rty thousand dollars. The
caricaturists have sent multitudes of people to hear me preach and
lecture. I have had antagonists; but if any man of my day has had more
warm personal friends I do not know his name.

THE SIXTEENTH MILESTONE

1892-1895

I had only one fault to find with the world in my sixty years of travel
over it and that was it had treated me too well. In the ordinary course
of events, and by the law of the Psalmist, I still had ten more years
before me; but, according to my own calculations, life stretched
brilliantly ahead of me as far as heart and mind could wish. There were
many things to take into consideration. There was the purpose of the
future, its obligations, its opportunities to adjust. My whole life had
been a series of questions. My course had been the issue of problems, a
choice of many ways.

Shortly after the dawn of 1893 the financial difficulties in which the
New Tabernacle had been reared confronted us. It had arisen from the
ashes of its predecessor by sheer force of energy and pluck. It had
taken a vast amount of negotiation. A loan of $125,000, made to us by
Russell Sage, payable in one year at 6 per cent., was one of the means
employed. This loan was arranged by Mr. A.L. Soulard, the president of
the German-American Title and Guarantee Company. Mr. Sage was a friend
of mine, of my church, and that was some inducement. The loan was made
upon the guarantee of the Title Company. It was reported to me that Mr.
Sage had said at this time:--

"It all depends upon whether Dr. Talmage lives or not. If he should
happen to die the Brooklyn Tabernacle wouldn't be worth much."

The German-American Title and Guarantee Company then secured an
insurance on my life for $25,000 and insisted that the Board of Trustees
of the church give their individual bonds for the fulfillment of the
mortgage. The trustees were W.D. Mead, F.H. Branch, John Wood, C.S.
Darling, F.M. Lawrence, and James B. Ferguson. In this way Mr. Sage
satisfied both his religious sympathies and his business nature. For
more reasons than one, therefore, I kept myself in perfect health. This
was only one of the incidents involved in the building of the New
Tabernacle. For two years I had donated my salary of $12,000 a year to
the church, and had worked hard incessantly to infuse it with life and
success. This information may serve to contradict some scattered
impressions made by our friendly critics, that my personal aim