orchestra of over twelve players. He brought over a leader
from Germany, and did much to foster the love of music in
the New World.
Every worthy Maecenas imagines that he is a great painter,
writer, sculptor or musician, side-tracked by material cares
thrust upon him by unkind fate. John Jacob Astor once told
Washington Irving that it was only business responsibility
that prevented his being a novelist; and at other times he
declared his intent to take up music as a profession as soon as
he had gotten all of his securities properly tied up. And
whether he worked out his dreams or not, there is no doubt
but that they added to his peace, happiness and length of
days. Happy is the man who escapes the critics by leaving his
literary masterpiece in the ink.
End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of John Jacob Astor, by Elbert Hubbard