The Mineral argus., 1885-06-25
POWER OF CIRCUMSTANCES.
Vanderbilt, Beecher, Bennett, Young DAM
rOsch, and George Gould.

rosch, and George Gould.
saw three or four people to-day
who struck me as being admirable H.
Illustrations of the power Of circum-
stances, writes a New York corre-
spondent to The Boston Herald. The
first was William H. Vanderbilt. He
was walking toward his stables. He
is doubtless the richest man in the
ountry-leaving out MIR. Mackey.
who belongs us much on the other side
as he does here. William had his hat
not a particularly nice hat. either
pulled way down over his eyes, his
hands were behind him, his OvercOat
buttOned close up in the neck, and he
pushed heavily and logily along the
street with his head down. Finan.
ciers and real estate men and horse
men say that Vanderbilt's judgment
of men, real estate, and hOrseflesh is
good. We know he has tenacious
grip, for the talents which his father
gave him were not buried in napkin,
but were multiplied and increased like
the mustard seed alluded to in our old
friend, the bible. and assuming that
the commodore lett his son so. OOO,-
600. and he now has Sl25. 900, 600, it
must be conceded he has done a pref
ty good thing. Could he ever have
made that increased amount of mon
ey il his father hadn't left him the
original S75.OOO.OOO? Well, the ques-
ton answers itself. No one thinks he
could. Everybody knows he could
not. His circumstances placed him in
the very van Of financial agents when
ho was about 4j years old. and II he
had kept the original sum invested at
interest only it would have grown
amazingly, for with most extravagant
tastes and habits he couldn't have
spent what it would have made annu-
ally. But he didn't do that. He in.
vested and reinvested. He extended
his lines OF road. He went into other
spheres of work. He INDUCED to an
extent in horseflesh and to an extent
in real estate, and to-day. by reason OF
the boost and push that circumstances
gave him, he is q much richer man
than he was the day after his father
died, making him the heir-in-ch ief of
his great property. saw another
man very much the same build
as Vanderbilt. without his side
whiskers and his thick lips and with.
out his money, but a man whose name
is known wherever Vanderbilt's is
known, and whose influence is greater
a thousandfUld than that Of q dozen
Vanderbilt's rolled into ore. l refer
to my good friend, Henry Ward
Beecher, who in all probability would
never have been a minister of the gOs.
pei had not his father circumstances
forced HIM to attend the theological
seminary, where he was what they
called converted" and put upon the
pietic track, where he has run very
rapid pace. Beecher Is an orator. -
a fury advocate. as politician, would
undoubtedly have made his mark, but
the very fact that his great natural
talents are garlanded with eccen-
tricities, which seem strange In
q pulpit, has given him extend.
ed renOwn which he would be
the last to question or decfy. As !
passed from my office to the Aston
| house an hour ago, met PQstmasteI
Pearson. He is short, go0d-looking,
! gentle, well-mannered fellow, of no
especial force, who would have been
content, all the days Of his life, with
a $4,000 salary as one Of the upper.
grade clerks in the New York post.
Office. Circumstances made the post.
master postmaster general, who made,
part and parcel of his bargain with
Garfield, that his sOn.in-law Pearson
should be appointed his successor as
postmaster OF New York. He is an ex.
cellent officer. honest. devoted to his
business, intelligent, active, and wide
awake. But he isn't ass enough to say
/ to me or to YOU that there are not q
dozen men in the New York postOflice,
| to-day, who would have made just as
good an officer as he, had circum.
stances decreed that either of them
should be the successor Of Postmaster
James. Take young Walter DamrOsch.
His father fOrtwenty years fought pow.
erty, opposition, impecuniOsity. dis.
tress Of all sorts and kinds, never oh.
tanning SO musch as a finger clasp, lei
alone fOOthOld. upon the ladder OF
success until the year Of his unfOrtu'
nate death. Henry NJ. Abbey refused
to touch the Metropolitan Opei a-hOuse.
MIR. Stanton, in behalf Of the directors,
selected Mr.. DamrOsch. ST., and ar
ranged with him as conductor Of Ger
man opera in that magnificent temple
of the arts. Mr.. Damrosch had sOn
Walter-a clever, bright young man
not a genius. Not great in any sense.
Not particularly gifted as conductor
or musician. Pneumonia claimed the
old gentleman for its own, and Walter,
who had conducted rehearsals Oc
casiOnally for his father. and, in de-
fault OF an under director, had taken
his fathers place for two or three
nights in the vast auditorium, was
chosen, to the utter amazement and
establishment Of everybody, except Mr.
Sentiment. as his fathers successor