The Romance and Tragedy of a Widely Known Business Man of New York Part 4

The bride was in the hands of her girl friends, everybody was busy with the final preparations, and I wandered around, wis.h.i.+ng that the agony was over and I had my wife to myself.

At last the hour arrived.

Preceded by Miss Wilson's little nieces as flower-girls we entered the crowded rooms, and in a few minutes the clergyman had p.r.o.nounced us man and wife.

As I am not writing for a society paper or fas.h.i.+on journal, I will not attempt to describe the gown worn by the bride. It was very handsome, no doubt.

But the woman who wore it! Ah, there was a subject for the pen of a poet, the brush of an artist. Certainly I have never seen any creature half so lovely; and as I looked into those eyes, beaming with love, trust, confidence,--everything, that a n.o.ble woman could give to the man she loved,--I thanked my G.o.d for the inestimable blessing He had bestowed upon me.

I have made many mistakes in my life, most men have, and I have done many things the wisdom of which was afterwards proven; but as I write these lines, looking back over more than thirty-two years of married life, I know that my marriage is the one act of my whole career that stands pre-eminent as the wisest and best thing that I have ever done.

In all these years my wife and I have been as one. In days of prosperity she rejoiced with me, in times of adversity and bitter trials she has stood n.o.bly by me, always with absolute faith in and unswerving loyalty to the man to whom she gave her heart.

Her love, courage, and cheerfulness have been the mainstays which supported me when I would have fallen by the wayside, and her sweet companions.h.i.+p and keen appreciation of refined pleasures have added immeasurably to my enjoyment and happiness.

After a two-hour reception we donned our traveling garb and made a race for the carriage, submitting good-naturedly to the usual shower of rice and slippers.

We were to take the five o'clock train going East, and the Judge rode with us to the station. When the last farewell had been said while standing on the platform of the car as the train pulled out from the station, we sought our drawing-room in the Pullman, and closing the door I clasped my wife to my heart.

It was the first moment we had been alone since the ceremony.

Our wedding-trip was necessarily brief, as I had to get back to my business; so after a day or two each at Toledo and Albany, the early part of the following week found us in New York.

Like all young people on their wedding-trip, we tried to fool the public into believing that we were not bride and groom; but I have no doubt that if we fooled anybody, that individual must have been very nearsighted and minus eye-gla.s.ses.

My wife possibly maintained her dignity, but I fear I was too happy to be suppressed.

I remember well the peculiar way in which the clerk at the Boody House, Toledo, looked at me when I registered. As I was not yet twenty-two years of age I could hardly have expected him to take us for "old married folks."

Before leaving for Chicago I had engaged an apartment and board with a very pleasant and refined family in Fort Greene Place, Brooklyn, and it was there we commenced our married life.

It was my custom to walk to Wall Street Ferry each morning on my way to the office, and whenever the weather was suitable my wife accompanied me to within a block or two of the ferry.

In the afternoon I was always home at the earliest possible moment.

I begrudged every hour that we were parted.

Each day I discovered something new to admire, some trait of character, some mental attribute, or a dainty mannerism that was simply captivating.

Thus were our lives developing day after day.

In the evenings we had frequent callers, and while I was always the gracious host to my friends, I was selfish enough to wish, at times, that we could live on an island by ourselves, where we could remain undisturbed.

It is said "there is nothing half so sweet in life, as love's young dream." I have found something far sweeter, as this narrative in its natural progression will develop; but those were my days of "love's young dream."

I was proud of my wife, proud of the admiration she commanded from our friends, but I wanted her all to myself.

Our Sundays were looked forward to with eagerness. We attended church service in the morning, and the afternoons were pa.s.sed in our apartment in delightful intercourse.

There was never a dull moment.

Sunday evening supper, which to me has always been a most attractive meal, was usually taken either with my family or at Mr. Sherman's.

Occasionally we would attend an evening service, but as a rule we would get home early and have a few hours to ourselves.

Our year of separation while engaged had to be atoned for.

We were lovers the first year of our wedded life, and after all these years we are, no less ardently, lovers still.

CHAPTER VI

THE FIRST REVERSE OF FORTUNE.

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 acc.u.mulations had not been invested, and as I had in my business no use for capital, the money remained idle in bank.

Crossing the ferry one morning I was joined by a friend in the employ of a Stock Exchange firm, then well known, but since retired from business.

I had been thinking of an investment and spoke to him on the subject, telling him the amount of money I had to invest. I had in mind the buying of some good bonds.

My friend, who was a most plausible talker, had, I understood, made considerable money in Wall Street, and when he told me of a movement in certain stocks then being manipulated for a rise, through his office, I was at first interested and then carried away with the desire to enter what seemed such an easy road to wealth.

He told me of several instances where the investment of a few thousands had resulted in enormous profits. These stories usually get to public knowledge one way or another, but the other side, the vastly greater number of cases where ruin and often worse follows, one does not hear so much of.

Before I went home that day I had bought five hundred shares of stock and had deposited as a margin five thousand dollars. I was told that the margin would surely be ample to carry the stock through any possible fluctuations, that I was not to feel alarmed if I saw the price go off a point or two, and that I was certain to see a twenty-point rise within a few weeks.

On my way home that afternoon I, for the first time in my life, read in the paper closing prices at the Stock Exchange, before reading anything else.

My stock was up half a point above the price I paid and I experienced a feeling of jubilation that was very pleasant. I saw in my mind my five thousand dollars transformed into fifteen thousand.

It was great!

At first I thought I would tell my wife about it, then decided not to do so, but to wait and surprise her with the good news when the money was made.

Fatal mistake.

Had I told my wife, as I should have done, she would surely have advised me to sell out the first thing the following morning and to let speculation entirely alone.