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CANADA

NATIONAL LIBRARY
BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE

A CANADIAN IN NEW YORK.

HY ELGIN MVERS, Q.C.

A SHORT sojourn in New York in the
summer of 1891, where I was the re-
cipient of much disinterested kindness
at the hands of Mr. Erastus Wiman,
so increased the interest that had pre-
viously been aroused in me by the
accounts in the public prints of his
achievements in the business, political
and literary world, that now that his
financial fame has become somewhat
dimmed, I feel a desire that his
countrymen should have at least some
faint insii-ht into the character of a

ERASTUS WIMAS.

man who for so long a period has
occupied the attention of the people
ot this continent, even though that in-
formation be imparted by one so incap-
able of adequately performing the
pleasing task as mvself. The radical
difference of opinion that exists be-
tween us on the subject of this
country's future should, in my opinion,
form no bar to the attempt to <lo
justice to one who has so unseltishlj

and at such great sacrifices of time
and money, labored to promote the
interests of the land of his birth.
It should be of interest to Canad-
ians to study the development of
one of their own countrymen, who,
friendless and alone, without the
pi'estige of family connection or social
influence, and aided only by his sturdy
independence of character, unusual
capacity, and stubborn perseverance,
arose from the position of a f. iend-
less lad earning a mere pittance as a
farm laborer, to the commanding em-
inence of one of the leaders of the
business, political and literary world
of the continent.

It is in the hope that a short narra-
tive of the incidents of that career will
prove a stimulus to those who are
about setting out to buffet the waves
of the world, with possibly neither
friendship nor capital other than their
own individual merits and a de-
termination to succeed, as well as in
the hope that that narrative will bring
nearer home to the Canadian people
the life of one of their own country-
men who has gained distinction in a
foreign land and who has been so mis-
represented and misunderstood, that I
have essayed this task. It is not with-
in the province of this article to ac-
count for the recent eclipse of Mr.
Wiman's star of fortune, nor to investi-
gate its causes, whether they be
founded on wrong business methods
or miscalculation, or whether, as is
more probable, his fortunes have been
engulfed in the whirlwind of financial
disaster that seems at present to be
invading so much of the earth's sur-
face. SiifHce it for the present in this
connection to simply reproduce the
following portion of an article from a
newspaper published in Staten Island,

436

THE CANADIAN MAGAZINE.

which has for man}' years been his
home : — " From leiil estate, stock in
Rapid Tiansit and Electric Power
companies, there seems ample assets
belonging to Mr. Wiman's estate to
pay all the indebtednesses in full,
while behind it all is the energy, the
ability and great force of ambition of
one who fought in their home the
Vauderbilts and their satellites and
beat them all."

Of incidents in his career tiiere is no
lack. His lite has been so active and
so interwoven with that of the people,
of all classes, that liis biographer will
not be troubled to find them, but will
be perplexed by an embarrassment of
riches. The great difhculty in pre-
paring this article was to select from
the great mass of facts, anything like
a detailed relation of which would fill
several volumes, those that might be
deemed the most characteristic and at
the same time, would not swell to an
undue compass a magazine article. To
the casual observer the most striking
feature of Mr. Wiman's character, in
view of the vastness and absorbing
nfiture of his business enterprises, is
his sentiment and imagination, two
qualities that seem to be essential to
that attribute in man that is generally
termed greatness, but which are plants
of so tender a growth that they have
been crushed out of many men by the
pressure of business pursuits, that, in
many instances, have not been of so
engrossing a nature as those that en-
gaged Mr. Wiman's attention.

The youth, personal habits, religious
beliefs and domestic life of a man
of mark are always subjects of
deep interest, the narration of which,
as light streaks tend to relieve a dark-
ened firmament, incline to brighten
the heavy narration of the more
weighty affairs of life. Beginning
with his youth we find this erstwhile
millionaire, at the age of twelve ye irs,
working as a farm laborer in the
neighliorhood of ('hurchville, near
Brampton, in Peel County, a few miles
west of Toronto, for the pittance of

fifty cents per week. We next find
him for four or five years employed as
a newsboy and then as a typesettei" in
the newspiper office of his cousin, the
Honorable Wm. McDougall, who con-
ducted the celebrated " North Ameri-
can, ' which, after enjoying a short but
successful career under its brilliant
manager and editor, became extinct.
Here young Wiman worked from ten
to sixteen hours per day at wages
commencing at ?l.5() per week and
ending at !:<.5.()0.

A reminiscence of his newsboy
career was forcibly and pleasantly re-
called in London a year or two ago
when dining as a guest of Lord and
LaJv Thurlow. The latter, during the
course of conversation, remarked that
she too was a Canadian. Upon Mr.
Wiman asking who.se daughter she
was, he was informed that she was
Lord Elgin's. " Oh," replied Mr. Wi-
man. " I remember now, your birth-
day was on a iSew Year's day, and I
heard your first cry." Curious to know
how this could be, Mr. Wiman explain-
ed to Lady Thurlow that ho was the
newsboy who delivered the papers
about torty-five years before at Elm-
slie Villa, which was situated just be-
yond Yonge street entrance to College
Avenue, Tonmto, where Lord Elgin,
then Governor- Greneral of Canada, re-
sided. The house was a great distance
from the street, and on this particular
morning the snow was deep, and no
track having been made, the newsboy,
not large of stature, whilst beating his
way through it became covered with
snow. The weather was bitterly cold,
and the kindly butler taking him in-
to the hall before the large stove let
him warm himself. The house, be-
tween the bustling of the servants and
doctor.s, was in great confusion. Sud-
denly the vigorous cry of an infant
heard through the door, and the butler
exclaiming, " Thank God it is over,"
revealed to our newsboy friend that
the future Lady Thurlow was born.

in passing, we may remark, that it
is a comment on the small size to

A CANADIAN IN NEW YORK.

437

next find
inployed as
'pesetter in
cousin, the
, who con-
ith Ameii-
a short but
s brilliant
ne extinct,
d from ten

at wages
week and

newsboy
asantly re-
V two aofo
Lord and
dnrinir the
iirked that
Upon Mr.
ighter she
-t she was
1 Mr. Wi-
Dur birth-
day, and I

15 to know
m explain-
was the

16 papers
e at Elm-
d just be-
to CoUesre
ird Elorin,
mada, re-
t distance
)articular

and no
newsboy,
mating his
ored with
eriy cold,
g him in-
stove let
ouse, be-
zants and
n. Sud-
an infant
he butler
is over,"
3nd that

born.
V, that it

size to

which steam nnd electricity have re-
duced the world, find on the presort all
pervasive democracy, that the newsboy
forty-five years later was, 3,000 miles
away, the honored guest of this titled
babe. The gold sovereign that Lord
Elgin conferred on our friend was the
fii'st he ever jjossessed, and the joy it
bestowed caused the naturally warm
heart of Mr. Wiman to go out in gen-
erous contributions to the newsboys as
regularly as succeeding New Year's
came round.

These sums, as well as the farm
wages, small as they were, weie
freely and regularly handed to a
widowed mother to be applied to the
common support of herself and a little
sister, who divided between them the
solicitude of the noble son and bro-
ther. Let it be said here that deep
affection and never failing care for this
widowed mother were among the
strongest features of Mr. Wiman's
character. Several citizens of Toronto,
some of whom have occupied, and
others of whom now occupy, positions
of trust and honor, take pleasure in
testifying, as indeed th<v also do to
all the incidents of his Canadian life
that are recordod here, to the noble
self-sacrifices on the part of Mr. Wiman,
in his earlier struggles for existence, to
not merely support, but render com-
fortable and happy, his widowed
mother, thus testifying to the posses-
sion of one of those human qualities
that approach nearest to the Divine, —
that of never failing filial love. It is
needless to say that this anxious so-
licitude accompanied the mother
through life, the need of support in-
creasing with the ca{)acity to contri-
bute it, until death finally closed the
eyes of one, who, while taking a last
loving look upon her devoted son, pro-
phetically foresaw that he wouldattain
the eminence of what *j\\q world calls
success.

From the many incidents that could
be selected of absorbing interest at the
newsboy period of his career, is one
which also illustrates the narrowness

of his circumstances. When voung
Wiman lost his week's wage of S.5.00,
rather than permit those who were
dependent upon him to suffer from
want, his filial and brotherly love
])rotnpted him to borrow from his co-
workers in the office a sufficient sum
to tide over the week, a sum which it
is needless to say was speedily repaid
out of the savings of future earnings.

The next we see of young Wiman
is on the staff of the Toronto Globe, as
commercial editor, where his keen com-
mercial instincts soon became so mani-
fest that they attracted the attention
of Mr. R. G. Dun, who had established
the enteri)rise of mercantile reporting.

The subject of this sketch went in-
to the employ of this firm as a repor-
ter, and his abilities soon raised him.
successively to the positions of mana-
ger of the Toronto and Montreal
agencies, in which capacities he ac-
quired that thorough and accurate
knowledge of the commercial affairs of
the Dominion, including a detailed in-
formation of almost every business
man from Halifax to Winnipeg, for
which he is so distinguished. Start-
ing with a great prejudice in Canada
agaias't it, owing to its being regarded
as a sort of detective concern, the
broad and enlightened spirit with
which its designs were pursued under
Mr. Wiman's management soon render-
ed the agency one of the most popular
institutions in the mercantile world,
and soon caused it to be regarded as an
indispensable adjunct to commercial
life.

So successful was he in the manasre-
rnent of the Canadian branch of the
business, that he was, some twenty-
five years ago, shortly after the close
of the great Amercian Civil War, in-
vited to the larger field of usefulness
in the commercial metropolis of Amer-
ica, to assist in the management of the
business there. His success in the
smaller sphere of action was only the
harbingerof his triumph in the greater,
for he broujjht to bear in his connec-
tion with the New York concern the

43«

THE CANADIAN MAGAZINE.

same industry, energy, wonderful
knowledge, tact and enlightened
methods that chiuacterized his man-
agement of attairs in Canada, until an
institution that was up to that time
regarded with the same distrust that
it had been in Canada, soon developed
into the most marvelloi43 and popular
system of commercial reporting in the
world. The agency, when Mr. Wiman
was removed to ^Jew York, possessed
only eighteen branches, whereas it
now has 150, an enormous i-e venue,
and a large army of employes. Ris
knowledge of printing found full scope
here. He soon reorganized the print-
ing department, improved and enlarged
the Reference Book, which contains
the names and rating of every trader
in the United States and Canada, and
it soon became the best credit author-
ity in the United States. To him
more than toany other man is duethat
marvellous success of commercial re-
porting which renders it possible for
every trader, no matter how remote
his location, from Maine to CiUifornia,
from Vancouver to Halifax, to procure
credit in the great centres of com-
merce in accordance with the resources
and standing he possesses at home.

Of almost incalculable advantage
to the South was this system as
thus perfected. At the close of the
war all industries there were neces-
sarily in a disorganized condition, so
much so that almost universal distrust
of the capacity of the business men
prevailed. Owing, however, to the
wonderful Reference Book, informa-
tion was soon disseminated relative to
the deserving and reliable, confidence
was quickly restored, business men
obtained that credit which was so
essential to their existence, and the
distrusted and desolate South soon
began to blossom as the rose. The
book also soon became the guide,
philosopher and friend, and indeed
the almost indispensable auxiliary
to every counting house. The suc-
cess of the Mercantile Agency Sys-
tem is an enduring monument to

the business ability of Erastus Wi-
man and his associates, and alone is
sufficient to .satisfy the ambition of
any ordinary man, for unless it had
been well conducted it couldeasily have
been the most unpopular of institu-
tions^

It would be wrong, however, to
suppose that this was his only achieve-
ment, alth<)ugh it is the one in which
WG believe he takes the most pride.
Not satisfied with accomplishing, in
coanection with the agency, what was
sufHcient for the work of one life, he,
almost immediately on arrival in New
York, with that rapid insight into
affairs that is so characteristic of him,
saw what the multitude of other able
financiers of that great metropolis
failed to fully realize, the immense
possibilities of Staten Island, which
forms part of New York State, and
lies six miles distant from and opposite
New York, in a hollow of the coast
of New Jersey. This island has been
termed the Isle of Wight of America.
Possessing an area of about 58 square
miles, a shore capable of adding ten
miles additional harborage to the port
of New York, having in its north and
centre lovely elevations which slope
beautifully in all directions to the
shore. Providence seems to have
specially designed this favored place
as an example of what His beneficence
can accomplish for man in furnishing
a spot where he could revel in luxur-
ious delight, and which he could also
turn to the most practical use. When
Mr. Wiman first conceived the idea of
putting to use this favored place, the
beautiful uplands in its centre were
almost unknown. Under his wise and
skilful directions, the reputation of
the island has much increased as one
of the most popular resorts for recrea-
tion and amusement of the multitudes
of the adjoining cities, who seek its
sylvan reti-eats as a relief from the
burdens of active business life, as well
as one of the points to which is eager-
ly directed the attention of those men
of affairs, who perceive the immense

A CANADIAN IN NEW YORK.

439

rastua Wi-
ld alone is
mbition of
ess it had
easily have
of institu-

owever, to
ly achieve-
le in which
nost pride.
)li9hing, in
, what was
)ne life, he,
val in New
isight into
'tic of him,
other able
metropolis
) immense
nd, which
State, and
id opposite

the coast
d has been
f AmericJi.
i 58 square
idding ten
o the port
north and
lich slope
ns to the

to have
3red place
eneficence
'urnishing

in luxur-
could also
>e. When
he idea of

place, the
ntre were

wise and
tation of
ied as one
or recrea-
lultitudes

seek its

from the

e, as well

is eager-
hose men

immense

commercial possibilities that are cen-
tred there.

One of his first and most noted
achievements in this connection was
the securing of a charter for the con-
struction of a great railway bridge
connecting the State ot New Jgrsey
with the island. This was accomplish-
ed against the whole force of that
combative state, which did not wish
to see its own water fronts depreciated
in value by the presence of a competi-
tor, combined with the enormous
vested interests of the great railway
corporations which had termini in that
state, opposite New York city. After
Cyclopean efforts, he finally got the
authority of Congress for its construc-
tion, and it stands to-day another
monument to the ability, courage and
pertinacity of this masterful man. By
it, the Baltimore and Ohio and eight
other trunk lines of railway are admit-
ted to the harbor of New York mak-
ing Staten Island probably the great-
est future railway site in the world.

The Kill Van Kull bridge was in-
cidental to the construction of the
Rapid Transit Railroad in Stai.en Is-
land, which Mr. Wiman also carried
through against the immense local in-
fluence of such famous capitalists as
the Vanderbilts and John H. Starin,
who, as we would naturally suppose,
would not care to be deprived of the
monopoly they theretofoi-e enjoyed in
the ferry service between New York
and the island.

The control of this fei-ry service was
soon obtained by our Canadian friend.
A direct result of the estal)lishment of
Rapid Transit and the building of the
railway bridge has been to increase
communication between the Island
and New York city, by ferry, from 15
times per day to 58 times, to cause
real estate to double in value, popula-
tion to rapidly increase, the establish-
ment of many additional manufactor-
ies, the price of products to the con-
sumer to materially diminish, and to
add a vast residental suburb to the
adjoining overcrowded cities.

In the following extract from a
letter recently written to Mr. Wiman,
Sir Roderick Cameron, a large real
estate owner there, expresses the uni-
versal sentiment respecting the value
of Mr. Wiman's services to the island:
"As fellow Canadians, we have differ-
ed in our political views, but there has
never been an hour during the [)ast
ten yenrs, when I have failed to ap-
preciate what you have done for our
island home. Your losses are as but a
drop in the ocean compared with the
enormously increased value of the is-
land property, entirely duo to your
foresight and unflagging zeal. Keep
up your spirits and all will be well
with you."

One of Mr. Wiman's ambitions was
to make the island a great centre for
out-door amusements, and to this end
he formed the Staten Island Amuse-
ment Company, which engaged for
months the exhibition of Butialo Bill's
Wild West Show on the islaml, and
procured, at a cost of .'?40,()0(), the
celebrated Electric Fountains from
England, which now form so great an
attraction at the World's Fair at
Chicago.

Out of the electric display grew the
Richmond Light, Heat and Power
Company, also promoted by Mr. Wi-
man, designed to supply every manu-
facturer and every private individual
with light, heat and power," on tap,"and
to rendernightasday, through the many
miles of foliaged slopes, lovely glades,
and shady ilells of Staten Island. It
will, on completion of the pending im-
provements, supply not only lights,
power and traction for manufactories
and <lomestic purposes, but will also
supply power to an electric railroad
system our Canadian friend has
planned in connection with a large
land enterprise, which will thus make
accessible to New Yorkers cheap
homes in the romantic but almost
unknown interior of the Island.

These vast undertakincrs in the
country of his exile which have been
enumerated, apparently did not mon-

440

THE CANADIAN MAGAZINE.

opolizo, much loss oxhaust, tlio enerjfios
of this truly energetic man, for we
find him in l.SNO and ISM I emjajjed in
ori,fanizin<f and loomoting tlie Great
North-Wostern Tele<,Maph Company of
Canada, of which h<j soon hecame
prertident, and he, after many years
of patient, skilful and persistent nego-
tiations against ohstacles that would
have appalled a man of less courage
and perseverance, succeeded in leasing
and practically amalgamating the old
Montreal and Dominion Telegraph
(Jompanies, which were, by this act,
placed on a solid financial basis, thus
securing substantial dividends that are
being paid, up to the present time.
Not content with the performance of
these labors in the commercial world,
Mr. Wiman has for years accomplished
in the f)olitical world what would
have sufficed for the energies of any
i.rdinary man.

Among his less prominent achieve-
ments was one dictated by that broad
and disinterested philanthropy, and
sympathy for human misfortunes,
which have, from his earliest boyhood,
been among his most happy character-
istics. I refer to the Act for the aboli-
tion of imprisonment foi debt, a bar-
barous punishment that was, until the
good ofHces of Mr. Wiman were enlisted
to secure its repeal in 1887, permitted
by the highly civilized state of New
York. Under the old law, men for
years had languished in Ludlow-street
gaol for the crime merely of being too
poor to |)ay their debts. The move-
ment for its repeal originated in the
case of one Ross, a Canadian from
Montreal, who had been incarceiated
for some trifling indebtedness which
was paid by Mr. Wiman, who restored
him to his family on the anniversary
of the evening when angels ushered
into the world the message of peace
and good-will towards men, with
pockets filled not only to furnish his
family with a Christmas dinner, but
to relieve their immediate necessities
as well. From Ross, Mr. Wiman
heard of the five years' incarceration

for debt of another persf)n who was.
from sickness contracted in gaol, likely
to die .soon, unless released. This man,
by the way, had a wealthy brother in
Montreal, who has liberally endowed
a seat of learning there, but who was
apparenth' unmoved at the prospect
of his brother pining in gaol in New
York for debt. I am unal)lo to state
whether or not he endowed a Chair of
the Humanities. Mr. Wiman, during
the course of his investigation into
this man's case, was so struck with
horror at the whole situation that he
determined that perpetual imprison-
ment for debt should be a thing of the
f»ast, and going to work with his reso-
ute will and against great obstacles,
not the lea.st of which was the stony
indifference of the public, he eventu-
ally succeeded in accomplishing his
aim.

On the wall of one of the cells
in the Tombs of New York are these
words, written by still another man,
which bear mute testimony to the
constant going about doing that un-
ostentatious good which letteth not
the right hand know what the left
hand doeth, that characterized all Mr.
Wiman's deeds of charity : " I am
to-day forty years of age, and I
thought I had not a friend in the
world, when Erastus Wiman sent me a
Christmas dinner. I vow that before
I am fifty I shall be rated in the book
which this man prints worth half a
million, and before 1 am sixty I will
be rated at a million." As idle as
this boast at that time no doubt ap-
peared, it has been more than fulfilled,
as one of the largest places on Broad-
way, owned by this man, in which he
is doing annually a business of $6,00(),-
OOO, amply testifies.

A tale of absorbing interest is con-
nected with his release from the
Tombs, which was secured by Mr.
Wiman, which is too lengthy to relate
here. It would be a mistake to sup-
pose that these vast .schemes, .so scanti-
ly outlined, were the limit of Mr. Wi-
man's achievements. His essays in

A CANADIAN IN NEW YORK.

44«

n who was,
gaol, likely
This mail,
' l»iotlier in
ly endowed
Lit who W«9
le prospect
aol in Now
V)le to state
1 a Chair of
nail, during
Ration into
truck with
ion that he
I imprison-
thinjif of the
ih his reso-
it obstacles,
s the stony
he eventu-
lishing his

if the cella

•k are these

lotlier man,

)ny to the

ig that un-

Jetteth not

at the left

zed all Mr.

"I am

and I

nd in the

n sent me a

ihat before

n the book

rth half a

ixty I will

As idle as

doubt ap-

in fulfilled,

on Broad-

1 which he

of .S6,O0U,-

est is con-
from the
!d by Mr.
y to relate
,ke to sup-
so scan li-
3f Mr. VVi-
es^ays in

political, literary and social spheres
during the time he wa.s engaged in
promoting these great enterpriHes, wore
characterized by the same boldness,
energy and comprehensiveness that
were the main features of his financial
achievements. His mind was pro-
bably the first to conceive the vast
scheme of joining in commercial union
the two vast territories that compose
almost this entire continent. His
puVjlic meeting at Dufierin Lake, in
the summer of 1887, inaugurated the
movement, in which his heart is still
so engaged, and which soon became
the battle cry of one of the great poli-
tical parties of Canada, under the name
of unrestricted reciprocity. So engross-
ed in the desire to benefit his native
country was be that he took no less
than twenty-five trips to Washington
on behalf of this movement, and after
a large expenditure of time, money and
energy, procured the Committee on
Fciieign Relations of the House of Re-
presentatives to give it the stamp of
its approval in the famous " Hitt re-
solution." His refusal to renounce
allegiance to the land of his birth and
to take the oath of allegiance to the
government of the United States has
entailed on him very great inconven-
iences, among which are a foreigner's
inability to hold real estate in his
own name, or any title whatever in
coasting vessels, in some of which he
was largely interested, or to become a
director in any banking institution,
in one of which he was a large stock-
holder. This stand taken by him is
an unobtrusive testimony to a genuine
sentiment of loyalty that breathed
ill him, and is in striking contrast to
the noiuy demonstrations of many of
his opponents in Canada, who bandy
about, without much reference to its
meaning, this much abused and mis-
construed word.

Among the large number of pamph-
lets he has published, the vast num-
ber of addresses he has delivered, and
letters to the press he has written on
political, social and scientific subjects,

are many that deal with this (juesticm
of commercial union between Cana<hi
antl the United States. No leas than
twenty-five articles of his grace the
North American and Contemporary
Reviews. He received requests to con-
tribute no less than three different
articles within five months to the
same magazine. His public addre-ses
have been delivered in nearly every
city of the Union, and in all the cities
of Canada except Hamilton. They
have been delivered before the most
noted commercial, scientific, education-
al and literary institutions in the
United States. That he has been a
powerful agent in the formation and
controlling of thought on this contin-
ent scarcely any one will undertake to
deny.

When we consider the work of this
one man, we wonder what limit there
is to human endurance, and natur-
ally feel a desire to account for his
ability to accomplish so much. That
he must be a man of unusual ability,
industry and energy goes without say-
ing. Retiring at nine thirty, p.m. and
rising at three or four a.m., he has
thus been able to" perform an amount
of literary labor that would have been
impossible, in view of his other engage-
ments, without utilizing these early
hours, most of his literary work hav-
ing been done between these latter
hours and seven a.m. He was always,
when in the city, to be found at his
office between nine a.m. and five p.m.,
after which his well known form
could be seen pacing the deck of the
ferry which carried him to his happy
home in Staten Island, where he reign-
ed as the idol with no rival, and where
he usually spent his evenings reading
aloud the popular authors to a charm-
ed family circle. In this home, tw well
as in the city, he also dispensed the
most generous hospitality. This ex-
tended not only to his private friends,
but to the persons composing such im-
portant bodies as the Pan-American
Congress, the Iron and Steel Institute
of Great Britian, the President and

442

THE CANADIAN MAGAZINE,

Executive of the Ballimoii) ami Ohio
Kaih'oad, and other guests by the
hum I red.

T(j his other pergonal characteri.sticH
iini.st bo added a vivacity of intellect,
a grHn<l phy«iiiue that lias never been
enervated by the use of tobacco or the
excessive use of ardent li(|Uor.s, nie-
thodiciil habits, do^j^ed |)erHeverance,
a mounting ainl)ition, and, above all, a
lififht-heartcd an<l cheery disposition
which, during his wliole career, from
the time ho was a barefooted boy
earning fifty cents per week, to the
time he l)ecanie one of the most noted
men of North America, has served him
so well. A<l(lod to this, the springs of
human sympathy and philanthropy
were ever active within him, thus keep-
ing fresh ami ifreen the moral constitu-
tioii, which seems to react upon and
keep healthy the physical, the drying
up of which in any one is not favor-
al)le to longevity. It is almost incred-
ible to a strangei- viewing Mr. VViinan'.s
freshness and vigor, that he is within
ten years of fulfilling the sphere of life
alloted by the Psalmist to man.

A short enumeration of liis benevo-
lent and charitable acts would till a
goodly sized volume. Among the
objects of his cheerful support are his
first school mistress, aged unmarried
spinsters, widows, old men and distant
relatives, who have up to the time of
the present embarrassment in his fin-
ances been the regular monthly recipi-
ents of his bounty.

The offices in Montreal and Toronto
of the agency with which he has so
many years been identified were the
centres in Canada from which these
donations so freely flowed. No less a
sum than $.50,000 has, in the opinion of
those best capable of judging, been
given by him within the last fifteen
years to these objects of his fond soli-
citude in Canada. If this large sum
represents his gifts in Canada, what
must lie the sum that represents like
donations in the United States where
the field and demand for them were
greater. If, as Burke says, " Men are

ruined on the side of their natund pro-
pensities," we have in these charitable
gifts the secret of Mr. \Vi man's present
fiiuincial embarrassment. Nothing is
clearcrtohls most intimatt' friends than
that if hehad buttoned upliis pockets to
all cries for aid, the money thus saved,
utilized as he so well knew how to
utilize it, would have prevented
his present temporary end)arni.ssment.
Many (Canadians in the United States
have especial reason to gratefully re-
member him. Scattered all over the
Union from Maine to California are
thousands who owe their present pros-
perity in life to the impulse of his
sound and friendly ailvice and finan-
cial aid. His hume and office in New
York were the Meccas to which all
( 'anadians, from the most prominent
and cultured to the most ignorant set-
tler, turned for recreation or help, and
none of them went disappointed away.
Especially was he solicitous of the
welfare of the newsboys and telegraph
operators, in whom, owing to his
former connection with those ca Hint's,
he felt a most active sympathy.

An indication of the hold he has
gained on the hearts and imagination
of the operators is furnished by an in-
cident that occurred at a banquet given
by the Magnetic Ciuo in New York,
where the chairman, upon introducing
Mr. Wiman, said: — " He is the oidy di-
rector on a list of thirty millionaires
composing the board, whom any one
of the sixty thousand operators would
approach with a certainty of borrow-
ing a ten dollar bill."

In view of all these achievements,
were the brittle thread which binds
him to this life to be now snapped,
could any one assert with truth that
his life i;ad not been a grand success.
Has it been any the less so because
he has probably still twenty years, with
all his accumulatedexperience,his ai'dor
and energy undiminished, within
which to recover from his present mis-
fortune ? All persons, however much
they differ in opinion from Mr. Wiman
on various topics, it is believed can join

•I
I

A CANADIAN IN NEW YORK.

443

in the heartfelt wislieH of Mr. Bayanl,
ex-Secretary of State for the United
States, and at present American Min-
ister to the Court <»f St. JameM, who a
few woeka ago tlius wrote :

" Dear Mu. Wiman :—

" The time draws near for my depar-
ture for iiiy new scene of <luty, hut I
am not wiillnff to \io without an ex-
pression of my sincere antl hearty
sympathy for the financial embarrass-
ment which has come upon you. I
cannot douljt but that the same fore-
sight, energy, enterprise and integrity
upon whieli your success has heretofore
been btiilded up, will, in due time, re-

construct your fortunos, and leave you
in that condition which you iiave so
well earned and which, I sincerely hope,
you may soon regain.

" Wishing you every good fortune, I
am most truly and respectfully yours,

"T. F. Bavard."

Such words, from such a man, the
most representative of all the public
men in the United States, fittingly
close this tribute to Canada's friend in
the Uniteil States, as imlicating the
esteem in which he is helil in the
country of his adoption, and the inllu-
ence he wields for the benefit of the
country of his V)irth.

»■
a.