The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-06
GR0RGE PEABODY.
ETin ParsonaI Habits ard Some OF his
Estimate Friends,

During his early London HIe, tne cares Oi
business constantly increasing left Mr.. Peabody
little leisure for fostering friendships. No man
ever gave his time and energies more exclusive
ly to bis vocation. He Joined no city club,
united with no association, accepted no official
position in any one of those numerous orgauiza-
tions which abound among the merchants OF
every large metropolis, and scarcely made any
acquaiptances in social lie. 1t lis customary in
Europe (far more customary than with us) for
men Of business to find relaxation from the ex-
hausting toll of the cooler months in change
OF air and scene during the summer. Even
among the clerks in the banks and warehouses
vacation from labor for several weeks is regu-
larly granted once year, or in lieu OF that
leave of absence every Saturday during the
hunting season to follow the hounds. To all
this Mr.. Peabody was a stranger. To ma
tive strength of constitution, which re-
quired nothing beyond nights sleep to re-
cover from the fatigues Of the day, he added a
fondness for business, love of the daily routine
Of the counting-room, that sought nothing be-
yond. He had no taste for travel, and has to
this day seen far less of the Continent, or even
of the United Kingdom in which he has re-
sided for nearly thirty years, than many Of
our ambitious citizens who do the tour of
Europe in ninety days. He was unknown at
watering-plac For angling, or shooting, or
Devastating, or fox-hunting, or the race
course; for prize horse, or well bred hound,
he has neither eye nor taste, nor ever had. He
spent no money in agriculture or perfecting
the breed Of animals risked no ventures upon
inventions in the sciences or arts; held aloof
from all schemes of social or industrial i'm
provement; and made no pretense to literature
or politics. In fact he was not, nor even pre-
tended to be anything more than single
minded business man, with q large circle of
acquaintance, and but few or no intimate
friends.
In later and more recent days, however,
Mr.. Peabody has formed closer friendships.
Among these is one whose name as a success
full American merchant in London stands
second only to his, refer to Mr.. Lampson,
recently knighted as Sir Curtis Miranda Lamp
son, for his services in behalf Of the Atlantic
Telegraph, but better known in Europe as the
head of the Northwestern fur trade. In 1851
when not a dozen of the contributors to the
American portion of the Great Exhibition had
ever heard his name, Mr.. Abbot Lawrence
proposed him as the representative of the
United States upon the jury of Agricultural
and Horticultural Implements, TO which
place he was elected, and which he salts
factorily filled. TO know Sir Curtis one must
80 to his counting-room. On the east side Of
Queen street, Cheapside just out OF the great
thoroughfare of Cannon street, is large, dingy
warehouse, with closed windows and doors,
lofts and cranes, where, twice in the year, take
place the great auction sales of Northwestern
furs. From January to July, and from July
to January, ships both from the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts are continually unlading their
cargOes at Rotherhthe, to be csrted to this
grand receptacle of peltry. The vast grounds
hitherto controlled by the HudsOn's Bay
Company, the hunting grounds of our In
dians and the frozen regions OF Davis
Strait and Baiin's Bay, are taxed to pay
tribute 10 the sagaoity aud enterprise of this
one mercantile concern. OF beaver, ehinchilla,
fox, lynx, martin, OTTER ermine, fitch, mink,
sable, raccoon, seal, wolf, and black and grey
squirrel skins, more than 5000, 600 are re-
ceved at the Lampson warehouse every year.
Subject as these skins are to damage from
moths and moisture beaten and combed con-
tinually to avoid the first, and dried by arti-
fetal heat to get rid of the other, the system
required to make such g trade successful must
be unintermittent in its application and with
out hindraIce III working.
Mr. Lampsons history is that of a self-made
businessman. Born in Vermont of poor
parents, associating himself in early youth
with trappers in Canada, intrusted as agent
with the sale of q cargo he had accompanied
to London, and applying his knowledge gained
in the chase to the selection of skins required
in the market he has risen to be the fore
most fur dealer in the world. The benefit OF
speciality in art, or science, or commerce was
never better illustrated. The natural history
OF the animals of the polar regions is his forte.
The color of the fur, dependent upon the season
when it was taken; its length and texture, soft
ness and strength; the removal Of the coarser
hairs, which deprecate.it value; the discrimina.
tion of the Russian sable from the Hudson Bay, of
the stone-martin from the beaver, Of the Nor
way ermine from the Siberian, and of the Pa
cific otter from the American; the removal Of
the scent from the beautiful furs of the fitch
and muskrat; the assortments necessary for
the various markets, as the Russian sable for
England, the fisher for Poland, the nutria for
the hat-makers, the perwitsky for Russian
oloaks, the red fox fol, the Greek and Turkish
markets, the wolverine skins for Germany,
and the chinchilla for France, are all parts of
the knowledge he applies to his great and sue
commercial world where practical observation
has been more thoroughly applied to the mi
mute ramiications OF an unlimited trade.
From the incipiency Of the Atlantic Tele-
graph enterprise, Sir Curtis Lampson has
been one Of its principal capitalists and sup
porters. When others, on the failure OF the
undertaking in 1858, hastened to sell their
stock at any sacrifice, he held on steadily 10 his
He called together the disappointed share
holders, encouraged the faint-hearted, COM
batted the despairing, invited the aid of
experts and scientific men, advanced large
sums of money to sustain the sinking credit
of the Company, made his cOunting-room the
rendezvous Of the dsheartened Directors, and
encouraged new efforts by still larger sub
scriptions of money. TO no man, not even
excepting Mr.. Field, either in a pecupiary
or moral point of view, does the success
OF the Atlantic cable owe as much. He was
never timid. In the darkest days his faith
was firm. Beyond all others he incurred