have allied himself with almost any of the large financial or business concerns of the city.
Having voluntarily retired from business, because he was not ambitious to go farther either for fame or riches, when he returned to America he was for a short time at a standstill as to what his future life was to be.
He is known to have entertained the idea of going back to Europe to continue his studies of the great cities and peoples which he had not visited. The early forties were the most perplexing period of his life. One thing that is said to have brought him home from abroad was the notice that had been drawn to coal lands and their advancement in values. He had large investments in certain important coal properties.
The strenuous and thorough investigations he had made prior to investing his capital proved the excellence of his judgment, because all his investments greatly enhanced in value. The careful survey he had to make of his properties and the examinations of other investments offered to him, to take up his income uninvested, deferred his return to Europe until he lost his enthusiasm for it.
