The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-10-29

iionsc five years ago. II was UNIQUE
In American trade annals A thou
sand men sa, at the banquet table in
the Grand Central Palace in Manhat-
tan While the thousand men were
at table moro than a thousand women
and children. the wives. the mothers.
the sons and daughters Of the employees.
| gathered In the galleries and looked
down. 1t was the greatest family par
| ty In the history of this great fani-
lily!
The quaint little kettle in witch the
hrst batch of soap was cooked was
there for all to see. SO was the pad
| lock that did service SO long on the
front door OF the old house in Dutch
street So was the ledger in which
| william. the boy OF twenty-one, made
MS hrst records as a business man.
richard sat at the head OF the table,
ut this feast OF thousand men.
Austen acted as toastmastcr. Richard
brewed the coffee. as his grandfather
mad done hundred years before. One
OF the speechmakers was a man who
mad been with the firm for nfty years.
tie had started as an errand boy. An
other was an old Irishman who had
been with the factory stan for half a
century. There was another who had
| started as mail boy before the Civil
War, and who had answered the call
OF Lincoln. He served his country on
the field of battle. and when peace
came he returned to his work in the
House of the Five Coffee Cups. There
We're nine men at the banquet who were
In the forty five-year class, fourteen
In the forty-year service class. thirty
In the thirty-fve-year class and thirty
IN the thirty-year class. There were
women. too. at the banquet table. Some
or them had been in the company's
service many years. but none long
enough to be In the twenty -hve-year
T class.
The men from the factory and the
men from the offices were not the only
ones who were there. The foreign re-
personalities of the House were
brought from all the lands Of the globe
They were there from Australia, from
the Argentine. from France. from italy.
from Canada, from Bulgaria. from
Spain-everywhere. And while the big
family feasted every wheel In the mann
moth factory acros the Hudson was
stilled.
The old boys told anecdotes of old
New York and of their early DAYS.
Most Of the employees had been down to
visit the little old house in Dutch
Street before going to the banquet
| hall. Soap and sentiment are not
usually allied. but in this Instance they
are.
Until year ago the Offices of this
great house remained in that old
Dutch Street building and its annexes.
with the furniture OF olden times re-
tanned and cherished as priceless heir
looms. But now the headquarters of
the business is in a mammoth struc-
ture near the great factory across the
river from Manhattan. The little
Dutch street house retains It's mem-
ories-and little more.
Dickens dwelt with loving warmth
upon the Cheeryble Brothers.; their
rosy faces. their kindly eyes. their
family spirit. Few pictures that the
great writer drew were moro pleasing
than those about those two old mer-
chants of. London town.
What pity the master writer could
not have known the men of the House
of the Five Coffee Cups! Too bad he
could not wander into Dutch Street,
where SO much of the history of New
York and some Of the history of Amer
lea was made! Too bad he could not
view the little old kettle In which the
elder william boiled his first batch of
'soapl Too bad he could not look
upon the old ledger. the old paddock, the
old desk and the old chairs and tho
old table of the first council room!
Too bad he could not look upon the
house In. John Street into which the
bushes spread. TOO bad he could not
see the factory across the Hudson,
which is one of the landmarks of the
American Rhine! Too bad he could not
look upon the great office structure
which Is in touch with every part of
the world! Too bad he could not wan
der in some Tuesday at o'clock in the
afternoon, and see the council chan.
Der to-day, with Richard at the head
OF the board. a percsiator by his side
| with Gilbert In his ceat Sidney in his.