Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1848-04-26
: John Jacob Astor.

into his grave ana lett MS OeloVeo neaP Ds-s De
hind him. He was plain and frugal
main, keen al. a bargain, good at arithmea.
|tic, particularly. addition, Of moderate gen.
|erosity or benevolence,nnd some little love
OF the beautiful, bqt, none OF his faculties,,
except that for weighing pecnniary ends q.
gainst pecnniary means, expanded with his
wealth. He lived in q modest but rich
two story house in Broadway, 'rennarka
BILE only for The name Of, !s:sMr Astor on
the door plate. In a :. smaller house near
BY, lived on amer meagre salary Key ksy. Ms; s.,;
EFGogsweH, formerly the oand fiiA
|Schoel, Nerihampton. whose duty Tor years s
|it has, been 10 ride, ont with, the old gentle
man., who has been quite bent and inflrm.
By the diplomacy Of Mr.. CogsWell, an ar T
dent lover of books the promise was long
ago, drawn out Of Nj. sAstor 70 leave about
$400, 900 10 found a free library. in New
York. AT one time be was even screwed
| up to the point of giving il in his LIE time,
But he slid bnck, not having the wisdom OF
some Of our Boston rich men in him. Mr..
Cogswell however is said now to be in Ger.
many selecting books 10 .,... as..na -.
Around the corner, in one Of the streets
crossing Broadway. is n long, low, IRON
shu:iered one story building, in which you
would find many clerks and immense tones
Of manuscript, all under the presiding care
of---whom, would you. think? OF q
stout man, with n yinous face, and alto.
gether a very worldly aspect? Why, that
is not wholly deninble, yet. il. is the poet
Fitz Greene Halleck. What a looking
yotary Of the muses., and in what a place!
There, was managed. by sheer arithmetic,
we dare say, without the slightest intrusion
Of poetry or romance, radicalism or philan.
thropys Mr.. Astor's estate, said by good
ljudges-so we learn from the Journal OF
commercial Christianity-to be worth for.
ty millions of dollars Every dollar Of. i,
the product Of his own, industry and good
management" We doub. whether fortu
hundred dollars of it were the product. ol
4 his own Industry. The. other thir,y.nine
millions nine hundred and ninety odd thou.
sand dollars were the product Of his slsre,pd
management, aided by the very unshrewd
management Of the people in legislaling to
tavor the accumulating Of capital, and not
TO favor The cernlort, education and elevn-
slon srofs the. producing masses. Several
millions were directly shaved out of. Uncle
San, bY buying, his war bonds at forty or
fifSy cents on dollar But the greater par,
Tof, his Immense estate was an,assed BY, get.
ting hold of city lots when they were cheap
as dirt and holding them till, surrounding
industry had almost coined them. into gold.
- Yet as society goes, it may be doubted
whether Mr. Astor has not been O grea,
blessing thus far. Many rich men OF, far
less means have done more mischief Mr..
Astor invested q. good deal Of money with
view 10 the production Of far.icles Of utili,
lty. BY saving what would otherwise have
been expended and wasted, be furnished
continual employment and increased the
prodnctiyeness of the country. What he
denied one individual Sufferer was saved te
be the means of assisting the. industry o
another; While the mass cannot be wise
enough TO lay UP seed corn, tools, capital
for the future, there must be close listed AS
tors TO do it. BY his being richer, so. fal
rs his parsifnony mot oyer.reaching, is con.
cerned, the world is richer But the day
Tor such monster accumulatorsi is passing
away. .4s - -. =
Mr.. VIII liam. B. Astor, the. son Of John
Jacob Astor, who will doubtless inherit the
bulk Of his wealth, is not likely, 10; .squan.
der Or scatter it. He is less enterprising
and is said to be even more penurious
than his fathea, who did sometimes give lib
eral dinners for the sake Of making better
bargains: The young man is retentive, MOI
acqsisitive. Mr.. .Astor leaves another son
who is little above idiocy-a victim o
solitary indalgence, or rather the. misera
bic ignorance and neglect which allow thai
vice TO form pretty regular part ofour sys
tenn of civilized education He has .fol
years lived in a fine heuse near the North
River above. Greenwich, under the care O
Nj. Dexter Fairbank, formerly Of Cam
bridge. ,'...,.r.ssz.~. s.-.s-,z all
:. Mr. -Aator leaves also a daughter, we
believe. and umerousigrand-children.. i
would probably appear on thorough in
yestigaiion that few men have passed thro
life and labored harder or for less reware
than Mr., Aston His age when he dice
was about IS. chro1,otype. =, -. ,.s--sz;