The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-18
JAMES GORDON BENNETT.

welcomed it then as now, but there were no
means to create it. It then required months
TO collect the facts of the worlds history az
any particular period. Hence quarterlies W. weIS 70
the institution Of that time. As methods OF
communication became more raPo, ~ IL
worlds picture was taken oftener. MOI Mon'Iers9SS IesS
and weeklies came into vogue DevWeoII oy,or
and 1850, the railroad system sPLeSU sPtsS,alisn,,
Europe and America, and created J,,,,1,r,niea.
The mass of news which steam ooitn IL ,I.a,i1
tion broueht from ali parts OF the "9IIu '!Il
reouired daily exhibit. About the same Time
wtb raiIyoads came free schools, creating
yeneral intelligence and popular appetlte Ior
R,tornation Nowhere in the world has there
been suoh demand for reading as in the
limited States. Railroads developed the
Western States with magical rapidity, and
filed them with a population eager to hear
from their old homes in the East, and whose
views, becoming expanded like their own
boundless prairies made them dissatisfied with
anything less than q metropolitan journal
could give them.
If railroads and free schools made journal
ism possible, the telegraph made it a neces-
sity. The public opinion which once took
months to form may now be developed in
day. Daily papers are the electric photo
graphs which both the business and the curio-
sity of the world require to see as often as
possible.
Moreover, this sudden and vast access of
matter by steamer, railroad, and telegraph has
necessitated systematic organization of the
business. of journalism. 1t has become pro-
fession. 1t demands capital and experience.
1t is obvious that any man, gifted with apti-
tude for the work, who found himself, thirty
years ago, padding in the sluggish and rather
foul waters of journalism, might have had an
instinct that he was nearing a tide which,
''taken at the flood, ~ would lead him on to
fortune. Like every other business of quick
growth, Journalism required only that the
man who was to rap Its profits should be
established at the righ.t place; that he should
be possessed of the most valuable of all capt
tal-experience: and, in addit.' on, should nave
quick perceptions, energy, and IL t'FIlLuue. I
e Such man for the occasion was 'an1eS Hor- 1.
don Bennett. When he started the L'erota IN
1885, he had the benefit of over ten yee OF
journalistic experience. He had seen much 81
the world and of life in many of its phases
Hard work had muscularized his nature, and
failure and disappointment had not weakened
his viii, however much they may have har-
dened his heart. Enthusiastic in his profess
sion, and even then prophesying for it grAo.
future, he had a genius for itS ,,. ,Szbicb
enabled him to keer. r.oa wi With rt the times.
News was his goods, whatever it was, wher-
ever found. His policy was to keep a full
stock on hand of every kind and quality, If
only it were salable. Nobody should lind in
another shop what was not in his; and OF what
others scrupled to sell he eagerly became the
monopolist.
The r;ecuniary success which such course
promised has been achieved. Where Manhat-
tan Island becomes a comparatively narrow
st-in between the Harlem and the Hudson, the
ground rises into commanding erninende and
then falls off rapidly on the north to Spuyten
Duyvel creek. On this rocky summit of the
island is the residence of James Gordon Ben
nett. Many years ago he secured there ABOUT
forty acres, which he has transformed into a
SPOT where nature and art vie with each other
in the display of their charms. The visitor
may delight himself for hours among the
shady winding walks, the summer-houses
and arbors, the dower-beds' the cosby sty
Conservatories, or he may wander INTO
Ahe native wood where in summer hours tall
hut STOPPING, grey-haired man sometimes sits
in the shade of trees not older than himself,
and gazes down the precipitous banks OF the
Hudson, whose rugged and quilted outlines
may possibly be reminding him OF the rough
and thorny ways by which he climbed into this
luxurious Eden. Or if you mount into the
belvedere of the comfortable looking and taste
full house, you may compass with your vision
miles Of lovely landscape in every direction,
including river views on either hand, the
solemn Palisades, the smiling plain, the SHINING
sails. and afar off the busy city, half hid
den in the mist of its own exhalations
s'There," you may say to yourself, Sis
the centre Of commeroe-the future
capital of the world. Before me, in effect
behold all the Kingdoms of the earth spread
outs And your mind reverts suddenly to an
allegory which teaches that all, all this is
worthless compared with the integrity of q
spotless soul.
An air of loneliness pervades the residence
At Washington Heights; there are plenty 0
domestics, but no family. The wife, whom iti
owner married on the 9th of June, l840, an(
i've days before advertised in the Herald a
0one of the most splendid women in intellect
in heart, in soul, in property, in person, il
manner that have yet seen in the course @
my interesting pilgrimage through human
life," prefers her gaudily furnished mansion
in the Fifth avenue in winter, and Europe o
watering places in summer. The son, bOrl
May 10, 1841, and about whom similar ex
traYagant expectations were entertained anC
published, is not the only son to whom pateT
nal admonitions areirksome, and the compan,
Of crOnies more attractive. He processes, i
is true, to relieve his sire of the detail manage
ment of the magnificent marble Offic
on Broadway and Ann street; but such an un
steady, tickle, and impatient hand can neve
supply the place of the experienced sold man
at the Herald's helm. The latter still retain
his hold upon the ruddeT, and, either by tele
graph from Washington Heights, or by pei
BOnal visits two or three times week, direct
the general course of the journal. Yet, neithe
at home nor at the Office is this prevailing sol
tariness of his life much relieved. There
nndeniably something in his and the Herald
history which makes them both Stunned
something which makes wealth fail of its pre-
verbal power; something which has eve
nautralizad and made mil the infiuencA of