to the medals as I was." At his graduation he was assigned an English oration on an uncongenial subject, and when he mounted the stage he found that it had gone from his memory. He plucked up courage, however, and made an extemporaneous speech, which was received with unusual eclat. It was at college that he made the acquaintance of Theodore Tilton, and the two class-mates became fast friends. Unlike as well could be, their dissimilarities seemed to strengthen their intimacy and increase the ardor of their attachment. After leaving college, Mr. Moulton thought first of studying law, and then of entering West Point; but ill-health blocked both paths. Resolved to go into business, he entered the service of Messrs. Woodruff & Robinson as office boy for $75 the first year. His industry, fidelity, and marked business capacity led to his steady promotion, till, in 1861, he was admitted to the firm as a partner. He soon assumed charge of the warehouse business of the firm, which increased enormously under his management. In 1870 he took an active part in securing an abatement of canal tolls at Albany. The provisions of the Canal Debt Funding Bill, which reduced the toll on wheat from 6 to 3 cents, and on corn from 4 to 2 cents, were obtained from the Legislature very largely by his exertions. His business ambition has always been high, and his position among merchants was prominent and honorable. Before his connection with this unfortunate scandal his prospects as a business man were regarded as unusually brilliant. He was married in 1860, and for several years has resided on Remsen street, Brooklyn Heights, his elegant home gaining additional attractions from the practice of a generous hospitality. Mr. Moulton's connection with the present case began December 30, 1870, when Mr. Tilton confided his trouble to him, and sought his advice and assistance as & friend. Reticent in his habit, and unusually firm in his attachments, and discreet in his conduct, he naturally won the confidence of those who knew him, and Mr. Beecher felt sure that in him he had a safe counselor and devoted friend. The qualities of mind which made him the trusted friend of these two men in their difficulties are conspicuous in Mr. Moulton's character, and afford the key to his subsequent conduct. He is not a professor of religion, but his mother was a devout member of the Reformed Church, and his father is a Baptist, austere and exact in his conduct, and while at college he was superintendent of the Sunday-school of the Mount Pleasant Reformed Church. His literary tastes are unusually rare and cultivated, and he has an extensive acquaintance with the best authors, whose works he frequently quotes in conversation, and whose influence appears in the language of his testimony, which is remarkably terse and precise, and sometimes elegant. W. T. C. |