A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

The Romance and Tragedy

W >> William Ingraham Russell >> The Romance and Tragedy




I thought he would appreciate my doing so. Quite the contrary.

Of course my prepayment so far in advance of maturity was evidence
of my prosperity.

He, in his small soul, could not but believe I knew this prosperity
was coming and had forced him out of the firm, just in advance of
its arrival. I met him in the street frequently and noticed the
change in his manner. A few weeks later he did not return my bow
and we have since been strangers.

When I heard shortly after of his engagement to the little French
girl, I concluded that his envy of my success and her prejudice
for my share in the temporary cessation of his intimacy with her
had cost me a friend. And yet it surely was through no fault of
mine.




CHAPTER XI

A YEAR OF SUNSHINE



The year 1878 was to me a memorable one.

The improvement in business the previous year had been sufficient
to enable me to pay my indebtedness to Allis, meet all my current
expenses, and enter the new year with a good balance in bank.

My health had become entirely restored, and with mind free from
worry life was indeed well worth the living. The home life, happy
under adverse circumstances, was of course made more enjoyable by
my improved financial condition.

The little rivulet of prosperity of 1877 broadened in 1878 to
a stream, small at first, but ever widening and leading on to the
sea.

On the second of July there was born to us our first daughter.

My wife and myself were delighted with this latest arrival from
love-land. We had looked forward with fond anticipation to the event,
and our hearts' desire was that a daughter should be added to the
family circle. The blessing had come to us and we were grateful.

What shall I say of the mother of that little daughter?

What can I say that would do justice to her love and devotion?

It is said "there is no love like a mother's love." True, but with
all reverence to my own sainted mother, there is another love that
has come to me, the love of a wife for her husband, that I cannot
but maintain is the greatest of all.

How completely that little baby girl ruled the household was soon
in evidence. For the time being she was queen and we her loyal
subjects, anxious to do her honor. The little brothers were more
than pleased to have a sister and rivaled each other in their
efforts to entertain her.

The mother was proud of her girl and I--well, to tell the truth,
I was deeply in love with the entire family.

Our lease of the place had expired in April but I arranged to keep
it until the first of October.

We felt warranted, in our improved circumstances, in seeking a
better home, amidst refined surroundings, and had concluded to make
a change in the fall. We did not want to give up country life. My
wife and I enjoyed it and we knew it was best for the children.
Our desire was for a house with modern conveniences, neighbors,
pleasant, cultured people whose society we could enjoy.

On my trips to and from the city I had observed from the car window
a section of country not far from where we were then residing, and
as the few houses I could see were modern, the elevation high and
beautifully wooded, we thought it worth while to investigate.

With my wife I drove there one afternoon and we were both surprised
and delighted at what we saw.

A gentleman of wealth had purchased many hundreds of acres of
land, and after building for himself a handsome home had commenced
development of the property for residences of the better class.

There was nothing of the cheap real estate scheme about the place.
The owner would sell or rent only to such people as he deemed
desirable.

Although the water supply and sewerage system had been established,
miles of roads built, a handsome railroad station erected, and
a large Casino in course of erection, there were at that time but
six houses completed.

Knollwood was to be a park, and as a unique feature no two houses
were to be alike. How successful it has been is shown by the fact
that to-day there is no more beautiful or flourishing residence
park in the vicinity of New York.

As a result of our visit to the property, an arrangement was made
for a house to be built for us on a lease of three years, and we
were permitted to select the plans of the house, its site, and the
interior decorations. Work was to commence at once and possession
given us in April, 1879.

Not wishing to spend another winter where we were, we returned
to Brooklyn and remained with my parents until the new house was
completed.

When we commenced our packing preparatory to leaving the little
farm, as we called it, there was a feeling akin to homesickness.

We had been very happy and great blessings had come to us while
there. The dear little baby girl, my health, prosperity in worldly
affairs--all this and the thought of how the place had been a sort
of lovers' retreat, where I had my wife all to myself most of the
time, made the homely old farm-house seem something sacred.

We could not but feel a little sentimental over it all.

The garden, the arbor-vitae hedge, planted with my own hands, and
now tall and almost impenetrable, the play-house which I built in
the orchard for the children, all had to be visited with a feeling
of saying good-by to old friends.

There was hardly a summer for years after that we did not at least
once drive down the old lane and look over the place where our
country life had commenced, and I shall have for it always a tender
spot in my memory.

When, at the end of the year, the books were closed at the office,
I was pleased to find that I had made a little over twelve thousand
dollars.

It had taken me eight years to catch up to the point where Mr.
Derham left off, but I had finally succeeded.

As I was but twenty-eight years of age, I congratulated myself with
a little self-conceit that was perhaps pardonable.

It had certainly been a hard up-hill fight.




CHAPTER XII

AN IDEAL LIFE



As the new house was approaching completion we found much pleasure
in occasionally going to Knollwood for an hour or two, to look it
over.

Our having selected the plans and site made it seem as if it
belonged to us and our interest in its development was great. The
kitchen was in the basement. On the first floor was a square entrance
hall opening into parlor, dining-room, and library. There were
four bed-rooms and bath-room on second floor and above that a maid's
room and attic.

While the house was not large the rooms were all of comfortable
size. For heating, in addition to the furnace, there were several
open fire-places, a great desideratum in any house. In its exterior
the style was something of the Swiss cottage.

The grounds consisted of about an acre in lawn with a few flower-beds
and a number of fine trees.

In April we moved into the new house. Some additions had been made
to our furnishings, and when all was in order we agreed that in
our eyes there was no other house in the world quite so pretty.

It was a case of "contentment is wealth," and we were perfectly
contented.

[Illustration: "Sunnyside"]

Of course we must have a name for the place. Every one does that,
in the country, and we were not to be the exception. One of our
boundary lines was a brook and we decided on "Brookside Cottage."

The stationery and visiting cards were so engraved, when, alas,
a few weeks later our brook dried up and we had to select another
name.

At this time, where the brook had been, a new line of sewer was
laid, and my wife suggested "Sewerside," but after punishing her
with a kiss for her bad pun, I suggested "Sunnyside."

The name was adopted and to this day the place has retained it.

"Sunnyside" was not the only house in Knollwood completed that
spring. There were several others, and when the summer commenced
there resided there a little community of delightful, congenial
people. Most of them were of about my age, and with the exception
of the owner of the Park, of moderate means. Probably at that time
I enjoyed a larger income than any of them.

Wealth cut no figure in that community. We all respected each other
and met on the same social plane, regardless of individual means.

While we liked them all, we became particularly intimate with two
of our immediate neighbors, the Woods and the Lawtons, who had come
to the Park at the same time as ourselves.

This intimacy became a strong and close friendship, so much so that
it was very like one family. The children of the three families
fraternized and almost every disengaged evening found the parents
gathered together in some one of the three houses, which were
connected by private telephone.

In its social elements Knollwood was peculiarly fortunate. The
people were bright and entertaining. In a number of instances
musical talent, both vocal and instrumental, was of a high order,
and there was also a good deal of amateur dramatic talent.

Taking this combination and an inspiration on the part of each
individual to do what he or she could for the entertainment of
all, one can readily see that much pleasure might be derived in
Knollwood society.

The facilities for making use of the talent we possessed were
excellent. We had a beautiful casino, with a stage well equipped
with scenery, and during the first four years of our residence
there more than fifty performances were given, each followed by a
dance. A Country Club was organized for out-door sports and there
was something going on continually.

The life at Knollwood in those days was to my mind ideal.

The beauty of the place, its facilities and conveniences are still
there, improved and increased. Its social life, now on a totally
different scale, has expanded to meet the tastes of the people.
With the large increase in population came the break in the circle.
Cliques defining the difference, not in culture or refinement,
but in wealth, have developed. The old charm of every resident my
friend, is lacking. Gossip, unknown in the early days, showed its
ugly head in later years.

It is the way of the world. All struggle to gain wealth. Those
that succeed, with but few exceptions, sneer at those who are left
behind, and what does it all amount to in the end? One can enjoy
it but a few years at most.

I have in my career come into more or less intimate contact,
socially and in a business way, with many men of great wealth. In
some instances, where the wealth was inherited, the past generation
had paid the price of its accumulation, but I doubt if any of those
who have given up the best of their lives in the struggle to attain
their present position and wealth, now that they possess it, get
out of it anything like the degree of happiness and contentment
that was in evidence in those early years in Knollwood.

And what has it cost them?

Long years of struggle and worry, continual mental strain that
has prevented the full enjoyment of home life, a weakened physical
condition, old age in advance of its time, and more, far more
than all this, in at least one instance of which I have personal
knowledge, and I presume there have been many others, the disruption
of a family that would never have occurred had the husband given
less time to his struggle for wealth and more to the wife whom he
had vowed to love and cherish.

She, poor, beautiful woman, left much to herself evening after
evening while her husband was at his club or elsewhere planning
with allies his huge business operations, fell a victim to a fiend
in the guise of a man.

When that husband looks at his children, deserted by their mother,
he must think that for his millions he has paid a stupendous price.

Wealth brings with it fashionable life. Of what horrors the fashionable
life of New York is continually giving us examples, the columns of
the daily papers bear witness.

Is the "game worth the candle"?




CHAPTER XIII

PROSPEROUS DAYS



My business in 1879 returned me nearly sixteen thousand dollars,
a satisfactory increase over the previous year.

My wife and I had become much attached to "Sunnyside," and as the
owner was willing to sell it to us for just what it had cost to
build, plus one thousand dollars for the land, we bought it. We
then spent eleven hundred dollars in improvements, and when finished
our home had cost us sixty-five hundred dollars.

It was certainly a very attractive place for that amount of money.
To be sure it was only an unpretentious cottage, but a pretty one,
and the interior had been so successfully though inexpensively
treated in decorations and appointments that the general effect
attracted from our friends universal admiration.

As our neighbor, Charlie Wood, put it on his first inspection,
we had succeeded in making a "silk purse out of a sow's ear." His
remark rather grated on us, but it was characteristic of the man
and we knew it was simply his way of paying us a compliment.

In January a broker in the trade, not a competitor for the reason
that he was a specialist in a line that I did not cover, gave me
a large order, for future delivery.

He told me it was a purchase on speculation for himself and another
party whom he named, and that not only should I have the resale
but they would give me one-eighth interest in the transaction.

Up to that time I had never been interested to the extent of a
single dollar in the markets in which I dealt as a broker nor had
I any speculative clientage, I was certain the operation would be
successful provided they did not hold on for too large a profit
and overstay the market. I accepted the order as he offered it,
but stipulated that I should have the right at any time to close
out my interest in the deal.

The purchase was made and a few weeks later long before time
for delivery, I found a buyer who would pay a clear ten thousand
dollars profit. In vain I urged them to accept it. Then with their
knowledge I sold my interest and secured my twelve hundred and
fifty dollars.

They held on, took delivery at maturity, and finally after several
months I resold for them at a loss of nearly forty thousand dollars.

In the negotiations I came into personal contact only with the
broker. The other party was a wealthy Hebrew merchant then doing
business on Broome Street. He was at that time supposed to be
worth possibly a million and was just getting in touch with my line
of trade. A few years later he became a most important factor and
still later was allied with Standard Oil interests.

At his death in 1902 he left to his heirs many millions of dollars.
I attended his funeral and truly mourned and respected the man,
for while for many years we were active business competitors, in
the days of trouble he was one of the very few ready to extend a
helping hand.

In the first three months of 1880, including my profit in the
transaction just mentioned, I made six thousand dollars. I was now
in a position where if hard times came I could accept them with
reasonable complacency.

My success had broadened my views and given me a keener insight
into the possibilities of my business. I became convinced that in
earning capacity it was about at the top notch.

There were several features then becoming prominent that led
me to this conclusion. The Standard Oil Company had absorbed all
the refining concerns and had then established its own broker. It
paid him a salary for his services and he paid to the Company the
brokerages he collected from the sellers. I had been doing a large
business with the constituent companies which would now cease. The
leading firm with which my relations had been most intimate had
taken into its employ as a confidential man my most active competitor
and I knew his influence would work against me to the utmost. New
competitors, young men who had been clerks in the trade, were coming
into the field. Then a movement looking to a reduction in the rate
of brokerage was being agitated.

I had no doubt about being able to keep up with the procession,
but it looked to me as if the procession would be too slow and if
it was to be a funeral march I proposed to look on rather than take
part. I had been through the stages of creeping, then walking,
and now I wanted to run.

The problem was before me and I thought I saw the solution.

The business being done by brokers covered several different
articles. The most important of these, that is, the one on which
the most brokerages were earned, happened to be the one article
that the Standard Oil Company was the largest buyer of, that the
leading firm was most interested in, and that the talk of reduced
brokerage was aimed at.

My plan was to drop that entirely and also everything else except
one particular staple commodity in which I would be a specialist.
I had for two or three years done a large business in this and had
made a profound study of that branch of the trade.

It was yet in its infancy but I believed in a rapid and important
growth. How rapid that growth has been is shown by the fact that
in 1879 the consumption in the United States was less than five
thousand tons. It has increased every year since and is now thirty-six
thousand tons per year.

Another point that decided me on the commodity I was to handle
exclusively was its adaptability to speculative operations. In
London for many years it has been a favorite medium of speculation
and I believed I could build up a speculative clientele and thereby
largely increase my brokerage account.

As business continued good through the spring and early summer I
concluded to delay my action until the fall. Each month I was adding
to my surplus and there was no need for haste.




CHAPTER XIV

NEAR THE DARK VALLEY



It was the middle of July. After a most oppressively hot and a very
busy day in the city I returned home with a feeling of weariness
that was unusual, my head ached badly. At dinner I ate but little
and then retired early. My wife petted and nursed me until I had
fallen asleep. After a restless night I was too ill to rise in the
morning.

Our physician was called in and his first diagnosis was nothing
serious, but he advised my remaining at home for a day or two and
taking a much-needed rest.

Twenty-four hours later he pronounced my illness congestion of the
brain.

Ten years of close application to business, much of the time under
a great nervous strain and no rest, had brought its day of reckoning.

For nearly three weeks I was confined to my bed.

My wife, aided by our faithful physician, Doctor Burling, who often
when I was delirious remained with me throughout the night, nursed
me with constant and untiring devotion. While she accepted the
efficient aid of one of my sisters, she would not consent to a
trained nurse, so long as the doctor would advise it only on the
ground of relief to her.

Her love for me was all-absorbing and no hand but hers should
administer to my wants. For hours at a time she stroked the poor
tired head, until her gentle caresses soothed me to brief intervals
of rest.

How she stood the strain, especially when as the crisis drew
near life seemed slowly but surely ebbing, I do not know. I never
opened my eyes that they did not rest on her sweet face, smiling,
cheerful, her own fears hidden from me that she might give me the
courage which the doctor said must be maintained.

Slowly and when it seemed as if the end was nigh, the tide turned--the
brain cleared, restful sleep came, and my life was saved.

Doctor Burling had done everything that science, skill, and
faithfulness could accomplish, but the nurse was the Guardian Angel
who brought me out of the Dark Valley just as its shadows were
closing around me.

My convalescence was slow, but as soon as my strength permitted,
with my wife I went to Block Island for a few weeks. There I gained
rapidly.

We took no part in the hotel amusements but kept to ourselves,
spending our days reading and chatting on the shore in the shade
of the bluffs and retiring early for long restful sleep at night.

Block Island is a beautiful spot and we enjoyed our visit there
greatly. It is to be expected that at a summer hotel in the height
of the season, if a young couple go off day after day by themselves,
never mingling with the other guests nor participating in their
pleasures, that some comment would be excited, but we were much
amused when, the day before we left for home, the major-domo came
to us and said, "I understand you are going to leave us to-morrow
and I want to tell you, before you go, that the people in the house
call you the model bridal couple of the season"--and we had three
children at home!

On my return to the office early in September I found it was
time for me to perfect my plans for the contemplated change in my
business. During my absence very little money had been made. My
clerk, I at that time employed but one, had done his best, but as
my business was a personal one, my presence was necessary to its
success.

The change entailed much labor. Lists of names must be compiled,
covering all the buyers in the United States and Canada. These had
to be prepared with great care and arranged in classes. There were
consumers, dealers, railroad purchasing agents. There were the
small and the large buyers in each class. To get these lists required
many hours spent in searching through "Bradstreet's," and it was
a work I could not delegate and consequently had it to do myself.

The various forms for daily mail quotations were to be arranged
and printed, also a complete telegraph code for the use of customers.

Then, too, a vast amount of statistical information had to be gone
over and a basis taken for the circulars which I meant to issue
to the trade semimonthly. The detail seemed endless, but by the
first of October all was in readiness and the change was made.

Before the month was over I became convinced that my move had been
a wise one. I had practically no competition worthy of the name
and I was finding new customers every day.

So successful was the business from the start that with the help of
those last two months of the year my income in 1880 was twenty-one
thousand dollars, and this notwithstanding the fact that I had lost
two months through my illness. It was really the result of but ten
months' business.

On the ninth of November when I returned from the city it was to
find that our family circle had again widened, and at "Sunnyside"
all hearts were open in joyful greeting to another little girl.

My wife as she returned my caress and exhibited to me this fourth
jewel in her crown, noticed that I was agitated, and with the smile
and the intention of calming me with a joke, said, "Darling, are
not two pair a pretty good hand"? We neither of us play poker, but
I could appreciate the joke.

What a joyful holiday season we had that year!

As we drank at our Christmas dinner a toast to the health, happiness,
and prosperity of all our friends, we felt that we ourselves were
getting our full share.

My wife, beloved by all, had become a sort of Lady Bountiful to the
poor of a neighboring village, and the thought of the many others
we had made happy that day added zest to our pleasure.




CHAPTER XV

A SUCCESSFUL MANEUVER



Elation expressed my feeling at the result of the change in my
business. The material benefit already was demonstrated and the
mental satisfaction at the correctness of my judgment added much
to the pleasure of reaping the profit.

Apparently 1881 was to be a banner year.

My firm was growing rapidly into prominence. From Maine to California
and throughout the Canadas we were now well known.

I say we, for as my readers will remember, in 1876 when my partner,
Allis, retired, I continued doing business as W. E. Stowe & Company,
though I never after had a partner and all acts of or reference to
the firm will be understood as relating to myself individually.

Our statistics, in the absence of any official figures, were accepted
by the trade as an authority, and in the foreign markets also, so
far as the American figures were concerned, they were regarded in
the same light.

As the business between London and New York was large and I foresaw
that it must increase greatly I was desirous of having a London
connection. A dozen reputable firms were open to me but I was
ambitious. I looked forward to become the leading firm in the trade
in this country and I wanted a connection with the leading firm in
London.

This firm had been for some months consigning occasional parcels
to a large banking house. The bankers sold through any broker. A
share of the business came to our office but it was unimportant. I
wanted it all, not so much for its present as for the future value.

So far as this market was concerned I knew we were in a position
that was unique.

We enjoyed the confidence of the large importers and dealers and
were in close touch with the consuming trade throughout the country.
Our facilities for getting information as to stocks in the aggregate
and individually were unequalled. The large consumers posted us in
advance of what their requirements would be for certain periods.
If the large city dealers were manipulating the market it was done
through our office and we knew their plans.

Copyright (c) 2007. famouswriterz.com. All rights reserved.