A full and correct history of Keene’s beneficences would fill this volume, and however much I admire him, I cannot afford to give him so much space. I shall relate one remarkable instance of his unbounded generosity, however, as the object has been so universally known, and was himself such a popular society man. Long prior to Mr. Keene’s advent in Wall Street, Sam Ward had been a conspicuous figure in Washington and Wall Street, and had acquired a society reputation in Europe. This gentleman was originally forced into prominence by his marriage with Miss Astor. Mr. Ward had changed from one thing to another until finally he took up his abode in Washington, and became a lobbyist. When Mr. Keene came to New York with his four millions of dollars, which he had made when the majority of New York investors had been on the losing side, dropping their money almost as fast as water runs down hill, through the unprecedented shrinkage in values, there was a wide field for profitable investment. This shrinkage had been going on from the panic of 1873, step by step downward until 1878, when society had reached a stratum by dint of levelling down that placed almost everybody upon an equality. Property, in many instances, became a serious encumbrance instead of a benefit, and many were glad to be rid of the responsibility of their holdings for what was sufficient to settle the mortgage. Everybody felt poor, and was really so, with a few fortunate exceptions. Mr. Keene arrived here at the most fortunate moment for investment. Everything was down to bed-rock prices. He, therefore, became an object of actual curiosity, and was as much of a lion in our midst as he had been in San Francisco. He was not only the favorite of fortune, but a favorite of society, which generally go together with curious inconsistency in our social democracy. One of the first acquaintances Mr. Keene made on his arrival was this great society man, the celebrated Sam Ward, who at once recognized his social worth, not only in dollars and cents, but in considerable liabilities, genuine representatives of dollars and cents. The more tangibly he realized this fact the more tenacious was his attachment, until Mr. Keene found Mr. Ward the very _beau ideal_ of Scriptural fraternity, namely, “a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Wherever Keene appeared, though apparently alone, it was safe to bet that Ward’s shadow could soon be seen. It is said of Seneca, when he observed a house falling, and nobody near it, that he asked: “Where is the woman?” So Keene’s presence naturally suggested Ward to the mental vision of every Wall Street man and every sporting man. Whether it was up-town or down-town, at Newport, or in London, at the Derby, or the Grand Prix, it was all the same, where Keene was, there Ward soon appeared with the promptitude of the genius that stood before Aladdin when he touched his wonderful lamp or rubbed his magic ring.