166 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



The settlement left me with big problems to 

 face; notes for large sums soon to fall due, and 

 the days of grace ticking away as I tried to 

 think ; longer notes partly secured by discredited 

 stock for which there was no present or prospec- 

 tive market; and bills and interest accruing on a 

 "Castle" which had cost more than a quarter of 

 a million dollars but was already encumbered 

 and in quite unmarketable condition. In the 

 days of my prosperity I had deeded real estate 

 to my wife with sufficient securities to keep the 

 wolf from the door in the event of misfortune to 

 myself. Small use is provision of that kind, 

 when a wife looks upon troubled lines in her hus- 

 band's face and insists on her partnership rights. 

 So the salable securities had been sacrificed in 

 the vain effort to preserve the credit of the firm 

 and pull it through. 



There remained the real estate, a large tract 

 in Elizabeth, of some potential value if improved. 

 I could have these dead acres to work with, these 

 and my debts. Few knew how great an asset a 

 big indebtedness can prove. It has pulled 



