Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/252

 *bands, and I never knew a man who loved his children with such intensity as he did. He seemed to worship them all. He was a very companionable man, and there was a great deal of humor in his disposition. While he was not given to telling stories or cracking jokes himself, he enjoyed hearing others do so and would laugh as heartily as the rest. He was very abstemious in his habits, but was exceptionally fond of coffee. Now and then he would sip a little wine, but he rarely took more than a spoonful at any time. My opinion is that his system gave way under the great strain resulting from the consciousness of his immense wealth. It was a tremendous care, and he was always weighed down with the anxiety and excitement of protecting his properties.

"Mr. Gould was the most generous of men, and he made a great many other men rich by his own generosity. I could give you hundreds of instances where in return for some slight service to him he has started men in the way of making fortunes. There is one which just comes to mind while I am talking which is a good illustration. Once there was a man out West who did some little work for Mr. Gould in a railroad matter there. The man was of the ordinary type of a Westerner on the frontier. Mr. Gould said to me: 'I ought to do something for him; what would you suggest?' I replied, 'Buy him a thousand shares of stock for a rise.' He said, 'All right,' and ordered the purchase of 1,000 shares of Denver and Rio Grande. The stock was then about 29. We