Henry Bradley Plant.

THE LIFE OF
HENRY BRADLEY PLANT

FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF THE PLANT SYSTEM
OF RAILROADS AND STEAMSHIPS AND ALSO
OF THE SOUTHERN EXPRESS COMPANY
BY
G. HUTCHINSON SMYTH, D.D.

G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1898

Compliments of
The Author.
Copyright, 1898
BY
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London
The Knickerbocker Press, New York

PREFACE.

IF it be asked why another biography is added to the almost endless number now in our bookstores and libraries, an answer is found in the countless distinctions of individual character, and in the varied experiences which come to men in different walks of life. The botanist says that of all leaves in the forests of the world, no two can be found alike in every particular. The phrenologist says the same of the various forms of the human head, and the psychologist affirms it of the intellects and dispositions of men and women. Hence each life has its own peculiar experience to record for the pleasure or profit of others.

Biography is the most universally interesting and instructive branch of literature; hence the power of the novel and drama, which are merely biographies pictured and acted before us. A study of history shows that the nations’ great movements are the work of individual men and women. In illustration of this fact it is needful to mention such names only as Abraham, Joseph, Esther, Joan of Arc, Napoleon, and Washington.

The commercial and industrial occupations from which a nation now derives its strength should be honored as truly as the military exploit, or the scientific achievement. The record of a noble life which, in its sphere of quiet duty, has accomplished much for the good of others, is a lesson in patriotism and a legacy to posterity. The best period of the history of the Cotton States could only be written by taking into account the share which the subject of this biography has had in their development.

It is rare to find a man who has had dealings with so many of his fellows, and who, at the same time, has won the esteem and affection of his associates and employés, as has Henry Bradley Plant in every department of his great railroad system.

The writing of this biography is undertaken in the belief that there are many general readers to whom the record of such a life will be as welcome as it must be to those to whom, in his manifold activities, he has proved a benefactor and a friend.

G. H. S.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

The author takes pleasure in acknowledging his indebtedness to many of the Southern Express and “Plant System” officials for their prompt and valuable assistance in the preparation of a biography of their able and esteemed President. Chief among those to whom thanks are due may be mentioned Messrs. A. P. C. Ryan, M. J. O’ Brien, D. F. Jack, B. W. Wrenn, and G. H. Tilley. The last named furnished not only much material in manuscript and print, but many valuable suggestions as to their use. The letter of Ex-Governor Bullock of Georgia, published in the volume reveals the noble nature which penned it, far more eloquently than any words which can be written here, and is alike honorable to its distinguished subject and its eminent author.

Acknowledgment is due also to the papers from which extracts have been taken.

THE LIFE OF
HENRY BRADLEY PLANT.

CHAPTER I.

The Plant Family—Birth of Henry Bradley Plant—Mr. Plant’s Parents—Ancestors Came from England in 1639—David Plant Occupied Many Positions of Honor and Trust—A. P. Plant’s Successful Business Career—H. B. Plant on his Mother’s Side is Descended from Joseph Frisbee, a Major in Washington’s Army—Reverend Levi Frisbee, Father of Professor Levi Frisbee of Harvard College—Connection with Sir William Pepperell, Bart.—The Historian of the Frisbee Family—Richard of the Second Generation Went from Virginia to Connecticut, and Settled at Branford, 1644—Sketch of Oliver Libby Frisbee, Historian of his Family—Senator Hoar’s Relations to the Frisbee Family—Frisbee Patriotism and Services to their Country—They Were Good Church-Going People, Mostly of the Puritan Belief—Probability that the Frisbees Came from Wales.

HENRY BRADLEY PLANT was born October 27, 1819, at Branford, Connecticut. His paternal great-grandfather was attached to Washington’s army as a private, when Washington was at Newburg, and he was one of the guard of the unfortunate Major André at the time of his execution. His great-grandfather on his grandmother Plant’s side was a major in General Washington’s army at the same time.

Mr. Plant’s father was Anderson Plant and his mother was Betsey Bradley. They were married December 23, 1818, and were of good old Puritan ancestry who came from England about two hundred and sixty years ago. According to a genealogical table at the end of this volume, it will be seen that John Plant was in Hartford, Connecticut, in the year 1639,—some give the date three years earlier,—and his son, John Plant, is granted a tract of land at Branford in 1667. These people possessed the characteristics that distinguished their race. They loved freedom, were thrifty, energetic, self-reliant, patriotic, and devoutly religious. Many of them were officers, and most of them members in the Congregational Church, which was the only church in the town for the first hundred years of its history.

Some of them occupied positions of honor and responsibility in the State and country.

David Plant was born at Stratford, prepared for college at the Cheshire Academy, graduated at Yale College in 1804, studied law at the Litchfield Law School, and was a classmate of John C. Calhoun. In 1819 and 1820, he was Speaker of the House of Representatives, and in 1821 was elected to the State Senate and twice re-elected. He was Lieutenant-Governor of the State from 1823 to 1827, and from 1827 to 1829 he was a member of the United States Congress. In politics he was a staunch Whig. He was an influential man in the political circles of his day in the State of Connecticut, and Calhoun, when Secretary of State, offered him any position within his gift; but he refused to hold office under the dominant party.

Another successful man of the Plant family was A. P. Plant, son of Ebenezer and Lydia (Neal) Plant, born at Southington in the year 1816.

Early in life he began to earn his own living, and by industry, economy, and business tact he became in time the head of a large manufacturing establishment. He settled in that part of the town known as the “Corner,” a part which rapidly increased in population and soon grew into a prosperous village. It bears the name of Plantsville in honor of A. P. Plant and his brother E. H. Plant. His biographer says: “He made a profession of religion in 1833; and from that time was an influential member of the Baptist Church. In 1850, he was elected a deacon of the church in Southington, and held the office until 1872, when he transferred his relations to the new enterprise started in his own village. To this church he gave liberally, and left it a legacy in his will.” He is described as a most faithful and consistent Christian, an esteemed officer in the church, and a firm believer in the presence of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the Christian.

Henry Bradley Plant, on his grandmother’s side, is a direct descendant of Joseph Frisbee, a major in Washington’s army. The Frisbees were a numerous family, and many of them occupied positions of honor and influence in the history of the country. One of them writing to Mr. Plant says:

“I suppose you have often wondered what has become of my history of the Frisbee family. I have been diligently at work on it since you heard from me. It has grown from a very small beginning to be quite an affair, namely, from looking up my ancestors so that I could join the hereditary societies of the United States, to writing a history of over one thousand of the lineal descendants of Edward Frisbee, the first settler. I find them a noble race, worthy of history. I have also looked up my maternal ancestors and can trace them back to 1497, thirteen generations, among them Sir William Pepperell.”

The fitness of the writer, Oliver L. Frisbee, for his task of searching the records of his long line of progenitors may be gathered from another paragraph in the same letter where he says: “My Alma Mater, Bates College, gave me the degree of Master of Arts, last Commencement, for eminent success in business and proficiency in the studies of genealogy, heraldry, and colonial history.”

The following sketch, with some slight corrections, is taken from a carefully prepared account, by the same writer, of the descendants of Richard Frisbee, the first-named ancestor of this family.

“Richard Frisbee came from England to Virginia, in 1619, when he was twenty-four years old. In 1642, the Governor of Virginia ordered all those who would not join the Church of England to leave the Colony, and hundreds went to Eastern Virginia, now the State of Maryland. Among these refugees were Richard Frisbee and his two sons, James and William. They purchased plantations in Cecil County and resided on Kent Island, the northern part of Chesapeake Bay.

“At first the Governor of Virginia claimed this island; later, Lord Baltimore and afterwards, William Penn. The latter wrote to James Frisbee, from London, in 1681, instructing him to pay no tax to Lord Baltimore. James Frisbee was a member of the House of Representatives of Maryland, and held other important positions in the State. In addressing a petition to His Majesty, in 1688, he, with others, began their petition thus: ‘We the undersigned Englishmen though born in America,’ etc. James went back to England, the land of his birth, in his old age.

“Richard, son of Richard the emigrant, came from Virginia to Connecticut, and settled at Branford in 1644, when his brothers went to Maryland. His son John had several children, among them Edward and Joseph. The former was the ancestor of Major Philip Frisbee, of Albany County, New York. He was in the War of the Revolution, and his grandsons belonged to the Sons of the American Revolution, of the State of New York. President Edward S. Frisbee of Wells College, in New York State, is his descendant. The latter, Joseph, your ancestor [referring to Mr. Plant], married September 14, 1712, had a son Joseph who married Sarah Bishop, August 25, 1742. Their son Joseph married Sarah Rogers, March 11, 1773. Their eldest child, Sarah, born May 15, 1774, was your grandmother.

“The name Joseph has been in our branch of the family a long time. My father’s name was Joseph. I had a brother Joseph, and my son born this summer is also named Joseph.

“The youngest child of the first Edward was Ebenezer, my ancestor, brother to John, your ancestor. He had two sons, Ebenezer and Elisha. The latter was the father of the Rev. Levi Frisbee who settled at Ipswich, Massachusetts, and was the father of Professor Levi Frisbee of Harvard College, who died in 1820, one of the most talented men that ever passed through that institution. Senator Hoar was named for him, George Frisbie Hoar. Ebenezer’s son James, born in 1722, was lieutenant with Captain Paul Jones, and was killed one hundred and fifteen years ago to-day, September 23d, in the engagement between the Bonne Homme Richard and Serapis in the English Channel. This was my great-grandfather and by right of descent from him I joined the Sons of the American Revolution. His son Darius (born in 1769), my grandfather, settled in Kittery, Maine, and married Dorothy Gerrish, a great-granddaughter of Colonel William Pepperell, a well-known merchant and the father of Sir William Pepperell, Bart., the hero of Louisburg. Dorothy Gerrish was also related to some of the most distinguished colonial families in New England.”

The subjoined letters from John B. Frisbee and Senator Hoar will be of interest in this connection.

“Lakewood, N. J., December 16, 1894.

“My dear Mr. Plant:

“This tardy reply to your favor of the 6th inst. is occasioned by illness since its receipt, and which prompted my coming to this place to recruit. I am now rapidly recovering from quite a severe attack of grippe, and hope to be able to leave for Mexico this week.

“Referring to the subject of your letter, I can only give you meagre information. My great-grandfather, Philip Frisbie, was a major in the New York Militia and served under Washington, and I have no doubt was closely related to the Joseph Frisbie you mention.

“I have a first cousin, Mrs. Farman, the wife of Judge Farman, formerly United States Consul-General in Egypt, who has devoted much time and research in obtaining an accurate history of our family. Recently, she went to Europe for the purpose of educating her children in the French and German languages.

“I have written to her, requesting her to advise you directly in regard to the information you desire, hence I feel assured that you will in due time receive a letter from her upon the subject.

“Since we last met I have visited New York several times, and upon each occasion you have been absent from the city, thus depriving me of the coveted pleasure of paying my respects to Mrs. Plant and your good self; with best regards to both, I remain,

“Yours very sincerely,
“John B. Frisbie.”

“United States Senate.,
“Washington, D. C., January 26, 1895.

“My dear Sir:

“I know very little about the Frisbie family in this country. I have no relatives of that name. I was myself named for a very intimate friend of my father, Prof. Levi Frisbie, who was an eminent scholar in his time, a graduate at Harvard in 1802, and afterwards filled two professorships there. His writings, as I dare say you know, were collected with a brief memoir and are occasionally to be found in bookstores. He was son of the Rev. Levi Frisbie, of Ipswich, who delivered several addresses that have been published. Prof. Frisbie wrote some articles for the North American Review which you will find referred to in Cushing’s lists of the articles. Dr. Holmes wrote me some years ago an account of Prof. Frisbie’s personal appearance, which I suppose I can find when I am at home in Worcester, if you desire. Prof. Frisbie was nearly blind and instructed his classes and pursued his studies without being able to read

“I am faithfully yours,
“Geo. F. Hoar.[1]

“To O. L. Frisbie,
“Portsmouth, N. H.”

The Frisbee family was patriotic and promptly responded to the call of freedom and independence. There were thirty-five of them from Connecticut in the War of the Revolution. Eleven of them spelled their names Frisbee; seventeen, Frisbie; and seven, Frisby. They continued in the service of their country from the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1776, until the disbanding of the army, by Washington, on the Hudson in 1783. A regiment marched from Connecticut towns, in 1775, to the relief of Boston. John Frisbee, son of Titus Ebenezer, represented Branford in the Legislature from 1690 to 1692. O. L. Frisbee writes to Mr. Plant: “Your ancestor was a good churchman. From him, there is a long list of Frisbees in the records of the church of Branford. In 1700, the annals of Branford say that among the families prominently identified with the church, town, and business from 1700 to 1800, the Frisbees, Bands, and Plants head a long list in the order in which I have written their names. This religious element seems to have been with the Frisbees. Rev. Levi Frisbee, father of Professor Levi of Harvard College, was a very pious man.

“He was invited to deliver an oration on Washington at his death. My grandfather was a very pious man; he founded a church at Kittery, Maine. My father, Joseph Frisbee, was a deacon in the church. He and Caleb Frisbee were in the regiment from Branford. I found Noah and Edward Frisbee were members of the company that marched to the relief of Fort William Henry, August, 1757, from Connecticut. I found your ancestor Joseph Foote Frisbee was in the Revolutionary War. He lived to be ninety-eight years of age. About 1700, Samuel Baker and Samuel Frisbee, Jr., bought land for a wharf at Dutch House Point, from Joseph Foote at Branford. Joseph Foote Frisbee might have been named for this man.

“In the church records of Branford there is a great deal about Joseph Frisbee, in connection with the church from 1743 to 1746. I find all the Frisbees good church (Congregational) people, from the first Edward who settled at Branford, July 7, 1644. He and his wife Abigail joined the Congregational church soon after settling in Branford. I should say the Frisbees were good fighters in war, and good church and law-abiding people, with Puritanic principles that helped to build the nation.”

In a history of the Wolcotts of Connecticut, it is stated that John Frisbee and Abigail Culpepper, his wife, came from Wales. This may be correct, although in the genealogical sketch already given it is stated that the first of the family, Richard Frisbee, came from England to Virginia in 1619, but the same sketch says that in 1642 the Governor of Virginia ordered all who would not join the Church of England to leave the Colony, and that hundreds went to Eastern Virginia, now called Maryland, and that among them was Richard Frisbee, who with his sons settled in Cecil County, living on Kent Island, the northern part of Chesapeake Bay. Now it is quite common, in the early accounts of immigration to America, to describe the people as English, or as coming from England, when in fact they were Scotch or Irish. But coming from any of the British Islands they were often called English. This would be more likely to be the case with those coming from Wales, which is, geographically speaking, a part of the island of Great Britain. Be this as it may, it is not of great importance. The spirit of dissent from the Established Church was just as strong in England as in Wales. The name Frisbee or Frisby, as its terminal denotes, is of English origin, but it is quite possible that the family came from one of the border countries.

Whether this family came from Wales or England may be only a matter of historic accuracy and personal interest; certain it is the Frisbees are a people who have done honor to their country both in war and in peace. They bore a prominent part in the victorious struggle for the freedom and independence of the American Colonies. They have been the promoters of education, peace, piety, and “the righteousness that exalteth a nation.” We have given this account of this people, for four reasons. First, because the historian of the family, with a commendable pride, has collected and preserved the family record of his people, from which the material for this brief notice was placed at our disposal. Secondly, because the family histories of the people who have combined to form the American nation are only beginning to receive a slight part of the attention which they justly merit. Thirdly, because a knowledge of the numerous and varied races that have formed the nation is essential to a correct understanding of the American people. Fourthly, because in the present case, owing to the early death of Mr. Plant’s father, the widowed mother was especially dear to him, and is still cherished in his memory with the most tender and affectionate regard.

Mr. Plant’s connection with Washington’s army during the Revolutionary War was one of the family traditions, but he was not the man to accept honors unless he knew they rightly belonged to him. So after an extensive correspondence, and a thorough investigation of the military register in several States, and at the national capital, he received the following communication, which I have carefully copied from the original.

“Records and Pension Office, War Department, Washington, November 15, 1895. Respectfully returned to Mr. Oliver L. Frisbee, A.M., Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It appears from the records of this office, that Joseph Frisbee was enlisted September 3, 1780, and served as a private in Lieutenant-Colonel Sherman’s Company (also designated as Captain Sylvanus Brown’s and Lieutenant Joseph Hait’s Company), Eighth Connecticut Regiment, Revolutionary War, and was also discharged October 29, 1780.” On transmitting the above to Mr. Plant, Mr. O. Frisbee writes from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, December 24, 1895: “Enclosed please find the record from Washington of the service of your grandmother’s father, Joseph Frisbee, in the Revolutionary War. He was born August 17, 1745; married, March 11, 1773, Sarah Rogers; had a daughter Sarah, born May 15, 1774, married Samuel Plant, February 11, 1795. These records will enable you and your sons to join in ‘The Sons of the American Revolution.’

“O. L. Frisbee.”

CHAPTER II.

Branford, Connecticut, Purchased by the New Haven Colonists from the Totokett Indians in 1638—First Settlements were Made 1644—First Church of Logs Surrounded by Stockade to Protect from Indians—Guards at the Gate during Service—Church and Town Records Preserved at Branford—John Plum the First Town Clerk—Style of the Second Church Building and Character of its Services—Rev. Timothy Gillett its Pastor—He Taught an Academy in Addition to his Pastoral Work—Prominent Families of Branford—Intelligent Character of the People—De Tocqueville’s High Estimate of this “Leetle State”—Branford in 1779.

SOON after New Haven was settled, the people negotiated with the Indians for an additional tract of land, some ten miles in length from north to south. It extended eight or ten miles east of the Quinnipiac River. The purchase of this land occurred in December, 1638. It was bought from an Indian sachem named Sorsheog of Mattabeseck. The territory included the land on which the town of Branford was built, and its Indian name was Totokett. It was several years before the purchasers went to live at Totokett. It was early in the year 1644 when the first settlers located upon their lands at Branford. By the first of October of that year, the society was so far organized that their minister could gather them for regular service. The people soon built him a house and a meeting-house, or church. This latter stood in the front of the old burying-ground; it was built of logs and had a thatched roof, and was surrounded by a cedar-wood stockade twelve feet high. A cedar-wood vase made from the wood of this stockade is still in the possession of Mrs. Samuel O. Plant.

During the hours of worship, one or more of the men stood guard near the entrance of the stockade. All carried firearms to church, or when going any distance from home. They were not afraid of the Totokett Indians, but of raiding bands of other Indian tribes who attacked both the whites and Indians. The fierce Mohawks from the neighborhood of the Hudson were often the assailants. The first thing that appears on the ancient records of Branford is the division of lands among the first settlers in the month of June, 1645. It has been said, and often repeated, that in 1666, when so many people went from Branford to settle at Newark, New Jersey, they took the records of Branford with them. These in some way were burned, and thus much valuable history was lost. But such was not the fact.

The town and church records have always

remained at Branford. They are quite full and in a reasonably good state of preservation. In a manuscript history of Branford from which the above account is taken, the name of the first town clerk, John Plum, in 1645, and a list of his successors, are given with the date of their service. It is interesting to note how much alike are the ways and customs of this old Puritan town to those of the town of Harlem, built by the Dutch a little later and now part of New York City. In both places the history of the town and the history of the church are one. They are so interwoven that they can hardly be separated. The division of the meadow-lands is the same; mutual protection from the Indians, and the manner of defence are also alike. The official appointment, by the town, of a man to gather in all the cows of the settlers, take them out to graze in the morning, and bring them back at the proper time to be milked, and many other such customs, are very much alike in both settlements.

The second church, or meeting-house, was built on the common, of wood, and was succeeded by the present house of worship, which is built of brick. Mr. Plant remembers the high galleries in the old church where the seats were arranged in slips, the boys on one side, and the girls on the other; neither could see the minister, and it is very doubtful whether any of them heard him. There were no children’s sermons in those days. The babes, of whom Paul writes, were not fed on milk, but on strong meat, which even the rigorous doctrinal appetites of the fathers sometimes found hard to digest. Some of the modern church movements, such as women preaching, and Salvation Army barracks, would have sufficiently alarmed those good orthodox people to make them call for a day of fasting and prayer. Nevertheless they were a noble race, among whom misappropriation and embezzlement of funds, trust swindling and corporation stealing and political corruption were unknown.

The pulpit was the old-fashioned barrel-shaped structure, and, like some of the sermons, was high above the heads of the people. There was a great sounding-board over the head of the preacher, and it used to be a subject of calculation with the boys, whether this board would not some day fall on the devoted head of the speaker and stop the sound altogether. This church had the old family square pew, and in front of the pulpit was a bench for the deacons. The people were classified in their pews according to age, and the oldest, perhaps on account of their difficulty in hearing, occupied the seats nearest the pulpit. The church building was not warmed, save by the fervid sermons of those grand old Puritan divines. That, however, reached only the head and heart, hence, for the feet, they made stoves of sheet iron, over which was a perforated tin casing, and over this a hardwood casing. Coals from corncobs, or seasoned hickory, as being the most durable, were placed in this stove, which was carried in the bottom of carriage or sleigh to church, where its heat would last all forenoon. At the close of the forenoon service, the people went to the neighboring church house, which was warmed by a log fire. Here they ate their luncheon, and then returned to the church for another two hours’ devotion.

The Rev. Timothy P. Gillett was pastor of this church in Mr. Plant’s boyhood. He taught an academy—Mr. Plant being a scholar for several terms—in addition to his ministerial duties of preaching, visiting, and catechising the church people. He was a sober, solemn, orthodox clergyman of the old school, scholarly and dignified both in and out of the pulpit. It is only a hint of the changes that time brings, and no reflection on this good man’s charity to say that, had he seen one of the modern ministers visiting his flock on a bicycle, he would have had him deposed from the sacred office. Some unfortunate misunderstanding came between him and his congregation in the latter part of his ministry, so that his wife refused to have his remains interred in the church burying-ground. She afterwards relented, was herself buried in the church cemetery, and left in her will two thousand dollars to defray the cost of removing her husband’s remains thither, and for erecting a suitable monument to his memory. The sacred dust of both pastor and wife rests, as it should, among the people to whom they ministered for some fifty years or more. The town of Branford was composed of an intelligent, industrious, and religious people, mostly farmers and well-to-do citizens. The academy presided over by the Rev. Timothy P. Gillett constituted a centre of intellectual, moral, and spiritual development that inspired the life and elevated the character of the people.

The following account from, the Branford Annals is only one of the many testimonies that might be recorded of the patriotism and courage of this people:

“No town in New Haven County was more important during the war of independence than old Branford. Her citizens proved very patriotic. She had a few royalists who were somewhat troublesome. But most of her people were self-sacrificing in a special degree in sustaining the federal cause. No town surpassed her in furnishing men and means. Most all of her able-bodied men were in the army, responding promptly at every call. Col. William Douglass’ regiment, which did most effective service, was largely recruited from Branford. The coasts and harbors of Branford exposed her to visits from the vessels of the enemy. Coast-guards were needed, and were kept night and day at Stony Creek, Indian Neck, Town Neck, and at Branford Point. At the approach of the enemy, two reports of a cannon were to call out all the people to repel invasion. Expresses were kept in readiness to hasten to the remote parts of the town with the alarming news. When New Haven was invaded, patriots from Branford were quickly on hand to help. A company of her men were in the battle at Milford Hill. Two Branford men, Goodrich and Baldwin, were killed, and several others wounded at that battle. The attack of the British on the east side of New Haven harbor was repelled by the Branford home guard mostly. Those from Branford were supported by men from Guilford, who hastened to the rescue.

“At that time a new vessel, a brig named the New Defence, was at Branford wharf almost ready to sail against the enemy. She had been built and manned at Branford. Her future history was tragical. At the first alarm of the landing at New Haven the guns of this vessel were taken out and hurried over the hills to East Haven. There mounted and vigorously used and well supported by the brave minute-men with their muskets, the invaders were compelled to hasten a retreat. One of the reports made by the British officers speaks of the strong force and ‘great guns’ encountered in that direction. There is an old record at Branford showing that Mason Hobart, of that place, was paid £5 for carting two cannon to East Haven from the brig New Defence, July 5, 1779.”

Connecticut, though one of the smaller States of the Union, has ever maintained a high standard of patriotism, education, and moral power in the progress of the country. De Tocqueville was in the habit of saying, “All de great men in Amerique comed from dat leetle State dey call Connecti-coot.” Branford is an old seaport town. Its shipbuilding, fisheries, West India trade, two hundred years ago, were quite extensive for that day. It is also a seaside resort in summer, being half-way between Boston and New York.

Branford was for many years the Governor’s seat of the colonial government of Connecticut. The house of Governor Saltonstall is still standing. Many of the useful and prominent men of the country were born and reared in this quiet yet enterprising little town, founded more than two and a half centuries ago by the Puritans of old England. Among its noted and worthy families were those of the Plants and Blackstones, of whom we shall speak in the following chapter, as the two families became connected by marriage, and are still warmly attached to their native town.

CHAPTER III.

The Blackstone Family—The Ancestor Came from England before 1630—His Name was William Blaxton—Settled First in Massachusetts, afterwards Went to Rhode Island—His Beautiful Character and Numerous Descendants—Origin of Yale College of Branford—The Blackstone Memorial Library.

FROM a pamphlet history of the Blackstone family, in which the name is spelled Blaxton, we gather the following interesting account:

“For several years before Winthrop came, in 1630, William Blaxton constituted the entire population of this peninsula [Massachusetts, of which the present Boston Common was then a part], at that time an unbroken wilderness of woods traversed by savages, by wolves, and other wild beasts almost as dangerous. Here he dwelt alone, exposed to dangers, many and great. He was a man of culture, refinement, and gentlemanly bearing, amiable and hospitable, liked by Indians, and indeed by everybody. These noble traits, this love of nature, his sacred calling, his trusting faith, invested whatever belonged to him with a romantic interest. He was a clergyman of the Church of England, born in 1595, graduated from Cambridge, England, in 1617, and died 1675, aged eighty years. Blaxton took orders in the Episcopal Church, but it seems that he never had a cure, though he still wore his canonical coat, which would indicate his attachment to the English Church, yet some have represented him as a non-conformist, ‘detesting Prelacy.’ He had in his library ten large volumes of manuscript books, presumably sermons, all of which were burned in his house during King Philip’s War. Blaxton came to America in 1623 with Robert Gorges.”

The father of Mr. Plant’s first wife was Captain James Blackstone. He lived to the ripe old age of ninety-seven. His son, Timothy B. Blackstone, is building a public library in Branford to the memory of his revered father. The following extract of a letter to the donor from one of the trustees of this library, Mr. Addison Van Name, will be of interest in this connection, showing, as it does, the origin of Yale College. The letter is dated from Yale University Library, and runs as follows:

“My fellow-trustees asked me to procure a design for a book-plate, and one is herewith submitted for your approval. It seemed to us that a memorable incident in the earlier library history of Branford might appropriately be commemorated here, and this has been attempted in the vignette, in the upper right-hand corner of the plate. You are no doubt familiar with the story, but President Clap’s Annals of Yale College is not a very common book, and I may be excused for quoting his exact language.

“In the year 1700, ‘The Ministers so nominated met at New Haven, and formed themselves into a body, or society, to consist of eleven ministers, including a rector, and agreed to found a college in the colony of Connecticut, which they did at their next meeting at Branford, in the following manner, viz.: Each member brought a number of books and presented them to the body, and laying them on the table said these words, or to this effect, “I give these books for the founding a college in this Colony.” Then the trustees, as a body, took possession of them, and appointed the Rev. Mr. Russel, of Branford, to be the Keeper of the Library, which then consisted of about forty volumes in folio.’”

The story is so good that, if there were not the best of reasons for believing it true, one might easily suspect it to have been invented. But in his preface President Clap says: “Several circumstances [and among them we may well suppose the incident in question] I received from sundry gentlemen who were contemporary with the facts related, among whom were some of the founders of the college with whom I was personally acquainted in the year 1726.”

The following account of Mr. Timothy B. Blackstone is taken from the New York Herald of April 12, 1896:

“Mr. Blackstone was born in a part of Branford known as Blackstoneville, on March 28, 1829. His father, Captain James Blackstone, in whose memory he erected this building, was a well-to-do farmer and stock-raiser. He derived his title of captain from being elected to that position in a company of local militia. He was elected to the Legislature in the sessions of 1825, 1826, and 1830, and was elected State Senator in 1840.

“Timothy attended the public schools here until he was eighteen years old, when he left, and obtained employment as assistant to a civil engineer, who was at that time surveying on the construction of the New York and New Haven, now the Consolidated, Railroad. After finishing this piece of work he became an engineer, and was appointed assistant engineer of the Stockbridge and Pittsfield Railroad, a short line constructed in 1849, and now a part of the Housatonic road. After this road was completed, Mr. Blackstone went west in 1851, and took charge of the construction of a portion of the Illinois Central Railroad. He settled at this time in La Salle, Ill., and was Mayor of the city for one year. In 1856, he became civil engineer of the Joliet and Chicago Railroad, which ran from Joliet via Lockport to Chicago. After this he was employed in surveying the land over which the Chicago and Alton Railroad now runs.

“Mr. Blackstone first began accumulating wealth while this road was being built. He purchased land ahead, and then sold it at a profit. He then invested in stock, and held several responsible offices until he attained his present position—president of the great system.”

On June 17, 1896, the magnificent library was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies, and called forth much enthusiasm from the towns-people.

In the course of his speech on this occasion, as reported in the Daily Palladium of New Haven, Judge Harrison said:

“While the primary purpose of the generous donor of this building, and its endowment fund, is to benefit the people of the town of Branford, it will never be forgotten that it serves also as a memorial to Hon. James Blackstone, who spent his long life of ninety-three years in this town, where he was born, and to the welfare of which he devoted so much time during the years of his young and mature manhood. For nearly two centuries the Blackstone family has occupied a conspicuous place in this community, and for the same length of time representatives of the family have been tillers of the soil, the title to which has always been in a Blackstone.

“We cannot properly dedicate this building to the purpose for which it is intended without calling your attention briefly to James Blackstone, his life, his family, and his ancestors. He was born in Branford in 1793, in a house located nearly opposite that home which was during nearly his whole life his residence, and where he died on the 4th of February, 1886. His first ancestor in this country was the Rev. William Blackstone, a graduate, in 1617, of Emanuel College, Cambridge. He received Episcopal ordination in England after graduation, but, like John Davenport of New Haven, he soon became of the Puritan persuasion, left his native country on account of his non-conformity, and became the first white settler upon that famous neck of land opposite Charlestown, which is now the city of Boston. When the Massachusetts colony came to New England they found William Blackstone settled on that peninsula. He had been there long enough to have planted an orchard of apple trees. Upon his invitation, the principal part of the Massachusetts colony removed from Charlestown and founded the town of Boston, on land which Mr. Blackstone desired them to occupy. He was the first inhabitant of the town, and the colony records of May 18, 1631, show that he was the first person admitted a freeman of Boston. His house and orchard were located upon a spot about half-way between Boston Common and the Charles River. A few years passed by, and the peculiar notions of the Puritans of Boston on the subject of church organization and government, had satisfied William Blackstone that while he could not conform to the church of Archbishop Laud, neither could he conform to the Puritan Church of Boston, and when they invited him to join them he constantly declined, using this language: ‘I came from England because I did not like the lord-bishops; but I cannot join with you because I would not be under the lord-brethren.’

“In 1633, an agreement was entered into between himself and the other old settlers, in the division of the lands, that he should have fifty acres allotted to him near his house forever. In 1635, he sold forty-four of those acres to the company for £30, retaining the six acres upon which was his orchard, and soon afterwards he removed to Rhode Island, living near Providence until the time of his death, which occurred on the 26th of May, 1675. A few years after leaving Boston he sold the orchard of six acres to a man named Pepys. He was not in any manner driven away from Boston by the Puritan Fathers, but holding certain ideas which did not agree with those of his neighbors, he concluded to move to a new location, from similar motives to those which led John Davenport to leave New Haven and go to Boston after the union of the New Haven colony with the Connecticut colony at Hartford. All of the accounts and records of Rev. William Blackstone show him to have been a religious man, with literary tastes, of correct, industrious, thrifty habits, kind and philanthropic feelings, living for several years on Boston Neck, and demonstrating the ability of the white man to live in peace with only Indians for his neighbors. While living in Rhode Island he frequently went to Providence to preach the gospel, and was highly esteemed by all the settlers of that colony. In July, 1659, he married a widow named Sarah Stevenson, and by her he had one son, John Blackstone. The inventory of his estate after his death describes him as having a house and orchard, 260 acres of land, interests in the Providence meadows, and a library of 186 volumes of different languages. A river of Rhode Island and a town in Massachusetts were named Blackstone in his honor.

“His only son, John, married in 1692, and about 1713 moved to the town of Branford, where he took up his residence on lands southeast of the centre of the town, and bounded southerly by the sea.

“The son of this John Blackstone was born in 1669, and died in Branford, January 3, 1785, aged nearly eighty-six. His son, John Blackstone, was born in Branford in 1731, and died August 10, 1816, aged eighty-five. The son of this last John Blackstone, Timothy Blackstone, was born in Branford in 1776, and died in 1849, at the age of eighty-three. This Timothy Blackstone was the father of Hon. James Blackstone, who was born in Branford, in the old homestead of his father and grandfather, in 1793.

“Here were five generations of the Blackstones living and dying upon the old family farm in Branford. All of them seem to have possessed many of the traits of their first ancestor in this country. They were noted for their force of character, industry, modesty, and marked executive ability. James Blackstone, like his ancestors, was a farmer. At the age of twenty he was elected a captain in the Connecticut militia, and as such commanded his company for several months while serving as coastguard on Long Island Sound during the war of 1812-15. He held at one time or another during his life the important local offices of the town, such as assessor and first selectman. Before the separation of North Branford in 1831, the township of Branford, as one of the original towns, was entitled to two representatives in the General Assembly, and on several occasions Captain James Blackstone of Branford and Captain Jonathan Rose of North Branford were the representatives of the town at Hartford and New Haven. In 1842, James Blackstone represented the Sixth District in the State Senate. In politics he was a Federalist, a Whig, and a Republican. His advice and counsel were sought by people, not only of his own town, but of neighboring towns, when occasions arose concerning the settlement of estates or other matters, where the opinion and advice of a man of marked good judgment were needed. The first time I ever saw Captain James Blackstone, he was pointed out to me by a resident of the town, as he was driving past the old public square, with the remark: ‘That is Captain James Blackstone. When he rises in a town meeting and says, “Mr. Moderator, in my humble opinion it is better for this town that a certain course be taken,” the expression of his opinion always prevails with the majority of the voters in the meeting, so great is the confidence the people of the town have in his judgment.’ His character and remarkable ability can be easily read by any student of physiognomy who will look at the admirable life-size portrait of him now placed in this building. If his tastes had led him to a larger place for the exercise of his ability, no field would have been so large that he would not have been a leader among men.

“Yet here he chose to dwell, performing his part well through the whole of his long life....

“The donor of this library was the youngest son of James Blackstone. To many of you his history and life are well known. He left the east more than forty years ago to pursue his chosen profession. He married, in 1868, Miss Isabella Norton of Norwich, and since that time his home has been upon Michigan Avenue, in that great metropolis of the west, Chicago. There, for over thirty years he has managed with consummate skill the affairs of the most successful of all the great railroads of the west. Of him, his character, his generosity, and his remarkable modesty, but great ability, I am not at liberty to speak ... but this is not complete as a memorial of James Blackstone unless I mention briefly the other descendants. The eldest son of James Blackstone, George, died in 1861, never having been married. The eldest daughter, Mary, married Samuel O. Plant. One of her daughters, Ellen Plant, is with us to-day. Three grandchildren of Mrs. Mary Blackstone Plant, being the children of her daughter Sarah, are William L., Paul W., and Gertrude P. Harrison.

“The second son of James Blackstone, Lorenzo Blackstone, who lived for many years in Norwich, and died there in 1888, had five children. The eldest, De Trafford Blackstone, has one son, Lorenzo. The second child of Lorenzo is Mrs. Harriet Blackstone Camp of Norwich, who has three children, Walter Trumbull, Talcott Hale, and Elizabeth Norton Camp. The second daughter of Lorenzo is Mrs. Frances Ella Huntington of Norwich. The fourth child of Lorenzo Blackstone is William Norton Blackstone of Norwich; and his youngest son, Louis Lorenzo Blackstone, died in 1893.

“The second daughter of James Blackstone, Ellen Elizabeth, married Henry B. Plant, now of New York City. She died in 1861, leaving one son, Morton F. Plant, who is married and has one son, Henry B. Plant, Jr. James Blackstone’s third son was John Blackstone, who died several years ago, leaving three children, George and Adelaide Blackstone and Mrs. Emma Pond.

“Sir William Blackstone, the great authority upon the common law of England, was a cousin of the fifth degree to our James Blackstone, and the portraits of the two men bear a marked family resemblance.

“Ten years ago James Blackstone passed to his reward. His influence for good still exists in this community, where the old New England ideas are yet strong, though modified by the leaven of modern industry, education, and thought.”

CHAPTER IV.

The Plants Came from England to Branford, between Two Hundred and Three Hundred Years ago—Still Own the Lands First Acquired—Henry’s Father Died of Typhus Fever when Henry was about Six Years Old—His Tender Recollection of his Mother—Henry’s First Day at School—His Natural Diffidence—Mr. Plant’s After-Dinner Speeches—His Mother’s Second Marriage—Stepfather Kind to Henry—Thrown by a Plough Horse and nearly Killed—Attended School at Branford—Engaged on Steamboat Line Running between New Haven and New York—On Leaving, Promised a Captaincy—Marriage—Express Business—Leaves New Haven and Goes to New York—Romantic Experience in Florida.

THE Plants settled in Branford at an early date, and their descendants still own the lands on which their ancestors first settled over two hundred years ago. It will be seen, by referring to the genealogical table at the end of this volume, that Anderson Plant was of the fifth generation from John Plant, who resided in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1639. Anderson Plant was the father of Henry B. Plant, the subject of this biography. He is described as a farmer in good circumstances, of amiable disposition, fond of outdoor sports, gunning being a favorite amusement. He died when Henry was six years of age, and, consequently, Mr. Plant does not remember much about his father. He can recall, how his father once came in, with a friend, from a morning’s duck shooting, and threw down half a dozen ducks on the floor. At another time, his father took him by the hand to see something that was happening in the town which had drawn out the people, but he does not remember what it was. His father died of typhus fever, and he himself also had the fever, and was so ill that he knew nothing of his loss until he was partially recovered from the dreadful disease.

One week after the father’s death, the father’s youngest sister died, and Henry’s sister also died a few days following, when she was about a year old. He was then left alone with his mother.

She was the only daughter of the Honorable Levi Bradley. He was a member of the Legislature and also a musician who taught a singing school. Mr. Plant remembers that his mother sat with the choir in front of the pulpit and led the singing in the Congregational Church. She had been brought up in the Episcopal Church, and though her father did not approve of it, she deemed it her duty to go with her husband to his church.

“One of the first recollections I have of my mother,” says Mr. Plant, “was on a Christmas Eve, when she dressed me up neatly, took me on her knees, talked affectionately to me, and sang that beautiful vesper hymn, ‘Adeste Fideles’; even now, whenever I hear it, it brings tears to my eyes.” This explains tears the author has seen in his eyes while listening to the orchestra in the music-room, but knew not then what were their tender and sacred association. Little did that mother realize the mighty power, the subduing influence, the enduring benediction to her child of that simple act, the outgoing of the maternal heart. The hallowed influence of that sacred hour has never been effaced through long years, in the whirl of business, in the varied conflicts incident to a public life, in close contact with civil war, within sound of the booming cannon, and the groans of the dying, away in far distant lands, and on stormy seas. Yet amid all, the hallowed influence of that sacred hour, when a mere child on a mother’s knee, has never been effaced. How well it accords with what the poet wrote:

“I had a mother once like you,
Who o’er my pillow hung,
Kissed from my cheek the briny dew,
And taught my infant tongue.

“She, when the nightly couch was spread,
Would bow my infant knee,
And place her hand upon my head,
And kneeling, pray for me.

“Youth came; the props of virtue ruled;
But oft at day’s decline,
A marble touch my brow could feel,
Dear mother was it thine?

“And still that hand so soft and fair,
Has kept its magic sway,
As when amid my curling hair
With gentle force it lay.

“That hallowed touch was ne’er forgot,
And now though time hath set
Stern manhood’s seal upon my brows,
These temples feel it yet.

“And if I e’er in Heaven appear,
A mother’s holy prayer,
A mother’s hand and gentle tear,
That pointed to a Saviour dear,
Will lead the wanderer there.”

Mr. Plant’s first day at school is another tender memory connected with his mother. She had dressed him up in new clothes and talked to him about going to school and learning to read, and becoming a good scholar, and doubtless much more that her kindly mother-heart would suggest to awaken interest and stimulate ambition in the boy. Then she took him outside the gate, pointed out the schoolhouse, kissed him, and told him to go thither and give his name to the teacher as a scholar. His mother intuitively knew her child’s sensitive disposition, and had her misgivings about his being able to carry out her instructions; so she concealed herself and watched him till he reached the school door. Here poor little Henry’s courage failed him, and he came running back to his mother, not to be scolded, but to be encouraged and helped over his childish timidity. His mother this time went with him to the schoolhouse, took him in, and made him acquainted with the lady teacher. Thus began, more than seventy years ago, the first lesson of this most successful man. The scene is as vivid in his mind to-day as it was on the day when it was enacted. How little that teacher knew of the man that was enfolded in this timid child, and of the great privilege, as well as great responsibility, that was hers, thus early preparing him, in part, for his great career.

Henry was a very diffident child, nor did his diffidence quite cease with childhood, for even in manhood at public dinners when he suspected that he might be called on for a speech, it took away his appetite if not the enjoyment of the otherwise pleasant occasion.

This will surprise many of Mr. Plant’s friends who have listened to him with pleasure and profit on many occasions. He rarely prepared his speeches, but drew his ideas from that knowledge and experience which he possessed on so many different subjects, and always spoke intelligently in plain, clear, well-chosen words, without any attempt at oratorical display. Of this we shall speak in another place.

“Some time after my father’s death, perhaps three or four years,” says Mr. Plant, “my mother married again, a man by the name of Philemon Hoadley. He was a very religious man, and was exceedingly kind to me; he said I was the best boy he had ever seen. He lived in New York State, and mother left Branford and we moved to his home at Martensburg, New York. I lived part of the time with her there and part of the time with my grandmother Plant at Branford. She always attended church on the Sabbath, and took me with her, never failing to carry a good luncheon, which we ate in the church house at the close of the morning service.”

An incident of Mr. Plant’s boyhood was sent to the writer by one who has known him long, and esteems the President of the Southern Express Company, (of which he has been a faithful and efficient agent in North Carolina for many years) very highly, and loves him with a genuine, manly affection. He writes thus:

“The following incident which occurred in Branford during Mr. Plant’s boyhood may be of interest to you, in showing how near the country came to being deprived of his great usefulness and noble life. When a boy of about eight or ten years of age, he was one day riding a plow horse at work in the field. The horse became frightened and ran away, carrying plow, boy, and all with him. Barefooted and bareheaded, the brave lad clung to the horse until entirely exhausted, when he fell and was severely injured. He was found in the woods by friends who carried him into their house. After several hours’ hard work by the doctor and others, he revived sufficiently to be taken to his home. The fight for life was severe and protracted, but he bore it heroically.

“I wish I could express all I feel towards Mr. Plant. I have been in his employ thirty-eight years—with the Southern Express Company. During all these years he has been a friend to me in all that that word implies. I am sure I voice the sentiments of thousands of his employees when I say that he is one of the noblest and best of men.

A. P. B.”

After his mother married and had lived for some time at her husband’s home in New York State, they went to live at New Haven and Henry made his home with them, often visiting his grandmother Plant at Branford. The grandmother wanted him to go to Yale College, doubtless in the hope that he might enter the ministry, for few took a college course in those days unless they intended to enter the ministry. But Henry was not particularly fond of study. He had attended the district school at Branford, and had studied for a time at the Gillett Academy, and at Lowville, New York State. He had also studied under John E. Lovell, a famous teacher in New Haven, whose birthday was celebrated in New Haven, long after his death. He was the founder of the Lancastrian System of instruction in America. Henry did not accept his grandmother’s offer of a college course at Yale. He was anxious to try his hand at some active occupation. He attempted several things, none of which seemed to suit him. At last, in 1837, he engaged himself to a steamboat line running boats between New York and New Haven.

The boats of the line were named respectively, New York, New Haven, The Splendid, The Superior, and The Bunker Hill.

Henry began as captain’s boy and worked his way up, filling various positions for some five years, to the entire satisfaction of the company, so that on leaving it he was promised a captaincy of the next new boat if he would remain with the line. The following account, taken from, a recent issue of The Marine Journal, shows how young Plant would pocket his fastidiousness, and stand up to manly duty like a true American. This recalls the story of a man in a Philadelphia market who tendered his services to an Irish coachman, who was troubled to find a man to carry home some fish which he had bought for his master.

Arriving at the fine mansion on Chestnut Street the Irishman offered to pay his porter, who respectfully declined saying: “Oh, no, I only just carried the fish to oblige you. I do not need pay. I am a United States Senator. Good morning.”

“There are few men who can call to mind more interesting reminiscences of ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ and tell them in a more agreeable manner than Henry B. Plant. Referring to his early manhood, Mr. Plant said recently: ‘I got my first experience in the express business when performing the service of a deckhand on a steamboat running between New Haven and New York in the latter part of the “thirties.” At the time referred to I was employed on the side-wheel steamer New York, which had for companion steamers the New Haven, Splendid, and Bunker Hill, on each one of which I served at one time or another. It was on the New York, however, that I spent the most of my apprenticeship. The deck-hands slept below in the forecastle, an uncomfortably small space in the “eyes” of the boat, and took our meals in the kitchen, standing up. Take it all in all it was rather rough on a fellow that had just left a good home, and when some of my towns-people would come aboard and catch me with swab or broom in hand I didn’t feel altogether happy, but had too much pluck to quit. One winter the New York had been laid up for new boilers, and I was transferred to the Splendid till the New York was ready for service, and when she came out in the spring it was quite an event. She had two new copper boilers, one on each guard, the first to be placed on the guards.

“‘Up to this time a considerable lot of package freight, express matter, began to be sent back and forth. This was stowed in different places about the boat and not properly cared for, until one day the captain conceived the idea that a big double stateroom forward of the wheel could be used in which to store it, and I was given the duty of looking after it, and a berth was put up there for me to sleep in. As I look back upon my career in those days, the one on which I was transferred from the dingy forecastle to the express room was by far the happiest, and it was there that I took my first lessons in the express business.’” Those who are familiar with the extensive business of the Southern Express Company, of which Mr. Plant was the founder, and which begins at Washington and extends throughout the railroads south of Washington and the Ohio, excepting the Illinois Central, and to Cuba by the Plant Steamship Lines, can understand why it has taken nearly a lifetime of earnest toil to get it up to its present magnitude. It is a monument to the enterprise of the youngster from Connecticut, who got his first idea of the express business on a steamer between New Haven and New York nearly sixty years ago. The other large undertakings of Mr. Plant in railroads, steamships, hotels, etc., that have helped make the State of Florida the garden spot of the United States in winter, were easy as their necessities developed, in comparison to the Southern Express business which was the foundation of this enterprising citizen’s fame and fortune.”

Captain Stone was very fond of young Plant, and deeply regretted his loss to the service. It was during Mr. Plant’s engagement with this company, in 1842, that he married Miss Ellen Elizabeth Blackstone, daughter of Hon. James Blackstone, one of the Blackstone family already referred to in this biography. One son was born to him, a promising child, who lived only eighteen months. His second and only living child is his son, Morton Freeman, now associated with his father as his assistant, and Vice-President of all the interests of the “Plant System,” over which his father presides. Mr. Plant’s position on the steamboat line plying between New York and New Haven, entailed a frequent absence from his home in New Haven, and he therefore decided to be more at home. At this time he went into the express business of the line conducted by Beecher and Company. At first he had charge of the business at New Haven, but afterwards went to New York City, still keeping up his connection with the boats. When the Beecher Company was consolidated with the Hartford and New Haven line, owned by Daniel Philipps and C. Spooner of Hartford, Mr. Plant was placed in charge of all the express business of the New Haven line in New York. Subsequently the business was acquired by the Adams Express Company, and was transferred from the steamboat line to the railroad, and Mr. Plant was transferred with it. While thus employed, young Plant was economical and saving. He received his pay monthly, and instead of wasting it in folly and dissipation he gave his earnings to his mother, and she banked it for him. He then bought some stock in a New Haven bank which he still retains. His stepfather, being a religious man, advised Henry to buy a pew in a new church which the Congregational Society was building at New Haven. This he did, and in after years, on the failure of the church, when the property was sold, he got back his money. His stepfather died at New Haven about 1862 or 1863.

It was in 1853 that Mrs. Plant was seized with congestion of the lungs, and Doctors Delafield and Marco advised that she be at once taken to Florida. On March 25, 1853, Mr. Plant started with his sick wife from New York City to Charleston, South Carolina, by the steamer Marion. From Charleston he sailed on the steamer Calhoun to Savannah, Georgia. And from Savannah he went by the steamer Welaka to Jacksonville, Florida. It took over eight days to

make the journey which is now a delightful trip of one day, for he left New York on the Sabbath morning and the next Sabbath evening he arrived at Jacksonville, which was a small village then with only one poor wharf and not a vehicle of any kind to carry passengers or baggage. He succeeded in getting some negro boys to carry his trunk to a poor hotel where he remained only one day. Through some persuasion he found a man to take him into his private house at Strawberry Mills, seven miles in the country from Jacksonville, across the St. John’s River. Here Mrs. Plant’s health greatly improved, her cough disappeared and she was so much better that by the first of May, Mr. Plant was able to leave her and return to New York. Early in July, Mrs. Plant came back to the city apparently in good health. The following almost romantic story is told in the New York Times of their first experience in Florida.

“In the winter of 1853, a Northern man with an invalid wife brought her down to Jacksonville to benefit her health. The present metropolis of Florida was then a settlement of five or six houses, one of which was called a hotel, but the hotel was so badly kept that the gentleman was cautioned against going to it, and he found accommodations in a private house. He had letters of introduction to a Florida settler, whose home was six or eight miles out of Jacksonville, and as soon as he could communicate with him through a stray traveller, the settler sent his boat after the Northerner and took him to his house. The boat was an immense ‘dug-out,’ made from a single mammoth log, manned by a crew of uniformed blacks, who handled their oars in man-of-war style. At this settler’s house a hospitable and comfortable stopping-place was found.

“In the course of the winter the lady’s health improved to such an extent that her husband decided upon taking her to St. Augustine for a pleasure trip. There was in the household a beautiful Indian girl, the daughter of one of the Seminole chiefs, who afterward became the wife of the settler I have mentioned, and she volunteered to accompany the lady on what was then the long and difficult journey. The only road between Jacksonville and St. Augustine was the old Spanish highway known as ‘the king’s highroad,’ and this was so grown up with trees and bushes that it was barely passable. But even this road lay five or six miles from the settler’s house, and to reach it it was necessary to drive through the trackless woods. The gentleman and his wife and the Indian girl set out in a buggy, their host going before them on horseback to select the road and blaze the trees between his place and the king’s highway, to enable the strangers to find their way back.

“The journey was made in safety; but the return trip took a little longer than was intended, and the party found themselves at the point where they must leave the old highway and turn into the forest just as the deep shades of a Florida night were about to fall. They found the blazed trees, but were unable to follow them. The gentleman, however, managed for some time to pick his way by finding the indistinct wheel tracks in the sand and the broken twigs; but as the darkness increased this became impracticable, and there was every prospect that the invalid lady and her husband and the Indian girl would be compelled to spend the night under the pine trees. But their host was better acquainted with blazed trees, and, as they did not arrive when expected, he set out on horseback to hunt them up, and his shouts soon gave them welcome assurance of succor. The lady’s health was so much improved before the winter ended that she returned home comparatively well, and during the remainder of her life every winter was passed in Florida. Her husband has not since that time missed his annual winter trip to Florida, and he is now spending his thirty-ninth winter in the State.

“The gentleman who found Jacksonville a settlement of a few shanties, and who came so near passing a romantic but uncomfortable night in the woods with his wife and the Seminole girl, told me the story of his adventure a few days ago, while I sat with him in his gorgeous private car, so far down in the State of Florida that, in 1853, few white men had reached it. The Florida climate never did a better winter’s work than when it restored the health of this gentleman’s wife, and thus interested him in the new country, for the gentleman was Mr. H. B. Plant, who no longer does his Florida travelling in a dug-out, but sends his own cars over his own tracks to the farthermost corners of the State.”

CHAPTER V.

Mr. Plant Goes from New Haven to New York—Captain Stone’s Friendship—Mrs. Plant’s Health Fails again—Returns to the South—Is Appointed Superintendent of Adams Express Company—His Great Executive Ability—The Civil War—Mrs. Plant’s Death—Mr. Plant Buys out the Adams Express Company.

WHEN Mr. Plant first went to New York City he boarded at the Judson Hotel, then kept by a Mr. Judson of Hartford, Connecticut. A little incident of that period shows the high estimation in which he was held by Captain Stone, Superintendent of the New York and New Haven steamship line. Captain S. Bartlett Stone brought his son George to board at the Hudson Hotel, saying, “Henry, when you were a boy I took charge of you; now do you the same for my son.” Mr. Plant remained in New York until October, when the fall weather of the North began to affect the health of his wife unfavorably. He then started South by the steamship Knoxville, which ran to Savannah. When he reached Savannah he commenced to exercise his appointment as superintendent of the Harnden Express, which forwarded express matter from New York by steamer to Savannah, and thence to Augusta, Macon, and Atlanta, by the Central, Macon, and Western Railroads; and also in Charleston, of the Hoey Express, by which goods were forwarded by steamer from New York to Charleston and were then distributed through the interior by the South Carolina Railroad.

About this time, Adams & Company had organized under the corporate title of the Adams Express Company, and had acquired all these express interests above mentioned. This was in March, 1853, and April, 1854. The chief shareholders of the company were Alvan Adams, of Boston; William B. Dinsmore, of New York; Edward S. Sanford, of Philadelphia; Samuel S. Shoemaker, of Baltimore; James M. Thompson, of Springfield, Massachusetts; Johnstone Livingstone, of New York; and R. B. Kinsley, of Newport, Rhode Island. When it was found necessary for Mr. Plant to go south again on account of his wife’s health he was appointed superintendent of the Adams Express Company. This was in 1854, and he was placed in charge of all the interests then controlled by that company, and all that might be acquired by the company in the South under his management or through his efforts.

During Mr. Plant’s administration of the Adams Express Company, the lines were extended over all the railroads south of the Potomac River, namely, Norfolk, Richmond, and Lynchburg, Virginia; Louisville, Kentucky; Cairo, Illinois, and over all the railroad lines constructed in the South, and over all the navigable rivers on which at that time there was steamboat connection. The expanding and establishing of this great express business at Nashville, Memphis, Vicksburg, Louisville, and New Orleans, and many other cities and towns, proved to be a herculean task requiring much arduous travel, often in stage-coaches by day and night, over rough roads, through swamp and forest, in summer’s heat and winter’s cold. It goes without saying that in securing efficient service, properly locating offices, appointing qualified agents, and earning the confidence and patronage of an exacting public, there was demanded a discriminating judgment, prompt decision, skill, and tact of the highest order. It was a tremendous strain on mind and body, and that too upon one not yet used to a Southern climate. It must be remembered also that the express business of the South forty years ago was in its infancy; the great Adams Express Company was still in its swaddling clothes, and required the greatest care and skill to nurse it into maturity, strength, and power, especially in the peculiar condition of the country at the time when a dreadful civil war raged throughout the land.

Few men would have ventured on such a hazardous undertaking, and fewer still would have conducted it to such a successful completion.

To the cool, clear head, the calm, quiet spirit, the persistent energy and dominant will of Henry B. Plant, is due the success of this great achievement. The Southern Express Company and the Texas Express together do a business now extending over twenty-four thousand four hundred and twelve miles of railway, have lines in fifteen States, employ six thousand eight hundred and eight men, use one thousand four hundred and sixty-three horses and eight hundred and eighty-six wagons. Of both these companies, Mr. Plant is the honored and efficient president, and were we to attempt to estimate the amount and value of the goods handled by these great organizations we feel sure the figures would be beyond the credulity of our readers.

This comes down to the year 1861, the beginning of the civil war, when the Adams Express Company, believing that it would be hazardous for Northern citizens to hold property in the South, decided to dispose of their interests there. After unsuccessful negotiations with other parties resident in the South, the company sold and transferred their entire interest in the express line to Henry B. Plant. He formed a corporation under the laws of the State of Georgia, taking in all the shareholders of the Adams Express Company who were then residents of the States south of the Potomac and Ohio rivers.

The company thus formed, known now as the Southern Express Company, at once elected Mr. Plant as its president, and this honorable and responsible position he still holds. A central office was established at Augusta, Georgia.

Mrs. Plant’s health now began to give way. Their little boy Morton was with relatives in the North. She saw that troubles many and great were coming upon the country. Her disease returned, consumption laid its cold hand upon her, and on February 28, 1861, this faithful wife and loving mother was taken from a world of strife, with its tumults of war and fratricidal conflicts, to the home of rest, peace, and eternal blessedness. The remains were interred in Augusta, but afterwards were removed to the family plot in the cemetery at Branford, the place of her birth and where her early years had been spent.

CHAPTER VI.

Relations to the Confederate Government—Jefferson Davis Gives him Charge of Confederate Funds—Mr. Plant Buys a Slave, who afterward Nursed him through a Severe Sickness—Impaired Health—Goes to Bermuda, New York, Canada, and Europe—Second Marriage.

THE seat of the Confederate Government at this time was Montgomery, Alabama, and the express company, just organized by Mr. Plant, was appointed by that government collector of tariff upon all goods consigned by the express company, and was also given the custody of all funds of the Confederacy that were to be transferred from one place to another. The express company filled this latter office until the dissolution of the Confederacy.

In consequence of this responsibility, officers and agents of the company were either relieved from military service, or detailed for the service of the express company. Its officers and agents were also for the same reason exempted from jury duty in Southern States.

Shortly before the removal of the capital of the Confederacy from Montgomery to Richmond, it was deemed necessary by government officials to define citizenship, and consequently a proclamation was issued by President Davis, that specified a time in which all citizens of States not in the Confederacy should leave it, or failing to do so within the time specified, would become citizens of the Confederacy, and would be subject to all duties and requirements of citizenship in the said Confederacy.

“At that time I thought it was incumbent on me,” said Mr. Plant, “that my duties and opinions should be understood by President Davis and his advisers. To that end I caused myself to be represented by counsel to Mr. Davis and his Cabinet, in order that my opinions and position might be clearly defined and known to the government, so that its wish might be expressed, as to whether I should continue to have charge of the express company without interference, or avail myself of the proclamation, and take my departure with other citizens of the State of New York.

“I wished to know whether by remaining I would be required to abandon the express and its obligations. It was a great satisfaction to me to learn from my counsel that the Cabinet were unanimous in this decision expressed by the President, that I should remain and continue to conduct the business of my company, he having full confidence in whatever I might do.”

The substance of this interesting episode has been published before with some slight variations, but the above is from the most authoritative source, and may therefore be received as correct.

While living at Augusta, Georgia, a curious incident occurred which resulted in the purchase of a slave by Mr. Plant. When the express office was opened at this place, help was needed, a sort of man-of-all-work for the many requirements of the office. Dennis Dorsey, a colored man, was hired from his owner to act as porter, and in whatever capacity he might be required. One summer when Mr. Plant was about to go north, Dennis came to him and said that his master was going to sell him, and that he wanted Mr. Plant to buy him. “What does your master want for you?” asked Mr. Plant. “Fifteen hundred dollars,” Dennis replied, “but it is too much, I am not worth so much. You can buy me when you come back, as there is little danger of my being sold at that price.” But Dennis was sold in Mr. Plant’s absence. When Mr. Plant returned, Dennis besought him to buy him from the trader at Mobile who then owned him. Mr. Plant bought him for eighteen hundred dollars, and brought him back to Augusta. In a short time after this Mr. Plant was stricken down with gastric fever, and Dennis proved a good and faithful nurse to him. Mrs. Plant was in her grave, and Mr. Plant lived alone at the hotel, so Dennis was gratified by the opportunity to return the kindness rendered to him by his generous purchaser.

Early in August, 1863, Mr. Plant returned from the mountains, whither he had gone during his convalescence. His health had been improved by the change, but he was still far from strong. Mr. Thomas H. Watts, attorney-general for the Southern Confederacy, had seen Mr. Plant’s physician, who had advised a change of climate. Mr. Watts sent Mr. Plant a passport, with an order from President Davis authorizing him to pass through the Confederate lines at any point. In about a month after this he went to Wilmington, North Carolina, and embarked on the steamer Hansa, for the Bermudas. He remained there about a month, when he went by the steamer Alpha to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and thence to Montreal. There some friends from New York came to see him, and brought his son Morton from school to him. Mr. Plant then went to New Haven, Connecticut, to visit his mother, and in the fall took passage on the steamship City of Edinburgh for Liverpool.

He was now a stranger in a strange land; the weather was cold, and with impaired health his experience was rather depressing.

However, Mr. Plant has never been the man to despond, still less to despair, but to make the best even of discouraging circumstances. So he went to Paris, whose mercurial people seldom cry, and always laugh when they can. Here he heard of some friends who were staying in Rome, and whom he would like to meet, so he determined to go there. By the French Commissioner of Passports he was informed that his passport from the Confederacy could not be recognized, and he was summoned to appear at the commissioner’s office. He at once presented himself to this official, answered many questions, and was informed that there was no way by which his passport could be accepted at present, but as he wished to visit Rome, then occupied by French troops, his case would be considered.

A few days afterwards he had the satisfaction of receiving a document which served as a passport, given in the name of the Empire of France, and in which he was described as a citizen of the United States of America, resident at Augusta, Georgia, and all officers, civil, military, and naval, were commanded to protect this stranger. He went to Rome via the Mediterranean Sea, and was received everywhere with great respect. He was about two weeks in France, several weeks in Rome, and from thence he went to Naples, Leghorn, Genoa, Milan, and Venice, which latter place was occupied by an Austrian army.

From Venice he went to Switzerland, visiting many places in that picturesque land, and returned to Paris by way of the Rhine. He then passed his time between London and Paris until the autumn, when he returned to America by way of Canada. He afterwards went to New York, where he was staying when President Lincoln was assassinated. By the end of April he was back in Augusta, Georgia.

Mr. Plant’s second tour in Europe was in 1873, on the occasion of his second marriage. He was then accompanied by his mother and his son, Morton Freeman, and on this occasion he made quite an extensive tour of the continent.

His third visit was in the year 1889, when he went to the Paris Exposition with an exhibit of Southern products. Soon after his arrival in Paris he was asked by General Franklin, representative and Commissioner-General of the United States, to accept the position of juror in Class Six, representing the United States. To this responsible position he was duly appointed by the proper authorities, and served with entire satisfaction to all concerned. He was the only English-speaking juror in that class, as Sir Douglas Galton was absent until near the close of the Exposition. From this Exposition the “Plant System” was awarded a large number of medals, which may be seen framed in that palace of art, wrongly named an hotel, at Tampa Bay. A diploma was given to Mr. Plant, in addition, and many other marks of esteem and courteous attention were freely tendered him.

Mr. Plant led a very busy life in Augusta. He lived with his wife at the hotel, and, when she was travelling in the North in the summer, he had his office, for convenience, on the same floor as his bedroom. It had been his habit to keep pad and pencil by his bedside, so that when there came to his mind a matter that called for attention he at once put it down on his memoranda. He was constantly receiving reports from his express offices all over the South. There came to him, for adjustment, many questions of management that were perplexing and urgent, so that he was often on the road, called away at short notice, north, south, or southwest. Complications, great, varied, and numerous, were superinduced by the civil war. The railroads were often seized by the contending armies, offices were raided, and confusion worse confounded heaped troubles thick and fast upon the president of the company, sufficient to have crushed a man of ordinary brain and nerve. But Mr. Plant was not the man to give way to difficulties,—only coolly to plan, determine, execute, and conquer.

The following communication in memorandum form, from one intimately acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. Plant while in Augusta, Georgia, will be found suggestive of the busy life he led, and will prove valuable in furnishing the dates when he lived in that city, and the location of his various residences while there. Moreover, its sequel sounds like the plot of a good novel.

“Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Plant became residents of Augusta, Georgia, in 1854. Captain W. and his wife moved to that city in 1855. Both families boarded at the Eagle and Phœnix Hotel, and thus became acquainted. The Eagle and Phœnix was on Broad Street, and is now believed to be the property of Mr. Plant. Mr. Plant was busy organizing and developing the express business, was continually on the road, and made frequent visits to the North. He moved to the Globe Hotel about the summer of 1856. Captain W. and his wife moved to the Trout House, in Atlanta, Georgia, early in 1858, and Mr. and Mrs. Plant joined them there and spent the summer months with them, while Mr. Plant still made Augusta his headquarters and was constantly on the road.

“On Mr. and Mrs. Plant’s return to Augusta in the fall of 1858, they took residence at the Planter’s Hotel, then kept by Mr. Robbins. In the spring of 1859, Mr. and Mrs. Plant, leaving their young son Morton, with Captain W. and his wife in Atlanta, visited New Orleans and remained there during Mardi Gras. Their stay, however, was much shortened by the demands made upon Mr. Plant’s time and attention by the celebrated Maroney robbery. Mrs. Plant’s health, which had been failing for some time, was rapidly growing worse. Mr. Plant’s movements were thus handicapped, and his trips necessarily became shorter and more frequent. Captain W. and wife moved to Athens in April, 1861. Mrs. Plant intended to spend the spring and summer of 1862 with them, but their plans were broken up by her death, at the Planter’s Hotel, Augusta, February 28, 1862.

“Mr. Plant visited Athens shortly after the funeral, and remained several weeks; from thence important business called him back to Augusta. Health began to fail him and he visited Athens again in the following year. It was at this time that his friends prevailed upon him to pay a visit to Europe in the hope that his strength would be restored to him.

“In illustration of the good memory which Mr. Plant possessed for a past kindness, the following interesting story is told. The narrator was sitting in his office talking with Mr. Plant, when the latter suddenly turned from him to a clerk to instruct him in the following words. ‘While I remember it, I want you to write to Mrs. W. to say that her request that we take charge of her money is granted. We will take it and give her six per cent., this will give her —— dollars to pay for her board, and we will add to it —— dollars, which will keep her comfortably among her friends.’

“The amount added was very nearly one and a half times as large as the interest on the moderate amount of insurance which her deceased husband had placed on his life before he died.

“Then when all arrangements for this poor widow’s comfort had been made with the treasurer, Mr. Plant, not supposing that I had ever heard of the woman, explained that long years ago, when his first wife was sick in Augusta, this now widowed woman was very kind to her and also to his son Morton who was then a very little child. This was thirty-six years ago, but it was as fresh in Mr. Plant’s memory, and as near to his heart as if it had occurred only a few weeks ago. Little did this good woman think at the time she rendered this kindly service to a delicate wife, that thirty-six years hence it would be paid back to her with compound interest. It may be truly said that ‘bread cast upon the waters shall return after many days.’”

The Southern Express Company rendered very valuable services to the men engaged on both sides during the Civil War, by carrying packages, boxes, and parcels of all descriptions free of charge,—medicines, and comforts of various character, that made the hard life of the soldier a little easier, and gladdened his heart with the evidences that he was remembered tenderly in his far-away home. This service was especially acceptable on the occasions of exchange of prisoners, when clothing and money were the special needs of the men.

The benediction of many a brave heart, now still in death, rests upon the kindly services of the Southern Express Company so generously given during the four years of the bloody struggle.

In evidence of Mr. Plant’s popularity and the esteem in which he was held by his associates in business as early as 1861, it may be mentioned that on January 1st of that year, at Augusta, Ga., he was made the recipient of a magnificent testimonial in the form of a service of solid silver bearing the following inscription:

PRESENTED TO
H. B. PLANT
BY HIS ASSOCIATES IN THE ADAMS
SOUTHERN EXPRESS
AS A TESTIMONIAL OF THEIR
RESPECT AND ESTEEM
AUGUSTA, GA.,
JANUARY 1, 1861

In 1873, eleven years after the death of his first wife, Mr. Plant married Miss Margaret Josephine Loughman, the only daughter of Martin Loughman, of New York City. She is descended from an ancient and noble family, whose ancestral estate, eight miles long, in the Land of the Shamrock, is now occupied by Lord Dundrum. Mrs. Plant’s great grandmother on her mother’s side was Lady Mary Murphy, of Ballymore Castle, Ballymore. Her own mother was Miss Ellen O’Duyer, said to have been a woman of great beauty and to have been descended from the Kings of Munster.

The finest train of Pullman palace cars we ever saw was prominent among the beautiful exhibits at the Atlanta Exposition of last year (1896). Their exquisite upholstering and decoration owed their superlative finish to the refined taste of Mrs. Plant. The Tampa Bay Hotel, more like a palace of art, is indebted to this same lady for much of its elaborate furnishing and artistic adornment. The two hand-carved mantelpieces in the salon, the admiration of all visitors, as well as some of the fine cabinet-work in the gentlemen’s reading-room, evinced her business capacity and fine sense of the fitness of beautiful furnishing that costs no more than the plain and commonplace. She has given much time and earnest effort to the selection, purchase, and direction of the upholstering and decorations of that finest of American-built steamships, La Grande Duchesse, just completed at Newport News.

The impress of her forcible character and refined taste can be detected in many places throughout the great system over which her husband so ably presides, but is known only to those who are admitted to the inner circles of its operations.

CHAPTER VII.

Education from Books, and from Experience—Keen Intuitions—Abreast of the Progress—Mr. Plant’s After-Dinner Speech at Tampa Banquet Given him by Tampa Board of Trade, March, 18, 1886—Location of Tampa—In Territorial Days Had a Military Reservation—In 1884 Population about Seven Hundred—Its Cosmopolitan Population now—Many Cubans and Spaniards in Tampa—Tobacco Industry—Phosphate Abounds in this Part of the State—Much of it Shipped to the North and to Europe—Plant System Gives Impetus to the Prosperity of the Place—Its Progress the Last Five or Six Years.

TEXT-BOOKS are necessary instruments in a systematic course of instruction, especially in the period of school and college days, but their chief value lies, not so much in the actual knowledge which they impart as in the intellectual training which they give for the acquisition of knowledge in the future. Hence, as civilization advances and the schools of higher education increase, less dependence is placed on text-books, and more emphasis is laid upon lectures and laboratories by which the student is stimulated to original investigation and independent thought. The knowledge of current events which we derive from observation of human nature, and which gives us great opportunities to do good to ourselves and to others, is not acquired from books.

The books may have done good service in the previous mental discipline, but the actual knowledge, the practical experience in a professional or business career, has come to us in the course of solution of the problems of life. Mr. Plant is a striking illustration of this fact. He was never a bookish man, and lays no claim to classical erudition or scientific knowledge; yet he is fully alive to the progress of the human race. Few events of importance in the world escape his keen observation.

It was his quick insight and keen penetration which led him to see the opportunities and possibilities offered in the South, when others had passed them by unseen.

Mr. Plant has an intuitive knowledge, possessed by few men, of many things outside his immediate sphere of action. He spent several days going over the plans of La Grande Duchesse in minute detail before the contract for building her was signed, noting scores of corrections which the architect was more than gratified to make. His after-dinner speeches at Southern banquets have no spread-eagleism in them; no declamation, but calm, quiet, easy suggestion, as if talking to a few friends whom he loved and wanted to help, and better still, wanted them to help themselves. There is no alarm, but friendly admonition, wise counsel, valuable instruction, most kindly administered.

In March, 1886, the Tampa Board of Trade honored Mr. Plant with a splendid banquet, and warmly welcomed him and his friends to this once sleepy old hamlet, now kept awake by the steam whistles of the South Florida Railroad and those of the steamships sailing to the West Indies. In reply to a toast by General John B. Wall, Mr. Plant said:

“Some two years and a half ago I was escorted here by some of the gentlemen present, upon a wagon-line across the peninsula of Florida from Kissimmee City, with Mr. Haines, Mr. Ingraham, Mr. Elliott, and Mr. Allen. We had a day’s journey to reach over the gap in the railway that was then being constructed, connecting Tampa with the St. John’s River. It was an interesting trip. I think to the best of my recollection we passed not more than seven habitations on that journey, certainly not more than that while daylight lasted, and now we can make the trip from Kissimmee to Tampa in three or four hours and find cities on the way,—cities of enterprise, with a frugal and industrious population. Business has grown, and great progress has been made in this part of Florida, but no place has improved more than this town of Tampa. Tampa, it seems to us, had a chill, although the climate was good. A citizen told me on that visit that they did not value the land at anything, but that the air was worth one thousand dollars an acre. That gave the value of Tampa land at that time. All are aware what is the value of Tampa land at present. Very little I am told is for sale.

“That is what the railroad has done for Tampa. The gentlemen who are associated with me look with pleasure upon the progress that has been made in Tampa. We go back and look upon the progress that has been made by what is known as the Plant System, which commences at Charleston, reaches out to Chattahoochee, and terminates at Tampa. This system, which you probably know, we call under various names; it is part railway, part express company, part steamboat company, part steamship company, but it all has one object and is known as the Plant System. It has been successful in what it has undertaken so far. I think that success may be attributed to the harmony that prevails in the councils on the part of the officers of the railroads, of the steamships, of the steamboats, and express, that go to make up that system. There is no jealousy, but rather a rivalry to know which will do the most. And to that spirit, in every one connected with the system, to do all that is possible to advance its progress, is due the success of the Plant System.

“This is, I think, all that can now be said in direct response to the toast, but I would like to say a few words of Tampa, of its possibilities and its opportunities. You are all aware that Tampa is but one port on the Gulf of Mexico from which a railroad extends to the interior. There are ports north of it and ports south of it; ports where railways extend to deep water. Some of them have the advantage of Tampa. It is useless to mention the names, for you all know them; you are familiar with the advantages of all these ports. I will not give the reason why they have not advanced. It may be because they have not all had the railway backing that Tampa has had; they have not had a united line of railways leading to them and extending from them. Tampa has just started, it seems to me, in its progress towards prosperity, and the prosperity that it must receive if it receives the backing that commerce would dictate to it. The wants of commerce are large; they are exacting, and Tampa has many rivals. There are many cities that aspire to it and to grow as these cities see that Tampa is growing at the present time. They will do it, if it is possible, by putting on steamship lines, by putting on railway lines, by extending them to get some of the business at least, that is now drawing towards Tampa, and it is for the people of Tampa to determine for themselves to what extent they shall share it.

“As I have stated, it is important to Tampa’s interests to see that all obstructions to commerce are removed; in other words, that commerce and trade shall be unimpeded both to and through Tampa. You all recollect that last year there was a great Exposition in a neighboring city of the Gulf—New Orleans,—where millions of money were expended to draw the attention of the countries south of us, notably the West Indies and South America. This, that their attention might be drawn to the United States, and especially the southern part of the United States, for trade, and, as I said, millions of money were expended on making that Exposition and maintaining it all the winter for the purpose of showing the people of the West India Islands what could be done. That Exposition was gotten up not for benevolence, but for the purpose of inviting trade. Now we are doing all we can to encourage that trade by opening up mail communication between the United States and those very countries that so much money was spent to encourage the trade from.

“We are running steamships three times each week, and I think that every gentleman in this hall should raise his voice to the authorities at Washington and endeavor to persuade them to send the mails of the entire United States (I mean the mails of the entire United States, the South and West as well as the East), by the quickest route whereby they can reach those countries of which I have spoken. By that route the mails can reach the whole of the West India Islands, the whole of the west coast of South America, in better time and more frequently, with the present source of communication than by any other line. And notwithstanding that line was put on on the 1st of January, our postal authorities at Washington hardly seem alive to that fact, and, as I said before, I think that the gentlemen of Tampa should raise a united voice that the Post-Office Department may be waked up to know there is a route via Tampa that is the quickest for the entire countries south of us. I do not know that I can say any more. I have responded to the toast ‘Our Honored Guests,’ and said very little about them. I feel somewhat in the position that Mr. Ward probably felt when he was advertised to deliver a lecture on ‘Twins.’ He occupied his entire evening on the introduction, and left the speech on the ‘Twins’ out altogether.”

The following account of the growth of Tampa is taken from the New York Daily Tribune of November 17, 1891. It illustrates the large share which Mr. Plant has had in this growth, and the way in which he has closely identified himself with its history.

“Over on the west coast of Florida in Hillsborough County, or less than two hundred miles north of the southern end of the State, is an old, old town, which, in the territorial days of Florida, when the Government first established a military reservation here, was a small settlement that grew into a village and was called Tampa. Owing to its extreme isolation, its growth was slow, and, in 1884, there were not more than one or two shops, and a population of a little less than seven hundred. A year later the southern terminus of the Plant System of railroads was established at Tampa, and since then the growth of the place has been phenomenal. As Postmaster Cooper, one of Tampa’s wide-awake citizens and a newspaper editor, says: ‘Henry B. Plant may be said to have been the founder of Tampa, and people of enterprise, industry, and capital from every State in the Union, and Cuba, have flocked here and built upon the foundation, until to-day Tampa rivals the best cities in the State. The South Florida Railroad is one of the best equipped railways in the South, extending from Port Tampa to Sanford, a distance of 124 miles.’

“The South Florida Road runs through the most fertile and most prosperous part of the State and has done more than any other agency to develop South Florida. And while it is true that the railroad gave to Tampa her first onward impetus, and has done, and is yet doing, much toward the development of the place, yet there are other agencies which have done much to help along the great work. The most prominent of these is the cigar-making industry, which was first established here three years ago. It is second to none as an important factor in Tampa’s substantial prosperity and commercial success. Tampa has also profited by the immense deposits of phosphate, which is shipped from here, not only by rail all over the country, but by water direct to Europe. There is a large grinding mill here, and a meeting of representatives of phosphate interests was held recently, and a movement started to put up the necessary tanks and machinery for making the acids and other materials for the manufacture of superphosphate. When factories of this sort are put up it will no longer be necessary to send the phosphate to Europe to be acidulated.

“I went over to the palatial Tampa Bay Hotel, an enterprise of Mr. Plant, and the completion and furnishing of which, preparatory to its opening in two or three weeks, Mr. Plant has been personally supervising. I found him and a portion of his family at breakfast in his private car, in which he was to start north in the afternoon for a brief stay before coming down here for the winter. Mr. Plant is always approachable, genial in his manner, ready to talk about people and their prosperity, but not of himself or his. No one can accuse him of egotism. He said nothing of his massive hotel until I drew him out. I said: ‘Mr. Plant, I learn that no one knows better than you of the beginning and the progress of Tampa and its probable future. In fact, they say that you are the father of Tampa; tell me about it, please.’

“‘Well,’ said the genial railroad president, ‘when I first drove across the country from Sanford, for we are nearly west of that point, and there was no other way of getting here by land, I found Tampa slumbering as it had been for years. This was eight years ago. It seemed to me that all South Florida needed for a successful future was a little spirit and energy, which could be fostered by transportation facilities. There were one or two small shops and a population of about seven hundred in Tampa. I made a careful survey of the situation, calculated upon its prospects and concluded to take advantage of the opportunity, and we who made early investments have proved the faith in our own judgment. Tampa was really unknown to the commercial world until the South Florida Railroad introduced her there. This was in 1885, and it brought to the town a new life, and breathed into it all the elements of push, progress, and success. Tampa at once began to spread itself, and ever since has been fairly bounding along the road to greatness. It has now a population of about ten thousand, and is rapidly increasing. Hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars have been invested in business, and instead of a few scattered and unpainted storehouses, there are now many magnificent brick blocks, handsome private residences, cosey cottages, large warehouses, mammoth wholesale establishments, busy workshops, comfortable hotels, two newspapers, a phosphate mill, cigar factories, first-class banking facilities, telegraph and telephone communications, two electric-light establishments, ice factories, a complete system of waterworks, eight lines of steamships and steamboats giving communication to Key West and Havana, Mobile, places on the Manatee River, etc.’

“Mr. Plant’s hotel, upon which he has spent about $2,000,000 on the building and grounds and $500,000 for the furnishing, and which is nearly ready for the opening, is in the centre of a sixteen-acre plot of ground just north of the city bridge. The architecture is Moorish, patterned after the palaces in Spain, and minarets and domes tower above the great five-story building, each one of which is surmounted with a crescent, which is lighted by electricity at night. The main building is 511 feet in length, and varies in width from 50 to 150 feet. A wide hall, on either side of which are bedrooms, single and in suites, runs the entire length of the building to the dining-room at the southern end. The exterior walls are of darkened brick, with buff and red brick arches and stone dressings. The cornices are of stone and iron; the piazza columns are of steel, supported on pieces of cut stone.

“The main entrances are through three pairs of double doors, flanked by sixteen polished granite columns, supporting Moorish arches, over which balconies open from the gallery around the rotunda to the second floor. The principal staircase is of stone, and the horseshoe arch and the crescent and the star meet the eye at every turn—the electric lights in the dining-hall, the music-hall, the drawing-room, the reception-room, the reading-room, and the office being arranged after these patterns. The drawing-room is a casket of beautiful and antique things, embracing fine contrasts. There are a sofa and two chairs which were once the property of Marie Antoinette; a set of four superb gilt chairs which once belonged to Louis Philippe; two antique Spanish cabinets, and between ten high, wide windows appear Spanish, French, and Japanese cabinets, both old and quaint. Old carved Dutch chairs, rare onyx chairs, and queer seats of other kinds are scattered along the hall. Among the large collection of oil paintings, water-colors, and engravings, are portraits and old pictures of Spanish castles and fortresses.

“A large rustic gate for carriages and two for pedestrians lead into the grounds on the northern side. These gates are made of cabbage-palmetto trunks, the mid-ribs being of the leaves worked into a quaint and rustic design. On either side of the great gate stand giant cabbage-palmettoes, thirty and forty feet high, set in groups of five and seven, the Moorish numbers. A number of large live-oaks, one a tree of great breadth and beauty, remain on the grounds. Near the centre of the lawn a fort has been built of white stone, having two embrasures. In it are mounted two old cannon that were spiked on the reservation of Tampa during the Civil War. The grounds front on the Hillsborough River and overlook the city, Fort Brooke and Tampa Bay, and are filled with fruit-trees, roses and flowers.

“The streets of Tampa are not what they will be, but a great improvement has been going on in the last year; and when all the thoroughfares are paved, macadamized or otherwise hardened, they will be attractive drives. The roads on the west side of the river are naturally hard and smooth, giving fine drives in various directions. The water supply is obtained from one of the largest springs of water in the State, and is abundant for all purposes, and ample factories provide ice from distilled water. Until the session of Congress of 1889, Tampa was in the Key West customs district, and the customhouse business was looked after by a deputy appointed by the Collector of Customs at Key West. But when Congress passed a bill making Tampa a regular port of entry, a collector and a full corps of assistants were appointed. To give an idea of the growth of Tampa, it is only necessary to compare the customs returns for 1885, when, under a deputy-collector, the receipts were only $75, with the report of last year, which showed receipts considerably above $100,000.

“For a long time builders had suffered great inconvenience and delay because there were no brickmaking works. It was not believed that good brick could be made in Tampa, and all orders for this necessary building material had to be sent away from home. But in 1888, one of the enterprising citizens, who had found a bed of good clay just north of the city, began to manufacture bricks. The result is that builders are now furnished with home-made bricks almost as fast as they need them. It was stated to me that as much as $300,000 had been expended in the erection of brick buildings during the last year. One of the new public buildings is the City Hall and Court House. It is 50 by 100 feet on the sides and is two and a half stories high.

“Tampa’s population may certainly be called cosmopolitan, comprising people from every quarter of the globe; but three classes preponderate so largely as to warrant distinction,—the American, the Cuban white people, and the African or colored people. There is no difference worthy of note between the first mentioned in Tampa and those of other sections of the United States. They have all the push and enterprise characteristic of the American people, and are the peer of any in social life.

“There are between three and four thousand Cubans in Tampa, and some Spaniards, too, but there is an intense prejudice on the part of the Spaniards against the Cubans, and as the latter feel the same dislike for the Spaniards, conflicts between the two sometimes occur, and if it were not for the good police administration might prove serious in some instances. The Cubans are many of them property-holders and are identified closely with the city’s growth. They are reported as moral, temperate, energetic and quite desirable citizens; and, are almost without exception, engaged in cigar-making and kindred industries. They are also an amusement-loving people, have several clubs and societies, an opera-house, a band and a newspaper. The Cuban settlement is in the Fourth Ward, called Ybor City, after Martinez Ybor, the pioneer cigar manufacturer in Tampa. Only four years ago this part of the city was an unimproved and uncultivated forest; now it is an active, bustling, wealthy town within itself, and, to add to its interest, Postmaster Cooper recently established a branch station, as he has also in the settlement of the colored people, for the accommodation of those who live far from the general post-office.

“Twelve cigar factories are located in Ybor City, and there nearly all of the cigar-makers live. The largest factories are those of Ybor &, Co., Sanchez, Haya & Co., Lozano, Pendas & Co., R. Monne & Bro., and E. Pons &, Co. These five factories manufactured 33,950,575 cigars last year, the output of the Ybors alone being 15,030,700. The total number manufactured in the thirty factories in Key West was 77,251,374. More than $30,000 is paid out to the 1500 or 2000 cigar-makers in Ybor City every Saturday night, one-fourth of which is paid out at Ybor’s factory; and about $150,000 has been expended here in the past six years upon improvements. This cigar-making industry has contributed materially to the development and growth of Tampa during the last five years, and it promises much greater benefit in the future. It was in October, 1885, that Martinez Ybor & Co., who began manufacturing in Havana in 1854, and afterward put up a large factory in Key West, came to Tampa to investigate the resources and advantages offered for cigar-making. They soon afterward purchased forty acres of land in the Fourth Ward, cleared it of the pines, wild-oats and gophers, and built a factory, a large boarding-house or hotel, and several small cottages for the workmen whom they brought from Key West and Havana. The venture proved a success from the start and improvements were added. The original factory, a wooden structure, is now the opera house, and a large brick factory has succeeded the first one, where the daily output of the 450 cigar-makers employed is 40,000 to 50,000 cigars. Then came Sanchez & Haya, Emilio Pons, and others, and all declare that they are doing an excellent business.

“‘The required condition of the climate of Tampa for good cigars is said to be fully equal to that of Key West or Havana,’ said one of the manufacturers who has had factories in both places. ‘This has been proven by an actual and thorough test. Another advantage comes from the superior transportation facilities of the South Florida Railroad, which gets freight quickly to New York.’

“The colored people of Tampa are declared to be in a better general condition than they are in any other part of the South. They are also represented to be a generous, quiet and inoffensive class of citizens. They are also far more industrious than those in some other sections of the South, working almost every day, and the 2000 negro population have a settlement of their own, midway between Tampa proper and Ybor City, which would be a credit to any community. Many of the houses, like the streets, run in irregular lines, but the homes and the shops have a tidy and orderly appearance as though not neglected, and at night everything about them is quiet and peaceful, only the songs and the moderate conversations and the musical laughter being heard. Very few of these people live in rented apartments, but nearly all own their little cottage homes. They have many excellent churches, schools taught by colored teachers, and nearly every home has a small library. Then, too, or with very few exceptions, the colored people command the respect of the whites.

“Port Tampa, which is the port from which the Plant Steamship Line sails for Havana and other places, is about ten miles below here. One of its attractions is ‘The Inn,’ a great hotel built in colonial style, beside the South Florida Railroad, over the water and about 2000 feet from the shore. It is both a summer and winter resort for tourists and Floridians. Another attraction is the fishing, either for bass from the wharf or boats, or for the tarpon, or, ‘Silver King,’ at Pine Island. The third attraction is Picnic Island, the name itself telling its purpose.”

Notwithstanding the general depression of the country during the last five years, the growth of Tampa has gone forward with a rapidity unsurpassed in any five years of its history. The entire city has increased in population from seven thousand to twenty-eight thousand during the past decade and is still growing steadily. Property is as valuable on the main business street of Tampa as it is in New York City above Central Park. The city has a Board of Trade, a Board of Health, schools, academy and churches of all Christian denominations. Few, if any, cities in Florida have a more promising future before them than Tampa.

CHAPTER VIII.

Florida Mr. Plant’s Hobby—Banquet at Ocala—Mr. Plant’s Speech—Sail on Lakes Harrison and Griffin—Banquet at Leesburg—Visit to Eustis—Cheering Words to a Young Editor—Make the best of the Frost—It may be a Blessing in Disguise—Must Cultivate other Fruits, (and Cereals) besides Oranges—Importance of Honesty—Sense of Justice—Consideration for the Workmen—Unconscious Moulding-Power over Associates and Employees—Letter of Honorable Rufus B. Bullock.

MR. PLANT’S associates say of him: “Oh, Florida is one of the President’s pets.” Anything touching the prosperity of Florida is sure to get a sympathetic hearing from him at all times. He loves the Land of Flowers and has spent many pleasant days in it at all seasons of the year. Nor does it fall to the lot of every man to receive such high appreciation for the good he has done and such esteem and affection as Mr. Plant receives from these warm-hearted, whole-souled Southern people. Mr. Plant having recently included Ocala in his railroad and hotel system, a fact which promises much for the future progress of this enterprising town and section of Western Florida, the people wished to express their grateful appreciation of the man whom all the South delights to honor. So, in the winter of 1896, they tendered to him a grand banquet to which he and his friends and associates in office were welcomed. Nothing was left undone by these good people to make the occasion pleasant.

The feast was held in the Ocala Hotel which came into the possession of Mr. Plant during 1896, and was opened that season as one of the Plant System Hotels. The house was elaborately decorated with Southern ferns and flowers. A reception was first held in the parlor, then about seventy ladies and gentlemen sat down to a sumptuous dinner, enlivened by sweet music, and good cheer. Many beautiful tributes of esteem and friendship were eloquently presented to the guest of the evening, who had been requested by the committee of arrangements to speak to the toast, “The Plant System.” The following account taken from the Atlanta Constitution, is a fairly good report of his speech, which held the audience spellbound from beginning to end. He said: “I am gratified and pleased beyond measure to be with you to-night on an occasion of social enjoyment to exchange compliments and greetings with the undaunted citizens of Ocala and revel in the bounteous hospitality of this proud and prosperous little city. Words count for but little in the effort to express my sincere appreciation of such evidences of cordiality as have been shown this night to me and to my friends and associates in business. Surely the very presence of so many of your community’s worthy citizens, your city’s leading business and professional men, who have rendered the further compliment of bringing with them their charming wives and daughters, would of itself inspire any man, who is not insensible to the impulse of gratitude, with a feeling of gratification and deep appreciation for the compliment it conveys. It pleases me to see so many of the ladies of Ocala here to-night, for their charming presence lends beauty to the brilliant scene and makes all the more enchanting this hour of pleasure and promise.

“I feel that it is good to be here. I am always glad to mingle in social intercourse with my good friends of Florida, for I warrant you that nothing is more comforting than to know that in all my endeavors to aid them in the upbuilding of their favored section I have their hearty good-will and unstinted co-operation. In congratulation upon the continued prosperity of Ocala, despite the recent chilling frosts, which seemed well-nigh to sweep away your beautiful orange groves and blight the interests of your agricultural community, I wish to say that it is pleasing to me to observe the undaunted pluck and courage of your irrepressible and invincible people, who, never swerving from the duties of citizenship, have set about the arduous task of building up again the agricultural and industrial interests of this region of Florida, with a newness of life and a heartier zest. Such determined effort will surely be crowned with unbounded success and prosperity in the end. There is no reason why Ocala should not be a prosperous city. Your climate is excellent; your water is pure and wholesome; your lands are fertile and prolific, and your people are joined with a unity of ambition and a unity of aim for the upbuilding of every interest alike.

“I have been asked to speak to you of what is known as the ‘Plant System.’ Not this mere physical system of the man—for that speaks for itself. But the system of railways and steamships and other interests which have been built up as all other industries are built up in the great march of American progress and industrial development. In touching upon the plans and scope of the Plant System, I believe I will be credited with perfect sincerity when I say in the very outset, that if some of the conditions of which we now have knowledge had been known in the beginning, much of this system would not exist to-day. I have reference to such conditions as have in late years arisen and confronted corporations in the nature of an obstacle and an obstruction. As you all perhaps know, there has been a great change in the plans and methods of railroad construction during the last decade or two. In the old days railroads were built for the most part by the people of means along the proposed route, and they were for the most part short lines. People did not set out in the earlier days to build long lines of railways. As years rolled by, however, there sprang up among the people of some sections an unexplained feeling of hostility to corporations—a sort of antagonism to capital—which has worked its way like a devouring worm into the politics of the nation, and which, in recent years, has well nigh sapped the lifeblood from many of the leading railway systems of the country, by plunging them into such a complicated pool of injurious legislation as to land them on the dangerous shores of bankruptcy. Just at the time when such a spirit of antagonism was at its zenith there came a change in the methods of operating railway lines. Instead of the short lines, several of the roads began to be joined together for a longer line, thus reducing the expenses of operation and at the same time giving better facilities of travel and of shipment. It was found that the railroads could not live if operated on the short-line basis, for competition grew so great it became necessary to link this road and that to form a through line binding the commerce of one section to that of another in rapid transit at reduced expenditure. This came as a necessity born of the situation, for the railroads were being bankrupted on the old plan and were sold out by receivers for their original owners to the men of capital, and they saw the absolute necessity of a more economical basis of operation. Taxes were high, competition was great and everything served evidence that the old plan would no longer prove feasible.

“Just why there should be any hostility to such a plan of railway management among the people who are, after all, the ones benefited most by the increased facilities that are given them, is not made clear to me, but such a spirit did prevail, and does prevail to-day in some sections to such an extent that men, blinded to the interests of the people of their sections, are continually stabbing at the very heart of the railway corporations and crying out that they need to be watched by legislative censors, and of this notion the railway commission was born. My friends, I know but little of the motives that prompt such legislation against railroads, but I do know that some very serious mistakes have been made. It has been said that the king can do no wrong, but it has with equal truth been said that the king can make mistakes. In the State of Georgia, this persistent spirit of hostility to railroads, this organized effort of legislative restriction, has within the past few years thrown nearly every railroad in the State into the hands of a receiver. The result has been a gradual reorganization of these properties by the men of capital in the East, and a new plan of operation at reduced expenditure through consolidation. What else could have resulted?

“The interests of the people and the railroads are certainly not conflicting interests. They are common interests and should go hand in hand and heart to heart in the great work of building up this country. The one should not be made an obstacle for the other. I cannot see how the Plant System of railways and steamships could be other than a pillar in the structure of the industrial world of this Republic, interested in all that tends to the promotion of the general interests of the people. Of what avail would railroad construction be to the owner if it were intended to be run in hostility to the business interests of the people of the country it traversed? What would a railroad be worth if not supported by a healthful business community in perfect harmony? On the contrary, what would any country be without the railroads?

“It is true that the people of this section have suffered heavy loss lately through some unexplained stroke of Providence, by which the orange groves of Florida were laid low by the withering touch of the hand of dread winter, and it is furthermore true that the phosphate interests have been injured by an over-production, but that is a matter that rests with the fates, to be worked out in their own good season. Misfortunes sometimes prove to be but blessings in disguise, and it rests not with mortals to gainsay the wisdom of that edict which comes from an Omniscient Providence. In all your losses on the farms and in the phosphate mines, bear in mind that the railroads are suffering a kindred loss, for the blow was as keenly felt by them as by you.

“Let us move together while the hand of adversity weighs heavily upon us, just as we have always tried to do when we were more prosperous. Let us take no part in the systematic effort that some are making, to persecute the railway enterprises of Florida at such a time as this, for such persecutors are blinded to their country’s interests. If there was ever a time when the people and the railroads ought to work in perfect harmony that time is at hand. I believe labor ought to be protected in a reasonable and rightful degree, but I also believe that capital ought to be protected against the unrighteous onslaughts of those who know not what they do.

“In conclusion, my good friends of Ocala, I beg to thank you again for your generous reception to-night. I believe there is much in the spirit that rules here that bespeaks the dawn of brighter and better days for the people of this region.”

The following day a special train took Mr. Plant and his party to Leesburg, where arrangements had been made by the people of that beautiful little town to give Mr. Plant and his friends another ovation of most healthful pleasure and exquisite enjoyment. The Mayor and leading citizens of the place met the party at the railroad station and welcomed them with marked cordiality to their best hospitality and friendship. At the close of a day’s most delightful sailing up Lakes Harrison and Griffin, and many carriage rides on the shores of those beautiful lakes, situated as they are in some of Florida’s most picturesque scenery, the party sat down to a banquet in the hotel given by the Leesburg Board of Trade. “It was truly a feast of reason and flow of soul,” for nothing could have been in better taste or evinced more genuine esteem and friendship for the guest of the occasion than was shown there.

On the next day a special train took Mr. Plant and his party to Eustis. At the station all the prominent people in town were gathered to welcome him. Carriages were in waiting to take him and his friends through the beautiful little town. It was with visible emotion that he looked upon the withered, lifeless orange trees bared by the terrible frost of the preceding winter, a drear and desolate scene as compared with the bloom and beauty of other days. Mr. Plant, however, was never given to fruitless murmuring. To a young editor in the carriage with him he said: “No, we must make the best of even the adverse situation. It might be worse. You must publish words of cheer and hope to your people, and do all that you can to help them over this trying time. Suggest to them the planting of other crops, the rearing of other fruits. It will not do to be altogether dependent on oranges. The soil is capable of raising many other things besides oranges, and it may be that this calamity will become a blessing in disguise.” So he ministered good cheer and practical instruction to the people, who felt that he loved them, and who were very responsive to his encouraging words.

I doubt not these people uttered the true sentiments of their deep feeling when they said as they bade him good-bye: “Mr. Plant, you have done us all a great deal of good, we shall never forget you for this visit you have made us. It will be a pleasant memory to us always, and if you and your friends have enjoyed your visit half as much as we have enjoyed having you, then is our happiness increased a hundred fold.” Never have we witnessed anything more beautiful and tenderly impressive than the kindly interest which Mr. Plant’s visit called out among these people. His every want was anticipated, luncheons, rare and delicious, were carefully stored away on boat and train and brought out at the right time. After sail or ride in train and carriage in this most appetizing atmosphere had made the party hungry as prairie wolves, then a sumptuous repast was served and enjoyed to the full. Rooms, and rest and care in hotel, cars, or boats were provided with a skill and tact that made one think of the Plant System.

Honesty is the foundation and keystone of every noble character. It is the quality that must pervade the whole nature. Nothing can take its place or atone for its absence, nor can there be a perfect manhood where it is not the warp and woof of the whole man. “Honesty is the best policy” says the policy man, but he who is honest only from policy and not from principle, is not an honest man, but a knave, if not a fool as well. Genius, scholarship, wit, humor, brilliancy are worse than worthless when they do not rest on a foundation of honesty. Never was a greater tribute paid to man than when President Lincoln’s neighbors dubbed him “Honest Abe.” Nor did poet ever rise to higher flights of truth than when Scotia’s Bard wrote “An honest man’s the noblest work of God.” “To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand,” says Shakespeare. In the history of the human race men of all ranks have ever paid the highest tributes to honesty and accorded to it the first place in human character. It is this quality, combined with his great energy, which has enabled Mr. Plant to carry his undertakings to so successful an end.

One of his associates in business for long years said: “Mr. Plant does not rashly promise but when he does, performance is sure, cost what it may. Were I having a business transaction with Mr. Plant for any amount, and knew that he would live to fulfil his engagement I would ask neither bond nor written contract. His word would be just as good to me as any security that could be drawn by the best legal authority in the land.” “I should name honesty as the dominant principle of Mr. Plant’s character,” said another.

It has been naïvely said that no “man is a gentleman to his valet,” but the testimonies here quoted are from men of long and most intimate acquaintance, and might be multiplied by hundreds of those who were once in his employ as well as by those still connected with the great System over which Mr. Plant presides. Careful scrutiny and good judgment have characterized all Mr. Plant’s dealings with his fellow-men, but crooked ways and mean advantage never. He has rendered to his generation an invaluable service in that he has demonstrated to it that honesty is the best principle and the surest way to the greatest success. And he has done this in departments of commerce proverbial for their unjust and unfair methods of dealing.

He has a wonderful amount of unconscious power which moulds those who come within its influence. Hence his associates have remained long with him even when tempted by other positions. The following extracts from a letter of ex-Governor R. B. Bullock will be found of interest in this connection.

“Rev. Dr. Geo. H. Smyth.
“Reverend and Dear Sir:—

“Replying now to your esteemed favor of March 17th, would say that Mr. Henry B. Plant came to this city in 1854, representing the Adams and other express interests, which were then being extended through this section of the country; and he continued to make this city his headquarters in that connection until ’69 or ’70, when he made his home in New York. There are no ‘incidents’ within my knowledge connected with Mr. Plant’s life here, which would be of special interest to incorporate in a biography. He developed then the same persistent, conservative and industrious perseverance in planning for and directing the interests in his charge, which have since developed into the important and widespread interests over which he now presides.

“Naturally, in the development and establishment of the business in his hands in those early days, it became necessary for him to select proper men to fill the various positions connected therewith and it is a notable fact, by experience shown, that the selections so made by him, were wise and judicious, and one of the marked features of his executive action has been the kindly exercise of unlimited and undisputed authority. There is no recollection of his having displayed impatience or irritable temper, even under very vexatious circumstances. His manner was always friendly, frank and appreciative, so that the disposition of the men subject to his control, was always found to be actuated by a desire to accomplish all that was possible for the interest of the institution over which Mr. Plant presided, sufficiently encouraged and cheered by the hope of his approbation. So close an eye did he keep upon the services rendered by the most insignificant employee, that no service well rendered failed to receive his personal endorsement and approval.

“By reason of his evenly balanced judgment and temper, his relations with the chief officers of railroad and steamship companies over and by which express service was transacted, and with bank officials—who were then our chief patrons—were always of the kindliest character, and he always enjoyed their perfect confidence and highest respect.

“In fact, all of the characteristics, which have made his later life the magnificent success which the country appreciates, were developed and maintained throughout his early business experience.

“There is nothing new or peculiar about the facts to which I have referred, because they are well known and appreciated by hundreds of men now in the service, who have been continuously with it since its organization.

“Very respectfully and truly,
“Rufus B. Bullock.”

CHAPTER IX.

Mr. Plant’s Industry and Power to Endure Continuous Strain—Labor of Examining and Answering his Enormous Mail—Letter from Japan—Mail Delivered Regularly to him at Home and Abroad—His Private Car, its Style, Structure, Hospitality, and Cheering Presence—Numerous Calls—The Secret of his Endurance—The Esteem and Love of the Southern Express Company for its President—Mr. Plant Enjoys Social Life—He is a Great Lover of almost all Kinds of Music—Mr. Plant a Medical Benefactor—Some of the Progress Made in the Healing Art—Bishop of Winchester’s High Estimate of the Value of Health—Dr. Long’s Opinion of the Gulf Coast as a Health Restorer—Unrecognized Medicines in Restoring Lost Health—Nervousness among the American People—The Soothing and Strengthening Effect of Florida Climate—Mr. Plant’s Part in Facilitating Travel and Providing Comfortable Accommodations for the Invalid.

MR. PLANT’S industry and power of endurance are a marvel to those around him in office work. Over five hundred letters a week received is no unusual thing. These are read to him by his private secretary, and answered under his direction or dictation. They come from the three different departments of the Plant System, which extends over many thousands of miles, by land and by sea, and in its Express department forwards goods over a mileage greater than the circumference of the globe.

Some of these letters require deliberation, skill, care, and sound judgment in replying to the many complex questions of such a large and important business as the Plant System covers. Others are less complicated and more easily disposed of, while many are of a social character, from Mr. Plant’s numerous friends scattered, I might say, over the world. One day while sitting in his office at Tampa Bay Hotel, he said: “I had a very pleasant letter this morning from Japan. Some lady missionaries there write me of an excursion I once gave them in Florida, which afforded them much enjoyment and of which they write in enthusiastic appreciation though it occurred many years ago, and I had forgotten all about it.”

This large mail is a matter of daily occurrence. No day in the whole week is free from its arrival. If he travels, as he often does in his own elegant private car, his mail is delivered at important stations all along the road. Being in constant communication with all departments of the System by telegraph, telephone, or messenger, his mail is forwarded to him promptly at all railroad stations named for its delivery, is examined and replied to as readily as if in his main office in New York City, for he has an office, desk, and all needed facilities in his car for sending out telegrams, letters, or messages from the different stations by the way. His car is a model of convenience, comfort, and elegance in all its appointments. It is finished in richly carved mahogany, upholstered and curtained in rich blue velvet, with numerous windows and mirrors of heavy French plate glass. It is numbered “100,” and known all over the South. Its entrance at any station causes sunshine to break on every face, and the old colored men who come, bucket in hand, to wash and polish it where it happens to remain over a night or a day at the station, are fairly beaming when they greet “Massa Plant” and are always paid back in their own coin with United States currency added. Every old “uncle” at the railroad stations in the Cotton States knows “Car 100,” and asks no better holiday than to “shine her.”

To return to the enormous office work of the President of this great system of transfer and traffic, it is a marvel how he has stood it all these years. It is no unusual thing for him at Tampa to spend two hours in hard work in examining his mail before breakfast, then till luncheon, with perhaps an hour’s intermission, and then work until late in the afternoon. His numerous calls from all sorts and classes of people, are a constant strain upon brain and nerve, not to say heart at times. The secret of this endurance of long and fatiguing work, is found in the fact that to a sound constitution, inherited from a hardy, thrifty ancestry, Mr. Plant has added a temperate life and great moderation in the use of stimulants. While a man of quick intuition and keen sensibility, he has shown the most wonderful self-control in the most trying circumstances. When others would be agitated and wholly thrown off their balance Mr. Plant would remain calm, quiet, cool, and clear-headed to a degree that stilled the tempest all around, and effected an amicable adjustment of matters most important as they were most complicated and difficult of settlement. This self-control is joined with great fertility of resources, great charity for the peculiarities of men, and withal a kindliness of nature, a disposition not to hurt any one, that have enabled him to render services to his associates and to his country that may not now be told, and perhaps will never be known until the great day when the “cup of cold water” shall be rewarded. Mr. Plant is never in a hurry, much less is he ever flurried, chafed, or worried about anything. All he does is done deliberately, systematically, easily, and once done it seldom or never has to be gone over again. “Make the best of everything,” is his motto.

A gentleman occupying a prominent position in the express department of the Plant System writes:

“It affords me great pleasure to acknowledge the esteem and love of the Southern Express Company’s employees, known to me, for Mr. Plant, who has favored us so often with his kindness, liberality, and mercy even when we were at fault. My knowledge extends back about thirty years, having commenced with the Southern Express Company in North Carolina in 1866, and having worked in Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi since that time, mingling very freely and socially with my fellow-employees. I have never heard one word of condemnation of Mr. Plant during all that time but, on the contrary, a hearty, free expression of respect and affection for the man who, by divine aid, had done so much for the whole South as well as the great number of employees in the Southern Express.

“Faithfully
“I. S. S. A.”

In long years of intimate association with Mr. Plant I have never heard him utter a profane word or a bitter expression against any one.

“Greater is he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city,” said the wise man. Mr. Plant has told me himself that if he learned of any one made unhappy by anything he had ever done or said, or if any misunderstanding should arise, he could not rest until all was settled to mutual satisfaction, and that, too, just as speedily as possible. “Charity for all, malice toward none,” briefly expresses the spirit, tone, and temper of this great and good man. Hence he has been saved the consuming force of friction and hatred which grind and wear out so many before their time. The young men now entering public life will find most valuable suggestion even in this brief record of a life so large, useful, and honored, through a period of our country’s history the most intense as it has been the most important since the days of the Revolution and the formation of a free and independent republic.

His busy life has made him neither a recluse, a pessimist, nor a slave of the world. He has been a good deal in society—both as guest and host he has mingled freely with his fellow-men and enjoyed to the full the pleasures of friendly reciprocity.

Mr. Plant’s love of music, in a man of his years and busy life, is remarkable. He says: “Music rests me, and helps me to sleep when I retire for the night, while I find it a great enjoyment in my waking hours. It is medicine to me.” Hence he is often seen spending the last hours of the day in the music room of the Tampa Bay Hotel, enjoying with the guests the delightful music rendered with such exquisite taste by the skilled orchestra. Mr. Plant is familiar with the best of the modern operas as well as with the finest classical music of the past. Among his favorites are Haydn, Handel, and Mozart. He is also fond of popular ballads and songs, such as Moore’s melodies and national patriotic songs. He says he enjoys even the hurdy-gurdy.

Mr. Plant might be termed a medical benefactor,—a health restorer,—because of the results of his work for the South and the North as well. In no department of scientific advancement during the last half-century has progress been more marked than in the department of medicine. The healing art, in its lessening of pain and in the prevention and cure of disease, has made, and is daily making, the most wonderful discoveries. What a boon to suffering humanity was the discovery of ether by Dr. Charles T. Jackson, of Boston, in 1846, who found that by the inhaling of this anæsthetic the patient is rendered unconscious of pain. Vaccine inoculation, introduced by Dr. Jenner in 1799, has prevented the spread of that much dreaded disease, small-pox. The name of Dr. Koch will long be held in grateful remembrance for his earnest efforts to cure consumption, as will those of Pasteur to cure hydrophobia. The Southern States to-day have thousands of people in ordinary good health, many of them in excellent health, who, ten, twenty, or thirty years ago, were given up by their physicians as past recovery and soon to die. But thirty years ago the modes of travel to the South and the lack of adequate provision there for invalids were such as only a person in fair health could bear. Through Mr. Plant’s efforts in large measure, both of these requisites for a sick man, or a delicate woman, have reached a state of perfection difficult to improve.

At the banquet given to Mr. Plant at Leesburg, Florida, in the winter of 1896, one of the speakers referring to what Mr. Plant had done for the North as well as for the South, said: “In the ‘Dixie’ land he has made the desert to bloom like the rose, changed waste places into fertile fields, the swamps into a sanitarium, the sand heap into a Champs Élysées, the Hillsborough into a Seine, and reproduced the palace of Versailles on the banks of Tampa Bay, and away up in freezing, shivering New England and Canada, when the doctor had written his last recipe and the druggist had emptied his last bottle and the undertaker was at the front door, our friend has placed the patient in a wheeled palace, and signalled, ‘On to Richmond,’ not to die, but to live; and old Virginia has smiled on the dying man, North Carolina has fairly laughed aloud, South Carolina has taken him into her warm embrace, and Florida has thrown flowers not on his coffin but on the resurrected Lazarus, and the family have invited their friends, not to a funeral, but to a feast. The Plant System ships have ploughed the Gulf of Mexico and spanned the Caribbean Sea, and have brought health and happiness to many homes over which bereavement and sorrow were hovering like the black angel of death.”

The Bishop of Winchester once said: “The first thing is good health, and the second is to keep it, and the third to protect it. Then arises the question, where shall we go?” It is not known that the noted physician had ever seen the Bishop’s question when he wrote: “Were I sent abroad to search for a haven of rest for tired man, where new life would come with every sun, and slumber full of sleep with every night, I would select the Gulf Coast of Florida. It is the kindest spot, the most perfect paradise; more beautiful it could not be made, still, calm and eloquent in every feature.” This was said by Dr. Long, an army physician in charge at Fort Brook, Tampa. The power of the fine arts over the mind, and of the mind over the body, are demonstrated facts. The most frequent and depressing of ailments among Americans is nervousness in various forms, and in different stages of progress, from morbid sensitiveness to utter prostration. In many cases medicine merely aggravates it. Its chief symptoms are irritability and wretchedness, often ending in suicide. Healing must come largely through the mind in rest, peace, comfort, and pleasant occupation.

While the mind in this condition cannot bear strain, neither can it be idle. Idleness induces morbidness and misery. Physical comfort must not be neglected, but there must be wholesome, nourishing food, pure air, and proper exercise. Hence, the value of the well-equipped and elegantly finished Pullman palace car, and the well-built steamer designed for comfort and safety, furnished and finished in a style that delights the eye and ministers to the enjoyment of every faculty. Hence the luxuriant hotel, with all its home comforts, its artistic adornments, and its princely entertainment, beauty for the eye, music for the ear, feasting the æsthetic while feeding the materialistic nature of man. All this enjoyment, while a soft, balmy air is breathed beneath a clear, blue sky, and while the invalid is bathed in the bright, warm sunshine of a southern clime, induces repose, peace, content, happiness, and health. The spirit loses its irritability, the mind regains its elasticity, sleep refreshes the tired brain, food nourishes the exhausted body, the whole man is renewed, and life that was not worth living has become an inspiration, a joy, an heroic and manly achievement.

It should be said here that up to the time that Mr. Plant established the steamship line between Tampa and Havana, there had been no regular communication between those two ports during the quarantine season. There were some irregular opportunities of transfer when passengers were detained for days to be investigated, fumigated, and harassed by quarantine regulations. Mr. Plant held that ships could be built and managed that would make communication as safe in summer as in winter, and he has proved the correctness of his theory. In ten years of regular service, the steamer Mascotte has never had a case of yellow fever. Through Mr. Plant’s suggestions, the Tampa Board of Health has established rules and regulations for travel to the West Indian ports which make it perfectly safe at all seasons of the year, so far as contagion from disease is concerned.

How much Mr. Plant has done to bring this blessed change to thousands, many beautiful tributes testify in the public press of our times. The expressions of enjoyment in the following letters could be extended almost indefinitely. In the Saint Augustine News of March, 1895, an enthusiastic correspondent writes: “It was early in the present century that this man of brains and bounty appeared on the great stage, and began a career scarce equalled by any in the annals of American financiers, and it is to him that Florida owes a debt of gratitude, deeper than to any other man—and this man is H. B. Plant. Favored indeed is Florida, not only in climate, scenery, and fruit, but with the munificence of these mighty-hearted millionaires, who have Alladin-like metamorphosed the sunny peninsula into a veritable fairyland. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. H. B. Plant, who has transmogrified Tampa, and ribboned Florida with his railroad system. As usual with men of great minds and means, he is wholly unpretentious, as much so as his humblest employee. He is anything but fastidious; yet he is a clean-cut man of the world, of vast business capacity, a keen, penetrating financier, and altogether lovable in his domestic life. His shipping interests extend from Halifax to Boston, his express and rail lines from New York to Tampa and New Orleans, and his connecting vessels run from Cuba and all Gulf of Mexico ports. Mr. Plant’s homes are the family place in Branford, Connecticut, a palace on Fifth Avenue, New York, and the Tampa Bay Hotel in winter. Mr. Plant’s family consists of a son who will succeed to his great responsibility and estate.”

Writing from Cuba in January 1888, “J. C. B.” says in his “Notes”:

“In the language of an intelligent observer, writing from Havana early in the present month, it would be difficult to find any other interesting foreign land, when its accessibility is considered, so worthy the attention of American travellers as Cuba. To the average thought of one who has not visited it, it seems far and repellent. It is neither of these.

“The improved special fast facilities furnished by the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Atlantic Coast line, the Plant system of railways, and its new, swift, and superb steamships, carry you from the American to the Cuban metropolis in three days.

“While the north shore of the island has three important harbors—Havana, Mantanzas, and Cardenas—the former is incomparably the finest and most spacious; the city, to the west of the gleaming bay, is a rare study in Moorish, Saxon, and Doric architecture. The scene has been thus pen-pictured:

“‘On the east side, where the close jaws of the harbor open, and clambering up the mountain side where frown the landward outworks of Moro Castle, is Casa Bianca, with its queer villas and structures, each one standing out in this wonderful daylight of the tropics in such distinctness, and with such a strange seeming of approaching and growing proportions, that, in your fancy, the houses individually become great pillared temples. In and over and through this dreamful spot, away up the side of the mountain, thread and run such indescribable wealth of vegetation that, as you look again and again, the clustered, shining houses seem like great white grapes bursting through a glorious wealth of vines and leaves.

“‘Beyond Casa Bianca the bay debouches to the east. Here is a veritable valley of rest. Every half a mile is a little cluster of homes set in a marvellous wealth of rose and bloom. Beyond this valley are seen pretty villages, each with its half-ruined church, whose only suggestion of use or occupation is had in the din of never-ceasing chimes; and still beyond these are uplands which almost reach the dignity of mountains, upon whose far and receding serrated heights an occasional cocoa tree or royal palm looms lonely as a ghostly sentinel upon some mediæval tower.

“‘Farther to the south lie the great Santa Catalina warehouses, where the saccharine source of Cuba’s wealth is stored in huge hogsheads, or rests dark as lakes of pitch in tremendous vats. Behind these is Regia, the lesser Havana, across the harbor, with its churches, its quaint old markets, its cockpits, its ceaseless fandangoes and its bull pen. Over beyond this, set like a gleaming nest in the crest of the mountains, a glimpse is caught of Guanabacoa, full of beautiful villas, beautiful gardens and fountains, and in the olden times the then oldest Indian village of which Cuban legends tell. Beyond Regia to the south, and upon the shores of the bay, is the ferry and railroad station, whence thousands reach the outlying villas, or leave the capital for the various seaports of the northern coast; and right here, night and day, is as busy and interesting a spot for the study of manner and character as may be found in all Cuba. At this station is seen a famous statue to Edouard Fesser, founder of the Havana warehouse system. The entire southern portion of the bay, where some day the barren shore line will be lined with great warehouses and docks, is filled with old hulls of sunken steamers and ships, conveying the keenest sense of desolation, and the shore here rises to uplands bare as Sahara, until, skirting to the right, the bold mountain, Jesu del Monte, is seen; and then come the great outlying forts extending far around to the sea. Between you and these, if still aboard-ship, you see Havana’s domes and minarets, and, to all intents, you are anchored in a sceneful harbor of old Spain.’

“This schedule of the quick mail service performed by the elegant steamers, Mascotte and Olivette, of the Plant line, in connection with the railway system heretofore mentioned between Tampa and Key West, in the east, affords but a few brief hours of rest in the harbor at Havana. Upon the first appearance of the Olivette, fresh from her conspicuous performances in distancing the fleet of steamers which accompanied the racing yachts of the international regatta, the writer had the good fortune to be among the invited guests who paid a visit to this magnificent vessel, which is justly the pride of her distinguished owner, Mr. H. B. Plant, the President and Managing Director of the Plant System of railways and steamships.”