A MEMOIR. 35 



Still living. Three years after her death Mr. Henderson 

 married Miss Jean H. Reid, an intimate friend of his 

 first wife, and daughter of his old friend, Mr. Andrew 

 Reid.* Mrs. Henderson still survives her husband. 



Personal Appearance, Manner, and other 

 Characteristics. 



Six feet in height, broad-shouldered, 38 inches around 

 the chest, and 34 inches around the waist, never weigh- 

 ing more than 160 pounds, Peter Henderson was a splen- 

 did specimen of physical manhood. His complexion was 

 florid, and his keen gray eyes twinkled with humor, fully 

 as often as they flashed fire with thought. During his 

 latter years, his short-cut hair and closely trimmed beard 

 and mustache were gray, but that was the only indication 

 of added years about him. A stranger seeing him for the 

 first time, would be impressed by his erect carriage, his 

 head up and shoulders back,with questioning eyes looking 

 straight at the speaker, — that was his first instinctive at- 

 titude. This expression changed in an instant, and his 

 manner, though always kind and courteous, was depen- 

 dent upon the estimate his rapid brain formed of the per- 

 son before him. The most ancient of professions, ranks 

 among its votaries " all sorts and conditions of men," 

 and while Peter Henderson was greatly lacking in ven- 

 eration, no man was quicker to see and admire true 

 merit, whether in a millionaire or in a humble tiller of 

 the soil. His friendship with Andrew Carnegie grew 

 out of a letter which he wrote on the spur of the moment, 

 to that gentleman after reading his work, " Triumphant 

 Democracy," a book which thrilled him to the core. On 

 the other hand, he held in the highest esteem, and 

 counted among his most valued friends many whom 

 fortune, in her smiling moods, had seemingly passed by. 



His eminence in his profession brought him into per- 

 sonal contact with many men of national reputation, but 

 of all the public men that he knew, perhaps the one he 



* Many gardeners and florists are still living who can recall Mr. Reid, whose hospi- 

 table home in East 14th St. forty years ago, was the Mecca towards which most 

 Scotch gardeners headed on their arrival in New York. 



