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TO MY READERS
TO MY READERS
A true story of a life I give you; not in its completion, for it is still unfinished. The romance of youth has lingered through all the later years and the tragedy of these years could not destroy it. In the manuscript tears have fallen on some pages, smiles on others, and still others have been scorched with the fire of indignation. Why is it written? To bear testimony to the love and devotion of a noble woman; to set straight before the world certain matters now misunderstood; to give evidence
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AUTHOR'S NOTE TO SECOND EDITION
AUTHOR'S NOTE TO SECOND EDITION
This narrative, first published in an author's autograph edition, limited to one thousand copies, was privately circulated, the entire edition having been sold by the author through correspondence. A second edition is now offered to the public. The original narrative, except for the correction of a few minor errors, is unchanged, and added to it are two chapters disclosing a remarkable sequel and also setting forth a lesson for the younger generation of business men, showing clearly how differen
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AUTHOR'S NOTE TO THIRD EDITION
AUTHOR'S NOTE TO THIRD EDITION
Why is it published? The second Edition—long out of print, still orders that could not be filled were continually received. These have come from nearly every State in the Union and as the book has never been advertised other than by press reviews and the favorable comment of readers, this demand means something. Perhaps if you read the narrative you will discover the answer. CALVERT BUILDING, Baltimore, Maryland, August 23rd, 1913....
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CHAPTER
CHAPTER
I The First Round of the Ladder II I Meet My Affinity III A Co-Partnership Dissolved IV And the Answer Was "Yes" V Wedding Bells VI A First Reverse of Fortune VII The Coming of the Stork VIII The New Partner IX Suburban Life X My Partner Retires XI A Year of Sunshine XII An Ideal Life XIII Prosperous Days XIV Near the Dark Valley XV A Successful Maneuver XVI "Redstone" XVII Our Neighbors XVIII An Une
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CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
NEW YORK, February 23, 1866. "Master Walter E. Stowe: "If you have not yet procured a situation, please call at my office, 45 Duane Street, and oblige. "Yours truly, "JNO. DERHAM, "Per T. E. D." This letter came to me in response to my application for a situation as an office-boy. I had replied to the advertisement in the Herald , without consulting my parents, knowing they would raise objections to my leaving school. My father, one of New York's old-time shipping merchants, running a line of pa
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CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
My home was in Brooklyn. On my mother's side the family came from the old Dutch settlers of that section of Greater New York. My mother's father was a commissioned officer in the war of 1812. My father came from Connecticut, of English ancestry. I used to tell my mother the only thing I could never forgive her was that I was born in Brooklyn, and I have never gotten over my dislike for the place, though it is nearly thirty years since I left there. The family for generations back have been Episc
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
Before Mr. Derham had landed in England my feeling of dislike for my partner had increased materially. His own business, which had been represented as worth at least five hundred dollars per month to the firm, was, so far as I could see, largely a myth. He had a habit of arriving at the office at half-past ten or eleven o'clock, and leaving at three. By frequent demands on his father-in-law he kept himself in funds to provide for his extravagant living, and it seemed to me his principal object i
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CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
Although when I left Miss Wilson on that evening in July it was not as an accepted lover, as I had brought myself to believe it would be, and my disappointment was overwhelming that such was the case, my heart told me that all was not lost. She had admitted that she admired and respected me more than any other man of her acquaintance, while she did not feel the love for me that a woman should give to the man she marries. This admission I deemed a great point gained. With a field cleared of rival
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CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
The year in which the days had been as weeks, the weeks as months, had finally come to an end, and at six o'clock on the evening of Saturday, October 19th, 1872, I started on my thirty-six hours' journey to Chicago. There was no "Twentieth Century Limited," making the trip in twenty hours, in those days, and my two nights and a day on the road gave me ample time for contemplation, which I was in a mood to avail myself of. I felt all the eagerness of youth, the power of a love that stirred my who
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CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
The Christmas holidays of 1872 were at hand and I was in full spirit with the festivities of the season. My home life was a constant revelation of delight and happiness. The income from my business had increased to double that of the previous year, and the future looked bright indeed. Just at this time came to me in an evil hour a temptation to which I yielded, and I have always wondered how, under all the conditions then existing, I could have been so weak. My accumulations had not been investe
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CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
By the first of November I had exhausted all my savings, and from then on knew that if my monthly earnings were insufficient to pay my expenses, I should have to resort to borrowing money to tide me over until better times. A crisis was coming at home that demanded every effort of mine to have matters there pleasant and comfortable. Under no circumstances must my wife worry. Thus I thought, but even yet I did not know the magnificent courage of the woman. Each evening when I returned home she gr
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CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
Tom Allis, my new partner, was one of the most peculiar men I have ever met. In social life he was affable and self-possessed, but in his business intercourse exhibited confusion and a shyness that was simply amazing. Actually and in appearance he was about my age, while in his manner he was a bashful boy of seventeen. It was impossible for him to talk without blushing and appearing extremely embarrassed. As I had only met him socially, this phase was a revelation to me. I tried to get him out a
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CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
We had been in our new home but a very few days before we were quite in accord with the sentiment that "God made the country and man made the town." The house in its exterior was the ordinary, old-fashioned, one-and-a-half story farmhouse, improved by a piazza; but the interior, under the deft hands and good taste of my wife, had an appearance both home-like and cozy that was very attractive. We had to get accustomed to the low ceilings, only seven feet high; but this did not distress us, though
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CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
Matters at the office had been going badly for many months and any improvement in prospect was too far distant to be discerned. My partner was absolutely useless to me except as a clerk, and indeed a good clerk would have been better, for I could have commanded him to do things that I could only request of my partner, and I had long since learned that these requests carried no weight unless they were in the line of duty that was agreeable to him. On first taking up my residence in the country I
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CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
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
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CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
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
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CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
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 su
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CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
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. Twe
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CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
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 busin
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CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
"Sunnyside" had become too small for us. Our life had been so happy there we could not bear to think of leaving it. I had an architect look the house over and prepare plans for an extensive addition. This was done, though he strongly disadvised it. I could not but admit the force of his argument that it was foolish, regarded from an investment point of view, to expend on the place the amount I contemplated. Far better to sell and build a new house was his opinion. Then we talked of moving the ho
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CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
When we moved to "Redstone" we had been residents of Knollwood three years, long enough to become thoroughly acquainted with the characteristics of each individual in our social circle. While with all our relations were cordial, it is essential in this narrative to refer only to the three families with which we formed a close friendship. These were the Woods, Lawtons, and the new owners of "Sunnyside," the Slaters. Frank Slater was a partner of Mr. Wood. Without exception he was the most attract
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CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
The year 1883 was uneventful. At home, life moved on serenely in its accustomed channels. We were very happy and did all we could to make others so. For the summer months, thinking that a change might be good for the children, we rented a cottage at Oyster Bay. This was a pleasant experience, but we were glad to get home early in the fall. Our elder son was now nearly ten years old, the school at Knollwood was not satisfactory, and we entered him at the Academy at Media, Pennsylvania. His mother
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CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX
At the beginning of 1884 our business was increasing so rapidly it became necessary to have a larger office force to handle it. Orders poured in day after day and it was evident we were getting the preference from all the large and most of the small buyers throughout the country. It had been our policy to give just as careful attention to the small business as to that of more importance, but we now began to consider the wisdom of letting the former go. In the aggregate it was a handsome business
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CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XX
Although the conditions of general business were unsatisfactory at the beginning of 1885 and I had much doubt of the year proving as profitable as the one previous, I never dreamed of such a falling off as actually occurred. Our legitimate trade, that carried on with dealers and consumers, we thought would be poor for some months, as it had been over-done, and all our customers were well supplied with spot stock, as also contracts for future delivery; but the speculative element we relied on to
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CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXI
Dull business, the dam which checked the onward flow of the stream of our prosperity in 1885, was slowly but steadily carried away in the early months of 1886. Consumers and dealers again became liberal buyers and their lead was soon followed by the speculative fraternity. Our office was crowded with business and a further increase in the clerical force was imperative. Long hours and hard work was the rule, while resulting profits continually mounting higher was the reward. Our customers as a cl
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CHAPTER XXII
CHAPTER XXII
The new year opened as the old one had closed, with marked activity in all branches of my business; nor was there any perceptible change until late in the spring, then began a gradually diminishing demand that made a comparatively dull summer. Not but what there was a fair amount of business doing all the time, but the great rush was over. It was only the calm before the storm. Early in the fall it became evident to me there was a new factor in the market. Somebody, outside the regular trade, wa
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CHAPTER XXIII
CHAPTER XXIII
Just outside of the city of Paris was located one of the largest, most complete manufacturing plants in the world, doing an enormous business, employing an army of skilled artisans, consuming vast quantities of raw material and making in profits a fortune every year. The controlling interest was a man of large wealth, estimated at sixty millions of francs, and of national reputation. His gallery of paintings was famous in art circles the world over. His family moved in the highest strata of soci
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CHAPTER XXIV
CHAPTER XXIV
The year 1888 from start to finish was one whirl of excitement in my business life. The mental effort of handling the enormous business—it must be remembered ours was a one-man concern—was most exhausting. I became weary of making money and longed for a dull period that I might rest. But there was no dull period that year. In January we received from our London friends confidential information of the arrangement with the syndicate. Its enormous holdings were, so far as possible, to be unloaded o
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CHAPTER XXV
CHAPTER XXV
Although very fond of horses and driving it was not until 1888 that we indulged ourselves in that direction. When we built "Redstone" we planned where we would put the stable when ready for it, but were in no hurry about building. For fast horses I had no liking. My taste was for high-stepping carriage horses. A pair that could pull a heavy T-cart with four people eight or nine miles an hour and keep it up without urging, were fast enough in my opinion. I wanted high-spirited, blooded animals, f
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CHAPTER XXVI
CHAPTER XXVI
While during 1888 we were nominally brokers, a considerable portion of our business was actually in the nature of that of an importer and dealer. This position was really forced on us by circumstances beyond our control. To protect ourselves from loss in our sales for London account we had to take from time to time an interest in the market and this made us dealers. To complete our sales we were compelled to import the material and thus became importers. With the opening of the year 1889 we foun
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CHAPTER XXVII
CHAPTER XXVII
The spring of 1890 brought with it two great sorrows. Following closely on the death of my beloved mother came the death at "Sunnyside" of Frank Slater. The latter was unexpected in its suddenness and a terrible shock to all his friends. I had become so deeply attached to Frank that he seemed like a dear brother and my grief was most profound. The day after his death, Mr. Pell, Mrs. Slater's father, asked me to represent the family in the settlement of the business affairs. There was no will and
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CHAPTER XXIX
CHAPTER XXIX
As memory carries me back to 1891, it seems as if it would have been impossible to crowd into a period of twelve months more social pleasures and jolly good times than we had in that year. In the social life at Knollwood we had ceased to be active. We kept up and enjoyed our intimate friendship, now of more than ten years' duration, with our immediate neighbors; but the personnel of the Park had changed in recent years and with many of the new residents we were not congenial, though on pleasant
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CHAPTER XXX
CHAPTER XXX
My life, both in business and socially, in 1892 was not essentially different from that of 1891. Business continued satisfactory, my profits running up to within a few thousand dollars of the previous year. My senior clerk, George Norman, had been in my employ for eleven years, coming to me as an office-boy. His salary was now twelve hundred and fifty dollars. I told him that as a clerk he would never be worth more to us, and advised him to start as a broker, which he did. We gave him a strong e
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CHAPTER XXXI
CHAPTER XXXI
It was the afternoon of a day in the first week of January, 1893. I sat in an easy chair in front of the open fire in my private office deep in thought. In my hand was the balance-sheet for 1892, showing a profit of over seventy thousand dollars. I was considering both sides of a momentous question. It was whether or not to retire from business. I had for years looked forward with delightful anticipation to the time when I could do this. I wanted to travel extensively. In my library were many bo
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CHAPTER XXXII
CHAPTER XXXII
In the year 1893 there was one great controlling feature in our market that was to culminate on July first. For years the commodity in which we dealt had been duty free. The McKinley Tariff Bill imposed a duty of four cents per pound, to go into effect on July 1, 1893, for a period of two years. It was the one senseless clause in an otherwise excellent bill and had been inserted as the only means of securing the necessary votes in the Senate. The sole object of the clause was to influence the sp
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CHAPTER XXXIII
CHAPTER XXXIII
All through the summer of 1893 we had been discussing the advisability of leaving "Redstone" and taking up a permanent residence in New York. Our children were now at a period when good schools were imperative for their proper education, and such did not exist at Knollwood. Our social life was almost entirely with our New York friends, and though two families of the "Immortal Ten" had become residents of Knollwood they were to leave at the end of the term for which they had rented. The Banfords
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CHAPTER XXXIV
CHAPTER XXXIV
The winter of 1893 and 1894, crowded with its social pleasures, was soon over, and with the approach of warm weather we sought a summer home. We had passed so many summers inland, we longed for the water—ocean or sound, preferably the latter. Many places on the Connecticut and Long Island shores were looked at without finding just what we wanted, and it was not until the middle of June that we decided on the W. H. Crossman place at Great Neck, L. I. The place had many attractions, not the least
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CHAPTER XXXV
CHAPTER XXXV
Another winter had gone, leaving in its wake agreeable memories of many happy reunions with the friends we had learned to love so well, and once again we faced the problem that comes to so many New Yorkers who do not own their summer home—where shall we go for the heated term? We were considering whether we would risk another encounter with the mosquitoes and try Great Neck once more, when we heard the Crossman place had been rented, and there was no other place there, in the market, that we car
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CHAPTER XXXVI
CHAPTER XXXVI
December 17, 1895, will ever remain in the memory of business men, at least of this generation, as the day when President Cleveland transmitted to Congress his Venezuelan message, a piece of jingoism which was entirely uncalled for and resulted in disastrous consequences to the commercial interests of the country. It came as a flash of lightning from a clear sky. It was the direct and immediate cause of a stock and money panic in Wall Street which, while it added largely to the wealth of certain
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CHAPTER XXXVII
CHAPTER XXXVII
One of my friends once said to me, "Stowe, it is worth all the trouble you have had to find out what a noble woman your wife is"; and his wife added, "She is the bravest woman I ever knew." Did not I know full well the bravery of the woman? Had not her character and nobility of soul been revealed to me time and again in the troubles that beset us in the early years of our married life? True, this catastrophe immeasurably overshadowed anything that had come to us before, but I knew how my wife wo
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CHAPTER XXXVIII
CHAPTER XXXVIII
"W. E. STOWE & CO., INCORPORATED" At the suggestion of my attorneys, I decided to continue the business as a corporation. The reason for this was that I wanted to continue under the same firm name and not as an agent, and while aside from Caine there were no antagonistic creditors, it was deemed wise to provide against any possibility of such appearing later on and jeopardizing the new capital which I expected to raise without difficulty. As a matter of fact no creditor except Caine ever
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CHAPTER XXXIX
CHAPTER XXXIX
By midsummer of 1896 the liquidation of the affairs of the old firm was practically completed; that is, in so far as related to the conversion of our assets into cash and payment of the proceeds to our creditors. These payments were very large, but there was still a heavy deficiency, which I hoped in time to pay in full with interest, gigantic as the burden seemed. Every business day found me at my office working early and late as I had never worked before. With but one clerk and an office-boy,
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CHAPTER XL
CHAPTER XL
At the commencement of 1897 it seemed as if everything was against me. In the trade the fight for my customers was waged with renewed vigor, and one after another names which had been on our books for years were dropped from the lists of our supporters. We tried to retain them and they tried to have us do so, giving us every possible advantage, but it was useless. We could not compete against the wealth of our competitors. In our efforts to do this we made losses, small in individual instances,
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CHAPTER XLI
CHAPTER XLI
The winter dragged slowly along while we led a hand-to-mouth existence. Even those dreary times did not drive the sunshine from my home. Love reigned supreme in the family circle and my wife and children continually petted and caressed me, made light of our troubles and stoutly affirmed that brighter days would surely come. Fortunately all kept well, and while they must have felt the awful strain of our impoverished condition, they concealed from me such feelings, if they existed. My wife's wond
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CHAPTER XLII
CHAPTER XLII
Opening with a promise of better times, which was fulfilled to a marked degree, the year 1899 witnessed a great change in my affairs. Again I was making money, not in such amounts as during many years prior to my failure, but there was a steady and substantial gain each month. With but two employees, a stenographer and typewriter, and an office-boy, I was kept very busy at the office. My hours were long, and with nearly four hours each day passed in the trip to and from the office, we decided it
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CHAPTER XLIII
CHAPTER XLIII
The year 1900 was very closely a repetition of 1899. In May we again went to Nyack for the summer, and in the fall, instead of returning to the St. Lorenz, rented an apartment on Park Avenue, and taking our furniture out of storage resumed house-keeping. It was somewhat less expensive and we had tired of hotel fare. Business was fairly good on the average, though there were dull periods which made me restless. There was so much to be done I was eager to make money faster. In July the balance of
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CHAPTER XLIV
CHAPTER XLIV
Of course my wife knew I was having hard times, but she had no idea of my terrible situation. At the end of July, 1901, in order to reduce our expenses we moved to Plainfield, New Jersey, taking a small cottage at a very low rental. Another reason for leaving New York was that I might escape from jury duty. This had become a nightmare, and to a man situated as I was it seems to me the jury law is tyrannical and unjust. My business required my constant personal attention. There was no one to take
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CHAPTER XLV
CHAPTER XLV
With the removal to Plainfield came the commencement of a period of bitter trial and almost unremitting struggle for existence. Norman, though he occasionally assisted me with small amounts, never redeemed his promise to do the joint-account business which was to pay those debts, as much his as mine, and recoup my losses. Meanwhile, he was doing well and reported to be making money fast. The months passed by, and though I managed to make the payments to Mrs. Slater I was running behind on my bil
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CHAPTER XLVI
CHAPTER XLVI
It is the afternoon of January 4th, 1903. I am going from my office, home to that devoted woman who has in all my bitter trials stood by me brave as a lion, always the same loving, cheerful, true wife—the mother of my children, those dear ones who have done their best to aid in her heroic efforts to sustain my courage and comfort me in my awful distress of mind. On my way to the train I stop at a drug store. To the clerk I say, "A bottle of morphine pills." He looks at me an instant and says, "F
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CHAPTER XLVII
CHAPTER XLVII
When I again took up my work at the office, it was with courage renewed and fortified by a week of constant effort on the part of my wife to make me realize more than ever before how much easier it would be for her to bear any trials, no matter how severe, with me, rather than a life of ease, even were that possible, without me. While with loving care she nursed me back to health, she showed me the folly of what I had attempted, and though making that point clear and forceful avoided saying one
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CHAPTER XLVIII
CHAPTER XLVIII
"In the eyes of the law a man is innocent until proven guilty; the world says he is guilty until proven innocent." I was taken to the district attorney's office, treated with courtesy, and told I would be released on giving five hundred dollars bail. I believed I could do this and was given the day to accomplish it. By telephone and telegraph I tried to find the friends whom I thought would surely stand by me to that extent in this emergency, especially as there was no possible risk of loss. The
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CHAPTER XLIX
CHAPTER XLIX
Nearly forty, or, to be exact, thirty-nine years of my life have been covered by this narrative, now drawing to its conclusion. As I sit at my writing-table, memory carries me back to the first chapter, and even before—to my school-boy days, those happy days when care was unknown. The panorama moves slowly on before my mental vision and I see myself a youth at the portal of manhood. Into view now comes the fair girl who honored and blessed me with a love that has proved almost beyond the power o
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CHAPTER L
CHAPTER L
It is midnight—my narrative is finished. As the pen drops from my hand the weary eyes close and I sleep. The living room in our bungalow. Before the great stone fire-place sitting side by side, my wife and I. Her hand rests in mine as we gaze into the flames ascending from the fragrant logs resting on the massive wrought-iron andirons. These and the caribou head looking down on us from above the high mantel came from the hall at "Redstone." The chime rings out as in the days long gone by from th
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CHAPTER LI
CHAPTER LI
After the "Dream" came a trying period; long and exasperating delay in the publication of the book; frequent promising but unsuccessful efforts to secure a business connection that would afford a living for my family; a continued strain which my nervous system was ill prepared to stand and always, just when it seemed as though there was no way to turn, some light and help came. My contract with my publisher called for some financial contribution from me—not a large sum, expressed in dollars, but
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CHAPTER LII
CHAPTER LII
"It is well to profit by the folly of others" One morning in my mail I found a letter from which I quote: "I have read your book with much interest. If it is to have a large sale and you wish it to do good, as I presume you do, you should write another chapter explaining that you failed because you lost sight of the one thing necessary to permanent success, and state clearly what it is." Though I had no personal acquaintance with the writer, I knew him as one of New York's most successful busine
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