54 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



fever of business in my blood, and I rose one 

 morning with the grim determination to make 

 that day count as one of progress in the occupa- 

 tion where I believed my life-work lay. Yet 

 neither then, nor ever, did I neglect one item of 

 the duties of my employment. Rents and re- 

 pairs were attended to, errands run, and even 

 such outside work as the shoeing and shipping of 

 the family horses and sending household furni- 

 ture to the country was faithfully looked after 

 by me. 



My first visit after my new resolution was to 

 the merchant who had invited me to call when I 

 was ready to deal in other than American scrip. 

 He received me kindly and gave me a list of his 

 holdings, on which I promised a report in a few 

 days. I interviewed all the insurance scrip bro- 

 kers of that time, and I think of them to-day as 

 a shifty lot, always excepting the venerable Wil- 

 liam C. Gilman, a one-time Quaker abolition- 

 ist, I believe. He was kindness itself to me, 

 looked over my list, selected two lots for which 

 he gave a satisfactory price, and even made 



