The Wizard of Wall Street and His Wealth; or, The Life and Deeds of Jay GouldWhite, Trumbull
History
The Wizard of Wall Street and His Wealth; or, The Life and Deeds of Jay Gould
White, Trumbull
Businessmen -- United States -- Biography; Capitalists and financiers -- United States -- Biography; Gould, Jay, 1836-1892
In another apartment was a wilderness of roses, pink and white, and
gold and Guelder, Burgundy and Austrian in an endless tangle of color
and a delirious, odorous atmosphere that would have enraptured the
soul of a lotus eater. No wonder that Mr. Gould abandoned care when
he entered the portals of his conservatory. He did not have many warm
personal friends, yet surely a man can not be altogether bad who is
a friend of the roses. There must be some good in the heart of a man
whose eyes grow tender as he bends over a lily.
The conservatory became a hobby with Mr. Gould. Every morning after
breakfast he would pay a visit to the big glass house to wander for
an hour or so among the plants and flowers. While there he would seem
to forget everything but the green, tropical tangle about him. In the
evening, on his return from the city, he would again stroll through
the shadowy aisles of palm and vine, sometimes alone and at others
accompanied by the members of his family.
Orchids were Mr. Gould’s especial hobby. In this department of his
conservatory he had nearly 8,000 orchid plants and over 150 varieties.
For some of these delicate, air-fed and angel-painted blossoms Mr.
Gould had paid $300--half the amount of a poor man’s wages for a year
of toil. In another apartment were nearly 2,000 azaleas, little bits
of sunset sky cut into the shape of bells. In the fernery were 600
varieties of ferns, giving the entire place the appearance of a soft
green cloud hemmed in glass walls. Just the place for Titania and her
fairies.
It is strange that this appreciation of pure and poetical things should
exist in the soul of a man of such financial grimness. But it was
doubtless in Mr. Gould’s nature before his life took on its acquired
thirst for gold. When that thirst was in a measure satiated he turned
again to his fundamental instincts and his great conservatory was the
result.
Yet in the summer months Mr. Gould found much pleasure in his open-air
garden. It was a big affair, guiltless of weeds, yet it is doubtful if
Mr. Gould ever weeded his own potato patch or hoed his own turnips.
There were beds for cantaloupes and watermelon, cucumbers, peas, beans,
parsley, spinach, carrots, beets, lettuce and cauliflower, and Mr.
Gould knew just where to find everything. For a short time every day he
would walk through the garden, and doubtless dream of his old barefoot,
boyhood days when he looked after his mother’s garden in Delaware
county. He was a sort of intermittent farmer and seemed to find a
transitory pleasure in everything that pertained to a farm. There was
nothing in common, however, between Mr. Gould’s luxurious style of
farming and that of the everyday horny-handed knight of the pitchfork
and plow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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