e foremost men of his time. All the people of the
highest distinction in England knew and admired him as the most
typical and celebrated of Americans. Mr. Gladstone, Mr. John Bright,
the Duke of Argyle, Dean Stanley were his intimate friends. His
house at Gramercy Park was the scene of a splendid hospitality.
There gathered in his ample parlors, stored with souvenirs from
every land, and in his dining-room, men and women of the highest
consideration at home and abroad.

The keenness of his intelligence had increased with his
unprecedented experience. His triumphs had given him confidence in
his executive ability, and there was nothing too daring for him to
contemplate. His bitter lessons in going to the verge of ruin, when
he gave the fortune of his youth to the enterprise that he carried
to success, were amply pondered, and he resolved never again to
allow those near and dear to him to take the chances of cruel
fortune and the anxieties of impending want.

When his years were numbered in the thirties, he was meditating
retirement from business; and when he was in the sixties, his
irrepressible activities carried him into the development of the
elevated railway system on Manhattan Island, with the same ardor and
fixed purpose with which, thirty years before, he had invaded the
wilderness of Newfoundland to find a basis of operations for the
conquest of the Atlantic. His faith was undaunted and without limit.
His touch revealed new fortunes. He saw that the elevated lines that
developed Harlem, would also improve lower New York; and the
Washington Building, No. 1 Broadway, was the materialization of the
thought. The intensity that was remarked in his childhood, and that
commanded the confidence of the capitalists of England, knew no
abatement. He had been very cautious in advising Englishmen about
investments, but had imparted to some of them the assurance that
United States Bonds were as sound as the English investment of
national debt, and they profited by accepting his judgment. He
insisted upon popularizing the elevated roads by a uniform fare of
five cents, and had it done against strong opposition, and was more
confident than ever in the stock, of which he had an enormous
holding. But it took years longer than he had calculated to make
good his plans, and in the interval came a financial storm that
compelled him to submit to a heavy loss. He bore his misfortune with
fortitude, and still had a competency ample fo