MONMOUTH BEACH
Another winter had gone, leaving in its wake agreeable memories
of many happy reunions with the friends we had learned to love so
well, and once again we faced the problem that comes to so many
New Yorkers who do not own their summer home--where shall we go
for the heated term?
We were considering whether we would risk another encounter with
the mosquitoes and try Great Neck once more, when we heard the
Crossman place had been rented, and there was no other place there,
in the market, that we cared to take.
Our thoughts turned to the ocean. With my wife I searched the Jersey
coast from Seabright down to Asbury Park. Farther than that we did
not want to go on account of the length of the trip to and from
the city.
On our first visit we cut out every place except Monmouth Beach
and Seabright, and on the second took a lease of the Brent Wood
Cottage at Monmouth Beach. It was delightfully situated, directly
on the beach, a spacious and comfortably furnished house with a
large stable.
The house was in good repair, except that it needed painting. As I
had taken the lease for two seasons and the owner would do nothing,
I had it painted at my expense. We also did some redecorating in some
of the rooms, and when the work was finished had a very attractive
place.
The grand sail down the harbor and across the lower bay to the
Highlands was a source of daily delight to me. I had my own large
and nicely furnished stateroom with its private deck, rented by
the season, and we were very glad that we missed taking the place
at Great Neck.
On the first and second stories there were wide piazzas running
around the house, and for hours at a time with my marine glasses
at hand to look at passing steamers, I sat and enjoyed, what has
always been a fascination to me, watching the magnificent surf
crashing and dashing on the beach below. The house was protected
by a formidable bulkhead, but it was no uncommon occurrence to have
great showers of spray come dashing over it.
To watch the moon rise out of the sea, to listen to the roaring of
those ceaseless waves, the last thing before I slept at night and
the first thing on awakening in the morning, had for me a charm
unequalled by anything in Nature's wonders. And those September
storms, particularly severe that year, awe-inspiring in their mighty
grandeur.
Oh! there is nothing like the ocean.
On July first, the two years having expired, the commodity in which
we dealt again went on the free list. Naturally, stocks in this
country had been reduced to a very low point. With four cents per
pound duty removed, no one wanted any of the old stock, which had
paid the duty, on hand. Every consumer and dealer in the country
was bare of supplies and a very active demand from all sources set
in immediately.
When we abandoned the brokerage business to become importers and
dealers, our relations with our London friends changed. We bought
of them all that we imported and they sold to no other American
firm. If they bought in this market, their orders came to us. With
their movements we worked in sympathy. If they advanced the price
in London we did the same in New York and vice-versa. We were in
constant cable communication, informing each other from hour to
hour of the market movements.
There were times, however, when they entered into market campaigns
that extended over a long period. In these we did not fully
participate. Our market was too narrow to permit of it, and it
involved the locking up of too much capital.
In August, in accordance with our London advices, we began quietly
to accumulate stock in expectation of a much higher market late in
the fall. We remained persistent though quiet buyers until October,
meanwhile doing our utmost to hold the market down that we might
buy cheaply. We looked to see the operation completed by the end of
the year, with a very handsome profit. Early in October our stock
was sufficiently large to make it an object to advance the price,
and our buying became more aggressive.
Just when the value began to rise, the London market halted. This
at once checked the advance in New York and for the time being we
had a waiting game on our hands, it being quite impossible for our
market to advance above the London parity and remain there. We must
wait for London.
After a moderate reaction London again advanced and we bought
here freely everything that was offered. Again London halted. All
through November conditions were the same; a few days of strength,
then a reaction, meanwhile our stock had been largely increased. At
the beginning of December our advices from London led us to believe
that all hesitation would now disappear and the market rapidly
advance. Our holdings were already enormous, but we had no reason
to doubt the success of our operations, and continued our purchases.