Mr. Morton greatly enjoyed his life at Hanover; he was successful and looking forward to greater openings in his business career.  My father, taking a great fancy to this enterprising, cheery young man, invited him to dine each day at our house for nearly a year.  They were great friends and had a happy influence upon each other.  There were many jolly laughs and much earnest talk.  He met Miss Lucy Kimball of Flatlands, Long Island, at our house at a Commencement reception, and they were soon married.  She lived only a few years.

Mr. Morton was next in Boston in the dry-goods house of James Beebe Morgan & Company, and was soon made a partner.  Mr. Morgan was the father of Pierpont Morgan.  It is everlastingly to Mr. Morton’s honour that after he failed in business in New York he was able before long to invite his creditors to dinner, and underneath the service plate of each creditor was a check for payment in full.

Preferring to give money while living, his whole path has been marked by large benefactions.  My memory is of his Hanover life and his friendship with my father, but it is interesting to note the several steps in his career:  Honorary Commissioner, Paris Exposition, 1878; Member 46th Congress, 1879-81, Sixth New York District; United States Minister to France, 1881-85; Vice-President of the United States, 1889-93; Governor of New York, 1895-6.

Mr. Morton recently celebrated at his Washington home the ninety-first anniversary in a life full of honours, and what is more important—­of honour.

CHAPTER II

A Friend at Andover, Mass.—­Hezekiah Butterworth—­A Few of my Own Folks—­Professor Putnam of Dartmouth—­One Year at Packer Institute, Brooklyn—­Beecher’s Face in Prayer—­The Poet Saxe as I Saw him—­Offered the Use of a Rare Library—­Miss Edna Dean Proctor—­New Stories of Greeley—­Experiences at St. Louis.

Next a few months at Andover for music lessons—­piano and organ.  A valuable friend was found in Miss Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, who had just published her Gates Ajar.  She invited me to her study and wanted to know what I meant to accomplish in life and urged me to write.  “I have so much work called for now that I cannot keep up my contributions to The Youth’s Companion.  I want you to have my place there.  What would you like to write about?”

“Don’t know.”

“Haven’t you anything at home to describe.”

“No.”

“Any pets?”

“Why I have a homely, ordinary dog, but he knows a lot.”

And so I was roused to try “Our Rab and His Friends,” which was kindly mailed by Miss Phelps to Mr. Ford, the editor, with a wish that he accept the little story, which he did, sending a welcome check and asking for more contributions.  I kept a place there for several years.