Meeting the captain some time after in Broadway, he said:
"'I had better have paid for that chronometer of yours,'"
Yet he could do a kind act when he was in the humor. When he was poor
and struggling for fortune, he had a friend in the city named Pell, a
coachmaker. As he advanced in the world he lost sight of his friend. One
day a young man called on him to ask if he would sell one of his leases
which he (the visitor) then held. He replied promptly and decidedly that
he would not sell.
"But what is your name?" he asked.
"It is Pell," was the reply.
"Pell--Pell--" said the old man, hesitating a moment, "I knew a man by
that name once; he was a dear friend of mine, but I have not seen him
for years."
"That man," said the visitor, "was my father."
"Indeed," exclaimed the old man, warmly; "your father? Why, he used to
give me rides in his coaches. How I should like to see him."
Then pausing a moment, and smiling as he recalled the past to his mind,
he said:
"You shall have the lease, young man. Go home, have the papers drawn,
come here at eleven o'clock on Thursday, and I'll sign them.
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