Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-05-02
]: You'd better come out

hard voice said: You'd better come out
jim; 1T all up"
Jim backed out from under the bed
he proved to be the woman husband. and
an old.ume confidence and bunco-steerer
Alr. AStor lost no time in getting away,
and 1t was only to his most intimate
friends that he related the adventure.
Beggars have been such frequent callers
| at the Astor mansion that, of course. nc
heed was paid them; but for years an old
man has watched daily for Mr.. Astor'
departure from the house He ALWAYS
raised his hat to Mr.. Astor and invaria.
! bly, the millionaire placed coin in the
! withered palm.
One Sunday afternoon, when Fifth ave
| nue. was thropged with carriages and prom
| enaders, Mr.. Astor was seen to give his
arm to blind woman who had hesi-
tated before yenturing to cross alone.
| Mr.. Astor always prided himself on his
robust health. His friends never
knew him to be i'll, for if he ever felt at
| all under the weather he kept it to him.
| self.
What is the use of distressing other
people with ones own ailments ?" he was
heard to say. When | get sick | mean
to try and pull through without alarming
! every one connected with me-"
Dabbllng in real estate was the one and
perhaps the only hobby Mr.. Astor indulg-
ed in.
In catering this fad, corner lots were his
pet articles to trade In. Nothing on earth
would induce him to part with a corner
lot, especially if it was unimpro .ed. His
great business instinct taught him that if
the owners of property in the middle of a
block improved their holdings, he could
rest on his oars with the satisfactory
thought that his property was increasing
at greater rate than any one else 5.
Mr.. Astor was a difficult man for the
public to gam access to. but it was a
well-known joke among his few intimate
acquaintance that if any one merely
sent III word that he had a corner lot
to sell he would gain the ear of the great
millionaire without another moment S de
lay
A curious trait of the dead man was that
he would never sell pie?e of property af-
ter once having purchased it, He believed
IN holding on to real estate, no matter
what favorable offerings were made to him
to part with it. Real estate was his one
fad, and he INDUCED himself with it to the
extent of every cent not otherwise spent
About a year ago he owned a piece of
property on upper Broadway which was
worth between S250,000 AMI S275, 900. A
newl y-formed banking corporation was
very anxious to secure this property and
make several overtures to the great mil
honaire with that end in view He refuS-
ed repeatedly, but the would-be buyers
were determined, and kept raising their
bids until their offer was fully 50 per cent.
over the market value of land Even then
Mr.. Astor refused, and when he died he
was still owner of the property.
Mr.. Astor believed that real happiness
In life could be had only by moderation
and strict avoidance of everything that
pertained to prominence in public life His
ambition was to live quietly and away
from publicly as much as possible, and in
this he succeeded, although many tempt
ing offers were made him to do other
wise.
Extraordinary modesty and a natural
dlsinclination to pose before the public mad
II easy for him to adhere to his resolution.
HIS dlthdence of character was well ex-
emplifed during Hayes administration
President Hayes offered the British mis-
sion. and to make sure of the millionaire S
acceptance the President dispatched Will
lam. M. Evarts of New York with special
instructions to gain this rich mans ac-
ceptance at any cost
Senator Evarts dined with Mr.. Astor
and spent the whole evening and far into
the night with him trying to induce him
to accept the mission, but without avail.
Mr.. Astor refused politely but persistently.
saying that he did not care for public
prominence.-New York Journal.