Free The Jews in America Trilogy by Stephen; Birmingham

financial district was a long way from the maze of narrow, airless canyons between towers of granite and glass and steel that it is today. Instead, a fresh salt breeze blew across Bowling Green from the bay and the Atlantic beyond, and the horizon was hectic with the masts of sailing vessels from foreign ports, and the streets were noisy with horses and wagons and men unloading cargo. The spirit of oceangoing commerce was everywhere. And—what would be a rarity today—one could actually see and smell the products that were making their way into the port: the bales of hides and fleece and sacks of wheat and flour from the opening West; cotton from the South; bars of copper from the Great Lakes; crates of poultry from upstate and New England; meats, vegetables, eggs, fish, timbers for railroad ties. Very soon bars of gold would be unloaded on the streets from California. Everything was out in the open air. Stocks were traded on street corners along with diamonds and foreign currency. New York was trade—there was virtually no other business. In this zesty atmosphere it was impossible for a young man not to smell the money to be made.
    Babette’s marriage gave Joseph his first brother-in-law, and Joseph put him promptly to use. Along with William, Max Stettheimer was sent to Saint Louis, where W. Seligman & Company was opened at 166 North Main Street. With stores in New York and Saint Louis, in addition to Greensboro, Clinton, and Eutaw, things were looking up again. Max Stettheimer’s father, Jacob, was taken in, placed in the New York store, and in a short space of time Abraham Seligman—now fifteen and ready to work † —was shipped to St. Louis to assist William; Max Stettheimer was shipped back to New York to help his father, where the firm name was changed to Seligman & Stettheimer,Dry Goods Importers; Jesse and Henry were shifted out of Alabama to upstate New York, where, in Watertown, their new firm was called J. & H. Seligman, Dry Goods. (Jesse liked to say the “J.” stood for Jesse, but anyone who knew Joseph knew that all J.’s really stood for Joseph.) In Watertown the Seligmans ran their first advertisement in the Watertown Jeffersonian , which announced:
    SHAWLS! SHAWLS!!
    200 ALL WOOL LONG SHAWLS of the Richest Colors and Latest Styles, just arrived and will be sold at prices which cannot fail to suit all purchasers. Brocha, Cashmere, and Silk Shawls we offer now at lower prices than ever heard of!
    It was a chilly October morning, and the ladies came in droves.
    In Watertown the Seligmans made another valuable friend. He was First Lieutenant Ulysses Simpson Grant of the 4th Infantry, who was stationed at Madison Barracks, eleven miles away, and who dropped into the Seligmans’ store looking for “a bit of finery” for his new bride. Jesse waited on the sad-faced young Lieutenant and, as Jesse wrote later, “On our acquaintance we immediately became friends.”
    Probably Grant was looking for a new male friend his own age at that point. Most of his friends prior to that year had been made in taverns, and already his commanding officer had begun warning him about his drinking habits. His new wife was doing her best to steer him toward other forms of sociability. At her urging, he had helped form Rising Sun Division No. 210 of the Sons of Temperance Lodges in Watertown, had become presiding officer of the lodge, and often marched militantly in local temperance parades. In his off-duty, non-temperance-meeting hours, Grant began sitting around with pleasant, sober Jesse Seligman. The two played checkers, whist, and poker, chewed tobacco and smoked cigars. Grant hated to talk politics.
    Rosalie was the sentimental Seligman sister. She doted on her husband and on married life in general, loving to perform such wifely tasks as polishing his shoes, brushing his hair, rubbing his back when he was weary, and nursing him when he was indisposed. She quickly became