challenge to a grumbler--Estimate of his character--His +eccentricities--His generosity to his tenants--How he made money by +helping others to grow rich--His politics--How he subscribed one hundred +dollars to elect Clay--His hatred of vagabondage--His stone quarry--How +he provided it with laborers--His system of helping the poor--Is charged +with stinginess--The "devil's poor"--Personal appearance--The +"Hard-times" overcoat--Charity to a millionaire--Death of Mr. Longworth. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +GEORGE PEABODY. + +Birth and parentage--Early education--His first lessons in business--An +apprentice in a country store--Youthful ambition--A desire for +change--The visit to Post Mills--Removal to Newburyport--Reasons for his +attachment to that place--His first patron--Peabody goes south--A +soldier in the War of 1812-15--A young merchant--A change of +prospects--A partner in the house of Riggs & Peabody--Peabody's business +capacity--An irregular banker--His reputation as a business +man--Promising opening of a brilliant career--Retirement of Mr. +Riggs--Growth of the business--A branch house in London--Mr. Peabody +saves the credit of the State of Maryland--Tribute from Edward +Everett--Success in London--A model American merchant--Establishment of +the house of George Peabody & Co.--The Fourth of July dinner--The +exhibition of 1851--Patriotism of Mr. Peabody--How he saved the United +States from humiliation--Admission of the "London Times"--Mr. Peabody's +business habits--His economy--Adventure with a conductor--Finds a +conscientious hackman--Personal simplicity--Visits to the United +States--His munificent donations--His last visit--Returns to London and +dies--Honors paid to his memory--The funeral ceremonies--His burial at +Peabody--Statement of his donations and bequests--His example +encouraging to the young. + + +II. CAPITALISTS. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. + +Staten Island seventy-six years ago--The establishment of the Staten +Island ferry--Birth of Cornelius Vanderbilt--His boyhood--Defective +education--A famous rider--His early reputation for +firmness--Superintends the removal of a ship's cargo at the age of +twelve--How he pawned a horse--Becomes a boatman--How he bought his +boat--A disastrous voyage--His life as a boatman--His economy and +industry--Earns three thousand dollars--The alarm at Fort +Richmond--Vanderbilt's perilous voyage for aid for the forts--His +marriage--His first contract--How he supplied the harbor +defenses--Builds his first schooner--His winter voyages--Becomes a +steamboat captain--His foresight--Leases the hotel at New Brunswick--The +dangers of navigating the New York waters--The steamboat war--How +Captain Vanderbilt eluded the sheriff--Becomes manager of the steamboat +line--Declines an increase of salary--Only wants to carry his +point--Refuses to buy Mr. Gibbons's interest in the steamboat company, +and builds his own boat--Narrow escape from ruin--Final +triumph--Systematic management of his vessels--How he ruined the +"Collins Line"--The "North Star"--Becomes a railroad director--How he +foiled a plan to ruin him--dishonest legislature--Vanderbilt's +triumph--His gift to the Government--His office in New York--Vanderbilt +in business hours--Personal characteristics--Love for horses--His +family. + + +CHAPTER X. + +DANIEL DREW. + +Birth-place--Birth and parentage--A farmer's boy--Goes to New York to +seek his fortune--Becomes a cattle drover--Leases the Bull's Head +Tavern--His energy and success in his business--Brings the first western +cattle to New York--Helps a friend to build a steamboat--The fight with +Vanderbilt--Drew buys out his friend, and becomes a steamboat +owner--Vanderbilt endeavors to discourage him--He perseveres--His +success--Formation of the "People's Line" on the Hudson River--The +floating palaces--Forms a partnership with George Law, and establishes +the Stonington line--Opening of the Hudson River Railway--Drew's +foresight--Room enough for the locomotive and the steamboat--Buys out +the Champlain Company--Causes of his success as a steamboat +manager--Becomes a banker--His success in Wall Street--Indorses the +acceptances of the Erie Railway Company--His courage and calmness in the +panic of 1857--He saves "Erie" from ruin--Elected a director of the Erie +Road--Is made Treasurer--His interest in the road--His operations in +Wall Street--His farm in Putnam County--Joins the Methodist Church--His +liberality--Builds a church in New York--Founds the Drew Theological +Seminary--Estimate of his wealth--His family--Personal appearance. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +JAMES B. EADS. + +Birth--Childhood--Fondness for machinery--Early mechanical +skill--Constructs a steam engine at the age of nine years--His +work-shop--Death of his father--Works his way to St. Louis--Sells apples +on the streets--Finds employment and a friend--Efforts to +improve--Becomes a clerk on a Mississippi steamer--Undertakes the +recovery of wrecked steamboats--Success of his undertaking--Offers to +remove the obstacles to the navigation of the Mississippi--Failure of +his health--Retires from business--Breaking out of the war--Summoned to +Washington--His plan for the defense of the western rivers--Associated +with Captain Rodgers in the purchase of gunboats--His first contract +with the Government--Undertakes to build seven ironclads in sixty-five +days--Magnitude of the undertaking--His promptness--Builds other +gunboats during the war--The gunboat fleet at Forts Henry and Donelson +the private property of Mr. Eads--Excellence of the vessels built by +him--A model contractor--Residence in St. Louis. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +CYRUS W. FIELD. + +Birth--Parentage--Early education--Goes to New York in search of +employment--Obtains a clerkship in a city house, and in a few years +becomes a partner--A rich man at thirty-four--Retires from +business--Travels in South America--Meets Mr. Gisborne--Plan of the +Newfoundland Telegraph Company--Mr. Field declines to embark in +it--Conceives the idea of a telegraph across the Atlantic +Ocean--Correspondence with Lieut. Maury and Prof. Morse--The scheme +pronounced practicable--Mr. Field secures the co-operation of four New +York capitalists--Organization of the New York, Newfoundland, and London +Telegraph Company--Building of the line from New York to St. John's--A +herculean task--The Governmental ocean surveys of the United States and +England--Efforts to secure aid in England--Liberal action of the +Government--Organization of the Atlantic Telegraph Company--A hard-won +success in America--Passage of the bill by Congress--The first attempt +to lay the cable--The expedition of 1857--The telegraph fleet--Scenes on +board--Loss of the cable--Failure of the expedition--Difficulties +remedied--The new "paying-out" machinery--The expedition of 1858--The +second attempt to lay the cable--Dangerous storm--Failures--Loss of the +cable--The third attempt--The cable laid successfully--Messages across +the Atlantic--Celebrations in England and the United States--The signals +cease--The cable a failure--Discouraging state of affairs--Courage of +Mr. Field--Generous offer of the British Government--Fresh +soundings--Investigations of the Telegraph Board--Efforts of Mr. Field +to raise new capital--Purchase of the Great Eastern--The fourth attempt +to lay the cable--Expedition of 1865--Voyage of the Great Eastern--Loss +of the cable--Efforts to recover it unsuccessful--What the expedition +demonstrated--Efforts to raise more capital--They are pronounced +illegal--The new company--The fifth attempt to lay the cable--Voyage of +the Great Eastern--The cable laid at last--Fishing up and splicing the +cable of 1865--The final triumph--Credit due to Mr. Field. + + +III. INVENTORS. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +ROBERT FULTON. + +Trinity churchyard--The Livingston vault--An interesting place--Fulton's +tomb--Birth of Robert Fulton--Boyhood--Early mechanical skill--Robert +astonishes his tutor--Robert's fireworks--"Nothing is +impossible"--"Quicksilver Bob"--The fishing excursion--The first +paddle-wheel boat--Fulton's success as an artist--His gift to his +mother--His removal to England--Intimacy with Benjamin West--Goes to +Devonshire--Acquaintance with the Duke of Bridgewater--His interest in +canal navigation--His first inventions--Goes to Paris--Residence with +Mr. Barlow--Studies in engineering--Invents the diving boat--The +infernal machine--His patriotic reply to the British ministry--His +marriage--Returns to America--The General Government declines to +purchase his torpedo--Brief history of the first experiments in steam +navigation--Fulton's connection with Livingston--The trial boat on the +Seine--Determines to build a boat on the Hudson--Fulton and Livingston +are given the sole right to navigate the waters of New York by +steam--Popular ridicule--Disbelief of scientific men--Launch of the +"Clermont"--The trial trip--The first voyage up the Hudson--Fulton's +triumph--Scenes along the river--Efforts to sink the +steamer--Establishment of steam navigation on the Hudson River--The +first New York ferry-boats--The floating docks--Boats for the West--New +York threatened by the British fleet in 1814--Fulton's plan for a steam +frigate--The "Fulton the First"--The steamboat war--Illness of +Fulton--His death and burial--His last will--True character of his +invention. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +CHARLES GOODYEAR. + +Discovery of India-rubber--Mode of collecting it--Preparation and use by +the natives--Its introduction into the United States--Mr. E.M. Chaffee's +process--The India-rubber fever--Brief success of the India-rubber +companies--Their sudden failure--Visit of Mr. Goodyear to New York--He +invents an improvement in the life preserver--Early history of Charles +Goodyear--His failure as a merchant--Offers his invention to the Roxbury +Company--The agent's disclosures--Mr. Goodyear finds his mission--His +first efforts--A failure--Discouraging state of his affairs--Renews his +efforts--Experiments in India-rubber--Coldness of his friends--His +courage and perseverance--Goes to New York--Accidental discovery of the +aqua fortis process--Partial success--Ruined--Life on Staten +Island--Removes to Boston--Delusive prosperity--The mail bag +contract--His friends urge him to abandon his efforts--He refuses--On +the verge of success--Discovers the usefulness of sulphur--The +inventor's hope--The revelation--Discovers the secret of +vulcanization--Down in the depths--Kept back by poverty--A beggar--A +test of his honesty--Starvation at hand--The timely loan--Removal to New +York--Difficulties in the way--Death of his youngest child--Finds +friends in New York--His experiments in vulcanization--Final +success--His heart in his work--Fails to secure patents in Europe--His +losses from dishonest rivals--Declaration of the Commissioner of +Patents--Death of Mr. Goodyear--Congress refuses to extend his +patent--His true reward. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +ELI WHITNEY. + +The home of General Greene in Georgia--The soldier's widow--An arrival +from New England--The young schoolmaster--A mechanical genius--Early +history of Whitney--Mrs. Greene's invitation--Visit of the +planters--State of the cotton culture in 1792--A despondent +planter--Mrs. Greene advises them to try Whitney--Origin of the cotton +gin--Whitney's first efforts--His workshop--The secret labors--How he +provided himself with materials--Finds a partner--Betrayal of his +secret--He is robbed of his model--He recovers it and completes it--The +first cotton gin--Statement of the revolution produced by the invention +in the cotton culture of the South--Opinion of Judge Johnson--The story +of an inventor's wrongs--Whitney is cheated and robbed of his +rights--The worthlessness of a patent--A long and disheartening +struggle--Honorable action of North Carolina--Congress refuses to extend +the patent--Whitney abandons the cotton gin--Engages in the manufacture +of firearms--His improvements in them--Establishes an armory in +Connecticut, and makes a fortune--Death. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +CHAUNCEY JEROME. + +The old-fashioned clocks--Their expensiveness--Condition of the clock +trade of Connecticut sixty years ago--Early history of Chauncey +Jerome--A hard life--Death of his father--Becomes a farmer's boy--Is +anxious to become a clock-maker--An over-wise guardian--Hardships of an +apprentice--How Jerome became a carpenter--Hires his winters from his +master--Becomes a dial-maker--The clock-making expedition--Jerome's +first savings--Takes a wife--A master carpenter--Poor pay and hard +work--Buys a house--A dull winter--Enters Mr. Terry's factory--The +wooden clock business--Sets up in business for himself--Industry and +energy rewarded--His first order--Sends his clocks South--Enlarges his +business--Improvements in his clocks--Losses on southern shipments from +dampness--Depression of business--Jerome's anxiety--A wakeful +night--Invention of the brass--A new era in the clock trade--Beneficial +effects of Jerome's invention--Magnitude of the Connecticut clock trade +at present--Growth of Jerome's business--Makes a fortune--Organization +of the "Jerome Clock-making Company"--Practical withdrawal of Mr. +Jerome--Difficulties of the company--Jerome a ruined man--Honest +independence--Finds employment--Becomes the manager of the Chicago +Company. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +ELIAS HOWE, JR. + +The first sewing-machine--Birth of Elias Howe--A poor man's son--Raised +to hard work--His first employment--The little mill-boy--Delicate +health--Goes to Lowell to seek his fortune--Thrown out of +employment--Removes to Cambridge--Works in a machine shop with N.P. +Banks--Marries--A rash step--Growing troubles--A hard lot--Conceives the +idea of a sewing-machine--His first experiments unsuccessful--Invents +the lock stitch and perfects the sewing-machine--Hindered by his +poverty--A hard struggle--Finds a partner--His winter's task--His attic +work-shop--Completion of the model--Perfection of Howe's +invention--Efforts to dispose of the invention--Disappointed +hopes--Popular incredulity--Becomes an engine driver--Amasa Howe goes to +England with the sewing-machine--Bargain with the London +merchant--Elias removes to London--Loses his situation--The rigors of +poverty--Returns to America--Death of his wife--Fate's last blow--The +sewing-machine becomes better known--Adoption by the public--A tardy +recognition--Elias Howe sets up in business for himself--Buys out his +partner's interest--The sewing-machine war--Rapid growth of the +sewing-machine interest--Earnings of the inventor--A royal +income--Honors conferred upon him--Enlists in the United States Army--A +liberal private--Last illness and death. + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +RICHARD M. HOE. + +Growth of the art of printing--Birth of Richard M. Hoe--Sketch of the +career of Robert Hoe--He comes to America--His marriage--Founds the +house of "Robert Hoe & Co."--The first steam printing presses--He +retires from business--Richard M. Hoe is brought up in the business--The +mechanical genius of the house--The new firm--Richard Hoe's first +invention--Obtains a patent for it--Visits England--Invents the +double-cylinder press--Demand for increased facilities for printing--Mr. +Hoe's experiments with his press--His failures--How the "Lightning +Press" was invented--A good night's work--Patents his invention--The +first "Lightning Press"--Demand for it--Rapid growth of the business of +the firm--Statement of the operations of the house--Personal +characteristics of Richard M. Hoe--The "Lightning Press" at work. + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SAMUEL COLT. + +Birth and parentage--A restless boy--Dislikes school--Early fondness for +mechanical inventions--Is sent to boarding-school--Runs away to sea--The +story of a boy's invention, and what came of it--Origin of the +revolver--Returns home--His chemical studies--Dr. Coult--The lecturing +tour--His success--Completes his design for the revolver--Patents his +invention--Visits England--Discovery at the Tower of London--Returns +home--Formation of the "Patent Arms Company"--Objections of the +officers of the army and navy to the revolver--The Florida War--It is +decided by the revolver--Triumph of Col. Colt--Cessation of the demand +for arms--Failure of the company--Beginning of the Mexican War--Action +of General Taylor--No revolvers to be had--A strange dilemma for an +inventor--The new model--Contracts with the Government--Success of the +revolver in Mexico--The demand from the frontier--Emigration to +California and Australia--Permanent establishment of Col. Colt's +business--The improved weapon--Builds a new armory--Description of his +works at Hartford--A liberal employer--Other inventions of Col. +Colt--His submarine telegraph--His fortune--His marriage--Visits to +Europe--Attentions from European dignitaries--Witnesses the coronation +of the Emperor of Russia--His last illness and death. + + +CHAPTER XX. + +SAMUEL F.B. MORSE. + +Birth--Parentage--Early education--Graduates at Yale College--Becomes an +artist--His masters--Visits England--His first attempt--"The Dying +Hercules"--Opinion of Benjamin West--Wins the medal of the Adelphi +Society of Arts--Ambition as an artist--His cold reception by the +Americans--Mr. Tuckerman's comments--Organizes the National Academy of +Design--Visits Europe the second time--The homeward voyage in the +"Sully"--News of the experiments at Paris with the electro-magnet--How +the electric telegraph was invented--Morse is made a professor in the +University of New York--Completion of his model--An imperfect +telegraph--His first experiments--The duplicate finished--First +exhibition of the telegraph--Morse applies for a patent--Visits Europe +to introduce his invention--His failure--Seeks aid from Congress--A +disheartening effort--A long struggle--Independence of Morse--Despondent +at last--A sudden lifting of the cloud--The experimental line--The +trial--A curious Cabinet Minister--Success of the +telegraph--Establishment of companies in the United States--Professor +Morse wins fame and fortune--The telegraph in Europe--Honors at home and +abroad--A list of his rewards--Morse originates submarine telegraphy, +and predicts the laying of an Atlantic telegraph--Personal characteristics. + + +IV. PUBLISHERS. + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +JAMES HARPER. + +The Brothers Harper--Birth and parentage of James Harper--The Long +Island home--James Harper goes to New York--Becomes a "devil"--Winning +his way--How he gave his card to a stranger--Arrival of "Brother +John"---Good habits--Sets up for himself--"J. & J. Harper, +Printers"--How they started in business--Integrity rewarded--First +job--Their first effort at stereotyping--The Harpers become publishers +on their own account--Their early ventures--Feeling their way to +success--Their publications--Character of their books--How they drove +the "yellow covers" out of the market--Their prosperity--Admission of +new partners--The great fire--Destruction of the establishment of Harper +& Brothers--Energy of the firm--Re-establishment of their +business--Their new premises--Description of the buildings--Personal +characteristics of Mr. James Harper--Religious life--Liberality of +sentiment--His industry--Elected Mayor of New York--Kindness to his +operatives--Physical Vigor--"The Lord knows best"--Accident to Mr. +Harper and his daughter--His death. + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +JAMES T. FIELDS. + +The old "Corner Book-store" in Boston and its associations--Carter & +Bendee employ a new clerk--Birth and early life of James T. Fields--His +literary talent--Governor Woodbury's advice--Enters mercantile +life--Determined to rise--His studies--The result--Associated with +Edward Everett at the age of eighteen--His business talent--Steady +promotion--Becomes head clerk with Allen & Ticknor--Establishment of the +firm of Ticknor & Fields--Success as a publisher--High character of his +house--Relations toward authors--Publications of Ticknor & +Fields--Removal--Organization of the firm of Fields, Osgood & Co.--The +new book-store--An elegant establishment--Mr. Field's literary +success--Statement of a friend--"Common Sense"--His contributions to the +periodicals of the firm--Travels in Europe--Personal appearance. + + +V. EDITORS. + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +JAMES GORDON BENNETT. + +Birth--Intended for the Romish priesthood--How he was induced to come to +America--Arrival in Halifax--Comes to the United States--What came of a +shilling--Employment in Boston--Reaches New York--Attempts to establish +a school--Becomes connected with the press--Success of his Washington +letters--Services on the "Courier and Inquirer"--Leaves that +journal--Removes to Philadelphia--Establishes "The +Pennsylvanian"--Ingratitude of his political associates--Returns to New +York--Establishment of "The New York Herald"--Early difficulties of that +paper, and how Bennett surmounted them--The first "Herald" office--A +determined effort to succeed--First numbers of "The Herald"--How one man +carried on a newspaper--A lucky hit--The first "money article"--The +office burned down--The great fire--Bennett's reports of the +disaster--Success of "The Herald"--His first advertising +contract--Increasing prosperity--The journal of to-day--How it is +conducted--The new "Herald" office--Bennett's pride in his +paper--Personal characteristics--His independence. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +ROBERT BONNER. + +Birth and parentage--Emigration to America--Becomes a printer--A +first-class compositor--Engaged upon the "Evening Mirror"--The +"Merchant's Ledger"--Bonner purchases the paper, and changes its name to +the "New York Ledger"--The new literary journal--Predictions of +failure--Bonner confident of success--Engages Fanny Fern to write for +him--A handsome price for a story--Wonderful success of the +"Ledger"--Skillful advertising--Popularity of the paper--How Bonner +silenced the critics--"Edward Everett writes for the 'Ledger'"--How +Bonner treats his contributors--"Henry Ward Beecher writes for the +'Ledger'"--Immense circulation of the paper--The new "Ledger" +building--Private residence of Mr. Bonner--His stable--His love for +horses. + + +VI. LAWYERS. + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +JOHN MARSHALL. + +The model American lawyer--Birth and early life of John Marshall--A +devoted father--Early education--The young patriot--Troubles with +England--Marshall becomes a soldier--The "Culpepper Minute +Men"--Marshall's popularity in the army--Finishes his law studies--His +journey from Williamsburg to Philadelphia--Commences the practice of the +law--Elected to the Legislature--Establishes himself in Richmond--The +power of a powdered wig and velvet coat--Marshall's services in the +Virginia Convention of 1798--Becomes the champion of Washington's +Administration--Refuses public honors--Is made Minister to France +--Public reception in New York--Elected Member of Congress--His +memorable speech--Enters the Cabinet of President Adams as Secretary of +State--Is made Chief Justice of the United States--His record--His "Life +of Washington"--Personal characteristics--His generosity--William +Wirt's pen and ink sketch of him--His courtesy and kindness--Fondness +for manly sports--The quoit club--How he carried a proud man's turkey +home--The supper party--The Chief Justice loses the wager--Mode of +traveling on his circuit--The scene at Maguire's Hotel in Winchester, +Virginia--The unknown champion of Christianity--A brilliant +defense--Last illness and death of Judge Marshall. + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +JAMES T. BRADY. + +Birth and early life--His "big head"--His kindliness of +disposition--Enters his father's office to study law--Merry nature--How +he studied law--A model for ambitious youths--His father's opinion of +him--Admitted to the bar--His first case--The newsboy case--sudden rise +in popularity--Practices in the Supreme Court--The India-rubber suit--A +compliment from Daniel Webster--Brady's integrity--Professional success +and generosity--His readiness in managing his cases--Conduct toward +witnesses--His fearlessness--A bold declaration in Tammany Hall--His +profound knowledge of his profession--His industry--His disinterested +kindness--His humor--Meets his match--Political life--Personal +appearance--A genial old bachelor--Literary tastes and labors--His +generosity to the poor--Devotion to his relatives--Last appearance in +public--Forebodings--Death. + + +VII. ARTISTS. + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +BENJAMIN WEST. + +A native of Pennsylvania--Circumstances attending his birth--The child +of promise--First indications of genius--The baby's portrait--Lessons +from the Indians--The box of colors--The truant pupil--The mother's +discovery---West's opinion of his first picture--The little portrait +painter--The first attempt at historical painting--"The Death of +Socrates"--Choosing a profession--Dedicated to his work--A fighting +Quaker--Establishes himself in New York--Visits Europe--Arrival at Rome, +and reception there--Visit to the Apollo Belvidere--West's +criticism--Travels and labors on the continent--Visits England--His +reception there--Urged to stay--Decides to make England his home--Sends +for his bride--Marriage--"Agrippina Landing with the Ashes of +Germanicus"--Success of the picture--The king becomes his friend--The +most famous works of Benjamin West--"The Death of Wolfe"--Reception of +the picture by the public--West triumphs over the critics, and +inaugurates a new era of historical painting--Death of the king--West is +elected President of the National Academy--His resignation and +re-election--Closing years of a great career--Personal appearance--Leigh +Hunt's description of him--Death--Burial in St. Paul's Cathedral. + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +JOHN ROGERS. + +Birth--Early years--Begins life as a clerk in a dry goods +store--Artistic talent--Opposition of his parents--A change in his +plans--Becomes an engineer--Failure of his eyes--Voyage to Spain--Return +home--Becomes a machinist--Promoted--Learns to model in clay--Commences +his studies in art--A hard life, and a noble perseverance--A change for +the better--A sudden reverse--Out of work--Visits Europe to study his +art--Returns home in despair--Enters the service of the surveyor of the +city of Chicago--His first statuettes--Their success--A new field opened +to him--Visits New York, and learns the new method of casting +figures--Establishes himself in New York--His first studio--Immediate +popularity of his works--Description of them--Removes to a new +studio--His later works--Process by which they are made-Originality of +the artist rewarded by the public--Personal characteristics. + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +HIRAM POWERS. + +Birth--Juvenile mechanical skill--The life of a Vermont boy--Hard +times--Removal of the Powers family to the West--The new +farm--Misfortunes never come singly--Breaking up of the +household--Hiram's first employment--The reading-room scheme--Hiram +becomes a collector of bad debts--Reminiscences of the young +West--Powers becomes a mechanic--Story of the brass plates--Rapid +promotion--The silver watch--How Hiram purchased it--The Cincinnati +Museum--The artist's first lessons in modeling--His first sitter--The +trial of skill--The king of the Cannibal Islands--The man-eater--Hiram +becomes interested in the museum--How he played the devil in +Cincinnati--A dishonest employer--Mr. Longworth's offer--Powers goes to +Washington--His success there--Visit to "Old Hickory"--The first +critic--Kindness of Senator Preston--Powers goes to Italy--Arrival in +Florence--His first works in Italy--Visit to Thorwaldsen--Works of +Powers--His rapid success--His life in Italy--Views of Mr. Powers +respecting an artist life--Personal characteristics--Popularity with +artists. + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +EMMANUEL LEUTZE. + +An American by adoption--Early life and education--How he learned to +draw--Becomes an artist--His first picture--The evils of too much +haste--His first professional engagement--Despondency--A ramble through +the Virginia woods, and what came of it--A friend in need--Greater +success--Friendship of Mr. Carey--Leutze goes to Europe--Studies at +Dusseldorf-His reception there--Becomes Lessing's pupil--His first +picture finds a purchaser--Travels and studies in Europe--Returns to +Dusseldorf, marries, and makes his home in that place--His +paintings--Returns to New York--Success in America--The Government +commission--Journey to the Rocky Mountains--The great fresco in the +Capitol--"Westward the Star of Empire takes it Way"--Revisits +Dusseldorf--Reception by the artists--Returns to the United +States--Further commissions from the Government--His sudden death--His +unfinished works--Mr. Tuckerman's remarks. + + +VIII. DIVINES. + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +HENRY WARD BEECHER. + +A Connecticut boy--The minister's family--A gloomy childhood--Ma'arm +Kilbourn's school--The loss of his curls--The dull boy--A bad voice for +an orator--His first religious impressions--Aunt Esther--The Sunday +catechism--Sent to boarding school--Love of nature--Enters his sister's +school--The hopeless case--An inveterate joker and an indifferent +scholar--Removal to Boston--Gets through the Latin school--The sea-going +project--Dr. Beecher's ruse--Life at Mount Pleasant--Conquers +mathematics--Embraces religion at a revival--Resolves to become a +minister--Removal to Cincinnati--Course at the Lane Seminary--How he +learned to preach--Marries--His first charge--Life at +Lawrenceburg--Removal to Indianapolis--Life in the West--His +popularity--His theory of preaching and its success--Conversion of his +brother--Mr. Beecher accepts a call to Plymouth Church in +Brooklyn--Political record--Literary labors--Pastoral work--A large +audience--Government of Plymouth Church--Description of the edifice--The +congregation--The services--Mr. Beecher as a preacher--Sympathy between +the pastor and his hearers--His ideas of religion--How he prepares his +sermons--His prayers unstudied--The social receptions--The Friday +evening meeting--A characteristic scene--Labors during the war--Visit to +Europe--An unpopular sermon in a good cause--Personal characteristics. + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +PETER CARTWRIGHT. + +Birth--Removal to Kentucky--"Rogue's harbor"--Condition of the country +and the people--Frontier life--Early life of a preacher--Becomes a +Christian--His account of his conversion--Is made an exhorter in the +Methodist Church--Removal to Lewiston County--Begins +preaching--Qualifications of a backwoods preacher--His energy--The +jerks--How Peter frightened a bully--A brimstone angel--Enters the +ministry--Appointed to the Marietta Circuit--A good school--Hard +times--Marries--Quiet heroism--How the old-time people married--His +devotion to the Methodist Church--Troubles with other denominations--How +he argued with a Universalist--How he met a wrathful dame--Encounter +with a Baptist preacher--Adventure with Father Teel--Taming a +shrew--Removal to Illinois--His reasons for taking that step--Death of +his daughter--Arrival at his new home--Life on the frontier--A large +district--The Methodist circuit riders of sixty years ago--Perils of +frontier traveling--Success of Cartwright's ministry--How he was +superannuated--His courage--How he cleared a camp of rowdies--Encounter +on a ferry-boat--Frightens a bully--Advocates temperance--A practical +joke--Is elected to the Legislature--His opinion of politics--How he +raised the devil--"Another sinner down"--Missionaries from the +East--Indignation of the backwoods preacher--The proposed mission to New +England--Cartwright declines it--He visits Boston--His reception--How he +preached for Father Taylor--Summing up--Sixty-seven years of a +preacher's life. + + +IX. AUTHORS. + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. + +Birth and early life--The old house by the sea--College life--Early +literary productions--Becomes a professor in Bowdoin College--Travels in +Europe--Marriage--Literary labors--"Outre Mer"--Is made a professor in +Harvard College--His second visit to Europe--Death of his wife--Goes to +live in the Craigie House--Historical associations--Washington's +headquarters--A congenial home--Literary labors--"Hyperion"--Great +popularity of the book--"Voices of the Night"--"The Spanish +Student"--Mr. Longfellow buys the Craigie House--Summary of his +works--The "Song of Hiawatha"--Death of Mrs. Longfellow--Mr. Longfellow +again visits Europe--His popularity with the English-speaking +race--Cause of his popularity--"Resignation"--Scene from "The Golden +Legend"--The poet's home. + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. + +The Hawthornes of Salem--A sea-going race--Birth of Nathaniel +Hawthorne--A sad home--Early life--His college days--Longfellow's +recollection of him--Returns home--The young recluse--Literary +efforts--"Twice-Told Tales"--"The most unknown author in +America"--Enters the Boston Custom House--His duties--Popularity with +the sailors--Loses his office--Becomes a member of the Brook Farm +Community--Marries and goes to live at Concord--"The Old Manse"--Life at +Concord--Curiosity of the village people--"Mosses from an Old +Manse"--Hawthorne's visitors--Hawthorne and his friends--George William +Curtis' recollections--Removes to Salem--Is made surveyor of that +port--"The Scarlet Letter"--Removal to the Berkshire Hills--"The House +of the Seven Gables"--Returns to Concord--"Life of Franklin Pierce"--Is +made Consul to Liverpool---Life abroad--Depressed by the war--Moncure D. +Conway's recollections--Juvenile works--Death of Mr. Ticknor--Effect +upon Hawthorne--Goes traveling with Ex-President Pierce--Sudden death of +Hawthorne--Burial at Concord. + + +X. ACTORS. + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +EDWIN BOOTH. + +The elder Booth--His success as an actor--His sons--Birth of Edwin +Booth--Early life--Brought up on the stage--Admiration for his +father--Travels with him--First appearance--Appears frequently with his +father--Plays Richard III. in New York--A bold venture--Learns the +details of his profession--Visits Australia and the Sandwich +Islands--Re-appearance in New York in 1857--Recollections of him at that +time--His labors in his profession--Successful tours throughout the +country--Visits England--Appears at the Haymarket Theater in +London--Studies on the continent--Appearance at the Winter Garden--The +Shakespearian revivals--Destruction of the Winter Garden by fire--Loss +of Mr. Booth's theatrical wardrobe--Popular sympathy--The new +theater--Opening of the building--Description of Booth's Theater--A +magnificent establishment--A splendid stage--Novel mode of setting the +scenes--Magnificent mounting of the plays produced there--Mr. Booth's +performances--Personal--Genius as an actor--Beneficial influence upon +the drama. + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +JOSEPH JEFFERSON. + +The Jefferson family--A race of actors--Jefferson the first--"Old +Jefferson"--Jefferson the third--Birth of Joseph +Jefferson--Childhood--Brought up on the stage--Olive Logan's +reminiscence--First appearance in public--Early training--Career as a +stock actor--Becomes a "star"--His success--Visits Australia, the +player's El Dorado--Pecuniary success of Jefferson in Australia--His +merits as an actor--Visits England--First appearance at the Adelphi +Theater--"Our American Cousin"--Production of Rip Van Winkle--Makes the +part his specialty--Description of his performance of Rip Van +Winkle--Personal characteristics--Devotion to his profession--Love of +art--A capital sportsman--Buys a panorama--A visit to John Sefton--"The +Golden Farmer"--Private life. + + +XI. PHYSICIANS. + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +BENJAMIN RUSH. + +Birth and early life--Adopts medicine as a profession--Studies in +Europe--Returns home, and is made a professor in the Philadelphia +Medical College--Political career--Elected to the Provincial Conference +of Pennsylvania--Action with respect to the independence of the +colonies--Elected to the Continental Congress--Signs the Declaration of +Independence--Marriage--Is made Surgeon-General of the army--Becomes +Physician-General--Troubles--Resigns his commission--Letters to the +people of Pennsylvania--Services in the State conventions--Resumes his +practice in Philadelphia--Plans the Philadelphia Dispensary--Resumes his +professor's chair--The yellow fever in Philadelphia--A scene of +terror--"The Hundred Days"--Dr. Rush's treatment of the +disease--Opposition of the Faculty--Success of Rush's +treatment--Testimony of Dr. Ramsay--Suit for damages--Dr. Rush's +services during the fever--Reminiscences--Honors from European +sovereigns--Is made Treasurer of the United States Mint--Literary +labors--Zeal in behalf of Christianity--His connection with the Bible +Society--Death. + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +VALENTINE MOTT. + +Birth--Early life--Enters Columbia College--His medical +studies--Continues his studies in Europe--Great surgical genius--His +early success as an operator--Returns home--Is made Professor of Surgery +in Columbia College--His career and success as a teacher--Introduces the +system of clinical instruction--Difficulty of procuring "subjects" for +dissection--Desperate expedients--midnight adventure--A ready +rebuke--Success and skill as a surgeon--Tribute from Sir Astley +Cooper--A wonderful operation--Sketch of his original operations--His +mode of operating--Careful preparation--Success as a physician--A +progressive mind--Professional honors--Visits Europe--Reception +abroad--Operates upon the Sultan of Turkey--A cool +proposition--Personal--His last illness and death--"President Lincoln +murdered." + +[Illustration: GIRARD COLLEGE] + + +I. + +MERCHANTS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +STEPHEN GIRARD. + + +One May morning, in the year 1776, the mouth of the Delaware Bay was +shrouded in a dense fog, which cleared away toward noon, and revealed +several vessels just off the capes. From one of these, a sloop, floated +the flag of France and a signal of distress. An American ship ran +alongside the stranger, in answer to her signal, and found that the +French captain had lost his reckoning in a fog, and was in total +ignorance of his whereabouts. His vessel, he said, was bound from New +Orleans to a Canadian port, and he was anxious to proceed on his voyage. +The American skipper informed him of his locality, and also apprised him +of the fact that war had broken out between the colonies and Great +Britain, and that the American coast was so well lined with British +cruisers that he would never reach port but as a prize. "What shall I +do?" cried the Frenchman, in great alarm. "Enter the bay, and make a +push for Philadelphia," was the reply. "It is your only chance." + +The Frenchman protested that he did not know the way, and had no pilot. +The American captain, pitying his distress, found him a pilot, and even +loaned him five dollars, which the pilot demanded in advance. The sloop +got under weigh again, and passed into the Delaware, beyond the defenses +which had been erected for its protection, just in time to avoid capture +by a British war vessel which now made its appearance at the mouth of +the bay. Philadelphia was reached in due time, and, as the war bade fair +to put an end to his voyages, the captain sold the sloop and her cargo, +of which he was part owner, and, entering a small store in Water Street, +began the business of a grocer and wine-bottler. His capital was small, +his business trifling in extent, and he himself labored under the +disadvantage of being almost unable to speak the English language. In +person he was short and stout, with a dull, repulsive countenance, which +his bushy eyebrows and solitary eye (being blind in the other) made +almost hideous. He was cold and reserved in manner, and was disliked by +his neighbors, the most of whom were afraid of him. + +This man was Stephen Girard, who was afterward destined to play so +important a part in the history of the city to which the mere chances of +war sent him a stranger. + +He was born at Bordeaux, in France, on the 21st of May, 1750, and was +the eldest of the five children of Captain Pierre Girard, a mariner of +that city. His life at home was a hard one. At the age of eight years, +he discovered that he was blind in one eye, and the mortification and +grief which this discovery caused him appear to have soured his entire +life. He afterward declared that his father treated him with +considerable neglect, and that, while his younger brothers were sent to +college, he was made to content himself with the barest rudiments of an +education, with merely a knowledge of reading and writing. When he was +quite young, his mother died, and, as his father soon married again, +the severity of a step-mother was added to his other troubles. When +about thirteen years of age, he left home, with his father's consent, +and began, as a cabin-boy, the life of a mariner. For nine years he +sailed between Bordeaux and the French West Indies, rising steadily from +his position of cabin-boy to that of mate. He improved his leisure time +at sea, until he was not only master of the art of navigation, but +generally well informed for a man in his station. His father possessed +sufficient influence to procure him the command of a vessel, in spite of +the law of France which required that no man should be made master of a +ship unless he had sailed two cruises in the royal navy and was +twenty-five years old. Gradually Girard was enabled to amass a small sum +of money, which he invested in cargoes easily disposed of in the ports +to which he sailed. Three years after he was licensed to command, he +made his first appearance in the port of Philadelphia. He was then +twenty-six years old. + +From the time of his arrival in Philadelphia he devoted himself to +business with an energy and industry which never failed. He despised no +labor, and was willing to undertake any honest means of increasing his +subsistence. He bought and sold any thing, from groceries to old "junk." +His chief profit, however, was in his wine and cider, which he bottled +and sold readily. His business prospered, and he was regarded as a +thriving man from the start. + +In July, 1777, he married Mary Lum, a servant girl of great beauty, and +something of a virago as well. The union was an unhappy one, as the +husband and wife were utterly unsuited to each other. Seven years after +her marriage, Mrs. Girard showed symptoms of insanity, which became so +decided that her husband was compelled to place her in the State Asylum +for the Insane. He appears to have done every thing in his power to +restore her to reason. Being pronounced cured, she returned to her +home, but in 1790 He was compelled to place her permanently in the +Pennsylvania Hospital, where, nine months after, she gave birth to a +female child, which happily died. Mrs. Girard never recovered her +reason, but died in 1815, and was buried in the hospital grounds. + +Girard fled from Philadelphia, with his wife, in September, 1777, at the +approach of the British, and purchased a house at Mount Holly, near +Burlington, New Jersey, where he carried on his bottling business. His +claret commanded a ready sale among the British in Philadelphia, and his +profits were large. In June, 1778, the city was evacuated by Lord Howe, +and he was allowed to return to his former home. + +Though he traded with the British, Girard considered himself a true +patriot, as indeed he was. On the 27th of October, 1778, he took the +oath of allegiance required by the State of Pennsylvania, and renewed it +the year following. The war almost annihilated the commerce of the +country, which was slow in recovering its former prosperity; but, in +spite of this discouraging circumstance, Girard worked on steadily, +scorning no employment, however humble, that would yield a profit. +Already he had formed the plans which led to his immense wealth, and he +was now patiently carrying out the most trying and disheartening +preliminaries. Whatever he undertook prospered, and though his gains +were small, they were carefully husbanded, and at the proper time +invested in such a manner as to produce a still greater yield. Stephen +Girard knew the value of little things, and he knew how to take +advantage of the most trifling circumstance. His career teaches what may +be done with these little things, and shows how even a few dollars, +properly managed, may be made to produce as many thousands. + +In 1780, Mr. Girard again entered upon the New Orleans and St. Domingo +trade, in which he was engaged at the breaking out of the Revolution. He +was very successful in his ventures, and was enabled in a year or two to +greatly enlarge his operations. In 1782, he took a lease of ten years on +a range of frame buildings in Water Street, one of which he occupied +himself, with the privilege of a renewal for a similar period. Rents +were very low at that time, as business was prostrated and people were +despondent; but Girard, looking far beyond the present, saw a prosperous +future. He was satisfied that it would require but a short time to +restore to Philadelphia its old commercial importance, and he was +satisfied that his leases would be the best investment he had ever made. +The result proved the correctness of his views. His profits on these +leases were enormous. + +About this time he entered into partnership with his brother, Captain +John Girard, in the West India trade. But the brothers could not conduct +their affairs harmoniously, and in 1790 the firm was dissolved by mutual +consent. Stephen Girard's share of the profits at the dissolution +amounted to thirty thousand dollars. His wealth was greatly increased by +a terrible tragedy which happened soon afterward. + +At the outbreak of the great insurrection in St. Domingo, Girard had two +vessels lying in one of the ports of that island. At the first signal of +danger, a number of planters sent their valuables on board of these +ships for safe-keeping, and went back to their estates for the purpose +of securing more. They never returned, doubtless falling victims to the +fury of the brutal negroes, and when the vessels were ready to sail +there was no one to claim the property they contained. It was taken to +Philadelphia, and was most liberally advertised by Mr. Girard, but as no +owner ever appeared to demand it, it was sold, and the proceeds--about +fifty thousand dollars--turned into the merchant's own coffers. This was +a great assistance to him, and the next year he began the building of +those splendid ships which enabled him to engage so actively in the +Chinese and East India trades. + +His course was now onward and upward to wealth. At first his ships +merely sailed between Philadelphia and the port to which they were +originally destined; but at length he was enabled to do more than this. +Loading one of his ships with grain, he would send it to Bordeaux, where +the proceeds of her cargo would be invested in wine and fruit. These she +would take to St. Petersburg and exchange for hemp and iron, which were +sold at Amsterdam for coin. From Amsterdam she would proceed to China +and India, and, purchasing a cargo of silks and teas, sail for +Philadelphia, where the final purchase was sold by the owner for cash or +negotiable paper. His success was uniform, and was attributed by his +brother merchants to _luck_. + +Stephen Girard had no faith in luck. He never trusted any thing to +chance. He was a thorough navigator, and was perfect master of the +knowledge required in directing long voyages. He understood every +department of his business so well that he was always prepared to survey +the field of commerce from a high stand-point. He was familiar with the +ports with which he dealt, and was always able to obtain such +information concerning them as he desired, in advance of his +competitors. He trusted nothing of importance to others. His +instructions to the commanders of his ships were always full and +precise. These documents afford the best evidence of the statements I +have made concerning his system, as the following will show: + + + _Copy of Stephen Girard's Letter to Mr. ----, Commander and + Supercargo of the ship ----, bound to Batavia._ + + PHILADELPHIA, ----. + + SIR--I confirm my letters to you of the ---- ult., and the ---- + inst. Having recently heard of the decease of Mr. ----, merchant at + Batavia, also of the probable dissolution of his house, under the + firm of Messrs. ----, I have judged it prudent to request my + Liverpool correspondents to consign the ship ----, cargo, and + specie on board, to Mr. ----, merchant at Batavia, subject to your + control, and have requested said Liverpool friends to make a + separate invoice and bill of lading for the specie, which they will + ship on my account, on board of the ship ----, and similar + documents for the merchandise, which they will ship in the same + manner; therefore, I request that you will sign in conformity. + + I am personally acquainted with Mr. ----, but not with Mr. ----, + but I am on very friendly terms with some particular friends of the + latter gentleman, and consequently I give him the preference. I am + sorry to observe, however, that he is alone in a country where a + partner appears to me indispensable to a commercial house, as well + for the safety of his own capital as for the security of the + interests of those who may confide to them property, and reside in + distant parts of the globe. + + The foregoing reflections, together with the detention of my ship + V----, at Batavia, from June last, epoch of her arrival at that + port, until the 15th of September, ----, when she had on board only + nineteen hundred peculs of coffee, are the motives which have + compelled me to request of my Liverpool friends to consign the + specie and goods, which they will ship on my account, on board of + the ship ----, under your command, to said Mr. ----, subject to + your control. + + Therefore, relying upon your activity, perseverance, correctness, + zeal, and attention for my interest, I proceed in pointing out to + you the plan of conduct which I wish you to pursue on your arrival + at Batavia, and during your stay at that or any port of that + island, until your departure for Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, to + await my subsequent orders. + + First. On your arrival at Batavia, you are to go on shore and + ascertain Mr. ----'s residence, and, if you have reason to believe + that he is still considered at that place as a man of good credit, + and merits full confidence, you are to deliver to him my Liverpool + consignees' letters to his address, and also the goods which you + have on board, in such proportion as he may request, except the + specie, which is to continue on board, as mentioned in the next + article. + + Second. The specie funds of the ship ----, which will consist of + old Carolus dollars, you are to retain on board untouched, and in + the said boxes or packages as they were in when shipped from + Liverpool, well secured, and locked up in your powder magazine, in + the after run of the said ship under the cabin floor. + + The bulkhead and floor of said magazine, scuttle, iron bar, + staples, etc., must be made sufficiently strong, if not already so, + while you are at Liverpool, where you are to procure a strong + padlock and key, for the purpose of securing said specie in the + most complete and safest manner; and when you have the certainty + that it is wanted to pay for the coffee purchased on account of the + ship ----, then you are to receive the said coffee, and pay or + deliver to your consignee Spanish dollars to the amount of said + purchase, and no more, having due regard to the premium or advance + allowed at Batavia on old Spanish dollars; and in that way you are + to continue paying or delivering dollars as fast as you receive + coffee, which is not to exceed the quantity which can be + conveniently stowed on board said ship ----, observing to take a + receipt for each payment, and to see that the net proceeds of the + goods, which will have been shipped at Liverpool, must be invested + in coffee, as far as the sales will permit, and shipped on board of + said ship. + + Should it happen that on your arrival at Batavia you should find + that death, absence, etc., should deprive you of the services of + Mr. ----, or that, owing to some causes before mentioned, it would + be prudent to confide my interests elsewhere, in either case you + are to apply to Messrs. ----, merchants of that place, to + communicate your instructions relative to the disposal of the + Liverpool cargo, on board of the ship ----, the loading of that + ship with good merchantable coffee, giving the preference to the + first quality whenever it can be purchased on reasonable terms for + cash, or received in payment for the sales of the said Liverpool + cargo, or for a part thereof, observing that I wished said coffee + to be purchased at Samarang, or any other out-port, if practicable; + and in all cases it must be attentively examined when delivered, + and put up in double gunny bags. + + If the purchase of said cargo is made at an out-port, the ship + ----must proceed there to take it in. + + On the subject of purchasing coffee at government sales, I have no + doubt that it is an easy way to obtain a cargo, but I am of opinion + that it is a very dear one, particularly as the fair purchaser, who + has no other object in view but to invest his money, does not stay + on the footing of competitors, who make their payments with + Netherland bills of exchange, or wish to raise the prices of their + coffee which they may have on hand for sale. + + Under these impressions, I desire that all the purchases of coffee + on my account be made from individuals, as far as practicable, and + if the whole quantity necessary to load the ship can not be + obtained at private sale, recourse must then be had to government + sales. + + In many instances I have experienced that whenever I had a vessel + at Batavia, the prices of coffee at the government sales have risen + from five to ten per cent., and sometimes higher. + + On the subject of coffee I would remark that, owing to the increase + of the culture of that bean, together with the immense imports of + tea into the several ports of Europe, the price of that leaf has + been lowered to such a degree as to induce the people of those + countries, principally of the north, to use the latter article in + preference to the first. + + That circumstance has, for these past three years, created a + gradual deduction from the consumption of coffee, which has + augmented the stock on hand throughout every commercial city of the + northern part of the globe, so as to present a future unfavorable + prospect to the importers of that article. Indeed, I am convinced + that, within a few months from this date, coffee will be ten per + cent. cheaper in the United States than what it has been at Batavia + for these two years past; nevertheless, being desirous to employ my + ships as advantageously as circumstances will permit, and + calculating also that the price at Java and other places of its + growth will fall considerably, I have no objection to adventure. + + Therefore, you must use every means in your power to facilitate + the success of the voyage. + + Should the invoice-cost of the entire cargo of coffee shipped at + Java, on board of the ship ----, together with the disbursements of + that ship (which must be conducted with the greatest economy), not + amount to the specie funds and net proceeds of her Liverpool cargo, + in that event you are to deliver the surplus to your consignee, who + will give you a receipt for the same, with a duplicate, expressing + that it is on my account, for the purpose of being invested on the + most advantageous terms, in good dry coffee, to be kept at my order + and disposal. + + Then you will retain the original in your possession, and forward + to me the duplicate by first good vessel to the United States, or + via Europe, to care of my correspondents at Liverpool, London, + Antwerp, or Amsterdam, the names of whom you are familiar with. + + If you should judge it imprudent, however, to leave that money at + Batavia, you are to bring it back in Spanish dollars, which you + will retain on board for that purpose. + + Although I wish you to make a short voyage, and with as quick + dispatch at Java as practicable, yet I desire you not to leave that + island unless your consignee has finally closed the sales of the + Liverpool cargo, so that you may be the bearer of all the + documents, and account-current, relative to the final transactions + of the consignment of the ship ---- and cargo. Duplicate and + triplicate of said documents to be forwarded to me by your + consignees, by the two first safe conveyances for the ports of the + United States. + + Being in the habit of dispatching my ships for Batavia from this + port, Liverpool, or Amsterdam, as circumstances render it + convenient, it is interesting to me to be from time to time + informed of the several articles of produce and manufactures from + each of those places which are the most in demand and quickest of + sale at Java. Also of the quantity of each, size of package, and + the probable price which they may sell for, cash, adding the + Batavia duty, charges for selling, etc. Please to communicate this + to your Batavia consignee. + + The rates of commission I will allow for transacting the business + relative to the ship and cargo at Java are two and a half per cent, + for selling, and two and a half per cent, for purchasing and + shipping coffee and other articles. + + The consignees engaging to place on board of each prow one or two + men of confidence, to see that the goods are safely delivered on + board of the ship, to prevent pilfering, which is often practiced + by those who conduct the lighter. + + I am informed that the expenses for two men are trifling, + comparatively, to the plunder which has been committed on board of + the prows which deliver coffee on board of the ships. + + No commissions whatever are to be allowed in the disbursements of + my ships, whenever ship and cargo belong to me, and are consigned + to some house. + + While you remain at Batavia, I recommend you to stay on board of + your ship, and not to go on shore except when the business of your + ship and cargo may render it necessary. + + Inclosed is an introductory letter to ----, which I request you to + deliver, after you have made the necessary arrangements with Mr. + ----for the consignment of the ship and cargo, or after the + circumstance aforementioned has compelled you to look elsewhere for + a consignee. Then you are to call upon said Messrs. ----, deliver + them the aforesaid letter and the consignment of the ship ---- and + cargo, after having agreed with them in writing, which they will + sign and deliver to you, that they engage to transact the business + of the ship and cargo on the terms and conditions herein stated; + and when that business is well understood and finally closed, you + are to press them in a polite manner, so that they many give you a + quick dispatch, without giving too great a price for the coffee, + particularly at this present moment, when its price is declining + throughout those countries where it is consumed. + + Indeed, on the subject of purchasing coffee for the ship ----, the + greatest caution and prudence should be exercised. Therefore, I + request that you will follow the plan of conduct laid down for you + throughout. Also, to keep to yourself the intention of the voyage, + and the amount of specie you have on board; and in view to satisfy + the curious, tell them that it is probable that the ship will take + in molasses, rice, and sugar, if the price of that produce is very + low, adding that the whole will depend on the success in selling + the small Liverpool cargo. The consignees of said cargo should + follow the same line of conduct, and if properly attended to by + yourself and them, I am convinced that the cargo of coffee can be + purchased ten per cent. cheaper than it would be if it is publicly + known there is a quantity of Spanish dollars on board, besides a + valuable cargo of British goods intended to be invested in coffee + for Stephen Girard, of Philadelphia. + + During my long commercial experience, I have noticed that no + advantage results from telling one's business to others, except to + create jealousy or competitors when we are fortunate, and to + gratify our enemies when otherwise. + + If my remarks are correct, I have no doubt they will show you the + necessity of being silent, and to attend with activity, + perseverance, and modesty, to the interests of your employer. + + As my letters of instruction embrace several interesting objects, I + request you to peruse them in rotation, when at sea in fine + climates, during your voyage to Batavia, and to take correct + extracts, so as to render yourself master of the most essential + parts. I conclude by directing your attention to your health and + that of your crew. + + I am yours, respectfully, + + STEPHEN GIRARD. + + +Mr. Girard was not only rigidly precise in his instructions, but he +permitted no departure from them. He regarded it as dangerous to allow +discretion to any one in the execution of _his_ plans. Where a deviation +from his instructions might cause success in one case, it would cause +loss in ninety-nine others. It was understood among all his employes +that a rigid obedience to orders, in even the most trifling particulars, +was expected, and would be exacted. If loss came under such +circumstances, the merchant assumed the entire responsibility for it. + +Upon one occasion one of his best captains was instructed to purchase +his cargo of teas at a certain port. Upon reaching home he was summoned +by the merchant to his presence. + +"Captain ----," said Mr. Girard, sternly, "your instructions required +you to purchase your cargo at ----." + +"That is true, Mr. Girard," replied the Captain, "but upon reaching that +port I found I could do so much better at ----, that I felt justified in +proceeding to the latter place." + +"You should have obeyed your orders, sir," was the stern retort. + +"I was influenced by a desire to serve your interests, sir. The result +ought to justify me in my act, since it puts many thousands more into +your pocket than if I had bought where I was instructed." + +"Captain ----," said Girard, "I take care of my own interests. You +should have obeyed your orders if you had broken me. Nothing can excuse +your disobedience. You will hand in your accounts, sir, and consider +yourself discharged from my service." + +He was as good as his word, and, though the captain's disobedience had +vastly increased the profit of the voyage, he dismissed him, nor would +he ever receive him into his service again. + +To his knowledge of his business Mr. Girard joined an unusual capacity +for such ventures. He was, it must be said, hard and illiberal in his +bargains, and remorseless in exacting the last cent due him. He was +prompt and faithful in the execution of every contract, never departed +in the slightest from his plighted word, and never engaged in any +venture which he was not perfectly able to undertake. He was prudent and +cautious in the fullest sense of those terms, but his ventures were +always made with a boldness which was the sure forerunner of success. + +His fidelity to his word is well shown by a circumstance which had +occurred long after he was one of the "money kings" of the land. He was +once engaged with his cashier in a discussion as to the length of time a +man would consume in counting a million of dollars, telling out each +dollar separately. The dispute became animated, and the cashier declared +that he could make a million of dots with ink in a few hours. + +"I'll tell you what I'll do," said Girard, who was thoroughly vexed by +the opposition of the other, "I'll wager five hundred dollars that I can +ride in my gig from here to my farm, spend two hours there, and return +before you can make your million of dots with ink." + +The cashier, after a moment's reflection, accepted the wager, and Mr. +Girard departed to his farm. He returned in a few hours, confident that +he had won. The cashier met him with a smile. + +"Where is my money?" asked Girard, triumphantly. + +"The money is mine," replied the cashier. "Come and see." + +He led the merchant to an unused room of the bank, and there, to his +dismay, Girard saw the walls and ceiling covered with spots of ink, +which the cashier had dashed on them with a brush. + +"Do you mean to say there are a million of dots here?" he cried, +angrily. + +"Count them, and see," replied his subordinate, laughing. "You know the +wager was a million of dots with ink." + +"But I expected you would make them with the pen." + +"I did not undertake any thing of the kind." + +The joke was too good, and the merchant not only paid the amount of the +wager, but the cost of cleaning the walls. + +In 1810 the question of renewing the charter of the old Bank of the +United States was actively discussed. Girard was a warm friend of that +institution, which he believed had been the cause of a very great part +of the prosperity of the country, and was firmly convinced that Congress +would renew the charter. In this belief he ordered the Barings, of +London, to invest all his funds in their hands in shares of the Bank of +the United States, which was done, during the following year, to the +amount of half a million of dollars. When the charter expired, he was +the principal creditor of that institution, which Congress refused to +renew. Discovering that he could purchase the old Bank and the cashier's +house for one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, he at once secured +them, and on the 12th of May, 1812, opened the Girard Bank, with a +capital of one million two hundred thousand dollars, which he increased +the next year by one hundred thousand dollars more. He retained all the +old officers of the Bank of the United States, especially the cashier, +Mr. Simpson, to whose skill and experience he was greatly indebted for +his subsequent success. + +Finding that the salaries which had been paid by the Government were +higher than those paid elsewhere, he cut them down to the rate given by +the other banks. The watchman had always received from the old Bank the +gift of an overcoat at Christmas, but Girard put a stop to this. He gave +no gratuities to any of his employes, but confined them to the +compensation for which they had bargained; yet he contrived to get out +of them service more devoted than was received by other men who paid +higher wages and made presents. Appeals to him for aid were unanswered. +No poor man ever came full-handed from his presence. He turned a deaf +ear to the entreaties of failing merchants to help them on their feet +again. He was neither generous nor charitable. When his faithful cashier +died, after long years spent in his service, he manifested the most +hardened indifference to the bereavement of the family of that +gentleman, and left them to struggle along as best they could. + +Yet from the first he was liberal and sometimes magnificent in the +management of his bank. He would discount none but good paper, but it +was his policy to grant accommodations to small traders, and thus +encourage beginners, usually giving the preference to small notes, by +this system doing very much to avert the evils that would of necessity +have sprung from the suspension of the old Bank of the United States. +The Government credit was almost destroyed, and money was needed to +carry on the war. He made repeated advances to the treasury, unsolicited +by the authorities, and on more than one occasion kept the Government +supplied with the sinews of war. In 1814, when our prospects, both +military and financial, were at their lowest ebb, when the British +forces had burned Washington and the New England States were threatening +to withdraw from the Union, the Government asked for a loan of five +millions of dollars, with the most liberal inducements to subscribers. +Only twenty thousand dollars could be obtained, and the project seemed +doomed to failure, when it was announced that Stephen Girard had +subscribed for the whole amount. This announcement at once restored the +public confidence, and Mr. Girard was beset with requests from persons +anxious to take a part of the loan, even at an advanced rate. They were +allowed to do so upon the original terms. When the Government could not, +for want of funds, pay the interest on its debt to him, he wrote to the +Secretary of the Treasury: + +"I am of opinion that those who have any claim for interest on public +stock, etc., should patiently wait for a more favorable moment, or at +least receive in payment treasury notes. Should you be under the +necessity of resorting to either of these plans, as one of the public +creditors, I shall not murmur." + +"A circumstance soon occurred, however, which was a source of no little +discomfiture to the financial arrangements of his individual +institution. This fact was the suspension of specie payments by the +State banks, resulting from the non-intercourse act, the suspension of +the old bank, and the combined causes tending to produce a derangement +of the currency of the country. It was then a matter of great doubt with +him how he should preserve the integrity of his own institution, while +the other banks were suspending their payments; but the credit of his +own bank was effectually secured by the suggestion of his cashier, Mr. +Simpson, who advised the recalling of his own notes by redeeming them +with specie, and by paying out the notes of the State banks. In this +mode not a single note of his own was suffered to be depreciated, and he +was thus enabled, in 1817, to contribute effectually to the restoration +of specie payments." + +He was instrumental in securing the establishment of the new Bank of the +United States, and was its largest stockholder and one of its directors. +He even offered to unite his own institution with it upon certain +liberal conditions, which were refused. Yet he was always a firm friend +to it. + +"One of the characteristics of Mr. Girard was his public spirit. At one +time he freely subscribed one hundred and ten thousand dollars for the +navigation of the Schuylkill; at another time he loaned the company two +hundred and sixty-five thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars. When +the credit of the State of Pennsylvania was prostrated by what was +believed to have been an injudicious system of internal improvement, and +it was found expedient for the Governor to resort to its metropolis in +order to replenish its coffers, he made a voluntary loan to Governor +Shultz of one hundred thousand dollars. So far was his disposition to +promote the fiscal prosperity of the country manifested, that, as late +as 1831, when the country was placed in extreme embarrassment from the +scarcity of money, he perceived the cause in the fact that the balance +of trade was against us to a considerable extent, and he accordingly +drew upon the house of Baring Brothers & Co. for bills of exchange to +the amount of twelve thousand pounds sterling, which he disposed of to +the Bank of the United States at an advance of ten per cent., which +draft was followed up by another for ten thousand, which was disposed of +in like manner to other institutions. This act tended to reduce the +value of bills, and the rate of exchange suddenly fell. The same spirit +which he manifested toward the national currency he exhibited to the +corporation of Philadelphia, by erecting new blocks of buildings, and +beautifying and adorning its streets; less, apparently, from a desire of +profit than from a wish to improve the place which was his adopted home, +and where he had reaped his fortunes. His subscription of two hundred +thousand dollars to the Danville and Pottsville Railroad, in 1831, was +an action in keeping with the whole tenor of his life; and his +subscription of ten thousand dollars toward the erection of an exchange +looked to the same result." + +The war of 1812, which brought financial ruin to so many others, simply +increased Girard's wealth. He never lost a ship, and as war prices +prevailed, his profits were in accordance with them. One of his ships +was taken by a British cruiser at the mouth of the Delaware, in the +spring of 1813. Fearing that his prize would be recaptured by an +American ship of war if he attempted to send her into port, the English +admiral dispatched a flag of truce to Mr. Girard, and proposed to him to +ransom the vessel for one hundred and eighty thousand dollars in coin. +Girard consented, paid the money, and the ship was allowed to come up to +the city. Her cargo consisted of silks, nankeens, and teas, and afforded +her owner a profit of half a million of dollars. + +Yet in the midst of all his wealth, which in 1828 was estimated at ten +millions of dollars, he was a solitary old man. + +He lived in a dingy little house in Water Street. His wife had died in +an insane asylum, and he was childless. He was repulsive in person. He +was feared by his subordinates--by all who had dealings with him--and +liked by none. He was mean and close in his personal habits, living on +less, perhaps, than any of his clerks, and deriving little or no benefit +from his vast wealth, so far as his individual comfort was concerned. He +gave nothing in charity. Lazarus would have lain at his doors a +life-time without being noticed by him. He was solitary, soured, cold, +with a heart of stone, and fully conscious of his personal unpopularity. +Yet he valued wealth--valued it for the power it gave him over men. +Under that cold, hardened exterior reigned an ambition as profound as +that which moved Napoleon. He was ambitious of regulating the financial +operations of the land, and proud of his power in this respect, and it +should be remembered in his favor that he did not abuse that power after +it had passed into his hands. + +He had no vices, no dissipations; his whole soul was in his business. He +was conscious that his only hope of distinction above his fellow-men was +in his wealth, and he was resolved that nothing should make him swerve +from his endeavor to accumulate a fortune which should make him all +powerful in life and remembered in death. He sought no friends, and was +reticent as to his career, saying to those who questioned him about it, +"Wait till I am dead; my deeds will show what I was." + +Religion had no place in his heart. He was an avowed unbeliever, making +a boast of his disbelief. He always worked on Sunday, in order that he +might show his disapproval of the observance of it as a day of rest. +Rest, he said, made a man rusty, and attendance upon the worship of God +he denounced as worse than folly. His favorite books were the works of +Voltaire, and he named his best ships after the most celebrated French +infidels. + +Yet this man, so unloved, so undeserving of love, is said to have once +had a warm heart. His early troubles and his domestic griefs are said to +have soured and estranged him from mankind. + +"No one who has had access to his private papers can fail to be +impressed with the belief that these early disappointments furnish the +key to his entire character. Originally of warm and generous impulses, +the belief in childhood that he had not been given his share of the love +and kindness which were extended to others, changed the natural current +of his feelings, and, acting on a warm and passionate temperament, +alienated him from his home, his parents, and his friends. And when in +after time there were superadded years of bitter anguish, resulting from +his unfortunate and ill-adapted marriage, rendered even more poignant by +the necessity of concealment, and the consequent injustice of public +sentiment, marring all his cherished expectations, it may be readily +understood why constant occupation became a necessity and labor a +pleasure." + +This is the testimony of Mr. Henry W. Arey, the distinguished secretary +of Girard College, in whose keeping are the papers of the subject of +this memoir, and it must be confessed that his view of Girard's +character is sustained by the following incidents, the narration of +which I have passed over until now, in order that the history of his +commercial career might not be interrupted: + +In the summer of 1793 the yellow fever broke out with fearful violence +in Philadelphia. The citizens fled in dismay, leaving the plague-smitten +city to its fate. Houses were left tenantless, and the streets were +deserted. It was a season of horror and dread. Those who could not get +away avoided each other, and the sufferers were left to languish and +die. Money could not buy nurses in sufficient numbers, and often the +victims lay unburied for days in the places where they had died. So +terrible was the panic that it seemed that nothing could stay it. + +On the 10th of September the _Federal Gazette_, the only paper which had +not suspended its publication, contained an anonymous card, stating that +of the visitors of the poor all but three had succumbed to the disease +or fled from the city, and begging assistance from such benevolent +citizens as would consent to render their aid. On the 12th and 14th, +meetings were held at the City Hall, at the last of which a volunteer +committee was appointed to superintend the measures to be taken for +checking the pestilence. Twenty-seven men volunteered to serve, but only +twelve had the courage to fulfill their promise. They set to work +promptly. The hospital at Bush Hill was reported by the physician to be +in a deplorable state--without order, dirty and foul, and in need of +nurses. The last, he stated, could not be had for any price. Two of the +committee now stepped forward and nobly offered themselves as managers +of the hospital. They were Stephen Girard and Peter Helm. + +Girard was now a man of wealth and influence, and with a brilliant +commercial career opening before him. Above all, he was a foreigner, and +unpopular in the city. Yet he did not hesitate to take the post from +which others shrank. He and Helm were regarded as doomed men, but they +did not falter from their self-imposed task. They went to work at once. +Girard chose the post of honor, which was the post of danger--the +management of the interior of the hospital. His decisive character was +at once felt. Order began to appear, medicines and nurses were procured, +and the very next day the committee were informed that the hospital had +been cleaned and reorganized, and was prepared to receive patients. + +Girard opened his purse liberally, and spared no expense where money +would avail. But this was not all. Besides personally superintending the +interior of the hospital, he went about through the city seeking the +sick and conveying them to the hospital. + +"In the great scarcity of help, he used frequently to receive the sick +and dying at the gate, assist in carrying them to their beds, nurse +them, receive their last messages, watch for their last breath, and +then, wrapping them in the sheet on which they had died, carry them out +to the burial ground and place them in the trench. He had a vivid +recollection of the difficulty of finding any kind of fabric in which to +wrap the dead, when the vast number of interments had exhausted the +supply of sheets. 'I would put them,' he would say, 'in any old rag I +could find.'" + +[Illustration: GIRARD'S HEROISM.] + +"If he ever left the hospital, it was to visit the infected districts, +and assist in removing the sick from the houses in which they were dying +without help. One scene of this kind, witnessed by a merchant who was +hurrying past with camphored handkerchief pressed to his mouth, affords +us a vivid glimpse of this heroic man engaged in his sublime vocation. A +carriage, rapidly driven by a black man, broke the silence of the +deserted and grass-grown street. It stopped before a frame house, and +the driver, first having bound a handkerchief over his mouth, opened the +door of the carriage, and quickly remounted to the box. A short, +thick-set man stepped from the coach and entered the house. In a minute +or two the observer, who stood at a safe distance watching the +proceedings, heard a shuffling noise in the entry, and soon saw the +stout little man supporting with extreme difficulty a tall, gaunt, +yellow-visaged victim of the pestilence. Girard held round the waist the +sick man, whose yellow face rested against his own; his long, damp, +tangled hair mingled with Girard's; his feet dragging helpless upon the +pavement. Thus he drew him to the carriage door, the driver averting his +face from the spectacle, far from offering to assist. Partly dragging, +partly lifting, Girard succeeded, after long and severe exertion, in +getting him into the vehicle. He then entered it himself, closed the +door, and the carriage drove away toward the hospital."[A] + +For sixty days Mr. Girard continued to discharge his duties, never +absenting himself from his post, being nobly sustained by Peter Helm. + +Again, in 1797 and 1798, when the city was scourged a second and a third +time with the fever, he volunteered his services, and more than earned +the gratitude of his fellow-citizens. In the absence of physicians, he +took upon himself the office of prescribing for the sick, and as his +treatment involved careful nursing and the use of simple remedies only, +he was very successful. In 1799 he wrote to his friend Devize, then in +France, but who had been the physician at the Bush Hill Hospital in +1793: + +"During all this frightful time I have constantly remained in the city, +and, without neglecting any public duties, I have played a part which +will make you smile. Would you believe it, my friend, that I have +visited as many as fifteen sick people in a day, and what will surprise +you still more, I have lost only one patient, an Irishman, who would +drink a little. I do not flatter myself that I have cured one single +person, but you will think with me that in my quality of Philadelphia +physician I have been very moderate, and that not one of my confreres +have killed fewer than myself." + +[Footnote A: James Parton.] + +Such acts as these should go far in his favor in estimating his +character, for they are the very height of true heroism. + +Mr. Girard was never idle. Work, as has before been said, was a +necessity with him. Nothing would draw him from his labors. His only +recreation was to drive to his little farm, which lay a few miles out of +the city, and engage with his own hands in the work of tilling it. He +was very proud of the vegetables and fruits he raised himself, and took +great interest in improving their growth. During the visit of the +present head of the house of Baring Bros, (then a young man) to this +country, that gentleman supposed he would give Mr. Girard pleasure by +informing him of the safe arrival of one of his ships, the Voltaire, +from India. Engaging a carriage, he drove to the banker's farm, and +inquired for Mr. Girard. + +"He is in the hay-loft," was the answer. + +"Inform him that I wish to see him," said Mr. Baring; but almost before +the words had left his lips Girard was before him. + +"I came to inform you," he said, addressing the banker, "that your ship, +the Voltaire, has arrived safely." + +"I knew that she would reach port safely," said Girard; "my ships always +arrive safe. She is a good ship. Mr. Baring, you must excuse me; I am +much engaged in my hay." And so saying, he ascended to the loft again. + +To the last he was active. In 1830, having reached the age of eighty, he +began to lose the sight of his eye; yet he would have no assistance. In +attempting to cross a crowded street, he was knocked down by a passing +wagon and injured severely. His ear was cut off, his face bruised, and +his sight entirely destroyed. His health now declined rapidly, and on +the 26th of December, 1831, he died, in the back room of his plain +little house in Water Street. + +His immense wealth was carefully divided by his will. He gave to his +surviving brother and eleven of his nieces sums ranging from five to +twenty thousand dollars, and to his remaining niece, who was the mother +of a very large family, he gave sixty thousand dollars. He gave to each +of the captains then in his employ who had made two voyages in his +service, and who should bring his ship safely into port, fifteen hundred +dollars. To each of his apprentices he gave five hundred dollars. To his +old servants he gave annuities, ranging from three to five hundred +dollars each. + +He gave thirty thousand dollars to the Pennsylvania Hospital, in which +his wife had been cared for; twenty thousand to the Deaf and Dumb +Asylum; ten thousand to the Orphan Asylum; ten thousand to the Lancaster +schools; ten thousand for the purpose of providing the poor in +Philadelphia with free fuel; ten thousand to the Society for the Relief +of Distressed Sea-Captains and their Families; twenty thousand to the +Masonic Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, for the relief of poor members; six +thousand for the establishment of a free school in Passyunk, near +Philadelphia; five hundred thousand dollars to the Corporation of +Philadelphia for certain improvements in the city; three hundred +thousand to the State of Pennsylvania for her canals; and a portion of +his valuable estates in Louisiana to the Corporation of New Orleans, for +the improvement of that city. + +The remainder of his property, worth then about six millions of dollars, +he left to trustees for the erection and endowment of the noble College +for Orphans, in Philadelphia, which bears his name. + +Thus it will be seen that this man, who seemed steeled to resist appeals +for private charity in life, in death devoted all the results of his +unusual genius in his calling to the noblest of purposes, and to +enterprises of the most benignant character, which will gratefully hand +his name down to the remotest ages of posterity. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +JOHN JACOB ASTOR. + + +Those who imagine that the mercantile profession is incapable of +developing the element of greatness in the mind of man, find a perfect +refutation in the career of the subject of this memoir, who won his +immense fortune by the same traits which would have raised him to +eminence as a statesman. It may be thought by some that he has no claim +to a place in the list of famous Americans, since he was not only German +by birth, but German in character to his latest day; but it must be +borne in mind that America was the theater of his exploits, and that he +owed the greater part of his success to the wise and beneficent +institutions of the "New Land," as he termed it. In his own country he +would have had no opportunity for the display of his great abilities, +and it was only by placing himself in the midst of institutions +favorable to progress that he was enabled to make use of his talents. It +is for this reason, therefore, that we may justly claim him as one of +the most celebrated of American merchants. + +John Jacob Astor was born in the village of Waldorf, near Heidelberg, in +the Grand Duchy of Baden, on the 17th of July, 1763. This year was +famous for the conclusion of the Treaties of Paris and Hubertsburg, +which placed all the fur-yielding regions of America, from the Gulf of +Mexico to the Frozen Sea, in the hands of England. He was the youngest +of four sons, and was born of Protestant parents. He was early taught to +read Luther's Bible and the Prayer-book, and throughout his whole life +remained a zealous Protestant. He was trained to the habit of rising +early, and giving the first of his waking hours to reading the Bible and +Prayer-book. This habit he continued all through life, and he often +declared that it was to him the source of unfailing pleasure and +comfort. His religious impressions were mainly due to his mother, who +was a pious, thrifty, and hard-working woman, given to saving, and +devoted to her family. + +His father, on the contrary, was a jolly "ne'er do well," a butcher by +trade, and not overburdened with industry. The business of a butcher in +so small a village as Waldorf, where meat was a luxury to the +inhabitants, was merely a nominal calling. It knew but one season of +real profit. It was at that time the custom in Germany for every farmer +to set apart a calf, pig, or bullock, and fatten it against harvest +time. As that season approached, the village butcher passed from house +to house to slaughter the animal, cure its flesh, or make sausage meat +of it, spending, sometimes, several days at each house. This season +brought Jacob Astor an abundance of work, and enabled him to provide +liberally for the simple wants of his family; but during the rest of the +year it was with difficulty that he could make bread for them. Yet Jacob +took his hard lot cheerfully. He was merry over his misfortunes, and +sought to forget them in the society of companions who gathered at the +village beer-house. His wife's remonstrances against such a course of +life were sometimes so energetic that the house became any thing but a +pleasant place for the children. + +Here John Jacob grew up to boyhood. His brothers left home to earn their +livelihood elsewhere, as soon as they were old enough to do so, and he +alone remained under the paternal roof. His father destined him for his +own calling, but the boy shrank from it with disgust. To crown his +misfortunes, his mother died, and his father married again, and this +time a woman who looked with no favor upon the son. The newly-married +pair quarreled continually, and the boy was glad to escape occasionally +to the house of a schoolmate, where he passed the night in a garret or +outhouse. By daylight he was back at his father's slaughter-house, to +assist in carrying out the meat. He was poorly clad and badly fed, and +his father's bad reputation wounded him so keenly that he shrank from +playing with other boys, and led a life of comparative isolation. + +Fortunately for him, he had a teacher, Valentine Jeune by name, the son +of French Protestants, who was better fitted for his position than the +majority of the more liberally-patronized Catholic instructors. He was +well taught by Valentine Jeune in the rudiments of a plain education, +and the tutor and the Protestant minister of the village together +succeeded so well in his religious instruction that at the age of +fourteen he was confirmed. Confirmation is the decisive point in the +career of the German youth. Until then he is only a child. Afterward he +is regarded as on the threshold of manhood, and is given to understand +that the time has come for him to make choice of a career in life. + +To the German peasant two courses only lie open, to learn a trade or go +out to service. John Jacob was resolved not to do the latter, and he was +in no condition to adopt the former. He was already familiar with his +father's trade, but he shrank from it with disgust, and he could not +hope to obtain money enough to pay for his tuition as an apprentice in +any other calling. No workman in the village would receive him as an +apprentice for less than fifty dollars, and fifty dollars were then +further beyond his reach than as many millions in after years. The +harvest was approaching, and Jacob Astor, seeing an unusual amount of +work in store for him at that season, decided the matter for his son by +informing him that he must prepare to settle down as his assistant. He +obeyed, but discontentedly, and with a determination to abandon his home +at the earliest practicable moment. + +His chief desire was to leave Germany and emigrate to America. The +American Revolution had brought the "New Land" into great prominence; +and one of the brothers, Henry Astor, had already settled in New York as +a butcher, and his letters had the effect of increasing John Jacob's +desire to follow him. It was impossible to do so then, for the war which +was raging in this country made it any thing but inviting to an +emigrant, and the boy was entirely ignorant of the English language. +Nevertheless, he knew that the war could not last always, and he +resolved to go as soon as peace would allow him. Meanwhile he wished to +join his elder brother, who had removed to London, and was now engaged +with his uncle in the manufacture of musical instruments. In London he +thought he could acquire a knowledge of English, and save from his wages +the amount necessary to pay his passage from England to America. He +could reach some of the seaports of the Continent by walking. But he +needed money to pay his passage from there to Great Britain. His +determination thus formed, he made no secret of it, and succeeded at +length in extorting a reluctant consent from his father, who was not +inclined to expect very much from the future career of his son. His +teacher, however, had more faith in him, and said to the butcher, on the +morning of the lad's departure: "I am not afraid of John Jacob; he'll +get through the world. He has a clear head, and every thing right behind +the ears." + +He was seventeen years old when he left home; was stout and well built, +and had a constitution of iron. He was possessed of a good plain +education, and a remarkable degree of common sense. He had no vicious +habits or propensities, and was resolved that he would never set foot +again in his native town until he could do so as a rich man. + +Ardently as he was bent on seeking his fortune in distant lands, it cost +him a struggle to go away, for he was a true German in his attachment to +his home and family. This attachment he never lost. After providing +liberally for his relatives in his will, he made a munificent donation +to his native village for the benefit of its poor children. + +With his scanty wardrobe in a bundle, which he slung over his shoulder +by a stick, and a mere pittance in his purse, he set out from Waldorf, +on foot, for the Rhine. "Soon after I left the village," said he, in +after-life, "I sat down beneath a tree to rest, and there I made three +resolutions: to be honest, to be industrious, and not to gamble." He had +but two dollars in his pocket; but this was enough for his purpose. The +Rhine was not far distant from his native village, and this part of his +journey he easily accomplished on foot. Upon reaching the river, he is +said to have secured a place as oarsman on a timber raft. The timber +which is cut in the Black Forest for shipment is made up into rafts on +the Rhine, but instead of being suffered to float down the stream, as in +this country, is rowed by oarsmen, each raft having from sixty to eighty +men attached to it. As the labor is severe and attended with some risk, +the wages are high, and the lot of the oarsmen not altogether a hard +one, as they manage to have a great deal of sport among themselves. The +amount paid as wages on these voyages is about ten dollars, besides the +coarse fare furnished the men, and the time occupied is about two weeks. + +Upon reaching the Dutch seaport at the mouth of the Rhine, young Astor +received his wages--the largest sum he had ever possessed--and took +passage in a vessel for London, where he was welcomed cordially by his +brother, and provided with employment in his manufactory. + +He now set to work to prepare himself for his emigration to America. His +industry was unflagging. He worked literally from dawn till dark, and +practiced the most rigid economy in his expenditures. His leisure time, +which was brief, was spent in trying to master the English language, and +in acquiring information respecting America. He had anticipated great +difficulty in his efforts to learn English, but succeeded beyond his +hopes. In six weeks he could make himself understood in that language, +and some time before starting for America could speak it with ease, +though he never could at any period of his life rid himself of his +strong German accent. He was never able to write English correctly, but +after being some years in this country acquired a style which was +striking and to the point, in spite of its inaccuracy. England, however, +was not a favorable place for acquiring information respecting America. +The Colonies had exasperated the mother country by their heroic struggle +for freedom, which was just drawing to its close, and the New World was +pictured to the imagination of the young German in any thing but a +favorable light. His most accurate information was gained from those who +had returned from America, and these persons, as often as chance threw +them in his way, he questioned with eagerness and precision; their +answers were carefully stored up in his memory. + +In September, 1783, the news of the peace which established the +independence of the United States was published in Europe. Young Astor +had now been in London two years, and had saved money enough to take him +to America. He was the possessor of a suit of good clothes, besides his +ordinary wearing apparel, and fifteen guineas in English money, which he +had saved from his slender earnings by the absolute denial to himself of +every thing not essential to his existence. The way to America was now +open, and he resolved to set out at once. For five guineas he bought a +steerage passage in a ship bound for Baltimore, and reserving about five +pounds sterling of the remainder of his capital in money, invested the +rest in seven German flutes, which he bought of his brother, and +embarked for the "New Land." + +The winter was memorable on land and sea for its severity, and our +hero's first voyage was a stormy one. It is said that on one occasion, +when the tempest was unusually violent, and the ship in imminent danger, +he made his appearance in his Sunday clothes. In reply to those who +asked his reason for so strange an act, he said that if he should reach +land he would save his best clothes, and that if he was drowned it was +immaterial what became of them. + +Although the ship sailed in November, it did not reach the Chesapeake +until near the end of January, and there, when only one day distant from +Baltimore, was caught in the ice, where it was compelled to remain until +late in March. This delay was very vexatious to the young emigrant, but +it proved in the end the greatest blessing that could have befallen him. +During the voyage Astor had made the acquaintance of one of his fellow +passengers, a German, somewhat older than himself, and, while the ship +lay fast in the ice, the two were constantly together. As a consequence +of the intimacy which thus sprung up between them, they exchanged +confidences, told each other their history, and their purpose in coming +to America. Astor learned that his friend had emigrated to the New World +a few years before, friendless and penniless, but that, beginning in a +little way, he had managed to become a fur trader. He bought his furs +from the Indians, and from the boatmen plying on the Hudson River. These +he sold at a small profit to larger dealers, until he had accumulated a +considerable sum for one in his position. Believing that he could find a +better market in Europe than in America, he had embarked all his capital +in skins, which he had taken to England and sold at a heavy advance. The +proceeds he had invested in toys and trinkets valued by the savages, and +was now on his way back with them, intending to go into the wilderness +himself and purchase an additional stock of furs from the Indians. He +recommended Astor to enter upon the same business; gave him valuable +information as to the value of peltries in America and in England; told +him the best way of buying, packing, preserving, and shipping the skins, +and gave him the names of the leading furriers in New York, Montreal, +and London. Astor was deeply impressed with the views of his friend, but +he could not see his own way clear to such a success, as he had no +capital. His friend assured him that capital was unnecessary if he was +willing to begin in an humble way. He could buy valuable furs on the +wharves of New York for toys and trinkets, and even for cakes, from the +Indians who visited the city, and these he could sell at an advance to +the New York dealers. He advised the young man, however, not to be +satisfied with the American market, but to work for a position which +would enable him to send his furs to England, where they would bring +four or five times as much as in this country. Astor carefully treasured +up all that his friend said to him, and quietly resolved that he would +lose no time in entering upon this business, which seemed to promise so +much. + +The two friends traveled together from Baltimore to New York, where they +were warmly received by Aster's brother, Henry, who had succeeded in +laying the foundation of a prosperous business as a butcher, in which he +afterward made a large fortune. Both brothers were men of business +habits, and on the very first evening after the arrival of the new-comer +they began to discuss plans for his future. Astor's friend stated all +the advantages of the fur trade, and convinced Henry Astor that it was a +fine field for the energies of his brother; and it was agreed that it +would be best for the young man to seek employment in the service of +some furrier in the city, in order that he might thoroughly learn the +business, and familiarize himself with the country and its customs. To +his great delight, young Astor learned that, so far from being compelled +to pay his employer for learning him the business, as in Europe, he +would be certain here to receive his board and nominal wages from the +first. The next day the three started out, and succeeded in obtaining a +situation for the young man in the store of Mr. Robert Bowne, a Quaker, +and a merchant of long experience in the business, as well as a most +estimable man. He is said to have engaged Astor at two dollars per week +and his board. + +Astor was at once set to work by his employer to beat furs, this method +of treating them being required to prevent the moths from lodging in and +destroying them. From the first he applied himself to the task of +learning the business. He bent all the powers of his remarkable mind to +acquiring an intimate knowledge of furs, and of fur-bearing animals, and +their haunts and habits. His opportunities for doing so were very good, +as many of the skins were sold over Bowne's counters by the hunters who +had taken them. These men he questioned with a minuteness that +astonished them, and the result was that in a few years he was as +thoroughly familiar with the animals, their habits, their country, and +the mode of taking them, as many of the trappers themselves. He is said +to have been in his prime the best judge of furs in America. He +appreciated the fact that no man can succeed in any business or +profession without fully understanding it, and he was too much +determined upon success to be satisfied with a superficial knowledge. He +was resolved that there should be no detail in the business, however +minute, with which he was unfamiliar, and he toiled patiently to acquire +information which most salesmen in his place would have esteemed +trivial. Nothing was trivial with him, however, and it is remarkable +that he never embarked in any scheme until he had mastered its most +trifling details. Few men have ever shown a deeper and more far-reaching +knowledge of their profession and the issues involved in it than he. He +fully understood that his knowledge would give him a power which a man +of less information could not obtain, and he never failed to use that +knowledge as a power. His instructions to his subordinates were always +drawn up with the strictest regard to details, and show not only how +thoroughly he had mastered the subject before him, but also how much +importance he attached to the conscientious fulfillment of a +well-digested plan of operations. He recognized no such thing as luck. +Every thing with him was the result of a deliberate plan based upon +knowledge. In this respect his career affords one of the best models to +be found in our history. + +[Illustration: ASTOR'S FIRST TRIP FOR FURS.] + +Astor's employer was not insensible to his merits, and soon promoted him +to a better place. In a little while the latter intrusted him with the +buying of the furs from the men who brought them to the store, and he +gave such satisfaction to his employer that he was rewarded with a still +more confidential post. Montreal was at that time the chief fur depot of +the country, and it was the custom of Mr. Bowne to make an annual +journey to that city for the purpose of replenishing his stock. The +journey was long and fatiguing, and as soon as the old gentleman found +that he could intrust the mission to his clerk, he sent him in his +place. Ascending the Hudson to Albany, Astor, with a pack on his back, +struck out across the country, which was then almost unsettled, to Lake +George, up which he passed into Lake Champlain. Sailing to the head of +the lake, he made his way to Montreal. Then returning in the same way, +he employed Indians to transport his furs from Lake George to Albany, +and dropped down the Hudson in the way he had come. Mr. Bowne was +delighted with the success of his clerk, who proved more than a match +for the shrewd Indians in his bargains. It was doubtless here that Mr. +Astor obtained that facility in "driving a hard bargain" for which he +was afterwards noted. + +As soon as Mr. Astor felt himself master of his business, he left the +employ of Mr. Bowne, and began life on his own account. The field upon +which he purposed entering was extensive, but it was one of which he had +made a careful survey. Previous to the peace of 1763, the French and +English divided the control of the fur-bearing regions of America. The +British possessions, extending from Canada to the unexplored regions of +the North, had been granted by a charter of Charles II. to Prince +Rupert, and were, by virtue of that instrument, under the exclusive +control of the Hudson Bay Company. Large quantities of furs were +obtained in this region, and collected at the principal settlement, York +Factory, from which they were shipped to England. + +South of this region was Canada, then possessed by the French, who +carried on an extensive trade with the Indians, who brought their furs +down to Montreal in their birch canoes. The French finally settled in +the country of the savages, and married among the natives, +thenceforward entirely devoting themselves to the life of the trapper +and hunter. These marriages produced a race of half-breeds who were +especially successful in securing furs. The cession of Canada to England +was a severe blow to the French traders, as it opened the country to the +enterprise of the English, a few of whom were quick to avail themselves +of its advantages. The French and Indians at first regarded them with +hostility, but gradually became reconciled to their presence. + +Under the French rule the savages had not been furnished with liquors, +but the English soon sold whisky and rum in great quantities to them, +receiving the best furs in return. As a consequence, intemperance spread +rapidly among the savages, and threatened to put an end to their +industry as gatherers of furs. To check the evil results of this +irregular trading, a company was established in 1785, called the +North-west Company. It was managed by twelve partners, some of whom +resided at Montreal, and others at the trading posts in the interior. +Their chief station was at Fort William, on Lake Superior. Here, at +stated times, the agents would come up from Montreal and hold a +consultation for the purchase of furs. These meetings always drew crowds +of French and Indian trappers, boatmen, and others, who brought in large +quantities of skins. + +A few years later a third company was organized, with its principal +station at Michilimackinac, near Lake Huron. It was called the Mackinaw +Company, and its field of operations was the country bordering Lake +Superior, and that lying between the Mississippi and the Rocky +Mountains. The company was English, but did not hesitate to operate in +American territory, so little regard did Great Britain pay to the rights +of the infant republic. + +"Although peace had been concluded, the frontier forts had not been +given up. Oswego, Niagara, Detroit, Michilimackinac, and other posts +were still in the hands of the English. The Indian tribes continued +hostile, being under English influence. No company had as yet been +formed in the United States. Several French houses at St. Louis traded +with the Indians, but it was not until 1807 that an association of +twelve partners, with a capital of forty thousand dollars, was formed at +St. Louis, under the name of the Missouri Company. + +"The trade, it will thus be seen, was almost wholly in the hands of the +English companies--the Hudson's Bay Company in the north, the North-west +Company in the Canadas, the Mackinaw Company in the territories of the +United States--and the few American traders in the field had to rely on +their individual resources, with no aid from a Government too feeble in +its infancy to do more than establish a few Indian agencies, and without +constitutional power to confer charter privileges." + +The voyage of Captain Cook had brought to the notice of the fur dealers +of the world the sea otter of the northern Pacific, and the announcement +made upon the return of the expedition drew large numbers of adventurers +to the west coast of America, in search of the valuable skins of these +animals. In 1792, there were twenty-one vessels, principally American, +on the coast. + +It was into this field, already occupied by powerful and hostile +corporations, that the young German entered. He was perfectly aware of +the opposition his efforts would encounter from them, but he was not +dismayed. He began business in 1786, in a small store in Water Street, +which he furnished with a few toys and notions suited to the tastes of +the Indians who had skins to sell. His entire capital consisted of only +a few hundred dollars, a portion of which was loaned him by his +brother. He had no assistants. He did all his own work. He bought his +skins, cured, beat, and sold them himself. + +Several times during the year he made journeys on foot through western +New York, buying skins from the settlers, farmers, trappers, savages, +wherever he could find them. He tramped over nearly the entire State in +this way, and is said to have had a better knowledge of its geography +and topography than any man living. + +"He used to boast, late in life, when the Erie Canal had called into +being a line of thriving towns through the center of the State, that he +had himself, in his numberless tramps, designated the sites of those +towns, and predicted that one day they would be the centers of business +and population. Particularly he noted the spots where Rochester and +Buffalo now stand, one having a harbor on Lake Erie and the other upon +Lake Ontario. He predicted that those places would one day be large and +prosperous cities; and that prediction he made when there was scarcely a +settlement at Buffalo, and only wigwams on the site of Rochester." + +During these tramps his business in the city was managed by a partner, +with whom he was finally compelled to associate himself. + +As soon as he had collected a certain number of bales of skins he +shipped them to London, and took a steerage passage in the vessel which +conveyed them. He sold his skins in that city at a fine profit, and +succeeded in forming business connections which enabled him afterward to +ship his goods direct to London, and draw regularly upon the houses to +which they were consigned. He also made an arrangement with the house of +Astor & Broadwood, in which his brother was a partner, by which he +became the agent in New York for the sale of their musical instruments, +a branch of his business which became quite profitable to him. He is +said to have been the first man in New York who kept a regular stock of +musical instruments on hand. + +Slowly, and by unremitting industry, Mr. Astor succeeded in building up +a certain business. His personal journeys made him acquainted with the +trappers, and enabled him to win their good will. The savages sold their +skins to him readily, and he found a steady market and a growing demand +for his commodities in the Old World. + +It was about this time that he married Miss Sarah Todd, of New York. She +was a connection of the Brevoort family, and was of better social +position than her husband. She entered heartily into his business, doing +much of the buying and beating of the furs herself. She was a true +helpmate to him, and long after he was a millionaire, he used to boast +of her skill in judging furs and conducting business operations. + +In 1794, Jay's treaty placed the frontier forts in the hands of the +Americans, and thus increased the opportunities of our own traders to +extend their business. It was of the greatest service to Mr. Astor. It +enabled him to enlarge the field of his operations, and, at the same +time, to send his agents on the long journeys which he formerly made, +while he himself remained in New York to direct his business; which by +this time had grown to considerable proportions. + +He was now on the road to wealth. He had scores of trappers and hunters +working for him in the great wilderness, and his agents were kept busy +buying and shipping the skins to New York. As soon as he was able to do +so he purchased a ship, in which he sent his furs to London, +occasionally making a voyage thither himself. He manifested the greatest +interest in the markets of the Old World, especially in those of Asia, +and informed himself so accurately concerning them that he was always +enabled to furnish his captains with instructions covering the most +minute detail of their transactions in those markets; and it is said +that he was never unsuccessful in his ventures there, except when his +instructions were disobeyed. + +In this again, as in the fur trade, we see him patiently acquiring +knowledge of the eastern trade before venturing to engage in it. His +first step was always to fully comprehend his task, to examine it from +every possible point of view, so that he should be prepared to encounter +any sudden reverse, or ready to take advantage of good fortune. Here lay +the secret of his success--that he never embarked in an enterprise until +he had learned how to use it to advantage. + +Under his skillful management his business grew rapidly; but he avoided +speculation, and confined himself to legitimate commerce. He was plain +and simple in his habits, carrying this trait to an extreme long after +economy had ceased to be necessary to him. He worked hard, indulged in +no pleasures except horseback exercise and the theater, of both which he +was very fond. It was only after he had amassed a large fortune that he +ever left his business before the close of the day. Then he would leave +his counting-room at two in the afternoon, and, partaking of an early +dinner, would pass the rest of the day in riding about the island. So +plain was his style of living that, before he became generally known as +a wealthy man, a bank clerk once superciliously informed him that his +indorsement of a note would not be sufficient, as it was not likely he +would be able to pay it in case the bank should be forced to call upon +him. + +"Indeed," said Mr. Astor, "how much do you suppose I am worth?" + +The clerk named a moderate amount, at which the merchant smiled +quietly. + +"Would the indorsement of Mr. ----, or Mr. ----, be sufficient?" asked +Mr. Astor, naming several well-known merchants who lived in great style. + +"Entirely sufficient," was the reply. "Each one of them is known to be +wealthy." + +"How much do you think each is worth?" + +The clerk named large sums in connection with each of the gentlemen. + +"Well, my friend," said the merchant, "I am worth more than any of them. +I will not tell you how much I am worth, but it is more than any sum you +have named." + +The clerk looked at him in surprise, and then said, bluntly, "Then you +are a greater fool than I took you for, to work as hard as you do." + +Mr. Astor was very fond of telling this story, which he regarded as one +of the best jokes of the day. + +All this time Mr. Astor had lived over his store, but in 1800, after he +had been in business fifteen years, he moved his dwelling to 223 +Broadway, on the site of the Astor House of to-day. He lived here, with +one removal, for upwards of twenty-five years. The house was plain and +simple, but he was satisfied with it. He was now worth a quarter of a +million dollars, and his business was growing rapidly. The fur trade was +exceedingly profitable. A beaver skin could be bought from the trappers +in western New York for one dollar and sold in London for six dollars +and a quarter. By investing this amount in English manufactures, the six +dollars and a quarter received for the skin could be made to produce ten +dollars paid for the English goods in New York. + +The Chinese trade was also very profitable. China was an excellent +market for furs. They brought high prices, and the proceeds could always +be invested in teas and silks, which sold well in New York. His profit +on a voyage would sometimes reach seventy thousand dollars, and the +average gain on a lucky venture of this kind was thirty thousand +dollars. The high prices produced by the war of 1812-15 were also in Mr. +Astor's favor. His ships were all remarkably lucky in escaping capture +by the enemy, and he was almost the only merchant who had a cargo of tea +in the market. Tea having reached double its usual price, he was enabled +to reap immense profits from his ventures. + +Mr. Francis, in his _Old Merchants of New York_, makes the following +revelation of the manner in which Mr. Astor found it possible to carry +on such an immense business. He says: + +"A house that could raise money enough, thirty years ago, to send +$260,000 in specie, could soon have an uncommon capital; and this was +the working of the old system. The Griswolds owned the ship Panama. They +started her from New York in the month of May, with a cargo of perhaps +$30,000 worth of ginseng, spelter, lead, iron, etc., and $170,000 in +Spanish dollars. The ship goes on the voyage, reaches Whampoa in safety +(a few miles below Canton). Her supercargo, in two months, has her +loaded with tea, some chinaware, a great deal of cassia, or false +cinnamon, and a few other articles. Suppose the cargo mainly tea, +costing about thirty-seven cents (at that time) per pound on the +average. + +"The duty was enormous in those days. It was twice the cost of the tea, +at least; so that a cargo of $200,000, when it had paid duty of +seventy-five cents per pound (which would be $400,000), amounted to +$600,000. The profit was at least fifty per cent, on the original cost, +or $100,000, and would make the cargo worth $700,000. + +"The cargo of teas would be sold almost on arrival (say eleven or +twelve months after the ship left New York in May), to wholesale +grocers, for their notes at four and six months--say for $700,000. In +those years there was _credit given by the United States_ of nine, +twelve, and eighteen months! So that the East India or Canton merchant, +after his ship had made one voyage, had the use of Government capital to +the extent of $400,000, on the ordinary cargo of a China ship. + +"No sooner had the ship Panama arrived (or any of the regular East +Indiamen), than her cargo would be exchanged for grocers' notes for +$700,000. These notes could be turned into specie very easily, and the +owner had only to pay his bonds for duty at nine, twelve, and eighteen +months, giving him time actually to send two more ships, with $200,000 +each, to Canton, and have them back again in New York before the bonds +on the first cargo were due. + +"John Jacob Astor, at one period of his life, had several vessels +operating in this way. They would go to the Pacific, and carry furs from +thence to Canton. These would be sold at large profits. Then the cargoes +of tea to New York would pay enormous duties, which Astor did not have +to pay to the United States for a year and a half. His tea cargoes would +be sold for good four and six months paper, or perhaps cash; so that, +for eighteen or twenty years, John Jacob Astor had what was actually a +free-of-interest loan from Government of over _five millions_ of +dollars." + +It is estimated that Mr. Astor made about two millions of dollars by his +trade in furs and teas. The bulk of his immense fortune was made by +investments in real estate. His estate was estimated at twenty millions +of dollars at the time of his death, and has now increased to over forty +millions. He had a firm faith in the magnificent future of New York as +the greatest city of the continent, and as fast as his gains from his +business came in, they were regularly invested in real estate. A part +was expended in leasing for a long period property which the owners +would not sell, and the rest in buying property in fee simple. These +leases, some of which have but recently expired, were extremely +profitable. In his purchases of land Mr. Astor was very fortunate. He +pursued a regular system in making them. Whenever a favorable purchase +could be made in the heart of the city, he availed himself of the +opportunity, but as a rule he bought his lands in what was then the +suburb of the city, and which few besides himself expected to see built +up during their lifetime. His sagacity and foresight have been more than +justified by the course of events. His estate now lies principally in +the heart of New York, and has yielded an increase greater even than he +had ventured to hope for. Seventy hundred and twenty houses are said to +figure on the rent roll of the Astor estate at present, and besides +these are a number of lots not yet built upon, but which are every day +increasing in value. "When Mr. Astor bought Richmond Hill, the estate of +Aaron Burr, he gave one thousand dollars an acre for the hundred and +sixty acres. Twelve years later, the land was valued at fifteen hundred +dollars per lot." + +In 1810, he sold a lot near Wall Street for eight thousand dollars. The +price was so low that a purchaser for cash was found at once, and this +gentleman, after the sale, expressed his surprise that Mr. Astor should +ask only eight thousand for a lot which in a few years would sell for +twelve thousand. + +"That is true," said Mr. Astor, "but see what I intend doing with these +eight thousand dollars. I shall buy eighty lots above Canal Street, and +by the time your one lot is worth twelve thousand dollars, my eighty +lots will be worth eighty thousand dollars." + +His expectations were realized. + +During the war of the Revolution, Roger Morris and his wife, Mary, of +Putnam County, were obliged to flee from the country to England for +adhering to the cause of King George, and, being attainted by the +authorities as public enemies, their immense estate, consisting of +fifty-one thousand one hundred and two acres, was seized by the State of +New York, and sold in small parcels to farmers, who believed the title +thus acquired valid. In 1809, there were upwards of seven hundred +families residing on this land. Mr. Astor, having learned that Roger and +Mary Morris possessed only a life interest in their property, and having +ascertained to his satisfaction that the State could not confiscate the +rights of the heirs, purchased their claim, which was good not only for +the land, but for all the improvements that had been put upon it. He +paid twenty thousand pounds sterling for it. A few years previous to the +death of Mrs. Morris, who survived her husband some years, Mr. Astor +presented his claim. The occupants of the land were thunderstruck, but +the right was on his side. The State of New York had simply robbed the +heirs of their rights. There was no weak point in the claim. Having +given defective titles to the farmers, the State was of course +responsible for the claim; and upon finding out their mistake, the +authorities asked Mr. Astor to name the sum for which he would be +willing to compromise. The lands were valued at six hundred and +sixty-seven thousand dollars, but Mr. Astor expressed his willingness to +sell for three hundred thousand dollars. His offer was refused. In 1819, +a second proposition was made to Mr. Astor by the Legislature of the +State. He replied: "In 1813 or 1814 a similar proposition was made to me +by the commissioners then appointed by the Honorable the Legislature of +this State when I offered to compromise for the sum of three hundred +thousand dollars, which, considering the value of the property in +question, was thought very reasonable, and, at the present period, when +the life of Mrs. Morris is, according to calculation, worth little or +nothing, she being near eighty-six years of age, and the property more +valuable than it was in 1813. I am still willing to receive the amount +which I then stated, with interest on the same, payable in money or +stock, bearing an interest of -- per cent., payable quarterly. The stock +may be made payable at such periods as the Honorable the Legislature may +deem proper. This offer will, I trust, be considered as liberal, and as +a proof of my willingness to compromise on terms which are reasonable, +considering the value of the property, the price which it cost me, and +the inconvenience of having so long _lain out_ of my money, which, if +employed in commercial operations, would most likely have produced +better profits." + +This offer was not accepted by the Legislature, and the cause was +delayed until 1827, when it was brought before the courts. It was argued +by such men as Daniel Webster and Martin Van Buren, on the part of the +State, and by Thomas Addis Emmett, Ogden, and others for Astor. The +State had no case, and the matter was decided in Astor's favor. Then the +State consented to compromise. The famous Astor stock, which paid that +gentleman about five hundred thousand dollars, was issued, and the +titles of the possessors of the lands confirmed. + +The most important of all of Mr. Astor's undertakings was his effort at +founding the settlement of Astoria, on the coast of Oregon. This +enterprise has been made so familiar to the majority of readers by the +pen of Washington Irving, that I can only refer to it here. "His +design," says a writer of thirteen years ago, "was to organize and +control the fur trade from the lakes to the Pacific, by establishing +trading posts along the Missouri and Columbia to its mouth. He designed +establishing a central depot and post at the mouth of the Columbia. He +proposed sending regular supply-ships to the Pacific posts around the +Horn. By these, stores were to be sent also to the Russian +establishments. It was part of his plan, if possible, to obtain +possession of one of the Sandwich Islands as a station, for from the +Pacific coast he knew that the Chinese market for his peltries could be +most conveniently reached, and thus the necessity for a long and +circuitous voyage be avoided. Instead of bringing the furs intended for +China to New York, they could be sent from the Pacific. By the +supply-ships, too, the stock of goods suitable for the Indian trade +would be kept up there, and the cargoes purchased with the proceeds of +the furs sold in China brought back to New York. The line of posts +across the continent would become a line of towns; emigration would +follow, and civilization would belt the continent. + +"In this grand scheme, Mr. Astor was only anticipating the course of +events which, fifty years later, we are beginning to witness. When he +laid his plans before the Government, Mr. Jefferson, who was then +President, 'considered as a great acquisition,' as he afterward +expressed himself in a letter to Mr. Astor, 'the commencement of a +settlement on the western coast of America, and looked forward with +gratification to the time when its descendants should have spread +themselves through the whole length of that coast, covering it with free +and independent Americans, unconnected with us except by ties of blood +and interest, and enjoying, like us, the rights of self-government.' +Even Jefferson's mind, wide as it was, could not take in the idea of a +national unity embracing both ends of the continent; but not so thought +Astor. The merchant saw farther than the statesman. It was precisely +this political unity which gave him hope and chance of success in his +worldwide schemes. When the Constitution was adopted, the chief source +of apprehension for its permanence with men like Patrick Henry, and +other wise statesmen, was the extent of our territory. The Alleghanies, +it was thought, had put asunder communities whom no paper constitution +could unite. But at that early day, when Ohio was the far West, and no +steamboat had yet gone up the Mississippi, Astor looked beyond the Ohio, +beyond the Mississippi, and the Rocky Mountains, and saw the whole +American territory, from ocean to ocean, the domain of one united +nation, the seat of trade and industry. He saw lines of trading posts +uniting the Western settlements with the Pacific; following this line of +trading posts, he saw the columns of a peaceful emigration crossing the +plains, crossing the mountains, descending the Columbia, and towns and +villages taking the places of the solitary posts, and cultivated fields +instead of the hunting-grounds of the Indian and the trapper. + +"No enterprise, unless it be the Atlantic telegraph, engages more deeply +the public attention than a railroad communication with the Pacific +coast.[A] The rapid settlement of Oregon and California, the constant +communication by steam to the Pacific coast, render it easy now to feel +the nearness of that region, and the oneness of the nationality which +covers the continent. But to Astor's eye the thing was as palpable then +as now. And yet but two or three attempts had then been made to explore +the overland routes." + +It would be deeply interesting to examine the details of this fast +scheme of colonization and trade, for it is certain that Mr. Astor was +as anxious to do an act which, by building up the continent, should hand +his name down to posterity as a national benefactor, as to increase his +business; but the limits of this article forbid more than a mere glance +at the subject. + +[Footnote A: The reader will bear in mind that the above extract was +written in 1857.] + +A company was formed, at the head of which stood Mr. Astor, and an +elaborate and carefully-arranged plan of operations prepared. Two +expeditions were dispatched to the mouth of the Columbia, one by land +and the other by sea. Many hardships were encountered, but the +foundation of a settlement was successfully made on the Columbia. In +spite of the war with England (1812-15), which now occurred, the +enterprise would have been successful had Mr. Astor's positive +instructions been obeyed. They were utterly disregarded, however, and +his partners and agents not only betrayed him in every instance, but +sold his property to a rival British company for a mere trifle. His +pecuniary loss was over a million of dollars, and his disappointment +bitter beyond expression. When the enterprise was on the point of +failure, and while he was still chafing at the conduct of his +treacherous subordinates, he wrote to Mr. Hunt, the most faithful of all +his agents: "Were I on the spot, and, had the management of affairs, I +would defy them all; but as it is, every thing depends on you and your +friends about you. Our enterprise is grand, and deserves success, and I +hope in God it will meet it. _If my object was merely gain of money_, I +should say, think whether it is best to save what we can, and abandon +the place; but the very idea is like a dagger to my heart." When the +news of the final betrayal reached him, he wrote to the same gentleman: +"Had our place and property been fairly captured, I should have +preferred it; I should not feel as if I were disgraced." + +Mr. Astor remained in active business for fifty years. During that +entire period he scarcely committed an error of judgment which led to a +loss in business. He was thorough master of every thing pertaining to +his affairs, and his strength and accuracy of judgment was remarkable. +The particulars of his transactions were indelibly impressed upon his +mind. His intellect was vigorous and quick, and he grasped a subject +with a readiness which seemed like intuition. He was always careful of +the present, but he loved to undertake enterprises which extended far +into the future. He was a man of the utmost punctuality in all his +habits. He rose early, and, until he was fifty-five years old, was +always in his office before seven o'clock. His capacity for work was +very great, so that, in spite of his heavy labors, he was always able to +leave his office by two o'clock, while many of his associates, who +really did less than he, were compelled to remain in their +counting-rooms until four or five. He was noted for his unvarying +calmness, which he doubtless owed to his German temperament. In the +midst of disaster and loss he was cooler and more cheerful than ever. To +those who chafed at their troubles, he would say, smilingly, "Keep +quiet; keep cool." This was his safeguard. + +He was a devoted citizen of the United States, and, though he took no +active interest in politics, was a steady supporter of the Whig party. +Henry Clay was his personal friend, and his last donation to any +political cause was a subscription of fifteen hundred dollars to aid the +election of his old friend to the Presidency. + +About the year 1830, Mr. Astor, now the possessor of millions, began to +withdraw from active business, confining his efforts chiefly to such +investments as the management of his immense estate made necessary. He +now put into execution an enterprise which he had long cherished. When a +poor stranger in the city, he had once stopped in Broadway to notice a +row of buildings which had just been erected, and which were considered +the finest in the street, and had then made a vow that he would one day +build a larger and finer house than any in Broadway. He now set to work +to carry out the plan he had cherished ever since. He owned the entire +block on Broadway, between Vesey and Barclay streets, with the +exception of one house, which was the property of a Mr. Coster, a +merchant who had amassed a large fortune and retired from business. Mr. +Astor made him many offers for his house, but the old gentleman was +unwilling to remove. Mr. Astor offered him the full value of his house, +which was thirty thousand dollars, and increased the bid to forty +thousand, but Mr. Coster was obstinate. At length Mr. Astor, in despair, +was compelled to reveal his plan to his neighbor. + +"I want to build a hotel," said he. "I have got all the other lots. Now +name your own price." + +Mr. Coster replied that he would sell for sixty thousand dollars if his +wife would consent, and that Mr. Astor could see her the next morning. +Mr. Astor was punctual to the appointment, and his offer was accepted by +the good lady, who said to him, condescendingly, "I don't want to sell +the house, but we are such old friends that I am willing for your sake." + +Mr. Astor used to remark with great glee that any one could afford to +exhibit such condescension after receiving double the value of a piece +of property. + +Having got possession of the entire block, he commenced the demolition +of the old buildings, and on their site reared the Astor House, then the +largest and most elegant hotel in the country. This building, when +completed, he gave to his eldest son, William B. Astor. + +In 1832, Mr. Astor sailed for Europe to visit one of his daughters, who +had married a nobleman, and remained abroad until 1835. In that year he +was compelled to return home by the action of General Jackson with +regard to the Bank of the United States. "He reached Havre," says Mr. +Parton, "when the ship, on the point of sailing, had every stateroom +engaged, but he was so anxious to get home, that the captain, who had +commanded ships for him in former years, gave up to him his own +stateroom. Head winds and boisterous seas kept the vessel beating about +and tossing in the channel for many days. The great man was very sick, +and still more alarmed. At length, being persuaded that he should not +survive the voyage, he asked the captain to run in and set him ashore on +the coast of England. The captain dissuaded him. The old man urged his +request at every opportunity, and said, at last, 'I give you tousand +dollars to put me aboard a pilot boat.' He was so vehement and +importunate, that one day the captain, worried out of all patience, +promised him that if he did not get out of the channel before next +morning, he would run in and put him ashore. It happened that the wind +changed in the afternoon and wafted the ship into the broad ocean. But +the troubles of the sea-sick millionaire had only just begun. A heavy +gale of some days' duration blew the vessel along the western coast of +Ireland. Mr. Astor, now thoroughly panic-stricken, offered the captain +ten thousand dollars if he would put him ashore anywhere on the wild and +rocky coast of the Emerald Isle. In vain the captain remonstrated. In +vain he reminded the old gentleman of the danger of forfeiting his +insurance. + +"'Insurance!' exclaimed Astor, 'can't I insure your ship my self?' + +"In vain the captain mentioned the rights of the other passengers. In +vain he described the solitary and rock-bound coast, and detailed the +dangers and difficulties which attended its approach. Nothing would +appease him. He said he would take all the responsibility, brave all the +perils, endure all the consequences, only let him once more feel the +firm ground under his feet. The gale having abated, the captain yielded +to his entreaties, and engaged, if the other passengers would consent to +the delay, to stand in, and put him ashore. Mr. Astor went into the +cabin, and proceeded to write what was expected to be a draft for ten +thousand dollars in favor of the owners of the ship on his agent in New +York. He handed to the captain the result of his efforts. It was a paper +covered with writing that was totally illegible. + +"'What is this?' asked the captain. + +"'A draft upon my son for ten thousand dollars,' was the reply. + +"'But no one can read it.' + +"'O yes, my son will know what it is. My hand trembles so that I can not +write any better.' + +"'But,' said the captain, 'you can at least write your name. I am acting +for the owners of the ship, and I can not risk their property for a +piece of paper that no one can read. Let one of the gentlemen draw up a +draft in proper form; you sign it, and I will put you ashore.' + +"The old gentleman would not consent to this mode of proceeding, and the +affair was dropped." + +During the last twenty years of his life Mr. Astor lived in the +retirement of his family, leaving even the greater part of the +management of his estate to the hands of others. He was exceedingly fond +of literary men. Irving was his friend, and Halleck his business +manager. He died at the age of eighty-four years and eight months, +literally from old age. He was buried in St. Thomas's Church, on +Broadway. + +His immense estate was left to his children, the bulk of it being +bequeathed to his eldest son. All of his relatives were made +comfortable. The village of Waldorf, his native place, received a legacy +of fifty thousand dollars for the benefit of its poor, and an amount in +land and funds equal to four hundred thousand dollars was left to +certain trustees to establish the Astor Library in the city of New York. +Besides these, several charitable and benevolent associations received +handsome donations from him. + +His career has been related in these pages as an example to those who +are seeking to rise in legitimate commerce. It is the Best instance on +record of the facility with which success may be won by patient and +intelligent industry. In his capacity for grasping and carrying out an +enterprise, in his prudent and economical management of his business, +in his tact, courage, sagacity, Mr. Astor's example is one which will +lead many to success, and none to injury. + +He was a thoroughly upright man, his transactions were rigidly honest; +but as a man, candor compels the acknowledgment that he was not a safe +or admirable model. He was utterly devoid of generosity. Liberal to an +extreme with his own family, he was close and hard with others. He paid +small wages to his employes and never gave more than the man bargained +for, no matter what extra service might be rendered. He carried his +economy to a degree of meanness painful to contemplate. At his death, +out of his vast estate, he left to his friend and faithful manager an +annuity of only two hundred dollars, which his son increased to fifteen +hundred. + +One of his captains once succeeded in saving for him property in China +to the amount of seven hundred thousand dollars, which had become +jeopardized by the sudden death of the agent in charge of it. This +service was purely voluntary, and was one which required the greatest +skill, determination, and courage on the part of the captain, and Astor +acknowledged it, frequently saying: "If you had not done just as you +did, I should never have seen one dollar of my money; no, not one dollar +of it." This was the only acknowledgment he made, however. He was worth +ten millions of dollars, and the captain had only his pay--twelve +hundred dollars a year--and a family. At his father's death Mr. William +B. Astor sent a considerable sum to the old seaman in return for this +service. + +"We have all heard much of the closeness, or rather the meanness, of +this remarkable man. Truth compels us to admit that he was not generous, +except to his own kindred. His liberality began and ended in his own +family. Very seldom during his lifetime did he willingly do a generous +act, outside of the little circle of his relations and descendants. To +get all he could, and to keep nearly all that he got--those were the +laws of his being.... He enjoyed keenly the consciousness, the feeling, +of being rich. The roll-book of his possessions was his Bible. He +scanned it fondly, and saw, with quiet but deep delight, the catalogue +of his property lengthening from month to month. The love of +accumulation grew with his years, until it ruled him like a tyrant. If +at fifty he possessed his millions, at sixty-five his millions possessed +him. Only to his own children and to their children was he liberal; and +his liberality to them was all arranged with a view to keeping his +estate in the family, and to cause it at every moment to tend toward a +final consolidation in one enormous mass." + +This is the estimate of his character formed by Mr. James Parton. His +friend Dr. Coggswell presents him in quite a different light. He says: + +"Mr. Astor lived to the good old age of four score and four years and +eight months. For some years previous to his death, which happened March +29, 1848, his manly form was bowed down by age, and his bodily strength +greatly enfeebled, but his mind retained much of its original Vigor and +brightness. Considering his extraordinary activity until a late period +of his life, he submitted to the helplessness of age with uncommon +resignation. When his impaired eye-sight no longer permitted him to +read, his principal relief from the wearisomeness of unoccupied time was +in the society of his friends and near relatives. All who knew him well +were strongly attached to him, and none but those who were ignorant of +his true character believed him unamiable and repulsive. + +"His smile was peculiarly benignant and expressive of genuine kindness +of heart, and his whole manner cordial and courteous to every one +entitled to his respect. There was something so impressive in his +appearance, no one could stand before him without feeling that he was in +the presence of a superior intelligence. His deep, sunken eye, beneath +his overarched brow, denoted the prophetic--it might almost be said the +inspired--mind within. Although he lived many years beyond the age when +the grasshopper is a burden, and was the victim of much suffering, he +did not murmur, nor did he become unreasonable and peevish. He was not +wont to talk much on the subject of religion, or freely communicate his +views in relation to the life beyond the grave; but it can not be +doubted that such tranquility as he exhibited in his near approach to +it must have been derived from 'that peace which the world can neither +give nor take away,'" + +Perhaps a medium between Mr. Parton's bitterness and Dr. Coggswell's +enthusiasm will be as correct an estimate of his personal character as +can be formed. It is a singular fact that Mr. Astor managed, in spite of +the closeness which marked his operations, in spite of the small wages +he paid, to inspire his employes with a zeal in his service that made +them willing to undertake any thing, to endure any amount of labor, for +him. + +"He once lost seventy thousand dollars by committing a piece of petty +injustice toward his best captain. This gallant sailor, being notified +by an insurance office of the necessity of having a chronometer on +board his ship, spoke to Mr. Astor on the subject, who advised the +captain to buy one. + +"'But,' said the captain, 'I have no five hundred dollars to spare for +such a purpose; the chronometer should belong to the ship.' + +"'Well,' said the merchant, 'you need not pay for it now; pay for it at +your convenience,' + +"The captain still objecting, Astor, after a prolonged higgling, +authorized him to buy a chronometer and charge it to the ship's account, +which was done. + +"Sailing day was at hand. The ship was hauled into the stream. The +captain, as is the custom, handed in his account. Astor, subjecting it +to his usual close scrutiny, observed the novel item of five hundred +dollars for the chronometer. He objected, averring that it was +understood between them that the captain was to pay for the instrument. +The worthy sailor recalled the conversation, and firmly held to his +recollection of it. Astor insisting on his own view of the matter, the +captain was so profoundly disgusted that, important as the command of +the ship was to him, he resigned his post. Another captain was soon +found, and the ship sailed for China. + +"Another house, which was then engaged in the China trade, knowing the +worth of this 'king of captains,' as Astor himself used to style him, +bought him a ship and dispatched him to Canton two months after the +departure of Astor's vessel. Our captain, put upon his mettle, employed +all his skill to accelerate the speed of his ship, and had such success +that he reached New York, with a full cargo of tea, just seven days +after the arrival of Mr. Astor's ship. Astor, not expecting another ship +for months, and therefore sure of monopolizing the market, had not yet +broken bulk, nor even taken off the hatchways. Our captain arrived on a +Saturday. Advertisements and handbills were immediately issued, and on +the Wednesday morning following, as the custom then was, the auction +sale of the tea began on the wharf--two barrels of punch contributing to +the _eclat_ and hilarity of the occasion. The cargo was sold to good +advantage, and the market was glutted. Astor lost in consequence the +entire profits of the voyage, not less than the sum previously named. +Meeting the captain some time after in Broadway, he said: + +"'I had better have paid for that chronometer of yours,'" + +Yet he could do a kind act when he was in the humor. When he was poor +and struggling for fortune, he had a friend in the city named Pell, a +coachmaker. As he advanced in the world he lost sight of his friend. One +day a young man called on him to ask if he would sell one of his leases +which he (the visitor) then held. He replied promptly and decidedly that +he would not sell. + +"But what is your name?" he asked. + +"It is Pell," was the reply. + +"Pell--Pell--" said the old man, hesitating a moment, "I knew a man by +that name once; he was a dear friend of mine, but I have not seen him +for years." + +"That man," said the visitor, "was my father." + +"Indeed," exclaimed the old man, warmly; "your father? Why, he used to +give me rides in his coaches. How I should like to see him." + +Then pausing a moment, and smiling as he recalled the past to his mind, +he said: + +"You shall have the lease, young man. Go home, have the papers drawn, +come here at eleven o'clock on Thursday, and I'll sign them. But don't +put in any consideration." + +The engagement was kept punctually by both parties. + +"Have you got the papers?" asked the merchant. "Did you put in the +consideration? Well, let it be one hundred dollars. Have you got the +money about you? Well, no matter, Bruce will keep the lease till you +come and pay. I've given you two thousand dollars, young man. Don't you +buy any more, for I sha'n't do it again. You tell your father that I +remember him, and that I have given you two thousand dollars." + +Mr. Astor dearly liked a joke, and occasionally indulged in a sly bit of +humor himself. On one occasion a committee called upon him to solicit a +donation for some charitable object. The old man took the subscription +list, and, after examining it, signed it and gave the committee a check +for fifty dollars. They had expected much more, and one of them ventured +to say: + +"We did hope for more, Mr. Astor. Your son gave us a hundred dollars." + +"Ah!" replied the old man, dryly, "William has a rich father. Mine was +very poor." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ALEXANDER T. STEWART. + + +In the year 1818, a European vessel anchored in the harbor of New York, +after a long and weary voyage from the Old World. She brought many +passengers to the young metropolis, the majority of whom came with the +intention of seeking fortunes in this land of promise. + +Among them was a young Irishman who had left his home in his native land +to seek in America the means of bettering his condition. This was +ALEXANDER T. STEWART. He was the son of Scotch-Irish parents, and was +born in Belfast in 1802. Being only three years old when his father +died, his grandfather took charge of him, and proved a kind and +judicious guardian. As he was designed for the ministry by his relative, +and as his own tastes inclined him to that profession, he was given a +good common school education, and placed at college, where he made +favorable progress in his class. He was particularly successful in the +classics, and is said to retain his relish for them at the present day. + +During his second term his grandfather died, and he was by this event +obliged to leave college. Abandoning the idea of entering the ministry, +he embarked for America, determined to make a fortune in the New World. +He came sufficiently supplied with ready money to insure him against +immediate want, and with letters of introduction which at once secured +him an excellent social position. + +After trying in vain for some time to secure employment in a business +house, he obtained a position as assistant in a commercial school. This +he soon resigned for a similar place in a more celebrated school. His +salary here was $300, which was considered ample compensation in those +days. + +Not wishing to continue in this career, however, he opened a small +retail dry goods store in New York, and began business on a humble +scale. Here he remained until the age of twenty-one, manifesting no +extraordinary business capacity, and in no way distinguished from the +many small dealers around him. Upon reaching his majority he returned to +Ireland, to look after the inheritance left him by his grandfather. The +amount which thus came to him was nearly one thousand pounds, and the +greater part of this he invested in "insertions" and "scollop +trimmings," which he shipped to America by the vessel in which he +returned. He rented a little store, on his return, at 283 Broadway, and +there displayed his stock, which met with a ready sale at a fair profit. + +Without mercantile experience, and possessing little advantage, save his +own Scotch-Irish energy and courage, Mr. Stewart started boldly on what +proved the road to fortune. No young merchant ever worked harder than +he. From fourteen to eighteen hours each day were given to his business. +He was his own book-keeper, salesman, and porter. He could not afford to +employ help. Credit was hard to obtain in those days, and young +merchants were not favorites with those who had such favors to bestow. +Mr. Stewart was one of the least favored, inasmuch as he was almost a +total stranger to the business community in which he lived. He kept a +small stock of goods on hand, which he purchased for cash chiefly at +the auction sales. He was a regular attendant at these sales, and his +purchases were invariably "sample lots"--that is, collections of small +quantities of various articles thrown together in confusion, and sold in +heaps for what they would bring. He had these purchases conveyed to his +store, and after the business of the day was over, he and his wife would +take these "sample lots," and by carefully assorting them, bring order +out of the confusion. Every article was patiently gone over. Gloves were +redressed and smoothed out, laces pressed free from the creases which +careless bidders had twisted into them, and hose made to look as fresh +as if they had never been handled. Each article being good in itself, +was thus restored to its original excellence. The goods were then +arranged in their proper places on the shelves of the store, and by +being offered at a lower price than that charged by retail dealers +elsewhere in the city, met with a ready sale. Even at this low price the +profit was great, since they had been purchased for a mere trifle. For +six years Mr. Stewart continued to conduct his business in this way, +acquiring every day a larger and more profitable trade. Here he laid +down those principles of business and personal integrity from which he +has never departed, and which have led-him to the honorable position he +now holds. + +"His first rule was _honesty_ between seller and buyer. His career is a +perfect exemplification of Poor Richard's maxim: 'Honesty is the best +policy,' and of the poet's declaration: 'Nothing can need a lie,' His +interest consorted with his inclination, his policy with his principles, +and the business with the man, when he determined that the truth should +be told over his counter, and that no misrepresentation of his goods +should be made. He never asked, he never would suffer, a clerk to +misrepresent the quality of his merchandise. Clerks who had been +educated at other stores to cheat customers, and then to laugh off the +transaction as 'cuteness,' or defend it as 'diamond cut diamond,' found +no such slipshod morality at Stewart's little store, and learned +frankness and fairness in representation at the peril of dismissal. +Their employer asked no gain from deceit in trade. On his part, too, in +buying, he rarely gave a seller a second opportunity to misrepresent +goods to him. + +"A second innovation of the young dry goods dealer was selling at _one +price_--a custom which has also lasted without interruption, and which +has spread to all the great houses. He fixed his price, after careful +consideration, at what he thought the goods could and would bring, and +would not deviate from it for any haggling, or to suit individual cases. +Of course, he followed the fluctuations of the market, and marked his +goods up or down in accordance with it; but no difference in the price +was made to different people. Perhaps those who had some art in 'beating +down' prices were offended, but people in general were pleased. + +"The third principle he adopted was that of _cash on delivery_. It is +said that his own early experience of buying on credit, and selling on +credit, drove him to this rule. + +"A fourth principle with him was to conduct business as business--not as +sentiment. His aim was honorable profit, and he had no purpose of +confusing it by extraneous considerations." + +While still engaged in his first struggles in his little store, Mr. +Stewart found himself called on to make arrangements to pay a note which +would soon become due. It was for a considerable sum, and he had neither +the money nor the means of borrowing it. It was a time when the +mercantile community of New York regarded a failure to pay a note as a +crime, and when such a failure was sure to bring ruin to any new man. +Mr. Stewart knew this, and felt that he must act with greater resolution +and daring than he had ever before exhibited, if he would save himself +from dishonor. To meet the crisis he adopted a bold and skillful +maneuver. He marked down every article in his store far below the +wholesale price. This done, he had a number of handbills printed, +announcing that he would sell off his entire stock of goods below cost, +within a given time. He scattered these handbills broadcast through the +city, and it was not long before purchasers began to flock to his store +to secure the great bargains which his advertisements offered them. His +terms were "cash," and he had little difficulty in selling. Purchasers +found that they thus secured the best goods in the market at a lower +figure than they had ever been offered before in New York, and each one +was prompt to advise relatives and friends to avail themselves of the +favorable opportunity. Customers were plentiful; the little Broadway +store was thronged all day, and long before the expiration of the period +he had fixed for the duration of his sales, Mr. Stewart found his +shelves empty and his treasury full. He paid his note with a part of the +money he had thus received, and with the rest laid in a fresh stock of +goods. He was fortunate in his purchases at this time, for, as the +market was extremely dull and ready money scarce, he, by paying cash, +bought his goods at very low prices. + +The energy, industry, patience, and business tact displayed by Mr. +Stewart during these first years of his commercial life brought him +their sure reward, and in 1828, just six years after commencing +business, he found his little store too small and humble for the large +and fashionable trade which had come to him. Three new stores had just +been erected on Broadway, between Chambers and Warren Streets, and he +leased the smallest of these and moved into it. It was a modest +building, only three stories high and but thirty feet deep, but it was a +great improvement on his original place. He was enabled to fill it with +a larger and more attractive stock of goods, and his business was +greatly benefited by the change. He remained in this store for four +years, and in 1832 removed to a two-story building located on Broadway, +between Murray and Warren Streets. Soon after occupying it, he was +compelled, by the growth of his business, to add twenty feet to the +depth of the store and a third story to the building. A year or two +later a fourth story was added, and in 1837 a fifth story, so rapidly +did he prosper. + +His trade was now with the wealthy and fashionable class of the city. He +had surmounted all his early difficulties, and laid the foundation of +that splendid fortune which he has since won. The majority of his +customers were ladies, and he now resolved upon an expedient for +increasing their number. He had noticed that the ladies, in "shopping," +were given to the habit of gossiping, and even flirting with the clerks, +and he adopted the expedient of employing as his salesmen the handsomest +men he could procure, a practice which has since become common. The plan +was successful from the first. Women came to his store in greater +numbers than before, and "Stewart's nice young men" were the talk of the +town. + +The great crisis of 1837 found Mr. Stewart a prosperous and rising man, +and that terrible financial storm which wrecked so many of the best of +the city firms did not so much as leave its mark on him. Indeed, while +other men were failing all around him, he was coining money. It had +always been his habit to watch the market closely, in order to profit by +any sudden change in it, and his keen sagacity enabled him to see the +approach of the storm long before it broke, and to prepare for it. + +He at once marked down all his goods as low as possible, and began to +"sell for cost," originating the system which is now so popular. The +prices were very low, and the goods of the best quality. Every body +complained of the hard times, and all were glad to save money by +availing themselves of "Stewart's bargains." In this way he carried on a +retail cash trade of five thousand dollars per day in the midst of the +most terrible crisis the country has ever seen. Other merchants were +reduced to every possible expedient, and were compelled to send their +goods to auction to be sold for what they would bring, so great was +their need of ready money. Stewart attended all these auctions +regularly, and purchased the goods thus offered. These he sold rapidly +by means of his "cost system," realizing an average profit of forty per +cent. It is said that he purchased fifty thousand dollars worth of silks +in this way, and sold the whole lot in a few days, making a profit of +twenty thousand dollars on the transaction. Thus he not only passed +through the "crisis," but made a fortune in the midst of it. + +From that time to the present day his march to fortune has been +uninterrupted. Nearly a quarter of a century ago he purchased the +property which is now the site of his wholesale store, and commenced to +erect the splendid marble warehouse which he still occupies. His friends +were surprised at his temerity. They told him it was too far up town, +and on the wrong side of Broadway, but he quietly informed them that a +few years would vindicate his wisdom, and see his store the center of +the most flourishing business neighborhood of New York. His predictions +have been more than realized. + +He moved into his new store in 1846, and continued to expand and enlarge +his business every year. Some years ago he purchased the old +Ninth-Street Dutch Church and the lots adjacent to it, comprising the +entire block lying between Ninth and Tenth Streets, Broadway and Fourth +Avenue. When he found the retail trade going up town, and deserting its +old haunts below Canal Street, he erected a fine iron building at the +corner of Broadway and Tenth Street, to which he removed the retail +department of his business, continuing his wholesale trade at his old +store on Chambers Street. This new "upper store" has increased with the +business. The building now covers the entire block upon which it is +erected, and is the largest, most complete, and magnificent +establishment of its kind in the world. + +Though he took no active part in politics, he was too much interested in +public affairs, by reason of his immense wealth, not to watch them +closely. He was satisfied, some time before our late troubles began, +that war must come, and quietly made contracts with nearly all the +manufacturers for all their productions for a considerable period of +time. Accordingly, when the war did come, it was found that nearly all +the articles of clothing, blankets, etc., needed for the army had been +monopolized by him. His profits on these transactions amounted to many +millions of dollars, though it should be remarked that his dealings with +the Government were characterized by an unusual degree of liberality. +The gains thus realized by him more than counterbalanced the losses he +sustained by the sudden cessation of his Southern trade. + +Fifty years have now passed away since the young school-teacher landed +in New York, and he stands to-day at the head of the mercantile +interests of the New World. In the half-century which has elapsed since +then, he has won a fortune which is variously estimated at from +twenty-five to forty millions of dollars. He has gained all this wealth +fairly, not by trickery and deceit, or even by a questionable honesty, +but by a series of mercantile transactions the minutest of which bears +the impress of his sterling integrity, and by a patience, energy, tact, +and genius of which few men are possessed. Surely, then, it must be a +proud thought to him that he has done all this _himself_, by his own +unaided efforts, and that amid all his wonderful success there does not +rest one single stain upon his good name as a man or a merchant. + +It is said that Mr. Stewart regards himself as a "lucky man," rather +than as one who has risen by the force of his own genius. A writer in +the New York _Herald_ relates the following incident, as illustrative of +the superstition which this feeling of "luck" has given rise to with +him: "When he kept his store on Broadway, between Murray and Warren +Streets, there sat on the sidewalk before it, on an orange box, an old +woman, whose ostensible occupation was the selling of apples. This +business was, however, merely a pretense; the main object being beggary. +As years rolled on, Mr. Stewart became impressed with the idea that the +old dame was his guardian angel of good luck, and this impression took +so firm a hold upon his mind that when he removed to Chambers Street, +he, in person, took up the old woman's box, and removed her to the front +of his new establishment. In further illustration of Mr. Stewart's faith +in the Irish traditional belief in 'lucky' and 'unlucky' persons, it may +be mentioned that, after the completion of the St. Nicholas Hotel in +this city, an undertaking in which he was largely interested, and when +the building was just about to be opened for the reception of guests, +the millionaire, standing in the drawing-room, ejaculated, 'It is now +finished; I hope its first visitors may be lucky people.' + +"A gentleman present, who had heard of Mr. Stewart's care for the aged +apple vendor, remarked, 'I presume, sir, you do not in reality care +about lucky or unlucky persons;' to which he immediately replied, +'Indeed, I do. There are persons who are unlucky. I sometimes open a +case of goods, and sell the first from it to some person who is unlucky, +and lose on it to the end. I frequently see persons to whom I would not +sell if I could avoid it.'" + +The first incident, if true, doubtless illustrates the quiet kindness +with which Mr. Stewart watches over the poor that he takes under his +care--and they are many. He has won his success too fairly to be a +believer in mere _luck_. There is no such thing as chance in this world. +Men are the architects of their own fortunes. + +One of the principal reasons of his success is the rigid system with +which he conducts his business. He has a place for every thing, and a +time for every duty, and requires the same regularity from his +subordinates. His salesmen and managers are thoroughly versed in their +duties, and the more important of them are selected with great care. +Every thing works smoothly under the master's eye, and there is a +penalty for each and every delinquency, which is rigidly exacted. + +Mr. Stewart is one of the hardest workers in his establishment. His +partners relieve him of the details, but the general management of his +immense business he trusts to no other hands. His eye is on every thing. +He is familiar with every detail, though he does not take upon himself +its direction. He goes to his business between nine and ten in the +morning, stopping first at his upper store. He makes a brief but +thorough inspection here, and learns the general progress of the day, +and then repairs to his lower or wholesale store, where he remains +during business hours, and returns home between five and six in the +afternoon, stopping again at the upper store. He works hard, and is +never absent from his post unless detained by sickness. + +His time is valuable, and he is not willing to waste it. + +Many persons endeavor to see him merely to gratify their impertinent +curiosity, and others wish to intrude upon him for purposes which would +simply consume his time. To protect himself, he has been compelled to +resort to the following expedient: A gentleman is kept on guard near the +main door of the store, whose duty is to inquire the business of +visitors. If the visitor wishes to see Mr. Stewart, the "sentinel" +informs him that he must first state his business to him. If the visitor +urges that it is private, he is told that Mr. Stewart has no private +business. If his errand meets the approval of the gentleman on guard, he +is allowed to go up stairs, where he is met by the confidential agent of +the great merchant, to whom he must repeat the object of his visit. If +this gentleman is satisfied, or can not get rid of the visitor, he +enters the private office of his employer and lays the case before him. +If the business of the visitor is urgent he is admitted, otherwise, he +is refused an interview. If admitted, the conference is brief and to the +point. There is no time lost. Matters are dispatched with a method and +promptitude which astonish strangers. If the visitor attempts to draw +the merchant into a friendly conversation, or indulges in useless +complimentary phrases, after the matter on which he came is settled, Mr. +Stewart's manner instantly becomes cold and repelling, and troublesome +persons are sometimes given a hint which hastens their departure. This +is his working time, and it is precious to him. He can not afford to +waste it upon idlers. In social life he is said to be exceedingly +affable. + +The greater portion of Mr. Stewart's immense fortune is invested in real +estate. Besides his two stores on Broadway, he owns the Metropolitan +Hotel and the New York Theater, also on Broadway; nearly all of Bleecker +Street from Broadway to Depauw Row, several churches, a number of +buildings, and many valuable lots. He resides at the north-east corner +of the Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street. Immediately opposite he is +building one of the finest residences in the world, and the most superb +in America. He owns more real estate than any man in America except +William B. Astor, and is the most successful merchant in the world. + +Mr. Stewart is said to be extremely liberal in his donations to objects +which meet with his sympathy. The majority of these donations are +quietly made, as he has a repugnance to public charities. He gave +liberally to the cause of the Union during the war. During that struggle +he sent a cargo of provisions to Ireland, where much distress existed, +and then invited as many emigrants as the vessel would carry to take +passage to America in her, free of charge. One hundred and thirty-nine +persons availed themselves of his offer, and upon reaching America were +all provided with good situations by him. At present he is engaged in +erecting on the Fourth Avenue a large building, in which homes will be +provided for poor working females, at a small expense to them. It is +said that this noble project will require an outlay of several millions +of dollars. His friends--and he has many--speak of him as exceedingly +kind and liberal, and seem much attached to him. + +As I have said before, Mr. Stewart has not cared for political +distinction, but has rather shunned it. He was a member of the Union +Defense Committee during the war, and in 1866 was one of the signers of +the Saratoga address, calling on the people of the country to sustain +the policy of President Johnson. His warm friendship for General Grant +caused him to be one of the earliest advocates of the election of the +latter to the Presidency. He was a candidate for Presidential Elector on +the Republican ticket for the State of New York, but was defeated, with +his associates, by the Democracy. + +His intimate relations with General Grant, together with his vast +financial experience, induced many persons to believe that he would be +offered a place in the Cabinet of the new President. These expectations +were realized by his nomination to the post of Secretary of the +Treasury, on the 5th of March, 1869, and his immediate and unanimous +confirmation by the Senate. He was about to enter upon his new duties, +when it was discovered that there existed an old and almost forgotten +law forbidding any merchant from becoming the head of the Treasury +Department. As soon as this discovery was made, Mr. Stewart expressed +his desire to withdraw from the position, and thus relieve the President +of all embarrassment upon the subject, but the latter, wishing, if +possible, to retain him in the Cabinet, urged him to delay his action, +with the hope that the difficulty might be obviated. Willing to oblige +his friend, and anxious to serve the country, Mr. Stewart consented to +do this, but finding that certain persons were seeking to make his +nomination a source of trouble to the Administration, offered either to +resign the place or to relinquish his entire interest in his business +during the period of his Secretaryship, and to donate his immense +profits for that time to the poor of the city of New York. This +sacrifice, he hoped, would render him eligible; but the President was +unwilling to accept the princely offer--the noblest ever made by any +man--and Mr. Stewart finally withdrew from the contest. + +There can be no doubt that he would have been the best Secretary that +could have been placed at the head of the Treasury. His great financial +experience and his unquestioned ability were better qualifications than +those possessed by any politician in the land. Perhaps the best proof of +the satisfaction which his appointment produced in the minds of the +thinking men of the country is the manner in which the news affected +the money market. Gold fell as soon as the announcement was made. + +Few strangers ever come to New York and depart without visiting +Stewart's famous store at the corner of Tenth Street and Broadway. The +lower, or wholesale store, is far more important to its owner; but it +conducts its operations exclusively with dealers, and in such a quiet +and systematic way that it seems to attract but little attention among +the masses. It is the upper or retail store that is the wonder of the +great city in which it is located. + +It is constructed of iron, in the style of arcade upon arcade, and is +lighted by numerous windows. It fronts two hundred feet on Broadway, and +three hundred feet on Ninth and Tenth Streets. It covers an area of +about two acres, is five stories and an attic in height, and has two +cellars underneath. It is warmed by steam, and contains several +steam-engines for hoisting goods, running the machines employed in the +manufacturing department, and forcing water into the immense tank at the +top of the building. Six elevators and several handsome stairways +connect the various floors. Three of the elevators are used for +conveying customers up and down, and the others for hoisting and +lowering goods. The building is lighted by several thousand gas jets, +which are all set aflame simultaneously by electricity. + +The various floors, with the exception of the first, are broken only by +a rotunda, which extends to the roof, and is inclosed at each floor by a +massive iron balustrade. Leaning over one of these balustrades, and +looking up or down, the sight is brilliant and attractive. Thousands of +persons are scattered about the floors making purchases. Hundreds of +clerks, salesmen, and cash boys are busy serving them, and the buzz and +hum of human voices under the vast roof sounds like the droning of a +hive of bees. + +The service of this immense establishment is arranged as follows: There +is one general superintendent, with nineteen assistants, each of whom is +at the head of a department. Nine cashiers receive and pay out money; +twenty-five book-keepers keep the record of the day; thirty ushers +direct purchasers to the department they seek; two hundred cash boys +receive the money and bring back the change of purchasers; four hundred +and seventy clerks, a few of whom are females, make the sales of the +day; fifty porters do the heavy work, and nine hundred seamstresses are +employed in the manufacturing department. Besides these, there are +usually about five hundred other persons employed about the +establishment in various capacities, bringing the total strength of the +_personelle_ of the house to twenty-two hundred. + +The accounts of each department are kept separate, and the sales of each +for the day constitute a separate return. These sales will average +something like the following figures: + + + Silks $15,000 + Dress goods 6,000 + Muslins 3,000 + Laces 2,000 + Shawls 2,500 + Suits 1,000 + Calicoes 1,500 + Velvets 2,000 + Gloves 1,000 + Furs 1,000 + Hosiery 600 + Boys' clothing 700 + Notions 600 + Embroideries 1,000 + Carpets 5,500 + + +The total daily receipts average $60,000, and have been known to amount +to $87,000. + +Salaries of subordinate clerks range from $5 to $25 per week. The cash +boys receive $5 per week. If not fined for misconduct they receive a +reward of $1 per month, and a further reward of $5 at the end of each +half year. They are promoted as fast as their conduct and vacancies in +the force of salesmen will allow. The number of employes being so large, +the proprietor is compelled to keep them under the constant espionage of +two experienced detectives, and each evening when they leave the store +they are required to do so through a private door on Ninth Street, where +the detectives are stationed to see that none of them carry away +articles which do not belong to them. + +The number of visitors to the establishment in the busy season is very +large. On special occasions, such as opening days, it is said to have +reached fifty thousand, but the general average is placed at fifteen +thousand, and they represent every grade in life. Rich and poor mingle +here freely. + +The floors are arranged simply, and with regard to business rather than +for show, but every thing is elegant and tasteful. The sub-cellar is +used as a store-room for goods in cases. Here the fabrics are opened and +sent to their departments. The cellar is the carpet sales-room. The +first floor is the general sales-room, and is the most attractive place +in the building. It is three hundred feet long by two hundred wide, and +is provided with one hundred counters, each fifty feet in length. Behind +these counters the goods are arranged, with no effort at display, on the +shelves, which rise but a few feet above the counters. There is an +abundance of light in all parts of the house, especially over the silk +counters, which are just under the rotunda. The second floor is taken up +with ladies' suits, shawls, curtain goods, etc., and the next floor is +devoted to the same purpose. The fourth floor is used as a manufactory +for making up the suits, etc., placed on sale or ordered by customers; +on the fifth is the fur-room and upholstery manufactory; and the sixth +is occupied as a laundry. The most perfect order is maintained in every +part of the establishment, the mere direction of which requires +administrative ability of a very high character. + +As fast as the sales are made, the articles, unless taken away by the +purchaser, are sent to the parcel desk, which is located in the cellar. +This is the busiest department in the house, and one of the most +important. Each order is accompanied by a ticket stating the quality and +amount of the goods, the price, and the address of the purchaser. It is +remeasured and examined here, so that any error on the part of the +salesman may be detected and repaired. Errors of this kind, however, are +rare, and the burden of the labor in this department consists of making +the goods up into secure packages and sending them to their +destinations. The tickets delivered at the parcel desk are then sent to +the checking desk, which is also in the basement, where they are +compared with those delivered by the salesmen to the cashiers, and if no +error is discovered, the goods are sent to the wagons for delivery. + +The wagon department constitutes a very important branch of the +business. The vehicles and horses are accommodated in a fine stable on +Amity Street, near Broadway. The building was formerly a Baptist church, +and was presided over by the Rev. Dr. Williams. When the congregation +went higher up town, they sold the old church, which found a purchaser +in Mr. Stewart. He converted it into a stable, and has since more than +doubled its size. The floor was taken up, a sewer built to carry off the +waste water, and the place paved with brick and cement. It is now one of +the best stables in the city. It contains over forty horses, and five +grooms are on hand to attend to them. There are eight wagons employed at +the up-town store to deliver parcels to purchasers, while thirteen +single wagons are used by the lower store to cart single cases around +town. In addition to these, there are ten double trucks to haul heavy +goods. Twenty-seven drivers are employed, and thirteen hundred bushels +of oats and fifty tons of hay are fed out during a year. The place is in +charge of a watchman at night, and during the day is managed by a +superintendent. At half-past eight the trucks report at the down-town +store, and remain there all day. At the same moment one of the light +wagons is dispatched to the retail store, and at once takes out the +early sales. In an hour another wagon follows it, and this course is +pursued all day until six o'clock, when the last wagon takes the last +sales. By this system purchasers receive their parcels with dispatch, +and the immense business of the day is entirely finished. Every week the +superintendent of the stables makes a report of the condition of the +horses and wagons, and this "stable report" is carefully inspected at +head-quarters. In case of sickness or stubborn lameness, the horses are +sent to the country to recruit. + +Mr. Stewart has a farm at Tuckahoe, where the invalid horses are kept, +and where much of their provender is raised. This farm is noted for the +valuable marble quarry which furnished the stone from which his new +mansion on Fifth Avenue is built. + +The retail store contains fabrics of every description and price. The +wife of a millionaire can gratify her fancy here to its utmost limit, +while the poor sewing-girl can obtain her simple necessities at the same +price which is demanded for them from the rich. In the shawl department, +there are "wraps" worth as much as $4,500, but not more than one or two +find a purchaser in the course of a year. Shawls at $3,000 find a sale +of about twenty a year, and the number of purchasers increases as the +price diminishes. The wealthy ladies of New York deal here extensively. +One of the clerks of the establishment recently made a statement that a +fashionable lady ran up a bill of $20,000 here in two months. + +Mr. Stewart, though leaving the details of the retail business in the +hands of Mr. Tuller, the general superintendent, yet keeps himself +thoroughly informed respecting it, and exercises over it a general +supervision, to which its increasing success is due. He knows exactly +what is in the house, how much is on hand, and how it is selling. He +fixes the prices himself, and keeps them always at a popular figure. He +is said to have an aversion to keeping goods over from one season to +another, and would rather sacrifice them than do so. He has no dead +stock on hand. His knowledge of the popular taste and its variations is +intuitive, and his great experience enables him to anticipate its +changes. + +"There can not be so much selling without proportionate buying, and +Stewart is as systematic in the latter as the former. Of late he has not +acted personally in making purchases, but has trusted to the system +which he organized some years ago, and which he has found to admirably +answer as his substitute. He has branch establishments exercising +purchasing functions only in Boston and Philadelphia, in the United +States; in Manchester, England; and in Paris and Lyons, France. But +while these are his agencies, his buyers haunt the marts of the whole +world. There is no center of commerce or manufacture of the wide range +of articles in which he deals, on either of the continents, where he is +not always present by deputy to seize upon favorable fluctuations of the +market, or pounce upon some exceptionally excellent productions. He +owns entire the manufactory of the celebrated Alexandre kid-glove. He +has a body of men in Persia, organized under the inevitable +superintendent, chasing down the Astrachan goat heavy with young, from +which the unborn kids are taken and stripped of their skins, thus +sacrificing two animals for every skin obtained. He rifles Lyons of its +choicest silks, the famous productions of Bonnet and Ponson. Holland and +Ireland yield him the first fruits of their looms. Belgium contributes +the rarest of her laces, and the North sends down the finest of its +Russian sables. All the looms of France, England, Belgium, and the +United States are closely watched, and the finest fabrics in dress +goods, muslins, carpets, and calicoes are caught up the moment the +workmen put on the finishing touches. He buys for cash the world over, +and is a customer every-where so recognized as desirable that he has his +choice of industrial productions, and on more advantageous terms than +his rivals can purchase what he leaves. He has been so long in the +business, and has become so thoroughly versed in the productions of +different looms in different countries, that it is now his practice to +select certain mills noted for excellence of work, and take their entire +supply, and thus it happens that there are many looms in the busiest +haunts of the Old and New Worlds that toil unceasingly on his account. + +"By buying thus largely in foreign lands, he is, of course, the largest +importer in the nation, and his duties average $30,000 gold per day. +Every year his business steadily increases, and there is apparently no +practical limit at which it will stop. As prudent in vast affairs as +other men are in small, he insures liberally, and has policies renewed +every third day throughout the year. But, while leaning upon the +insurance companies, he is utterly independent of the banks; he has +never asked one of them to 'carry' him through a crisis, and should such +a contingency arise, there is no bank in the world competent to the +task." + +Mr. Stewart is now sixty-eight years old, but looks much younger, being +still as vigorous and active, both mentally and physically, as most men +of forty-five. He is of the medium size, has light-brown hair and beard, +which are closely trimmed. His features are sharp, well cut, his eye +bright, and his general expression calm and thoughtful. His manner is +reserved, and to all but his intimate friends cold. He dresses with +great simplicity, but with taste, and in the style of the day. His +habits are simple, and he avoids publicity in all things. Standing as he +does at the head of the mercantile interests of the country, he affords +a fine example of the calm and dignified manner in which a man of true +merit may enjoy his legitimate success, and of the good use he may make +of its fruits. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +AMOS LAWRENCE. + + +Amos Lawrence was born at Groton, Massachusetts, on the 22d of April, +1786. His ancestor came of a good English family, and was one of the +company which sailed from England for the New World under Governor +Winthrop, in 1630, and which, according to Grahame, contained "several +wealthy and high-born persons, both men and women, who expressed their +determination to follow truth and liberty into a desert, rather than to +enjoy all the pleasures of the world under the dominion of superstition +and slavery." This Lawrence settled in Watertown, and was one of the +original proprietors of the town of Groton, which was founded in 1655. +Samuel Lawrence, the father of the subject of this memoir, was the fifth +in descent from the founder of the family, and was himself a gallant +officer of the American army in the War of the Revolution, the close of +which found him the possessor of a small farm, which yielded a modest +support for his family. + +Young Amos was brought up on the farm, with none of the advantages of +wealth, and with but a limited education, which he gained at the village +schools, and which was seriously interfered with by his delicate health. +He received his final training at the Groton Academy, to which, in after +life, he became a liberal patron. "As we children came forward," he +wrote, late in life, "we were carefully looked after, but were taught +to use the talents intrusted to us; and every nerve was strained to +provide for us the academy which is now doing so much there." Toward the +close of the year 1799, when but a little over thirteen years of age, he +took his final departure from school, and entered a store in the village +of Dunstable, as clerk. + +He remained there but a few months, and then returned to Groton, where +he obtained a place as apprentice in the store of a Mr. Brazer. This was +the largest establishment in the place, and conducted a very important +trade with the country for miles around. Boston was so far, and so +difficult to reach in those days, that Groton came in for nearly all the +business of its vicinity which the railroads have now taken to the city. +Mr. Brazer's establishment, which was known as a "variety store," came +in for the best part of this trade. Every thing was sold there; +"puncheons of rum and brandy, bales of cloth, kegs of tobacco, with +hardware and hosiery, shared attention in common with silks and threads, +and all other articles for female use." Even medicines were sold there; +and Dr. Wm. B. Lawrence, the son of our hero, assures us that his father +was obliged to sell medicines, not only to customers, but to all the +physicians within a circuit of twenty miles, who depended on this +establishment for their supplies. "The confidence in his good judgment," +he adds, "was such that he was often consulted in preference to the +physician, by those who were suffering from minor ails; and many were +the extemporaneous doses which he administered for the weal or woe of +the patient." + +The Brazer store was a prominent feature in Groton. It was a place of +general resort, and close by was the tavern where the mail coaches +stopped. Travelers were constantly passing through the town, bringing +the news of those stirring days when Napoleon was rushing over Europe +with his armies, overturning old states and building up new ones, and +changing the destinies of the world. The domestic politics of the day +were exciting, and it is likely that they aided, together with the +events in the Old World, in imparting to the character of Mr. Lawrence +the earnestness and gravity for which he was noted when a mere lad. + +Mr. Brazer had in his employ a number of clerks, but it was not long +before the energy and business talent of young Lawrence made him the +most trusted of all. Mr. Brazer did not give much personal attention to +the store, and when he found that his young clerk was so admirable and +reliable a manager, he left the business entirely in his hands. This was +a post of unusual responsibility for one so young, but Amos Lawrence +accepted it promptly, and labored to discharge its duties faithfully. He +at once established the character for probity and fairness which +distinguished him through life; his simple assertion was sufficient in +any matter, being received with implicit trust by all who knew him. His +duties kept him constantly employed, and though he lived within a mile +of his father's house, weeks sometimes passed without giving him the +opportunity of visiting it. + +Drunkenness was at that day the curse of New England. Every body drank, +and such fiery fluids as brandy, whisky, rum, and gin were the +favorites. Men, women, and children were addicted to the vice, and +Groton was no exception to the rule. Mr. Brazer's store was famous for +the good liquors served out to its customers, and his clerks were aware +that their employer did not object to their helping themselves when they +felt thirsty. Amos Lawrence fell into the habit to which all were given, +and for some time went along with the rest; but at length he came to the +conclusion that such indulgence was wantonly ruining his health, and he +resolved to abstain entirely. "We five boys," said he, years afterward, +"were in the habit, every forenoon, of making a drink compounded of rum, +raisins, sugar, nutmegs, etc., with biscuit--all palatable to eat and +drink. After being in the store four weeks, I found myself admonished by +my appetite of the approach of the hour for indulgence. Thinking the +habit might make trouble if allowed to grow stronger, without further +apology to my seniors, I declined partaking with them. My first +resolution was to abstain for a week, and, when the week was out, for a +month, and then for a year. Finally, I resolved to abstain for the rest +of my apprenticeship, which was for five years longer. During that whole +period I never drank a spoonful, though I mixed gallons daily for my old +master and his customers." + +At the same time, Mr. Lawrence determined that he would not use tobacco +in any form. He was very fond of the odor of "the weed," and at one +period of his life always kept a fine Havana in his drawer that he might +enjoy the scent of it; but he was totally free from our disgusting +national vice in any of its forms. In this respect, as indeed in all +others, he offers a fine example to the rising youth of the present +generation. + +On the 22d of April, 1807, Mr. Lawrence completed his twenty-first year, +and his seven years' apprenticeship with Mr. Brazer came to an end. He +was now of an age to enter into business for himself, and it was his +intention to open a small store in Groton, in connection with a brother +apprentice, but before doing so he decided to visit Boston for the +purpose of establishing a credit. He reached the city with but twenty +dollars in his pocket, richer, he subsequently declared, in his own +estimation, than he ever felt before or afterward. While in the city, he +received the offer of a clerkship from a mercantile house of good +standing. It was entirely unsolicited, and took him by surprise, but he +decided to accept it, and abandoned his idea of going into business for +himself in Groton; and this act led to a career entirely different from +that to which he had looked forward. + +Boston, in 1807, had a population of about thirty thousand, and the +commercial position of the city was relatively much greater than at +present. The foreign trade of the United States was enormous, and was +carried on in American ships, and not, as at present, in foreign +vessels. The total tonnage of American shipping engaged in this trade +was seven hundred thousand tons, and of this Boston possessed a fair +share. Her domestic trade was also important. + +"The merchants of Boston had then high places in the estimation of the +world. The Perkinses, the Sargeants, the Mays, the Cabots, the +Higginsons, and others, were known throughout the world for their +integrity, their mercantile skill, and the extent and beneficial +character of their operations. These were the golden days of Boston's +commerce.... The standard of integrity was high, and though it would be +absurd to suppose that there was not the usual amount of evil in the +place, it may be assumed that in no part of the world was the young +trader more likely to find severer judges of character and conduct, or +to be better treated if he should afford unquestionable proofs of +capacity and honesty." + +It was into this community that Mr. Lawrence now entered, and in which +his life was spent. He gave such satisfaction to his employers that, +when he had been with them a short time, they astonished him with the +offer of a partnership. He was but partially acquainted with their +affairs, but their manner of conducting their business did not please +him, and he declined their offer. His sagacity was verified by the +result. In a few months the firm failed, and the creditors appointed +him to settle their affairs, which he did to their satisfaction. + +Being now out of employment, he resolved to commence business on his own +account in Boston. He had made such a favorable impression upon the +merchants of the city that he had no difficulty in obtaining credit. He +rented a store in Cornhill, stocked it with dry goods, and began his +career as a merchant. Four months after this, his father, who was keenly +interested in his son's success, without consulting the latter, +mortgaged his farm for one thousand dollars, and, repairing to Boston, +placed the money in Amos Lawrence's hands. Mr. Lawrence was profoundly +affected by this proof of his father's devotion, but he regretted it +none the less, as he knew that his failure would bring ruin to his +parent as well as to himself. "I told him," said he, forty years later, +"that he did wrong to place himself in a situation to be made unhappy if +I lost the money. He told me he _guessed I wouldn't lose it_, and I gave +him my note." Mr. Lawrence made a prompt use of the money, and paid the +mortgage at the proper time; but he had a narrow escape from loss, as +the bank on which he had bills for the amount of the mortgage failed +almost immediately after he had obtained specie for them. + +"This incident," he said, "shows how dangerous it is to the independence +and comfort of families for parents to take pecuniary responsibilities +for their sons in trade, beyond their power of meeting them without +embarrassment. Had any Hillsborough bank-notes not been paid as they +were, nearly the whole amount would have been lost, and myself and my +family might have been ruined. The incident was so striking that I have +uniformly discouraged young men who have applied to me for credit, +offering their fathers as bondsmen; and by doing so I believe I have +saved some respectable families from ruin. My advice, however, has +sometimes been rejected with anger. A young man who can not get along +without such aid will not be likely to get along with it." + +He began his business upon principles of prudence and economy, which he +rigidly maintained throughout his whole life. He never allowed himself +to anticipate his gains, and having fixed his personal expenses at a +certain sum, he never went beyond it. His system, which is thus stated +by himself, is offered here as a safe and admirable rule for all +persons: + +"When I commenced, the embargo had just been laid, and with such +restrictions on trade that many were induced to leave it. But I felt +great confidence that, by industry, economy, and integrity, I could get +a living; and the experiment showed that I was right. Most of the young +men who commenced at that period failed by spending too much money, and +using credit too freely. + +"I adopted the plan of keeping an accurate account of merchandise bought +and sold each day, with the profit, as far as practicable. This plan was +pursued for a number of years, and I never found my merchandise fall +short in taking an account of stock, which I did as often at least as +once in each year. I was thus enabled to form an opinion of my actual +state as a business man. I adopted also the rule always to have +property, after my second year's business, to represent forty per cent, +at least more than I owed--that is, never to be in debt more than two +and a half times my capital. This caution saved me from ever getting +embarrassed. If it were more generally adopted, we should see fewer +failures in business. Excessive credit is the rock on which so many +business men are broken." + +Mr. Lawrence was very successful from the first. His profits during his +first year were fifteen hundred dollars, and over four thousand during +the second. In seven years he made over fifty thousand dollars. He paid +the closest attention to his business, and nothing could draw him from +it in working hours. After these were over he would take his pleasure. +His aim was to keep every thing in the most complete state possible. +During the first seven years of his business he never allowed a bill +against him to stand unsettled over the Sabbath. If he made a purchase +of goods on Saturday, and they were delivered to him that day, he always +examined and settled the bill by note, or by crediting it, and leaving +it clear, so that there should be no unfinished business to go over to +the next week, and make trouble for his clerks in case he should not be +at his post. "Thus," said he, "I always kept my business _before_ me, +instead of allowing it to drive me." + +The first years of Mr. Lawrence's mercantile experience covered the +darkest period of the history of the Republic. They were marked by the +embargo, the crippling of our commerce by the hostility of England and +France, and the second war with Great Britain, in all of which there was +much to dis-hearten a beginner, even if he escaped positive loss. +Nothing was certain. The events of a single hour might undo the labor of +years, and baffle the best laid plans. Yet he persevered, and went +steadily on to fortune. He was remarkable for his keen foresight, as +well as for his prudence, and was always on the alert to profit by the +fluctuations of the market. Yet he abominated speculation. He averred +that speculation made men desperate and unfit for legitimate business, +and that it led them, when under excitement, to the commission of acts +against which their cooler judgment would have warned them. The fair +profits of legitimate business were, in his opinion, sure to reward any +honest and capable man. His aim was to elevate commerce, and not to +degrade it. He introduced into Boston the system of double-entry in +book-keeping, in advance of any other city merchant. He was prompt and +faithful in the performance of every contract, and required a similar +course toward himself from all indebted to him, as long as they were +able to do so. When they became unfortunate, he was kind and generous, +ready to compromise upon the most liberal terms, or to give them their +own time for payment; and it is recorded of him that he never dealt +harshly with a debtor who had failed in business. + +As long as such a course was necessary, Mr. Lawrence devoted himself +entirely to his business, but after he had placed it on a safe footing, +he was careful to reserve to himself time for other duties and for +relaxation. No man, he said, had the right to allow his business to +engross his entire life. "Property acquired at such sacrifices as I have +been obliged to make the past year," he wrote at the commencement of +1826, "costs more than it is worth; and the anxiety in protecting it is +the extreme of folly." He never lost sight of the fact that man is a +responsible, intelligent being, placed in the world for other purposes +than the mere acquisition of wealth. + +In October, 1808, his brother, Abbott Lawrence, afterward famous as a +merchant and statesman, came to him as an apprentice, and on the 1st of +January, 1814, he was admitted to partnership, the style of the firm +being A. & A. Lawrence. This partnership was terminated only by the +death of the elder brother in 1852. Their business was the importation +and sale of foreign manufactures, and the firm soon took its place at +the head of the Boston merchants engaged in this trade. The tariffs of +1816 and 1824 gave a new and powerful impetus to the manufacture of +woolens and cottons in this country, and the Lawrences entered largely +into the sale of these goods on commission. In 1830, they became +interested in the cotton mills at Lowell; and on the establishment of +the Suffolk, Tremont, and Lawrence Companies, as well as subsequently in +other corporations, they became large proprietors. From this time their +business as selling agents was on the most extensive scale, and their +income from all sources large in proportion. They amassed large +fortunes, and won names which are the most precious heritages of their +children. + +Perhaps the best exposition of the principles upon which these brothers +conducted their commercial operations is found in the following letter +from the elder to the younger, written on the 11th of March, 1815, upon +the occasion of a visit to England by the latter on business for the +firm: + + + MY DEAR BROTHER--I have thought best, before you go abroad, to + suggest a few hints for your benefit in your intercourse with the + people among whom you are going. As a first and leading principle, + let every transaction be of that pure and honest character that you + would not be ashamed to have appear before the whole world as + clearly as to yourself. In addition to the advantages arising from + an honest course of conduct with your fellow-men, there is the + satisfaction of reflecting within yourself that you have endeavored + to do your duty; and however greatly the best may fall short of + doing all they ought, they will be sure not to do more than their + principles enjoin. + + It is, therefore, of the highest consequence that you should not + only cultivate correct principles, but that you should place your + standard of action so high as to require great vigilance in living + up to it. + + In regard to your business transactions, let every thing be so + registered in your books, that any person, without difficulty, can + understand the whole of your concerns. You may be cut off in the + midst of your pursuits, and it is of no small consequence that your + temporal affairs should always be so arranged that you may be in + readiness. + + If it is important that you should be well prepared in this point + of view, how much more important is it that you should be prepared + in that which relates to eternity! + + You are young, and the course of life seems open, and pleasant + prospects greet your ardent hopes; but you must remember that the + race is not always to the swift, and that, however flattering may + be our prospects, and however zealously you may seek pleasure, you + can never find it except by cherishing pure principles and + practicing right conduct. My heart is full on this subject, my dear + brother, and it is the only one on which I feel the least anxiety. + + While here, your conduct has been such as to meet my entire + approbation; but the scenes of another land may be more than your + principles will stand against. I say _may be_, because young men of + as fair promise as yourself have been lost by giving a small + latitude (innocent in the first instance) to their propensities. + But I pray the Father of all mercies to have you in his keeping, + and preserve you amid temptations. + + I can only add my wish to have you write me frequently and + particularly, and that you will embrace every opportunity of + gaining information. + + Your affectionate brother, AMOS LAWRENCE. + + TO ABBOTT LAWRENCE. + + +In his politics, Mr. Lawrence was a Federalist, and then a Whig. He +served for one term in the State Legislature as a Representative from +Boston, with credit to himself, but afterward avoided any active +participation in public events. When his nephew-by-marriage, General +Pierce, was a candidate for the Presidency, he was very much gratified +personally by the selection of the Democracy, but declined to vote for +him. In a letter to a friend, written at this time, he said: "I had a +charming ride yesterday with my nephew, Frank Pierce, and told him I +thought he must occupy the White House the next term, but that I would +go for Scott. Pierce is a fine, spirited fellow, and will do his duty +wherever placed. Scott will be my choice for President of the United +States." + +Regarding himself as a steward of the riches committed to him, Amos +Lawrence was liberal in his charities. During the last twenty-four years +of his life he kept an accurate account of the sums he thus distributed, +but with no idea that the statement, which he intended for his own eye +only, would ever be made public. During this period he gave away six +hundred and thirty-nine thousand dollars. The greater part of this was +given away in ten years, and during a period when his average income was +sixty thousand dollars a year. He was a liberal patron of education, +giving large sums to its extension; and it was his delight to assist +poor clergymen, without regard to denominations. He gave away clothing, +food, books, etc., in large quantities, as well as ready money. "Two +rooms in his house," says his son and biographer, "and sometimes three, +were used principally for the reception of useful articles for +distribution. There, when stormy weather or ill-health prevented him +from taking his usual drive, he was in the habit of passing hours in +selecting and packing up articles which he considered suitable to the +wants of those whom he wished to aid." He did not forget the children, +and many of his packages contained toys, and books, and other things +calculated to promote their enjoyment. + +He was beset with beggars of all kinds, many of whom he was compelled to +refuse. In his diary, he wrote on the 11th of April, 1849, "Applications +come in from all quarters, for all objects. The reputation of giving +freely is a very bad reputation, so far as my personal comfort is +concerned." + +It pained him to have his charities made public, and he frequently +requested the recipients to say nothing about them. He once made a +present of some books to the Johnson school for girls, and the gift +being acknowledged through the columns of a newspaper, he wrote to the +principal of the school: "I merely want to say that I hope you will not +put me in the newspaper at present, and when my work is done here, if +you have any thing to say about me that will not hurt my children and +grandchildren, say on," To another party he wrote: "I must request that +my name be not thrust forward, as though I was to be a by-word for my +vanity. I want to do good, but am sorry to be published, as in the +recent case." + +As a merchant, Mr. Lawrence was upright, prudent, far-seeing, sagacious, +and courageous; as a citizen, he was patriotic, public-spirited, and +devoted; and as a man, he was a sincere, earnest, Christian husband, +father, and friend. Viewed in any light, his character affords one of +the most perfect models to be found in our history. He was the Christian +_gentleman_ in all things, even in the minutest detail of his business. +His standard was very high, but he came up to it. Courteous and +dignified in manner, with a face handsome and winning in youth, and +gentle and benignant in age, he made scores of friends wherever he went, +for it was a true index to his character. It is a significant and +interesting fact that, during the hottest passages of the old +nullification times, although his views were known to be +uncompromisingly opposed to the attitude of the South, he never lost the +warmest friendship of some of the most advanced of the South Carolina +leaders. When one thinks of the friendships that were wrecked amid the +passions of those days, this fact speaks volumes for the personal +attributes of Mr. Lawrence. + +He was a true American--proud of his country's past, hopeful for her +future, and desiring nothing better than to live and die in the land of +his birth. He sent his children abroad that they might see the Old +World, and profit by the lessons learned there, but he strove earnestly +to keep them true to their country. To his son, who was traveling in +France in 1829, he wrote: + +"Bring home no foreign fancies which are inapplicable to our state of +society. It is very common for our young men to come home and appear +quite ridiculous in attempting to introduce their foreign fashions. It +should be always kept in mind that the state of society is widely +different here from that in Europe; and our comfort and character +require it should long remain so. Those who strive to introduce many of +the European habits and fashions, by displacing our own, do a serious +injury to the republic, and deserve censure. An idle person, with good +powers of mind, becomes torpid and inactive after a few years of +indulgence, and is incapable of making any high effort. Highly important +it is, then, to avoid this enemy of mental and moral improvement. I have +no wish that you pursue trade; I would rather see you on a farm, or +studying any profession. + +"It should always be your aim so to conduct yourself that those whom you +value most in the world would approve your conduct, if your actions were +laid bare to their inspection; and thus you will be pretty sure that He +who sees the motive of all our actions will accept the good designed, +though it fall short in its accomplishment. You are young, and are +placed in a situation of great peril, and are, perhaps, sometimes +tempted to do things which you would not do if you knew yourself under +the eye of your guardian. The blandishments of a beautiful city may lead +you to forget that you are always surrounded, supported, and seen by +that best Guardian." + +He was an eminently just man, and he carried this trait into the little +details of his domestic life. His household adored him; and his friends +were bound to him by ties unusually strong. He was firm and positive in +his own opinions; but he was tolerant of those who differed from him. He +was a man of quick, nervous temperament, but he possessed a powerful +self-control. He was a sincere and earnest Christian, and while +attaching himself to the sect of his choice, his sympathies and aid went +out to the whole Christian Church. + +Denominational differences had no place in his heart. He stood on the +broad platform of the "faith of Christ crucified." + +During the last years of his life, Mr. Lawrence was a constant invalid. +To a man of his temperament this was a great trial, but he bore it +unflinchingly, exhibiting, in the long years of feeble health which +preceded his death, a cheerfulness and patience which plainly showed the +aid of the Arm on which he leaned for support. For sixteen years he did +not take a meal with his family. His food and drink, of the simplest +kind, were regularly weighed, a pair of scales being kept in his chamber +for that purpose. He wrote to his friend President Hopkins, of Williams +College: "If your young folks want to know the meaning of epicureanism, +tell them to take some bits of coarse bread (one ounce or a little +more), soak them in three gills of coarse meal gruel, and make their +dinner of them, and nothing else; beginning very hungry, and leaving off +more hungry." + +Mr. Lawrence continued in this condition until December, 1852, when he +was seized with a severe attack of the stomachic trouble to which he was +a martyr. He died peacefully, on the last day of that month and year, at +the age of sixty-six years, eight months, and eight days. He was buried +in Mount Auburn Cemetery, and was followed to the grave by a host of +friends who mourned him as a brother, and by strangers to whom his +kindness in life had brought relief from many a care and suffering. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ANDREW V. STOUT. + + +There are few men in the city of New York who have won more fairly their +proud positions in the mercantile world than he whose name stands at the +top of this page. For more than forty years he has carried on a large +and increasing business with an energy, skill, and probity which could +not fail of success. + +ANDREW V. STOUT was born in the city of New York, at No. 6 Canal Street, +or, as it was then called, Pump Street, about the year 1814. When he was +scarcely more than a child he was left fatherless, and thrown upon his +own resources for a living. He was a manly little fellow, and, young as +he was, was fully alive to the importance of the position he was +compelled to assume. He was resolved not only to support himself, but +also to acquire a good education, and by studying hard while most boys +are at play, mastered the ordinary English branches by the time he was +twelve years old. + +He had a mother and sister to support, and applied himself manfully to +the task of accomplishing this. He was well grown for his age, and was +generally supposed to be several years older than he really was. When he +was fourteen years old he applied for and received a position as +assistant teacher of the English branches in one of the public schools +of the city. The trustees of the school supposed he was at least +eighteen or nineteen years old. Had his true age been known to them, it +is probable he would not have received the appointment. He was not +questioned upon the subject, and he was wise enough to keep his own +counsel. He performed the duties of his position to the entire +satisfaction of the school officials, and made such a good impression on +his friends that at the age of sixteen he was made assistant principal +in one of the most important and popular private schools of the day, +taught by Shepherd Johnson, a name well known to the old residents of +New York. + +He was very young to fill this position, and, as may be supposed, it was +peculiarly trying to one whose learning was mainly self-acquired. He was +determined to succeed, however, and he applied himself energetically to +master the course he was teaching. He studied harder and more constantly +than any of his pupils, and was always fresh on the lessons for the day. + +When he was sixteen years old he was so well grown and so mature that he +passed for twenty. Having succeeded so well in the management of his +English classes, he was offered the position of instructor of Latin, +with an increase of his salary. The offer at first dismayed him. He was +thoroughly ignorant of the Latin language, and utterly unprepared for +the duties demanded of him. He was very anxious to have the place, +however, for he needed the increase of salary offered him, and, after +hesitating a little while, accepted it. He purchased a Latin grammar, +and engaged a private tutor. He studied hard, and soon mastered the +rudiments of the language. In this way he managed to keep ahead of his +classes. If a question was asked him which he could not answer, he +postponed his reply, looked into the matter at night, and explained it +the next morning. By such hard study and patient efforts did this boy, +himself a mere novice, turn out what was admitted by all to be the best +drilled Latin class Shepherd Johnson's school had ever boasted of. + +When he was eighteen years old he was made principal of Public School +No. 2 of New York. He was living at Bushwick, where he resided with his +mother and sister in a cozy little cottage, the garden of which was his +pride, since he tended it with his own hands. It was his custom to rise +every morning at four o'clock, and work in his garden until seven. Then +he rode into the city, and attended to his school duties until four +o'clock, when he returned home. + +He was now in possession of a comfortable living; but he was not +satisfied to do this and nothing more. He was anxious to win fortune, to +enter upon a more active and stirring pursuit, and he kept himself +always on the watch for an opening. About the time he became the head of +the public school we have referred to, he commenced to engage in various +ventures of a commercial nature, devoting to them his evenings, and the +hours of the day not demanded by his school. + +One of his relatives was a builder, with a fair trade, and had made some +money by erecting houses in New York. Young Stout, who had saved a +little money, proposed to him that they should take out a contract for +building a number of dwellings on the then fashionable thoroughfare of +East Broadway. The elder man was pleased with the plan, and at once +consented to it. The houses were built at a handsome profit; others +followed them, and by attending closely to this business, as well as his +other duties, Andrew Stout, by the time he was twenty years old, had +saved seventeen thousand dollars--a very large sum in those steady-going +days. + +He was greatly aided by the custom of doing business on time, which +then prevailed, but he never allowed one of his notes to be protested, +and never asked for an extension. When he began business, he did so with +the firm resolve that he would conduct his most insignificant +transaction as a Christian man of honor. If he could not make money +honestly, he would remain poor. Every body saw the energy and judgment +with which he conducted his affairs, and the strict integrity which +marked them all, and he was not long in building up a reputation as a +business man of which any one might have been proud. The promptness and +apparent ease with which he met every contract, and took up every note, +caused it to be generally believed that he was a very rich man. Further +than this, it was known that he was a zealous and earnest Christian, one +who carried his religion into his business, and who lived up to his +professions. He was an active member of the Methodist Church, and the +business man of the congregation to which he belonged. In his hands its +finances prospered as they had never done before. Such was the +reputation of this young man, who had not yet attained his majority. + +He held his position in the public school for several years after his +appointment to it, but the requirements of his business at length +compelled him to relinquish it. + +In the midst of his prosperity Mr. Stout made one mistake. A friend with +whom he had been interested in building wished to procure some money +from the bank, and Mr. Stout was induced, with considerable reluctance, +to indorse his note for five thousand dollars. One false step in +business, as in other affairs of life, leads to another, and, in order +to save this money, Mr. Stout was forced to renew his indorsements until +his liabilities amounted to twenty-three thousand dollars. To his dismay +he was now informed by the builder for whose sake he had incurred this +risk, that he (the builder) had failed, without making provision for the +payment of the notes, and that Mr. Stout would have to account to the +bank for them. + +"Several methods of relief were open to Mr. Stout. He was worth +seventeen thousand dollars, which he had earned by nights of toil, by +economy, and by daily and earnest attention to business. To pay the +notes would not only sweep away every penny that he had, but would leave +him six thousand dollars in debt. He had never realized one cent from +the money, and his name was used simply to accommodate the builder. +Besides, he was not of age, though nobody suspected that fact, and he +could repudiate his debts as a minor. He took no counsel, made no +statement of his affairs to any one, shut himself up in his own room, +and considered thoughtfully what he should do, and then followed out the +decision that he had reached. Having become bankrupt in money, he +concluded he would not be so in character. He had earned seventeen +thousand dollars, and could earn seventeen thousand dollars more. He did +confide in one friend. He went to a relative, and asked him to lend him +six thousand dollars, the sum necessary to take up all the notes. The +relative was astonished at the request, and insisted upon knowing the +facts in the case. Mr. Stout made a full and frank statement. It was met +with the remark, 'Well, Andrew, I thought you would be a rich man, but +if this is the way you do your business, you will never be worth any +thing,' But Mr. Stout did not want preaching, he wanted money; and as +the relative seemed to hesitate about loaning the money, as no security +was offered, Mr. Stout curtly told him he could do as he pleased about +it; he could get the money somewhere, and pay the notes. The money was +promised, and he went on his way. + +"The bank watched the young financier with a great deal of interest. +The whole matter had been discussed often in the bank, and the wonder +was how young Stout would meet the blow. It was supposed that he would +ask for an extension; and it was agreed to give it to him, and to make +the time of payment convenient to his ability. Had he proposed to +compromise the matter by paying one-half, the bank would have accepted +it. That would have left him a capital of nearly eight thousand dollars +for a fresh start. Had he offered his seventeen thousand dollars on +condition that he was released from all liability, the notes would have +been canceled with alacrity. He did neither. He proposed no compromise, +asked no extension, and attempted to negotiate no settlement. When the +first note became due, he paid it. He did the same with the second and +third. After the third payment, he was called into the office of the +president. Reference was made to the notes, and to the fact that he had +obtained no benefit from the money. The president told him the bank was +ready to renew the notes, and to give him any accommodation that he +might ask. Mr. Stout simply replied that the blow was a heavy one, but +that having assumed the obligation, he should discharge it; that he +asked no favors, and as the notes matured he should take them up. He +paid every dollar due, and every one was certain that his wealth must be +very large. His manliness, pluck, and integrity, which carried him +through that crisis, became the sure foundation-stone on which his great +fortune was laid. He took the front rank among successful financiers, +and his honorable course in that crisis established his fame as an +honest man, in whom it would be safe to confide. Years of earnest and +active business life have not changed that character, nor allowed a blot +or stain to cloud that reputation."[A] + +[Footnote A: Matthew Hale Smith.] + +Some years later, Mr. Stout became a merchant. He established a +wholesale boot and shoe store, and engaged actively in that business. He +brought to his new calling the energy, prudence, and integrity which had +distinguished him all through his life, and was successful from the +first. He worked hard. His business hours were from seven in the morning +until six in the evening. During his busy season, four months in the +year, he worked until ten, and often until twelve, paying his employes +extra wages for labor performed after the regular business hours. +Sometimes he worked until four in the morning, but that did not deter +him from being in the store at the usual hour for opening. He was always +the last to go home, never leaving the store until the business of the +day was over and the house was closed. He extended his operations into +dry goods, meeting with equal success in this department. As his +business expanded, he was compelled to form various partnerships, but in +all these arrangements he reserved to himself, like Stewart, the +exclusive management of the finances. + +About eighteen years ago, the shoe and leather merchants of the city +decided to organize a bank, in which their interests should be the +principal consideration. Mr. Stout engaged in the effort with great +enthusiasm, and the Shoe and Leather Bank of New York was at length +organized under the most auspicious circumstances. Mr. Stout was the +largest stockholder in the new bank, and was elected one of its +directors. His influence was potent in directing its first operations, +and the next year he was elected vice-president, in which position he +really had the control of the enterprise left to him. A year later he +was elected president of the bank, a position which he still holds, +being in point of service the oldest bank president in New York. Upon +questions of banking and finance, his views are listened to with great +respect by his associates, who have proof of their soundness in the +splendid success of the institution over which he presides; and it may +be truly said that there are few men in the city who enjoy so large a +share of the public confidence as is bestowed upon him. + +As a citizen, he is public-spirited and liberal. Some years ago, he held +the office of city chamberlain, and during his administration of it a +difficulty arose in regard to paying the police force their wages. +Knowing that the men and their families would suffer if the money were +not promptly paid them, Mr. Stout generously advanced the necessary sum +from his private means, looking to the city to reimburse him. In +grateful acknowledgment of this practical sympathy for them, the force +presented him with a handsome testimonial. His fortune is immense, and +is used liberally in behalf of the cause of the Christian religion. His +charities are said to be large, but one rarely hears of them, so quietly +are they done. He is married and has a family. + +No man's career holds out more encouragement to young men seeking to +rise than that of Andrew V. Stout. It shows that courage, patient +industry, and business capacity will bring fortune to any honest worker. +His uniform success speaks volumes in favor of a young man's striving to +lead a Christian life in the midst of his business cares and struggles. +God's blessing follows such an one at every step, and he will succeed in +the end, whatever trials may beset his path at first. It is a great +mistake to suppose that a man's success depends on his "sharpness." +Shrewdness is a valuable quality, but it must be coupled with a plain, +practical honesty, or it will amount to nothing in the end. A man must +be faithful to his God if he would have his work stand. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +JONAS CHICKERING. + + +On Tremont Street, in the City of Boston, near the Roxbury line, there +stands an immense building of brick, said to be larger than any edifice +in the United States, save the Capitol at Washington. It is built in the +form of a hollow square, with a large court-yard in the center, and the +building and court-yard together cover an area of five acres. It is five +stories in height on the outer side, and six on the inner, the +court-yard being one story lower than the street. The building is two +hundred and sixty-two feet in length from east to west, and two hundred +and forty-five from north to south, the shorter distance being the +length on Tremont Street. The width of the building all around the +court-yard is fifty feet. It contains nine hundred windows, with eleven +thousand panes of glass, and when lighted up at night seems almost a +solid mass of fire. From five to six hundred men are employed here in +various capacities, and an immense steam engine of one hundred and +twenty horse-power furnishes the motive power for the machinery. +Altogether, it is one of the most prominent and interesting of all the +sights of Boston, and the visitor is surprised to learn that it is due +entirely to the energy and genius of one who, but thirty-four years +previous to its erection, came to Boston a penniless stranger. The +building is the famous piano-forte manufactory of Chickering & Sons, and +its founder was Jonas Chickering, the subject of this sketch. + +JONAS CHICKERING was born at New Ipswich, New Hampshire, on the 5th of +April, 1798. His father was a blacksmith by trade, and employed his +leisure time in cultivating a small farm of which he was the owner. He +was esteemed by his neighbors as an upright, reliable man, and prudent +and careful in his temporal affairs. The family being poor, young Jonas +was required to do his share toward cultivating the farm, and received +only such education as was afforded by the district schools in the +vicinity. He was noted at an early age for his passionate love of music. +When a mere child, he learned to play on the fife, and was such a +proficient performer that he was called upon with the town drummer to +furnish music for the militia musters, which were then the pride of the +town. These were happy days for the lad, but his pleasure was marred by +the ridicule which the contrast between his slender figure and the +stalwart frame of the "six-foot drummer" caused the fun-loving +towns-people to indulge in. Soon after this he learned to play on the +clarionet, and when only seventeen or eighteen years old, was so +advanced in his art that he could read at sight music of the most +difficult character. + +At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker to learn +his trade, and remained with him for three years, exerting himself to +become thorough master of every detail of the business. Toward the close +of his apprenticeship, an event occurred which changed the whole current +of his life, and placed him in what proved to him the road to fame and +fortune. + +One of the wealthiest citizens of New Ipswich was the fortunate owner of +a piano, the only instrument of the kind in the place; but his treasure +was almost useless to him, for the reason that it was out of tune and +seriously damaged in some respects. It had lain in this condition for a +long time, no one in or near the place being able to make the necessary +repairs. In this extremity the owner bethought him of Jonas Chickering, +who had acquired an enviable reputation for skill in his trade, and it +was thought that a good cabinet-maker ought of necessity to be a clever +piano-maker. Young Chickering, thus appealed to, consented to undertake +the task, as much for the purpose of becoming familiar with the +instrument as of earning the sum the owner of it proposed to pay for the +repairs. He had not the slightest knowledge of its internal +organization, but he believed that by patient investigation he could +master it, and he knew that the correctness of his ear would enable him +to tune it. He made a careful study of the instrument and of every +separate part, spent days over the task, discovered the injury and the +cause of it, and not only took the instrument to pieces and restored it +to its former condition, but did his work so well that the piano was +pronounced fully as good in every respect as when it was new. This was +not all. He discovered defects in the instrument which even its maker +was not able to remedy, and his fertile brain at once suggested to him a +plan for removing them. + +Here was a chance for him, and he resolved to profit by it. He would +abandon cabinet-making and learn the manufacture of pianos. Then, when +master of his trade, he would make use of his discoveries, and earn both +fame and fortune. When his determination to change his business was made +known, his friends attributed it to his desire to be in the midst of +musical instruments, and where he could gratify his love of music; but +this was only a part of the motive which influenced him. He meant to +rise in the world, and he was sure that he held in his hands the means +of doing so. + +In 1818, when twenty years old, he removed to Boston, and obtained +employment with a cabinet-maker. He did this in order to give him time +to look about him, to become familiar with the city and city life, and +to acquire such other information as would enable him to decide upon the +best means of putting his plans into execution. He saved his wages with +the greatest care, and at the end of his first year in Boston had +accumulated a modest little sum, which he meant should support him while +he was learning his new trade. + +On the 15th of February, 1819, without the loss of a day, he began work +with a piano-maker. + +He had now entered upon what he meant should be the business of his +life, and he was resolved that he would be master of it. From the first +he took rank in his employer's factory as the most careful workman in +it. He spared no pains to make his knowledge full in every detail. Time +was of no consequence compared with knowledge, and he was never anxious +to hurry through with his work. It soon came to be recognized by his +employer and fellow-workmen that he was the best fitted for those +portions of the work upon the instrument which required the greatest +patience as well as the greatest care, and the most difficult and +delicate work was always intrusted to him, his wages being, of course, +in proportion. Other men had no thought but to earn a living. This man +meant to win fame and fortune, and to enlarge the scope of that art to +which he was so passionately devoted. He labored with his mind as well +as his hands, familiarizing himself with every detail of the +manufacture, and devising in silence the means for improving the +instrument and the implements used in its construction. He could afford +to wait, to be slower than his fellows. Every moment spent over his +task made his workmanship the better, and opened to his mind new sources +of improvement. He spent three years as a journeyman, and then went into +business for himself. He associated himself with a Mr. Stewart, under +the firm of Stewart & Chickering. + +Fifty years ago the piano-forte was a wretched piece of mechanism +compared with the superb instrument of to-day. It was originally a +progressive growth from the ancient lyre, through the harp, psaltery, +dulcimer, clavictherium, clavichord, virginal, spinet, harpsichord, to +the piano of Christofali in the early years of the last century. At the +period of Mr. Chickering's entrance into business, it was still very +imperfect, and the various manufacturers of the instrument were +earnestly endeavoring to discover some means of remedying the defects of +which they were all conscious. There are four divisions in the +manufacture of a piano, each of which requires great skill and care. +These are: First, The making of the framing and the sound-board; Second, +The stringing; Third, The keys and action; Fourth, The case and +ornamental work. The framing requires strength and simplicity. It is +this portion of the instrument which sustains the tension of the +strings, which in full to large-sized pianos is not less than from six +to twelve tons, and it is a matter of prime necessity that the portions +which serve as a strut or stretcher between the ends of the strings, and +which are to resist this enormous pull, must be made correspondingly +strong and rigid, since by any gradual yielding under the pull of the +strings, their lengths and tensions, and hence their tone, must undergo +proportionate change. In the old pianos, the frames were of wood, and it +was impossible to use any but small, short strings, for the reason given +above. Fullness and power were not to be thought of, and builders were +obliged to confine themselves to securing truthfulness of tone. A +multitude of causes, among which were the changes in the weather, +combined to render it impossible to keep the old-fashioned instrument in +tune. It was this defect which first attracted the attention of Jonas +Chickering, and his first endeavor was to produce an instrument which +would withstand the climatic changes which were so troublesome to the +old ones. He was fully aware of the fact that the piano trade in this +country was then so unimportant that it offered but little inducement to +a man who could manufacture only the old instrument; but he believed +that by producing an instrument of better proportions, and one fuller, +richer, and more lasting in tone, he could create a demand for it which +would insure the sale of all he could manufacture. His hope of success +lay not in the old, but in an improved and nobler instrument. That he +was correct in his belief, the magnificent instrument of to-day which +bears his name, and the lucrative business he has left to his sons, +amply demonstrate. Others besides himself were working for the same end, +and he knew that he would have to bear the test of determined and +intelligent competition. He applied himself to his purpose with +enthusiasm. He carefully studied the theory of atmospheric vibration and +musical combination, as well as an application of the principles of +mechanical philosophy to the construction of the instrument. He went +deep into the science involved in his work, into the philosophy of +melody. Passionately devoted to music, he was ambitious of placing that +which has been so truly called "the king of instruments" within the +reach of all lovers of harmony, and to give them the best instrument +that human invention could produce--an instrument which should not only +withstand atmospheric changes, but which should yield the richest, +fullest volume of melody, with the least exertion to the performer. His +progress was slow, but it was sure. Beginning with an improvement in +the action, he accomplished, in a great measure (in 1838), his plan for +preserving the permanence and purity of the tone of the instrument by +casting the entire iron framing with the parallel bars in one piece. +Iron had for some time before this been in general use for framing, but +the frame was cast in a few separate parts, which were put together by +means of bolts and screws, a plan which is still used to a considerable +extent in Europe. By his plan of casting the frame and its supporting +bars in one solid piece, Mr. Chickering not only prevented the frame +from yielding to the pull of the strings, thus securing permanence and +purity of tone, but was enabled to use larger frames and more strings, +which greatly increased the capacity of the instrument. + +Several other improvements were made by him, the most important of which +was the invention, in 1845, of the circular scale for square pianos, +which is now in general use in this country and in Europe. "This consists +in giving to the row of tuning pins and wrest-planks--previously +straight in these instruments--a curved disposition, answering nearly to +an arc of a circle, the advantage being that the strings become less +crowded, larger hammers, and a more direct blow can be secured, and the +tone is both strengthened and improved." With a rare generosity, Mr. +Chickering declined to patent this improvement, which would have enabled +him to drive competition out of the market. He regarded it as so +necessary to a good piano that he declared that all makers ought to have +the use of it, as it would thus be within the power of all persons able +to purchase a piano to avail themselves of it, whether they bought a +"Chickering" or not. Such generosity is too rare to fail to receive the +praise it merits. + +Mr. Chickering did not continue long in business with Mr. Stewart. The +latter withdrew in a few years, and Mr. Chickering carried on the +business alone. In 1830 he formed a partnership with Captain John +Mackay, a retired ship-merchant. In the new firm Captain Mackay took +charge of the finances and the office business, while Mr. Chickering +devoted himself entirely to the mechanical department. The operations of +the new house were very successful. The improvements made by Mr. +Chickering from the first created a demand for their instruments which +was sometimes so great that it was difficult to supply it. This demand +continued to increase, until the house was perfectly easy as to money +matters, and able to enlarge its facilities very greatly. It was Mr. +Chickering's design that each separate instrument should be an +improvement upon those which had preceded it, and he was careful that +this plan should not miscarry. In a few years the firm was enabled to +import the foreign materials needed, by the cargo, thus saving the +profit which they had hitherto been compelled to pay the importer. +Besides this saving, they were enabled to keep on hand a large stock of +the woods used in the instrument, and thus it was allowed to become more +thoroughly seasoned than that which they had been compelled to purchase, +from time to time, in small quantities. In 1841, Captain Mackay sailed +from Boston for South America, for the purpose of obtaining a supply of +the woods needed by the firm; but he never returned, and as no tidings +of him or his ship were ever received, it is supposed that the vessel +went down at sea with all on board. + +Mr. Chickering now decided to continue the business without a partner. +His friends supposed that in assuming the management of the concern, in +addition to the direction of the mechanical department, and the constant +mental labor to which he subjected himself in his efforts to improve the +piano, he was undertaking more than he was capable of performing. They +feared his health would break down under it. Besides, it was generally +believed that, in spite of Mr. Chickering's undoubted skill in his own +department, he was not much of a business man. He was confident of his +own ability, however, and did not hesitate to assume the new +responsibility. + +The business of which he now became the owner was very heavy and +extensive. Soon after the beginning of his connection with Captain +Mackay, the firm erected a large factory for the purpose of carrying on +their business. One hundred hands were employed in it when opened, but +in a few years it was necessary to employ more than twice that number, +so rapidly did the business increase. The supply of materials needed was +ample and of the very best quality, for Mr. Chickering never allowed an +inferior article to be used. The warerooms were large and handsomely +fitted up, and were filled with instruments ranging in price from a +thousand dollars downward. It was generally believed that while Mr. +Chickering's genius had created the demand for the pianos, it was +Captain Mackay's business knowledge and experience that had placed +affairs on their present footing, and when Mr. Chickering proposed to +buy Captain Mackay's interest from his heirs, which was valued at +several hundred thousand dollars, there was a very general belief, which +found expression, that he was incurring certain ruin. The condition of +the sale was that the purchase-money should be divided into +installments, for each of which Mr. Chickering should give his note, +secured by a mortgage on the premises. At Mr. Chickering's request each +note was made payable "on or before" a given day. The lawyer who +conducted the transaction smiled skeptically as he inserted this clause, +and asked the purchaser if he _ever_ expected to pay the notes at all. + +"If I did not expect to pay them promptly, I should not give them," was +the simple reply. He was as good as his word. The notes were met +promptly, and although Captain Mackay's family requested that they might +stand as an investment for them, Mr. Chickering took up the last one at +its maturity. + +With the business in his own hands, Mr. Chickering continued its +operations, displaying an ease in his mercantile transactions which +astonished and delighted his friends. The business prospered to a +greater degree than before, and all the while Mr. Chickering continued +his labors for the improvement of his instruments with still greater +success than in former years. His pianos were universally regarded as +the best in the market, and his competitors were unable to excel him. +Although conducting a business which required the constant exercise of +the highest mercantile talent, he did not relax his energy in the +mechanical department. To the end of his life, long after he had become +a wealthy and prominent man, he had his own little working-cabinet, with +an exquisite set of tools, with which he himself put the finishing touch +to each of his splendid instruments, a touch he would not intrust to any +other hands. + +His competitors did all in their power to equal him, but he distanced +them all. One of them adopted a most startling expedient. He obtained +permission from the Legislature of Massachusetts to change his name to +_Chickering_, and at once sent out his instruments marked with his new +name, his object of course being to deceive the public, and Jonas +Chickering had the mortification of seeing the inferior instruments of +another maker mistaken for his own. He promptly laid before the +Legislature a petition for redress, setting forth the facts of the case +and the motives of his rival. The result was that the Legislature +reconsidered its action, and compelled the bogus Chickering to resume +his original name. + +Mr. Chickering was noted for his simplicity and straight-forwardness in +business transactions. Conscious of his own integrity, he listened to no +proposition of a doubtful character, nor would he ever allow his credit +as a merchant to be questioned with impunity. Upon one occasion, he +applied through his clerk to the bank, with which he had dealt for many +years, for an accommodation which he needed. The president of the bank +sent for him, and told him that security would be required. + +"I shall give you none," he replied. "I have done my business at this +bank for a long time, and if you do not know me, I shall apply where I +am better known." + +The president was firm in his position, and Mr. Chickering applied to +another bank, which readily granted him the desired discount, and to +which he at once transferred his business, which was worth to the bank +about ten thousand dollars a year. Shortly after, a director of the +institution at which he had formerly dealt called on him, and urged him +to restore his business to the bank, assuring him that in future it +would readily grant him any accommodation he might desire. + +"No," he replied; "I will deal with no institution which, having had the +opportunity of knowing me, suspects my responsibility." + +Again having need of accommodation, he sent his notes for a large sum to +one of the city banks for discount. The president said an indorser would +be required. + +"I shall indorse them myself," said Mr. Chickering. + +"That will never do," replied the president. + +"Very well," was the simple answer, and, without further words, he took +the notes to another bank, which promptly loaned him the money on them. + +He tolerated no irregularity in his own business. He was true to the +spirit as well as to the letter of a contract, and never, during the +whole course of his long life, was he guilty of a transaction in which +the most rigid moralist could find a taint of sharp practice. What a +refutation of the theories of those who hold that cunning and trickery +are unavoidable some time in the course of a long and successful +mercantile career lies in the story of this man, who, beginning life +penniless, filled with a burning ambition to be rich and famous, never +swerved from the straight path of integrity, and by the exercise of only +the highest traits of his nature more than realized his boyish dreams! +Ponder it well, young man, and learn from it that honesty is indeed the +best policy in any calling. + +Mr. Chickering had married early in life, and now had three sons just +entering upon manhood. These were carefully educated at the public +schools for which Boston is so justly famed, and then put into their +father's factory to learn the mechanical part of the business. It was +the father's ambition to be succeeded by his sons, but he was not +willing to trust the labor of his life to ignorant or incompetent hands. +At the age of seventeen, Thomas Chickering, the eldest son, was taken +from school, and, under his father's eye, taught every detail of the +mechanical branch of the business, until he understood it as well as the +senior Chickering himself. George, the second son, in due time passed +through the same course of training; while Francis, the youngest, was +brought up in the warehouse. The father thoroughly imbued his sons with +his own system and energy, and to-day we see the result. The firm of +Chickering & Sons is still the most prominent in America. Thomas is now +the acting head of the house, and has led it on to continued success; +Francis is the presiding genius of the mechanical department, and has +made many important improvements in the field in which his father won +success; and George exercises a general supervision at the immense +factory in Boston. The mantle of the father has fallen upon the sons, +and his labors have found their highest reward in their success. + +Mr. Chickering's good fortune was not entirely uninterrupted. On the 1st +of December, 1852, his factory was burned to the ground, with all its +valuable patterns, stock, etc., involving a loss to him of two hundred +thousand dollars. The interruption to his business was very serious, +apart from the loss of his property. Expressions of sympathy poured in +upon him from his friends, coupled with offers of pecuniary assistance +in his efforts to reestablish his business. His disaster seemed merely +to inspire him with fresh energy, but the kindness of his friends +entirely overcame him. + +[Illustration: "MY MEN SHALL NOT SUFFER."] + +He wasted no time in vain regrets, but at once went to work. He was +fifty-four years old, but he showed an energy and determination which +more than rivaled the fire of his young manhood. The loss of his factory +was not only a severe blow to him, but to the three hundred workmen who +had been employed in it, and who were dependent upon their wages for +their support. His first care was to assure them that they should not +suffer, but that they should continue to receive their wages as +regularly as though nothing had happened to interrupt their labor. He +had always been kind and generous to his employes, paying liberal wages, +and rewarding especial merit, but this act of kindness did more to +endear him to them than any previous benefaction. Having provided for +his men, he set to work to prepare temporary accommodations for his +business, and then began his arrangements for the construction of a new +factory. He took a great degree of interest in the plans for the new +building, the architect being almost entirely guided by his suggestions, +and the result of his labors is the magnificent building to which +reference was made at the opening of this chapter. He did not live to +see it completed, however. He died at the house of a friend from the +rupture of a blood-vessel, produced, it is believed, by severe mental +labor, on the 8th of December, 1853. His fortune at the time of his +death was estimated at a quarter of a million of dollars. His sons +assumed the charge of the business, which they still conduct. + +The loss of Mr. Chickering was felt by all classes of his +fellow-citizens--especially by the poor. To them he had been a kind and +generous friend. Distress never appealed to him in vain, and he proved a +faithful steward of the riches committed to his care. Yet he performed +his charities with such a modesty and reticence that few beside the +grateful recipients were aware of them. Indeed, it was his custom to +enjoin secrecy upon those whom he assisted; but they would not remain +quiet. His liberality is in striking contrast with the closeness of many +who were worth more than twenty times his wealth, but who lacked his +warm and sympathizing nature. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +NICHOLAS LONGWORTH. + + +The grape culture of the United States is yet in its infancy. Although +the annual wine product is estimated at nearly three millions of +gallons, there can be no doubt that ere many years shall have elapsed +America will rank as one of the most important wine countries of the +world. California is already extending her vineyards for miles along her +smiling valleys, where the clear sky and the balmy air, which are +unchangeable at the season of the grape harvest, permit a degree of +perfection in the fruit unattainable in any European country. Already +her wines are commanding an enviable place in the markets of the world, +with no apparent limits to the growing demand for them. The hillsides of +the lower Ohio Valley are lined with thriving vineyards, whose rich +clusters of Catawba and Isabella grapes delight the eye on every hand, +and thousands of acres are now given to successful grape culture, where +formerly only a few straggling vines were seen. More than five hundred +thousand gallons of wine are now annually produced in the neighborhood +of Cincinnati alone, and find a market in that city, and what was but a +few years ago a mere experiment is now one of the chief sources of the +wonderful prosperity of the Ohio Valley, and one of the most important +features in the commerce of the Queen City of the West. The success +which has attended this branch of our industry must be a matter of +congratulation to the whole country, and the man to whose courage, +energy, and liberality it is mainly due must be regarded as a public +benefactor. + +This man, NICHOLAS LONGWORTH by name, was born at Newark, New Jersey, on +the 16th of January, 1782. His father had been a man of large property, +but in consequence of being a Tory during the Revolution, his +possessions were confiscated, and he and his family impoverished. Young +Nicholas's childhood was passed in indigence, and it is said that he was +apprenticed to a shoemaker, when a mere lad, to learn the trade as a +means of livelihood. However this may be, it is certain that when very +young he went to South Carolina as a clerk for his elder brother. The +climate of the South, however, did not suit his health, and he returned +to Newark, and began the study of the law. + +He was poor, and the East was overcrowded, even at that early day, and +offered but few inducements to a young man entirely dependent upon his +own efforts. Ohio was then the "Far West," and emigration was setting in +toward it rapidly. Those who had seen the country related what then +seemed marvelous tales of its wonderful fertility and progress. Few +professional men were seeking the distant land, and Longworth felt +convinced that the services of such as did go would assuredly be in +demand, and he resolved to cast his lot with the West. + +In 1803, at the age of twenty-one, he removed to the little village of +Cincinnati, and, having fixed upon this place as his future home, +entered the law office of Judge Jacob Burnet, long the ablest jurist in +Ohio. He soon won the confidence and esteem of his instructor, and +succeeded so well in his studies that in an unusually short time he was +admitted to the bar. + +He entered upon the practice of his profession with energy, and soon +acquired a profitable business, which increased rapidly. He was a man of +simple habits, and lived economically. His savings were considerable, +and were regularly invested by him in real estate in the suburbs of the +town. Land was cheap at that time, some of his lots costing him but ten +dollars each. Long before his death they were worth more than as many +thousands. He had a firm conviction that Cincinnati was destined to +become one of the largest and most flourishing cities in the Union, and +that his real estate would increase in value at a rate which would +render him wealthy in a very few years. + +His first client was a man accused of horse-stealing, in those days the +most heinous offense known to Western law. Longworth secured his +acquittal, but the fellow had no money to pay his counsel, and in the +absence of funds gave Longworth two second-hand copper stills, which +were his property. These the lawyer accepted, thinking that he could +easily dispose of them for cash, as they were rare and valuable there in +those days. They were in the keeping of Mr. Joel Williams, who carried +on a tavern adjacent to the river, and who was afterward one of the +largest property-holders in Cincinnati. Mr. Williams was building a +distillery at the time, and, as he had confidently reckoned upon using +the two stills in his possession, was considerably nonplussed when +Longworth presented his order for them. In his extremity he offered to +purchase them from the lawyer for a lot of thirty-three acres of barren +land in the town, which was then worth little or nothing. Longworth +hesitated, for although he had an almost prophetic belief in the future +value of the land, he was sorely in need of ready money; but at length +he accepted the offer. The deed for the land was made out in his name, +and the stills became the property of Mr. Williams. The distillery was +built, and its owner realized a fortune; but Longworth did more. His +thirty-three acres of barren land were soon in the very heart of +Cincinnati, and long before his death were valued at two millions of +dollars. + +The foresight of Mr. Longworth was fully justified by the course of +events. The growth of Cincinnati was almost marvelous in its rapidity. +In 1802, it contained about 800 inhabitants; in 1810, 2,540; in 1820, +9,060; in 1830, 24,831; in 1840, 46,338; in 1850, 118,761; and in 1860, +just three years before Mr. Longworth's death, 171,293 inhabitants. The +reader can easily imagine the immense profits which a half century's +increase placed in the hands of the far-seeing lawyer. It seems almost +like reading some old fairy tale to peruse the accounts of successful +ventures in real estate in American cities. They have sprung up as if by +magic, and it is impossible to say where their development will end. +Said a gentleman of less than thirty-five years of age to the writer of +these pages, "I am the oldest native-born citizen of Chicago. When I +first saw the light, my native place could not boast even the dignity of +a village; and young as I am, I have witnessed all this wonderful +growth." The prosperity of Cincinnati was scarcely less marked, as the +career of Mr. Longworth shows. The investment of a comparatively +insignificant sum laid the foundation of his fortune, and the first +counsel fee he ever earned, a sum trifling in itself, placed him in +possession of millions. + +Mr. Longworth continued carefully to invest his gains in real estate. +The prices paid by him increased, of course, with the rise in the value +of property, but as he was persuaded that the limit had not yet been +reached, he extended his operations without fear of loss. He sold many +of his original purchases, but continued until the day of his death the +largest land-owner in the city. In 1850 his taxes were over $17,000, and +in the same year the taxes of William B. Astor amounted to $23,116. At +the time of his death Mr. Longworth's estate was valued at fifteen +millions of dollars, and is doubtless worth fully one-third more at the +present day. + +Mr. Longworth retired from the practice of the law in 1819, to devote +himself to the management of his property, which was already +sufficiently important to require his undivided attention. He had always +been an enthusiast in horticultural matters, and believing that the +climate of the Ohio Valley was admirably adapted to the production of +grapes, had for some time been making experiments in that direction; but +he fell into the error of believing that only the foreign vines were +worth cultivating, and his experiments were unsuccessful. The foreign +grape did not mature well, and the wine produced from it was not good. +In 1828 his friend Major Adlum sent him some specimens of the Catawba +grape, which he had procured from the garden of a German living near +Washington City, and be began to experiment with it in his own vineyard. + +The Catawba grape, now so popular and well-known throughout the country, +was then a comparative stranger to our people, and was regarded even by +many who were acquainted with it as unfit for vintage purposes. It was +first discovered in a wild condition about 1801, near Asheville, +Buncombe County, North Carolina, near the source of the Catawba River. +General Davy, of Rocky Mount, on that river, afterward Senator from +North Carolina, is supposed to have given the German in whose garden +Major Adlum found the grape a few of the vines to experiment upon. +General Davy always regarded the bringing of this grape into notice as +the greatest act of his life. "I have done my country a greater benefit +in introducing this grape into public notice," said he, in after years, +"than I would have done if I had paid the national debt." + +Mr. Longworth's experiments with the Catawba were highly successful, +and induced him to abandon all his efforts with foreign vines, and +undertake only the Catawba, to which he afterward added the Isabella. He +now entered systematically upon grape-growing. He established a large +vineyard upon a hillside sloping down to the river, about four miles +above the city, and employed German laborers, whose knowledge of +vine-dressing, acquired in the Fatherland, made them the best workmen he +could have. He caused it to be announced that all the grape juice +produced by the small growers in the vicinity would find a cash +purchaser in him, no matter in what quantities offered. At the same time +he offered n reward of five hundred dollars for any improvement in the +quality of the Catawba grape. + +The enthusiasm which he manifested, as well as the liberality of his +offer, had a decidedly beneficial effect upon the small growers in the +neighborhood. "It proved a great stimulus to the growth of the Catawba +vine in the country around Cincinnati," to know that a man of Mr. +Longworth's means stood ready to pay cash, at the rate of from a dollar +to a dollar and a quarter a gallon, for all the grape-juice that might +be brought to him, without reference to the quantity. It was in this +way, and by urgent popular appeals through the columns of the +newspapers, that he succeeded, after many failures, and against the +depressing influence of much doubt and indifference, in bringing the +enterprise up to its present high and stable position. When he took the +matter in hand there was much to discourage any one not possessed of the +traits of constancy of purpose and perseverance peculiar to Mr. +Longworth. Many had tried the manufacture of wine, and had failed to +give it any economical or commercial importance. It was not believed, +until Mr. Longworth practically demonstrated it, that a native grape +was the only one upon which any hope could be placed, and that the +Catawba offered the most assured promise of success, and was the one +upon which all vine-growers might with confidence depend. It took years +of unremitted care, multiplied and wide-spread investigations, and the +expenditure of large sums of money, to establish this fact, and bring +the agricultural community to accept it and act under its guidance. The +success attained by Mr. Longworth soon induced other gentlemen resident +in the vicinity of Cincinnati, and favorably situated for the purpose, +to undertake the culture of the Catawba, and several of them are now +regularly and extensively engaged in the manufacture of wine. The +impetus and encouragement thus given to the business soon led the German +citizens of Hamilton County to perceive its advantages, and, under their +thrifty management, thousands of acres, stretching up from the banks of +the Ohio, are now covered with luxuriant and profitable vineyards, +rivaling in profusion and beauty the vine-clad hills of Italy and +France. The oldest vineyard in the county of Hamilton is of Mr. +Longworth's planting. + +Mr. Longworth subsequently increased the size of his vineyard to two +hundred acres, and toward the close of his life his wine houses annually +produced one hundred and fifty thousand bottles of wine. His vaults +usually contained a stock of three hundred thousand bottles in course of +thorough ripening. + +His cellars were situated on the declivity of East Sixth Street, on the +road to Observatory Hill. They occupied a space ninety feet by one +hundred and twenty-five in size, and consisted of two tiers of massive +stone vaults, the lower of which was twenty-five feet below the surface +of the ground. The manufacture of the wine was placed under the charge +of a celebrated chemist from Rheims, and the mode of preparation was as +follows: + +After the pressing of the grape, the juice is subjected to the vinous +fermentation, by which ten or eleven per cent, of alcohol is developed. +In the following spring, it is mixed with a small quantity of sugar, and +put into strong bottles, the corks of which are secured with twine and +wire. The sugar accelerates a second fermentation, which always takes +place about this time, and thus a strong movement is produced inside the +glass, which generates gas enough to burst the vessels briskly, adding +thereby considerably to the cost. This is known as the gaseous +fermentation, and the effect of it is to render the wine more +enlivening, more stinging to the taste, and more fruity. "This last +effect results from this, that the flavor of the fruit mostly passes off +with the carbonic acid gas, which is largely generated in the first or +vinous fermentation, and in a less degree in this second or gaseous +fermentation." It is impossible to avoid the loss of the flavor in the +first fermentation, but the strong bottles and securely-fastened corks +preserve it in the second. The liquid, which is muddy at first, becomes +clear in about a year, a thick sediment having collected at the bottom +of the bottle. The bottles are then placed in racks, with their necks +downward, and are shaken vigorously every day for about three weeks. +This forces the sediment to settle down in the neck against the cork. +When it is all in the neck, the wires are cut, and the cork blown out by +the gas, carrying the sediment with it. Fresh sugar, for sweetness, is +now added, new corks are driven in and secured, and in a few weeks the +wine is ready for the market. + +Mr. Longworth continued his wine trade with great success for about +twenty-five years, and though for some time his expenditures were +largely in excess of his income from this source, he at length reaped a +steady and increasing profit from it, which more than reimbursed him for +his former losses. He was very fond of the strawberry, and succeeded, +by careful and expensive cultivation, in making several very important +improvements in that delicious fruit. His experiments in the sexual +character of the strawberry are highly interesting, but must be passed +by here. He manifested no selfishness with respect to his fruits. He was +anxious that their cultivation should become general, and his +discoveries and improvements were always at the service of any and every +one who desired to make use of them. + +He was thoroughly devoted to his adopted home, and anxious to secure its +steady improvement. When it was proposed to establish an observatory, +the Mount Adams property, then owned by him, was regarded as the most +fitting site for it. He was asked to name the price for which he would +sell the property. To the astonishment of the parties in charge of the +enterprise, he made a free gift of the land--four acres in extent--to +the trustees. A gentleman who had hoped to dispose of some of his own +property for this purpose charged Mr. Longworth, through the press, with +being influenced by a desire to improve his adjoining property by the +erection of the observatory on Mount Adams. Longworth promptly replied +that if the writer of the article in question would donate four acres of +his own property for an observatory, he (Longworth) would put up, at his +own expense, a building on it equal to that which had been erected on +Mount Adams, and transfer the latter place to the city as a permanent +pleasure ground. He quietly added that in this way his accuser might +himself receive, for his adjacent property, all the benefits of such an +improvement, and at the same time win for himself the lasting gratitude +of the people of Cincinnati. This settled the matter, and no more was +heard from the other side. + +"Longworth," says one who knew him, "is a problem and a riddle--a +problem worthy of the study of those who delight in exploring that +labyrinth of all that is hidden and mysterious, the human heart; and a +riddle to himself and others. He is a wit and a humorist of a high +order; of keen sagacity and shrewdness in many other respects than in +money matters; one who can be exact to a dollar, and liberal, when he +chooses, with thousands; of marked peculiarity and tenacity in his own +opinions, yet of abundant tolerance to the opinions, however +extravagant, of others--a man of great public spirit and sound general +judgment. + +"In addition to all this, it would be difficult to find an individual of +his position and standing so perfectly free from pride, in the ordinary +sense. He has absolutely none, unless it be the pride of eccentricity. +It is no uncommon circumstance for men to become rich by the +concentration of time, and labor, and attention to some one object of +profitable employment. This is the ordinary phase of money-getting, as +closing the ear and pocket to applications for aid is that of +money-saving. Longworth has become a rich man on a different principle. +He appears to have started upon the calculation that if he could put any +individual in the way of making a dollar for Longworth, and a dollar for +himself at the same time, by aiding him with ground for a lot, or in +building him a house on it; and if, moreover, he could multiply cases of +the kind by hundreds, or perhaps thousands, he would promote his own +interests just in the same measure as he was advancing those of others. +At the same time he could not be unconscious that, while their half was +subdivided into small possessions, owned by a thousand or more +individuals, his half was a vast, boundless aggregate, since it was the +property of one man alone. The event has done justice to his sagacity. +Hundreds, if not thousands, in and adjacent to Cincinnati, now own +houses and lots, and many have become wealthy, who would, in all +probability, have lived and died as tenants under a different state of +case. Had not Mr. Longworth adopted this course, he would have occupied +that relation to society which many wealthy men now sustain, that of +getting all they can and keeping all they get." + +In politics, Mr. Longworth was a Whig, and afterward a Republican. +During the famous Clay campaign he was asked to give one hundred dollars +to help defray the expenses of the party. + +"I never give something for nothing," said he. "We might fail to elect +Clay, as we did before, and I should fling away the hundred dollars." + +The applicant, who was himself a man of wealth, assured him that there +was no doubt of Clay's election. + +"There can be no chance of your losing," he said. + +"Well," replied Longworth, "I'll tell you what I will do. I will give +you the hundred dollars, but mind, you shall be personally responsible +to me for its return if Clay is not elected." + +The offer was accepted; and when the campaign resulted in the defeat of +Clay, Longworth demanded his money from the politician, who was +compelled to return it out of his own pocket. + +In his own way--and a quaint, singular way it was--Mr. Longworth was +exceedingly charitable. Long after he was worth millions, and when every +moment of his time was valuable, he was supernumerary township trustee. +This was an office which required the expenditure of a considerable +portion of his time, and brought him in constant contact with some of +the most wretched of the lowest class of the poor. He was always in his +office, at stated times, and with a patience and kindness worthy of all +admiration, the millionaire listened to their sad tales, and provided +such aid as was necessary, oftentimes giving it out of his own purse +when the public funds failed. + +He was a bitter foe to vagabondage and mendicity. If people in need were +willing to work, he would place them in the way of doing so. He was the +owner of a stone quarry on Deer Creek, the traces of which may still be +seen in the lines of the new Gilbert Avenue; and he kept in his office +a supply of picks and shovels. When a stout beggar asked him for alms, +he would inquire if he was willing to go to work. If answered +affirmatively, he would give him a pick and shovel, and start him for +the quarry, where the wages were promptly paid out every night. Many +availed themselves of the opportunity, and worked for him faithfully; +but others gave the quarry "a wide berth," and sold the pick and shovel +for money or liquor. It was his custom to buy large quantities of bread +tickets from the bakers, and to distribute them to those whom he +considered worthy; and he would also keep on hand large quantities of +shoes, dry goods, etc., which he gave away in the same manner. + +Mr. Frank Pentland, who was once in his employ, relates the following +incident: + +"One morning, just after Mr. Longworth had gone to his office, near the +Third-Street entrance, where he was accustomed to receive applicants for +charity, he was accosted by a man who craved assistance. In answer to a +question as to his needs, he replied that his main want was a pair of +shoes, and a glance at his feet showed that he spoke truthfully. Mr. +Longworth appeared 'to take his measure' at a glance, and impulsively +shaking his right foot (he seldom wore his shoes tied), kicked the shoe +over to the applicant, saying: + +"'Try that on, my man. How does it fit?' + +"'Illigant, yer honor,' + +"'Well, try that, now,' said he, kicking off the other. 'How will they +do?' + +"Illigant, yer honor; illigant! May many a blessing'-- + +"'Well, well, go now--that'll do,' and turning to Pentland, who was then +a young boy in his service, ordered him to the house to get another +pair. Frank obeyed, but was told by Mrs. Longworth that those he wore +away from the house were all that he had. The result was that Frank was +hurried off to William Hart's shoe store, on Fifth Street, for new ones, +with instructions to 'Ask Mr. Hart for the kind I always buy, and don't +pay over a dollar and a half for them.'" + +Yet many persons charged this man with stinginess--a charge to which +every rich man lays himself open who does not give to all who ask him. +Even the rich must refuse sometimes, for there is no reason why they +should answer _all_ the calls made upon them--a course which would soon +impoverish them. They must discriminate somewhere, and how this shall be +done is a question which each must decide for himself. Longworth +exercised this discrimination in an eccentric manner, eminently +characteristic of him. He invariably refused cases that commended +themselves to others. A gentleman once applied to him for assistance for +a widow in destitute circumstances. + +"Who is she?" asked the millionaire. "Do you know her? Is she a +deserving object?" + +"She is not only a woman of excellent character," answered his friend, +"but she is doing all in her power to support a large family of +children." + +"Very well, then," said Mr. Longworth, "I shan't give a cent. Such +persons will always find a plenty to relieve them." + +He was firm, and turned coldly from the entreaties of his friend. Yet +he opened his purse liberally to those whom others refused. Vagabonds, +drunkards, fallen women, those who had gone down far into the depths of +misery and wretchedness, and from whom respectable people shrank in +disgust, never appealed to him in vain. "The devil's poor," he +whimsically called them. He would listen to them patiently, moved to the +depths of his soul by their sad stories, and would send them away +rejoicing that they were not utterly friendless. "Decent paupers will +always find a plenty to help them," he would say, "but no one cares for +these poor wretches. Every body damns them, and as no one else will help +them, I must." Yet he aided them in such a manner as to encourage them +to rise above their wretchedness. + +In his personal appearance Mr. Longworth was not prepossessing. He was +dry and caustic in his remarks, and rarely spared the object of his +satire. He was plain and careless in his dress, looking more like a +beggar than a millionaire. He cared nothing for dress, except, perhaps, +that he preferred common clothes to fine ones. One of his acquaintances +relates the following story in illustration of this phase of his +character: + +"Many winters ago, it will be remembered that a style of striped goods +was quite popular with poor people on account of its cheapness, and that +it acquired the name of 'Hard Times.' Every body with scant purses wore +coats or pants of it, for the reason that they could not very well buy +any other kind. As the story goes, it appears that 'Old Nick,' as he was +familiarly called, invested in an overcoat of this material, and took +great pride in wearing it, much to the annoyance of the women folks. It +happened that one cold, stormy night the faithful family coachman was at +the house without an overcoat, and Mrs. Longworth, after very feelingly +depicting his forlorn condition to her husband, solicited the privilege +of giving him the aforesaid overcoat. Much to her gratification, Mr. +Longworth assented, and the coachman wore off the 'Hard Times,' the good +wife replacing it by an elegant broadcloth that she had quietly provided +for the occasion. The next morning 'Old Nick' very innocently (?) +overlooked the new coat, and went off to make his usual morning rounds +without one; but it would be impossible to portray the annoyance of the +household when they saw him returning to dinner wearing a duplicate of +the veritable 'Hard Times,' and for weeks afterward it was no uncommon +occurrence to see the 'master and man' flitting about the old homestead +dressed in their gray stripes." + +The shabbiness of his dress once led to an amusing adventure, which he +enjoyed very much. Climbing one of the hilly streets of the city one +broiling summer day, he sat down on a pile of bricks, under the cool +shade of a tree, to rest. Taking off his well-worn hat, he laid it on +his knee, and closing his eyes, sat enjoying the breeze which had just +then sprung up. He was very tired, and his whole figure expressed his +weariness. As he sat there in his shabby dress, with his eyes closed, +and his hat resting on his knees, he looked the very picture of a blind +beggar soliciting charity. For such, indeed, he was mistaken by a +working man who passed by a few minutes later, and who, pitying the +supposed unfortunate, tossed a few pennies into his hat. The noise of +the coppers made the old man open his eyes and look up; and to his +amazement the workman recognized in the object of his charity Nicholas +Longworth, the millionaire. Mr. Longworth looked at him a moment in his +dry, quizzical way, and then, thanking him politely, put the coins in +his pocket, and, closing his eyes, once more resumed his former +position. + +Mr. Longworth had erected a magnificent mansion in the midst of his +vineyard. He gathered there a fine library, and a collection of +paintings, statuary, and other art treasures, which were his pride. He +died there on the 10th of February, 1863, at the age of eighty-one. His +loss was severely felt by the community, especially by his "devil's +poor," for whom he had cared so tenderly. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +GEORGE PEABODY. + + +It is not often that men who pass their lives in the acquisition of +money are able to retain the desire to give it to others who have had no +share in the earning of it. In European countries, the wealthy merchant +commonly uses his fortune for the purpose of founding a family, and +securing sometimes a title of nobility. His wealth is entailed, that it +may remain in his family and benefit remote generations; but few save +those of his own blood enjoy any benefit from it, and the world is no +better off for his life and success than if he had never been born. In +America, instances of personal generosity and benevolence on a large +scale are of more common occurrence than in the Old World. We have +already borne witness to the munificence of Girard, Astor, Lawrence, +Longworth, and Stewart, and shall yet present to the reader other +instances of this kind in the remaining pages of this work. We have now +to trace the career of one who far exceeded any of these in the extent +and magnitude of his liberality, and who, while neglecting none +connected with him by ties of blood, took the whole English-speaking +race for his family, and by scattering his blessings far and wide on +both sides of the Atlantic, has won a proud name + + "As one who loved his fellow-men." + + +[Illustration: GEORGE PEABODY.] + +GEORGE PEABODY came of an old English family, which traced its +descent back to the year of our Lord 61, the days of the heroic +Boadicea, down through the brilliant circle of the Knights of the Round +Table, to Francis Peabody, who in 1635 went from St. Albans, in +Hertfordshire, to the New World, and settled in Danvers, Massachusetts, +where the subject of this memoir was born one hundred and sixty years +later, on the 18th of February, 1795. The parents of George Peabody were +poor, and hard work was the lot to which he was born, a lot necessary to +develop his sterling qualities of mind and heart. He was possessed of a +strong, vigorous constitution, and a quick, penetrating intellect. His +education was limited, for he was taken from school at the age of +eleven, and set to earning his living. Upon leaving school, he was +apprenticed to a Mr. Sylvester Proctor, who kept a "country store" in +Danvers. Here he worked hard and faithfully for four or five years, +devoting himself, with an energy and determination surprising in one so +young, to learn the first principles of business. His mind matured more +rapidly than his body, and he was a man in intellect long before he was +out of his teens. Having gained all the information it was possible to +acquire in so small an establishment, he began to wish for a wider field +for the exercise of his abilities. A retail grocery store was no longer +the place for one possessed of such talents, and thoroughly conscious of +them at such an early age, and it was natural that he should desire some +more important and responsible position. + +Accordingly, he left Mr. Proctor's employment, and spent a year with his +maternal grandfather at Post Mills village, Thetford, Vermont. "George +Peabody's year at Post Mills," says a writer who knew him, "must have +been a year of intense quiet, with good examples always before him, and +good advice whenever occasion called for it; for Mr. Dodge and his wife +were both too shrewd to bore him with it needlessly. + +"It was on his return from this visit that he spent a night at a tavern +in Concord, N.H., and paid for his entertainment by sawing wood the next +morning. That, however, must have been a piece of George's own voluntary +economy, for Jeremiah Dodge would never have sent his grandson home to +Danvers without the means of procuring the necessaries of life on the +way, and still less, if possible, would Mrs. Dodge...." + +[Illustration: PEABODY PAYING FOR A NIGHT'S LODGING.] + +"The interest with which Mr. Peabody remembered this visit to Post Mills +is shown by his second visit so late in life, and his gift of a +library--as large a library as that place needs. Of its influence on his +subsequent career, of course, there is no record. Perhaps it was not +much. But, at least, it gave him a good chance for quiet thinking, at an +age when he needed it; and the labors of the farm may have been useful +both to mind and body." + +At the age of sixteen, in the year 1811, he went to Newburyport, and +became a clerk in the store of his elder brother, David Peabody, who was +engaged in the dry goods business at that place. He exhibited unusual +capacity and promise in his calling, and soon drew upon himself the +favorable attention of the merchants of the place. He was prompt, +reliable, and energetic, and from the first established an enviable +reputation for personal and professional integrity. It is said that he +earned here the first money he ever made outside of his business. This +was by writing ballots for the Federal party in Newburyport. Printed +ballots had not then come into use. + +He did not stay long in Newburyport, as a great fire, which burned up a +considerable part of the town, destroyed his brother's store, and +obliged him to seek employment elsewhere. He always retained a warm +attachment to the place, however, an attachment which a resident of the +town explains as follows: + +"The cause of Mr. George Peabody's interest in Newburyport was not alone +that he had lived here for a brief period, or that his relatives had +lived here; but rather it was the warm friendship that had been shown +him, which was, in fact, the basis of his subsequent prosperity. He left +here in 1811, and returned in 1857. The forty-six intervening years had +borne to the grave most of the persons with whom he had formed +acquaintance. Among those he recognized were several who were in +business, or clerks, on State Street in 1811,--Messrs. John Porter, +Moses Kimball, Prescott Spaulding, and a few others. Mr. Spaulding was +fourteen years older than Mr. Peabody, and in business when the latter +was a clerk with his uncle, Colonel John Peabody. Mr. Peabody was here +in 1857, on the day of the Agricultural Fair, and was walking in the +procession with the late Mayor Davenport, when he saw Mr. Spaulding on +the sidewalk, and at once left the procession to greet him. + +"Mr. Spaulding had rendered him the greatest of services. When Mr. +Peabody left Newburyport, he was under age, and not worth a dollar. Mr. +Spaulding gave him letters of credit in Boston, through which he +obtained two thousand dollars' worth of merchandise of Mr. James Reed, +who was so favorably impressed with his appearance, that he subsequently +gave him credit for a larger amount. This was his start in life, as he +afterward acknowledged; for at a public entertainment in Boston, when +his credit was good for any amount, and in any part of the world, Mr. +Peabody laid his hand on Mr. Reed's shoulder, and said to those present, +'My friends, here is my first patron; and he is the man who sold me my +first bill of goods.' After he was established in Georgetown, D.C., the +first consignment made to him was by the late Francis Todd, of +Newburyport. It was from these facts that Newburyport was always +pleasant in his memory; and the donation he made to the Public Library +was on his own suggestion, that he desired to do something of a public +nature for our town." + +From New England, George Peabody turned his face southward, and entered +the employment of his uncle, Mr. John Peabody, who was engaged in the +dry goods business in Georgetown, in the District of Columbia. He +reached that place in the spring of 1812; but, as the second war with +England broke out about the same time, was not able to give his +immediate attention to business. He became a member of a volunteer +company of artillery, which was stationed at Fort Warburton, but as no +active duty was required of the company, he soon went back to his +uncle's store. His uncle was a poor man and a bad manager, and for two +years the business was conducted by George Peabody, and in his own name; +but at the end of that time, seeing the business threatened with ruin by +his uncle's incapacity, he resigned his situation, and entered the +service of Mr. Elisha Riggs, who had just established a wholesale dry +goods house in Georgetown. Mr. Riggs furnished the capital for the +concern, and Mr. Peabody was given the management of it. Soon after +this, the latter became a partner in the house. It is said that when Mr. +Riggs invited Mr. Peabody to become his partner, the latter informed him +that he could not legally assume the responsibilities of the business, +as he was only nineteen years old. This was no objection in the mind of +the merchant, as he wanted a young and active assistant, and had +discerned in his boy-manager the qualities which never fail to win +success. + +The new business in which he was engaged consisted chiefly in the +importation and sale of European goods, and consignments of dry goods +from the northern cities. It extended over a wide field, and gave Mr. +Peabody a fine opportunity for the display of his abilities. Mr. Riggs' +friends blamed him very much for leaving his business so entirely in the +hands of a boy of nineteen; but he had better proof than they that his +affairs were not only in good but in the best hands, and he answered +them all by telling them that time would justify his course. Mr. Peabody +traveled extensively in establishing his business, often journeying into +the wild and unsettled regions of the border States on horseback. He +worked with energy and intelligence, and in 1815 the business was found +to be so extensive that a removal to Baltimore became necessary. About +this time a sort of irregular banking business was added to the +operations of the house. This was chiefly the suggestion of Mr. Peabody, +and proved a source of great profit. + +Mr. Peabody quickly took a prominent rank among the merchants of +Baltimore. His manner was frank and engaging, and won him many friends. +He was noted for "a judgment quick and cautious, clear and sound, a +decided purpose, a firm will, energetic and persevering industry, +punctuality and fidelity in every engagement, justice and honor +controlling every transaction, and courtesy--that true courtesy which +springs from genuine kindness--presiding over the intercourse of life." +His business continued to increase, and in 1822 it became necessary to +establish branches in Philadelphia and New York, over which Mr. Peabody +exercised a careful supervision. He was thoroughly familiar with every +detail of his business, and never suffered his vigilance to relax, +however competent might be the subordinates in the immediate charge of +those details. In 1827 he went to England on business for his firm, and +during the next ten years made frequent voyages between New York and +London. + +In 1829 Mr. Riggs withdrew from the firm, and Mr. Peabody become the +actual head of the house, the style of the firm, which had previously +been "Riggs & Peabody," being changed to "Peabody, Riggs & Co." The firm +had for some time been the financial agents of the State of Maryland, +and had managed the negotiations confided to them with great skill and +success; and every year their banking department became more important +and more profitable. + +In 1836 Mr. Peabody determined to extend his business, which was already +very large, to England, and to open a branch house in London. In 1837 he +removed to that city for the purpose of taking charge of his house +there, and from that time London became his home. + +The summer of this year was marked by one of the most terrible +commercial crises the United States has ever known. A large number of +the banks suspended specie payment, and the majority of the mercantile +houses were either ruined or in the greatest distress. Thousands of +merchants, until then prosperous, were hopelessly ruined. "That great +sympathetic nerve of the commercial world, credit," said Edward Everett, +"as far as the United States was concerned, was for the time paralyzed. +At that moment Mr. Peabody not only stood firm himself, but was the +cause of firmness in others. There were not at that time, probably, half +a dozen other men in Europe who, upon the subject of American +securities, would have been listened to for a moment in the parlor of +the Bank of England. But his judgment commanded respect; his integrity +won back the reliance which men had been accustomed to place in American +securities. The reproach in which they were all involved was gradually +wiped away from those of a substantial character; and if, on this solid +basis of unsuspected good faith, he reared his own prosperity, let it be +remembered that at the same time he retrieved the credit of the State of +Maryland, of which he was agent--performing that miracle by which the +word of an honest man turns paper into gold." + +The conduct of Mr. Peabody, as well as the evidences which he gave of +his remarkable capacity for business, in this crisis, placed him among +the foremost merchants of London. He carried on his business upon a +large scale from his base of operations in that city. He bought British +manufactures in all parts of England and shipped them to the United +States. His vessels brought back in return all kinds of American produce +which would command a ready sale in England. Profitable as these +ventures were, there was another branch of his business much more +remunerative to him. The merchants and manufacturers on both sides of +the Atlantic who consigned their goods to him frequently procured from +him advances upon the goods long before they were sold. At other times +they would leave large sums in his hands long after the goods were +disposed of, knowing that they could draw whenever they needed, and that +in the meanwhile their money was being so profitably invested that they +were certain of a proper interest for their loans. Thus Mr. Peabody +gradually became a banker, in which pursuit he was as successful as he +had been as a merchant. In 1843 he withdrew from the house of Peabody, +Riggs & Co., and established the house of "George Peabody & Company, of +Warnford Court, City." + +His dealings were chiefly with America, and in American securities, and +he was always regarded as one of the best specimens of the American +merchant ever seen in London. He was very proud of his country; and +though he passed so many years of his life abroad, he never forgot that +he was an American. In speaking of the manner in which he organized his +business establishment, he once said: "I have endeavored, in the +constitution of its members and the character of its business, to make +it an American house, and to give it an American atmosphere; to furnish +it with American journals; to make it a center of American news, and an +agreeable place for my American friends visiting London." + +It was his custom, from his first settlement in England, to celebrate +the anniversary of the independence of his country by an entertainment +at one of the public houses in the city, to which the most distinguished +Americans in London were always invited, as were also many of the +prominent men of Great Britain; and this dinner was only discontinued in +deference to the general celebration of the day which was afterward +instituted by the whole body of Americans resident in the British +metropolis. In the year 1851, when it was thought that there would be no +representation of the achievements of American skill and industry in the +Great Exhibition of that year, from a lack of funds, Mr. Peabody +generously supplied the sum of fifteen thousand dollars, which enabled +the Commissioners to make a suitable display of the American +contributions. Said the Hon. Edward Everett, alluding to this act: + +"In most, perhaps in all other countries, this exhibition had been a +government affair. Commissioners were appointed by authority to protect +the interests of the exhibitors; and, what was more important, +appropriations of money had been made to defray their expenses. No +appropriations were made by Congress. Our exhibitors arrived friendless, +some of them penniless, in the great commercial Babel of the world. They +found the portion of the Crystal Palace assigned to our country +unprepared for the specimens of art and industry which they had brought +with them; naked and unadorned by the side of the neighboring arcades +and galleries fitted up with elegance and splendor by the richest +governments in Europe. The English press began to launch its too ready +sarcasms at the sorry appearance which Brother Jonathan seemed likely to +make; and all the exhibitors from this country, as well as those who +felt an interest in their success, were disheartened. At this critical +moment, our friend stepped forward. He did what Congress should have +done. By liberal advances on his part, the American department was +fitted up; and day after day, as some new product of American ingenuity +and taste was added to the list,--McCormick's reaper, Colt's revolver, +Powers's Greek Slave, Hobbs's unpickable lock, Hoe's wonderful printing +presses, and Bond's more wonderful spring governor,---it began to be +suspected that Brother Jonathan was not quite so much of a simpleton as +had been thought. He had contributed his full share, if not to the +splendor, at least to the utilities of the exhibition. In fact, the +leading journal at London, with a magnanimity which did it honor, +admitted that England had derived more real benefit from the +contributions of the United States than from those of any other +country." + +As has been said, Mr. Peabody made the bulk of his colossal fortune in +the banking business. He had a firm faith in American securities, and +dealt in them largely, and with confidence. His business instinct was +remarkable, his judgment in mercantile and financial matters almost +infallible, and he made few mistakes. His course was now onward and +upward, and each year marked an increase of his wealth. His business +operations were conducted in pursuance of a rigid system which was never +relaxed. To the very close of his life he never abandoned the exact or +business-like manner in which he sought to make money. He gave away +millions with a generosity never excelled, yet he could be exacting to a +penny in the fulfillment of a contract. + +In his youth he contracted habits of economy, and these he retained to +the last. Being unmarried, he did not subject himself to the expense of +a complete domestic establishment, but lived in chambers, and +entertained his friends at his club or at a coffee-house. His habits +were simple in every respect, and he was often seen making his dinner on +a mutton-chop at a table laden (at his cost) with the most sumptuous and +tempting viands. His personal expenses for ten years did not average +three thousand dollars per annum. + +The conductor on an English railway once overcharged him a shilling for +fare. He promptly complained to the directors, and had the man +discharged. "Not," said he, "that I could not afford to pay the +shilling, but the man was cheating many travelers to whom the swindle +would be offensive." + +Several years ago he chanced to ride in a hack in Salem, Massachusetts, +and upon reaching his destination tendered the driver his usual fee of +fifty cents. + +"Here's your change, sir," said the man, handing him back fifteen cents. + +"Change!" exclaimed Mr. Peabody; "why, I'm not entitled to any." + +"Yes, you are; I don't charge but thirty-five cents for a ride in my +hack." + +"How do you live, then?" + +"By fair dealing, sir. I don't believe in making a man pay more than a +thing is worth just because I have an opportunity." + +Mr. Peabody was so much pleased with this reply, that as long as he +remained in Salem he sought this man out and gave him his custom. + +In his dress Mr. Peabody was simple and unostentatious. He was +scrupulously neat and tasteful, but there was nothing about him to +indicate his vast wealth. He seldom wore any jewelry, using merely a +black band for his watch-guard. Display of all kinds he abominated. + +He made several visits to his native country during his last residence +in London, and commemorated each one of them by acts of princely +munificence. He gave large sums to the cause of education, and to +religious and charitable objects, and made each one of his near kindred +wealthy. None of his relatives received less than one hundred thousand +dollars, and some were given as much as three times that sum. He gave +immense sums to the poor of London, and became their benefactor to such +an extent that Queen Victoria sent him her portrait, which she had +caused to be executed for him at a cost of over forty thousand dollars, +in token of her appreciation of his services in behalf of the poor of +her realm. + +Mr. Peabody made another visit to the United States in 1866, and upon +this occasion added large sums to many of the donations he had already +made in this country. He remained here until May, 1867, when he returned +to England. He came back in June, 1869, but soon sailed again for +England. His health had become very feeble, and it was his belief that +it would be better in the atmosphere of London, to which he had been so +long accustomed. His hope of recovery was vain. He failed to rally upon +reaching London, and died in that city on the 4th of November, 1869. + +The news of his death created a profound sadness on both sides of the +Atlantic, for his native and his adopted country alike revered him as a +benefactor. The Queen caused his body to be placed in a vault in +Westminster Abbey, amidst the greatest and noblest of her kingdom, until +all was in readiness for its transportation to the United States in a +royal man-of-war. The Congress of the United States authorized the +President to make such arrangements for the reception of the body as he +should deem necessary. Sovereigns, statesmen, and warriors united to do +homage to the mortal remains of this plain, simple man, who, beginning +life a poor boy, and never departing from the character of an unassuming +citizen, had made humanity his debtor by his generosity and goodness. He +was borne across the ocean with kingly honors, two great nations acting +as chief mourners, and then, when the pomp and the splendor of the +occasion were ended, they laid him down in his native earth by the side +of the mother from whom he had imbibed those principles of integrity and +goodness which were the foundation of his fame and fortune. + +It is impossible to obtain an accurate statement of the donations made +by Mr. Peabody to the objects which enlisted his sympathy. In addition +to those mentioned in the list below, he gave away for various public +purposes sums ranging from two hundred and fifty to one thousand +dollars, and extending back as far as the year 1835. He divided among +his relatives the sum of about three millions of dollars, giving them a +portion during his last visit to this country, and leaving them the +remainder at his death. + +The following is a statement of his more important donations during his +life, including the bequests contained in his last will and testament: + +To the State of Maryland, for negotiating the + loan of $8,000,000................................. $60,000 +To the Peabody Institute, Baltimore, Md., including + accrued interest................................... 1,500,000 +To the Southern Education Fund........................ 3,000,000 +To Yale College....................................... 150,000 +To Harvard College.................................... 150,000 +To Peabody Academy, Massachusetts..................... 140,000 +To Phillips Academy, Massachusetts.................... 25,000 +To Peabody Institute, etc., at Peabody, Mass.......... 250,000 +To Kenyon College, Ohio............................... 25,000 +To Memorial Church, in Georgetown, Mass............... 100,000 +To Homes for the Poor in London....................... 3,000,000 +To Libraries in Georgetown, Massachusetts, + and Thetford, Vermont.............................. 10,000 +To Kane's Arctic Expedition........................... 10,000 +To different Sanitary Fairs........................... 10,000 +To unpaid moneys advanced to uphold the + credit of States................................... 40,000 + +Total................................................. $8,470,000 + +The life of such a man affords lessons full of hope and encouragement to +others. In 1856, when on a visit to Danvers, now named Peabody, in honor +of him, its most distinguished son and greatest benefactor, he said: + +"Though Providence has granted me an unvaried and unusual success in the +pursuit of fortune in other lands, I am still in heart the humble boy +who left yonder unpretending dwelling. There is not a youth within the +sound of my voice whose early opportunities and advantages are not very +much greater than were my own, and I have since achieved nothing that is +impossible to the most humble boy among you." + + +[Illustration: CORNELIUS VANDERBILT.] + +II. + +CAPITALISTS. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. + + +Staten Island lies in the beautiful bay of New York, seven miles distant +from the great city. Its lofty heights shut in the snug anchorage of the +inner bay, and protect it from the rude storms which howl along the +coast. It lies full in sight of the city, and is one of the most +beautiful and attractive of its suburbs. The commanding heights and +embowered shores are covered with villas and cottages, and afford a +pleasant and convenient summer resort for the people of New York. It now +contains a large and flourishing population, and maintains a speedy and +constant communication with the metropolis by means of steam +ferry-boats, the total travel on which sometimes reaches as many as ten +or twelve thousand passengers per day. + +Seventy-six years ago, Staten Island was a mere country settlement, and +its communications with the city were maintained by means of a few +sail-boats, which made one trip each way per day. + +One of these boats was owned and navigated by Cornelius Vanderbilt, a +thriving farmer, who owned a small but well cultivated estate on Staten +Island, near the present Quarantine Grounds. He was a man of exemplary +character, great industry, and was generally regarded as one of the most +prudent and reliable men on the island. Having a considerable amount of +produce to sell in the city, he purchased a boat of his own for the +purpose of transporting it thither. Frequently, residents of the island +would secure passage in this boat to the city in the morning, and return +with it in the evening. He realized a considerable sum of money in this +way, and finally ran his boat regularly between the island and the city. +This was the beginning of the New York and Staten Island Ferry. Mr. +Vanderbilt, by close application to his farm and boat, soon acquired a +property, which, though small, was sufficient to enable him to maintain +his family independently. His wife was a woman of more than usual +character, and aided him nobly in making his way in the world. + +This admirable couple were blessed with nine children. The oldest of +these, CORNELIUS, the subject of this sketch, was born at the old +farm-house on Staten Island, on the 27th of May, 1794. He was a healthy, +active boy, fond of all manner of out-door sports, and manifesting an +unusual repugnance to the confinement and labors of the school-room. He +has since declared that the only books he remembers using at school were +the New Testament and the spelling-book. The result was, that he merely +learned to read, write, and cipher, and that imperfectly. He was +passionately fond of the water, and was never so well pleased as when +his father allowed him to assist in sailing his boat. He was also a +famous horseman from his earliest childhood, and even now recalls with +evident pride the fact that when but six years old he rode a race-horse +at full speed. When he set himself to accomplish any thing, he was not, +like most boys, deterred by the difficulties of his undertaking, but +persevered until success crowned his efforts. So early did he establish +his reputation for overcoming obstacles, that his boyish friends learned +to regard any task which he undertook as already virtually performed. + +When he was only twelve years old his father contracted to remove the +cargo from a ship which had gone ashore near Sandy Hook, and to convey +it to New York. The lighters which were to carry the goods to the city +could not reach the ship, and it was necessary to haul the cargo, +transported in wagons, across the sands from the vessel to them. In +spite of his tender age, little Cornelius was placed by his father in +charge of the undertaking, which he accomplished promptly and +successfully. He loaded his lighters, sent them up to New York, and then +started for home with his wagons. Upon reaching South Amboy, where he +was to cross over to Staten Island, he found himself, with his wagons, +horses, and men, without any money to pay his ferriage across to the +island. The ferriage would amount to six dollars, and how he was to +raise this sum he was, for a time, at a loss to determine. Finally, he +went to the keeper of the tavern, to whom he was a stranger, and asked +for the loan of six dollars, offering to leave one of his horses as a +pledge for the money, which he promised to return within two days. The +tavern-keeper was so well pleased with the boy's energy, that he loaned +him the money, and the party crossed over to Staten Island. The pawned +horse was promptly redeemed. + +Young Vanderbilt was always anxious to become a sailor, and, as he +approached his seventeenth year, he determined to begin life as a +boatman in the harbor of New York. On the 1st of May, 1810, he informed +his mother of his determination, and asked her to lend him one hundred +dollars to buy a boat. + +The good lady had always opposed her son's wish to go to sea, and +regarded this new scheme as equally hair-brained. As a means of +discouraging him, she told him if he would plow, harrow, and plant with +corn a certain ten-acre lot belonging to the farm, by the twenty-seventh +of that month, on which day he would be seventeen years old, she would +lend him the money. The field was the worst in the whole farm; it was +rough, hard, and stony; but by the appointed time the work was done, and +well done, and the boy claimed and received his money. He hurried off to +a neighboring village, and bought his boat, in which he set out for +home. He had not gone far, however, when the boat struck a sunken wreck, +and filled so rapidly that the boy had barely time to get into shoal +water before it sank. + +[Illustration: VANDERBILT EARNING HIS FIRST HUNDRED DOLLARS.] + +"Undismayed at this mishap," says Mr. Parton, from whose graphic memoir +the leading incidents of this sketch are taken, "he began his new +career. His success, as we have intimated, was speedy and great. He made +a thousand dollars during each of the next three summers. Often he +worked all night; but he was never absent from his post by day, and he +soon had the cream of the boating business of the port. + +"At that day parents claimed the services and earnings of their children +till they were twenty-one. In other words, families made common cause +against the common enemy, Want. The arrangement between this young +boatman and his parents was, that he should give them all his day +earnings and half his night earnings. He fulfilled his engagement +faithfully until his parents released him from it, and with his own half +of his earnings by night, he bought all his clothes. He had forty +competitors in the business, who, being all grown men, could dispose of +their gains as they chose; but of all the forty, he alone has emerged to +prosperity and distinction. Why was this? There were several reasons. He +soon became the best boatman in the port. He attended to his business +more regularly and strictly than any other. He had no vices. His +comrades spent at night much of what they earned by day, and when the +winter suspended their business, instead of living on their last +summer's savings, they were obliged to lay up debts for the next +summer's gains to discharge. In those three years of willing servitude +to his parents, Cornelius Vanderbilt added to the family's common stock +of wealth, and gained for himself three things--a perfect knowledge of +his business, habits of industry and self-control, and the best boat in +the harbor." + +During the War of 1812, young Vanderbilt was kept very busy. All the +harbor defenses were fully manned, and a number of war vessels were in +port all the time. The travel between these and the city was very great, +and boatmen were in demand. + +In September, 1813, a British fleet attempted to run past Fort Richmond, +during a heavy gale. The commanding officer was anxious to send to New +York for reinforcements, but it was blowing so hard that none of the old +boatmen were willing to venture upon the bay. They all declared that if +the voyage could be made at all, Cornelius Vanderbilt was the only man +who could make it. The commandant at once sent for the young man, who, +upon learning the urgency of the case, expressed his belief that he +could carry the messengers to the city. "But," said he, "I shall have to +carry them part of the way under water." He set out with the messengers, +and in an hour landed them safe, but drenched through, at the foot of +Whitehall Street, which was then the landing place of all the boatmen of +the harbor. + +He was now so prosperous in his calling that he determined to marry. He +had wooed and won the heart of Sophia Johnson, the daughter of a +neighbor, and he now asked his parents' consent to his marriage, and +also requested them to allow him to retain his own earnings, in order +that he might be able to support a wife. Both of his petitions received +the approval of his parents, and in the winter of 1813 he was married. +His wife was a woman of unusual personal beauty and strength of +character, and proved the best of partners. He has often declared since +that he owed his success in life as much to her counsel and assistance +as to his own efforts. + +In the spring of 1814, it became known in America that the British were +fitting out a formidable military and naval expedition for the purpose +of attacking one of the Atlantic ports of the United States. The whole +coast was on the lookout, and, as it was feared that the blow would be +struck at New York, every precaution was taken to be ready. The militia +were called into service for three months, under a heavy penalty for +refusing to obey the call. The term of service thus marked out covered +the most prosperous season of the boatmen, and made the call fall +particularly hard upon them. About this time, an advertisement was +inserted in the city journals by the Commissary-General of the army, +calling for bids from boatmen for the purpose of conveying provisions +from New York to the various military posts in the vicinity. The labor +was to be performed during the three months for which the militia were +called out, and the contractor was to be exempted from all military duty +during that time. Bids poured in from the boatmen, who offered to do the +work at ridiculously low figures--the chief object of each one being to +secure the exemption. + +Young Vanderbilt, knowing that the work could not be done at the rates +at which his comrades offered to perform it, at first decided not to bid +for it, but at length--and more to please his father than because he +expected to succeed--offered to transport the provisions at a price +which would enable him to be sure of doing it well and thoroughly. He +felt so little hope of success that he did not even trouble himself to +go to the office of the Commissary on the day of the awarding of the +contract, until he learned from his companions that all their efforts to +secure it had been ineffectual. Then he called on the Commissary, merely +through curiosity, to learn the name of the fortunate man, and to his +utter astonishment was told that the contract had been awarded to +himself. The Government was satisfied, from his sensible offer, that he +would do the business thoroughly, and this the Commissary assured him +was the reason why they had selected him. + +There were six posts to be supplied--Harlem, Hell Gate, Ward's Island, +the Narrows, and one other in the harbor, each of which was to be +furnished with one load per week. The young contractor made arrangements +to have a daily load of stores ready for him each evening at six +o'clock, and thus performed all the duties of his contract at night, +which left him free to attend to his boating during the day. He never +failed to make a single delivery of stores, or to be absent from his +post on the beach at Whitehall one single day during the whole three +months. He was often without sleep, and performed an immense amount of +labor during this period; but his indomitable energy and powerful +physical organization carried him safely through it all. + +He made a great deal of money that summer, and with his earnings built a +splendid little schooner, which he named the "Dread." In 1815, in +connection with his brother-in-law, Captain De Forrest, he built a fine +schooner, called the "Charlotte," for the coasting service. She was +celebrated for the beauty of her model and her great speed. He continued +to ply his boat in the harbor during the summer, but in the fall and +winter made voyages along the coast, often as far south as Charleston. +During the three years succeeding the termination of the war he saved +nine thousand dollars in cash, and built two or three small vessels. +This was his condition in 1818. + +By this time it had become demonstrated to his satisfaction that the new +system of steamboats was a success, and was destined to come into +general use at no very distant day. He therefore determined to identify +himself with it at once, and thereby secure the benefits which he felt +sure would result from a prompt connection with it. Accordingly, in +1818, to the surprise and dismay of his friends, he gave up his +flourishing business, in order to accept the captaincy of a steamboat +which was offered him by Mr. Thomas Gibbons. The salary attached to this +position was one thousand dollars, and Captain Vanderbilt's friends +frankly told him that he was very foolish in abandoning a lucrative +business for so insignificant a sum. Turning a deaf ear to their +remonstrances, however, he entered promptly upon the duties of his new +career, and was given command of a steamboat plying between New York and +New Brunswick. + +Passengers to Philadelphia, at that day, were transported by steamer +from New York to New Brunswick, where they remained all night. The next +morning they took the stage for Trenton, from which they were conveyed +by steamer to Philadelphia. The hotel at New Brunswick was a miserable +affair, and had never paid expenses. When Captain Vanderbilt took +command of the steamer, he was offered the hotel rent free, and accepted +the offer. He placed the house in charge of his wife, under whose +vigorous administration it soon acquired a popularity which was of the +greatest benefit to the line. + +For seven years he was harassed and hampered by the hostility of the +State of New York, which had granted to Fulton and Livingston the sole +right to navigate New York waters by steam. Thomas Gibbons believed this +law to be unconstitutional, and ran his boats in defiance of it. The +authorities of the State resented his disregard of their monopoly, and a +long and vexatious warfare sprang up between them, which was ended only +in 1824, by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in +favor of Mr. Gibbons. + +As a means of crippling Gibbons, the New York authorities at one time +determined to arrest Vanderbilt and his crew; but the wary captain was +too cunning for them. He would land his crew in Jersey City, and take +charge of the engine himself, while a lady managed the helm. In this way +he approached the wharf at New York, landed his passengers, and took on +more. As soon as he had made his boat fast, he concealed himself in the +hold until the moment of his departure. As soon as he appeared on deck, +the Sheriff's officer (who was changed every day to avoid recognition) +would approach him with a warrant for his arrest. His reply was an +order to let go the line. The officer, unwilling to be carried off to +New Jersey, where he was threatened with imprisonment in the +penitentiary for interfering with the steamer, would at once jump +ashore, or beg to be landed. This was kept up for two months, but the +captain successfully baffled his enemies during the whole of that +period. The opponents of Mr. Gibbons offered a larger and better boat +than the one he commanded if he would enter their service, but he firmly +declined all their offers, avowing his determination to remain with Mr. +Gibbons until the difficulty was settled. + +After the decision of the Supreme Court placed Mr. Gibbons in the full +enjoyment of his rights, Captain Vanderbilt was allowed to manage the +line in his own way, and conducted it with so much skill and vigor that +it paid its owner an annual profit of forty thousand dollars. Mr. +Gibbons offered to increase his salary to five thousand dollars, but he +refused to accept the offer. + +"I did it on principle," he said, afterward. "The other captains had but +one thousand, and they were already jealous enough of me. Besides, I +never cared for money. All I ever cared for was to carry my point." + +[Illustration: VANDERBILT CARRYING OFF THE SHERIFF.] + +In 1829 he determined to leave the service of Mr. Gibbons, with whom he +had been connected for eleven years. He was thirty-five years old, and +had saved thirty thousand dollars. He resolved to build a steamer of his +own, and command her himself, and accordingly made known his intention +to his employer. Mr. Gibbons at once declared that he could not carry on +the line without his assistance, and told him he might make his own +terms if he would stay with him. Captain Vanderbilt had formed his +decision after much thought, and being satisfied that he was doing +right, he persisted in his determination to set up for himself. Mr. +Gibbons then offered to sell him the line on the spot, and to take his +pay as the money should be earned. It was a splendid offer, but it was +firmly and gratefully refused. The captain knew the men among whom he +would be thrown, and that they could never act together harmoniously. He +believed his own ideas to be the best, and wished to be free to carry +them out. + +After leaving Mr. Gibbons he built a small steamer, called the +"Caroline," which he commanded himself. In a few years he was the owner +of several other small steamers plying between New York and the +neighboring towns. He made slow progress at first, for he had strong +opposition to overcome. The steamboat interest was in the hands of +powerful companies, backed by immense capital, and these companies were +not disposed to tolerate the interference of any new-comer. They met +their match in all cases, however, for Vanderbilt inaugurated so sharp a +business opposition that the best of them were forced to compromise with +him. These troubles were very annoying to him, and cost him nearly every +dollar he was worth, but he persevered, and at length "carried his +point." + +From that time he made his way gradually in his business, until he rose +to the head of the steamboat interest of the United States. He has owned +or been interested in one hundred steam vessels, and has been +instrumental in a greater degree than any other man in bringing down the +tariff of steamboat fares. He never builds a vessel without giving his +personal superintendence to every detail, so that all his various craft +have been models of their kind. He selects his officers with the +greatest care, pays them liberal salaries, and, as long as they do their +duty, sustains them against all outside interference or intrigue. In +this way he inspires them with zeal, and the result is that he has never +lost a vessel by fire, explosion, or wreck. + +He built the famous steamer "North Star," and made a triumphal cruise +in her to the Old World. It is said that he was at one time very anxious +to divide the business of the ocean with the Collins Line of steamers. +When the "Arctic" was lost he applied to Mr. Collins to allow his +steamer to run in her place. He promised to make no claim for the mail +subsidy which Collins received, and to take the vessel off as soon as +Collins could build another to take her place. Mr. Collins was afraid to +let Mr. Vanderbilt get any hold on the foreign trade of the country, and +not only refused his request, but did so in a manner which roused the +anger of the veteran, who thereupon told Mr. Collins that he would run +his line off the ocean if it took his whole life and entire fortune to +do it. He kept his word. He at once offered the Government to carry the +mails more promptly and regularly than had ever been done before, and to +do this for a term of years without asking one single cent as subsidy. +It was well known that he was perfectly able to do what he promised, and +he pressed the matter upon the Government so vigorously that he was +successful. The subsidy to Collins was withdrawn, and the magnificent +line soon fell to pieces in consequence of the bankruptcy of its owner, +who might have averted his fate by the exercise of a little liberality. + +Of late years, Mr. Vanderbilt has been withdrawing his money from ships +and steamers, and investing it in railroads and iron works. Success has +attended him in all his ventures, and he is to-day worth over thirty +millions of dollars. He controls the Hudson River, Harlem, and New York +Central Roads, and is largely interested in many others. He is all +powerful in the stock market, and can move it as he will. + +A few years ago he wished to consolidate the Hudson River and Harlem +Railroads, and when the scheme was presented before the Legislature of +New York, secured a sufficient number of votes to insure the passage of +the bill authorizing the consolidation. Before the bill was called up on +its final passage, however, he learned from a trustworthy source that +the members of the Legislature who had promised to vote for the bill +were determined to vote against it, with the hope of ruining him. The +stock of Harlem Road was then selling very high, in consequence of the +expected consolidation. The defeat of the bill would, of course, cause +it to fall immediately. The unprincipled legislators at once commenced a +shrewd game. They sold Harlem right and left, to be delivered at a +future day, and found plenty of purchasers. They let their friends into +the secret, and there was soon a great deal of "selling 'short'" in this +stock.[A] Commodore Vanderbilt, although indignant at the treachery of +which he was to be made the victim, held his peace. He went into the +market quietly, with all the funds he could raise, purchased every +dollar's worth of Harlem stock he could lay his hands on, and locked it +up in his safe. When the bill came before the Legislature on its final +passage, the members who had pledged themselves to vote for it voted +against it, and it was rejected. + + +[Footnote A: For the benefit of the uninitiated reader, we will explain +the "game" more clearly. Harlem stock was selling at a high price, in +consequence of the expected consolidation. Those who sold "short" at +this time sold at the market price, which, as we have said, was high. By +engaging to deliver at some future day, they expected to be able to buy +the stock for little or nothing after the defeat of the bill, and then +to demand for it the price for which they had sold it in the first +place. Such a transaction was infamous, but would have enabled those +engaged in it to realize immense sums by the difference in the price of +the stock.] + +The speculators were jubilant. They were sure that the defeat of the +bill would bring down "Harlem" with a rush. To their astonishment, +however, "Harlem" did not fall. It remained stationary the first day, +and then, to their dismay, began to rise steadily. Those to whom they +had sold demanded the delivery of the stock, but the speculators found +it impossible to buy it. There was none in the market at any price. +Being unable to deliver stock, they were forced to pay its equivalent in +money, and the result was, that all who were engaged in the infamous +scheme were ruined. One of the shrewdest operators in New York lost over +two hundred thousand dollars. He refused to pay, but his name was at +once stricken from the list of stock-brokers. This brought him to terms, +and he made good his contracts. Vanderbilt made enough money out of this +effort to crush him to pay for all the stock he owned in the Harlem +Road. + +During the rebellion, Commodore Vanderbilt was one of the stanchest +supporters of the Government. Early in the struggle he equipped his +splendid steamer, the "Vanderbilt," as a man-of-war, and offered her to +the Navy Department at a fair price. He found that, in order to sell the +vessel, he would have to pay a percentage of the price received for her +to certain parties who stood between the Government and the purchase, +and levied black mail upon every ship the Government bought. Indignant +and disgusted, he withdrew his ship, and declared she was not for sale. +Then, satisfying himself that she was in perfect condition, he presented +her to the Navy Department _as a free gift to the nation_. + +Says a recent writer, whose fondness for courtly similes the reader must +pardon, for the sake of the information he imparts: "No man is felt in +Wall Street more than Commodore Vanderbilt, yet he is seldom seen there. +All of his business is done in his office in Fourth Street. Here his +brokers meet him, receive their orders, and give reports. Here the plans +are laid that shake the street, and Wall Street trembles at the foot of +an invisible autocrat. If the reader would care to visit the court of +that great railroad king, whose name has become the terror of Wall +Street, he may accompany us to a plain brick residence in Fourth Street, +near Broadway, and distant from Wall Street nearly two miles. No sign +indicates its imperial occupant, except that the upper story being +occupied as a millinery establishment bears a legend of that character. +However, as we enter the hall, we notice the word 'office,' and open the +door thus inscribed. Here we see a table, a few chairs, and a desk, at +which a solitary clerk of middle age is standing at work. + +"The walls are bare, with the exception of a few pictures of those +steamships which originated the title of 'Commodore,' This is the +ante-chamber, and a pair of folding doors screen the king from vulgar +gaze. He is closeted with his marshals, and this privy council will last +an hour or so. One after the other they depart, and before three o'clock +the effect of this council will not only be felt in Wall Street, but +will be flashed over the Union. At length you are permitted to enter. +The folding door is opened, and you behold an office as plain in +appearance as the one just described. It contains a few arm-chairs and a +long business-table, thrown flush before you, on the opposite side of +which sits a large man, with his face fronting you. He is writing, and +his eyes are fixed on the paper, so that you have a moment to note the +dignity of frame and the vast development of brain. In a few minutes the +countenance raises, and you meet its expansive and penetrating glance. + +"You face the king. He smiles in a pleasant and whole-souled manner, and +in a moment puts you at ease. No stiffness nor formality here. His +kingship is in himself, not in etiquette. He is ready for a pleasantry, +and will initiate one if it comes in the line of conversation. You note +those wonderful eyes, bright and piercing, and so large and rich that +one is fascinated, and does not know how to stop gazing into them. Such +is the appearance of the railway king, and you take your leave, +conscious that some men, as Shakespeare says, 'are born great.' Indeed, +we know a man who would rather give five dollars to sit and look at +Commodore Vanderbilt for an hour than to see any other sight in this +city. Next door to the office is a building of brown stone, with +spacious doors and a roadway. This is the Commodore's stable, where are +some of the finest horses in the country. + +"Every afternoon he is wont to take an airing, and after tea a game of +whist affords an evening amusement. The Commodore is simple in his +manners and habits. He is a representative of a former age, when men +lived less artificially than at the present time, and when there was +more happiness and less show. As for business, it is his nature. He can +not help being king. He is but developing himself, and any other mode of +life would be painful. He has in the Central afforded a third wonder, +the Harlem and the Hudson River being the first and second, and if he +gets the Erie he will soon show the world another wonder. On Sundays the +Commodore attends Dr. Hutton's church on Washington Square, and here his +tall and dignified form may be seen, head and shoulders above the rest +of the congregation. He is a friend of the pastor, who takes a deep +interest in his welfare, and we hope will meet him in a better world. He +stood by the Commodore's side when his wife was laid in the tomb, and +cheered him in that dark and trying hour. Among his more recent works is +the completing of a tomb in the old Moravian burial-ground in Staten +Island. The subterranean chamber is about thirty feet square, and is +surmounted by a lofty shaft, and a statue of grief adds a peculiar +finish to the spot. The cemetery is on an eminence, from which one gets +a fine view of the ocean, dotted with ships." + +Commodore Vanderbilt's early passion for horses still survives, and his +stable contains some of the finest in the world. Nothing pleases him so +well as to sit behind a fast team, with the reins in his hands, and fly +along the road with almost the speed of the wind. + +He is extremely generous to his friends, and gives liberally to +charitable objects. He never puts his name to a subscription paper, but +his donations are none the less liberal for that. His old +acquaintances--especially those of his boyhood--find him a tender +friend, and many of them owe to his bounty the comforts which surround +their age.[A] + +He is the father of thirteen children--nine daughters and four +sons--nearly all of whom are still living. A few years ago, at the +celebration of his golden wedding, over one hundred and forty of his +descendants and relatives assembled to congratulate him. He lost a +promising son during the war, and his wife died two years ago. Not long +since he married a second time. He is still one of the handsomest and +most imposing men in New York, and will doubtless live to see his +children's grandchildren. + +[Footnote A: In July, 1870, Mr. Vanderbilt chanced to hear that the Rev. +Dr. Deems, of New York, was in want of a church. Admiring the energy +with which the reverend gentleman had built up his congregation in the +short space of three years, Mr. Vanderbilt quietly made up his mind that +he should not want in vain. Accordingly he bought the Mercer Street +Presbyterian Church, and made the Doctor a present of it, keeping him in +ignorance of his intention until he placed the title deeds in his hand.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +DANIEL DREW. + + +The name of DANIEL DREW has so long been familiar in the financial +circles of the country, that it is surprising that the history of his +life is not more generally known. + +He was born at Carmel, in Putnam County, New York, on the 29th of July, +1797. His father was a small farmer, with limited means, and had to work +hard to provide his family with food and clothing. Young Daniel was +brought up to work on the farm, and at such times as he could be spared +from this work, was sent to the country school in the neighborhood, +where he acquired but a meager stock of learning. When he was fifteen +years old, his father died, leaving his family in an almost helpless +condition. Young Daniel remained on the farm three years longer, and in +1815, being then eighteen years old, stared out to try and earn a living +for himself. + +He came to New York in search of employment, but the country, just then, +was in too depressed a condition to afford him a chance in any regular +business. After looking around for awhile, he at length became a cattle +drover. He spent five years in driving cattle from Putnam County to New +York for sale, but failed to make any money at the business. + +In 1820, he removed to New York, and established his headquarters at +the famous Bull's Head Tavern, in the Bowery, which was the great resort +of the butchers and drovers doing business in the city. He kept this +tavern a part of the time, and found it quite a profitable investment. +He soon formed a partnership with two other drovers, and commenced +buying cattle in the adjoining counties and bringing them to New York +for sale. + +[Illustration: FOUNDING A GREAT FORTUNE] + +These ventures were so successful that the operations of the firm were +extended into Pennsylvania, and finally into Ohio and the other States +of the great West. Mr. Drew and his partners brought over the mountains +the first drove of cattle that ever came from the West into New York +city. The cattle, two thousand in number, were collected into droves of +one hundred each, and were driven by experienced and careful men. The +journey occupied two months, and the total cost of the purchase and trip +was twenty-four dollars per head. The profit on the venture was very +large. + +Mr. Drew continued in this business for fourteen years, slowly and +carefully laying the foundations of that immense fortune which has made +him so conspicuous, an example to others who have entered upon the +life-struggle since then. + +In 1834, an event occurred which changed the whole tenor of his career. +In that year, the steamer "General Jackson," owned by Jacob Vanderbilt +(a brother of the famous Commodore), and plying between New York and +Peekskill, blew up at Grassy Point. A friend of Mr. Drew at once put a +boat called the "Water Witch" in her place, and Mr. Drew, to oblige his +friend, advanced one thousand dollars toward the enterprise. Commodore +Vanderbilt was not willing that any rival should contest the river trade +with him, and built a steamer called the "Cinderella," with which he ran +a sharp opposition to Mr. Drew. The contest was so sharp that fares and +freights were lowered to a ridiculous figure, and both parties lost +heavily. At the end of the season, the owner of the "Water Witch" found +himself ten thousand dollars in debt, and sold his boat to Drew, Kelly & +Richards for twenty thousand dollars. + +Finding that Mr. Drew was not frightened off by his opposition, +Commodore Vanderbilt urged him to withdraw from his attempt, telling him +he knew nothing of the management of steamboats. Mr. Drew refused to be +intimidated; however, and continued his efforts. Since then, there have +been fifty attempts to run him off the river, but all alike have failed +of success. + +In 1836, the "Water Witch" was replaced by a fine steamer called the +"Westchester," which was subsequently run as a day boat to Hartford, +Connecticut. The "Westchester" was run against the Hudson River Line, +from New York to Albany. The Hudson River Line at that time owned the +"De Witt Clinton," the "North America," and others--the finest +steamboats then afloat--and it seemed at first foolhardiness for any +one to attempt to oppose so popular a company. Mr. Drew and his +partners bought the "Bright Emerald," for which they gave twenty-six +thousand dollars, and ran her as a night boat between New York and +Albany, reducing the fare from three dollars to one dollar. During the +season, they bought the "Rochester" for fifty thousand dollars, and also +bought out the Hudson River Line, after which they restored the fare to +three dollars. + +Several years later, Isaac Newton, who was largely interested in the +towing business of the Hudson, built two splendid passenger steamers +called the "North America" and the "South America." In 1840, Mr. Drew +formed a partnership with Mr. Newton, and the celebrated "People's Line" +was organized, which purchased all the passenger steamers owned by Drew +and Newton. Mr. Drew was the largest stockholder in this company, which, +to-day, after a lapse of nearly thirty years, still owns the most +magnificent and popular steamers in the world. Soon after its +organization, the company built the "Isaac Newton," the first of those +floating palaces for which the Hudson is famed. Since then, it has built +the "New World," the "St. John," the "Dean Richmond," and the "Drew," +the last two of which cost over seven' hundred thousand dollars each. +Repeated efforts have been made to drive this line from the river, but +it has been conducted so judiciously and energetically, that, for nearly +thirty years, it has held the first place in the public favor. + +In 1847, George Law and Daniel Drew formed a partnership, and +established a line of steamers between New York and Stonington, for the +purpose of connecting with the railroad from the latter place to Boston. +The "Oregon" and the "Knickerbocker" were placed on the route, and the +enterprise proved a success. Mr. Drew and Commodore Vanderbilt secured a +sufficient amount of stock in the railroad to give them a controlling +interest in it, and by the year 1850 the Stonington Steamboat Line was +firmly established. + +When the Hudson River Railroad was opened, in 1852, it was confidently +expected that the steamboat trade on the river would be destroyed, and +the friends and enemies of Mr. Drew alike declared that he might as well +lay up his boats, as he would find it impossible to compete with the +faster time of the railroad. He was not dismayed, however, for he was +satisfied that the land route could not afford to carry freight and +passengers as cheap as they could be transported by water. He knew that +it would only be necessary to reduce his passenger and freight rates +below those of the railroad, to continue in the enjoyment of his immense +business, and his faith in the steady expansion of the trade of the city +induced him to believe that the time was close at hand when railroad and +steamers would all have as much as they could do to accommodate it. His +views were well founded, and his hopes have been more than realized. The +river trade has steadily increased, while the Hudson River Railroad is +taxed to its utmost capacity to accommodate its immense traffic. + +In 1849, Mr. Drew, in connection with other parties, bought out the +Champlain Transportation Company. This corporation had a capital of one +hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and ran a line of five steamers from +White Hall to the Canada end of the lake. The new proprietors ran the +line seven years, and in 1856 sold out to the Saratoga and White Hall +Railroad Company. + +As a steamboat manager, Daniel Drew has few equals and no superiors. His +ventures on the water have all been crowned with success, a result due +entirely to his judicious and liberal management His employes are chosen +with the greatest care, and generally remain with him during their +lives. He is very liberal in his dealings with those who serve him +faithfully, but will not tolerate a single careless or incompetent man, +however unimportant may be his position. The steamers owned by him are +almost entirely free from accidents, and such misfortunes as have +befallen them have been those against which no skill or foresight could +guard. He refuses to insure his boats, holding that care and prudence +are the best safeguards against accidents, and thus saves half a million +dollars. When the "Dean Richmond" was run down by the "Vanderbilt," a +year or two ago, he lost nearly three hundred thousand dollars. He paid +every claim presented by shippers and passengers, as soon as made, +without submitting one of them to the adjudication of the courts. + +In 1836, Mr. Drew entered the banking business in Wall Street, and in +1840 established the widely-known firm of Drew, Robinson & Co. This +house engaged largely in the financial operations of the day, and became +known as one of the most uniformly successful in its dealings of any in +the city. Mr. Drew remained at the head of it for thirteen years, but in +1855 withdrew to make room for his son-in-law, Mr. Kelley. This +gentleman died soon after his connection with the firm, and Mr. Drew +resumed his old place. + +Having succeeded so well in all his ventures, Mr. Drew now determined to +enter another field. Railroad stocks were very profitable, and might be +made to yield him an immense return for his investments, and he decided +to invest a considerable part of his fortune in them. In 1855, he +endorsed the acceptances of the Erie Railroad Company for five hundred +thousand dollars. This was the first decided evidence the public had +received of his immense wealth, and in 1857 another was given by his +endorsement of a fresh lot of Erie acceptances amounting to a million +and a half of dollars. This last indorsement was made in the midst of +the great financial panic of 1857, and occasioned no little comment. Men +could admire, though they could not understand, the sublime confidence +which enabled Mr. Drew to risk a million and a half of dollars in the +midst of such a terrible crisis. Some one asked him if he could sleep +quietly at night with such large interests at stake. "Sir," he replied, +calmly, "I have never lost a night's rest on account of business in my +life." + +In 1857, Mr. Drew was elected a director of the Erie Railroad Company, a +position he held until recently. He was subsequently elected treasurer +of the company, and is one of the principal holders of Erie stock. He is +also one of the principal creditors of the company. The recent +proceedings in the New York courts to prevent the Erie Road from issuing +the new stock necessary to complete its broad-gauge connections with the +West, are too fresh in the mind of the reader to need a recital of them +here. It was proposed to issue ten millions of dollars worth of new +stock, and Mr. Drew was to guarantee the bonds. After a tedious and +costly suit, in which the New York Central Road endeavored to prevent +the issue of the stock, in the hope of keeping the Erie Road from +forming through connections with the West, the New York Legislature +legalized the new issue, and a compromise was effected between Mr. Drew, +in behalf of the Erie Road, and Commodore Vanderbilt, who represented +the New York Central. + +Mr. Drew still continues his operations in Wall Street, where he is +known as one of the boldest and most extensive, as well as one of the +most successful, of all the operators in railroad stocks. Though losing +heavily at times, he has nevertheless been one of fortune's favorites. +His efforts have not been confined to the Erie Road. He owns stock in +other roads, and, together with Commodore Vanderbilt, took up the +floating debt of over half a million of dollars which weighed down the +Harlem Road, and placed it in its present prosperous condition. + +He owns a fine grazing farm on the Harlem Railroad, about fifty miles +from New York. It is situated in Carmel, in Putnam County; is nearly one +thousand acres in extent, and includes the old farm on which he was +born. He has made it one of the finest and most profitable in the State, +and, it is said, values it above all his other possessions. He has +improved and beautified it upon an extensive scale, and near the old +grave-yard, where his parents lie sleeping, he has built one of the most +beautiful churches in the land. + +In 1811, Mr. Drew became a member of the Methodist Church, but for +twenty-five years this connection was merely nominal. During all the +years of his drover's life he kept himself free from the sins of +intemperance and swearing. Once while riding out in a buggy with a +friend, to look at some cattle, a thunder-storm came on, and his horse +was killed in the shafts by lightning. This narrow escape from death +made a deep impression on his mind, and in 1841 he united with the +Mulberry Street Methodist Church, of which he became an active member +and a trustee. The elegant marble structure now standing at the corner +of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-second Street attests his liberality to this +congregation. He is a trustee in the Wesleyan University, and has +largely endowed that institution; and within the past few years has +contributed several hundred thousand dollars for the endowment of the +Drew Theological Seminary, which has been established at Madison, New +Jersey, for the education of candidates for the Methodist ministry. He +gives largely in aid of missionary work, and is one of the most liberal +men in his denomination. It is said that he gives away at least one +hundred thousand dollars annually in private charities, besides the +large donations with which the public are familiar. He selects his own +charities, and refuses promptly to aid those which do not commend +themselves to him. + +His property is estimated at twenty millions of dollars, and he is said +to earn at least half a million of dollars every year. He has two +children, a son and a daughter, the latter of whom is the wife of a +clergyman of the Baptist Church. + +Mr. Drew is about five feet ten inches high, and slenderly made. He is +very active and vigorous for his age, and looks a much younger man than +he is. His expression is firm, but withal pleasant. His features are +regular, but dark and deeply marked, while his black hair is still +unstreaked with gray. He is courteous and friendly in his intercourse, +and is very much liked by his acquaintances. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +JAMES B. EADS. + + +James B. Eads was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, in the year 1820. His +father was a man of moderate means, and was able to give him a fair +English education. From his earliest childhood he evinced a remarkable +fondness for all sorts of machinery and mechanical arrangements. This +fondness became at length a passion, and excited the surprise of his +friends, who could not imagine why a mere child should be so much +interested in such things. His greatest delight was to go to the machine +shops in his neighborhood, in which he had many friends, and watch the +workings of the various inventions employed therein. + +When he was nine years old his father removed to Louisville, Kentucky. +During the voyage down the Ohio, young Eads passed the most of his time +in watching the engines of the steamer. The engineer was so much pleased +to see his interest in the machinery that he explained the whole system +of the steam-engine to him. The boy listened eagerly, and every word +remained fixed in his mind. Two years later, with no further instruction +on the subject, he constructed a miniature engine, which was worked by +steam. This, for a boy of eleven years, was no insignificant triumph of +genius. His father, anxious to encourage such unmistakable talent, now +fitted up a small workshop for him, in which he constructed models of +saw mills, fire engines, steamboats, and electrotyping machines. When he +was only twelve years old he was able to take to pieces and reset the +family clock and a patent lever watch, using no tool for this purpose +but his pocket-knife. + +At the age of thirteen his pleasant employment was brought to a sudden +end. His father lost all his property by the failure of some commercial +transactions, and the family was brought to the verge of ruin. It now +became necessary for young Eads to labor for his own support, and for +that of his mother and sisters. Boy as he was, he faced the crisis +bravely. Having in vain sought employment in Louisville, he resolved to +go to St. Louis. He worked his passage there on a river steamer, and +landed in that city so poor that he had neither shoes to his feet nor a +coat to his back. He found it as difficult to procure work here as it +had been in Louisville, and was at length compelled to resort to +peddling apples on the street in order to secure a living. He did this +for some time, never relaxing his efforts to obtain more desirable +employment. + +After many attempts he succeeded in getting a situation in a mercantile +house, at a fair salary. One of his employers was a man of wealth and +culture, and was possessed of one of the finest private libraries in the +West. Learning the extraordinary mechanical talent possessed by his +young clerk, this gentleman placed his library at his disposal. The +offer was promptly and gratefully accepted, and young Eads devoted +almost all his leisure time to the study of mechanics, machinery, and +civil engineering. He remained with this house for several years, and +then obtained a clerkship on one of the Mississippi River steamers, +where he passed several years more. During this time he became +intimately acquainted with the great river and its tributaries, and +acquired an extensive knowledge of all subjects appertaining to western +navigation, which proved of great service to him in his after life. + +In 1842, being then twenty-two years old, and having saved a moderate +sum of money, he formed a copartnership with Messrs. Case & Nelson, boat +builders, of St. Louis, for the purpose of recovering steamboats and +their cargoes which had been sunk or wrecked in the Mississippi. +Accidents of this kind were then very common in those waters, and the +business bade fair to be very profitable. The enterprise succeeded +better than had been expected, and the operations of the wrecking +company extended from Galena, Illinois, to the Balize, and into many of +the tributaries of the great river. The parties interested in the scheme +realized a handsome profit on their investments. Mr. Eads was the +practical man of the concern, and worked hard to establish it upon a +successful footing. In 1845 he sold out his interest in the company, and +established a glass manufactory in St. Louis. This was the first +enterprise of the kind ever attempted west of the Mississippi. Two years +later, in 1847, he organized a new company for the purpose of recovering +boats and cargoes lost in the Mississippi and its tributaries. This +company started with a capital of fifteen hundred dollars. It was slow +work at first, but a steady improvement was made every year, and in +1857, just ten years from the date of their organization, the property +of the firm was valued at more than half a million of dollars. During +the winter of 1856-'57, Mr. Eads laid before Congress a formal +proposition to remove the obstructions from the western rivers and keep +them open for a term of years, upon payment of a reasonable sum by the +General Government. Had this proposition been accepted, the benefits +thereby secured to all who were engaged in the navigation of those +rivers would have been very great. A bill was reported in Congress +authorizing the acceptance of Mr. Eads' offer, but was defeated through +the influence of the Senators from Mississippi (Jefferson Davis) and +Louisiana (J.P. Benjamin). + +In 1857, Mr. Eads was compelled, on account of ill-health, to retire +from business. He had earned a handsome fortune by his industry and +enterprise, and could well afford to rest for a short time, preparatory, +as it afterward proved, to the most important part of his whole career. + +When the secession troubles began to agitate the country, toward the +close of the year 1860, Mr. Eads cast the weight of his private and +public influence on the side of the Union. He felt that the war, if it +should come, would be a very serious affair for the West, as the +prosperity of that section depends largely upon the absolute freedom of +the navigation of the Mississippi. The Confederates well understood +this, and prepared from the first to close the great river until their +independence should be acknowledged by the General Government. Dr. +Boynton, in his "History of the United States Navy During the +Rebellion," thus describes the condition of affairs in the West, a +proper understanding of which will show the reader the importance of the +services subsequently rendered by Mr. Eads: + + + The main features of the rebel plan of war in the West were to + seize and hold Missouri, and, as a consequence, Kansas and + Nebraska, and thus threaten or invade the free States of the + North-west from that point; to hold Kentucky and Tennessee, and, if + possible, to cross the Ohio, and make the Northern States the + theater of the war; or, in case they should be unable to invade the + North, to maintain their battle line unbroken along the Ohio and + through Missouri; to keep the great rivers closed, and thus holding + back the North, and being secure within their own territory, at + length compel the recognition of their independence. They certainly + presented to the North a most formidable front, a line of defenses + which was indeed impregnable to any means of assault which the + Government at first possessed. No army could be moved into + Tennessee by land alone, because the line of communication with a + Northern base could not be held secure, and a defeat far from the + Ohio would be the destruction of an army, and open the road for an + invasion of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and the destruction of + their cities. + + It was quite evident that no impression could be made upon the + power of the rebellion in the West, until a firm foothold could be + gained in Kentucky and Tennessee, and until the Mississippi could + be wrested from the conspirators' control. It was clear that the + whole seaboard might be regained, even to Florida, and yet the + rebellion remain as dangerous as ever, if the rebels could hold the + Mississippi River and the valley up to or near the Ohio. + + France was looking with eager eyes toward Texas, in the hope of + securing and extending her Mexican usurpation. England was ready to + give all the assistance in her power to any step which would weaken + the North; and had the rebels been pressed back from the seaports + and the Northern Atlantic slope, they would have had it in their + power, if still holding the Mississippi, the South-west, including + Tennessee, and the great natural fortresses of the mountains, to + have so connected themselves with Mexico and France as to have + caused the most serious embarrassment. It became absolutely + necessary to the success of the Government that the rebels' + northern line of defenses should be broken through, and that the + Mississippi should be opened to its mouth. + + At first, and before the nature of the work was fully understood, + the whole was placed under the direction of the War Department, as + it was thought the few armed transports which would be needed would + be a mere appendage of the army. The idea of a formidable river + navy of a hundred powerful steamers did not in the beginning enter + into the minds of any. + + It was soon seen, however, that an entirely new description of + craft was needed for this work. It was clear that the river boats, + which had been built for the common purposes of freight and + passage, were not capable of resisting the fire of heavy artillery, + and that the batteries of the rebels could not be captured nor even + passed by them. They could not even be safely employed alone in the + transportation of troops, for they could be sunk or crippled by the + field batteries that could be moved from point to point. The + question of iron-clads was proposed, but with only the ocean + iron-clads as a guide, who should conceive the proper form of an + armored boat which could navigate our rivers and compete + successfully with the heavy guns, rifled as well as smooth-bore, of + the fortifications. It was by no means easy to solve this problem, + but it was absolutely necessary that the attempt should be made.... + These forts could only be reduced by the aid of gunboats, and + these were almost literally to be created. + + +There was in the Cabinet of President Lincoln at this time a western +man, intimately acquainted with the steamboat interest of the +Mississippi. This was Edward Bates, the Attorney-General of the United +States. He was an old friend of Mr. Eads, and felt assured that in case +of war the services of that gentleman would be of the greatest value to +the country. When it was found that hostilities could not be avoided, he +mentioned the name of Mr. Eads to the Cabinet, and strongly urged that +his services should be secured at the earliest possible moment. On the +17th of April, 1861, three days after Fort Sumter had fallen, he wrote +to Mr. Eads, who was living in comfortable retirement, at St. Louis: "Be +not surprised if you are called here suddenly by telegram. If called, +come instantly. In a certain contingency it will be necessary to have +the aid of the most thorough knowledge of our western rivers, and the +use of steam on them, and in that event I have advised that you should +be consulted." + +A few days later Mr. Eads was summoned to Washington. Mr. Bates there +explained to him in full a plan he had conceived for occupying Cairo, +and endeavoring to hold the Mississippi by means of gunboats. Mr. Eads +warmly indorsed the plan, and was introduced by Mr. Bates to the +President and members of the Cabinet. When the plan was proposed to the +Cabinet, the Secretary of War pronounced it unnecessary and +impracticable, but the Secretary of the Navy was much impressed with +it, and requested Mr. Eads to submit his views in writing, which was +done. The paper embodied Judge Bates's general plan in addition to Mr. +Eads's own views, and contained suggestions as to the kind of boats best +fitted for service on the western rivers, and also in regard to the best +points on those streams for the erection of land batteries. This paper +was submitted to the Navy Department on the 29th of April, 1861, and was +referred by the Secretary to Commodore Paulding, who reported in favor +of its adoption. + +The Secretary of the Navy now detailed Captain John Rodgers to accompany +Mr. Eads to the West, and purchase and fit out such steamers as should +be found necessary for the service. Up to this time the Secretary of War +had manifested the most supreme indifference in regard to the whole +subject, but he now claimed entire jurisdiction in the matter, and this +interference caused considerable vexation and delay. At length he issued +an order to Mr. Eads and Captain Rodgers to proceed with their +purchases. These gentlemen obtained the approval of General McClellan, +in whose department the purchases were to be made, and began their +operations. + +Upon arriving at Cairo, they found one of the old snag-boat fleet, +called the "Benton." Mr. Eads knew the boat well, as he had formerly +owned her, and proposed to purchase and arm her, but Captain Rodgers did +not approve the plan for converting her into a gunboat. Mr. Eads then +proposed to purchase and arm several of the strong, swift boats used for +the navigation of the Missouri River, and equip them at St. Louis, from +which point there would always be water enough to get them below Cairo. +Captain Rodgers disapproved this plan also, and went to Cincinnati, +where he purchased and equipped the "Conestoga," "Tyler," and +"Lexington," and started them down the river. They were not iron-clad, +but were merely protected around the boilers with coal bunkers, and +provided with bullet-proof oaken bulwarks. Mr. Eads had warned Captain +Rodgers that he could not depend upon the Ohio to get his boats down to +Cairo, and his predictions were realized. The boats were started from +Cincinnati some time in July; they were detained on the bars of the Ohio +for six or seven weeks, and did not reach Cairo until about the first of +September; then the bottom of the "Tyler" was found to be so badly +damaged by sand-bars that she had to be put on the marine railway for +repairs. + +In July, 1861, the War Department advertised for proposals to construct +a number of iron-clad gunboats for service on the Mississippi River. On +the 5th of August, when the bids were opened, it was found that Mr. Eads +proposed to build these boats in a shorter time and upon more favorable +terms than any one else. His offer was accepted, and on the 7th of +August he signed a contract with Quartermaster-General Meigs to have +ready for their crews and armaments, _in sixty-five days_, seven +vessels, of about six hundred tons each, each to draw six feet of water, +to carry thirteen heavy guns, to be plated with iron two and a half +inches thick, and to steam nine miles per hour. "They were one hundred +and seventy-five feet long, and fifty-one and a half feet wide; the +hulls of wood; their sides placed out from the bottom of the boat to the +water line at an angle of about thirty-five degrees, and from the water +line the sides fell back at about the same angle, to form a slanting +casemate, the gun-deck being but a foot above water. This slanting +casemate extended across the hull, near the bow and stern, forming a +quadrilateral gun-deck. Three nine or ten-inch guns were placed in the +bow, four similar ones on each side, and two smaller ones astern. The +casemate inclosed the wheel, which was placed in a recess at the stern +of the vessel. The plating was two and a half inches thick, thirteen +inches wide, and was rabbeted on the edges to make a more perfect +joint." + +In undertaking to complete these vessels in sixty-five days, Mr. Eads +had assumed a heavy responsibility. The manufacturing interests of the +West were sadly crippled by the sudden commencement of hostilities, and +doubt and distrust prevailed every-where. The worst feature of all was, +that skilled workmen were either enlisting in the army or seeking +employment in States more remote from the scene of war. Every thing +needed for the gunboats was to be made. Even the timber for their hulls +was still standing in the forest, and the huge machinery which was to +roll out and harden their iron plates had yet to be constructed. No +single city, no two cities, however great in resources, could possibly +supply every thing needed within the stipulated time, and it was +necessary to employ help wherever it could be obtained. + +The very day the contract was signed, the telegraph was kept busy +sending instructions all over the West for the commencement of the +various parts of the work. The saw-mills in Kentucky, Tennessee, +Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, and Missouri were set to getting out +the timber, which was hurried to St. Louis by railroad and steamboat as +fast as it was ready. There were twenty-one steam engines and +thirty-five boilers to be made, and the machine-shops in St. Louis, +Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh were put to work upon them. The huge +rolling-mills of Cincinnati and Portsmouth, Ohio, Newport, Kentucky, and +St. Louis were engaged in making the iron plates, and employed for this +purpose no less than four thousand men. Night and day, Sundays included, +the work went on with an almost superhuman swiftness. Mr. Eads paid the +workmen on the hulls large sums from his own pocket, in addition to +their wages, to induce them to continue steadily at their work. + +On the 12th of October, 1861, just forty-five days from the time of +laying her keel, the first iron-clad, belonging to the United States, +was launched, with her engines and boilers on board. Rear Admiral Foote +(then a flag officer), appointed to command the Mississippi squadron, +named her the "St. Louis," but upon being transferred to the Navy +Department her name was changed to the "Baron de Kalb." She was followed +by the other vessels in rapid succession, all being completed within the +stipulated time. + +In September, 1861, General Fremont ordered the purchase of the snag +boat "Benton," which had been proposed by Mr. Eads and rejected by +Captain Rodgers, and sent her to Mr. Eads to be armored and equipped as +a gunboat. Work was at once begun on her, and pushed forward with the +same energy that had been displayed in the construction of the other +iron-clads. Her performances during the war fully sustained the high +esteem in which she was held by the officers of the navy. Admirals Foote +and Davis pronounced her the "best iron-clad in the world." + +By dint of such skill and energy as we have described, Mr. Eads, in the +brief period of one hundred days, built and had ready for service a +powerful iron-clad fleet of eight steamers, carrying one hundred and +seven heavy guns, and having an aggregate capacity of five thousand +tons. Such a work was one of the greatest in magnitude ever performed, +and, as may be supposed, required a heavy capital to carry it to +perfection. Mr. Eads soon exhausted his own means, and but for the +assistance of friends, whose confidence in his integrity and capacity +induced them to advance him large sums, would have been compelled to +abandon the undertaking; for the Government, upon various pretexts, +delayed for months the stipulated payments, and by its criminal +negligence came near bringing the iron-clad fleet, so necessary to its +success, to an untimely end. It was prompt enough, however, to +commission the vessels as soon as they were ready. At the time they +rendered such good service in the conquest of Forts Henry and Donelson, +and compelled the fall of Island No. 10, they were still unpaid for, and +the private property of Mr. Eads. + +In the spring of 1862, Mr. Eads, in accordance with the desire of the +Navy Department, submitted plans for light-draught armored vessels for +service on the western rivers. He proposed an ingenious revolving turret +to be used on these vessels, the performance of which he agreed to +guarantee to the satisfaction of the Department; but the Government +decided to use the Ericsson turret, which the recent encounter between +the Monitor and Merrimac had proved to be a success. Mr. Eads was +allowed, however, to modify the Ericsson turret considerably, in order +to avoid making the draft of his steamers greater than was desired. He +built the "Osage" and "Neosho," and when these vessels were launched, +with all their weight on board, it was found that they were really +lighter than the contract called for, a circumstance which permitted the +thickness of their armor to be afterward increased half an inch without +injuring their draught or speed. + +In May, 1862, at the request of the Navy Department, Mr. Eads submitted +plans for four iron-clads, iron hull propellers, to carry two turrets +each of eight inches thickness, four eleven inch guns, and +three-quarters inch deck armor, to steam nine nautical miles per hour, +to carry three days' coal, and not to exceed a draught of six feet of +water. His plans were accepted, and he constructed the "Winnebago," +"Kickapoo," "Milwaukee," and "Chickasaw." Like the "Osage" and "Neosho," +these vessels were found to be of lighter draught than had been agreed +upon, and the Department ordered all four to have an extra plating of +three-quarters inch armor, which was done. Three of the vessels were +also reported, by the officers of the navy sent to examine them, to +exceed the speed required by the contract, while the fourth was fully up +to the standard. + +Of how many "Government Contractors" during the war can it be said that +their work was much better than they had agreed to furnish? Verily, we +think Mr. Eads stands almost alone in this respect, his proud position +made still more honorable by its comparative isolation. + +Mr. Eads built, during the war, fourteen heavily armored gunboats, four +heavy mortar boats, and converted seven transports into musket-proof +gunboats, or "tin-clads," as they were called on the river. He had a +share in other enterprises of a similar nature during the war, and +besides rendering good service to the Union, was enabled to retire at +the close of the struggle with a handsome fortune, won by his own +patriotic skill and energy. + +Whatever may be the distinction awarded to others, to him belongs the +credit of having been the first to provide the Government with the means +of securing that firm hold upon the great river of the West which, once +gained, was never relaxed. + +Mr. Eads resides in St. Louis. He is still in the prime of life, is +admired and honored by his fellow-citizens, and affords a splendid +example of what genius and industry can do for a poor, friendless boy in +that glorious western country which is one day to be the seat of empire +in the New World. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +CYRUS W. FIELD. + + +Cyrus far we have been considering the struggles of men who have risen +from obscure positions in life, by the aid of their own genius, +industry, and courage, to the front rank of their respective callings. +We shall now relate the story of one who having already won fortune, +periled it all upon an enterprise in which his own genius had recognized +the path to fame and to still greater success, but which the almost +united voice of the people of his country condemned as visionary, and +from which they coldly held aloof until its brilliant success compelled +them to acknowledge the wisdom and foresight of its projector. + +Fifteen years ago very few persons had heard of Cyrus W. Field. Ten +years ago he had achieved considerable notoriety as a visionary who was +bent on sinking his handsome fortune in the sea. To-day, the world is +full of his fame, as the man to whom, above all others, it is indebted +for the successful completion of the Atlantic Telegraph; and those who +were formerly loudest in ridiculing him are now foremost in his praise. +"Nothing succeeds like success," and what was once in their eyes mere +folly, and worthy only of ridicule, they now hail as the evidences of +his courage, foresight, and profound wisdom, and wonder that they never +could see them in their true light before. + +Cyrus West Field was born at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, on the 30th day +of November, 1819, and is the son of the Rev. David Dudley Field, a +distinguished clergyman of that State. He was carefully educated in the +primary and grammar schools of his native county, and at the age of +fifteen went to New York to seek his fortune. He had no difficulty in +obtaining a clerkship in an enterprising mercantile house in that city, +and, from the first, gave evidence of unusual business capacity. His +employers, pleased with his promise, advanced him rapidly, and in a few +years he became a partner in the house. His success as a merchant was +uniform and marked--so marked, indeed, that in 1853, when only +thirty-four years old, he was able to partially retire from business +with a large fortune as the substantial reward of his mercantile career. + +Mr. Field had devoted himself so closely to his business that, at his +retirement, he resolved to seek recreation and change of scene in +foreign travel, and accordingly he left New York, and passed the next +six months in journeying through the mountains of South America. Upon +his return home, at the close of the year 1853, he declared his +intention to withdraw entirely from active participation in business, +and to engage in no new schemes. + +He had scarcely returned home, however, when his brother, Mr. Matthew D. +Field, a successful and well-known civil engineer, informed him that he +had just become acquainted with a Mr. Frederick N. Gisborne, of +Newfoundland, who had come to New York for the purpose of interesting +some American capitalists in a company which had been organized in +Newfoundland for the purpose of procuring news in America and Europe, +and transmitting it between the two continents with greater dispatch +than was possible in the then existing mode of communication between the +two countries. The scheme of Mr. Gisborne had commended itself to Mr. +Matthew Field, and he urged his brother to meet that gentleman and hear +his statements. Mr. Cyrus Field at once declined to undertake any share +in the enterprise, and said that it would be useless for him to meet Mr. +Gisborne; but his brother was so urgent that he at last consented to +grant Mr. Gisborne an interview, and at least hear what he had to say. +At the appointed time, Mr. Field received Mr. Gisborne at his house, and +was there made acquainted with the proposed plan of operations of the +"Electric Telegraph Company of Newfoundland." This company had gone into +bankruptcy a short time previous, but Mr. Gisborne hoped to be able to +revive it by the aid of American capital. The scheme which he laid +before Mr. Field, can not be better stated than by quoting the following +extract from the charter which the Legislature of Newfoundland had +granted the bankruptcy company: + +"The telegraph line of this company is designed to be strictly an +'Inter-Continental Telegraph,' Its termini will be New York, in the +United States, and London, in the Kingdom of Great Britain; these points +are to be connected by a line of electric telegraph from New York to St. +John's, Newfoundland, partly on poles, partly laid in the ground, and +partly through the water, and a line of the swiftest steamships ever +built, from that point to Ireland. The trips of these steamships, it is +expected, will not exceed five days, and as very little time will be +occupied in transmitting messages between St. John's and New York, the +communication between the latter city and London or Liverpool, will be +effected in _six days,_ or less. The company will have likewise +stationed at St. John's a steam yacht, for the purpose of intercepting +the European and American steamships, so that no opportunity may be +lost in forwarding intelligence in advance of the ordinary channels of +communication." + +Mr. Field listened attentively to his visitor, but declined to commit +himself to more than an expression of sympathy with the enterprise. +After the departure of his guest, he took the globe which stood in his +library, and turning it over, began to examine the proposed route of the +telegraph line and the distance to be traversed by the steamers. While +engaged in this examination, the idea flashed across his mind that +instead of undertaking such a complicated scheme, it would be better to +attempt to stretch a telegraph wire entirely across the ocean, from the +shores of Newfoundland to the coast of Ireland. The vastness of this +scheme pleased him, and its usefulness to the entire world, if it could +be carried out, was clear to his mind from the first. + +He at once set to work to ascertain if such an undertaking as an +Atlantic telegraph was practicable. He wrote to Lieutenant Maury, then +the Chief of the National Observatory at Washington, and asked if the +laying of such a wire was possible; and to Professor Morse, the inventor +of the telegraph, to know if such a wire would be available for sending +messages if it could be laid. Lieutenant Maury promptly replied, +inclosing a copy of a report he had just made to the Secretary of the +Navy on the subject, from which Mr. Field learned that the idea of +laying a telegraph across the ocean was not original with himself. In +this report Lieutenant Maury demonstrated the entire practicability of +such an enterprise, and sustained his conclusions by a statement of the +recent discoveries concerning the bed of the ocean, made by Lieutenant +Berryman. Professor Morse came in person to visit Mr. Field, and assured +him of his entire faith in the possibility of sending telegraphic +messages across the ocean with rapidity and success. + +The two highest authorities in the world thus having assured him of the +entire practicability of the undertaking, Mr. Field declared his +readiness, if he could procure the assistance of a sufficient number of +capitalists in the United States, to undertake the laying of a telegraph +across the Atlantic between Europe and America. Further deliberation +only made him better satisfied with the undertaking, and he set to work +to find ten capitalists, each of whom he proposed should contribute one +hundred thousand dollars, making the capital of the proposed company one +million of dollars. Mr. Field was convinced that the undertaking would +be expensive, but he had then but a faint conception of its magnitude, +and was very far from supposing that "he might yet be drawn on to stake +upon its success the whole fortune he had accumulated; that he was to +sacrifice for it all the peace and quiet he had hoped to enjoy, and that +for twelve years he was to be almost without a home, crossing and +recrossing the sea, urging his enterprise in Europe and America." + +The scientific questions involved in the undertaking were so little +understood at the time by the public, and the popular judgment regarded +the attempt to stretch a cable across the deep, mysterious ocean with so +much incredulity, that Mr. Field had considerable trouble in finding +gentlemen willing or prepared to share his faith in the enterprise. His +first effort was to induce Mr. Peter Cooper, of New York, his next door +neighbor, to join him, and he succeeded so well that Mr. Cooper +consented to do so if several others would unite with them. Encouraged +by his success with Mr. Cooper, whose name was a tower of strength to +his cause, Mr. Field renewed his efforts, and succeeded in winning over +the following gentlemen, and in the order named: Moses Taylor, Marshall +O. Roberts, and Chandler White. These gentlemen were very slow to accept +the views of Mr. Field, but, once having done so, they never lost faith +in the ultimate success of the undertaking. The more thoroughly they +became acquainted with its magnitude and costliness, the stronger grew +their confidence in it, for this increase of knowledge not only showed +them more plainly its difficulties and dangers, but developed new +grounds on which to base their hopes. + +Mr. Field was about to continue his efforts to procure additional names, +when Mr. Cooper proposed that the five gentlemen already pledged to the +scheme should undertake its entire cost without waiting for the other +four. The proposition was agreed to, and it was decided to take the +necessary steps to procure a charter for their company from the +Legislature of Newfoundland. Mr. Field consented to undertake this, and +at once set off for St. John's, accompanied by his brother, Mr. David +Dudley Field, who was made the legal adviser of the company. At St. +John's they were greatly aided by Mr. Archibald, then the +Attorney-General of the Colony, and afterward the British Consul at New +York, and by the Governor of Newfoundland. They succeeded in obtaining a +charter from the Legislature under the name of the "New York, +Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company," with liberal grants in land +and money. This accomplished, they assumed and paid the liabilities of +the old Telegraph Company which had been brought to Mr. Field's notice +by Mr. Gisborne, and thus removed the last difficulty in their way. This +much accomplished, Mr. Field hastened back to New York, and on the 6th +of May, 1854, the Company was formally organized at the residence of Mr. +David Dudley Field. Messrs. Cooper, Taylor, Field, Roberts, and White +were the first directors. Mr. Cooper, was made President of the +Company, Mr. White, Vice-President, and Mr. Taylor Secretary. A capital +of one million and a half of dollars was subscribed on the spot, Mr. +Field contributing about two hundred thousand dollars in cash. + +Work was at once begun on the section between New York and St. John's. +There was no road across the island of Newfoundland, and the Company had +not only to build their telegraph line, but to construct a road by the +side of it through an almost unbroken wilderness. It was a work which +required the highest executive ability, and the services of an army of +men. The distance across the island was four hundred miles, and there +were numerous rocky gorges, morasses, and rivers in the way. The country +was a desolation, and it was found that supplies would have to be +transported from St. John's. The execution of the work was committed to +Mr. White, the Vice-President, who went to St. John's to act as the +general agent of the Company, and to Mr. Matthew D. Field, who was +appointed constructing engineer. These gentlemen displayed such skill +and energy in their respective positions that in two years the Company +had not only built a telegraph line and a road of four hundred miles +across the island, but had constructed another line of one hundred and +forty miles in the island of Cape Breton, and had stretched a submarine +cable across the Gulf of St. Lawrence.[A] The line was now in working +order from New York to St. John's, Newfoundland, a distance of one +thousand miles, and it had required about a million of dollars for its +construction. It now remained to complete the great work by laying the +cable between Newfoundland and Ireland. + + +[Footnote A: The first effort to lay a cable in the Gulf of St. Lawrence +was made by this Company, in August, 1855. It was a failure, and the +cable was lost. The second attempt was made in the summer of 1856, and +was entirely successful.] + +It being desirable to examine still further the bed of the ocean over +which the cable was to be laid, Mr. Field requested the Government of +the United States to send out an expedition over the route for the +purpose of taking deep sea soundings. His request was promptly granted, +and an expedition under Lieut. Berryman was dispatched, which proceeded +to examine the ocean bed, with the most satisfactory results. This was +accomplished in the summer of 1856, and the next year the same route was +surveyed by Commander Daymon, with the British war steamer Cyclops--this +survey being ordered by the Lords of the Admiralty, at Mr. Field's +request. These surveys made it plain beyond question that a cable could +lie safely on the bed of the sea, at a depth sufficient to protect it +from vessels' anchors, from icebergs, and from submarine currents, and +that it would receive sufficient support from that bed to free it from +all undue tension. There was no doubt of the ultimate success of the +enterprise in the minds of the directors, but it was necessary to +convince the public in both Europe and America that it was not an +impossibility, and also to enlist the sympathies of the Governments of +Great Britain and the United States, and secure their assistance. + +Mr. Field, who had made several voyages to England and to Newfoundland +in behalf of the company, was elected Vice-President after the death of +Mr. White, in 1856, and was charged with the duty of proceeding to +England to obtain the assistance of the British Government, and to +organize the company in London. Thus far the directors had borne the +entire cost of the undertaking, and it was but fair that they should +seek the means for completing their work in the country which was to be +so much benefited by it. Mr. Field sailed for England in the summer of +1856, and upon reaching that country proceeded to consult some of its +most eminent engineers and electricians. The English people were slow to +believe that so long a cable could be successfully worked, even if laid +intact, and to remove their doubts, the opinions of Professor Morse and +Lieutenant Maury were published in their newspapers; and this +publication brought out communications from many scientific men on the +subject, a number of them advocating the undertaking. Thus, the +attention of the English public was gained. Experiments were made by +Professor Morse, Mr. Bright, and Dr. Whitehouse, which proved beyond all +doubt the ease with which a continuous line of more than two thousand +miles of wire could be worked; and Professor Morse was able, from these +experiments, to declare his conviction that an electric current could +pass between London and New York, on such a wire, in the space of one +second. + +Science had now done its utmost, and had in every thing sustained the +great plan. It was now necessary to ask the aid of Her Majesty's +Government. This effort was intrusted to Mr. Field, who carried it +through successfully. The English Government agreed to furnish the ships +necessary for making soundings and surveys, and to furnish vessels to +assist in laying the cable. It also agreed to pay to the company an +annual subsidy of fourteen thousand pounds for the transmission of the +government messages until the net profits of the company were equal to a +dividend of six pounds per cent., when the payment was to be reduced to +ten thousand pounds per annum, for a period of twenty-five years. +Provision was made for extra payment, in case the government messages +exceeded a certain amount; and it was provided that the messages of the +Governments of Great Britain and the United States should be placed upon +an equal footing, and should have priority in the order in which they +arrived at the stations. This last provision exhibited a decided +liberality on the part of the English Government, since both ends of the +proposed cable would be in British territory. Indeed, throughout the +whole negotiation, Great Britain cheerfully accorded to the United +States every privilege which she claimed for herself. + +Having secured the aid of the Queen's Government on such liberal terms, +Mr. Field now undertook the organization of the company, in addition to +the task of raising a capital of three hundred and fifty thousand +pounds. In both efforts he was effectively assisted by Mr. John W. +Brett, who had laid the first cable across the English Channel, and by +Mr. Charles T. Bright and Dr. Edward O.W. Whitehouse. The efforts of +these gentlemen were successful. In a few weeks the whole capital was +subscribed. It had been divided into three hundred and fifty shares of a +thousand pounds each. One hundred and one of these were taken up in +London, eighty-six in Liverpool, thirty-seven in Glasgow, twenty-eight +in Manchester, and a few in other parts of England. Mr. Field, at the +final division of shares, took eighty-eight. He did not design making +this investment on his own account, but thinking it but fair that at +least one-fourth of the stock should be held in America, he made this +subscription with the intention of disposing of his shares after his +return home. Owing to his continued absence from New York, and the +straitened condition of the money market, it was nearly a year before he +could succeed in selling as much as twenty-seven shares. The company was +organized in December, 1856, a Board of Directors elected, and a +contract made for the cable, half of which was to be made in London and +the other half in Liverpool. + +The day after the organization of the company, Mr. Field sailed for New +York, from which place he at once made a voyage to Newfoundland, to look +after some matters which required his presence. Returning home, he +hurried to Washington, to secure the aid of the General Government. He +met with more opposition here than he had encountered in England. A +powerful lobby opposed him, and a spirit of hostility to his bill +exhibited itself in Congress, and to such a degree that the measure +passed the Senate by a majority of only one vote. It came very near +failing in the House, but at length got through, and received the +President's signature on the 3d of March, 1857. + +In the summer of 1857, Mr. Field having returned to England, the cable +was declared to be in readiness for laying. The United States Government +now placed at the disposal of the Telegraph Company the magnificent new +steam frigate "Niagara," as the most suitable vessel for laying the +cable, and ordered the "Susquehanna," the largest side-wheel frigate in +the service, to accompany her in the expedition. The British Government +provided the steam frigate "Agamemnon," a splendid vessel, which had +been the flagship of the English fleet at the bombardment of Sebastopol, +and ordered the "Leopard" to accompany her as an escort. The "Niagara" +was commanded by Captain W.L. Hudson, of the United States Navy, and the +"Agamemnon" by Captain Noddal, of the Royal Navy. The "Niagara" took on +her share of the cable at Liverpool, and the "Agamemnon" received hers +at London. It was agreed that the "Niagara" should begin the laying of +the cable, and continue it until her portion of it should be exhausted +in mid-ocean, when her end of it should be united with the cable on +board the "Agamemnon," which ship should continue laying the line until +the shores of Newfoundland were reached. After taking on the cable, the +ships were ordered to Queenstown. + +The vessels left England in the midst of general rejoicings, and arrived +at the rendezvous at the proper time. Thence they sailed for the harbor +of Valentia, which was to be the eastern terminus of the line and the +starting point of the expedition. They were greeted every-where with +enthusiasm, and the greatest confidence in the success of the +enterprise was manifested by those on board. Mr. Field, Professor Morse, +and several other officers of the company were on board the "Niagara," +as that ship was to conduct the first part of the sinking of the cable. + +At length all was in readiness. The shore end of the cable was landed +and made fast on Wednesday afternoon, the 5th of August, and the next +morning the fleet stood out to sea. "Before they had gone five miles the +heavy shore end of the cable caught in the machinery and parted. The +'Niagara' put back, and the cable was 'underrun' the whole distance. At +length the end was lifted out of the water and spliced to the gigantic +coil, and as it dropped safely to the bottom of the sea, the mighty ship +began to stir. At first she moved very slowly, not more than two miles +an hour, to avoid the danger of accident; but the feeling that they are +at last away is itself a relief. The ships are all in sight, and so near +that they can hear each other's bells. The 'Niagara,' as if knowing that +she is bound for the land out of whose forests she came, bends her head +to the waves, as her prow is turned toward her native shores. + +"Slowly passed the hours of that day. But all went well, and the ships +were moving out into the broad Atlantic. At length the sun went down in +the west, and stars came out on the face of the deep. But no man slept. +A thousand eyes were watching a great experiment, as those who have a +personal interest in the issue. All through that night, and through the +anxious days and nights that followed, there was a feeling in every soul +on board as if a friend in the cabin were at the turning-point of life +or death, and they were watching beside him. There was a strange, +unnatural silence in the ship. Men paced the deck with soft and muffled +tread, speaking only in whispers, as if a loud voice or a heavy footfall +might snap the vital cord. So much had they grown to feel for the +enterprise, that the cable seemed to them like a human creature, on +whose fate they hung, as if it were to decide their own destiny. + +"There are some who will never forget that first night at sea. Perhaps +the reaction from the excitement on shore made the impression the +deeper. What strange thoughts came to them as they stood on the deck and +watched that mysterious cord disappearing in the darkness, and gliding +to its ocean bed! There are certain moments in life when every thing +comes back upon us--when the events of years seem crowded into an hour. +What memories came up in those long night hours! How many on board that +ship thought of homes beyond the sea, of absent ones, of the distant and +the dead! Such thoughts, mingling with those suggested by the scene +around, added to the solemnity of the hour, had left an impression which +can never be forgotten. + +"But with the work in hand all is going on well. There are vigilant eyes +on deck. Mr. Bright, the engineer of the company, is there, and Mr. +Everett, Mr. De Sauty, the electrician, and Professor Morse. The +paying-out machinery does its work, and though it makes a constant +rumble in the ship, that dull, heavy sound is music to their ears, as it +tells them that all is well. If one should drop to sleep, and wake up at +night, he has only to hear the sound of 'the old coffee-mill,' and his +fears are relieved, and he goes to sleep again." + +Saturday and Sunday passed away without accident, but on Monday, when +two hundred miles at sea, in deep water, and safely beyond the great +submarine mountain, the electrical continuity was suddenly lost. This +interruption amazed and perplexed all on board, but no one was able to +remedy it, or to account for it satisfactorily. It lasted for two hours, +and then, just as the order was about to be given to cut the cable and +endeavor to wind it in, it came back as suddenly and mysteriously as it +had disappeared. The greatest delight was now manifested by all on +board. "You could see," says the correspondent of the London _Times_, +"the tears of joy standing in the eyes of some as they almost cried for +joy, and told their mess-mates that it was all right." + +That night, however, the expedition came to grief. The cable was running +out freely at the rate of six miles per hour, while the ship was making +only four. This was supposed to be owing to a powerful undercurrent. To +check this waste of the cable the engineer applied the brakes firmly, +which at once stopped the machine. The effect was to bring a heavy +strain on the cable that was in the water. The stern of the ship was +down in the trough of the sea, and as it rose upward on the swell, the +pressure was too great, and the cable parted. The alarm was at once +given, and the greatest consternation and grief prevailed on board. "It +made all hands of us through the day," says Captain Hudson, "like a +household or family which had lost their dearest friend, for officers +and men had been deeply interested in the success of the enterprise." + +The fleet immediately put about and returned to England, where Mr. Field +at once informed the directors of the extent of the disaster. The +remaining portions of the cable were landed and stored safely away, and +the vessels were returned to their respective Governments. Orders were +given for the manufacture of seven hundred miles of cable to replace the +portion which had been lost, and to allow for waste in paying it out, +and the most energetic preparations were made for another attempt. + +Being satisfied that the machine used for paying out the cable was +defective, Mr. Field went to Washington and procured from the Navy +Department the services of Mr. Wm. E. Everett, the chief engineer of the +"Niagara," stating to that gentleman the necessity for a new machine, +and urging him to invent it. This Mr. Everett succeeded in doing during +the winter. His machine was regarded as a great improvement on that +which had been used on the "Niagara." "It was much smaller and lighter. +It would take up only about one third as much room on the deck, and had +only one fourth the weight of the old machine. Its construction was much +more simple. Instead of four heavy wheels, it had but two, and these +were made to revolve with ease, and without danger of sudden check, by +the application of what were known as self-releasing brakes. These were +the invention of Mr. Appold, of London, a gentleman of fortune, but with +a strong taste for mechanics, which led him to spend his time and wealth +in exercising his mechanical ingenuity. These brakes were so adjusted as +to bear only a certain strain, when they released themselves. This +ingenious contrivance was applied by Mr. Everett to the paying-out +machinery. The strength of the cable was such that it would not break +except under a pressure of a little over three tons. The machinery was +so adjusted that not more than half that strain could possibly come upon +the cable, when the brakes would relax their grasp, the wheels revolve +easily, and the cable run out into the sea 'at its own sweet will.' The +paying-out machine, therefore, we are far from claiming as wholly an +American invention. This part of the mechanism was English. The merit of +Mr. Everett lay in the skill with which he adapted it to the laying of +the Atlantic cable, and in his great improvements of other parts of the +machinery. The whole construction, as it afterward stood upon the decks +of the 'Niagara' and the 'Agamemnon,' was the combined product of +English and American invention." + +In January, 1858, the Board of Directors offered Mr. Field the sum of +five thousand dollars per annum if he would assume the post of general +manager of the company. He at once undertook the duties of the +position, but declined all compensation. + +Every thing being in readiness for the second attempt at laying the +cable, the "Niagara" sailed from New York in March, 1858, to take on her +portion of the cable at Plymouth. The "Agamemnon" was again ordered to +assist in the undertaking, and the "Gorgon" was made her consort Mr. +Field had hoped that the "Susquehanna" would again be the consort of the +"Niagara," but a few days before the sailing of the fleet he was +officially informed that he could not have the ship, as she was then in +the West Indies, with the greater part of her crew down with the yellow +fever. This was a keen disappointment, as every arrangement had been +made with the expectation of having the assistance of the "Susquehanna." +It was too late to ask the Government at Washington for another ship, +and it was by no means certain that the request would be granted if +made. In this dilemma Mr. Field frankly stated his disappointment to the +Lords of the Admiralty of England, and asked for a ship to accompany the +"Niagara." He was informed that the English Government was at that +moment chartering vessels to convey troops to Malta, as it had not ships +enough of its own, and that it was doubtful whether it could contribute +a third ship to the expedition. Still, so greatly did the government +desire the success of the enterprise, that a little later on the same +day the "Valorous" was ordered to take the place of the "Susquehanna" in +the telegraph fleet. This generous assistance was all the more +praiseworthy, as it was given at a time when the need of England for +ships was very urgent. + +After shipping the cable, the squadron sailed from Plymouth on the 29th +of May, 1868, for the Bay of Biscay, where the cable was subjected to +numerous and thorough tests, which demonstrated its strength and its +sensitiveness to the electric current. This accomplished, the vessels +returned to Plymouth. + +"Among the matters of _personal_ solicitude and anxiety at this time, +next to the success of the expedition, was Mr. Field himself. He was +working with an activity which was unnatural--which could only be kept +up by great excitement, and which involved the most serious danger. The +strain on the man was more than the strain on the cable, and we were in +fear that both would break together. Often he had no sleep, except such +as he caught flying on the railway. Indeed, when we remonstrated, he +said he could rest better there than anywhere else, for then he was not +tormented with the thought of any thing undone. For the time being he +could do no more; and then, putting his head in the cushioned corner of +the carriage, he got an hour or two of broken sleep. + +"Of this activity we had an instance while in Plymouth. The ships were +then lying in the Sound, only waiting orders from the Admiralty to go to +sea; but some business required one of the directors to go to Paris, +and, as usual, it fell upon him. He left on Sunday night, and went to +Bristol, and thence, by the first morning train, to London. Monday he +was busy all day, and that night went to Paris. Tuesday, another busy +day, and that night back to London. Wednesday, occupied every minute +till the departure of the Great Western train. That night back to +Plymouth. Thursday morning on board the 'Niagara,' and immediately the +squadron sailed." + +The plan of operations this time was for the vessels to proceed to a +given point in mid-ocean, and there unite the two ends of the cable, +after which the "Niagara" should proceed toward Newfoundland and the +"Agamemnon" toward Ireland, and it was supposed that each vessel would +make land about the same time. This was believed to be a better plan +than the one pursued in the first expedition. + +The squadron sailed from Plymouth on the 10th of June. The weather was +favorable for the first two or three clays of the voyage, but on the +13th a severe gale set in, which lasted for over a week, and came near +causing the "Agamemnon" to founder beneath her immense load, a portion +of which broke loose in her hold. All the vessels succeeded in +weathering the storm, however, and on the 25th reached the rendezvous in +mid-ocean. The next day the splice was made, and the ships set out for +their respective destinations. Before they had gone three miles the +machinery of the "Niagara" caught the cable and broke it. A second +splice was made, but when each ship had paid out about forty miles, the +electric current suddenly ceased. The cable was cut promptly, and the +two vessels at once returned to the rendezvous, where they rejoined each +other on the 28th. A comparison of the logs of the two ships "showed the +painful and mysterious fact that at the same second of time each vessel +discovered that a total fracture had taken place, at a distance of +certainly not less than ten miles from each ship, in fact, as well as can +be judged, at the bottom of the ocean." A third splice was made without +delay, and the two ships again set out for the opposite shores of the +Atlantic. This time about two hundred miles of the cable were +successfully laid, when it parted about twenty feet from the stern of +the "Agamemnon." The "Niagara," being unable to communicate with the +English frigate, bore away for Queenstown, where she was joined a few +days later by the "Agamemnon." + +This second failure greatly disheartened the directors, and it required +all Mr. Field's persuasiveness to induce them to sanction another +attempt. Yet he prevailed, and, hastening from London to Queenstown, +sailed with the telegraph fleet on the third attempt to lay the cable, +leaving Queenstown on the 17th of July. The rendezvous was reached on +the 28th, and on the 29th the splice was made; and the "Niagara" and +"Agamemnon" parted company. This time the undertaking was successful. +The cable was laid across the Atlantic, the "Niagara" reaching Trinity +Bay, Newfoundland, on the 5th of August, and the "Agamemnon" arriving +at Valentia, Ireland, a few hours later on the same day. Signals were +sent across the entire length of the line, from shore to shore, with +ease and rapidity, and nothing occurred to mar the success of the mighty +undertaking. + +The successful laying of the cable was hailed with the liveliest joy on +both sides of the Atlantic, and those who had participated in it were +regarded as heroes. But great as was the achievement, it was not +destined to be a lasting success. After working for four weeks, the +electric current suddenly ceased on the 1st of September. It never +worked _perfectly_ at any period of its existence, but it did transmit a +number of messages with intelligibleness, and thus put an end to all +doubt in the minds of the scientific men of the expedition of the +feasibility of laying a successful line across the ocean. + +The public generally and the directors of the company were greatly +disappointed, and many of-the latter and nearly all of the former +declared that all such attempts must of necessity fail. Some persons +even went so far as to avow their belief that the statements as to the +successful transmission of signals over the wire were false; but the +proofs that the wire did work properly for awhile are too strong to +allow us to accord the slightest weight to this disbelief. But whether +signals had passed over the wire or not, there could be no doubt that +the cable had ceased to respond to the efforts of the electricians, and +was a total failure, and the discouragement of nearly every one +connected with it was most profound. + +Mr. Field and one or two others were the only persons who retained the +slightest confidence in the enterprise, and it was clear to them that +any further effort to secure the aid of private capital would be useless +just then. An appeal was made to the British Government. It was urged +that the work was too great to be undertaken by private capital alone, +and that, since it was to be more of a public than a private nature, it +was but just that the Government should undertake it. The company asked +the Government to guarantee the interest on a certain amount of stock, +even if the second attempt should not prove a complete success. The +failure of the Red Sea cable, to which the British Government had given +an unconditional guarantee, had just occurred, and had caused a +considerable loss to the treasury, and the Government was not willing to +assume another such risk. Anxious, however, for the success of the +Atlantic telegraph, it increased its subsidy from fourteen thousand to +twenty thousand pounds, and agreed to guarantee eight per cent, on six +hundred thousand pounds of new capital for twenty-five years, upon the +single condition that the cable should be made to work successfully. + +This was not all, however. The Government caused further soundings to be +made off the coast of Ireland, which effectually dispelled all the fears +which had been entertained of a submarine mountain which would prove an +impassable barrier in the path of an ocean telegraph. In addition to +this, it caused the organization of a board of distinguished scientific +men for the purpose of determining all the difficult problems of +submarine telegraphy. This board met in 1859, and sat two years. The +result of its experiments and investigations was a declaration, signed +by the members, that a cable properly made, "and paid into the ocean +with the most improved machinery, possesses every prospect of not only +being successfully laid in the first instance, but may reasonably be +relied upon to continue many years in an efficient-state for the +transmission of signals." + +Meanwhile, Mr. Field labored energetically to revive the company. The +war which had broken out in the United States brought home to our +Government the urgent need of telegraphic communication with Europe, and +Mr. Field had no difficulty in obtaining from the President an assurance +that this Government would be most happy to join with Great Britain in +promoting this great international work. He addressed meetings of +merchants in various American cities, and displayed the greatest energy +in his efforts to enlist the aid of American capital. Very little was +accomplished, however, until 1863. By this time the success of the lines +in the Mediterranean and in the Persian Gulf had demonstrated the +practicability of long submarine telegraphs, and the public confidence +in the attempt had been revived to such an extent that the directors +ventured to call for proposals for the manufacture of a cable. Seventeen +offers were made, from which that of Messrs. Glass, Elliott & Co., of +London, was selected. Mr. Field now renewed his indomitable efforts, and +in a few months the new capital of six hundred thousand pounds was +subscribed, Messrs. Glass, Elliott &, Co. taking three hundred and +fifteen thousand pounds, besides one hundred thousand pounds in bonds. +This was accomplished in 1864, and work on the cable was immediately +begun. The cable now adopted was very different from, and much more +sensitive than, those which had been used before. It was heavier, and +less liable to be injured by the water. + +The "Great Eastern" steamship, the greatest wonder of naval +architecture, was at this time advertised for sale, and it occurred to +several of the gentlemen interested in the telegraph company that she +was the best vessel for laying the cable that could be found. They at +once organized themselves into a company, purchased the ship, and fitted +her up for that service. They were fortunate in securing the services of +Captain James Anderson, and placing him in charge of her, sent her to +Sheerness, where the cable was sent down to her in lighters from the +factory at Greenwich. When the cable was on board, and all the other +arrangements had been completed, the big ship left the Thames and sailed +for Valentia harbor. + +The point of landing had been changed from Valentia harbor, five or six +miles, to Foilhommerum Bay. On the 23d of July, 1865, the shore end was +connected with the cable on board the ship, and the voyage was begun. It +would be interesting to follow the huge steamer on this remarkable +voyage, and to relate to the reader the almost marvelous manner in which +faults were detected in the line hundreds of miles from the shore, and +how the cable was successfully hauled in and the damage repaired. All +went well until twelve hundred miles of cable had been paid out, and the +ship was but six hundred miles from the shores of Newfoundland, when the +cable broke again and plunged into the sea. + +Mr. Canning, the engineer in charge, was dismayed, but not disheartened. +For nine days the ship hung around the spot grappling for the cable, in +the hope of raising it, and sinking its grapnels for this purpose to a +depth of two miles. The cable was caught several times, but the rope +which held the grapnel broke each time, and the precious coil fell back +again into the deep. At length, having marked the place where the cable +was lost with buoys, the ship put back for England, and the enterprise +was abandoned for that year. + +Though unsuccessful in carrying the cable across the ocean, this +expedition was by no means a failure. Its results are thus summed up by +the officers in charge of it: + + + 1. It was proved by the expedition of 1858 that a submarine + telegraph cable could be laid between Ireland and Newfoundland, and + messages transmitted through the same. + + By the expedition of 1865 it has been fully demonstrated: + + 2. That the insulation of a cable improves very much after its + submersion in the cold deep water of the Atlantic, and that its + conducting power is considerably increased thereby. + + 3. That the steamship "Great Eastern," from her size and constant + steadiness, and from the control over her afforded by the joint use + of paddles and screw, renders it safe to lay an Atlantic cable in + any weather. + + 4. That in a depth of over two miles four attempts were made to + grapple the cable. In three of them the cable was caught by the + grapnel, and in the other the grapnel was fouled by the chain + attached to it. + + 5. That the paying-out machinery used on board the Great Eastern + worked perfectly, and can be confidently relied on for laying + cables across the Atlantic. + + 6. That with the improved telegraphic instruments for long + submarine lines, a speed of more than eight words per minute can be + obtained through such a cable as the present Atlantic one between + Ireland and Newfoundland, as the amount of slack actually paid out + did not exceed fourteen per cent., which would have made the total + cable laid between Valentia and Heart's Content nineteen hundred + miles. + + 7. That the present Atlantic cable, though capable of bearing a + strain of seven tons, did not experience more than fourteen + hundred-weight in being paid out into the deepest water of the + Atlantic between Ireland and Newfoundland. + + 8. That there is no difficulty in mooring buoys in the deep water + of the Atlantic between Ireland and Newfoundland, and that two + buoys even when moored by a piece of the Atlantic cable itself, + which had been previously lifted from the bottom, have ridden out a + gale. + + 9. That more than four nautical miles of the Atlantic cable have + been recovered from a depth of over two miles, and that the + insulation of the gutta-percha covered wire was in no way whatever + impaired by the depth of water or the strains to which it had been + subjected by lifting and passing through the hauling-in apparatus. + + 10. That the cable of 1865, owing to the improvements introduced + into the manufacture of the gutta-percha core, was more than one + hundred times better insulated than cables made in 1858, then + considered perfect and still working. + + 11. That the electrical testing can be conducted with such unerring + accuracy as to enable the electricians to discover the existence of + a fault immediately after its production or development, and very + quickly to ascertain its position in the cable. + + 12. That with a steam-engine attached to the paying-out machinery, + should a fault be discovered on board whilst laying the cable, it + is possible that it might be recovered before it had reached the + bottom of the Atlantic, and repaired at once. + + +It was now placed beyond the possibility of a doubt that the cable would +be laid within the next year. More than this, it was determined not only +to lay a new cable between the two continents, but to fish up the cable +of 1865, splice it and continue it to Newfoundland, thus giving the +company two working lines. + +It was necessary, however, to raise more capital, and in this effort Mr. +Field again put forth his restless and indomitable energies. As the +public confidence in the scheme had been effectually restored, it was +resolved to raise six hundred thousand pounds of new capital by the +issue of one hundred and twenty thousand shares of five pounds each, +which should be preferential shares, entitled to a dividend of twelve +per cent, before the eight per cent, dividend to be paid on the former +preference shares, and the four per cent, on the ordinary stock. They at +once proceeded to issue these bonds, when they were informed by the +Attorney-General that the proceeding was contrary to law. + +In this dilemma work on the new cable was at once stopped, and the money +which had been paid in returned to the subscribers. As Parliament was +not in session, and a new issue of stock could not be made by the +company without its authorization, and as to wait for this would be to +postpone the laying of the cable for another year, Mr. Field was now +advised by Mr. Daniel Gooch, M.P., that the only way out of the +difficulty was to organize a new company at once, which should assume +the work, issue its own shares, and raise its own capital. Eminent legal +gentlemen sustained Mr. Gooch in this opinion, and Mr. Field again set +to work to organize a new company, under the name of the "Anglo-American +Telegraph Company." The capital was fixed at six hundred thousand +pounds, Mr. Field taking ten thousand pounds. The whole amount was +raised in a short time, and the company "contracted with the Atlantic +Cable Company to manufacture and lay down a cable in the summer of 1866, +for doing which it is to be entitled to what virtually amounts to a +preference dividend of twenty-five per cent., as a first claim is +secured to them by the Atlantic Telegraph Company upon the revenue of +the cable or cables (after the working expenses have been provided for) +to the extent of one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds per annum, +and the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company undertake +to contribute from their revenue a further annual sum of twenty-five +thousand pounds, on condition that a cable shall be working during +1866." + +Once more the furnaces glowed and the hammers rang in the manufacture of +the cable. Great improvements were made in the cable itself and in the +machinery for laying it, and the "Great Eastern" was thoroughly +overhauled. The cable was completed and put on board in June, and the +big ship left the Medway on the last of the month and proceeded to +Berehaven, in Ireland, where she took on her final stores of coal. This +done, she proceeded to Valentia, where she arrived on the seventh of +July. + +The shore end was successfully laid and made fast to the cable on board +the "Great Eastern," and on Friday morning, the 13th of July, 1866, the +huge ship set sail for Newfoundland, accompanied by her consorts of the +telegraph fleet. The voyage occupied fourteen days, the ship making an +average run of about one hundred and eighteen miles per day, and paying +out about one hundred and thirty-one miles of cable in the same period +of time. The weather was fair during the whole voyage, but the anxiety +of the officers in charge was none the less on that account. There were +accidents to be dreaded more than unfavorable weather. The ship was run +at moderate speed all the way, as it was thought she had once or twice +run too fast on the last voyage, and exposed the cable to danger. "The +total slack of the cable was less than twelve per cent., showing that +the cable was laid almost in a straight line, allowing for the swells +and hollows in the bottom of the sea. + +"As the next week drew toward its close, it was evident that they were +approaching the end of their voyage. By Thursday they had passed the +great depths of the Atlantic, and were off soundings. Besides, their +daily observations, there were many signs well known to mariners that +they were near the coast. There were the sea-birds, and even the smell +of the land, such as once greeted the sharp senses of Columbus, and made +him sure that he was floating to some undiscovered shore. Captain +Anderson had timed his departure so that he should approach the American +coast at the full moon; and so, for the last two or three nights, as +they drew near the Western shore, the round orb rose behind them, +casting its soft light over sea and sky; and these happy men seemed like +heavenly voyagers, floating gently on to a haven of rest. + +"In England the progress of the expedition was known from day to day, +but on this side of the ocean all was uncertainty. Some had gone to +Heart's Content, hoping to witness the arrival of the fleet, but not so +many as the last year, for the memory of their disappointment was too +fresh, and they feared the same result again. But still a faithful few +were there, who kept their daily watch. Two weeks have passed. It is +Friday morning, the 27th of July. They are up early, and looking +eastward to see the day break, when a ship is seen in the offing. She is +far down on the horizon. Spy-glasses are turned toward her. She comes +nearer; and look, there is another, and another! And now the hull of the +'Great Eastern' looms up all glorious in that morning sky. They are +coming! Instantly all is wild excitement on shore. Boats put off to row +toward the fleet. The 'Albany' is the first to round the point and enter +the bay. The 'Terrible' is close behind; the 'Medway' stops an hour or +two to join on the heavy shore end, while the 'Great Eastern,' gliding +calmly in as if she had done nothing remarkable, drops her anchor in +front of the telegraph house, having trailed behind her a chain of two +thousand miles, to bind the old world to the new. + +"Although the expedition reached Newfoundland on Friday, the 27th, yet, +as the cable across the Gulf of St. Lawrence was broken, the news was +not received in New York till the 29th. It was early Sunday morning, +before the Sabbath bells had rung their call to prayer, that the tidings +came. The first announcement was brief: 'Heart's Content, July 27th. We +arrived here at nine o'clock this morning. All well. Thank God, the +cable is laid, and is in perfect working order. Cyrus W. Field.'" + +There was no failure in the communication this time. The electric +current has continued to flow strongly and uninterruptedly from that day +until the present, and experience has demonstrated for the wonderful +wire a capacity far beyond the hopes of its projectors. + +Having laid the cable, the "Great Eastern" proceeded with surprising +accuracy to where the line had been lost the year before, and succeeded +in grappling and raising it to the surface. It was tested, and found to +be in perfect order, messages being sent with ease from the ship to +Valentia, and from that point back again. A splice was then made, and +the line was continued to Newfoundland. Both cables are still working, +and bid fair to be serviceable for many years to come. + +Many persons had contributed to this great success, but to Cyrus W. +Field must be assigned the chief praise. His energy and perseverance +kept the subject constantly before the public. His courage inspired +others, and his faith in its ultimate success alone kept its best +friends from abandoning it in its darkest hours. In its behalf he spent +twelve years of constant toil, and made over fifty voyages, more than +thirty of which were across the Atlantic. He devoted his entire fortune +to the undertaking, of which he was the projector and cheerfully +incurred the risk of poverty rather than abandon it. Therefore, it is +but just that he, who was the chief instrument in obtaining for the +world this great benefit, should receive the chief measure of the praise +which it has brought to all connected with it. + +[Illustration: ROBERT FULTON.] + + + + +III. + +INVENTORS + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +ROBERT FULTON. + + +One of the pleasantest as well as one of the most prominent places in +the city of New York is the grave-yard of old Trinity Church. A handsome +iron railing separates it from Broadway, and the thick rows of +grave-stones, all crumbling and stained with age, present a strange +contrast to the bustle, vitality, and splendor with which they are +surrounded. They stare solemnly down into Wall Street, and offer a +bitter commentary upon the struggles and anxiety of the money kings of +the great city. Work, toil, plan, combine as you may, they seem to say, +and yet it must all come to this. + +Not far from the south door of the church, and shaded by a venerable +tree, is a plain brown stone slab, bearing this inscription: "The vault +of Walter and Robert C. Livingston, sons of Robert Livingston, of the +manor of Livingston." A stranger would pass it by without a second +glance; yet it is one of the Meccas of the world of science, for the +mortal part of Robert Fulton sleeps in the vault below, without monument +or legendary stone to his memory, but in sight of the mighty steam +fleets which his genius called forth. Very few visitors ever see this +part of the churchyard, and the grave of Fulton is unknown to nine out +of ten of his countrymen. Yet this man, sleeping so obscurely in his +grave without a name, did far more for the world than either Napoleon or +Wellington. He revolutionized commerce and manufactures, changed the +entire system of navigation, triumphed over the winds and the waves, and +compelled the adoption of a new system of modern warfare. Now he lies in +a grave not his own, with no monument or statue erected to his memory in +all this broad land. + +ROBERT FULTON was born in the township of Little Britain (now called +Fulton), in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1765. He was of Irish +descent, and his father was a farmer in moderate circumstances. He was +the eldest son and third child of a family of five children. The farm +upon which he was born was conveyed by his father in 1766 to Joseph +Swift, in whose family it still remains. It contains three hundred and +sixty-four acres, and is one of the handsomest farms in Lancaster +County. + +After disposing of his farm, Mr. Fulton, senior, removed to the town of +Lancaster, where he died in 1768, and there young Robert grew up under +the care of his mother. He learned to read and write quickly, but did +not manifest much fondness for his books after mastering his elementary +studies. He early exhibited an unusual talent for drawing, however, +greatly preferring the employment of his pencil to the more serious +duties of the school. His instructors and companions considered him a +dull boy, though all admitted that he showed no disposition to be idle. +All his leisure time was spent either in drawing, or in visiting the +shops of the mechanics in the place and eagerly watching their +operations. He displayed a remarkable talent for mechanism, which was +greatly assisted by his skill in drawing, and his visits to the machine +shops were always welcomed by both the apprentices and their employers, +who recognized the unusual genius of the boy, and predicted great things +for him in the future. But to his teacher, who seems to have been rather +more belligerent than is usual with Quakers, Robert's neglect of his +studies and visits to the machine shops were so many indications of +growing worthlessness. The indignant pedagogue once took occasion to +remonstrate with him upon his course, and, failing to convince him by +argument, rapped him sharply over the knuckles with a ruler, telling him +he would make him do something. Robert at once placed his arms akimbo, +and, looking his tutor sternly in the face, replied: "Sir, I came here +to have something beat into my brains, not into my knuckles." + +Some time after this Mrs. Fulton, in conversation with the teacher, +expressed her solicitude lest her son should "turn out nothing," since +he neglected his books so entirely. The teacher frankly confessed that +he had done all in his power for the boy, but that he was discouraged, +and added: "Only yesterday, madam, Robert pertinaciously declared to me +that his head was so full of original notions that there was no vacant +chamber to store away the contents of any dusty books." The lad was only +ten years of age at the time, and, as may be supposed, the good Quaker +who directed his education was not a little dismayed by such a remark. + +The boyhood of Fulton was passed during the stormy period of the +Revolution, and in a section so close to the theater of war that he was +in the midst of all the excitement engendered by the conflict. He was an +ardent patriot from the first, and used his pencil freely to caricature +all who showed the slightest leaning to the cause of the enemy. + +In 1778 the supply of candles was so low in Lancaster that the town +authorities advised the people to refrain from illuminating their houses +on the 4th of July of that year, in order to save their candles. Robert, +at this time but thirteen years old, was determined not to forego a +patriotic display of some sort. He had prepared a quantity of candles +for the occasion, and after the proclamation of the Town Council was +issued, he took them to a Mr. John Fisher, who kept a store in the +place, and sold powder and shot. Mr. Fisher was somewhat astonished at +Robert's desire to part with the candles, which were at that time scarce +articles, and asked his reason for so doing. The boy replied: "Our +rulers have requested the citizens to refrain from illuminating their +windows and streets; as good citizens we should comply with their +request, and I prefer illuminating the heavens with sky-rockets." Having +procured the powder, he left Mr. Fisher's, and entered a small variety +store kept by a Mr. Cossart, where he purchased several sheets of +large-sized pasteboard. As Mr. Cossart was about to roll them, the boy +stopped him, saying he wished to carry them open. Mr. Cossart, knowing +Robert's mechanical genius, asked him what he was about to invent. + +"Why," said the boy, "we are prohibited from illuminating our windows +with candles, and I'm going to shoot my candles through the air." + +"Tut, tut, tut," said Mr. Cossart, laughingly; "that's an +impossibility." + +"No, sir," said Robert, "there is nothing impossible."[A] + +[Footnote A: He proved that this was not impossible, for he had his +display, making his rockets himself, and after his own model.] + +"Robert was known," says one of his biographers, "to purchase small +quantities of quicksilver from Dr. Adam Simon Kuhn, druggist, residing +opposite the market-house. He was trying some experiments that he did +not wish to make public, and which the workmen in Mr. Fenno's and Mr. +Christian Isch's shops were anxious to find out, but could not. He was +in the habit almost daily of visiting those shops, and was a favorite +among the workmen, who took advantage of his talent for drawing by +getting him to make ornamental designs for guns, and sketches of the +size and shape of guns, and then giving the calculations of the force, +size of the bore and balls, and the distances they would fire; and he +would accompany them to the open commons near by potter's field, to +prove his calculations by shooting at a mark. On account of his +expertness in his calculations, and of their ineffectual efforts to +discover the use he was making of quicksilver, the shop-hands nicknamed +him 'quicksilver Bob.' + +"Mr. Messersmith and Mr. Christian Isch were employed by the Government +to make and repair the arms for the troops; and on several occasions +guards were stationed at their shops to watch and see that the workmen +were constantly employed during whole nights and on Sunday, to prevent +any delay. The workmen had so much reliance and confidence in +'quicksilver Bob's' judgment and mechanical skill, that every suggestion +he would make as to the alteration of a gun, or any additional ornament +that he would design, was invariably adopted by common consent. + +"In the summer of 1779, Robert Fulton evinced an extraordinary fondness +for inventions. He was a frequent visitor at Mr. Messersmith's and Mr. +Fenno's gunsmith shops, almost daily, and endeavored to manufacture a +small air-gun." + +Among the acquaintances of Robert Fulton at this time was a young man, +about eighteen years of age, named Christopher Gumpf, who used +frequently to accompany his father in his fishing excursions on the +Conestoga. Mr. Gumpf, Sen., being an experienced angler, readily +consented to allow Robert to join himself and his son in these +expeditions, and made the two boys earn their pleasure by pushing the +boat about the stream, as he desired to move from point to point. As the +means of propulsion was simply a pole, the labor was very severe, and +Robert soon became tired of it. Not wishing, however, to give up his +pleasant fishing trips, he determined to devise some means of lightening +the labor. + +"He absented himself a week, having gone to Little Britain township to +spend a few days at his aunt's; and while there he planned and completed +a small working model of a fishing boat, with paddle-wheels. On leaving +his aunt's, he placed the model in the garret, with a request that it +should not be destroyed. Many years afterward, that simple model was the +attraction of friends, and became, instead of lumber in the garret, an +ornament in the aunt's parlor, who prized it highly. That model was the +result of Robert's fishing excursions with Christopher Gumpf; and when +he returned from his aunt's he told Christopher that he must make a set +of paddles to work at the sides of the boat, to be operated by a double +crank, and then they could propel the old gentleman's fishing-boat with +greater ease. Two arms or pieces of timber were then fastened together +at right angles, with a paddle at each end, and the crank was attached +to the boat across it near the stern, with a paddle operating on a pivot +as a rudder; and Fulton's first invention was tried on the Conestoga +River, opposite Rockford, in the presence of Peter and Christopher +Gumpf. The boys were so pleased with the experiment, that they hid the +paddles in the bushes on the shore, lest others might use and break +them, and attached them to the boat whenever they chose; and thus did +they enjoy very many fishing excursions." + +This was the first experiment in the science of navigation attempted by +the man who afterward became the author of a new system. + +Having chosen the profession of an artist and portrait painter, young +Fulton removed to Philadelphia at the age of seventeen, and remained +there, pursuing his vocation, until the completion of his twenty-first +year. He formed there the acquaintance of Benjamin Franklin, by whom he +was much noticed. His success was rapid, and upon attaining his majority +he was enabled to purchase and stock a farm of eighty-four acres in +Washington County, Pennsylvania, which he gave to his mother for a home +as long as she should live. Having thus insured her comfort, he went to +England for the purpose of completing his studies in his profession. He +took with him letters to Benjamin West, then at the height of his fame, +and living in London. He was cordially received by Mr. West, who was +also a native of Pennsylvania, and remained an inmate of his family for +several years. West was then the President of the Royal Academy of Great +Britain, and was thus enabled to extend to Fulton, to whom he became +deeply attached, many advantages, both social and professional, of which +the young artist was prompt to avail himself. + +Upon leaving the family of Mr. West, Fulton commenced a tour for the +purpose of examining the treasures of art contained in the residences of +the English nobility, and remained for two years in Devonshire. There he +became acquainted with the Duke of Bridgewater, to whom England is +indebted for the introduction of the canal system within her limits; and +it is said that he was induced by this nobleman to abandon the +profession of an artist, and enter upon that of a civil engineer. This +nobleman being devoted to mechanical investigations, proved a very +congenial acquaintance to Fulton. He was engaged at the time on a scheme +of steam navigation by a propeller, modeled after the foot of a water +fowl. His plan did not commend itself to Fulton's judgment, and he +addressed him a letter, setting forth its defects, and advancing some of +the views upon which he acted himself in after life. Here he also met +with Watt, who had just produced the steam-engine, which Fulton studied +enthusiastically. His own inventive genius was not idle, and while +living in Devonshire, he produced an improved mill for sawing marble, +which won him the thanks and medal of the British Society for the +Promotion of the Arts and Commerce; a machine for spinning flax and +making ropes; and an excavator for scooping out the channels of canals +and aqueducts, all of which were patented. He published a number of +communications on the subject of canals in one of the leading London +journals, and a treatise upon the same subject. Having obtained a patent +in England for canal improvements, he went to France in 1797, with the +design of introducing them in that country. + +Upon reaching Paris, he took up his residence with Mr. Joel Barlow, and +thus was laid the foundation of a friendship between these two gentlemen +which lasted during their lives. He remained in Paris seven years, +residing during that time with Mr. Barlow, and devoting himself to the +study of modern languages, and engineering and its kindred sciences. + +His work was continuous and severe in Paris. He invented and painted the +first panorama ever exhibited in that city, which he sold for the +purpose of raising money for his experiments in steam navigation; he +also designed a series of splendid colored illustrations for _The +Columbiad_, the famous poem of his friend Mr. Barlow. Besides these, he +invented a number of improvements in canals, aqueducts, inclined planes, +boats, and guns, which yielded him considerable credit, but very little +profit. + +In 1801, he invented a submarine boat which he called the "Nautilus," +which is thus described by M. de St. Aubin, a member of the Tribunate: + +"The diving-boat, in the construction of which he is now employed, will +be capacious enough to contain eight men and provision for twenty days, +and will be of sufficient strength and power to enable him to plunge one +hundred feet under water, if necessary. He has contrived a reservoir of +air, which will enable eight men to remain under water eight hours. When +the boat is above water, it has two sails, and looks just like a common +boat; when it is to dive, the mast and sails are struck. + +"In making his experiments, Mr. Fulton not only remained a whole hour +under water, with three of his companions, but had the boat parallel to +the horizon at any given distance. He proved that the compass points as +correctly under water as on the surface, and that while under water the +boat made way at the rate of half a league an hour, by means contrived +for that purpose. + +"It is not twenty years since all Europe was astonished at the first +ascension of men in balloons: perhaps in a few years they will not be +less surprised to see a flotilla of diving-boats, which, on a given +signal, shall, to avoid the pursuit of an enemy, plunge under water, and +rise again several leagues from the place where they descended! + +"But if we have not succeeded in steering the balloon, and even were it +impossible to attain that object, the case is different with the +diving-boat, which can be conducted under water in the same manner as +upon the surface. It has the advantage of sailing like the common boat, +and also of diving when it is pursued. With these qualities, it is fit +for carrying secret orders, to succor a blockaded fort, and to examine +the force and position of an enemy in their harbors." + +In connection with this boat, Fulton invented a torpedo, or infernal +machine, for the purpose of destroying vessels of war by approaching +them under water and breaking up their hulls by the explosion. He +offered his invention several times to the French Government, and once +to the Ambassador of Holland at Paris, without being able to induce them +to consider it. Somewhat later, he visited London, at the request of the +British Ministry, and explained his invention to them. Although he +succeeded in blowing up a vessel of two hundred tons with one hundred +and seventy pounds of powder, and in extorting from Mr. Pitt the +acknowledgment that, if introduced into practice, the torpedo would +annihilate all navies, his invention was rejected, through the influence +of Lord Melville, who feared that its adoption might injure England more +than it would benefit her. At the first, when it was thought that +England would purchase Fulton's invention, it was intimated to him that +he would be required to pledge himself not to dispose of it to any other +power. He replied promptly: + +"Whatever may be your award, I never will consent to let these +inventions lie dormant should my country at any time have need of them. +Were you to grant me an annuity of twenty thousand pounds, I would +sacrifice all to the safety and independence of my country." + +In 1806, Mr. Fulton returned to New York, and in the same year he +married Miss Harriet Livingston, a niece of Chancellor Livingston, by +whom he had four children. He offered his torpedo to the General +Government, but the trial to which it was subjected by the Navy +Department was unsuccessful for him, and the Government declined to +purchase the invention. + +But it was not as the inventor of engines of destruction that Robert +Fulton was to achieve fame. A still nobler triumph was reserved for +him--one which was to bring joy instead of sorrow to the world. From the +time that Fulton had designed the paddle-wheels for his fishing-boat, he +had never ceased to give his attention to the subject of propelling +vessels by machinery, and after his acquaintance with Watt, he was more +than ever convinced that the steam-engine could, under proper +circumstances, be made to furnish the motive power. + +Several eminent and ingenious men, previous to this, had proposed to +propel vessels by steam power, among whom were Dr. Papin, of France, +Savery, the Marquis of Worcester, and Dr. John Allen, of London, in +1726. In 1786, Oliver Evans, of Philadelphia, and about the same time +Dr. Franklin, proposed to accomplish this result by forcing a quantity +of water, by means of steam power, through an opening made for that +purpose in the stern of the hull of the boat. + +In 1737, Jonathan Hulls issued a pamphlet proposing to construct a boat +to be moved by steam power, for the purpose of towing vessels out of +harbors against tide and winds. In his plan the paddle-wheel was used, +and was secured to a frame placed far out over the stern of the boat. It +was given this position by the inventor because water fowls propelled +themselves by pushing their feet behind them. + +In 1787, Mr. James Rumsey, of Shepherdstown, Virginia, constructed and +navigated the first steamboat in actual use. His boat was eighty feet in +length, and was propelled by means of a vertical pump in the middle of +the vessel, by which the water was drawn in at the bow and expelled at +the stern through a horizontal trough in her hull. The engine weighed +about one third of a ton, and the boat had a capacity of about three +tons burthen. When thus laden, a speed of about four miles an hour could +be attained. The boiler held only five gallons of water, and needed but +a pint at a time. Rumsey went to England to exhibit his plan on the +Thames, and died there in 1793. + +About the same time the Marquis de Joffrey launched a steamer one +hundred feet long on the Loire, at Lyons, using paddles revolving on an +endless chain, but only to find his experiment a failure. + +In December, 1786, John Fitch published the following account of a +steamer with which he had made several experiments on the Delaware, at +Philadelphia, and which came nearer to success than any thing that had +at that time been invented: + +"The cylinder is to be horizontal, and the steam to work with equal +force at each end. The mode by which we obtain what I term a vacuum is, +it is believed, entirely new, as is also the method of letting the water +into it, and throwing it off against the atmosphere without any +friction. It is expected that the cylinder, which is of twelve inches +diameter, will move a clear force of eleven or twelve cwt. after the +frictions are deducted: this force is to be directed against a wheel of +eighteen inches diameter. The piston moves about three feet, and each +vibration of it gives the axis about forty revolutions. Each revolution +of the axis moves twelve oars or paddles five and a half feet: they work +perpendicularly, and are represented by the strokes of a paddle of a +canoe. As six of the paddles are raised from the water, six more are +entered, and the two sets of paddles make their strokes of about eleven +feet in each revolution. The crank of the axis acts upon the paddles +about one-third of their length from their lower ends, on which part of +the oar the whole force of the axis is applied. The engine is placed in +the bottom of the boat, about one-third from the stern, and both the +action and reaction turn the wheel the same way." + +Fitch was unfortunate in his affairs, and became so disheartened that +he ceased to attempt to improve his invention, and finally committed +suicide by drowning himself in the Alleghany River at Pittsburgh. + +In 1787, Mr. Patrick Miller, of Dalwinston, Scotland, designed a double +vessel, propelled by a wheel placed in the stern between the two keels. +This boat is said to have been very successful, but it was very small, +the cylinder being only four inches in diameter. In 1789, Mr. Miller +produced a larger vessel on the same plan, which made seven miles per +hour in the still water of the Forth and Clyde Canal, but it proved too +weak for its machinery, which had to be taken out. + +It was in the face of these failures that Fulton applied himself to the +task of designing a successful steamboat. During his residence in Paris +he had made the acquaintance of Mr. Robert R. Livingston, then the +American minister in France, who had previously been connected with some +unsuccessful steamboat experiments at home. Mr. Livingston was delighted +to find a man of Fulton's mechanical genius so well satisfied of the +practicability of steam navigation, and joined heartily with him in his +efforts to prove his theories by experiments. Several small working +models made by Fulton convinced Mr. Livingston that the former had +discovered and had overcome the cause of the failure of the experiments +of other inventors, and it was finally agreed between them to build a +large boat for trial on the Seine. This experimental steamer was +furnished with paddle wheels, and was completed and launched early in +the spring of 1803. On the very morning appointed for the trial, Fulton +was aroused from his sleep by a messenger from the boat, who rushed into +his chamber, pale and breathless, exclaiming, "Oh, sir, the boat has +broken in pieces and gone to the bottom!" Hastily dressing and hurrying +to the spot, he found that the weight of the machinery had broken the +boat in half and carried the whole structure to the bottom of the river. +He at once set to work to raise the machinery, devoting twenty-four +hours, without resting or eating, to the undertaking, and succeeded in +doing so, but inflicted upon his constitution a strain from which he +never entirely recovered. The machinery was very slightly damaged, but +it was necessary to rebuild the boat entirely. This was accomplished by +July of the same year, and the boat was tried in August with triumphant +success, in the presence of the French National Institute and a vast +crowd of the citizens of Paris. + +This steamer was very defective, but still so great an improvement upon +all that had preceded it, that Messrs. Fulton and Livingston determined +to build one on a larger scale in the waters of New York, the right of +navigating which by steam vessels had been secured by the latter as far +back as 1798. The law which granted this right had been continued from +time to time through Mr. Livingston's influence, and was finally amended +so as to include Fulton within its provisions. Having resolved to return +home, Fulton set out as soon as possible, stopping in England on his +return, to order an engine for his boat from Watt and Boulton. He gave +an exact description of the engine, which was built in strict accordance +with his plan, but declined to state the use to which he intended +putting it. + +Very soon after his arrival in New York, he commenced building his first +American boat, and finding that her cost would greatly exceed his +estimate, he offered for sale a third interest in the monopoly of the +navigation of the waters of New York, held by Livingston and himself, in +order to raise money to build the boat, and thus lighten the burdens of +himself and his partner, but he could find no one willing to risk money +in such a scheme. Indeed, steam navigation was universally regarded in +America as a mere chimera, and Fulton and Livingston were ridiculed for +their faith in it. The bill granting the monopoly held by Livingston was +regarded as so utterly absurd by the Legislature of New York, that that +wise body could with difficulty be induced to consider it seriously. +Even among scientific men the project was considered impracticable. A +society in Rotterdam had, several years before Fulton's return home, +applied to the American Philosophical Society to be informed whether any +and what improvements had been made in the construction of steam-engines +in America. A reply to this inquiry was prepared, at the request of the +Society, by Mr. Benjamin H. Latrobe, a distinguished engineer. The +following extracts from this paper will show the reader how Fulton's +scheme was regarded by one who was confessedly one of the most brilliant +engineers of his day, and who has since accomplished so much for the +improvement of steam travel: + + + During the general lassitude of mechanical exertion which succeeded + the American Revolution, We utility of steam-engines appears to + have been forgotten; but the subject afterward started into very + general notice in a form in which it could not possibly be attended + with success. A sort of mania began to prevail, which, indeed, has + not yet entirely subsided, for impelling boats by steam-engines. + Dr. Franklin proposed to force forward the boat by the immediate + application of the steam upon the water. Many attempts to simplify + the working of the engine, and more to employ a means of dispensing + with the beam in converting the _libratory_ into a rotatory motion, + were made. For a short time, a passage-boat, rowed by a + steam-engine, was established between Borden-town and Philadelphia, + but it was soon laid aside. The best and most powerful steam-engine + which has been employed for this purpose--excepting, perhaps, one + constructed by Dr. Kinsey, with the performance of which I am not + sufficiently acquainted--belonged to a gentleman of New York. It + was made to act, by way of experiment, upon oars, upon paddles, and + upon flutter-wheels. Nothing in the success of any of these + experiments appeared to be sufficient compensation for the expense + and the extreme inconvenience of the steam-engine in the vessel. + + There are, indeed, general objections to the use of the + steam-engine for impelling boats, from which no particular mode of + application can be free. These are: + + First. The weight of the engine and of the fuel. + + Second. The large space it occupies. + + Third. The tendency of its action to rack the vessel, and render it + leaky. + + Fourth. The expense of maintenance. + + Fifth. The irregularity of its motion, and the motion of the water + in the boiler and cistern, and of the fuel-vessel in rough water. + + Sixth. The difficulty arising from the liability of the paddles and + oars to break, if light, and from the weight, if made strong. + + Nor have I ever heard of an instance, verified by other testimony + than that of the inventor, of a speedy and agreeable voyage having + been performed in a steamboat of any construction. + + I am well aware that there are still many very respectable and + ingenious men who consider the application of the steam-engine to + the purpose of navigation as highly important, and as very + practicable, especially on the rapid waters of the Mississippi, and + who would feel themselves almost offended at the expression of an + opposite opinion. And, perhaps, some of the objections against it + may be avoided. That founded on the expense and weight of the fuel + may not, for some years, exist on the Mississippi, where there is a + redundance of wood on the banks; but the cutting and loading will + be almost as great an evil. + + +Scientific men and amateurs all agreed in pronouncing Fulton's scheme +impracticable; but he went on with his work, his boat attracting no less +attention and exciting no less ridicule than the ark had received from +the scoffers in the days of Noah. The steam-engine ordered from Boulton +and Watt was received in the latter part of 1806; and in the following +spring the boat was launched from the ship-yard of Charles Brown, on the +East River. Fulton named her the "Clermont," after the country-seat of +his friend and partner, Chancellor Livingston. She was one hundred and +sixty tons burthen, one hundred and thirty feet long, eighteen feet +wide, and seven feet deep. Her engine was made with a single cylinder, +two feet in diameter, and of four feet stroke; and her boiler was twenty +feet long, seven feet deep, and eight feet broad. The diameter of the +paddle-wheels was fifteen feet, the boards four feet long, and dipping +two feet in the water. The boat was completed about the last of August, +and she was moved by her machinery from the East River into the Hudson, +and over to the Jersey shore. This trial, brief as it was, satisfied +Fulton of its success, and he announced that in a few days the steamer +would sail from New York for Albany. A few friends, including several +scientific men and mechanics, were invited to take passage in the boat, +to witness her performance; and they accepted the invitation with a +general conviction that they were to do but little more than witness +another failure. + +Monday, September 10, 1807, came at length, and a vast crowd assembled +along the shore of the North River to witness the starting. As the hour +for sailing drew near, the crowd increased, and jokes were passed on all +sides at the expense of the inventor, who paid little attention to them, +however, but busied himself in making a final and close inspection of +the machinery. Says Fulton, "The morning I left New York, there were +not, perhaps, thirty persons in the city who believed that the boat +would ever move one mile per hour, or be of the least utility; and while +we were putting off from the wharf, which was crowded with spectators, I +heard a number of sarcastic remarks." + +One o'clock, the hour for sailing, came, and expectation was at its +highest. The friends of the inventor were in a state of feverish anxiety +lest the enterprise should come to grief, and the scoffers on the wharf +were all ready to give vent to their shouts of derision. Precisely as +the hour struck, the moorings were thrown off, and the "Clermont" moved +slowly out into the stream. Volumes of smoke and sparks from her +furnaces, which were fed with pine wood, rushed forth from her chimney, +and her wheels, which were uncovered, scattered the spray far behind +her. The spectacle she presented as she moved out gradually from her +dock was certainly novel to the people of those days, and the crowd on +the wharf broke into shouts of ridicule. Soon, however, the jeers grew +silent, for it was seen that the steamer was by degrees increasing her +speed. In a little while she was fairly under weigh, and making a steady +progress up the stream at the rate of five miles per hour. The +incredulity of the spectators had been succeeded by astonishment, and +now this feeling gave way to undisguised delight, and cheer after cheer +went up from the vast throng. Many people followed the boat for some +distance up the river shore. In a little while, however, the boat was +observed to stop, and the enthusiasm of the people on the shore at once +subsided. The scoffers were again in their glory, and unhesitatingly +pronounced the boat a failure. Their chagrin may be imagined when, after +a short delay, the steamer once more proceeded on her way, and this time +even more rapidly than before. Fulton had discovered that the paddles +were too long, and took too deep a hold on the water, and had stopped +the boat for the purpose of shortening them. + +Having remedied this defect, the "Clermont" continued her voyage during +the rest of the day and all night, without stopping, and at one o'clock +the next day ran alongside the landing at Clermont, the seat of +Chancellor Livingston. She lay there until nine the next morning, when +she continued her voyage toward Albany, reaching that city at five in +the afternoon, having made the entire distance between New York and +Albany (one hundred and fifty miles) in thirty-two hours of actual +running time, an average speed of nearly five miles per hour. On her +return trip, she reached New York in thirty hours running time--exactly +five miles per hour. Fulton states that during both trips he encountered +a head wind. + +The river was at this time navigated entirely with sailing vessels, and +large numbers of these were encountered by the "Clermont" during her up +and down trips. The surprise and dismay excited among the crews of these +vessels by the appearance of the steamer was extreme. These simple +people, the majority of whom had heard nothing of Fulton's experiments, +beheld what they supposed to be a huge monster, vomiting fire and smoke +from its throat, lashing the water with its fins, and shaking the river +with its roar, approaching rapidly in the very face of both wind and +tide. Some threw themselves flat on the deck of their vessels, where +they remained in an agony of terror until the monster had passed, while +others took to their boats and made for the shore in dismay, leaving +their vessels to drift helplessly down the stream. Nor was this terror +confined to the sailors. The people dwelling along the shore crowded the +banks to gaze upon the steamer as she passed by. A former resident of +the neighborhood of Poughkeepsie thus describes the scene at that place, +which will serve as a specimen of the conduct of the people along the +entire river below Albany: + +"It was in the early autumn of the year 1807 that a knot of villagers +was gathered on a high bluff just opposite Poughkeepsie, on the west +bank of the Hudson, attracted by the appearance of a strange, +dark-looking craft, which was slowly making its way up the river. Some +imagined it to be a sea-monster, while others did not hesitate to +express their belief that it was a sign of the approaching judgment +What seemed strange in the vessel was the substitution of lofty and +straight black smoke-pipes, rising from the deck, instead of the +gracefully tapered masts that commonly stood on the vessels navigating +the stream, and, in place of the spars and rigging, the curious play of +the working-beam and pistons, and the slow turning and splashing of the +huge and naked paddle-wheels, met the astonished gaze. The dense clouds +of smoke, as they rose wave upon wave, added still more to the +wonderment of the rustics. + +"This strange-looking craft was the 'Clermont,' on her trial trip to +Albany; and of the little knot of villagers mentioned above, the writer, +then a boy in his eighth year, with his parents, formed a part. I well +remember the scene, one so well fitted to impress a lasting picture upon +the mind of a child accustomed to watch the vessels that passed up and +down the river. + +"The forms of four persons were distinctly visible on the deck as she +passed the bluff--one of whom, doubtless, was Robert Fulton, who had on +board with him all the cherished hopes of years, the most precious cargo +the wonderful boat could carry. + +"On her return trip, the curiosity she excited was scarcely less +intense. The whole country talked of nothing but the sea-monster, +belching forth fire and smoke. The fishermen became terrified, and rowed +homewards, and they saw nothing but destruction devastating their +fishing-grounds; while the wreaths of black vapor, and rushing noise of +the paddle-wheels, foaming with the stirred-up waters, produced great +excitement among the boatmen, which continued without abatement, until +the character of that curious boat, and the nature of the enterprise +which she was pioneering, had been understood." + +The alarm of the sailors and dwellers on the river shore disappeared as +the character of the steamer became better known; but when it was found +that the "Clermont" was to run regularly between New York and Albany, as +a packet-boat, she became the object of the most intense hatred on the +part of the boatmen on the river, who feared that she would entirely +destroy their business. In many quarters Fulton and his invention were +denounced as baneful to society, and frequent attempts were made by +captains of sailing vessels to sink the "Clermont" by running into her. +She was several times damaged in this way, and the hostility of the +boatmen became so great that it was necessary for the Legislature of New +York to pass a law declaring combinations to destroy her, or willful +attempts to injure her, public offenses punishable by fine and +imprisonment. + +It had been supposed that Fulton's object was to produce a steamer +capable of navigating the Mississippi River, and much surprise was +occasioned by the announcement that the "Clermont" was to be permanently +employed upon the Hudson. She continued to ply regularly between New +York and Albany until the close of navigation for that season, always +carrying a full complement of passengers, and more or less freight. +During the winter she was overhauled and enlarged, and her speed +improved. In the spring of 1808 she resumed her regular trips, and since +then steam navigation on the Hudson has not ceased for a single day, +except during the closing of the river by ice. + +In 1811 and 1812, Fulton built two steam ferry-boats for the North +River, and soon after added a third for the East River. These boats were +the beginning of the magnificent steam ferry system which is to-day one +of the chief wonders of New York. They were what are called twin-boats, +each of them consisting of two complete hulls, united by a deck or +bridge. They were sharp at both ends, and moved equally well with +either end foremost, so that they could cross and re-cross without being +turned around. These boats were given engines of sufficient power to +enable them to overcome the force of strong ebb tides; and in order to +facilitate their landing, Fulton contrived a species of floating dock, +and a means of decreasing the shock caused by the striking of the boat +against the dock. These boats could accommodate eight four-wheel +carriages, twenty-nine horses, and four hundred passengers. Their +average time across the North River, a mile and a half wide, was twenty +minutes. + +The introduction of the steamboat gave a powerful impetus to the +internal commerce of the Union. It opened to navigation many important +rivers (whose swift currents had closed them to sailing craft), and made +rapid and easy communication between the most distant parts of the +country practicable. The public soon began to appreciate this, and +orders came in rapidly for steamboats for various parts of the country. +Fulton executed these as fast as possible, and among the number several +for boats for the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. + +Early in 1814, the city of New York was seriously menaced with an attack +from the British fleet, and Fulton was called on by a committee of +citizens to furnish a plan for a means of defending the harbor. He +exhibited to the committee his plans for a vessel of war to be propelled +by steam, capable of carrying a strong battery, with furnaces for +red-hot shot, and which, he represented, would move at the rate of four +miles an hour. These plans were also submitted to a number of naval +officials, among whom were Commodore Decatur, Captain Jones, Captain +Evans, Captain Biddle, Commodore Perry, Captain Warrington, and Captain +Lewis, all of whom warmly united in urging the Government to undertake +the construction of the proposed steamer. The citizens of New York +offered, if the Government would employ and pay for her after she was +built, to advance the sum ($320,000) necessary for her construction. The +subject was vigorously pressed, and in March, 1814, Congress authorized +the building of one or more floating batteries after the plan presented +by Fulton. Her keel was laid on the 20th of June, 1814, and on the 31st +of October, of the same year, she was launched, amid great rejoicings, +from the ship-yard of Adam and Noah Brown. In May, 1815, her engines +were put on board, and on the 4th of July of that year she made a trial +trip to Sandy Hook and back, accomplishing the round trip--a distance of +fifty-three miles--in eight hours and twenty minutes, under steam alone. +Before this, however, peace had been proclaimed, and Fulton had gone to +rest from his labors. + +The ship was a complete success, and was the first steam vessel of war +ever built. She was called the "Fulton the First," and was for many +years used as the receiving ship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. She was an +awkward and unwieldy mass, but was regarded as the most formidable +vessel afloat; and as the pioneer of the splendid war steamers of to-day +is still an object of great interest. The English regarded her with +especial uneasiness, and put in circulation the most marvelous stories +concerning her. One of these I take from a treatise on steam navigation +published in Scotland at this period, the author of which assures his +readers that he has taken the utmost pains to obtain full and accurate +information respecting the American war steamer. His description is as +follows: + +"Length on deck three hundred feet, breadth two hundred feet, thickness +of her sides, thirteen feet, of alternate oak plank and corkwood; +carries forty-four guns, four of which are 100-pounders, quarter-deck +and forcastle guns, 44-pounders; and further, to annoy an enemy +attempting to board, can discharge one hundred gallons of boiling water +in a minute, and by mechanism brandishes three hundred cutlasses, with +the utmost regularity, over her gunwales; works also an equal number of +heavy iron pikes of great length, darting them from her sides with +prodigious force, and withdrawing them every quarter of a minute!" + +Fulton followed up the "Clermont," in 1807, with a larger boat, called +the "Car of Neptune," which was placed on the Albany route as soon as +completed. The Legislature of New York had enacted a law, immediately +upon his first success, giving to Livingston and himself the exclusive +right to navigate the waters of the State by steam, for five years for +every additional boat they should build in the State, provided the whole +term should not exceed thirty years. "In the following year the +Legislature passed another act, confirmatory of the prior grants, and +giving new remedies to the grantees for any invasion of them, and +subjecting to forfeiture any vessel propelled by steam which should +enter the waters of the State without their license. In 1809 Fulton +obtained his first patent from the United States; and in 1811 he took +out a second patent for some improvement in his boats and machinery. His +patents were limited to the simple means of adapting paddle wheels to +the axle of the crank of Watt's engine. + +"Meanwhile the power of the Legislature to grant the steamboat monopoly +was denied, and a company was formed at Albany to establish another line +of steam passage boats on the Hudson, between that city and New York. +The State grantees filed a bill in equity, and prayed for an injunction, +which was refused by Chancellor Lansing, on the ground that the act of +the State Legislature was repugnant to the Constitution of the United +States, and against common right. This decree was unanimously reversed +by the Court of Errors, and a compromise was effected with the Albany +company by an assignment to them of the right to employ steam on the +waters of Lake Champlain. + +"Legislative aid was again invoked, and an act was passed directing +peremptorily the allowance of an injunction on the prayer of the State +grantees, and the seizure of any hostile boat at the commencement of the +suit. Litigation was thus effectually arrested in New York, though by an +arbitrary and unconstitutional enactment, and the waters of the State +remained in the exclusive possession of Fulton and his partner during +the lifetime of the former. A similar controversy with Colonel Aaron +Ogden, of New Jersey, was compromised by advantageous concessions, which +converted the opponent of the monopoly into its firmest friend, and left +him many years afterward the defeated party in the famous suit of +Gibbons and Ogden, in the Supreme Court of the United States." + +In January, 1815, Fulton was summoned to Trenton, New Jersey, as a +witness in one of the numerous suits which grew out of the efforts to +break down his monopoly. During his examination he was very much +exposed, as the hall of the Legislature was uncommonly cold. In +returning home, he crossed the Hudson in an open boat, and was detained +on the river several hours. This severe exposure brought on an attack of +sickness, which for a short time confined him to his bed. The steam +frigate, then almost ready for her engines, occasioned him great anxiety +at the time, and before he had fairly recovered his strength he went to +the ship-yard to give some directions to the workmen employed on her, +and thus exposed himself again to the inclemency of the weather. In a +few days his indisposition prostrated him again, and, growing rapidly +worse, he died on the 24th of February, 1815, at the age of fifty +years. His death was universally regarded as a national calamity, and +appropriate honors were paid to his memory by the General Government and +by many of the State and municipal governments of the Union. He was +buried from his residence, No. 1 State Street, on the 25th of February, +and his body was placed in the vault of the Livingston family, in +Trinity church-yard. + +He left a widow and four children. By the terms of his will he +bequeathed to his wife an income of nine thousand dollars a year, and +five hundred dollars to each of his children until they were twelve +years old, after which they were each to receive one thousand dollars a +year until they should attain the age of twenty-one years. + +In person, Fulton was tall and handsome. His manner was polished, +cordial, and winning. He made friends rapidly, and never failed in his +efforts to enlist capital and influence in support of his schemes. He +was manly, fearless, and independent in character, and joined to a +perfect integrity a patience and indomitable resolution which enabled +him to bear up under every disappointment, and which won him in the end +a glorious success. His name and fame will always be dear to his +countrymen, for while we can not claim that he was (nor did he ever +assume to be) the inventor of steam navigation, or even the inventor of +the means of such navigation, we do claim for him the honor of being the +first man to cross the gulf which lies between experiment and +achievement, the man whose skill and perseverance first conquered the +difficulties which had baffled so many others, and made steam navigation +both practicable and profitable. The Committee of the London Exhibition +of 1851 gave utterance in their report to a declaration which places his +fame beyond assault, as follows: + +"Many persons, in various countries, claim the honor of having first +invented small boats propelled by steam, but it is to the undaunted +perseverance and exertions of the American Fulton that is due the +everlasting honor of having produced this revolution, both in naval +architecture and navigation." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +CHARLES GOODYEAR. + + +In the year 1735, a party of astronomers, sent by the French Government +to Peru for purposes of scientific investigation, discovered a curious +tree growing in that country, the like of which no European had ever +seen before. It grew to a considerable size, and yielded a peculiar sap +or gum. It was the custom of the natives to make several incisions in +each tree with an ax, in the morning, and to place under each incision a +cup or jar made of soft clay. Late in the afternoon, the fluid thus +obtained was collected in a large clay vessel, each incision yielding +about a gill of sap per day. This process was repeated for several days +in succession, until the tree had been thoroughly drained. This sap was +simply a species of liquid gum, which, though clear and colorless in its +native state, had the property of becoming hard and tough when exposed +to the sun or artificial heat. It was used by the natives for the +manufacture of a few rude and simple articles, by a process similar to +that by which the old-fashioned "tallow-dip" candles were made. It was +poured over a pattern of clay or a wooden mold or last covered with +clay, and successive coatings were applied as fast as the former ones +dried, until the article had attained the desired thickness, the whole +taking the shape of the mold over which the gum was poured. As the +layers were applied, their drying was hastened by exposure to the heat +and smoke of a fire, the latter giving to the gum a dark-black hue. +Dried without exposure to the smoke, or by the sun alone, the gum became +white within and yellowish-brown without. The drying process required +several days, and during its progress the gum was ornamented with +characters or lines made with a stick. When it was completed, the clay +mold was broken to pieces and shaken out of the opening. The natives in +this manner made a species of rough, clumsy shoe, and an equally rough +bottle. In some parts of South America, the natives make it a rule to +present their guests with one of these bottles, furnished with a hollow +stern, which serves as a syringe for squirting water into the mouth in +order to cleanse it after eating. The articles thus made were liable to +become stiff and unmanageable in cold weather, and soft and sticky in +warm. The French astronomers, upon their return to their own country, +were quick to call attention to this remarkable gum, which was afterward +discovered in Cayenne by Trismau, in 1751. At present it is found in +large quantities in various parts of South America, but the chief +supplies used in commerce are produced in the province of Para, which +lies south of the equator, in Brazil. It is also grown largely in the +East Indies, vast and inexhaustible forests of the trees which yield it +being found in Assam, beyond the Ganges, although the quality can not +compare with that of the South American article. + +This substance, variously known as cachuchu, caoutchouc, gum elastic, +and India-rubber, was first introduced into Europe in 1730, where it was +regarded merely as a curiosity, useful for erasing pencil marks, but +valueless for any practical use. Ships from South America brought it +over as ballast, but it was not until ninety years after its first +appearance in Europe that any effort was made to utilize it. About the +year 1820 it began to be used in France in the manufacture of suspenders +and garters, India-rubber threads being mixed with the materials used in +weaving those articles. It was also used in blacking and varnish, and +some years later, Mackintosh brought it into prominent notice by using +it in his famous water-proof coats, which were made by spreading a layer +of the gum between two pieces of cloth. The gum was thus protected from +the air, and preserved from injury. + +Up to this time, it was almost an unknown article in the United States, +but in 1820 a pair of India-rubber shoes were exhibited in Boston. Even +then they were regarded as merely a curiosity, and were covered with +gilt foil to hide their natural ugliness. In 1823, a merchant, engaged +in the South American trade, imported five hundred pairs from the Para +district. He had no difficulty in disposing of them; and so great was +the favor with which they were received, that in a few years the annual +importation of India-rubber shoes amounted to five hundred thousand +pairs. It had become a matter of fashion to wear these shoes, and no +person's toilet was complete in wet weather unless the feet were incased +in them; yet they were terribly rough and clumsy. They had scarcely any +shape to them, and were not to be depended on in winter or summer. In +the cold season they froze so hard that they could be used only after +being thawed by the fire, and in summer they could be preserved only by +keeping them on ice; and if, during the thawing process, they were +placed too near the fire, there was danger that they would melt into a +shapeless and useless mass. They cost from three to five dollars per +pair, which was very high for an article so perishable in its nature. + +The great popularity of India-rubber induced Mr. E.M. Chaflee, of +Boston, the foreman of a patent leather factory in that city, to attempt +to apply the new substance to some of the uses to which patent leather +was then put. His hope was that, by spreading the liquid gum upon cloth, +he could produce an article which, while possessing the durability and +flexibility of patent leather, would also be water-proof. His +experiments extended over a period of several months, during which time +he kept his plan a secret. He dissolved a pound of the gum in three +quarts of spirits of turpentine, and added to the mixture enough +lamp-black to produce a bright black color, and was so well satisfied +with his compound, that he felt sure that the only thing necessary to +his entire success was a machine for spreading it properly on the cloth. +Like a true son of New England, he soon overcame this difficulty by +inventing the desired machine. His compound was spread on the cloth, and +dried in the sun, producing a hard, smooth surface, and one sufficiently +flexible to be twisted into any shape without cracking. Mr. Chaffee was +now sure that he had mastered the difficulty. Taking a few capitalists +into his confidence, he succeeded so well in convincing them of the +excellence of his invention, that in February, 1833, a company, called +the "Roxbury India-rubber Company," was organized, with a capital of +thirty thousand dollars. In three years this sum was increased to four +hundred thousand dollars. The new company manufactured India-rubber +cloth according to Mr. Chaffee's process, and from it made wagon-covers, +piano-covers, caps, coats, and a few other articles, and, in a little +while, added to their list of products shoes without fiber. They had no +difficulty in disposing of their stock. Every body had taken the +"India-rubber fever," as the excitement caused by Mr. Chaffee's +discovery was called; and so high were the hopes of the public raised by +it, that buyers were found in abundance whenever the bonds of the +numerous India-rubber companies were offered for sale. The extraordinary +success of the Roxbury Company led to the establishment of similar +enterprises at Boston, Framingham, Salem, Lynn, Chelsea, Troy, and +Staten Island. The Roxbury Company could not supply the demand for its +articles, and the others appeared to have as much business as they could +attend to. Apparently, they were all on the high road to wealth. + +Their prosperity was only fictitious, however, and a day of fearful +disaster was pending over them. The bulk of the goods produced in 1833 +and 1834 had been manufactured in the cold weather, and the greater part +of them had succumbed to the heat of the ensuing summer. The shoes had +melted to a soft mass, and the caps, wagon-covers, and coats had become +sticky and useless in summer, and rigid in the cold of winter. In some +cases the articles had borne the test of one year's use, but the second +summer had ruined them. To make the matter worse, they emitted an odor +so offensive that it was necessary to bury them in the ground to get rid +of the smell. Twenty thousand dollars' worth were thrown back on the +hands of the Roxbury Company alone, and the directors were appalled by +the ruin which threatened them. It was useless for them to go on +manufacturing goods which might prove worthless at any moment; and, as +their capital was already taxed to its utmost, it was plain that unless +a better process should be speedily discovered, they must become +involved in irretrievable disaster. Their efforts were unavailing, +however. No better process was found, and the disgust of the public with +their goods was soon general and unmitigable. India-rubber stock fell +rapidly, and by the end of the year 1836 there was not a solvent company +in the Union. The loss of the stockholders was complete, and amounted in +the aggregate to two millions of dollars. People came to detest the +very name of India-rubber, since it reminded them only of blighted hopes +and heavy losses. + +Before the final disaster, however, it chanced that a bankrupt merchant +of Philadelphia, being one day in New York on business, was led by +curiosity to visit the salesroom of the agency of the Roxbury Company in +that city. His visit resulted in the purchase of a life-preserver, which +he took home with him for the purpose of examining it. Subjecting it to +a careful investigation, he discovered a defect in the valve used for +inflating it, and promptly devised a simpler and better apparatus. + +This man, afterward so famous in the history of India-rubber +manufacture, was CHARLES GOODYEAR. He was born at New Haven, +Connecticut, on the 29th of December, 1800. He attended a public school +during his boyhood, thus acquiring a limited education. When quite a +youth, he removed with his family to Philadelphia, where his father +entered into the hardware business. Upon coming of age, he was admitted +to partnership with his father and one of his brothers, the style of the +firm being A. Goodyear & Sons. The house was extensively engaged in the +manufacture of hardware, and among the other articles which they +introduced was a light hay-fork, made of spring steel, which gradually +took the place of the heavy wrought iron implement formerly in general +use among the farmers. It required a large outlay and a great deal of +time to introduce this fork, but, once in use, it rapidly drove the old +one out of the market, and proved a source of considerable profit to its +inventor. The prosperity of the house, however, soon began to wane, and +it was brought to bankruptcy by the crisis of 1836. + +Mr. Goodyear's attention had for some time been attracted to the +wonderful apparent success of the India-rubber companies of the country, +and he was hopeful that his improvement in the inflating apparatus of +the life-preserver would bring him the means of partially extricating +himself from his difficulties. Repairing to New York, he called on the +agent of the Roxbury Company, and explaining his invention to him, +offered to sell it to the company. The agent was struck with the skill +displayed in the improvement of Mr. Goodyear, but, instead of offering +to buy it, astounded the inventor by informing him of the real state of +the India-rubber trade of the country. He urged Mr. Goodyear to exert +his inventive skill to discover some means of imparting durability to +India-rubber goods, and assured him that if he could discover a process +which would secure that end, the various companies of the United States +would eagerly buy it at his own price. He explained to him the process +then in use, and pointed out its imperfections. Mr. Goodyear listened +carefully to his statements, forgot all about his disappointment in +failing to sell his improved inflating apparatus, and went home firmly +convinced that he had found his true mission in life. In after years, +when success had crowned his labors, he modestly referred to this period +of his career in language the substance of which is thus recorded: + +"From the time that his attention was first given to the subject, a +strong and abiding impression was made upon his mind that an object so +desirable and important, and so necessary to man's comfort, as the +making of gum elastic available to his use was most certainly placed +within his reach. Having this presentiment, of which he could not divest +himself under the most trying adversity, he was stimulated with the +hope, of ultimately attaining this object. Beyond this, he would refer +the whole to the great Creator, who directs the operations of the mind +to the development of properties of matter, in his own way, at the time +when they are specially needed, influencing some mind for every work or +calling." + +There was something sublime in the attitude of this one man, now feeble +in health, the only dependence of a young family, a bankrupt in +business, starting out to seek success in a field in which so many had +found only ruin. He was convinced in his own mind that he would master +the secret, while his friends were equally sure that he would but +increase his difficulties. The firm of which he had been a member had +surrendered all their property to their creditors; but they still owed +thirty thousand dollars, and immediately upon his return from New York, +after his visit to the agent of the Roxbury Company, he was arrested for +debt, and though not actually thrown in jail, was compelled to take up +his residence within prison limits. + +Strong in the conviction before named, that he was the man of all others +to discover the secret of controlling India-rubber, he at once began his +experiments. This was in the winter of 1834-35. The gum had fallen in +price to five cents per pound, and, poor as he was, he had no difficulty +in procuring a sufficient quantity to begin with. By melting and working +the gum thoroughly, and by rolling it upon a stone table with a +rolling-pin, he succeeded in producing sheets of India-rubber which +seemed to him to possess the properties which those of Mr. Chaffee had +lacked. He explained his process to a friend, who, becoming interested +in it, loaned him the money to manufacture a number of shoes, which at +first seemed all that could be desired. Fearful, however, of meeting the +fate which had befallen the Roxbury Company, Mr. Goodyear put his shoes +away until the next summer, to ascertain whether they would bear the +heat. His doubts were more than realized. The warm weather completely +ruined them, reducing them to a mass of so offensive an odor that he was +glad to throw them away. + +The friend of the inventor was thoroughly disheartened by this failure, +and refused to have any thing more to do with Goodyear's schemes; but +the latter, though much disappointed, did not despair. He set to work to +discover the cause of his failure, and traced it, as he supposed, to the +mixing of the gum with the turpentine and lamp-black. Having procured +some barrels of the gum in its native liquid state, he spread it on +cloth without smoking it or mixing it with any thing else. He succeeded +in producing a very handsome white rubber cloth, but it was one that +became soft and sticky as quickly as the other had done. + +It now occurred to him that there must be some mineral substance which, +mixed with the gum, would render it durable, and he began to experiment +with almost every substance that he could lay his hands on. All these +proved total failures, with the exception of magnesia. By mixing half a +pound of magnesia with a pound of the gum, he produced a compound much +whiter than the pure gum, and one which was at first as firm and +flexible as leather. He made book-covers and piano-covers out of it, and +for a time it seemed that he had discovered the longed-for secret; but +in a month his pretty product was ruined. The heat caused it to soften; +then fermentation set in, and, finally, it became as hard and brittle as +thin glass. + +His friends, who had aided him at first, now turned from him coldly, +regarding him as a dreamer; and his own stock of money was exhausted. In +his extremity he was forced to pawn all his own valuables, and even some +of the trinkets of his wife. In spite of this, he felt sure that he was +on the road to success, and that he would very soon be enabled to rise +above his present difficulties, and win both fame and fortune. He was +obliged for the time, however, to remove his family to the country, +depositing with his landlord, as security for the payment of the first +quarter's rent, some linen which had been spun by his wife, and which he +was never able to redeem. Having settled his family in the country, he +set out for New York, where he hoped to find some one willing to aid him +in extending his researches still further. + +Arrived in the great city, he found two old acquaintances, to whom he +stated his plans and his hopes. One of them offered him the use of a +room in Gold Street, as a laboratory, and the other, who was a druggist, +agreed to let him have such chemicals as he needed on credit. He now +proceeded to boil the gum, mixed with magnesia, in quicklime and water, +and, as the result, obtained sheets of his compound whose firmness and +smoothness of surface won them a medal at the fair of the American +Institute in 1835. He seemed now on the point of success, and readily +disposed of all the sheets he could manufacture. The newspapers spoke +highly of his invention, for which he obtained a patent; and he was +about to endeavor to enlist some persons of means in its manufacture on +a large scale, when, to his dismay, he discovered that a single drop of +the weakest acid, such as the juice of an apple, or diluted vinegar, +would utterly destroy the influence of the lime in the compound, and +reduce it to the old sticky substance that had baffled him so often. + +His next step was to mix quicklime with the gum. In order to work the +compound thoroughly, he used to carry the vessel containing it, on his +shoulder, to a place three miles distant from his laboratory, where he +had the use of horse power. The lime, however, utterly destroyed the +gum, and nothing came of this experiment. + +The discovery which followed was the result of accident, and brought him +on the very threshold of success, yet did not entirely conquer his +difficulties. He was an ardent lover of the beautiful, and it was a +constant effort with him to render his productions as attractive to the +eye as possible. Upon one occasion, while bronzing a piece of rubber +cloth, he applied aqua fortis to it for the purpose of removing the +bronze from a certain part. It took away the bronze as he had designed, +but it also discolored the cloth to such a degree that he supposed it +ruined, and threw it away. A day or two later, he chanced to remember +that he had not examined very closely into the effect of the aqua fortis +upon the rubber, and thereupon instituted a search for it. He was +fortunate enough to find it, and was overjoyed to discover that the +rubber had undergone a remarkable change, and that the effect of the +acid was to harden it to such an extent that it would now stand a degree +of heat which would have melted it before. When the reader remembers +that aqua fortis is a compound two-fifths of which is sulphuric acid, he +will understand that Mr. Goodyear had almost mastered the secret of +vulcanizing rubber. He does not appear, however, to have known the true +nature of aqua fortis, and called his process the "curing" of +India-rubber by the use of that acid. + +The "cured" India-rubber was subjected to many tests, and passed through +them successfully, thus demonstrating its adaptability to many important +uses. Mr. Goodyear readily obtained a patent for his process, and a +partner with a large capital was found ready to aid him. He hired the +old India-rubber works on Staten Island, and opened a salesroom in +Broadway. He was thrown back for six weeks at this important time by an +accident, which happened to him while experimenting with his fabrics, +and which came near causing his death. Just as he was recovering and +preparing to commence the manufacture of his goods on a large scale, the +terrible commercial crisis of 1836 swept over the country, and, by +destroying his partner's fortune at one blow, reduced Goodyear to +absolute beggary. His family had joined him in New York, and he was +entirely without the means of supporting them. As the only resource at +hand, he decided to pawn an article of value, one of the few which he +possessed, in order to raise money enough to procure one day's supply of +provisions. At the very door of the pawnbroker's shop he met one of his +creditors, who kindly asked if he could be of any further assistance to +him. Weak with hunger, and overcome by the generosity of his friend, the +poor man burst into tears, and replied that, as his family was on the +point of starvation, a loan of fifteen dollars would greatly oblige him. +The money was given him on the spot, and the necessity for visiting the +pawnbroker averted for several days longer. Still he was a frequent +visitor to that individual during the year; and thus, one by one, the +relics of his better days disappeared. Another friend loaned him one +hundred dollars, which enabled him to remove his family to Staten +Island, in the neighborhood of the abandoned rubber works, which the +owners gave him permission to use as far as he could. He contrived in +this way to manufacture enough of his "cured" cloth, which sold readily, +to enable him to keep his family from starvation. He made repeated +efforts to induce capitalists to come to the factory and see his samples +and the process by which they were made, but no one would venture near +him. There had been money enough lost in such experiments, they said, +and they were determined to risk no more. + +Indeed, in all the broad land there was but one man who had the +slightest hope of accomplishing any thing with India-rubber, and that +one was Charles Goodyear. His friends regarded him as a monomaniac. He +not only manufactured his cloth, but even dressed in clothes made of it, +wearing it for the purpose of testing its durability, as well as of +advertising it. He was certainly an odd figure, and in his appearance +justified the remark of one of his friends, who, upon being asked how +Mr. Goodyear could be recognized, replied: "If you see a man with an +India-rubber coat on, India-rubber shoes, an India-rubber cap, and in +his pocket an India-rubber purse, with not a cent in it, that is +Goodyear." + +In September, 1836, a new gleam of hope lit up his pathway. A friend +having loaned him a small sum of money, he went to Roxbury, taking with +him some of his best specimens. Although the Roxbury Company had gone +down with such a fearful crash, Mr. Chaffee, the inventor of the process +in this country, was still firm in his faith that India-rubber would at +some future time justify the expectations of its earliest friends. He +welcomed Mr. Goodyear cordially, and allowed him to use the abandoned +works of the company for his experiments. The result was that Goodyear +succeeded in making slides and cloths of India-rubber of a quality so +much better than any that had yet been seen in America, that the hopes +of the friends of India-rubber were raised to a high point. Offers to +purchase rights for certain portions of the country came in rapidly, and +by the sale of them Goodyear realized between four and five thousand +dollars. He was now able to bring his family to Roxbury, and for the +time fortune seemed to smile upon him. + +His success was but temporary, however. He obtained an order from the +General Government for one hundred and fifty India-rubber mail-bags, +which he succeeded in producing, and as they came out smooth, highly +polished, hard, well shaped, and entirely impervious to moisture, he was +delighted, and summoned his friends to inspect and admire them. All who +saw them pronounced them a perfect success; but, alas! in a single month +they began to soften and ferment, and finally became useless. Poor +Goodyear's hopes were dashed to the ground. It was found that the aqua +fortis merely "cured" the surface of the material, and that only very +thin cloth made in this way was durable. His other goods began to prove +worthless, and his promising business came to a sudden and disastrous +end. All his possessions were seized and sold for debt, and once more he +was reduced to poverty. His position was even worse than before, for his +family had increased in size, and his aged father also had become +dependent upon him for support. + +Friends, relatives, and even his wife, all demanded that he should +abandon his empty dreams, and turn his attention to something that would +yield a support to his family. Four years of constant failure, added to +the unfortunate experience of those who had preceded him, ought to +convince him, they said, that he was hoping against hope. Hitherto his +conduct, they said, had been absurd, though they admitted that he was to +some extent excused for it by his partial success; but to persist in it +would now be criminal. The inventor was driven to despair, and being a +man of tender feelings and ardently devoted to his family, might have +yielded to them had he not felt that lie was nearer than ever to the +discovery of the secret that had eluded him so long. + +Just before the failure of his mail-bags had brought ruin upon him, he +had taken into his employ a man named Nathaniel Hayward, who had been +the foreman of the old Roxbury works, and who was still in charge of +them when Goodyear came to Roxbury, making a few rubber articles on his +own account. He hardened his compound by mixing a little powdered +sulphur with the gum, or by sprinkling sulphur on the rubber cloth, and +drying it in the sun. He declared that the process had been revealed to +him in a dream, but could give no further account of it. Goodyear was +astonished to find that the sulphur cured the India-rubber as thoroughly +as the aqua fortis, the principal objection being that the sulphurous +odor of the goods was frightful in hot weather. Hayward's process was +really the same as that employed by Goodyear, the "curing" of the +India-rubber being due in each case to the agency of sulphur, the +principal difference between them being that Hayward's goods were dried +by the sun, and Goodyear's with nitric acid. Hay ward set so small a +value upon his discovery that he had readily sold it to his new +employer. + +[Illustration: AN AMAZING REVELATION.] + +Goodyear felt that he had now all but conquered his difficulties. It was +plain that sulphur was the great controller of India-rubber, for he had +proved that when applied to thin cloth it would render it available for +most purposes. The problem that now remained was how to mix sulphur and +the gum in a mass, so that every part of the rubber should be subjected +to the agency of the sulphur. He experimented for weeks and months with +the most intense eagerness, but the mystery completely baffled him. His +friends urged him to go to work to do something for his family, but he +could not turn back. The goal was almost in sight, and he felt that he +would be false to his mission were he to abandon his labors now. To the +world he seemed a crack-brained dreamer, and some there were who, seeing +the distress of his family, did not hesitate to apply still harsher +names to him; but to the Great Eye that reads all hearts, how different +did this man appear! It saw the anguish that wrung the heart of Charles +Goodyear, and knew the more than heroic firmness with which, in the +midst of his poverty and suffering, he agonized for the great discovery. +Had it been merely wealth that he was working for, doubtless he would +have turned back and sought some other means of obtaining it; but he +sought more. He was striving for the good of his fellow-men, and +ambitious of becoming a benefactor of the race. He felt that he had a +mission to fulfill, and no one else could perform it. + +He was right. A still greater success was about to crown his labors, but +in a manner far different from his expectations. His experiments had +developed nothing; chance was to make the revelation. It was in the +spring of 1839 that this revelation came to him, and in the following +manner: Standing before a stove in a store at Woburn, Massachusetts, he +was explaining to some acquaintances the properties of a piece of +sulphur-cured India-rubber which he held in his hand. They listened to +him good-naturedly, but with evident incredulity, when suddenly he +dropped the rubber on the stove, which was red hot. His old cloths would +have melted instantly from contact with such heat; but, to his surprise, +this piece underwent no such change. In amazement, he examined it, and +found that while it had charred or shriveled, like leather, it had not +softened at all. The bystanders attached no importance to this +phenomenon, but to him it was a revelation. He renewed his experiments +with enthusiasm, and in a little while established the facts that +India-rubber, when mixed with sulphur and exposed to a certain degree of +heat for a certain time, would not melt or even soften at any degree of +heat, that it would only char at two hundred and eighty degrees, and +that it would not stiffen from exposure to any degree of cold. The +difficulty now consisted in finding out the exact degree of heat +necessary for the perfection of the rubber, and the exact length of time +required for the heating. + +He made this discovery in his darkest days; when, in fact, he was in +constant danger of arrest for debt, having already been a frequent +inmate of the debtor's prison. He was in the depths of bitter poverty, +and in such feeble health that he was constantly haunted by the fear of +dying before he had perfected his discovery--before he had fulfilled his +mission. His poverty was a greater drawback to him than ever before. He +needed an apparatus for producing a high and uniform heat for his +experiments, and he was unable to obtain it. He used to bake his +compound in his wife's bread oven, and steam it over the spout of her +tea-kettle, and to press the kitchen fire into his service as far as it +would go. When this failed, he would go to the shops in the vicinity of +Woburn, and beg to be allowed to use the ovens and boilers after working +hours were over. The workmen regarded him as a lunatic, but were too +good-natured to deny him the request. Finally, he induced a bricklayer +to make him an oven, and paid him in mason's aprons of India-rubber. The +oven was a failure. Sometimes it would turn out pieces of perfectly +vulcanized cloth, and again the goods would be charred and ruined. +Goodyear was in despair. + +All this time he lived on the charity of his friends. His neighbors +pretended to lend him money, but in reality gave him the means of +keeping his family from starvation. He has declared that all the while +he felt sure he would, before long, be able to pay them back, but they +declared with equal emphasis that, at that time, they never expected to +witness his success. He was yellow and shriveled in face, with a gaunt, +lean figure, and his habit of wearing an India-rubber coat, which was +charred and blackened from his frequent experiments with it, gave him a +wild and singular appearance. People shook their heads solemnly when +they saw him, and said that the mad-house was the proper place for him. + +The winter of 1839-40 was long and severe. At the opening of the season, +Mr. Goodyear received a letter from a house in Paris, making him a +handsome offer for the use of his process of curing India-rubber with +aqua fortis. Here was a chance for him to rise out of his misery. A year +before he would have closed with the offer, but since then he had +discovered the effects of sulphur and heat on his compound, and had +passed far beyond the aqua fortis stage. Disappointment and want had not +warped his honesty, and he at once declined to enter into any +arrangements with the French house, informing them that although the +process they desired to purchase was a valuable one, it was about to be +entirely replaced by another which he was then on the point of +perfecting, and which he would gladly sell them as soon as he had +completed it. His friends declared that he was mad to refuse such an +offer; but he replied that nothing would induce him to sell a process +which he knew was about to be rendered worthless by still greater +discoveries. + +A few weeks later, a terrible snow-storm passed over the land, one of +the worst that New England has ever known, and in the midst of it +Goodyear made the appalling discovery that he had not a particle of fuel +or a mouthful of food in the house. He was ill enough to be in bed +himself, and his purse was entirely empty. It was a terrible position, +made worse, too, by the fact that his friends who had formerly aided him +had turned from him, vexed with his pertinacity, and abandoned him to +his fate. In his despair, he bethought him of a mere acquaintance who +lived several miles from his cottage, and who but a few days before had +spoken to him with more of kindness than he had received of late. This +gentleman, he thought, would aid him in his distress, if he could but +reach his house, but in such a snow the journey seemed hopeless to a man +in his feeble health. Still the effort must be made. Nerved by despair, +he set out, and pushed his way resolutely through the heavy drifts. The +way was long, and it seemed to him that he would never accomplish it. +Often he fell prostrate on the snow, almost fainting with fatigue and +hunger, and again he would sit down wearily in the road, feeling that he +would gladly die if his discovery were but completed. At length, +however, he reached the end of his journey, and fortunately found his +acquaintance at home. To this gentleman he told the story of his +discovery, his hopes, his struggles, and his present sufferings, and +implored him to aid him. Mr. Coolidge[A]--for such was the gentleman's +name--listened to him kindly, and after expressing the warmest sympathy +for him, loaned him money enough to support his family during the severe +weather, and to enable him to continue his experiments. + +[Footnote A: O.B. Coolidge, of Woburn.] + +"Seeing no prospect of success in Massachusetts, he now resolved to make +a desperate effort to get to New York, feeling confident that the +specimens he could take with him would convince some one of the +superiority of his new method. He was beginning to understand the causes +of his many failures, but he saw clearly that his compound could not be +worked with certainty without expensive apparatus. It was a very +delicate operation, requiring exactness and promptitude. The conditions +upon which success depended were numerous, and the failure of one +spoiled all.... It cost him thousands of failures to learn that a little +acid in his sulphur caused the blistering; that his compound must be +heated almost immediately after being mixed, or it would never +vulcanize; that a portion of white lead in the compound greatly +facilitated the operation and improved the result; and when he had +learned these facts, it still required costly and laborious experiments +to devise the best methods of compounding his ingredients, the best +proportions, the best mode of heating, the proper duration of the +heating, and the various useful effects that could be produced by +varying the proportions and the degree of heat. He tells us that many +times when, by exhausting every resource, he had prepared a quantity of +his compound for heating, it was spoiled because he could not, with his +inadequate apparatus, apply the heat soon enough. + +"To New York, then, he directed his thoughts. Merely to get there cost +him a severer and a longer effort than men in general are capable of +making. First he walked to Boston, ten miles distant, where he hoped to +borrow from an old acquaintance fifty dollars, with which to provide for +his family and pay his fare to New York. He not only failed in this, but +he was arrested for debt and thrown into prison. Even in prison, while +his father was negotiating to procure his release, he labored to +interest men of capital in his discovery, and made proposals for +founding a factory in Boston. Having obtained his liberty, he went to a +hotel, and spent a week in vain efforts to effect a small loan. Saturday +night came, and with it his hotel bill, which he had no means of +discharging. In an agony of shame and anxiety, he went to a friend and +entreated the sum of five dollars to enable him to return home. He was +met with a point blank refusal. In the deepest dejection, he walked the +streets till late in the night, and strayed at length, almost beside +himself, to Cambridge, where he ventured to call upon a friend and ask +shelter for the night. He was hospitably entertained, and the next +morning walked wearily home, penniless and despairing. At the door of +his house a member of his family met him with the news that his youngest +child, two years old, whom he had left in perfect health, was dying. In +a few hours he had in his house a dead child, but not the means of +burying it, and five living dependents without a morsel of food to give +them. A storekeeper near by had promised to supply the family, but, +discouraged by the unforeseen length of the father's absence, he had +that day refused to trust them further. In these terrible circumstances, +he applied to a friend upon whose generosity he knew he could rely, one +who never failed him. He received in reply a letter of severe and +cutting reproach, inclosing seven dollars, which his friend explained +was given only out of pity for his innocent and suffering family. A +stranger who chanced to be present when this letter arrived sent them a +barrel of flour--a timely and blessed relief. The next day the family +followed on foot the remains of the little child to the grave." + +He had now reached the lowest ebb of his misery, and a brighter day was +in store for him. Obtaining fifty dollars from a relative, he went to +New York, where he succeeded in interesting in his discovery two +brothers, William and Emory Rider. They agreed to advance him a certain +sum to support his family and continue his experiments. By means of this +aid he was enabled to keep his family from want in the future, and from +that time his experiments never flagged. Before entire success crowned +his efforts, the brothers Rider failed; but he had advanced his +experiments so greatly that his brother-in-law, William De Forrest, a +rich woolen manufacturer, came to his support, and supplied him with the +means to go on with his labors. Mr. De Forrest's total advances amounted +to forty-six thousand dollars, from which fact the reader may gain some +idea of the obstacles overcome by Goodyear in this last stage of his +invention. + +The prize for which he had labored so long and so heroically was secured +at last, and in 1844, ten years after the commencement of his +experiments, he was able to produce perfectly vulcanized India-rubber +with expedition and economy, and, above all, with certainty. He had won +a success which added a new material to art and commerce, and one which +could be applied in a thousand different ways, and all of them useful to +man. But great as his success was, he was not satisfied with it. To the +end of his life his constant effort was to improve his invention, and +apply it to new uses. He had an unlimited faith in its adaptability, +believing that there was scarcely any article of general use that could +not be made of it. Upon one occasion he read in a newspaper that twenty +persons perished every hour by drowning. The statement impressed him +deeply, and his wife noticed that for several nights he scarcely slept +at all. "Try to compose yourself, and sleep," she said to him. "Sleep!" +he exclaimed, "how can I sleep when twenty human beings are drowning +every hour, and I am the man that can save them?" And at this time it +was his constant endeavor to invent some article of India-rubber which +could be easily carried by travelers, and which would render it +impossible for them to sink in water. + +Having brought his process to a successful completion in this country, +and obtained patents for it, he went to Europe to secure similar +protections in the principal countries of the Old World. "The French +laws require that the patentee shall put and keep his invention in +public use in France within two years from its date. Goodyear had, at +great inconvenience and expense, endeavored to comply with this and with +all other requirements of the French laws, and thought he had +effectually done so; but the courts of France decided that he had not in +every particular complied with the strict requisitions of the law, and +that, therefore, his patent in France had become void. In England he was +still more unfortunate. Having sent specimens of vulcanized fabrics to +Charles Mackintosh & Co., in 1842, and having opened with them a +negotiation for the sale of the secret of the invention or discovery, +one of the partners of that firm, named Thomas Hancock, availing +himself, as he admits, of the hints and opportunities thus presented to +him, rediscovered, as he affirms, the process of vulcanization, and +described it in a patent for England, which was enrolled on May 21, +1844, _about five weeks after_ the specification and publication of the +discovery to the world by Goodyear's patent for vulcanization in France. +And the patent of Hancock, held good according to a peculiarity of +English law, thus superseded Goodyear's English patent for +vulcanization, which bore date a few days later. Goodyear, however, +obtained the great council medal of the exhibition of all nations at +London, the grand medal of the world's exhibition at Paris, and the +ribbon of the Legion of Honor, presented by Napoleon III." + +In his own country, Mr. Goodyear was scarcely less unfortunate. His +patents were infringed and violated by others, even after the decision +of the courts seemed to place his rights beyond question. He was too +thoroughly the inventor and too little the man of business to protect +himself from the robberies of the wretches who plundered him of the +profits of his invention. It is said that his inability to manage sharp +transactions made him the victim of many who held nominally fair +business relations with him. The United States Commissioner of Patents, +in 1858, thus spoke of his losses: + +"No inventor, probably, has ever been so harassed, so trampled upon, so +plundered by that sordid and licentious class of infringers known in the +parlance of the world, with no exaggeration of phrase, as 'pirates.' The +spoliation of their incessant guerrilla warfare upon his defenseless +rights have, unquestionably, amounted to millions." + +Failing to accomplish any thing in Europe, Mr. Goodyear returned to this +country, and continued his labors. His health, never strong, gave way +under the continued strain, and he died in New York in July, 1860, in +the sixtieth year of his age, completely worn out. Notwithstanding his +great invention--an invention which has made millions for those engaged +in its manufacture--he died insolvent, and left his family heavily in +debt. A few years after his death an effort was made to procure from +Congress a further seven years' extension of his patent for +vulcanization, for the benefit of his family and his creditors. The men +who had trampled his rights under foot while living were resolved, +however, that he should not have justice done him in death; and, through +their influence, that august body, in strange contrast with its usual +lavish generosity in the matter of land grants and the like, coldly +declined to do any thing for the family of the man to whom civilization +owes so much, and the effort proved abortive. + +But, though unfortunate in a pecuniary sense, though he died without +freeing himself from the embarrassments which haunted him through life, +there can be no question that Charles Goodyear richly merits the place +which we have given him in this gallery of "Our Self-made Men;" not only +on account of the great merit and usefulness of his discovery or +invention, but because that invention has been the source of many a +"great fortune" to others, as it might, indeed, have been to him, had +his rights been respected, or properly protected when infringed. It is +sad to reflect that he died poor who has given wealth to so many, and +accomplished results so beneficent to mankind. Yet he did not fail +entirely of his reward in life; he lived to see his invention give rise +to large factories in the United States, and in England, France, and +Germany, which employ sixty thousand operatives, and produce over five +hundred different kinds of articles, to the amount of eight millions of +dollars annually. He lived to see boots and shoes, clothing, caps, hats, +articles of commerce and of pleasure, mechanical, scientific, and +surgical instruments, toys, belting for machinery, packing for the +steam-engine, and many other articles now in common use, made of the +material, the discovery and perfection of which cost him long and +sorrowful years of toil. He lived to hear his name mentioned by millions +as one of their greatest benefactors; to know that he had conferred upon +the world benefits of which those who had robbed him could not deprive +his fellow-men; and to feel that he had at length accomplished his +mission--a mission which has been productive of good alone. + +[Illustration: "THE MADHOUSE IS THE PROPER PLACE FOR HIM."] + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +ELI WHITNEY. + + +At the close of the Revolution the States of South Carolina and Georgia +presented large tracts of land to the gallant General Nathaniel Greene, +to whose genius they were indebted for their relief from British +tyranny. Soon after this grant was made, General Greene removed his +family to Mulberry Grove, a fine plantation on the Georgia side of the +Savannah River. Here he died in 1786, from sunstroke, but his family +continued to reside on the place. The mansion of Mrs. Greene was noted +for its hospitality, and was frequently filled with guests who came to +pay their respects to the widow of the most brilliant and best trusted +subordinate of the immortal Washington. + +To this mansion there came one day, in the year 1792, ELI WHITNEY, then +a young man recently from New England. He was a native of Westborough, +Massachusetts, where he was born on the 8th of December, 1765. Of his +youth but little is known, save that he was gifted with unusual +mechanical genius, the employment of which enabled him to overcome some +of the difficulties incident to his poverty, and to acquire the means of +obtaining a good common school education. Adding to this the labors of a +teacher, he earned a sum sufficient to carry him through Yale College, +where he was graduated in the summer of 1702, a few months before his +arrival in Georgia. He had come South to accept the offer of a situation +as teacher, but the place had been filled before his arrival, and, being +without friends in that section, he sought employment from Mrs. Greene. +Though pleased with his modesty and intelligence, that lady could not +avail herself of his services as a tutor, but invited him to make her +house his home as long as he should desire to remain in Georgia. He was +sick in body and disheartened by his first failure, and gladly accepted +her invitation. While her guest he made her a tambour frame of an +improved pattern, and a number of ingenious toys for her children, which +so delighted the good lady that she enthusiastically declared him +capable of doing any thing. + +Not long after Mr. Whitney's arrival at the plantation, Mrs. Greene was +entertaining a number of visitors from the surrounding country, several +planters of considerable wealth being among the number, when one of the +guests turned the conversation upon the subject of cotton-raising, by +declaring that he had met with such poor success that he was ready to +abandon the undertaking. His trouble was not, he said, that cotton would +not grow in his land, for it yielded an abundant return, but that the +labor of clearing it from the seed was so enormous that he could not do +more than pay expenses after selling it. + +His case was simply one among a thousand. The far Southern States were +admitted by every one to be admirably adapted to the cultivation of +cotton, but, after it was grown and picked, the expense of cleaning it +destroyed nearly all the profits of the transaction. The cleaning +process was performed by hand, and it was as much as an able-bodied +negro could do to clean one pound per day in this manner. Disheartened +by this difficulty, which no one had yet been able to remove, the +planters of the South were seriously contemplating the entire +abandonment of this portion of their industry, since it only involved +them in debt. Their lands were heavily mortgaged, and general ruin +seemed to threaten them. All felt that the invention of a machine for +cleaning or ginning the cotton would not only remove their difficulties, +but enable them to plant the green cotton-seed, from the use of which +they were then almost entirely debarred, because, although more +productive and of a better quality than the black, and adapted by nature +to a much greater variety of climate, it was much more difficult to +clean, and therefore less profitable to cultivate. + +These facts were discussed in the conversation at Mrs. Greene's table, +and it was suggested by one of the company that perhaps the very urgency +of the case would induce some ingenious man to invent a machine which +should solve the problem, and remove all the difficulties in the way. + +"Is it a machine you want?" said Mrs. Greene, eagerly. "Then, gentlemen, +you should apply to my young friend, Mr. Whitney; _he_ can make any +thing." + +She at once sent for Whitney, and introduced him to her guests, who +repeated to him the substance of their conversation, and urged him to +undertake the invention of what was so much needed. The young man +protested that he had never seen either a pod of cotton or a cotton-seed +in his life, and was utterly incompetent for the task they proposed. In +spite of this, however, his new acquaintances urged him to attempt it, +and assured him that if successful his invention would make his fortune. +Whitney would promise nothing more than to think of the matter, and the +planters departed in the belief that nothing would come of their +entreaties, and that the culture of cotton would languish until it +should finally die out. + +Whitney _did_ think of the matter, and the result was that he decided +to attempt the production of a machine which should clean cotton both +expeditiously and cheaply. It was late in the season, and unginned +cotton, or cotton from which the seeds had not been removed, was hard to +procure. With considerable difficulty he succeeded in finding a few +pounds on the wharf at Savannah, and at once securing his prize, he +carried it home in his hands. + +[Illustration: WHITNEY WATCHING THE FIRST COTTON-GIN] + +Mrs. Greene being confidentially informed of his plans, provided him +with a room in the cellar of her house, where he could carry on his work +in secret. All that winter he worked at it, with a patience and energy +which could not fail of success. Many difficulties confronted him. To +carry on his work successfully, he needed tools of a certain +description, which were not to be had in Savannah, or even in +Charleston, upon any terms. But when was the genius of a Yankee ever +baffled by difficulties? Whitney's mechanical skill came to his aid, and +he conquered this obstacle by manufacturing all the implements he +needed. He wanted wire, but none was to be found, and he was compelled +to make all that he used. A score or more of drawbacks presented +themselves, and were overcome in this way, and all through the winter +the young inventor applied himself with diligence to his task. The +children and servants regarded him with the greatest curiosity. They +heard him hammering and sawing in his room, the doors of which were +always kept locked, and into which they were never allowed to enter. +Mrs. Greene was kept fully informed of his progress. When sure of +success, Whitney revealed the secret to a Mr. Miller, a gentleman of +means, who consented to enter into a copartnership with him for the +manufacture of the machines, after the completion of the model should +have enabled Whitney to secure a patent for his invention. + +Whitney had hoped to keep his work secret from all others, but this +proved to be impossible. It became rumored about the country that the +young man from New England, who was living at Mrs. Greene's, was engaged +in inventing a machine which would clean cotton with the rapidity of +thought, and the most intense eagerness was manifested to see the +wonderful production, which every one felt would entirely revolutionize +cotton culture in the South. Whitney endeavored to guard his invention +from the public curiosity, but without success. Before he had completed +his model, some scoundrels broke into the place containing it, and +carried it off by night. He succeeded in recovering it, but the +principle upon which it depended was made public, and before the model +was completed and a patent secured, a number of machines based on his +invention had been surreptitiously made, and were in operation. + +In spite of this discouraging circumstance, Whitney brought his +invention to perfection, and in the spring of 1793 set up his first +cotton gin, under a shed on Mrs. Greene's plantation, and invited a +number of the neighboring planters to witness its operation. + +His machine was very simple, but none the less ingenious on that +account. The cotton was placed in a trough, the bottom of which +consisted of parallel rows of wire, placed like the bars in a grating, +but so close together that the seed could not pass through them. +Underneath this trough revolved an iron roller, armed with teeth formed +of strong wires projecting from the roller, which passed between the +wire bars, and, seizing the cotton, drew it through the bars and passed +it behind the roller, where it was brushed off the wire teeth by means +of a cylindrical brush. The seed, unable to pass through the bars, were +left behind, and, completely stripped of the fiber, ran out in a stream +through a spout at one end of the trough. It was found that the cotton +thus ginned was cleaned thoroughly,[A] and far better than it could be +done by hand, and that a single man, by this process, could clean as +much as three hundred pounds in a day. + +[Footnote A: The cotton for which Whitney's machine accomplished so +much, was the short staple, which is the principal product of the South. +The Sea Island cotton could not be cleaned by it, on account of the +length and delicacy of its fiber; and this species, for the want of some +cheap and expeditious method of preparing it, has seldom been grown to a +greater quantity than fifty thousand bags of three hundred pounds each. +Consequently, it has always commanded a high price.] + +The spectators were delighted with Whitney's machine, and urged him to +lose no time in putting it in the market. They predicted an unlimited +success for it, and assured the inventor that it would not only make his +own fortune, but also render cotton culture the source of wealth to the +South. They did not exaggerate. As soon as it was made known to the +public, Whitney's machine came into general use. Planters had no longer +any thing to fear from the labor and expense of preparing their great +staple for market. Whitney's genius had swept away all their +difficulties, and they reaped a golden harvest from it. They were +enabled to send their cotton promptly and cheaply to market, where it +brought good prices. With the money thus obtained they paid their debts, +and increased their capacity for cultivation. Every year the area +devoted to cotton-growing became more extended, and the prosperity of +the South became greater and more durable. In 1793, the total export of +cotton from the United States was ten thousand bales; in 1860, it was +over four millions of bales. Hundreds of millions of dollars were +brought into the South by this invention--so that it is no exaggeration +to say that the remarkable prosperity enjoyed by the South at the +commencement of our late civil war was due entirely to the genius of Eli +Whitney. This opinion is fortified by the following remarks of Judge +Johnson, uttered in a charge to the jury in a suit brought by Whitney, +in Savannah, in 1807, to sustain the validity of his patent: + +"With regard to the utility of this discovery ... the whole interior of +the Southern States was languishing, and its inhabitants emigrating for +want of some object to engage their attention and employ their industry, +when the invention of this machine at once opened views to them which +set the whole country in active motion. From childhood to age it has +presented to us a lucrative employment. Individuals who were depressed +with poverty, and sunk in idleness, have suddenly risen to wealth and +respectability. Our debts have been paid off, our capitals have +increased, and our lands have trebled themselves in value. We can not +express the weight of the obligation which the country owes to this +invention. The extent of it can not now be seen." + +Surely, the reader will exclaim, if such was the profit of this +invention to the country at large, what a vast fortune must it have +been to its inventor! Let us see. In May, 1793, Whitney and Miller went +to Connecticut and established a factory for the construction of cotton +gins. They were in possession of a patent which was supposed to pledge +to them the protection of the United States. The demand for the machine +was increasing every day, and it seemed that they would reap a golden +harvest from it. They were disappointed. The machine was so simple that +any competent mechanic could easily manufacture one after examining the +model, and this temptation to dishonesty proved too strong for the +morality of the cotton-growing community. In a short time there were +hundreds of fraudulent machines at work in the South, made and sold in +direct and open violation of Whitney's rights. In vain the inventor +brought suit against those who infringed his patent. It was rare that a +jury in a cotton State gave a verdict in his favor. In Georgia it was +boldly asserted that Whitney was not the inventor of the cotton gin, but +that some persons in Switzerland had invented something similar to it, +and the substitution of teeth, cut in an iron plate, instead of wire, +was claimed as superseding his invention. The Legislature of South +Carolina granted him the beggarly sum of $50,000 for the use of his +invention by the planters of that State; but it was only by going to +law, and after several tedious and vexatious suits, that he was able to +secure this sum. Tennessee agreed to allow him a percentage for the use +of each saw for a certain period, but afterward repudiated her contract. +The action of North Carolina forms the only bright page in this history +of fraud and wrong. That State allowed him a percentage for the use of +each saw for the term of five years, and promptly collected the money +and paid it over to the patentee. For fourteen years Whitney continued +to manufacture his machines, reaping absolutely no profit from his +investments, and earning merely a bare support. During all this time his +rights were systematically violated, suits were wrongfully decided +against him by various Southern courts, and he was harassed and +plundered on every side. America never presented a more shameful +spectacle than was exhibited when the courts of the cotton-growing +regions united with the piratical infringers of Whitney's rights in +robbing their greatest benefactor. In 1807, Whitney's partner died, and +his factory was destroyed by fire. In the same year his patent expired, +and he sought its renewal from Congress. Here again he was met with the +ingratitude of the cotton States. The Southern members, then all +powerful in the Government, united in opposing the extension of his +patent, and his petition was rejected. At the same time a report was +industriously circulated that his machine injured the fiber of the +cotton; but it is a significant fact that, although the planters +insisted vehemently upon this assertion while Whitney was seeking an +extension of his patent, not one of them discontinued the use of his +machine, or sought to remedy the alleged defect. + +Whitney, thoroughly disheartened, now abandoned the manufacture of +cotton gins in disgust, wound up his affairs, and found himself a poor +man. In spite of the far-reaching benefits of his invention, he had not +realized one dollar above his expenses. He had given millions upon +millions of dollars to the cotton-growing States, he had opened the way +for the establishment of the vast cotton-spinning interests of his own +country and Europe, and yet, after fourteen years of hard labor, he was +a poor man, the victim of a wealthy, powerful, and, in his case, a +dishonest class, who had robbed him of his rights and of the fortune he +had so fairly earned. Truly, "wisdom is better than strength, but the +poor man's wisdom is despised." + +Whitney, however, was not the man to waste his time in repining. He +abandoned his efforts to protect his cotton gin because of his +conviction that there was not honesty enough in the country to sustain +him in his rights, but he did not abandon with it the idea of winning +fortune. He promptly turned his genius in another direction, and this +time with success. + +The fire-arms then in use were heavy, clumsy weapons, and effective only +at very short range. He examined the system closely, and quickly +designed several important improvements in them, especially in the +old-fashioned musket. Although his improved arms were not to be compared +with the terribly effective weapons of to-day, they were admitted to be +the best then in use. By examining the Springfield musket, which is due +almost entirely to his genius, the reader can form an accurate estimate +of the service he rendered in this respect. He has the honor of being +the inaugurator of the system of progressive improvement in fire-arms, +which has gone on steadily and without flagging for now fully sixty +years past. + +Some time before abandoning the manufacture of the cotton gin, Mr. +Whitney established an arms factory in New Haven, and obtained a +contract from the Government for ten thousand stand of arms, to be +delivered in two years. At this time he not only had to manufacture the +machinery needed by him for this purpose, but had to invent the greater +part of it. This delayed the execution of his contract for eight years, +but at the expiration of that time he had so far perfected his +establishment, which had been removed to Whitneyville, Conn., that he at +once entered into contracts for thirty thousand more arms, which he +delivered promptly at the appointed time. His factory was the most +complete in the country, and was fitted up in a great measure with the +machinery which he had invented, and without which the improved weapons +could not be fabricated. He introduced a new system into the +manufacture of fire-arms, and one which greatly increased the rapidity +of construction. "He was the first manufacturer of fire-arms who carried +the division of labor to the extent of leaking it the duty of each +workman to perform by machinery but one or two operations on a single +portion of the gun, and thus rendered all the parts adapted to any one +of the thousands of arms in process of manufacture at the same time." + +His success was now marked and rapid. His factory was taxed to its +fullest capacity to supply the demand for arms. His genius was rewarded +at last, and he acquired a fortune which enabled him not only to pass +the evening of his days in comfort, but also to leave a handsome estate +to his family. He married a daughter of Judge Pierpont Edwards, a lady +of fine accomplishments and high character. He died at New Haven on the +8th of January, 1825, in his sixtieth year. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +CHAUNCEY JEROME. + + +Any readers of these pages doubtless remember the huge old-fashioned +clocks, tower-like in shape, that in the days of their childhood +ornamented the remote corner of the hall, or stood solemnly near the +chimney in the sitting-room of the old homestead,--such a clock as that +which greeted little Paul Dombey, when he commenced to be a man, with +its "How, is, my, lit, tle, friend?--how, is, my, lit, tle, friend?" +Very different from the bright, pretty timepieces of to-day, which go +ticking away, as if running a race with time, was the clock of the olden +days, as it stood, solemn and dark, in its accustomed corner, from which +the strength of two men was necessary to move it, sending the sound of +its slow, steady strokes into all parts of the house. And in the night, +when all within was still, how its deep beats throbbed in the dark hall +louder and sterner even than in the day. There was something eminently +respectable about an old clock of this kind, and it would have been +audacity unheard of for any member of the family to doubt its +reliability. Set once a year, it was expected to retain its steady-going +habits for the rest of the twelvemonth. You dared not charge it with +being slow; and as for being too fast, why, the very idea was absurd. +There was sure to be some white-capped, silver-haired old lady, whose +long years had been counted by the venerable pendulum with unerring +precision, ready to defend the cause of the clock, to vouch for its +accuracy, and to plead its cause so well and so skillfully, that you +were ready to hide your face in shame at the thought of having even +suspected the veracity of so venerable and so honored an institution. + +Truth to say, however, these old clocks, to the masses of the people of +this country, were objects of admiration, and nothing more; for their +exceeding high price placed them beyond the reach of all save the +wealthier classes. A good clock cost from seventy-five to one hundred +and fifty dollars, and the most indifferent article in the market could +not be obtained for less than twenty-five dollars. At the opening of the +present century, the demand for them was so small that but three hundred +and fifty clocks were made in the State of Connecticut, which was then, +as at present, the one most largely engaged in this branch of American +industry. To-day the annual manufacture of Connecticut is about six +hundred thousand clocks of all kinds, which command a wholesale price of +from fifty cents upward, the greater number bringing the maker less than +five dollars. Thus the reader will see that, while the business of the +clock-maker has prospered so extraordinarily, valuable timepieces have +been brought within the reach of even the poorest. + +The man to whom the country is indebted for this wonderful and +beneficial increase is CHAUNCEY JEROME, who was born at Canaan, +Connecticut, in 1793. His father was a blacksmith and nail-maker, to +which trade he added the cultivation of the little farm on which he +lived; and being poor, it was necessary for him to labor hard in all his +callings in order to provide his family with a plain subsistence. Young +Chauncey had little or no time given him for acquiring an education. + +He learned to read and write, but went no further; for, when he was but +a little more than seven years old, and barely able to do the lightest +kind of labor, he was put to work on the farm to help his father, who +kept him at this until he was nine, when he took him into his shop. All +the nails then in use were made by hand, for there were no huge iron +works in the country to send them out by the ton; and such articles were +scarce and high. The boy was set to work to make nails, and for two +years pursued his vocation steadily. He was a manly little fellow, and +worked at his hammer and anvil with a will, resolved that he would +become thorough master of his trade; but when he had reached the age of +eleven, the sudden death of his father made an entire change in his +career, and threw him upon the world a helpless and penniless orphan. + +In order to earn his bread, he hired himself to a farmer, receiving for +his labor nothing but his "victuals and clothes," the latter being of +the plainest and scantiest kind. He worked very hard; but his employer +was cold and indifferent to him at all times, and occasionally used him +very badly. The boy was naturally of a cheerful disposition, and it did +him good service now in helping to sustain him in his hard lot. Four +years were passed in this way, and when he was fifteen years old his +guardian informed him that he had now reached an age when he must begin +his apprenticeship to some regular trade. + +The boy was very anxious to learn clock-making, and begged his guardian +to apprentice him to that trade; but the wise individual who controlled +his affairs replied, sagely, that clock-making was a business in which +he would starve, as it was already overdone in Connecticut. There was +one man, he said, engaged in that trade who had been silly enough to +make two hundred clocks in one year, and he added that it would take the +foolish man a life-time to sell them, or if they went off quickly, the +market would be so glutted that no dealer would have need to increase +his stock for years to come. Clock-making, he informed the boy, had +already reached the limit of its expansion in Connecticut, and offered +no opportunities at all. The carpenter's trade, on the other hand, was +never crowded with good workmen, and always offered the prospect of +success to any enterprising and competent man. It was the custom then to +regard boys as little animals, possessed of a capacity for hard work, +but without any reasoning powers of their own. To the adage that +"children should be seen and not heard," the good people of that day +added another clause, in effect, "and should never pretend to think for +themselves." It was this profound conviction that induced parents and +guardians, in so many instances, to disregard the wishes of the children +committed to their care, and to condemn so many to lives for which they +were utterly unfitted. So it was with the guardian of Chauncey Jerome. +He listened to the boy's expression of a preference, it is true, but +paid no attention to it, and ended by apprenticing his ward to a +carpenter. + +The life of an apprentice is always hard, and in those days it was +especially so. No negro slave ever worked harder, and but few fared +worse, so far as their bodily comfort was concerned, than the New +England apprentices of the olden time. Masters seemed almost to regard +the lads indentured to them as their property, and in return for the +support they gave them exacted from them the maximum amount of work they +were capable of performing. They granted them no privileges, allowed +them no holidays, except those required by the law, and never permitted +the slightest approach to laziness. Chauncey Jerome's master proved no +exception to the rule, and when the boy exhibited an unusual proficiency +and quickness in his trade, the only notice his employer took of it was +to require more work of him. When only a little over sixteen years old, +this boy was able to do the work of a full-grown man, and a man's work +was rigorously exacted of him. When sent to work at a distance from his +employer's home, he invariably had to make the entire journey on foot, +with his tools on his back, sometimes being required to go as far as +thirty miles in one day in this way. His mother was living at some +distance from the place where his master resided, and whenever he +visited her, he had to walk all night in order to avoid using his +master's time, not one hour of which was allowed him. + +In 1811, he informed his master that he was willing to undertake to +clothe himself if he could have the five months of the cold season to +himself. As this part of the year was always a dull period, and +apprentices were little more than an expense to their masters, young +Jerome's employer promptly consented to the proposed arrangement. +Jerome, now eighteen years old, had never relinquished his old desire to +become a clock-maker. He had watched the market closely, and questioned +the persons engaged in the business, and he found that, so far from the +market being over-stocked, there was a ready sale for every clock made. +Greatly encouraged by this, he resolved to devote the five months of his +freedom to learning the business, and to apply himself entirely to it at +the expiration of his apprenticeship. As soon as he had concluded his +bargain with his master, he set out for Waterbury on foot, and upon +arriving there, sought and obtained work from a man who made clock-dials +for the manufacturers of clocks. + +He worked with his new employer awhile, and then formed an arrangement +with two journeymen clock-makers. Having perfected their plans, the +three set out for New Jersey in a lumber wagon, carrying their +provisions with them. The two clock-makers were to make and set up the +works, and Jerome was to make the cases whenever they should succeed in +selling a clock on their journey. Clock-making was then considered +almost perfect. It had been reduced to a regular system, and the cost of +construction had been very greatly lessened. A good clock, with a case +seven feet high, could now be made for forty dollars, at which price it +yielded a fair profit to the maker. The three young men were tolerably +successful in their venture. Jerome worked fifteen hours a day at +case-making, and by living economically, managed to carry some money +with him when he went back to his master's shop in the spring. For the +remaining three years of his apprenticeship he employed his winters in +learning the various branches of clock-making, and not only earned +enough money to clothe himself, but laid by a modest sum besides. + +In 1814, being twenty-one years of age and his own master, he set up a +carpenter shop of his own, being not yet sufficiently master of +clock-making to undertake that on his own account. In 1815, he married. +Times were hard. The war with England had just ended, and labor was +poorly compensated. He is said at this time to have "finished the whole +interior of a three-story house, including twenty-seven doors and an oak +floor, nothing being found for him but the timber," for the beggarly sum +of eighty-seven dollars--a task which no builder would undertake to-day +for less than a thousand dollars. Still, he declared that, in spite of +this poor rate of compensation, he was enabled to save enough to make a +partial payment on a small dwelling for himself. It required a constant +struggle, however, to live at this rate, and in the winter of 1816, +being out of work, and having a payment on his house to meet in the +spring, he determined to go to Baltimore to seek work during the winter. +He was on the eve of starting, when he learned that Mr. Eli Terry, the +inventor of the wooden clocks which were so popular fifty years ago, was +about to open a large factory for them in an adjoining town. He walked +to the town, and made his application to Mr. Terry, who at once engaged +him at liberal wages. Mr. Terry's factory was then the largest in the +country, and, as he used wooden instead of metal works, he was able to +manufacture his best clocks at fifteen dollars, and other grades in +proportion. This reduction in price largely increased the sale of his +clocks, and in a comparatively short time after opening his factory, Mr. +Terry made and sold about six thousand clocks a year. + +Jerome was determined that he would spare no pains to make himself +master of every detail of clock-making, and applied himself to the +business with so much intelligence and energy, that by the spring of +1817 he felt himself competent to undertake their manufacture on his own +account. He began his operations very cautiously, at first buying the +works already made, putting them together, and making the cases himself. +When he had finished two or three, he would carry them about for sale, +and as his work was well done, he rarely had any difficulty in disposing +of them. Gradually he increased his business, and in a year or two was +able to sell every clock he could make, which kept him constantly busy. +A Southern dealer having seen one of his clocks, was so well pleased +with it that he gave the maker an order for twelve exactly like it, +which the latter agreed to furnish at twelve dollars each. It was an +enormous order to Jerome, and seemed to him almost too good to be real. +He completed the clocks at the stipulated time, and conveyed them in a +farmer's wagon to the place where the purchaser had agreed to receive +them. The money was paid to him in silver, and as the broad pieces were +counted into his hand, he was almost ready to weep for joy. One hundred +and forty-four dollars was the largest sum he had ever possessed at one +time, and it seemed almost a fortune to him. His clocks were taken to +Charleston, South Carolina, and sold. They gave entire satisfaction; and +when, some years later, he commenced to ship regular consignments to the +Southern cities, he found no difficulty in disposing of his wares. + +Mr. Jerome's success was now more decided. He was enabled to pay for his +house in a short time, and having, soon afterward, an opportunity to +dispose of it at a fair profit, he did so, and took clock-works in +payment. He bought land and timber, and paid for them in clocks, and his +affairs prospered so well that, before long, he began to employ workmen +to assist him, and to dispose of his clocks to peddlers and merchants, +instead of carrying them around for sale himself. As his business +increased, he invented and patented labor-saving machinery for the +manufacture of the various parts of the clock, and thus greatly +decreased the cost of construction. He designed new and ornamental +cases, and exerted himself to render the exterior of his clocks as +tasteful and attractive as possible. His business now increased rapidly, +and he was soon compelled to take in a partner. He began to ship his +clocks to the Southern States, sending them by sea. They met with a +ready sale, but all his ventures of this kind were subject to serious +risks. The works, being of wood, would frequently become damp and +swollen on the voyage, thus rendering them unfit for use. Mr. Jerome +endeavored in various ways to remedy this defect, but was finally +compelled to admit that, until he could change the nature of the wood, +he could not prevent it from being influenced by moisture. + +He passed many sleepless nights while engaged in seeking this remedy, +for he plainly foresaw that unless the defect could be removed, the days +of the wooden clock business were numbered. + +In the midst of his depression, the idea occurred to him, one night +while lying awake, that the works of a clock could be manufactured as +cheaply of brass as of wood. The thought came to him with the force of a +revelation. He sprang out of bed, lit his candle, and passed the rest of +the night in making calculations which proved to him that he could not +only make brass works as cheaply as wooden ones, but, by the employment +of certain labor-saving machinery, at a cost decidedly less. There was +one important obstacle in his way, however. The machinery requisite for +cutting brass works cheaply was not in existence. Before making known +his plans, Mr. Jerome set to work to invent the clock-making machinery +which has made him famous among American inventors. When he had +completed it, he commenced to make brass clocks, which he sold at such a +low price that wooden clocks were speedily driven out of the market. +Little by little, he brought his machinery to perfection, applying it to +the manufacture of all parts of the clock; and to-day, thanks to his +patience and genius, clock-making in the United States has become a very +simple affair. By the aid of Jerome's machinery, one man and one boy can +saw veneers enough for three hundred clock cases in a single day. By the +aid of this same machinery, six men can manufacture the works of one +thousand clocks in a day; and a factory employing twenty-five workmen +can turn out two thousand clocks per week. By the aid of this same +machinery, the total cost of producing a good clock of small size has +been brought down to forty cents. + +As the reader will suppose, Jerome made a large fortune--a princely +fortune--for himself, and entirely revolutionized the clock-making trade +of the Union. Thanks to him, scores of fortunes have been made by other +manufacturers also, and American clocks have become famous all over the +world for their excellence and cheapness. "Go where you will, in +Europe, Asia, Africa, or America, you will be sure to come upon Yankee +clocks. To England they go by the shipload. Germany, France, Russia, +Spain, Italy, all take large quantities. Many have been sent to China +and to the East Indies. At Jerusalem, Connecticut clocks tick on many a +shelf, and travelers have found them far up the Nile, in Guinea, at the +Cape of Good Hope, and in all the accessible places of South America." + +After conducting his business for some years, Mr. Jerome organized the +Jerome Clock-Making Company, of New Haven. It began its operations with +a large capital, and conducted them upon an extensive scale. In a few +years Mr. Jerome retired from the active management of its affairs, but +continued nominally at its head as its president. He built for himself +an elegant mansion in New Haven, where he gathered about him his family +and the friends which his sterling qualities and upright character had +drawn to him, and here he hoped to pass the remainder of his days. + +He was doomed to a bitter disappointment. Although nominally at the head +of the Clock Company, he left its control entirely to his partners, who, +by injudicious management, brought it at length to the verge of +bankruptcy. They made energetic efforts to ward off the final +catastrophe, but without success, and in 1860, almost before Mr. Jerome +was aware of the full extent of the trouble, the Company was ruined. Its +liabilities were heavy, and every dollar's worth of Jerome's property +was taken to meet them. Honest to the core, he gave up every thing. His +elegant mansion was sold, and he was forced to remove to an humble +cottage, a poorer man than when he had first set up for himself as a +carpenter. + +He was not the man to repine, however, and he at once began to look +about him for employment. He was sixty-seven years old, and it was hard +to go out into the world to earn his bread again, but he bore his +misfortunes bravely, and soon succeeded in obtaining the employment he +desired. The great Clock Company of Chicago engaged him at a liberal +salary to superintend their manufactory in that city, which position he +still holds. The Company manufacture his own clocks, and are fortunate +in having the benefit of his genius and experience. Were he a younger +man, there can be no doubt that he would win a second fortune equal to +that which was swept from him so cruelly, through no fault of his own. +As it is, we can only venture to hope that his sturdy independence and +indomitable energy will provide him with the means of passing the +closing years of his life in comfort. Few men have done the world better +service, or been more worthy of its rewards. + +[Illustration: ELIAS HOWE, JR.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +ELIAS HOWE, JR. + + +One of the busiest parts of the busy thoroughfare of Broadway, in the +city of New York, is the point of its intersection with Fourth Street. +Thousands and tens of thousands of people pass and repass there daily, +but few ever pause to look at the curious machine which stands in the +window of the shop at the north-west corner of these two streets. This +machine, clumsy and odd-looking as it is, nevertheless has a history +which makes it one of the most interesting of all the sights of the +great city. It is the first sewing-machine that was ever made. + +ELIAS HOWE, its maker, was born in the town of Spencer, Massachusetts, +in 1819. He was one of eight children, and it was no small undertaking +on the part of his father to provide a maintenance for such a household. +Mr. Howe, Sen., was a farmer and miller, and, as was the custom at that +time in the country towns of New England, carried on in his family some +of those minor branches of industry suited to the capacity of children, +with which New England abounds. When Elias was six years old, he was +set, with his brothers and sisters, to sticking wire teeth through the +leather straps used for making cotton cards. When he became old enough +he assisted his father in his saw-mill and grist-mill, and during the +winter months picked up a meager education at the district school. He +has said that it was the rude and imperfect mills of his father that +first turned his attention to machinery. He was not fitted for hard +work, however, as he was frail in constitution and incapable of bearing +much fatigue. Moreover, he inherited a species of lameness which proved +a great obstacle to any undertaking on his part, and gave him no little +trouble all through life. At the age of eleven he went to live out on +the farm of a neighbor, but the labor proving too severe for him, he +returned home and resumed his place in his father's mills, where he +remained until he was sixteen years old. + +When at this age, he conceived an ardent desire to go to Lowell to seek +his fortune. One of his friends had just returned from that place, and +had given him such a wonderful description of the city and its huge +mills, that he was eager to go there and see the marvel for himself. +Obtaining his father's consent, he went to Lowell, and found employment +as a learner in one of the large cotton-mills of the city. He remained +there two years, when the great financial disaster of 1837 threw him out +of employment and compelled him to look for work elsewhere. He obtained +a place at Cambridge, in a machine-shop, and was put to work upon the +new hemp-carding machinery of Professor Treadwell. His cousin, Nathaniel +P. Banks, afterward governor of Massachusetts, member of Congress, and +major-general, worked in the same shop with him, and boarded at the same +house. Howe remained in Cambridge only a few months, however, and was +then given a place in the machine-shop of Ari Davis, of Boston. + +At the age of twenty-one he married. This was a rash step for him, as +his health was very delicate, and his earnings were but nine dollars per +week. Three children were born to him in quick succession, and he found +it no easy task to provide food, shelter, and clothing for his little +family. The light-heartedness for which he had formerly been noted +entirely deserted him, and he became sad and melancholy. His health did +not improve, and it was with difficulty that he could perform his daily +task. His strength was so slight that he would frequently return home +from his day's work too much exhausted to eat. He could only go to bed, +and in his agony he wished "to lie in bed forever and ever." Still he +worked faithfully and conscientiously, for his wife and children were +very dear to him; but he did so with a hopelessness which only those who +have tasted the depths of poverty can understand. + +[Illustration: HOWE'S FIRST IDEA OF THE SEWING-MACHINE.] + +About this time he heard it said that the great necessity of the age was +a machine for doing sewing. The immense amount of fatigue incurred and +the delay in hand-sewing were obvious, and it was conceded by all who +thought of the matter at all that the man who could invent a machine +which would remove these difficulties would make a fortune. Howe's +poverty inclined him to listen to these remarks with great interest. No +man needed money more than he, and he was confident that his mechanical +skill was of an order which made him as competent as any one else to +achieve the task proposed. He set to work to accomplish it, and, as he +knew well the dangers which surround an inventor, kept his own counsel. +At his daily labor, in all his waking hours, and even in his dreams, he +brooded over this invention. He spent many a wakeful night in these +meditations, and his health was far from being benefited by this severe +mental application. Success is not easily won in any great undertaking, +and Elias Howe found that he had entered upon a task which required the +greatest patience, perseverance, energy, and hopefulness. He watched his +wife as she sewed, and his first effort was to devise a machine which +should do what she was doing. He made a needle pointed at both ends, +with the eye in the middle, that should work up and down through the +cloth, and carry the thread through at each thrust; but his elaboration +of this conception would not work satisfactorily. It was not until 1844, +fully a year after he began the attempt to invent the machine, that he +came to the conclusion that the movement of a machine need not of +necessity be an imitation of the performance of the hand. It was plain +to him that there must be another stitch, and that if he could discover +it his difficulties would all be ended. A little later he conceived the +idea of using two threads, and forming a stitch by the aid of a shuttle +and a curved needle with the eye near the point. This was the triumph of +his skill. He had now invented a perfect sewing-machine, and had +discovered the essential principles of every subsequent modification of +his conception. Satisfied that he had at length solved the problem, he +constructed a rough model of his machine of wood and wire, in October, +1844, and operated it to his perfect satisfaction. His invention is +thus described: + +"He used a needle and a shuttle of novel construction, and combined them +with holding surfaces, feed mechanism and other devices, as they had +never before been brought together, in one machine One of the principal +features of Mr. Howe's invention is the combination of a grooved needle, +having an eye near its point, and vibrating in the direction of its +length, with a side-pointed shuttle for effecting a locked stitch, and +forming, with the threads, one on each side of the cloth, a firm and +lasting seam not easily ripped. The main action of the machine consists +in the interlocking of the loop, made by the thread carried in the point +of the needle through the cloth, with another thread passed through this +loop by means of a shuttle entering and leaving it at every stitch. The +thread attached to this shuttle remains in the loop and secures the +stitch as the needle is withdrawn to be ready to make the next one. At +the same time the cloth, held by little projecting pins to the baster +plate, is carried along with this by what is called the 'feed motion' +just the length of a stitch, the distance being readily adjusted for +finer or coarser work. .... The cloth is held in a vertical position in +the machine, and the part to be sewed is pressed against the side of the +shuttle-race by a presser plate hinged on its upper edge, and capable of +exerting any required pressure on the cloth, according as the adjusting +screw that regulates it is turned. A slot, or perforation through the +plate, also extended through the side of the shuttle-race near the +bottom, admits the passage of the needle; and when this is pushed in the +shuttle can still pass freely over it. The shuttle is pushed one way and +then the other through its race or trough by picker staves. The thread +for the needle is supplied by a bobbin, the movement of which is +checked by a friction band, this securing the proper tension, and the +slack of the thread is duly taken up by a suitable contrivance for the +purpose. Thus, all the essential features of the most approved +sewing-machine were first found in that of Mr. Howe; and the machines of +later date are, in fact, but modifications of it." + +At this time, he had abandoned his work as a journeyman mechanic, and +had removed to his father's house. Mr. Howe, Sen., had established in +Cambridge a machine-shop for the cutting of strips of palm-leaf used in +the manufacture of hats. Elias and his family lived under his father's +roof, and in the garret of the house the half-sick inventor put up a +lathe, where he did a little work on his own account, and labored on his +sewing-machine. He was miserably poor, and could scarcely earn enough to +provide food for his family; and, to make matters worse, his father, who +was disposed to help him, lost his shop and its contents by fire. Poor +Elias was in a most deplorable condition. He had his model in his head, +and was fully satisfied of its excellence, but he had not the money to +buy the materials needed in making a perfect machine, which would have +to be constructed of steel and iron, and without which he could not hope +to convince others of its value. His great invention was useless to him +without the five hundred dollars which he needed in the construction of +a working model. + +In this dilemma, he applied to a friend, Mr. George Fisher, a coal and +wood merchant of Cambridge, who was a man of some means. He explained +his invention to him, and succeeded in forming a partnership with him. +Fisher agreed to take Howe and his family to board with him while the +latter was making the machine, to allow his garret to be used as a +workshop, and to advance the five hundred dollars necessary for the +purchase of tools and the construction of a model. In return for this he +was to receive one-half of the patent, if Howe succeeded in patenting +his machine. About the first of December, 1844, Howe and his family +accordingly moved into Fisher's house, and the little workshop was set +up in the garret. All that winter he worked on his model. There was +little to delay him in its construction, as the conception was perfectly +clear in his mind. He worked all day, and sometimes nearly all night, +and in April, 1845, had his machine so far advanced that he sewed a seam +with it. By the middle of May the machine was completed, and in July he +sewed with it the seams of two woolen suits, one for himself and the +other for Mr. Fisher. The sewing was so well done that it outlasted the +cloth. + +It has been stated by Professor Renwick and other scientific men that +Elias Howe "carried the invention of the sewing-machine further on +toward its complete and final utility than any other inventor has ever +brought a first-rate invention at the first trial." Those who doubt this +assertion should examine the curious machine at the corner of Broadway +and Fourth Street, and their doubts will be dispelled; for they will +find in it all the essentials of the best sewing-machine of to-day. + +Having patented his machine, Howe endeavored to bring it into use. He +was full of hope, and had no doubt that it would be adopted at once by +those who were so much interested in the saving of labor. He first +offered it to the tailors of Boston; but they, while admitting its +usefulness, told him it would never be adopted by their trade, as it +would ruin them. Considering the number of machines now used by the +tailoring interest throughout the world, this assertion seems +ridiculous. Other efforts were equally unsuccessful. Every one admitted +and praised the ingenuity of the machine but no one would invest a +dollar in it. Fisher became disgusted, and withdrew from his +partnership, and Howe and his family moved back to his father's house. +Thoroughly disheartened, he abandoned his machine. He then obtained a +place as engineer on a railroad, and drove a locomotive until his health +entirely broke down. + +With the loss of his health his hopes revived, and he determined to seek +in England the victory which he had failed to win here. Unable to go +himself, he sent his machine by his brother Amasa, in October, 1846. +Upon reaching London, Amasa sought out Mr. William Thomas, of Cheapside, +and explained to him his brother's invention. He found Mr. Thomas +willing to use the machine in his business, but upon terms more +favorable to himself than to the inventor. He offered the sum of twelve +hundred and fifty dollars for the machine which Amasa Howe had brought +with him, and agreed to pay Elias fifteen dollars per week if he would +enter his service, and adapt the machine to his business of umbrella and +corset making. As this was his only hope of earning a livelihood, Elias +accepted the offer, and, upon his brother's return to the United States, +sailed for England. He remained in Mr. Thomas's employ for about eight +months, and at the end of that time left him, having found him hard, +exacting, and unreasonable. + +Meanwhile his sick wife and three children had joined him in London, and +he had found it hard to provide for them on the wages given him by Mr. +Thomas; but after being thrown out of employment his condition was +desperate indeed. He was in a strange country, without friends or money, +and often he and his little family went whole days without food. Their +sufferings were very great, but at length Howe was able (probably by +assistance from home) to send his family back to his father's house. He +himself remained in London, still hoping to bring his machine into use. +It was in vain, however, and so, collecting what few household goods he +had acquired in England, he shipped them to America, and followed them +thither himself in another vessel, pawning his model and patent papers +to pay his passage. When he landed in New York he had half a crown in +his pocket, and there came to him on the same day a letter telling him +that his wife was dying with consumption in Cambridge. He could not go +to her at once, as he had no money, and was too feeble to undertake the +distance on foot. He was compelled to wait several days until he could +obtain the money for his fare to Cambridge, but at length succeeded in +reaching that place just in time to see his wife die. In the midst of +his grief he received the announcement that the vessel containing the +few household goods which he had shipped from England had been lost at +sea. It seemed to him that Fate was bent upon destroying him, so rapid +and stunning were the blows she dealt him. + +But a great success was now in store for him, and he was to rise out of +his troubles to the realization of his brightest hopes. Soon after his +return home he obtained profitable employment, and, better still, +discovered that his machine had become famous during his absence. +Facsimiles of it had been constructed by unscrupulous mechanics, who +paid no attention to the patents of the^inventor, and these copies had +been exhibited in many places as "wonders," and had even been adopted in +many important branches of manufacture. Howe at once set to work to +defend his rights. He found friends to aid him, and in August, 1850, +began those famous suits which continued for four years, and were at +length decided in his favor. His adversaries made a bold resistance, but +the decision of Judge Sprague, in 1854, settled the matter, and +triumphantly established the rights of the inventor. + +In 1850, Howe removed to New York, and began in a small way to +manufacture machines to order. He was in partnership with a Mr. Bliss, +but for several years the business was so unimportant that upon the +death of his partner, in 1855, he was enabled to buy out that +gentleman's interest, and thus become the sole proprietor of his patent. +Soon after this his business began to increase, and continued until his +own proper profits and the royalty which the courts compelled other +manufacturers to pay him for the use of his invention grew from $300 to +$200,000 per annum. In 1867, when the extension of his patent expired, +it is stated that he had earned a total of two millions of dollars by +it. It cost him large sums to defend his rights, however, and he was +very far from being as wealthy as was commonly supposed, although a very +rich man. + +In the Paris Exposition of 1867, he exhibited his machines, and received +the gold medal of the Exposition, and the Cross of the Legion of Honor, +in addition, as a compliment to him as a manufacturer and inventor. + +He contributed money liberally to the aid of the Union in the late war, +and enlisted as a private soldier in the Seventeenth Regiment of +Connecticut Volunteers, with which command he went to the field, +performing all the duties of his position until failing health compelled +him to leave the service. Upon one occasion the Government was so much +embarrassed that it could not pay the regiment of which he was a member. +Mr. Howe promptly advanced the money, and his comrades were saved from +the annoyances which would have attended the delay in paying them. He +died at Brooklyn, Long Island, on the 3d of October, 1867. + +Mr. Howe will always rank among the most distinguished of American +inventors; not only because of the unusual degree of completeness shown +in his first conception of the sewing-machine, but because of the great +benefits which have sprung from it. It has revolutionized the industry +of the world, opened new sources of wealth to enterprise, and lightened +the labor of hundreds of thousands of working people. Many a pale-faced, +hollow-eyed woman, who formerly sat sewing her life away for a mere +pittance, blesses the name of Elias Howe, and there is scarcely a +community in the civilized world but contains the evidence of his +genius, and honors him as the benefactor of the human race. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +RICHARD M. HOE. + + +To write the complete history of the printing press would require years +of patient labor and research, and a much larger space than the limits +of the present work will permit. There are few subjects more attractive +or more worthy of consideration than the history of this wonderful +invention, which seems more like a romance than a narration of facts. +The historian who should essay the task would be required to carry his +reader back to the darkest ages of the world, and, beginning with the +stamps used for affixing hieroglyphical characters to the now crumbling +ruins of Egypt and Nineveh, trace the gradual development of the +beneficent conception from the signets of the Israelites, and the stamps +used by the Romans for marking certain kinds of merchandise, through the +rude process of the Chinese, Japanese, and Tartars, to the invention of +Johannes Guttenberg, and, finally, to the wonderful lightning +steam-presses of to-day. + +In these pages it is not proposed to offer to the reader any such +narrative. On the contrary, the story of the printing press will be +taken up just as it was on the point of reaching its greatest +perfection, since our subject concerns only the man who brought it to +that state. + +This man, RICHARD MARCH HOE by name, was born in the city of New York, +on the 12th of September, 1812. His father, Robert Hoe, was a native of +the village of Hose, Leicester, England, and the son of a wealthy +farmer. Disliking his father's pursuit, he apprenticed himself to a +carpenter. When only sixteen years old, the elder Hoe purchased his +indentures from his master and sailed for the United States. He was +almost penniless when he reached New York, and in this condition entered +the store of Mr. Grant Thorburn one day in search of employment. Mr. +Thorburn manifested a sudden and strong liking to the youth, took him to +his own house, and when he was prostrated with the yellow fever, during +the epidemic of 1804, nursed him tenderly throughout. Setting to work +immediately upon his arrival in New York, he made friends rapidly, and +prospered in his trade so well that when but twenty years old he was +able to marry. His bride was a daughter of Matthew Smith, of +Westchester, and a sister of Peter Smith, the inventor of the hand +printing press, which bears his name. With this gentleman and Matthew +Smith, jr., his brother, Robert Hoe entered into partnership. Their +business was that of carpentering and printers' joinery; but after Peter +Smith had completed the invention of his hand press, it gradually grew +into the manufacture of presses and printers' materials. Both of the +brothers died in 1823, and Robert Hoe succeeded to the entire business. + +The manufactory of "Robert Hoe & Co." was originally located in the +centre of the old block between Pearl and William Streets, and Pine +Street and Maiden Lane. Soon after their establishment there, the city +authorities ran Cedar Street right through their building, and they +removed to Gold Street, near John. They have been twice burned out here, +but still occupy these premises with their counting-room and lower shop. + +Printing by steam had long attracted the attention of persons engaged +in the art, and many essays had been made in this direction by different +inventors, both in this country and in Europe. The most successful +results were the Adams press, the invention of Mr. Isaac Adams, of +Boston, Mass., and the Napier press, that of a British artisan. It was +the latter which was the means of identifying Mr. Hoe with the steam +press. + +The Napier press was introduced into this country in 1830, by the +proprietors of the _National Intelligencer_, but when it arrived, these +gentlemen were not able to release it from the Custom-house. Major Noah, +himself the proprietor of a newspaper, was at that time Collector of the +port of New York, and he, being anxious to see the press in operation, +requested Mr. Hoe to put it together. Mr. Hoe performed this task +successfully, although the press was a novelty to him, and was permitted +to take models of its various parts before it was reshipped to England. +It was found to be a better press than any that had ever been seen in +this country, and the _Commercial Advertiser,_ of New York, and the +_Chronicle_, of Philadelphia, at once ordered duplicates of it from +England. + +Mr. Hoe was very much pleased with this press, but believed that he +could construct a much better one. "To this end he despatched his new +partner, Mr. Sereno Newton, to England to examine all the improvements +in machinery there, and bring home samples of such as he thought might +be advantageously adopted in this country. Mr. Newton, besides being an +ingenious mechanic, was well-read in books, and was considered one of +the first mathematicians in New York. Returning from his mission, he +constructed a new two-cylinder press, which soon superseded all others +then in use." Mr. Hoe's health failed, compelling him, in 1832, to +retire from the business. + +Young Richard M. Hoe had been brought up in his father's business, +after receiving a fair education. He inherited his father's inventive +genius, combined with a rare business capacity, and from the first was +regarded as the future hope of the establishment. Upon the withdrawal of +his father, a partnership was established between himself, his brother +Robert, Mr. Newton, and his cousin Matthew Smith, but the style of the +firm remained unchanged. + +Richard Hoe's first invention was conceived in 1837, and consisted of a +valuable improvement in the manufacture of grinding saws. Having +obtained a patent for it in the United States, he visited England in +that year for the same purpose. By his process circular saws may be +ground with accuracy to any desired thickness. He readily obtained a +patent in England, as the excellence of his invention commended it to +every one. While there he gave especial attention to the improvements +which had been made in the printing press, in the manufacture of which +his firm was still largely engaged. Returning to New York, he devoted +himself entirely to this branch of his business, and soon produced the +machine known as "Hoe's Double-Cylinder Press," which was capable of +making about six thousand impressions per hour. The first press of this +kind ever made was ordered by the New York _Sun_, and was the admiration +of all the printers of the city. This style of press is now used +extensively for printing country newspapers. + +As long as the newspaper interest of the country stood still, "Hoe's +Double-Cylinder Press" was amply sufficient for its wants, but as the +circulation of the journals of the large cities began to increase, the +"double-cylinder" was often taxed far beyond its powers. A printing +press capable of striking off papers with much greater rapidity was felt +to be an imperative and still-increasing need. It was often necessary +to hold the forms back until nearly daylight for the purpose of issuing +the latest news, and in the hurry which ensued to get out the morning +edition, the press very frequently met with accidents. + +Mr. Hoe was fully alive to the importance of improving his press, and, +in 1842, he began to experiment with it for the purpose of obtaining +greater speed. It was a serious undertaking, however, and at every step +fresh difficulties arose. He spent four years in experimenting, and at +the end of that time was almost ready to confess that the obstacles were +too great to be overcome. One night, in. 1846, while in this mood, he +resumed his experiments. The more he pondered over the subject the more +difficult it seemed. In despair, he was about to relinquish the effort +for the night, when suddenly there flashed across his mind a plan for +securing the type on a horizontal cylinder. This had been his great +difficulty, and he now felt that he had mastered it. He sat up all +night, working out his design, and making a note of every idea that +occurred to him, in order that nothing should escape him. By morning the +problem which had baffled him so long had been solved, and the +magnificent "Lightning Press" already had a being in the inventor's +fertile brain. + +He carried his model rapidly to perfection, and, proceeding with it to +Washington, obtained a patent. On his return home he met Mr. Swain, the +proprietor of the Baltimore _Sun_ and Philadelphia _Ledger_, and +explained his invention to him. Mr. Swain was so much pleased with it +that he at once ordered a four-cylinder press, which was completed and +ready for use on the 31st of December, 1848. This press was capable of +making ten thousand impressions per hour, and did its work with entire +satisfaction in every respect. + +This was a success absolutely unprecedented--so marked, in fact, that +some persons were inclined to doubt it. The news flew rapidly from city +to city, and across the ocean to foreign lands, and soon wherever a +newspaper was printed men were talking of Hoe's wonderful invention. +Orders came pouring in upon the inventor with such rapidity that he soon +had as many on hand as he could fill in several years. In a +comparatively brief period the _Herald_, _Tribune_, and _Sun_, of New +York, were boasting of their "Lightning Presses," and soon the +_Traveller_ and _Daily Journal_, in Boston, followed their example. Mr. +Hoe was now not only a famous man, but possessed of an assured business +for the future, which was certain to result in a large fortune. By the +year 1860, besides supplying the principal cities of the Union (fifteen +lightning presses being used in the city of New York alone), he had +shipped eighteen presses to Great Britain, four to France, and one to +Australia. Two of the presses sent to England were ordered for the +London _Times_. + +Mr. Hoe continued to improve his invention, adding additional cylinders +as increased, speed was desired, and at length brought it to the degree +of perfection exhibited in the splendid ten-cylinder press now in use in +the offices of our leading journals, which strikes off twenty-five +thousand sheets per hour. Whether more will be accomplished with this +wonderful machine the future alone can determine, but the inventor is +said to be still laboring to improve it. + +In 1858, Mr. Hoe purchased the patent rights and manufactory of Isaac +Adams, in Boston, and since then has carried on the manufacture of the +Adams press from that place. He has also established a manufactory in +England, where he conducts a profitable business in both the Adams and +the Hoe press. Over a million and a half of dollars are invested in +these establishments in New York, Boston, and London, in land, +buildings, and stock. The firm manufacture presses of all kinds, and +all materials used by printers except type and ink. They also +manufacture circular saws, made according to Mr. Hoe's process. + +Mr. Hoe, now fifty-eight years of age, is still as vigorous and active +as many a younger man. Besides being one of the most prominent and +distinguished inventors and manufacturers in the country, he is justly +esteemed for his many virtues and his commanding business talents. He is +still the active head of the house which he has carried to such a +brilliant success, and is the possessor of an ample fortune, which his +genius and industry have secured to him. He is courteous and obliging to +all, and very liberal to those whose needs commend them to his +benevolence. + +The ten-cylinder press costs fifty thousand dollars, and is regarded as +cheap at that immense sum. It is one of the most interesting inventions +ever made. Those who have seen it working in the subterranean +press-rooms of the journals of the great metropolis will not soon forget +the wonderful sight. The ear is deafened with the incessant clashing of +the machinery; the printed sheets issue from the sides of the huge +engine in an unceasing stream; the eye is bewildered with the mass of +lines and bands; and it seems hard to realize that one single mind could +ever have adjusted all the various parts to work harmoniously. + +The following is a description of the ten-cylinder steam printing-press +now used in the office of the New York _World_. It is one of the best +specimens of its kind to be seen in the great city: + +The dimensions of the press are as follows: Entire length, 40 feet; +width, 15 feet; height, 16 feet. The large horizontal cylinder in the +center is about 4-1/2 feet in diameter, and on it are placed the "forms" of +type for the four pages of one side of the paper. Each of these +constitutes a segment of a circle, and the whole four occupy a segment +of only about one-fourth of the surface of the cylinder, the other +three-fourths being used as an ink-distributing surface. Around this +main cylinder, and parallel with it, are ten smaller impression +cylinders, according to the number of which a press is termed a four, +six, or ten-cylinder press. The large cylinder being set in revolution, +the form of types is carried successively to all the impression +cylinders, at each of which a sheet is introduced and receives the +impression of the types as the form passes. Thus as many sheets are +printed at each revolution of the main cylinder as there are impression +cylinders around it. One person is required at each impression cylinder +to supply the sheets of paper, which are taken at the proper moment by +fingers or grippers, and after being printed are conveyed out by tapes +and laid in heaps by means of self-acting flyers, thereby dispensing +with the hands required in ordinary machines to receive and pile the +sheets. The grippers hold the sheet securely, so that the thinnest +newspaper can be printed without waste. + +The ink is contained in a fountain placed beneath the main cylinder, and +is conveyed by means of distributing rollers to the distributing surface +on the main cylinder. This surface being lower or less in diameter than +the form of types, passes by the impression cylinders without touching +them. For each impression there are two inking rollers, which receive +their supply of ink from the distributing surface of the main cylinder, +and raise and ink the form as it passes under them, after which they +again fall to the distributing surface. + +Each page of the paper is locked up on a detached segment of the large +cylinder, called by the compositors a "turtle," and this constitutes its +bed and chase. The column-rules run parallel with the shaft of the +cylinder, and are consequently straight, while the head, advertising, +and dash-rules are in the form of segments of a circle. The column-rules +are in the form of a wedge, with the thin part directed toward the axis +of the cylinder, so as to bind the type securely, and at the same time +to keep the ink from collecting between the types and the rules. They +are held down to the bed by tongues projecting at intervals along their +length, which slide into rebated grooves, cut crosswise in the face of +the bed. The spaces in the grooves between the column-rules are +accurately fitted with sliding blocks of metal even with the surface of +the bed, the ends of the blocks being cut away underneath to receive a +projection on the sides of the tongues of the column-rules. The form of +type is locked up in the bed by means of screws at the foot and sides, +by which the type is held as securely as in the ordinary manner upon a +flat bed, if not even more so. The speed of the machine is limited only +by the ability of the feeders to supply the sheets. Twenty-five hundred +is about as many as a man can supply in an hour, and multiplying this by +ten--one man being at each cylinder--we have 25,000 sheets an hour as +the capacity of the press. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SAMUEL COLT. + + +Samuel Colt was born at Hartford, Connecticut, on the 19th of July, +1814. He was descended from one of the original settlers of that city, +and his father, who possessed some means, was a man of great energy, +intelligence, and enterprise. The senior Colt began life as a merchant, +and afterward became a manufacturer of woolen, cotton, and silk goods. +The mother of our hero was the daughter of Major John Caldwell, a +prominent banker of Hartford, and is said to have been a woman of +superior character and fine mental attainments. + +It was within the power of the parents of Samuel Colt to give him a +thorough education, and this they were anxious to do; but he was always +so full of restless energy that he greatly preferred working in the +factory to going to school. He loved to be where he could hear the busy +looms at work, and see the play of the intricate machinery in the great +building. In order to gratify him, his father placed him in his factory +at the age of ten years, and there he remained for about three years, +leaving it only at rare intervals and for short periods of time, which +he passed in attendance upon school and working on a farm. When he was +thirteen his father declared that he would not permit him to grow up +without an education, and sent him to a boarding-school at Amherst, +Massachusetts. He did not remain there long, for the spirit of adventure +came over him with such force that he could not resist it. He ran away +from school and shipped as a boy before the mast on a vessel bound for +the East Indies. The ship was called the Coroo, and was commanded by +Captain Spaulding. + +[Illustration: THE BOY COLT INVENTING THE REVOLVER.] + +The voyage was long, and the lad was subjected to great hardships, which +soon convinced him that running away to sea was not as romantic in real +life as in the books he had read, but his experience, though +uncomfortable enough, failed to conquer his restless spirit. While at +sea in the Coroo he had an abundance of leisure time for reflection, but +instead of devoting it to meditating upon the folly of his course, he +spent it in inventing a revolving pistol, a rough model of which he cut +in wood with his jack-knife. This was the germ of the invention which +afterward gave him such fame, and it is not a little singular that the +conception of such a weapon should have come to a boy of fourteen. + +Returning home, he became an apprentice in his father's factory at +Ware, Massachusetts. He was put into the dyeing and bleaching +department, and was thoroughly trained in it by Mr. William T. Smith, a +scientific man, and one of the best practical chemists in New England. +Young Holt manifested a remarkable aptitude for chemistry, and when but +a mere boy was known as one of the most successful and dexterous +manipulators in New England. + +When he had reached his eighteenth year, the old spirit of restlessness +came over him again, and he embarked in an unusually bold undertaking +for one so young, in which, however, he was much favored by the +circumstance that he was very much older in appearance than in reality, +commonly passing for a full-grown man. Assuming the name of Dr. Coult, +he traveled throughout the Union and British America, visiting nearly +every town of two thousand inhabitants and over, lecturing upon +chemistry, and illustrating his lectures with a series of skillful and +highly popular experiments. His tour was entirely successful, and he +realized in the two years over which it extended quite a handsome sum. +The use which he made of the money thus acquired was characteristic of +the man. + +He had never abandoned the design of a revolving pistol which he had +conceived on board the Coroo, and he now set to work to perfect it, +using the proceeds of his lectures to enable him to take out patents in +this country and in Europe. He spent two years in working on his model, +making improvements in it at every step, and by 1835 had brought it to +such a state of excellence that he was enabled to apply for a patent in +the United States. His application was successful. Before it was +decided, however, he visited England and France, and patented his +invention in those countries. Though now only twenty-one years old, he +had given seven years of study and labor to his "revolver," and had +brought it to a state of perfection which was far in advance of his +early hopes. + +"At this time, and, indeed, for several years after, he was not aware +that any person before himself had ever conceived the idea of a fire-arm +with a rotating chambered breech. On a subsequent visit to Europe, while +exploring the collection of fire-arms in the Tower of London and other +repositories of weapons of war in England and on the continent, he found +several guns having the chambered breech, but all were so constructed as +to be of little practical value, being far more liable to explode +prematurely and destroy the man who should use them than the objects at +which they might be aimed. Unwilling, however, to seem to claim that +which had been previously invented, he read before the Institution of +Civil Engineers in England (of which he was the only American +associate), in 1851, an elaborate paper on the subject, in which he +described and illustrated, with appropriate drawings, the various early +inventions of revolving fire-arms, and demonstrated the principles on +which his were constructed." + +Having secured patents in the United States and in the principal +countries of Europe, Mr. Colt exerted himself to organize a company for +the manufacture of his revolver. He met with considerable opposition, +for it was commonly asserted that his pistol would never be of any +practical value. The wise ones said it was too complicated for general +use, and that its adoption would be attended by the killing or maiming +of the majority of those who used it. The inventor disregarded these +birds of ill omen, however, and, persevering in his efforts, finally +succeeded in securing the aid of some capitalists in New York. A company +was formed in 1835, called the "Patent Arms Company," with a capital of +$300,000, and an armory was established at Paterson, New Jersey. Mr. +Colt then endeavored to induce the Government of the United States to +adopt the arm in the military and naval service. Strange as it now +seems, however, the officers of the army and navy were not disposed to +regard the revolver with favor. They declared that the percussion cap +was entirely unreliable, and that no weapon requiring it could be +depended on with certainty; that there was great danger that two or more +of the charges would explode at the same time; and that the arm was +liable to get out of order very easily. They further protested that it +was much more difficult to repair than the arms then in use, and that +this alone rendered it unfit for adoption by the Government. +Notwithstanding these objections were fully met by Mr. Colt, who +explained carefully the principles of his weapon, it was two years +before the Government consented to give the revolver a trial. + +In 1837, the Florida war raged with great violence, and the Seminoles, +secure in their fastnesses in the Everglades, were enabled to bid +defiance to all the efforts of the army of the United States. Their +superior skill in the use of the rifle gave them an advantage which the +bravery and determination of our troops could not overcome. In this +emergency, the Government consented to make a trial of Colt's revolver. +A regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey was armed with this weapon, +and its success was so marked from the first that the Government +promptly gave an order for more, and ended by making it the principal +arm of the troops in Florida. The savages were astounded and +disheartened at seeing the troops fire six or eight times without +reloading; and when the war was brought to a close, as it soon was, it +was plain to all that the revolver had played a decisive part in the +struggle. It was a great triumph for Colonel Colt, but in the end proved +a source of misfortune. The speedy termination of the war put an end to +the demand for his weapon, and his business fell off so greatly that in +1842 the Patent Arms Company was compelled to close its establishment +and wind up its affairs. + +For five years none of the revolvers were manufactured, and, meanwhile, +the stock which had been put in the market was entirely exhausted by the +demand which had set in from Texas and the Indian frontier. In 1847 the +war with Mexico began, and General Taylor, who had witnessed the +performance of the revolver in Florida, was anxious to arm the Texan +Rangers with that weapon. He sent Captain Walker, the commander of the +Rangers, to Colonel Colt to purchase a supply. Walker was unsuccessful. +Colt had parted with the last one that he possessed, and had not even a +model to serve as a guide in making others. The Government now gave him +an order for one thousand, which he agreed to make for $28,000; but +there was still the difficulty caused by having no model to work by. In +this dilemma, he advertised extensively for one of his old pistols, to +serve as a model, but failing to procure one, was compelled to make a +new model. This was really a fortunate circumstance, as he made several +improvements in the weapon, which officers who had used it suggested to +him, so that his weapons were very much better than the old ones. Having +no factory of his own, Colonel Colt hired an armory at Whitneyville, +near New Haven, where he produced the first thousand pistols ordered by +the Government. These gave entire satisfaction, and further orders from +the War Department came in rapidly. Colonel Colt now hired and fitted up +larger and more complete workshops in Hartford, and began business on +his own account, supplying promptly every order that was given him. The +weapon proved most effective during the Mexican War, and the orders of +the Government were sufficiently large to allow the inventor to reap a +handsome profit from them, and lay the foundations of his subsequent +business success. + +At the close of the war, Colonel Colt was apprehensive that the demand +for his weapon would again drop off, as it had done after the Florida +campaign; but he was agreeably disappointed. The success of the revolver +in Mexico had made it generally and favorably known throughout the +country, and there was now a steady and even a growing demand for it. +The discovery of gold in California, which so quickly followed the +cessation of hostilities, greatly stimulated this demand, for the most +essential part of the gold seeker's outfit was a revolver; and the +extraordinary emigration to Australia, which set in somewhat later, +still further extended the market for his weapon. Convinced by this time +that there would be no considerable falling off in his orders, Colonel +Colt began to take steps to assure the permanency of his business. + +The experience of the American officers during the Mexican War enabled +them to point out many improvements to the inventor, who promptly +adopted them. This made his pistol almost a new weapon, and the most +formidable small arm then in use. He obtained a new patent for it, as +thus improved, and it was adopted by the Government as the regular arm +of the army and navy, different sizes being made for each service. The +Crimean and Indian wars, which followed soon after, brought the inventor +large orders from the British Government, and during the next few years +his weapon was formally introduced into the armies of the leading States +of Europe. + +His success was so rapid that, as early as 1851, it became necessary to +provide still more ample accommodations for his manufactory. The next +year he began the execution of a plan, the magnitude of which caused +many of his friends to tremble for his future prosperity. He resolved to +build the largest and most perfect armory in the world, one which should +enable him to manufacture his weapons with greater rapidity and nicety +than had ever yet been possible. + +Just to the south of the Little or Mill River there was a piece of +meadow land, about two hundred and fifty acres in extent, generally +regarded as useless, in consequence of its being submerged every spring +by the freshets in the river. Colonel Colt bought this meadow for a +nominal sum, and, to the astonishment of the good people of Hartford, +proceeded to surround it with a strong dike, or embankment. This +embankment was two miles in length, one hundred and fifty feet wide at +the base, from thirty to sixty feet wide at the top, and from ten to +twenty-five feet high. Its strength was further increased by planting +willows along the sides; and it was thoroughly tested just after its +completion by a freshet of unusual severity. Having drained the meadow, +Colonel Colt began the erection of his armory upon the land inclosed by +the embankment. It was constructed of Portland stone, and consisted of +three buildings--two long edifices, with a third connecting them in the +center, the whole being in the form of the letter H. The front parallel +was five hundred by sixty feet, the rear parallel five hundred by forty +feet, and the central building two hundred and fifty by fifty feet--the +front parallel and central building being three stories in height. +Connected with these buildings were other smaller edifices for offices, +warerooms, watchmen's houses, etc. + +In 1861, the demand for the arms had become so enormous that the armory +was doubled in size, the new buildings being similar in style to the +old. "In this establishment there is ample accommodation for the +manufacture of one thousand fire-arms per day," which is more than the +arsenals at Harper's Ferry and Springfield combined could turn out in +the same time previous to the war. In 1861, Colt's armory turned out +about one hundred and twenty thousand stand of arms, and in 1860, the +two armories before mentioned made about thirty-five thousand between +them. A portion of the armory at Hartford is devoted to the fabrication +of the machinery invented by Colonel Colt for the manufacture of his +pistols. This machinery is usually sold to all parties purchasing the +right to manufacture the revolver. Colonel Colt supplied in this way a +large part of the machinery used in the Government manufactory at +Enfield, in England, and all of that used in the Imperial armory at +Tulin, in Russia. Near the armory, and in the area inclosed by the dike, +Colonel Colt erected a number of tasteful cottages for his workmen, and +warehouses for other kinds of business. His entire expenditure upon his +land and buildings here amounted to more than two million five hundred +thousand dollars. + +"Among his other cares, the intellectual and social welfare of his +numerous employes were not forgotten. Few mechanics are favored with as +convenient residences as those he has erected for them; and a public +hall, a library, courses of lectures, concerts, the organization of a +fine band of music, formed entirely from his own workmen, to whom he +presented a superb set of musical instruments, and of a military company +of his operatives, provided by him with a tasteful uniform, and +otherwise treated by him with great liberality, were among the methods +by which he demonstrated his sympathy with the sons of toil." + +The Hartford armory is the largest and most complete in the world, in +extent and perfection of machinery. All the articles needed with the +revolver, such as the powder flask, balls, lubricator, bullet molds, +cartridges, etc., are made here on a large scale. The establishment is a +noble monument to the inventive genius and business capacity of its +founder. + +In addition to his inventions of fire-arms, Colonel Colt invented a +submarine battery, which was thoroughly tested by the officers of the +United States Navy, and is said to be one of the most formidable engines +for harbor defense ever known. He also invented a submarine telegraph +cable, which he laid and operated with perfect success, in 1843, from +Coney Island and Fire Island to the city of New York, and from the +Merchants Exchange to the mouth of the harbor. His insulating material +consisted of a combination of cotton yarn with asphaltum and beeswax; +the whole was inclosed in a lead pipe. This was one of the most +successful experiments of the early days of submarine telegraphy, and +entitles Colonel Colt to a conspicuous place in the list of those who +brought that science to perfection. + +After the permanent establishment of his business, in 1847 and 1848, +Colonel Colt's success was rapid. He acquired a large fortune, and built +an elegant and tasteful mansion in Hartford, where he resided, +surrounded with all the luxuries of wealth and taste. In 1855, he +married Miss Elizabeth Jarvis, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Jarvis, of +Portland, Connecticut, a lady of great beauty and superior character and +accomplishments. She still survives him. + +He repeatedly visited Europe after his settlement at Hartford, and as +the excellence of his weapons had made his name famous the world over, +he was the recipient of many attentions from the most distinguished +soldiers of Europe, and even from some of the monarchs of the Old World. +In 1856, being on a visit to Russia, with his family, he was invited +with them to be present at the coronation of the Emperor Alexander II. +He was decorated by nearly all the Governments of Europe, and by some of +the Asiatic sovereigns, with orders of merit, diplomas, medals, and +rings, in acknowledgment of the great services he had rendered to the +world by his invention. + +He died, at his residence in Hartford, on the 10th of January, 1862, in +the forty-eighth year of his age. The community of which he was a member +lost in him one of its most enterprising and public-spirited citizens, +and the country one of the best representatives of the American +character it has ever produced. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +SAMUEL F.B. MORSE. + + +Samuel Finley Breese Morse is the eldest son of the late Jedediah Morse, +one of the most distinguished Presbyterian clergymen of New England. He +was born at Charlestown, Massachusetts, on the 27th of April, 1791, was +carefully educated in the common schools of his native town, and at an +early age entered Yale College, where he graduated in 1810. He exhibited +an early fondness for art as well as studies of a scientific character, +and while a student at Yale displayed an especial aptness for chemistry +and natural philosophy. Upon leaving college he decided to adopt the +profession of an artist, and was sent abroad to study under the tuition +of West and Copley and Allston. + +[Illustration: SAMUEL F.B. MORSE.] + +"When Allston was painting his 'Dead Man Restored to Life,' in London," +says Mr. Tuckerman, in his _Book of the Artists_, "he first modeled his +figure in clay, and explained to Morse, who was then his pupil, the +advantages resulting from a plan so frequently adopted by the old +masters. His young countryman was at this time meditating his first +composition--a dying Hercules--and proceeded at once to act upon this +suggestion. Having prepared a model that exhibited the upper part of the +body--which alone would be visible in the picture--he submitted it to +Allston, who recognized so much truth in the anatomy and expression that +he urgently advised its completion. After six weeks of careful labor, +the statue was finished and sent to West for inspection. That venerable +artist, upon entering the room, put on his spectacles, and as he walked +around the model, carefully examining its details and general effect, a +look of genuine satisfaction beamed from his face. He rang for an +attendant and bade him call his son. 'Look here, Raphael,' he exclaimed, +as the latter appeared; 'did I not always tell you that every painter +could be a sculptor?' We may imagine the delight of the student at such +commendation. The same day one of his fellow pupils called his attention +to a notice issued by the Adelphi Society of Arts, offering a prize for +the best single figure, to be modeled and sent to the rooms of the +association within a certain period. The time fixed would expire in +three days. Morse profited by the occasion, and placed his 'Dying +Hercules' with the thirteen other specimens already entered. He was +consequently invited to the meeting of the society on the evening when +the decision was to be announced, and received from the hands of the +Duke of Norfolk, the presiding officer, and in the presence of the +foreign ambassadors, the gold medal. Perhaps no American ever started in +the career of an artist under more flattering auspices; and we can not +wonder that a beginning so successful encouraged the young painter to +devote himself assiduously to study, with a view of returning to his own +country fully prepared to illustrate the historical department of the +art." + +Morse spent four years in Europe in close study, and was then obliged to +return to America by lack of means to carry on his education in the Old +World. He had not indeed reached the high degree of proficiency which he +had hoped to obtain before returning home, but he was possessed of +natural talents and acquired skill, which fairly entitled him to +recognition as one of our leading artists. This recognition never came +to him, however, and his artist life in this country was a series of +sorrowful disappointments. He found no opportunity of devoting himself +to the higher branches of his art, and was obliged to confine himself +entirely to portrait painting as a means of livelihood. His artist +career is thus referred to by Mr. Tuckerman: + + + "Morse went abroad under the care of Allston, and was the pupil of + West and Copley. Hence he is naturally regarded by a later + generation as the connecting bond that unites the present and the + past in the brief annals of our artist history. But his claim to + such recognition does not lie altogether in the fact that he was a + pioneer; it has been worthily evidenced by his constant devotion to + the great cause itself. Younger artists speak of him with affection + and respect, because he has ever been zealous in the promotion of a + taste for, and a study of, the fine arts. Having entered the field + at too early a period to realize the promise of his youth, and + driven by circumstances from the high aims he cherished, + misanthropy was never suffered to grow out of personal + disappointment. He gazed reverently upon the goal it was not + permitted him to reach, and ardently encouraged the spirit which he + felt was only to be developed when wealth and leisure had given his + countrymen opportunities to cultivate those tastes upon the + prevalence of which the advancement of his favorite pursuit + depends. When, after the failure of one of his elaborate projects, + he resolved to establish himself in New York, he was grieved to + find that many petty dissensions kept the artists from each other. + He made it his business to heal these wounds and reconcile the + animosities that thus retarded the progress of their common object. + He sought out and won the confidence of his isolated brothers, and + one evening invited them all to his room ostensibly to eat + strawberries and cream, but really to beguile them into something + like agreeable intercourse. He had experienced the good effect of a + drawing club at Charleston, where many of the members were + amateurs; and on the occasion referred to covered his table with + prints, and scattered inviting casts around the apartment. A very + pleasant evening was the result, a mutual understanding was + established, and weekly meetings unanimously agreed upon. This + auspicious gathering was the germ of the National Academy of + Design, of which Morse became the first president, and before which + he delivered the first course of lectures on the fine arts ever + given in this country." + + +In 1829 Mr. Morse went abroad for the purpose of completing his art +studies. He remained in Europe for more than three years, residing in +the principal cities of the Continent. During his absence he was elected +"Professor of the Literature of the Fine" in the University of the City +of New York. He set out on his return home to accept this professorship +in the autumn of 1832, sailing from Havre on board the packet-ship +"Sully." + +As has been stated, he had manifested a decided fondness for Chemistry +and Natural Philosophy while at Yale College, where he was a pupil of +Professor Silliman in the former science, and of Professor Day in the +latter, and after his departure from college he had devoted all his +leisure time to the pursuit of these studies. So great was his fondness +for them that some of his friends declared their belief that he ought to +abandon art and devote himself to science. In 1826-27 he had delivered, +at the Athenaeum in New York, the course of fine-art lectures to which +reference has been made, and on alternate nights of the same season +Professor J. Freeman Dana had lectured upon electro-magnetism, +illustrating his remarks with the first electro-magnet (on Sturgeon's +principle) ever seen in this country. Morse and Dana had been intimate +friends, and had often held long conversations upon the subject of +magnetism, and the magnet referred to had at length been given to the +former by Professor Torrey. The interest which he had thus conceived in +this instrument had never diminished, and his investigations and studies +had never ceased, so that at the time of his departure from France in +the "Sully," in 1832, he was one of the best informed men upon the +subject to be found in any country. + +Among his fellow-passengers were a number of persons of intelligence and +cultivation, one of whom had but recently witnessed in Paris some highly +interesting experiments with the electro-magnet, the object of which was +to prove how readily the electric spark could be obtained from the +magnet, and the rapidity with which it could be disseminated. To most of +the passengers this relation was deeply interesting, but to all save one +it was merely the recital of a curious experiment. That one exception +was Mr. Morse. To him the development of this newly-discovered property +of electricity was more than interesting. It showed him his true mission +in life, the way to his true destiny. Art was not his proper field now, +for however great his abilities as an artist, he was possessed of genius +of a higher, more useful type, and it was henceforth his duty to employ +it. He thought long and earnestly upon the subject which the words of +his fellow-passenger had so freshly called up, pacing the deck under the +silent stars, and rocked in his wakeful berth by the ocean whose terrors +his genius was to tame, and whose vast depths his great invention was to +set at naught. He had long been convinced that electricity was to +furnish the means of rapid communication between distant points, of +which the world was so much in need; and the experiments which his new +acquaintance had witnessed in Paris removed from his mind the last doubt +of the feasibility of the scheme. Being of an eminently practical +character, he at once set to work to discover how this could be done, +and succeeded so well that before the "Sully" reached New York he had +conceived "not merely the idea of an electric telegraph, but of an +electro-magnetic and chemical recording telegraph, substantially and +essentially as it now exists," and had invented an alphabet of signs, +the same in all important respects as that now in use. "The testimony to +the paternity of the idea in Morse's mind, and to his acts and drawings +on board the ship, is ample. His own testimony is corroborated by all +the passengers (with a single exception), who testified with him before +the courts, and was considered conclusive by the judges; and the date of +1832 is therefore fixed by this evidence as the date of Morse's +conception, and realization also--so far as the drawings could embody +the conception--of the telegraph system which now bears his name." + +But though invented in 1832, it was not until 1835 (during which time he +was engaged in the discharge of the duties of his professorship in the +University of the City of New York) that he was enabled to complete his +first recording instrument. This was but a poor, rude instrument, at the +best, and was very far from being equal to his perfected invention. It +embodied his idea, however, and was a good basis for subsequent +improvements. By its aid he was able to send signals from a given point +to the end of a wire half a mile in length, but as yet there was no +means of receiving them back again from the other extremity. He +continued to experiment on his invention, and made several improvements +in it. It was plain from the first that he needed a duplicate of his +instrument at the other end of his wire, but he was unable for a long +time to have one made. At length he acquired the necessary funds, and +in July, 1837, had a duplicate instrument constructed, and thus +perfected his plan. His telegraph now worked to his entire satisfaction, +and he could easily send his signals to the remote end of his line and +receive replies in return, and answer signals sent from that terminus. +Having brought it to a successful completion, he exhibited it to large +audiences at the University of New York, in September, 1837. In October, +1837, Professor Morse filed a caveat to secure his invention, but his +patent was not obtained until 1840. + +He now entered upon that period of the inventor's life which has proved +so disastrous to many, and so wearying and disheartening to all--the +effort to bring his invention into general use. It was commonly believed +that, although the invention was successful when used for such short +distances as had been tried in the City of New York, it would fail when +tested by longer lines. Morse was confident, however, that this was not +the case, and in December, 1837, he went to Washington to solicit from +the Government an appropriation for the construction of an experimental +line from Washington City to Baltimore--a distance of forty miles. This +line he declared would thoroughly test the practicability and utility of +the telegraph. His petition was laid before Congress, and a committee +appointed to consider it. He stated his plan to this body, and proved +its practicability by actual experiments with his instruments. +Considerable interest in the subject was thus aroused in Congress and +throughout the country, but he derived no benefit from it. If men spoke +of his telegraph, it was only to ridicule it, or to express their doubts +of its success. This was especially the case in Congress, and it was +very uncertain whether that body would sustain the report from the +committee in favor of the invention. The session wore away in this +manner, and at length ended without any action being taken in the +matter. + +Having failed to secure the assistance of Congress, Professor Morse went +to Europe in the spring of 1838, for the purpose of enlisting the aid of +the governments there in bringing his invention into use. He was +unsuccessful. In England a patent was refused him, and in France he +merely obtained a worthless _brevet d'invention._ He tried several other +countries, but was equally unsuccessful in all, and he returned home +almost disheartened, but not entirely cast down. For four years he had +to struggle hard for a living. He was very poor, and, as one of his +friends has since declared, had literally "to coin his mind for bread." +His sturdy independence of character would not allow him to accept +assistance from any one, although there were friends ready and even +anxious to help him in his troubles. Alone and manfully he fought his +way through these dark days, still hopeful of success for his invention, +and patiently seeking to improve it wherever opportunity presented +itself. At length, in 1840, he received his long-delayed patent from the +General Government, and, encouraged by this, determined to make another +effort to bring his telegraph into use. + +He was not able to do so until the session of Congress of 1842-43, when +he presented a second petition to that body, asking its aid in the +construction of an experimental line between Baltimore and Washington. +He had to encounter a great degree of skepticism and ridicule, with many +other obstacles, not the least of which was the difficulty of meeting +the expense of remaining in Washington and urging his invention upon the +Government. Still he persevered, although it seemed to be hoping against +hope, as the session drew near its close, and his scanty stock of money +grew daily smaller. On the evening of the 3d of March, 1843, he +returned from the Capitol to his lodgings utterly disheartened. It was +the last night of the session, and nothing had been done in the matter +of his petition. He sat up late into the night arranging his affairs so +as to take his departure for home on the following day. It was useless +to remain in Washington any longer. Congress would adjourn the next day, +and his last hope of success had been shattered. + +On the morning of the 4th of March he came down to the breakfast-table +gloomy and despondent. Taking up the morning journal, he ran over it +listlessly. Suddenly his eye rested upon a paragraph which caused him to +spring to his feet in complete amazement. It was an announcement that, +at the very last hour of the session of the previous night, a bill had +been passed by Congress appropriating the sum of thirty thousand dollars +for the purpose of enabling Professor Morse to construct an experimental +line of telegraph between Baltimore and Washington. He could scarcely +believe it real, and, as soon as possible, hastened to the Capitol to +seek authentic information. The statement was confirmed by the proper +authorities, and Morse's dearest wish was realized. The hour of his +triumph was at hand, and his long and patient waiting was rewarded at +last. + +Work on the telegraph line was immediately begun, and carried on +actively. At first, an insulated wire was buried under ground in a lead +pipe, but this failing to give satisfaction, the wire was elevated upon +poles. On the 27th of May, 1844, the line was completed, and the first +trial of it made in the presence of the Government officials and many +other distinguished men. Professor Morse was confident of success; but +this occasion was a period of the most intense anxiety to him, for he +knew that his entire future was staked upon the result of this hour. +Among the company present to witness the trial was the Secretary of the +Treasury, John C. Spencer. Although very much interested in the +undertaking, he was entirely ignorant of the principles involved in it, +and, therefore, very apprehensive of its failure. It was upon this +occasion that he asked one of Professor Morse's assistants how large a +bundle could be sent over the wires, and if the United States mail could +not be sent in the same way. + +When all was in readiness, Professor Morse seated himself at the +instrument, and sent his first message to Baltimore. An answer was +promptly returned, and messages were sent and replies received with a +rapidity and accuracy which placed the triumph of the invention beyond +the possibility of doubt. Congratulations were showered upon the +inventor, who received them as calmly as he had previously borne the +scoffs of many of these same men. Yet his heart throbbed all the while +with a brilliant triumph. Fame and fortune both rose proudly before him. +He had won a great victory, and conferred a lasting benefit upon his +race. + +The success of the experimental line brought Professor Morse numerous +offers for the use of his invention. Telegraph companies were organized +all over the country, and the stock issued by them was taken up as fast +as offered. At the present day, not only the United States, but the +whole world, is covered with telegraph lines. In July, 1862, just +eighteen years after the completion of Morse's experimental line, it was +estimated that the lines then in operation throughout the world amounted +to an aggregate length of 150,000 miles. The Morse system is adopted on +the principal lines of the United States, on all the lines of the +Eastern continent, and exclusively on all the continental lines of +Europe, "from the extreme Russian north to the Italian and Spanish +south, eastward through the Turkish empire, south into Egypt and +northern Africa, and through India, Australia, and parts of China." + +The rapid growth of the telegraph interest of the United States placed +Professor Morse in the possession of a large fortune, which was greatly +increased by the adoption of his invention in Europe. The countries +which had refused him patents at first now did honor to his genius. Nor +was he the only gainer by this. In France, especially, the benefits of +his invention were great. The old system of semaphore telegraphs had +been an annual expense to the government of that country of 1,100,000 +francs, but Morse's telegraph yielded to the French Government, in the +first three years after its introduction, a total revenue of 6,000,000 +francs. + +Fortune was not Morse's only reward. Honors were showered upon him from +all parts of the world. In 1848, his _alma mater_, Yale College, +conferred on him the complimentary degree of LL.D., and since then he +has been made a member of nearly all the American scientific and art +academies. From European Governments and scientific and art associations +he has received more honors than have ever fallen to the share of any +other American. In 1848, he received from the Sultan of Turkey the +decoration of the _Nishaun Iftiohar_ in diamonds, and subsequently gold +medals of scientific merit were awarded him by the King of Prussia, the +King of Wuertemburg, and the Emperor of Austria. The gift of the King of +Prussia was set in a massive gold snuff-box. In 1856, the Emperor +Napoleon III gave him the Cross of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor; in +1857, he received from the King of Denmark the Cross of Knight of the +Danebrog; and in 1858, the Queen of Spain sent him the Cross of Knight +Commander of the order of Isabella the Catholic. In 1859, a convention +of the representatives of the various European powers met in Paris, at +the instance of the Emperor Napoleon III, for the purpose of +determining upon the best means of giving Professor Morse a collective +testimonial. France, Russia, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, Austria, +Sardinia, Tuscany, Turkey, and the Holy See were represented, and their +deliberations resulted in the presentation to Professor Morse, in the +name of their united governments, of the sum of 400,000 francs, as an +honorary and personal reward for his labors. In 1856, the telegraph +companies of Great Britain gave him a banquet in London, at which Mr. +William Fothergill Corke, himself the distinguished inventor of a system +of telegraphy, presided. + +Professor Morse is also the inventor of submarine telegraphy. In 1842, +he laid the first submarine telegraph line ever put down, across the +harbor of New York, and for this achievement received the gold medal of +the American Institute. On the 10th of August, 1843, he addressed a +communication to the Secretary of the Treasury, in which he avowed his +belief that a telegraphic cable could and would be laid across the +Atlantic ocean, for the purpose of connecting Europe and America. His +words upon this occasion clearly prove that the idea of the Atlantic +telegraph originated with him. They were as follows: "The practical +inference from this law is, that a telegraphic communication on the +electro-magnetic plan may with certainty be established across the +Atlantic ocean. Startling as this may now seem, I am confident the time +will come when this project will be realized." + +In February, 1854, Mr. Cyrus W. Field, of New York, ignorant of +Professor Morse's views upon this subject, wrote to him to ask if he +considered the working of a cable across the Atlantic practicable. The +Professor at once sought an interview with Mr. Field, and assured him of +his entire confidence in the undertaking. He entered heartily into Mr. +Field's scheme, and rendered great aid in the noble enterprise which +has been described elsewhere in these pages. He was present at each +attempt to lay the cable, and participated in the final triumph by which +his prediction, made twenty-three years previous, was verified. + +Professor Morse is now in his eightieth year. He resides during the +winter in the city of New York, and passes his summers at his beautiful +country seat near Poughkeepsie, on the Hudson. He bears his great honors +with the same modesty which marked his early struggles, and is the +center of a host of friends whom he has attached to himself by the +tenderest ties. "Courage and patience have been his watchwords, and +although the snows of time have bleached his hair, the same intelligence +and enterprising spirit, the same urbane disposition that endeared him +to the friends of his youth, still cause all who know him to rejoice in +the honorable independence which his great invention has secured to his +age." + + + + +IV. + +PUBLISHERS. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +JAMES HARPER. + + +Some years ago a gentleman having business with the great house of +Harper & Brothers asked one of the employes of that establishment, +"Which one is Harper, and which are the brothers?" He was answered, +"Either one is Harper, and all the rest are the brothers." This reply +fully sets forth the difficulty which must be experienced by any one +attempting to write the story of the life of either member of this +house. In such an undertaking it is very difficult to select "Harper," +and impossible to pass by the "Brothers." The interests of each were so +thoroughly in harmony with those of all the others, and there was such +perfect unanimity of sentiment existing between them with regard to +their private as well as their public affairs, that it is hardly +possible to separate them. Since, however, it is not consistent with the +design of this work to relate the history of the "house," it is the +purpose of the writer to select the eldest of the brothers as the +representative of the group, and to offer him to the reader as a type of +the American publisher. + +The grandfather of JAMES HARPER came to this country from England about +the year 1740, and was one of the first of the American Methodists. His +son Joseph was born in 1766. He married Elizabeth Kollyer, and settled +at Newtown, on Long Island, as a farmer. It was here that James, their +eldest child, was born, on the 13th of April, 1795. He grew up with a +vigorous constitution, and the pure influences of his home, together +with the sound religious training which he received from his parents, +laid the foundation of those simple and steady habits for which he was +noted through life. In the winter he attended the district school, and +in the summer he worked on his father's farm. Thus his life passed away +quietly and healthfully until he had completed his fifteenth year. + +It now became necessary for him to make some choice of a profession in +life, and when the matter was presented to him he promptly decided to +become a printer. His father cheerfully seconded his wishes, and he was +accordingly apprenticed to a printer in New York. On the morning of his +departure from home, when the family assembled for "prayers," his +mother, who was a woman of superior character, took the father's place +and led the worship. With trembling tones she commended her boy to the +love and protection of the Saviour, and when the moment of leave-taking +came she sent him forth into the world with the tender warning never to +forget his home or his religious duties, or "that he had good blood in +him." + +The change from his happy home to the place of "devil" in the printing +office was one which tried the lad's fortitude to the utmost. His +position was but little better than that of a menial, and not only was +all the drudgery and disagreeable work put upon him, but he was made the +sport of the workmen, some of whom used him even roughly. He bore it all +good-naturedly, however, devoting himself to his trade with the +determination to master it. + +The printing office in which he was employed was located near Franklin +Square, then occupied by the best people of the city. Often, as young +Harper passed across the square to and from his work, his rough "country +clothes" drew upon him the ridicule of the children of these "goodly +citizens." They teazed and insulted him, and sometimes carried their +cruelty to the extremity of offering him bodily violence. He bore it +patiently for a time, but at length determined to put a stop to it. He +was physically the superior of any of his tormentors, and had put up +with their conduct merely from his sincere desire to avoid a "street +fight." In accordance with his new resolution, however, when one of them +approached him one day and asked for his card, he set down a bucket +which he was carrying, and, seizing the fellow, kicked him across the +square, saying to him: "That's my card, take good care of it. When I am +out of my time, and set up for myself, and you need employment, as you +will, come to me, bring the card, and I will give you work." "Forty-one +years after," says the writer upon whose authority this incident is +related, "when Mr. Harper's establishment was known throughout all the +land, after he had borne the highest municipal honors of the city, and +had become one of our wealthiest men, the person who had received the +card came to Mr. James Harper's establishment and asked employment, +claiming it on the ground that he had kept the card given him forty-one +years before." + +In a little while James was joined by his brother John, who was +apprenticed to another printer in the city, and the two lads spent with +each other much of their leisure time. Both worked hard. James soon +became noted as the best pressman in the city, his great personal +strength enabling him to work the old-fashioned hand-press with ease. It +is said that if he disliked a fellow pressman and wished to be rid of +him, he merely put forth his immense strength and outworked him. The +man being unable to keep up with him, was obliged to retire. + +"The habits of his rural home followed him to the city. In an age when +every body drank ardent spirits freely, he was strictly temperate, and +the cold water disciple justified his faith by his works. With the +cheerful constancy of the fathers of his church he quietly resisted the +temptations of the city. He opened a prayer-meeting in the house of an +old colored woman in Ann Street, and joined the John Street Methodist +Church. Meanwhile, to their simple and thrifty method of life, James and +his brother added work out of hours, so that when their apprenticeship +was ended they had a little money saved." + +James' excellent habits and great skill as a workman had given entire +satisfaction to his master during the whole period of his +apprenticeship, and he informed the young man at the expiration of his +indentures that he was willing to employ him again at fair wages. The +young workman surprised him by telling him that he intended to set up +for himself, and that all he wanted from him now was a certificate that +he was fit to be trusted with a book. This was given, and James and his +brother John took their little capital, which was increased by a loan of +a few hundred dollars from their father, and renting a small room in +Dover Street, set up an office on their own account, and began business +under the firm name of J. & J. Harper. Their capital was small--less +than the annual wages of some of their workmen to-day--but they were +sustained by industry, determination, and high moral principle. When +they began business, it was with a tacit agreement that each would +endeavor to deserve the confidence of the other, and of their +fellow-men. There was to be no evasion of principle, no sharp practice, +in their house. They were resolved to make money, but to make it +honestly. They would engage in no transaction which should cause a +doubt of their integrity in the breast of the good mother who had sent +them forth with her blessing. + +More than fifty years have passed away since then, and the Harpers have +prospered steadily, and so greatly, too, that for many years their house +has stood at the head of the publishing interest of America. Their +career is an instructive one, giving an emphatic denial to the assertion +we hear so often repeated, that an "over-honest" man can not make money +in New York. Shut your ears to the calumny, young man, just staring out +in life. "Honesty _is_ the best policy;" and it is only by scrupulous +honesty that enduring success can be obtained. Trickery and sharp +practice may earn wealth rapidly, but depend upon it they have their +reward; for it is a curious fact in the history of man that wealth +acquired by knavery rarely stays with its possessors for more than a +generation, if so long. + +In starting out, the young Harpers printed books to order, attempting +nothing at their own risk. They did a part of the composition and +press-work with their own hands, and were, perhaps, the hardest workers +in their establishment. Their first job was two thousand copies of +Seneca's Morals, and was intrusted to them by Evert Duyckinck, a famous +publisher of that day. The books were delivered in August, 1817, and +gave entire satisfaction. + +Immediately after this, they undertook to stereotype an edition of the +"Book of Common Prayer" for the Protestant Episcopal Church of New York, +supposing that they would be able to make a fair profit at the rate at +which they had agreed to do the work. It was their original intention to +do the composition themselves, and have the stereotyping done at one of +the large establishments of the city; but upon a closer investigation +they found that this would cost them more than they had agreed to do the +work for. In this dilemma, they resolved to learn the art of +stereotyping themselves, and perform that portion of their contract on +their own premises. It was a tedious undertaking; but they went through +with it determinedly, and at the proper time delivered the books to the +officials of the Episcopal Church. Their profit was not very large, but +they had become stereotypers as well as printers, and had added a +valuable department to their business. Further than this, their Prayer +Book was pronounced the best piece of stereotyping that had ever been +seen in the city, and won the young men congratulations on all sides. +They next undertook twenty-five hundred copies of Mair's "Introduction +to Latin," which they delivered in December, 1817. + +In April, 1818, they put forth their first venture on their own account. +This consisted of five hundred copies of Locke's "Essay upon the Human +Understanding." These were readily disposed of, and their success +encouraged them to further efforts. They proceeded very cautiously, and +it was for a long time their custom, when contemplating the publication +of a book, and especially in the case of a reprint, to send to the +leading booksellers in the large cities of the Union, and ascertain how +many copies each one would take. Thus they pushed their way forward, +seizing upon every favorable opportunity for the publication of original +and foreign works. They rarely made an unsuccessful venture, and as each +worked hard, and had constantly in view, above all other subjects, the +success of the house, they gradually extended their business until they +secured the foremost place among the publishers of the United States. + +Beginning with works of a dry, philosophic nature, the Harpers have +extended their operations into every department of literature. Their +catalogue of publications, issued in 1869, lies on the writer's table. +It is a duodecimo volume of two hundred and ninety-six closely-printed +pages, and embraces a list of several thousand volumes. In this list are +histories, biographies, travels, adventures, novels, poems, educational +works, works on science, art, philosophy, metaphysics--in short, books +on every topic familiar to man. In the department of fiction, the +success of this house has been remarkable. They have published between +four and five hundred novels, in cloth and paper bindings, and the +demand for their early publications of this kind is still sufficiently +active to compel them to keep a stock always on hand. When they began to +issue their Library of Select Novels, they did so with a distinct +purpose in view. Novel-reading has always been a passion with Americans, +but at the period referred to the best novels were published at such +high prices that but few could afford to buy them. The masses were +compelled to put up with the cheap, flashy stories which were so well +known some years ago as "yellow covers." This style of fiction, now +confined to the lowest class of readers, at that time found its way into +almost every house, and the popular taste was at a very low ebb. The +Harpers felt sure that by issuing the best, and only the best, English +novels at a low price, they would not only meet a real want on the part +of the public, but in great measure supersede the "yellow covers," with +all their pernicious influences. The sequel proved the correctness of +these views, and resulted in large profits to them. + +Soon after commencing business, James and John Harper received their +younger brothers, Joseph Wesley and Fletcher, into their establishment +as apprentices. These young men were taught the business thoroughly, and +when they had completed their apprenticeship were admitted into the firm +as partners, the former entering the firm in 1823, and the latter in +1826. In 1825 the style of the firm was changed to Harper & Brothers, +and the business was removed to 81 and 82 Cliff Street, on a portion of +the site of the present establishment. It was then the largest +printing-house in New York, employing fifty workmen and ten hand +presses. + +In 1850; the Harpers decided to commence the publication of a monthly +periodical, and, accordingly, in the summer of that year they issued the +first number of "Harper's New Monthly Magazine," which, in point of +popularity, stands today, after a career of twenty years, at the head of +American magazines, and boasts of a circulation of 180,000 copies. The +recognition of another want of the public led, in 1857, to the +establishment of an illustrated newspaper, "Harper's Weekly," which has +at present a circulation of 100,000 copies. In 1869 they began the +publication of a new weekly fashion paper, called "the Bazaar," which +has reached a circulation of 75,000 copies. + +From the first, the Harpers made their house a popular establishment. +They sought public favor by legitimate means, and generally managed to +retain it in the same way. From an early period in their history, their +imprint on a book has been sufficient to secure its sale; and they have +managed to identify themselves so thoroughly with American progress that +the whole country feels an interest in their success. By studying the +popular taste closely, they were enabled to publish in rapid succession +works suited to it; and by fair and liberal dealings with authors they +soon drew around them a corps of the best writers in the Union. + +Their success was rapid, and by the year 1853 their establishment had +increased in size so much that it occupied "nine large contiguous +buildings, full of costly machinery of every kind, with stores of plates +and books." On the 10th of December of that year, a workman in one of +the upper rooms carelessly threw a piece of lighted paper into what he +supposed to be a pail of water, but which proved to be camphene. In a +few minutes the building was in flames; all efforts to save it were in +vain. The fire spread rapidly, and in a few hours the entire +establishment was in ruins. The loss was one million of dollars, of +which sum only about one-fourth was covered by insurance. + +It was a terrible blow, but James Harper and his brothers wasted no time +in repining. Before the embers had ceased smoking they were taking +active measures to reestablish their business. From the wreck of their +establishment they saved a part of the stereotype plates, which had been +stored in the vaults, out of the way of the fire. They immediately +rented Sheffield's paper warehouse, at the corner of Beckman and Gold +Streets, and went to work with greater energy than ever. "Presses were +employed in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. Nothing was forgotten. +The next monthly issue of the _Magazine_ had been made ready, and it was +reproduced at the earliest moment. One regular contributor, then in +Chicago, received the first news of the fire by a brief telegram: 'Copy +destroyed. Send fresh copy immediately.' Before the ruins were cleared +away the plans of the new buildings were ready, and the buildings +themselves were rapidly finished." + +The new establishment of Harper & Brothers is one of the wonders of the +great city in which it is located. The buildings are of iron and brick, +and cover half an acre of ground. The establishment really consists of +two buildings. The front building faces Franklin Square, and is a +magnificent iron structure, painted white. Behind this is the second +building, which fronts on Cliff Street. A court-yard intervenes between +them, spanned by several bridges, connecting them. Each building is +seven stories in height, and completely fire-proof. + +There are no openings in the floors for communication, but the various +floors are connected by circular stairways of iron, placed outside the +building. The front building, or that which faces Franklin Square, is +used for storerooms, salesrooms, and the editorial and business offices +of the establishment. In the rear building the various branches of the +book manufacture are carried on. The author's manuscript is received +here and sent back to him a complete book. Every portion of the work is +done under the same roof, and it is well done. The building is filled +with the most costly and complete machinery for saving time and labor. +Besides the machinery used in other departments, it contains in its +press-room forty-three Adams presses for book work, and five cylinder +presses for printing the "Weekly" and the "Bazaar." About 600 persons, +250 of whom are females, are employed in the establishment; and it is to +the credit of both employers and employes that but few changes occur in +this force. Many of the employes have been with the firm since its first +entrance into business. The old man in charge of the vaults--a curiosity +in his way--has been in the service of the house for fifty years, and to +leave it now would, doubtless, break his heart; for none of the Harpers +are as proud of their reputation as he is. The most perfect system +reigns throughout every department, and every thing goes on promptly and +in its proper place. + +"Of course," says a writer who many years has witnessed the operations +of the house, "the development and organization of such a business were +due not to one brother alone, but to the cooperation of all.... The +business was to James, as to the others, the great central interest, but +prosperity could not relax his steady character. He did not forget his +early faith, nor the counsels and the habits of his Long Island home. He +remained strictly a 'temperance man,' and his marvelous physical vigor +was claimed by the temperance advocates as that of a cold-water mans He +was long an official member of John-Street Church, and when he left his +house in Rose Street, and went to live in the upper part of the city, he +joined the congregation of St. Paul's Church, in the Fourth Avenue. But +with all his fidelity to his ancestral faith, he cherished the largest +charity, and by much experience of the world had learned to agree with +his favorite apostle, James, that pure religion and undefiled, is to +visit the fatherless and widows, and keep himself unspotted from the +world. Thus, with all his conviction and devotion, there was nothing +hard or fanatical in his feeling or conduct, and he held pleasant +personal relations with men of every faith. Few men indulged in so +little harsh criticism of others, and he expressed censure or +disapprobation by humorous indirection rather than by open accusation. +'We must not be too hard,' he was fond of saying, 'it is so difficult to +know all the circumstances. If you should insist, for instance, that the +use of tobacco is a sin, dear me! dear me!' + +"Mr. Harper was a Whig during the days of that party, and a natural +conservative. But in politics he showed the same moderation and +toleration. 'Don't try to drive men too roughly, my dear sir; it is much +easier to draw than to push.' He took no conspicuous or active part in +politics, except in 1844, when he was elected Mayor of the city. He was +constantly asked to serve in Congress and in other public stations, but +he steadily declined, saying, with a sly smile, that he preferred to +stick to the business that he understood. + +"To that business his heart and life were given. Of late years its +active cares had naturally fallen into the hands of his younger +associates; but he never relaxed his interest and devotion. 'While I was +dressing,' said a much younger neighbor, 'I used to see Mayor Harper +coming out of his house to go down town, and felt ashamed of myself. +Early at the office, he opened and looked over the mail, and during the +hours of the morning he passed from one room to another, his shrewd eye +seeing every thing, and measuring men and work, chatting and jesting as +he went. But out of those shrewd eyes looked a kind and gentle heart. He +knew by name the men and women and children employed in the various +parts of the great buildings, interested himself in their family +stories, and often won a confidence that was never betrayed. His +charities, which were ample, were thus intelligent and effective, and +poor men as well as women bent to kiss his calm, unchanged face as he +lay in his coffin." + +To the very last, James Harper retained his physical and mental vigor, +and was looked up to by all the members of the house as its brightest +ornament. To the last, he was one of the best known and most honored +citizens of the great metropolis. His great wealth had not ruffled the +serenity of his spirit, or caused the slightest variation in his +conduct. To the last he was the Christian merchant, citizen, and father, +offering to his children in himself a noble model by which to shape +their lives. + +It had been his custom at family prayers to ask of God protection from +sudden death, but for some time before his death he ceased to do so. His +family noticed this, and one of them asked his reason for the omission. +He answered quietly, "The Lord knows best." + +On the 25th of March, 1869, he was at his usual post in his office, and +after business hours, as was his habit, set out with his daughter for a +drive in the Central Park, As he neared the Park the pole of his +carriage broke suddenly, and the horses, becoming frightened, dashed off +furiously, dragging the carriage after them. Mr. Harper and his +daughter were both thrown violently upon the pavement. The latter was +but slightly injured, but Mr. Harper was taken up insensible, and +conveyed to St. Luke's Hospital, which was close at hand. He never +regained consciousness, but lingered until fifteen minutes after seven +on the evening of the 27th, when he expired, surrounded by all his +family, excepting his wife, who had long been an invalid. His death was +regarded as a calamity to the city, and all classes of the community +united to do honor to his memory. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +JAMES T. FIELDS. + + +The old "corner book-store" at the intersection of Washington and School +Streets, in the city of Boston, is one of the most notable places in the +New England metropolis. The memory of the oldest inhabitant can not +recall a time when this corner was not devoted to its present uses; and +around it, in the long years that have passed since the first book +merchant first displayed his wares here, there have gathered a host of +the most interesting, as well as the most brilliant, souvenirs of our +literary history. Here were sold, in "the days that tried men's souls," +those stirring pamphlets that sounded the death-knell of British tyranny +in the New World; and it was from this old corner that the tender songs +of Longfellow, the weird conceptions of Hawthorne, the philosophic +utterances of Emerson, first found their way to the hearts of the +people. + +In 1884, the corner book-store was kept by Carter & Bendee, and was then +the leading book-house in Boston. One morning in that year there entered +the office of the proprietors a young lad from New Hampshire, who stated +that he came to seek employment in their service. His bright, +intelligent appearance was in his favor, scarcely less than the +testimonials which he brought, vouching for his integrity and industry. +His application was successful, and he entered the service of Messrs. +Carter & Bendee, being given the lowest clerkship in the establishment +and a salary barely sufficient to support him. + +This lad was JAMES T. FIELDS. He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, +on the 30th of December, 1820. His father was a captain in the merchant +service, and died when the boy was only four years old, leaving him to +the care and guidance of one of the best of mothers. He was educated at +the common schools of the city, and was thence transferred to the high +school. He exhibited a remarkable fondness for study, and at the early +age of thirteen graduated at the high school, taking the first honors of +his class. He was regarded as one of the best classical scholars in the +institution, and during his course took several prizes in Latin and +Greek composition. Unusual abilities as a poet were also manifested very +early, and when but twelve years old he wrote a poem in blank verse, +which attracted the attention of the late Chief Justice Woodbury, then +Governor of New Hampshire, who was so much surprised and gratified to +find such talent in so young a boy, that he earnestly advised him to +endeavor to complete his studies at Harvard University. This, indeed, +was the chief desire of the boy, but a collegiate education required +means which he could not command, and he was forced to go out into the +world to seek his fortune. Having secured a good elementary education, +however, he was resolved that he would not abandon his efforts to +acquire knowledge. All his leisure time, after going to Boston to live, +was devoted to reading and study. While neglecting no duty in his +business, he gave the hours which most boys devote to amusement to +severe mental labor. Young as he was, he was ambitious. + +He knew that knowledge was power, especially in the community in which +he lived, and he was resolved that this power should be his. The result +is plainly seen in his subsequent career. Although deprived of the +advantages of a collegiate course, Mr. Fields has more than made up that +deficiency by his faithful labors, and there are few men in New England +to-day possessed of more varied and extensive mental accomplishments +than he. Upon going to Boston he promptly identified himself with the +Mercantile Library Association of that place, availing himself of its +advantages, and exerting all the influence of which he was possessed to +insure its success. When but eighteen years old, he was chosen to +deliver an anniversary poem before the association. The value of the +compliment will be better appreciated by the reader when it is stated +that the oration upon that occasion was pronounced by Edward Everett. +His industry in his business duties was great. He entered the house of +Carter & Bendee with the determination to rise in it. He worked +faithfully, and was the first at his post in the morning, and the last +to leave it at night. When the style of the firm was changed to Allen & +Ticknor, he was promoted to a more important place. He proved himself +from the first one of the most valuable and trustworthy assistants in +the house, and his merits were promptly recognized. From the lowest +place in the house, he worked his way up steadily until he became the +manager of the establishment. Each promotion brought with it an increase +of salary. Knowing well that "a penny saved at present is a pound gained +in future" to a young man striving to rise in the world, he practiced +the most conscientious economy. He made himself thoroughly acquainted +with every detail of the publishing trade; and although, of late years, +he has had the supervision more especially of the literary department of +his large business, there are few publishers in this country more +intimate with the business and mechanical branches of their trade. + +In 1846, just twelve years after his entrance into the house, his +clerkship came to an end, and he became a partner in the establishment, +the style of the firm being Ticknor & Fields. He took an active share in +the business; and while full credit must be given to Mr. Ticknor for the +extraordinary success which the firm enjoyed, it can not be denied that +Mr. Fields' share in this work was very great, and fully equal to that +of his partner. His acknowledged literary abilities won him friends +among the most gifted writers of the country, and these naturally sought +his assistance in presenting their works to the world. Their friendship +induced an intelligent confidence in his literary taste and mercantile +integrity, and it was a decided gain for them to secure one so generally +esteemed and trusted as their publisher. Young writers, still struggling +for fame, felt that in submitting their works to his inspection they +would receive the patient examination of not only a conscientious +reader, but of one whose own literary abilities rendered him unusually +competent for the task. The public generally learned to share this +confidence in his literary judgment. And so it came to pass that the +imprint of Ticknor & Fields was universally accepted as a sufficient +guarantee of the excellence of any book, and rarely failed to insure its +success. Naturally, the house was proud of this confidence, and it is +pleasant to record that they have never abused it. There is, perhaps, no +other publishing firm in the Union whose catalogue is so free from +objectionable or worthless publications as that issued by this house. + +Gradually Messrs. Ticknor & Fields became the recognized publishers of a +large number of the leading writers of this country and of Great +Britain. In their catalogue we find the names of Longfellow, Bryant, +Whittier, Holmes, Aldrich, Agassiz, Beecher, Alice Gary, Cummins, Dana, +Emerson, Hawthorne, Gail Hamilton, Lowell, Parton, Saxe, Sprague, Stowe, +Bayard Taylor, Thoreau, and Tuckerman, in American literature; and in +English literature, the names of Browning, Dickens, George Eliot, Mrs. +Jameson, Kingsley, Owen Meredith, Charles Reade, and Tennyson. With +their English authors they maintain the pleasantest relations, +recognizing their moral right to their works, and paying them a fair +royalty upon the sales of their books. Of their relations with their +American authors, a popular periodical says: + +"There are no business men more honorable or generous than the +publishers of the United States, and especially honorable and +considerate toward authors. The relation usually existing between author +and publisher in the United States is that of a warm and lasting +friendship, such as now animates and dignifies the intercourse between +the literary men of New England and Messrs. Ticknor & Fields.... The +relation, too, is one of a singular mutual trustfulness. The author +receives his semi-annual account from the publisher with as ablute a +faith in its correctness as though he had himself counted the volumes +sold." + +In 1865, the firm removed from the old corner stand to a new and elegant +establishment on Tremont Street, near the Common, and in the same year +Mr. Howard Ticknor, who had succeeded his father in the business, +withdrew from it. New partners were admitted, and the style of the firm +became Fields, Osgood & Co., Mr. Fields still remaining at the head of +the house. + +The new book store is one of the handsomest and most attractive in the +country. The store proper is eighty feet deep by fifty feet wide, and is +fitted up handsomely in hard wood. + +There is no paint about it, every piece of wood in use presenting its +natural appearance. On the right in entering are the book shelves and +counters, and on the opposite side the desks devoted to the magazine +department. At the rear are the counting rooms and the private office of +Mr. J.R. Osgood, the active business man of the concern. The second +story is elegantly and tastefully fitted up. It contains the luxurious +private office of Mr. Fields, in which are to be seen excellent +likenesses of his two dearest friends, Longfellow and Dickens; and the +parlor of the establishment, which is known as the Author's Room. This +is a spacious and handsomely-appointed room, whose windows, overlooking +the Common, command one of the prettiest views in New England. It is +supplied with the leading periodicals of the day, and choice volumes of +current literature. Here one may always find one or more of the "gifted +few," whose names are familiar to the reader; and frequent reunions of +the book-making fraternity are designed to be held here, under the +genial auspices of the literary partner of the house. + +It is not often that men win success in both literature and mercantile +life. Good authors have usually made very poor business managers, and +_vice versa_; but the subject of this memoir, besides winning a great +success as a merchant, and that in one of the most hazardous branches of +mercantile life, has also won an enviable reputation as a man of +letters. His poems have made him well known, both in this country and in +England. Besides the poems recited before various literary associations, +he has published two volumes of fugitive pieces. The first appeared in +1843, while he was still a clerk, and the second in 1858. His poems +abound in humor, pathos, and a delicate, beautiful fancy. One of his +friends has said of him: + +"Little of the sad travail of the historic poet has Mr. Fields known. +Of the emaciated face, the seedy garment, the collapsed purse, the +dog-eared and often rejected manuscript, he has never known, save from +well-authenticated tradition. His muse was born in sunshine, and has +only been sprinkled with the tears of affection. Every effort has been +cheered to the echo, and it is impossible for so genial a fellow to fail +of an ample and approving audience for whatever may fall from his lip or +pen." + +The following lines, from his second volume, will serve as a specimen of +the "homely beauty" of Mr. Fields' muse, though it hardly sets forth all +his powers: + + + She came among the gathering crowd + A maiden fair, without pretense, + And when they asked her humble name, + She whispered mildly, "Common Sense." + + Her modest garb drew every eye, + Her ample cloak, her shoes of leather; + And when they sneered, she simply said, + "I dress according to the weather." + + They argued long and reasoned loud, + In dubious Hindoo phrase mysterious; + While she, poor child, could not divine + Why girls so young should be so serious. + + They knew the length of Plato's beard, + And how the scholars wrote in Laturn; + She studied authors not so deep, + And took the Bible for her pattern. + + And so she said, "Excuse me, friends, + I feel all have their proper places, + And _Common Sense_ should stay at home + With cheerful hearts and smiling faces." + + +Mr. Fields has been a frequent contributor to his own periodicals, his +latest effort being a paper devoted to personal recollections of Charles +Dickens, which was published in the "Atlantic Monthly" soon after the +death of the great master. + +He has made several extended tours throughout Europe, where he has +enjoyed social advantages rarely opened to travelers. One of his friends +says that, in his first visit to the Old World, "he passed several +months in England, Scotland, France, and Germany, visiting the principal +places of interest, and forming most delightful and profitable +intimacies with the most distinguished _literateurs_ of the day. He was +a frequent guest at the well-known breakfasts of the great banker-poet +of 'The Pleasures of Memory' and of 'Italy,' and listened or added his +own contributions to the exuberant riches of the hour, when such +visitors as Talfourd, Dickens, Moore, and Landor were the talkers." He +also formed a warm friendship with Wordsworth, and, during his stay in +Edinburgh, with Professor Wilson and De Quincey. The writings of the +last-named author were published by Ticknor and Fields, in eighteen +volumes, and were edited by Mr. Fields, at the author's own request. + +Mr. Fields is now in his fiftieth year, but shows no sign of age, save +the whitening of his heavy, curling beard. He is still young and active +in mind and body. He is of medium height, and well proportioned, with an +erect carriage. Polished and courteous in manner, he is easily +accessible to all. To young writers he is especially kind, and it is a +matter of the truest pleasure to him to seek out and bring to notice +genuine literary merit. He has a host of friends, and is widely popular +with all classes. + + + + +V. + +EDITORS. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +JAMES GORDON BENNETT. + + +James Gordon Bennett was born at New Mill, Keith, in Banffshire, on the +north-eastern coast of Scotland, about the year 1800. His relatives were +Roman Catholics, and he was brought up in a Catholic family of French +origin. In his fourteenth year, having passed through the primary +schools of his native place, he entered the Roman Catholic Seminary at +Aberdeen, for the purpose of studying for the priesthood of that Church. +During the two or three years which he passed here he was a close +student, and acquired the basis of an excellent education. + +In 1817 he came into possession of a copy of Benjamin Franklin's +autobiography, which had been recently published in Scotland. The +perusal of this little book changed the course of his whole life. It +induced him to abandon all thoughts of the priesthood, and to try his +fortune in the New World, in which the great philosopher had succeeded +so well before him. A little more than a year later he left Glasgow, and +in May, 1819, being now about twenty years old, landed at Halifax, Nova +Scotia. He had less than twenty-five dollars in his purse, knew no +vocation save that of a book-keeper, and had not a friend on this side +of the ocean. + +He secured a few pupils in Halifax, and gave lessons in book-keeping, +but his profits were so small that he determined to reach the United +States as soon as possible. Accordingly he made his way along the coast +to Portland, Maine, where he took passage for Boston in a small +schooner. He found great difficulty in procuring employment, for Boston +then, as now, offered but few inducements to new-comers. He parted with +his last penny, and was reduced to the most pressing want. For two whole +days he went without food, and a third day would doubtless have been +added to his fast had he not been fortunate enough to find a shilling on +the Common, with which he procured the means of relieving his hunger. He +now obtained a salesman's place in the bookstore of Messrs. Wells & +Lilly, who, upon discovering his fitness for the place, transferred him +to their printing-office as proof-reader; but his employers failed about +two years after his connection with them began, and he was again thrown +out of employment. + +From Boston he went, in 1822, to New York, where he obtained a situation +on a newspaper. Soon after his arrival in the metropolis he was offered, +by Mr. Wellington, the proprietor of the "Charleston (S.C.) Courier," +the position of translator from the Spanish, and general assistant. He +accepted the offer, and at once repaired to Charleston. He remained +there only a few months, however, and then returned to New York. + +He now proposed to open a "Permanent Commercial School," at 148 Fulton +Street, and advertised to teach the usual branches "in the inductive +method." His advertisement set forth that his pupils would be taught +"reading, elocution, penmanship, and arithmetic; algebra; astronomy, +history, and geography; moral philosophy, commercial law, and political +economy; English grammar and composition, and, also, if required, the +French and Spanish languages by natives of those countries." This +elaborate scheme was never put into execution, as Mr. Bennett did not +receive a sufficient number of applications to warrant him in opening +the school. He next attempted a course of lectures on political economy +at the old Dutch Church in Ann Street, but this enterprise was also a +pecuniary failure. In 1825 he purchased the "New York Courier," a Sunday +paper, but did not succeed with it. He continued to write for the press, +principally for one or two papers, selling his articles where he could, +and in 1826 formed a regular connection with the "National Advocate," a +Democratic journal. To his duties in this position he applied himself +with an energy and industry never surpassed, and rarely equaled, in his +profession. He took an active part in politics, and wrote regularly and +constantly for his paper, acquiring considerable reputation by his +articles against the tariff and on banks and banking. He now embarked in +journalism as the business of his life, and with the determination to +succeed. In order to win success, he knew he must first learn to master +himself. He neither smoked, drank, nor gambled. He indulged in no +species of dissipation, but was temperate and prudent in all things. A +few years later he said of himself, "I eat and drink to live, not live +to eat and drink. Social glasses of wine are my aversion; public dinners +are my abomination; all species of gormandizing my utter scorn and +contempt. When I am hungry, I eat; when thirsty, drink. Wine or viands +taken for society, or to stimulate conversation, tend only to +dissipation, indolence, poverty, contempt, and death." + +In 1827 the "National Advocate" changed hands, and, under its new +proprietors, supported John Quincy Adams for President. Mr. Bennett, +being a supporter of Martin Van Buren, then a United States Senator, +resigned his position on the paper, and soon after, in connection with +the late M.M. Noah, established "The Enquirer," which warmly espoused +the cause of Andrew Jackson in the Presidential canvass of 1828. About +this time he became a recognized member of the Tammany Society. + +In the spring of 1828 he went to Washington, where he resided for some +time as the correspondent of "The Enquirer." In looking through the +library of Congress one day, he found an edition of Horace Walpole's +letters, which he read with a keen relish. These suggested the idea of a +series of similar letters to his own paper, and he at once put his plan +into execution. His letters were written and published. They were +"spicy," pleasant in style, full of gossip about the distinguished +personages who thronged the capital every winter, and, withal, free from +any offensive personality. They were read with eagerness, and widely +copied by the press throughout the country. Yet he was poorly paid for +them, and at a time when he had made a "real hit" was forced to labor +hard for a bare subsistence. He did all kinds of literary work. He wrote +editorials, letters, sketches, poetry, stories, police reports, in +short, every thing that a newspaper had use for, and yet his earnings +were barely more than sufficient to afford him a decent support. + +In 1829, the "Courier and Enquirer" were united under one management, +and Mr. Bennett was made assistant editor, with James Watson Webb as his +chief. In the autumn of that year he became associate editor. Says Mr. +James Parton (by no means an ardent admirer of Mr. Bennett): + +"During the great days of the 'Courier and Enquirer,' from 1829 to 1832, +when It was incomparably the best newspaper on the continent, James +Gordon Bennett was its most efficient hand. It lost him in 1832, when +the paper abandoned General Jackson and took up Nicholas Biddle, and in +losing him lost its chance of retaining the supremacy among American +newspapers to this day. We can truly say that at that time journalism, +as a thing by itself and for itself, had no existence in the United +States. Newspapers were mere appendages of party, and the darling object +of each journal was to be recognized as the organ of the party it +supported. As to the public, the great public, hungry for interesting +news, no one thought of it. Forty years ago, in the city of New York, a +copy of a newspaper could not be bought for money. If any one wished to +see a newspaper, he had either to go to the office and subscribe, or +repair to a bar-room and buy a glass of something to drink, or bribe a +carrier to rob one of his customers. The circulation of the 'Courier and +Enquirer' was considered something marvelous when it printed thirty-five +hundred copies a day, and its business was thought immense when its +daily advertising averaged fifty-five dollars. It is not very unusual +for a newspaper now to receive for advertising, in one day, six hundred +times that sum. Bennett, in the course of time, had a chance been given +to him, would have made the 'Courier and Enquirer' powerful enough to +cast off all party ties, and this he would have done merely by improving +it as a vehicle of news. But he was kept down upon one of those +ridiculous, tantalizing, corrupting salaries, which are a little more +than a single man needs, but not enough for him to marry upon. This +salary was increased by the proprietors giving him a small share in the +small profits of the printing-office; so that, after fourteen years of +hard labor and Scotch economy, he found himself, on leaving the great +paper, a capitalist to the extent of a few hundred dollars. The chief +editor of the paper which he now abandoned sometimes lost as much in a +single evening at the card-table. It probably never occurred to him +that this poor, ill-favored Scotchman was destined to destroy his paper +and all the class of papers to which it belonged. Any one who examines a +file of the 'Courier and Enquirer' of that time, and knows its interior +circumstances, will see plainly enough that the possession of this man +was the vital element in its prosperity. He alone knew the rudiments of +his trade. He alone had the physical stamina, the indefatigable +industry, the sleepless vigilance, the dexterity, tact, and audacity +needful for keeping up a daily newspaper in the face of keen +competition." + +Mr. Bennett left the "Courier and Enquirer" in 1832, the cause of his +action being the desertion of General Jackson by that journal. He at +once started a cheap partisan paper, called "The Globe," devoted to the +interests of Jackson and Van Buren. It failed to receive the support of +the Democratic party, however, and went down after a precarious +existence of thirty days. + +Undismayed by this failure, Mr. Bennett removed to Philadelphia, and +invested the remainder of his capital in a daily Democratic journal, +called "The Pennsylvanian," of which he was the principal editor, +laboring hard to win for it the assistance and support of the party. He +had rendered good and admitted service to the Democracy, but was to +experience the ingratitude for which political organizations are +proverbial. He applied to Martin Van Buren and other prominent leaders +of the party to aid him in securing a loan of twenty-five hundred +dollars for two years, which sum would have enabled him to establish his +paper on a paying basis, but the politicians turned deaf ears to his +appeals, and his paper failed, after a brief and desperate struggle. + +He came back to New York about the beginning of 1835, a little sore +from his unsuccessful battle with fate, but far from being dismayed or +cast down. His failures to establish party organs had convinced him that +success in journalism does not depend upon political favor, and he +determined to make one more effort to build up a paper of his own, and +this time one which should aim to please no party but the public. That +there was need of an independent journal of this kind he felt sure, and +he knew the people of the country well enough to be confident that if +such a journal could be properly placed before them, it would succeed. +The problem with him was how to get it properly before them. He had +little or no money, and it required considerable capital to carry +through the most insignificant effort of the kind. He made several +efforts to inspire other persons with his confidence before he +succeeded. One of these efforts Mr. Parton thus describes, in his _Life +of Horace Greeley:_ "An incident connected with the job-office of +Greeley & Co. is perhaps worth mentioning here. One James Gordon +Bennett, a person then well known as a smart writer for the press, came +to Horace Greeley, and, exhibiting a fifty-dollar bill and some other +notes of smaller denominations as his cash capital, wanted him to join +in setting up a new daily paper, 'The New York Herald.' Our hero +declined the offer, but recommended James Gordon to apply to another +printer, naming one, who he thought would like to share in such an +enterprise. To him the editor of 'The Herald' did apply, and with +success." + +The parties to whom Mr. Greeley referred Mr. Bennett were two young +printers, whom he persuaded, after much painstaking, to print his paper +and share with him its success or failure. He had about enough cash in +hand to sustain the paper for ten days, after which it must make its own +way. He proposed to make it cheap--to sell it at one penny per copy, +and to make it meet the current wants of the day. The "Sun," a penny +paper, was already in existence, and was paying well, and this +encouraged Mr. Bennett to hope for success in his own enterprise. + +He rented a cellar in Wall Street, in which he established his office, +and on the 6th of May, 1835, issued the first number of "The Morning +Herald." His cellar was bare and poverty-stricken in appearance. It +contained nothing but a desk made of boards laid upon flour barrels. On +one end of this desk lay a pile of "Heralds" ready for purchasers, and +at the other sat the proprietor writing his articles for his journal and +managing his business. Says Mr. William Gowans, the famous Nassau-Street +bookseller: "I remember to have entered the subterranean office of its +editor early in its career, and purchased a single copy of the paper, +for which I paid the sum of one cent United States currency. On this +occasion the proprietor, editor, and vendor was seated at his desk, +busily engaged in writing, and appeared to pay little or no attention to +me as I entered. On making known my object in coming in, he requested me +to put my money down on the counter and help myself to a paper, all this +time he continuing his writing operations. The office was a single +oblong underground room; its furniture consisted of a counter, which +also served as a desk, constructed from two flour barrels, perhaps +empty, standing apart from each other about four feet, with a single +plank covering both; a chair, placed in the center, upon which sat the +editor busy at his vocation, with an inkstand by his right hand; on the +end nearest the door were placed the papers for sale." + +[Illustration: HOW THE "NEW YORK HERALD" BEGAN.] + +Standing on Broadway now, and looking at the marble palace from which +the greatest and wealthiest newspaper in the Union sends forth its huge +editions, one finds it hard to realize that just thirty-four years +ago this great journal was born in a cellar, an obscure little penny +sheet, with a poor man for its proprietor. Yet such was the beginning of +"The New York Herald." + +The prospect was not a pleasant one to contemplate, but Mr. Bennett did +not shrink from it. He knew that it was in him to succeed, and he meant +to do it, no matter through what trials or vicissitudes his path to +fortune lay. Those who heard his expressions of confidence shook their +heads sagely, and said the young man's air-castles would soon fade away +before the blighting breath of experience. Indeed, it did seem a +hopeless struggle, the effort of this one poor man to raise his little +penny sheet from its cellar to the position of "a power in the land." He +was almost unknown. He could bring no support or patronage to his +journal by the influence of his name, or by his large acquaintance. The +old newspaper system, with its clogs and dead-weights, was still in +force, and as for newsboys to hawk the new journal over the great city, +they were a race not then in existence. He had to fight his battle with +poverty alone and without friends, and he did fight it bravely. He was +his own clerk, reporter, editor, and errand boy. He wrote all the +articles that appeared in "The Herald," and many of the advertisements, +and did all the work that was to be performed about his humble office. + +"The Herald" was a small sheet of four pages of four columns each. +Nearly every line of it was fresh news. Quotations from other papers +were scarce. Originality was then, as now, the motto of the +establishment. Small as it was, the paper was attractive. The story that +its first numbers were scurrilous and indecent is not true, as a +reference to the old files of the journal will prove. They were of a +character similar to that of "The Herald" of to-day, and were marked by +the same industry, tact, and freshness, which make the paper to-day the +most salable in the land. + +Says Mr. Parton: "The first numbers were filled with nonsense and gossip +about the city of New York, to which his poverty confined him. He had no +boat with which to board arriving ships, no share in the pony express +from Washington, and no correspondents in other cities. All he could do +was to catch the floating gossip, scandal, and folly of the town, and +present as much of them every day as one man could get upon paper by +sixteen hours' labor. He laughed at every thing and every body,--not +excepting himself and his squint eye,--and though his jokes were not +always good, they were generally good enough. People laughed, and were +willing to expend a cent the next day to see what new folly the man +would commit or relate. We all like to read about our own neighborhood; +this paper gratified the propensity. + +"The man, we repeat, had really a vein of poetry in him, and the first +numbers of 'The Herald' show it. He had occasion one day to mention that +Broadway was about to be paved with wooden blocks. This was not a very +promising subject for a poetical comment, but he added: 'When this is +done, every vehicle will have to wear sleigh-bells, as in sleighing +times, and Broadway will be so quiet that you can pay a compliment to a +lady, in passing, and she will hear you.' This was nothing in itself; +but here was a man wrestling with fate in a cellar, who could turn you +out two hundred such paragraphs a week, the year round. Men can growl in +a cellar; this man could laugh, and keep laughing, and make the floating +population of a city laugh with him. It must be owned, too, that he had +a little real insight into the nature of things around him--a little +Scotch sense, as well as an inexhaustible fund of French vivacity. +Alluding, once, to the 'hard money' cry by which the lying politicians +of the day carried elections, he exploded that nonsense in two lines: +'If a man gets the wearable or the eatable he wants, what cares he if he +has gold or paper money?' He devoted two sentences to the Old School and +New School Presbyterian controversy: 'Great trouble among the +Presbyterians just now. The question is whether or not a man can do any +thing toward saving his own soul.' He had also an article upon the +Methodists, in which he said that the two religions nearest akin were +the Methodist and the Roman Catholic. We should add to these trifling +specimens the fact that he uniformly maintained, from 1835 to the crash +of 1837, that the prosperity of the country was unreal, and would end in +disaster." + +These things served the end for which they were intended. They brought +"The Herald" conspicuously before the public. While engaged in them, +the proprietor was anxiously planning the means of making his paper a +great _newspaper_. He worked sixteen or seventeen hours each day. He +rose before five o'clock in the morning, and gave three hours to writing +his editorials and the witty paragraphs to which allusion has been made. +At eight o'clock he went to his cellar, or "office," and was at his post +there during the morning, selling his papers, receiving advertisements, +and often writing them for those who were not able to prepare them, +doing such other work as was necessary, and finishing his editorial +labors. At one o'clock he went into Wall Street, gathering up financial +news and interesting items of the street. He returned to his office at +four o'clock, and remained there until six, when the business of the day +was over. In the evening he went to the theater, a ball, concert, or +some public gathering, to pick up fresh items for his paper. + +All this while, however, he was losing money. He had a heavy load to +carry, and though he bore it unflinchingly and determinedly, the +enterprise seemed doomed to failure for lack of funds. At this juncture, +he resolved to make the financial news of the day a special feature of +"The Herald." The monetary affairs of the country were in great +confusion--a confusion which was but the prelude to the crash of 1837; +and Wall Street was the vortex of the financial whirlpool whose eddies +were troubling the whole land. Every body was anxious to get the first +news from the street, and to get it as full and reliable as possible. At +this time, too, our relations with France were exceedingly critical--a +circumstance which served to increase the trouble in financial matters. +Appreciating the anxiety which was generally felt on this subject, Mr. +Bennett resolved to create a demand for "The Herald" among the business +men of the country. On the 13th of June, 1835, just five weeks after the +establishment of the paper, he printed his first money article--the +first that ever appeared in an American newspaper. It was as follows: + + + COMMERCIAL. + + Stocks yesterday maintained their prices during the session of the + Board, several going up. Utica went up 2 per cent.; the others + stationary. Large quantities were sold. After the Board adjourned + and the news from France was talked over, the fancy stocks + generally went down 1 to 1-1/2 per cent.; the other stocks quite + firm. A rally was made by the bulls in the evening under the trees, + but it did not succeed. There will be a great fight in the Board + to-day. The good people up town are anxious to know what the + brokers think of Mr. Livingston. We shall find out, and let them + know. + + The cotton and flour markets rallied a little. The rise of cotton + in Liverpool drove it up here a cent or so. The last shippers will + make 2-1/2 per cent. Many are endeavoring to produce the impression + that there will be a war. If the impression prevails, naval stores + will go up a good deal. Every eye is outstretched for the + "Constitution." Hudson, of the Merchants News Room, says he will + hoist out the first flag. Gilpin, of the Exchange News Room, says + he will have her name down in his room one hour before his + competitor. The latter claims having beat Hudson yesterday by an + hour and ten minutes in chronicling the "England." + + +The money article was a success, and appeared regularly in "The Herald" +after this. It created a demand for the paper among the merchants, and +increased its circulation so decidedly that at the end of the third +month the daily receipts and expenditures balanced each other. Mr. +Bennett now ventured to engage a cheap police reporter, which gave him +more time to attend to other duties. + +The paper now seemed on the point of becoming a success, when it +received a severe and unlooked-for blow. The printing-office was burned +down, and the gentlemen who had printed "The Herald" were so much +discouraged that they refused to renew their connection with it. Mr. +Bennett knew that he was too near to success to abandon the enterprise, +and courageously put his wits to work to devise means to carry on the +paper. By the greatest and most indomitable exertions he managed to +secure the means of going on with it, and bravely resumed its +publication alone. + +A few months after this the "great fire" swept over New York, and laid +nearly the whole business portion of the city in ashes. This was Mr. +Bennett's opportunity. The other journals of the city devoted a brief +portion of their space to general and ponderous descriptions of the +catastrophe, but Mr. Bennett went among the ruins, note-book and pencil +in hand, and gathered up the most minute particulars of the fire. He +spent one-half of each day in this way, and the other half in writing +out reports of what he thus learned. These reports he published in "The +Herald." They were free, graphic, off-hand sketches of the fire and its +consequences, and were so full and complete that they left little or +nothing connected with the incidents they described to be added. Mr. +Bennett also went to the expense of publishing a picture of the burning +of the Merchants Exchange, and a map of the burnt district--a heavy +expense for his little journal. The result proved the sagacity of his +views. "The Herald" reports of the fire created a heavy demand for the +paper, and its circulation increased rapidly. Yet its success was not +assured. + +When his first year closed, Mr. Bennett found his paper still struggling +for existence, but with a fair prospect of success, if it could follow +up the "hit" it had made with its reports of the fire. About this time +he received an offer from Dr. Benjamin Brandreth to advertise his pills +in "The Herald," and a contract was at once concluded between them. The +money thus paid to the paper was a considerable sum, and proved of the +greatest assistance to it. All the money received was conscientiously +expended in the purchase of news. The circulation grew larger as its +news facilities increased, and for some years its proprietor expended +all his profits in making the paper more attractive. + +At the close of the fifteenth month of its career Mr. Bennett increased +the size of "The Herald," and raised the price of it to two cents per +copy. His success was now assured, and continued to increase, as, under +his able and far-seeing management, his paper expanded and enlarged its +facilities for securing and making public the promptest and most +reliable news of the day. Since that time his success has been +unvarying. He has made "The Herald" the leading newspaper of the world, +for no other journal upon the globe can compare with it in liberality +and energy in the collection of news or in promptness and completeness +of detail in laying it before the public. Its growth has been slow, but +sure. Every step has been won by hard and conscientious labor, as well +as by the force of real genius. Other journals have been compelled to +follow the example of "The Herald," but none have surpassed it. It still +stands at the head of the newspaper press of the world, and we are +justified in believing that it will continue to stand there as long as +its founder's hand controls it. + +Instead of the little penny sheet of thirty-four years ago, "The New +York Herald" of to-day is an immense journal, generally of twelve, and +often of sixteen pages of six columns each, making a total of from +seventy-two to ninety-six closely printed columns of matter. From four +to nine pages are filled with advertisements, classified with the utmost +exactness. No reader has to search the paper over for the article or +advertisement he wishes to see; each subject has its separate place, +which can be discovered at a glance. Its advertisements have reference +to every trade, profession, or calling known to civilized man, and are a +faithful mirror of the busy age in which we live. Its news reports are +the freshest, most complete, and most graphic of any American journal, +and are collected at an expenditure of more time, care, and money than +any other journal sees fit to lay out. It has its correspondents in all +parts of the world, and when news is worth sending, these are instructed +to spare no pains or expense in transmitting it at once. During the late +war it had a small army of attaches in the field, and its reports were +the most eagerly sought of all by the public. During the Abyssinian war +its reporters and correspondents furnished the London press with +reliable news _in advance of their own correspondents_. Any price is +paid for news, for it is the chief wish of Mr. Bennett that "The Herald" +shall be the first to chronicle the events of the day. + +"The Herald" office is now located at the corner of Broadway and Ann +Street. The building, of white marble, is five stories in height, and +is one of the handsomest in the country. It is the most complete +newspaper establishment in existence. It has two cellars, in which are +placed the two steam-engines that drive the huge presses which strike +off the various editions of "The Herald." Every thing is in perfect +order, and the machinery shines like polished gold and silver. The +proprietor's eye is upon the whole establishment, and he is quick to +notice and reprimand a fault. The street floor contains the business +office of the journal, a magnificent room, gorgeous with marble, +plate-glass, black walnut, and frescoes. The editorial rooms are above, +and near them are the reporters' rooms. The top floor constitutes the +finest composing room in the world, from which speaking-tubes and +vertical railways communicate with all the other parts of the building. +Every department of the paper has a responsible head, and the most rigid +discipline prevails throughout the office. There are twelve editors, +thirty-five reporters, and four hundred and fifty-three other employes, +making a total force of five hundred men engaged upon "The Herald." The +circulation of the various editions of the paper amounts to tens of +thousands. It is to be found in every town of importance in the land, +and its daily receipts from advertisements alone are counted by tens of +thousands of dollars. + +Mr. Bennett rarely writes for the paper now. He assembles his editors in +his council at noon every day, hears their suggestions, decides what +topics shall be treated in the next day's issue, and assigns to each man +the subject upon which he is to write. In his absence his place at the +council-board is filled by his son, or by the managing editor. Mr. +Bennett in this way exercises a close supervision over all the articles +that appear in "The Herald," and imparts to them a considerable share of +his personality. + +Mr. Bennett is married, and has two children, a son, James Gordon +Bennett, jr., who will succeed his father in the ownership of "The +Herald," and a daughter. He lives on Fifth Avenue at present, his +favorite residence, at Washington Heights, having been recently +destroyed by fire. He is said to be a courtly and agreeable host, and +one who rarely fails to send away his visitors with a pleasant +impression of himself. + +In person he is tall and firmly built, and walks with a dignified +carriage. His head is large, and his features are prominent and +irregular. He has a thoroughly Scotch face, and is cross-eyed. His +forehead is broad and high, betokening great capacity and force of +character. His expression is firm and somewhat cold--that of a man who +has had a hard fight with fortune, and has conquered it. He is reserved +in his manner to strangers, but always courteous and approachable. To +his friends he is genial and unreserved. He is finely educated, and is +said to be a man of excellent taste. His favorite studies are history +and biography, and he still pursues them with a keen relish. His home is +one of the most elegant in the city. He is proud of his success, as he +may well be, and very proud of the fact that he owes it to himself +alone. While he was building the new "Herald" office, he was waited on +by the president of one of the national banks of the city, who said to +him: + +"Mr. Bennett, we know that you are at great expense in erecting this +building, besides carrying on your immense business. If you want any +accommodation, you can have it at our bank." + +"Mr. ----," replied Mr. Bennett, "before I purchased the land, or began +to build, I had on deposit two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in the +Chemical Bank. There is not a dollar due on 'The Herald' building that +I can not pay. I would pay off the mortgage to-morrow, if the owner +would allow me to do so. When the building is opened, I shall not owe +one dollar to any man, if I am allowed to pay. I owe nothing that I can +not discharge in an hour. I have not touched one dollar of the money on +deposit in the bank, and while that remains I need no accommodation." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +ROBERT BONNER. + + +Robert Bonner was born in the north of Ireland, near the town of +Londonderry, about the year 1824. He came to this country when a mere +child, and was brought up in the State of Connecticut, where he received +a good common-school education. + +Manifesting a decided liking for the printer's trade, he was placed at +an early age in the office of the "Hartford Courant," where he took his +first lessons in the art of setting type. He entered upon the business +with the determination to learn it thoroughly, and when he had mastered +his trade soon acquired the reputation of being the best workman in +Hartford. As a compositor, he was not only neat and thorough, but was +remarkably rapid as well. On one occasion, when the "Courant" was +endeavoring to publish the "President's Message" in advance of all its +competitors, Mr. Bonner is said to have worked at the rate of seventeen +hundred ems an hour--a feat absolutely unparalleled. + +In 1844, he removed to New York and engaged in the office of a new +journal, called the "American Republican," then lately established as +the organ of the American party in that city, upon which he worked +steadily during its brief career. His wages were small, and it was only +by practicing the most rigid economy that he could live upon them. + +When the "Republican" suspended publication, Mr. Bonner was employed in +the office of the "Evening Mirror," published by Morris, Willis & +Fuller. Here he made himself so useful, that the business of getting up +or displaying advertisements attractively was soon left entirely to him. +His taste in this department was almost faultless, and the +advertisements of the "Mirror" soon became noted for their neat and +handsome appearance. + +At this time there was published in New York a small, struggling paper, +exclusively mercantile in its character, called the "Merchants' Ledger." +This paper was almost entirely dependent upon its advertising patronage, +and the attention of its proprietor was called to Mr. Bonner's skill, as +exhibited in the "Mirror," in displaying advertisements to the greatest +advantage. The result was that Mr. Bonner received an offer, which he +accepted, to take charge of this paper. This was the origin of his +connection with the journal which he has since rendered famous. + +Being fond of composition, he made frequent contributions to the +editorial columns of the paper, which were well received by the general +public, but which seem to have aroused the petty jealousy of the +proprietor of the "Ledger." + +Soon after forming his connection with the "Ledger," Mr. Bonner +purchased it. From his boyhood up, it had been his ambition to become +the proprietor of a journal which should be carried out upon his own +ideas, and he believed that the "Ledger" offered him the best means of +doing this. It was generally doubted at that time that a literary paper +could flourish in New York--Boston and Philadelphia having apparently +monopolized such enterprises. Mr. Bonner, however, had a clearer view +of the matter, and was convinced from the first that the great center of +American industry was the very best place for such an undertaking. He +proceeded very cautiously at first, however, changing the character of +his paper very gradually, from a commercial to a literary journal. + +At this time Fanny Fern was the great literary sensation of the day. She +had just published her "Ruth Hall," which had attracted universal +attention, and had given rise to a sharp discussion in the public press +as to whether she was the sister of N.P. Willis or not. Mr. Bonner +resolved to profit by her sudden notoriety, and requested her to write a +story for the "Ledger," for which he offered to pay her twenty-five +dollars per column. She declined the proposition. He then offered her +fifty dollars a column, and, upon a second refusal, increased his offer +to seventy-five dollars a column. She was pleased with the energy +exhibited by Mr. Bonner, and flattered by his eagerness to secure her +services, but declared that she would write no more for the newspapers. +A little later Mr. Bonner was offered a story from her, about ten +columns long. He at once accepted her proposition, and upon the receipt +of the manuscript sent her a check for one thousand dollars. + +With this story began that wonderful career of the "Ledger" which seems +more like a dream than hard reality. The story was double-leaded, and +made to fill twenty columns of the paper. The "Ledger" itself was +changed from its old style to its present form, and made a purely +literary journal. The price paid for the story was unparalleled in the +history of American journalism, and Mr. Bonner spread the announcement +far and wide that he was publishing a serial for which he had given one +hundred dollars a column. His advertisements were to be seen in almost +every newspaper of respectable circulation throughout the Union. In form +they were different from any that had preceded them. "Fanny Fern +writes for the 'Ledger.'" "Buy the 'New York Ledger,'" etc., appeared, +dozens of times repeated, until men were absolutely tired of seeing the +announcement. Nothing had ever been brought to the public notice so +prominently before. For awhile people were astonished at the audacious +boldness of "the 'Ledger' man." Then they began to buy the paper. Since +then the demand for it has steadily increased. + +The venture was successful. Fanny Fern's reputation and Mr. Bonner's +energy and boldness made a demand for the "Ledger," at once, and out of +the profits of the story for which he had paid such an unheard-of price +Mr. Bonner purchased a handsome residence in New York City. + +There was as much originality as boldness in the peculiar style in which +Mr. Bonner advertised his paper. As before stated, nothing of the kind +had ever been seen before, and the novelty of the announcements at once +attracted attention. It was seen that they were expensive also, and +people naturally felt some curiosity to see for themselves the paper for +which a man was willing to assume such risk and expense. These +announcements sometimes covered a whole page of a daily paper; sometimes +the page would be almost entirely blank, with only a few lines in each +column containing the announcement. Again the advertisement would be the +opening chapters of a story, which would be sure to excite the curiosity +of the reader, and induce him to purchase the remaining chapters in the +"Ledger" itself. It is to the credit of the "Ledger" that it rarely +loses a subscriber. It has become a family paper. + +A recent writer thus refers to Mr. Bonner's early experience +advertising:-- + + +"His mode of advertising was new, and it excited both astonishment and +ridicule. His ruin was predicted over and over again. But as he paid as +he went along, he alone would be the sufferer. He was assailed in +various ways. Men sneered at his writers, as well as at the method in +which he made them known. He had no competition. Just then it was +announced that the Harpers were to put a first-class weekly into the +field. The announcement was hailed with delight by many classes. Men who +had been predicting Bonner's ruin from the start were anxious to see it +accomplished. He had agents in all the leading cities in the land. These +held a monopoly of the 'Ledger.' The book men and newspaper men, who +were left out, were quite willing to have the 'Ledger' go under. The +respectability and wealth of the house, its enterprise, with the class +of writers it could secure, made the new paper a dangerous rival. Mr. +Bonner concluded to make the first issue serviceable to himself. His +paragraph advertising was considered sensational, and smacking of the +charlatan. He resolved to make it respectable. He wrote half a column in +sensational style: 'Buy Harper's Weekly!'--'Buy Harper's Weekly!'--'Buy +Harper's Weekly!'--'Buy Harper's Weekly!'--and so on through the half +column. Through his advertising agent he sent this advertisement to the +'Herald,' 'Tribune,' and 'Times,' and paid for its insertion. Among the +astonished readers of this 'Ledger' style of advertising were the quiet +gentlemen who do business on Franklin Square. The community were +astonished. 'The Harpers are waking up!' 'This is the Bonner style!' +'This is the way the Ledger man does it!' were heard on all sides. The +young Harpers were congratulated by the book men every-where on the +enterprise with which they were pushing the new publication. They said +nothing, and took the joke in good part. But it settled the +respectability of the 'Ledger' style of advertising. It is now imitated +by the leading publishers, insurance men, and most eminent dry goods +men in the country. The sums spent by Mr. Bonner in advertising are +perfectly marvelous. He never advertises unless he has something new to +present to the public. He pays from five to twenty-five thousand dollars +a week when he advertises." + +Mr. Bonner well knew that all his advertising would be worth nothing in +the end unless he made the "Ledger" worthy of the public patronage, and +he exerted himself from the first to secure the services of a corps of +able and popular writers. In his arrangements with his contributors, he +inaugurated a system of liberality and _justness_ which might well put +his rivals to shame. + +When Mr. Everett was engaged in his noble effort to assist the ladies of +the Mount Vernon Association in purchasing the home and tomb of +Washington, Mr. Bonner proposed to him to write a series of papers for +the "Ledger," for which he offered him ten thousand dollars, the money +to be appropriated to the purchase of Mount Vernon. Mr. Everett accepted +the offer, and the celebrated Mount Vernon Papers were the result. This +was a far-sighted move on the part of Robert Bonner. Under ordinary +circumstances Mr. Everett would probably have declined to "write for the +'Ledger;'" but in a cause so worthy he could not refuse. The association +of his name with the journal was of incalculable service to it, and the +Mount Vernon Papers were to its proprietor his very best advertisement. +(We are viewing the matter commercially.) The sale of the paper was +wonderfully increased, and a golden harvest was reaped. + +This connection of Mr. Everett with the "Ledger" led to a warm personal +friendship between himself and its proprietor, which was broken only by +the statesman's death--a circumstance which speaks volumes for the +private worth of the younger man. Mr. Everett continued to write for +the paper after his Mount Vernon articles were finished, and is said to +have earned over fifty thousand dollars by his able contributions to it. + +Soon after the completion of the Mount Vernon Papers, Mr. Bonner secured +the services of George Bancroft, the historian, who contributed a series +of admirable articles. Mr. Everett's connection with the "Ledger" had +settled the question that it was not beneath the dignity of the most +eminent literateur in the land to write for it. Fanny Fern's husband, +Mr. James Parton, Alice and Phoebe Carey, Mrs. Southworth, and a host of +others have helped, and still help, to fill its columns. + +But perhaps its most profitable contributor, next to Mr. Everett, is +Henry Ward Beecher. That wonderful gift of the great preacher which +enables him to touch so constantly upon subjects nearest to the hearts +of most men, would make him invaluable to any paper. Mr. Bonner was +struck with this after hearing him preach several times, and resolved to +secure his services for the "Ledger." He proposed, to the parson's utter +astonishment, that Mr. Beecher should write a story for the paper, and +coupled it with the offer of a sum which many persons would consider a +fortune. The field was utterly new to Mr. Beecher. Novel-writing was +something he had never even thought of; but after some hesitation he +accepted the offer. Soon after this, the publication of "Norwood" was +begun in the columns of the "Ledger." The story was longer than was at +first agreed upon, and Mr. Bonner paid its author a handsome sum in +addition to the amount originally offered. The reward was princely, but +not out of proportion to the service rendered by Mr. Beecher, who has +won thousands of readers for the paper. Mr. Beecher still writes for the +"Ledger," and there is no present prospect of his genial and useful +contributions coming to a close. + +Mr. Bonner has made his paper useful to young people as well as those of +maturer years. Each number contains articles, briefly and pointedly +written, upon some popular and useful topic, so that thousands find not +only amusement, but valuable hints and profitable instruction in the +"Ledger." + +It was for a long time the custom of the newspaper press to indulge in +sneers at the "Ledger," and, at the least, to treat it with a species of +mild contempt. In order to stop this, its proprietor secured and +published a series of articles from James Gordon Bennett of "The +Herald," Henry J. Raymond of "The Times," and Horace Greeley of "The +Tribune." By thus identifying the leading journalists of the country +with his enterprise, he effectually silenced the scoffers, and with them +the "lesser lights" of the press. + +It was said by some over-careful persons that the "Ledger" was not a +proper paper for young persons to read. Mr. Bonner at once secured the +services of the Presidents of the twelve principal colleges of the +Union, and articles from each of these gentlemen appeared in his paper. +After this it was not to be presumed that a journal which had among its +contributors twelve such distinguished guides of youth could be unfit +for any one to read. + +In order to make still less room for doubt on this subject, a series of +articles by twelve distinguished clergymen soon after appeared in the +"Ledger." + +Indeed, the greatest care is exercised to exclude from the columns of +the paper any thing savoring in the least of impurity. It is the +proprietor's aim to make it a help as well as an amusement to its +readers, and his object is to elevate, not to degrade them. + +The "Ledger" now circulates over three hundred thousand copies per +week, and is growing in the public favor. From the profits of his +business Mr. Bonner has built a splendid marble publishing-house at the +corner of William and Spruce Streets, in New York, from which the +"Ledger" is now issued. It is one of the most complete establishments in +the world, and is fitted up with every convenience necessary to the +performance of the work upon the paper in the most perfect and +expeditious manner. Mr. Bonner has created all this by his own energy +and business talent, and richly deserves the success he enjoys. He +resides in an elegant mansion in New York, and has also a handsome +country seat at Morrisania, in Westchester County. He is married, and +has a family. + +Mr. Bonner's great wealth has enabled him to achieve a distinction of +another kind. He is famous as the owner of the finest horses in America. +His stables are located in Twenty-seventh Street, and are the most +perfect of their kind in this country. They contain every thing needed +for the comfort and care of the horses, and the men employed in them are +thoroughly skilled in their business. The horses are seven in number. +First on the list is "Dexter," who has made his mile in the +unprecedented time of 2:17-1/4 in harness, and 2:18 under the saddle. He +is the fastest horse in the world. "Lantern," a splendid bay, fifteen +and a half hands high, has made his mile in 2:20. "Pocahontas," the most +perfectly formed horse in existence, has made her mile in 2:23; while +"Peerless," a fine gray mare, has followed close on to her in 2:23-1/4. +"Lady Palmer" has made two miles with a three hundred and fifty pound +wagon and driver in 4:59, while her companion, "Flatbush Mare," has made +a two-mile heat to a road wagon in 5:01-1/4. The "Auburn Horse," a large +sorrel, sixteen and a half hands high, with four white feet and a white +face, was declared by Hiram Woodruff to be the fastest horse he ever +drove. These horses cost their owner over two hundred thousand dollars, +and he would not part with them for double that sum. He does not race +them for money, but drives them for his own use, and holds the reins +himself. + + + + +VI. + +LAWYERS. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +JOHN MARSHALL. + + +To the writer's mind the most perfect specimen of the American lawyer +known to our history was JOHN MARSHALL, of Virginia, Chief Justice of +the United States. Profoundly learned in the law, irresistible in +argument, and possessed of an eloquence which drew men in throngs to +listen to him, he was also the soul of honor. Neither in his private nor +professional life could the most malicious find an action open to +reproach. Simple and earnest as a child, he was yet a tower of strength +to the cause of justice. Occupying the highest place in our judiciary +system, he was never unduly elated by his honors, and while gaining and +awarding fortunes in the discharge of his professional duties, he was +himself so true a man that the most brazen suitor would not have dared +to offer him a bribe. He was in all things the simple, honest gentleman, +the fearless advocate, the just judge, and the meek and earnest follower +of his Saviour. Although belonging to a past generation, his story is +presented here because I wish to offer to those who seek to follow him +in his noble calling the purest and highest model our history affords. + +John Marshall was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, on the 24th of +September, 1755. He was the oldest of a family of fifteen children, and +was the son of Colonel Thomas Marshall, a planter of moderate fortune. +During the Revolution, Colonel Marshall commanded a regiment of Virginia +troops, and won considerable distinction at the battles of the Great +Bridge, Germantown, Brandywine, and Monmouth. At the Brandywine the +regiment bore the brunt of the attack of the British army, led by +Cornwallis in person. + +John Marshall was born in a region so thinly settled as to be almost cut +off from civilization. The people were plain and even rough in their +habits, and the mode of life which prevailed in his native county +doubtless did much to lay the foundation of those habits of simplicity +for which he was noted in after life. Schools were almost unknown in +this region, and such as were in operation were so rude in character +that Colonel Marshall, who was a man of education and culture, decided +not to attempt to train his children in them. Being unable to raise the +means of sending them to better schools in other parts of the Colony, he +determined to become their teacher himself, and applied himself to his +task with a devotion which was signally rewarded by the brilliant career +of his eldest son. He laid especial weight upon their acquiring a +thorough knowledge of the English language and of history, and sought to +cultivate in them a love for the poetry of their native tongue. +Referring in after life to his father's devoted labors, Judge Marshall +once said, with great feeling, "To him I owe the solid foundation of all +my success in life." John Marshall did ample justice to his father's +labors, and when only fourteen years old was thoroughly familiar with +the writings of Shakespeare, Dryden, Milton, and Pope, and could repeat +by heart nearly the whole of the "Essay on Man." These poets were always +his favorites, and in mature life he would quote them with readiness and +the keenest relish. + +He showed such marked talent that his father determined to make an +effort to secure him a better education than his private labors could +impart to him, and accordingly sent him for a year to the school of the +Rev. Mr. Campbell, in Westmoreland County, where he received a good +drilling in English and Latin. At this school began his acquaintance +with James Monroe, who was then one of Mr. Campbell's pupils. Returning +home at the end of the year, he continued his studies under the Rev. Mr. +Thompson. + +He studied hard and was an industrious reader. Poetry and romance were +his favorites, but he read history with the deepest interest. He was +quiet and thoughtful in manner, and full of a dreamy, poetic enthusiasm. +He loved to wander in the thick woods, and would pass many of his +leisure hours in gazing at the beauties of nature. His constitution was +a sound and vigorous one, and he was not only fond of manly and athletic +sports, but excelled in them. He had no inclination toward dissipation, +and the simple, healthful life of his home was calculated to develop his +physical powers to the utmost. Colonel Marshall did not neglect the +moral training of his children, but always impressed upon them the +importance of Christianity as the basis of their characters, rearing +them in that simple code of true gentility which was so dear to our +fathers, but of which we of to-day are fast losing sight. + +Being destined for the bar, young Marshall began his legal studies at +the age of eighteen, but in two years they were interrupted by the +troubles with Great Britain, which terminated in open hostilities. A +volunteer company was raised in the neighborhood, and John Marshall +promptly attached himself to it. He took a prominent part in the +questions of the day, and expressed himself boldly in favor of +resistance. In 1775 Patrick Henry made his memorable appeal for +volunteers to drive the Loyalist Governor, Lord Dunmore, out of +Virginia. Three companies were immediately organized in Marshall's +neighborhood. Among these were the famous "Culpepper Minute Men." +Marshall's father was elected major of the regiment, and he himself was +chosen a lieutenant in the Minute Men. The force at once hastened to the +lower counties, and bore a conspicuous part in the battle of Great +Bridge. In July, 1776, Marshall's company was assigned to the Eleventh +Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army, and sent North. In May, 1777, +he was made captain of his company. He participated in the fight at Iron +Hill, and in the battles of Germantown, Brandywine, and Monmouth, and +shared the sufferings of the army at the memorable encampment of Valley +Forge. Until the close of 1779 he was constantly in active service. He +was always patient, cheerful, and hopeful. In the severest hardships to +which the army was exposed his spirits never sank. One of his comrades +said that he did more than any other man to keep alive the hopes of the +army during the terrible winter at Valley Forge, and another has +declared that "the officers of the Virginia line appeared to idolize +him." His conduct attracted the attention of Washington, who conceived a +warm friendship for him, and Marshall, on his part, returned the +friendship of his chief with a feeling almost of worship. Washington +frequently appointed him deputy judge advocate during the winter. + +At the close of 1779 he went to Virginia to take command of a new corps +which the Legislature was about to raise. The project remaining under +discussion for some months, he passed the time in attendance upon a +course of lectures on law, delivered by George Wythe, and a course of +lectures on natural philosophy, delivered by the Rev. Dr. Madison, +afterward Bishop of Virginia, at William and Mary College, in +Williamsburg. The next summer he received his license to practice law. +Meanwhile, the project for raising troops had taken the shape of a +definite failure, and he now set out to rejoin the army. Too poor to pay +his passage to the North, he walked the entire distance from +Williamsburg, Virginia, to Philadelphia, upon reaching which city he was +so travel-worn and shabby in appearance, that the landlord of the hotel +at which he wished to stop refused him admittance. He joined the army in +due time, and remained with it until the spring of 1781, when he +resigned his commission, a few months before the close of the war. + +With the return of peace the courts were again thrown open, and Marshall +began that brilliant legal career which has made him one of the most +famous men in our history. His success was marked from the first, as his +professional talents were such as to make themselves felt anywhere, and +his personal popularity aided him greatly in overcoming the difficulties +which lie in the path of a young aspirant to legal honors. In 1782, the +people of Fauquier elected him to the House of Delegates in the General +Assembly of the Commonwealth, and in the fall of that year he was +appointed one of the Council of State. In January, 1783, he was married +to Miss Mary Willis Ambler, with whom he lived in the most perfect +happiness for over fifty years. His bride was a woman of great personal +beauty, and in every respect a fitting helpmate for such a man--than +which no higher tribute could be paid her. About this time, Mr. Marshall +decided not to return to Fauquier, but to locate himself permanently in +Richmond, where he could enjoy many more professional advantages. In +spite of this, however, his old friends in Fauquier re-elected him to +the Legislature, and in 1787 he sat in that body as representative from +the county of Henrico. + +He was very plain and even careless in his personal attire, and this +often led to amusing occurrences. Soon after he began the practice of +his profession in Richmond, he was strolling through the streets one +morning, dressed in a plain linen suit and a straw hat. The hat was held +under his arm, and was filled with cherries, of which he ate as he +walked. In passing the Eagle Hotel, he stopped to exchange salutations +with the landlord, and then continued his walk. Sitting near the +landlord, on the hotel porch, was a Mr. P----, an elderly gentleman from +the country, who had come to the city to engage counsel in an important +case which was to be tried in a day or two. The landlord referred him to +Marshall as the best lawyer in the city; but the old gentleman was so +much prejudiced against the young advocate, by his careless appearance, +that he refused to engage him. On entering court, Mr. P---- was a second +time referred to Marshall by the clerk of the court, and a second time +he refused to employ him. At this moment entered Mr. V----, a +venerable-looking legal gentleman, in a powdered wig and black coat, +whose dignified appearance produced such an impression on Mr. P---- that +he engaged him at once. In the first case which came on, Marshall and +Mr. V---- each addressed the court. "The vast inferiority of his +advocate was so apparent that at the close of the case Mr. P---- +introduced himself to young Marshall, frankly stated the prejudice which +had caused him, in opposition to advice, to employ Mr. V----; that he +extremely regretted the error, but knew not how to remedy it. He had +come to the city with one hundred dollars as his lawyer's fee, which he +had paid, and had but five left, which, if Marshall chose, he would +cheerfully give him for assisting in the case. Marshall, pleased with +the incident, accepted the offer, not, however, without passing a sly +joke at the _omnipotence_ of a powdered wig and black coat." + +In 1788, Mr. Marshall was elected to the Virginia Convention which met +in June of that year for the purpose of considering the question of the +adoption or rejection of the Federal Constitution. The debates in this +body were among the most brilliant in history. Marshall took a decided +stand in favor of the Constitution, and is believed to have done more +than any other man, save Mr. Madison, to secure its adoption. He added +greatly to his reputation by his labors in this body, and the close of +the session found his practice very much enlarged. He was anxious to +devote himself entirely to his professional duties; but he was urged so +vehemently to accept a seat in the Legislature from the city of +Richmond, that he was forced to consent. He sat in that body from 1789 +to 1791, and in those sessions which were marked by the brilliant +contests between the Federalists and Republicans took a decided stand +with the former, and sustained his position by an array of arguments +against which his opponents were powerless. The struggle was one of +great bitterness, but Marshall, although victorious in it, made no +enemies among his antagonists. + +For the next three years he devoted himself industriously to his +profession, appearing in public only to defend with masterly eloquence +the course of President Washington with reference to the insolent +conduct of Citizen Genet, the French Agent. In 1795, he was again +elected to the Legislature, "not only without his approbation, but +against his known wishes;" but yielding to the desires of his friends he +took his seat in that body. The great question of the day was the +adoption of "Jay's Treaty" with Great Britain. In Virginia, a bitter +opposition assailed the treaty, and the entire State rang with +denunciations of it. Even the influence of Washington was powerless to +stay the tide of popular passion excited against the treaty and those +who upheld it. Meetings were held in Richmond, and the treaty was +fiercely denounced. Marshall now came to the rescue, and before a +meeting of the citizens of that place made such an unanswerable argument +in favor of the treaty, that the men who had been foremost in assailing +it now united in the adoption of resolutions indorsing the policy of the +Administration. In the Legislature his efforts were equally successful, +and the opponents of the Administration were forced to abandon their +constitutional objections to the treaty, and to content themselves with +a simple denial of the expediency of the measure at that time. President +Washington attached so much importance to these services that he offered +to his old friend and comrade the position of Attorney-General of the +United States, but Marshall declined the offer, as he wished to devote +himself to his practice, which had now become very lucrative. He +continued to sit in the Legislature, which did not interfere with his +private business, and remained the constant and vigilant friend of +Washington's Administration. In 1796, he was offered the post of +Minister to France, as Mr. Monroe's successor, but he declined it for +the same reason which had made him refuse the Attorney-Generalship. In +1797, when the offer was repeated, this time by President Adams, +Marshall yielded to the entreaties of Washington, and went to France +with Pinckney and Gerry, as Envoy Extraordinary. The object of the +mission was to remove the obstructions placed by France in the way of +American commerce. The Envoys were unsuccessful, but a correspondence +took place between Marshall and Talleyrand, which was a source of great +satisfaction to American publicists, and raised Marshall still higher +in their esteem and confidence. Upon his return home in 1798, he was +given a public reception in New York by the citizens, and a public +dinner by the two Houses of Congress, "as an evidence of affection for +his person, and of their grateful approbation of the patriotic firmness +with which he had sustained the dignity of his country during his +important mission." He subsequently took a prominent part in support of +the measures of retaliation directed against France by the +Administration, which were sharply assailed by the opposition. He +resumed his practice in Richmond, but was again drawn from it by a +message from Washington, who requested him to visit him at Mt. Vernon. +He did so, and the result was that he yielded to the solicitations of +his old chieftain, and consented to accept a seat in Congress. He was +elected to the Lower House of that body in 1799. During the canvass, +President Adams offered him a seat in the Supreme Court of the United +States, but he declined it. + +His career in Congress was brief, but brilliant. The Federalist party +was hard pressed by the Republicans, and he promptly arrayed himself on +the side of the former, as the champion of the Administration of John +Adams. The excitement over the "Alien and Sedition Laws" was intense, +but he boldly and triumphantly defended the course of the +Administration. Mr. Binney says of him that, in the debates on the great +constitutional questions, "he was confessedly the first man in the +House. When he discussed them, he exhausted them; nothing more remained +to be said; and the impression of his argument effaced that of every one +else." + +His great triumph was his speech in the Jonathan Robbins affair. Robbins +had committed a murder on board an English ship-of-war, and had sought +refuge from punishment in the United States. In accordance with one of +the provisions of Jay's Treaty, his surrender had been demanded by the +British Minister, on the ground that he was a British subject, and he +had been surrendered by President Adams. The opposition in Congress made +this act a pretext for a famous assault upon the Administration, and a +resolution was introduced into the House of Representatives by Mr. +Livingston, censuring the President for his course in the matter. This +resolution produced an extended debate in the House, in the course of +which Marshall defended the President in a speech of great force and +eloquence. Judge Story has said of this speech, that "it was _reponse +sans replique_--an answer so irresistible that it admitted of no reply. +It silenced opposition, and settled then and forever the points of +national law upon which the controversy hinged." + +In May, 1800, Mr. Adams offered Marshall a seat in his Cabinet as +Secretary of War, but before he could enter upon the duties of that +office he was made Secretary of State, in which capacity he acted for a +short while, conducting several important negotiations during that time, +and leaving behind him several of the most magnificent state papers to +be found in our archives. During his occupancy of this position, it +became necessary to appoint a Chief Justice of the United States, and +Marshall took advantage of the occasion to urge upon the President the +propriety of tendering the place to a distinguished gentleman who had +been a faithful friend to the Administration; but Mr. Adams quietly +informed him that he had made up his mind to confer the honor upon the +man best suited to it, and that he had sent to the Senate the name of +John Marshall, of Virginia. This appointment, which came to him entirely +unsolicited, was made on the 31st of January, 1801, and was unanimously +confirmed by the Senate. + +He held the position of Chief Justice for more than thirty-four years, +and this period is justly regarded as the most brilliant portion of the +history of our highest court, a court of which a famous judge has said: + +"The decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States have raised the +renown of the country not less than they have confirmed the +Constitution. In all parts of the world its judgments are spoken of with +respect. Its adjudications of prize law are a code for all future time. +Upon commercial law it has brought us nearly to one system, befitting +the probity of a great commercial nation. Over its whole path, learning +and intelligence and integrity have shed their combined luster." + +Although holding so high a post in the General Government, he continued +to take a warm interest in the affairs of his native State, and in 1828 +was a delegate to the Charlottesville Convention, which met for the +purpose of recommending to the Legislature a system of internal +improvements best suited to the needs of the State. In 1829, he was a +member of the Convention which met in Richmond for the purpose of +revising the Constitution of the State. Though now quite old and feeble, +he took an active part in the debates of the Convention, and was mainly +instrumental in effecting the settlement of the disputes between the +eastern and western sections of the State. + +In 1805, Judge Marshall published, in five volumes, his "Life of +Washington." The first volume was devoted to the history of the +Colonies, from their settlement to the commencement of the Revolution. +This work has always held the first position in our Revolutionary +annals, and won for its author a place in the front rank of American +writers. It is, all in all, the best biography of Washington in +existence. + +Sterling honesty was exemplified in Judge Marshall's whole career. His +word was indeed as good as his bond. He would never argue in behalf of a +cause which he had reason to think unjust, and he scorned to take a +legal advantage at the expense of moral honesty. He once indorsed a +bond to the amount of several thousand dollars. The drawer failed, and +Marshall paid it, although he knew he could avoid it, as the holder had +forfeited his claim in law by requiring more than legal interest. + +He was generous to a fault. Once, as he passed through Culpepper County, +he met with Captain S----, one of his old comrades in the Revolution. In +the course of the conversation which ensued, S---- told him that his +estate was burdened with a mortgage for $3,000, which was about to fall +due, and that, as he was unable to pay it, he saw nothing but ruin in +store for him. At his departure, Marshall handed a note to the servant +who brought his horse to the door, and told him to give it to his +master. This was done as Marshall was riding away, and upon opening the +note Mr. S--- found that it contained a check for the amount of the +mortgage. Mounting his horse, he soon overtook Marshall, and, though he +thanked him warmly for his generosity, refused to accept it. Marshall +strenuously urged its acceptance, but the other persistently refused. +Finally, the former suggested a compromise. Marshall took up the +mortgage, and thus satisfied the first claim, but as his friend was +never prosperous, he never asked for the payment of the debt. + +William Wirt has left us the following description of his personal +appearance: "He is tall, meager, emaciated; his muscles relaxed, and his +joints so loosely connected as not only to disqualify him apparently for +any vigorous exertion of body, but to destroy every thing like harmony +in his air or movements. Indeed, in his whole appearance and +demeanor,--dress, attitudes, gesture, sitting, standing, or walking,--he +is as far removed from the idolized graces of Lord Chesterfield as any +other gentleman on earth." + +"In spite, however, of this ungainly person," says a writer, "no one +was a greater social favorite than the Chief Justice. The people of +Richmond regarded his eccentric figure with strong personal affection as +well as respect. The black eyes, under their bushy gray brows, beamed +with good nature, and the lips were habitually smiling. The courtesy of +the Judge was one of his most beautiful traits. It was the spontaneous +exhibition of the simple and kindly emotions of his heart. Pure +benevolence and philanthropy displayed itself in every word which he +uttered. He gave his hand to the plain yeoman clad in homespun as +courteously and sincerely as to the greatest personage in the country. +He had the same simple smile and good-humored jest for both, and seemed +to recognize no difference between them. It was instructive to estimate +in the good Chief Justice the basis and character of true politeness. +John Randolph, one of the most fastidious and aristocratic of men, left +his opinion that Marshall's manner was perfect good breeding. In dress +and bearing, it would be difficult to imagine any one more simple than +Judge Marshall. He presented the appearance of a plain countryman, +rather than a Chief Justice of the United States. He had a farm in +Fauquier County, and another near Richmond, and he would often return +from the latter to take his seat on the bench with burrs sticking to his +clothes. His great passion was the game of quoits, and he was a member +of the club which met, as it still meets, at Buchanan's Spring, near the +city, to play at this game. Here the Governor of Virginia, the Chief +Justice, and the most eminent lawyers of the Court of Appeals, were +found by a French gentleman, Baron Quinet, with their coats off, gayly +pitching quoits, with the ardor of a party of urchins. In these simple +amusements passed the hours of leisure which Judge Marshall could steal +from his exhausting judicial toil. At such times he seemed to become a +boy again, and to forget the ermine. His fondness for other social +enjoyments was great. He was the center of a brilliant circle of men, +many of whom were famous, and the tradition of their dinner parties, and +the jests which they circulated, is still preserved." + +It was his custom always to provide for his table himself when at home, +and he might be seen every morning at the Shockoe Hill Market, with his +basket on his arm, engaged in making his purchases. Upon one of these +occasions he noticed a fashionably-dressed young man, swearing violently +because he could not find any one willing to carry home for him a turkey +which he had just purchased, and which his foolish pride would not +permit him to carry himself. Approaching him quietly, the Judge asked +where he lived, and upon being told, said, "I am going that way, and +will carry it for you." Taking the turkey, he set out and soon reached +the young man's door. Upon receiving his turkey, the young man thanked +him for his trouble, and asked, "How much shall I pay you?" "Oh, +nothing," replied the Judge, smiling, "you are welcome. It was on my +way, and no trouble." So saying, the Judge departed, and the young man, +with a faint suspicion of the truth, turned to a bystander, and asked, +in some confusion, "Who is that polite old gentleman who brought home my +turkey for me?" "That is John Marshall, the Chief Justice of the United +States," was the reply. "Why, then, did _he_ bring home my turkey?" +stammered the fop. "To give you a deserved rebuke," said the gentleman, +"and to teach you to conquer your silly pride." + +Reference has been made to his carelessness in regard to his personal +appearance. A wager was once laid among his friends in Richmond that he +could not dress himself without leaving about his clothing some mark of +his carelessness. The Judge good-humoredly accepted the wager. A supper +was to be given to him upon these conditions. If his dress was found +faultless upon that occasion, the other parties were to pay for the +entertainment; but if any carelessness could be detected about his dress +or in his appearance, the expense was to fall upon him. Upon the +appointed evening the gentlemen and the Judge met at the place agreed +upon, and to the surprise of all, the Judge's dress seemed faultless. He +appeared the very perfection of neatness and taste. The supper followed, +the Judge being in high glee over his victory. Near the close of the +repast, however, one of the guests, who sat next to Judge Marshall, +chanced to drop his napkin, and stooping down to pick it up, discovered +that the Judge had put on one of his stockings with the wrong side out. +Of course the condition of affairs was immediately reversed, and, amid +roars of laughter, the Chief Justice acknowledged his defeat. + +The means of locomotion in the Southern States being limited in the days +of Judge Marshall, it was his custom to travel about the country, when +holding his circuit courts, in an old-fashioned and very much +dilapidated gig. His plain and even rusty appearance often led him into +ludicrous adventures, which he related to his friends with keen +enjoyment. At other times people to whom he was personally unknown were +astonished to find that this shabbily-dressed old man was the famous +Chief-Justice Marshall. One of his adventures is thus related by an +eye-witness: + +"It is not long since a gentleman was traveling in one of the counties +of Virginia, and about the close of the day stopped at a public-house to +obtain refreshment and spend the night. He had been there but a short +time when an old man alighted from his gig, with the apparent intention +of becoming his fellow-guest at the same house. As the old man drove up, +he observed that both the shafts of his gig were broken, and that they +were held together by withes formed from the bark of a hickory sapling. +Our traveler observed, further, that he was plainly clad, that his +knee-buckles were loosened, and that something like negligence pervaded +his dress. Conceiving him to be one of the honest yeomanry of our land, +the courtesies of strangers passed between them, and they entered the +tavern. It was about the same time that an addition of three or four +young gentlemen was made to their number--most of them, if not all, of +the legal profession. As soon as they became conveniently accommodated, +the conversation was turned by the latter upon an eloquent harangue +which had that day been delivered at the bar. The other replied that he +had witnessed the same day a degree of eloquence no doubt equal, but +that it was from the pulpit. Something like a sarcastic rejoinder was +made to the eloquence of the pulpit, and a warm and able altercation +ensued, in which the merits of the Christian religion became the subject +of discussion. From six o'clock until eleven the young champions wielded +the sword of argument, adducing with ingenuity and ability every thing +that could be said pro and con. During this protracted period, the old +gentleman listened with all the meekness and modesty of a child, as if +he was adding new information to the stores of his own mind; or perhaps +he was observing, with philosophic eye, the faculties of the youthful +mind, and how new energies are evolved by repeated action; or, perhaps, +with patriotic emotion, he was reflecting upon the future destinies of +his country, and on the rising generation upon whom these future +destinies must devolve; or, most probably, with a sentiment of moral and +religious feeling, he was collecting an argument which--characteristic +of himself--no art would be 'able to elude and no force resist.' Our +traveler remained a spectator, and took no part in what was said." + +[Illustration: MARSHALL'S DEFENCE OF CHRISTIANITY] + +"At last one of the young men, remarking that it was impossible to +combat with long-established prejudices, wheeled around, and, with some +familiarity, exclaimed, 'Well, my old gentleman, what think you of these +things?' If, said the traveler, a streak of vivid lightning had at that +moment crossed the room, their amazement could not have been greater +than it was with what followed. The most eloquent and unanswerable +appeal was made, for nearly an hour, by the old gentleman, that he ever +heard or read. So perfect was his recollection, that every argument used +against the Christian religion was met in the order in which it was +advanced. Hume's sophistry on the subject of miracles was, if possible, +more perfectly answered than it had already been done by Campbell. And +in the whole lecture there was so much simplicity and energy, pathos and +sublimity, that not another word was uttered. An attempt to describe it, +said the traveler, would be an attempt to paint the sunbeams. It was now +a matter of curiosity and inquiry who the old gentleman was. The +traveler concluded it was the preacher from whom the pulpit eloquence +was heard; but no--it was the Chief Justice of the United States." + +Judge Marshall was a simple and earnest Christian, and held in the +deepest abhorrence the fashionable skepticism of his day. His conduct +was consistent with his profession, and to the last this good and great +man repeated night and morning the simple prayer he had learned at his +mother's knee. + +For many years he suffered from an affection of the bladder, and was at +length compelled to resort to a surgical operation for relief. This had +the desired effect, but he was soon after taken with an attack of "liver +complaint." He repaired to Philadelphia for medical treatment, but +failed to derive any benefit from it, and died in that city on the 6th +of July, 1835. + +His body was conveyed to Richmond for interment, and he now sleeps by +the side of his wife in the Shockoe Hill Cemetery in that city. The spot +is marked by a plain slab of marble, over which the weeds and the rank +grass are growing, and on which may be read the following inscription, +dictated (saving the last date) by himself: + +"John Marshall, son of Thomas and Mary Marshall, was born 24th of +September, 1755; intermarried with Mary Willis Ambler, the 3d of +January, 1783; departed this life the 6th day of July, 1835." + + + +[Illustration: JAMES T. BRADY.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +JAMES T. BRADY. + + +The father of James T. Brady was born in Ireland, and came to this +country during the second war with England, and just after his marriage. +Mr. Brady opened a school for boys, in New York, soon after his arrival, +and it was in that city, on the 9th of April, 1815, that his eldest son, +JAMES TOPHAM BRADY, was born. Other children followed, there being seven +in all, two boys (James T., and Judge John R. Brady) and five girls. Mr. +Brady, senior, was a man of rare abilities, and his wife was a woman of +great personal beauty and high character, "one of those mothers," says a +distinguished gentleman, who knew her, "whose quiet virtues shed their +blessed influence over families, and are felt so long in their durable +effect upon children." + +James T. Brady grew up with a sound, vigorous constitution, and at an +early age was put at his studies in his father's school. He was only +seven years old when he began, and though so young, he worked hard, +storing his "big head"--which seemed too big for the little feet below +it--with knowledge. He endeared himself very greatly to his +school-fellows, and formed with several of them friendships which +continued through life. "He was so noted," says one of his former +school-fellows, "for his loving kindliness as a boy, that it almost +obliterates every other recollection." His amiable traits developed with +his years. He always delighted in acts of kindness, and could never bear +to give pain, even to the most insignificant animal or insect. He +detested hunting and fishing, which he regarded as a needless sacrifice +of life. Yet while so tender and gentle in his disposition, he was brave +and fearless, unusually independent, and, above all, as mirthful and +fond of a jest at fifty as at sixteen. + +Before he had completed his education, his father abandoned the +profession of teaching for that of a lawyer, and young Brady entered his +office as office-boy and student, it being his desire to become an +advocate. He was bright, quick-witted, and remarkably apt in his +studies. His buoyant spirits and ready repartee often led him into +encounters with his elders, who were generally forced to confess that +his tongue was too much for them. His father encouraged him to form his +own opinions, and to hold them tenaciously until convinced of his error. +He made rapid progress in his legal studies, and soon acquired such +proficiency in the management of the details of the office business that +every thing which did not absolutely need his father's personal +attention was left to him. + +Although fond of social enjoyment, and full of the fire and joyfulness +of youth, he knew how to seclude himself from the pleasures he relished +so much. He was a hard and faithful student, allowing nothing to draw +him from his books when he meant to devote himself to them. He read not +only law, but history, poetry, biography, romance, in short, every thing +that could store his mind with useful knowledge or add to its natural +graces. He slept at the office, and often sat up the entire night +engaged in study. Abbott speaks as follows of the early studies of +Napoleon II., and it requires no straining of language or ideas to +apply his remarks to this portion of the life of James T. Brady: "So +great was his ardor for intellectual improvement that he considered +every day as lost in which he had not made perceptible progress in +knowledge. By this rigid mental discipline he acquired that wonderful +power of concentration by which he was ever enabled to simplify subjects +the most difficult and complicated." Mr. Brady, senior, was very proud +of the energy and talent displayed by his son, and when the latter was +nineteen years old the father said to a friend who had been speaking to +him of the promise of the boy: "Yes, sir; he is a boy of great promise, +a boy of splendid intellect and noble character. Young as he is, I +regard him as a walking encyclopoedia; his mind seems to gild every +subject it touches." + +In the year 1835, when but twenty years old, Mr. Brady was admitted to +the bar. "There were giants in those days" at the New York bar, and the +young man was now entering an arena in which his powers were to be +tested to the utmost. His native eloquence was well known to his +friends, and naturally he was not ignorant of it; but he did not, like +so many young men in his calling, trust entirely to his powers of +pleading. He had long since recognized the truth of Lord Erskine's +declaration that "no man can be a great advocate who is no lawyer," and +had stored his mind with a knowledge of the theories of his profession +which few men in coming to the bar have ever equaled. + +In his first important case he was opposed to Charles O'Conor, and was +unsuccessful. He was engaged in a suit to recover a certain sum of money +from an insurance company, which his client claimed was due him for +certain goods which had been destroyed by fire. As Brady himself saw, he +had a very weak case, and Mr. O'Conor had no trouble in demolishing it; +yet the young counsel conducted it with a skill and an eloquence which +made him from that hour a marked man in his profession. Yet he had to +contend against that obstacle which meets most public men at the outset +of their careers--the feeling which actors call "stage fright." He said +that on this occasion every thing around him grew suddenly black, and he +could not even see the jury. By steadying himself against his table, and +keeping his eyes in the direction of the jury, he continued to speak +until he had recovered his self-control. + +The case which brought him most prominently before the public, and which +may be said to have established his fame as a lawyer, was a peculiar +one. Some newsboys had been arrested for selling the "Sunday Morning +News" on the morning of the Sabbath day. It was claimed that the selling +of the paper on the streets on Sunday was contrary to law, and that the +boys disturbed the congregations in the churches by their cries. One of +these boys had been arrested at the instance of Mr. Gerard, and this +brought on a suit to determine the rights of the lads, in which Mr. +Brady appeared for the newsboys. Considerable feeling was manifested on +the subject, and when the trial came on the court-room was crowded. The +verdict of the jury was against him, but Mr. Brady won a remarkable +triumph by his management of the case, and the whole city rang with his +eloquence. So great was the effect of his speech upon the audience, that +many of them who were total strangers to him crowded around him as he +left the court-house to congratulate him. Though defeated in the verdict +of the jury, this case was a great triumph for Mr. Brady. It established +his fame as an advocate, and advanced him at once to a foremost place at +the bar. Business flowed in upon him more rapidly than he could attend +to it, and from this time to the close of his labors he was always in +the possession of a large and lucrative practice. + +Mr. McKeon has said of him: "We may refer to the period of his +introduction to the bar of this city as an epoch in its history. In +looking back at the past, we see rising before us George Wood, treading +with no uncertain step through the labyrinth of the law of real +property; Daniel Lord, following, with his legal eye, commerce over the +long and dreary waste of waters; David Graham, the younger, and Ogden +Hoffman, standing in full panoply of intellectual power before our +criminal tribunals. Into the lists where stood these proud knights young +Brady sprang, ready to contend with the mightiest of them. How well he +contended many of you well remember, and the honors paid to his memory +are justified by the triumphs he has won." + +He grew rapidly in popularity, and in the esteem and confidence of his +fellow-citizens, and was intrusted with numerous cases of a class which +had rarely until then been seen in the hands of a young lawyer. His +practice soon extended into the Supreme Court of the State, which at +that time met quarterly, at New York, Albany, Utica, and Rochester. The +practice of this court was entirely in the hands of men of high standing +in their profession,--the great lawyers of the State,--and it was no +slight honor to our young lawyer to hold a place, and a proud place, +too, among them. + +He won additional honors in the famous India-rubber suits, which have +been mentioned elsewhere in this volume, acting as one of the counsel of +Charles Goodyear, and being associated with Daniel Webster. Brady +applied himself with intense energy to master the case, and when the +trial came off at Trenton, in the United States Circuit Court, before +Justices Grier and Dickerson, he opened the case in a speech which +lasted two days, and which Daniel Webster said in the beginning of his +remarks had so exhausted it as to leave him nothing to say. + +Turning to Mr. Brady, Mr. Webster said, "You have cut a highway through +this case, and if it is won, it will be because of the manner in which +you have brought it before the court." The suit was won by Goodyear. + +"In connection with the India-rubber cases is a fact which testifies to +his character. A salary of twenty-live thousand dollars a year for life +was offered to be settled on him by the rubber company, if he would +advise a certain course; but not deeming it right, he rejected the +offer. When in France, in 1851, the rubber cases coming in controversy +there, Mr. Brady substantially gave in French, to Etienne Blanc, the +French advocate, the materials for his brief." + +Mr. Brady practiced law for thirty-four years, and during the major part +of that time there was scarcely a case of great importance, in either +the civil or criminal courts, in which he did not figure. He was +compelled to refuse case after case from lack of time to give to it; and +yet he frequently found time to respond to the appeals of the courts to +defend men indicted for capital offenses who were unable to procure +counsel. In some of these cases he had scarcely any chance of +preparation, but he always managed to secure the acquittal of his +client, in spite of this drawback. The spirit of kindliness which had so +endeared him to his boyhood's friends pervaded every action of his +maturer life, and he never displayed more energy, more unceasing +vigilance, more irresistible eloquence, than when pleading the cause of +some poor wretch who could only reward him with his thanks. + +His readiness in mastering a case was remarkable, and was greatly +assisted by his profound knowledge of the law. As a rule, in the +ordinary run of cases, it was merely necessary for him to comprehend the +particular case under consideration, since he was already familiar with +the law bearing upon it. + +This readiness is admirably illustrated in the following reminiscence +related of him by the Hon. Luther R. Marsh. Mr. Marsh was engaged in a +case of great importance, in which he desired Mr. Brady's assistance in +the trial. Marsh had thoroughly and patiently studied the case, but +Brady was totally ignorant of it. Nevertheless, he told Mr. Marsh he +would do his best, and that he (Marsh) must open the case as fully and +exhaustively as he could, without reference to him. Mr. Marsh did so, +and says that when he sat down he thought he had _exhausted_ the case, +and was wondering what Brady could find to say in addition to it. To his +astonishment and delight, Brady rose, and in his argument presented +seven new and telling points. + +In the examination of a witness, he could be severe and decisive when he +had occasion to suspect that the person was trying to evade the truth; +but in general his manner was kind and considerate, and he succeeded in +eliciting evidence by his forbearance which others could not have +extorted by bullying. Upon one occasion, he was convinced that a witness +was about to relate a "made-up" story, and he at once fixed upon the man +a look so piercing that the fellow was overwhelmed with confusion and +could not go on with his evidence. Brady promptly changed his tactics, +sent for a glass of water for the witness, and soothed him so +effectually that the heart of the man was won, and, abandoning his false +tale, he made a simple statement of the truth. + +The independence of character exhibited by Mr. Brady has already been +adverted to. Having once traced out the line of duty, nothing could make +him swerve from it, and he was as bold in the defense of the rights of +his clients as of his own. Mr. Edwards Clarke, from whose excellent +memoir is gleaned much of the information upon which this sketch is +based, relates the following incidents in illustration of this quality +of the man: + +"The trial of Baker for the murder of Poole furnished a notable instance +of Mr. Brady's intrepidity in behalf of a client. It was at the height +of the 'Know-Nothing' excitement, and Poole, after receiving the fatal +bullet, having exclaimed, 'I die an American,' succeeded in causing +himself to be regarded as a martyr to the cause. Lingering for days +with--as the _post-mortem_ proved--a bullet deeply imbedded in his +heart, the interest and excitement became intense; and on the day of his +funeral twenty thousand men walked in solemn procession behind the +coffin of the martyred 'rough.' In such a state of public feeling, Baker +was put on trial for his life. At the opening of the charge by the +judge, aroused by its tenor, Mr. Brady seized a pen and commenced +writing rapidly, indignation showing itself in his set lips and frowning +brow. The moment the judge ceased he was on his feet, and began: 'You +have charged the jury thus and thus. I protest against your so stating +it.' The judge said he would listen to the objections after the jury had +retired. 'No!' exclaimed the indignant orator, 'I choose that the jury +should hear those objections;' and, defying interference, he poured +forth impetuously forty-five separate and formal objections, couching +them all emphatically in words of personal protest to the judge. The +force of the judge's charge on that jury was pretty effectually broken. +The indignation of the advocate at this time was real, not simulated; +and he, at least, of the New York bar dared to defy and to denounce +injustice, even when clad in ermine. + +"Another instance of his intrepidity before a judge was in the Busteed +case. The judge had threatened to convict him for contempt. Busteed had +apologized, and Brady also, with his matchless grace and courtesy, had +tendered Busteed's apology; but the judge still said that he should +send him to prison. 'You will, will you?' said Brady; 'I say you will +not.' And, citing authority after authority against his power to do so, +he dared him to thus stretch his prerogative. The judge thought best to +excuse Mr. Busteed." + +Perhaps one of the best instances of his moral courage to be found was +his conduct with reference to the late Edwin M. Stanton. He was +associated with Mr. Stan ton in the Sickles trial, and conceived a warm +personal attachment to him. Mr. Brady remained a Democrat to the last, +and was an active member of Tammany Hall. Upon one occasion, during a +meeting of the Tammany Committee, when the name of Stanton was received +with hisses and yells of objurgation, Brady rose, and facing the crowd +told them "that he knew they hated Edwin M. Stanton, but he, a Democrat, +knew him, and held him in his heart of hearts." It was a bold +declaration, considering the time and place, even for one so highly +esteemed as James T. Brady. + +As before remarked, Mr. Brady never relied upon his eloquence alone for +success at the bar. He had a profound respect for his profession, and +scorned its trickeries. He worked faithfully over the cases intrusted to +him, studied them carefully, and never brought them to trial till he was +thorough master of the law bearing upon them. This enabled him +frequently to present issues which a less learned man would not have +dreamed of. When he was retained as counsel for Huntington the forger, +he conceived the idea that the man was morally unaccountable for his +deed, and his theory of moral insanity, as developed by him in this +case, is one of the most powerful arguments upon the subject to be found +in any language. He read every thing he could find on the subject of +insanity, and when he went into court there was not a physician in the +land better informed with respect to it than he. The cases in which he +was frequently engaged required an unusual acquaintance with medical +jurisprudence, and he was regarded as one of the best authorities on the +subject in the country. + +His power over a jury was remarkable. He never lost sight of the "twelve +peers," and by his dexterous management soon had them so thoroughly +under the influence of his magnetic mind that they hung upon his words, +followed his every act, laughed or cried as he willed, and seemed +capable of thinking only as he permitted them. He defended fifty-one men +for their lives in the course of his practice, and brought them all off +in safety. + +[Illustration: "THEY ARE GOING TO HANG MY BROTHER, AND YOU CAN SAVE +HIM!"] + +Mr. Clarke, from whose memoir I have already quoted, relates the +following incidents in his career: + +"The case of a young man charged with murder, in what was claimed to be +an accidental fracas, attracted a good deal of interest. He was a Mason, +and that society applied to Mr. Brady to defend him, tendering +twenty-five hundred dollars as a fee; but for some cause he declined the +case. Not long after, one afternoon, a neatly-dressed, modest young girl +came to the office and asked for Mr. Brady. Told to walk into his +private office, she timidly approached his desk, and saying, 'Mr. Brady, +they are going to hang my brother, and you can save him. I've brought +you this money; please don't let my brother die,' she burst into tears. +It was a roll of two hundred and fifty dollars, which the poor girl had +begged in sums of five and ten dollars. The kind-hearted man heard her +story. 'They shall not hang your brother, my child,' said he, and +putting the roll of bills in an envelope, told her to take it to her +mother, and he would ask for it when he wanted it. The boy was cleared. +In Mr. Brady's parlor hangs an exquisite picture, by Durand, with a +letter on the back asking him to accept it as a mark of appreciation for +his generous kindness in defending this poor boy. Mr. Brady prized +_that_ picture.... + +"Once when, in the height of his appeal to the jury, a dog began barking +vigorously, he whirled around, shook his finger at the dog and said, +gravely, with the quickness of thought, 'I am Sir Oracle, and when I ope +my lips let no dog bark!' + +"An Irishman once came to his office: 'And are yez Misther Brady?' 'I +am; come in, Patrick. What is it you wish?' 'I ax yer pardon; I oughtn't +to intrude upon yez,' 'But what is it, Patrick?' 'Well, yer honor, it +isn't for the likes o' me to be comin' troublin' yer honor.' 'But tell +me what you want, Pat.' 'Well, yer honor, I came to see ye about a +friend of mine as met wid an accident.' 'An accident?' said Mr. Brady; +'then why don't you go for a doctor?' 'Arrah, sure, you're the docther +for my friend; he had an accident which wants yer honor.' 'Well, what +_was_ it?' 'Well, yer honor, he was arristed for a thrifle of a +burglary, shure.' Quick as Mr. Brady was, with the readiness of his +race, for repartee, he sometimes met his match among his own countrymen. +He was once examining an unwilling witness who persistently called him +Mr. O'Brady. At length, even his proverbial good nature being a little +ruffled, he said to the witness: 'You need not call me Mr. O'Brady. I've +mended my name since I came here and dropped the O.' 'Have ye, now? 'Pon +my sowl it's a pity ye didn't mend yer manners at the same time.'" + +In politics Mr. Brady was a Democrat of the States-Rights school, yet he +always maintained that it was the duty of the citizen to render the +promptest obedience to the General Government. At the outset of the late +war he gave his support to the Government in its war measures, though he +did not separate himself from the Democratic party. He was frequently +solicited by his friends to accept political honors, but he steadily +refused, saying that he wanted no honors outside of his profession. + +In person Mr. Brady was slender and delicate in appearance. What +attracted the gazer at once was his massive head--a head which measured +in its circumference twenty-four and three-eighths inches. Age seemed to +have no effect upon his face. Severe mental labor in the course of years +took away some of the rosy hues of youth, but otherwise it continued as +fresh and as winning as when a boy. + +Mr. Brady never married, but no one was more widely removed from the +typical old bachelor than he. If he had no family of his own, he was the +head of a family of devoted relatives, who gave him ample scope for the +exercise of the domestic affections which were so strong in him. Very +soon after entering upon the practice of his profession his parents +died, leaving his brother and five sisters, all much younger than +himself, helpless. The young lawyer at once declared that the care of +these dear ones should be his first thought, and he devoted himself to +his practice with redoubled energy, in order to provide for them. He +brought his personal expenses down to a low figure, and resolutely kept +them there, yet all the while he was lavish in his generosity to those +whom he loved. He once said to a friend who asked him why he had never +married: "When my father died he left five daughters, who looked to me +for support. All the affection which I could have had for a wife went +out to those sisters, and I have never desired to recall it." He +transferred a share of this affection to the children of those sisters +and of his brother, and was never so happy as when in their company. In +his will he mentions one of his nieces as his "dearly beloved Toot." + +He was very fond of literature, especially of poetry, and devoted a +considerable portion of his time to literary efforts of his own. His +great fame as a lawyer so overshadowed the success he won in literature +that few besides himself knew how much pleasure the popularity of his +writings gave him. + +In the exercise of his profession Mr. Brady won a large fortune. His +income was princely during the greater part of his life, but he saved +comparatively little. He delighted in giving to others. His relatives +were the constant recipients of substantial evidences of his affection +for them, and his charities to the poor were in keeping with his +generous nature. He could not look upon suffering unmoved, and "never +turned his face from any poor man." + +His last appearance in public was at the Gerard dinner, where he was as +brilliant and genial as ever. He seemed to have a foreboding of his +approaching end, however, for the next day he said to one of his family: +"I feel that it is the last time I shall ever appear on a like public +occasion." His fears were prophetic. He was seized with an attack of +paralysis on the morning of the 9th of February, 1869, and breathed his +last at five o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. He died in the +communion of the Catholic Church, and was buried from St. Patrick's +Cathedral, in the city of New York. His death drew forth expressions of +sympathy and respect from all parts of the Union and from men of all +shades of opinion. All felt that a good and useful man, a great +advocate, and an incorruptible citizen had been taken away. + +His was a happy fate. He died in the fullness of his fame, before age +had weakened his faculties or chilled his heart, and dying thus, it may +be said of him, as he once said of another, that he was "a man who had +no guile in his nature, and who died leaving no living creature to +rejoice at his death." + + + + +VII. + +ARTISTS. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +BENJAMIN WEST. + + +At a time when America was regarded in Europe as a savage region, and +when Americans were looked upon as little better than barbarians by the +people of the mother country, it was no slight achievement for an +American artist to rise by the force of his genius to the proud position +of President of the Royal Academy of Great Britain. + +The man who won this triumph was BENJAMIN WEST. He was born in +Springfield, Pennsylvania, on the 10th of October, 1738. His parents +were Quakers, plain, simple people, who feared God, lived a just life, +and desired above all other things that their children should become +pious and useful men and women. The old mansion-house where the future +artist was born was situated in Chester County, and is still standing. +It is not far from Philadelphia, and the place is now called Westdale. +His father's family emigrated from England to America with William Penn, +at his second visit, in 1699. John West married the daughter of Thomas +Pearson, by whom he had ten children. Of these, Benjamin was the +youngest son. His mother was a woman of great piety, and, being once in +attendance upon a memorable religious revival, at which she was terribly +agitated by the preaching of one Edward Peckover, an itinerant Quaker +minister, was taken with premature labor, of which Benjamin West was +born. + +It was predicted that a child who had been brought into the world under +such circumstances would be a man of more than ordinary fame, and the +good mother treasured these prophecies in her heart, and watched the +career of her boy with the keenest interest. + +When he was but seven years old, he was left one day to watch beside the +cradle of the infant child of his eldest sister, who, though married, +was still living at home. Being unusually silent for a long time, his +mother concluded that she would go and see what he was doing. Upon +entering the room where he had been left with his charge, she saw him +kneeling by a chair which he had placed close up to the cradle, gazing +at the infant, and making what she supposed to be marks on a paper which +lay on the chair. Stealing up behind him softly, she saw to her +astonishment that this boy, only seven years old, had executed, with +black and red ink and a pen, an accurate though rude likeness of the +sleeping babe. This was the first evidence he had ever given of his +predilection for art, and was indeed a most surprising performance for +so young a child. + +[Illustration: THE TRUANT'S SECRET DISCOVERED.] + +The next summer a party of Indians came to Springfield to pay their +annual visit, and to please them little Benjamin showed them some +sketches of birds and flowers which he had executed with pen and ink. +The savages were delighted with them, and presented him with the red and +yellow pigments with which they colored their ornaments. In addition to +this gift, they taught him how to prepare these colors, to which he +added another, namely, indigo, which his mother gave him from her +laundry. His colors were rude enough, but his pencils were ruder. They +were made of the hairs which he had pulled from a cat's back and +fastened in the end of a goose-quill. Soon after this, a relative from +Philadelphia, chancing to visit the old homestead, was struck with the +talent of the little fellow, and upon his return to the city sent him a +box of colors, with pencils and canvas and a few prints. He was only +nine years old, but he was a born artist. He had never seen any painting +of merit, and the few prints which his relative gave him were the most +finished productions he had ever seen. The box of colors was his most +precious possession, and it opened to him new fields of enjoyment. The +day of its arrival he gave himself up entirely to the pleasure of +examining it. "Even after going to sleep," says his biographer, "he +awoke more than once during the night, and anxiously put out his hand to +the box, which he had placed by his bedside, half afraid that he might +find his riches only a dream. Next morning he rose at break of day, and, +carrying his colors and canvas to the garret, proceeded to work. Every +thing else was now unheeded; even his attendance at school was given up. +As soon as he got out of the sight of his father and mother, he stole to +his garret, and there passed the hours in a world of his own. At last, +after he had been absent from school some days, the master called at his +father's house to inquire what had become of him. This led to the +discovery of his secret occupation. His mother, proceeding to the +garret, found the truant; but so much was she astonished and delighted +by the creation of his pencil, which also met her view when she entered +the apartment, that, instead of rebuking him, she could only take him in +her arms and kiss him with transports of affection. He made a new +composition of his own out of two of the engravings, which he had +colored from his own feeling of the proper tints; and so perfect did +the appearance already appear to his mother, that, although half the +canvas yet remained uncovered, she would not suffer him to add another +touch to what he had done. Mr. Gait, West's biographer, saw the picture +in the state in which it had thus been left sixty-seven years afterward; +and the artist himself used to acknowledge that in none of his +subsequent efforts had he been able to excel some of the touches of +invention in this his first essay." + +His next effort was a landscape, which comprehended a view of a river, +with vessels in the stream and cattle browsing on the banks. He could +not have been much over ten years of age at this time, and the picture, +though insignificant in itself, is remarkable as the work of a child. He +subsequently presented it to his friend, Mr. William Henry, of +Lancaster, whose family still retain possession of it. He visited +Philadelphia soon after, and received a few simple instructions in the +practical portion of his art, after which he went about through the +towns of the vicinity of his home, painting portraits of his friends. At +length he was sent for by Mrs. Ross, of Lancaster, a lady famed for her +great beauty, to paint the portraits of herself and her family--a great +honor for a lad of twelve. + +It was in Lancaster, in the year 1750, that he made the acquaintance of +Mr. William Henry. That gentleman became deeply interested in the +precocious boy, and frequently came to watch him at his +portrait-painting. One day he said to Benjamin, that if he (Henry) could +paint equally well he would not waste his time upon portraits, but would +devote himself to historical subjects. In the course of the conversation +to which this remark gave rise, Mr. Henry proposed to him to make an +attempt in this direction, and suggested to him "The Death of Socrates" +as his first subject. The little artist frankly avowed that he had +never heard of the great philosopher, and Mr. Henry at once went to his +library and brought out a volume of Plutarch, from which he read to the +boy the beautiful story of the wise man's death. West listened with the +deepest interest, and expressed his perfect readiness to undertake the +task, but feared he would have difficulty in painting the figure of the +slave who presented the poison, and which he thought ought to be naked, +since he had hitherto painted only men with their clothes on. Mr. Henry +had in his employ a young man of fine appearance, and upon hearing +West's objection at once sent for him. As the workman entered the room +Henry pointed to him, and said to West, "There's your model." West took +the hint, painted the picture, which was purchased by Mr. Henry, and +thenceforth determined that in his art he would look only into nature +for his models. + +At the age of sixteen he returned to Springfield. He was anxious to +continue his career as an artist, and as his parents were satisfied that +he was now old enough to enter upon some permanent occupation, they +agreed that his wishes should be submitted to a public meeting of the +Society of Friends. The meeting was called, and the matter was laid +before them, the boy himself being present. His relatives and friends +were all very proud of his talents, but as the profession of an artist +was so entirely at variance with all Quaker habits and ideas, they felt +that the subject was one which ought not to be rashly decided. Silence +prevailed for a long time after the opening of the meeting, but at +length John Williamson, moved by the Spirit, rose and addressed the +assemblage, declaring his belief that as the youth had not derived his +fondness for art from any of his associations or surroundings, and since +it was so manifestly a special gift from the Creator, it was their plain +duty to bid him go forward in the path that had been marked out for +him, and to wish him God-speed in his efforts. At the close of his +remarks silence again fell upon the assembly. Then the women rose, and +approaching the lad, one by one, kissed him on the cheek, and the men, +laying their hands on his head, prayed that the Lord might verify in his +life the value of the gift which had induced them, in spite of their +religious tenets on the subject, to allow him to enter upon the +permanent exercises of the profession so dear to his heart. + +Thus was he dedicated to his art, and at the same time separated to a +certain degree from his Quaker brethren. Not long after this he violated +every principle of the Quaker dispensation by volunteering under Major +Sir Peter Halket to go in search of the remains of Braddock's army. + +In 1756, at the age of eighteen, he established himself in Philadelphia +as a portrait painter, and soon after removed to New York, where he +painted portraits at five guineas a head, occasionally attempting an +historical piece. When he was twenty years old he made a visit to +Europe--a visit which decided his destiny. A famine in the south of +Europe induced a Philadelphia merchant to dispatch a vessel laden with +flour to Leghorn, and his son, who was to take passage in the ship, +proposed to West to accompany him, and thus secure an opportunity of +seeing the art-treasures of the Old World. West promptly accepted the +invitation, and some of his friends in New York provided him with an +outfit for the voyage. Upon arriving at Gibraltar, the vessel was +boarded by a British officer, who proved to be a kinsman of the son of +the owner of the ship, and he not only passed them without molestation, +but enabled them to secure unusual facilities in the voyage up the +Mediterranean. West arrived in Rome in July, 1759, and was kindly +received by the English Lord Grantham, to whom he bore letters of +introduction. + +"Among the distinguished persons whom Mr. West found in Rome, was the +celebrated Cardinal Albani. At an evening party, the Cardinal became +curious to witness the effect which the works of art in the Belvidere +and Vatican would produce on the young artist. The whole company, which +consisted of the principal Roman nobility and strangers of distinction +then in Rome, were interested in the event, and it was arranged, in the +course of the evening, that, on the following morning, they should +accompany West to the palaces. At the hour appointed, the company +assembled, and a procession consisting of upwards of thirty of the most +magnificent equipages in the capital of Christendom, and filled with +some of the most erudite characters in Europe, conducted the young +Quaker to view the masterpieces of art. It was agreed that the 'Apollo' +should be first submitted to his view, because it was the most perfect +work among all the ornaments of Rome, and, consequently, the best +calculated to produce that effect which the company were anxious to +witness. The statue then stood in a case, inclosed with doors, which +could be so opened as to disclose it at once to full view. West was +placed in the situation where it was seen to the most advantage, and the +spectators arranged themselves on each side. When the keeper threw open +the doors, the artist felt himself surprised with a sudden recollection +altogether different from the gratification which he had expected, and +without being aware of the force of what he said, exclaimed, 'My God! +how like it is to a young Mohawk warrior.' The Italians, observing his +surprise and hearing the exclamation, were excessively mortified to find +that the god of their idolatry was compared to a savage. They mentioned +their chagrin, and asked West to give some more distinct explanation, by +informing them what sort of people the Mohawk Indians were. He described +to them their education, their dexterity with the bow and arrow, the +admirable elasticity of their limbs, and how much their active life +expands the chest, while the quick breathing of their speed in the chase +dilates the nostrils with that apparent consciousness of vigor which is +so nobly depicted in the 'Apollo.' 'I have seen them often,' added he, +'standing in that very attitude, and pursuing with an intense eye the +arrow which they had just discharged from the bow,' The Italians were +delighted with this descriptive explanation, and allowed that a better +criticism had never been pronounced on the merits of the statue." + +Soon after his arrival in Rome, West painted a portrait of Lord +Grantham, which won him considerable reputation. It was at first +attributed to Raphael Meugs, but when the true artist was announced, and +the circumstances of his history became known, West found himself +suddenly famous, with orders enough to place him at once in comfortable +circumstances. Cardinal Albani and Lord Grantham were very kind to him +during his stay in Rome, and Raphael Meugs advised him to make a careful +tour of study through the Italian art capitals. While in Rome he painted +two pictures, "Cimon and Iphigenia," and "Angelica and Medora," which +were well received, and during this period he was elected a member by +the Academies of Florence, Bologna, and Parma. He made the tour advised +by Meugs, remaining in Italy several years. Thence he proceeded to +France, where he passed a short time in studying the French masters, +after which he went to England, intending to sail from that country for +America, where he had left his heart behind him in the keeping of a +young Quakeress of Philadelphia. + +He reached London in 1763, and while continuing his studies here, +whither his reputation had preceded him from Italy, undertook some +commissions for Archbishop Drummond and several other church +dignitaries. These attracted general admiration, and his countrymen +residing in London were prompt to recognize and proclaim his genius. He +had relatives living in England, so that he was not an entire stranger +there. His success was marked from the first, and his friends urged him +to profit by so favorable a beginning, give up his idea of returning to +America, and make his permanent home in England. This he at length +decided to do, and devoted himself with increased ardor to his labors. +In two years he considered himself sufficiently well established to send +to Philadelphia for his betrothed. This lady, Miss Elizabeth Shewell, +came out to England under the care of his father, and in the same year, +1765, West was married to her in London. She was a lady of great +amiability of character, and by the English was often spoken of as the +Philadelphia beauty. + +Soon after his arrival in England he produced a large painting on a +subject from Tacitus, "Agrippina Landing with the Ashes of Germanicus." +It was a decided success. George the Third was deeply impressed with it, +and congratulated West warmly upon its merits. At the same time the king +gave him a commission for a painting,--the subject to be "The Death of +Regulus,"--and thus began the friendship between the monarch and the +artist, which lasted for nearly forty years. He was a hard worker, and +during his long life his pictures followed each other in rapid +succession. They are estimated by a writer in Blackwood's Magazine at +three thousand in number. Mr. Dunlap says that they would cover a wall +ten feet high and a quarter of a mile long if arranged side by side on a +flat surface. The most famous are his "Death of Wolfe;" "Regulus, a +Prisoner to the Carthaginians;" "The Battle of La Hogue;" "The Death of +Bayard;" "Hamilcar Swearing the Infant Hannibal at the Altar;" "The +Departure of Regulus;" "Agrippina Landing with the Ashes of +Germanicus;" "Christ Healing the Sick;" "Death on the Pale Horse;" "The +Descent of the Holy Ghost on the Saviour in the Jordan;" "The +Crucifixion;" and "Christ Rejected." + +The picture which brought him most prominently before the public, and +which placed his popularity beyond dispute, was "The Death of Wolfe at +Quebec." It was fashionable at this time to treat nothing but subjects +from ancient history, and when West announced his intention of painting +a picture of contemporary history his friends warned him that he was +incurring a serious risk. Nevertheless he finished his "Death of Wolfe," +and it was exhibited in the National Gallery. The public "acknowledged +its excellence at once, but the lovers of old art--called +classical--complained of the barbarism of boots, buttons, and +blunderbusses, and cried out for naked warriors, with bows, bucklers, +and battering rams." Lord Grosvenor was much pleased with the picture, +and finally purchased it, though he did so with hesitation, daunted to +some extent by the fierce storm of opposition with which the critics +received it. Sir Joshua Reynolds, then the President of the Royal +Academy, and the Archbishop of York, called on West and protested +against his barbarous innovation, but he declared to them that "the +event to be commemorated happened in the year 1759, in a region of the +world unknown to Greeks and Romans, and at a period of the world when no +warrior who wore classic costume existed. The same rule which gives law +to the historian should rule the painter." When the king saw the picture +he was delighted both with it and West's originality, and declared that +he was sorry Lord Grosvenor had been before him in purchasing it. This +was the inauguration of a new era in British art, and Sir Joshua +Reynolds was obliged to declare, "West has conquered. I foresee that +this picture will not only become one of the most popular, but will +occasion a revolution in art." This frank avowal was as honorable to Sir +Joshua as to West. + +West painted for George the Third a number of subjects taken from the +early history of England, and received from the same monarch a +commission for a series of paintings illustrating the progress of +revealed religion, with which the king designed to ornament the chapel +at Windsor Castle. Of these twenty-eight were finished when the Prince +of Wales, afterward George the Fourth, came into power as Prince Regent, +and the commission was withdrawn. The artist then began a series of +grand religious subjects, upon which he was still engaged when death +called him to rest from all his labors. Of those which were completed, +"Death on the Pale Horse" and "Christ Healing the Sick" are the best +known in this country. + +In 1792, upon the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds, West was made President +of the Royal Academy. The king wished to confer upon him the honor of +knighthood, but he declined it, alleging that he was not wealthy enough +to support the dignity of the position. In consequence of dissensions in +the Academy, West resigned his presidency in 1802. The post was filled +for a year by James Wyatt, the architect, and at the close of that time +West was re-elected by every ballot but one--that of Fuseli, who voted +for Mrs. Lloyd, a member of the Academy, declaring that he considered +"one old woman as good as another." West continued in this office until +his death. + +The close of his life was blessed with ample means, and, as he was in +the full possession of all his faculties and covered with art's +supremest honors, it may be regarded as the happiest portion of his +career. His house was always open to Americans visiting England, and few +things pleased him more than to listen to news from his native village. +He was a kind and judicious friend to young artists, especially to those +of his own country studying in England, and took a lively pleasure in +their success. Leigh Hunt, whose mother was a relative of West, has left +us the following description of him: + +"The appearance of West was so gentlemanly that the moment he changed +his gown for a coat he seemed to be full dressed. The simplicity and +self-possession of the young Quaker, not having time enough to grow +stiff--for he went early to Rome--took up, I suppose, with more ease +than most would have done, the urbanities of his new position. Yet this +man, so well bred, and so indisputably clever in his art, whatever might +be the amount of his genius, had received a homely or careless +education, and pronounced some of his words with a puritanical +barbarism; he would talk of his art all day. There were strong +suspicions of his leaning to his native side in politics, and he could +not restrain his enthusiasm for Bonaparte. How he managed these matters +with the higher powers in England I can not say." + +Possessed originally of a sound and vigorous constitution, which he had +not weakened by any species of dissipation, West lived to a good old +age, and died in London on the 11th of March, 1820, in his eighty-second +year. He was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, by the side of Sir Joshua +Reynolds, and under the same great dome which covers the tombs of Nelson +and Wellington. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +JOHN ROGERS. + + +There is scarcely a family of means and taste in the country but is the +possessor of one or more of Rogers's groups in plaster. You see them in +every art or book-store window, and they are constantly finding new +admirers, and rendering the name of the talented sculptor more and more +a household word. + +JOHN ROGERS, to whom the world is indebted for this new branch of art, +was born at Salem, Massachusetts, on the 30th of October, 1829. His +ancestors were among the original settlers of the colony, and have +resided in Salem for generations. His father, a merchant of moderate +means and good reputation, was anxious to train his son to some regular +and profitable business. As the basis of this, he gave the boy a good +education in the common schools of the town, and in 1845, when he was +sixteen years old, placed him in a dry-goods store in Boston to learn +the business. He remained there for two years. + +He gave early evidence of his artistic genius, and when a mere child had +shown a taste and talent for drawing which increased with his years, and +made him eager to become an artist. His parents, however, were desirous +of seeing him rich rather than famous, and did all in their power to +discourage him from making choice of a vocation which they considered +but little better than vagabondage. They magnified the difficulties and +trials of an artist's career, and so far succeeded in their efforts that +he entirely abandoned his wish to make art a means of livelihood. He was +not willing to forsake it altogether, however--he was too true an artist +at heart for that--but contented himself for the time with continuing +his efforts, merely as a means of personal enjoyment. + +In 1847, feeling satisfied that he was not suited to a mercantile life, +Mr. Rogers gave up his clerkship in Boston, and obtained a place in the +corps of engineers engaged in the construction of the Cochituate Water +Works. Here he had a fine opportunity for cultivating his talent for +drawing, but the constant labor which he underwent so injured his eyes +that he was compelled to give up his position. His physician advised him +to make an ocean voyage for the purpose of re-establishing his health. +Acting upon this advice, he made a short visit to Spain, and returned +home very much improved by the voyage and the rest his eyes had enjoyed. + +In 1848, soon after his return to this country, he entered a machine +shop in Manchester, New Hampshire, to learn the trade of a machinist. He +worked at this trade for a period of seven years, applying himself to it +with great diligence and determination, and acquiring much mechanical +skill and a thorough knowledge of the trade. He rose steadily through +the various grades of his new calling--from the bench of the apprentice +to the post of draughtsman in the designing department. + +During this period he devoted himself enthusiastically to his art. Soon +after his return from Spain, he had observed a young man modeling a +figure in clay, and by closely observing him had learned the process, +which until then was unknown to him. The labor of the youth pleased him +very much, and the more because he saw in it a new means of artistic +expression. He at once procured some clay, and, taking it to his room, +commenced to practice upon the lesson which he had just received. From +this time forward he continued his art labors, giving to them all the +leisure time he could spare from his duties in the shop, where he was +compelled to work from five A.M. until seven P.M. He would go to his +room after supper, and by the light of a tallow candle work late into +the night, modeling figures in clay, and bringing new fancies into +shape. He says that frequently, although exhausted by his severe labor +at the shop, he would be unable to sleep until he had molded into clay +the idea which possessed his mind. These night studies, superadded to +his daily duties, proved very trying to him. Yet he persevered, +encouraged by his success with his figures. He endeavored to persuade +some of his relatives to aid him in securing a better education as an +artist, such as would have enabled him to abandon the machine shop; but +they turned a deaf ear to him, and he was thus compelled to continue his +daily task, which, under these circumstances, naturally grew more and +more irksome. + +In 1856, he was enabled to better his condition for a short time. He was +offered the place of manager of a railroad machine-shop at Hannibal, +Missouri, and promptly accepted it. In six months, however, he was out +of employment, the panic of 1857 having caused the machine-shop to +suspend operations. Having a little money in hand, which he had saved +from his wages, he resolved to visit Europe, and study the works of the +great masters in his art, and, if he could, to take lessons in sculpture +from some competent teacher in the Old World. He went to Paris and Rome, +remaining in those cities for a period of eight months, and endeavoring +to share the enthusiasm for the great works around him which the artist +world manifested. At the end of that time he came home convinced that +classic art had no attractions for him, and was almost ready to declare +that he had none of the true inspiration of an artist. + +He did not stop long in the East upon his return. Going West at once, he +obtained a situation in the office of the Surveyor of the city of +Chicago. In this position he worked hard and faithfully, and his +employers soon found that in him they had obtained a prize. + +Meantime, although so much disheartened by his failure to accomplish any +thing in Europe, he did not abandon his art studies, but continued to +model figures in clay, and shortly after his arrival in Chicago, gave +one of his groups to some ladies of that city, to be sold at a fair in +behalf of some benevolent purpose. This was the "Checker Players," and +was the first of his efforts ever submitted to the public. Its success +was immediate. It proved one of the most attractive features of the +fair, and the newspapers pronounced it one of the most satisfactory +evidences of native genius ever seen in Chicago. Mr. Rogers was much +pleased with its success, and soon followed it with "The Town Pump," one +of his most popular compositions. + +The popularity which these efforts attained, opened John Rogers's eyes +to a correct perception of his true mission in life. He was not capable +of accomplishing any thing in classic art, but here was a field in which +a renown, unique and brilliant, might be won, and in which he might +endear himself to thousands of hearts in the great world in which he +lived. Both fame and wealth seemed opening up before him. He did not +hesitate long, but resolved to follow the leadings of his genius. Having +heard that a new process of flexible molds had been invented, by which +the most intricate designs could be cast with ease, he came to New York +in 1859, bringing with him his "Checker Players" and "Town Pump," and +the model of a new group on which he was then engaged. Seeking an +Italian familiar with the new process, he engaged him to cast his +figures in plaster by means of it, and from him he learned how to +practice the new method himself. + +He now put forth his "Slave Auction," which he had modeled in Chicago +and brought to New York with him. The antislavery excitement was then at +its height, and this effort aroused the sympathy and won Mr. Rogers the +support of the greater part of the people of the Northern States. There +was a large demand for the group, and Mr. Rogers soon found himself +obliged to employ assistance to fill the orders which kept crowding in +upon him. By selecting a subject which was of the deepest interest to +the people of the country, he had thus attracted attention to his +merits, and he felt sure that by keeping the people supplied with works +illustrative of the topics of the day, he would win the success to which +he aspired. + +He now ventured to establish himself permanently in New York, and, +renting the garret of a Broadway building, set up his studio in it, and +issued this modest card: "John Rogers, Artist, Designs and Executes +Groups of Figures in Composition at his Studio, 599 Broadway." The +success of his works had been so marked as to induce him to believe that +he would have no difficulty in establishing a permanent business, and he +set to work with enthusiasm. In quick succession he produced his +"Fairy's Whisper" and "Air Castles," the latter of which is the only +commission he has ever executed. The war began soon after, and supplied +him with an abundance of popular subjects. These war subjects attracted +universal attention, and sold as rapidly as he could supply them. A New +York journal thus describes the "sensation" which they created in that +city: + +"All day, and every day, week in and week out, there is an +ever-changing crowd of men, women, and children standing stationary amid +the ever-surging tides of Broadway, before the windows of Williams & +Stevens, gazing with eager interest upon the statuettes and groups of +John Rogers, the sculptor. These works appeal to a deep popular +sentiment. They are not pretentious displays of gods, goddesses, ideal +characters, or stupendous, world-compelling heroes. They are +illustrations of American domestic and especially of American military +life--not of our great generals or our bold admirals, or the men whose +praises fill all the newspapers, but of the common soldier of the Union; +not of the common soldier, either, in what might be called his high +heroic moods and moments, when, with waving sword and flaming eye, he +dashes upon the enemy's works, but of the soldier in the ordinary +moments and usual occupations of every-day camp life. For the last year +or more Mr. Rogers has been at work mainly on groups of this latter +class and character. Thus he has given us 'The Returned Volunteer, or +How the Fort was Taken,' being a group of three gathered in a +blacksmith's shop, the characters consisting of the blacksmith himself, +standing with his right foot on the anvil block, and his big hammer in +his hands, listening eagerly, with his little girl, to a soldier who +sits close by on his haunches, narrating 'how the fort was taken,' We +have also another group of three, 'The Picket Guard,' spiritedly +sketched, as in eager, close, and nervous search for the enemy; the +'Sharpshooters,' another group of three, or rather of two men and a +scarecrow, illustrating a curious practice in our army of deceiving the +enemy; the 'Town Pump,' a scene in which a soldier, uniformed and +accoutered, is slaking his thirst and holding blessed converse beside +the pump with a pretty girl who has come for a pail of water; the 'Union +Refugees,' a pathetic and noble group, consisting of a stalwart and +sad-faced East Tennesseean or Virginian, who accompanied by his wife, +who leans her head upon his bosom, and by his little boy, who looks up +eagerly into his face, has started off from home with only his gun upon +his shoulder and his powder-horn by his side, to escape the tyranny of +the rebels; 'The Camp Fire, or Making Friends with the Cook,' in which a +hungry soldier, seated upon an inverted basket, is reading a newspaper +to an 'intelligent contraband,' who is stirring the contents of a huge +and ebullient pot hung over the fire; 'Wounded to the Rear, or One More +Shot,' in which a soldier is represented as dressing his wounded leg, +while his companion, with his left arm in a sling, is trying to load his +gun to take another shot at the enemy, at whom he looks defiantly; 'Mail +Day,' which tells its own story of a speculative soldier, seated on a +stone and racking his poor brains to find some ideas to transcribe upon +the paper which he holds upon his knee, to be sent perchance to her he +loves; 'The Country Postmaster, or News from the Army,' which, though a +scene from civil life, tells of the anxiety of the soldier's wife or +sweetheart to get tidings from the brave volunteer who is periling his +life on the battle-field; 'The Wounded Scout, or a Friend in the Swamp,' +representing a soldier, torn, and bleeding, and far gone, rescued and +raised up by a faithful and kind-hearted negro--which we think is one of +the best, if not the very best, of Mr. Rogers's works; and lastly, a +group called 'The Home Guard, or Midnight on the Border,' in which a +heroic woman, accompanied by a little girl, is represented as stepping +out, pistol in hand, to confront the assailants of her humble home." + +In 1862 Mr. Rogers removed his studio to the corner of Fifth Avenue and +Twenty-sixth Street, where he still remains. He has followed up the +earlier productions named above with "The Bushwhacker," a scene +representing a Tennessee loyalist dogging the footsteps of the Southern +army; "Taking the Oath and Drawing Rations," the best and certainly the +most popular of his works,--a group of four, representing a Southern +lady with her little boy, compelled to take the oath of allegiance in +order to obtain rations for her family. A negro boy, bearing a basket +for his mistress, leans on the barrel watching the proceeding with the +most intense interest. The woman's face is wonderful, and it expresses +eloquently the struggle in her breast between her devotion to the South +and her love for the boy before her, and the officer tendering the oath +almost speaks the sympathy which her suffering has awakened in him. The +other works of our artist are "Uncle Ned's School," "The Charity +Patient," "The School Examination," "The Council of War," "The Courtship +in Sleepy Hollow," "The Fugitive's Story," "Challenging the Union Vote," +and "Rip Van Winkle." + +The process by which these exquisite groups are produced is exceedingly +simple, but is one requiring considerable skill and delicacy of +manipulation, and although the casting could readily be done by +competent assistants, Mr. Rogers conscientiously gives his personal +attention to every detail of the process. The artist takes a mass of wet +clay of the desired consistency and size, and fashions it roughly with +his hands to something like the proper shape. "It is sometimes necessary +to make a little frame of wire upon which to lay the clay, to hold it in +its proper place, the wire being easily made to take any form. The rough +figure is then finished with the molding stick, which is simply a stick +of pine with a little spoon of box-wood attached to each end, one spoon +being more delicate than the other. With this instrument the artist +works upon the clay with surprising ease. The way in which the works are +reproduced is as follows: When the clay model is complete, a single +plaster cast is taken for a pattern, and is finished with the most +scrupulous care by Mr. Rogers himself. This cast is used as a pattern +for making whatever number of molds may be needed to supply the demand +for any particular group or statue. The molds are made of glue softened +with water, so as to be about as limber as India-rubber. This is poured +over the pattern while in a warm and liquid condition; it is, therefore, +necessary to surround the pattern with a stiff case to hold the glue in +place. This case is made of plaster, and is built up by hand around the +pattern. When the glue has become sufficiently hard, it is cut by a thin +sharp knife and pulled off the pattern. The parts are put together and +bound by cord, making a perfect glue mold. The plaster of Paris is then +poured into the mold inverted. A number of crooked pieces of wire are +also placed in the mold to strengthen the figure. In about twenty +minutes the plaster sets so as to allow the case to be opened, and the +glue mold to be pulled off. To his proficiency in the mechanical part of +his art Mr. Rogers attributes a considerable measure of his success, as +it enables him to execute with facility every suggestion of his +imagination, and to secure the perfect reproduction of his works by +those to whom he intrusts that labor." + +By placing his works at popular prices, ranging from $10 to $25 each, +Mr. Rogers has insured the largest sale and greatest popularity for +them, and has thus become a national benefactor. It is now within the +power of every person of moderate means to possess one or more of his +exquisite groups, and in this way the artist has not only secured to +himself a sure means of wealth, but has done much to encourage and +foster a popular love for, and appreciation of, the art of which he is +so bright an ornament. + +It was a bold venture to depart so entirely from all the precedents of +art, but the result has vindicated both the artist's genius and his +quick appreciation of the intelligence of his countrymen. "We can not +enter into the feelings of ancient Greece," says a popular journal, in +summing up his efforts, "and our artists who spend their time in +attempting to reproduce that ancient art are only imitators. Their works +interest only a small class of connoisseurs, and that interest is an +antiquarian interest. It is not a vital, living interest, such as a +Greek felt in his own work. It is not the natural, healthful, artistic +feeling, the feeling for the beauty of realities, except in so far as it +represents the feeling for the eternal attributes of beautiful form. It +is an effort on the part of our artists to impose the forms and features +of another age upon this one,--a task as impossible in art as in +society, religion, and national politics." + +Mr. Rogers is now in his forty-first year, and of all our American +artists is, perhaps, the one best known to the masses, and the most +popular. He is of medium height, carries himself erectly, and is quick +and energetic in his movements. His face is frank, manly, and open, and +the expression, though firm and resolute,--as that of a man who has +fought so hard for success must be,--is winning and genial. He is a +gentleman of great cultivation of mind, and is said by his friends to be +one of the most entertaining of companions. In 1865 he married a +daughter of Mr. C.S. Francis, of New York, and his fondness for domestic +life leads him to pass his leisure hours chiefly by his own fireside. + + +[Illustration: HIRAM POWERS.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +HIRAM POWERS. + + +Hiram Powers was born in Woodstock, Vermont, on the 29th of July, 1805. +He was the eighth in a family of nine children, and was the son of a +farmer who found it hard to provide his little household with the +necessaries of life. He grew up as most New England boys do, sound and +vigorous in health, passing the winters in attendance upon the district +schools, and the summers in working on the farm. "The only distinctive +trait exhibited by the child was mechanical ingenuity; he excelled in +caricature, was an adept in constructiveness, having made countless +wagons, windmills, and weapons for his comrades, attaining the height of +juvenile reputation as the inventor of what he called a 'patent fuse.'" + +The Powers family lived just over the river, opposite the village, and +all joined heartily in the effort to keep the wolf from the doors. Mr. +Powers, Sen., was induced to become security for one of his friends, +and, as frequently happens, lost all he had in consequence. Following +close upon this disaster came a dreadful famine in the State, caused by +an almost total failure of the crops. "I recollect," says Mr. Powers, +"we cut down the trees, and fed our few cows on the browse. We lived so +long wholly on milk and potatoes, that we got almost to loathe them. +There were seven of us children, five at home, and it was hard work to +feed us." + +One of the sons had managed to secure an education at Dartmouth College, +and had removed to Cincinnati, where he was at this time editing a +newspaper. Thither his father, discouraged by the famine, determined to +follow him. Accordingly, placing his household goods and his family in +three wagons, and being joined by another family, he set out on the long +journey to the West. This was in 1819, when young Hiram was fourteen +years old. It cost him a sharp struggle to leave his old home, and as +they climbed the hills beyond Woodstock he lingered behind with his +mother to take a last view of the place. They crossed the State, and +passing through western New York came to the vicinity of Niagara Falls. +They were near enough to the great cataract to hear its solemn roar +sounding high above the silent woods. The boy was eager to visit it, but +the distance was too great to the falls, and he was forced to relinquish +this pleasure. Continuing their journey westward, they reached the Ohio +River, down which stream they floated on a flatboat until they came to +Cincinnati, then a city of fourteen thousand inhabitants. + +Through the assistance of his eldest son, the editor, Mr. Powers was +enabled to secure a farm not far from Cincinnati, and removing his +family to it, began the task of clearing and cultivating it. +Unfortunately for the new-comers, the farm was located on the edge of a +pestilential marsh, the poisonous exhalations of which soon brought the +whole family down with the ague. Mr. Powers the elder died from this +disease, and Hiram was ill and disabled from it for a whole year. The +family was broken up and scattered, and our hero, incapable of +performing hard work so soon after his sickness, obtained a place in a +produce store in Cincinnati, his duty being to watch the principal road +by which the farmers' wagons, laden with grain and corn whisky, came +into the city, and to inform the men in charge of them that they could +obtain better prices for their produce from his employers than from any +other merchants in the city. It was also a part of his duty to help to +roll the barrels from the wagons to the store. He made a very good +"drummer," and gave satisfaction to his employers, but as the concern +soon broke up, he was again without employment. + +His brother, the editor, now came to his assistance, and made a bargain +with the landlord of a hotel in the city to establish a reading-room at +his hotel. The landlord was to provide the room and obtain a few paying +subscribers; the editor was to stock it with his exchange newspapers, +and Hiram was to be put in charge of it and receive what could be made +by it. The reading-room was established, but as the landlord failed to +comply with his agreement, Powers was forced to abandon the undertaking. + +[Illustration: POWERS' DISTRUST OF THE HUNTERS.] + +"About that time," said he, in relating his early life to the Rev. Dr. +Bellows, some years ago, "looking around anxiously for the means of +living, I fell in with a worthy man, a clock-maker and organ-builder, +who was willing to employ me to collect bad debts in the country. He put +me on an old horse which had one very bad fault. He was afflicted with +what the Western people called the 'swaleys,' and could not go downhill. +I frequently had to dismount and back him down, as the only way of +getting along. The road often lay through forests and clearings, in +mire, and among the roots of the beeches, with which my poor beast was +constantly struggling. I would sometimes emerge from a dark wood, five +miles through, perhaps, and find myself near a clearing where the +farmer's house I was seeking lay, half a mile off the road. Picking up +a stout club to defend myself against the inevitable dog, which, in the +absence of men-folks, guarded every log-house, I plodded across the +plowed field, soon to be met by the ferocious beast, who, not seeing a +stranger more than once a month, was always furious and dangerous. Out +would come, at length, the poor woman, too curious to see who it was +that broke up her monotonous solitude, to call off the dog, who +generally grew fiercer as he felt his backer near him, and it was +commonly with a feeling as of a bare escape of my life that I finally +got into the house. It was sad enough, too, often to find sickness and +death in those fever-stricken abodes--a wan mother nursing one dying +child, with perhaps another dead in the house. My business, too, was not +the most welcome. I came to dun a delinquent debtor, who had perhaps +been inveigled by some peddler of our goods into an imprudent purchase, +for a payment which it was inconvenient or impossible to make. There, in +the corner, hung the wooden clock, the payment for which I was after, +ticking off the last minutes of the sick child--the only ornament of the +poor cabin. It was very painful to urge my business under such +circumstances. However, I succeeded, by kindness, in getting more money +than I expected from our debtors, who would always pay when they could. +I recollect, one night, almost bewailing my success. I had reached the +entrance of a forest, at least nine miles through, and finding a little +tavern there, concluded it was prudent to put up and wait till morning. +There were two rough-looking fellows around, hunters, with rifles in +their hands, whose appearance did not please me, and I fancied they +looked at each other significantly when the landlord took off my +saddle-bags and weighted them, feeling the hundred dollars of silver I +had collected. I was put into the attic, reached by a ladder, and, +barricading the trap-door as well as I could, went to sleep with one +eye open. Nothing, however, occurred, and in the morning I found my +wild-looking men up as early as I, and was not a little disturbed when +they proposed to keep me company across the forest. Afraid to show any +suspicion, I consented, and then went and looked at the little +flint-pistol I carried, formidable only to sparrows, but which was my +only defense. + +"About two miles into the wood, my fierce-looking friends, after some +exchange of understanding as to their respective ways and meeting-point, +started off on different sides of the road in search of game, as they +said, but, as I feared, with the purpose of robbing and perhaps +murdering me at some darker spot in the forest. I had gone perhaps two +miles farther, when I heard the breaking of a twig, and, looking on one +side, saw a hand signaling me to stop. Presently an eye came out behind +the tree, and then an arm, and I verily thought my hour had come. But, +keeping straight on, I perceived, almost instantly, to my great relief, +two fine deer, who appeared not at all disturbed by a man on horseback, +though ready enough to fly from a gun, and began to suspect that the +robber I was dreading was, after all, only a hunter in the honest +pursuit of his living. The crack of the rifle soon proved that the deer, +and not my saddle-bags, were the game aimed at, and I found my +imagination had for twelve hours been converting very harmless huntsmen +into highwaymen of a most malicious aspect." + +His employer was so well pleased with the success of his young collector +that he offered to give him a place in the factory, saying there would +always be plenty of rough work at which an inexperienced hand could +employ himself. "I could refuse no proposition that promised me bread +and clothes," said he, "for I was often walking the streets hungry, with +my arms pressed close to my sides to conceal the holes in my coat +sleeves." His first task was to thin down with a file some brass plates +which were to be used as parts of the stops of an organ. Powers was +expected to do merely the rough work, after which the plates were to +pass into the hands of the regular finisher. His employer, knowing that +the task was one which would require time, told him he would look in in +a few days, and see how he had succeeded. The young man's mechanical +talent, on which he had prided himself when a boy in Vermont, now did +him good service, and he applied himself to his task with skill and +determination. When his employer asked for the plates, he was astonished +to find that Powers had not only done the rough work, but had finished +them much better than the regular finisher had ever done, and this +merely by his greater nicety of eye and his undaunted energy. He had +blistered his hands terribly, but had done his work well. His employer +was delighted, and, finding him so valuable an assistant, soon gave him +the superintendence of all his machinery, and took him to live in his +own family. + +As has been stated, his employer's business was the manufacture of +organs and clocks. Powers displayed great skill in the management of the +mechanical department of the business, and this, added to the favor +shown him by the "boss," drew upon him the jealousy of the other +workmen. There hung in the shop at this time an old silver bull's-eye +watch, a good time-piece, but very clumsy and ungainly in appearance. +Powers was anxious to become its owner. Being too poor to buy it, he hit +upon the following expedient for obtaining it. He had carefully studied +the machine used in the shop for cutting out wooden clock wheels, and +had suggested to his employer several improvements in it. The workmen, +however, had ridiculed his suggestions, and had denounced as the most +barefaced presumption his belief that he could improve a machine which +had come all the way from Connecticut, where, they said, people were +supposed to know something about clocks. Nevertheless, he maintained his +opinions, and told his employer that if he would give him the silver +watch, he would invent a much better machine. His offer was accepted, +and in ten days he produced a machine, not only much simpler than the +old one, but capable of performing twice as much and better work. The +workmen promptly acknowledged his success, and his employer gave him the +watch. "The old watch," said he, a few years ago, "has ticked all my +children into existence, and three of them out of this world. It still +hangs at the head of my bed." + +About this time, in a chance visit to the Museum in Cincinnati, he saw a +plaster cast of Houdon's "Washington." It was the first bust he had ever +seen, and he says it moved him strangely. He had an intense desire to +know how it was done, and a vague consciousness that he could do work of +the same kind if he could find an instructor. The instructor he soon +found in a German living in the city, who made plaster casts and busts, +and from him he learned the secret of the art. He proved an apt pupil, +and surprised his teacher by his proficiency. His first effort at +modeling from life was the bust of a little daughter of Mr. John P. +Foote. She sat to him during the hours he could spare from his regular +work. His model was made of beeswax, as he was afraid that clay would +freeze or stiffen. His success encouraged him very greatly. "I found I +had a correct eye," said he, "and a hand which steadily improved in its +obedience to my eye. I saw the likeness, and knew it depended on the +features, and that, if I could copy the features exactly, the likeness +would follow just as surely as the blood follows the knife. I found +early that all the talk about catching the expression was mere twaddle; +the expression would take care of itself if I copied the features +exactly." + +The true principles of his art seemed to come to him naturally, and +having the genius to comprehend them so readily, he had the courage to +hold on to them often in the face of adverse criticism. While conscious +of having a perfectly correct eye, however, he did not scorn the humbler +method of obtaining exactness by mathematical measurement. The following +incident, which he related to Dr. Bellows, illustrates this: + +"One of the first busts I ever made was of an artist, a Frenchman, who +came over with Mrs. Trollope. He proposed to paint my picture, while I +was to make his bust. He was older, and considered himself much my +superior, and, indeed, undertook to be my instructor. I was to begin. +His first _canon_ was that I was to use no measurements, and he quoted +Michael Angelo's saying--'A sculptor should carry his compasses in his +eyes, not in his fingers,' I humbly submitted to his authority, and +finished the bust without a single measurement. He was very triumphant +at what he called the success of his method. I begged permission of him, +now that the bust was completed, to verify my work by the dividers. He +graciously consented, and I was pleased to find how nearly I had hit the +mark. A few imperfections, however, appeared, and these, in spite of his +objections, I corrected without his knowledge, for I was determined to +have the bust as near right as I could make it. It had taken me, +however, at least five times as long to measure the distances with my +eyes as it would have done to measure them with the calipers, and I saw +no advantage in the longer and more painful effort. The measurements are +mere preparations for the artist's true work, and are, like the +surveyor's lines, preparatory to the architect's labor. When my subject, +in his turn, undertook my portrait, he was true to his own principles, +and finished it without measurements. I then, though with some horror at +my temerity, asked permission to verify his work with the dividers, and +found at the first stroke a difference of at least half an inch in the +distance between the eyes. He looked very much mortified, but said that +it was done to 'give the effect.' I have had no misgivings since about +the economy and wisdom of using the calipers freely. To be useful, they +must be applied with the greatest precision--so small are the +differences upon which all the infinite variety in human countenances +depends. With the aid of my careful measurements, I do in one day what +it would cost me a week or two's work to accomplish without, and I am +then able to give my exclusive attention to the modeling." + +He did not regularly devote himself to his art, however, but remained in +the employment of the organ and clock maker for some time longer, giving +his leisure hours to constant practice. When he was about twenty-three +years old, a Frenchman named Herview opened in Cincinnati a museum of +natural history and wax figures. The latter had been very much broken +and disfigured in transportation, and their owner, in despair, begged +Powers to undertake the task of restoring them. The figures were +representations of distinguished men and women, and as Powers readily +saw that it would be impossible to repair them without having proper +likenesses as his guides, he proposed to the Frenchman to make an +entirely new composition of the old materials, and one which should +attract attention by its oddity. This was agreed to, and the result was +a hideous and ungainly figure, which Powers proposed should be called +the "King of the Cannibal Islands," but to his amazement the Frenchman +advertised it as the embalmed body of a South Sea man-eater, "secured at +immense expense." Powers declared to his employer that the audience +would discover the cheat and tear down the museum; but the "man-eater" +drew immense crowds, and was regarded as the most wonderful natural +curiosity ever seen in the West. The Frenchman was so well pleased with +it that he employed the artist permanently as inventor, wax-figure +maker, and general mechanical contriver in the museum. + +Powers remained in the Frenchman's employ for seven years, hoping all +the while to earn money enough to devote himself entirely to art, which +had now become his great ambition. His experience was not a pleasant +one. Some of it was so singular, not to say ludicrous, that he shall +relate one portion of it in his own language: + +"One of the first things I undertook, in company with Herview, was a +representation of the infernal regions after Dante's description. Behind +a grating I made certain dark grottoes, full of stalactites and +stalagmites, with shadowy ghosts and pitchforked figures, all calculated +to work on the easily-excited imaginations of a Western audience, as the +West then was. I found it very popular and attractive, but occasionally +some countryman would suggest to his fellow spectator that a little +motion in the figures would add much to the reality of the show. After +much reflection I concluded to go in among the figures dressed like the +Evil One, in a dark robe, with a death's-head and cross-bones wrought +upon it, and with a lobster's claw for a nose. I had bought and fixed up +an old electrical machine, and connected it with a wire, so that, from a +wand in my hand, I could discharge quite a serious shock upon any body +venturing too near the grating. The plan worked admirably, and excited +great interest; but I found acting the part of wax-figure two hours +every evening in the cold no sinecure, and was put to my wits to devise +a figure that could be moved by strings, and which would fill my place. +I succeeded so well that it ended in my inventing a whole series of +automata, for which the old wax-figures furnished the materials, in +part, and which became so popular and so rewarding, that I was kept +seven years at the business, my employer promising me, from time to +time, an interest in the business, which he quite forgot to fulfill. +When, at last, I found out the vanity of my expectations, I left him. He +knew I kept no accounts, but he did not know that I reported all the +money he gave me to my wife, who did keep our accounts. He tried to +cheat me, but I was able to baffle him through her prudence and method. +For I had married in this interval, and had a wife and children to +support." + +Powers was now thirty years old, and had acquired considerable +reputation in Cincinnati as an artist. His abilities coming to the +notice of Mr. Nicholas Longworth, of that city, that good genius of +young men of talent called on him and offered to buy out the museum and +establish him in the business. The offer was declined with thanks. Mr. +Longworth then proposed to send him to Italy to study his profession, +but this, too, being declined, Mr. Longworth urged him to go to +Washington and try his fortune with the public men of the country. To +this Powers consented, and, aided by his generous friend, he repaired to +the national capital in 1835, and spent two years there. During this +period he modeled busts of Andrew Jackson, J.Q. Adams, Calhoun, Chief +Justice Marshall, Woodbury, Van Buren, and others. Being unable to +secure a model of Webster in Washington, the statesman invited him to go +with him to Marshfield for that purpose. Powers accepted the invitation, +and declares that he looks back upon his sojourn there as one of the +most delightful portions of his life. + +General Jackson was very kind to him, and won his lasting esteem and +gratitude. Upon being asked if he would sit for his bust, the old hero +hesitated, and, looking at the artist nervously, asked: "Do you daub any +thing over the face? Because," he added, "I recollect poor Mr. Jefferson +got nearly smothered when they tried to take his bust. The plaster +hardened before they got ready to release him, and they pounded it with +mallets till they nearly stunned him, and then almost tore off a piece +of his ear in their haste to pull off a sticking fragment of the mold. I +should not like that." Powers assured him that such a terrible process +would not be necessary, but that he only wished to look at him for an +hour a day, sitting in his chair. The General brightened up at once, and +cordially told him it would give him pleasure to sit for him. He at once +installed the artist in a room in the White House, and gave him a +sitting of an hour every morning until the model was done. + +Mr. Powers regards the bust of Jackson as one of his best efforts, and +the President himself was very much pleased with it. After he had +completed his model, Mr. Edward Everett brought Baron Krudener, the +Prussian Minister to Washington, to see it. The Baron was a famous art +critic, and poor Powers was terribly nervous as he showed him the bust. +The Baron examined it closely, and then said to the artist, "You have +got the General completely: his head, his face, his courage, his +firmness, his identical self; and yet it will not do! You have also got +all his wrinkles, all his age and decay. You forget that he is President +of the United States and the idol of the people. You should have given +him a dignity and elegance he does not possess. You should have employed +your _art_, sir, and not merely your _nature_." The artist listened in +silence, and Mr. Everett stood by without saying a word, "conscious," as +he afterward confessed, "of a very poor right to speak on such a +subject," after listening to so famous a critic. "_I_ did not dare," +says Powers, "in my humility and reverence for these two great men, to +say what I wanted to in reply; to tell the Baron that my 'art' consisted +in concealing art, and that my 'nature' was the highest art I knew or +could conceive of. I was content that the 'truth' of my work had been so +fully acknowledged, and the Baron only confirmed my resolution to make +truth my only model and guide in all my future undertakings." + +One of his sitters in Washington was Senator Preston, of South Carolina, +who conceived such an interest in him that he wrote to his brother, +General Preston, of Columbia, South Carolina, a gentleman of great +wealth, urging him to come to the artist's assistance, and send him to +Italy. General Preston at once responded to this appeal, of which Powers +was ignorant, and wrote to the artist to draw on him for a thousand +dollars, and go to Italy at once, and to draw on him annually for a +similar sum for several years. Powers was profoundly touched by this +noble offer, and accepted it as frankly as it had been made. He sent his +models to Italy, and took his departure for the Old World in 1837. +Speaking of Mr. Preston's generosity, he said, two years ago: "I have +endeavored to requite his kindness by sending him works of mine, equal +in money value to his gifts; but I can never extinguish my great +obligations. I fear he don't like me since the war,--for I could not +suppress my strong national feelings for any man's friendship,--but I +like and honor him; I would do any thing in my power to show him my +inextinguishable gratitude." + +He reached Florence in advance of his models, and while waiting for them +made two busts, one of a professor in Harvard College, and the other of +an American lady. A severe domestic affliction, however, which came upon +him soon after his arrival in Italy, affected him so greatly that he was +not able to return to his work for a long time. Then he applied himself +to his busts, which were warmly praised by the artists in Florence and +by his countrymen traveling abroad. Thorwaldsen visited him in his +studio, and pronounced his bust of Webster the best work of its kind in +modern times, and praises from other distinguished artists were equally +as warm. Orders came in rapidly from English and Italians, and from +Americans in Europe, and the sculptor soon had as much business as he +could attend to. He gave his leisure time to work on an ideal figure, +which, when completed, was purchased by an English gentleman of wealth. +This was "The Greek Slave," the most popular of all his works. +Duplicates of it were exhibited in America and at the Crystal Palace in +England, and won him praise from all quarters. This single work +established his fame as an artist, and brought him orders from all parts +of the civilized world. His statue of "Eve," which had preceded "The +Greek Slave" by a year, had been pronounced by Thorwaldsen fit to be any +man's master-piece, but it had not created such a furore as "The Greek +Slave." Subsequently he made an exquisite bust of the Grand Duchess of +Tuscany, with which the Grand Duke was so pleased that he called on +Powers, and asked him as a favor to himself to apply to him whenever he +could do him a service. Powers asked permission to take a cast of the +Venus, and this much-coveted boon, which had been denied to other +artists for years, was at once granted to him. + +Since then his works have been numerous. Among these are "The Fisher +Boy," of which three duplicates in marble have been made; +"Il Penseroso;" "Proserpine," a bust; "California;" "America," modeled +for the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, England; "Washington" and "Calhoun," +portrait statues, the former for the State of Louisiana, and the latter +for the State of South Carolina; and "Benjamin Franklin" and "Thomas +Jefferson," in the Capitol at Washington. His works are all marked by +beauty and vigor of conception as well as by exquisite finish. Beautiful +as his ideal figures are, he yet excels in his busts and statues of the +great men of his native land. His "Jefferson" and "Franklin" are +wonderful works, and his "Calhoun" is said to be almost life-like. This +last was wrecked on the coast of Long Island on its voyage to America, +and remained in the sea for some time, but being well packed was found, +when raised, to be only slightly damaged by the water. + +Mr. Powers has now resided in Italy for thirty-three years. Motives of +economy have controlled his action, for he would gladly return to his +own land did he feel justified in doing so. He has thus stated the +reasons which have influenced his long residence abroad: + + + Sculpture is universal. The human form is of no country, and may be + studied with equal advantage at home and abroad. The opportunities + of studying it abroad are so immeasurably greater than at home, + that I do not see how it is possible, without great loss, to + neglect them. + + 1. It is impossible to model successfully without living models; + and in America, in my time, it was almost at the peril of + reputation, both for model and sculptor, that an artist employed + the living model, even if he could procure it. Now, I understand, a + few models may be obtained in New York; but they are so rare and so + expensive, that it is almost ruinous to employ them. It costs two + or three dollars there to secure a model which here may be had for + half a day for forty cents. There is no want of models here; but + their history is a sad one, and makes one often seriously lament + the necessity for employing them. Young women, especially, are + driven to this employment by the want of bread. I have numerous + offers of their services made by parents who are in great distress. + I make it a point to discourage all who come to me from entering + the business, and am only conquered when I feel sure that, if I + decline, they will be driven to other studios. I prefer only + professional models, already thoroughly committed to the calling, + as I shrink from the responsibility of leading any into so perilous + a vocation. They are usually accompanied by their mothers, and I + strive to treat them in a way to save their self-respect and + delicacy--a very hard task, which too often breaks down in less + scrupulous hands. + + 2. The opportunities of anatomical studies are here nearly perfect, + and free from all expense. The medical schools not only illustrate + anatomy by surgery on the cadaver, but standing by the side of the + dead body is a living one, in which the action of the muscles + dissected before the student may be studied in life. These colleges + are open to all artists, and furnish the best possible schooling in + anatomy, a thorough acquaintance with which is indispensable to the + sculptor, and can only be obtained in America at great cost. + + 3. Marble is no cheaper here than in New York, the long + sea-carriage costing no more to America than the short + land-carriage does from the quarries to Florence or Rome. But good + workmen, who can not be dispensed with, are so abundant and so + cheap here, so rare and so dear at home, that that alone is a + decisive reason for coming abroad. Even here it is a heavy expense + to procure sufficient and competent workmen; at home it is almost + at ruinous cost and with nearly insuperable difficulty. I have two + workmen--as good, certainly, as the best in America--to the finest + of whom I pay only four dollars a day. He could make twice that + cutting weeping-willows on American tomb-stones. What could he not + justly demand in wages from a New York sculptor? I employ a dozen + workmen in my studios; the poorest, at work on pedestals and rough + work, earn about half a dollar a day; the moderately skilled, a + little over a dollar. The whole cost me about fifteen dollars per + day, which is wonderfully low. Then, my rent--which could not, for + my extensive accommodations, be less than two thousand five hundred + dollars a year in any eligible position which the public would + visit--reaches only about four hundred and fifty dollars, annually. + + But, 4. The general expenses of maintaining a family are so much + less here than at home, that a man without capital, possessing a + profession so slow in reaching its pecuniary returns as an + artist's, finds an immense inducement to live abroad. It is true + that, music and accomplishment in languages apart, the + opportunities of a substantial education for one's children are not + as good here as at home. There are, however, less temptations to + vice, and less exposures to the American habit of hard drinking + among young men; but, no doubt, the general influences here, in + the way of developing a manly, energetic, and self-relying + character, are less favorable than at home. There is a softness, a + disposition to take life easy, and a want of moral earnestness in + Italy, which are not favorable to youthful ambition and + independence. On the other hand, the money-getting propensities and + social rivalries of America tend to harden human character, and to + bring out a severe selfishness which is offensive. On the whole, + the balance is on our side, and, other things apart, American youth + are better brought up in America. But the artist must make this + sacrifice to his art. + + +Mr. Powers is sixty-five years old, but is in full possession of his +mental and physical strength. He is a genuine American, notwithstanding +his long residence abroad, and has always a warm welcome for his +countrymen visiting his studio. He is a favorite with the younger +artists, who find in him a kind and judicious friend. Scorning servile +imitation, he still exhibits in his works the freshness of his youth and +the genuine originality which was the basis of his fame. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +EMMANUEL LEUTZE. + + +Emmanuel Leutze, by adoption an American, was born in the village of +Emingen, near the city of Reutlingen, in Wurtemberg, on the 24th of May, +1816. His father emigrated to America during the infancy of his son, and +the future artist spent his youth in the city of Philadelphia and the +town of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He received a good common school +education, and passed his time in comparative seclusion from society, +reading and studying, but showing no especial fondness for art. At +length, during his father's last illness, in which he nursed him with +great devotion, he took up drawing to beguile the weary hours of the +sick-room, and succeeded so well in his attempts that after his father's +death he continued his efforts under the instruction of a competent +drawing master. He improved rapidly, and was so well satisfied with his +success that he determined to adopt the profession of an artist as the +one best suited to his talents and inclination. + +[Illustration: FILIAL DEVOTION SHAPES A GREAT CAREER] + +Having acquired considerable skill in drawing, he attempted rude +portraits of men and beasts, and at length undertook to copy from memory +a colored print after Westall. He completed it, and resolved to show it +to some of his friends. In his impatience for the colors to dry, he +placed the painting before the fire and went to summon his friends, +but found, to his dismay, upon returning with them, that the heat had +blistered the canvas so that the picture was hardly recognizable. Yet, +in spite of this, his critics saw such evidences of genius in the +painting that they urged the young artist to continue his labors, and +predicted a great success for him. + +Leutze, however, was not willing to venture upon another composition, +either partly or wholly original, but applied himself with zeal to learn +the rudiments of his art, and with such success that when his portraits +appeared at the Artist's Fund Exhibition, a year or two later, they +received high praise, both from critics and the public. An enterprising +publisher, attracted by these portraits, engaged him to go to Washington +and paint the portraits of the leading statesmen of the country, to be +engraved for a "national work." Leutze at once proceeded to the capital, +full of hope and enthusiasm, but soon found that the schemes of the +politicians whose faces he was to transmit to canvas engrossed them so +much that they would not give him the sittings he desired. After waiting +impatiently for a considerable time he threw up the engagement in +disgust, and went into the woods of Virginia to console himself by +communing with nature. For some time he wandered about, making desultory +sketches, and abandoning himself to a melancholy which was closely akin +to despair. When this feeling was at its height, a friend, before +unknown, came to his aid. + +"A gentleman, whose rich domain he chanced to approach in his wayward +rovings, perceived his abilities, understood his unhappiness, and +aroused him from inaction by a call upon his professional skill. The +artist obeyed, but he could not subdue the mood which possessed him. No +brilliant scene arose to his fancy, no humorous incident took form and +color from his pencil, and the fair landscape around appeared to mock +rather than cheer his destiny. He could not bring himself into relation +with subjects thus breathing of hope and gayety, but found inspiration +only in the records of human sorrow. As the royal mourner bade her +companions sit upon the ground and 'tell sad stories of the death of +kings,' the pensive artist found something analogous to his own fate in +the story of Hagar and Ishmael. He painted them as having followed up a +spent water-course, in hopes of finding wherewith to quench their +thirst, and sinking under the disappointment. He neither saw nor painted +the angel of God who showed the fountain in the wilderness, and yet the +angel was there, for now the sufferer acknowledges that early +vicissitudes nerved him for high endeavor, rendered his vision piercing, +his patience strong, and his confidence firm, and that this incidental +effort to triumph over difficulties was the first of a series which +inspired his subsequent career." + +In 1840 he produced a painting which he called "An Indian Contemplating +the Setting Sun." It was exhibited in Philadelphia, and won general +praise for the artist. Better than this, it secured him the friendship +of the late Edward L. Carey, of that city, who, recognizing his genius, +determined to help him on in his labors. Mr. Carey was successful in +inducing his friends to give Leutze a number of commissions, and these +enabled him to carry out his wish to visit Europe and complete his +studies. Instead of going to Italy, as was then the almost universal +practice, he determined to study in Germany, and accordingly sailed for +that country. He went by way of Holland, and after a long and trying +voyage reached Amsterdam in January, 1841. Pausing here for awhile to +familiarize himself with the master-pieces of the Dutch school, he +repaired to Dusseldorf, where he became a pupil of the celebrated +painter Lessing, under whom he made marked progress. His reception by +the artists of Dusseldorf was at once hearty and encouraging, and won +for that school and its members his enthusiastic devotion. He became +Lessing's pupil at the personal request of the master, and these two +gifted men were soon bound to each other by the ties of an undying +friendship. + +Leutze devoted himself to historical subjects from the first, and soon +after his arrival in Dusseldorf began his picture of "Columbus Before +the Council of Salamanca." When it was finished, it was visited by +Director V. Schadow, who praised it warmly, and requested the artist to +offer it to the Art Union of Dusseldorf, which at once purchased it. +This high compliment to a beginner and a stranger proved an additional +stimulus to Leutze, and he soon after produced a companion picture to +his first, "Columbus in Chains," which procured him the gold medal of +the Brussels Art Exhibition, and was subsequently purchased by the Art +Union of New York. + +Remaining two years in Dusseldorf, Leutze went to Munich to study the +works of Cornelius and Kaulbach, and while there painted another scene +in the life of the Great Discoverer, "Columbus before the Queen." Upon +completing this picture he went to Venice, Rome, and the other Italian +cities, making careful studies of the masters of that school. He gave +two years to his travels, visiting the Tyrol, and reveling in the +magnificent scenery through which he journeyed. He went into +Switzerland, sketching the glorious beauties of its Alps, and reached +the Rhine at Strasbourg. Then, sailing down that beautiful river, he set +foot once more in Dusseldorf, glad, as he declared, to end his +wanderings in the midst of his friends. Here he determined to locate +himself permanently, and soon after his return he married. + +He lived in Dusseldorf for fourteen years, devoting himself assiduously +to his art. His labors were incessant. Historic subjects make up the +vast bulk of his productions during this period, and in his treatment of +them he adhered closely to the style of the Dusseldorf school. The best +known of his works during this portion of his career are "The Landing of +the Norsemen in America;" "Cromwell and his Daughter;" "The Court of +Queen Elizabeth;" "Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn;" "The Iconoclast," and +his famous and brilliant series of pictures illustrative of the events +of the American War of Independence. The most prominent of these were, +"Washington Crossing the Delaware;" "Washington at Monmouth;" +"Washington at the Battle of Monongahela;" "News from Lexington;" +"Sergeant Jasper," and "Washington at Princeton." These are fine +paintings, possessing striking characteristics, and are all more or less +popular. "Washington Crossing the Delaware" is perhaps the best known, +since it has been engraved, and sold in all parts of the country in that +form. + +During his absence in Germany, Leutze did not forget the country of his +choice, as his devotion to American subjects amply testifies. When he +had won a proud name in his art by his labors in Dusseldorf, and had +laid by money enough to justify him in returning to a land where art was +in its infancy, and not over-remunerative, he came back to the United +States, after an absence of eighteen years, and opened a studio in New +York. He found a vast improvement in the public taste and in the demand +for works of art since his departure for the Old World, and, better +still, found that his peculiar field, the historic, was the one most +suited to the tastes of the American public. + +It was his intention, in coming back to this country, to devote the time +during which he supposed he would be compelled to wait for orders, to +looking around him and familiarizing himself with the changes that had +taken place in the Union during his absence; but he was never able to +carry out this design, as he had no leisure time. His European +reputation had preceded him hither, and he had scarcely opened his doors +in New York before he was obliged to refuse orders, for lack of time to +execute them. His hands were full from the first, and he at once took +rank as the most thoroughly popular and accomplished artist in the +country. + +Early in 1860 he received from the Government of the United States a +commission to decorate one of the marble stairways in the Capitol at +Washington with a mural painting. The painting was to be executed in +fresco, and he chose as his subject, "Westward the Star of Empire Takes +its Way." He entered upon the undertaking with the keenest delight, and +in order to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the true character +of frontier scenery and life, performed what was then the long and +difficult journey to the Rocky Mountains, where he made numerous +sketches. Returning to the States, he sailed for Europe, and went to +Munich to learn from Kaulbach the new stereochromatic process which has +now superseded the fresco-painting of the middle ages. Returning to +Washington, he applied himself to his task, and in a couple of years +completed it. + +The picture is the largest and finest mural painting in America, and +adorns the magnificent stairway at the north end of the west corridor of +the House of Representatives. It is lighted from a sky-light in the +roof, and is seen to the best advantage from the upper corridor. The +coloring is softer and more life-like than is often seen in such +paintings. The surface of the wall is rough, but the work has been done +by such a master hand that one seems to be gazing upon real life. It is +a wonderful picture--one that will repay weeks of study. + +The scene represents a train of emigrants crossing the Rocky Mountains. +They have reached the summit of the range, from which a glorious view +stretches out before them to the westward. The adventurers consist of +the usual class of emigrants, men, women, and children. There are +several wagons and a number of horses in the train. The faces of the +emigrants express the various emotions which fill their hearts as they +gaze upon the glorious scene before them. Some are full of life and +vigor, and hope beams in every feature, while others are struggling with +sickness and despair. The advance of the train has been momentarily +checked by a huge tree which has fallen across the trail, and two stout +men, under the direction of the leader of the party, who is sitting on +his horse, are engaged in hewing it away with axes. Two others have +climbed to the summit of the neighboring rocky crag, on which they have +planted the banner of the Republic, which is seen flapping proudly from +its lofty perch. In the foreground stands a manly youth, clasping his +father's long rifle firmly, and gazing toward the promised land with a +countenance glowing with hope and energy. His sister, as hopeful as +himself, is seated by her mother's side, on a buffalo-robe which has +been thrown over a rock. The mother's face is sad, but patient. She +knows well the privations, toils, and hardships which await them in the +new home-land, but she tries to share the enthusiasm and hope of her +children. She clasps her nursing infant to her breast, and listens to +her husband, who stands by and points her to the new country where they +will have a home of their own. Her face is inexpressibly beautiful. The +rich, warm light of the rising sun streams brightly over the whole +scene, and gives to it a magical glow. The legend, "Westward the Star of +Empire Takes its Way," is inscribed over the painting, in letters of +gold. + +An elaborate illuminated border, illustrative of the advance of +civilization in the West, surrounds the painting, and is in itself one +of the most perfect works of art in the Capitol. + +Leutze received the sum of $20,000 for this painting. After completing +it, some matters connected with his family required him to make a visit +to Dusseldorf, and upon reaching that place he was warmly welcomed by +the artists, on the 10th of June, 1863, at their club. "About one +hundred and fifty lords of art," says a letter from Dusseldorf, +"assembled at the 'Mahlkasten,' just outside of the Hof-Garten. This is +the club-house of the painters, and, with its gardens, is their +property. Leutze was received with music, and when he came within reach +of the assembled company, there was a general rush to shake his hands, +kiss his cheeks, and hug him. The old fellows were much affected at the +scene, and were heartily glad to see their old companion once more. The +guest made a short and feeling address, whereupon all went in to supper. +Here two of the artists had arrayed themselves, one as a negro, the +other as an Indian; and these brought in the first dishes and handed +them to Leutze. Andreas Achenbach sat at Leutze's right, and his old +friend Tryst at his left. After dinner, the calumet cf peace was passed +around; there was speaking and drinking of healths, with songs afterward +in the illuminated garden. The occasion appears to have been a very +pleasant and right merry one, and is said to have been the happiest +festival ever given by the Society of Artists." + +Returning to the United States a few months later, Leutze repaired to +Washington, where he had permanently settled. He was given several +commissions by the Government, and at once began to design his subjects. +They were only in the cartoon, however, at the time of his death. One of +these, "Civilization," was to have been placed in the Senate Chamber, +and was partly finished. It is said to have given promise of being his +finest production. He also left a sketch of an immense picture, "The +Emancipation." He was always a hard worker, and this doubtless +contributed to bring about his death, which took place on the 18th of +July, 1868. The immediate cause was apoplexy, superinduced by the +intense heat. + +"Mr. Leutze," says a writer in the Annual Cyclopedia, "was altogether +the best educated artist in America, possessed of vast technical +learning, of great genius, and fine powers of conception. His weakest +point was in his coloring, but even here he was superior to most +others." + +"Leutze," says Mr. Tuckerman, "delights in representing adventure. He +ardently sympathizes with chivalric action and spirit-stirring events: +not the abstractly beautiful or the simply true, but the heroic, the +progressive, the individual, and earnest phases of life, warm his fancy +and attract his pencil. His forte is the dramatic.... If Leutze were not +a painter, he would certainly join some expedition to the Rocky +Mountains, thrust himself into a fiery political controversy, or seek to +wrest a new truth from the arcana of science.... We remember hearing a +brother artist describe him in his studio at Home, engaged for hours +upon a picture, deftly shifting palette, cigar, and maul-stick from hand +to hand, as occasion required; absorbed, rapid, intent, and then +suddenly breaking from his quiet task to vent his constrained spirits in +a jovial song, or a romp with his great dog, whose vociferous barking he +thoroughly enjoyed; and often abandoning his quiet studies for some +wild, elaborate frolic, as if a row was essential to his happiness. His +very jokes partook of this bold heartiness of disposition. He scorned +all ultra refinement, and found his impulse to art not so much in +delicate perception as in vivid sensation. There was ever a reaction +from the meditative. His temperament is Teutonic--hardy, cordial, and +brave. Such men hold the conventional in little reverence, and their +natures gush like mountain streams, with wild freedom and unchastened +enthusiasm." + + + + +VIII. + +DIVINES. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +HENRY WARD BEECHER. + + +Henry Ward Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, on the 24th of +June, 1813, and was the eighth child of Dr. Lyman Beecher, the famous +Presbyterian divine of New England. Dr. Beecher was regarded as one of +the most powerful champions of orthodox Christianity in the land of the +pilgrims, and had the good fortune to be the father of a family whose +members have become celebrated for their intellectual gifts. + +The most of these gave early promise of their future distinction, but +the subject of this memoir was regarded as the dunce of the family. He +grew up as the children of most New England clergymen of that day +climbed the road to manhood. His father's family was large, and the +salary paid by the congregation never exceeded eight hundred dollars, +and was not always promptly paid at that. The good people of the land of +steady habits well knew how to drive hard bargains with the Lord's +messengers, and were adepts in the art of securing the "best talent" at +the lowest price. The stern, hard struggle for a livelihood in which +the father was engaged prevented him from giving much personal attention +to his children, and the mother of young Henry dying when he was but +three years old, the boy was left very much to himself. Like most +ministers' children, he was obliged to "set an example to the village," +and this boy was dosed with Catechism and his father's stern and gloomy +theological tenets until he was sick of them. + +"In those days," says Mrs. Stowe, "none of the attentions were paid to +children that are now usual. The community did not recognize them.. +There was no child's literature; there were no children's books. The +Sunday-school was yet an experiment in a fluctuating, uncertain state of +trial. There were no children's days of presents and _fetes_, no +Christmas or New Year's festivals. The annual thanksgiving was only +associated with one day's unlimited range of pies of every sort--too +much for one day--and too soon things of the past. The childhood of +Henry Ward was unmarked by the possession of a single child's toy as a +gift from any older person, or a single _fete_. Very early, too, strict +duties devolved upon him. A daily portion of the work of the +establishment, the care of the domestic animals, the cutting and piling +of wood, or tasks in the garden, strengthened his muscles and gave vigor +and tone to his nerves. From his father and mother he inherited a +perfectly solid, healthy organization of brain, muscle, and nerves, and +the uncaressing, let-alone system under which he was brought up gave him +early habits of vigor and self-reliance." + +When but three or four years old he was sent to the Widow Kilbourn's +school, where he said his letters twice a day, and passed the rest of +his time in hemming a brown towel or a checked apron. It was not +expected that he would learn very much from Marm Kilbourn, but the +school kept him out of the way of the "home folks" for the greater part +of the day. + +He was a winning, sweet-faced child, with long golden curls, of which +he was very proud. Some of his female playfellows at school, thinking it +a shame that a boy should look so much like a girl, cut off one or two +of his curls with a pair of shears made of scraps of tin, and when the +little fellow complained of his loss at home it was decided that the +best way to protect him from such attacks in future was to cut his hair +close to his head, which was done at once. Little Henry was commonly +thought a dull child. His memory was lamentably deficient, and his +utterance was thick and indistinct, so much so that he could scarcely be +understood in reading or speaking. This was caused partly by an +enlargement of the tonsils of his throat, and partly by timidity. The +policy of repression worked badly in his case, and had there not been so +much real good at the basis of his character it might have led this +gentle, yearning boy far from the useful channel along which his life +has flown. + +His stepmother was a lady of fine mental culture, of elegant breeding +and high character, but she was an invalid, and withal thoroughly imbued +with the gloomy sternness of her husband's faith. One day little Henry, +who was barely able to manage the steady-going old family horse, was +driving her in the chaise. They passed a church on their way, and the +bell was tolling for a death. "Henry," said Mrs. Beecher, solemnly, +"what do you think of when you hear a bell tolling like that?" The boy +colored and hung his head in silence, and the good lady went on. "_I_ +think, was that soul prepared? It has gone into _eternity_." The little +fellow shuddered, in spite of himself, and thought, no doubt, what a +dreadful thing it was to be a Christian. + +So it was with the religion that was crammed into him. There was no +effort made to draw him to religion by its beauty and tenderness. He +rarely heard of the Saviour as the loving one who took little children +in His arms and blessed them, but was taught to regard Him as a stern +and merciless judge, as one who, instead of being "touched with the +feeling of our infirmities," makes those infirmities the means of +wringing fresh sufferings from us. Sunday was a day of terror to him, +for on that day the Catechism was administered to him until he was more +than sick of it. "I think," said he to his congregation, not long since, +referring to this part of his life, "that to force childhood to +associate religion with such dry morsels is to violate the spirit, not +only of the New Testament, but of common sense as well. I know one +thing, that if I am 'lax and latitudinarian,' the Sunday Catechism is to +blame for a part of it. The dinners that I have lost because I could not +go through 'sanctification,' and 'justification,' and 'adoption,' and +all such questions, lie heavily on my memory! I do not know that they +have brought forth any blossoms. I have a kind of grudge against many of +those truths that I was taught in my childhood, and I am not conscious +that they have waked up a particle of faith in me. My good old aunt in +heaven--I wonder what she is doing. I take it that she now sits +beauteous, clothed in white, that round about her sit chanting cherub +children, and that she is opening to them from her larger range sweet +stories, every one fraught with thought, and taste, and feeling, and +lifting them up to a higher plane. One Sunday afternoon with my aunt +Esther did me more good than forty Sundays in church with my father. He +thundered over my head, and she sweetly instructed me down in my heart. +The promise that she would read Joseph's history to me on Sunday was +enough to draw a silver thread of obedience through the entire week; and +if I was tempted to break my promise, I said, 'No; Aunt Esther is going +to read on Sunday;' and I would do, or I would not do, all through the +week, for the sake of getting that sweet instruction on Sunday. + +"And to parents I say, Truth is graded. Some parts of God's truth are +for childhood, some parts are for the nascent intellectual period, and +some parts are for later spiritual developments. Do not take the last +things first. Do not take the latest processes of philosophy and bring +them prematurely to the understanding. In teaching truth to your +children, you are to avoid tiring them." + +"The greatest trial of those days," says Mrs. Stowe, "was the Catechism. +Sunday lessons were considered by the mother-in-law as inflexible duty, +and the Catechism as the _sine qua non_. The other children memorized +readily, and were brilliant reciters, but Henry, blushing, stammering, +confused, and hopelessly miserable, stuck fast on some sand-bank of what +is required or forbidden by this or that commandment, his mouth choking +up with the long words which he hopelessly miscalled, was sure to be +accused of idleness or inattention, and to be solemnly talked to, which +made him look more stolid and miserable than ever, but appeared to have +no effect in quickening his dormant faculties." + +At the age of ten he was a well-grown, stout, stocky boy, strong and +hearty, trained to hard work, and to patient obedience of his elders. He +was tolerably well drilled in Calvinism, and had his head pretty well +filled with snatches of doctrine which he caught from his father's +constant discussions; but he was very backward in his education. He was +placed at the school of the Rev. Mr. Langdon, at Bethlehem, Connecticut, +and it was hoped that the labors of this excellent tutor would result in +making something of him. He spent a winter at this school, and boarded +at a neighboring farm-house, whose kind-hearted mistress soon became so +much attached to him that she indulged him to an extent which he had +never known at home. With his gun on his shoulder, he passed the greater +part of his hours out of school in tramping over the pretty Connecticut +hills, in search of game, or, lying down on the soft grass, would pass +hours in gazing on the beautiful landscape, listening to the dull whirr +of the partridges in the stubble-field or the dropping of the ripe +apples in the orchard. The love of nature was strong in the boy, and his +wonderful mistress taught him many of the profoundest lessons of his +life. He made poor progress at the school, however, and his father was +almost in despair. The whole family shook their heads in solemn +forebodings over the failure of this child of ten to become a mental +prodigy. + +Miss Catharine Beecher, his eldest sister, was then teaching a young +ladies' school in Hartford, and she proposed to take the boy and see +what could be done with him. There were thirty or forty girls in the +school, and but this one boy, and the reader may imagine the amount of +studying he did. The girls were full of spirits, and in their society +the fun-loving feature of his disposition burst out and grew with +amazing rapidity. He was always in mischief of some kind, to the great +delight of the girls, with whom he was extremely popular, and to the +despair of his sister, who began to fear that he was hopelessly stupid. + +The school was divided into two divisions in grammar recitations, each +of which had its leader. The leaders chose their "sides" with great +care, as these contests in grammar were esteemed the most important part +of the daily exercises. Henry's name was generally called last, for no +one chose him except as a matter of necessity. He was sure to be a dead +weight to his leader. + +"The fair leader of one of these divisions took the boy aside to a +private apartment, to put into him with female tact and insinuation +those definitions and distinctions on which the honor of the class +depended. + +"'Now, Henry, A is the indefinite article, you see, and must be used +only with the singular noun. You can say _a man_, but you can't say _a +men_, can you?' 'Yes, I can say _Amen_, too,' was the ready rejoinder. +'Father says it always at the end of his prayers.' + +"'Come, Henry, now don't be joking. Now, decline He.' 'Nominative he, +possessive his, objective him.' 'You see, his is possessive. Now, you +can say his book, but you can't say him book.' 'Yes, I do say hymn book, +too,' said the impracticable scholar, with a quizzical twinkle. Each one +of these sallies made his young teacher laugh, which was the victory he +wanted. + +"'But now, Henry, seriously, just attend to the active and passive +voice. Now, _I strike_, is active, you see, because if you strike you do +something. But, _I am struck_, is passive, because if you are struck you +don't do any thing, do you?' + +"'Yes, I do; I strike back again.' + +"Sometimes his views of philosophical subjects were offered +gratuitously. Being held rather of a frisky nature, his sister appointed +his seat at her elbow when she heard her classes. A class in natural +philosophy, not very well prepared, was stumbling through the theory of +the tides. 'I can explain that,' said Henry. 'Well, you see, the sun, he +catches hold of the moon and pulls her, and she catches hold of the sea +and pulls that, and this makes the spring tides.' + +"'But what makes the neap tides?' + +"'Oh, that's when the sun stops to spit on his hands.'" + +It will hardly surprise the reader to be told that Master Henry +remained with his sister only six months, and was returned at the end of +that time to his father as an indifferent scholar and a most inveterate +joker. + +A change now occurred in his life. When he was twelve years old his +father removed to Boston to assume the charge of the Hanover-Street +Church. Here the boy had a chance to see something more than nature, and +to employ his powers of observation in receiving impressions from the +daily life and aspect of a large and crowded city. His father entered +him at the Boston Latin School, and appealed to him not to disgrace his +name any longer by his stupidity. The appeal roused the little fellow's +pride, and he set to work to show to his family that he was not the +dunce they had thought him. He went at his studies manfully, mastering +the tedious puzzle of the Latin verbs and nouns, and acquiring a +respectable acquaintance with the grammar of that language. It was a +terrible task to him, for he had no liking for the language, and did his +work merely to please his father and escape disgrace. His success cost +him a share of his health, and his vigorous constitution began to show +the effects of such intense application. His father noticed this, and as +a diversion to his mind advised him to enter upon a course of +biographical reading. He read the lives of Captain Cook, Nelson, and the +great naval commanders of the world, and at once became possessed of the +desire to go to sea. This feeling made him restless and discontented, +and he resolved to leave home and ship on board some vessel sailing from +the harbor. He hovered about the wharves, conversing with the sailors +and captains, and sometimes carrying his little bundle with him. But the +thoughts of home were too strong for him, and he could never quite +summon up resolution enough to run away. In a fit of desperation he +wrote a letter to his brother, telling him of his wish to go to sea, and +informing him that he should first ask his father's permission, and if +that were not granted he should go without it. This letter he dropped +where his father would be sure to find it. The old gentleman soon +discovered it, and, reading it, put it into his pocket without comment. +The next day he asked the boy if he had ever thought of any definite +avocation for his future life. + +"Yes," said Henry, "I want to go to sea. I want to enter the navy, be a +midshipman, and rise to be a commander." + +"Oh, I see," said the Doctor, cheerfully; "but in order to prepare for +that you must study mathematics and navigation." + +"I am ready, sir." + +"Very well. I'll send you up to Amherst next week, to Mount Pleasant, +and then you'll begin your preparatory studies at once. As soon as you +are well prepared, I presume I can make interest to get you an +appointment." + +The boy was delighted, and the next week started for Amherst. The Doctor +felt sure that the sailor scheme would never come to any thing, and +exclaimed, exultantly, as he bade his son good-by, "I shall have that +boy in the ministry yet." + +At the Mount Pleasant Institute he roomed with his teacher in +mathematics, a young man named Fitzgerald, and a warm friendship sprung +up between them. Fitzgerald saw that his pupil had no natural talent or +taste for mathematics; but instead of despairing in consequence of this +discovery, he redoubled his efforts. Appealing to his pupil's pride and +ambition, he kept him well to his task, and succeeded in implanting in +him a fair knowledge of the science. Young Beecher also took lessons in +elocution from Professor John E. Lovell. Under the instructions of this +able teacher, he learned to manage his voice, and to overcome the +thickness and indistinctness of utterance which previous to this had +troubled him so much. He continued at this school for three years, +devoting himself to study with determination and success, and taking +rank as one of the most promising pupils of the school. + +During his first year at Mount Pleasant, he became deeply impressed with +a sense of his religious responsibility at a famous revival which was +held in the place, and from that time resolved to devote himself +entirely to preparing for his entrance into the ministry when he should +attain the proper age. Henceforth he applied himself with characteristic +energy to his studies and to his religious duties, and rose steadily in +the esteem of his teachers and friends. He entered Amherst College upon +the completion of his preparatory course, and graduated from that +institution in 1834. + +In 1832, Dr. Beecher removed from Boston to Cincinnati, to enter upon +the Presidency of Lane Seminary, to which he had been elected. Henry +followed him to the West after his graduation at Amherst, and completed +his theological studies at the seminary, under the tuition of his father +and Professor Stowe, the latter of whom married Henry's sister Harriet, +in 1836. Having finished his course, he was ordained. + +"As the time drew near in which Mr. Beecher was to assume the work of +the ministry," says Mrs. Stowe, "he was oppressed by a deep melancholy. +He had the most exalted ideas of what ought to be done by a Christian +minister. He had transferred to that profession all those ideals of +courage, enterprise, zeal, and knightly daring which were the dreams of +his boyhood, and which he first hoped to realize in the naval +profession. He felt that the holy calling stood high above all others; +that to enter it from any unholy motive, or to enter and not do a worthy +work in it, was a treason to all honor. + +"His view of the great object of the ministry was sincerely and heartily +the same with that of his father, to secure the regeneration of the +individual heart by the Divine Spirit, and thereby to effect the +regeneration of human society. The problem that oppressed him was, how +to do this. His father had used certain moral and intellectual weapons, +and used them strongly and effectively, because employing them with +undoubting faith. So many other considerations had come into his mind to +qualify and limit that faith, so many new modes of thought and inquiry, +that were partially inconsistent with the received statements of his +party, that he felt he could never grasp and wield them with the force +which could make them efficient. It was no comfort to him that he could +wield the weapons of his theological party so as to dazzle and confound +objectors, while all the time conscious in his own soul of objections +more profound and perplexities more bewildering. Like the shepherd boy +of old, he saw the giant of sin stalking through the world, defying the +armies of the living God, and longed to attack him, but the armor in +which he had been equipped for the battle was no help, but only an +incumbrance! + +"His brother, who studied with him, had already become an unbeliever and +thrown up the design of preaching, and he could not bear to think of +adding to his father's trials by deserting the standard. Yet his +distress and perplexity were so great that at times he seriously +contemplated going into some other profession.... + +"In his last theological term he took a Bible class in the city of +Cincinnati, and began studying and teaching the Evangelists. With the +course of this study and teaching came a period of spiritual +clairvoyance. His mental perplexities were relieved, and the great +question of 'what to preach' was solved. The shepherd boy laid aside his +cumbrous armor, and found in a clear brook a simple stone that smote +down the giant; and so, from the clear waters of the Gospel narrative +Mr. Beecher drew forth that 'white stone with a new name,' which was to +be the talisman of his ministry. To present Jesus Christ personally as +the Friend and Helper of humanity, Christ as God impersonate, eternally +and by a necessity of His nature helpful, and remedial, and restorative; +the Friend of each individual soul, and thus the Friend of all +society,--this was the one thing which his soul rested on as a worthy +object in entering the ministry. He afterward said, in speaking of his +feelings at this time,'I was like the man in the story to whom a fairy +gave a purse with a single piece of money in it, which he found always +came again as soon as he had spent it. I thought I knew at least one +thing to preach. I found it included every thing.'" + +Upon being ordained, Mr. Beecher married, and accepted a call to +Lawrenceburg, Indiana, a little town on the Ohio River, about twenty +miles below Cincinnati. His salary was small and the work was hard. He +was not only pastor, but sexton as well, and in this capacity he swept +out the church, made the fires, filled and trimmed the lamps, and rang +the bell. Says he, "I did all but come to hear myself preach--that they +had to do." + +He did not remain here long, however, but soon accepted a call to +Indianapolis, the capital of the State, where he lived for eight years. +He occupied a tasteful cottage on the outskirts of the town, and +gathered about him his household treasures, which consisted of his +family, his library, his horse, cow, pigs, and chickens. He was an +enthusiast in matters of agriculture and horticulture, and besides +importing from the East the best varieties of fruit-trees, roses, etc., +he edited a horticultural paper, which had a fair circulation. + +The eight years of his ministry in Indianapolis make up a period of hard +and useful work. He held two services on Sunday, and five meetings +during the week in various parts of the city, and with the consent of +his people gave three months of each year to missionary work in other +parts of the State. While engaged in this latter duty he traveled about +the State on horseback and preached daily. + +His experience in the ministry, as well as his study of the lives of the +apostles, convinced him that success in his profession--by which I mean +the successful winning of souls to God--was not to be won by preaching +controversial or dry doctrinal sermons. He must seize upon some vital +truth, admitted by all parties, and bring that home to men's minds. He +must preach to them of their daily, hourly trials and temptations, joys +and comforts, and he resolved that this should be the character of his +preaching. Then came the question, how shall one man know that which is +uppermost in the thoughts of the many? He went into the places of public +resort, where men were accustomed to lounge and to gather to hear the +news, and made it his practice to listen to their conversations. In this +way he began to know the people to whom he preached as few pastors know +their flocks, and he was enabled by this knowledge to apply his +teachings to their daily lives, and to send them forth to their duties +warned by his reproofs or cheered by his intelligent counsel and +sympathy. This practice, modified at times as circumstances have +required, he has steadfastly continued, and in it lies the secret of his +success as a preacher. Said a gentleman, not long since, himself a +member of a different denomination, "Beecher's sermons do me more good +than any I hear elsewhere. They never fail to touch upon some topic of +importance that has engaged my thoughts during the week. Dropping all +doctrinal technicalities, and steering clear of the vexed questions of +theology, he talks to me in such a way that I am able to carry Christ +into the most trifling of my daily affairs, and to carry Him there as my +Sympathizer and Helper, as well as my Judge." He soon became the most +popular preacher in the city, and, thanks to the genuineness of his +gifts and the earnestness of his zeal, he was enabled to add many to the +kingdom of Christ who had been drawn to hear him merely by their +curiosity. Among these was his brother Charles, whose skepticism has +been spoken of elsewhere in this chapter. Becoming deeply impressed at a +revival in Indianapolis, Charles Beecher, by his brother's advice, took +a Bible class, and began to teach the story of Christ. The plan worked +most happily. Charles solved all the questions which had perplexed his +mind, reentered upon his religious life with increased fervor, and soon +afterward entered the ministry. + +In August, 1847, Mr. Beecher received a call to Plymouth Church, +Brooklyn, which had just been founded. He promptly accepted it. Breaking +up his home in Indiana, he removed to Brooklyn, and was publicly +installed pastor of Plymouth Church on the 11th of November, 1847. He at +once "announced in Plymouth pulpit the same principles that he had in +Indianapolis, namely, his determination to preach Christ among them not +as an absolute system of doctrines, not as a bygone historical +personage, but as the living Lord and God, and to bring all the ways and +usages of society to the test of His standards. He announced to all whom +it might concern, that he considered temperance and antislavery as a +part of the Gospel of Christ, and should preach them to the people +accordingly." + +It is no part of my purpose to consider Mr. Beecher as a politician. I +deal with him here not as the partisan of a political organization, but +as a minister of the Gospel. In politics he has always been a Republican +of the Radical type, but has generally inclined to a conservative +construction of that creed. Many of his warmest friends take issue with +him in his political views, and he has not always been able to lead his +congregation with him in this respect. + +Soon after assuming the charge of Plymouth Church Mr. Beecher became a +regular contributor to "The Independent," a paper which he had helped to +establish. His articles were marked with an asterisk, and were widely +read. They dealt with every topic of interest, principally with slavery, +and were vigorous and full of thought. A number of them were afterward +collected and published in book form as the "Star Papers." Since then he +has acted as editor of "The Independent," and is at present the editor +of "The Christian Union." He has written a novel of New England life, +called "Norwood," for "The New York Ledger," and still writes a weekly +paper for that journal. He is at present engaged upon a "Life of +Christ," which is to be the crowning labor of his life. Besides these +labors, he has been until recently almost constantly in the lecture +field, and has spoken frequently before popular assemblies on the +political questions of the day. + +These labors have filled up the leisure time left him after discharging +his duties as pastor of his church, which have never been neglected upon +any occasion. In this field his work has been faithful and constant. He +has labored in it for nearly twenty-three years, and his work has not +been without its reward. Such sermons as his could not fail of doing +good even if spoken to half a dozen people. How great, then, must be +their effect when addressed to the vast audiences to which he speaks! +His congregation averages over twenty-five hundred at every service, +being the largest regular congregation in existence. His sermons are +reported by a stenographer, and are printed each week in pamphlet form, +and in this manner find their way into thousands of hands. The "Plymouth +Pulpit," in which they are published, has a regular weekly circulation +of six thousand copies, and it is estimated that each copy is read by +at least five persons, which gives the preacher, in addition to his own +congregation, an audience of more than thirty thousand persons per week. + +When Plymouth Church was organized, the wise heads predicted a failure +for it; but it has grown and prospered, until it is now the most compact +and the best organized congregation in America. It is dependent upon no +synod or other religious body, but manages its affairs entirely as +it pleases. The control is vested in a board of trustees, of which Mr. +Beecher is _ex-officio_ a member. He has no superiority in this board +unless called by its members to preside over its meetings. His influence +is of course all-powerful; but as the trustees are shrewd business men, +they sometimes carry out their own views in preference to his. The +church is supported by the sale of its pews. This yields it an annual +income of between forty and fifty thousand dollars. The pastor receives +a handsome salary--said to be the largest in the United States--and the +rest goes into the treasury of the church. As the period of the annual +sale of pews approaches, Mr. Beecher makes it his practice to preach a +sermon in which he reviews the questions of the day, and as far as +possible marks out his course with regard to them during the ensuing +year. This he does in order that every one purchasing a seat in Plymouth +Church may know just what is in store for him from the pulpit. The +surplus revenue, after the pastor's salary and the current expenses are +paid, has until recently been devoted to extinguishing the debt upon the +church. That burden now being off the shoulders of the congregation, the +money is applied to missionary work in Brooklyn. "Two missions have been +largely supported by the funds derived from Plymouth Church, and the +time and personal labor of its members. A mechanics' reading-room is +connected with one of these. No church in the country furnishes a +larger body of lay teachers, exhorters, and missionaries in every +department of human and Christian labor." + +Plymouth Church is located in Orange Street, between Hicks and Henry +Streets, in Brooklyn, and not far from the Fulton Ferry. Many strangers, +whose expectations are based upon the fame of the pastor, are +disappointed in the plain and simple exterior of red brick, as they come +prepared to see a magnificent Gothic temple. The interior, however, +rarely fails to please all comers. It is plain and simple, but elegant +and comfortable. It is a vast hall, around the four sides of which +sweeps an immense gallery. The interior is painted white, with a tinge +of pink, and the carpets and cushions of the seats are of a rich, warm +red. The rows of seats in the body of the church are semicircular, and +those in the gallery rise as in an amphitheater, from the front to the +wall. At the far end of the church is a raised platform containing +merely a chair and a table. The table is a pretty ornament, and is the +"Plymouth Pulpit." It is made of wood brought from the Garden of +Gethsemane. In the gallery behind the pulpit is the great organ--one of +the largest and finest in the Union. The church will seat over +twenty-five hundred people, but in order to do this, chairs are placed +in the aisles. These chairs are sold as well as the pews. + +Every Sunday morning the streets are filled with persons on their way to +attend the services at Plymouth Church. They come not only from +Brooklyn, but from New York, and even from Jersey City and Hoboken. The +yard and street in front of the church are quickly filled with the +throng, but the doors are guarded by policemen, and none but pew-holders +are permitted to enter the church until ten minutes before the hour for +service. Without this precaution the regular congregation would be +crowded out of their seats every Sunday by strangers. + +At ten minutes before the hour for service the doors are thrown open, +and very soon there is not even standing room in the vast interior, and +generally the vestibules are full. + +Near the pulpit is placed a basket of exquisite flowers, and sometimes +the entire platform is decorated in the same way. Most commonly some +little child perches itself up among the flowers, and this pretty sight +never fails to bring a smile of pleasure to the pastor's face as he +enters the church. He comes in through a little door under the gallery, +behind the pulpit. He is dressed in a plain suit of black, with a Byron +collar and a black stock. His movements are quiet and graceful, although +quick and energetic. His manner in opening the services is quiet and +earnest, and at once impresses his hearers with the solemnity of the +occasion. He reads the Bible in an easy, unconstrained manner, as if he +enjoyed the task, and in his prayers, which are extempore, he carries +the hearts of all his hearers with him to the Throne of Grace. He joins +heartily in the singing, which is congregational. It was feared that the +organ would prove a great temptation to do away with this style of +singing, but this has not been the case. The magnificent instrument is +used only to accompany the congregation, and there swells up such a +volume of harmony from this vast throng as is never listened to outside +of Plymouth Church. The singing is wonderful. + +The gem of the whole service, however, is the sermon; and these sermons +are characteristic of the man. They come warm and fresh from his heart, +and they go home to the hearer, giving him food for thought for days +afterward. To attempt to describe his manner would be to paint the +sunbeam. Eloquence can be felt, but it can not be described. He enchains +the attention of his auditors from the first, and they hang upon his +utterances with rapt eagerness until the close of the sermon. + +He knows human nature thoroughly, and he talks to his people of what +they have been thinking of during the week, of trials that have +perplexed them, and of joys which have blessed them. He takes the clerk +and the merchant to task for their conduct in the walks of business, and +warns them of the snares and pitfalls which lie along their paths. He +strips the thin guise of honesty from the questionable transactions of +Wall Street, and holds them up to public scorn. He startles many a one +by his sudden penetration and denunciation of what that one supposes to +be the secrets of his heart. His dramatic power is extraordinary. He can +hardly be responsible for it, since it breaks forth almost without his +will. It is simply unavoidable with him. He moves his audience to tears, +or brings a mirthful smile to their lips, with a power that is +irresistible. His illustrations and figures are drawn chiefly from +nature, and are fresh and striking. They please the subtlest philosopher +who hears him, and illuminate the mind of the average listener with a +flood of light. He can startle his people with the terrors of the law, +but he prefers to preach the Gospel of Love. "God's love for those who +are scattered and lost," he says, "is intenser and deeper than the love +even of a mother.... God longs to bring you home more than you long to +get there. He has been calling, calling, calling, and listening for your +answer. And when you are found, and you lay your head on the bosom of +Jesus, and you are at rest, you will not be so glad as He will be who +declared that, like a shepherd, he had joy over one sinner that repented +more than over ninety and nine just persons that needed no repentance." + +Religion is to him an abiding joy; it is perfect love, and casteth out +fear. It has no gloom, no terror in it, and he says to his people: "If +God gave you gayety and cheer of spirits, lift up the careworn by it. +Wherever you go, shine and sing. In every household there is drudgery; +in every household there is sorrow; in every household there is +low-thoughted evil. If you come as a prince, with a cheerful, buoyant +nature, in the name of God, do not lay aside those royal robes of yours. +Let humor bedew duty; let it flash across care. Let gayety take charge +of dullness. So employ these qualities that they shall be to life what +carbonic acid is to wine, making it foam and sparkle." + +The sum and substance, the burden of all his preaching is Christ: +"'Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!' I +present Jesus to you as the atoning Saviour; as God's sacrifice for sin; +as that new and living way by which alone a sinful creature can ascend +and meet a pure and just God. I bring this question home to you as a +sinner. O man! full of transgressions, habitual in iniquities, tainted +and tarnished, utterly undone before God, what will you do with this +Jesus that comes as God's appointed sacrifice for sin, your only hope +and your only Saviour? Will you accept him? Will you, by personal and +living faith, accept him as your Saviour from sin? I ask not that you +should go with me into a discourse upon the relations of Christ's life, +of his sufferings, of his death; to the law of God, or to the government +of God. Whatever may be the philosophy of those relations, the matter in +hand is one of faith rather than of philosophy; and the question is, +Will you take Christ to be your soul's Saviour?" + +Having selected his theme, and formed a general plan of treatment, Mr. +Beecher trusts a great deal to the inspiration of the moment for his +language and illustrations. Some time ago, in reply to a friend who +asked how he prepared his sermons, he said he generally has an idea +during the week as to what he will preach about on Sunday, but does not +attempt any thing like systematic preparation until an hour or two +before going into the pulpit. Sometimes it is easy to block out a +sermon; but again it is hard work, and he does not fairly get into it +until the first bell rings. He writes out the headings of his subject, +and marks the proper places for illustration. He does not confine +himself to this written outline, however, but, once in the pulpit, +changes it according to the impulse of the moment. He never preaches the +same sermon twice, though he may use the same text several times, +treating it in a different way each time. He endeavors to preach his +best sermons on stormy days, in order that the desire to hear his best +efforts may keep his congregation from degenerating into "fair-weather +Christians." "Once," he said, laughing, "it snowed or rained every +Sabbath in a certain winter, and the effort I had to make to remain +faithful to this rule came near killing me." When asked if he studied +his prayers, he answered promptly: "Never. I carry a feeling with me +such as a mother would have for her children were they lost in a great +forest. I feel that on every side my people are in danger, and that many +of them are like babes, weak and helpless. My heart goes out in sorrow +and in anxiety toward them, and at times I seem to carry all their +burdens. I find that when one's heart is wrapped and twined around the +hearts of others, it is not difficult to pray." + +The church is provided with a large lecture-room, a study for the +pastor, and an elegant parlor. Mr. Beecher does not pay pastoral visits +to his people, unless he is sent for to visit the sick and dying, or +persons seeking help in their religious struggles. His parishioners are +scattered over so wide a territory that a systematic course of visiting +would consume all his time. In place of these visits, he meets his +congregation at stated times in social gatherings in the church parlor, +and these evenings are looked forward to with eagerness by both pastor +and people. + +The most characteristic meeting of this congregation, however, even more +so than the Sunday services, is the Friday evening meeting, which is +held in the lecture-room. This room is plain and simple. It is provided +with comfortable seats and a grand piano. There is no pulpit in it, but +a small table and a chair are placed for the pastor on a low platform +covered with green baize. The object is to banish every thing like +formalism, and to make the meeting as free and unconstrained as a social +gathering. As at the Sunday services, the house is full, but now the +persons present are almost entirely members of the church. Strangers +rarely come to these meetings, and in staying away from them miss the +chance of seeing the true inner life of Plymouth Church. A gentleman who +was present at one of them, a few years ago, wrote the following account +of it for the "Atlantic Monthly:" + + + Mr. Beecher took his seat on the platform, and, after a short + pause, began the exercises by saying, in a low tone, these words: + "Six twenty-two." + + A rustling of the leaves of hymn-books interpreted the meaning of + this mystical utterance, which otherwise might have been taken as + announcing a discourse upon the prophetic numbers. The piano + confirmed the interpretation; and then the company burst into one + of those joyous and unanimous singings which are so enchanting a + feature of the services of this church. Loud rose the beautiful + harmony of voices, constraining every one to join in the song, even + those most unused to sing. When it was ended, the pastor, in the + same low tone, pronounced a name, upon which one of the brethren + rose to his feet, and the rest slightly inclined v their heads.... + The prayers were all brief, perfectly quiet and simple, and free + from the routine or regulation expressions. There were but two or + three of them, alternating with singing; and when that part of the + exercises was concluded, Mr. Beecher had scarcely spoken. The + meeting ran alone, in the most spontaneous and pleasant manner.... + There was a pause after the last hymn died away, and then Mr. + Beecher, still seated, began, in the tone of conversation, to speak + somewhat after this manner: + + "When," said he, "I first began to walk as a Christian, in my + youthful zeal I made many resolutions that were well meant, but + indiscreet. Among others, I remember I resolved to pray, at least + once, in some way, every hour that I was awake. I tried faithfully + to keep this resolution, but never having succeeded a single day, I + suffered the pangs of self-reproach, until reflection satisfied me + that the only wisdom possible, with regard to such a resolve, was + to break it. I remember, too, that I made a resolution to speak + upon religion to every person with whom I conversed,--on + steamboats, in the streets, anywhere. In this, also, I failed, as I + ought; and I soon learned that, in the sowing of such seed, as in + other sowings, times, and seasons, and methods must be considered + and selected, or a man may defeat his own object, and make religion + loathsome." + + In language like this he introduced the topic of the evening's + conversation, which was, How far, and on what occasions, and in + what manner, one person may invade, so to speak, the personality of + another, and speak to him upon his moral condition. The pastor + expressed his own opinion, always in the conversational tone, in a + talk of ten minutes' duration, in the course of which he applauded, + not censured, the delicacy which causes most people to shrink from + doing it. He said that a man's personality was not a macadamized + road for every vehicle to drive upon at will, but rather a sacred + inclosure, to be entered, if at all, with the consent of the owner, + and with deference to his feelings and tastes. He maintained, + however, that there _were_ times and modes in which this might + properly be done, and that every one _had_ a duty to perform of + this nature. When he had finished his observations, he said the + subject was open to the remarks of others; whereupon a brother + instantly rose and made a very honest confession. + + He said that he had never attempted to perform the duty in question + without having a palpitation of the heart, and a complete turning + over of his inner man. He had often reflected upon this curious + fact, but was not able to account for it. He had not allowed this + repugnance to prevent his doing the duty; but he always had to rush + at it and perform it by a sort of _coup de main_, for if he allowed + himself to think about the matter, he could not do it at all. He + concluded by saying that he should be very much obliged to any one + if he could explain this mystery. + + The pastor said: "May it not be the natural delicacy we feel, and + ought to feel, in approaching the interior consciousness of another + person?" + + Another brother rose. There was no hanging back at this meeting; + there were no awkward pauses; every one seemed full of matter. The + new speaker was not inclined to admit the explanation suggested by + the pastor. "Suppose," said he, "we were to see a man in imminent + danger of immediate destruction, and there was one way of escape, + and but one, which _we_ saw, and he did not, should we feel any + delicacy in running up to him and urging him to fly for his life? + Is it not a want of faith on our part that causes the reluctance + and hesitation we all feel in urging others to avoid a peril so + much more momentous?" + + Mr. Beecher said the cases were not parallel. Irreligious persons, + he remarked, were not in imminent danger of immediate death; they + might die to-morrow; but in all probability they would not, and an + ill-timed or injudicious admonition might forever repel them. We + must accept the doctrine of probabilities, and act in accordance + with it in this particular, as in all others. + + Another brother had a puzzle to present for solution. He said that + he too had experienced the repugnance to which allusion had been + made; but what surprised him most was, that the more he loved a + person, and the nearer he was related to him, the more difficult he + found it to converse with him upon his spiritual state. Why is + this? "I should like to have this question answered," said he, "if + there _is_ an answer to it." + + Mr. Beecher observed that this was the universal experience, and he + was conscious himself of a peculiar reluctance and embarrassment in + approaching one of his own household on the subject in question. He + thought it was due to the fact that we respect more the personal + rights of those near to us than we do those of others, and it was + more difficult to break in upon the routine of our ordinary + familiarity with them. We are accustomed to a certain tone which it + is highly embarrassing to jar upon. + + Captain Duncan related two amusing anecdotes to illustrate the + right way and the wrong way of introducing religious conversation. + In his office there was sitting one day a sort of lay preacher, who + was noted for lugging in his favorite topic in the most forbidding + and abrupt manner. A sea captain came in, who was introduced to + this individual. + + "Captain Porter," said he, with awful solemnity, "are you a captain + in Israel?" + + The honest sailor was so abashed and confounded at this novel + salutation, that he could only stammer out an incoherent reply; and + he was evidently disposed to give the tactless zealot a piece of + his mind, expressed in the language of the quarter-deck. When the + solemn man took his leave, the disgusted captain said, "If ever I + should be coming to your office again, and that man should be here, + I wish you would send me word, and I'll stay away." + + A few days after another clergyman chanced to be in the office, no + other than Mr. Beecher himself, and another captain came in, a + roistering, swearing, good-hearted fellow. The conversation fell + upon sea-sickness, a malady to which Mr. Beecher is peculiarly + liable. The captain also was one of the few sailors who are always + sea-sick in going to sea, and gave a moving account of his + sufferings from that cause. Mr. Beecher, after listening + attentively to his tale, said, "Captain Duncan, if I was a preacher + to such sailors as your friend here, I should represent hell as an + eternal voyage, with every man on board in the agonies of + sea-sickness, the crisis always imminent, but never coming." + + This ludicrous and most unprofessional picture amused the old salt + exceedingly, and won his entire good will toward the author of it; + so that after Mr. Beecher left, he said, "That's a good fellow, + Captain Duncan. I like _him_, and I'd like to hear him talk more." + + Captain Duncan contended that this free and easy way of address was + just the thing for such characters. Mr. Beecher had shown him, to + his great surprise, that a man could be a decent and comfortable + human being although he was a minister, and had so gained his + confidence and good will that he could say _any thing_ to him at + their next interview. Captain Duncan finished his remarks by a + decided expression of his disapproval of the canting regulation + phrases so frequently employed by religious people, which are + perfectly nauseous to men of the world. + + This interesting conversation lasted about three-quarters of an + hour, and ended, not because the theme seemed exhausted, but + because the time was up. We have only given enough of it to convey + some little idea of its spirit. The company again broke into one + of their cheerful hymns, and the meeting was dismissed in the usual + manner. + + +During the late war, Mr. Beecher took an active and energetic part in +support of the cause of the Union. His labors were so severe that his +health was considerably impaired, and his voice began to fail him. His +physicians ordered him to seek rest and recreation in a tour through +Europe, and he reluctantly obeyed them. He was much benefited by his +visit to the Continent, but on his return to England, on his way home, +being solicited to speak in that country in behalf of the Union, he +delivered a series of powerful appeals, which exhausted the greater part +of the strength he had gained on the Continent, and caused him to return +home almost as ill as when he went abroad. + +Soon after his return the war closed, and he went to Charleston to +deliver the address at Fort Sumter upon the occasion of the rehoisting +of the flag of the United States over that work. The news of the +assassination of Mr. Lincoln met him upon his return to Brooklyn, and +drew from him one of his most memorable sermons. At the close of +hostilities, he preached a sermon to his congregation, urging +forgiveness and conciliation toward the South as the policy of the hour, +saying truly that that crisis was a rare opportunity which would never +come again, if spurned. The sermon was unpopular, and caused him some +trouble even in his own congregation. + +Mr. Beecher is now fifty-seven years old, but is still in the flush of +his intellectual vigor. His eye is as bright, his step as firm and +elastic, and his voice as clear and ringing as when he preached his +first sermon. His powers have grown with his work, and every year he +seems to rise higher in his intellectual supremacy. As a pulpit orator, +he has no superior, and certainly there is no man in all this round +earth whose eloquence has been productive of greater good to the cause +he serves. He is a stout, stocky man in appearance, with a large square +face and heavy features. It is the face of a great orator and a genial, +warm-hearted man. He is careful and temperate in all his habits--except +that he will work too hard--and enjoys robust health. He lives plainly +and dresses simply. He impresses one at once with his immense energy, +and you would recognize him immediately as a man of unusual power in his +community. Said a friend not long since, "I was standing by Beecher in a +book-store to-day. He was perfectly still, as he was waiting for a +parcel to be done up, but he reminded me of a big locomotive full of +steam and fire, and ready to display its immense force at any moment." + +Mr. Beecher is not only a preacher, but a capital farmer. He has a model +farm at Peekskill, on the Hudson, and is brimful of agricultural and +horticultural theories, which he carries into practice successfully. His +love for flowers is a perfect passion, and dates from his boyhood. He is +an excellent mechanic, and makes the repairs on his own premises, as far +as he can, with a keen relish, which he has doubtless inherited from his +father. He is thoroughly read in history, and as an art critic has no +superior. His house is filled with art gems, which are his pride. He has +not lost the love of reverie which marked his boyhood, but he is +eminently a practical man, and prefers the practical questions of +theology to those merely theoretical. He is as little like the typical +parson as one can imagine, and yet he is one whose place will be hard to +fill when he is gone, and whose works will live in the grateful memory +of those whom his counsel has saved from sin, and his sympathy +encouraged to continue in the path of duty. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +PETER CARTWRIGHT. + + +One of the most remarkable men in the American ministry is PETER +CARTWRIGHT, the "Backwoods Preacher." Sixty-seven years of ministerial +labors have passed over his head, and yet he still continues in the +field in which he has done such good service, and retains all the +popularity and much of the fire of his younger days. + +He was born in Amherst County, Virginia, on the 1st of September, 1785. +His father had been a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and his mother +was an orphan. Shortly after the close of the war, the Cartwrights +removed from Virginia to Kentucky, which was then an almost unbroken +wilderness. The journey was accompanied with considerable danger, as the +Indians were not yet driven west of the Ohio, but the family reached +their destination in safety. For two years they lived on a rented farm +in Lincoln County, Kentucky, and at the end of that time removed to what +was called the Green River Country, and settled in Logan County, nine +miles south of Russellville, the county seat, and within one mile of the +State line of Tennessee. + +The portion of Logan County in which young Cartwright's childhood and +youth were passed was the very last place one Would have cared to bring +up a candidate for the ministry. It was called "Rogue's Harbor," and was +thickly settled with fugitives from justice from all parts of the Union. +They actually constituted a majority of the inhabitants of the district, +and when the respectable citizens sought to bring them to justice they +readily "swore each other clear," and thus set the law at defiance. They +carried on such a course of outrage and violence that the respectable +citizens were at length compelled to combine for defence against them by +means of an organization known as the Regulators. Several fierce +encounters took place between the desperadoes and the Regulators, in +which many lives were lost, before the supremacy of the law was +established. + +"When my lather settled in Logan County," says Mr. Cartwright, "there +was not a newspaper printed South of Green River, no mill short of forty +miles, and no schools worth the name. Sunday was a day set apart for +hunting, fishing, horse-racing, card-playing, balls, dances, and all +kinds of jollity and mirth. We killed our meat out in the woods, wild, +and beat our meal and hominy with a pestle and mortar. We stretched a +deer-skin over a hoop, burned holes in it with the prongs of a fork, +sifted our meal, baked our bread, eat it, and it was first-rate eating, +too. We raised, or gathered out of the woods, our own tea. We had sage, +bohea, cross-vine, spice, and sassafras teas in abundance. As for +coffee, I am not sure that I ever smelled it for ten years. We made our +sugar out of the water of the maple-tree, and our molasses, too. These +were great luxuries in those days. We raised our own cotton and flax. We +water-rotted our flax, broke it by hand, scutched it, picked the seed +out of the cotton with our fingers; our mothers and sisters carded, +spun, and wove it into cloth, and they cut and made our garments and +bed-clothes, etc. And when we got on a new suit thus manufactured, and +sallied out into company, we thought ourselves as _big as any body_." + +Young Peter grew up in this rough country with a constitution of iron, +and a fair share of Western courage, independence, and energy. He was +sent by his father to a neighboring school, but the teacher was an +indifferent one, and he learned merely to read and write and cipher +imperfectly. + +He was a "wild, wicked boy," he tells us, and grew up to delight in +horse-racing, card-playing, and dancing. His father seems to have +enjoyed having so dashing a son, but his mother, who was a pious woman, +took his course seriously to heart, and wept and prayed over her boy as +only a Christian mother can. She often talked to him, and moved him so +deeply that he frequently vowed to lead a better life; but his pleasures +were too tempting, and he fell back again into his old habits. His +father presented him with a race-horse and a pack of cards, and he +became known among his youthful companions as one of the most fearless +riders and the luckiest fellow at cards in the county. The good mother +wept and prayed all the more, and the boy hid his cards from her to keep +her from burning them. + +In 1801, when he was sixteen years old, a change came over him. He had +been out with his father and brother to attend a wedding in the +neighborhood. The affair was conducted with all the uproarious merriment +incident to those days, and when Peter returned home and began to think +over it, he felt condemned at having passed his time in such a manner. +"My mother was in bed," says he. "It seemed to me, all of a sudden, my +blood rushed to my head, my heart palpitated, in a few minutes I turned +blind, an awful impression rested on my mind that death had come to me +and I was unprepared to die. I fell on my knees and began to ask God to +have mercy on me. My mother sprang from her bed, and was soon on her +knees by my side, praying for me, and exhorting me to look to Christ for +mercy, and then and there I promised the Lord if he would spare me I +would seek and serve Him, and I never fully broke that promise. My +mother prayed for me a long time. At length we lay down, but there was +little sleep for me. Next morning I rose, feeling wretched beyond +expression. I tried to read in the Testament, and retired many times to +secret prayer through the day, but found no relief. I gave up my +race-horse to my father and requested him to sell him. I went and +brought my pack of cards and gave them to mother, who threw them into +the fire, and they were consumed. I fasted, watched, and prayed, and +engaged in regular reading of the Testament. I was so distressed and +miserable that I was incapable of any regular business." + +Several months passed away, during which time Peter had seasons of +comfort and hopes of forgiveness, but during the greater portion he was +wretched and miserable, filled with such a fear of the devil that he was +almost convinced that Satan was really present with him to keep him from +God. A camp-meeting, held in the vicinity of his father's house, in the +spring of 1801, completed his conversion and gave him peace. + +"To this meeting," says he, "I repaired a guilty, wretched sinner. On +the Saturday evening of said meeting I went, with weeping multitudes, +and bowed before the stand, and earnestly prayed for mercy. In the midst +of a solemn struggle of soul, an impression was made on my mind as +though a voice said to me: 'Thy sins are all forgiven thee,' Divine +light flashed all around me, unspeakable joy sprang up in my soul. I +rose to my feet, opened my eyes, and it really seemed to me as if I was +in heaven; the trees, the leaves on them, and every thing seemed, and I +really thought were, praising God. My mother raised the shout, my +Christian friends crowded around me and joined me in praising God.... I +have never doubted that the Lord did, then and there, forgive my sins +and give me religion." He went on his way rejoicing, and in June, 1801, +was formally received into the Methodist Episcopal Church. In May, 1802, +he was appointed an exhorter. He shrank from accepting the position, as +he distrusted his own abilities, but finally yielded to his presiding +elder's wishes and entered upon his work. In the fall of that year his +parents removed to Lewiston County, toward the mouth of the Cumberland +River. + +Although he was but eighteen years old, his presiding elder had detected +in him signs of unusual promise, and had resolved to bring him into +active labor for the Church at once, and accordingly, upon his departure +for his new home, Peter was given authority to lay out and organize a +new circuit, the plan of which he was to submit to the presiding elder +for approval. The boy hesitated, frightened by the magnitude of the +task, but being encouraged by his superiors, accepted the trust, and +thus began his labors as a preacher of the Word. Upon reaching his new +home, he attended a tolerably good school in the vicinity, hoping to +acquire a better education, but the pupils and teacher persecuted him so +sorely that he was obliged to withdraw. Determining to lose no time in +waiting for an education, he at once began the work of preaching. Being +possessed of strong natural sense, a ready wit, and being thoroughly +imbued with the spirit of frontier life, he was just the man to carry +the Gospel home to the hearts of the rude pioneers of the great West. +His manner was that of a backwoodsman, and he had no city airs and +graces to offend the plain, rough people to whom he preached. He was +emphatically one of them. He offered them the plain Gospel, and gave +theological theories a wide berth. + +His plan of operations was adapted to the rudest intellect. It was to +thunder the terrors of the law into the ears of his converts, or, in his +own words, to "shake them over hell until they smelt brimstone right +strong," and make them see the fearful condition in which they lay by +reason of their sin. Man was to him a wretched, degraded creature, and +the only way to bring him to God was to drive him there by the terrors +of the law. Our preacher had very little faith in the quieter, more +persuasive means of grace. His first effort was to give the souls of his +hearers a good shaking up, bring them face to face with hell and its +torments, and then, having forced them to flee from the wrath to come, +to trust to their future Christian experience for the means of acquiring +a knowledge of the tender mercies of the Saviour. It must be confessed +that this was the only plan open to him in the field in which he +labored. The people to whom he preached were a rude, rough set, mainly +ignorant and superstitious, and many of them sunk in the depths of +drunkenness and viciousness. The Western country was almost a +wilderness. Vast forests and boundless prairies lay on every hand, with +but here and there a clearing with a solitary log cabin in it, or but +two or three at the most. The people lived in the most perfect solitude, +rarely seeing any but the members of their own households. Solitude and +danger made them superstitious, and the absence of schools kept them in +ignorance. They drank to keep off the blues, and when they came together +for amusement they made the most of their opportunities, and plunged +into the most violent sports, which were not always kept within the +bounds of propriety. Churches were as scarce as schools, and until the +Methodist circuit riders made their appearance in the West, the people +were little better than heathen. The law had scarcely any hold upon +these frontiersmen. They were wild and untamed, and personal freedom was +kept in restraint mainly by the law of personal accountability. They +were generous and improvident, frank, fearless, easy-going, and filled +with an intense scorn for every thing that smacked of Eastern refinement +or city life. They were proud of their buckskin and linsey-woolsey +clothes, their squirrel caps, and their horny hands and rough faces. +They would have been miserable in a city mansion, but they were lords +and kings in their log-cabins. To have sent a preacher bred in the +learned schools of New England to such a people would have been folly. +The smooth cadences, the polished gestures, and, above all, the +manuscript sermon of a Boston divine, would have disgusted the men and +women of the frontier. What cared they for predestination or free-will, +or for any of the dogmas of the schools? They wanted to hear the simple, +fundamental truths of the Gospel, and they wanted to hear them from a +man of their own stamp. They wanted a "fire and brimstone" preacher, one +whose fiery eloquence could stir the very depths of their souls, and set +their simple imaginations all ablaze; one who could shout and sing with +true Western abandon; who could preach in his shirt-sleeves, sleep with +them on the bare ground, brave all the dangers of a frontier life, and, +if necessary, thrash any one who dared to insult him. Such was the man +for these sturdy, simple Western folk, and such a man they found in +Peter Cartwright. + +Peter went at the task before him with a will. The country being +sparsely settled, people had to travel a long way to get to church, and +it became a matter of expediency for the clergy to hold religious +gatherings at stated points, and to continue them for several days, so +that those who desired to attend might be able to avoid the necessity of +going home every evening and coming back next day. Church edifices being +scarce, these meetings were held in the woods, and a large encampment +was formed by the people in attendance. This was the origin of the +camp-meeting system, which for many years was the only effective way of +spreading the Gospel in the West. It was at a camp-meeting that Peter +obtained religion, and he has ever since been a zealous advocate of, and +a hard worker at, them. From the first he was successful. The fame of +the "boy preacher" went abroad into all the land, and people came in to +the camp from a hundred miles around to hear him. He had little +education, but he knew his Bible thoroughly, and was a ready speaker, +and, above all, he knew how to deal with the people to whom he preached. +He made many converts, and from the first took rank as the most popular +preacher in the West. + +Peter not only believed in the overruling power of God, but he was +firmly convinced of the active and personal agency of the devil in human +affairs. Many of the follies and faults of the people around him took +place, he averred, because they were possessed of devils. Each +camp-meeting was to him a campaign against Satan, and in his opinion +Satan never failed to make a good fight for his kingdom. Certainly some +very singular things did occur at the meetings at which he was present, +and, naturally, perhaps, some persons began to believe that Peter +Cartwright possessed supernatural powers. The following incident, +related by him, not only explains some of the phenomena to which I +allude, but also the manner in which he was regarded by some of the +unconverted: + +"A new exercise broke out among us, called the 'jerks,' which was +overwhelming in its effects upon the bodies and minds of the people. No +matter whether they were saints or sinners, they would be taken under a +warm song or sermon, and seized with a convulsive jerking all over, +which they could not by any possibility avoid, and the more they +resisted, the more they jerked. If they would not strive against it, +and pray in good earnest, the jerking would usually abate. I have seen +more than five hundred persons jerking at one time in my large +congregations. Most usually persons taken with the jerks, to obtain +relief, as they said, would rise up and dance. Some would run, but could +not get away. Some would resist; on such the jerks were very severe. + +"To see those proud young gentlemen and young ladies, dressed in their +silks, jewelry, and prunella, from top to toe, take the jerks, would +often excite my risibilities. The first jerk or so you would see their +fine bonnets, caps, and combs fly, and so sudden would be the jerking of +the head that their long, loose hair would crack almost as loud as a +wagoner's whip. + +"At one of my appointments, in 1804, there was a very large congregation +turned out to hear the 'Kentucky boy,' as they called me. Among the rest +there were two very finely dressed, fashionable young ladies, attended +by two brothers with loaded horsewhips. Although the house was large, it +was crowded. The two young ladies, coming in late, took their seats near +where I stood, and their two brothers stood in the door. I was a little +unwell, and I had a phial of peppermint in my pocket. Before I commenced +preaching I took out my phial and swallowed a little of the peppermint. +While I was preaching the congregation was melted into tears. The two +young gentlemen moved off to the yard fence, and both the young ladies +took the jerks, and they were greatly mortified about it.... + +"As I dismissed the assembly, a man stepped up to me and warned me to be +on my guard, for he had heard the two brothers swear they would +horsewhip me when meeting was out for giving their sisters the jerks. +'Well,' said I, 'I'll see to that.' + +"I went out and said to the young men that I understood they intended +to horsewhip me for giving their sisters the jerks. One replied that he +did. I undertook to expostulate with him on the absurdity of the charge +against me, but he swore I need not deny it, for he had seen me take out +a phial in which I carried some truck that gave his sisters the jerks. +As quick as thought came into my mind how I would get clear of my +whipping, and, jerking out the peppermint phial, said I, 'Yes; if I gave +your sisters the jerks I'll give them to you,' In a moment I saw he was +scared. I moved toward him, he backed, I advanced, and he wheeled and +ran, warning me not to come near him or he would kill me. It raised the +laugh on him, and I escaped my whipping.... + +"I always looked upon the jerks as a judgment sent from God, first, to +bring sinners to repentance, and, secondly, that God could work with or +without means, and that he could work over and above means and do +whatsoever seemeth him good to the glory of his grace and the salvation +of the world. There is no doubt in my mind that, with weak-minded, +ignorant, and superstitious persons, there was a great deal of +sympathetic feeling with many that claimed to be under the influence of +this jerking exercise, and yet with many it was perfectly involuntary. +It was on all occasions my practice to recommend fervent prayer as a +remedy, and it almost universally proved an effectual antidote." + +The excitement of the religious revivals plunged many of the people into +excesses. They prophesied, dreamed dreams, and saw visions, and troubled +the young preacher exceedingly, but he set his face sternly against all +such disorders, and pronounced their visions and messages to be from the +devil. One of these dreamers came to him one day and told him he had a +message from heaven for him. + +"Well," said Cartwright, "what is it?" + +"It has been revealed to me," said the fellow, "that you are never to +die, but are to live forever." + +"Who revealed that to you?" + +"An angel." + +"Did you see him?" asked Cartwright, dryly. + +"O, yes; he was a beautiful, white, shining being." + +"Did you smell him?" asked Peter, bluntly. + +The man looked at him in amazement, and the preacher continued, sternly, +"Well, did the angel you saw smell of brimstone? He must have smelled of +brimstone, for he was from a region that burns with fire and brimstone, +and consequently from hell, for he revealed a great lie to you if he +told you I was to live forever." + +The dreamer turned off abruptly, and disappeared amidst the jeers of the +crowd that had listened to the conversation. + +On the 16th of September, 1806, Mr. Cartwright was ordained a deacon in +the Methodist Episcopal Church by Bishop Asbury, and on the 4th of +October, 1808, Bishop McKendree ordained him an elder. Upon receiving +deacon's orders he was assigned to the Marietta Circuit. His appointment +dismayed him. Says he: "It was a poor, hard circuit at that time. +Marietta and the country round were settled at an early day by a colony +of Yankees. At the time of my appointment I had never seen a Yankee, and +I had heard dismal stories about them. It was said they lived almost +entirely on pumpkins, molasses, fat meat, and bohea tea; moreover, that +they could not bear loud and zealous sermons, and they had brought on +their learned preachers with them, and they read their sermons and were +always criticising us poor backwoods preachers. When my appointment was +read out it distressed me greatly. I went to Bishop Asbury and begged +him to supply my place and let me go home. The old father took me in +his arms and said: 'O, no, my son; go in the name of the Lord. It will +make a man of you.' + +"Ah, thought I, if this is the way to make men, I do not want to be a +man. I cried over it bitterly, and prayed, too. But on I started, +cheered by my presiding elder, Brother J. Sale. If I ever saw hard +times, surely it was this year; yet many of the people were kind and +treated me friendly. I had hard work to keep soul and body together. The +first Methodist house I came to the brother was a Universalist. I +crossed over the Muskingum River to Marietta. The first Methodist family +I stopped with there, the lady was a member of the Methodist Episcopal +Church, but a thorough Universalist. She was a thin-faced, Roman-nosed, +loquacious Yankee, glib on the tongue, and you may depend upon it I had +a hard race to keep up with her, though I found it a good school, for it +set me to reading my Bible. And here permit me to say, of all the isms I +ever heard of, they were here. These descendants of the Puritans were +generally educated, but their ancestors were rigid predestinarians, and +as they were sometimes favored with a little light on their moral +powers, and could just 'see men as trees walking,' they jumped into +Deism, Universalism, Unitarianism, etc., etc. I verily believe it was +the best school I ever entered. They waked me up on all sides; Methodism +was feeble, and I had to battle or run, and I resolved on the former." + +Just before he was made an elder, Mr. Cartwright left his circuit, and +went home on a visit to recruit. He had made a good fight with poverty +during his labors, and at the time of his departure for home he was in a +condition sufficiently hard to test any man's fortitude. "I had been +from my father's house for three years," says he; "was five hundred +miles from home, my horse had gone blind, my saddle was worn out, my +bridle reins had been eaten up and replaced (after a sort) at least a +dozen times, and my clothes had been patched till it was difficult to +detect the original. I had concluded to make my way home and get another +outfit. I was in Marietta, and had just seventy-five cents in my pocket. +How I would get home and pay my way I could not tell." + +He did reach home, however, after many characteristic adventures, and +obtained another outfit, and while there he took an important step--he +married. "After a mature deliberation and prayer," he says, "I thought +it was my duty to marry, and was joined in marriage to Frances Gaines, +on the 18th of August, 1808, which was her nineteenth birthday." Peter +and his bride knew that a hard life was in store for them, but they felt +strong in the love they bore each other. They were simple backwoods +folk, and their wants were few. "When I started as a traveling +preacher," he said fifty-three years afterward, "a single preacher was +allowed to receive eighty dollars per annum if his circuit would give it +to him; but single preachers in those days seldom received over thirty +or forty dollars, and often much less; and had it not been for a few +presents made us by the benevolent friends of the church, and a few +dollars we made as marriage fees, we must have suffered much more than +we did. But the Lord provided, and, strange as it may appear to the +present generation, we got along without starving or going naked." There +is something awe-inspiring in the simple trust in God which this good +man displayed in every stage of his life. Once satisfied that he was in +the path of duty, he never allowed the future to trouble him. He +provided for it as far as he could, and left the rest to the Master +whose work he was doing. Poverty and hardship had no terrors for this +brave young couple, and it was very far from their thoughts to wait +until a better day to marry. They would go out hand in hand into the +world and meet their trials together. Children would come, they knew, +and those little mouths would have to be fed, but they would be +industrious, saving, and patient, and "God would provide." + +Peter Cartwright's mission was to plant the Methodist Episcopal Church +in the West as well as to preach the Gospel. For that end he worked and +prayed. The Methodist Episcopal Church was his haven of safety. Without, +all was storm and darkness; within its fold all was peace and light. He +believed his church to be the best door to heaven, if indeed it was not +in his estimation the only one. He was a fanatic, pure and simple, as +regarded his own denomination, but a fanatic full of high and noble +purposes, and one whose zeal was productive only of good. This +fanaticism was necessary to the success of his labors. It was his +perfect belief that his was the only church in which sinners could find +perfect peace that carried him through the difficulties which +encompassed him. Men were dying all around him, and they must come into +his church. They had other denominations close at hand, but they, in his +estimation, would not do. The Methodist Episcopal Church was a necessity +for sinners, therefore it must be planted in all parts of the land. No +sacrifice was too great for the accomplishment of this object. He has +lived to see those sacrifices rewarded, to see his church one of the +most numerous and powerful religious bodies in the country. + +Being so zealous in behalf of his own church, it is not strange that he +should have clashed frequently with other denominations. He got along +very well with the majority, but with the Baptists and Universalists he +was always on the war path. The latter especially excited his +uncompromising hostility, and he never failed to attack their doctrines +with all his forces wherever he encountered them. "I have thought," +says he, "and do still think, if I were to set out to form a plan to +contravene the laws of God, to encourage wickedness of all kinds, to +corrupt the morals and encourage vice, and crowd hell with the lost and +the wailings of the damned, the Universalist plan should be the plan, +the very plan that I would adopt.... + +"A few years ago," he continues, "I had a neighbor who professed to be a +confirmed Universalist. He contended with me that there was no devil but +the evil disposition in man, and that there was no hell but the bad +feelings that men had when they did wrong: that this was all the +punishment any body would suffer. When this neighbor's father lay on his +dying bed (a confirmed Universalist, professedly) there was a faithful +minister of Christ who believed it his duty to visit this old +Universalist, warn him of his danger, and try to awaken his conscience, +if not seared, to a just view of his real situation. The minister, +however, failed in his faithful attempt and well-meant endeavors, for +the old man, then on his dying pillow, was greatly offended at the +preacher, and told him that he did not thank him for trying to shake his +faith in his dying moments. This neighbor of mine, and son of this old, +hardened sinner, was greatly enraged at the preacher, and cursed and +abused him in a violent manner. A few days after the demise of the old +man, he, in a furious rage, began to abuse and curse the preacher in my +presence, and said: + +"D---- him; I wish he was in hell and the devil had him.' + +"I stopped him short by saying, 'Pooh, pooh, man, what are you talking +about? There is no hell but the bad feelings that a man has when he does +wrong, and no devil but the evil disposition that is in man.' Thus +answering a fool according to his folly. + +"'Well,' said he, 'if there is no hell there ought to be, to put such +preachers in.' + +"'Now, sir,' said I, 'you see the utter untenableness of your creed, for +a man even in trying to do good honestly draws down your wrath, and, in +a moment, you want a hell to put him into and a devil to torment him for +giving you an offense, and for doing what no good man ought to be +offended about. But God must be insulted, his name blasphemed, his laws +trampled under foot, yet he must have no hell to put such a wretch in, +no devil to torment him. Now I would be ashamed of myself if I were in +your place, and let the seal of truth close my lips forever hereafter.' + +"Although he was confounded, he still clave to his God-dishonoring +doctrine, waxing worse and worse, till it was generally believed he was +guilty of a most heinous crime." + +Argumentative battles were not the only troubles Cartwright had to +encounter from Universalists. They came to his revivals, he says, to +hoot and create disturbance. At one of these meetings two sisters, +Universalists in belief, were present. They came to "make fun," but one +of them was overcome by Cartwright's preaching, and went up to the +mourner's bench to be prayed for. When her sister heard of it, she +commenced to make her way to the altar, with the angry determination to +force the penitent from it. "I rose and met her in the crowded aisle," +says Mr. Cartwright, "and told her to be calm and desist. She made +neither better nor worse of it than to draw back her arm and give me a +severe slap in the face with her open hand. I confess this rather took +me by surprise, and, as the common saying is, made the fire fly out of +my eyes in tremendous sparkling brilliancy, but, collecting my best +judgment, I caught her by the arms near her shoulders and wheeled her to +the right about, moved her forward to the door, and said, 'Gentlemen, +please open the door; the devil in this Universalist lady has got +fighting hot, and I want to set her outside to cool.' The door was +opened, and I landed her out." + +Concerning his tilts with the Baptists, he has given a mass of curious +reminiscences, from which we take the following: + +"We preached in new settlements, and the Lord poured out his Spirit, and +we had many convictions and many conversions. It was the order of the +day, (though I am sorry to say it,) that we were constantly followed by +a certain set of proselyting Baptist preachers. These new and wicked +settlements were seldom visited by these Baptist preachers until the +Methodist preachers entered them; then, when a revival was gotten up, or +the work of the Lord revived, these Baptist preachers came rushing in, +and they generally sung their sermons; and when they struck the _long +roll_, or their sing-song mode of preaching, in substance it was: +'Water! water! You must follow your blessed Lord down into the water!' I +had preached several times in a large, populous, and wicked settlement, +and there was serious attention, deep convictions, and a good many +conversions; but, between my occasional appointments these preachers +would rush in and try to take off our converts into the water; and +indeed they made so much ado about baptism by immersion that the +uninformed would suppose that heaven was an island, and there was no way +to get there _but by diving or swimming_." + +He once preached a sermon on the true nature of baptism, at which were +present the daughters of a Baptist minister, one of whom was converted. +That night it rained violently, and all the neighboring streams +overflowed their banks. Riding along the next day, he met the Baptist +minister on the road. + +"We've had a tremendous rain," said Cartwright. + +"Yes, sir," said the Baptist brother, "the Lord sent this rain to +convince you of your error." + +"Ah! what error?" + +"Why, about baptism. The Lord sent this flood to convince you that much +water was necessary." + +"Very good, sir," said Cartwright, "and in like manner he sent this +flood to convince you of your error." + +"What error?" asked the Baptist brother. + +"Why," replied Cartwright, triumphantly, "to show you that water comes +by pouring, and not by immersion." + +Free and easy as he was in his manner, our preacher had a deep sense of +the dignity of his mission, and he was resolved that others should share +the feeling, and accord him, in his ministerial capacity, the respect +and deference that were his due. His manner of accomplishing this was +characteristic, as the following incident will show: Traveling on his +circuit in 1805, he put up on one occasion at the house of an old man +known as Father Teel, a whimsical old fellow, and supposed to be +Cartwright's match in oddity. He had been warned that the old man, +though a good Methodist, showed little deference to preachers. It was +his custom to rise early, and, as soon as dressed, to give out his hymn, +sing it himself, and then go to prayers, without waiting for his family +to get up. He served preachers in the same way. Cartwright resolved to +beat him at his own game, but the old man was too wary for him. + +"Just as day broke," says Cartwright, "I awoke, rose up, and began to +dress, but had not nigh accomplished it when I heard Teel give out his +hymn and commence singing, and about the time I had got dressed, I heard +him commence praying. He gave thanks to God that they had been spared +during the night, and were all permitted to see the light of a new day, +while at the same time I suppose every one of his family was fast +asleep. I deliberately opened the door and walked out to the well, +washed myself, and then walked back to my cabin. Just as I got to the +door, the old brother opened his door, and, seeing me, said, 'Good +morning, sir. Why, I didn't know you were up.' + +"'Yes, said I, 'I have been up some time.' + +"'Well, brother,' said he, 'why did you not come in to prayers?' + +"'Because,' said I, 'it is wrong to pray of a morning in the family +before we wash.' + +"The old brother passed on, and no more was said at that time. That +evening, just before we were about to retire to rest, the old brother +set out the book and said to me: 'Brother, hold prayers with us.' + +"'No, sir,' said I. + +"Said he, 'Come, brother, take the book and pray with us.' + +"'No, sir,' said I; 'you love to pray so well, you may do it yourself.' + +"He insisted, but I persistently refused, saying: 'You are so fond of +praying yourself, that you even thanked God this morning that he had +spared you all to see the light of a new day, when your family had not +yet opened their eyes, but were all fast asleep. And you have such an +absurd way of holding prayers in your family, that I do not wish to have +any thing to do with it.' + +"He then took the book, read, and said prayers, but you may rely on it, +the next morning things were much changed. He waited for me, and had all +his family up in order. He acknowledged his error, and told me it was +one of the best reproofs he ever got. I then prayed with the family, and +after that all went well." + +Among his clerical brethren was a poor hen-pecked husband, whose wife +was possessed of a temper that made her the terror of the neighborhood. +Cartwright had often been invited by the poor man to go home with him; +"but," he says, "I frankly confess I was afraid to trust myself" but at +length, yielding to his importunities, he went home with his oppressed +brother, intending to spend the night with him. His visit roused the +fury of the wife, and "I saw in a minute," says our preacher, "that the +devil was in her as big as an alligator, and I determined on my course." +The woman held her tongue until after supper, when her husband asked her +kindly to join them in prayers. She flew into a rage, and swore there +should be no praying in her house that night. Cartwright tried to reason +with her, but she cursed him roundly. Then, facing her sternly, he said, +"Madam, if you were my wife, I would break you of your bad ways, or I +would break your neck." + +"The devil you would," said she. "Yes, you are a pretty Christian, ain't +you?" + +She continued cursing him, but Cartwright sternly bade her hold her +peace, and let them pray. She declared she would not. + +"Now," said he to her, "if you do not be still, and behave yourself, +I'll put you out of doors." + +"At this," says he, "she clenched her fist and swore she was one-half +alligator and the other half snapping-turtle, and that it would take a +better man than I was to put her out. It was a small cabin we were in, +and we were not far from the door, which was then standing open. I +caught her by the arm, and swinging her round in a circle, brought her +right up to the door, and shoved her out. She jumped up, tore her hair, +foamed, and such swearing as she uttered was seldom equaled, and never +surpassed. The door, or shutter of the door, was very strongly made, to +keep out hostile Indians; I shut it tight, barred it, and went to +prayer, and I prayed as best I could; but I have no language at my +command to describe my feelings. At the same time, I was determined to +conquer, or die in the attempt. While she was raging and foaming in the +yard and around the cabin, I started a spiritual song, and sung loud, to +drawn her voice as much as possible. The five or six little children ran +and squatted about and crawled under the beds. Poor things, they were +scared almost to death. + +"I sang on, and she roared and thundered on outside, till she became +perfectly exhausted, and panted for breath. At length, when she had +spent her force, she became perfectly calm and still, and then knocked +at the door, saying, 'Mr. Cartwright, please let me in.' + +"'Will you behave yourself if I let you in?' said I. + +"'O yes,' said she, 'I will;' and throwing myself on my guard, and +perfectly self-possessed, I opened the door, took her by the hand, led +her in, and seated her near the fire-place. She had roared and foamed +until she was in a high perspiration, and looked pale as death. After +she took her seat, 'O,' said she, 'what a fool I am,' + +"'Yes,' said I, 'about one of the biggest fools I ever saw in all my +life.'... Brother C. and I kneeled down, and both prayed. She was as +quiet as a lamb." + +Six months later, our preacher tells us, this woman was converted, and +became "as bold in the cause of God as she had been in the cause of the +wicked one." + +In 1823, Mr. Cartwright resolved to move across the Ohio, and selected +Illinois as his new home. The reasons which influenced his actions are +thus stated by him: + +"I had seen with painful emotions the increase of a disposition to +justify slavery.... and the legislatures in the slave States made the +laws more and more stringent, with a design to prevent emancipation. +Moreover, rabid abolitionism spread and dreadfully excited the South. I +had a young and growing family of children, two sons and four daughters; +was poor, owned a little farm of about one hundred and fifty acres; +lands around me were high and rising in value. My daughters would soon +be grown up. I did not see any probable means by which I could settle +them around or near us. Moreover, I had no right to expect our children +to marry into wealthy families, and I did not desire it, if it could be +so; and by chance they might marry into slave families. This I did not +desire. Besides, I saw there was a marked distinction made among the +people generally between young people raised without work and those that +had to work for their living.... I thought I saw clear indications of +Providence that I should leave my comfortable little home, and move into +a free State or territory, for the following reasons: First, I would get +entirely clear of the evil of slavery. Second, I could raise my children +to work where work was not considered a degradation. Third, I believed I +could better my temporal circumstances, and procure lands for my +children as they grew up. And fourth, I could carry the Gospel to +destitute souls that had, by removal into some new country, been +deprived of the means of grace." + +It was the last reason, no doubt, that decided our preacher. Men of his +stamp were needed west of the Ohio. Kentucky was becoming too old a +State for him, and he felt that his true field of labor was still on the +frontier, and thither he turned his steps. Setting out first on +horseback to seek an eligible location, he reached Sangamon County, +Illinois, where he bought a claim on Richland Creek. He then returned to +Kentucky and wound up his affairs there, obtained a regular transfer +from the Kentucky Conference to the Indiana Conference, which then +controlled Illinois, and in October, 1824, set out for his new home in +Sangamon County. A great affliction overtook him on the way, in the +death of his third daughter, who was killed by the falling of a tree +upon their camp. The affliction was made more grievous by the heartless +refusal of the people in the vicinity to render them any aid. "We were +in great distress," he says, "and no one even to pity our condition.... +I discovered that the tree had sprung up, and did not press the child; +and we drew her out from under it, and carefully laid her in our feed +trough, and moved on about twenty miles to an acquaintance's in Hamilton +County, Illinois, where we buried her." + +Leaving that lonely little grave behind them, they hurried on to their +new home. Springfield, the capital of the State, was but a small +collection of shanties and log huts, and Sangamon County was the extreme +frontier. It was the most northern county of Illinois, and just beyond +it lay the unbroken Indian country. Numbers of Indians roamed through +the Sangamon River bottom, and spent their winters there. It was as wild +and unsettled a region as our preacher could have desired, and one which +gave him a fine field for the exercise of his peculiar abilities. Mr. +Cartwright was promptly received into the Indiana Conference, and he +lost no time in looking about him. He at once established his family in +their new home, and then set about his work. The work was hard, and +money was scarce. The first year he traveled the Sangamon Circuit he +received forty dollars, and the next year sixty dollars, which he says +was a great improvement in his financial affairs. He was successful from +the first, and in the two years referred to added one hundred and sixty +persons to the Methodist Church in this thinly settled district. For +forty-six years he has labored in this region, adding many souls to the +kingdom of God. + +Arduous as his labors had been in the Kentucky Conference, they now +increased very greatly. He had a larger amount of territory to travel +over, people were more scattered, and the dangers to be encountered were +greater. In 1827, he was made presiding elder, and given the Illinois +District, then a very extensive region, and in 1828 Galena charge was +added to this district. The district thus enlarged extended from the +mouth of the Ohio River to Galena, the entire length of the present +State of Illinois, and over this immense distance our preacher was +obliged to travel four times in the year. The journeys were made either +on horseback or in an old-fashioned sulky or one-seat gig. There were +miles of lonely prairie and many rapid streams to cross, and roads, +bridges, or ferry-boats were almost unknown. Yet Peter Cartwright was +not the man to be deterred by obstacles. When he set out on his official +journeys, he allowed nothing that it was possible to overcome to prevent +him from keeping his appointments. In crossing the prairies, he would +guide himself by the points of timber, for there were no roads over +these vast plains. Oftentimes the streams to be crossed were swollen, +and then he would swim his horse across them, or ride along the shore +until he found a tree fallen over the current. Stripping himself, he +would carry his clothes and riding equipments to the opposite bank, and +then, returning, mount his horse and swim him across the river. Dressing +again, he would continue his journey, and perhaps repeat the proceeding +several times during the day. When overtaken by night, he would seek a +place in some grove, and, lighting a fire with his tinder-box and steel, +tie up his horse, and, throwing himself on the ground, sleep as +peacefully as on a bed of down. Sometimes night would come on before he +had crossed the prairie or made his way to the timber point he was +aiming for, and then he would sit down on the ground, in the darkness +and alone, and, holding his horse by the bridle, await the return of +light to enable him to see his landmark. Sometimes he would find a +little log-hut with a settler's family in it, and he says it was "a +great treat" to come upon one of these lonely cabins and enjoy the +privilege of a night's lodging. If the family were Methodists, there was +sure to be preaching that night; and if they were strangers to that +church, our preacher set to work at once to convert them. He labored +faithfully, faring hard, and braving dangers from which his city +brethren would have shrunk appalled. He carried the Gospel and the +Methodist Episcopal Church into all parts of the great State of +Illinois, and even into Iowa and the Indian country. + +In 1832, the first Illinois Conference met in the town of Jacksonville, +and Mr. Cartwright attended it. He had now been a traveling preacher for +twenty-eight years, and, as he felt himself sorely in need of rest, he +asked and obtained a superannuated relation for one year. On the same +day, Bishop Soule, who presided at the Conference, came to him to ask +his advice with reference to the Quincy District. It was very important, +but the bishop could not find a presiding elder willing to take charge +of it, as it was an almost unbroken wilderness. The bishop was in sore +distress, as he feared that he would be obliged to merge it into another +district. The spirit of the backwoods preacher at once took fire, and, +declaring that so important a field ought not to be neglected, he +expressed his willingness to relinquish his superannuated relation and +accept the charge. The bishop took him at his word and appointed him to +the district, which he served faithfully. His adventures in traveling +from place to place to fill his appointments are intensely interesting, +and I would gladly reproduce them here did the limits of this chapter +permit. + +It required no small amount of courage to perform the various duties of +a backwoods preacher, and in this quality our preacher was not +deficient. He was frequently called upon to exercise it in his camp +meetings. These assemblies never failed to gather large crowds from all +parts of the surrounding country, and among others came numerous +rowdies, whose delight it was to annoy the preachers and worshipers in +every conceivable way. Cartwright put up with the annoyance as long as +he could, and then determined to put a stop to it. He believed in +fighting the devil with fire, and put down many a disturbance. The +following is the way he went about it: + +"Our last quarterly meeting was a camp meeting. We had a great many +tents and a large turnout for a new country, and, perhaps, there never +was a greater collection of rabble and rowdies. They came drunk and +armed with dirks, clubs, knives, and horsewhips, and swore they would +break up the meeting. After interrupting us very much on Saturday night, +they collected on Sunday morning, determined on a general riot. At eight +o'clock I was appointed to preach. About the time I was half through my +discourse, two very fine-dressed young men marched into the congregation +with loaded horsewhips, and hats on, and rose up and stood in the midst +of the ladies, and began to laugh and talk. They were near the stand, +and I requested them to desist and get off the seats; but they cursed me +and told me to mind my own business, and said they would not get down. I +stopped trying to preach, and called for a magistrate. There were two at +hand, but I saw they were both afraid. I ordered them to take these two +men into custody, but they said they could not do it. I told them as I +left the stand to command me to take them, and I would do it at the risk +of my life. I advanced toward them. They ordered me to stand off, but I +advanced. One of them made a pass at my head, but I closed in with him +and jerked him off the seat. A regular scuffle ensued. The congregation +by this time were all in commotion. I heard the magistrates giving +general orders, commanding all friends of order to aid in suppressing +the riot. In the scuffle I threw my prisoner down, and held him fast; +he tried his best to get loose. I told him to be quiet, or I would +pound his chest well. The mob rose and rushed to the rescue of the two +prisoners, for they had taken the other young man also. An old, drunken +magistrate came up to me, and ordered me to let my prisoner go. I told +him I should not. He swore if I did not he would knock me down. I told +him to crack away. Then one of my friends, at my request, took hold of +my prisoner, and the drunken justice made a pass at me; but I parried +the stroke, and, seizing him by the collar and the hair of the head, and +fetching him a sudden jerk forward, brought him to the ground and jumped +on him. I told him to be quiet, or I would pound him well. The mob then +rushed to the scene; they knocked down seven magistrates, several +preachers, and others. I gave up my drunken prisoner to another, and +threw myself in front of the friends of order. Just at this moment, the +ringleader of the mob and I met; he made three passes at me, intending +to knock me down. The last time he struck at me, by the force of his own +effort he threw the side of his face toward me. It seemed at that moment +I had not power to resist temptation, and I struck a sudden blow in the +burr of the ear and dropped him to the earth. Just at this moment, the +friends of order rushed by hundreds on the mob, knocking them down in +every direction." + +Once, while crossing a river on a ferry-boat, he overheard a man cursing +Peter Cartwright and threatening dire vengeance against him, and +boasting that he could "whip any preacher the Lord ever made." This +roused our preacher's ire, and accosting the man, he told him he was +Peter Cartwright, and that if he wanted to whip him he must do so then. +The fellow became confused, and said he did not believe him. + +"I tell you," said Cartwright, sternly, "I am the man. Now, sir, you +have to whip me, as you threatened, or quit cursing me, or I will put +you in the river and baptize you in the name of the devil, for you +surely belong to him." "This," says Cartwright, "settled him." + +Once, having gone into the woods with a young man who had sworn he would +whip him, he sprained his foot slightly in getting over a fence, and +involuntarily placed his hand to his side. "My redoubtable antagonist," +says he, "had got on the fence, and, looking down at me, said, 'D---- +you, you are feeling for a dirk, are you?' + +"As quick as thought it occurred to me how to get clear of a whipping. + +"'Yes,' said I, 'and I will give you the benefit of all the dirks I +have,' and advanced rapidly toward him. + +"He sprang back on the other side of the fence from me; I jumped over +after him, and a regular foot race followed." + +"It may be asked," says the old man, naively, "what I would have done if +this fellow had gone with me to the woods. This is hard to answer, for +it was a part of my creed to love every body, but to fear no one, and I +did not permit myself to believe that any man could whip me until it was +tried, and I did not permit myself to premeditate expedients in such +cases. I should no doubt have proposed to him to have prayer first, and +then followed the openings of Providence." + +Mr. Cartwright was from the beginning of his ministry an ardent advocate +of temperance, and, long before the first temperance society was +organized in the country, he waged a fierce war against dram-drinking. +This fearless advocate of temperance came very near getting drunk once. +He had stopped with a fellow preacher at a tavern kept by an Otterbein +Methodist, who, thinking to play them a trick, put whisky into the new +cider which he offered them. Cartwright drank sparingly of the beverage, +though he considered it harmless, but, "with all my forbearance," he +says, "presently I began to feel light-headed. I instantly ordered our +horses, fearing we were snapped for once.... When we had rode about a +mile, being in the rear, I saw Brother Walker was nodding at a mighty +rate. I suddenly rode up to Brother Walker and cried out, 'Wake up! wake +up!' He roused up, his eyes watering freely. 'I believe,' said I, 'we +are both drunk. Let us turn out of the road and lie down and take a nap +till we get sober,' But we rode on without stopping. We were not drunk, +but we both evidently felt it flying to our heads." + +In 1826 Mr. Cartwright was elected to the Legislature of the State, and +at the expiration of his first term was reflected from Sangamon County. +He was induced to accept this position because of his desire to aid in +preventing the introduction of slavery into the State. He had no liking +for political strife, however, and was disgusted with the dishonesty +which he saw around him. "I say," he declares, "without any desire to +speak evil of the rulers of the people, I found a great deal of +corruption in our Legislature, and I found that almost every measure had +to be carried by a corrupt bargain and sale which should cause every +honest man to blush for his country." + +He was full of a quaint humor, which seemed to burst out from every line +of his features, and twinkle merrily in his bright eyes. Often in the +midst of his most exciting revivals he could not resist the desire to +fasten his dry jokes upon one of his converts. No man loved a joke +better, or was quicker to make a good use of it. He was traveling one +day on his circuit, and stopped for the night at a cabin in which he +found a man and woman. Suspecting that all was not right, he questioned +the woman, and drew from her the confession that the man was her lover. +Her husband, she said, was away, and would not return for two days, and +she had received this man in his absence. + + + +[Illustration: CARTWRIGHT CALLING UP THE DEVIL.] + +Cartwright then began to remonstrate with the guilty pair upon their +conduct, and while he was speaking to them the husband's voice was heard +in the yard. In an agony of terror the woman implored Cartwright to +assist her in getting her lover out of the way, and our preacher, upon +receiving from each a solemn promise of reformation, agreed to do so. +There was standing by the chimney a large barrel of raw cotton, and as +there was no time to get the man out of the house, Cartwright put him +into the barrel and piled the cotton over him. + +The husband entered, and Cartwright soon engaged him in conversation. +The man said he had often heard of Peter Cartwright, and that it was the +common opinion in that part of the country that among his other +wonderful gifts our preacher had the power to call up the devil. + +"That's the easiest thing in the world to do," said Cartwright. "Would +you like to see it?" + +The man hesitated for awhile, and then expressed his readiness to +witness the performance. + +"Very well," said Cartwright; "take your stand by your wife, and don't +move or speak. I'll let the door open to give him a chance to get out, +or he may carry the roof away." + +So saying, he opened the door, and, taking a handful of cotton, held it +in the fire and lighted it. Then plunging it into the barrel of raw +cotton, he shouted lustily, "Devil, rise!" In an instant the barrel was +wrapped in flames, and the lover, in utter dismay, leaped out and rushed +from the house. The husband was greatly terrified, and ever afterward +avowed himself a believer in Cartwright's intimacy with "Old Scratch," +for had he not had ocular proof of it? + +Riding out of Springfield one day, he saw a wagon some distance ahead of +him containing a young lady and two young men. As he came near them they +recognized him, though he was totally unacquainted with them, and began +to sing camp-meeting hymns with great animation. In a little while the +young lady began to shout, and said, "Glory to God! Glory to God!" and +the driver cried out, "Amen! Glory to God!" + +"My first impressions," says Mr. Cartwright, "were, that they had been +across the Sangamon River to a camp meeting that I knew was in progress +there, and had obtained religion, and were happy. As I drew a little +nearer, the young lady began to sing and shout again. The young man who +was not driving fell down, and cried aloud for mercy; the other two, +shouting at the top of their voices, cried out, 'Glory to God! another +sinner down.' Then they fell to exhorting the young man that was down, +saying, 'Pray on, brother; pray on, brother; you'll soon get religion.' +Presently up jumped the young man that was down, and shouted aloud, +saying, 'God has blessed my soul. Halleluiah! halleluiah! Glory to +God!'" + +Thinking that these were genuine penitents, Cartwright rode rapidly +toward them, intending to join in their rejoicings; but as he drew near +them, he detected certain unmistakable evidences that they were shamming +religious fervor merely for the purpose of annoying him. He then +endeavored to get rid of them, but as they were all going the same +direction, the party in the wagon managed to remain near him by driving +fast when he tried to pass them, and falling back when he drew up to let +them go ahead. "I thought," says our preacher, "I would ride up and +horsewhip both of these young men; and if the woman had not been in +company, I think I should have done so; but I forebore." + +In a little while the road plunged into a troublesome morass. Around the +worst part of this swamp wound a bridle path, by which Mr. Cartwright +determined to escape his tormentors, who would be compelled to take the +road straight through the swamp. The party in the wagon saw his object, +and forgetting prudence in their eagerness to keep up with him, whipped +their horses violently. The horses bounded off at full speed, and the +wagon was whirled through the swamp at a furious rate. When nearly +across, one of the wheels struck a large stump, and over went the wagon. +"Fearing it would turn entirely over and catch them under," says Mr. +Cartwright, "the two young men took a leap into the mud, and when they +lighted they sunk up to the middle. The young lady was dressed in white, +and as the wagon went over, she sprang as far as she could, and lighted +on all fours; her hands sunk into the mud up to her arm-pits, her mouth +and the whole of her face immersed in the muddy water, and she certainly +would have strangled if the young men had not relieved her. As they +helped her up and out, I had wheeled my horse to see the fun. I rode up +to the edge of the mud, stopped my horse, reared in my stirrups, and +shouted, at the top of my voice, 'Glory to God! Glory to God! +Halleluiah! another sinner down! Glory to God! Halleluiah! Glory! +Halleluiah!' + +"If ever mortals felt mean, these youngsters did; and well they might, +for they had carried on all this sport to make light of religion, and to +insult a minister, a total stranger to them. When I became tired of +shouting over them, I said to them: + +"'Now, you poor, dirty, mean sinners, take this as a just judgment of +God upon you for your meanness, and repent of your dreadful wickedness; +and let this be the last time that you attempt to insult a preacher; for +if you repeat your abominable sport and persecutions, the next time God +will serve you worse, and the devil will get you.' + +"They felt so badly that they never uttered one word of reply." + +Our preacher was determined that his work should be recognized, and as +he and his fellow traveling ministers had done a good work on the +frontier, he was in no humor to relish the accounts of the religious +condition of the West, which the missionaries from the East spread +through the older States in their letters home. "They would come," says +he, "with a tolerable education, and a smattering knowledge of the old +Calvinistic system of theology. They were generally tolerably well +furnished with old manuscript sermons, that had been preached, or +written, perhaps a hundred years before. Some of these sermons they had +memorized, but in general they read them to the people. This way of +reading sermons was out of fashion altogether in this Western world, and +of course they produced no effect among the people. The great mass of +our Western people wanted a preacher that could mount a stump or a +block, or stand in the bed of a wagon, and, without note or manuscript, +quote, expound, and apply the word of God to the hearts and consciences +of the people. The result of the efforts of these Eastern missionaries +was not very flattering; and although the Methodist preachers were in +reality the pioneer heralds of the cross through the entire West, and +although they had raised up numerous societies every five miles, and +notwithstanding we had hundreds of traveling and local preachers, +accredited and useful ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ, yet these +newly-fledged missionaries would write back to the old States hardly any +thing else but wailings and lamentations over the moral wastes and +destitute condition of the West." + +The indignation of our preacher was fully shared by the people of the +West, who considered themselves as good Christians; as their New England +brethren, and the people of Quincy called a meeting, irrespective of +denomination, and pledged themselves to give Peter Cartwright one +thousand dollars per annum, and pay his traveling expenses, if he would +"go as a missionary to the New England States, and enlighten them on +this and other subjects, of which they were profoundly ignorant." +Circumstances beyond his control prevented his acceptance of this offer. +"How gladly and willingly would I have undertaken this labor of love," +says he, "and gloried in enlightening them down East, that they might +keep their home-manufactured clergy at home, or give them some honorable +employ, better suited to their genius than that of reading old musty and +worm-eaten sermons." + +Our preacher did visit New England in 1852, not as a missionary, +however, but as a delegate to the General Conference which met that year +in Boston. His fame had preceded him, and he was one of the marked men +of that body. Every one had heard some quaint story of his devotion to +his cause, his fearlessness, or his eccentricities, and crowds came out +to hear him preach. But our backwoods preacher was ill at ease. The +magnificence of the city, and the prim decorum of the Boston churches, +subdued him, and he could not preach with the fire and freedom of the +frontier log chapel. The crowds that came to hear him were disappointed, +and more than once they told him so. + +"Is this Peter Cartwright, from Illinois, the old Western pioneer?" they +asked him once. + +He answered them, "I am the very man." + +"Well," said several of them, "brother, we are much disappointed; you +have fallen very much under our expectations, we expected to hear a much +greater sermon than that you preached to-day." + +It was a regular Bostonian greeting, and it not only mortified and +disheartened the old pioneer, but it irritated him. "I tell you," says +he, "they roused me, and provoked what little religious patience I +had.... I left them abruptly, and in very gloomy mood retreated to my +lodgings, but took very little rest in sleep that night. I constantly +asked myself this question: Is it so, that I can not preach? or what is +the matter? I underwent a tremendous crucifixion in feeling." + +The result was that he came to the conclusion that he _could_ preach, +and that the people of Boston had not "sense enough to know a good +sermon when they heard it." A little later old Father Taylor, that good +genius of the Boston Bethel, a man after Cartwright's own heart, came to +him and asked him to preach for him, and this, after hesitating, our +preacher agreed to do, upon the condition that he should be allowed to +conduct the services in regular Western style. + +"In the meantime," says he, "I had learned from different sources that +the grand reason of my falling under the expectations of the +congregations I had addressed was substantially this: almost all those +curious incidents that had gained currency throughout the country +concerning Methodist preachers had been located on me, and that when the +congregations came to hear me, they expected little else but a bundle of +eccentricities and singularities, and when they did not realize +according to their anticipations, they were disappointed, and that this +was the reason they were disappointed. So on the Sabbath, when I came to +the Bethel, we had a good congregation, and after telling them that +Brother Taylor had given me the liberty to preach to them after the +Western fashion, I took my text, and after a few common-place remarks, I +commenced giving them some Western anecdotes, which had a thrilling +effect on the congregation, and excited them immoderately--I can not say +religiously; but I thought if ever I saw animal excitement, it was then +and there. This broke the charm. During my stay, after this, I could +pass anywhere for Peter Cartwright, the old pioneer of the West. I am +not sure that after this I fell under the expectations of my +congregations among them." + +Sixty-seven years have passed away since the old pioneer began his +preaching, and still he labors in the cause of his Master. Age has not +subdued his zeal or dimmed his eye. His labors make up the history of +the West. Where he first reared his humble log-hut, smiling farms and +tasteful mansions cover the fertile prairies of the West; cities and +towns mark the spot where his backwoods camp-meetings drew thousands +into the kingdom of God; the iron horse dashes with the speed of the +wind over the boundless prairies which he first crossed with only the +points of timber for his guides; the floating palaces of the West plow +the streams over which he swam his horse or was ferried in a bark canoe; +and stately churches stand where the little log chapels of the infant +West were built by him. It is a long and a noble life upon which he +looks back, the only survivor of the heroic band who started with him to +carry Christ into the Western wilds. He has outlived all his father's +family, every member of the class he joined in 1800, every member of the +Western Conference of 1804, save perhaps one or two, every member of the +General Conference of 1816, the first to which he was elected, all his +early bishops, every presiding elder under whom he ever ministered, and +thousands of those whom he brought into the Church. "I have lived too +long," he said, in a recent lecture; but we take issue with him. He has +not lived too long whose declining age is cheered by the glorious +fruition of the seed sown in his youth and prime. Few, indeed, are given +so great a privilege; and few, having lived so long and worked so hard, +can say with him, that during such a long and exposed career, "I have +never been overtaken in any scandalous sin, though my shortcomings and +imperfections have been without number." A man who can boast such a +record, though he be as poor in purse as this simple-hearted backwoods +preacher, has earned a Great Fortune indeed, for his treasure is one +that can not be taken from him, since it is laid up in Heaven, "where +neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break +through nor steal." + + + + +IX. + +AUTHORS. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. + + +Wherever the English language is spoken, the name of HENRY WADSWORTH +LONGFELLOW has become a household word, and there is scarcely a library, +however humble, but can boast a well-worn volume of his tender +songs,--songs that + + "Have power to quiet + The restless pulse of care, + And come like the benediction + That follows after prayer." + +He was born in the city of Portland, Maine, on the 27th of February, +1807, and was the son of the Hon. Stephen Longfellow, a distinguished +lawyer of that city. The house in which he was born was a square wooden +structure, built many years before, and large and roomy. It stood upon +the outskirts of the town, on the edge of the sea, and was separated +from the water only by a wide street. From its windows the dreamy boy, +who grew up within its walls, could look out upon the dark, mysterious +ocean, and, lying awake in his little bed in the long winter nights, he +could listen to its sorrowful roar as it broke heavily upon the shore. +That he was keenly alive to the fascination of such close intimacy with +the ocean, we have abundant proof in his writings. + +He was carefully educated in the best schools of the city, and at the +age of fourteen entered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, where he +graduated in his nineteenth year. He was an industrious student, and +stood high in his classes. He gave brilliant promise of his future +eminence as a poet in several productions written during his college +days, which were published in a Boston journal called the "United States +Literary Gazette." Among these were the "Hymn of the Moravian Nuns," +"The Spirit of Poetry," "Woods in Winter," and "Sunrise on the Hills." + +Upon leaving college he entered his father's office, in Portland, with +the half-formed design of studying law, which he never carried into +execution, as more congenial employment soon presented itself to him. In +1826 he was appointed Professor of Modern Languages and Literature at +Bowdoin College, with the privilege of passing several years abroad for +observation and study. He accepted the appointment with unaffected +delight, and promptly went abroad. He passed his first year in France, +studying the language and literature of that country, and the next in +Spain, engaged in similar pursuits. Italy claimed his third year, and +Germany his fourth. He traveled extensively, and made many pleasant +acquaintances among the most gifted men and women of the Old World. +Returning home toward the close of 1829, he entered upon the active +duties of his professorship, and for five years held this position, +winning considerable distinction by his academic labors. + +During his professorship our poet married, and the years that followed +were very happy and very quiet. The life he led at Bowdoin was peaceful, +and in a measure retired, giving him ample opportunity for study and for +laying the sure foundation of his future fame. During this period of his +life he contributed articles to the "North American Review," and +extended his acquaintance gradually among the literary men of New +England. He was fond of recalling the experiences of his life abroad, +and being unwilling that they should be lost from his memory, determined +to transmit them to paper before they faded quite away. These sketches +he finally concluded to give to the public, under the title of "Outre +Mer; or, Sketches from Beyond Sea." They appeared originally in numbers, +and were published by Samuel Colman, of Portland. They were well +received, and brought Professor Longfellow into notice in New England. +Soon afterward he published a translation of the ode upon "Coplas de +Manrique," by his son, Don Jose Manrique, which won him additional +credit. His fugitive poems had become very popular, and had made his +name familiar to his countrymen, but as yet he had not collected them in +book form. + +In 1835, on the resignation of Mr. George Ticknor, he was appointed +Professor of Modern Languages and Belles Lettres in Harvard College, and +accepted the position. Before entering upon his duties, however, he +resolved to devote two years more to foreign travel and improvement, and +accordingly sailed for Europe the second time. Before leaving America, +however, he committed the publication of "Outre Mer" to the Harpers, of +New York, who issued it complete in two volumes in 1835. Its popularity +was very decided. Soon after reaching Europe, Mr. Longfellow was visited +with a sad bereavement in the loss of his wife, who died at Rotterdam. +He devoted this European visit to the northern part of the continent, +Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and Holland, and to England, and spent some +time in Paris. Returning in the autumn of 1836, he entered upon his +duties at Harvard, and made his home in Cambridge. He continued his +contributions to the "North American Review," and a number of fugitive +pieces flowed from his pen into print. + +In the summer of 1837 he went to live in the house which has ever since +been his home. This is the old Craigie House, in Cambridge, famous in +our history as having been the headquarters of Washington during the +siege of Boston. It had been built by Colonel John Vassal about the +middle of the last century, and had finally passed into the hands of +Andrew Craigie, "Apothecary General to the Northern Provincial Army" of +the infant Republic. Craigie had ruined himself by his lavish +hospitality, and his widow, a stately old lady, and worthy in every +respect of a better fate, had been reduced to the necessity of letting +rooms and parting with the greater portion of the lands which had +belonged to the mansion. Mr. Longfellow had been attracted to the house +not only by its winning and home-like appearance, but by its historical +associations. Mrs. Craigie had decided at the time to let no more rooms, +but the young professor's gentle, winning manner conquered her +determination, and she not only received him into the old mansion, but +installed him in the south-east corner room in the second story, which +had been used by Washington as his bed-chamber. + +It was just the home for our poet. Its windows looked out upon one of +the loveliest landscapes in New England, with the bright river winding +through the broad meadow beyond the house, and the blue Milton Hills +dotting the distant background. The bright verdure of New England +sparkled on every side, and the stately old elms that stood guard by the +house screened it from the prying eyes of the passers on the public +road. The whole place was hallowed to its new inmate by the memories of +the brave soldiers, wise statesmen, and brilliant ladies who had graced +its heroic age, and of which the stately hostess was the last and worthy +representative. The old house was as serene and still as the dearest +lover of quiet could wish. The mistress lived quite apart from her +lodger, and left him to follow the bent of his own fancies; and rare +fancies they were, for it was of them that some of his best works were +born in this upper chamber. Here he wrote "Hyperion," in 1838 and 1839. +Its publication, which was undertaken by John Owen, the University +publisher in Cambridge, marked an era in American literature. Every body +read the book, and every body talked of it. It was a poem in prose, and +none the less the work of a poet because professedly "a romance of +travel." The young read it with enthusiasm, and it sent hundreds to +follow Paul Flemming's footsteps in the distant Fatherland, where the +"romance of travel" became their guidebook. The merchant and the lawyer, +the journalist and the mechanic, reading its pages, found that the stern +realities of life had not withered up all the romance of their natures, +and under its fascinations they became boys again. Even Horace Greeley, +that most practical and unimaginative of men, became rapturous over it. +It was a great success, and established the poet's fame beyond all +question, and since then its popularity has never waned. + +In 1840, he published the "Voices of the Night," which he had heard +sounding to him in his haunted chamber. This was his first volume, and +its popularity was even greater than that of "Hyperion," although some +of the poems had appeared before, in the "Knickerbocker Magazine." In +1841, he published his volume of "Ballads, and Other Poems," which but +added to his fame, and the next year bade the old house under the elms +a temporary adieu, and sailed for Europe, where he passed the summer on +the Rhine. On the voyage home, he composed his "Poems on Slavery," and +soon after his return wrote "The Spanish Student," a drama, "which +smells of the utmost South, and was a strange blossoming for the garden +of Thomas Tracy." + +In 1843 the stately mistress of the old house died, and Professor +Longfellow bought the homestead of Andrew Craigie, with eight acres of +land, including the meadow, which sloped down to the pretty river. There +have been very few prouder or happier moments in his life than that in +which he first felt that the old house under the elms was his. Yet he +must have missed the stately old lady who first had admitted him to a +place in it, and whom he had grown to love as a dear friend. She seemed +so thoroughly a part and parcel of the place, that he must have missed +the rustle of her heavy silks along the wide and echoing halls, and have +listened some time for the sound of her old-fashioned spinet in the huge +drawing-room below, and, entering the room where she was wont to receive +her guests, he must have missed her from the old window where she was +accustomed to sit, with the open book in her lap, and her eyes fixed on +the far-off sky, thinking, no doubt, of the days when in her royal +beauty, she moved a queen through the brilliant home of Andrew Craigie. A +part of the veneration which he felt for the old house had settled upon +its ancient mistress, and the poet doubtless felt that the completeness +of the quaint old establishment was broken up when she passed away. + +In 1846, Mr. Longfellow published "The Belfry of Bruges, and Other +Poems;" in 1847, "Evangeline" (by many considered his greatest work); in +1850, "Seaside and Fireside;" in 1851, "The Golden Legend;" in 1855, +"The Song of Hiawatha;" in 1858, "The Courtship of Miles Standish;" in +1863, "The Wayside Inn;" in 1866, "The Flower de Luce;" in 1867, his +translation of the "Divina Commedia," in three volumes; and in 1868, +"The New England Tragedies." Besides these, he published, in 1845, a +work on the "Poets and Poetry of Europe," and in 1849, "Kavanagh," a +novel. + +Mr. Longfellow continued to discharge his duties in the University for +seventeen years, winning fresh laurels every year, and in 1854 resigned +his position, and was succeeded in it by Mr. James Russell Lowell. He +now devoted himself exclusively to his profession, the income from his +writings affording him a handsome maintenance. In 1855. "The Song of +Hiawatha" was given to the public, and its appearance may be styled an +event in the literary history of the world. It was not only original in +the story it told, and in the method of treatment, but the rhythm was +new. It was emphatically an American poem, and was received by the +people with delight. It met with an immense sale, and greatly increased +its author's popularity with his countrymen. + +In 1861 a terrible affliction befell the poet in his family. He had +married, some years after the death of his first wife, a lady whose many +virtues had endeared her to all who knew her. She was standing by the +open fire in the sitting-room, one day in the winter of 1861, when her +clothing took fire, and before her husband, summoned by her cries, could +extinguish the flames, she was terribly burned. Her injuries were +internal, and she soon afterwards died. + +In 1868, Mr. Longfellow again visited Europe, and remained abroad more +than a year. His reception by all classes of the people of the Old World +was eminently gratifying to his countrymen. This welcome, so genuine and +heartfelt, was due, however, to the genius of the man, and not to his +nationality. + +He had overstepped the bounds of country, and had made himself the poet +of the English-speaking race. A man of vast learning and varied +acquirements, thoroughly versed in the ways of the world, he is still as +simple and unaffected in thought and ways as when he listened to and +wondered at the dashing of the wild waves on the shore in his boyhood's +home. A most gifted and accomplished artist, he has been faithful to +nature in all things. Earnest and aspiring himself, he has given to his +poems the ring of a true manhood. There is nothing bitter, nothing +sarcastic in his writings. He views all things with a loving eye, and it +is the exquisite tenderness of his sympathy with his fellow-men that has +enabled him to find his way so readily to their hearts. Without seeking +to represent the intensity of passion, he deals with the fresh, simple +emotions of the human soul, and in his simplicity lies his power. He +touches a chord that finds an echo in every heart, and his poems have a +humanity in them that is irresistible. We admire the "grand old +masters," but shrink abashed from their sublime measures. Longfellow is +so human, he understands us so well, that we turn instinctively to his +simple, tender songs for comfort in sorrow, or for the greater +perfection of our happiness. + +Perhaps I can not better illustrate the power of his simplicity than by +the following quotations: + + There is no flock, however watched and tended, + But one dead lamb is there! + There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, + But has one vacant chair! + + The air is full of farewell to the dying, + And mournings for the dead; + The heart of Rachel, for her children crying, + Will not be comforted. + + Let us be patient! These severe afflictions + Not from the ground arise, + But oftentimes celestial benedictions + Assume this dark disguise. + + We see but dimly through the mists and vapors, + Amid these earthly damps; + What seem to us but sad funereal tapers, + May be heaven's distant lamps. + + There is no death! What seems so is transition; + This life of mortal breath + Is but a suburb of the life elysian, + Whose portal we call Death. + + She is not dead--the child of our affection-- + But gone unto that school + Where she no longer needs our poor protection, + And Christ himself doth rule. + + In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion, + By guardian angels led, + Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution, + She lives, whom we call dead. + + Day after day we think what she is doing + In those bright realms of air; + Year after year, her tender steps pursuing, + Behold her grow more fair. + + Thus do we walk with her, and keep unbroken + The bond which nature gives, + Thinking that our remembrance, though unspoken, + May reach her where she lives. + + Not as a child shall we again behold her; + For when with raptures wild + In our embraces we again enfold her, + She will not be a child-- + + But a fair maiden, in her Father's mansion, + Clothed with celestial grace, + And beautiful with all the soul's expansion + Shall we behold her face. + + And though at times impetuous with emotion, + And anguish long suppressed, + The swelling heart heaves, moaning like the ocean, + That can not be at rest-- + + We will be patient, and assuage the feeling + We can not wholly stay; + By silence sanctifying, not concealing, + The grief that must have way. + + + +FROM THE GOLDEN LEGEND. + +SCENE.--_The Chamber of_ GOTTLIEB _and_ URSULA.--_Midnight_.--ELSIE +_standing by their bedside weeping_. + + +GOTTLIEB. The wind is roaring; the rushing rain +Is loud upon the roof and window-pane, +As if the wild Huntsman of Rodenstein, +Boding evil to me and mine, +Were abroad to-night with his ghostly train! +In the brief lulls of the tempest wild, +The dogs howl in the yard; and hark! +Some one is sobbing in the dark, +Here in the chamber. + +ELSIE. It is I. + +URSULA. Elsie! What ails thee, my poor child? + +ELSIE. I am disturbed and much distressed, +In thinking our dear Prince must die; +I can not close my eyes, nor rest. + +GOTTLIEB. What wouldst thou? In the Power Divine +His healing lies, not in our own; +It is in the hand of God alone. + +ELSIE. Nay, He has put it into mine, +And into my heart. + +GOTTLIEB. Thy words are wild. + +URSULA. What dost thou mean? my child! my child! + +ELSIE. That for our dear Prince Henry's sake +I will myself the offering make, +And give my life to purchase his. + +URSULA. Am I still dreaming, or awake? +Thou speakest carelessly of death, +And yet thou knowest not what it is. + +ELSIE. 'Tis the cessation of our breath. +Silent and motionless we lie; +And no one knoweth more than this. +I saw our little Gertrude die; +She left off breathing, and no more +I smoothed the pillow beneath her head. +She was more beautiful than before. +Like violets faded were her eyes; +By this we knew that she was dead. +Through the open window looked the skies +Into the chamber where she lay, +And the wind was like the sound of wings, +As if angels came to bear her away. +Ah! when I saw and felt these things, +I found it difficult to stay; +I longed to die, as she had died, +And go forth with her, side by side. +The saints are dead, the martyrs dead, +And Mary, and our Lord; and I +Would follow in humility +The way by them illumined. + +URSULA. My child I my child! thou must not die. + +ELSIE. Why should I live? Do I not know +The life of woman is full of woe? +Toiling on, and on, and on, +With breaking heart, and tearful eyes, +And silent lips, and in the soul +The secret longings that arise, +Which this world never satisfies! +Some more, some less, but of the whole +Not one quite happy; no, not one! + +URSULA. It is the malediction of Eve! + +ELSIE. In place of it, let me receive +The benediction of Mary, then. + +GOTTLIEB. Ah, woe is me! Ah, woe is me! +Most wretched am I among men. + +URSULA. Alas! that I should live to see +Thy death, beloved, and to stand +Above thy grave! Ah, woe the day! + +ELSIE. Thou wilt not see it. I shall lie +Beneath the flowers of another land; +For at Salerno, far away +Over the mountains, over the sea, +It is appointed me to die! +And it will seem no more to thee +Than if at the village on market day +I should a little longer stay +Than I am used. + +URSULA. Even as thou sayest! +And how my heart beats when thou stayest! +I can not rest until my sight +Is satisfied with seeing thee. +What, then, if thou wert dead? + +GOTTLIEB. Ah me, +Of our old eyes thou art the light! +The joy of our old hearts art thou! +And wilt thou die? + +URSULA. Not now! not now! + +ELSIE. Christ died for me, and shall not I +Be willing for my Prince to die? +You both are silent; you can not speak. +This said I, at our Saviour's feast, +After confession, to the priest, +And even he made no reply. +Does he not warn us all to seek +The happier, better land on high, +Where flowers immortal never wither; +And could he forbid me to go thither? + +GOTTLIEB. In God's own time, my heart's delight! +When He shall call thee, not before! + +ELSIE. I heard Him call. When Christ ascended +Triumphantly, from star to star, +He left the gates of heaven ajar. +I had a vision in the night, +And saw Him standing at the door +Of His Father's mansion, vast and splendid, +And beckoning to me from afar. +I can not stay! + +GOTTLIEB. She speaks almost +As if it were the Holy Ghost +Spake through her lips and in her stead! +What if this were of God? + +URSULA. Ah, then +Gainsay it dare we not. + +GOTTLIEB. Amen! + + +The old house under the elms is still the poet's home, and dear, as +such, to every lover of poetry. It is a stately building, of the style +of more than one hundred years ago, and is a very home-like place in its +general appearance. Entering by the main door-way, which is in the +center of the house, the visitor finds himself in a wide, old-fashioned +hall, with doors opening upon it on either hand. + +"The library of the poet is the long north-eastern room upon the lower +floor," said a writer seventeen years ago. "It opens upon the garden, +which retains still the quaint devices of an antique design, harmonious +with the house. The room is surrounded with handsome book-cases, and one +stands also between two Corinthian columns at one end, which imparts +dignity and richness to the apartment. A little table by the northern +window, looking upon the garden, is the usual seat of the poet. A bust +or two, the rich carvings of the cases, the spaciousness of the room, a +leopard-skin lying upon the floor, and a few shelves of strictly +literary curiosities, reveal not only the haunt of the elegant scholar +and poet, but the favorite resort of the family circle. But the northern +gloom of a New England winter is intolerant of this serene delight, this +beautiful domesticity, and urges the inmates to the smaller room in +front of the house, communicating with the library, and the study of +General Washington. This is still distinctively 'the study,' as the rear +room is 'the library,' Books are here, and all the graceful detail of an +elegant household, and upon the walls hang crayon portraits of Emerson, +Sumner, and Hawthorne. + +"Emerging into the hall, the eyes of the enamored visitor fall upon the +massive old staircase, with the clock upon the landing. Directly he +hears a singing in his mind: + + + 'Somewhat back from the village street, + Stands the old-fashioned country-seat; + Across its antique portico + Tall poplar trees their shadows throw, + And from its station in the hall + An ancient time-piece says to all, + "Forever--never! + Never--forever!"' + + +"But he does not see the particular clock of the poem, which stood upon +another staircase, in another quaint old mansion,--although the verse +belongs truly to all old clocks in all old country-seats, just as the +'Village Blacksmith' and his smithy are not alone the stalwart man and +dingy shop under the 'spreading chestnut-tree' which the Professor daily +passes on his way to his college duties, but belong wherever a smithy +stands. Through the meadows in front flows the placid Charles." + +So calmly flows the poet's life. The old house has other charms for him +now besides those with which his fancy invested it when he first set +foot within its walls, for here have come to him the joys and sorrows of +his maturer life, and here, "when the evening lamps are lighted," come +to him the memories of the loved and lost, who but wait for him in the +better land. Here, too, cluster the memories of those noble achievements +in his glorious career which have made him now and for all times the +people's poet. Others, as the years go by, will woo us with their lays, +but none so winningly and tenderly as this our greatest master. There +was but one David in Israel, and when he passed away no other filled his +place. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. + + +There came to the old town of Salem, in the Province of Massachusetts, +in the early part of the seventeenth century, an English family named +Hawthorne--Puritans, like all the other inhabitants of that growing +town. They proved their fidelity to Puritan principles by entering +readily into all the superstitions of the day, and became noted for the +zeal with which they persecuted the Quakers and hung the witches. The +head of the family was a sea captain, and for many generations the men +of the family followed the same avocation, "a gray-haired shipmaster, in +each generation, retiring from the quarter-deck to the homestead, while +a boy of fourteen took the hereditary place before the mast, confronting +the salt spray and the gale, which had blustered against his sire and +grandsire." + +[Illustration: NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.] + +Of such a race came NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, who was born at Salem, on the +4th, of July, 1804. His father was a sea captain, and died of the yellow +fever at Havana, in 1810. His mother was a woman of great beauty and +extreme sensibility, and it was from her that Nathaniel derived the +peculiarities of character which distinguished him through life. The +death of her husband filled her with the profoundest grief, and though +the violence of her sorrow subsided with time, she passed the +remainder of her life in strict seclusion, constantly grieving in her +quiet way for her departed lord. Her son grew up to the age of ten in +this sad and lonely house, passing four of the most susceptible years of +his life in the society of his sorrowful mother. He became a shy boy, +and avoided the company of other children. His health began to suffer +from the effects of such an unnatural state of affairs, and at the age +of ten he was sent to live on a farm belonging to the family, on the +shore of Sebago Lake, in Maine. The active out-door life which he led +here entirely restored his health, which was naturally strong and +vigorous; here, also, he acquired that fondness for boating which was +his chief amusement in after years. Returning to Salem, he completed his +studies in the preparatory schools, after which he entered Bowdoin +College, where he graduated in 1825, at the age of twenty-one. He was a +classmate of Longfellow and George B. Cheever, with whom he was only +slightly acquainted; and he formed a warm and lasting friendship with +Franklin Pierce, who was in the class next before him. Longfellow has +preserved a recollection of him in his student days as "a shy youth in a +bright-buttoned coat, flitting across the college grounds." + +After graduating, he went back to his home in Salem, where he resided +for many years, leading a life of seclusion, which he passed in +meditation and study. His strong literary inclination now vented itself +in efforts which were in every way characteristic of the man. He wrote +numerous wild tales, the most of which he burned, but a few of which +found their way into the newspapers and magazines of the country. They +were full of a wild gloominess, and were told with a power which proved +that their author was no ordinary man. Few, however, dreamed that they +were the work of the pale recluse of Salem, for he led a life of such +strict seclusion that not even the members of his own family could tell +with certainty what he did. His days were passed in his chamber, and at +night he took long walks alone on the sea-shore or into the woods. He +shunned all society, and seemed to find companionship only in nature, +and in the creations of his fancy. Yet he was not a morose or unhappy +man. On the contrary, he seems to have been a very happy one, full of +generous and kindly feelings, and finding only a strange pleasure where +others would have found bitterness and cynicism. Like the melancholy +Jacques, he might have said of his pensive shyness, "It is a melancholy +of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many +objects; ... which, by often rumination, wraps me in a most humorous +sadness." + +In 1837 he collected his published tales, which, while they had charmed +a few cultivated readers, had scarcely been noticed by the masses, and +published them in a volume to which he gave the name of "Twice-Told +Tales." The book was well received by the public, but its circulation +was limited, although Mr. Longfellow warmly welcomed it in the "North +American Review," and pronounced it the "work of a man of genius and a +true poet." Still it was neglected by the masses, and Hawthorne says +himself that he was at that time "the most unknown author in America." +There was more truth in this assertion than lies on its face, for the +people who read the book supposed that the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne +was merely a pseudonyme, and declared that as Nathaniel was evidently +selected by the author because of the fondness of the old-time Puritans +for Scripture names, so Hawthorne was chosen by him as expressive of one +of the most beautiful features of the New England landscape. The merits +of the book were too genuine, however, for it to lack admirers, and the +small class which greeted its first appearance with delight gradually +increased, and finally the demand for the book became so great that in +1842 Hawthorne ventured to issue a second series of "Twice-Told Tales," +the most of which had appeared in the "Democratic Review," then edited +by his friend O'Sullivan. Of these volumes, Mr. George William Curtis +says: "They are full of glancing wit, of tender satire, of exquisite +natural description, of subtle and strange analysis of human life, +darkly passionate and weird." + +In 1838 George Bancroft was Collector of the Port of Boston, and, having +been deeply impressed with the genius displayed in the first volume of +"Twice-Told Tales," sought out Hawthorne and offered him a place in the +Boston Custom-House as weigher and gauger. Hawthorne accepted the +position, and at once entered upon his duties. Leaving his solitude and +the weird phantoms that had been his companions for so long, he passed +immediately into the busy bustle of the great New England port. It was a +new world to him, and one which interested him keenly. His duties kept +him constantly on the wharf, and threw him daily into contact with +captains and sailors from all parts of the world. He became a great +favorite with these, and they told him many a strange story of their +adventures and of the sights they had seen in distant lands, and these, +as they were listened to by him, took each a distinctive form in his +imagination. Not less interesting to him were the men among whom his +duties threw him. They were more to him than the ordinary beings that +thronged the streets of the great city, for they had been victorious in +many a battle with the mighty deep, and they had looked on the wondrous +sights of the far-off lands of the Old World. Queer people they were, +too, each a Captain Cuttle or a Dirk Hatteraick in himself, and many an +hour did the dreamy writer spend with them, apparently listening to +their rude stories, but really making keen studies of the men +themselves. + +He discharged his duties faithfully in the Boston Custom-House, +performing each with an exactness thoroughly characteristic of him, +until 1841, when the accession of President Harrison to power obliged +him to withdraw to make way for a Whig. + +From the Custom-house he went to live at Brook Farm as one of that +singular community of dreamers and enthusiasts which was to inaugurate a +new era of men and things in the world, but which came at last to a most +inglorious termination. He was thrown into intimate association here +with many who have since become prominent in our literary history, and +for some of them conceived a warm attachment. He took his share of the +farm labors, to which he was very partial, but remained at the community +less than a year, and then returned to Boston. In his "Blithedale +Romance" he has given us a picture of the life at Brook Farm, though he +denies having sketched his characters from his old associates at that +place. + +In 1843 he married Miss Peabody, a member of a family distinguished for +their various achievements in the world of letters. Besides being an +artist of no mean pretensions, she was herself a writer of considerable +promise, though her writings had no other critics than her family and +most intimate friends. "Her husband shrank from seeing her name in the +reviews, and in this, as in all other things, his feelings were sacredly +respected by her." She was a lady of rare strength of character and +great beauty, and was in every respect a fitting wife for such a man. +The twenty-one years of their wedded life make up a period of unbroken +happiness to both. Hawthorne was very proud of his wife, and in his +quiet way never failed to show it. Their friends often remarked that +the wedded life of this happy pair seemed like one long courtship. + +Hawthorne took his bride on his wedding-day to a new home. He had rented +the old parsonage adjoining the battle-field of Concord, from whose +windows the pastor of those heroic days had watched his congregation +fight the British in his yard. It was a gloomy and partially dilapidated +"Old Manse," and doubtless Hawthorne had chosen it because of its quaint +aspect. He has himself drawn the picture of it, and given us an +exquisite collection of "Mosses" from it. It lay back from the main +road, and was approached by an avenue of ancient black-ash trees, whose +deep shade added much to the quiet appearance of "the gray front of the +old parsonage." It was just the home for him, and here passed three of +the happiest years of his life. Here he wrote his "Mosses from an Old +Manse," and here his first child was born. + +The life he led at Concord was very secluded. He avoided the society of +the village people, who sought in vain to penetrate his retirement and +satisfy their curiosity concerning him. But they were disappointed. He +lived on in his deep seclusion, happy in having his wife and child with +him, but caring for no other society. During the day he remained in his +study, which overlooked the old battle-field, or, passing down the lawn +at the back of the house to the river, spent the afternoon in rowing on +the pretty stream. At night he would take long walks, or row up the +river to the bridge by which the British crossed the stream, and enjoy +his favorite luxury--a bath. The village people were full of curiosity +to know something about him, for he was absolutely unknown to them; and +any one who understands what the curiosity of a New England villager is +can readily imagine the feelings with which the people of Concord +regarded their mysterious neighbor. They were never satisfied, however, +for Hawthorne shrank from prying eyes with indescribable horror. He kept +his ways, and compelled them to let him alone. He could easily avoid the +town in his walks or his rides upon the river, and he was rarely seen +passing through the streets unless compelled to do so by matters which +needed his attention in Concord. + +Yet the "Old Manse" was not without its guests. Hawthorne was a man of +many friends, and these came often to see him. They were men after his +own heart, and among them were Emerson, Ellery, Channing, Thoreau, +Whittier, Longfellow, and George William Curtis. The last-named has left +us this pleasant picture of our author in the midst of his friends: + +"During Hawthorne's first year's residence in Concord, I had driven up +with some friends to an esthetic tea at Mr. Emerson's. It was in the +winter, and a great wood-fire blazed upon the hospitable hearth. There +were various men and women of note assembled, and I, who listened +attentively to all the fine things that were said, was for some time +scarcely aware of a man who sat upon the edge of the circle, a little +withdrawn, his head slightly thrown forward upon his breast, and his +bright eyes clearly burning under his black brow. As I drifted down the +stream of talk, this person who sat silent as a shadow looked to me as +Webster might have looked had he been a poet--a kind of poetic Webster. +He rose and walked to the window, and stood quietly there for a long +time, watching the dead white landscape. No appeal was made to him, +nobody looked after him, the conversation flowed as steadily on as if +every one understood that his silence was to be respected. It was the +same thing at table. In vain the silent man imbibed esthetic tea. +Whatever fancies it inspired did not flower at his lips. But there was a +light in his eye which assured me that nothing was lost. So supreme was +his silence, that it presently engrossed me to the exclusion of every +thing else. There was brilliant discourse, but this silence was much +more poetic and fascinating. Fine things were said by the philosophers, +but much finer things were implied by the dumbness of this gentleman +with heavy brows and black hair. When presently he rose and went, +Emerson, with the 'slow, wise smile' that breaks over his face, like day +over the sky, said: 'Hawthorne rides well his horse of the night.'" +Later on, after he knew him better, Curtis added to this picture, "His +own sympathy was so broad and sure, that, although nothing had been said +for hours, his companion knew that not a thing had escaped his eye, nor +had a single pulse of beauty in the day, or scene, or society failed to +thrill his heart. In this way his silence was most social. Every thing +seemed to have been said." + +At the close of the third year of his residence at Concord, Hawthorne +was obliged to give up the "Old Manse," as the owner was coming back to +occupy it. The Democrats had now come into power again under Mr. Polk, +and Mr. Bancroft was in the Cabinet. The Secretary, mindful of his +friend, procured him the post of Surveyor of the Port of Salem, and +Hawthorne went with his little family to live in his native town. The +Salem Custom-house was a sleepy sort of a place, and his duties were +merely nominal. He had an abundance of leisure time, and from that +leisure was born his masterpiece, "The Scarlet Letter"--the most +powerful romance which ever flowed from an American author's pen. It was +published in 1850, and in the preface to it the reader will find an +excellent description of the author's life in Salem. He held his +position in that place for three years, and then the election of General +Taylor obliged him to retire. + +He withdrew to the Berkshire Hills, and took a house in the town of +Lenox. It was a little red cottage, and was situated on the shore of a +diminutive lake called the Stockbridge Bowl. He was now the most famous +novelist in America, and had thousands of admirers in the Old World. His +"Scarlet Letter" had won him fame, and had brought his earlier works +more prominently before the public than ever. + +During his residence at Lenox, he wrote "The House of the Seven Gables," +which was published in Boston in 1851. It was not less successful than +the "Scarlet Letter," though it was not so finished a piece of +workmanship. + +Yet, though so famous, he was not freed from the trials incident to the +first years of an author's life. Mr. Tuckerman says of him at this time: +"He had the fortitude and pride, as well as the sensitiveness and +delicacy, of true and high genius. Not even his nearest country +neighbors knew aught of his meager larder or brave economies. He never +complained, even when editors were dilatory in their remuneration and +friends forgetful of their promises. When the poor author had the money, +he would buy a beefsteak for dinner; when he had not, he would make a +meal of chestnuts and potatoes. He had the self-control and the probity +to fulfill that essential condition of self-respect, alike for those who +subsist by brain work and those who inherit fortunes--he always lived +within his income; and it was only by a kind of pious fraud that a trio +of his oldest friends occasionally managed to pay his rent." His friend +and publisher, Mr. Ticknor, "received and invested the surplus earnings +of the absentee author when American Consul at Liverpool, and had +obtained from Hawthorne a promise on the eve of his departure for his +post, ... that he would send him all he could spare from his official +income, to be carefully nursed into a competence for his family. Never +was better advice given or wiser service performed by publisher to +author. The investments thus made became the means of comfort to the +returned writer in the maturity of his years and his fame." + +In 1852 he returned to Concord and purchased a small house which had +once been the residence of the philosopher Alcott. Here he made his +permanent home and gathered about him his household treasures. In the +Presidential campaign of 1852, his friend Franklin Pierce was the +candidate of the Democracy, and Hawthorne wrote a short biography of him +which was used by the Democrats as a campaign document. It was a labor +of love, for the friendship that had been begun between these two men in +their college days had never been broken, and though naturally averse to +every thing that savored of politics, our author made this contribution +to the cause of his friend with all the heartiness of his nature. Pierce +was profoundly touched by this unexpected aid, for he knew how utterly +Hawthorne detested political strife, and when seated in the Presidential +chair he showed his appreciation of it by offering his friend the +consulship to Liverpool--one of the most lucrative offices within the +gift of the executive. Hawthorne broke up his home in Concord and sailed +for Liverpool in 1853, and remained there until 1857, when he resigned +his consulship and traveled on the continent with his family, residing +for some time in Italy for the benefit of his health. His European +residence had the effect of drawing him out of his shyness and reserve +to a certain extent, and during the closing years of his life he was +more social with the persons about him than he had ever been. After his +return he went back to Concord, where he enlarged and beautified his old +home, intending to remain there for the balance of his life. He wrote +the "Marble Faun" and "Our Old Home" just after his return from Europe. +The former was suggested by his residence in Italy, and the latter was +a collection of English sketches and reminiscences. + +The war between the two sections of the country affected him very +deeply. It seemed to him a terrible tragedy, to which there could be no +end but utter ruin for the country. He sympathized strongly with the +cause of the Union, but at the same time his heart bled at the +sufferings of the people of the south. It was one long agony to him, and +only those who knew him intimately can understand how much he suffered +during this unhappy period. + +Mr. Moncure D. Conway gives the following reminiscence of him about this +time: "I passed a night under the same roof with him at the house of Mr. +Fields, his publisher. He seemed much dejected. Mr. Fields had invited a +little company, but, after the first arrivals, Hawthorne made his escape +to his room, from which he did not emerge until the next morning at +breakfast time. He then came in with the amusing look of a naughty +child, and pleaded that he had become lost the night before in Defoe's +ghost stories until it was too late to make his appearance in the +company. He must, I should think, have been contemplating some +phantasmal production at that time, for I remember his asking me many +questions about the ghost-beliefs of the negroes, among whom I had +passed my early life." + +Besides the works already mentioned, Hawthorne was the author of "True +Stories from History and Biography" and "The Wonder Book for Boys and +Girls," both published in 1851; "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told +Tales," published in 1852; and "Tanglewood Tales," published in 1853, +all juveniles. At the time of his death he was engaged upon a novel +which was to have been published in the "Atlantic Monthly," but it was +left incomplete. + +In the spring of 1864 his friend and publisher, Mr. W.D. Ticknor, of +Boston, seeing how feeble Hawthorne had become, asked him to accompany +him on an excursion, hoping that a rapid change of scene and cheerful +company would benefit him. They set out in April, and went direct to +Philadelphia. Upon arriving at the hotel, Mr. Ticknor was suddenly taken +very ill, and died on the 10th of April in his friend's arms. Hawthorne +was profoundly shocked by this melancholy occurrence, and it is said +that he never fully recovered from its effects upon him. His melancholy +seemed to deepen, and though his friends exerted themselves to cheer +him, he seemed to feel that his end was near. Ex-President Pierce, +hoping to rouse him from his sad thoughts, induced him to accompany him +on an excursion to the White Mountains. Upon reaching Plymouth, which +they took on their route, they stopped at the Pemigewasset House for the +night. Mr. Pierce was so full of anxiety concerning his friend, who had +been quieter and sadder than usual that day, that he went softly into +his room in the middle of the night to look after him. Hawthorne was +lying very still, and seemed to be sleeping sweetly. Mr. Pierce stole +softly away, fearing to disturb him. In the morning he went back to +rouse his friend, and found him lying lifeless in the position he had +noticed in the night. He had been dead some hours. + +The announcement of Hawthorne's death caused a feeling of deep sadness +in all parts of the Union. His body was taken to Concord for burial, and +was accompanied to the grave by the best and most gifted of the land, to +each of whom he had endeared himself in life. + + + + +X. + +ACTORS. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +EDWIN BOOTH. + + +There are many persons who remember the elder Booth, the "Great Booth," +as he was called, in his palmy days, when the bare announcement of his +name was sufficient to cram our old-fashioned theaters from pit to dome. +He was sublime in the stormy passions which he delineated, and never +failed to draw down from the gods of the gallery the uproarious yells +with which they testify their approval; even the more dignified +occupants of the boxes found themselves breaking into outbursts of +applause which they were powerless to restrain. He was a favorite with +all classes, and a deserved one, and the lovers of the drama looked +forward with genuine regret to the period when he should be no longer +with them. They felt that the glories of the stage would pass away with +him. It was in vain that they were told that he had sons destined to the +same profession. They shook their heads, and said it was impossible that +the mantle of the great tragedian should rest upon any of his sons, for +it was then, as now, a popular belief that great men never have great +children. How very much these good people were mistaken we will see in +the progress of this chapter. + +One of these sons was destined in the course of time to eclipse the fame +won by his father, and to endear himself to the American people as a +more finished, if less stormy, actor. This was EDWIN BOOTH. He was born +on his father's farm near Baltimore, Maryland, In 1833, and after +receiving a good common-school education, began his training for the +stage. The elder Booth was quick to see that his boy had inherited his +genius, and he took great pains to develop the growing powers of the +lad, and to incline them toward those paths which his experience had +taught him were the surest roads to success. He took him with him on his +starring engagements, and kept him about him so constantly that the boy +may be said to have grown up on the stage from his infancy. He was +enthusiastically devoted to his father, and it was his delight to stand +at the wings and watch the great tragedian in his personations, and the +thunders of applause which proclaimed some fresh triumph were sweeter to +the boy, perhaps, than to the man. + +In 1849, at the age of sixteen, he made his first appearance on the +stage as Tyrrell, in "Richard III.," and gave great satisfaction by his +rendition of the character. From this time he continued to appear at +various places with his father, and in 1851 won his first great success +in the city of New York. His father was playing an engagement at the +Chatham Theater at the time, and was announced for Richard III., which +was his masterpiece. When the hour for performance came, he was too ill +to appear. The manager was in despair, for the house was filled with a +large audience, who were impatient for the appearance of the humpbacked +king. In this emergency Edwin Booth offered to take his father's place, +and the manager, pleased with the novelty of the proposal, accepted it. +Young Booth was but eighteen years old, and had not even studied the +part, and it was a perilous thing to venture before an audience in a +role in which one of his name had won such great fame. But he was +confident of his own powers, and he had so often hung with delight upon +his father's rendition of the part, that he needed but a hasty reference +to the book to perfect him in the text. He won a decided triumph, and +the public promptly acknowledged that he gave promise of being an +unusually fine actor. + +In 1852 Mr. Booth went to California, and engaged for the "utility +business." He spent two years in careful and patient study in the +humbler walks of his profession, learning its details, and doing much of +the drudgery essential to a thorough knowledge of his art. In 1854, he +went to Australia, and played a successful engagement there, stopping on +his way at several of the Pacific islands. On his return, he played an +engagement, with marked success, at the Sandwich Islands, and then went +back to California. + +In 1857 he returned to New York, and, on the 4th of May, appeared at +Burton's Theater, in the character of Richard III. A writer who +witnessed his performance on that occasion thus speaks of him: "The +company was not strong in tragedy; the young actor came without +reputation; the season was late. But he conquered his place. His Richard +was intellectual, brilliant, rapid, handsome, picturesque, villainous. +But the villainy was servant to the ambition--not master of it, as a +coarse player makes it. The action was original; the dress was +perfect--the smirched gauntlets and flung-on mantle of the scheming, +busy duke, the splendid vestments of the anointed king, the glittering +armor of the monarch in the field. His clear beauty, his wonderful +voice--which he had not learned to use--his grace, his fine artistic +sense, made all triumphs seem possible to this young man. Evidently +there was great power in the new actor--power untrained, vigor ill +directed. But what was plainest to be seen, was the nervous, impulsive +temperament, which would leave him no rest save in achievement. He might +come back to us a robustious, periwig-pated fellow, the delight and +wonder of the galleries. He might come back the thorough artist, great +in repose as in action. But it was clear enough that what he was then in +Richard, in Richelieu, in Sir Edward Mortimer, he would never be again." + +He followed this appearance by a general tour through the country, and +returned to New York in 1858, where he won fresh laurels. In 1860 he +reappeared at Burton's Theater, then called the Winter Garden, and added +Hamlet to his role. He had improved greatly during the time that had +elapsed since his last appearance at this theater, and had gained very +much in power and artistic finish. The most critical audiences in the +country received him with delight, crowded his houses, and hailed his +efforts with thunders of applause. This season silenced all the critics, +and placed him among the great actors of the American stage. He bore his +honors modestly, and though he was proud of the triumphs he had won, +they did not satisfy him. There were still greater successes to be +achieved before the highest honors of his profession could be his, and +it was upon these that his eye was fixed from the first. The applause +which greeted him in every city in which he appeared only served to +stimulate him to fresh exertions. + +In the summer of 1861, he visited England, and played an engagement at +the Haymarket Theater in London, where he was favorably received by the +British playgoers. At the close of this engagement, he spent a year on +the continent, in travel and in the study of his profession. He also +made careful studies of the scenes of the great historic dramas of the +English stage, both in England and on the continent, and of the dresses +and other appointments needed for them. By thoroughly familiarizing +himself with these details, he has been able to produce his plays with +entire fidelity to history. + +Returning once more to New York, he appeared at the Winter Garden, in +the winter of 1863-64, in a series of Shakespearean revivals. He played +Hamlet for over one hundred nights, and followed it during that season +and the next with "Merchant of Venice" and "Othello" (in the latter +playing the parts of Othello and Iago on alternate nights). During the +same seasons he appeared also in "Richelieu," "Ruy Blas," "The Fool's +Revenge," and "Don Caesar de Bazan." These performances were extended +into the season of 1866-67, when they were suddenly cut short by the +total destruction of the Winter Garden Theater by fire on the night of +the 23d of March, 1867. In this fire Mr. Booth lost his entire wardrobe, +including many relics of his father, Kemble, and Mrs. Siddons. + +The destruction of a theater has seldom drawn forth a more universal +expression of regret than that which poured in upon Mr. Booth from all +parts of the country. It was feared that the loss of his valuable +wardrobe would be irremediable, as indeed it was in a certain sense. All +over the Union a general wish was expressed that the great actor should +have a new theater in some of our large cities, and one which should be +worthy of his genius. Mr. Booth had chosen the city of New York for his +permanent home, and after the destruction of the Winter Garden Theater +began to arrange his plans for the erection of a new building of his +own, which he was resolved should be the most magnificent and the best +appointed theater in the world. The site chosen was the south-eastern +corner of the Sixth Avenue and Twenty-third Street in New York, and in +the summer of 1867 the work of clearing away the old buildings and +digging the foundations of the new theater was begun. It was carried +forward steadily, and the building was completed and opened to the +public in January, 1869. + +It is in the Rennaissance style of architecture, and stands seventy feet +high from the sidewalk to the main cornice, crowning which is a Mansard +roof of twenty-four feet. "The theater proper fronts one hundred and +forty-nine feet on Twenty-third Street, and is divided into three parts, +so combined as to form an almost perfect whole, with arched entrances at +either extremity on the side, for the admission of the public, and on +the other for another entrance, and the use of the actors and those +employed in the house. On either side of these main entrances are broad +and lofty windows; and above them, forming a part of the second story, +are niches for statues, surrounded by coupled columns resting on finely +sculptured pedestals. The central or main niche is flanked on either +side by quaintly contrived blank windows; and between the columns, at +the depth of the recesses, are simple pilasters sustaining the elliptic +arches, which serve to top and span the niches, the latter to be +occupied by statues of the great creators and interpreters of the drama +in every age and country. The finest Concord granite, from the best +quarries in New Hampshire, is the material used in the entire facade, as +well as in the Sixth Avenue side.... The glittering granite mass, +exquisitely poised, adorned with rich and appropriate carving, statuary, +columns, pilasters, and arches, and capped by the springing French roof, +fringed with its shapely balustrades, offers an imposing and majestic +aspect, and forms one of the architectural jewels of the city." + +In its internal arrangements the theater is in keeping with its external +magnificence. Entering through a sumptuous vestibule, the visitor passes +into the magnificent auditorium, which is in itself a rare piece of +decorative art. The seats are admirably arranged, each one commanding a +view of the stage. The floor is richly carpeted, and the seats are +luxuriously upholstered. Three elegant light galleries rise above the +parquet. The walls and ceiling are exquisitely frescoed, and ornamented +with bas reliefs in plaster. The proscenium is beautifully frescoed and +carved, and is adorned with busts of the elder Booth and the proprietor +of the theater; and in the sides before the curtain are arranged six +sumptuous private boxes. The curtain is a beautiful landscape. The +decoration of the house is not done in the rough scenic style so common +in the most of the theaters of the country, but is the perfection of +frescoe painting, and is capable of bearing the closest examination. The +stage is very large, and slopes gradually from the rear to the +footlights. The orchestra pen is sunk below the level of the stage, so +that the heads of the musicians do not cut off the view of the audience. +The dressing of the stage is novel. The side scenes or wings, instead of +being placed at right angles to the spectator as in most theaters, are +so arranged that the scene appears to extend to the right and left as +well as to the rear. In this way the spectator is saved the annoyance of +often looking through the wings, a defect which in most theaters +completely dispels the illusion of the play. The scenery here is not set +by hand, but is moved by machinery, and with such regularity and +precision that these changes have very much the effect of "dissolving +views." The scenes themselves are the works of highly educated artists, +and never degenerate into the rough daubs with which most playgoers are +familiar. The building is fire-proof, and is warmed and ventilated in a +peculiar manner. The great central chandelier and the lights around the +cornice of the auditorium are lighted by electricity. + +The plays presented here are superbly put on the stage. The scenery is +strictly accurate when meant to represent some historic locality, and +is the finest to be found in America. Perhaps the grandest stage picture +ever given to an audience was the grave-yard scene in "Hamlet," which +"held the boards" for over one hundred nights last winter. The dresses, +equipments, and general "make up" of the actors are in keeping with the +scenery. Even the minutest detail is carefully attended to. Nothing is +so unimportant as to be overlooked in this establishment. + +It is Mr. Booth's custom to open the season with engagements of other +distinguished actors, and to follow them himself about the beginning of +the winter, and to continue his performances until the approach of +spring, when he again gives way to others. When he is performing, it is +impossible to procure a seat after the rising of the curtain. Every +available place is filled, and thousands come from all parts of the +country to see him. Sometimes it is necessary to secure seats a week in +advance. + +Mr. Booth is still a young man, being now thirty-seven years old. In +person he is over the medium height, and is well built. His hair is +black and is worn long, and his dark eyes are large and dreamy. His face +is that of a poet, strikingly handsome, with an expression of mingled +sweetness and sadness playing over it. He wears neither beard nor +moustache. He dresses simply and without ornament, and is grave and +retiring in his demeanor. He is exceedingly amiable in disposition, and +is the center of a large circle of devoted friends. He has been married +twice, and has one child, a daughter, by his first wife. He is a man of +irreproachable life, and in every thing a high-toned gentleman, and it +is the high character he bears not less than his genius that has enabled +him to do such honor to his profession. He is very wealthy, and is in a +fair way to become a millionaire. + +As an actor Mr. Booth is without an equal. His impersonations are +marked by rare genius and by the most careful study. His Hamlet is +perhaps his most finished part, as his Richelieu is the most popular +with the masses. It has been said that his Hamlet is not Shakespeare's +Hamlet, and this may be true: but it is so exquisite, so perfect, that +whether it be the conception of Shakespeare or Edwin Booth, it is the +most powerful, the most life-like counterfeit of "the melancholy Dane" +ever seen on any stage, and leaves nothing to be desired. His +personation of the grim old cardinal, whose decrepit body is alone +sustained by his indomitable will, is masterly, and we see before us, +not Edwin Booth, the actor of to-day, but the crafty, unscrupulous, +witty, determined prime minister of France, who bends kings and princes +to his will. It is absolutely life-like, and to those who have seen the +portraits of the old cardinal in the museums of France, the accuracy +with which Booth has counterfeited the personal appearance of Richelieu +is positively startling. The plays are so superbly set upon the stage +that we lose sight of the little space they occupy, and seem to be +gazing upon a real world. His Richard has such a strong humanity in it, +that it more than half vindicates the humpbacked tyrant's memory, and +the death scene of this play, as given by Booth, is simply appalling. + +It is in vain, however, that we select special characters or attempt +descriptions of them. No one can truly understand Edwin Booth's acting +without seeing it. He has studied his heroes so profoundly, analyzed +their characters so subtly, and entered so heartily into sympathy with +them, that he has, become able, by the aid of his wonderful genius, to +entirely discard his own personality, and assume theirs at will. + +Mr. Booth has steadily risen in power and finish as an actor, for his +labors have been unceasing. Great as his triumphs have been, he does +not regard himself as freed from the necessity of study. His studies +have become more intelligent than in former years, but not the less +faithful. He has the true artist's aspiration after the rarest +perfection in his art, though to those of us without the charmed circle +it is difficult to see how he can excel his present excellence. Yet that +he does so we have undoubted proof, for we see him rising higher in the +admiration and esteem of the world every year, and each year we gather +fresh laurels to twine around his brows. + +He has steadily educated his audiences, and has elevated the standard of +his art among his countrymen. He has shown them what fine acting really +is, and has taught them to enjoy it. He has kept them true to the +legitimate drama, and has done more than any other man to rescue the +American stage from the insignificance with which it was threatened. It +speaks volumes for him as an actor and a manager, that when New York +seemed wholly given up to ballet, burlesque, and opera bouffe, he was +able to make the almost forgotten masterpieces of Shakespeare the most +popular and most profitable dramatic ventures of the year. + + + +[Illustration: JEFFERSON, AS RIP VAN WINKLE.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +JOSEPH JEFFERSON. + + +The subject of this sketch is one of a race of actors. His +great-grandfather was a contemporary of some of the brightest ornaments +of the English stage, and was himself a famous actor and the intimate +friend of Garrick, Sam Foote, and Barr. He was a man of amiable and +winning disposition, and was strikingly handsome in person. He occupies +a prominent place in the history of the English stage, and is said to +have been, socially, one of the most brilliant men of his day. He died +in 1807. In 1795 his son came to America. Of him, Dunlap, in his +"History of the American Stage," says, referring to him, in February, +1797: "He was then a youth, but even then an artist. Of a small and +light figure, well formed, with a singular physiognomy, a nose perfectly +Grecian, and blue eyes full of laughter, he had the faculty of exciting +mirth to as great a degree by power of feature, although handsome, as +any ugly-featured low comedian ever seen." F.C. Wemyss has said of him +at a later day: "Mr. Joseph Jefferson was an actor formed in Nature's +merriest mood--a genuine son of Momus. There was a vein of rich humor +running through all he did, which forced you to laugh despite of +yourself. He discarded grimace as unworthy of him, although no actor +ever possessed a greater command over the muscles of his own face, or +the faces of his audience, compelling you to laugh or cry at his +pleasure. His excellent personation of old men acquired for him, before +he had reached the meridian of life, the title of 'Old Jefferson.' The +astonishment of strangers at seeing a good-looking young man pointed out +on the street as Old Jefferson, whom they had seen the night previous at +the theater tottering apparently on the verge of existence, was the +greatest compliment that could be paid to the talent of the actor. His +versatility was astonishing--light comedy, old men, pantomime, low +comedy, and occasionally juvenile tragedy. Educated in the very best +school for acquiring knowledge in his profession, ... Jefferson was an +adept in all the trickery of the stage, which, when it suited his +purpose, he could turn to excellent account.... In his social relations, +he was what a gentleman should be--a kind husband, an affectionate +father, a warm friend, and a truly honest man." The second Jefferson +enjoyed a brilliant career of thirty-six years in this country, and died +in 1832, during an engagement at the theater at Harrisburg, which was +then managed by his son. This son, named Joseph, after his father, was +born in Philadelphia in 1804, and died at the age of thirty-eight. He +was not so famous as an actor as his father or grandfather, but like +them passed his life on the stage. He had a decided talent for painting, +and was partially educated as an artist, but he never accomplished any +thing with his pencil. He was a man of most amiable disposition, and was +possessed of scores of warm and devoted friends; but he was a poor +business manager, and was always more or less involved in pecuniary +troubles. He married Mrs. Burke, the famous vocalist, and mother of +Burke, the comedian. + +To this couple, in the city of Philadelphia, was born the JOSEPH +JEFFERSON of to-day, on the 20th of February, 1829. + +This boy was literally brought up on the stage, as he made his first +appearance upon the boards in a combat scene at the Park Theater in New +York, when he was but three years old. He soon after went with his +parents to the West. Olive Logan says of him, at this period of his +life, "While they were both still children, he and my sister Eliza used +to sing little comic duets together on the stage of various western +towns." + +He received as good a common-school education as the rapid manner in +which he was moved about from place to place would permit, and was +carefully trained in the profession of an actor, to which he was +destined by his parents, and to which he was drawn by the bent of his +genius. He appeared in public frequently during his boyhood, but his +first appearance as a man was at Chanfrau's National Theater, in 1849. +He met with fair success, and from that time devoted himself entirely +and carefully to his profession. He began at the bottom of the ladder of +fame, and gradually worked his way up to his present high position. +Playing engagements in various minor theaters of the United States, he +at length secured a position as low comedian at Niblo's Garden in New +York, where he won golden opinions from the critical audiences of the +metropolis. In 1857, he closed a most successful engagement as low +comedian at the theater in Richmond, Virginia, and with that engagement +ended his career as a stock actor. He had by careful and patient study +rendered himself capable of assuming the highest place in his +profession, and these studies, joined to his native genius, had made him +famous throughout the country as the best low comedian of the day. + +Feeling that he had now a right to the honors of a "star" in his +profession, and urged by the public to assume the position to which his +genius entitled him, he began a series of engagements throughout the +Union, in which he more than fulfilled the expectations of his friends. +He was received with delight wherever he went, and at once became the +most popular of American comedians. + +About a year or two later, he left the United States and made a voyage +to Australia, through which country he traveled, playing at the +principal towns. He was extremely successful. His genial, sunny +character won him hosts of friends among the people of that far-off +land, and his great genius as an actor made him as famous there as he +had been in his own country. Australia was then a sort of theatrical El +Dorado. The prices paid for admission to the theaters were very high, +and the sums offered to distinguished stars in order to attract them +thither were immense. Mr. Jefferson reaped a fair share of this golden +harvest, and at the close of his Australian engagements found himself +the possessor of a handsome sum. It was this which formed the basis of +his large fortune; for, unlike his father, he is a man of excellent +business capacity, and understands how to care for the rewards of his +labors, so that they shall be a certain protection to him in his old +age, and an assistance to those whom he shall leave behind him. + +Returning to the United States, Mr. Jefferson appeared with increased +success in the leading cities of the Northern and Western States. His +principal success at this time was won in the character of Asa +Trenchard, in the play of "Our American Cousin." His personation of the +rough, eccentric, but true-hearted Yankee was regarded as one of the +finest pieces of acting ever witnessed on the American stage, and drew +crowded houses wherever he went. His range of characters included the +most refined comedy and the broadest farce, but each delineation bore +evidence of close and careful study, and was marked by great originality +and delicacy. There was in his performances a freshness, a +distinctiveness, and, above all, an entire freedom from any thing +coarse or offensive, which charmed his audiences from the first. One of +his critics has well said of him: "As Caleb Plummer he unites in another +way the full appreciation of mingled humor and pathos--the greatest +delicacy and affection with rags and homely speech. As Old Phil +Stapleton he is the patriarch of the village and the incarnation of +content. As Asa Trenchard he is the diamond in the rough, combining +shrewdness with simplicity, and elevating instead of degrading the +Yankee character. As Dr. Ollapod, and Dr. Pangloss, and Tobias Shortcut, +he has won laurels that would make him a comedian of the first rank. His +Bob Acres is a picture. There is almost as much to look at as in his Rip +Van Winkle. There is nearly the same amount of genius, art, experience, +and intelligence in its personation. Hazlitt says that the author has +overdone the part, and adds that 'it calls for a great effort of animal +spirits and a peculiar aptitude of genius to go through with it;' Mr. +Jefferson has so much of the latter that he can--and to a great extent +does--dispense with the former requisite. His quiet undercurrent of +humor subserves the same purpose in the _role_ of Bob Acres that it does +in other characters. It is full of points, so judiciously chosen, so +thoroughly apt, so naturally made and so characteristically preserved, +that the part with Jefferson is a great one. The man of the 'oath +referential, or sentimental swearing,' makes the entire scope of the +part an 'echo to the sense.' Even in so poor a farce as that of 'A +Regular Fix,' Mr. Jefferson makes the eccentricities of Hugh de Brass +immensely funny. The same style is preserved in every character, but +with an application that gives to each a separate being." + +After a season of great success in this country Mr. Jefferson decided to +visit England. He appeared at the Adelphi Theater, in London, and at +once became as popular as he had been at home. His Asa Trenchard, in +"Our American Cousin," was received by the English with delight; but his +greatest triumphs were won in Boucicault's version of "Rip Van Winkle," +which he has since immortalized. This play was first produced at the +Adelphi, where it enjoyed an uninterrupted run of nearly two hundred +nights. + +Returning to the United States in the autumn of 1867, Mr. Jefferson +appeared at the Olympic Theater, in New York, in the play of "Rip Van +Winkle." Since then he has traveled extensively throughout the United +States, and has devoted himself exclusively to the character of Rip Van +Winkle; so exclusively, indeed, that many persons are ignorant of his +great merits in other roles. By adopting this as his specialty, he has +rendered himself so perfect in it that he has almost made the +improvident, light-hearted Rip a living creature. A writer in a popular +periodical draws the following graphic sketch of his performance of this +character: + + + If there is something especially charming in the ideal of Rip Van + Winkle that Irving has drawn, there is something even more human, + sympathetic and attractive in the character reproduced by + Jefferson. A smile that reflects the generous impulses of the man; + a face that is the mirror of character; great, luminous eyes that + are rich wells of expression; a grace that is statuesque without + being studied; an inherent laziness which commands the respect of + no one, but a gentle nature that wins the affections of all; poor + as he is honest, jolly as he is poor, unfortunate as he is jolly, + yet possessed of a spontaneity of nature that springs up and flows + along like a rivulet after a rain; the man who can not forget the + faults of the character which Jefferson pictures, nor feel like + taking good-natured young Rip Van Winkle by the hand and offering a + support to tottering old Rip Van Winkle, must have become hardened + to all natural as well as artistic influences. It is scarcely + necessary to enter into the details of Mr. Jefferson's acting of + the Dutch Tam O'Shanter. Notwithstanding the fact that the + performance is made up of admirable points that might he enumerated + and described, the picture is complete as a whole and in its + connections. Always before the public; preserving the interest + during two acts of the play after a telling climax; sustaining the + realities of his character in a scene of old superstition, and in + which no one speaks but himself,--the impersonation requires a + greater evenness of merit and dramatic effect than any other that + could have been chosen. Rip Van Winkle is imbued with the most + marked individuality, and the identity is so conscientiously + preserved that nothing is overlooked or neglected. Mr. Jefferson's + analysis penetrates even into the minutiae of the part, but there is + a perfect unity in the conception and its embodiment. Strong and + irresistible in its emotion, and sly and insinuating in its humor, + Mr. Jefferson's Rip Van Winkle is marked by great vigor, as well as + by an almost pre-Raphaelite finish. + + The bibulous Rip is always present by the ever-recurring and + favorite toast of "Here's your goot healt' and your family's, and + may dey live long and prosper." The meditative and philosophic Rip + is signaled by the abstract "Ja," which sometimes means _yes_, and + sometimes means _no_. The shrewd and clear-sighted Rip is marked by + the interview with Derrick Van Beekman. The thoughtful and + kind-hearted Rip makes his appearance in that sad consciousness of + his uselessness and the little influence he exerts when he says to + the children, talking of their future marriage: "I thought maybe + you might want to ask me about it," which had never occurred to the + children. The improvident Rip is discovered when Dame Van Winkle + throws open the inn window-shutter, which contains the enormous + score against her husband, and when Rip drinks from the bottle over + the dame's shoulder as he promises to reform. The most popular and + the most thriftless man in the village; the most intelligent and + the least ambitious; the best-hearted and the most careless;--the + numerous contrasts which the _role_ presents demand versatility in + design and delicacy in execution. They are worked out with a + moderation and a suggestiveness that are much more natural than if + they were presented more decidedly. The sympathy of Mr. Jefferson's + creation is the greatest secret of its popularity. In spite of + glaring faults, and almost a cruel disregard of the family's + welfare, Rip Van Winkle has the audience with him from the very + beginning. His ineffably sad but quiet realization of his desolate + condition when his wife turns him out into the storm, leaves + scarcely a dry eye in the theatre. His living in others and not in + himself makes him feel the changes of his absence all the more + keenly. His return after his twenty years' sleep is painful to + witness; and when he asks, with such heart-rending yet subdued + despair, "Are we so soon forgot when we are gone?" it is no wonder + that sobs are heard throughout the house. His pleading with his + child Meenie is not less affecting, and nothing could be more + genuine in feeling. Yet all this emotion is attained in the most + quiet and unobtrusive manner. Jefferson's sly humor crops out at + all times, and sparkles through the veil of sadness that overhangs + the later life of Rip Van Winkle. His wonder that his wife's + "clapper" could ever be stopped is expressed in the same breath + with his real sorrow at hearing of her death. "Then who the devil + am I?" he asks with infinite wit just before he pulls away at the + heartstrings of the audience in refusing the proffered assistance + to his tottering steps. He has the rare faculty of bringing a smile + to the lips and a tear to the eye at the same time. From the first + picture, which presents young Rip Van Winkle leaning carelessly and + easily upon the table as he drinks his schnapps, to the last + picture of the decrepit but happy old man, surrounded by his family + and dismissing the audience with his favorite toast, the character, + in Mr. Jefferson's hands, endears itself to all, and adds another + to the few real friendships which one may enjoy in this life. + + +Mr. Jefferson is a thoroughly American actor. Abandoning all sensational +shams, he devotes himself to pure art. His highest triumphs have been +won in the legitimate branches of his profession, and won by the force +of his genius, aided only by the most careful study and an intelligent +analysis of the parts assumed by him. He has the happy faculty of +entering into perfect sympathy with his characters, and for the time +being he is less the actor than the individual he personates. It is this +that gives the sparkle to his eye, the ring to his laughter, and the +exquisite feeling to his pathos; and feeling thus, he is quick to +establish a sympathy between himself and his audience, so that he moves +them at will, convulsing them with laughter at the sallies of the +light-hearted Rip, or dissolving them in tears at the desolations of the +lonely old man, so soon forgot after he has gone. + +Mr. Jefferson has inherited from his father the genial, sunny +disposition for which the latter was famous. He is an essentially +cheerful man, and trouble glances lightly off from him. He is generous +to a fault, and carries his purse in his hand. Misfortune never appeals +to him in vain, and many are the good works he has done in the humbler +walks of his own calling. He is enthusiastically devoted to his +profession, and enjoys his acting quite as much as his auditors. In +putting his pieces on the stage, he is lavish of expense, and whenever +he can control this part of the performance, it leaves nothing to be +desired. Some years ago he brought out "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at a +Philadelphia theater, in a style of magnificence rarely witnessed on any +stage. The scenery was exquisite, and was a collection of artistic gems. +The success of the piece was very decided in Philadelphia, but when it +was reproduced, with the same scenery and appointments, in a Western +city, the public would scarcely go to see it, and the theater incurred a +heavy loss in consequence. Jefferson's remark to the manager, when the +failure became apparent, was characteristic: "It is all right," said he. +"We have done our duty, and have made an artistic success of the piece. +If the people will not come to see it, it is more their misfortune than +ours." + +He has inherited also from his father considerable talent as an artist, +and sketches with decided merit, though he makes no pretensions to +artistic skill. In his vacations, which he passes in the country, his +sketch-book is his constant companion. He is a famous sportsman and +fisherman, and in the summer is rarely to be found without his gun and +rod. It is his delight to tramp over miles of country in search of +game, or to sit quietly in some cozy nook, and, dropping his line into +the water, pass the hours in reveries broken only by the exertion +necessary to secure a finny prize. + +Not long since his love of art led him to buy a panorama merely because +he admired it. He put it in charge of an agent in whom he knew he could +confide, and started it on a tour throughout the country. In a month or +two he received a gloomy letter from the agent, telling him that the +exhibition had failed to draw spectators, and that he despaired of its +ever paying expenses. "Never mind," wrote Jefferson in reply, "it will +be a gratification for those who do go to see it, and you may draw on me +for what money you need." The losses on the panorama, however, were so +great that Jefferson was compelled to abandon it. + +Several years before the death of John Sefton, Jefferson paid him a +visit at his home in Paradise Valley, during one of his summer rambles. +Upon reaching Sefton's farm, he found the owner "with his breeches and +coat sleeves both rolled up, and standing in the middle of a clear and +shallow stream, where one could scarcely step without spoiling the +sports of the brook trout, which sparkled through the crystal waters. +Sefton stood in a crouching attitude, watching, with mingled +disappointment and good humor, a little pig which the stream was +carrying down its current, and which, pig-like, had slipped from the +hands of its owner in its natural aversion to being washed. Jefferson, +with the true instinct of an artist, dropped his fishing tackle and took +his sketch-book to transfer the ludicrous scene to paper. Sefton +appreciated the humor of the situation, and only objected when Jefferson +began to fill in the background with a dilapidated old barn, at which +the old gentleman demurred on account of its wretched appearance. The +artist insisted that it was picturesque, however, and proceeded to put +it down. Sefton had to submit; but he had his revenge, by writing back +to New York that 'Jefferson is here, drawing the worst "houses" I ever +saw.'" + +In private life, Mr. Jefferson is a cultivated gentleman, and is +possessed of numbers of warm and devoted friends. He has been married +twice. The first Mrs. Jefferson was a Miss Lockyer, of New York, and by +her he had two children, a son and a daughter. The former is about +eighteen years of age, and is destined to his father's profession, in +which he has already shown unusual promise. The present Mrs. Jefferson +was a Miss Warren, and is a niece of the veteran actor, William Warren, +of Boston. She was married to her husband early in 1868, and has never +been an actress. + +Mr. Jefferson is the possessor of a large fortune, acquired in the +exercise of his profession, and being thus comfortably situated, is +enabled to enjoy more rest from his labors than falls to the lot of most +American actors. He resides in Orange County, New Jersey, about an +hour's ride from New York, where he has a handsome country seat, which +he has adorned with all the attractions that wealth and taste can +command. + + + + +XI. + +PHYSICIANS. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +BENJAMIN RUSH. + + +It is not often that a man, however gifted, is capable of rising to +eminence in two distinct branches of public life, especially in two so +widely separated from each other as medicine and politics. The subject +of this sketch was one of the few who have achieved such distinction. + +BENJAMIN RUSH was born on Poquestion Creek, near Philadelphia, on the +24th of December, 1745. He was carefully educated at the best common +schools of his native county, and then entered Princeton College, where +he graduated in 1760, at the age of fifteen. He decided, upon leaving +Princeton, to adopt medicine as his vocation, and began his studies in +Philadelphia. He gave nine years to preparing himself for his +profession, and after completing his course in Philadelphia, sailed for +Europe, where he continued his studies in Edinburgh, London, and Paris. +He returned home in 1769, and began the practice of medicine in +Philadelphia, and was at once elected Professor of Chemistry in the +medical college of that city. He was successful in rapidly acquiring a +large and lucrative practice, and experienced very few of the +difficulties and trials which lie in the way of a young physician. + +In 1770 he began his career as an author, and for many years his +writings were numerous. He devoted himself chiefly to medical subjects, +but history, philosophy, and politics, and even romance, frequently +claimed his attention. He adopted the patriot cause at the outset of his +career, and with his pen and voice constantly advocated resistance to +the injustice of Great Britain. This drew upon him the attention of his +fellow-citizens, and he was chosen to a seat in the Provincial +Conference of Pennsylvania. In that body he introduced a resolution +setting forth the necessity of a declaration of independence of the +mother country. His resolution was referred to a committee, of which he +was made the chairman, and this committee having reported affirmatively, +the resolution was unanimously adopted by the Conference, and was +communicated to the Continental Congress, then in session in +Philadelphia, about the last of June, 1776. When it became evident that +the Congress would declare the independence of the colonies, five +members of the Pennsylvania delegation withdrew from that body. Their +places were at once supplied by Rush and four others, and when the +Declaration was finally adopted Benjamin Rush affixed his signature to +it as a delegate from Pennsylvania. + +In 1776 Dr. Rush was married to Miss Julia Stockton, daughter of Richard +Stockton, of New Jersey, also a signer of the Declaration. In April, +1777, he was made Surgeon-General of the Continental army for the Middle +Department, and in July, 1777, was made Physician-General. He devoted +himself to his duties with energy and intelligence, and succeeded in +placing the affairs of his department in as satisfactory a condition as +the means at the command of the Congress would permit. He was not able, +however, to arrange every thing as his judgment assured him was best, +and was subjected to many annoyances and great inconvenience by the +incompetence and mismanagement of other officials, whom he could not +control. The management of the hospital supplies of the army was +especially defective, and was the cause of much suffering to the troops. +He made repeated efforts to effect a reform in this particular, but +failing to accomplish any thing, and indignant at the wrongs inflicted +upon the soldiers, he resigned his commission and retired to private +life. + +During his connection with the army, he had watched the course of +affairs in his native State with the keenest interest, and in a series +of four letters to the people of Pennsylvania, called their attention to +the serious defects of their Constitution of 1776, the chief of which he +declared to be the giving of the legislative power to one house only. +His appeals had the effect of bringing about an entire change in the +form of State government, which was subsequently accomplished by a +general convention of the people. After the close of the war Dr. Rush +was elected a member of the State Convention which ratified the +Constitution of the United States, and distinguished himself in that +body by his earnest and brilliant advocacy of that instrument. He was +also a member of the convention which adopted a new State Constitution, +embodying the reforms he had advised in the letters referred to, and +labored hard to have incorporated in it his views respecting a penal +code and a public school system, both of which features he ably +advocated through the public press. + +With this closed his public career, which, though brief, was brilliant, +and raised him to a proud place among the fathers of the Republic. + +Returning to Philadelphia after resigning his position in the army, he +resumed the practice of medicine, and with increased success. His +personal popularity and his great skill as a physician brought him all +the employment he could desire, and he soon took his place at the head +of the medical faculty of the country. + +In 1785 he planned the Philadelphia Dispensary, the first institution of +the kind in the United States, and to the close of his life remained its +warm and energetic supporter. In 1789 he was made Professor of the +Theory and Practice of Medicine in the Philadelphia Medical College, and +when that institution was merged in the University, in 1791, he was +elected to the chair of the Institute and Clinical Medicine. In 1797 he +took the professorship of Clinical Practice also, as it was vacant, and +was formally elected to it in 1805. These three professorships he held +until the day of his death, discharging the duties of each with +characteristic brilliancy and fidelity. + +The great professional triumph of his life occurred in the year 1793. In +that year the yellow fever broke out with great malignancy in +Philadelphia, and raged violently for about one hundred days, from about +the last of July until the first of November. Nothing seemed capable of +checking it. The people fled in dismay from their homes, and the city +seemed given over to desolation. In the terrible "hundred days," during +which the fever prevailed, four thousand persons died, and the deaths +occurred so rapidly that it was frequently impossible to bury the bodies +for several days. The physicians of the city, though they remained +heroically at their posts, and labored indefatigably in their exertions +to stay the plague, were powerless against it, and several of them were +taken sick and died. Few had any hope of checking the fever, and every +one looked forward with eagerness to the approach of the season of +frosts, as the only means of saving those that remained in the stricken +city. + +At the outset of the disease, Dr. Rush had treated it in the same manner +as that adopted by the medical faculty of the city; but the ill success +which attended this course soon satisfied him that the treatment was +wrong. He therefore undertook to subdue it by purging and bleeding the +patient, and succeeded. The new practice met with the fiercest +opposition from the other physicians, but Rush could triumphantly point +to the fact that while their patients were dying his were getting well; +and he continued to carry out his treatment with firmness and success. +Dr. Ramsey, of South Carolina, estimates that Rush, by this treatment, +saved not less than six thousand of his patients from death in the +"hundred days." Nevertheless, the medical war went on with great +bitterness, and the opposition to Rush became furious when he boldly +declared that the fever was not an importation from abroad, as was +popularly believed, but had been generated by the filthy condition of +the city during the early part of the summer. Some time after the fever +had subsided, a paper called "Peter Porcupine's Gazette," edited by +William Cobbett, made a series of outrageous attacks upon Dr. Rush and +his treatment of the fever. This exhausted the forbearance of the +doctor, and he instituted a suit against Cobbett, in which he was +successful, and secured a verdict of $5,000 damages against his defamer. + +During the prevalence of the fever, Dr. Rush's labors were unceasing. He +was constantly going his rounds, visiting the sick, attending sometimes +over one hundred patients in a single day. He was called on at all hours +of the day and night, and it may be said that he scarcely slept or +enjoyed two hours, uninterrupted rest during the "hundred days." + +[Illustration: PRESCRIBING AT THE BREAKFAST-TABLE.] + +For weeks he never sat down to his meals without being surrounded by +dozens of patients, whose complaints he listened to and prescribed for +as he ate. These were chiefly the poor, and at such times his house was +literally thronged with them. He was a kind friend to them; rendering +his services promptly and heartily, without the slightest wish to +receive pay in return for them; and during all this terrible summer he +was to be seen ministering to these poor creatures in the foulest, most +plague-stricken quarters of the city, shrinking from no danger, and +deterred from his work of mercy by no thought of his own safety. He has +left us the following picture of the city during this terrible summer: + + + + The disease appeared in many parts of the town remote from the spot + where it originated; although in every instance it was easily + traced to it. This set the city in motion. The streets and roads + leading from the city were crowded with families flying in every + direction for safety, to the country. Business began to languish. + Water Street, between Market and Race Streets, became a desert. + The poor were the first victims of the fever. From the sudden + interruption of business, they suffered for a while from poverty as + well as disease. A large and airy house at Bush-hill, about a mile + from the city, was opened for their reception. This house, after it + became the charge of a committee appointed by the citizens on the + 14th of September, was regulated and governed with the order and + cleanliness of an old and established hospital. An American and + French physician had the exclusive medical care of it after the 22d + of September. + + The contagion, after the second week in September, spared no rank + of citizens. Whole families were confined by it. There was a + deficiency of nurses for the sick, and many of those who were + employed were unqualified for their business. There was likewise a + great deficiency of physicians, from the desertion of some and the + sickness and death of others. At one time there were only three + physicians able to do business out of their houses, and at this + time there were probably not less than six thousand persons ill + with the fever. + + During the first three or four weeks of the prevalence of the + disorder, I seldom went into a house the first time without meeting + the parents or children of the sick in tears. Many wept aloud in my + entry or parlor, who came to ask advice for their relations. Grief + after a while descended below weeping, and I was much struck in + observing that many persons submitted to the loss of relations and + friends without shedding a tear, or manifesting any other of the + common signs of grief. + + A cheerful countenance was scarcely to be seen in the city for six + weeks. I recollect once, on entering the house of a poor man, to + have met a child of two years old that smiled in my face. I was + strangely affected with this sight (so discordant to my feelings + and the state of the city), before I recollected the age and + ignorance of the child. I was confined the next day by an attack of + the fever, and was sorry to hear, upon my recovery, that the father + and mother of this little creature died a few days after my last + visit to them. + + The streets every-where discovered marks of the distress that + pervaded the city. More than one-half the houses were shut up, + although not more than one-third of the inhabitants had fled into + the country. In walking, for many hundred yards, few persons were + met, except such as were in quest of a physician, a nurse, a + bleeder, or the men who buried the dead. The hearse alone kept up + the remembrance of the noise of carriages or carts in the streets. + Funeral processions were laid aside. A black man leading or driving + a horse, with a corpse on a pair of chair-wheels, with now and then + half a dozen relations or friends following at a distance from it, + met the eye in most of the streets of the city, at every hour of + the day, while the noise of the same wheels passing slowly over the + pavements, kept alive anguish and fear in the sick and well, every + hour of the night. + + +The population of Philadelphia at this time was but sixty thousand, and +the reader will see that a loss of four thousand was a heavy percentage +for so short a period. + +Dr. Rush's skill and heroic conduct in his efforts to stay the ravages +of the plague made him famous, not only in his own country, but +throughout Europe, and during the latter part of his life he received +most gratifying evidences of this fact. In 1805 the King of Prussia sent +him a coronation medal, and the King of Spain tendered him his thanks +for his replies to certain questions addressed to him concerning the +causes and proper treatment of yellow fever. In 1807 the Queen of +Etruria presented him with a gold medal as a mark of respect; and in +1811 the Emperor of Russia sent him a testimonial of his admiration of +his medical character. + +In 1799 he was made treasurer of the United States Mint, which position +he held until his death. + +Dr. Rush's writings were voluminous, and embraced a variety of subjects. +His medical productions occupy a high place in the literature of the +profession, and his political essays were one of the features of his +day. He was a man of profound learning, and it is astonishing that one +so constantly occupied with the duties of an engrossing profession +should have found the time for such close and thorough general reading. + +He was a sincere and earnest Christian, and held the Bible in the +highest veneration. He wrote an able defense of the use of it as a +school-book, and for many years was vice-president of the Philadelphia +Bible Society, which he helped to establish, and the constitution of +which he drafted. He held skepticism and atheism in the deepest +abhorrence, and in his own life affords a powerful refutation of the +assertion one hears so often, that profound medical knowledge is apt to +make men infidels. + +He died in Philadelphia on the 19th of April, 1813, at the good old age +of sixty-eight, leaving a son who was destined to render additional +luster to his name by achieving the highest distinction as a statesman. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +VALENTINE MOTT. + + +Valentine Mott was born at Glen Cove, on Long Island, on the 20th of +August, 1785. His father, Dr. Henry Mott, was an eminent practitioner in +the city of New York, where he died in 1840, at the age of eighty-three. +Valentine Mott was carefully educated by private tutors until he reached +the age of nineteen, when he entered Columbia College, New York, as a +medical student, and at the same time became a private medical pupil of +his kinsman, Dr. Valentine Seaman. At the age of twenty-one he graduated +with the degree of M.D.; but feeling that he had not acquired as good a +medical education as the schools of the Old World could afford, he +sailed for Europe in 1806, within a few weeks after his graduation at +Columbia College. Proceeding to London, he was for more than a year a +regular attendant upon St. Thomas', Bartholomew's, and Guy's hospitals, +where he conducted his clinical studies under the direction of +Abernethy, Sir Charles Bell, and Sir Astley Cooper. He chose Sir Astley +Cooper as his private instructor, and became one of his favorite pupils; +and also attended the lectures of Currie and Haighton. From London he +went to Edinburgh, where he attended the lectures of Hope, Playfair, and +Gregory, as well as the prelections of Dugald Stewart. From Edinburgh +he went to Paris, and completed his studies in the great hospitals of +that city. + +He gave evidence at an early day of his great surgical abilities. He was +indeed a born surgeon, possessing in a remarkable degree that peculiar +adaptation to this branch of his profession, without which no amount of +study can make a great operator. While a student in the Old World, he +performed leading operations with a skill and natural readiness which +astonished his instructors as much as they delighted them. He was +possessed of a firmness and dexterity of hand, a calm, cool brain, a +quick, unfailing eye, a calmness of nerve, a strength of will, and a +physical endurance which were Nature's gifts to him, and which rendered +him a great surgeon even before he had received his diploma. He did not +trust to these natural gifts alone, however, but applied himself to the +theory of his profession with a determination and eagerness which +nothing could daunt. He was an enthusiast in his studies, and soon +became known as the most profoundly-learned _young_ physician of his +day. As he advanced in life, he maintained his reputation, keeping up +his studies to the last. The great men under whom he studied abroad were +delighted with him, and Sir Astley Cooper was loud in his praise. He +exhibited so much skill as an operator that he was often called upon to +perform operations which the professors would never have dreamed of +intrusting to any one else, and he went through each trial of this kind +with a readiness and precision which few even of his instructors +excelled. + +His reputation was unusually flattering to one who had not yet entered +upon the practice of his profession, and upon his return to the United +States, in 1809, he was met with an offer of the chair of surgery in +Columbia College, his _alma mater_. He promptly accepted the position, +and held it until 1813, when the medical department of Columbia College +was merged in the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He was at once +called to the same chair in the new college, and occupied it until 1826. +In that year he resigned his place in the faculty, in consequence of a +misunderstanding between the professors and the trustees of the college +on the principles of college government. Withdrawing entirely from the +school, he united with Drs. Hosack, Mitchell, Francis, and several +others, in founding the Rutgers Medical College. This college, after a +short career of four years, was compelled by the Legislature to +discontinue its operations, in consequence of an alleged invalidity in +its charter. + +In 1830, Dr. Mott returned to the College of Physicians and Surgeons as +Professor of Surgery, and in 1840 he became President of the Faculty and +Professor of Surgery and Relative Anatomy in the new University Medical +School. The science of Relative Anatomy is of the highest importance to +the surgeon, and of this science Dr. Mott is generally regarded as the +author. He held his position in the University for twenty years, and in +1860, after a period of fifty years spent in the active duties of his +professorship, retired from the immediate discharge of them, and was +made Professor Emeritus, in which capacity he occasionally lectured to +the classes during each of the remaining years of his life. + +As a professor and teacher of surgical science Dr. Mott won a brilliant +reputation, and was considered one of the most thoroughly successful +instructors in the Union. He had the power of winning the attention of +his pupils at the opening of his lectures and of retaining it until the +close. He made even the most difficult operations so clear and simple in +his lectures that the dullest intellects could comprehend them; and his +system of practical demonstration of his subjects was vastly superior +to any thing that had ever been seen in America. He was the first to +introduce into this country the system of delivering clinical lectures, +or lectures at the bedside of the patient, whose ailments were operated +upon during the course of his remarks. This system is naturally the most +repugnant to the patient, but its advantages to the student are so great +that they outweigh all other considerations. Other professors had shrunk +from subjecting their patients to such an ordeal, but Dr. Mott had seen +enough, during his attendance upon such lectures abroad, to satisfy him +that it was the only method by which a thorough knowledge of the +profession of surgery could be imparted, and immediately upon +establishing himself in this country he introduced it. He met with +opposition at first, but he gradually overcame it, and made the +advantages of his system so apparent to all that at length the +opposition entirely ceased. + +The greatest difficulty to which American medical schools have always +been subject has been the almost utter impossibility of procuring dead +bodies for dissection. It was this want that compelled Dr. Mott, as it +has compelled so many others, to seek a practical education in Europe; +and when he came back to the college as professor, he was met by the +same drawback to thorough instruction. The law forbade the taking of +dead bodies for dissection, under severe penalties. If a student was +ever found in possession of a limb, he was liable to fine and +imprisonment; and popular sentiment was so strong against the practice +of dissection that those who engaged in it ran serious risk of incurring +violence at the hands of the mob. Dr. Mott was often driven to desperate +expedients in the procuring of subjects. He was fond of relating one of +his adventures of this kind, which will show the reader how he was +enabled to carry on his lectures. + +It was in the winter of 1815, and it had been found impossible to +procure a supply of subjects for the season. They could not be obtained +at any price, and it was evident that if any were to be had, the doctor +and his pupils would have to take the matter in their own hands. There +was a grave-yard just outside the city, in which a number of interments +had recently been made, and the doctor resolved upon securing these +bodies for his dissecting-room. It was a dangerous undertaking, as +discovery would subject all engaged in it to the direst penalties of the +law, if, indeed, they should be lucky enough to escape being lynched by +the people. In spite of the dangers, however, the students volunteered +to assist the doctor in the attempt, and at an appointed time proceeded +to the cemetery, properly disguised, and began the removal of the bodies +from the graves. The night was intensely dark, and the wind was high, +both of which circumstances favored their undertaking, but every sound, +every snapping of a twig or rustling of a leaf caused them to start with +alarm and gaze anxiously into the darkness. It was near midnight when +they had finished their task, and, this done, they waited in anxious +silence for the arrival of the means of removing their prey. Their +movements had been accurately timed, and they had scarcely completed +their labors when a cart, driven by a man dressed in the rough clothing +of a laborer, approached the cemetery at a rapid pace. Signals were +exchanged between the driver and the students, and the latter fell to +work to place the bodies, eleven in number, in the cart. Having +accomplished this, they covered them over in such a manner as to make it +appear that the cart was loaded with country produce, bound for the city +markets. When every thing was properly arranged, the students +disappeared in the darkness, each seeking the means by which he had come +out from the city, and the driver, turning his cart about, drove off +rapidly in the direction of New York. It was a long ride, and to an +imaginative man, carrying eleven dead bodies that had been torn from +their quiet graves through the darkness of that winter night would have +been a terrible undertaking. But this man was not imaginative, and, +besides this, he was keenly alive to the tremendous consequences of +discovery. He knew that he was carrying his life in his hand, and that +he needed all the coolness and decision of which he was master. Reaching +the city long after midnight, he drove rapidly down Broadway and turned +into Barclay Street. The lights of the college shone out brightly, and +they had never seemed so welcome as then. The cart was driven rapidly to +the college entrance, where the students were in readiness to receive +it. In a few moments the bodies were removed from the cart and conveyed +to the dissecting-room, and the cart turned over to its owner. The +driver accompanied the students to the dissecting-room, and, throwing +off his disguise, revealed the handsome but excited and eager +countenance of Dr. Mott. He had shared the dangers to which his pupils +had subjected themselves, and had even borne the part in the enterprise +attended with the greatest risk. The affair had succeeded admirably, a +winter's supply of "subjects" had been obtained, and after this the +lectures went on without interruption. + +"A story is told of his readiness in the lecture-room. A mother brought +into the amphitheater, one morning, an extremely dirty, sickly, +miserable-looking child, for the purpose of having a tumor removed. He +exhibited the tumor to the class, but informed the mother that he could +not operate upon the child without the consent of her husband. One of +the students, in his eagerness to examine the tumor, jumped over into +the little inclosure designed for the operator and his patients. Dr. +Mott, observing this intrusion, turned to the student and asked him, +with the most innocent expression of countenance: 'Are you the father of +this child?' Thunders of applause and laughter greeted this ingenious +rebuke, during which the intruder returned to his place crestfallen." + +He was equally as successful in his private practice as in his labors in +the medical school. His brilliant reputation preceded him in his return +to his native country, and immediately upon opening his office in New +York he entered upon a large and lucrative practice. His skill as a +surgeon was in constant demand, and it is said that during his long +career he tied the common carotid artery forty-six times, cut for stone +one hundred and sixty-five times, and amputated nearly one thousand +limbs. His old preceptor, Sir Astley Cooper, proud of the distinction +won by his favorite pupil, said of him exultingly: "He has performed +more of the great operations than any man living, or that ever did +live." + +When he was but thirty-three years old (in 1818) he placed a ligature +around the bracheo-cephalic trunk or arteria innominata, within two +inches of the heart, for aneurism of the right subclavian artery. This +was the first time this wonderful operation had ever been performed, and +the skill and success with which he accomplished it stamped him as one +of the brightest lights of his profession. "The patient survived the +operation twenty-eight days, and thus demonstrated the feasibility of +this hazardous and thus far unparalleled undertaking. He discovered in +this case that, though all supply of blood to the blood-vessels of the +right arm was apparently cut off, the circulation was kept up by the +interosculating blood-vessels, the pulsation at the wrist maintained, +and no evidence of loss of vitality or warmth manifested in the limb. +The patient finally died from secondary hemorrhage." + +In 1828 he performed successfully the most difficult and dangerous +operation known to surgery. A clergyman called upon him to remove an +enormous tumor in the neck, in which were imbedded and twisted many of +the great arteries. In this operation it became necessary to take out +entire the right clavicle or collar bone, to lay bare the membrane which +surrounds the lungs, to search for and dissect around the arteries which +ran through the tumor, to make forty ligatures, and to remove an immense +mass of diseased matter. This terrible operation had never been +attempted before, and was performed by Dr. Mott without the aid of +chloroform; yet it was done so skillfully that the patient survived it, +and in 1865 was still living and discharging his ministerial duties. It +was thirty years before it was attempted again in any part of the world. +It was a great triumph of the genius of the operator, and won him +praises from men of science in all countries. + +In 1821 "he performed the first operation for osteo-sarcoma of the lower +jaw. In 1822 he introduced his original operation for immobility of the +lower jaw. He was the first surgeon who removed the lower jaw for +necrosis, and the first to tie successfully the primitive iliac artery +for aneurism. Other of his original operations were cutting out two +inches of the deep jugular vein, inseparably imbedded in a tumor, and +tying both ends of the vein, and closing, with a fine ligature, wounds +of large veins of a longitudinal or transverse kind, even where an +olive-sliced piece had been cut out." + +It was invariably his practice before attempting an operation on a +living subject to perform it on a dead body, and by the most minute and +patient examination to render himself absolute master of the anatomy of +the parts to be operated upon. He was a thoroughly conscientious man in +the exercise of his profession, and was always on his guard to resist +that greatest danger of the skillful surgeon--the temptation to use the +knife needlessly. It was his practice to investigate his cases +thoroughly, and never to use the knife unless his judgment was satisfied +that an operation was necessary. "That he decided in favor of operating +when some of his associates hesitated, was due rather to his large +experience than to an overweening fondness for the use of the knife." In +his operations he was firm and decided. Gifted with an unusual +steadiness of nerve and strength of muscle, he never allowed his +sympathy for the patient to cause him to hesitate or inflict one pang +less than the case required. He was prompt and ready in the event of +unforeseen complications, and never permitted any thing to take him by +surprise. His manner toward his patients was tender and sympathizing to +a remarkable degree, and his brother surgeons used to say of him, that +he seemed to have the power of cutting with less pain to the patient +than was possessed by most operators. During forty years of his practice +anaesthetics were unknown, and he had to operate with the full +consciousness that his patient was suffering the keenest agony. Besides +attaining such an exalted position as a surgeon, Dr. Mott won an +enviable reputation as a physician. His practice was confined almost +entirely to the best class of the people of New York, and he was for +many years the favorite accoucheur in a large circle of families in that +city. + +He was an eminently progressive man. He fully recognized the advance of +science with the growth of the world, and was always prompt to welcome +any valuable discovery in medicine or surgery. He was among the first to +adopt and advocate the use of anaesthetics, for no man had had more cause +to understand the necessity of such assistants. He was himself the +inventor of many valuable surgical instruments, but he gladly welcomed +the introduction of others, even though they superseded his own in use. +To the close of his life he was a diligent student, and watched the +progress of his science with a keen and intelligent eye. He was the +author of several works of merit, including a volume of travels, and the +translator of "Velpau's Operative Surgery," to which he made extensive +and valuable additions and annotations. He received numerous literary +and scientific honors from colleges, universities, and learned bodies in +the United States and Europe. + +In 1835 he visited Europe for the purpose of resting from his arduous +labors, and spent several years in traveling extensively in England, on +the continent, and in the East. His great achievements had made him as +famous in the Old World as at home, and he was received wherever he went +with great distinction. He was cordially welcomed by the most eminent +surgeons of Paris, and Louis Philippe conceived a warm friendship for +him. During his visit to Constantinople, he was called upon to attend +professionally the reigning Sultan Abdul Medjid, who was suffering from +a tumor in the head. Dr. Mott successfully removed this tumor, and was +afterwards invested by the Sultan with the order of Knight of +Medjidechi, of Constantinople. + +During his visit to Paris, a circumstance occurred which he related upon +his return home, and which will serve to show the extremes to which +professional skill and vanity will sometimes carry men. One of the most +eminent surgeons in Paris asked him if he would like to see him perform +his original operation. Dr. Mott replied that nothing would give him +more pleasure. "Then you shall see it to-morrow," said the Frenchman. +"But stay," he added, "now I think of it, there is no patient in the +hospital who has that malady. No matter, my dear friend, there is a poor +devil in ward No. ---- who is of no use to himself or any body else, and +if you'll come to-morrow, I'll operate beautifully on him." Dr. Mott at +once declined to attend the operation or to countenance in any way so +horrible an outrage. + +In person Dr. Mott was a thorough gentleman of the old school. He was an +exceedingly handsome man, and was possessed of an erect and +well-developed figure. His hair was as white as snow, and his dress, +which consisted of a simple suit of spotless black, with linen of +matchless purity, was in the most perfect taste. He was grave and +dignified in his deportment, and polished and courteous in every action. +Even in his most difficult and trying operations the services of the +assistants were always promptly acknowledged with scrupulous politeness. +He was possessed of many friends, and was regarded with pride and +veneration by his profession throughout the world. + +During the last winter of his life he had lectured once or twice at the +Medical School, and had performed several operations of importance in +his private practice. Although nearly eighty, he was still erect and +vigorous, and was far from considering himself too old for his work. + +On the morning of the 15th of April, 1865, he sent for his barber, as +was his custom, and submitted himself to the hands of the man who had +been his attendant in this capacity for years. He was sitting in his +dressing-room, and, being in fine spirits, began conversing with the +barber, who, during the conversation, asked him if he had heard the +terrible news of the day. + +"What is the news?" asked the doctor. + +"President Lincoln was killed last night at the theater in Washington," +was the reply. + +The doctor turned as pale as death, and, trembling violently, motioned +the barber aside, and tottered into the chamber adjoining, in which his +wife was dressing. + +"My dear," he gasped, scarcely able to speak, "I have received such a +shock. President Lincoln has been murdered." + +[Illustration: "PRESIDENT LINCOLN HAS BEEN MURDERED!"] + +His agitation had now become so great that he could say no more. He sank +down into a chair, pale and trembling, and so feeble that he could +scarcely sit up. He was seized in a short time with acute pains in the +back, and at the same time his vigor seemed to desert him entirely, and +he became a weak and broken old man. He was obliged to seek his bed, +from which he never rose. He grew feebler every day, and died on the +26th of April, 1865. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT FORTUNES, AND HOW THEY WERE +MADE*** + + +******* This file should be named 15161.txt or 15161.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/1/6/15161 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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