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self-poised judgment to the condition and methods of business as compared with like methods in America. He had no doubt that European art, aristocracy and mountains were all that was claimed for them. The point he was interested in was the European methods of doing business. His conclusions were embodied in a small but thoroughly original brochure printed only for private circulation. It seemed to him that in Europe, government and its adjuncts, rank, nobility, and the army, counted for much more than in America, but individuals and private fortunes for much less. Industry worked generally with unnecessary clumsiness and conservatism of method. He counted the number of wagons loaded with beer, relatively to those loaded with merchandise which crossed London bridge, and thought twenty of the former to two of the latrer was an excess of the stupifying over the useful. He heard the average members of Parliament as they "talked horse" in the London tavern, and concluded that the great bulk of them are personally inferior to our average Congressman, and that this average inferiority is in part the reason why their few leaders, Gladstone, Parnell, Salisbury, Vernon-Harcourt, and the like, are so much more important than any American leaders can be. He saw the floating gristmills here and there on the Rhine, moving up and down the

river in search of a grist to grind, and he frankly pronounced them as far behind the mills of Minneapolis, as the mortars and pestles of the primeval lake dwellers of Switzerland were behind the floating gristmills on the Rhine. His short volume was pithy, instructive and, in a business aspect, striking.

Still restless under the burden of his new leisure, he determined to found a new illustrated American magazine, which should be more. American in spirit than any extant. It was suggested to him that such an enterprise could hardly be successfully run except by a general publishing house. He thought he would at least enjoy it as a recreation. He entered therefore upon the experiment with his usual ardor, printed 100,000 copies of the first edition. The field was new. He had been accustomed to a manufacture in which there was a ready demand for the product, the only difficulty being to create the supply. In this new industry the commodity was capable of unlimited supply, but he had also to manufacture the demand. He could easily have lost a moderate fortune in the experiment if its petty vexations had not suddenly impaired his sleep and his health. At the end of four months during which the magazine earned an honest reputation for merit, he disposed of it off-hand. Throwing off the whole affair as speedily as he

could, he broke away from all work and went first on a tour to California with his wife and sons. Arrived at San Diego he wisely concluded to have his yacht, the Coronet sent around via the stormy cape, and in her to make the grand tour of the world.

She was a beautiful, staunch and princely craft. Mr. Bush felt as safe on board of her at sea as amid the serene rest of his Brooklyn home.

The vessel met with hardly a rough breath in crossing the Pacific. He stopped at Honolulu, in Hawaii, visiting all the more remarkable features of those islands and collecting mementoes of their life. Thence he sailed to Yokohama. His stay in Japan, as in Hawaii, was enlivened by the extension to his party by the authorities of every hospitality which the spirit of kindness and international courtesy could suggest. From Japan the Coronet sailed to Canton, in China; to Singapore, to Ceylon, and thence to Calcutta. From this point the party crossed overland, stopping on the way at Benares, the Sacred City, Lucknow, Cawnpore, Agra and Delhi, and thence south. through Jeypore to Bombay. They were afforded a rapid but interesting view of the marvellous, decaying civilization of this oldest, once richest, and now poorest of empires. Thence by the Coronet over the Indian

Ocean to Aden, in Arabia, over the Red Sea to Suez, and overland to Alexandria, Cairo, the Pyramids and Nile. Returning again to the Coronet, they sailed to Malta, Gibraltar, and by the South Atlantic route to New York.

Upon his return, Mr. Bush was again in good heart and vigor, practically restored to his wonted health, and so continued to nearly the date when the cruel error of a moment suddenly ended his career. On the practical side, he possessed one of the most acute and penetrative minds; on the social side, his nature was cheerful, kindly and steadfast. He felt a serene satisfaction in sharing his prosperity with those whose esteem and affection he had chiefly prized. While at home in the world, his world was at home. Every aid which art and taste could lend had for years contributed to make that home delightful.

Many tributes to his memory flowed in upon his family after the sad close of his career. At all the points of contact where his troops of friends had felt his genial influence, a chorus of witnesses rose to speak his worth. One lady writes: “What a grand man he was! Endowed by nature with a noble and refined presence; brilliant in conversation; his mind, well stored and enriched by travel, always a centre of attraction;

of unselfish generosity for the welfare of others. How much he will be missed!"

Another says: "His life was so full of tender, loving ministries to others -so quick in sympathy and rich in service! If you could gather all the

grateful thoughts that have gone and do go out toward the one who brightened so many lives by his timely, royal helpfulness, what a memorial it would be!"

VAN BUREN DENSLOW. 8

EDWARD ELY.

ONE of the most noted of western tradesmen-outside of a limited number of "merchant princes," who have become known pretty much all over the United States by reason of the extent of their business operations and the magnitude of their fortunes -is Mr. Edward Ely, who is just now winding up two score years of active business life in Chicago.

Mr. Ely was born in Huntingdon, Conn., in 1830, and descended on the father's side from Richard Ely, who came over from England and located at Lyme, Conn., in 1664. His grandfather was Rev. David Ely, a famous old Presbyterian minister of Connecticut, who throughout New England was noted not only for his profound piety, his kindly nature, and his eloquent and impressive pulpit utterances, but also on account of his having filled the pastorate of the Presbyterian church in his native town nearly half a century. He was a cultured and scholarly man, who gave much attention to educational matters, and, in addition to performing his clerical duties, found time to prepare the sons of some of his neighbors and parishioners for college, as well as his own sons, all of whom graduated at Yale.

Elisha Ely, one of these sons, married Eloisa Curtis, who also belonged to an old Connecticut family; and Edward was one of the children born

of this union. The latter's father was a successful business man, who had amassed a considerable fortune when the historic financial panic of 1837 swept over the country, and left him but a remnant of what he had accumulated. His heavy losses made it necessary for him to alter to some extent his plans for educating and establishing his sons in business. The latter were thrown, in a measure, upon their own resources, while the father, or Elder Ely, aided by a noble and self-sacrificing wife, labored to reclaim a portion of what had been lost in the general calamity that had fallen upon the country.

Edward Ely was at this time seven years of age, and had little more than begun the task of acquiring an education. He attended school with regularity for the next ten years, and having passed through an academic course of study, he began to think of engaging in some employment or learning some business which would afford him a livelihood. Just what he should apply. himself to, was a question; but he finally reached the conclusion that he would master a trade. He therefore set out for Birmingham, Conn., where he became apprenticed to an English tailor.

He had no particular fancy for this calling, to begin with; but, having entered upon the work, he determined to master all the details of the art of

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