efully 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 Euro