Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made | Page 2

to the young, as well as food for earnest reflection on the part of those who are safely advanced upon their pathway to success, and that they will prove interesting to all classes of intelligent readers.
Some explanation is due to the reader respecting the title that has been chosen for the work. The term "Great Fortunes" is not used here to designate pecuniary success exclusively. A few of the men whose lives are herein recorded never amassed great wealth. Yet they achieved the highest success in their vocations, and their lives are so full of interest and instruction that this work must have been incomplete and unsatisfactory had they been passed over in silence. The aim of the writer has been to present the histories of those who have won the highest fame and achieved the greatest good in their respective callings, whether that success has brought them riches or not, and above all, of those whose labors have not only opened the way to fortune for themselves, but also for others, and have thus conferred lasting benefits upon their country.
In short, I have sought to make this work the story of the Genius of America, believing as I do that he whose achievements have contributed to the increase of the national wealth, the development of the national resources, and the elevation of the national character, though he himself be poor in purse, has indeed won a great fortune, of which no reverse can ever deprive him.
J.D. McC., JR.
NEW YORK, 24th October, 1870.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
CONSTERNATION AT SIGHT OF FULTON'S MONSTER (Frontispiece) GIRARD COLLEGE GIRARD'S HEROISM ASTOR'S FIRST TRIP FOR FURS "MY MEN SHALL NOT SUFFER" PORTRAIT OF GEORGE PEABODY PEABODY PAYING FOR A NIGHT'S LODGING PORTRAIT OF CORNELIUS VANDERBILT VANDERBILT EARNING HIS FIRST HUNDRED DOLLARS VANDERBILT CARRYING OFF THE SHERIFF FOUNDING A GREAT FORTUNE PORTRAIT OF ROBERT FULTON AN AMAZING REVELATION "THE MADHOUSE IS THE PROPER PLACE FOR HIM" WHITNEY WATCHING THE FIRST COTTON-GIN PORTRAIT OF ELIAS HOWE, JR. HOWE'S FIRST IDEA OF THE SEWING-MACHINE THE BOY COLT INVENTING THE REVOLVER PORTRAIT OF SAMUEL F.B. MORSE HOW THE NEW YORK HERALD BEGAN MARSHALL'S DEFENCE OF CHRISTIANITY PORTRAIT OF JAMES T. BRADY "THEY ARE GOING TO HANG MY BROTHER; YOU CAN SAVE HIM!" THE TRUANT'S SECRET DISCOVERED PORTRAIT OF HIRAM POWERS POWERS' DISTRUST OF THE HUNTERS FILIAL DEVOTION SHAPES A GREAT CAREER CARTWRIGHT CALLING UP THE DEVIL PORTRAIT OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE JEFFERSON, AS RIP VAN WINKLE PRESCRIBING AT THE BREAKFAST-TABLE "PRESIDENT LINCOLN HAS BEEN MURDERED!"
CONTENTS.
I. MERCHANTS.
CHAPTER I.
STEPHEN GIRARD.
The fog in the Delaware--News of the war--Alarm of the French skipper--A narrow escape from capture--Arrival of Girard in Philadelphia--Early history of Stephen Girard--An unhappy childhood--Goes to sea--Is licensed to command--Becomes a trader in Philadelphia--Marries Mary Lum--Unfortunate issue of the marriage--Capture of Philadelphia by the British--Early commercial life of Stephen Girard--How he earned his first money, and the use he made of it--Aid from St. Domingo--His rigid attention to business--Thoroughness of his knowledge--One of his letters of instructions--His subordinates required to obey orders though they ruin him--Anecdote of Girard and one of his captains--His promptness and fidelity in business--He never breaks his word--How he lost five hundred dollars--Buys the old Bank of the United States and becomes a banker--Cuts down the salaries of his clerks--Refuses his watchman an overcoat--Indifference to his employ��s--Contrast between his personal and business habits--His liberality in financial operations--He subscribes for the entire Government loan in 1814, and enables the United States to carry on the war--His generosity toward the Government--The suspension of specie payments--Financial troubles--How Girard saved his own notes--His public spirit--How he made half a million of dollars on a captured ship--Personal characteristics--Why he valued money--His ambition--His infidelity--Causes of the defects of his character--A favorable view--Heroic conduct of Stephen Girard during the prevalence of the yellow fever in Philadelphia--The Good Samaritan--He practices medicine, and congratulates himself that he has killed none of his patients--His industry--Visit of Mr. Baring to Mr. Girard--A curious reception--Failing health and death of Stephen Girard--His will--His noble bequests--Establishment of Girard College.
CHAPTER II.
JOHN JACOB ASTOR.
Legitimate business the field of success--Reasons for claiming Astor as an American--Birth and early life--Religious training--The village of Waldorf--Poverty--The jolly butcher--Young Astor's repugnance to his father's trade--Unhappy at home--Loses his mother--His desire to emigrate to the "New Land"--Leaves home--His voyage down the Rhine--Reaches London and enters the service of his brother--His efforts to prepare for emigration--Learns to speak English--Peace between the United States and Great Britain--The road to the "New Land" open--Astor sets out for America--His first ventures in commerce--The voyage--How he proposed to save his Sunday clothes--Arrival in the Chesapeake--The ice-blockade--Astor makes a friend--The fur trader's story--Astor sees the way to fortune--Reaches New York--His first situation--Learning the business--His method of proceeding--An example to young men--His capacity for business operations--He is promoted--His journeys to Canada, and their results--Sets up in business for