NEVER were greater extremes of poverty and wealth connected in the life of one person than were touched by John Jacob Astor, the founder of one of the first and greatest of the enormous fortunes that have been amassed in America. The life of a poor German peasant in the latter part of the eighteenth century reached a depth of poverty which can now hardly be conceived John Jacob Astor was born in Waldorf, a little village of Baden, in 1763, - the year of the treaty which secured to England all the furbearing country of North America, from which Astor was destined to make such a splendid fortune. His father was a butcher, a shiftless, stupid, quarrelsome good-for-nothing; and the son, bent upon making something of himself, resolved, when about nineteen, to seek his fortune in the "new land" of America, then brought into prominence by the Revolution.

In March, 1784, he landed at Baltimore. On the voyage he met a German, older than himself, who, beginning with almost nothing, had become a fur trader, and made large profits. He advised Astor to embark in the same business, which he proceeded to do. He had a brother living in New York, whither he went, and succeeded in getting a position in the fur store of Robert Bowne, a Quaker, where he set himself to learn the business in the most thorough manner. He bent all the powers of his remarkable mind to acquiring an intimate knowledge of furs, and

of fur-bearing animals, and their haunts and habits. His opportunities for doing so were very good, as many of the skins were sold over Bowne's counters by the hunters who had taken them. These men he questioned with a minuteness that astonished them, and the result was that in a few years he was as thoroughly familiar with the animals, their habits, their country, and the mode of taking them, as many of the trappers themselves. He is said to have been in his prime the best judge of furs in America.

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business, he left the employ of The field upon which he pur

As soon as Astor felt himself master of his Mr. Bowne, and began life on his own account. posed entering was extensive, but it was one of which he had made a careful surThe fur trade was at this time almost wholly in the hands of three English companies the Hudson's Bay Company in the north, the Northwest Company in the Canadas, the Mackinaw Company in the territories of the United States -and the few American traders in the field had to rely on their individual resources, with no aid from a government too feeble to do more than establish a few Indian agencies, and without constitutional power to confer charter privileges. The voyage of Captain Cook had brought to the notice of the fur dealers. of the world the sea otter of the northern Pacific, and the announcement made upon the return of the expedition drew large numbers of adventurers to the west coast of America, in search of the valuable skins of these animals.

It was into this field, already occupied by powerful and hostile corporations, that the young German entered. He began business in 1786, in a small store in Water street, which he furnished with a few toys and notions suited to the tastes of the Indians who had skins to sell. His entire capital consisted of only a few hundred dollars, a portion of which was loaned him by his brother. He had no assistants. He did all his own work. He bought his skins, cured, beat, and sold them himself.

Several times during the year he made journeys on foot through western New York, buying skins from the settlers, farmers, trappers, savages, wherever he could find them. He tramped over nearly the entire State in this way, and is said to have had a better knowledge of its geography and topography than any man living.

He used to boast, late in life, when the Erie Canal had called into being a line of thriving towns through the centre of the State, that he had himself, in his numberless tramps, designated the sites of those towns, and predicted that one day they would be the centres of business and population. Particularly he noted the spots where Rochester and Buffalo now stand, one having a harbor on Lake Erie and the other upon Lake Ontario. He predicted that those places would one day be large and prosperous cities; and that prediction he made when there was scarcely a settlement at Buffalo, and only wigwams on the site of Rochester.

EXTENDING HIS OPERATIONS.

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Slowly, and by unremitting industry, Mr. Astor succeeded in building up a certain business. His personal journeys made him acquainted with the trappers, and enabled him to win their good will. The savages sold their skins to him readily, and he found a steady market and a growing demand for his commodities in the Old World.

It was about this time that he married Miss Sarah Todd, of New York. She entered heartily into his business, doing much of the buying and beating of the furs herself. Long after he was a millionaire he used to boast of her skill in judging furs and conducting business operations.

In 1794, Jay's treaty placed the frontier forts in the hands of the Americans, and thus increased the opportunities of our own traders to extend their

business. It was of the greatest service to Mr. Astor. It enabled him to enlarge the field of his operations, and, at the same time, to send his agents on the long journeys which he formerly made, while he himself remained in New York to direct his business, which by this time had grown to considerable proportions.

He was now on the road to wealth. He had scores of trappers and hunters working for him in the great wilderness, and his agents were kept busy buying and shipping the skins to New York. As soon as he was able to do so he purchased a ship, in which he sent his making a voyage thither himself.

furs to London, occasionally

Under his skillful management his business grew rapidly; but he avoided speculation and confined himself to legitimate commerce. He was plain and

simple in his habits, carrying this trait to an extreme long after economy had ceased to be necessary to him. He worked hard, indulged in no pleasures except horseback exercise and the theatre, of both which he was very fond. It was only after he had amassed a large fortune that he ever left his business before the close of the day. Then he would leave his counting-room at two in the afternoon, and, partaking of an early dinner, would pass the rest of the day in riding about the island. So plain was his style of living that, before he became generally known as a wealthy man, a bank clerk once superciliously informed him that his endorsement of a note would not be sufficient, as it was not likely he would be able to pay it in case the bank should be forced to call upon him.

"Indeed!" said Mr. Astor; "how much do you suppose I am worth?" The clerk named a very moderate amount, at which the merchant smiled quietly.

"Would the indorsement of Mr., or Mr., be sufficient?" asked Mr. Astor, naming several well-known merchants who lived in great style. "Entirely sufficient," was the reply. "Each one of them is known to be wealthy."

"How much do you think each is worth?".

The clerk named large sums in connection with each of the gentlemen. "Well, my friend," said the merchant, "I am worth more than any of them. I will not tell you how much I am worth, but it is more than any sum you have named.”

The clerk looked at him in surprise, and then said, bluntly: "Then you are a greater fool than I took you for, to work as hard as you do."

Mr. Astor was very fond of telling this story, which he regarded as one of the best jokes of the day.

All this time Mr. Astor had lived over his store, but in 1800, after he had been in business fifteen years, he moved his dwelling to 223 Broadway, on the site of the Astor House of to-day. He lived here, with one removal, for upward of twenty-five years. The house was plain and simple, but he was satisfied with it. He was now worth a quarter of a million dollars, and his business was growing rapidly. The fur trade was exceedingly profitable. A beaver skin could be bought from the trappers in western New York for one dollar and sold in London for six dollars and a quarter. By investing this amount in English manufactures, the six dollars and a quarter received for the skin could be made to produce ten dollars paid for the English goods in New York.

The Chinese trade was also very profitable. China was an excellent market for furs. They brought high prices, and the proceeds could always be invested in teas and silks, which sold well in New York. His profit on a