ith the
West, are too fresh in the mind of the reader to need a recital of them
here. It was proposed to issue ten millions of dollars worth of new
stock, and Mr. Drew was to guarantee the bonds. After a tedious and
costly suit, in which the New York Central Road endeavored to prevent
the issue of the stock, in the hope of keeping the Erie Road from
forming through connections with the West, the New York Legislature
legalized the new issue, and a compromise was effected between Mr. Drew,
in behalf of the Erie Road, and Commodore Vanderbilt, who represented
the New York Central.

Mr. Drew still continues his operations in Wall Street, where he is
known as one of the boldest and most extensive, as well as one of the
most successful, of all the operators in railroad stocks. Though losing
heavily at times, he has nevertheless been one of fortune's favorites.
His efforts have not been confined to the Erie Road. He owns stock in
other roads, and, together with Commodore Vanderbilt, took up the
floating debt of over half a million of dollars which weighed down the
Harlem Road, and placed it in its present prosperous condition.

He owns a fine grazing farm on the Harlem Railroad, about fifty miles
from New York. It is situated in Carmel, in Putnam County; is nearly one
thousand acres in extent, and includes the old farm on which he was
born. He has made it one of the finest and most profitable in the State,
and, it is said, values it above all his other possessions. He has
improved and beautified it upon an extensive scale, and near the old
grave-yard, where his parents lie sleeping, he has built one of the most
beautiful churches in the land.

In 1811, Mr. Drew became a member of the Methodist Church, but for
twenty-five years this connection was merely nominal. During all the
years of his drover's life he kept himself free from the sins of
intemperance and swearing. Once while riding out in a buggy with a
friend, to look at some cattle, a thunder-storm came on, and his horse
was killed in the shafts by lightning. This narrow escape from death
made a deep impression on his mind, and in 1841 he united with the
Mulberry Street Methodist Church, of which he became an active member
and a trustee. The elegant marble structure now standing at the corner
of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-second Street attests his liberality to this
congregation. He is a trustee in the Wesleyan University, and has
largely endowed that institution; and wi