But his craze for horses sometimes brought him into serious
difficulties. He made his appearance at the office one day with one
half of his face as black as mud could make it, his clothes torn, and
his hat missing, but still holding the whip in one hand. He explained
that he had attempted to drive a fast Kentucky colt; one of the reins
had broken and he had lost his "steerage-way," as he expressed it.
He was a grand fellow, "Pipe" as we called him, and when he took a
fancy to a person, as he did to me, he was for and with him always. In
later days when I removed to New York he transferred his affections to
my brother, whom he invariably called Thomas, instead of Tom. High as
I stood in his favor, my brother afterwards stood higher. He fairly
worshiped him, and anything that Tom said was law and gospel. He was
exceedingly jealous of our other establishments, in which he was not
directly interested, such as our mills which supplied the Keystone
Works with iron. Many a dispute arose between the mill managers and
the Colonel as to quality, price, and so forth. On one occasion he
came to my brother to complain that a bargain which he had made for
the supply of iron for a year had not been copied correctly. The
prices were "net," and nothing had been said about "net" when the
bargain was made.
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