is buyers,
as he had his skins. He himself dressed in a suit of fur and thus proved
his ability as an advertiser. He picked his men and charged all the
traffic would bear. He took orders, on sample, from the nobility and
sundry of the gentry, and thereby cut the middleman. All of the money he
received for his skins he invested in "Indian Goods"--colored cloth,
beads, blankets, knives, axes, and musical instruments. His was the
first store in New York that carried a stock of musical instruments.
These he sold to the savages, and also he supplied the stolid Dutch the
best of everything in this particular line, from a bazoo to a
Stradivarius violin.

When he got back to New York, he at once struck out through the
wilderness to buy furs of the Indians, or, better still, to interest
them in bringing furs to him.

He knew the value of friendship in trade as no other man of the time
did. He went clear through to Lake Erie, down to Niagara Falls, along
Lake Ontario across to Lake Champlain and then down the Hudson. He
foresaw the great city of Buffalo, and Rochester as well, only he said
that Rochester would probably be situated directly on the lake. But the
water-power of the Genesee Falls proved a stronger drawing power than
the lake front. He prophesied that along the banks of the Niagara Falls
would be built the greatest manufacturing city in the world. There were
flourmills and sawmills there then. The lumber first used in building
the city of Buffalo was brought from the sawmills at "The Falls."

Electric power, of course, was then a thing unguessed, but Astor
prophesied the Erie Canal, and made good guesses as to where prosperous
cities would appear along its line.

In Seventeen Hundred Ninety, John Jacob Astor married Sarah Todd. Her
mother was a Brevoort, and it was brought about by her coming to Astor
to buy furs with which to make herself a coat. Her ability to judge furs
and make them up won the heart of the dealer. The marriage brought young
Astor into "the best Dutch New York society," a combination that was
quite as exclusive then as now.

This marriage was a business partnership as well as a marital, and
proved a success in every way. Sarah was a worker, with all the good old
Dutch qualities of patience, persistence, industry and economy. When her
husband went on trips she kept store. She was the only partner in whom
he ever had implicit faith. And faith is the first requisite in success.

Captain Cook ha