the house to the synagogue, he
caused twenty-five magnificent carriages to be made, such as monarchs
use when they are going to be crowned, and these vehicles were drawn by
horses imported from England for the purpose. The bridal veil was
composed of ineffable lace, made from an original design expressly for
this bride.

And then what doings in the synagogue! A choir of one hundred and ten
trained voices, led by the best conductor in Europe--the first tenor of
this generation engaged, who sang the prayer from "Moses in Egypt"--a
crowd of rabbis, and assistant-rabbis, with the grand rabbi of Paris at
their head. To complete the histrionic performance, eight young girls,
each bearing a beautiful gold-embroidered bag, and attended by a young
gentleman, "took up a collection" for the poor, which yielded seven
thousand francs.

Mr. Astor could, if he had chosen, have thrown his millions about in
this style. He was one of a score or two of men in North America who
could have maintained establishments in town and country on the
dastardly scale so common among rich people in Europe. He, too, could
have had his park, his half a dozen mansions, his thirty carriages, his
hundred horses and his yacht as big as a man-of-war. That he was above
such atrocious vulgarity as this, was much to his credit and more to our
advantage. What he could have done safely, other men would have
attempted to whom the attempt would have been destruction. Some
discredit also would have been cast upon those who live in moderate and
modest ways.

Every quarter day Mr. Astor had nearly half a million dollars to invest
in the industries of the country. To invest his surplus income in the
best and safest manner was the study of his life. His business was to
take care of and increase his estate; and that _being_ his business, he
was right in giving the necessary attention to it. "William will never
make money," his father used to say; "but he will take good care of what
he has." And so it proved. The consequence was, that all his life he
invested money in the way that was at once best for himself and best for
the country. No useless or premature scheme had had any encouragement
from him. He invariably, and by a certainty of judgment that resembled
an instinct, "put his money where it would do most good." Political
economists demonstrate that an investment which is the best for the
investor must of necessity be the best for the public. Here, again, we
were