But enough of this; I forget I was not appointed to preach a sermon, but to respond to a toast, and to express the appreciation of these stockbreeders for your kindness. You have done well. The scriptures exhort "that we should not be forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Now I am willing to admit that it would be a violent imagination that would mistake one of these lusty stockbreeders for an angel. It will probably be some time before even the pin-feathers will sprout from their shoulder blades. But they are susceptible and under proper influences and conditions I don't know what may happen. I remember in the early days of Des Moines, when we were dependent upon ourselves entirely for amusements, the ladies got up a public entertainment consisting chiefly of tableaux. I had the honor of officiating as stage manager. One representation was of a good and an evil spirit, representing an angel and a devil. The ladies were quite tardy in getting ready. I went into the green room to hurry matters and found the ladies dressing [great applause and continued interruption]. Do not interrupt in the middle of a sentence. I was saying I found the ladies dressing the angel—a young lady to whom they were attaching a pair of wings. I chided their delay and unfortunately remarked, "that it took a long time to make an angel out of a woman." The man who was to represent the evil spirit was sitting by, all ready, with blackened face and horns, and one of the ladies, pointing to him instantly remarked, "that it took but little time to make a devil out of a man." Of course it is only a question of time with all of this crowd. We all expect to be angels but it will take time and good feeding.
I believe I have fully exhausted the subject assigned to me, to say nothing of the audience. It is sad to have to make a speech when you don't know beforehand what you are going to say and nobody knows after you are done what you have said. Brethren we have cast our bread upon the waters—and it has returned to us after many days, literally and substantially.
I cannot conclude without thanking you for your quiet and uninterrupted attention.
During my visit to Emporia, Kansas, with my niece, Rose Vimont, I found a volume written by Alexander H. Stephens, evidently for the purpose of justifying the attempt that had been made to destroy the government of the United States by the disintegration of the government and the establishment of the doctrine of the right of secession. That fall I was invited by the president of the faculty of Simpson Centenary College at Indianola, Iowa, to deliver an address at the college commencement. I accordingly prepared with considerable care a lecture upon the constitutional relations of the national and state governments, in which I endeavored to combat the heresies contained in Stephens's book, and the great truth that the national government was not a compact between sovereign states, but was what it purported to be—a government emanating from the source of all power: to-wit, the people. The trustees and faculty of the college, after this lecture, honored me by conferring upon me the degree of Doctor of Laws. This lecture I afterwards delivered, upon the invitation of the president and faculty of Drake University, before the students of that institution, and also before the law class of the State University at Iowa City.
About this time I also prepared and delivered on several occasions a lecture upon the legal rights of married women, containing some sarcasm and criticism upon the advanced legislation by which under our laws a wife could bring suit in the courts and obtain judgment upon a promissory note executed by her husband and payable to herself, citing an instance in which this doctrine had actually been put in practice, and remarking upon the right of the wife to issue execution against her husband and cause a levy to be made upon his personal property for the payment of the judgment, stating, however, that the law in its humanity and pity for the husband had fortunately exempted the husband's wearing apparel, including his pantaloons, from execution. This lecture I also delivered, at the request of several local institutions in several parts of the state.
CHAPTER XVIII
B. F. Allen's Bankruptcy
On the 2nd day of January, 1875, the citizens of Des Moines were startled by the news that the Cook County Bank of Chicago, Illinois, of which bank B. F. Allen was president, had closed its doors. A meeting of the citizens was called and held for consultation to ascertain what effect this would have on the local affairs of our city. Impressions seemed to prevail at first that the failure of the Cook County Bank did not necessarily involve the failure of B. F. Allen or of his private bank in the city of Des Moines, or of the National Bank of this city, of which he was president. The great question before the meeting was to ascertain "where we were at." A committee was appointed for that purpose. I had the temerity to suggest that this committee could easily ascertain what we all desired to know by examining the bills receivable in Mr. Allen's bank. I was decidedly of the opinion that the Cook County Bank had never failed and closed its doors while Mr. Allen controlled the means to avoid such a result. Some months before this time, on my return home from business out of the state, my partner, Mr. Kauffman, informed me that he had purchased a certificate of deposit on B. F. Allen's bank at a liberal discount from one J. C. Taylor. The certificate of deposit was of recent date, payable twelve months after date. It occurred to me a very strange performance that Mr. Taylor should deposit fifteen hundred dollars in the bank and take a certificate payable twelve months after date, and then go into the market and sell such a certificate at a liberal discount. As I then suspected, and afterwards ascertained the fact to be, Taylor had not deposited fifteen hundred dollars in the bank, but had furnished the bank his promissory note payable to the Cook County Bank and had received in exchange for it a certificate of deposit payable twelve months after date, and this note of Taylor's had been endorsed by Allen as president of the Cook County Bank, and had been sent to New York as an asset upon which to raise money. Fortunately this little transaction coming to my knowledge induced me to remove my business from B. F. Allen's bank and I lost nothing by his failure.
A short time after this; to-wit, about the 26th of January, 1875, a gentleman from New York, to-wit, A. N. Denman, formerly a clerk in the office of Allen, Stephens & Co., came into my office and put in my hands for suit and foreclosure the following remarkable document: