So far as I am able to learn, no enterprise of the magnitude of the New
York Aquarium was ever disposed of on the flip of a penny. This
transaction may not, at first thought, appeal to the church people of
the country as being right, and the average business man will doubtless
condemn it as unbusinesslike. The attending circumstances, however,
were peculiar. This true story was never made public by my partner or
myself, and the transaction always had a touch of mystery in the eyes
of the showmen of the country.
From the opening of the Aquarium until a certain eventful day its
success, financially, scientifically and morally, was unqualified.
This, as I have already intimated, was in large measure due to the
enthusiastic support of clergymen, scientists and educators, whose
commendations brought us the patronage of the intelligent masses with
whom these eminent leaders of thought had the greatest influence.
I received scores of letters from celebrated divines indorsing the
Aquarium, and these were, of course, made use of in the way of
advertising. My partner was a German and could not appreciate the
American feeling for the Sabbath.
He was determined to open the doors of the museum for Sunday patronage,
declaring that this would bring in a very large number of people who
were naturally inclined to Sabbath-day pleasure-seeking, and were quite
generally interested in things of a scientific nature. He continued
this campaign of argument for two years, during which I steadfastly
urged that such a step would be an offense to the belief of the
majority of our patrons; that it would bring into the place an
undesirable element, from which it had been entirely free, and that the
enterprise was enjoying a steady prosperity with which it would be wise
to remain content.
Then I repeatedly tried to buy his interest in the Aquarium, but he
steadfastly refused to yield a single point, and became more imperative
in his demands for Sunday opening. This persistency and increasing
aggressiveness at last wore me out. One Monday morning, as he dropped
in at the office and once more brought up the old contention, I
determined that it should be settled, in one way or another, before he
left the room. Instinctively I felt there was no use offering to
purchase his interest, for I had previously gone to the limit of reason
in that direction.