Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made Part 22

Soon after commencing business, James and John Harper received their younger brothers, Joseph Wesley and Fletcher, into their establishment as apprentices. These young men were taught the business thoroughly, and when they had completed their apprenticeship were admitted into the firm as partners, the former entering the firm in 1823, and the latter in 1826. In 1825 the style of the firm was changed to Harper & Brothers, and the business was removed to 81 and 82 Cliff Street, on a portion of the site of the present establishment. It was then the largest printing-house in New York, employing fifty workmen and ten hand presses.

In 1850; the Harpers decided to commence the publication of a monthly periodical, and, accordingly, in the summer of that year they issued the first number of "Harper's New Monthly Magazine," which, in point of popularity, stands today, after a career of twenty years, at the head of American magazines, and boasts of a circulation of 180,000 copies. The recognition of another want of the public led, in 1857, to the establishment of an ill.u.s.trated newspaper, "Harper's Weekly," which has at present a circulation of 100,000 copies. In 1869 they began the publication of a new weekly fashion paper, called "the Bazaar," which has reached a circulation of 75,000 copies.

From the first, the Harpers made their house a popular establishment.

They sought public favor by legitimate means, and generally managed to retain it in the same way. From an early period in their history, their imprint on a book has been sufficient to secure its sale; and they have managed to identify themselves so thoroughly with American progress that the whole country feels an interest in their success. By studying the popular taste closely, they were enabled to publish in rapid succession works suited to it; and by fair and liberal dealings with authors they soon drew around them a corps of the best writers in the Union.

Their success was rapid, and by the year 1853 their establishment had increased in size so much that it occupied "nine large contiguous buildings, full of costly machinery of every kind, with stores of plates and books." On the 10th of December of that year, a workman in one of the upper rooms carelessly threw a piece of lighted paper into what he supposed to be a pail of water, but which proved to be camphene. In a few minutes the building was in flames; all efforts to save it were in vain. The fire spread rapidly, and in a few hours the entire establishment was in ruins. The loss was one million of dollars, of which sum only about one-fourth was covered by insurance.

It was a terrible blow, but James Harper and his brothers wasted no time in repining. Before the embers had ceased smoking they were taking active measures to reestablish their business. From the wreck of their establishment they saved a part of the stereotype plates, which had been stored in the vaults, out of the way of the fire. They immediately rented Sheffield's paper warehouse, at the corner of Beckman and Gold Streets, and went to work with greater energy than ever. "Presses were employed in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. Nothing was forgotten.

The next monthly issue of the _Magazine_ had been made ready, and it was reproduced at the earliest moment. One regular contributor, then in Chicago, received the first news of the fire by a brief telegram: 'Copy destroyed. Send fresh copy immediately.' Before the ruins were cleared away the plans of the new buildings were ready, and the buildings themselves were rapidly finished."

The new establishment of Harper & Brothers is one of the wonders of the great city in which it is located. The buildings are of iron and brick, and cover half an acre of ground. The establishment really consists of two buildings. The front building faces Franklin Square, and is a magnificent iron structure, painted white. Behind this is the second building, which fronts on Cliff Street. A court-yard intervenes between them, spanned by several bridges, connecting them. Each building is seven stories in height, and completely fire-proof.

There are no openings in the floors for communication, but the various floors are connected by circular stairways of iron, placed outside the building. The front building, or that which faces Franklin Square, is used for storerooms, salesrooms, and the editorial and business offices of the establishment. In the rear building the various branches of the book manufacture are carried on. The author's ma.n.u.script is received here and sent back to him a complete book. Every portion of the work is done under the same roof, and it is well done. The building is filled with the most costly and complete machinery for saving time and labor.

Besides the machinery used in other departments, it contains in its press-room forty-three Adams presses for book work, and five cylinder presses for printing the "Weekly" and the "Bazaar." About 600 persons, 250 of whom are females, are employed in the establishment; and it is to the credit of both employers and employes that but few changes occur in this force. Many of the employes have been with the firm since its first entrance into business. The old man in charge of the vaults--a curiosity in his way--has been in the service of the house for fifty years, and to leave it now would, doubtless, break his heart; for none of the Harpers are as proud of their reputation as he is. The most perfect system reigns throughout every department, and every thing goes on promptly and in its proper place.

"Of course," says a writer who many years has witnessed the operations of the house, "the development and organization of such a business were due not to one brother alone, but to the cooperation of all.... The business was to James, as to the others, the great central interest, but prosperity could not relax his steady character. He did not forget his early faith, nor the counsels and the habits of his Long Island home. He remained strictly a 'temperance man,' and his marvelous physical vigor was claimed by the temperance advocates as that of a cold-water mans He was long an official member of John-Street Church, and when he left his house in Rose Street, and went to live in the upper part of the city, he joined the congregation of St. Paul's Church, in the Fourth Avenue. But with all his fidelity to his ancestral faith, he cherished the largest charity, and by much experience of the world had learned to agree with his favorite apostle, James, that pure religion and undefiled, is to visit the fatherless and widows, and keep himself unspotted from the world. Thus, with all his conviction and devotion, there was nothing hard or fanatical in his feeling or conduct, and he held pleasant personal relations with men of every faith. Few men indulged in so little harsh criticism of others, and he expressed censure or disapprobation by humorous indirection rather than by open accusation.

'We must not be too hard,' he was fond of saying, 'it is so difficult to know all the circ.u.mstances. If you should insist, for instance, that the use of tobacco is a sin, dear me! dear me!'

"Mr. Harper was a Whig during the days of that party, and a natural conservative. But in politics he showed the same moderation and toleration. 'Don't try to drive men too roughly, my dear sir; it is much easier to draw than to push.' He took no conspicuous or active part in politics, except in 1844, when he was elected Mayor of the city. He was constantly asked to serve in Congress and in other public stations, but he steadily declined, saying, with a sly smile, that he preferred to stick to the business that he understood.

"To that business his heart and life were given. Of late years its active cares had naturally fallen into the hands of his younger a.s.sociates; but he never relaxed his interest and devotion. 'While I was dressing,' said a much younger neighbor, 'I used to see Mayor Harper coming out of his house to go down town, and felt ashamed of myself.

Early at the office, he opened and looked over the mail, and during the hours of the morning he pa.s.sed from one room to another, his shrewd eye seeing every thing, and measuring men and work, chatting and jesting as he went. But out of those shrewd eyes looked a kind and gentle heart. He knew by name the men and women and children employed in the various parts of the great buildings, interested himself in their family stories, and often won a confidence that was never betrayed. His charities, which were ample, were thus intelligent and effective, and poor men as well as women bent to kiss his calm, unchanged face as he lay in his coffin."

To the very last, James Harper retained his physical and mental vigor, and was looked up to by all the members of the house as its brightest ornament. To the last, he was one of the best known and most honored citizens of the great metropolis. His great wealth had not ruffled the serenity of his spirit, or caused the slightest variation in his conduct. To the last he was the Christian merchant, citizen, and father, offering to his children in himself a n.o.ble model by which to shape their lives.

It had been his custom at family prayers to ask of G.o.d protection from sudden death, but for some time before his death he ceased to do so. His family noticed this, and one of them asked his reason for the omission.

He answered quietly, "The Lord knows best."

On the 25th of March, 1869, he was at his usual post in his office, and after business hours, as was his habit, set out with his daughter for a drive in the Central Park, As he neared the Park the pole of his carriage broke suddenly, and the horses, becoming frightened, dashed off furiously, dragging the carriage after them. Mr. Harper and his daughter were both thrown violently upon the pavement. The latter was but slightly injured, but Mr. Harper was taken up insensible, and conveyed to St. Luke's Hospital, which was close at hand. He never regained consciousness, but lingered until fifteen minutes after seven on the evening of the 27th, when he expired, surrounded by all his family, excepting his wife, who had long been an invalid. His death was regarded as a calamity to the city, and all cla.s.ses of the community united to do honor to his memory.

CHAPTER XXII.

JAMES T. FIELDS.

The old "corner book-store" at the intersection of Washington and School Streets, in the city of Boston, is one of the most notable places in the New England metropolis. The memory of the oldest inhabitant can not recall a time when this corner was not devoted to its present uses; and around it, in the long years that have pa.s.sed since the first book merchant first displayed his wares here, there have gathered a host of the most interesting, as well as the most brilliant, souvenirs of our literary history. Here were sold, in "the days that tried men's souls,"

those stirring pamphlets that sounded the death-knell of British tyranny in the New World; and it was from this old corner that the tender songs of Longfellow, the weird conceptions of Hawthorne, the philosophic utterances of Emerson, first found their way to the hearts of the people.

In 1884, the corner book-store was kept by Carter & Bendee, and was then the leading book-house in Boston. One morning in that year there entered the office of the proprietors a young lad from New Hampshire, who stated that he came to seek employment in their service. His bright, intelligent appearance was in his favor, scarcely less than the testimonials which he brought, vouching for his integrity and industry.

His application was successful, and he entered the service of Messrs.

Carter & Bendee, being given the lowest clerkship in the establishment and a salary barely sufficient to support him.

This lad was JAMES T. FIELDS. He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the 30th of December, 1820. His father was a captain in the merchant service, and died when the boy was only four years old, leaving him to the care and guidance of one of the best of mothers. He was educated at the common schools of the city, and was thence transferred to the high school. He exhibited a remarkable fondness for study, and at the early age of thirteen graduated at the high school, taking the first honors of his cla.s.s. He was regarded as one of the best cla.s.sical scholars in the inst.i.tution, and during his course took several prizes in Latin and Greek composition. Unusual abilities as a poet were also manifested very early, and when but twelve years old he wrote a poem in blank verse, which attracted the attention of the late Chief Justice Woodbury, then Governor of New Hampshire, who was so much surprised and gratified to find such talent in so young a boy, that he earnestly advised him to endeavor to complete his studies at Harvard University. This, indeed, was the chief desire of the boy, but a collegiate education required means which he could not command, and he was forced to go out into the world to seek his fortune. Having secured a good elementary education, however, he was resolved that he would not abandon his efforts to acquire knowledge. All his leisure time, after going to Boston to live, was devoted to reading and study. While neglecting no duty in his business, he gave the hours which most boys devote to amus.e.m.e.nt to severe mental labor. Young as he was, he was ambitious.

He knew that knowledge was power, especially in the community in which he lived, and he was resolved that this power should be his. The result is plainly seen in his subsequent career. Although deprived of the advantages of a collegiate course, Mr. Fields has more than made up that deficiency by his faithful labors, and there are few men in New England to-day possessed of more varied and extensive mental accomplishments than he. Upon going to Boston he promptly identified himself with the Mercantile Library a.s.sociation of that place, availing himself of its advantages, and exerting all the influence of which he was possessed to insure its success. When but eighteen years old, he was chosen to deliver an anniversary poem before the a.s.sociation. The value of the compliment will be better appreciated by the reader when it is stated that the oration upon that occasion was p.r.o.nounced by Edward Everett.

His industry in his business duties was great. He entered the house of Carter & Bendee with the determination to rise in it. He worked faithfully, and was the first at his post in the morning, and the last to leave it at night. When the style of the firm was changed to Allen & Ticknor, he was promoted to a more important place. He proved himself from the first one of the most valuable and trustworthy a.s.sistants in the house, and his merits were promptly recognized. From the lowest place in the house, he worked his way up steadily until he became the manager of the establishment. Each promotion brought with it an increase of salary. Knowing well that "a penny saved at present is a pound gained in future" to a young man striving to rise in the world, he practiced the most conscientious economy. He made himself thoroughly acquainted with every detail of the publishing trade; and although, of late years, he has had the supervision more especially of the literary department of his large business, there are few publishers in this country more intimate with the business and mechanical branches of their trade.

In 1846, just twelve years after his entrance into the house, his clerkship came to an end, and he became a partner in the establishment, the style of the firm being Ticknor & Fields. He took an active share in the business; and while full credit must be given to Mr. Ticknor for the extraordinary success which the firm enjoyed, it can not be denied that Mr. Fields' share in this work was very great, and fully equal to that of his partner. His acknowledged literary abilities won him friends among the most gifted writers of the country, and these naturally sought his a.s.sistance in presenting their works to the world. Their friendship induced an intelligent confidence in his literary taste and mercantile integrity, and it was a decided gain for them to secure one so generally esteemed and trusted as their publisher. Young writers, still struggling for fame, felt that in submitting their works to his inspection they would receive the patient examination of not only a conscientious reader, but of one whose own literary abilities rendered him unusually competent for the task. The public generally learned to share this confidence in his literary judgment. And so it came to pa.s.s that the imprint of Ticknor & Fields was universally accepted as a sufficient guarantee of the excellence of any book, and rarely failed to insure its success. Naturally, the house was proud of this confidence, and it is pleasant to record that they have never abused it. There is, perhaps, no other publishing firm in the Union whose catalogue is so free from objectionable or worthless publications as that issued by this house.

Gradually Messrs. Ticknor & Fields became the recognized publishers of a large number of the leading writers of this country and of Great Britain. In their catalogue we find the names of Longfellow, Bryant, Whittier, Holmes, Aldrich, Aga.s.siz, Beecher, Alice Gary, c.u.mmins, Dana, Emerson, Hawthorne, Gail Hamilton, Lowell, Parton, Saxe, Sprague, Stowe, Bayard Taylor, Th.o.r.eau, and Tuckerman, in American literature; and in English literature, the names of Browning, d.i.c.kens, George Eliot, Mrs.

Jameson, Kingsley, Owen Meredith, Charles Reade, and Tennyson. With their English authors they maintain the pleasantest relations, recognizing their moral right to their works, and paying them a fair royalty upon the sales of their books. Of their relations with their American authors, a popular periodical says:

"There are no business men more honorable or generous than the publishers of the United States, and especially honorable and considerate toward authors. The relation usually existing between author and publisher in the United States is that of a warm and lasting friendship, such as now animates and dignifies the intercourse between the literary men of New England and Messrs. Ticknor & Fields.... The relation, too, is one of a singular mutual trustfulness. The author receives his semi-annual account from the publisher with as ablute a faith in its correctness as though he had himself counted the volumes sold."

In 1865, the firm removed from the old corner stand to a new and elegant establishment on Tremont Street, near the Common, and in the same year Mr. Howard Ticknor, who had succeeded his father in the business, withdrew from it. New partners were admitted, and the style of the firm became Fields, Osgood & Co., Mr. Fields still remaining at the head of the house.

The new book store is one of the handsomest and most attractive in the country. The store proper is eighty feet deep by fifty feet wide, and is fitted up handsomely in hard wood.

There is no paint about it, every piece of wood in use presenting its natural appearance. On the right in entering are the book shelves and counters, and on the opposite side the desks devoted to the magazine department. At the rear are the counting rooms and the private office of Mr. J.R. Osgood, the active business man of the concern. The second story is elegantly and tastefully fitted up. It contains the luxurious private office of Mr. Fields, in which are to be seen excellent likenesses of his two dearest friends, Longfellow and d.i.c.kens; and the parlor of the establishment, which is known as the Author's Room. This is a s.p.a.cious and handsomely-appointed room, whose windows, overlooking the Common, command one of the prettiest views in New England. It is supplied with the leading periodicals of the day, and choice volumes of current literature. Here one may always find one or more of the "gifted few," whose names are familiar to the reader; and frequent reunions of the book-making fraternity are designed to be held here, under the genial auspices of the literary partner of the house.

It is not often that men win success in both literature and mercantile life. Good authors have usually made very poor business managers, and _vice versa_; but the subject of this memoir, besides winning a great success as a merchant, and that in one of the most hazardous branches of mercantile life, has also won an enviable reputation as a man of letters. His poems have made him well known, both in this country and in England. Besides the poems recited before various literary a.s.sociations, he has published two volumes of fugitive pieces. The first appeared in 1843, while he was still a clerk, and the second in 1858. His poems abound in humor, pathos, and a delicate, beautiful fancy. One of his friends has said of him:

"Little of the sad travail of the historic poet has Mr. Fields known.

Of the emaciated face, the seedy garment, the collapsed purse, the dog-eared and often rejected ma.n.u.script, he has never known, save from well-authenticated tradition. His muse was born in sunshine, and has only been sprinkled with the tears of affection. Every effort has been cheered to the echo, and it is impossible for so genial a fellow to fail of an ample and approving audience for whatever may fall from his lip or pen."

The following lines, from his second volume, will serve as a specimen of the "homely beauty" of Mr. Fields' muse, though it hardly sets forth all his powers:

She came among the gathering crowd A maiden fair, without pretense, And when they asked her humble name, She whispered mildly, "Common Sense."

Her modest garb drew every eye, Her ample cloak, her shoes of leather; And when they sneered, she simply said, "I dress according to the weather."

They argued long and reasoned loud, In dubious Hindoo phrase mysterious; While she, poor child, could not divine Why girls so young should be so serious.

They knew the length of Plato's beard, And how the scholars wrote in Laturn; She studied authors not so deep, And took the Bible for her pattern.

And so she said, "Excuse me, friends, I feel all have their proper places, And _Common Sense_ should stay at home With cheerful hearts and smiling faces."

Mr. Fields has been a frequent contributor to his own periodicals, his latest effort being a paper devoted to personal recollections of Charles d.i.c.kens, which was published in the "Atlantic Monthly" soon after the death of the great master.

He has made several extended tours throughout Europe, where he has enjoyed social advantages rarely opened to travelers. One of his friends says that, in his first visit to the Old World, "he pa.s.sed several months in England, Scotland, France, and Germany, visiting the princ.i.p.al places of interest, and forming most delightful and profitable intimacies with the most distinguished _literateurs_ of the day. He was a frequent guest at the well-known breakfasts of the great banker-poet of 'The Pleasures of Memory' and of 'Italy,' and listened or added his own contributions to the exuberant riches of the hour, when such visitors as Talfourd, d.i.c.kens, Moore, and Landor were the talkers." He also formed a warm friendship with Wordsworth, and, during his stay in Edinburgh, with Professor Wilson and De Quincey. The writings of the last-named author were published by Ticknor and Fields, in eighteen volumes, and were edited by Mr. Fields, at the author's own request.

Mr. Fields is now in his fiftieth year, but shows no sign of age, save the whitening of his heavy, curling beard. He is still young and active in mind and body. He is of medium height, and well proportioned, with an erect carriage. Polished and courteous in manner, he is easily accessible to all. To young writers he is especially kind, and it is a matter of the truest pleasure to him to seek out and bring to notice genuine literary merit. He has a host of friends, and is widely popular with all cla.s.ses.

V.

EDITORS.