Skip to main content

Full text of "Cyclopædia of commercial and business anecdotes;"

See other formats 


nam 

M 

■ 

■*1 

ic":^ 

ijfifi 

^i    r    <^i    f^i^i    <    (    i^f' <    (    I    t   <   (   t   f't   t   t   <    (   I    I    < M    e    ' 
f  r  (   !   I    f  (  (  c  f   r  t^(  t^e'i't^t  t  t^t  t  t  t  f  t't  r  r   t 


;      S 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witin  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


Iittp://www.arcliive.org/details/cyclopaediaofcom02deveiala 


B.L.STEVEN3: 


^;/y  /w  ^vv  ■  /^  J5?  S^^i^Uvf  /  /^ 


.\...r™,.„  K«,,K  \..«.  l.wN.^  Ai.rk. 


Dtviv^^,  Nii-*ii''J    ruti&ir 


OTOLOP^DIA 


COMMERCIAL  AND   BUSINESS 

ANECDOTES;  ^ 


COMPRISING 


INTERESTING  REMINISCENCES  AND  FACTS, 

REMARKABLE  TRAITS  AlfB  HUMORS, 

AND 

i0taW^  ^m\n%,  SMitt0i8,  (&mx\mt%  and  TOttidismisi 

OP 

MERCHANTS,  TRADERS,   BANKERS,   MERCANTILE    CEI.EBRITIES,   MILUONNAIEES, 
BARGAIN  MAKERS,   ETC.,  ETC. 

IN     ALL     AGES     AND     COUNTRIES. 

DESIQMED  TO  EXHIBIT,  BT 

NEARLY  THREE  THOUSAND  ILLUSTRATIVE  ANECDOTES  AND  INCIDENTS, 

THE 

PIQUANCIES    AND    PLEASANTRIES    OF    TRADE,    COMMERCE,    AND    GENERAL 
BUSINESS    PURSUITS. 


ASTOR, 

GIRARD, 

mcdonogh; 

BARING, 

ROTHSCHILD, 

BIDDLE, 

TOURO, 

LORILLARD, 

OUVRARD, 

LABOUCHERE, 

LONGWORTH, 

PERKINS, 

BATES, 

APPLETON, 

BAYARD, 

LEROY, 

BARKER, 

LAFITTE, 

STEWART, 

RUSSELL, 

LENOX, 

COOPER, 

SHAW, 

STEIGLITZ, 

HOWQUA, 

GRESHAM, 

LOWELL, 

BUSSEY, 

GOLDSCHMID, 

PEABODY, 

MORRIS, 

VANDERBILT, 

HOPE, 

NOLTE, 

BIGGS, 

JEEJEEBHOY, 

HOTTINGUER, 

BROOKS, 

GIDEON, 

GRINNELL, 

GRACIE, 

RIDGWAY, 

SLATER, 

LEE, 

cotrrrs, 

GRAY, 

FRANCIS, 

FDGGER, 

BELMONT, 

CHILD, 

DEXTER, 

TATTERSALl^ 

MORRISON, 

HUDSON, 

WHITNEY, 

HOPPER, 

DE  MEDICI, 

LAWRENCE, 

STURGI8, 

COPE, 

ETC., 

ETC.,  ETC. 

Lonf;  life  to  Coini CBCE !   What  lives  not  through  it  t    What  la  all  fresh  life,  all  movement,  in  realitj,  Imt  trade,  czchaag*, 
gift  for  gift!— B&Kius. 

Come,  Ankcdote  I  with  all  thy  ^acea  come. 
Relieve  the  erave— to  mirth  thy  rlKhts  afford, 
And  crown  the  sparkling  glass  and  hospitable  hoard.— Cookb. 
I  am  persuaded  that  every  time  a  man  smiles— but  much  more  so  when  he  laughs— it  adds  something  to  this  fragment  of 
lift. — Stkbhs. 

A  dinner  otfraymentt  is  often  said  to  be  the  best  dinner. — "  GtjissES  at  Tbuth." 

By  FRAZAR   KIRKLAND. 

SMBSIZIBHSD    WITH  POBTBAITS  AND  ILLUBTBATIVB  CUTS. 

vol..  n. 

NEW  YORK : 
D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY,  443  &  445  BROADWAY. 

LONDON:     16    LITTLE    BRITAIN. 
1864. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1864,  by 

T>.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY, 

In  the  Clerk'8  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Bonthem  District  of 

Nevr  York. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  11. 


PART   VIII. 

ANECDOTES    OF    COMMERCE    AND    TRAFFIC    IN  THEIR    LEGAL    AND 
JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 

Paetnebship,  Bankruptcy,  Debtor  and  Creditor,  Bonds  and  Mortgages,  Dunning, 
Peculiar  Cases  of  Mercantilb  Litigation;  Pleasantries  and  Perplexities, 
Lights  and  Shades. 


FAGB 

A  Bankrupt  on  his  Legs  Again 401 

Addison's  Loan  of  Five  Hundred  Pounds 

to  Stanyan 428 

Advantage  of  being  a  Large  Debtor 399 

Advantage  of  Prison  Life  to  a  French 

Debtor 410 

Afraid  of  the  SherifiTs  Hat 451 

Aid  in  the  Nick  of  Time :  Jacob  Barker 

and  John  Wells 435 

An  Insolvent  Tradesman  in  the  Clutches 

of  Old  Audley 40(> 

An  Unsettled  Commercial  Question 405 

Artifice  to  Escape  Bankruptcy 458 

Audubon,  John  J,,  and  John  J.  Astor. . . .  454 

Backing  up  his  Recommendation 438 

"Bankrupt" 407 

Bankruptcy  and  Barbarism  in  Court 396 

Bankruptcy  of  a  Dealer  in  "Women's 

Blacks" 425 

Bankrupts  in  Batavia 397 

Benefit  of  a  Doubt 419 

Bonfire  of  a  Debtor's  Papers 424 

Borrowers  and  Lenders — a  Melange 435 

Borrowing  Money,  or  Doing  Business  on 

Credit :  Peter  C.  Brooks's  Idea 416 

Borrowing  of  Rich  Relatives 428 

Breach  of  the  Bond 445 

Brooks,  Peter  C,  the  Boston  Millionnaire, 

in  Court 404 

Business,    Bankruptcy    and    Literature: 

John  Pierpont  and  John  Neal 443 

Business  Value  of  a  Name 416 

Buying  a  Pianoforte  Establishments 450 

Cabinet  of  Debtors'  Autographs 452 

Celebrated  Law  Suits  among  Rival  Crafts  433 
Certificates  of  Solvency 450 


PAQB 

Changes  in  Mercantile  Standing 442 

Collecting  a  Draft 431 

Colloquy  in  a  Dry  Goods'  Jobbing  Store  416 

Comfort  for  Scotch  Debtors 403 

Commercial  Justice  in  Morocco 413 

Confidence  in  a  Debtor's  Promise 455 

Convenient  Substitute  for  Money 407 

Cool  Operation 425 

"  Credit " 449 

Crinkles  in  the  Credit  System 454 

Curious  Financiering 394 

Curious  Suit  against  a  Bank  Agent 418 

Day  and  Martin— New  and  Old 448 

Dealing  with  a  Bankrupt  in  Hamburg— 

"  Execution  "  on  the  Bourse 397 

Death  of  an  Old  Business  Favorite 450 

Debt,  and  the  Contribution  Box 426 

Debtors'  Complaint  in  Court 423 

Debts  of  Honor 401 

Debts  Owing  and  Balances  Due 391 

Deciding  a  Case  in  Botany  before  a  Dutch 

Magistrate 457 

"Died  of  a  Street  Debt!" 417 

Dishonest  Grocer  Punished  by  his  Son. . .  412 
Disreputable  for  a  Broker  to  be  Honest 

toward  his  Creditors 410 

Drawing  an  Inference 401 

"Dun" 407 

Dunning  as  aProfession 393 

Dump's  Distressing  Failure 424 

Easy  Creditors 411 

English  Booksellers  and  American  Cus- 
tomers :  Daniel  Appleton 454 

English  Stockbrokers'  Blackboard 420 

Erskine  Sifting  an  Auctioneer's  Character  421 
Example  of  Spanish  Mercantile  Credit...  423 


IV 


CONTENTS. 


FAOK 

Failure  of  the  Governor  of  the  Bank  of 

England 459 

Failures  in  Business 426 

Forgiving  a  Debt  and  Giving  a  Wife....  898 
Fortunate   Debtor :    Washington    as    a 

Creditor. 429 

Found  Goods 430 

French  Mode  of  Paying  Bills S99 

Friuli,  the  Florentine  Merchant,  and  his 

Lost  Purse 451 

Frodsham's  Watch  Cheat 430 

Gave  his  Note 430 

General  Jackson's    Indorsement   among 

Boston  Capitalists 427 

German  Delicacy  in  Paying  and  Receiving 

Money 414 

German  Financial  Operation 437 

Getting  an  Injunction  Dissolved 432 

Giving  Credit  "  To-morrow  " 430 

Grandest  Instance  of  Debt 427 

Grant  Thorburn's  Bankruptcy 438 

Granting  an  Extension 445 

Great  Failures  in  Hamburg,  in  1799....  408 

Happy  End  to  a  Debt 891 

Hard  Old  Creditor 411 

Helping  Girard  to  Collect  a  Debt. 453 

Honest  Quaker  Bankrupt 452 

Hotel  Keeper's  Advice  to  his  Son 405 

Hypothecating  One's  Person  for  a  Loan. .  442 

"Immediate  Relief" 421 

Imperial  Affection  for  a  Banker 444 

Important  to  Dunners  and  Debtors 412 

Indian's  Idea  of  Imprisonment  for  Debt. .  429 

Is  it  Lawful  to  Dun  aDebtor? 415 

James  G.  King,  the  Banker,  and  Lord 
Asbburton :  Cause  of  Merchants  Fail- 
ing  453 

Jewish  Traders,  and  Straw  Bail 444 

Jobbing  in  Debtors'  Shop  Leases 452 

Jury  Deliberations  on  a  Railroad  Case. . .  455 
Kentucky  Banker  who  Kept  Resuming.. .  408 
Kindness  to  Debtors:  Chickering,  Pea- 
body,  Lorillard 443 

King,  James  G.,  and  Lord  Ashburton....  453 

Lafayette's  Loan  to  Mathew  Carey 459 

Lawsuits  of  Girard 438 

Legal  Damages  and  Interest  in  Africa. . . .  439 

Legal  Eccentricities  of  Commerce 427 

Longworth's  Celebrated  Fee 396 

Lord   Mansfield's    Mercantile   Cases   in 

Court , 418 

Losses  Among  Russian  Merchants 420 

Louis  the  Sixteenth  and  the   Saddler's 

Bill 426 

Lucrative  Deed  of  Trust 893 

Merchantlike , .  423 

Merchant's  Wit  on  the  Stand 421 

Narrow  Escape  from  Bankruptcy 430 

Nice  Snare  for  a  French  Creditor 395 


FAOB 

Nine  Days  in  the  Life  of  a  Merchant 422 

No  Trust  for  Merchants  in  Small  Clothes  429 

No  Use  for  Pistols 449 

"Not  Down  on  the  Bill" 422 

Notes  with  and  without  Security 433 

Novel  Trade  Case  before  a  Prussian  Magis- 
trate   419 

Obtaining  a  Certificate  of  Bankruptcy...  447 

Old  Scores  Wiped  Out 414 

On  the  Forgiven  List 440 

One  of  the  Causes  of  Bankruptcy 419 

Ouvrard's  Profitable  Imprisonment 892 

"Parsons  on  Promissory  Notes" 400 

Pay,  or  Charge 445 

Paying  "a  Balance" 392 

Paying  an  Old  Debt 400 

Pecuniary  Anxiety  of  the  Greatest  Mer- 
chant in  the  World 489 

Peddler  Mulcting  a  Sheriff. 413 

Peter  C.  Brooks,  the  Boston  Millionnaire, 

in  Court 404 

Philanthropic  Debtor 444 

Politeness  in  Dunning. 415 

Presenting  a  Frivolous  Bill  to  Girard. . . .  411 
Profitable   and    Unprofitable  Bankrupt- 
cy   423 

Quaker  Merchant's  Thousand-Dollar  Fee 

to  Mr.  Webster 409 

Quaker's  Reply  to  Fordyce,  the  Bankrupt 

Banker 427 

Rare  Magnanimity  of  a  French  Creditor  434 

Reply  to  a  Dunning  Epistle 41T 

Response  to  a  Tax  Commissioner's  Dun. .  414 

Rough  Treatment  of  Insolvents 444 

Royal  Promissory  Note 405 

Salting  an  Invoice 409 

Saving  the  Credit  of  a  City :  Theodore 

Payne 450 

Selling  One's  Body  to  a  Creditor :  Marshal 

Radetzky 420 

"  Settling  "  an  Account 437 

Sharp  Hit  at  Repudiation 446 

Sheridan's  Treatment  of  a  Creditor 448 

Shopkeepers  going  to  Law 395 

Singular  Suit  against  Mr.  Appleton,  of 

Boston 395 

Small  Debts 405 

Soliloquy  of  a  Debtor. 410 

"Something  or  Nothing,  and  that  very 

Quick!" 418 

Sprot,   the   Banker,  and  the   Patrician 

Debtor 415 

Staying  his  Own  Debt 455 

Stealing  Goods  at  the  Retail  Price 456 

Stratagem  to  Collect  a  Debt 394 

Subduing  a  Creditor's  Fury 407 

Subscriptions   for   the   Government   by 

Philadelphia  Merchants 459 

Suit  against  a  Railroad  Company 457 


CONTENTS. 


PAOB 

Swan,  the  Millionnaire,  Voluntarily   in 
Prison  over  Twenty  Years  for  Debt. .  392 

Tailors'  Bills 405 

Talleyrand's  Promise  to  Pay 432 

Taxing  Bills  and  Receipts 432 

Tender  in  Payment 400 

The  "Model  Debtor"  Described 402 

Thorburn's,  Grant,  Bankruptcy 438 

"Tick" 401 

Trading  for  Ready  Money 416 

Treatment  of  Chinese  Bankrupts 446 

Treatment  of  Insolvents  by  the  Bank  of 
England 434 


PAOI 

Two  Aspects  of  Trade 416 

Unexpected  Judgment  against  Bank  Di- 
rectors  457 

Washington  Irving's  Commercial  Bank- 
ruptcy   444 

Western  Method  of  Collecting  a  Debt. . . .  397 
*'  What  is  Sauce  for  the  Goose  is,"  Ac. . . .  449 

What  the  word  "  Pay  "  Signifies 407 

Wine  Merchant  at  his  Debtor's  Table. . . .  451 

Wiping  out  an  Old  Score 453 

Won't  Look  at  Him 448 

"Wouldn't    Steal     Indiana    Money    at 
Par" 452 


PAKT   IX. 


ANEOBOTES  OF  MERCHANTS,  TRADERS,  BANKERS  AND  MILLIONN AIRES, 
IN  THEIR  DOMESTIC  RELATIONS. 


Personal  Appearance,  Manners,  Conversation,  Tastes,  Social  Traits  and  Habfts, 
Peculiar  Experiences  ;  Genial  Jests,  Sallies,  and  Jocularities  ;  Last  Hours, 
Wills,  etc. 


PAOE 

A  Banker's  Love  of  Birds— Girard's  Little 

Songsters 510 

A  Millionnaire  on  Giving  Away  Money: 

Peter  C.  Brooks 489 

Amos  Lawrence's  Opinion  of  Marriage. . .  484 
An  Old  Merchant's  Style  and  Equipage..  486 

Anselm  Rothschild's  Will 472 

Astor's  Appearance  and  Manner. 465 

Banker  vs.  Musician 505 

Baring,  Francis,  at  the  Virginia  Inn 467 

Baring's  Daughter  and  M.  Labouchere. . .  463 
Barker,  Jacob,  under  Medical  Treatment.  482 
Baron  Rothschild  Defending  Himself  with 

a  Big  Ledger 466 

Bleeding  a  Banker  by  the  Job 479 

Boston  Merchant's  Reason  for  not  Marry- 
ing   470 

Business  and  Beauty 511 

Business  and  Something  Else 486 

Colston,  the  Benevolent  Millionnaire  Mer- 
chant   499 

Commercial  Advantage  of  a  Blind  Eye. . .  605 
Cope,  the  Quaker  Merchant,  mistaken  for 

a  Major-General 473 

Costly  Banquet  by  a  Merchant  to  Charles 

the  Fifth 504 

Coutts,  the  Great  Banker,   Choosing   a 

Partner 464 

Deathbed  Surroundings  of  the  New  Or- 
leans Croesus 492 


De  Medici,  "  the  Magnificent  Merchant," 

when  a  Child 466 

Disinterested  Feat  of  a  Merchant,  and  its 

Reward 508 

Disposing  of  One's  Surplus  Income 494 

Doctrine  of  Benevolence  held  by  Girard. .  499 
Domestic  Advantage  of  Commercial  Decay  517 

Domestic  Trouble  of  Rothschild 463 

Down  on  the  Doctors 518 

Dress  and  Personal  Peculiarities  of  Long- 
worth 477 

Ebenezer,  Francis,  and  the  Student's  Table  485 
Edinburgh  Merchant  Finding  a  Purse. . . .  497 
English   Merchant's  Wife  Priced   by  a 

Mandarin 507 

Executorship  of  Mr.  Astor's  Will 518 

Experience  of  a  Levantine  Merchant 474 

Extravagance  of  French  Bankers  in  Pri- 
vate Life 478 

Female  Members  of  the  Rothschild  Family  516 

Francis  Baring  at  the  Virginia  Inn 467 

Freaks  of  Wealthy  Merchants 513 

Friend  Coate's  Management  of  Girard...  483 

Garden  of  a  French  Stock  Broker 503 

Gastronomic  Feats  of  a  Merchant 472 

German  Merchant  of  One  Hundred  Houses  475 
Gideon,  the  Jew  Broker,  Catechising  his 

Child 511 

Gideon  Lee  and  his  Library 480 

Girard  and  the  Beggar 489 


Vl 


CONTENTS. 


PAOB 

Girard's  Reception  of  Mr.  Baring 474 

Girard's  Treatment  of  "  Splendid  Church  " 

Projects 494 

Girard's  Will — the  Item  about  Ministers  515 

Glut  in  the  Market 471 

Going  to  get  Acquainted  with  his  Family  474 
Goldschmid's  Comforting  Sort  of  Hoax. .  506 
Grand  Scheme  Disclosed  in  McDonogh's 

Will 506 

Groceries  and  Literature 511 

Halifax,  the  English  Banker's  Opinion  of 
"  Lending   to   the    Lord ;"    with   a 

Personal  Application 516 

Hancock,  the  Patriot  Merchant 483 

Home  Luxuries  of  Ancient  Merchants. . . .  507 

Hospitality  of  Stephen  Girard 502 

Household  Magnificence  of  Partinqua,  the 

Great  Chinese  Merchant 498 

Household  Peculiarities  of  Girard 510 

Incidents  of  William  Bingham's  Domestic 

Life 519 

Italian  Banker's  Bargain  for  a  Fish 477 

Jewish  Banker's  Free  Table 481 

John  J.  Astor's  Board  and  Clothes 483 

John  McDonogh's  Personal  Appearance..  491 

Judah  Touro  and  Dr.  Clapp 490 

Last  Days  of  Business  and  Financial  Cele- 
brities  495 

Lawrence's,  Amos,  Opinion  of  Marriage..  484 

Looks  and  Manners  of  Rothschild 492 

Lorillard  and  the  Load  of  Wood 499 

Louis  d'Ors  and  Ruxors;  or.  Bankers  and 

Barbers 479 

M.  Rothschild  at  Home 503 

Magnificent  Residence  of  Rothschild  in 

Paris 479 

Making  a  Will — Samuel  Appleton 471 

Mansion  of  Morris,  the  Philadelphia  Fi- 
nancier   488 

Marriage  Suit  by  Colston,  the  Millionnaire  480 
Matrimonial  and  Financial  "Bonds"  in 

John  Law's  Time 517 

"  Merely  a  Family  Dinner  " 468 

Mr.  Girard  and  the  Baptist  Clergyman...  489 

Mr.  Vanderbilt's  Holiday 503 

New  Orleans  Broker  Renouncing  a  For- 
tune   484 

Nicholas  Longworth's  Bread 514 

"Old  Ben  Russell" 488 

Old-school    Merchant's   Offering   to   his 
Country:    John    Langdon,    of  New 

Hampshire ^ 512 

One  Among  Ten  Thousand 487 

Out  of  Fashion 615 

Palace  of  Lafitte,  the  French  Banker....  467 
Parlor  Talk  between  James  Rothschild, 

the  Banker,  and  the  Poet  Heine 504 

Personal  Appearance  of  Stephen  Girard. .  464 

Philanthropic  Courage  of  Girard 512 

Pleasant  Parlor  Voyages 481 


PAGB 

Polly  Kenton  and  Girard's  Doctors 476 

Practical  Eloquence  of  a  Boston  Merchant  512 

Rekindling  of  the  Old  Spark 497 

Religious  Bearing  of  Judaism  on  Stock 

Operations:  the  Perieres 515 

Religious  Opinions  of  Girard 490 

Reminiscences  of  Mr.  Astor's  Library  Be- 
quest    516 

Retiring  from  Business — "Melting  Day"  515 

Returning  a  Favor 500 

Robert  Barclay  becoming  a  Banker  in- 
stead of  a  Courtier 502 

Rothschild's  Purchase  of  a  Painting 481 

Samuel  Appleton's  Disposition  of  his  In- 
come  489 

Samuel  Slater  on  Extravagance  in  Lining  513 
Scene  at  a  Banker's  Dejeuner:  Robert 

Morris  and  his  Father 469 

Settling  a  Knotty  Account— Quaker  Philo- 
sophy   500 

Seventy-five  Thousand  Dollars  at    One 

Draught 484 

Signora  Almonastre  and  John  McDonogh  493 
Sir  Thomas  F.  Buxton's  Conversations 

with  Rothschild 501 

Slightly  Personal 466 

Sportive  Death  of  the  French  Banker,  M. 

Dangd 514 

Stephen  Girard's  Treatment  of  "  Splendid 

Church"  Projects 494 

Stock  Broker  and  his  Family  in  the  Studio 

ofHoppner 475 

Sturgis,  William,  in  the  Legislature 473 

Suspected  Religious  Fidelity  of  Roths- 
child :  Remarkable  Scene 490 

Taking  Care  of  his  Umbrella 492 

Tavern  Waiter  and  his  Banker 487 

That  Little  Child  in  the  Counting  Room. .  514 
The    Merchant   and    his    Distinguished 

Valet,  John  Philpot  Curran 476 

The  Merchant  Family  of  Medici,  Resurgam  498 
"  The  Stone  that  was  Rejected : "  Judah 

Touro's  Benefactions 482 

Thirty  Thousand  Dollars'  Worth  of  Sleep 

by  a  Boston  Merchant 470 

Thomas  Gresham's  Curious  Armorial  or 

Crest 608 

Too  Much  Money 473 

Under  Medical  Treatment — Jacob  Barker 

as  a  Patient 482 

Unfortunate   Polly   Lum,   the   Wife    of 

Girard 469 

Unparalleled  Will  of  Thelluson,  the  Lon- 
don Banker 485 

W.  B.  Astor  and  his  Clerical  Classmate. .  471 
Wealthy  Men  Imagining  Themselves  Poor  492 
Wedding  Gift  of  Rothschild  to  his  Niece  509 
Why  Guy,  the  Millionnaire,  never  Married  501 
Will  of  Guyot,  the  French  Millionnaire..  472 
William  Sturgis  in  the  Legislature 473 


CONTENTS. 


vu 


PAET   X. 

ANECDOTES  OF  CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 

AucrrioNS,  Fancjt  Stocks,  Shaee  Companies,  Lotteries,  and  Quixotic  Speculations; 
WITH  Sketches  of  Wonderful  Commercial  Delusions,  Financial  Manias,  Bub- 
bles, Panics — their  Causes,  Abettors,  Incidents,  Victims,  and  Results. 


PAOX 

A  Trade,  and  a  Wager  Won 655 

Allaying  a  Panic 537 

Atkinson  the  Eccentric  Speculator 542 

Auction  Sale  of  Old  Furniture,  Ac,  Extra- 
ordinary    570 

Auctioneering  in  England  and  America. .  537 

Bacon  by  the  Shilling's  Worth 560 

Bargain-Hunters    at   Pawnbrokers    and 

Auctions 567 

Bank  Notes  at  Ten  Cents  a  Yard 531 

Bidding  on  Girard's  Old  Chaise 536 

Bold  but  Calamitous  Speculation  of  John 

Guest 580 

Burlesque  on  Modern  Business  Utopias. .  528 

Buying  his  own  Goods  at  Auction 530 

"  Candle  "  Auctions 552 

Caricature  of  Commercial  Speculations. . .  551 
Character  displayed  in  Auction  Dealings  557 
Chronicles  of  "  the  Black  Day  "  in  London  541 

Cigars  at  Public  Sale 577 

"  Crack  Horses  "  at  Auction 572 

"  Down  with  Your  Dust!  " 525 

Dutch  Tulip-Mania  of  the   Seventeenth 

Century 567 

Dutchman's  Gold  in  a  Safe  Place  at  Last  551 
Earliest   American    Sale   of  Books,  by 

Catalogue,  at  Auction 552 

Early  Stock  Jobbing  and  Lotteries 658 

English  Railway  Mania  of  1845 562 

Fancy  Hen  Fever 564 

Female  Strategy  to  obtain  Bubble  Stock.  527 

Financial  Use  of  Saints 528 

First  Book  Auction  in  England 531 

Foundation   of  the  Friendship  between 

Coates  and  Girard 582 

Furor  for  Chartered  Companies 541 

Getting-up  a  Money  Panic 566 

Globe  Permits 670 

"  Going— Going — Gone  !  " 539 

Gold-making  and  Silver-mining  Compa- 
nies   564 

Good  Speculation  Lost  in  Chicago  Lands  550 
Grand  United  Gold  and  Diamond  Dust 

Company 560 

"Great  Spec"  on  the  Tapis 524 

Hogarth's  Plan  of  Selling  Pictures   by 
Auction 531 


PAGB 

Jack,  and  the  Dutch  Tulip  Speculator. . .  623 

Jacob  Keen,  of  Wall  Street 565 

John  Law's  Notorious  Bubble 655 

Jonathan  Hunt's  Land  Speculations 634 

Keen  Auction  Dodge  by  Rembrandt 557 

Last  Resort  for  Petroleum  Companies...  576 
Last  Word  at  an  Auction  :  a  Lady  in  the 

Case 535 

Lessons  of  an  Auctioneer's  Hammer 561 

Lord  Castlereagh  and  the  Ruined  Broker  553 

Lotteries  Vindicated  by  Scripture 566 

Lottery  Vagaries  in  the  Sixteenth  Cen- 
tury    559 

Marking  a  Lottery  Ticket 533 

Memorable  Auction  Sale  in  New  Orleans  556 

Merino-Sheep  Bubble 568 

Missing  a  Good  Chance 581 

Mock-Auction  "  Capitalists," 650 

Mr.  Barker's  Auction  Watch,  and  What 

it  Brought  Him 543 

Mr.  Hume's  Anxiety  to  avoid  a  Pecuniary 

Loss 533 

New  York  Pawnbroker's  Customer 526 

Old  Digby  at  an  Auction  Sale 548 

Old  Martin,  the  Scotch  Auctioneer,  among 

the  Languages 571 

One  of  the  SuflFerers 563 

Origin  of  Auctions 560 

Our  American  Land  Fever 546 

"  Our  Lady  of  Hope  " 534 

Panic  Blunders — Wrong  Certificate  at  the 

Bank 524 

Parisian  Auctions :  How  Conducted 557 

Paterson  and  his  Darien  Expedition 547 

Perils  of  Stock  Gambling:  William  Abbott  537 

Peruvian  Loan  Infatuation 546 

Pleasantries  of  Keese,  the  Book  Auctioneer  572 

Proposed  Ice  Speculation 564 

Quite  Professional 567 

Reasons  given  by  Thomas  H.  Perkins  for 
Declining  a  proposed  Coffee  Specula- 
tion   578 

Red  Herrings  and  Dutch  Onions 578 

Rival  Blacking  Companies 663 

Rise  and  Reminiscences  of  the  Trade  Sales  679 

Satire  on  Speculation 546 

Scenes  at  a  Turkish  Auction 548 


tSi 


CONTENTS. 


PAOB 

Scraps  of  Auction  "Wit 674 

Selling  a  Dying  Horse  under  the  Hammer  538 

Selling  the  Gem  of  the  Collection 554 

Share  Sellers  and  Kope  Dancers 577 

South  Sea  Schemers 545 

Speculative  Frenzy  of  the  French  in  John 

Law's  Time 524 

Stock-Jobbing  Bubbles — Commercial  Lu- 
nacy    545 

Stray  Leaf  from  a  Speculator's  History..  553 
Syrian    Auctioneers — Harage !    Harage  ! 

Harage! 554 

"  Tattersall's  " 534 

The  Waterloo  of  Auction  Battles 525 


FAOI 

Tonti's  Money  Raising  Projects 558 

Trade  between  Flywheel  and  Singecat. . .  549 

Unirersal  Bed  and  Bolster  Mart 570 

Very  Hopeful  Investment 540 

Virtue  of  One-Pound  Notes  in  Stopping  a 

Bank  Run 565 

Virtuous  and  Touching  Appeal  of  an  Auc- 
tioneer  538 

Wager  between  a  Stockbroker  and  a  Cap- 
italist   536 

Warranty  of  Perfect  Soundness 562 

Weathering  the  Storm  of  1828 573 

Winking  and  Bidding  at  Auctions 552 

Winners  and  Losers  in  Grant's  Bubble. . .  534 


PAKT   XI. 

m    ANECDOTES  OF  CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 
NoTEL  Business  Transactions;  Btttino,  Skllino,  Babtzsino  and  Shopkeeping,  Chab- 

/  ACTEBISnC   OF  DUTEBENT  COUNTBIES;   BuSES,   JSUZ  D'ESPBITS,   AND  DbOLLEBIES. 


PAGE 

Adam  and  Eve  Leading  on  in  Trade 601 

American  Customer  at  a  Turkish  Bazaar  598 

Bad  Operation  in  Leather 586 

Bargaining    by    Pantomime — Trade    in 

Camels. 603 

Bamum  Buying  the  American  Museum 

with  Brass 589 

Batavian  Trade  in  Birds'  Nests 627 

Before  and  Behind  the  Counter 585 

Boy  Traders  in  Moscow 590 

Chartier,  the  Leech  Merchant 592 

Chatham  Street  Clo'  Dealers 618 

"Cheap"  and  "Dear" 596 

Cbifibnniers,  or  "  Rag  Merchants,"  of  Paris  589 

Chinese  Shopkeepers 619 

Coleridge  and  the  "  Ogh  Clo'  "  Man 590 

Commercial  Dignity  at  the  Apple  Stand  619 

Commercial  Value  of  Insects 593 

Day  k  Martin's  Precursors 591 

Dealing  in  "  Orrd  Things" 601 

Eastern  Trade  in  Ostrich  and  Bird-of-Par- 

adise  Feathers 588 

Egyptian  Mummy  Trade 592 

English  Idol  Manufacturers 587 

Exportation  of  Scotch  Periwinkles 602 

Fancy  Stoves  and  Imaginative  Customers  626 

Florentine  Flower  Girls. 626 

Flutes  «».  Pistols 618 

•'  Four-and-twenty  Self-sealing  Envelopes, 

Fo-oo-ur  Cents  " 608 

French  Toads  an  Article  of  Commerce. . .  600 


PAGB 

Funny  Commercial  Transaction  All  Round  604 
Genoese  Merchants  and  French  Peddlers  610 

"Glass-pteen  !" 619 

Goods  for  a  "  Private  Venture  " 615 

Great  "  Shaving  "  Operation  in  a  Banker's 

Office 613 

Grindstones  by  the  Fraction 625 

Grocers  and  Bank  Presidents 624 

Human  Hair  as  an  Article  of  Merchandise  620 

Italian  Marriage  Brokers 591 

Itinerant  Traders  in  Rio  Janeiro 615 

Jew  Traders  in  Holywell  Street 611 

Jolly  Sign  Painters:  Rich  Professional 

Tragedy 605 

Logan,  the  Fan  Painter 605 

Losing  a  Good  Customer 621 

Making  the  Best  of  a  Bad  Article 624 

Matrimonial  Export 599 

Men  Manteau  Makers 611 

Mengin,  the  French  Pencil  Seller 586 

Mercantile   Agency   Management   Illus- 
trated   603 

"Mighty  Monarch,  Let  Me  send  a  Shop!"  623 

Mike  Schnapps,  the  Fiddle  Dealer 600 

National  Characteristics  of  Money  Getters 
—French,  Irish,  Scotch,  German ....  595 

Native  Traders  in  Guinea 623 

New  Material  for  Sausage  Stuffing;  the 

"Sauciesse  d'Or" 613 

Nothing  Like  Sarsaparilla 613 

Nothing  Lost  in  a  Good  Market 617 


CONTENTS. 


IZ 


FAOa 

Odd  Purchase  at  a  Grocer's 617 

Old  Women's  Trades  in  London 593 

One  of  the  Branches  of  the  Tea  Trade. . .  623 

Orthography  behind  the  Counter 626 

Paris  "  Gratteurs  " 607 

Parrot  and  Monkey  Market 61G 

Patent  Medicine  Makers — Morrison,  Bran- 

dreth,  Townsend,  &c 609 

Paying  by  the  Clock  instead  of  the  Thing  59S 
Peculiarities  of  the  Northwest  Fur  Trad- 
ers   599 

Poor  Kind  of  Ice 593 

Portuguese  Diamond  Merchant's  Bargain 

with  Philip  the  Second 587 

Praying  and  Trading  Simultaneously. . . .  621 

Puzzling  an  Apothecary 624 

Queer  Bartering  in  Northern  Africa 601 

Realizing  a  Profit 598 

Remarkable  Customs  of  Oriental  Shop- 
keepers      697 

Richardson,  the  Eccentric  Showman 620 

Russian  Shop  Customs 606 


PAoa 
Saint  Shops 607 

Scale  of  Prices  for  London  Civilities 597 

Settling  a  Question  of  Trade 603 

Shipments  of  Butcher  Birds 598 

Shop  Architecture,  Old  and  New 616 

Shopkeepers  of  Bagdat 610 

Snow  Trade  of  Sicily 699 

Song-Bird  Shops  in  New  York 628 

St.  Petersburg  Trade  in  Frozen  Articles.  622 

Street  Merchants 694 

Tea  Shops  in  China 602 

The  Miller  and  his  Portrait 605 

Tong-Chow  Traders  in  Dogs  and  Cats 618 

TraflBc  in  Beautiful  Circassian  Girls 588 

Traits  of  the  Shop  in  Havana 586 

Trials  of  Egg  Merchants 617 

Turkish  Fez     hops ;  Stationers,  Tailors, 

and  Jewellers 602 

Viper  Merchants 688 

Vocation  Peculiar  to  China;   Gossip  at 

Fifty  Cents  per  Hour 60^ 

Wigs  by  the  Cargo 597 


PART   XII. 

ANECDOTES  AND  CEBONICLES  OF  INSFBANCR 


»S 


Its  Pioneers,  Varieties,  Curious  Rates,  Terms,  Subjects;  Humors,  Fancies,  ihd 
,       Excesses  ;  Notable  Cases  of  Loss  and  Adjustment  ;  Caricatures,  Putjs,  Bail- 

LEBT,  ETC. 


PAGE 

Adjusting  an  Insurance  Loss 648 

Angerstein,   the   Great  English  Under- 
writer   632 

Apt  Illustration  of  a  Principle 638 

Assessments  in  Old  Times 645 

Companies  for  Insuring  Female  Chastity, 

Children's  Fortunes,  Ac • 633 

Curious  Inconsistencies  in  Insuring  Life  643 
Daniel  Webster's  Insurance  Anecdote...  646 

Examining  an  Applicant 643 

Exciting  Life  of  an  Underwriter 641 

German  Idea  of  the  Thing 649 

High  Compliment  to  W.  B.  Jones  as  an 

Underwriter 662 

Insurance  for  Husbands 635 

Insuring  Dr.  Lieb's  Life 631 

Introduction  of  Marine  Insurance 632 

Jacob  Barker's  Insurance  Case — Redivivus  636 
Juvenile  Evidence  in  an  Insurance  Case  652 
Leaving  a  Case  Out 642 


FAOB 

Life  Insurance  Obituary  Announcements.  644 
Life  and  Death  Brokers  and  their  "Humble 

Servant" 637 

Lively  Operations 6^ 

Marriage  and  Baptism  Insurance 44i 

Oddities  of  a  Former  Period.....  i......  688 

One  of  the  Companies '. .  984 

Origin  of  Fire  Insurance  Companies 640 

Pitt,  the  Insolvent  Premier,  Insured  by 

his  Coachmakers 687 

PlayingaBold  Game 649 

Policies  and  Tragedies ^ ....... .  64S 

"  Poor  Tim  Rooney  " ...'. 648 

Porcelain  Jars  and  Low  Premiums 631 

Protective    Tariffs    and  the   "Genesee 

Mutual " 658 

Romance  and  Reality  of  Insurance 635 

Taking  his  Own  Risk 651 

Terrible  Mode  of  Rendering  an  Insurance 

Policy  Void 68» 


CONTENTS. 


The  United-Glass-and-Crockery  Insurance 

Company 635 

Traffickers  in  Insurance  Bun  Had— As- 


tounding Policies  on  the  Chevalier 

d'Eon's  Sex! 645 

j  Underwriters  and  Napoleon's  Life 637 


PART    XIII. 


ANECDOTES  OF  BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 
OiiflHiEES,  Clerks,  Salesmen,  etc.  ;  Bookkeeping,  Accounts,  Prices  and  Values,  Cor- 
respondence, Shop  Talk — Trials  and  Miseries,  Blunders,  Faceup,  Waifs  and 
Strays. 


Advantage  of  Skilful  Bookkeeping 695 

Amos  Lawrence  when  a  Clerk 661 

Apprehended  Embezzlements 676 

Bank  Clerks  and  their  "  Friends  " 684 

Ben  Lippincott,  Girard's  Clerk 689 

Best  Part  of  a  Grocer's  Business 694 

Betty  Starkey  and  Coutts's  Clerk 694 

Bookkeeping  in  Former  Times 685 

Brief  Biographical  Sketch  of  a  Banker's 

Clerk 662 

Broadway  Clerks — Japonicas  and  Sweet- 
hearts    658 

Bubble-Bank  Bookkeeping  Taught  in  Six 

Lessons 665 

Caledonian  Adroitness 659 

Charles  Lamb,  as  a  Clerk 691 

Charming  Customer  in  a  Bank :  Perils  of    * 

a  Cashier 680 

Chickering  and  his  Employ6s,  on  "Blue" 

Day 681 

Commercial  "  Drummers,"  or  Travelling 

Clerks 678 

Correcting  an  Erroneous  Entry 698 

Cost  of  a  Nap  on  the  Ledger 687 

Countryman  and  Clerk 668 

Dexterity  of  Specie  Clerks 677 

"DoneBrown" 697 

English  Bank  Clerk's  Finesse 658 

Fancy  Costume  among  the  Ledgers 662 

Filling  a  Grocer's  Order 677 

First  Set  of  Double-Entry  Books  Opened 

in  Boston 663 

Fitz  Greene  Halleck's  Clerkship  with  Ja- 
cob Barker 657 

French  Female  Plot  against  a  Clerk 682 

George  Simpson's  High  Reputation  as  a 

Cashier 700 

Getting  Rich  by  Bookkeeping 672 

Ck)od  Supply  in  Prospect 667 

Hitting  the  Nail  on  the  Head 677 


How  a  Drygoods  Clerk  Lost  His  Place. . .  670 
Humors  of  Partnership  in  Reference  to 

Names 695 

Identifying  a  Clerk 696 

Improving  a  Banker's  Broth 676 

In  Business  for  Themselves 697 

In  Pursuit  of  an  Agreeable  Business 661 

Introducing  a  New  System  of  Accounts. .  698 

Irving  and  the  English  Salesman 697 

Jacob  Barker's  Clerks  at  Dinner 663 

Keeping  Accounts  in  Guinea 686 

Keeping  Score  by  Double  Entry 679 

Lady's  Portrait  of  a  Drygoods  Clerk 690 

Lafitte's  Wasteful  Clerk 681 

Language  and  Business  Letters  of  Roths- 
child   669 

London  Trade  Report 675 

Misfortune  Tending  to  Liberality 684 

Moustaches  in  the  Bank 667 

Nice  Lesson  for  Retail  Salesmen 665 

Obtaining   a   Clerkship    in    a   Banking 

House 687 

Oiling  the  Joints  of  Business 671 

"  Old  Salles,"  the  Silk  Buyer,  and  Mr. 

Bayard's  Clerks 693 

One  of  his  "  Little  Specs," 668 

"  One  Thing  Needful "  in  a  Clerk 664 

Overpaying  a  Clerk 664 

Pen  Portrait  by  an  Old  Master 659 

Perplexities  of  Mercantile  Correspondence  693 

Philadelphia  Clerk  and  his  Bible 670 

Pictorial  Bookkeeping 671 

Placing  the  Pen  behind  the  Ear 686 

Playing  Even 666 

Precision  in  Keeping  Accounts 657 

Quaker  Investigation  of  Accounts 692 

Railway  Clerks — a  Burlesque 666 

Ready  for  a  Trade 696 

Reason  for  Trusting  a  Clerk 683 

Reforming  instead  of  Destroying 672 


CONTENTS. 


Zl 


FA6B 

Refusal  to  become  Girard's  Clerk :  Telling 

Him  the  Reason  Why 683 

Remarkable  Discernment  of  Mercantile 

Character 692 

Remarkable  Sacrifice  for  Principle 658 

Reward  of  Business  Fidelity 601 

Reward  of  Promptness  in  a  Merchant's 

Clerk 671 

Rich  Enough  to  Retire :  Abraham  New- 
land,  Cashier  of  the  Bank  of  England  700 

Rich  Reward  of  Integrity 667 

Ruin  Produced  by  Bad  Reckoning 677 

Sample  Clerk  Wanted  in  a  Drug  Store...  689 

Saying  of  an  Old  Merchant 609 

Scissors  vs.  Shears 687 

Serious  Bargain  for  a  Clerkship 682 

Shipping  Gloods  by  Ticket 698 


PAOB 

Shocking  Ignorance  of  City  Clerks  Illus- 
trated   684 

Simple  Entries  and  Calculations — Jacob 

Barker's  Method 660 

Singular  Mode  of  Keeping  Accounts  in  a 

Fair  of  Boots 692 

Squaring  Accounts  among  the  Celestials  669 
That  Bottle  of  Wine  among  "  Old  Fuller's" 

Clerks 694 

The  Prose  of  Shopkeeping  set  to  Poetry  687 

Too  Conscientious  an  Accountant 688 

Trying  his  Hand  at  the  Accounts 699 

Two  Clerks  in  a  Quarrel 674 

Unexpected  Promotion 698 

Waste  Book  and  Ledger — their  Meaning  686 

What  is  a  "Flemish"  Account? 662 

Wife  of  a  Merchant's  Clerk. 688 


PART   XIV. 

AKECBOTES    OF  SOME    OF   THE    OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY    TO    COM- 
MERCE AND  MERCHANDISE. 

Editobs,  Publishers,  Booksellers,  the  Manual  ov  Industrial  Trades,  etc.  ;  with 
Unique  Incidents  of  Bargain  and  Sale,  Ludicrous  Adtentures,  Haps  and  Mis- 
haps— Business  Freaks,  Genius,  Aptitude,  Novelty  and  Benown,  Etc.,  Etc. 


FAOX 

"ARolandfor  an  Oliver" 714 

A  Tailor  for  Many  Years 734 

Affidavit  by  an  Apothecary 742 

Almanac  Making :  Fortunate  Wit 711 

America's  First  Printed  Book 723 

An  Emperor  Blowing  a  Blacksmith's  Bel- 
lows    743 

Answering  a  Tailor's  Dun 714 

Apt  Speech  by  a  Carpenter 737 

Archaeological  Tailor's  Measures 713 

Attempt  to  Print  a  Perfect  Book 747 

Austen,  the  Famous  Metal  Founder 748 

Balance  of  Trade ;  or,  Beauties  of  Compe- 
tition    719 

Barbers'  Chairs 730 

Ben  Russell,  the  Printer :  Exciting  Scene  737 

Benjamin  Franklin  as  a  Bookseller 727 

Billingsgate  Market  Dealers 723 

Bookmaking  a  Trade 736 

Books  and  Music 755 

Books  and  Newspapers  in  China 705 

Breaking  and  Waxing  the  "  Thread" 753 

Breeches  without  a  Body 755 

Business  Mistakes  of  Publishers 729 

Butchers'  Blue  Blouse  or  Frock 712 

Buying  a  Saddle 734 


piea 

Buying  Shoes  and  Sermons 751 

Byron's  Genoese  Tailor 714 

Canine  Newsdealer. 715 

Chinese  Barbers 730 

Classification  of  Newspaper  Readers 724 

Commercial  Value  of  Dramatic  Litera- 
ture  715 

Compliment  to  Wharfingers 742 

"  Concerned  in  Trade  " 709 

Copy  of  a  Painter's  Bill 707 

Country  Bankers 786 

Derivation  of  Names  of  Trades 711 

Dignity  Conferred  by  the  Blacking  Busi- 
ness   756 

Dowse,  the  "Literary  Leather  Dresser"  751 
Dr.  Johnson  in  the  Capacity  of  a  Reporter  728 

Dryden  Describing  his  Publisher 749 

Earliest  Newspaper  in  the  English  Lan- 
guage   750 

Editors  in  a  Hard  Fix 741 

Eminent  Shoemakers 752 

English  Almanacs — First  Issue 739 

English  Perruquiers  before  the  King 708 

Errors  of  the  Press 744 

Explaining  the  Philosophy  of  Trade 756 

"Extras,"  Ac 724 


3U1 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Facetiae  for  Shoemakers 750 

First  Newspaper  in  America 721 

First  Newspaper  in  the  World 749 

Forfeits  in  a  Barber's  Shop 730 

Franklin  and  the  London  Printer 717 

Freaks   of  the   Hairdressing   Trade   in 

France 718 

German  Book  Fairs 738 

Greatest  Reportorial  Feat 745 

Hatter's  Present  to  a  Judge 742 

Hitting  his  Trade 712 

"Honor  and  Fame  from  no   Condition 

Rise" 712 

"  Hopping  "  from  Obscurity 742 

Humors  of  a  Reporter 740 

Hutton's  Success  as  a  Bookseller 735 

Incorrect  Editions  of  the  Bible 732 

Iron  Merchant  and  the  Blacksmith 711 

Johnson  and  his  Dictionary 726 

Johnson  and  the  Butcher 707 

Juvenile  Bookseller's  Wit 711 

Knight's,  Charles,  Reminiscences  of  the 

Book  Trade 753 

Lawyers  and  Barbers 725 

Learning  the  Saddler's  Trade 720 

Lee,  the  Learned  Carpenter,  in  England..  736 

"  Letting  Out "  Clothes 713 

Lord  Eardley's  "  Gentleman "  Applicant  757 
Ludwick,  the  Baker-General,  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary War 759 

Hillionnaire  Butcher  of  London 724 

Miners'  Commandments 748 

Modern  Newspaper  Office 744 

Moses  as  an  Engraver 731 

Mr.  Gales  Reporting  Mr.  Webster 722 

Musicseller's  Customers 705 

Napoleon's  Opinion  of  a  Journalist 708 

Need  of  Reference  for  a  Tailor 717 

Newspaper  Publisher  Described 715 

Nothing  like  Leather 717 

Obtaining  a  Copyright 726 

Old  English  Ticker 743 

Oldest  Daily  Newspaper 721 

One  of  the  largest  Book  Establishments  in 

the  World 753 

"  Our  Editor  "  Sixty  Years  Ago 709 

Partridge's  Almanac  making 718 

Patriotic  Hatter 720 

Paying  a  Newspaper  Bill 732 

Paying  the  Diver 756 

Payment  for  News 713 

Peculiar  Custom  of  a  Tailor 713 

Penny  Newspapers  in  America 708 

Perils   of  Reporting  the  Parliamentary 

Debates 725 

Placard  Printing  in  Yienna 717 


PAOB 

Price  of  Akenside's  "Pleasures  of  the 

Imagination  " 727 

Printed  Books;  or,  the  Devil  and  Dr. 

Faustus 732 

Printers  and  Editors  at  Midnight 720 

Prize  Won  by  Stephenson  for  his  Famous 

Locomotive 758 

Proby,  the  Reporter 716 

Professional  Use  of  Books 749 

Profitable  Book  Job 747 

Profits  ofa  Stall 724 

Property  in  Books 739 

Publisher's  Generosity  to  an  Author 729 

Pun  on  a  Cooper 742 

Pushing  Business 730 

Quaker  Hatter  and  his  Journeyman 710 

Queer  Phases  of  the  Butcher  Trade 707 

Rare  Editorial  Philosophy 741 

Rather  a  Puzzling  Occupation 739 

Reason  why  Pitt's  Great  Speech  was  not 

Reported 745 

Report  of  a  Lord's  Speech 716 

Reporting  from  Memory 741 

Rising  in  the  World 716 

Rival  Publishers 727 

Rivalry  in  Business  Beneficial 710 

Roman  Saint  Making  Shoes 751 

Sale  of  Noted  Works  and  Plays 719 

Samuel  Wheeler,  the  Iron    Smith,  and 

General  Washington 759 

Scotch  Cabinetmaker's  Apprentice 723 

"Shall  I  Cut?" 714 

Shipbuilding  in  Ancient  Times 743 

Shoemaker  Benefiting  the  World 712 

Shoes  and  Shoemakers — Facetiae 746 

Shooting  a  Bookseller 747 

Showing  Up  Tailors 722 

Sir  Robert  Peel's  Factory  Operative 727 

Son  of  an  Eminent  Turkey  Merchant....  749 

"Spanish" 734 

Sticking  to  the  Contract 737 

Tailor  Turned  Prophet 733 

The  First  Color  Shop 706 

The  Learned  Blacksmith 731 

Theatrical  Debut  of  a  Barber 708 

Tonson,  the  Literary  Trader 706 

Too  Awkward  to  be  a  Watchmaker 743 

Trades  and  Genealogies 760 

Trading  in  News 733 

Ungrateful  Publisher 722 

Yerbatim  Reporters 745 

Wholesale  Joke  upon  Shoemakers 738 

Willing  to  Swallow  the  Joke 756 

Wimprecht,  the  Blind  Bookseller 706 

Wit  of  a  Gravestone  Maker. 731 

Would  notStoop 757 


PART  EIGHTH. 


Anecbotes  of  Commerce  and  Tbaffig  in  teeib 
Legal  and  Judicial  Aspects. 


PAET  EIGHTH. 

Anecdotes  of  Commerce  and  Traffic  in  their  Legal  and  Judicial 

Aspects. 

PARTNERSHIP,  BANKRUPTCY,  DEBTOR  AND  CREDITOR,  BONDS  AND  MORTGAGES,  DUNNING,  PB- 
CULIAR  CASES  OE  MERCANTILE  LITIGATION  ;  PLEASANTRIES  AND  PERPLEXITIES,  LIGHTS 
AND   SHADES. 


Laws  are  like  oobwebe,  which  may  catch  email  Ulea,  but  let  wasps  and  hornets  break  throngh. — 

BWIFT. 

It  Is  a  remarkable  peculiarity  with  debts  that  their  expanding  power  continues  to  increase  as  you 
contract  them.— Anon. 

How  cold  he  hearkens  to  some  bankrupt's  woe, 
Nods  his  wise  head,  and  cries — "  I  told  you  so  I " — Sprioub. 
Creditors  have  better  memories  than  debtors,  and  creditors  are  a  superstitious  set— great  obser- 
vers of  set  days  and  times. — Fkanklin. 

Consult  your  means,  avoid  the  tempter's  wiles, 
Shun  grinning  hosts  of  unreceipted  flies. — Fields. 


Debts  Owing:  and  Balances  Due. 

An  old  trader  about  to  die,  had  his 
friends  around  him,  to  hear  his  last 
words  and  to  exchange  the  usual  ex- 
pressions of  farewell  attachment.  His 
wife,  who  had  an  eye  to  that  which  is 
"  laid  up  on  earth,"  improved  this 
pathetic  occasion,  by  desiring  him  to 
tell  what  debts  were  owing  to    him. 

This  he  complied  with.     "  There's 

owes  me  five  shillings  for  mutton." 
"  Oh,"  inteijected  the  delighted  help- 
mate, "  to  see  a  man  at  this  time  o'  day, 
and  just  gaun  to  close  his  last  account, 
hae  the  use  o'  his  faculties — just  say 
away,  James."  "  Ay,  an' ten  shil- 
lings for  beef."  "  What  a  pleasant 
thing  to  see  a  man  bein'  sensible  to  the 
last !  ony  mair  ? "  "An'  a  crown  for  a 
cow's  hide."  "Ay,"  quoth  the  wife, 
"  sensible  yet — weel,  James,  what  was't 
ye  was  gaun  to  say  ? "  "  Nae  mair, 
said  James,  "  but  I  am  ow''n  Jock  Tam- 
8on  two  pounds  in  lalance  o'  a  cow 


and—"  "  Hoot,  toot  1 "  quoth  the  wife, 
"  he's  a  ravin'  now — he's  just  demented 
— dinna  mind  ony  mair  that  he  says." 


Happy  End  to  a  Debt. 

In  the  fall  of  1847,  a  young  man 
went  to  New  York  in  quest  of  employ- 
ment. After  weeks  of  unsuccessful 
search,  he  found  himself  without  a 
prospect  of  work,  and  considerably 
in  debt  for  board.  In  despair,  he  made 
arrangements  to  dispose  of  his  clothes 
by  auction,  in  order  to  defray  his  debts, 
when  a  letter  was  sent  him  containing 
a  twenty-dollar  bill,  and  directing  him 
to  apply  for  the  situation  of  card  strip- 
per, to  the  overseer  of  one  of  the  corpo- 
rations. The  letter  requested  him  to 
sign  a  note  of  hand  for  the  amount 
loaned,  and  to  place  it  in  a  certain  un- 
occupied box  in  the  post  oflBice,  where  it 
would  be  called  for  by  tjie  lender.  The 
young  man  did  as  directed,  and  receiv- 
ed the  situation,  the  overseer  stating 


392 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


that  it  had  been  secured  for  him  at  the 
earnest  solicitation  of  a  young  lady. 
Tears  passed  away,  and  all  attempt  to 
discover  hh  creditor  was  unavailing. 
The  young  man  prospered  in  business, 
and  at  length  plighted  his  affections  to 
an  amiable  young  lady  with  whom  he 
had  been  acquainted.  On  the  day  be- 
fore their  marriage  he  received  a  letter 
requesting  him  to  call  at  a  certain  place 
and  pay  the  note  of  twenty  dollars, 
with  interest,  which  he  had  signed 
some  years  before.  Anxious  to  settle 
an  indebtedness  which  from  the  myste- 
ry of  the  whole  aflfair  had  occasioned 
many  hours  of  unhappiness,  he  hasten- 
ed to  the  place  indicated,  and  was 
ushered  by  the  domestic  into  the  par- 
lor, where,  to  his  astonishment  he  dis- 
covered in  the  person  of  his  unknown 
benefactor,  the  lady  with  whom,  upon 
the  next  day,  he  was  to  unite  his  earth- 
ly fortune.  It  was  her  first  business 
transaction,  and  the  partnership  which 
followed  was  the  long  and  happy  one, 
only  dissolved  when  the  last  debt  of  all 
— ^the  debt  of  nature — ^had  to  be  paid. 


Oavrard's  Profitable  Imprisonment. 

OuvBARD,  the  great  French  contrac- 
tor-general, refusing  to  pay  a  debt  to 
one  of  his  creditors,  was  compelled  to 
undergo  imprisonment — a  punishment 
which  he  preferred  to  endure,  rather 
than  pay  the  demand.  He  led  a  life 
of  princely  expenditure  in  his  prison, 
and,  among  other  instances  of  extrava- 
gance, it  is  told  of  him  that  for  the 
purpose  of  adding  a  neighboring  room 
to  his  quarters,  he  paid  the  debt  of  the 
prisoner  who  occupied  it.  One  day, 
when  M.  de  Villele,  the  Finance  Minis- 
ter, was  dining  with  him,  the  minister 
urged  Ouvrard  to  settle  matters  with 
his  creditor,  representing  the  scandal 
which  his  conduct  reflected  on  the 
Government  which  had  so  long  retained 
him  as  contractor-general.  "Parbleu, 
Monseigneur,"  replied  Ouvrard,  "you 
speak  very  much  at  your  ease.    I  am 


here  for  five  years,  for  five  millions  of 
money;  I  gain,  therefore,  by  my  im- 
prisonment, one  million  a  year ;  and  if 
you  know  of  any  speculation  at  once 
more  lucrative  and  sure,  I  am  not  obsti- 
nately wedded  to  this,  observe.  In 
that  case,  I  will  pay  to-morrow ! " 


Paying  a  Balance. 

At  the  death  of  Sir  Joseph  Banks, 
there  was  left  at  the  apartments  of  the 
Royal  Society,  at  Somerset  House,  an 
instrument  called  a  balance,  constructed 
by  Ramsden,  and  belonging  to  Sir 
Joseph.  The  secretaries,  accordingly, 
wrote  to  his  widow,  stating  that  there 
was  a  balance  remaining  in  their  hands, 
and  requesting  to  know  her  wishes  as 
to  its  disposal.  "Pay  into  Coutts's," 
was  her  ladyship's  reply. 


Swan,  the  Millionnaire,  in  Prison  more 
than  Twenty  Tears  for  Debt. 

James  Swan,  an  American  merchant 
of  vast  wealth,  was  committed  to  the 
prison  of  St.  Pelagic,  in  Paris,  on  the 
28th  of  July,  1808,  for  a  sum  of  six 
hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  six 
hundred  and  forty  francs,  and  repassed 
the  gates,  for  the  first  time,  on  their 
opening  to  the  Revolution  on  the  29th 
of  July,  1830,  twenty-two  years  after- 
ward. Mr.  Swan,  though  possessed  of 
a  fortune  amounting  to  nearly  four  mil- 
lion francs,  denied  the  justness  of  the 
claim  beyond  the  sum  of  six  or  seven 
thousand  francs,  and  determined  to 
spend  his  life  in  prison  rather  than 
obey  a  judicial  sentence  which  he  con- 
sidered unjust.  Having  first  caused  it 
to  be  intimated  to  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren that  he  would  disinherit  them  to 
the  last  farthing  of  his  property  if  they 
paid  the  debt,  he  furnished  his  prison 
apartment  in  a  style  of  princely  mag- 
nificence, and  hired,  in  the  Rue  de  la 
Cele,  opposite  the  gates  of  St.  Pelagic, 
a  spacious  dwelling,  with  coach  house 
and  stables,  for  his  friends,  cooks,  etc. 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


393 


For  the  former  class  he  kept  two  car- 
riages, and  they  were  commissioned  to 
appear  before  him  and  spend  his  money 
in  the  Bois-de-Boulogne,  public  streets 
and  promenades,  balls  and  theatres.  A 
curious  original  was  this  James  Swan. 
He  strutted  and  attitudinized  in  his 
prison  like  Chodruc-Duclos  in  his  rags ; 
it  was  his  method  of  flinging  defiance 
in  the  face  of  society.  Consistent  in 
his  determination,  he  was  prepared  to 
return  to  his  prison,  after  the  events  of 
the  "  three  days,"  when,  on  the  31st  of 
July,  he  was  seized  with  apoplexy  at 
his  temporary  lodging,  and  consigned 
to  the  closer  and  longer  imprisonment 
of  the  grave. 


Lucrative  Deed  of  Trust. 

Some  years  ago,  a  St.  Louis  merchant, 
well  known  and  highly  respected,  fail- 
ed in  business,  and  after  settling  up  his 
affairs,  gave  to  his  principal  creditor  a 
deed  of  trust  on  certain  real  estate,  to 
secure  the  payment  of  twelve  thousand 
dollars.  At  the  time,  the  property  was 
barely  valued  at  that,  so  the  creditor 
put  tlie  deed  in  his  safe,  and  there,  so 
far  as  he  was  concerned,  the  matter 
ended.  The  merchant,  broken  down, 
disappointed,  poor,  but  yet  enterpris- 
ing, went  South,  visited  California, 
Mexico,  and  South  America,  specu- 
lated, and,  as  is  not  uncommon  with 
Buch  men,  made  half  a  dozen  fortunes, 
and  lost  them  again.  In  the  course  of 
years  he  returned  to  the  city,  sick, 
travel  worn,  needy,  and  disheartened. 
By  chance  he  soon  met  his  old  lawyer, 
a  gentleman  of  high  professional  and 
personal  standing.  After  the  first 
greeting,  the  lawyer  remarked : 

"  I  am  glad  to  see  you  back,  and,  as 
you  seem  to  be  in  want  of  funds,  the 
sale  will  be  just  in  time." 

The  merchant  looked  hard  at  his 
friend,  and  finally  said  :  "  Sale  !  what 
sale  ?    I've  got  nothing  to  sell." 

"  Nonsense,  my  dear  fellow,  you  are 
richer  than  you  imagine.    Don't  you 


remember  the  deed  of  trust  I  drew  up 
for  you  some  twelve  years  ago  ? " 

"Ido,  whatofit?" 

"Well,  at  that  time  the  property 
would  not  have  realized  the  sum,  so 
it  was  '  let  lie ; '  but  it  is  now  in  the 
market,  and  I  expect  to  close  a  contract 
for  its  sale  this  week." 

"  You  amaze  me ;  what  price  do  you 
erpect  to  get  ? " 

"  I've  asked  eighty-six  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  shall  get  it,  too.  Tour  debt 
and  interest  will  amount  to  twenty-one 
thousand  dollars,  or  thereabouts,  so 
you'U  have  sixty-five  thousand  to  go 
upon." 

The  sensations  of  the  benefited  par- 
ty may  almost  be  personally  shared  by 
those  who  read  this  story  of  his  good 
fortune. 


Dunnine:  as  a  Profession. 

A  GENTLEMAN  from  New  York,  who 
had  been  in  Boston  for  the  purpose  of 
collecting  some  moneys  due  him  in 
that  city,  was  about  returning,  when 
he  found  that  one  bill  or  accoimt  for  a 
hundred  dollars  had  been  overlooked. 
His  landlord,  who  knew  the  debtor, 
thought  it  a  doubtful  case ;  but  added, 
that  if  it  was  collectable  at  all,  a  tall, 
raw-boned  Yankee,  then  dunning  a 
lodger  in  another  part  of  the  hall, 
would  "worry  it  out"  of  the  man. 
Calling  him  up,  therefore,  he  intro- 
duced him  to  the  creditor,  who  showed 
him  the  account. 

"Wall,  Square,"  said  he,  "'taint 
much  use  o'  tryin',  I  guess.  I  know 
that  critter.  You  might  as  well  try  to 
squeeze  He  out  of  Bunker  Hill  monu- 
ment, as  to  c'lect  a  debt  out  of  him. 
But  anyhow,  Square,  what'll  you  give, 
sposin'  I  do  try  ?  " 

"  Well,  sir,  the  bill  is  one  hundred 
dollars.  I'll  give  you — yes,  I'll  give 
you  half,  if  you'll  collect  it." 

"  'Greed,"  replied  the  collector, 
"  there's  no  harm  in  tryin\  any  way." 

Some   weeks    after,   the    collector 


394 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


chanced  to  be  in  Boston,  and  in  walk- 
ing up  Tremont  street,  encountered 
his  enterprising  friend. 

"  Look  o'here,"  said  he,  "  Square,  I 
had  considerable  luck  with  that  bill  o' 
youm.  You  see  I  stuck  to  him  like  a 
dog  to  a  rat,  but  for  the  first  week  or 
so  'twant  no  use — not  a  bit.  If  he  was 
home,  he  was  'short,'  if  he  wasn't 
home,  I  couldn't  get  no  satisfaction. 
By  and  by,  says  I,  after  goin'  sixteen 
times,  I'll  fix  you !  says  I.  So  I  sat 
down  on  the  doorstep,  and  sat  all  day 
and  part  of  the  evening,  and  I  begun 
early  next  day ;  but  about  ten  o'clock 
he  '  gin  in.'  He  paid  me  my  half,  and 
I  gin  him  up  the  note  1 " 


Stratagrem  to  Collect  a  Debt. 

Fo"ciR  creditors  started  from  Boston 
in  the  same  train  of  cars,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  attaching  the  property  of  a  cer- 
tain debtor  in  Farmington,  Me.  He 
owed  each  one  separately,  and  they 
each  were  suspicious  of  the  object  of 
the  other,  but  dare  not  say  a  word 
about  it.  So  they  rode,  acquaintances 
aU,  talking  upon  everything  except 
that  which  they  had  most  at  heart. 
When  they  arrived  at  the  depot  at  F., 
which  was  three  miles  from  where  the 
debtor  did  his  business,  they  found 
nothing  to  "  put  'em  over  the  road," 
but  a  solitary  cab,  toward  which  they 
all  rushed.  Three  got  in,  and  refused 
admittance  to  the  fourth,  and  the  cab 
Btarted.  The  fourth  ran  after,  and  got 
upon  the  outside  with  the  driver.  He 
asked  the  driver  if  he  wanted  to  sell 
his  horse.  He  replied  that  he  did  not 
want  to — that  he  was  not  worth  more 
than  fifty  dollars,  but  he  would  not  sell 
him  for  that.  He  asked  him  if  he 
would  take  one  hundred  dollars  for 
him.  "  Yes,"  said  Jehu.  The '  fourth ' 
man  quickly  paid  over  the  money,  took 
the  reins,  and  backed  the  cab  up  to  a 
bank,  slipped  it  from  the  harness,  and 
tipped  it  up  so  that  the  door  could  not 


be  readily  opened,  jumped  upon  the 
horse's  back  and  rode  off  'lick-a-ty- 
switch,'  while  the  '  insiders  '  were  gaz- 
ing out  of  the  window,  looking  like 
singed  cats.  He  rode  to  a  lawyer's,  and 
got  a  writ  made  and  served,  and  his 
debt  secured,  and  got  back  to  the  ho- 
tel just  as  the  '  insiders '  came  up  pufl'- 
ing  and  blowing.  The  cabman  soon 
bought  back  his  horse  for  fifty  dollars. 
The  '  sold '  men  offered  to  pay  that  sum 
if  the  fortunate  one,  who  found  proper- 
ty suflicient  to  pay  his  debt,  would  not 
'  let  on '  about  the  affair  in  Boston ! 


Carious  Financiering:. 

GiiiFEKT  was  in  the  habit  of  borrow- 
ing money  from  everybody,  very  little 
of  which  was  ever  paid  back ;  but  that 
he  always  intended  to  return  it  at  the 
time  promised,  there  is  no  doubt.  He 
was  a  visionary  man,  and  he  did  not 
make  the  best  calculations  in  the 
world.  One  day,  meeting  a  friend  in 
the  Bowery,  the  following  conversation 
took  place : 

"Ah,"  said  Gilfert,  "you  are  the 
very  man  I  wanted  to  see ;  lend  me 
two  himdred  dollars." 

"  I  would  in  a  moment,"  replied  his 
friend,  "but  it  is  impossible.  I  have 
a  note  to  pay,  and  I  don't  know  where 
to  get  the  money." 

"  A  note,"  said  GUfert,  "  so  have  I. 
Let  me  see  your  notice." 

The  gentleman  produced  it  from  his 
pocketbook. 

"  Well,  how  much  are  you  short  ? " 

"  About  two  hundred  dollars,"  said 
his  friend. 

To  his  utter  surprise  Gilfert  handed 
him  the  money.  "  There,"  said  he,  "  go 
and  pay  your  note.  I'll  let  mine  be 
protested,  as  they  can't  be  both  taken 
up.  If  your  note  laid  over,  it  might 
hurt  your  credit ;  but  with  me  it  don't 
matter,  as  I  am  used  to  that  sort  of 
business." 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


895 


Nice  Snare  for  a  Prench  Creditor. 

A  LAW  formerly  prevailed  in  France, 
that  if  a  debtor  escaped,  the  keeper 
became  responsible  for  his  debt.  Of 
course  this  arrangement  rendered  eva- 
sion extremely  difficult ;  nevertheless, 
to  revenge  some  real  or  fancied  injus- 
tice, a  singular  trick  was  played  by  a 
debtor,  which  greatly  amused  the  Paris- 
ians. 

A  certain  Monsieur  L.,  having  con- 
trived to  escape,  presented  himself  one 
evening  at  the  house  of  his  astonished 
creditor,  with  the  salutation : 

"  You  see,  I  am  free.  You  may  seize 
me,  certainly,  and  send  me  back  to  jail, 
but  I  can  never  pay  you ;  whereas,  if 
you  will  give  me  money  enough  to  es- 
cape out  of  the  country,  you  can  claim 
your  debt  of  the  keeper,  who  can." 

The  creditor,  who  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  very  scrupulous,  consented 
to  this  arrangement,  on  the  condition 
that  he  himself  saw  Monsieur  L.  off  by 
the  diligence,  which  having  done,  and 
feeling  himself  safe,  he  on  the  follow- 
ing morning  knocked  at  the  gate  of 
Clichy,  and  asked  the  keeper  if  he  re- 
membered him. 

"  Certainly,"  said  the  functionary, 
"you  are  the  creditor  of  Monsieur 
L." 

"Exactly,"  answered  the  creditor, 
"and  you  are  doubtless  aware  that 
Monsieur  L,  has  effected  his  escape, 
and  that  you  are  now  responsible  to 
me  for  the  six  thousand  francs  he  owes 
me." 

But  instead  of  the  face  of  dismay  the 
creditor  expected,  the  officer  began  to 
laugh,  and  assured  him  that  Monsieur 
L.  was  safe  in  his  room,  and  should  im- 
mediately make  his  appearance,  which 
on  being  summoned,  he  did.  The 
prisoner  thus  had  his  joke  and  his  few 
hours  of  liberty,  and  the  creditor  his 
disappointment — which  his  dishonest 
intentions  upon  the  poor  jailer  well 
merited. 


Shopkeepers  groingr  to  Law. 

It  is  stated  as  a  remarkable  fact,  and 
certainly  not  a  very  promising  one,  that 
the  shopkeepers  in  Paris,  eighty  thou- 
sand in  number,  had  in  one  year  no 
less  than  forty-six  thousand  lawsuits 
before  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce  alone, 
to  say  nothing  of  any  of  the  other  tri- 
bunals for  the  legal  settlement  of  diflfer- 
ences.  Such  a  fact  is  altogether  with- 
out its  parallel  in  any  other  city. 


Singxdar  Suit  against  Mr.  Appleton, 
of  Boston. 

Tbuth  is  surely  stranger  and  more 
romantic  than  fiction,  as  the  following 
wUl  show.  Samuel  Appleton,  one  of 
the  most  generous  of  Boston  merchants, 
was  once  sued,  and  only  once,  during 
his  long  and  vast  career  of  business. 
About  the  year  1820,  a  merchant  tailor, 
named  Endicot,  died,  leaving  a  residue 
of  his  estate  to  a  Baptist  society. 
Among  his  papers  was  a  note  signed 
by  Samuel  Appleton,  and  indorsed  by 
Ducoster  &  Marshall,  for  a  few  hundred 
dollars.  The  committee  of  the  society 
called  upon  Mr.  Appleton  for  payment. 
The  handwriting  was  so  much  like  his, 
that  it  was  impossible  to  distinguish 
one  from  the  other ;  but  he  refused  to 
pay  it,  declaring  it  to  be,  in  spite  of 
the  resemblance,  a  forgery.  A  suit  was 
brought  on  the  note,  which  was,  in 
fact,  outlawed — but  he  would  not, 
however,  allow  any  plea  of  this  kind 
to  be  made,  but  steadily  denied  the 
signature. 

As  the  indorsement  was  evidently 
genuine,  and  no  other  person  of  the 
same  name  was  known,  the  whole  mat- 
ter was  involved  in  mystery.  This  was 
increased  by  the  fact  that  he  had  had 
dealings  with  the  house  of  Ducoster  & 
Marshall,  as  appeared  by  his  books, 
though  nothing  was  found  in  them 
that  confirmed  this  note.  On  the  trial, 
his  brother  was  called  as  one  of  the 
witnesses.    He  testified  that  he  could 


396 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


not  distinguish  the  signature  from  Mr. 
Appleton's  handwriting;  but  that,  as 
he  himself  had  kept  the  books  at  the 
time,  and  his  brother's  notes  were  al- 
ways paid  when  due,  and  there  was  no 
trace  of  such  a  note,  it  could  not  be 
genuine.  Notwithstanding  this  ad- 
mitted resemblance  of  the  handwriting, 
and  notwithstanding  the  charge  of  the 
judge  was  regarded  as  rather  against 
the  defendant,  the  jury  found  a  verdict 
in  his  favor.  The  verdict  was  founded 
on  the  fact  that  the  jury  felt  quite  sure 
that  Mr.  Appleton  would  not  dispute 
the  payment  of  the  note,  except  on  the 
certainty  that  he  did  not  owe  it. 

Mr.  Appleton,  however,  was  not  sat- 
isfied to  leave  the  matter  here,  if  it  were 
possible  to  unravel  the  mystery.  Some 
years  after,  he  was  in  Italy,  and  went  to 
Naples,  where  Mr.  Degen  then  resided 
— the  gentleman  who  was  assignee  of 
Ducoster  &  Marshall,  and  had  made 
the  indorsement  in  their  behalf.  His 
first  step  on  landing  was,  not  to  visit 
any  of  the  wonders  of  nature  or  art, 
but  to  search  out  Mr.  Degen,  who,  in 
answer  to  his  inquiries,  stated  that  he 
perfectly  well  recollected  the  circum- 
stance of  there  being  such  a  note,  but 
that  the  signer  of  the  note  was  a  ship- 
master of  the  same  name,  who  resided 
in  Portland,  and  who  had  been  dead 
for  some  years.  Besides  his  memory 
of  the  event,  he  had  at  his  country 
house  the  books  of  the  firm,  and  on  ex- 
amining them  they  were  found  to  con- 
firm entirely  Mr.  Appleton's  convictions. 


lionerworth's  Celebrated  Fee. 

Mr.  Longworth,  the  celebrated  Cin- 
cinnati millionnaire,  once  received  as  a 
legal  fee  from  a  fellow  who  was  ac- 
cused of  horse  stealing,  and  who  had 
nothing  else  to  give,  two  second-hand 
copper  stills.  The  gentleman  who  had 
them  in  possession  refused,  however,  to 
give  them  up,  but  proposed  to  Mr.  L. 
to  give  him  a  lot  of  thirty-three  acres 
on  Western  Row  in  lieu  of  them,  a  pro- 


posal which  the  latter,  whose  opinions 
of  the  value  of  such  property  were 
ahead  of  his  time,  gladly  accepted. 
This  transaction  alone,  taking  into  view 
the  prodigious  increase  of  real  estate 
in  that  city,  would  have  formed  the 
basis  of  an  immense  fortune,  the  naked 
ground  being  worth  two  millions  of 
dollars.  This  fact  aflfords  an  example 
of  the  facility  with  which  comparative- 
ly small  amounts  secured  to  Mr.  Long- 
worth  the  property  which  has  since 
become  of  such  immense  value. 


Bankruptcy  and  Barbaxism  in  Court. 

A  MIXTURE  of  romance  and  reality 
was  recently  exhibited  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Bankruptcy  Court  of  Lon- 
don in  the  case  of  Mr.  Mark  Boyd. 
Amid  dry  details  of  certificates,  as- 
signees, dividends,  and  unsecured  cred- 
itors, there  suddenly  started  up  an  ele- 
ment at  once  romantic  and  ghastly. 

A  question  was  raised  as  to  whether 
the  bankrupt's  brother,  Mr.  Benjamin 
Boyd,  was  alive  or  dead.  This  gentle- 
man went  on  a  yachting  voyage  to  the 
South  Sea  Islands,  without  being  heard 
of  afterward.  It  was  stated  in  reply, 
that  the  fact  of  Mr.  Boyd's  death  was 
by  no  means  proved ;  for  that  a  skull, 
said  to  be  his,  and  brought  to  London, 
had  been  found  to  have  sound  and  per- 
fect teeth,  whereas  the  unfortunate  gen- 
tleman '  wore '  artificial  teeth,  and  there 
were  consequently  still  some  grounds 
for  the  belief  that  Mr.  Benjamin  Boyd 
was  not  dead,  but  was  a  captive  among 
the  natives.  Could  M.  Sue  have  in- 
vented anything  more  melodramatic 
than  this  ?  One  brother  haggarded  by 
misfortune,  beset  by  '  men  of  tape  and 
quill '  in  London,  interrogated  by  ac- 
countants, examined  by  commissioners ; 
the  other  brother  wandering,  perhaps, 
among  antipodean  savages,  naked  and 
tattooed,  or  perhaps  tomahawked,  or 
probably  eaten  I  And  all  this  while 
shrewd  men  of  business  bandy  about 
musty  counting  houses  a  grinning  skull, 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


397 


that  merchants  may  speculate  as  io 
whose  flesh  once  covered  the  ghastly 
relic  1 


Dealiner  with  a  Bankrupt  in  Hambnrgr 
—"Execution"  on  the  Sourse. 
The  following  account  of  an  occur- 
rence which  took  place  in  Hamburg, 
suggests  the  somewhat  whimsical  but 
withal  serious  query,  How  would  such 
a  course  answer  in  any  of  our  commer- 
cial cities  ?  At  noon  (according  to  this 
account),  just  as  the  Exchange,  crowd- 
ed with  merchants,  presented  its  busi- 
est aspect,  two  drummers  in  the  civic 
uniform,  came  up  and  rolled  their 
drums  for  the  space  of  ten  minutes, 
causing  a  great  commotion  both  within 
and  out  of  the  Bourse.  While  this  was 
going  on,  workmen  were  seen  over  the 
principal  gateway  of  the  building,  ele- 
vating a  black  board,  on  which  was 
painted  in  white  letters  the  name  of  a 
merchant  of  the  city  who  had  lately 
suspended  payment  and  absconded  with 
all  his  assets.  When  the  name  had  been 
fairly  set  up,  a  bell  called  the  '  shand 
glocke,'  or  shame  bell,  only  rung  on 
such  occasions,  was  sounded  for  two 
hours  from  a  tower  of  the  Bourse.  This 
penalty  of  disgrace,  called  the  "  execu- 
tion of  a  fraudulent  bankrupt,"  is  or- 
dained by  a  law  which  can  be  traced 
to  the  fourteenth  century,  when  the 
Hanseatic  league  was  at  the  height  of 
its  greatness.  At  that  period,  however, 
the  bankrupt's  patent  of  citizenship, 
and  his  certificate  as  a  merchant,  were 
also  burnt  by  the  hangman. 


Bankrupts  in  Satavla. 

Immediately  on  a  person  becoming 
bankrupt  in  Java,  the  name  of  the  par- 
ty is  placarded  about  town  and  in  the 
Exchange,  as  if  prima  facie  infamous. 
The  books  are  then  examined  by  the 
public  officer  for  that  purpose.  If  the 
estate  does  not  pay  sixty  per  cent.,  and 
the  bankrupt  can  be  proved  to  have 
done  business  after  he  knew  the  fact, 


he  is  put  into  prison  as  a  criminal,  for 
a  number  of  years,  and  declared 
'  aloost,'  which  signifies  infamous,  or 
without  character.  After  this,  the 
'  aloost '  person  is  indeed  excommuni- 
cated. His  word  is  not  to  be  taken ; 
he  is  not  allowed  to  be  a  witness,  even 
on  oath ;  and  if  a  man  trusts  him,  he 
does  so  on  his  own  risk — he  has  no  le- 
gal remedy  against  him.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  a  man  takes  his  books  to  the 
public  officer,  and  declares  that  he  has 
given  up  all  he  has,  and  it  does  not 
appear  that  he  has  been  doing  business, 
knowing  he  was  a  bankrupt,  and  after 
a  strict  investigation  there  are  no  suspi- 
cious circumstances,  his  creditors  must 
sign  his  papers. 


Western  Method  of  Oollectins  a  Debt. 

A  St.  Louis  merchant  was  on  a  col- 
lecting tour  through  the  western  part 
of  Missouri.  The  boat  on  which  he 
embarked  landed  first  at  a  small  town, 
and  the  merchant  repaired  to  the  house 
of  one  of  his  debtors.  On  inquiring  of 
the  good  lady  for  her  husband,  she  ex- 
pressed her  regret  that  he  had  just  left 
town,  and  would  not,  positively,  be 
back  for  a  week.  The  merchant  re- 
gretted that  very  much,  as  he  "had 
some  money  "  for  her  husband. 

Lady:  "You  Juwef — well — really — 
let  me  see — John,  are  you  sure  that 
your  father  has  gone  ?  go  see — perhaps 
I'm  mistaken — run  quick,  and  tell  your 
father,  if  you  can  find  him,  that  a  gen- 
tleman is  here  who  wishes  to  pay  him 
some  money." 

(The  boy  ran,  full  speed,  for  his 
daddy.) 

"I  hope  I  am  mistaken — ^husband 
was  telling  me  this  morning  he  expect- 
ed some  money  from  St.  Louis.  Money 
is  so  scarce  these  days,  and  people  are 
so  negligent  in  paying  their  debts: 
Jane,  bring  the  gentleman  some  water, 
quick  now — stop,  come  here — (in  a 
whisper,  but  audible  to  the  merchant) 
— tell  Sarah  to  bring  some  of  those 


398 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


largest  and  best  apples,  do  you  hear  ? 
— now  run,  quick.  When  did  you 
leave  St.  Louis,  sir  ? " 

"  Last  Monday  was  two — ^" 

(Running  to  the  window) — "  There's 
husband,  as  true  as  I'm  bom — I  really 
was  afraid  he'd  left." 

(Husband  enters,  puffing  and  blow- 
ing)— "  My  dear  G ,  I  was  so  fear- 
ful you  had  left." 

(In  an  undertone) — "  I  wish  to  heav- 
en I  had  ! "  (To  the  merchant)  :  "  Ah, 
Mr. ,  how  are  you  ? " 

"  Very  well — pleasant  day— all  well 
— ^hark  I  the  bell  is  ringing — not  much 
time  to  talk — I  have  a  little  business 
(presents  two  or  three  bills) — would  be 
very  glad  if  you  would  settle  them  to- 
day." 

"Ah!  ah,  yes,  sir — well,  I  don't 
know — Col.  Wiston  promised  to  be 
here  to-day,  who  owes  me  some  bor- 
rowed money — hard  times — when  wiU 
you  leave,  probably  ? " 

(Bell  rings  again) — "I  must  be  off, 
sir ;  '  lift '  one  of  those  notes,  and  I'll 
wait  for  the  rest;  the  bell  is  ringing, 
and  I  must  be  off." 

"  Well,  sir."  (Aside  to  his  wife)— 
"  Why  did  you  tell  I  was  at  home, 
confound  it  ? " 

The  merchant  receives  five  hundred 
dollars,  and  bids  the  gentleman  "  good 
morning,"  much  pleased  to  pocket  the 
amount.  The  good  wife  quietly  coun- 
termanded her  orders  for  "those  lar- 
gest and  best  apples,"  before  he  settled 
with  the  husband. 


Forgriving:  a  Debt  and  Givingr  a  Wife. 

A  SHOPKEEPER,  who  resided  two  or 
three  days'  journey  from  Paris,  pre- 
served his  good  standing  and  credit  for 
many  years.  At  last,  by  some  persons 
making  undue  purchases,  and  keeping 
him  too  long  out  of  his  money,  he  was 
obliged  to  proceed  to  Paris,  to  desire 
two  things  of  his  creditors :  one  was 
an  extension  of  their  forbearance,  and 
the  other  was,  to  be  furnished  with  a 


fresh  assortment  of  goods,  that  he 
might  keep  open  his  shop  with  its 
usual  supply. 

They  were  so  pleased  with  the  hon- 
esty and  frankness  of  the  man,  that 
they  all  agreed  to  grant  his  request,  ex- 
cept one — his  chief  creditor,  a  proud 
and  exacting  merchant,  who  had  never 
experienced  any  adversities,  and  knew 
not  how  to  sympathize  with  those  thus 
tried.  "  So,"  said  he,  "  I  find,  by  your 
asking  for  a  prolongation  of  credit,  and 
a  further  indulgence  of  goods,  that  you 
are  going  down  hill ;  and  therefore  I 
am  resolved  to  have  my  money."  Ac- 
cordingly, he  sent  at  once  for  an  offi- 
cer, who  arrested  the  tradesman,  and 
conducted  him  to  jail.  In  this  perplex- 
ing situation,  he  wrote  home  to  his 
wife,  who  communicated  the  news  to 
her  six  children,  who  were  thus  over- 
whelmed in  sorrow.  What  could  be 
done  ?  To  sit  still  in  despair  was  the 
ready  road  to  ruin.  After  a  frank  con- 
versation with  her  eldest  son,  a  young 
man  of  fine  sense  and  great  upright- 
ness, about  nineteen  years  of  age,  he 
resolved  on  a  speedy  visit  to  Paris, 
with  a  view  to  softening  the  hardness 
of  this  creditor.  After  a  short  inter- 
view with  his  father,  he  went  to  the 
house  of  the  merchant,  sent  in  his 
name,  and  desired  an  audience.  The 
creditor,  thinking  he  had  come  to  pay 
him,  had  him  at  once  admitted;  but 
he  soon  found  that  his  first  request  was 
that  he  should  release  his  father  from 
jail,  to  go  home  and  provide  for  his 
mother,  and  keep  up  the  credit  of  the 
shop. 

The  merchant,  being  disappoioted  in 
his  expectation,  flew  into  a  violent  pas- 
sion, and  declared  that  he  would  have 
the  money  or  the  bones  of  his  father. 
The  young  man,  finding  him  inexor- 
able, fell  down  on  his  knees,  and  with 
tears  accompanying  his  earnest  utter- 
ance, addressed  the  merchant  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Sir,"  Eaid  he,  "  if  I  go  home 
without  my  father,  I  shall  see  my 
mother  die  with  a  broken  heart,  the 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


399 


credit  of  the  shop  will  be  entirely 
ruined,  and  we  children  must  be  turn- 
ed as  vagabonds  and  beggars  into  the 
open  street.  I  have  this  one,  this  last 
request,  to  make — let  me  be  sent  to  jail 
in  the  room  of  my  father,  and  keep  me 
there  until  all  demands  are  satisfied." 

The  merchant  walked  back  and  forth 
in  the  room  with  evident  emotion.  The 
young  man  continued  his  suppliant  ap- 
peals and  entreaties  on  his  knees,  when 
at  last  the  merchant  went  to  him  with 
great  tenderness  of  manner,  and  taking 
Mm  by  the  hand,  said,  "  Rise,  young 
man.  I  have  but  ohe  daughter  in  the 
world,  and  for  whose  happiness  I  am 
concerned ;  I'll  give  thee  my  daughter 
— she  must  be  happy  with  a  fellow  of 
thy  virtue ;  I'll  settle  upon  you  all  my 
fortune ;  I'll  release  your  father  out  of 
prison,  and  make  you  all  happy  to- 
gether." And  he  was  as  good  as  his 
word. 


French  SCode  of  Paying:  Bills. 

A  SOMEWHAT  prominent  banker  at 
Paris,  having  a  draft  brought  to  him 
from  a  public  office  in  that  city,  wliich 
he  could  not  answer,  after  cramming 
down  the  draft  into  a  loaded  pistol, 
called  to  the  gentleman  who  brought 
it,  and  telling  him,  "  This,  sir,  is  the 
way  that  persons  who  have  no  money 
pay  bills  that  are  due,"  instantly  clap- 
ped the  pistol  to  his  ear,  and  shot  him- 
self dead. 


Advantagre  of  Being:  a  Larg:e  Debtor. 

As  the  world  goes,  the  moment  that 
a  man  becomes  largely  in  debt,  he  blos- 
soms out  into  a  respectable  and  respon- 
sible member  of  society.  It  is  not,  as 
many  suppose,  that  he  has  earned  this 
character  before  he  became  intrusted 
with  the  property  of  others.  A  very 
little  ability,  a  certain  degree  of  bold- 
ness and  assurance,  a  taking  exte- 
rior, and  a  willingness  to  contract  to 
pay  the  market  rate  of  interest  and  a 


little  more,  will  place  him  in  posses- 
sion of  capital  beyond  the  dreams  of 
avarice. 

Once  master  of  the  position,  he  is  in- 
vested with  all  the  qualities  and  vir- 
tues that  inspire  admiration,  confidence, 
and  respect.  If  he  wants  raw  produce, 
he  has  merely  to  hold  up  his  finger, 
and  a  dozen  ships  are  loaded  for  him 
in  the  ports  of  the  world.  If  he  wants 
the  fabricated  article,  he  has  merely  to 
breathe  a  wish,  and  mountainous  wag- 
ons hasten  to  unload  thdr  heavy  treas- 
ures at  his  gate.  If  he  covets  that  pre- 
cious metal  which  divines  call  "  filthy 
lucre,"  and  economists  "  circulating 
medium,"  he  has  but  to  send  in  his 
card  to  any  banker,  and  have  a  sack 
of  it  shovelled  to  him  as  if  it  was  dirt. 
These  are  the  gross  and  material  ad- 
vantages of  being  in  debt — serving  as 
the  basis  for  a  superstructure  of  higher 
things. 

First,  there  is  the  immense  advance 
in  social  position.  What  doors  are 
closed  to  the  large  and  noble  debtor  ? 
What  dinner  parties  would  be  consid- 
ered perfect  without  him  ?  How  many 
needy  men  are  anxious  to  sit  near  him 
at  the  table,  in  the  hope  of  learning 
something  useful  to  guide  them  in  the 
path  which  he  has  seemingly  followed 
with  such  distinguished  success  !  Who 
would  think  of  a  public  meeting  with- 
out the  gigantic  debtor  in  the  chair  ? 
If  a  trustee  is  wanted  for  a  charitable 
fund,  who  so  fit  and  proper  to  be  ap- 
pointed as  the  leviathan  debtor  ? 

If  a  public  company  or  a  joint-stock 
enterprise  is  flagging  for  various  rea- 
sons, what  is  wanted  to  put  it  firmly 
and  flourishingly  upon  its  legs? — the 
chairmanship  of  the  enterprising  debt- 
or !  Did  any  wild  scheme  ever  ad- 
vance or  commend  itself  to  public  no- 
tice, or  endeavor  to  strike  root,  without 
sending  one  of  its  earliest  prospectuses 
to  the  energetic  and  prosperous  debtor  ? 
Never  1 

Then  there  is  the  almost  affectionate 
interest  taken  in  nearly  everything  that 


400 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS   ANECDOTES. 


liappens  to  the  pampered  debtor.  If 
he  falls  ill,  what  crowds  of  people — 
chiefly  creditors — come  hurriedly  for- 
ward with  pressing  kindness,  day  after 
day,  anxiously  consulting  his  physi- 
cian, and  inquiring  after  his  health  I  If 
he  meets  with  an  accident,  what  a 
number  of  persons  hasten  tenderly  to 
his  side,  keenly  calculating  whether  it 
is  likely  to  be  fatal.  Many  of  these 
kind  creatures — chiefly  creditors — even 
go  to  the  length  of  insuring  the  life  of 
the  Lnportant'debtor  for  a  considera- 
ble sum,  80  strongly  does  their  interest 
in  him,  under  these  circumstances,  de- 
velop itself.  If  the  mammoth  debtor 
goes  upon  a  foreign  tour  for  a  length- 
ened period,  how  many  persons — chiefly 
creditors — are  waiting  anxiously  tjp  give 
him  a  joyous  welcome  back!  If  his 
house,  or  warehouse,  is  accidentally 
burned  down,  what  a  bevy  of  persons 
— chiefly  creditors — are  at  once  upon 
the  spot  to  render  assistance,  and  ascer- 
tain, if  possible,  what  insurances  there 
are — what  amounts,  and  in  what  offices  1 
In  the  great  world  of  debt,  the  small 
debtor  is  governed  by  his  creditor ;  the 
large  creditor  is  governed  by  his  debtor. 


Tender  in  Pasrment. 

A  TENDER  in  payment  is  rarely  made 
in  a  legal  manner.  People  commonly 
clog  it  with  some  condition,  which 
makes  it  no  tender  in  law.  One  man 
goes  to  another,  and  says,  "Here  is 
your  money ;  I  must  have  a  receipt  in 
full  of  all  demands."  A  tender,  to  be 
good,  must  be  an  unconditional  one, 
clogged  with  no  stipulation  whatever. 


"Parsons  on  Promissory  Notes." 

A  PUBLISHING  house  advertised  in  a 
city  journal,  "Parsons  on  Promissory 
Notes ; "  referring  to  which  the  editor 
remarked :  "  There  are  few  parsons 
whose  notes,  not  to  speak  of  their  in- 
dorsements, are  of  much  account  in 
Wall  street."     "And  this,"  says  the 


Knickerbocker,  reminds  us  of  a  remark 
once  made  by  the  late  John  Sanderson, 
the  witty  author  of  "  The  American 
in  Paris,"  touching  certain  unnegoti- 
able  clerical  "  paper  "  which  he  held : 
"  They  will  take  the  minister's  word, 
unquestioned,  every  Sunday,  for  the 
eternal  future,  but  won't  take  his  note, 
with  only  ninety  days  to  run ! " 


Paying:  an  Old  Debt. 

A  MAN  who  had  run  up  a  long  score 
at  a  shop  for  liquor,  cigars,  and  other 
creature  comforts,  found  himself  utterly 
unable  to  pay  a  stiver  of  it.  In  vain 
was  he  urged  to  pay  the  biU,  and  in 
vain  was  he  threatened  if  he  didn't ;  he 
hadn't  the  money — the  true  secret  of 
his  getting  in  debt  in  the  first  place — 
and  the  creditor  gave  it  up.  At  last 
he  thought  he  would  compromise  the 
matter,  and  let  ^he  man  work  the  debt 
out. 

The  creditor  had  a  large  pile  of 
wood  in  his  bam,  several  cords  of  it, 
nicely  sawed  and  split,  and  he  forth- 
with set  the  debtor  at  work  to  throw 
the  wood  into  the  street  and  then  pile 
it  back  again,  at  the  rate  of  a  shil- 
ling an  hour,  until  the  whole  debt 
should  be  wiped  out.  The  man  took 
hold  with  a  will,  and,  in  a  short  time, 
the  wood  was  all  in  the  street ;  then 
it  went  back  with  equal  celerity,  and 
then  out  again  and  then  in — every  one 
wondering  what  it  could  aU  mean. 
Some  charitably  intimated  that  he  was 
crazy,  and  others,  equally  charitable, 
said  he  was  drunk.  He  toiled  on  thus 
the  whole  day,  throwing  the  wood 
back  and  forth,  but  every  hour  seemed 
sixty  minutes  longer  than  its  pre- 
decessor, as  he  watched  the  clock  on 
the  old  church  in  the  neighborhood. 
He  was  working  a  dead  horse,  and  it 
was  hard  making  him  go.  But  the 
longest  road  must  have  an  end,  and 
the  hour  neared  when  the  labor  and 
debt  vould  cease  together,  and,  as  the 
hammer  of  the  clock  told  the  hour  of 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


401 


his  release,  the  freed  man  threw  the 
last  stick  of  wood  into  the  street  with 
a  shout  of  triumph.  The  shout  brought 
the  owner  of  the  wood  to  the  door, 
who  found  his  late  debtor  putting  on 
his  coat  to  go  away. 

"  Hallo  ! "  said  he,  "  you  are  not 
going  away  without  putting  the  wood 
back  again,  are  you  ?  " 

"  I'll  put  it  back  again  for  a  shilling 
an  hour,"  said  the  man. 

The  proprietor  of  the  wood  saw  that 
he  had  been  "  done,"  and  good-natured- 
ly told  his  late  debtor  to  go  ahead  and 
put  it  back.  He  went  about  it,  but, 
strange  to  say,  it  took  him  just  three 
times  as  long  to  put  it  back  as  it  did 
to  throw  it  out !  This,  if  not  "  Mrs. 
Partington's  last,"  is  one  of  her  best  in 
the  domain  of  commercial  humor. 


Debts  of  Honor. 

A  GOOD  story  is  told  relative  to  the 
— ^now — rather  old-fashioned  idea  of  a 
"  debt  of  honor."  A  tradesman,  to 
whom  Sheridan  had  given  a  bill  for 
two  hundred  pounds,  called  on  him 
for  the  amoxmt.  A  heap  of  gold  was 
Ijring  on  the  table.  "  Don't  look  that 
way,"  cried  Sheridan,  after  protesting 
that  he  had  not  a  penny  in  the  world, 
"  that  is  to  pay  a  debt  of  honor."  The 
applicant,  with  some  wit,  tore  up  the 
bill  of  demand  he  held :  "  Now,  Mr. 
Sheridan,"  quoth  he,  "  mine  is  a  debt 
of  honor  too."  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
"  Sherry  "  handed  him  the  money. 

The  story  of  Gunter's  bill — the  con- 
fectioner— is  not  so  much  to  the  good 
name  of  his  debtor.  Hanson,  the 
ironmonger,  called  upon  him  and 
pressed  for  payment.  A  bill  sent  in 
by  the  famous  confectioner  was  lying 
on  the  table.  A  thought  struck  the 
debtor,  who  had  no  means  of  getting 
rid  of  his  importunate  applicant.  "  You 
know  Gunter  ?  "  he  asked.  "  One  of 
the  safest  men  in  London,"  replied  the 
ironmonger.  "  Then  will  you  be  satis- 
fied if  I  give  you  his  bill  for  the 
26 


amount  ? "  "  Certainly."  Thereupon 
Sheridan  handed  him  the  neatly  folded 
account — and  rushed  from  the  room, 
leaving  the  creditor  to  discover  the 
point  of  Mr.  Sheridan's  little  fun. 


Drawing:  an  Inference. 

A  MERCHANT  who  had  become  re- 
duced in  fortune,  went  to  a  person 
who  had  formerly  been  his  servant,  to 
borrow  money  of  him.  The  upstart 
servant  gave  his  former  master  a  very 
mortifying  reception,  and  asked  in  a 
haughty  tone,  "  Sir,  why  do  you  give 
me  all  this  trouble  ?  Upon  my  honor 
I  have  no  money  to  lend  you  or  any 
one  else,"  "  I  am  certain  that  what 
you  say  is  false,"  said  the  gentleman ; 
"  for  if  you  were  not  rich,  you  dared  not 
be  so  saucy." 


A  Bankrupt  on  his  Legrs  Ag'ain. 

A  WEAXTHY  merchant  having  expe- 
rienced some  hard  reverses  which 
caused  his  bankruptcy,  was  met  some 
time  after  his  misfortunes  by  a  friend, 
who  asked  him  how  he  was  getting 
on  ?  "  Pretty  well,"  said  he,  "  I  am 
upon  my  legs  again."  "Howl  al- 
ready ? "  "  Yes,  I  have  been  obliged 
to  part  with  my  coach  and  horses,  and 
must  now  walk." 


'Tick.' 


The  word  "  tick  "  is  considered  by 
some  as  merely  an  abbreviation  of 
ticket.  In  the  "  Sportsman's  Slang 
Dictionary  "  may  be  found  the  follow- 
ing amusing  definition  :  "  Tick :  credit 
in  small  quantities;  usually  scored  up 
with  chalk,  which  being  done  with  a 
sound  resembling  '  tick,  tick,  tick,' 
gives  the  appellation  '  going  to  tick,' 
'tick  it  up,'  'my  tick  is  out,'  'no 
more  tick.' " 

A  well-meaning  friend,  calling  one 
morning  on  Mr.  Sheridan,  wound  up 
a  rather  prosy  exordium  on  the  pro- 


402 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


priety  of  domestic  economy,  by  ex- 
pressing a  hope,  that  the  pressure  of 
some  diflBculties,  from  which  he  had 
been  temporarily  removed,  would  in- 
duce a  more  cautious  arrangement  in 
future.  Sheridan  listened  with  great 
gravity,  and  thanking  his  visitor, 
assured  him  that  he  never  felt  so 
happy,  as  all  his  affairs  were  now 
proceeding  with  the  regularity  of  chcTc- 
worh,  adding  (with  a  roguish  twinkle 
of  the  eye,  and  giving  his  arm  the 
oscillating  motion  of  the  pendulum), 
"  Tick,  tick,  tick ! "  It  is  needless  to 
add  that  the  Mentor  took  a  hasty 
leave   of  his    witty  but    incorrigible 

companion. 

♦ 

The  "  Uodel  Debtor  "  Described. 

The  model  debtor  (says  Mayhew) 
never  thinks  a  thing  dear  so  long  as  he 
gets  it  on  credit.  No  dinner  is  too 
good  for  him  ;  the  dearest  wines  ;  the 
earliest  peas,  the  most  juvenile  straw- 
berries, the  choicest  liquors,  the  most 
exotic  luxuries — everything  that  is  ex- 
pensive, delicious  and  toothsome,  so 
that  he  is  not  called  upon  to  give 
ready  money  for  it.  The  world  pays, 
and  h  e  enj  oys  himself.  His  cab  is  found 
him  free  of  expense,  and  by  some 
charm  he  has  a  two  hundred  guinea 
horse  sent  home  to  him  without  paying 
a  single  penny  for  it.  The  rent  of  his 
house  is  several  quarters  -due ;  the 
furniture  is  of  the  very  best,  but  not  a 
stick  nor  stitch  of  it  has  been  settled 
for,  and  the  very  sheet  he  sleeps  on 
might  be  taken  from  under  him  by  his 
washerwoman,  for  terrible  arrears  of 
debt.  These  thoughts,  however,  never 
trouble  his  happiness.  He  trusts,  for 
everything,  to  his  appearance.  He 
knows  well  enough  that  a  man  with  a 
shabby  exterior  never  gets  "  credit " 
for  anything  in  this  world.  He  has  a 
good  coat,  and  on  the  back  of  it  orders 
as  many  clothes  as  he  likes.  He  has 
only  to  ask  for  hats,  boots,  walking 
sticks,  pistols,  dressing  cases,  and  they 


are  all  left  at  his  "  residence,"  exactly 
as  if  he  had  paid  for  every  one  of  them. 
No  questions  are  asked — not  a  soul  is 
in  a  hurry ;  for  "  any  one  can  see  he  is 
a  perfect  gentleman."  He  flourishes  a 
check-book,  though  his  "  drafts " 
would  not  be  liquid-ated  at  any  other 
bank  but  Oldgate  Pump. 

The  day  of  reckoning,  however, 
sooner  or  later,  comes.  Then  it  is 
that  the  wonderful  impudence,  the 
real  genius,  of  the  Model  Debtor, 
bursts  out  in  all  its  greatness.  It  is 
not  convenient  for  him  to  pay  "  just  at 
present" — it  would  be  ruination  to 
sell  out  when  the  funds  are  so  low.  He 
wonders  at  Mr.  Smith's  impatience 
(Smith  is  his  butcher) — the  bill  can 
barely  have  been  owing  two  years — 
but  he  will  call  and  settle  next  week. 
Some  he  threatens  to  expose ;  the  im- 
pertinence of  others  he  will  certainly 
report  to  all  his  friends;  and  he 
silences  the  noisiest  with  a  piece  of 
stamped  paper,  on  which  his  name  is 
inscribed  as  the  representative  of  hun- 
dreds of  pounds.  But  the  bubble  gets 
larger  and  larger  until  it  bursts.  Then 
the  Model  Debtor  tumbles  from  his 
high  "  estate  " — if  he  ever  had  any — 
and  from  an  "  eligible  mansion "  he 
falls  to  a  "  desirable  lodging  "  at  a  few 
shillings  per  week. 

His  life  is  now  a  constant  game  of 
hide  and  seek.  He  is  never  "  at  home," 
especially  to  top-boots  and  Jerusalem 
noses,  that  bring  letters  and  wait  for 
answers  in  the  passage.  He  grows 
nervous.  Every  knock  at  the  door 
throws  him  back,  and  he  rings  the  bell 
violently  two  or  three  times,  whispers 
to  the  servant  through  the  door,  turns 
the  key,  and  crouches  down  with  his 
ear  at  the  key-hole.  He  looks  out  of 
the  window  before  he  ventures  in  the 
street.  He  only  walks  when  he  cannot 
afford  to  pay  for  a  cab.  Omnibuses  are 
dangerous — it  is  not  so  easy  to  avoid  a 
creditor  inside.  He  selects  the  dreariest 
thoroughfares,  and  never  penetrates 
into  a  ctdrde-saCf  or  approaches  within 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


403 


a  mile  of  Chancery  Lane.  His  impu- 
dence, however,  does  not  desert  him. 
He  never  recollects  any  bill  whatever, 
and  if  stopped  and  questioned  about 
his  name,  he  threatens  in  the  grandest 
manner  to  call  the  police.  When  pressed 
for  money,  he  is  sure  the  account  was 
paid  long  ago,  and  that  he  has  got  the 
receipt  somewhere  among  "  his  papers." 
He  is  most  fruitful  in  excuses,  and 
lavish  in  promises.  He  generally  ex- 
pects "  a  good  round  sum  in  a  day  or 
two."  He  can  never  get  his  accounts 
in,  and  was  disappointed  only  last  week 
of  a  large  balance  he  had  relied  upon 
for  paying  your  little  "  trifle." 

As  he  falls  lower  in  the  world,  he 
gets  weaker.  He  would  pay  if  he 
could.  All  he  asks  for  is  time.  Busi- 
ness is  very  bad — never  was  worse. 
He  only  wants  to  look  around  him.  He 
hopes  you  won't  be  hard  upon  him; 
but  if  prosecuted,  if  goaded  to  death 
in  this  way,  sooner  than  lead  the  life 
he  does,  he  will  go  into  the  Gazette, 
and  then  his  creditors  must  not  blame 
Mm  if  they  don't  get  a  farthing.  He 
means  well,  if  they  will  only  leave  Mm 
alone.  He  will  be  happy  to  give  you 
a  bill.  He  has  a  wife  and  seven  chil- 
dren. In  fact,  he  is  a  most  affectionate 
parent,  and  the  sacrifices  he  has  made 
for  his  family  no  one  can  tell  but  him- 
self—which he  does  upon  every  possi- 
ble opportunity.  He  grows  tired  of 
answering  letters.  He  meets  a  bill 
and  a  bailiff  with  equal  horror,  but 
does  not  care  much  for  either,  if  he  can 
only  be  sure  of  "a  good  long  run." 
He  is  very  sensitive  about  the  left 
shoulder,  going  off,  like  a  hair  trigger, 
at  the  slightest  touch.  His  great  day 
or  jubilee  is  Sunday.  He  is  then  every- 
where— in  the  Park  especially, — and 
any  one  to  see  him  would  imagine  "  he 
could  look  the  whole  world  in  the 
face,  and  defy  any  one  to  say  he  owed 
him  a  shilling."  He  is  brave,  too, 
during  "  vacation." 

He  is  very  intimate  with  the  law,  and 
has  a  profound  respect  for  the  Statute 


of  Limitations;  but  thinks  England 
not  worth  living  in  since  the  County 
Courts  Act.  He  carries  this  antipathy, 
indeed,  so  far,  as  to  run  over  some  fine 
morning  to  Boulogne — never  coming 
back  again,  leaving  all  his  "  property," 
though,  behind  him,  in  a  carpet  bag 
replete  with  bricks.  There  his  first 
care  is  to  cultivate  a  moustache,  and 
to  procure  new  clothes,  new  dinners, 
fresh  victims.  He  is  always  expecting 
a  remittance  by  the  next  post.  His 
bankers,  however,  are  perseveringly 
remiss,  and  he  is  lodged  at  last  by  his 
landlord  in  the  Hotel  d''Angleterre — in 
plain  English,  the  prison.  He  only 
asks  for  time ;  and  at  last  he  gets  more 
of  it  than  he  likes,  for  he  is  locked  up 
for  two  or  three  years  in  jail,  unless  he 
is  very  lucky  and  is  liberated  by  a 
Revolution.  He  disappears — no  one 
knows  where.  His  "  friends  "  wonder 
what  has  become  of  him,  till  there  is  a 
vague  report  that  he  has  been  seen  as 
an  attache  to  one  of  the  gaming  houses 
about  Leicester  Square,  or,  if  he  is  toler- 
ably well  off,  that  he  has  been  recog- 
nized on  the  road  to  Epsom,  driving  a 
cab,  with  a  large  number,  say  2584, 
painted  upon  it. 

The  Model  Debtor  is  now  honest  at 
last,  for  he  has  arrived  at  that  stage  of 
life  at  which  no  man  will  put  any  trust 
in  him.  He  pays  his  "  way  " — turn- 
pikes included — and  does  not  over- 
charge mofe  than  what  is  perfectly 
Hansom.  He  pays  ready  money  for 
everything,  even  down  to  the  water- 
man on  the  cabstand,  and  gives  him- 
self out  as  "  a  gentleman  who  has  seen 
better  days."  His  great  boast,  however, 
is,  that  all  through  the  ups  and  downs 
of  his  racketty  career  he  never  left  un- 
paid a  single  debt  of  "  honor."  Doubt- 
lessly, this  is  a  great  source  of  consola- 
tion to  the  numerous  tradesmen  to 
whom  he  never  paid  a  penny. 


Comfort  for  Scotch  Debtors. 

Ik  Scott's  "  Antiquary,"  the  subject 
of  imprisonment  for  debt  in  Scotland 


404 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


is  discussed  most  piquantly  by  Jona- 
than Oldbuck,  Esq.,  of  Monkbams, 
who  proves  to  his  nephew,  Captain 
M'Intire,  that  in  that  happy  country 
no  man  can  be  legally  imprisoned  for 
debt.  He  says:  You  suppose  now  a 
man's  committed  to  prison  because  he 
cannot  pay  his  debts?  Quite  other- 
wise ;  the  truth  is,  the  king  is  so  good 
as  to  interfere  at  the  request  of  the 
creditor,  and  to  send  the  debtor  his 
royal  command  to  do  him  (the  king) 
justice  within  a  certain  time — fifteen 
days,  or  six,  as  the  case  may  be.  Well, 
the  man  resists,  and  disobeys  (by  not 
paying)  ;  what  follows  ?  Why,  that 
he  may  be  lawfully  and  rightfully  de- 
clared a  rebel  to  our  gracious  sovereign, 
whose  command  he  had  disobeyed, 
and  that  by  three  blasts  of  a  horn,  at 
the  market  place  of  Edinburgh,  the 
metropolis  of  Scotland.  And  he  is 
then  legally  imprisoned — not  on  ac- 
count of  any  mere  civil  debt,  but  because 
of  his  ungrateful  contempt  of  the  royal 
mandate ! 


Peter  C.  Brooks,  the  Boston  Uillion- 
naire,  in  Oourt. 

Peter  C.  Brooks  had  led  an  active 
business  life,  or  had  been  engaged  in 
important  pecuniary  transactions,  for 
forty  years,  without  ever  having  been 
involved  in  a  lawsuit  on  his  own  ac- 
count, either  as  plaintiff  or  defendant. 
At  length,  after  three  years  of  prepara- 
tion, an  action  was  brought  against 
him  in  1829,  on  a  bill  of  equity,  by  the 
administrators  of  Tuthill  Hubbart,  who 
had  been  dead  about  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  This  gentleman  had  been 
one  of  Mr.  Brooks's  underwriters ;  an 
extensive  confidential  connection  had 
existed  between  them  for  many  years ; 
and,  after  Mr.  Hubbart's  decease,  Mr. 
Brooks  made  a  general  settlement  with 
his  estate.  The  action  brought  was  to 
set  aside  this  settlement,  which  had 
been  thus  made  and  accepted,  on  the 
ground  that  items  belonging  to  Mr. 
Hubbart's  credit  had  been  omitted,  to 


the  amount  of  nearly  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  In  his  answer  to  the 
bill  of  equity,  Mr.  Brooks  declared  his 
anxious  desire  to  pay  any  amount  aris- 
ing from  any  error,  though  it  was  well 
understood  by  all  concerned  that  the 
settlement  with  Mr.  Hubbart's  admin- 
istrators by  the  payment  of  a  gross  sum 
— customary  then — was  intended  to 
cover  the  possibility  of  any  such  error. 
The  case  excited  most  intense  interest 
in  the  community,  Mr.  Wirt,  of  Balti- 
more, being  the  chief  counsel  for  the 
plaintiff,  and  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Gor- 
ham  for  the  defendant,  and  the  forensic 
display  of  these  rivals  was  magnificent. 
Throughout  the  trial,  the  avenues  of 
the  courthouse  were  besieged  long  be- 
fore the  doors  were  opened,  and  every 
inch  of  space  was  crowded.  At  the 
close  of  the  argument  of  Mr.  Webster, 
Mr.  Brooks  himself  obtained  permission 
to  address  a  few  words  to  the  court  by 
way  of  explanation.  Few  are  the  men 
who,  with  fortune  and  reputation  at 
stake,  at  the  age  of  sixty-two,  wholly 
unaccustomed  to  speak  in  public, 
would  have  ventured  to  rise  before  an 
immense  auditory,  comprising  all  that 
was  most  distinguished  for  character 
and  intellect  in  the  profession  or  the 
community,  to  add  anything  on  their 
own  behalf  to  the  defence  of  a  cause 
which  had  been  argued  by  Messrs. 
Gorham  and  Webster.  Few  are  the 
clients  who,  under  these  circumstances, 
would  have  been  permitted  by  counsel 
to  take  the  risk  of  speaking  for  them- 
selves. Mr.  Brooks  was  not  only  per- 
mitted but  encouraged  to  do  so,  by  his 
counsel.  A  profound  silence  fell  upon 
the  court,  as,  with  a  voice  slightly 
tremulous,  his  hand  resting  on  his  old 
account  books,  which  had  been  drawn 
from  the  dust  of  thirty  years  (and 
which  were  pronounced  by  the  bench 
such  a  set  of  books  as  had  never  been 
seen  in  that  court),  he  uttered  his  few 
and  final  sentences  of  explanation. 
The  court  negatived  in  direct  terms 
the  charge  of  fraud,  either  legal  or 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


406 


technical,  and  declared  their  inability 
to  discover  anything  that  justified  a 
charge  even  of  impropriety  against  the 
defendant.  In  his  private  journal,  after 
recording  the  result  of  the  action,  Mr. 
Brooks  observes,  that  "  it  has  terminat- 
ed to  his  entire  satisfaction." 


Small  Debts. 

An  action  having  been  tried  at  Taun- 
ton assize,  England,  to  recover  forty- 
five  shillings  for  goods  sold  and  deliv- 
ered, Mr,  Justice  Best  expressed  his 
regret  that  such  a  cause  should  have 
found  its  way  into  court.  "  Here,"  said 
the  judge,  "  is  a  man  so  foolish  as  to 
bring  an  action  for  forty-five  shillings ; 
and  a  man  so  foolish  as  to  defend  it ! 
Few  lines  had  more  truth  in  them, 
than  two  which  he  would  quote  to  the 

jury— 

"  Causes  are  traversed,  and  so  little  won, 
That  he  ■who  ffains  them,  is  at  last  undone." 


TaUors'  Bills. 

The  model  tailor  is  the  gentleman's 
best  friend.  Sometimes,  it  must  be 
confessed,  he  sends  in  his  btU,  though 
payment,  generally  speaking,  never  en- 
ters into  his  thoughts.  But  then  he  is 
soon  ashamed  of  the  liberty  he  has 
taken,  and  apologizes  most  profusely 
for  it.  He  is  fully  sensible  that  he  is 
doing  wrong,  and  blushes  in  his  soul 
for  the  shabbiness  he  is  guilty  of.  It 
is  only  that  he  is  terribly  distressed  for 
money,  or  else  he  would  not  think  of 
"troubling"  you.  He  is  greatly  sub- 
ject to  that  heaviest  of  all  social  ca- 
lamities— a  "  little  bill."  '  He  asks  you, 
as  the  greatest  favor,  to  let  him  have  a 
"  trifle  upon  account,"  and  leaves  you 
happier  than  poets  can  express,  if  you 
promise  to  let  him  have  something  in 
a  day  or  two.  Should  it  be  inconve- 
nient, however,  he  never  presses  the 
point,  and  will  look  in  some  other  time. 
Should  you  express  astonishment  at  his 
demand — that  you  cannot  have  had  his 


bill  more  than  two  years — he  excuses 
himself  in  the  most  penitential  manner, 
and  begs  your  pardon  for  having  men- 
tioned the  subject.  The  next  day  he 
inquires  if  you  want  anything  in  his 
way ;  the  generous  creature  forgives  as 
quickly  as  he  forgets.  His  anger  is 
only  aroused  when  you  leave  him  to 
go  to  another  tailor.  In  his  anger  he 
has  been  known  to  send  a  lawyer's  let- 
ter ;  but  if  you  go  to  him,  and  tell  him 
what  you  think  of  his  conduct,  and  or- 
der a  new  wrap-rascal,  he  will  settle 
the  matter  himself,  and  assure  you  that 
the  thing  is  purely  a  mistake,  and  that 
no  one  can  possibly  be  more  sorry  for 
it  than  himself.  As  might  be  supposed, 
the  model  tailor  rarely  makes  a  fortune 
— unless  he  has  been  very  unfortunate 
through  life.  An  insolvency  just  puts 
him  straight ;  a  first  bankruptcy  Reaves 
him  a  handsome  surplus,  and  a  second 
one  enables  him  to  retire.  The  sad 
truth  is,  that  the  simple  chUd  of  Eve 
knows  he  owes  all  his  business  to  the 
fact  of  her  biting  the  apple,  and  he  has 
not  the  heart  to  distress  any  son  of 
Adam  for  the  clothes  he  wears.  Per- 
haps he  feels  that  it  would  be  like 
pocketing  the  wages  of  sin.  His  as- 
signees, therefore,  are  obliged  to  col- 
lect his  debts  for  him,  and  accordingly, 
the  oftener  he  fails,  the  richer  he  be- 
comes. 


An  Unsettled  Commercial  Question. 

One  of  the  commercial  questions  of 
the  day  which  remains  to  this  time  un- 
decided, is,  whether  the  fact  of  a  gen- 
tleman having  No  Tin  may  not  have 
something  to  do  with  the  answer  he 
invariably  sends  of  Not  In,  when  any 
one  calls  upon  him  with  a  bill  ? 


Hotel  Keeper's  Advice  to  his  Son. 

"  If  there's  been  a  grand  dinner,  al- 
ways get  the  party  to  settle  before  leav- 
ing. The  dinner  bill,  my  son,  is  never 
so  severely  scrutinized  as  when  a  gen- 


406 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


tleman  looks  over  it  the  next  morn- 
ing I " 

Boyal  Promissory  Notes. 

A  Pkussian,  of  the  name  of  Mylius, 
found  among  his  father's  papers  a 
promissory  note  of  considerable  amount, 
which  the  Prince  Royal,  afterward 
Frederic  the  Great,  had  given  him.  He, 
therefore,  immediately  sent  it  to  the 
king,  with  the  following  letter ; 

"  SiKE  :  Among  my  father's  papers  I 
have  found  the  enclosed  note.  I  can- 
not tell  whether  it  has  been  through 
negligence,  or  any  other  means,  that  it 
has  not  been  cancelled.  I  know  not, 
but  I  leave  the  matter  to  the  disposal 
of  your  majesty." 

The  king  immediately  sent  for  My- 
lius, ajad  said  that  he  well  remembered 
receiving  the  money  from  his  father, 
and  that,  if  there  was  any  error,  he 
would  be  the  loser  himself.  He  at  once 
paid  the  money,  with  interest. 


An  Insolvent  Tradesman  in  the 
Clutches  of  Old  Audley. 

A  TRADESMAN,  named  Miller,  unfor- 
timately  got  into  arrears  with  his  mer- 
chant, whose  name  was  White.  Many 
fruitless  applications  were  made  for 
the  debt,  and  at  last  Miller  was  sued 
by  the  merchant  for  the  sum  of  two 
hundred  pounds.  He  was  unable  to 
meet  the  demand,  and  was  declared  in- 
solvent. 

At  this  stage,  the  notoriously  greedy 
shark,  Audley,  whose  wealth  was  only 
exceeded  by  his  heartless  avarice,  went 
to  "White,  and  offered  him  forty  pounds 
sterling  for  the  debt,  which  the  mer- 
chant gladly  accepted.  He  then  went 
to  Miller,  and  undertook  to  obtain  his 
quittance  of  the  debt  for  fifty  pounds, 
upon  condition  that  he  entered  into  a 
bond  to  pay  for  the  accommodation. 
The  drowning  man  catches  at  a  straw, 
and  the  insolvent,  with  many  protesta- 
tions of  thanks,  eagerly  signed  a  con- 
tract which,  without  consideration,  he 


regarded  as  one  so  light,  and  so  easy 
in  its  terms,  as  to  satisfy  him  that  the 
promptings  of  benevolence  and  friend- 
ship could  alone  actuate  his  voluntary 
benefactor.  The  contract  was,  that  he 
should  pay  to  Audley  some  time  with- 
in twenty  years  from  that  date,  one 
penny  progressively  doubled  on  the 
first  day  of  twenty  consecutive  months ; 
and,  in  case  he  failed  to  fulfil  those  easy 
terms,  he  was  to  pay  a  fine  of  five  hun- 
dred pounds.  Thus  acquitted  of  his 
debt  of  two  hundred  pounds.  Miller  ar- 
ranged with  the  rest  of  his  creditors,  and 
again  commenced  business.  Fortune 
turned,  and  he  again  participated  liber- 
ally in  her  smiles.  Every  month  added 
greatly  to  his  trade,  and  at  last  he  be- 
came firmly  established.  Two  or  three 
years  after  signing  the  almost  forgotten 
contract.  Miller  was  accosted  one  fine 
morning  in  October  by  "  old  Audley," 
who  politely  and  humorously  demand- 
ed the  first  instalment  of  the  agree- 
ment. With  a  laugh,  and  many  re- 
newed expressions  of  thankfulness,  the 
hopeful  tradesman  paid  his  penny.  On 
the  first  of  the  succeeding  month,  Aud- 
ley again  called,  and  demanded  two 
pence,  and  was  as  politely  satisfied  as 
before.  On  the  first  of  December  he 
received  a  groat ;  the  first  of  February, 
one  shilling  and  four  pence.  Still  Mil- 
ler did  not  see  through  the  artifice,  but 
paid  him  with  a  gracious  smile ;  per- 
haps, however,  there  was  something 
cynical  in  the  look  of  Audley  as  he  left 
the  shop  this  time — for  the  poor  trades- 
man's suspicions  were  aroused,  and  he 
put  his  pen  to  paper,  as  he  ought  to 
have  done  years  before,  to  ascertain  the 
amount  of  his  subsequent  payments. 

According  to  this  arrangement,  the 
amount  of  the  payment  due  on  the  first 
of  the  twentieth  month — the  sum  the 
little  penny  had  become — ^would  be  no 
less  than  £3,180;  and  the  aggregate  of 
all  these  twenty  monthly  payments,  the 
enormous  sum  of  £4,366  11«.  Sd.  Of 
course,  Miller  refused  the  pa3rment  of 
his  bond,  and  forfeited  £500  by  the  be- 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


407 


nevolence  and  charity  of  his  *'  volun- 
tary benefactor," 

— > 

Convenient  Substitute  for  Koney. 

The  principal  market  in  Guernsey 
was  built  without  money.  The  gov- 
ernor issued  four  thousand  market 
notes,  and  with  these  paid  the  work- 
men who  built  it.  These  notes  circu- 
lated through  the  island,  until  the 
market  was  built  and  occupied;  and 
when  the  rents  came  in,  these  notes 
were  received  in  payment  of  the  rents, 
and  were  cancelled.  In  the  course  of  a 
few  years,  the  notes,  being  all  paid  in, 
were  publicly  burnt  in  the  market. 
The  Water  Works,  Upper  Canada, 
were  constructed  by  a  similar  use. 


What  the  Word  "Pay"  Signifies. 

The  word  "i?ay,"  in  ordinary  lan- 
guage, is  only  used  to  signify  the  deliv- 
ering over  of  money,  or  other  valuables, 
in  discharge  of  a  debt.  But  in  its 
original  meaning,  it  seems  to  have  had 
a  particular  reference  to  the  act  or 
manner  of  blotting  out  the  record  of  a 
debt.  This  was  done  in  times  not 
long  past,  and  is  sometimes  done  now, 
by  drawing  a  line,  or  more  commonly 
two  lines,  crossing  each  other,  athwart 
the  writing  in  the  book ;  and  from  the 
custom,  it  is  often  said  by  country  peo- 
ple, when  they  have  paid  a  debt,  that 
"  the  book  is  crossed."  But  at  the  time 
when  very  few  were  able  to  read  what 
was  written,  not  only  would  it  be 
thought  unsatisfactory  to  have  nothing 
more  than  a  written  receipt  entered  in 
the  book,  but  this  drawing  a  line 
across  the  record  of  the  debt  was  sup- 
posed too  slight  a  matter ;  and,  there- 
fore, the  obliteration  was  made  by  dip- 
ping the  tip  of  the  finger  in  ink,  and 
smearing  it  over  the  writing.  This 
blotting  out  of  the  record  was  what 
was  particularly  imderstood  by  the 
word  paying,  and  not  simply  the  act 
of  delivering  the  money ;   and  hence 


the  mercantile  application  of  the  words 
to  pay  is  only  an  extension  of  the  origi- 
nal meaning,  when  it  is  applied  to  the 
smearing  over  of  the  bottom  of  a  ship 
or  boat  with  pitch.  When  a  new  coat 
of  tar  or  pitch  is  thus  laid  on,  the  boat 
is  said  to  be  payed  over. 


"Bankrupt." 

Few  words  have  so  remarkable  a  his- 
tory as  the  familiar  word  ianJcrupt. 
The  money  changers  of  Italy  had,  it  is 
said,  benches  or  stalls,  in  the  bourse  or 
exchange,  in  former  times,  and  at  these 
they  conducted  their  ordinary  business. 
When  any  of  them  fell  back  in  the 
world,  and  became  insolvent,  his  bench 
was  broken,  and  the  name  of  broken 
bench,  or  banco  rotto,  was  given  to 
him.  When  the  word  was  adopted 
into  English,  it  was  nearer  the  Italian 
than  it  now  is,  being  "  bankerout "  in- 
stead of  bankrupt. 


'Dun.' 


Some  have  derived  this  word  from 
the  French  word  donnez,  signifying 
give,  implying  a  demand  of  something 
due ;  and  others,  from  the  Saxon  word 
dunon,  to  clamor.  Both  are  wrong. 
The  origin  of  the  word  is  proved  to  be 
simply  this  :  In  the  reign  of  Henry  VII. 
a  famous  bailifiF,  named  Joe  Dun,  lived 
in  the  town  of  Lincoln.  This  man  was 
so  extremely  dexterous  in  his  rough 
business,  that  it  was  usual,  when  a  per- 
son refused  to  pay  his  debts,  to  say, 
"  Why  don't  you  Dun  him  ?  "—that  is, 
"  Why  don't  you  send  Dun  to  arrest 
him  ?  "  And  hence  the  custom  of  call- 
ing a  person  who  presses  another  for 
the  payment  of  money,  a  Dun.  It  is  a 
custom  which  has  been  in  vogue  since 
the  days  of  Henry  VII. 


Subduing:  a  Creditor's  Fury. 

It  is  related  that  Filippo,  the  cele- 
brated singer,  having  been  arrested  by 


408 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


one  of  his  largest  and  most  enraged 
creditors — a  trader  from  whom  lie  had 
been  long  skulking — made  no  other  re- 
ply to  his  abuse  and  threats  than  by 
sitting  down  to  the  harpsichord  and 
singing  two  or  three  of  his  most  pleas- 
ing and  touching  airs  to  his  own  ac- 
companiment ;  the  fury  of  the  creditor 
was  thus,  gradually,  so  perfectly  sub- 
dued, that  he  not  only  forgave  his 
debtor,  but  lent  him  ten  guineas  to 
appease  the  clamor  of  other  creditors 
who  threatened  him  with  speedy  jail 

quarters. 

t 

Great  Failures  in  Haxn'btLrg'li,  in  1799. 

The  year  1799  was  memorable  for 
the  havoc  which  befell  the  great  mer- 
cantile houses  of  Hamburgh,  Within 
the  space  of  only  a  few  weeks,  some 
one  hundred  and  thirty-six  failures  oc- 
curred, amounting  to  no  less  a  total 
than  fifteen  million  dollars,  and  crip- 
pled or  prostrated  every  branch  of  busi- 
ness and  business  connection.  The 
largest  of  these  failures  was  that  of 
Messrs,  De  Dabbeler  &  Hesse,  for  an 
immense  amount ;  the  next,  that  of  J. 
D.  Rodde,  Of  all  the  rest,  only  three 
were  enabled,  afterward,  to  resume 
payment  and  ftilly  satisfy  their  credi- 
tors. 

During  this  convulsive  state  of  the 
Hamburgh  Bourse,  the  London  Ex- 
change bestirred  itself,  since  merchan- 
dise and  bills  of  exchange  could  afford 
no  immediate  relief,  at  a  time  when 
discount  had  risen  so  enormously,  and 
merchandise  had  fallen  thirty-five  per 
cent,  in  price,  to  render  aid  by  cash  re- 
mittances, and  procured  from  Govern- 
ment the  use  of  the  frigate  Lutine, 
which  took  on  board  over  a  million 
pounds  sterling  worth  of  silver,  and 
sailed  for  the  Texel.  The  anxiety  with 
which  the  arrival  of  this  ship  was  look- 
ed forward  to  was  very  intense ;  as  was 
also  the  disappointment  that  followed, 
when  the  terrible  news  came  that  the 
frigate  had  been  wrecked  on  the  Dutch 


coast,  near  the  Texel,  and  lost,  with  all 
on  board  except  the  third  steersman, 
who  alone  succeeded  in  saving  his  life, 
and  brought  the  disastrous  intelligence. 
Among  the  great  houses  which  were 
compelled  to  suspend  payment  at  this 
time,  was  that  of  the  Brothers  Kauf- 
mann.  It  appears,  however,  that  one 
of  these  gentlemen,  who  had  just  mar- 
ried, had  presented  his  wife  with  a 
ticket  in  the  Hamburgh  City  Lottery. 
The  highest  prize  was  one  hundred 
thousand  marks-banco,  or  about  thirty 
thousand  dollars.  About  the  same  time 
the  tickets  of  a  lottery,  to  be  drawn  for 
a  prize  of  some  thirty  thousand  dollars, 
in  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Mecklenburg, 
were  put  in  circulation,  and  the  win- 
ning number  was  to  be  the  same  that 
should  draw  the  prize  in  the  Hamburgh 
lottery.  Mr.  K.'s  bride  had  taken  it 
into  her  head  to  purchase  the  same 
number  as  the  one  on  her  Hamburgh 
ticket  in  the  other  lottery,  and  make  a 
present  of  it  to  her  husband.  They 
were  the  winners ;  and  with  the  means 
thus  gained,  the  house  began  again 
some  time  afterward,  and  completely 
reestablished  themselves. 


Kentucky  Banker  i7ho  kept  Besumingr. 

At  the  height  of  one  of  the  feverish 
runs  upon  the  banks  and  bankers  in 
Louisville,  Ky.,  a  German  banker  of 
that  city,  named  John  Smidt,  found 
that  he  had  paid  out  all  his  money, 
and  that  he  was  compelled  to  stop. 
Listead  of  writing  a  card  for  publica- 
tion, he  frankly  announced  his  suspen- 
sion by  a  handbill  affixed  to  his  open 
doors,  in  which  he  said  he  had  no 
money  on  hand,  but  expected  in  a  day 
or  two  to  make  some  collections,  and 
that  he  would  then  resume  payment. 
Accordingly,  in  a  day  or  two,  another 
handbill  appeared  on  his  doors,  announ- 
cing that  he  had  collected  some  fifteen 
thousand  dollars,  which  he  would  pay 
to  those  of  his  creditors  who  should 
first  call  on  him  for  it.    This  was  soon 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


409 


paid  out,  and  the  first  handbill  again 
displayed;  and  in  a  few  days  he  an- 
nounced that  he  had  collected  some 
more  money,  which  he  was  ready  to 
pay  on  demand.  This  frank  and 
straightforward  course  had  the  effect 
which  was  to  have  been  reasonably  an- 
ticipated. His  German  fellow  citizens, 
seeing  that  John  S.  was  in  earnest 
about  paying  his  debts,  and  was  not 
disposed  to  higgle  for  an  extension, 
concluded  he  was  a  man  who  ought 
to  be  sustained,  and  accordingly  came 
forward  and  deposited  the  sums  they 
had  withdrawn,  and  induced  others  to 
do  the  same  thing.  There  was  no  long- 
er any  "  run  "  on  J.  S. 


Quaker  Merchant's  Thousand-Dollar 
Fee  to  Mr.  Webster. 

A  Quaker  merchant  doing  business 
in  Nantucket,  Mass.,  one  day  called 
upon  Mr.  Webster,  at  his  office  in  Bos- 
ton, for  the  purpose  of  securing  his  ser- 
vices in  a  suit  which  was  about  to  be 
tried  on  the  island,  and  wound  up  his 
application  by  demanding  the  terms. 

"  I  will  attend  to  your  case  for  one 
thousand  dollars,"  replied  Mr.  "Webster. 

The  merchant  demurred,  but  finding 
that  the  lawyer  would  not  visit  Nan- 
tucket for  a  less  amount  than  the  one 
specified,  he  promised  to  pay  the  pro- 
posed fee,  provided  Mr.  Webster  would 
agree  "  to  attend  to  any  other  matters 
that  he  might  present  during  the  sit- 
ting of  the  court,"  to  which  Mr.  W. 
consented. 

The  appointed  time  arrived,  and  Mr, 
Webster  was  at  his  post.  The  leading 
case  of  his  client  was  brought  forward, 
argued,  and  decided  in  his  favor.  An- 
other case  was  taken  up,  and  the  Quaker 
assigned  it  to  the  care  of  Mr.  Webster, 
when  it  was  satisfactorily  disposed  of; 
another  still,  and  with  the  same  result ; 
and  still  another  and  another,  until  Mr. 
Webster  became  impatient,  and  de- 
manded an  explanation :  whereupon 
the  shrewd  Quaker  merchant  remarked : 


"I  hired  thee  to  attend  to  all  the 
business  of  the  court,  and  thou  hast 
done  it  handsomely ;  so  here  is  thy 
money,  one  thousand  dollars." 


Salting:  an  Invoice. 

When  the  "  Dictionary  of  Commer- 
cial Slang,"  comes  to  be  written,  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  the  lexicographer  will 
not  forget  to  give  due  prominence  to 
the  word  "  Salting,"  which  is  used  to 
describe  a  peculiar  operation  that  is 
sometimes  performed  on  "  the  market." 
In  the  report  of  a  commercial  trial  in 
one  of  the  English  courts,  mention 
having  been  made  of  one  of  the  in- 
voices involved  in  the  litigation,  the 
defendant  alluded  to  the  custom  of 
salting  invoices  as  very  prevalent  at 
that  time  in  the  Australian  trade.  On 
being  asked  the  meaning  of  the  term, 
he  replied  that  the  price  inserted  in 
the  invoice  is  not  the  true  price  given 
for  the  goods — it  is  a  larger  one,  and 
the  goods  in  Australia  are  sold  at  an 
advance  upon  the  invoice  price ;  the 
invoice  is  shown  to  the  customer,  and 
he  believes  the  sum  mentioned  in  it  to 
be  the  real  price.  This  practice  is  very 
common.  The  judge  remarked  that  in 
most  criminal  courts,  such  a  transac- 
tion would  be  called  obtaining  money 
under  false  pretences.  In  answer  to 
this  it  was  remarked,  that  the  buyer 
has  the  goods  to  examine,  and  that  it 
was  a  general  custom.  An  English 
writer,  commenting  upon  this  acknowl- 
edgment, says,  it  is  strongly  to  be  sus- 
pected that,  according  to  the  rules  of 
morality — which,  however,  by  common 
consent,  are  not  supposed  to  apply  to 
trade — half  the  business  in  the  nation 
is  carried  on  upon  the  principle  of  ob- 
taining money  under  false  pretences. 
Nor  is  it  to  be  wondered  at,  that  when, 
in  old  comedy,  there  comes  in  the  clap- 
trap about  "  the  honor  of  the  British 
merchant "  and  the  "  integrity  of  the 
British  tradesman,"  there  is  a  super- 
cilious sneer  from  the  boxes,  a  gentle 


410 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


giggle  from  the  pit,  and  a  lusty  laugh 
from  the  gallery.  It  has  been  common 
to  say  that  commercial  roguery  is  con- 
fined to  the  petty  tradesman,  and  that 
the  "  merchant  princes  "  are  quite  above 
anything  of  tliat  sort ;  but  then,  what 
can  be  said  of  this  "  general  custom  " 
among  wholesale  houses  of  "  Salting  an 
Invoice  ?  " 


Soliloauy  of  a  Debtor. 

"  It  must  be  confessed  that  my  cred- 
itors are  singularly,  peculiarly  unfor- 
tunate. They  invariably  apply  the 
day  after  I  have  spent  all  my  money. 
I  always  have  to  say  to  them,  '  Now, 
this  is  tery  provoking.  Why  didrUt 
you  come  yesterday,  and  I  could  have 
paid  you  in  full  ?  '  But  no,  they  never 
will.  They  seem  to  take  a  perverse 
pleasure  in  arriving  always  too  late. 
It's  my  belief  the  rascals  do  it  on  pur- 
pose." 

— t — 

Disreputable  for  a  Broker  to  be  Hon- 
est toward  his  Creditors. 

A  MEMBER  of  the  London  stock  ex- 
change, who  fails  and  gives  up  his  last 
farthing  to  his  creditors,  is  not,  at  least 
by  a  considerable  portion  of  the  other 
members,  thought  so  favorably  of  as 
he  who  takes  care"  to  make  a  "  reserve  " 
for  himself.  An  instance  of  this  oc- 
curred in  the  case  of  a  person  who  used 
to  go  among  the  members  and  act,  as 
it  was  supposed,  for  a  party  connected 
with  a  large  newspaper  estate,  and  who 
lost  on  one  account  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars. He  paid  the  amount  without  a 
murmur,  but  lost  his  credit  from  that 
moment,  and  never  afterward  recover- 
ed it ;  for  it  was  thought  the  payment 
of  so  large  a  sum  must  have  broken  his 
back,  he  being,  in  stock  exchange 
phraseology,  but  a  "  little  man,"  that  is 
to  say,  of  but  moderate  means. 

But  a  still  more  striking  illustration 
of  how  integrity  is  regarded  among  the 
fraternity,  is  afforded  in  the  case  of  M. 
De  la  Chaumette,  a  gentleman  of  for- 


eign extraction.  He  had  previously 
been  in  the  Manchester  trade,  but  been 
unfortunate.  Being  a  man  much  re- 
spected, and  extensively  connected,  his 
friends  advised  him  to  go  on  the  stock 
exchange.  He  adopted  their  advice, 
and  became  a  member,  establishing  at 
once  an  excellent  business  as  a  broker. 
Not  only  did  he  make  large  sums  in 
the  shape  of  commissions,  on  the  trans- 
actions in  which  he  was  employed  by 
others,  but  one  of  the  largest  mercan- 
tile houses  in  London,  having  the  high- 
est possible  opinion  of  his  judgment 
and  integrity,  intrusted  him  with  the 
sole  disposal  of  an  immense  sum  of 
money  belonging  to  the  French  refu- 
gees, which  was  in  their  hands  at  the 
time.  He  contrived  to  employ  his 
money  so  advantageously,  both  to  his 
constituents  and  to  himself,  that  he  ac- 
quired a  handsome  fortune.  Before  he 
had  been  a  member  three  years,  he  in- 
vited his  creditors  to  dine  with  him  on 
a  particular  day,  at  the  London  Tav- 
ern ;  but  concealed  from  them  the  par- 
ticular object  he  had  in  so  doing.  On 
entering  the  dining  room,  they  several- 
ly found  their  own  names  on  the  differ- 
ent plates,  which  were  reversed,  and  on 
turning  them  up,  each  found  a  check 
for  the  amount  due  to  him,  with  inter- 
est. The  entire  sum  which  M.  Chait- 
mette  paid  away  on  this  occasion,  and  in 
this  manner,  was  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  Next  day  he  went 
into  the  exchange  as  usual ;  but  such 
was  the  feeling  entertained  of  his  con- 
duct, that  many  members  refused  to  do 
a  bargain  with  him  to  the  extent  of  a 
single  thousand.  They  looked  on  his 
payment  of  the  claims  of  his  former 
creditors  as  a  foolish  affair.  He  even- 
tually died  worth  nearly  three  million 
dollars. 


Advantagre  of  Prison-Iafe  to  a  French. 
Debtor. 

An  immensely  wealthy  French  bank- 
er, and  formerly  prefect  of  a  depart- 
ment,  found   his  way  to  Clichy,  the 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JFDICLA.L  ASPECTS, 


411 


French  prison,  in  this  case,  as  in  some 
other  notable  instances,  without  com- 
pulsion. He  recognized  the  doctor  of 
the  establishment  as  his  physician  in 
former  days.  The  doctor  expressed  his 
astonishment  at  finding  so  great  and 
wealthy  a  man  in  such  a  situation. 

"  What  would  you  have,  my  friend  ?  " 
was  the  response ;  "  I  have  a  rent-roll 
— rather  a  large  one — but  it  had  to  go 
to  pay  the  interest  on  my  debts.  Now, 
I  receive  it  without  deduction;  boil 
my  OAvn  coffee  in  the  morning ;  an  ex- 
cellent femme  de  menage  prepares  my 
dinner ;  I  have  five  or  six  capital  fel- 
lows to  share  it ;  I  spend  the  evening 
in  whist  and  punch — a  jovial  life,  of 
which  I  shall  certainly  not  be  tired  for 
five  years.  I  shall  then  go  abroad  into 
the  world  not  owing  a  sou,  and  with- 
out the  disagreeable  necessity  of  re- 
ceiving my  rents  only  to  hand  them 
over  to  other  people." 

It  is  the  commonest  thing  in  French 
society  to  hear  men  expatiating  on  the 
delights  of  their  "  little  boudoir  in  Key 
street,"  Rue  de  Clef,  the  cant  term  for 
Clichy,  among  all  "  choice  spirits." 
Another  term  is  "  the  palace  of  debt," 
arising  from  its  gay  courts,  where  flow- 
ers, water,  trees,  and  a  well-swept  lawn 
aflFord  the  occupant  amusement  in  the 
sunny  hour ;  a  joyous  companion  and 
good  cheer  when  the  sun  no  longer 
shines ;  a  well-stocked  library  of  ro- 
mance, and  the  knowledge  that  all  re- 
straint will  end  in  five  years,  without 
the  stigma  of  bankruptcy,  or  the  dis- 
tasteful gathering  of  creditors. 


Easy  Creditors. 
As  showing  the  anxiety  on  the  part 
of  some  men  to  "  trade,"  it  is  stated  that 
there  was  a  London  tailor  who  used  to 
make  periodical  visits  to  Cambridge, 
almost  forcing  his  coats  and  trousers 
upon  every  one  to  whom  he  had  the 
shadow  of  an  introduction,  charging 
high  prices  and  offering  infinite  credit. 
One  of  his  customers  left  the  university 


much  in  his  debt,  and  the  tailor  lost 
sight  of  him  for  years.  At  last  he 
found  him  and  took  the  liberty  to  pre- 
sent his  bill.  His  quondam  customer 
fairly  told  him  that  he  could  not  pay 
him.  The  tailor  fidgeted,  remonstrated, 
threatened.  What  was  the  use?  the 
man  had  no  money.  At  last,  the  tailor 
said,  "  Well,  sir,  if  you  will  not  give 
me  my  money,  at  least  give  me  an  or- 
der, that  I  may  not  quite  have  lost  my 
time."  With  this  he  was  content.  He 
belonged  to  that  class  of  tradesmen 
who  will  furnish  goods  on  credit  when 
they  are  morally  certain  of  never  being 
paid.  With  these  men  "  to  trade  "  is 
everything.  If  they  can  "  do  "  a  certain 
amount  in  the  day,  they  go  to  bed  hap- 
py, and  lull  themselves  into  forgetful- 
ness  as  to  how  much  of  that  amount 
wiU  ever  be  paid  for — perhaps  safe 
enough,  as  they  know  after  all,  for  the 
profits  on  their  genuine  business  are  the 
established  and  ample  set-off  against 
all  losses.    That's  it. 


Haxd  Old  Creditor. 
The  foreign  papers  mention  that  a 
certain  well-known  speculator  has  been 
trying  to  raise  a  loan  of  seven  millions 
on  the  Amsterdam  Bourse.  That  sum, 
however,  large  as  it  is,  will  not  suffice 
to  get  him  out  of  his  difficulties.  Even 
if  it  should  enable  him  to  extricate  him- 
self from  the  tight  crack  in  which  he  is 
placed,  there  will  stiU  be  '  the  devil  to 
pay.' 

« 

Presenting:  a  Frivolous  Bill  agrainst 
GHLrard. 

One  of  the  greatest  improvements  in 
the  city  of  Philadelphia  was  that  effect- 
ed by  Mr.  Girard,  in  Second,  below 
Spruce  street,  where  he  erected  a  range 
of  stores  and  dwellings,  and  caused  the 
street  to  be  regulated  in  such  a  manner 
that  it  should  no  longer  be  a  depository 
of  filth  and  waste  matter.  An  incident 
occurred  in  connection  with  this  under- 
taking, which  strongly  exhibited  the 


412 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


character  of  the  man.  A  lamp  post 
that  had  obstructed  the  progress  of  his 
buildings,  had  been  temporarily  re- 
moved to  the  opposite  side  of  the  street, 
"When  his  houses  were  finished,  the  in- 
habitants of  the  neighborhood  requested 
that  it  might  be  replaced,  which  was 
accordingly  done.  The  expense  of  this 
removal  was  fifty  cents,  which  the 
board  of  commissioners  charged  to  Mr. 
Girard,  and  sent  in  a  biU  for  its  collec- 
tion. But  he  refused  to  pay  the  bill, 
alleging  that  his  buildings  were  for  the 
improvement  of  the  city,  and  not  for 
his  mere  individual  profit,  which  latter 
was  too  small  to  be  an  inducement  for 
investing  his  capital  in  such  a  manner. 
His  best  houses,  he  stated,  did  not 
bring  him  in  more  than  three  per  cent, 
interest,  and  as  he  built  for  the  benefit 
of  the  city  and  the  public,  he  contend- 
ed that  it  was  not  just  that  he  should 
pay  an  expense  which  properly  belong- 
ed to  the  city  commissioners  and  the 
corporation,  to  whom  he  paid  annually 
an  immense  amount  of  tax,  without 
having,  in  a  single  instance,  ever  soli- 
cited an  abatement  of  assessments.  It 
was  not  the  money  consideration,  Mr. 
Girard  said,  he  was  contesting,  but 
"  the  principle  of  the  thing."  "  I  will 
give,"  said  Mr.  G.,  "  thousands  of  dol- 
lars to  improve  the  city,  but  I  will  not 
submit  to  the  exaction  of  one  cent  con- 
trary to  justice.  You  know  I  am  an 
American  citizen;  and  what  did  we 
tell  the  French,  when  they  attempted 
to  degrade  us  by  their  exactions — '  mil- 
lions for  defence,  but  not  a  cent  for 
tribute ; '  so  I  say  to  you,  Mr.  Commis- 
sioners, thousands  for  improvement,  but 
not  one  cent  for  taxation."  The  city 
agreed  to  the  payment  of  the  frivolous 
claim. 


creditors,  showing  how  the  former 
ought  to  be  addressed  by  the  latter. 
For  the  benefit  of  those  merchants  and 
gentlemen  who  are  in  the  habit  of  being 
pestered  with  importunities  from  trades- 
men at  home  and  abroad,  a  quantity  of 
oaths,  translated  into  all  the  modem 
languages,  and  due-ly  classified  so  as 
to  meet  any  possible  case,  will  appear 
in  an  appendix  to  the  work. 


Important  to  Dunners  and  Debtors. 

It  is  announced  that  a  well-known 
author— high  authority  in  such  matters 
— is  preparing  a  sort  of  "  Conversation 
Lexicon"  for  the  use  of  debtors  and 


Dishonest  Grocer  Punished  by  his  Son. 

A  GROCER  of  the  city  of  Smyrna  had 
a  son,  who,  with  the  help  of  the  little 
learning  the  country  could  afi'ord,  rose 
to  one  of  the  highest  judicial  posts — 
that  of  Naib,  or  deputy  of  the  Cadi ; 
and  as  such  visited  the  markets,  and 
inspected  the  weights  and  measures  of 
all  the  dealers.  One  day,  as  this  oflScer 
was  going  his  rounds,  the  neighbors, 
who  knew  enough  of  his  father's  char- 
acter to  suspect  that  he  might  stand  in 
need  of  the  ofiicial  caution,  advised  him 
to  remove  his  weights;  but  the  old 
cheat,  trusting  to  his  relationship  to 
the  inspector,  laughed  at  their  advice. 

The  Naib,  on  coming  to  his  shop, 
coolly  said  to  him,  "  Good  man,  fetch 
out  your  weights,  that  we  may  exam- 
ine them."  Instead  of  obeying,  the 
grocer  endeavored  to  evade  the  order 
with  a  laugh,  but  was  soon  convinced 
that  his  son  was  serious,  by  his  order- 
ing his  officers  to  search  the  shop.  The 
instruments  of  his  fraud  were  soon  dis- 
covered, and,  after  an  impartial  exam- 
ination, openly  condemned  and  broken 
to  pieces.  He  was  also  sentenced  to  a 
fine  of  fifty  piastres,  and  to  receive  a 
bastinado  of  as  many  blows  on  the 
soles  of  his  feet. 

After  this  had  been  effected  on  the 
spot,  the  Naib,  leaping  from  his  horse, 
threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  his  father, 
and  watering  them  with  his  tears,  thus 
addressed  him :  "  Father,  I  have  dis- 
charged my  duty  to  my  God  and  my 
country,  as  well  as  to  the  station  I 
hold ;  permit  me  now,  by  my  respect 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


413 


and  submission,  to  acquit  the  debt  I 
owe  a  parent.  Justice  is  blind ;  it  is 
the  power  of  God  on  earth ;  it  has  no 
regard  to  the  ties  of  kindred.  God  and 
our  neighbor's  rights  are  above  the  ties 
of  nature ;  you  had  offended  against 
the  laws  of  justice  ;  you  deserved  this 
punishment,  but  I  am  sorry  it  was  your 
fate  to  receive  it  from  me.  My  con- 
science would  not  suffer  me  to  act 
otherwise.  Behave  better  for  the  fu- 
ture, and,  instead  of  censuring  me,  pity 
my  being  reduced  to  so  cruel  a  neces- 
sity." 

So  extraordinary  an  act  of  justice 
gained  the  functionary  the  acclamations 
and  praise  of  the  whole  city ;  and  an 
account  of  it  being  made  to  the  Sub- 
lime Porte,  the  Sultan  advanced  the 
Naib  to  the  post  of  Cadi,  and  he  soon 
after  rose  to  the  dignity  of  Mufti. 


Commercial  Justice  in  Morocco. 

A  Jew  had  ordered  a  French  mer- 
chant in  Morocco  to  furnish  him  with 
a  considerable  quantity  of  black  hats, 
green  shawls,  and  red  silk  stockings. 
When  the  articles  were  ready  for  deliv- 
ery, the  Jew  refused  to  receive  them. 
Being  brought  before  the  Emperor, 
who  administers  justice  himself,  he  de- 
nied having  given  him  the  order,  and 
maintained  thai  he  did  not  even  know 
the  French  merchant. 

"  Have  you  any  witnesses  ?  "  said  the 
Emperor  to  the  Frenchman. 

"  None ! » 

"  So  much  the  worse  for  you ;  you 
should  have  taken  care  to  have  had 
witnesses ;  you  may  retire." 

The  poor  merchant,  completely  ru- 
ined, returned  home  in  despair.  He 
was,  however,  soon  alarmed  by  a  noise 
in  the  street ;  he  ran  to  see  what  it  was. 
A  numerous  multitude  were  following 
one  of  the  emperor's  oflBcers,  who  was 
making  the  following  proclamation  at 
all  the  comers :  "  Every  Jew,  who  with- 
in four-and-twenty  hours  after  this 
proclamation,  shall   be  found  in  the 


streets  without  a  black  beaver  hat  on 
his  head,  a  green  shawl  round  his  neck, 
and  red  silk  stockings  on  his  legs,  shall 
be  immediately  seized  and  conveyed  to 
the  first  court  of  our  palace,  to  be  there 
flogged  to  death." 

Alarmed  at  this,  the  children  of  Israel 
all  thronged  to  the  French  merchant, 
and  before  evening  the  articles  were 
purchased  at  any  price  he  chose  to  de- 
mand for  them. 


Peddler  Matching'  a  Sheriff. 

There  was  a  sheriff  in  Illinois,  who 
was  rather  "  taken  in  and  done  for,"  on 
one  occasion.  He  made  it  a  prominent 
part  of  his  business  to  ferret  out  and 
punish  peddlers  of  merchandise  who 
travelled  without  a  license;  but  one 
morning  he  met  his  match — a  genuine 
Yankee  peddler. 

"  What  have  you  got  to  sell  ?  Any- 
thing ? "  asked  the  sheriff. 

*'  Yaas,  sartin' ;  what  would  you  like 
to  hev  ?  Got  razors — first  rate ;  that's 
an  article  that  you  want,  tew.  Square, 
I  should  say,  by  the  look  o'  your  laird. 
Got  good  blackin' — 'fill  make  them 
old  cowhide  boots  o'  youme  shine  so't 
you  can  shave  into  'em,  e'enamost. 
Balm  o'  Klumby,  tew — only  a  dollar  a 
bottle ;  good  for  the  hair,  and  assist- 
in'  poor  human  natur',  as  the    poet 


And  so  he  rattled  on ;  at  length  the 
sheriff  bought  a  bottle  of  the  Balm  of 
Columbia,  and  in  reply  to  the  question 
whether  he  wanted  anything  else,  that 
functionary  said  that  he  did — he  want- 
ed to  see  the  Yankee's  license  for  ped- 
dling in  Illinois,  that  being  his  duty  as 
high  sheriff  of  the  State. 

The  peddler  showed  him  a  docu- 
ment, fixed  up  good  and  strong,  in 
black  and  white.  The  sheriff  looked 
at  it,  and  pronounced  it  "  all  right." 
Then  handing  back  the  bottle  to  the 
peddler,  he  said — 

"  I  don't  know,  now  that  I've  IxmgTit 
this  stuf^  that  I  shall  ever  want  it.    I 


414 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


reckon  that  I  may  as  well  sell  it  to  you 
again.     What  will  you  give  for  it  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know  that  the  darned 
stuff  is  any  use  to  rm^  but  seeing  its  you^ 
sheriff,  I'll  give  you  twenty-five  cents 
for  it,  ef  you  raly  donH  want  it." 

The  sheriff  handed  over  the  bottle, 
at  the  six  shillings  discount  from  his 
own  purchase,  and  received  his  change. 

"  Now,"  said  the  peddler,  "  I've  got 
a  question  or  tew  to  ask  you.  Hev  you 
got  a  peddler's  license  about  your  trow- 
sers  anywhere  ? " 

"  No ;  I  haven't  any  use  for  the  arti- 
cle myself,''''  replied  the  sheriff. 

"  Haint,  eh  ?  Wal,  I  guess  we'll  see 
about  that  pooty  darn'd  soon.  Ef  / 
understand  the  law,  it's  a  clean  case 
that  you've  been  tradin'  with  me — 
hawkin'  and  peddlin'  Balm  o'  Klumby 
on  the  highway,  and  I  shall  inform  on 
you — darn'd  ef  I  don%  now  !  " 

The  Yankee  was  as  good  as  his  word. 
When  he  reached  the  next  village,  he 
made  his  complaint,  and  the  sheriff  was 
fined  eight  dollars  for  selling  without  a 
license.  The  Yankee  was  heard  after- 
ward to  say,  that  "  you  might  as  well 
try  to  hold  a  greased  eel  as  a  live 
Yankee." 


Old  Scores  Wiped  Out. 

A  MOST  extraordinary  advertisement 
appeared  in  the  London  Gazette  of  Oc- 
tober, 1818.  It  announced  to  the  cred- 
itors of  Boyle  &  Co.,  formerly  of  Love 
Lane,  Eastcheap,  who  were  bankrupts 
in  the  year  1772 — being  a  lapse  of  forty- 
six  years — that  they  or  their  legal  rep- 
resentatives might  receive  the  entire 
amount  of  their  respective  debts.  The 
total  amount  advertised  was  £5,500. 
The  lowest  sum  mentioned  was  a 
glover's  bill  for  5s,  4d. ;  the  largest,  a 
banker's,  for  £920.  The  list  of  credit- 
ors enumerated  a  curious  medley  of  pro- 
fessions, snuff  merchants,  tailors,  haber- 
dashers, shoemakers,  «&c. ;  and  one  debt 
was  due  a  "  Mr.  Shakespeare,  alderman 
of  the  city  of  London,  merchant." 


German  Delicacy  in  Paying  and  Re- 
ceiving: Honey. 

Some  of  the  Germans — in  their  own 
land  at  least — have  a  singular  sensitive- 
ness as  to  money  ;  that  is,  in  the  hand- 
ling of  it  as  a  thiag  of  transfer,  they 
often  show  a  delicacy  beyond  the  finest 
instincts  of  other  Europeans.  For  in- 
stance, is  a  lady  teacher  of  any  kind  to 
be  paid  for  a  quarter's  instruction, — is 
it  imagined  that  the  gross  and  base 
money  is  thrust  into  the  lady's  hand, 
with  the  request  superadded  thereto 
that  she  would  count  it  ?  Delicacy  and 
good  breeding  forbid  !  The  party  pay- 
ing puts  the  unsesthetic  and  disgrace- 
ful commodity  into  an  outside  tissue 
wrapper — ^this  again  into  an  envelope, 
and  with  the  greatest  delicacy  slips  it- 
into  her  hand  whUe  they  are  pleasantly 
talking  about  something  less  demean- 
ing. A  reduced  German  lady,  of  the 
best  family  and  connections,  who  had 
been  compelled  in  this  country  to  make 
a  profession  of  an  accomplishment — 
that  of  music — remarked  that  she  was 
never  more  inexpressibly  shocked  than 
at  the  unceremonious  manner  of  an 
American  gentleman,  on  the  occasion 
of  her  receiving,  for  the  first  time  in 
her  life,  her  "  wages,"  at  the  end  of  her 
first  quarter.  The  cool,  business-like 
manner  in  which  he  took  out  his  huge 
leather  wallet,  counted  through  the 
bank  notes,  and  handed  her  a  crumpled 
parcel,  requesting  her  "  to  count  it  her- 
self to  see  that  all  was  right,"  well  nigh 
overcame  her. 


Besponse  to  a  Tax  Commissioner's 
Dan. 

The  following  curious  return  was 
sent  in  by  a  supposed  "  public  debtor," 
to  the  "  Commissioner  for  the  Income 
Tax,  sitting  in  London : " 

"  I,  A.  B.,  declare 
I  have  but  little  money  to  spare ; 
I  have 

1  little  house, 
1     "    maid, 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


415 


2  little  boys, 

2     "    trade, 

2     "    land, 

2     "    money  to  command ; 

Rather  2  little  is  my  little  all 

2  supply  with  comfort  my  little  squall 

And  2  little  to  pay  taxes  at  all. 

By  this  you  see 

I  have  children  three 

Depending  on  me — 

A.  B." 


Is  it  Lawful  to  Dun  a  Debtor  P 

In  one  of  the  criminal  courts  of  Bos- 
ton, some  time  ago,  a  man  was  brought 
up  on  a  charge  of  being  a  distmber  of 
the  peace,  in  consequence  of  his  repeat- 
edly dunning  a  debtor,  much  to  the 
annoyance  of  the  latter,  and  the  dunner 
was  fined.  From  this  sentence,  how- 
ever, the  mulcted  and  surprised  creditor 
appealed,  and  in  the  due  course  of  the 
docket,  the  case  came  up  before  the 
municipal  court.  The  judge,  in  the 
latter  tribunal,  ruled  that  a  creditor 
might  dun  his  debtor  for  payment  as 
often  as  he  saw  fit,  unless  his  proceed- 
ings were  of  such  a  nature  as  to  create 
public  disturbance, — a  decision  not 
very  comforting  to  debtors  who  dislike 
"  disturbance  "  of  a  private  nature  ! 


Politeness  in  Dunning:. 

An  old  gentleman  had  owed  a  firm 
for  years ;  at  last,  after  everybody's  pa- 
tience and  temper  were  absolutely  ex- 
hausted, a  new  clerk,  named  Frank, 
undertook  to  get  the  money. 

Frank  called  upon  the  gentleman,  and 
met  with  a  polite  reception,  and  the 
usual  answer,  with  the  addition :  "  You 
need  not  trouble  yourself,  young  man, 
about  the  matter ;  I  will  make  it  all 
right." 

"  Oh,  no,"  replied  Frank,  "  I  could 
not  think  for  a  moment  of  compelling 
you  to  call  at  the  store  for  a  few  dol- 
lars. It  will  not  be  the  slightest  incon- 
venience for  me  to  step  in,  as  I  pass 


your  place  of  business  six  times  a  day, 
to  and  from  my  meals,  and  I  can  call 
every  time  I  go  by." 

"  Here,"  said  the  old  fellow  to  his 
bookkeeper,  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of 
being  dunned  six  times  a  day  for  the 
next  six  months,  "  pay  this  impertinent 
rascal.  He  can  beat  me  in  politeness, 
and,  if  he  wants  a  situation,  I  will  give 
him  two  thousand  dollars  a  year." 


Spxot,  tlie  Banker,  and  the  Patrician 
Debtor. 

Mark  Sprot  was  one  of  the  greatest 
capitalists  in  England,  and  his  name  is 
associated  with  many  a  refreshing  anec- 
dote— for  in  business  matters  he  was 
always  as  lively  as  an  eel  in  a  frying 
pan.  On  one  occasion  a  broker  applied 
to  Mr.  Sprot,  and  with  great  sorrow 
told  him  that  he  was  a  ruined  man. 
Mr.  Sprot  was  surprised,  for  he  knew 
the  man  was  careful,  industrious,  and 
not  likely  to  speculate.  He  asked  the 
cause,  and  the  broker  replied  that  he 
had  been  employed  largely  by  a  princi- 
pal, who,  the  prices  having  gone  against 
him,  had  refused  to  pay  his  losses. 
Mr.  Sprot  immediately  inquired  his 
name  ;  and  on  being  told  it  was  a  no- 
ble earl,  of  whose  resources  he  was  well 
aware,  could  scarcely  believe  he  heard 
correctly. 

He  knew  the  noble  debtor  to  be  in 
possession  of  large  landed  estates ;  and, 
when  informed  that  his  lordship  had 
thus  refused  to  give  any  reason  except 
that  it  was  not  convenient,  Mr.  Sprot 
told  his  visitor  not  to  be  alarmed,  that 
he  would  not  press  his  claim,  and  con- 
cluded by  making  an  arrangement  with 
him  to  visit  his  lordship. 

Together  they  went,  and  were  received 
with  patrician  dignity.  Mr.  S.  deliber- 
ately detailed  the  business  he  had  in 
hand,  and  received  the  cool  reply  that 
it  was  not  convenient  to  pay.  But  the 
wide-awake  jobber  was  not  a  man  to 
bow  or  cringe  before  rank,  unless  ac- 
companied by  worth ;  and  Sprot  there- 


$id 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


fore  unhesitatingly  declared,  that  if  the 
account  was  not  settled  by  a  certain 
hour  next  day,  he  would  post  his  lord- 
ship as  a  defaulting  debtor.  The  latter 
grew  alarmed,  and  attempted  to  con- 
ciliate ;  but  the  conference  closed  with 
the  repeated  determination  of  Sprot  to 
post  the  delinquent.  Long  before  the 
hour  appointed,  however,  his  lordship's 
solicitor  waited  on  the  broker  to  ar- 
range the  payment  of  the  debt. 


Two  Aspects  of  Trade. 

Tbabe  is  a  very  legitimate  mode. 
It  consists  in  buying  at  one  price,  and 
selling  at  another.  But  of  tradesmen 
there  are  two  kinds — both  observing 
the  said  mode  or  rule,  yet  with  a  diflfer- 
ence.  For  example:  One  buys  his 
wares  and  sells  them  at  a  profit ;  while 
the  other  sells  them  at  a  loss,  and  yet, 
strange  to  say,  is  generally  the  most 
thriving  man  of  the  two  1  getting  rap- 
idly rich  in  spite  of  his  debts  and 
bankruptcies,  while  the  former  only 
becomes  "  respectable  and  pays  his 
way."  One  in  fact  hatches  his  chick- 
ens by  the  old  and  tedious,  though  na- 
tural mode  of  incubation — the  other 

by  steam ! 

— » 

Borrowing:  Money;  or,  Doing:  Business 
on  Credit :  F.  C.  Brooks's  Idea. 

It  was  a  principle  with  Peter  C. 
Brooks,  never,  himself,  to  borrow  mon- 
ey. It  is  true,  when  starting  in  his 
career,  he  obtained  a  moderate  loan, 
but  this  was  under  circumstances  of  a 
very  peculiar  nature,  resembling  less  a 
business  loan  than  a  friendly  advance- 
ment, made  by  a  person  in  years  to  a 
young  man  entering  life,  and  standing, 
pro  tanto^  in  a  filial  relation  to  the  lend- 
er. It  is  believed  that,  with  this  ex- 
ception, Mr.  Brooks's  name  was  never 
subscribed  to  a  note  of  hand.  What 
he  could  not  compass  by  present  means 
was  to  him  interdicted.  Equally  in- 
vincible was  his  objection  to  becoming 
responsible   by  endorsements  for  the 


obligations  of  others.  Without  deny- 
ing the  necessity,  in  active  trade,  of  an- 
ticipating the  payment  of  business  pa- 
per, he  shunned  every  transaction,  how- 
ever brilliant  the  promise  of  future 
gain,  which  required  the  use  of  bor- 
rowed means. 


Trading:  for  Beady  Money. 

ExPEKiENCE  would  Seem  to  bear 
abundant  testimony  to  the  value  of 
the  principle  of  trading  only  for  ready 
money.  If  we  begin  with  Holland,  we 
find  that  bargains  in  that  country  were, 
in  its  better  days,  almost  always  made 
for  ready  money,  or  for  so  short  a  date 
as  six  weeks  or  two  months.  Profits 
were  small  in  their  ratio,  but  the  quick- 
ness of  their  return  made  them  even- 
tually large.  Failures  were  rare,  even 
in  so  distressing  an  era  as  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  country  by  the  French, 
which  involved  from  the  outset  a  stop- 
page of  maritime  intercourse  with  all 
their  possessions  in  India  and  America. 
The  consequence  of  this  stoppage  was  a 
decay  of  trade,  a  suspension  of  various 
undertakings,  a  scarcity  of  work,  a  de- 
pressing dulness  in  the  sale  of  goods — 
all  tending,  in  the  first  instance,  to 
diminish  income,  and  eventually  to  en- 
croachment on  capital.  But  amidst  all 
this  distress,  the  failures  were  surpris- 
ingly few — fewer,  indeed,  than  occur  in 
other  countries,  in  any  ordinary  season. 
Another  example,  equally  to  the  point, 
was  the  state  of  France,  after  the 
double  invasion  of  1814  and  1815. 
There  prevailed,  at  that  time,  a  general 
discouragement  among  the  upper  ranks, 
and  a  great  deal  of  wretchedness  among 
the  lower,  trade  being  at  a  stand,  and 
stocks  of  goods  lying  unsold  in  shops 
or  workhouses  for  years;  still  bank- 
ruptcy was  very  rare. 


Colloquy  in  a  Dry  Ghoods  Jobbing: 

Store. 
If  the  reader  has  ever  had  the  privi- 
lege of  the  inner  sanctum  of  a  large  dry 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICLiL  ASPECTS. 


417 


goods  jobbing  house  in  Boston  or  New 
York,  he  will  recognize  the  following 
colloquy  as  no  uncommon  occurrence. 
Let  it  be  understood  as  taking  place 
between  a  merchant  and  his  confiden- 
tial clerk : 

Merchant. — Mr.  Jones,  how  about 
our  customers,  Holfast  and  Driver,  do 
they  pay  us  promptly  ? 

Jones. — A  little  behind,  sir.  Ex- 
tended their  last  note. 

Merchant. — How  much  do  they 
owe,  Mr.  Jones,  and  when  due  ? 

Jones. — Two  thousand  dollars,  sir, 
and  all  coming  due  within  sixty  days. 

Merchant. — They  have  sometimes 
asked  for  an  introduction  to  other 
houses  when  it  was  not  convenient. 
Advise  them  now,  however,  Mr.  Jones, 
to  extend  their  acquaintance,  and  give 
them  leave  to  refer  to  us.  Say  to  in- 
quirers, that  we  have  had  the  utmost 
confidence  in  them,  and  have  always 
sold  them  all  we  could.  I  think,  Mr. 
Jones,  that  in  this  way  they  may  last 
until  we  get  our  pay. 

This  is  a  pretty  fair  illustration  of 
the  credit  system. 


"  Died  of  a  Street  Debt." 

"  No,  sir  I  he  did  not  die  of  cholera 
at  all !  He  died  of  brokers,  sir,"  said  a 
man  to  another  in  the  streets  of  Buffalo. 
"  He  projected  an  unwise  improvement 
of  a  piece  of  real  estate,  made  loans, 
covered  himself  with  bonds  and  mort- 
gages, and  finally  incurred  '  a  street 
debV  of  two  thousand  dollars,  which 
rapidly  rolled  up  to  eight  thousand, 
and  crmhed  the  life  right  out  of  him. 
He  borrowed  Canada  money  '  on  call,' 
to  be  paid  in  current  funds ;  got  paper 
discounted,  payable  in  seven  days,  in 
the  city  of  New  York ;  borrowed  Ohio 
and  Kentucky  currency  for  one  day, 
returnable  in  notes  of  Buffalo  banks ; 
'  shinned  it '  from  street  to  street,  and 
friend  to  friend,  to  keep  the  debt  ahead 
of  him.  Why,  sir,  I  couldn't  sit  down 
to  consult  with  him,  or  to  do  any  kind 
27 


of  business  with  him,  with  the  least  as- 
surance that  he  would  not  jump  up 
suddenly  to  go  out  and  give  another 
shave  to  that  accursed  debt.  The 
memorandum  book  of  his  obligations 
was  always  in  his  bosom ;  and,  sir,  it 
turned  to  the  poor  man's  heart!  He 
was  owned  by  brokers.  He  worked  for 
them — lived  for  them — died  for  them. 
He  did  not  die  of  cholera  at  all,  sir. 

He     DIED     OP    A    STREET    DEBT,    UpOn 

which  he  had  expended  his  strength 
every  week,  in  throwing  it  ahead  from 
one  day  to  seven  days ! " 


Beply  to  a  Dtumine:  Epistle. 

The  following  cool  passages  are  con- 
tained in  a  letter  from  a  "  gentleman  " 
to  his  tailor,  Mr.  Stitchington,  in  reply 
to  an  epistle  asking  him  for  "  the 
amount  of  his  bill : " 

"  Is  it  indeed  five  years  that  I  have 
*  graced  your  books  ? '  How  fleet  is 
life !  It  scarcely  appeared  to  me  as 
many  months.  Although  I  have  never 
given  you  a  note  for  the  amount,  how 
have  the  years  passed  by !  You  will 
guess  my  meaning,  when  I  assure  you 
it  is  a  theory  of  mine  that  the  '  wings 
of  time '  are  no  other  than  two  large 
notes,  duly  drawn  and  accepted.  With 
these,  he  brings  his  three,  six,  or  nine 
months  into  as  many  weeks.  He  is 
continually  wasting  the  sand  from  his 
glass,  drying  the  wet  ink  of  promissory 
notes.    But  let  me  not  moralize. 

"You  want  money,  you  say,  Mr. 
Stitchington.  As  I  am  in  the  Uke  pre- 
dicament, you  are  in  a  capital  condition 
to  sympathize  with  me.  You  say,  *  you 
never  recollect  so  bad  a  season  as  the 
present.'  Of  course  not :  no  tailor  ever 
did.  The  present  season  is  invariably 
the  worst  of  the  lot,  no  matter  how  bad 
the  others  may  have  been.  It  says 
much  for  the  moral  and  physical 
strength  of  tailors,  to  see  them  still 
flourishing  on  from  worse  to  worse: 
they  really  seem,  like  churchyard  grass, 
to  grow  fat  and  rank  upon  decay. 


418 


COMMERCIAL  AKD  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


"  You  toucMngly  observe, '  that  pres- 
ent profits  do  not  pay  for  taking  down 
the  shutters.'  My  good  sir,  then  why 
proceed  in  a  ruinous  expense  ?  In  the 
name  of  prudence,  why  not  keep  them 
constantly  up  ? 

"  You  say, '  you  never  press  a  gentle- 
man.' Now,  in  familiar  phrase,  we 
never  '  press  a  lemon ; '  but  then  we 
squeeze  it,  most  inexorably.  That  men 
should  go  into  bankruptcy,  yet  live  and 
laugh  afterward,  is  great  proof  of  the 
advancing  philosophy  of  our  times.  A 
Roman  tailor,  incapable  of  meeting  his 
debts,  would,  heathen-like,  have  fallen 
upon  his  own  needle,  or  hung  himself. 

"  P.  S. — My  humanity  suggests  this 
advice  to  you:  Don't  go  to  any  law 
expenses,  as  your  letter  foimd  me  mak- 
ing up  my  schedule.  An  odd  coinci- 
dence— I  had  just  popped  down  your 
name  as  your  letter  arrived  1 " 


Lord  Hansfield's  Mercantile  Cases  in 
Court. 

The  learned  and  brilliant  peer,  as 
"well  as  preeminent  jurist.  Lord  Mans- 
field— great  must  he  always  be  in  the 
respect  of  the  merchant,  for  he  may  be 
said  to  have  built  up  the  present  won- 
derful system  of  commercial  law — was 
in  the  habit  of  personally  consulting 
with  merchants,  when  he  had  doubts 
in  any  of  the  mercantile  trials  in  which 
he  was  engaged.  In  a  reported  case 
of  this  nature — ^upon  adjustment — he  is 
made  to  say  :  "  As  I  expected  the  other 
cause  would  be  tried,  I  thought  a  good 
deal  upon  the  point,  and  endeavored 
to  get  what  assistance  I  could,  by  con- 
versing with  some  business  gentlemen 
of  experience  in  adjustments."    . 


Carious  Suit  against  a  Bank  Agrent. 

One  of  those  singular  actions  for 
false  imprisonment,  which  now  and 
then  occur  in  mercantile  as  well  as  in 
other  circles,  was  once  brought  against 
an  agent  of  the  Bank  of  England.  It 
appeared  that  the  plaintiff  had  paid 


away  a  one-pound  bank  note,  which 
was  pronounced  by  the  bank  to  be  a 
forgery.  Having  by  a  little  stratagem 
afterward  got  possession  of  the  note, 
the  plaintiff  paid  the  amount,  and, 
upon  refusing  to  deliver  up  the  forged 
note,  he  was  taken  before  a  magistrate 
on  a  charge  of  having  a  note  in  his 
possession,  knowing  it  to  be  forged 
and  counterfeit.  On  the  evidence  of 
the  agent,  or  bank  inspector,  and  at  his 
instance,  the  plaintiff  was  committed  to 
prison,  and  after  three  days'  confine- 
ment was  released  on  bail,  to  appear 
when  called  on.  At  the  expiration  of 
twelve  months,  not  having  been  called 
on,  he  brought  his  action,  when,  strange 
to  relate,  the  note  was  proved  to  be  a 
genuine  Bank  of  England  one-pound 
note  I  The  jury  immediately  brought 
in  a  verdict  of  one  hundred  pounds 
damages  in  his  favor. 


"Something:  or  Nothiner— and  that 
Very  Quick!" 

The  art  of  dunning  is  not  usually 
reckoned  among  the  fine  or  polite  arts. 
Indeed,  there  are  no  rules  on  the  sub- 
ject, as  each  case  must  be  managed  by 
itself,  the  success  of  various  expedients 
being  very  much  "  as  you  light  upon 
chaps."  At  times,  a  lucky  accident 
brings  the  money  out  of  a  slow  debtor, 
after  the  manner  following :  A  mer- 
chant, who  was  nervous  and  irritable, 
received  a  letter  from  a  customer  in 
the  country  begging  for  more  time. 
Turning  to  one  of  his  counting-room 
clerks,  he  says :  "  Write  to  this  man 
immediately."  "Yes,  sir;  what  shall 
I  say  ?  "  The  merchant  was  pacing  the 
office,  and  repeating  the  order,  "  Write 
to  him  at  once."  "  Certainly,  sir ;  what 
do  you  wish  me  to  say  ? "  The  merchant 
was  impatient,  and  broke  out :  "  Some- 
thing or  nothing,  and  that  very  quick." 

The  clerk  waited  for  no  further  or- 
ders, but  consulting  his  own  impression 
of  the  merchant's  meaning,  wrote  and 
despatched  the  letter.  By  the  return 
of  mail  came  a  letter  from  the  delin- 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICUL  ASPECTS. 


419 


quent  customer,  enclosing  the  money 
in  full  of  the  account.  The  merchant's 
eye  glistened  when  he  opened  it,  and, 
hastening  to  his  desk,  said  to  the  clerk : 
"  What  sort  of  a  letter  did  you  -write  to 
this  man  ?  Here  is  the  money  in  full  1 " 
"  I  wrote  just  what  you  told  me  to,  sir. 
The  letter  is  copied  into  the  book." 
The  letter  book  was  consulted,  and  there 
it  stood,  short  and  sparkling,  and  right 
to  the  point:  "Dear  Sir, — Something 
or  nothing,  and  that  very  quick. 
Tours,  etc., ."  And  this  la- 
conic letter  brought  the  money,  when 
a  more  elaborate  dun  would  have  failed 
of  the  happy  effect. 


Benefit  of  a  Doubt. 

One  day,  during  a  period  of  general 
business  panic,  a  firm  in  Boston  gave  a 
check  to  one  of  their  creditors  for 
$2,000,  which  he  presented  at  the  bank, 
where  he  was  informed  that  it  was 
drawn  for  $500  more  than  stood  to  the 
firm's  credit.  Having  some  little  doubt 
of  the  solvency  of  the  firm,  he  drew  his 
own  check  for  $500,  and  deposited  it 
to  the  account  of  the  firm,  when  he  was 
promptly  paid  the  full  amount.  The 
firm  stopped  payment  the  same  dai/,  and 
paid  but  about  thirty  cents  on  the  dol- 
lar, but  the  merchant,  by  a  little  timely 
gumption — availing  himself,  on  the 
spot,  of  that  "  little  doubt " — obtained 
seventy-five  per  cent,  of  his  claim. 


One  of  the  Causes  of  Bankruptcy. 

Oke  fact  is  generally  allowed  to  be 
of  more  value  than  a  baker's  dozen  of 
arguments.  Says  a  prominent  New 
York  merchant :  "  I  have  particularly 
observed,  that  those  merchants  in  New 
York  who  have  kept  their  counting 
rooms  open  on  the  Sabbath  day,  during 
my  residence  there  (twenty-five  years) 
have  failed  without  exception."  The 
remark  once  made  by  an  old  gentleman 
in  Boston  is  precisely  similar:  "Men 
do  not  gain  anything  in  the  end  by 


working  on  the  Sabbath,  though  they 
think  they  do.  I  can  recollect  men 
who,  when  I  was  a  boy,  used  to  load 
their  vessels  down  on  the  Long  Wharf, 
and  keep  their  men  at  work  from  morn- 
ing to  night  on  the  Sabbath  day.  But 
they  have  come  to  nothing." 


Novel  Trade-Case  before  a  Prussian 
Magristrate. 

When  the  new  government  regula- 
tions of  trade  in  Prussia  began  to  be 
carried  into  effect,  some  years  ago, 
about  all  the  different  trades  of  Berlin 
were  suing  each  other,  to  establish  what 
occupations  belong  to  one  guild  and 
what  to  another.  One  of  the  most 
recherche  of  these  trade  quarrels  was 
that  between  the  barbers  and  the  wig 
makers.  The  latter  claimed  an  exclu- 
sive right,  according  to  the  statute,  to 
cut  the  hair  of  the  public ;  the  barbers 
insisted  that  their  profession  was  not 
limited  to  shaving. 

The  arguments  on  both  sides  of  this 
very  comical  case  had  to  be  formally 
heard  by  the  magistracy,  whose  judicial 
gravity  was  indeed  severely  tried  on 
the  occasion. 

It  was  solemnly  urged  on  behalf  of 
the  barbers  that,  in  the  abstract,  there 
is  no  distinction  between  the  hair  of 
the  chin  and  the  hair  of  the  head ;  the 
form  of  the  instrument  used  to  remove 
it  did  not  affect  the  question ;  whether 
the  operation  was  performed  by  the 
razor  or  scissors  was  a  matter  of  indif- 
ference. The  office  of  the  barber  was 
to  remove  superfluous  hair,  wherever  it 
grew ;  ergo,  they  had  as  good  a  right 
to  clip  as  to  mow. 

The  wig  makers,  evading  the  abstract 
question  of  right,  represented  that  the 
barbers  do  not  confine  themselves  to 
clipping,  but  comb,  brush,  trim,  curl, 
oU,  wash,  anoint,  and  otherwise  dress 
and  adorn  the  heads  of  the  customers, 
and  that  these  higher  branches  of  the 
art  belonged  of  right  to  the  wig  makers, 
who  alone  can  legally  create  a  checdure  ! 

The  barbers  then  rejoined  by  an  ob- 


420 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


jection  as  fatal  as  that  in  the  cele- 
brated case  of  Shylock  v.  Antonio  (in 
Shakspeare's  Reports).  They  contend- 
ed that  the  business  of  the  wig  makers 
only  began  where  that  of  the  barbers 
ended,  when  there  was  no  hair  left  to 
be  cut ;  with  perfect  baldness  the  head 
became  the  property  of  the  artist  in 
perukes,  and  at  this  point  the  barbers 
were  ready  to  abandon  it,  retaining 
only  a  right  of  property  in  the  chin. 
The  magistrates  conceded  the  force  of 
this  objection,  and  the  barbers  tri- 
umphed. 

> 

Selling  one's  Body  to  a  Creditor: 
Marshal  Badetzky. 

The  veteran  Radetzky,  who,  it  seems, 
was  constantly  in  debt,  sold  his  body, 
some  time  previously  to  his  death,  to 
one  of  his  creditors,  a  Unen  goods  deal- 
er in  Vienna,  named  Barkfiieder.  It 
appears  that  B,,  who  had  acquired  an 
immense  fortune  from  government  con- 
tracts for  furnishing  goods  in' his  line 
to  the  army,  was  desirous  of  obtaining 
a  position  among  the  high  dignitaries 
of  the  city,  and  determined  by  a  mas- 
ter-stroke to  accomplish  his  elevation 
from  the  plebeian  ranks.  Radetzky 
figured  largely  on  the  books  of  this 
drygoods  dealer ;  and  the  latter  offered 
to  cancel  the  obligations  if  the  field- 
marshal  would  place  his  body,  after 
death,  at  his  disposal,  to  be  buried  in 
his  (B.'s)  country-seat  at  Watzdorf, 
promising,  at  the  same  time,  that  the 
veteran's  grave  should  be  surmounted 
by  a  handsome  monument.  Radetzky 
readily  assented,  and  signed  a  written 
agreement  to  that  effect.  The  old  sol- 
dier, consequently,  now  slumbers  in  the 
grounds  of  M.  Barkfrieder,  whose  coun- 
try-seat has,  on  this  account,  become 
the  Mecca  of  princes,  dukes,  barons, 
counts,  and  generals.  The  linen-deal- 
er's scheme  has  been  crowned  with  suc- 
cess— members  of  the  imperial  family 
and  titled  nobles  have  necessarily  be- 
come lus  guests,  and  he  is  a  member  of 
the  "  court  circle." 


Losses  among:  Hussian  Merchants. 

It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance,  that 
notwithstanding  the  fondness  of  Rus- 
sian merchants  for  money,  they  never 
take  their  losses  very  deeply  to  heart ; 
no  such  thing  ever  happens  as  a  bank- 
rupt Russian  trader  putting  an  end  to 
his  life — a  catastrophe  so  frequent  in 
most  other  countries.  This  may  be  at- 
tributed chiefly  to  the  levity  of  the 
Russian  temperament,  and  partly  to 
this — ^that  the  Russian  merchant,  in 
losing  his  money,  does  not  consider  his 
honor  as  a  trader  and  his  credit  as  a 
man  at  all  affected,  because  for  him 
nothing  of  the  sort  exists.  * '  Bog  S^nim  " 
(God  with  them  !)  he  says  of  his  last 
moneys,  and  begins  "  S^hogom "  (with 
God)  his  card  house  afresh.  There  are 
in  St.  Petersburg  not  a  few  Russian 
merchants  who  have  more  than  once 
saved  nothing  from  the  wreck  but  their 
red  shirt  and  their  kaftan,  and  yet 
stroke  their  long  beards  again  upon 
'change  as  thriving  men.  Many  of  the 
merchants  of  St.  Petersburg  who  are  as 
rich  as  Croesus,  look  like  poor  peasants. 


Engrlish  Stock  Broker's  Blackboard. 

The  origin  of  the  blackboard — that 
moral  pillory  of  the  English  stock  ex- 
change—dates back  to  1787.  There 
were,  said  a  journal  of  that  day,  no  less 
than  twenty-five  lame  ducks  who  wad- 
dled out  of  the  alley.  Their  deficiency 
was  estimated  at  one  million  and  a 
quarter  dollars ;  and  it  was  upon  this 
occasion  that  the  plan  in  question  was 
first  proposed,  and,  at  a  very  full  meet- 
ing it  was  resolved,  that  those  who  did 
not  either  pay  their  deficiencies  or  name 
their  principals  should  be  publicly  ex- 
posed on  a  blackboard  to  be  provided 
for  such  occasions.  Thus  the  above 
deficiencies — larger  than  had  been  pre- 
viously known — alarmed  the  gentlemen 
devoted  to  stock  dealing,  and  produced 
that  system  which  is  yet  regarded  with 
wholesome  awe 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


421 


"Immediate  Belief." 

DuKiNG  one  of  the  panics  in  the 
New  York  money  market,  the  mer- 
chants held  a  meeting  in  the  Exchange, 
to  devise  ways  and  means  to  extricate 
themselves  from  their  pecuniary  diffi- 
culties. The  great  hall  was  crowded, 
addresses  were  made,  resolutions  passed, 
committees  appointed,  and  everything 
done  that  is  usual  and  practicable  in 
such  cases.  After  all  this,  one  of  the 
company  moved  that  the  meeting  stand 
adjourned  until  some  future  day,  when 
up  jumped  a  little  jobber  in  a  great 
state  of  excitement,  and  requested  the 
merchants  to  linger  a  moment,  as  he 
had  something  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance to  communicate.  The  jobber 
was  known  to  be  a  very  diffident  per- 
son ;  and,  as  he  had  never  ventured  on 
the  responsibilities  of  speaking  on  any 
former  occasion,  all  were  anxious  to 
hear  what  he  had  to  say.  "  Gentle- 
men," said  he,  with  evident  emotion, 
and  in  the  most  emphatic,  feeling,  and 
eloquent  mahner,  "  what's  the  use  of 
talking  of  some /ttiwre  day  ?  We  want 
relief,  I  tell  you  1  immediate  relief  1 " 
and  down  he  sat,  amid  a  universal  roar 
of  laughter  and  cries  of  "  Bravo ! " 
But  his  speech  was  characterized  by 
one  important  element,  not  usually 
forming  a  superabundant  staple  with 
speech-makers — that  of  truth  ;  for  the 
next  day  he  failed  and  went  into  bank- 
ruptcy ! 

I 

Kerobants'  Wit  on  the  Stand. 

A  MERCHAiTT  who  was  Severely  cross- 
examined,  in  a  case  for  debt,  by  Mr. 
Dunning,  the  prosecuting  counsel,  was 
repeatedly  asked  if  he  did  not  lodge 
in  the  verge  of  the  court ;  at  length  he 
answered  that  he  did.  "And  pray, 
sir,"  said  the  counsel,  "  for  what  reason 
did  you  take  up  your  residence  in  that 
place  ? "  "  To  avoid  the  rascally  im- 
pertinence of  dunning^"^  answered  the 
witness.    This  case  is  not  unlike  that 


of  Mr.  Bamum,  the  showman,  whose 
bankruptcy  brought  him  so  often  be- 
fore the  courts  that,  on  one  occasion, 
when  asked  by  a  creditor's  coimsel 
what  was  his  present  business,  he  an- 
swered promptly,  "  Tending  bar,  sir." 


Erskine  Siftinsr  an  Auctioneer's 
Character. 

An  auctioneer  in  London,  named 
Spurrier,  once  brought  an  unsuccessful 
suit  against  a  Mr.  Beard,  to  recover  a 
simi  of  about  £330,  being  a  charge  of 
one  per  cent,  commission  for  selling  an 
estate. 

Mr.  Christie,  another  auctioneer,  was 
called  as  a  witness  for  the  plaintifiF. 
He  said  "he  had  been  an  auctioneer 
upward  of  twenty-five  years.  The  busi- 
ness of  an  auctioneer  consisted  in  some- 
thing more  than  in  making  bows,  and 
in  knocking  down  the  hanuner.  It 
required  knowledge  grounded  on  ex- 
perience; a  proper  acquaintance  with 
all  the  circumstances  belonging  to  the 
estate,  and  the  mode  of  preparing  prop- 
er advertisements  to  enlarge  the  ideoi  of 
the  public.'''' 

Mr.  Erskine,  who  was  the  opposing 
counsel,  said,  in  his  speech,  that  "he 
found  the  profession  of  an  auctioneer 
was  infinitely  preferable  in  point  of 
pleasure  and  profit  to  that  of  a  barris- 
ter, for  the  diflference  between  the 
charge  of  the  present  plaintiff  and  his 
was  as  follows:  Auctioneer's  charge — 
*To  a  pleasant  journey  into  Sussex, 
where  I  was  hospitably  entertained 
(out  two  days),  £230 ; '  Mr.  Erskine'a 
charge — '  To  pleading  from  nine  in  the 
morning  till  four  in  the  afternoon,  by 
which  I  was  melted  down,  by  fatigue, 
to  the  size  of  a  silver  penny,  £10  10a.' " 

The  counsel  further  said,  if  auction- 
eers were  paid  the  demand  in  question 
on  every  adventure,  they  would  be  the 
richest  subjects  in  the  nation.  By  en- 
larging the  ideas  of  the  public,  which  he 
found  was  the  business  of  the  gentle- 
man of  the  hammer,  he  supposed  was 


422 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


meant,  representing  an  estate  to  be 
worth  £20,000,  when  it  would  only  sell 
for  £10,000. 


Nine  Days  in  the  Xiife  of  a  Merchant. 

A  nine-days'  diary  of  a  New  York 
merchant  like  the  following  is  sketchy 
reading  (like  all  that  comes  from  the 
pen  which  wrote  it),  but,  as  many  will 
testify  of  the  period  to  which  it  refers, 
a  stern  and  crushing  reality  : — 

August  18th,  1857.— Refused  dis- 
counts at  bank.  Couldn't  raise  money 
to  pay  duties,  and  obliged  to  make 
over  a  valuable  importation  of  goods. 
Cashier  says  come  again  next  offering 
day. 

21st. — Went,  and  saw  matters  ten 
times  worse.  Saw  the  President,  who 
told  me  I  deserved  to  be  "  pinched  "  for 
importing  so  heavily,  and  that  I 
needn't  come  there  again  for  six  weeks. 
Couldn't  discount  a  dollar.  Concluded 
to  call  on  B.  and  borrow  a  few  thou- 
sands. Found  a  note  on  my  desk  from 
B.,  begging  me  to  lend  him  some 
money,  or  he  would  break.  Tried  C. 
Same  luck. 

22d. — Pitched  out  at  another  bank. 
Customer  in,  wanting  to  see  that  fresh 
importation.  Spent  three  hours  trying 
to  borrow  enough  to  pay  the  duties. 
No  success. 

24th. — Ohio  Life  and  Trust  Company 
failed.  Tried  to  sell  paper  in  the  street 
at  three  per  cent,  a  month.  No  buyers. 
Fortunate  remittance  from  the  West — 
know  the  post-mark — Jones  is  a  good 
fellow.  Draft  $5,000— on.  the  Trust 
Company  ! 

25th. — Note  on  collaterals  due  at  the 
bank.  Couldn't  get  it  renewed  for  a 
dollar.  Made  temporary  loan.  Stocks 
down  twenty  per  cent.  Best  securities 
unsalable  at  half  price. 

26th. — Loan  called  in.  Begin  to 
feel  choky  in  the  throat.  No  appetite. 
Tried  to  sell  out  my  importation  of  dry 
goods  at  twenty  per  cent.  less.  Nobody 
any  money  to  buy.    Went  home  sick. 


27th. — Resolved  never  to  put  myself 
in  the  power  of  the  banks  again.  Mis- 
erable institutions.  Spent  the  whole 
day  trying  to  borrow,  and  barely 
escaped  protest.  My  own  notes  stuck 
in  my  face  at  three  per  cent,  a  month. 
Overheard  broker  say,  "  You're  a  gone 
man,  if  you  can't  take  your  own  paper 
at  that  price."  Feel  very  much  so,  but 
got  to  keep  a  stiflF  upper  lip. 

28th. — Four  brokers  failed.  Times 
worse  than  in  1837.  Feet  sore  with 
running  about  to  raise  money.  Can't 
collect  a  dollar  from  the  country. 
Everybody  out  on  the  same  business — 
aU  borrowers,  no  lenders.  Desk  full 
of  bills  receivable,  perfectly  useless. 
Specie  line  of  the  banks  down  to 
$9,000,000.  Wish  I'd  never  seen  a 
piece  of  dry  goods.  Would  have 
been  as  easy  as  an  old  shoe  if  I  had 
not  imported.  I  had  no  business  to 
build  that  new  house ;  the  old  one 
good  enough.  Ought  to  have  been 
content  with  the  moderate  things,  and 
lived  on  half  the  money.  Store  rent 
too  high.  Obliged  to  spread  out  too 
much  on  credit  to  pay  expenses. 

29th. — Neighbor  failed.  Bank  failed. 
Friends  call  to  ask  if  the  rumor  of  my 
failure  be  true.  Air  black  with  foul 
reports.  Half  past  2  P.  M.,  account 
withdrawn,  and — rwtes  unpaid. 


"  Not  Down  on  the  Bill.' 

Dr.  Fbanklin  relates  the  following 
anecdote  of  Mr.  Denham,  an  American 
merchant,  with  whom  he  once  went  a 
passenger  to  England.  "  He  had  former- 
ly," he  says,  "  been  in  business  in  Bris- 
tol, had  failed,  in  debt  to  a  number  of 
people,  compounded,  and  went  to 
America ;  there,  by  a  close  application 
to  business  as  a  merchant,  he  acquired 
a  plentiful  fortune  in  a  few  years.  Re- 
turning to  England  with  the  ship  with 
me,  he  invited  his  old  creditors  to  an 
entertainment,  at  which  he  thanked 
them  for  the  easy  compensation  they 
had  favored  him  with ;  and  when  they 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


423 


expected  nothing  but  the  treat,  every 
man,  at  the  first  remove,  found  under 
his  plate  an  order  on  a  banker,  for  the 
full  amount  of  the  unpaid  remainder, 
with  interest."  Besides  a  good  dinner, 
this  last  was  an  additional  item  not 
down  on  the  Mil. 


SCerchant-like. 

Some  years  ago,  the  extensive  mer- 
cantile house  of  S.,  B.  &  Co.,  of  Boston, 
found  it  necessary  to  suspend  payment 
of  their  debts,  and  to  close  up  the  busi- 
ness of  the  firm.  Their  creditors,  after 
an  examination  of  the  concerns  of  the 
firm,  agreed  to  receive  fifty  per  cent. 
of  the  amount  of  their  respective  de- 
mands, and  release  the  house  entirely 
from  their  obligations.  This  agree- 
ment was  entered  into  by  all  the  credi- 
tors, the  stipulated  percentage  was 
paid,  and  the  demands  cancelled. 
Subsequently  to  the  failure  of  the 
house,  one  of  the  partners  died.  The 
surviving  partner,  however,  proceeded 
with  undaunted  and  persevering  energy, 
to  wind  up  the  concerns  of  the  old  firm, 
and  to  commence  business  anew,  on  his 
own  account.  In  his  enterprise  he  was 
prospered,  and  he  then  made  a  new 
dividend  of  twenty-five  per  cent, 
among  all  his  creditors,  upon  the 
full  amount  of  their  cancelled  demands 
against  the  original  house,  paying  out 
to  them  the  aggregate  sum  of  forty 
thousand  dollars,  for  which  they  had 
no  legal  claim  upon  him  whatever. 
This  payment  was  entirely  voluntary 
on  his  part ;  and  it  was  made  not  only 
to  individual  creditors,  but  also  to  rich 
corporations,  by  whom  the  loss  would 
not  have  been  felt. 


Example  of  Spanish  Mercantile  Credit. 

There  is  no  public  credit  in  Spain, 
in  the  English  sense  of  that  term,  but 
there  is  real  credit,  for  in  Spain  man 
trusts  man.  A  great  traffic  was  carried 
on    through    the    Basque    provinces, 


during  the  Continental  blockade ;  no 
books  were  kept — the  recovery  of  debts 
by  any  legal  process  was  impossible — 
yet  the  traffic  was  distinguished  by  the 
most  perfect  confidence,  and  entire 
absence  of  failures  or  embezzlement. 
This  statement  was  confirmed  by  a 
gentleman  who  managed  the  largest 
English  concern  in  the  Basque  pro- 
vinces during  the  war.  He  had  no 
clerks.  The  goods  were  disembarked 
and  put  in  warehouses.  He  could 
keep  no  regular  accounts.  The  mule- 
teers came  themselves  to  get  the  bales, 
and  all  he  could  do  was  to  tell  them 
what  the  bales  contained,  and  to  receive 
their  own  note  of  what  they  had  taken 
in  an  amount  of  £300,000,  and  there 
was  but  one  parcel  missing.  Several 
years  afterward,  a  priest  brought  him 
fifty  dollars,  which  was  the  value  of 
the  missing  bale  of  goods,  saying, 
"  Take  that  and  ask  no  questions." 


Debtor's  Complaint  in  Court. 

In  an  action  of  debt,  tried  before 
Lord  Mansfield,  at  Guildhall,  the  de- 
fendant, a  merchant  of  London,  com- 
plained with  great  warmth  to  his  lord- 
ship of  the  great  indignity  which 
had  been  put  on  him  by  the  plaintiflf, 
in  causing  him  to  be  arrested,  not  only 
in  the  face  of  the  day,  but  in  the  Royal 
Exchange,  in  the  face  of  the  whole 
assembled  credit  of  the  metropolis. 
The  chief  justice  stopped  him  with 
great  composure,  saying,  "  Friend,  you 
forget  yourself;  you  were  the  defaulter 
in  refusing  to  pay  a  just  debt ;  and  let 
me  give  you  a  piece  of  advice  worth 
more  to  you  than  the  debt  and  costs : 
Be  careful  in  future  not  to  put  it  in 
any  man's  power  to  arrest  you  for  a 
just  debt  in  public  or  in  private." 


Profitable  and  Unprofitable  Bank- 
ruptcy. 

Soon  after  the  failure  of  C,  S.  &  Co., 

an  eminent  New  Orleans  house,  the  day 

arrived  on  which  it  was  to  be  declared 


424 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


how  much  they  would  pay  on  their 
$700,000  liability. 

"  They  will  pay  25  per  cent.,"  a  clerk 
was  heard  to  say. 

"  They  wiU  be  fooU  if  they  do,"  ex- 
claimed his  employer,  an  old  man  in 
gold  spectacles. 

"  I  suppose,  sir,"  he  added,  turning 
to  one  who  was  near  by,  "  that  you  will 
think  it  strange  that  I  should  say  so. 
But  they  had  better  stow  away  all  they 
can.    They  can  as  well  put  away  $200,- 

000  as  not,  and  the  world  wUl  think 
better  of  them  for  doing  it.  Their 
Tumesty  will  not  keep  them  from  being 
despised  if  they  are  poor.  Look  at  my 
own  case,"  he  continued ;  "  on  the  night 
of  the  great  fire  in  this  city,  I  was 
worth  $200,000.  The  next  morning 
the  contents  of  my  store,  worth  all  that, 
were  destroyed  and  only  $9,000  insured. 

1  gave  up  all  I  had  in  the  world  to  my 
creditors,  including  a  home  in  Warren 
street  worth  $30,000.  Not  a  cent  was 
reserved.  And  was  my  honesty  appre- 
ciated ?  Not  at  all.  My  poverty  ren- 
dered me  despised.  One  man  whom  I 
owed  $6,000,  which  I  paid,  principal 
and  interest,  called  me  a  '  poor  devil,' 
though  I  paid  him  one  hundred  cents 
for  a  dollar.  That  man,  rich  as  he  then 
was,  has  broken  to  pieces,  and  paid 
only  twelve  and  a-half  cents  on  a  dol- 
lar.   There's  my  friend ,  who  failed 

at  the  same  time  I  did,  and  saved  $150,- 
000  ;  and  there  is  neighbor ,  a  simi- 
lar case."  And  he  went  on  and  named 
some  half  a  dozen  wealthy  men,  who 
have  got  rich  by  bankruptcy  1 

Said  he,  "They  ride  in  their  car- 
riages, and  here  I  am  keeping  this 
little  shop." 

The  reply  was  made  to  him  that, 
"  to  be  in  his  shoes  was  much  better 
than  to  be  in  theirs,  for  conscious 
meanness  must  mar  all  their  pleasure." 

"  The  world  don't  agree  with  that," 
he  rejoined  bitterly.  Probably,  how- 
ever, in  his  calm  moments,  he  was  con- 
soled with  the  assurance  that  "  the  end 
of  the  upright  is  peace." 


Bonfire  of  Debtors'  Papers. 

It  was  a  custom  among  the  Jews,  as 
well  as  the  Christians,  to  deposit  the 
securities  on  which  they  had  lent  money 
in  some  public  building;  and  at  the 
general  massacre  of  the  Jews  at  York, 
in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Rich- 
ard the  First,  the  gentry  of  the  neigh- 
borhood, who  were  all  indebted  to  the 
Jews,  ran  to  the  cathedral,  the  place 
where  their  bonds  were  kept,  and  made 
a  solemn  bonfire  of  the  papers  before 
the  altar,  thus  destroying  the  evidence 
of  an  immense  amount  of  indebted- 
ness. 


Dunnp's  Distressing:  Failure. 

The  house  of  Mr.  Dunup  is  men- 
tioned as  among  those  which  have  sus- 
pended payment,  and  a  statement,  has 
been  made  of  its  liabilities,  which  are 
not  large,  though  rather  numerous. 
Mr.  Dunup's  paper  was  in  the  hand  of 
his  newsman,  by  whom  it  had  been 
held  as  security  for  a  debt,  ever  since 
it  came  into  his  hands,  for  binding. 
Mr.  Dunup's  largest  creditor — ^his  laun- 
dress— holds  security  in  the  shape  of 
two  shirts ;  but  the  realization  of  this 
security  cannot  be  efiectcd  in  the  pres- 
ent state  of  the  rag  market,  without  a 
sacrifice.  Mr.  Dunup's  credit  had  been 
a  good  deal  shaken  lately  by  his 
knocker,  which  had  been  going  inces- 
santly for  a  whole  fortnight.  A  credi- 
tor had  it  in  his  hands  when  the  sus- 
pension of  payment  was  announced — 
through  the  letter-box.  Mr.  Dunup 
assigns  "the  state  of  matters  in  the 
city  "  as  the  primary  cause  of  his  fail- 
ure, at  the  same  time  complaining  bit- 
terly of  the  general  want  of  confidence. 

He  had  announced  to  his  creditors  a 
hope  that  he  shall  soon  be  enabled  "  to 
resume ; "  but  they  say  they  "  hope  he 
will  not,"  and  ask  what  is  the  use  of 
his  "resuming,"  when  his  goings  on 
hitherto  have  never  resulted  in  any- 
thing but  predicament.    After  all,  Mr. 


^J: 


'%, 


BOXFIRK   OF   DEBTOPS"   PAPERS. 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICLA.L  ASPECTS. 


425 


Dunup's  aflfairs  will  be  easily  wound 
up,  for  his  watch  is  understood  to  be 
the  only  thing  he  has  got  remaining. 
But,  to  show  his  integrity  in  endeavor- 
ing to  meet  the  demands  upon  him,  it 
is  stated  that  soon  after  his  attempt  to 
raise  a  loan  at  the  bank,  he  retired  in 
some  disgust  to  his  private  banker — a 
pawnbroker — ^with  whom  he  invested 
his  coat,  and  thus  increased  his  stock 
of  bullion  to  the  extent  of  three  and 
ninepence. 

It  is  particularly  hard  upon  Mr.  Dun- 
up,  to  have  become  a  victim  to  the 
general  want  of  confidence,  when  he  on 
his  own  part  gave  an  extraordinary  in- 
stance of  confidence,  which  was  as 
universally  appreciated  as  it  became 
known : — ^that  is,  such  was  Mr.  D.'s 
confidence  in  his  own  banker,  that  he 
actually  overdrew  his  accoimt  by  two 
and  twenty  shillings,  as  a  delicate  inti- 
mation of  his  assurance  that  that  firm, 
notwithstanding  the  times,  had  a  sur- 
plus beyond  their  liabilities. 


Bankruptcy  of  a  Dealer  in  "Women's 
Slacks." 

"Women's  blacks"  is  the  term  for 
the  common  black  worsted  stockings, 
formerly  an  article  of  very  extensive 
consumption;  they  are  now  little 
made,  because  little  worn.  One  of  the 
greatest  wholesale  dealers  in  these 
"  women's  blacks,"  in  an  English  man- 
ufacturing town,  was  celebrated  for 
the  largeness  of  his  stock ;  his  means 
enabled  him  to  purchase  all  that  were 
ofiered  to  him  for  sale,  and  it  was  his 
favorite  article.  He  was  an  old-fash- 
ioned man,  and  while  the  servant  maids 
were  leaving  them  off,  he  was  imcon- 
scious  of  the  change,  because  he  could 
not  believe  it ;  he  insisted  that  it  was 
impossible  that  household  work  could 
be  done  in  "white  cottons,"  staking 
his  judgment  as  a  business  man  on  this 
assertion.  Offiers  of  quantities  were 
made  to  him  at  reduced  prices,  which 
he  bought ;  his  immense  capital  thus 


became  locked  up  in  his  favorite  "  wo- 
men's blacks ;  "  whenever  their  price 
in  the  market  lowered,  he  could  not 
make  his  mind  up  to  put  his  stock  low 
enough  to  invite  purchasers ;  his  ware- 
houses were  filled  with  them.  When, 
however,  he  at  last  determined  to  sell, 
the  demand  had  wholly  ceased;  he 
could  effect  no  sales ;  and,  becoming 
bankrupt,  he  literally  died  of  a  broken 
heart — all  from  an  extensive  and  un- 
requited attachment  to  "  women's 
blacks." 


Cool  Operation. 

LiTEEALLT,  One  of  the  coolest  opera- 
tions known  in  the  annals  of  trade, 
will  readily  be  accorded  to  that  which 
is  here  narrated.  New  England  is  said 
to  have  but  two  native  products,  gran- 
ite and  ice,  and  this  story  pertains  to 
the  latter.  A  gentleman  long  identified 
with  the  ice  trade,  after  some  twenty- 
five  years  of  successful  enterprise, 
thought  to  enlarge  his  sphere  of 
knowledge  and  action  by  entering 
into  some  other  branch  of  mercantile 
business.  He  soon  became  entangled, 
however,  by  his  relation  to  some  un- 
fortunate commercial  houses,  and 
found  himself  a  debtor  to  the  amount 
of  two  hundred  and  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars. This  must  have  given  him  more 
of  a  chill  than  his  ice-houses  ever  did. 
But  he  knew  that  faint  heart  never 
won  either  fair  lady  or  other  noble 
prize.  He  told  his  creditors,  therefore, 
that  if  they  would  give  him  time,  and 
not  hamper  him  at  all,  he  would  pay 
the  whole,  principal  and  interest.  For 
thirteen  years  he  labored  for  it,  and 
finally  one  day  made  the  closing  pay- 
ment on  two  hundred  and  ten  thousand 
dollars  principal,  and  seventy  thousand 
dollars  interest.  He  did  all  this  in  his 
old  and  original  business,  as  the  ice- 
king  of  the  globe.  He  sold  his  cargoes 
in  the  great  southern  ports  of  the  two 
hemispheres,  at  low  prices,  kept  rigid 
faith,  bought  largely  the  needed  store- 


426 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


houses  in  the  various  centres  of  the 
trade,  secured  the  lands  around  his 
ponds,  made  friends  everywhere,  and 
came  out  with  an  independent  fortune, 
and  free  from  debt.  Such  was  his  gen- 
erous policy  that  the  English  residents 
of  Calcutta  presented  him  with  a  fire- 
proof stone  storehouse,  as  a  token  of 
respect,  and  to  retain  him  in  that 
market. 


IjOuIs  the  Sixteenth  and  the  Saddler's 
BiU. 

A  French  bishop  owed  his  saddler 
ten  thousand  livres,  of  which  the  poor 
man  was  not  able  to  obtain  a  single 
sou  from  his  mitred  debtor;  but  was 
at  length  turned  out  of  the  palace  by 
his  servants,  when  he  went  to  ask  for 
the  debt.  The  saddler,  who  was  ruined 
for  want  of  his  money,  was  obliged  to 
leave  Paris,  in  order  to  avoid  a  jail ; 
but  previous  to  doing  this,  he  called 
on  a  relation  of  his,  who  was  the  king's 
valet-de-chambre,  to  take  his  leave  of 
him.  In  stating  his  distressed  situa- 
tion, he  spoke  so  loud  that  the  king, 
the  amiable  Louis  the  Sixteenth,  who 
was  in  an  adjoining  apartment,  called 
out  to  ask  the  cause.  The  valet  made 
the  best  apology  he  could,  at  the  same 
time  hinting  the  cause  of  his  friend's 
distress.  The  king  interrogated  the 
saddler,  and  immediately  paid  the  biU, 
taking  a  receipt  for  the  money. 

A  few  days  afterward,  the  bishop  ap- 
peared at  court.  "  I  come,  sire,"  he 
pompously  said,  "  to  pay  my  duty  to 
your  majesty."  "  There  is  another 
duty,"  said  the  king ;  "  you  must  first 
pay  the  duty  of  honesty."  Then  call- 
ing for  the  saddler's  receipt,  he  ordered 
him  to  send  the  money  within  two 
hours,  giving  him,  at  the  same  time,  a 
severe  reprimand  for  eluding  the  pay- 
ment of  his  traders'  bills. 


other  arguments  to  effect  his  purpose, 
naively  observed,  "  Such  was  the  im- 
portance and  excellence  of  the  institu- 
tion, that  no  man  could  possibly  be 
prevented  from  bestowing  liberally,  ac- 
cording to  his  ability,  but  by  some 
positive  distress  of  circumstances.  Who- 
ever, therefore,"  he  added,  "shrinks 
from  his  duty  on  this  occasion,  must 
be  inevitably  concluded  to  be  in  debt 
— and  therefore  very  excusable."  The 
result  showed  a  remarkable  degree  of 
solvency  on  the  part  of  the  worshippers 
in  that  congregation. 


"Delit"  and  the  Contribution  Box. 

A  MINISTER  in  Liverpool,  preaching 
a  sermon  in  aid  of  an  infirmary,  among 


Pailores  in  Business. 

The  statement  of  which  the  late 
General  Dearborn,  of  Massachusetts, 
was  the  author,  some  years  ago,  in  re- 
gard to  the  great  number  of  failures 
among  business  men,  has  had  a  world- 
wide circulation.  This  statement  was, 
that  after  a  most  extensive  acquaint- 
ance with  business  men,  and  having  long 
been  an  attentive  observer  of  the  course 
of  events  in  the  mercantile  community, 
he  was  satisfied  that,  among  one  Tiundred 
merchants  and  traders  in  Boston,  not 
more  than  three  ever  acquire  independ- 
ence! 

So  startling  a  statement  as  this  chal- 
lenged a  careful  investigation  by  several 
intelligent  gentlemen.  One  of  these, 
determined  to  sift  the  matter,  says  that 
he  called  upon  a  friend,  a  great  anti- 
quarian—one -always  referred  to  in 
whatever  concerns  the  city  of  Boston — 
who  told  him,  that,  in  1800,  he  took  a 
memorandum  of  every  person  doing 
business  there  on  Long  Wharf,  and 
that,  forty  years  after  (which  may  be 
said  to  be  as  long  as  a  merchant  con- 
tinues in  business),  only  five  in  one 
hundred  remained.  They  had  all,  in 
that  time,  failed  or  died  destitute  of 
property.  One  of  the  directors  of  the 
Union  Bank — a  very  strong  bank  to 
this  day — also  stated  that  the  bank 
commenced  business  in  1798 ;  that 
there  was  then  but  one  other  bank  in 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


427 


Boston,  the  Massachusetts  Bank,  and 
that  the  "  Union  "  was  so  overrun  with 
business  that  the  clerks  and  oflBce'rs 
were  obliged  to  work  until  twelve 
o'clock  at  night,  and  all  Sundays ;  that 
they  had  occasion  to  look  back,  a  year 
or  two  ago,  and  they  found  that,  of  the 
one  thousand  accounts  which  were  found 
to  have  been  opened  with  them  in 
starting,  only  six  remained ;  they  had, 
in  the  forty  years,  either  failed  or  died 
destitute  of  property.  Houses,  whose 
paper  had  passed  without  a  question, 
had  all  gone  down  in  that  time.  An- 
other informant,  who  had  occasion  to 
look  through  the  probate  office  a  few 
years  since,  was  surprised  to  find  that 
over  ninety  per  cent,  of  all  the  estates 
settled  there  were  insolvent.  . 

It  has  been  ascertained  that  not  more 
than  one  per  cent,  of  the  best  class  of 
merchants  escape  from  failing  in  Phila- 
delphia ;  and  that  not  more  than  two 
per  cent,  of  the  merchants  of  New  York 
ultimately  retire  on  an  independence, 
after  having  submitted  to  the  usual 
ordeal  of  failure.  These  calculations 
are  based  upon  periods  of  twenty-five 
and  thirty  years. 

In  Cincinnati,  out  of  a  list  of  some 
four  hundred  of  the  principal  business 
men  who  were  in  trade  in  that  city  at 
a  certain  period,  there  were  only  Jive 
in  business  at  the  end  of  twenty  years 
from  that  date.  Such  is  mercantile 
success. 


Orandest  Instanc«  of  Bebt. 

The  grandest  instance  of  growing 
debt  upon  record  is  that  of  the  king 
of  Leon,  mentioned  by  Mariana.  Fer- 
dinand Gonzalves  had  sold  this  prince 
a  falcon  upon  credit.  The  interest  was 
high,  and  it  compounded  itself  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years  into  a  sum  so 
enormous  that  the  king  was  forced  to 
make  over  to  Gonzalves  his  rights  on 
the  kingdom  of  Castile  to  be  quit  of 
the  liability. 


Quaker's  Reply  to  Pordyce  the 

Bankrupt  Banker. 
When  the  great  banker,  Fordyce,  be- 
came bankrupt,  or  nearly  so,  through 
his  speculations,  his  efforts  to  "raise 
the  wind  "  were  earnest  and  incessant. 
Among  those  to  whom  Mr.  Fordyce 
went  was  a  shrewd  Quaker.  "  Friend 
Fordyce,"  was  the  reply  of  the  latter, 
"  I  have  known  many  men  ruined  by 
two  dice,  but  I  will  not  be  ruined  even 
by  Four-dice  I " 


Oeneral  Jackson's  Endorsement  ajnong: 
Boston  Capitalists. 

Some  twenty-five  years  ago,  a  mer- 
chant in  Tennessee  became  involved 
and  wanted  money ;  he  had  property, 
and  owed  debts.  His  property,  how- 
ever, could  not  be  made  available  just 
then,  and  off  he  posted  to  Boston, 
backed  by  the  names  of  several  of  the 
most  solid  men  of  Tennessee.  Money 
was  then  everywhere  "  tight,"  and  Bos- 
ton capitalists  looked  closely  at  the 
names. 

"  Very  good,"  said  they,  "  but — but 
do  you  know  General  Jackson  ?  " 

"  Certainly." 

*'  Could  you  get  his  endorsement  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  but  he  is  not  worth  one  tenth 
as  much  as  either  of  these  men  whose 
names  I  offer  you." 

"No  matter;  General  Jackson  has 
always  protected  himself  and  his  paper, 
and  we'll  let  you  have  the  money  on 
the  strength  of  his  name." 

In  a  few  days  the  papers  with  his 
signature  arrived.  The  moment  those 
Boston  bankers  saw  the  tall  A.  and 
long  J.  of  Andrew  Jackson's  signature, 
the  Tennesseean  debtor  found  he  could 
have  raised  a  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars upon  it  without  the  slightest  diffi- 
culty. 

Ije^al  Eccentricities  of  Commerce. 

Some  of  the  peculiarities  of  English 
trade,  in  former  times,  are  illustrated 


428 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


by  the  fact  that  the  granting  of  monop- 
olies, or  the  legal  protection  aflforded 
to  exclusive  companies,  once  obtained 
an  enormous  height.  Thus,  the  town 
of  Bridgeport,  noted  then  for  its  rope- 
making  establishments,  obtained  the 
passage  of  a  law,  which  prohibited  the 
mystery  of  rope-making  in  its  vicinity 
to  any  save  the  townsmen.  The  city 
of  York  was  favored  with  a  similar 
monopoly  in  the  article  of  bed  cover- 
lets. The  city  of  London  procured 
many  similar  enactments  against  the 
resident  foreigners.  The  Fishmongers' 
Company,  one  of  the  most  influential  in 
that  city,  was  protected  by  a  law  which 
obliged  all  the  queen's  subjects  to  eat 
fish  twice  a  week  for  the  benefit  of  the 
fishers.  The  Capmakers'  Company, 
too,  procured  an  ordinance,  under 
which  every  one,  save  ladies,  knights, 
and  noblemen,  were  obliged  to  wear 
woollen  caps.  These,  and  many  simi- 
lar arbitrary  interferences  with  private 
right,  and  the  ordinary  course  of  trade 
— laws  against  crowding  the  city — laws 
specifying  the  quantity  of  land  to  be 
used  for  pasture — laws  regulating  dress, 
etc.,— all  these  constitute  what  may  be 
called  the  legal  eccentricities  of  com- 
merce. 


Addison's  Loan  of  Five  Hundred 
Poixnds  to  Stanyan. 

Addison  and  Mr.  Temple  Stanyan 
were  very  intimate.  In  the  familiar 
conversations  which  passed  between 
them  they  were  accustomed  freely  to 
dispute  each  other's  opinions.  Upon 
some  occasion,  Mr.  Addison  lent  Mr. 
Stanyan  the  sum  of  five  hundred  pounds. 
After  this,  Mr.  S.  behaved  with  a 
timid  reserve,  deference,  and  respect ; 
not  conversing  with  the  same  freedom 
as  formerly,  or 'canvassing  his  friend's 
sentiments.  This  gave  great  uneasi- 
ness to  Mr.  Addison.  One  day  they 
happened  to  fall  upon  a  subject  on 
which  Mr,  Stanyan  had  always  been 
used  strenuously  to  oppose  his  opin- 
ion.   But  even  upon  this  occasion  he 


gave  way  to  what  his  friend  advanced, 

without  interposing  his  own  view  of 

the  matter.    This  hurt  Mr.  Addison  so 

much,  that   he  said  to  Mr.  Stanyan: 

"  Either  contradict  me,  or  pay  me  the 

money." 

» 

Borrowing:  of  Bich  Belatives. 

Money  may  sometimes  be  borrowed. 
This  is  very  innocent;  but  they  are 
doubly  innocent  who  make  advances, 
and,  besides,  the  lenders  are  a  very 
small  body — so  small,  indeed,  that 
"  one  trial  will  prove  the  fact,"  as  the 
patent  medicine  venders  phrase  it. 
Among  relatives,  especially,  one  will 
find  a  great  difficulty  in  obtaining  or 
extracting  the  "  needful ;  "  they  are 
generally  nervously  tenacious  of  being 
cozened.  Therefore,  "try  it  on"  with 
strangers ;  for,  it  frequently  does  hap- 
pen, the  less  you  are  known  the  better  1 

A  poor  cousin  of  a  very  opulent  mer- 
chant stood  cooling  his  heels  in  the 
outer  office  for  two  long  hours,  when 
at  length  he  was  admitted.  His  dis- 
tress, by  the  way,  was  genuine. 

"  Well,  sir,  what  is  it  ? "  said  the  rich 
man  fiercely. 

"I  am  sorry  to  intrude  upon  you, 
sir.    I  am  really  in  great  difficulty." 

"No  long  stories.  What  do  you 
want?  Come  to  the  point,"  and  he 
impatiently  drew  out  his  gold  chro- 
nometer. 

"  A  fortnight's  rent  is  unpaid — my 
wife  is  ill,  very  ill — and  they  threaten 
to  turn  us  into  the  street." 

"  Well  ?  " 

"  A  trifle,  sir,  would —  " 

"  Pshaw  !  I've  nothing  to  give :  I 
have  too  many  claims  upon  me  al- 
ready. I  beg  you  will  not  trouble 
yourself  to  call  here  again.  I  hate  poor 
people.  Work,  sir,  work.  I  cannot 
waste  more  time.  I  am  going  to 
'  Change.^'' 

"  The  sooner  the  better,"  replied  the 
applicant;  and,  casting  a  withering 
look  of  indignation  at  his  opulent  cou- 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


429 


sin,  he  was  soon  in  the  street.  He  was 
a  wit — as  usual,  however,  a  poor  wit. 
His  cousin  was  a  fool,  but — a  rich 
fool. 

Sometinaes  a  little  may  be  done  in 
tiie  way  of  borrowing,  by  "  I.  O.  U.'s," 
and  notes  of  hand,  but  the  worst  of  it 
is,  that  the  debts  one  contracts  in  this 
way  render  him  liable,  and  creditors 
will  put  him  in  that  awkward  position 
which,  at  one  tap,  makes  a  man  and  his 
circumstances  on  a  par— being  both 
confined. 


No  Trust  for  Kercliants  in  Szoall- 
clothes. 

Mr.  Elias  Hasket  Derby,  an  old- 
school  merchant  of  Salem,  Massachu- 
setts, was  once  cheated  by  a  merchant 
to  whom  he  had  sold  some  merchandise 
under  circumstances  that  should  have 
ensured  a  better  return  on  the  part  of 
the  customer.  When  the  loss  was  as- 
certained, he  called  his  clerks  around 
him,  and  charged  them  not  to  trust  a 
man  again  who  wore  nankeen  small- 
clothes in  mid-winter,  "  for  if  he  cheats 
himself,  you  may  expect  he  will,  cheat 
you."  A  few  weeks  afterward,  one  of 
the  first  merchants  of  Boston  drove 
down  to  Salem,  while  Mr.  Derby  was 
absent,  to  buy  an  invoice  of  goods ;  but 
the  clerks  observing  his  dress,  and  tak- 
ing Mr.  Derby  at  his  word,  refused  to 
trust  him  a  single  dollar,  and  he  re- 
turned without  his  merchandise.  His 
anger  was  appeased  when  he  discovered 
what  part  of  his  costume  had  destroyed 
his  credit. 


Forttmate  Debtor— Washington  as  a 
Creditor. 

One  Reuben  Rouzy,  of  Virginia,  owed 
General  Washington  about  one  thou- 
sand pounds. 

While  President  of  the  United  States, 
one  of  his  agents  brought  an  action  for 
the  money;  judgment  was  obtained, 
and  execution  issued  against  the  body 
of  the  defendant,  who  was  taken  to 
jaiL    He  had  a  considerable  landed 


estate,  but  this  kind  of  property  cannot 
be  sold  in  Virginia  for  debts,  unless  at 
the  discretion  of  the  person.  He  had 
a  large  family,  and  for  the  sake  of  his 
children  preferred  lying  in  jail  to  sell- 
ing his  land.  A  friend  hinted  to  him 
that  probably  General  Washington  did 
not  know  anything  of  the  proceeding, 
and  that  it  might  be  well  to  send  him 
a  petition,  with  a  statement  of  the  cir- 
cumstances. He  did  so,  and  the  very 
next  post  from  Philadelphia,  after  the 
arrival  of  his  petition  in  that  city, 
brought  him  an  order  for  his  immediate 
release,  and  a  severe  reprimand  to  the 
agent  for  having  acted  in  such  a  man- 
ner. 

Poor  Rouzy  was,  in  consequence,  re- 
stored to  his  family,  who  never  laid 
down  their  heads  at  night  without  a 
prayer  for  their  "  beloved  Washington." 

The  labors  of  the  grateful  family 
prospered,  and  in  a  few  years  Rouzy 
enjoyed  the  exquisite  pleasure  of  ten- 
dering to  his  gracious  benefactor  the 
one  thousand  pounds  with  interest. 
Washington  reminded  him  that  the 
debt  was  discharged ;  Rouzy  replied 
that  the  debt  of  his  family  to  the  father 
of  their  country  and  preserver  of  their 
parent  could  never  be  discharged ;  and 
the  general,  to  avoid  the  pressing  im- 
portimity  of  the  grateful  Virginian, 
who  would  not  be  denied,  accepted 
the  money — only,  however,  with  the 
secret  intention  to  divide  it  among 
Rouzy's  children,  which  he  immediately 
did. 


Indian's  Idea  of  Imprisonment  for 
Debt. 

The  reply  of  the  Oneida  Indian  to  a 
person  who  was  showing  him  a  trader 
in  prison  for  debt  in  a  county  jail,  is 
perhaps  more  to  the  point  than  the 
most  learned  essays  on  the  subject  it 
involves.  "  What  had  him  to  do  ? " 
asked  the  Indian.  "  He  couldn't  pay 
his  skins,"  said  the  other,  alluding  to 
the  Indian's  currency,  at  that  time,  of 
Airs.    ^^Ee  catch  no  skin  locked  up  in 


430 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


house,^^  was  the  ready  and  unanswer- 
able reply  of  the  Indian  "  savage."  It 
is  stated  that  Whittier  based  his  well- 
known  production,  "  Prisoner  for  Debt," 
upon  the  fact  that  a  man  who  had 
fought  in  four  battles  of  the  Revolution 
was  in  confinement  within  plain  sight 
of  Bunker  Hill  battle  ground,  on  a 
fourth  of  July,  for  a  debt  of  fourteen 
dollars ! 


"  Gave  his  Note." 

A  GENTLEMAN  was  about  entering  a 
drygoods  shop  on  Broadway,  when  a 
young  buck,  with  a  large  moustache 
and  small  income,  but  bom  like  JaflBer 
with  "  elegant  desires,"  drove  up  a  pair 
of  spanking  bays,  glittering  with  their 

splendid  caparison.   "  Ah,  G ,"  said 

he,  "  how  de  do  ?  How  d'you  like  me 
ho'ses  ?  Fine  animals,  but  very  costly. 
What  d'you  think  I  gave  for  the  pair  ? " 
"  I  guess  you  gave  your  note,''''  said  G. 
*'  Good  mawning  1 "  responded  the 
blood,  putting  the  mettle  of  his  "  ho'ses  " 
to  the  test ;  "  good  mawning ! " 


CKving:  Credit  To-Morrow. 

A  COMMON  inscription  in  front  of  the 

Neapolitan  wine  and  maccaroni  houses 

is :  "  Domani  si  fa  credenza  ma  aggi 

no  " — or,  "  To-morrow  we  give  credit,  hit 

not  to-dayy 

« 

Frodsham's  Watch  Cheat. 

Mr.  Gant,  a  celebrated  London 
watchmaker,  had  long  manufactured 
watches  for  the  markets  of  Constan- 
tinople and  other  places  in  the  Levant ; 
and  his  watches  had  acquired  great 
repute  there,  and  a  ready  sale.  They 
were  distinguished  from  all  others,  not 
only  by  the  names,  but  also  by  the 
word  cesendede  (warranted)  impressed 
upon  each  in  Turkish  characters.  It 
appeared  that,  at  the  same  time,  Messrs. 
Parkinson  &  Frodsham  had  manu- 
factured and  were  exporting,  together 


with  two  other  persons,  who  gave  them 
the  order,  a  number  of  watches  with 
that  distinguishing  word  upon  them, 
and  made,  also,  in  other  respects,  to 
resemble  and  pass  for  Mr,  G.'s  watches. 
Messrs.  P.  &  F.  essayed  to  excuse  them- 
selves by  showing  that  they  were  not 
aware  that  they  had  been  counterfeit- 
ing Mr.  G.'s  watches;  that  they  had 
been  ordered  to  make  a  quantity  of 
watches  for  export,  and  to  express  on 
them  the  Turkish  characters  in  ques- 
tion. They,  however,  argued  that  there 
was  no  law  to  prevent  them  from  aflSx- 
ing  the  word  "  warranted,"  in  Turkish, 
to  their  own  watches,  or  limit  the  ex- 
clusive use  of  it  to  Mr.  Gant.  It  was 
decided,  on  a  suit  being  brought  in  the 
case,  that  Mr.  G.  having  long  used  a 
Turkish  word,  in  Turkish  characters, 
engraved  upon  the  watches  made  by 
him  for  the  foreign  market,  where  they 
were  in  high  estimation  and  enjoyed 
great  sale,  had  an  exclusive  right  to  the 
distinguishing  marks  which  he  had 
thus  originated. 


Found  Goods. 

It  was  one  of  the  laws  of  Stagira, 
that "  no  one  shall  take  up  what  he 
never  laid  down."  Biblius  used  to  say : 
"  It  was  a  kind  of  blossom  of  injustice 
to  seize  upon  what  was  so  found ; "  and 
in  the  practice  of  his  life,  never  was  a 
man  more  scrupulously  observant  in 
this  respect. 


Narrow  Escape  from  Bankruptcy. 

Some  years  ago,  a  New  York  mer- 
chant had  in  his  employment  a  young 
man  who  robbed  him  of  several  thou- 
sand dollars.  It  being  impossible  to 
recover  the  money,  he  was  allowed  to 
go  unpunished  upon  his  promise  to  re- 
turn the  amount  stolen  if  ever  he  should 
be  able  to  do  so.  He  was  not  heard 
of  until  a  long  time  had  elapsed,  when 
a  stranger  entered  the  counting  house 
of  his  former  employer. 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


431 


"  You  do  not  remember  me,"  said  the 
stranger. 

"  No,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Did  you  not  once  have  in  your  em- 
ploy a  young  man  by  the  name  of 
Thomas  ? " 

"  Yes." 

"  What  became  of  him  ? "  . 

"  He  left  me  about  ten  years  ago,  and 
I  have  never  heard  from  him  since." 

"  Why  did  he  leave  you  ? " 

"No  matter.  It  was  a  long  time 
ago." 

"  Was  he  an  honest  youth  ?  " 

"  I  think  he  was  naturally,  but  he 
got  into  bad  company,  who  misled 
him." 

"  Had  you  confidence  in  him  ?  " 

"  The  most  implicit ;  and  I  cannot, 
somehow,  help  having  confidence  in 
him  still,  and  believe  he  will  one  day 
return  and  pay  the  money  he  owes  me." 

*'  Here  it  is,  principal  and  interest, 
every  cent  of  it,  in  current  money ;  I 
have  come  on  purpose  to  pay  it ;  and 
implore  your  forgiveness  for  an  early 
crime." 

"  Who  are  you  ? "  said  the  merchant. 

"  Thomas  " — he  replied — "  who  rob- 
bed you  so  many  years  ago,  and  who 
has  been  fortunate  enough,  in  his  traffic 
abroad,  to  honestly  obtain  the  means  of 
returning  to  you  the  sum  he  had  frau- 
dulently abstracted  from  you." 

This  case  derives  additional  interest 
from  the  circumstance  that,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  receipt  of  this  money,  the 
merchant,  who  was  on  the  eve  of  bank- 
ruptcy, must  have  failed  in  the  course 
of  a  few  weeks. 


Colleotine:  a  Draft. 

Grant  Thorburn,  in  his  "  Life  and 
Times,"  records  the  following  incident 
in  his  business  career — an  incident,  by 
the  way,  very  characteristic  of  that  sui 
generis  type  of  the  old-fashioned  trader : 

"  In  April  last,"  says  Mr.  Thorbum, 
"  we  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  C,  or- 
dering  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 


dollars'  worth  of  seeds  and  trees,  and 
stating  that  B.  &  Co.  would  pay  our 
bill.    Before  complying  with  the  order, 
we  showed  the  letter  to  B.  &  Co. ;  they 
stated,  that  had  the  amount  not  exceed- 
ed one  hundred  dollars,  they  would 
have  paid  it,  but  being  already  consid- 
erably in  advance,  they  were  not  in- 
clined to  go  further,  but  added,  they 
considered    him   a   good    man,    and 
thought  we  should  be  safe  in  trusting 
him  that  amount.    My  son  being  anx- 
ious to  fill  the  order,  I  consented — the 
goods  and  invoice  were  forwarded,  but 
receiving  no  answer  for  some  six  weeks 
thereafter,  we  wrote  to  him  again,  re- 
questing him  to  send  us  a  draft  on  P. 
W.  &  Co. ;  still  no  answer  came.     One 
day,  during  the  cholera,  about  the  be- 
ginning of  September,  I  picked  up  a 
piece  of  paper  from  the  floor,  which, 
from  some  words  on  it,  brought  the 
matter  to  my  mind,  and  I  then  told 
my  son  I  was  anxious  about  the  aflEair 
with  C,  and  was  resolved  to  stir  in  the 
business;    he,    however,    thought    we 
would  better  let  it  rest  till  after  the 
cholera,  as    it  was  probable    Mr.    C. 
might  be  out  of  town,  etc.    But  the 
thing  kept  harassing  my  mind,  so  I 
determined  to  see  the  Messrs.  B.,  and 
consult    with    them    before    the    day 
closed.    I  called  at  their  office  about 
fifteen  minutes   past  four,  presuming 
they  would  have  returned  from  dinner ; 
I  waited  some  time,  and  they  not  re- 
turning, I  went  home,  drank  my  tea, 
and  resolved  to  call  again,  if  spared, 
next  morning.    But  something  in  my 
mind  kept  prompting  me  on ;  so  hav- 
ing finished  tea,  I  returned  to  the  office, 
and  found  Mr.  B.  alone,  showed  him 
Mr.  C.'s  letter,  and  asked  his  advice. 
He  advised  me  to  draw  on  C.  at  ten 
days'  sight,  in  favor  of  R.  C,  to  give 
the  draft  to  him  (Mr.  B.),  and  he  would 
give  it  to  C.  to  forward.    I  came  home, 
told  my  son,  bid  him  take  his  tea,  and 
draw  the  drafts  as  soon  as  he  went 
back  ;  he  smiled,  and  said  he  could  not 
see  what  made  me  so  pushing  in  this 


432 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


business  all  at  once.  Says  I :  '  I  can't 
either;  but  something  hurries  me  on, 
so  that  I  can't  rest  satisfied  tUl  I  push 
it  as  fast  as  I  can.'  The  draft  was 
drawn  that  night.  Next  morning  I 
gave  it  to  B.,  with  an  earnest  request 
that  he  would  give  it  to  Mr.  C.  to  for- 
ward by  that  day's  mail.  About  a 
month  after,  Mr.  B.  came  into  our  store, 
and  told  us  a  long  story  about  the 
failure  of  our  debtor,  and  how  much 
had  been  lost  by  him,  but  added,  *  Tour 
draft  is  paid,  and  paid  too  the  very  day 
before  he  failed.'  Next  day,  another 
stepped  in  and  told  us  the  same  story, 
remarking:  'You  are  a  lucky  fellow, 
Thorburn,  for  had  not  the  draft  gone 
on  that  very  day,  I  don't  think  you 
would  have  got  a  cent.' " 


Talleyrand's  Promise  to  Pay. 

One  of  the  many  creditors  to  whom 
the  great  Talleyrand  was  indebted  in 
such  heavy  sums,  waited  on  him  as  he 
was  setting  off  on  one  of  his  last  jour- 
neys— not  to  take  so  vulgar  a  liberty 
as  to  ask  for  the  money  which  had  so 
long  been  his  due,  but  merely  to  ascer- 
tain any  time,  however  remote,  when 
he  might  presume  to  ask  for  a  part  of 
it.  The  diplomatist's  only  reply  to  the 
inquisitive  intruder  was:  "Monsieur, 
vous  fetes  bien  curieux ; "  and  no  one 
but  the  diplomatist  could  have  made 
such  a  reply. 


Tazingr  Bills  and  Beceipts. 

The  great  art  of  taxation  is  to  get  as 
much  as  is  possible,  and  to  lay  duties 
on  those  articles  which  are  likely  to 
bring  in  the  largest  product.  The 
English  stamp  on  receipts  is  all  well 
enough,  but  Punch  declares  that  a 
stamp  on  NUs  would  be  much  better — 
for  it  has  been  ascertained  that  receipts 
are  rare  in  proportion  to  bills,  there 
being,  at  the  lowest  computation,  at 
least  a  thousand  of  the  latter  to  one  of 
the  former.    If  it  were  compulsory  on 


every  tradesman  to  send  in  his  bill  to 
his  debtor  upon  a  stamp,  a  much  larger 
revenue  would  be  the  result.  Let  any 
one  look  through  his  private  papers, 
and  he  will  find  the  preponderance  of 
bills  over  receipts  to  be  very  consider- 
able ;  and  when  it  is  remembered  how 
very  large  a  class  are  never  in  the  habit 
of  seeing  a  receipt  at  aU,  it  seems  a 
piece  of  gross  partiality  to  let  the  bur- 
den fall  on  the  paying  part  of  the  pub- 
lic, while  the  dishonest  man  who  never 
settles  an  account — and  never  therefore 
gives  occasion  for  a  receipt — contrib- 
utes nothing  to  the  public  income.  So- 
ciety in  general  would  also  benefit  by 
the  proposed  change,  for  tradesmen 
would  not  be  so  pertinacious  in  sending 
in  their  accounts  where  there  is  no 
chance  of  getting  the  money,  if  a  proper 
check  in  the  shape  of  a  stamp  were  to 
be  put  upon  the  very  obnoxious  prac- 
tice. 


Oetting  an  Injunction  Dissolved. 

Jacob  Babeer  is  a  man  who  is  al- 
ways "  up  to  time."  On  a  certain  oc- . 
casion,  when  his  bank  was  unable  to 
meet  punctually  its  engagements,  a  bill 
in  chancery  was  filed,  enjoining  all  his 
proceedings,  of  which  proceeding  he 
got  notice  at  two  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. His  impetuosity  would  not  al- 
low him  to  wait  to  receive  a  copy  of  the 
said  bill  from  the  officers  of  the  court 
— in  place  of  which,  at  his  request,  his 
solicitor  borrowed  the  original  bill. 
Mr.  Barker  took  this  home  with  him 
to  his  country  seat,  and,  aft«r  having 
his  dinner,  segar,  and  accustomed  nap, 
he  drafted  an  answer,  reviewing  all  his 
business  transactions,  ships,  houses, 
stocks,  merchandise,  etc.,  and  took  it 
back  to  the  city  at  daylight  the  follow- 
ing morning,  returned  the  original  to 
the  clerk  of  the  court,  and  placed  his 
draft  in  the  hands  of  the  said  solicitor, 
to  be  thrown  into  form  and  filed,  which 
was  done,  the  document  comprising 
eighty  folio  pages.    This  answer  under- 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICLiL  ASPECTS. 


433 


went  a  most  searching  investigation, 
was  sustained  in  every  particular,  and 
the  injunction  dissolved. 


Notes  with  and  without  Security. 

Not  "long,  long  ago,"  but  during 
pretty  tight  times,  there  lived  in  one 
of  the  small  river  towns  of  Tennessee, 
more  noted  for  its  bad  whiskey  than 
its  good  morals,  a  "  Creole  of  Jerusa- 
lem." He  retailed  goods  to  country 
customers.  A  bad  paymaster  had  owed 
said  Creole  for  some  years,  and  he  de- 
spaired of  ever  collecting  it,  although 
the  debtor  was  profuse  in  his  promises 
to  pay.  The  chap  owned  some  little 
property,  about  enough  to  satisfy  half 
the  debt.  The  Jew  called  on  him  one 
day,  and  made  the  following  proposi- 
tion : 

"  Do  you  give  me  your  note  for  half 
the  amount,  and  interest,  with  some  of 
your  friends  as  security — it  is  a  mere 
form,  you  know."  "  Yes."  "  Then 
give  me  your  note  for  the  other  half, 
and  interest  at  twelve  months,  without 
security.  I  know  you  will  pay  it,  but 
I  want  to  get  all  my  little  matters  in 
right  shape."    Agreed  to. 

As  soon  as  the  Jew  obtained  the 
note  with  security  he  put  it  in  suit,  and 
obtained  judgment  on  it.  The  note 
for  the  other  half  he  nailed  the  custom- 
er's property  with,  and  thus  obtained 
the  whole  debt, — one  of  those  pretty 
little  operations  in  which  the  Israelite 
always  bears  oflf  the  palm. 


Celebrated  Lawsuit  amone  Bival 
Crafts. 

An  amusing  but  yet  important  case 
was  tried  in  the  highest  court  of  French 
judicature,  at  the  time  when  the  rage 
for  elaborate  hair  dressing  was  so  great 
in  that  nation.  The  case  was  the  uni- 
versal topic  of  conversation ;  and  the 
published  proceedings  were  bought 
with  great  avidity,  being  found  on  the 
merchant's  counting-house  table,  and 
38 


on  the  brilliant  toilettes  of  high-bom 
ladies  as  well.  The  cause  was  that 
of  "  the  coiffeurs  de  dames  of  Paris, 
against  the  corporation  of  master  bar- 
bers, hair  dressers,  and  bagnio  keepers." 
The  latter  generally  dressed  the  ladies' 
hair  after  bathing. 

Those  hair  dressers,  who  presumed 
to  dress  both  sexes,  in  this  case,  main- 
tained that  it  was  their  exclusive  priv- 
ilege to  dress  the  ladies ;  and,  indeed, 
they  had  several  of  their  adversaries 
imprisoned  or  fined.  These,  in  their 
turn,  defended  themselves,  and  claimed 
that  the  exclusive  privilege  was  in  their 
favor — because,  first,  the  art  of  dressing 
ladies'  hair  was  a  liberal  art,  and  for- 
eign to  the  profession  of  the  maitres 
perruquiers  ;  secondly,  that  the  statute 
of  the  perruquiers  gave  them  no  such 
pretended  exclusive  right ;  and  thirdly, 
that  they  had  hitherto  oppressed  them, 
and  were  therefore  indebted  to  them 
in  considerable  damages  and  interests. 

That  the  case  was  conducted  with 
art  and  elegance  caimot  be  disputed. 
In  his  first  division,  the  orator,  who 
made  his  clients  speak  in  their  own 
persons,  maintained  that  the  art  of 
dressing  the  ladies'  hair  was  one  of  the 
liberal,  aesthetic,  or  fine  arts — comparing 
it  to  those  of  the  poet,  the  painter,  and 
the  sculptor : 

"  By  those  talents,"  say  they,  "  which 
are  peculiar  to  ourselves,  we  give  new 
graces  to  the  beauty  who  is  sung  by 
the  poet ;  it  is  when  she  comes  from 
under  our  hands  that  the  painting  and 
the  statuary  then  really  represent  her ; 
and  if  the  locks  of  Berenice  have  been 
placed  among  the  stars,  who  will  deny 
that,  to  attain  this  superior  glory,  she 
was  first  in  want  of  our  aid  ?  " 

"A  forehead  more  or  less  open,  a 
face  more  or  less  oval,  require  very 
different  modes ;  everywhere  we  must 
embellish  Nature,  or  correct  its  de- 
ficiencies. It  is  also  necessary  to  con- 
ciliate with  the  color  of  the  flesh,  that 
of  the  dress  which  is  to  beautify  it. 
This  is  the  art  of  the  painter ;  we  must 


434 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


seize  -with  taste  the  variegated  shades ; 
we  must  employ  the  chiar'  oscuro,  and 
the  distribution  of  the  shadows  to  give 
more  spirit  to  the  complexion,  and 
more  expression  to  the  graces.  Some- 
times the  whiteness  of  the  skin  will 
be  heightened  by  the  auburn  tint  of 
the  locks,  and  the  too  lively  splendor 
of  the  fair  will  be  softened  by  the 
grayish  cast  with  which  we  tinge  the 
tresses." 

In  another  place,  to  prove  that  their 
art  has  claims  to  genius,  the  coiflFeurs 
de  dames  add : 

"  If  the  arrangement  of  the  hair,  and 
the  various  colors  we  give  the  locks,  do 
not  answer  our  intention,  we  have  un- 
der our  hands  the  brilliant  treasures  of 
Golconda.  To  us  belongs  the  happy 
disposition  of  the  diamonds,  the  placing 
the  pearl  pins,  and  the  suspending  of 
the  feathers.  The  general  of  an  army 
knows  what  reliance  he  can  make  on  a 
'  half  moon '  (a  term  of  the  then  fash- 
ionable dress)  placed  in  front — he  has 
engineers,  who  are  distinguished  by 
their  titles  ;  and  we,  with  a  sparkling 
cross  advantageously  placed,  know 
how  difficult  it  is  for  an  enemy  not  to 
yield.  It  is  we,  indeed,  who  strengthen 
and  extend  the  statelier  and  eternal 
empire  of — beauty."  And  then  fol- 
lows the  felicitous  peroration : 

"  Some  rigid  censurers  will  perhaps 
say,  that  they  could  very  well  do  witTi- 
out  us,  and  that,  if  there  were  less  art 
and  ornaments  at  the  toilettes  of  the 
ladies,  things  would  be  all  for  the  bet- 
ter. It  is  not  for  us  to  judge,  if  the 
manners  of  Sparta  were  preferable .  to 
those  of  Athens ;  and  if  the  shepherdess 
who  gazes  on  herself  in  the  glassy  foun- 
tain, interweaves  some  flowers  in  her 
tresses,  and  adorns  herself  with  natural 
graces,  merits  a  greater  homage  than 
those  brilliant  citizens,  who  skilfully 
employ  the  refinements  of  a  fashionable 
dress.  We  must  take  the  age  in  the 
state  we  find  it.  We  feel  a  congenial 
disposition  to  the  living  manners  to 
which  we  owe  our  existence,  and  while 


they  subsist,  we  must  subsist  with 
them." 

The  coiffeurs  gained  their  cause 
against  the  perruquiers.  The  trial  was 
crowded  throughout,  not  only  by  rep- 
resentatives of  the  two  trades  enlisted 
in  the  question  at  issue,  but  by  a  most 
brilliant  assemblage  of  wealth  and  fash- 
ion ;  and  when  the  grave  decision  of 
the  court  was  finally  made,  it  was  ap- 
proved by  rapturous  applause. 

This  is  decidedly  one  of  the  richest 
cases  of  litigation  between  two  oppos- 
ing trades  anywhere  to  be  found. 


Treatment  of  Insolvents  by  the  Bank 
of  England. 

As  soon  as  an  English  house  has 
failed,  the  Bank  of  England  picks  out 
the  bills  accepted  by  that  firm,  and  re- 
turning them  to  the  house  from  whom 
it  has  received  them,  demands  instanter 
the  amount  less  the  discount  for  the 
time  they  have  to  run.  As  the  law 
does  not  recognize  this  proceeding,  nor 
furnish  any  means  for  compelling  ac- 
quiescence in  the  demand,  it  is  quite 
optional  with  the  indorser  to  comply 
with  it  or  not ;  but  if  he  does  not  com- 
ply, or  makes  even  a  momentary  hesi- 
tation in  handing  bank  notes  for  the 
undue  bills  bearing  his  indorsement, 
his  credit  with  the  bank  is  ended,  his 
discount  account  closed,  and  the  best 
and  easiest  source  of  obtaining  accom- 
modation cut  off.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, the  xmfortunate  merchant  will 
make  strenuous  exertions  to  uphold  his 
standing  in  such  an  important  quarter. 


Bare  Magnanimity  of  a  French 
Creditor. 

A  KiCH  French  merchant,  doing  busi- 
ness in  Lyons,  wishing  to  befriend  a 
manufacturer  in  that  city,  advanced 
him  fifty  thousand  livres  for  goods 
which  he  was  to  furnish.  The  manu- 
facturer, soon  afterward  finding  that  so 
far  from  being  able  to  fulfil  his  engage- 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


435 


ment,  he  was  in  danger  of  bankruptcy, 
repaired  immediately  to  the  merchant, 
and  acquainting  him  with  the  critical 
situation  of  his  aflFairs,  returned  the 
whole  sum  he  had  received  in  advance. 
"  No,"  said  the  magnanimous  merchant, 
"  you  have  made  me  your  confidant, 
but  I  should  consider  myself  as  an  ac- 
complice in  your  bankruptcy,  if  I  were 
to  receive  this  money  without  the 
knowledge  of  your  other  creditors; 
therefore  take  it  back — forget  that  you 
are  my  debtor,  and,  if  possible,  pre- 
serve your  honor  and  credit.  But  if, 
notwithstanding  this,  you  are  under 
the  necessity  of  giving  up  your  effects, 
enter  me  among  the  rest  of  your  credit- 
ors, and  let  me  be  paid  in  proportion 
to  the  dividends  they  may  receive." 


Borrowers  and  lienders  :  a  TULelange. 

The  borrowers  and  lenders  of  money 
form  two  classes,  as  simply  distinct  as 
the  dead  and  the  living. 

First  in  this  throng  is  the  licensed 
lender,  affectionately  termed  by  the 
grateful  borrowers  "  uncle,"  whose  ar- 
morial bearings  are  Three  Balls  or,  with 
the  well  understood  motto, 

"  JSx  nihilo  nihil  fit : " 

for  he  never  advances  except  on  the  de- 
posit of  a  valuable  security,  in  the  tan- 
gible and  convertible  shape  of  plate, 
linen,  wearing  apparel,  or  other  per- 
sonal property,  for  which  he  delivers  a 
memorandum  written  on  a  miserable 
specimen  of  pasteboard,  two  inches  by 
one  and  a  half  inches  square,  termed 
a  "  duplicate,"  charging  the  moderate 
interest  of— well,  twenty  per  cent. 
Truly,  he  ought  to  be  an  excellent 
chess  player;  for  no  one  knows  the 
value  of  a  pawn  better  than  "  mine  un- 
cle." From  a  "  flat  "  to  a  flatiron,  he 
"  takes  in  "  everything.  And  thus  it  is 
no  stretch  of  the  imagination  to  fancy 
a  literary  man  "  pledging  "  Anacreon, 
or  "  spouting  "  Cicero  !  or  an  old  woman 
"  raising  the  wind  "  upon  a  pair  of  bel- 


lows— both  these  beneficiaries  conge- 
nially leaning  over  the  same  counter, 
and  mutually  gazing  upon  the  same 
oUapodrida  of  "  traps." 

Then  there  are  borrowers,  whose  real 
and  personal  estate  it  would  puzzle  the 
most  expert  to  define  or  catalogue,  who 
condescendingly  communicate  their 
need  to  a  friend,  abducting  a  certain 
portion  of  superfluous  coin  in  the  most 
off-hand  manner  imaginable,  as  if  they 
were  actually  conferring  a  favor.  But, 
although  these  "  metallic  tractors,"  or 
rather  sub-tractors,  appear  always  quite 
"  at  home,"  they  are  invariably  "  found 
out,"  when  their  too  easy  friends  "  make 
a  call  upon  them." 

The  lenders,  of  course,  are  numerous, 
or  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  bor- 
rowers to  live  ;  and,  notwithstanding 
the  vocation  requires  the  utmost  cir- 
cumspection, is  fraught  with  danger, 
and  bristles  with  the  thorns  of  anxiety, 
it  is  well  known  that  most  of  these  pe- 
cuniary purveyors  take  a  great  interest 
in  lending !  With  some,  indeed,  this 
lending  becomes  a  perfect  passion ;  and, 
mixing  as  they  do  with  men  of  no  prin- 
cipal, they  frequently  abandon  their 
own  and  are  ruined,  while  the  chorus 
of  the  ungrateful  and  designing  bor- 
rowers is  more  curious  than  classical  in 
its  strain — as,  "  The  old  fellow's  '  done 
brown,' "  says  A.  "  I  always  thought 
him  'green,'"  adds  B.  "He  looks 
'  blue,'  at  any  rate,  now,"  chimes  in  C. 
"  He's  a  '  gray '  old  badger,"  declares 
D.  "  He  is,"  ejaculates  E.,  "  an  extor- 
tionate old  hunks.  I  once  borrowed  a 
cool  hundred  pounds  of  him,  and  he 
actually  deducted  twenty-five  pounds 
for  interest  and  commission."  "  Shock- 
ing 1 "  cries  A.,  indignantly.  "  Did  you 
repay  the  hundred  pounds  1 "  inquires 
B.,  with  a  dubious  leer.  "  Repay  ! " 
replies  E.,  "certainly  not.  Why,  I 
should  have  considered  such  an  act  a 
downright  encouragement  of  usury. 
No,  sir,  I  had  too  much  attachment  to 
my  principal,  as  well  as  respect  for  the 
*  morals '  of  society  to  do  that." 


436 


COMMERCIAL  AlfD  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


The  advertising  borrowers,  under  the 
cabalistics  of  "  C.  D.,"  "  Y.  Z.,"  etc.,  do 
this  thing  in  a  more  business-like  man- 
ner. Thus,  "  Five  pounds  will  be  given 
for  the  loan  of  fifty  pounds  for  three 
months.  Undeniable  security  and  ref- 
erences if  required.  No  money-lender 
need  apply.    Address  C.  D.,"  etc. 

Five  pounds  for  three  months  !  This 
bait  is  nibbled  at  by  many,  and  eagerly 
devoured  by  some  retired  middling- 
class  tradesman,  who  is  probably  dis- 
contented with  the  dull  and  paltry 
three  per  cents.,  the  produce  of  his 
savings  invested  in  the  bank.  He  con- 
cludes, without  however  intimating  to 
any  one  his  intentions,  to  just  seek  an 
interview  with  C.  D.,  confesses  prelimi- 
narily that  he  is  "  not  in  the  habit  of 
doing  these  things,"  and  asks  as  a  favor 
just  to  glance  at  the  "  securities."  C.  D. 
forthwitji  produces  a  cash  box,  and  dis- 
plays some  old  leases  (already  assigned, 
or  long  since  expired,  or  perhaps  ficti- 
tious altogether),  and  a  number  of 
shares  in  the  Pen-gully  mines,  situated 
— somewhere,  and  which,  he  gratuit- 
ously informs  the  small  capitalist,  are, 
according  to  the  last  annual  report,  ex- 
pected to  produce  "  lots  of  tin."  Then, 
as  to  promised  references,  he  can  give 
some  of  the  first  names  in  the  city,  but 
confesses  it  is  rather  a  ticklish  afeir, 
and  might  compromise  his  credit  (?)  to 
let  his  friends  suppose  that  a  man  of 
his  "  resources  "  is  in  want  of  money, — 
many  of  them  being  ready  to  hand  him 
a  check  for  ten  times  that  amount ;  but 
he  wishes  to  be  independent,  and  would 
rather  make  a  sacrifice  (of  the  small 
capitalist  ?)  than  lay  himself  under  an 
obligation.  Still,  to  satisfy  the  lender, 
if  not  already  assured  of  his  ability  to  re- 
imburse the  trifle  in  question,  of  course 
he  is  ready,  etc.,  etc.  The  novice,  who 
is  probably  quite  as  anxious  as  the  bor- 
rower to  keep  this  delicate  transaction 
a  secret,  willingly  foregoes  the  "  mere 
formality  "  of  references.  The  aflfair  is 
thus  amicably  arranged  ;  notes  are  ex- 
chemged — that  is,  a  note  of  hand  for  a 


bank  note — and  the  lender  walks  gin- 
gerly away  with  the  very  liberal  dis- 
count in  his  pocket,  his  flustered  imagi- 
nation fiUed  with  lively  visions  of  rap- 
idly increasing  his  store.  He  has 
opened  a  new  mine ;  but,  should  he 
continue  to  "  work  it,"  he  may  find  to 
his  cost  what  many  other  and  wiser 
heads  have  done  before,  that  new  mines 
often  consume  more  than  they  produce. 


Aid  in  the  Nick  of  Time :  Jacob  Baj:- 
ker  and  John  Wells. 

The  unexpected  failure,  at  the  close 
of  the  last  war  with  Great  Britain,  of 
Jacob  Barker's  Liverpool  house,  to- 
gether with  the  opposition  to  his  bank- 
ing operations  in  New  York,  finally  re- 
sulted in  the  overthrow  of  his  bank ; 
all  of  its  depositors,  and  a  vast  propor- 
tion of  its  circulation,  were  paid  at 
sight ;  yet  the  suspension  created  a 
strong  prejudice  with  all  those  who 
continued  to  hold  his  bank  notes,  and 
all  this  had  a  withering  influence  on 
his  further  operations. 

Distressed  by  the  multitudinous  ap- 
plications to  redeem  bank  notes  in  the 
hands  of  needy  persons — which,  al- 
though the  amounts  were  small,  he  had 
not  the  means  at  command  to  redeem, 
on  their  first  presentation,  he  called 
upon  his  friend,  Mr.  John  "Wells,  stated 
his  troubles,  and  observed :  "  I  believe 
I  had  better  shoot  myself."  That  gen- 
tleman replied  :  "  Are  you  crazy  ?  How 
much  do  you  want  ? "  taking  up  his 
pen  and  commencing  to  write.  Mr. 
Barker,  wanting  five  thousand  dollars, 
replied  three  thousand,  'bli.  Wells 
gave  him  one  of  his  most  earnest  looks, 
and  said,  "Is  that  all?  if  you  want 
more,  name  it  now,  and  forever  after 
hold  your  peace."  "  That  will  answer ; 
but  why  do  you  give  it  to  me  ?  If  I 
should  die  you  will  never  get  a  cent." 

Mr.  Wells,  saying,  "  That's  none  of 
your  business,"  went  on  writing,  and 
handed  to  Mr.  Barker  an  order  for 
three  thousand  dollars,  in  the  stock  of 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


437 


the  Bank  of  America,  saying,  "  I  have 
no  money ;  make  that  stock  answer 
your  purpose." 

The  yellow  fever  soon  after  termina- 
ted the  life  of  this  "  friend  in  need,"  on 
which  event  Mr.  Barker  showed  his 
gratitude  as  well  as  mercantile  honor 
by  promptly  handing  the  amount  to 
the  administrator. 


"Settling:"  an  Account. 

To  settle  coffee  with  an  egg  is  an  easy 
matter ;  but  it  is  not  eggsactly  so  easy 
to  settle  an  old  account — a  truth  which 
will  be  found  illustrated  in  the  follow- 
ing conversation  between  an  honest 
miner,  named  Riley,  upon  the  north 
fork  of  the  Salmon  River,  in  California, 
and  one  Mike  Donelly,  a  trader,  to 
whom,  it  seems,  Riley  was  indebted 
some  forty  dollars  for  provisions.  Said 
D.  to  R.,  "  You  ought  to  pay  me  this 
little  bill,  for  you  know  I  trusted  you 
when  no  other  trader  on  the  river 
would.  Come,  now,  I'll  throw  off  half, 
if  you'll  pay  the  rest."  "  "Well,  Mike," 
said  Riley,  "  I'll  be  hanged  if  I'll  allow 
you  to  be  more  liberal  than  I  am.  If 
you  throw  off  one  half,  I'll  throw  off 
the  other  !  "  But  this  proof  of  liberali- 
ty did  not  satisfy  Mike,  and  he  replied, 
as  might  be  expected,  "  But  that  don't 
settle  my  account."  "  Then  break  an 
egg  into  it  I "  said  Riley,  and  coolly 
walked  off. 


German  Financial  Operation. 

There  were  once  two  well-known 
settlers  in  the  western  part  of  York 
County,  Pa.,  both  of  honest  old  Ger- 
man stock,  and  belonging  to  those 
good  old  times  when  everybody  was 
"  as  honest  as  the  days  are  long."  Pe- 
ter, it  appears,  had  increased  the  size 
of  his  farm,  by  annexing  thereto  a 
small  tract  adjoining,  and  lacked 
about  one  hundred  dollars  of  the  sum 
necessary  to  pay  for  the  new  acquisi- 
tion.    He  called  upon  his  neighbor. 


George,  to  borrow  the  amount,  George 
brought  out  an  old  bread  basket,  and 
counted  down  the  desired  number  of 
"  thalers,"  and  then,  of  course,  the  two 
sat  down  to  two  large  earthen  mugs  of 
cider,  and  so  many  pipes  of  tobacco. 
After  smoking  over  the  matter  for  a 
while,  it  occurred  to  Peter  that  in  simi- 
lar transactions  he  had  heard  or  seen 
something  like  a  "  note "  passing  be- 
tween the  borrower  and  the  lender, 
and  he  suggested  as  much  to  George, 
The  lender  assented  to  the  reasonable- 
ness of  the  thing — papers,  pen,  and  ink 
were  produced — and  between  the  two 
a  document  was  concocted,  stating  that 
George  had  loaned  Peter  one  hundred 
dollars,  which  Peter  would  repay  to 
George  in  "  dree  monts  "  (three  months). 
This  Peter  signed,  and  thus  far  our  two 
financiers  had  made  the  thing  all  regu- 
lar and  shipshape. 

But  at  this  point  a  diflficulty  present- 
ed itself.  They  both  knew  that  notes 
were  made  in  the  operations  of  borrow- 
ing and  lending,  which  they  had  some- 
times witnessed ;  but  it  now  appeared 
that  neither  of  them  had  observed  what 
disposition  was  made  of  the  document — 
neither  could  tell  whether  it  was  en  re- 
gie for  the  borrower  or  lender  to  take 
charge  of  the  paper — and  here  was  a 
dilemma !  At  length  a  bright  idea 
struck  George, 

"  You  has  de  money  to  pay,  Peter ; 
so  be  sure  you  must  take  dis  paper,  so 
you  can  see  as  you  has  to  pay  it !  " 

This  was  conclusive — the  common 
sense  of  the  thing  was  obvious  and  un- 
answerable— and  Peter  pocketed  the 
money  and  his  note,  "  so  as  he  could 
see  as  he  had  to  pay  it."  The  three 
months  passed  over,  and  punctually 
to  the  day  appeared  our  friend  Peter, 
and  paid  over  the  promised  sum  to 
George,  This  being  done,  the  mugs 
and  pipes  were  again  paraded.  After 
pufl&ng  awhile,  Peter  produced  the  note, 
and  handed  it  to  George,  with  the 
remark — 

"  Now  you  must  take  de  note,  so  as 


438 


COMMERCIAL   AND   BUSINESS   ANECDOTES. 


you  can  see  as  dat  de  money  has  been 

paid." 

> 

Backingr  up  his  Recommendation. 

A  YOUNG  man,  desirous  of  entering 
into  business  on  Ms  own  account,  ap- 
plied to  a  wholesale  dealer  in  linens,  to 
give  him  credit  for  goods  to  the  amount 
of  £500.  Being  met  with  the  usual  in- 
quiry for  a  reference  as  to  character,  he 
mentioned  Mr.  B.,  a  well  known  gentle- 
man, and  belonging  to  the  Quaker 
body.  On  being  applied  to,  Mr.  B. 
gave  the  young  man  such  a  character, 
as  induced  the  tradesman  immediately 
to  let  him  have  the  goods  he  wished 
for.  After  being  some  time  in  business, 
and  by  his  conduct  justifying  the  trust 
reposed  in  him,  he  unfortunately  fell 
into  habits  of  dissipation,  neglected  his 
store,  and,  as  a  natural  consequence, 
became  insolvent.  The  injured  credit- 
or, meeting  Mr.  B.,  complained  that  he 
had  been  deceived  as  to  the  character 
of  the  man,  and  had  thus  lost  £500. 
The  honest  Quaker  replied,  that  he  had 
spoken  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge, 
and  had  himself  been  deceived.  As, 
however,  it  was  on  his  representation 
the  credit  had  been  given  to  the  insol- 
vent, he  would  himself  pay  the  debt ; 
which  he  did  inunediately,  by  a  check 
on  his  banker. 


Lawsuits  of  Girard. 

Of  all  the  various  attitudes  and 
qualifications  of  character  presented  in 
Girard's  wonderful  career,  he  appears 
in  none  more  extraordinary  than  in  his 
address  and  tact  as  a  quack  lawyer. 
Few  men  could  defeat  or  circumvent 
Girard  in  a  lawsuit ;  and  notwith- 
standing the  great  number  in  which  he 
was  a  party,  during  his  eventful  life- 
time, he  was  seldom  known  to  be  van- 
quished, and  he  took  a  peculiar  pride 
in  boasting  of  his  victories  in  this  line. 

Nothing  mortified  him  so  deeply  as 
to  be  cast  in  a  lawsuit,  whether  for  a 


petty  amount  before  a  magistrate  or  an 
alderman,  or  for  a  himdred  thousand 
dollars  in  the  supreme  court  of  the 
United  States.  Ambition  to  defeat  his 
adversary  quite  as  much  as  mere  pecu- 
niary advantage  seemed  to  animate  him 
to  obtain  a  verdict.  This  feeling,  it  is 
supposed,  infiuenced  him  on  the  occa- 
sion when,  prosecuted  for  the  bank  in- 
terest on  the  funded  debt  of  the  United 
States,  by  certain  subscribers  to  the  Na- 
tional Bank  stock,  he  pleaded  the 
statute  of  limitations,  and  by  this 
means  secured  a  verdict  in  his  own 
favor  for  a  small  amount.  In  petty 
cases  before  justices  and  aldermen,  he 
exhibited  the  same  skill,  art,  finesse  and 
evasion. 

Once  he  was  sued  by  a  country  neigh- 
bor for  a  trespass,  by  suffering  his  fen- 
ces to  go  unrepaired,  so  that  his  cattle 
broke  into  the  fields,  and  trod  down 
the  wheat  of  the  farmer.  Girard  met 
the  case  at  all  points  like  a  well  drilled 
lawyer,  thrusting  his  attorney  aside, 
and  taking  the  case  into  his  own  hands. 
He  came  to  trial,  fortified  by  witnesses, 
together  with  drawings  and  maps  of 
all  his  fields  and  fences ;  and  after  a 
full  examination,  turned  the  whole  force 
of  the  suit  against  his  neighbor — prov- 
ing that  it  was  the  plaintiff  who  allow- 
ed his  fences  to  go  unrepaired,  and  that 
it  was  the  plaintiff's  cattle  that  had 
trespassed  upon  him,  and  not  his  cattle 
upon  the  farmer.  So  that  Girard  not 
only  escaped,  but  obtained  a  judgment 
against  the  farmer. 


Ghrant  Thorbum's  Bankruptcy. 

Mr.  Thorbtjrn,  though  distinguish- 
ed for  the  old-school  carefulness  in 
business  transactions  peculiar  to  his 
day,  at  one  time  of  his  life  found  that, 
after  toiling  and  striving  by  sunlight 
and  moonlight,  in  wet  weather  and  dry 
weather,  he  was  several  thousands  of 
dollars  worse  than  nothing.  Under 
these  circumstances,  he  gave  up  all  to 
his  creditors,  and  that  he  might  be  en- 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


439 


abled  to  commence  business  anew,  he 
applied,  "with  an  empty  pocket  and  a 
clear  conscience,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Insolvent  Act.  To  this  end  it  was 
necessary,  as  a  first  step,  that  he  should 
either  go  to  jail  or  the  limits.  He  pre- 
ferred the  former,  as  he  could  board  for 
one  half  the  expense.  So,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1813,  he  left  his  wife  with  one  dol- 
lar and  sixty-two  cents,  and  four  young 
children  to  support,  without  any  cer- 
tainty where  the  next  dollar  was  to 
come  from.  As  he  was  walking  down 
the  main  street,  in  Newark,  while  be- 
ing conducted  to  jail,  the  sheriff's  offi- 
cer politely  going  some  distance  before 
or  behind  him — it  matters  not  which — 
he  was  accosted  by  a  man  whom  he  had 
not  seen  for  two  years  previous.  Said 
he  to  Mr.  Thorburn,  "  I  have  owed  you 
fifteen  dollars  for  a  long  time,  but  it 
was  never  in  my  power  to  pay  you  un- 
til now ;  just  step  in  this  store,  and  I 
will  pay  you,"  pointing  to  one  close  by. 
Mr.  T.  says  he  received  the  money  with 
as  much  wonder  and  thankfulness  as 
if  he  had  seen  it  drop  from  the  clouds 
into  his  path.  He  had  not  seen  the 
man  for  so  long  a  time,  that  he  never 
expected  the  money.  This  man  told 
Mr.  T.  some  months  after,  that  at  the 
time  he  paid  him  that  money,  he  knew 
nothing  whatever  of  his  difficulties. 
After  having  staid  the  tune  appointed 
in  jail,  and  gone  through  the  forms  by 
law  prescribed,  "  I  came  out,"  says  Mr. 
T.,  "whitewashed  from  all  claims  as 
far  as  the  luw  could  go,  but  I  thought 
I  was  as  much  bound  in  justice  as  ever 
I  was  to  pay  my  honest  debts,  should 
Providence  put  it  in  my  power,  by 
prospering  my  future  exertions.  He 
did  prosper,  my  future  exertions,  and 
I  caH  now  show  receipts  for  thousands 
of  dollars  which  were  by  law  cancelled." 


liegral  Damagres  and  Compound  Inter- 
est in  Africa. 

SoMK   of  the  natives  of  Africa,  al- 
though they  may  have  little  pretensions 


to  a  knowledge  of  mathematics  in  gen- 
eral, seem  to  have  a  very  clear  and 
comprehensive  idea  of  the  principles 
of  compound  interest  on  debts  result- 
ing from  legal  damages. 

This  appears  from  the  custom  of  a 
certain  tribe,  according  to  which,  if  a 
native  should  steal  a  fowl  from  another, 
the  owner,  if  he  had  witnesses  of  the 
fact,  would  suffer  the  matter  to  rest  for 
two  or  three  years.  He  would  then  in- 
stitute an  action  for  damages,  which 
are  measured  by  this  curious  standard : 
it  is  in  the  first  place  calculated  how 
many  eggs  the  fowl  would  probably 
have  laid  in  the  course  of  one  or  two 
years,  how  many  of  these  would  have 
been  hatched,  how  many  of  these 
chickens  themselves  would  have  be- 
come parents,  for  the  period  of  time 
between  the  commission  of  the  robbery* 
and  the  conviction  of  the  offender.  For 
this  imaginary  wrong,  damages  have 
been  given  to  the  fullest  extent,  and 
the  husbands  and  wives,  and  whole 
family  sold,  to  requite  the  owner  of 
the  fowl  for  his  loss. 


Pecuniary  Anxiety  of  the  Greatest 
Uerchant  in  the  World. 

It  would  seem  as  though  no  pinnacle 
of  power  and  affluence  can  place  a  man 
wholly  out  of  the  reach  of  pecuniary 
exigencies,  or  the  anxiety  engendered 
by  their  anticipation.  It  was  so  with 
that  merchant  monarch — the  greatest  in 
his  day — Lorenzo  de  Medici.  In  pro- 
viding for  the  expenses  of  the  wars  in 
which  the  Florentines  had  been  en- 
gaged, considerable  debts  had  been  in- 
curred ;  and  as  they  had  not  then 
learnt  the  destructive  expedient  of  an- 
ticipating their  future  revenue,  or  trans- 
ferring their  own  burdens  to  their  pos- 
terity, it  became  necessary  to  provide 
for  the  payment  of  those  demands. 

Besides  the  debts  contracted  in  the 
name  of  the  republic,  Lorenzo  had  been 
obliged  to  have  recourse  to  his  agents 
in  different  countries  to  borrow  large 


440 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


sums  of  money  whicli  had  been  applied 
to  the  exigencies  of  the  State ;  but  it 
was  no  improbable  conjecture,  that  the 
money  which  had  been  lavishingly  ex- 
pended during  the  heat  of  the  contest 
would  be  repaid  with  reluctance  when 
the  struggle  was  over.  These  consider- 
ations occasioned  him  the  most  harrow- 
ing anxiety ;  for  while  on  the  one  hand 
he  dreaded  the  disgrace  of  being  want- 
ing in  the  performance  of  his  pecuniary 
engagements,  he  was  not  perhaps  less 
apprehensive  on  the  other  hand  of  di- 
minishing his  influence  in  Florence,  by 
the  imposition  of  additional  taxes. 
From  this  difficulty  he  saw  no  possi- 
bility of  extricating  himself,  but  by 
the  most  rigid  attention,  as  well  to  the 
improvement  of  the  public  revenue,  as 
to  the  state  of  his  own  business  con- 
cerns. The  increasing  prosperity  of 
the  city  of  Florence  seconded  his  eflforts, 
and  in  a  short  time  the  creditors  of  the 
State  were  fully  reimbursed,  without 
an  increase  of  the  public  burdens. 

His  own  engagements  yet  remained 
incomplete ;  but  whilst  he  was  endeav- 
oring, from  his  large  property  and  ex- 
tensive concerns,  to  discharge  the  de- 
mands against  him,  a  decree  providing 
for  the  payment  of  his  debts  out  of  the 
public  treasury  relieved  him  of  his 
difficulties,  and  proved  that  the  affec- 
tion of  his  fellow  citizens  yet  remained 
unimpaired.  Lorenzo  did  not,  how- 
ever, receive  this  mark  of  esteem  with- 
out utter  humiliation  at  the  negligence 
and  imprudence  of  his  factors  and  cor- 
respondents, who  by  their  inattention 
to  his  affairs,  had  reduced  him  to  the 
necessity  of  accepting  such  a  favor. 
From  this  period  he  determined  to  re- 
linquish the  fluctuating  advantages  of 
commerce — to  close  his  mercantile  af- 
fairs with  all  possible  expedition — well 
considering,  that  besides  the  inherent 
uncertainty  of  commercial  transactions 
on  so  vast  a  scale,  the  success  of  them 
depended  too  much  on  the  industry  and 
integrity  of  others. 


On  the  For^ven  last. 

One  of  the  old-school  merchants  of 
Boston,  very  extensively  engaged  in 
commerce,  and  located  on  Long  Wharf, 
in  that  city,  died  in  February,  1806, 
intestate,  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine. 
His  eldest  son  administered  upon  the 
estate.  This  old  gentleman  used  pleas- 
antly to  say,  that  for  many  years  he 
had  fed  a  large  number  of  Catholics  on 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  during 
Lent — referring  to  his  very  extensive 
connection  with  the  fishing  business. 
In  his  day  he  was  certainly  well  known ; 
and  to  the  present  time  is  well  remem- 
bered by  some  of  the  "  old  ones  down 
along  shore,"  from  the  Garnet's  Nose 
to  Race  Point. 

Among  his  papers,  a  package  of  con- 
siderable size  was  found  after  his  death, 
carefully  tied  up,  and  labelled  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Notes,  due  bills,  and  accounts 
against  sundry  persons  down  along 
shore.  Some  of  these  may  be  got  by  a 
suit  or  severe  dunning.  But  the  peo- 
ple are  poor ;  most  of  them  have  had 
fisherman's  luck.  My  children  will  do 
as  they  think  best.  Perhaps  they  will 
think  with  me,  that  it  is  best  to  burn 
this  package  entire." 

About  a  month  (said  the  narrator  of 
this),  after  our  father  died,  the  sons 
met  together,  and,  after  some  general 
remarks,  our  eldest  brother,  the  admin- 
istrator, produced  this  package,  read 
the  superscription,  and  asked  what 
course  should  be  taken  in  regard  to  it. 
Another  brother,  a  few  years  younger 
than  the  eldest,  a  man  of  strong,  impul- 
sive temperament,  unable  at  the  mo- 
ment to  express  his  feelings  by  words, 
while  he  brushed  the  tears  from  his 
eyes  with  one  hand,  by  a  spasmodic  jerk 
of  the  other  toward  the  fireplace,  in- 
dicated his  desire  to  have  the  paper 
put  into  the  flames.  It  was  suggested 
by  another  of  our  number,  that  it 
might  be  well  to  make  a  list  of  debtors' 
names,  and  of  the  dates  and  accounts, 
that  we  might  be  enabled,  as  the  in- 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


441 


tended  discharge  was  for  all,  to  inform 
such  as  might  oflfer  payment,  that  their 
debts  were  forgiven.  On  the  following 
day  we  again  assembled,  the  list  had 
been  prepared,  and  all  the  notes,  due 
bills,  and  accounts,  whose  amount,  in- 
cluding interest,  exceeded  thirty-two 
thousand  dollars,  were  committed  to 
the  flames. 

It  was  about  four  months  after  our 
father's  death,  in  the  month  of  June, 
that,  as  I  was  sitting  in  my  eldest  broth- 
er's counting  room,  waiting  for  an  op- 
portunity to  speak  to  him,  there  came 
in  a  hard  favored,  little  old  man,  who 
looked  as  if  time  and  rough  weather 
had  been  to  the  windward  of  him  for 
seventy  years.  He  asked  if  my  brother 
was  not  the  executor.  He  replied  that 
he  was  administrator,  as  our  father  died 
intestate.  "  Well,"  said  the  stranger, 
"  I  have  come  up  from  the  Cape  to  pay 
a  debt  I  owed  the  old  gentleman."  My 
brother  requested  him  to  be  seated, 
being  at  the  moment  engaged. 

The  old  man  sat  down,  and  putting 
on  his  glasses,  drew  out  a  very  ancient 
wallet.  When  he  had  thus  done, — and 
there  was  quite  a  parcel  of  notes, — as 
he  sat  waiting  his  turn,  slowly  twisting 
his  thumbs,  and  his  old  gray  medita- 
tive eyes  fixed  upon  the  floor,  he  sighed ; 
and  I  well  supposed  the  money,  as  the 
phrase  runs,  came  hard,  and  secretly 
wished  the  old  man's  name  might  be 
found  upon  the  forgiven  list.  My 
brother  was  soon  at  leisure,  and  asked 
him  the  common  question — his  name, 
etc.  The  original  debt  was  $440 ;  it 
had  stood  a  long  time,  and,  with  the 
interest,  amounted  to  $800.  My  broth- 
er went  to  his  table,  and  after  examin- 
ing the  forgiven  list  attentively,  a  sud- 
den smile  lighted  up  his  countenance, 
and  told  me  the  truth  at  a  glance — the 
old  man's  name  was  there  !  My  broth- 
er quietly  took  a  chair  at  his  side,  and 
a  conversation  ensued  between  them. 

"Your  note  is  outlawed;  it  was 
dated  twelve  years  ago,  payable  in  two 
years ;  there  is  no  witness,  and  no  in- 


terest has  ever  been  paid ;  you  are  not 
bound  to  pay  this  note — we  cannot  re- 
cover the  amount." 

"  Sir,"  said  the  old  man,  "  I  wish  to 
pay  it.  It  is  the  only  heavy  debt  I 
have  in  the  world.  I  should  like  to 
pay  it,"  and  he  laid  the  bank  notes  be- 
fore the  administrator,  and  requested 
him  to  count  them  over. 

*'  I  cannot  take  this  money,"  was  the 
reply. 

The  old  man  became  confused.  "  I 
have  cast  simple  interest  for  twelve 
years  and  a  little  over,"  said  he;  "I 
will  pay  you  compound  interest,  if  you 
say  so.  That  debt  ought  to  have  been 
paid  long  ago,  but  your  father,  air,  was 
very  indulgent;  he  knew  I  had  been 
unfortunate,  and  told  me  not  to  worry 
about  it." 

My  brother  then  set  the  whole  matter 
plainly  before  him,  and,  taking  the 
biUs,  returned  them  to  the  old  man, 
telling  him,  that  although  our  father 
left  no  formal  will,  he  had  recommend- 
ed to  his  children  to  destroy  certain 
notes,  due  bills,  and  other  evidences  of 
debt,  and  release  those  who  might  be 
legally  bound  to  pay  them.  For  a  mo- 
ment the  worthy  old  man  seemed  to  be 
stupefied.  After  he  had  collected  him- 
self, and  wiped  a  few  tears  from  his 
eyes,  he  stated,  that  fi-om  the  time  he 
had  heard  of  our  father's  death,  he  had 
raked  and  scraped,  and  pinched  and 
spared,  to  get  the  money  to  pay  this 
debt.  "  About  ten  days  ago,"  said  he, 
"  I  had  made  up  the  sum  within  twen- 
ty dollars.  My  wife  knew  how  much 
the  payment  of  this  debt  lay  upon  my 
spirits,  and  advised  me  to  sell  a  cow, 
and  make  up  the  difference,  and  get 
the  heavy  burden  off"  my  mind.  I  did 
so,  and  now,  what  will  my  old  woman 
say  ?  I  must  get  home  to  the  Cape, 
and  tell  her  this  good  news.  She'll 
probably  say  over  the  very  words  she 
said  when  she  put  her  hands  on  my 
shoulder  as  we  parted  :  '  I  have  never 
seen  the  righteous  forsaken,  nor  his 
seed  begging  bread.' "    With  a  hearty 


442 


COMMERCIAL  AND   BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


shake  of  the  hand,  and  a  blessing  upon 
our  father's  memory,  he  went  upon  his 
way  rejoicing. 

After  a  short  silence,  seizing  his  pen- 
cil and  casting  a  few  figures,  "  There  ! " 
exclaimed  my  brother,  "your  part  of 
the  amount  would  be  so  much ;  con- 
trive a  plan  to  convey  to  me  your  share 
of  the  pleasure  derived  from  this  opera- 
tion, and  the  money  is  at  your  service." 


Changres  in  Mercantile  Standing*. 

In  old  times,  when  debtors  were  lia- 
ble to  imprisonment,  a  gentleman,  now 
well  known  in  Philadelphia,  failed,  and 
wa?  forced  by  some  of  his  relentless 
creditors  to  become  the  inmate  of  a 
prison.  But  among  his  creditors  there 
was  one  glorious  spirit,  who,  by  great 
exertion,  and  by  personally  involving 
himself,  accomplished  the  liberation  of 
his  friend.  He  was  a  commission  mer- 
chant and  partner  in  a  house  that 
ranked  with  the  first  in  that  city  for 
nearly  fifty  years,  without  the  slightest 
taint  or  blemish.  In  the  evening  of 
his  days,  however,  misfortune  reached 
him,  and  he  found  his  house  tottering 
amidst  the  financial  storm  then  raging ; 
and  while  his  distress  was  greatest,  and 
his  fortunes  looked  darkest,  the  bread 
he  hfid  cast  upon  the  waters  six-and- 
twenty  years  before,  came  floating  back 
to  his  door.  It  icas  Ids  former  debtor^s 
check  hooh,  showing  a  balance  in  one  of 
the  city  banks,  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  with  checks  signed  in 
blank  to  his  order,  and  a  request  that 
he  would  use  the  whole  or  any  part,  if 
it  would  be  of  service  to  him  1 


Hypothecating:  one's  Person  for  a 
lioan. 

Pawnbrokeks  have  all  sorts  of  cus- 
tomers, pledges,  and  experiences.  The 
celebrated  tragedian,  Mr.  Cooke,  was 
always  fond  of  a  frolic,  on  his  benefit 
night,  declaring  that  he  never  took 
liberties  with  his  friends  at  any  other 


time.  It  once  happened,  during  an 
engagement  in  Philadelphia,  that  on 
such  an  occasion  he  was  short  of  money, 
and  at  a  loss  to  raise  the  wind  for  the 
accustomed  breeze.  In  this  dilemma  he 
started  up  town  in  a  speculative  mood, 
determined  to  inspirit  himself  in  some 
way  or  other.  Having  reached  the 
corner  of  Callowhill  and  Eighth  streets, 
he  cast  his  eyes  toward  the  Delaware, 
and  perceived  one  of  those  enticing 
signs  of  three  golden  balls.  He  turned 
the  comer,  and,  entering  the  fatal  door, 
addressed  the  man  behind  the  counter 
thus :  "  My  name  is  Cooke.  This  is 
my  benefit  night.  The  manager  can't 
do  without  me,  as  I  am  up  for  Richard 
the  Third.  I  want  some  liquor.  I 
have  no  money.  Now  I  propose  to  hy- 
pothecate my  royal  person  for  ten  dol- 
lars, and  you  may  lay  me  upon  one  of 
your  shelves."  The  joke  was  a  queer 
one,  and  the  master  of  ceremonies  paid 
the  ten  dollars,  and  Cooke  was  laid  up. 
The  theatre  that  night  was  crowded, 
and  at  seven  o'clock  the  manager  came 
forward  to  apologize,  stating  that  with 
the  permission  of  the  audience  the  per- 
formance would  commence  with  the 
farce.  He  had  sent  in  different  direc- 
tions, but  was  unable  to  find  Mr.  Cooke 
in  the  city.  He  presumed  the  trage- 
dian would  be  forthcoming  in  the 
course  of  the  next  half  hour.  As  the 
manager  retired,  he  was  informed  that 
a  boy  wished  to  see  him  in  the  green- 
room. He  found  the  lad,  who  presented 
a  n.ote  written  in  cypher,  which  he  at 
length    translated    thus:     "My    dear 

,  I  am  in  pawn  for  $10  ;  send  and 

redeem  me,  or  it  will  be  impossible  for 
Richard  to  be  himself  to-night.  Yours, 
Cooke."  The  manager  started  imme- 
diately after  the  fixed  star,  and  found 
him  nicely  shelved,  with  a  plate  of 
crackers  and  cheese,  and  a  bottle  of 
brandy  by  him.  In  the  button-hole  of 
his  coat  was  a  piece  of  paper  marked 
"No.  1473,  pawned  for  $10."  The 
amount  was  paid,  a  hack  called,  and 
Mr.  Cooke  and  manager  rolled  to  the 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


443 


theatre,  where  the  former  had  just  time 
to  dress,  and  commence  "  Now  is  the 
winter  of  our  discontent,"  &c.  It  is 
said  he  never  playe4  Richard  better,  or 
received  greater  applause. 


Business,  Bankruptcy  and  Iiiterature : 
John  Pierpont  and  John  Neal. 
John  Neal.  and  John  Pierpont, 
whose  names  are  now  so  famous  as  lit- 
terateurs^ were  formerly  active  business 
men,  ceasing  to  be  such  only  with  mis- 
fortune and  bankruptcy.  Neal  once 
tried  shopkeeping  in  Boston  awhile, 
opening  a  small  establishment  on  a 
capital  of  some  two  hundred  dollars — 
sometimes  prosperous  in  money  affairs, 
and  then  again  suflfering  the  greatest 
embarrassments.  In  the  course  of  time 
he  made  the  acquaintance  of  John  Pier- 
pont, and  the  two  Johns  subsequently 
opened  a  large  wholesale  establishment 
together  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  with 
a  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Pierpont  as 
partner,  and  did  an  extensive  and  prof- 
itable business  for  some  time,  upon  the 
revival  of  commerce  following  the  war 
of  1812.  But  in  the  space  of  two  years, 
"  Pierpont,  Neal  &  Lord,"  having  then 
two  wholesale  establishments  and  a  re- 
tail one  in  full  blast,  found  their  busi- 
ness utterly  ruined  by  the  depreciation 
of  all  imported  articles,  and  they  failed, 
— failed  honestly  and  entirely,  leav- 
ing themselves  so  poor  that  Pierpont 
sold  his  wife's  spoons  in  order  to  pay 
for  lodgings  in  chambers ;  and  Neal 
parted  with  all  the  little  comforts  and 
luxuries  he  possessed  in  order  to  ap- 
pease a  Shylock  of  a  creditor,  who 
would  take  nothing  less  than  "  the 
pound  of  flesh."  The  future  career  of 
these  two  men  proved  that,  if  their 
bankruptcy  was  a  damage  to  some,  the 
next  generation  were  gainers  by  it. 


Blindness  to  De'btors :  Chickeringr, 
Feabody,  liorillard. 

Jonas    Chickering,    whose    great 

business    involved    multitudes  in  the 

relation  to  him  of  debtor,  was  most 


indulgent  to  those  wto,  from  disap- 
pointment or  other  honest  causes, 
became  unable  to  make  prompt  pay- 
ment. He  was  accustomed  to  say,  "  If 
you  cannot  pay  me  now,  pay  me  when 
you  can ;  and  if  never  able  to  pay  me, 
I  shall  not  trouble  you ;  do  not  be 
discouraged;  go  about  your  business, 
and  you  will  get  along  well  enough." 
Such  assurances  quieted  many  a  one, 
who  had  unexpectedly  become  unable 
to  meet  his  liabilities,  and  it  was  doubt- 
less the  manifestation  of  this  accommo- 
dating spirit  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Chick- 
ering toward  others,  that  secured  to 
him  the  indulgent  consideration  of  his 
workmen  and  others,  at  a  time  when 
his  own  business  was  so  shaken  by  the 
great  commercial  crisis  of  a  former 
day. 

Joseph  Peabody,  the  Salem  mer- 
chant, lost  between  one  and  two  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars,  by  the  failure 
of  Mr,  Williams,  the  American  banker 
of  London.  Yet,  so  far  from  bearing 
him  ill-will,  when  that  gentleman  re- 
turned to  Salem,  after  an  absence  of 
forty  years,  Mr.  Peabody,  then  at  a  very 
advanced  age,  painstakingly  crossed 
the  street,  and,  with  an  extended 
hand,  welcomed  him  to  his  native  city. 

"  When  you  meet  with  another  honest 
man  in  similar  circumstances,"  vrrote 
Dr.  Franklin  once  to  a  poor  man  whom 
he  had  generously  assisted,  "  you  must 
pay  me  by  lending  this  sum  to  Aim, 
enjoining  him  to  discharge  the  debt  by 
a  like  operation  when  he  shall  be  able, 
and  shall  meet  with  such  another 
opportunity.  This  is  a  trick  of  mine 
for  doing  a  deal  of  good  with  a  little 
money." 

Jacob  Lorillard  was  not  only  yery 
considerate  of  his'  own  debtors,  but  as 
much  so  of  others'  debtors.  One  who 
had  been  the  companion  of  his  youth, 
and  the  friend  of  his  age,  and  who, 
like  him,  had  been  blessed  with  pros- 
perity and  honor,  was  suddenly  over- 
taken with  calamity  and  threatened 
with    ruin.     When  he    received  the 


444 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


news,  he  was  affected  even  to  tears. 
This  shall  not  be,  said  he  ;  if  I  can  sus- 
tain him,  I  will  mortgage  my  property 
first — and  he  did  so.  He  immediately 
assumed  all  the  debts  of  his  friend  to 
a  particular  institution,  which  were 
heavy.  When  creditors,  knowing  the 
intimacy  which  had  subsisted  between 
them,  crowded  around  him  to  ascertain 
the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the  rumored 
failure,  he  simply  replied,  "Bring  me 
the  notes  which  are  due  to  you,  and  on 
the  usual  guaranty  I  will  pay  them." 
He  did  do  it,  to  a  large  amount ;  and 
by  the  aid  which  he  rendered,  and  the 
confidence  he  inspired,  he  not  only  sus- 
tained and  reestablished  his  friend, 
but  the  whole  profits  of  the  operation 
for  the  risk  which  he  incurred  were 
entirely  devoted  to  charity. 


Bougrli  Treatment  of  Insolvents. 

The  insolvent  debtor,  among  the 
Romans,  was  cut  to  pieces  and  dis- 
tributed among  his  creditors, — more 
barbarous  than  the  Thugs.  Even  in 
England,  the  bankrupt  was  formerly 
treated  as  a  criminal,  and  subjected  to 
personal  punishment.  In  Scotland,  till 
within  a  hundred  years,  they  set  the 
*'  dyvour  "  upon  a  pillory,  with  stock- 
ings of  various  colors,  to  subject  him 
to  the  scorn  of  the  multitude. 


Jewish  Traders,  and  Straw  Bail. 

"  Ake  you  worth  £1,800,  after  all  your 
debts  are  paid  ?  "  said  a  London  magis- 
trate to  a  Jew  trader,  who  had  been 
placed  before  him  by  an  attorney,  to 
justify  in  bail  for  one  of  his  roguish 
clients.  "  Eighteen  hundred  pounds," 
replied  the  Jew,  "is  a  great  deal  o' 
monish ;  I  haven't  got  half  so  much ; 
but  as  the  attorney  has  given  me  a 
twenty-pun'  note,  what  am  I  to  do 
with  it?"  "Put  it  in  your  pocket," 
said  the  judge.  The  old  Jew  folded  up 
the  bank-note  deliberately,  placed  it  in 
his  pocket,  and  retired. 


PMlanthroplc  Debtor. 

The  fine  moral  tone  and  exquisite 
sense  of  justice  of  a  certain  unfortunate 
debtor,  is  worthy  of  all  appreciation. 
He  was  in  the  kindly  benevolent  stage 
of  inebriety,  and  full  of  universal  phi- 
lanthropy and  exuberant  liberality. 
After  pouring  forth  his  warmest  desires 
to  make  all  men  happy,  he  wound  up 
thus :  "  And  if  I  owe  any  man  any- 
thing, I  freely  forgive  him  the  debt ! " 


Imperial  AfTection  for  a  Banker. 

One  of  the  tight  Jew  bankers,  in  the 
reign  of  Frederic,  being  fearful  of  sub- 
sidies and  loans,  sent  a  letter,  petition- 
ing the  king  "  to  allow  him  to  travel 
for  the  benefit  of  his  health,"  and  re- 
ceived the  following  tender  answer : 

"  Deak  Ephraim.  —  Nothing  but 
death  shall  part  us.    Fbederic." 

A  reply  pregnant  with  terrible  mean- 
ing to  the  poor  Israelite. 


Washingrton  Irvine's  Commercial 
Bankruptcy. 

Pkiob  to  1817,  Washington  Irving 
was  engaged  in  commercial  affairs  with 
his  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Van  Wart,  of 
Birmingham;  and  the  house  was  in 
that  year,  like  many  others,  subjected 
to  the  ruinous  effects  of  one  of  those 
extended  revulsions  of  trade,  which 
were  more  frequent  and  more  disas- 
trous then  than  in  recent  times.  la 
the  winter  of  1817-18  (says  Mr.  Lord, 
a  friend  of  Mr.  Irving),  being  in  Liver- 
pool at  the  crisis  of  those  calamities, 
I  passed  a  considerable  period  in  daily 
intercourse  with  Mr.  Irving.  Meeting 
him  one  morning  after  the  receipt  of 
letters  from  New  York,  I  observed  a 
smile  on  his  countenance,  and  con- 
gratulated him  on  the  receipt  of  what 
I  presumed  to  be  good  news  concern- 
ing his  affairs.  "  Yes,"  said  he,  "  I 
was  relieved :  I  feel  that  I  have  got 
down  to  hard  pan.    The  last  debts  on 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS, 


446 


which  I  relied  have  proved  bad ;  and 
in  that  respect  I  have  no  more  ill  news 
to  receive."  It  is  believed  that  it  was 
in  pursuance  of  suggestions  made  to 
him  by  Roscoe  the  banker  and  author 
of  the  lives  of  the  Medici  family  of 
merchants,  that  Mr.  Irving,  after  the 
bankruptcy  of  the  house  in  which  he 
was  a  partner,  determined  upon  his 
future  pursuit  as  a  writer  of  books. 


Granting:  an  Extension. 

Mr.  B.  had  failed ;  that  is,  a  series 
of  misfortunes  unlooked  for,  and  against 
which  it  was  impossible  to  provide,  had 
reduced  his  means,  so  that  he  was  un- 
able to  meet  his  engagements.  With 
a  gloom  of  mind  natural  under  the 
circumstances,  B.  prepared  to  meet  his 
creditors  and  give  them  satisfaction, 
so  far  as  he  was  able.  The  day  on 
which  they  assembled  at  his  counting- 
room  was  rainy  and  dreary — a  day  on 
which  a  single  gleaming  ray  of  the  sun 
would  have  been,  to  him,  a  blessing. 

The  creditors  were  gathered  around 
a  table,  and  with  gloomy  brows  they 
awaited  the  announcement  of  the 
amount  they  were  to  expect  upon 
each  dollar  they  had  advanced  to  the 
broken  merchant.  B.  appeared  with 
an  expression  of  resignation  upon  his 
countenance,  and  yet  it  was  not  diffi- 
cult to  perceive  the  suppressed  agony 
in  his  heart. 

For  a  time  there  was  a  silent  examina- 
tion of  books  and  papers,  as  each  credi- 
tor sought  to  ascertain  the  amount  for 
which  he  would  have  to  sufiFer.  Then, 
a  man  of  ready  sympathies,  to  whom 
this  silence  was  painful,  remarked,  "  It 
is  a  rainy  day."  "Yes,"  replied  B., 
and  there  was  now  a  beam  of  light 
on  his  countenance,  "  but  it  will  not 
always  be  rainy."  The  tone  and  nature 
of  this  expression  struck  the  sym- 
pathizing merchant,  and  he  almost 
immediately  arose,  and  proposed  that 
an  extension  should  be  granted,  to 
allow  B.  to  recover  from  his  disaster. 


There  was  but  little  discussion.  The 
proposition  was  received  with  general 
favor,  and  unanimously  agreed  to.  The 
result  of  this  extension  was,  that  B,  re- 
turned to  his  business  with  a  light 
heart,  labored  earnestly  and  devotedly, 
and  in  a  surprisingly  short  time  was 
enabled  to  pay  all  to  whom  he  was 
indebted. 


Breach  of  the  Bond. 

An  English  trader,  having  sustained 
a  heavy  loss,  began,  in  great  despair, 
to  denounce  his  calling,  and  to  declare 
that  he  would  never  follow  it.  One, 
for  some  tiifling  consideration,  pro- 
cured his  bond,  with  a  penalty,  not  to 
be  again  engaged  in  that  occupation. 
Afterward,  the  necessities  of  his  family 
forcing  him  to  a  breach  of  his  bond,  an 
action  was  brought  upon  the  penalty. 
On  the  facts  being  disclosed,  in  the 
trial  of  the  case,  the  judge,  who  seems 
to  have  been  a  firm  and  just,  but  im- 
petuous man,  is  reported  to  have  flown 
into  a  violent  passion,  and  given  this 
very  emphatic  opinion  in  Norman 
French  : — "  In  my  opinion  there  should 
have  been  a  demurrer,  because  the  obli- 
gation is  void,  and  the  condition  is 
against  the  common  law ;  and  by — ! 
if  the  plaintiff  were  here,  I  would  im- 
prison him  until  he  paid  a  fine  to  the 
king." 

— — • — 

Pay  or  Charge. 

There  was  a  landlord  in  Georgia, 
jolly  and  free-hearted,  but  his  wit  was 
often  blunt-pointed,  and  missed  fire. 
He  had  furnished  a  hurried  breakfast 
for  some  Southern  passengers  by  the 
cars — bustling  about,  with  all  sorts  of 
helter  skelter  sajdngs.  "  Qentlemen, 
here's  your  breakfast.  I've  seen  better, 
and  I've  seen  worse."  "  I  never  did 
see  much  worse,"  says  one  of  the  pas- 
sengers. The  landlord  was  taken 
down.  As  they  rose  to  pass  out,  ask- 
ing what  was  to  pay,  "Fifty  cents 


446 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


down,  or  a  dollar  when  we  charge  it," 
said  the  landlord,  with  emphatic  brev- 
ity. "  Well,  charge  it,  then,"  said  our 
grumbling  friend.  "  I'm  sold  ! "  said 
the  landlord — "  Go  on,  gentlemen,  I'll 
charge  it." 


Business  Value  of  a  Name. 

M.  Alexis  Benoit  Soyer,  the  pre- 
siding cook  of  the  Eeform  Club  in 
London,  had  become  so  famous  in  his 
line  of  business,  that  his  name  alone 
had  a  high  commercial  or  money  value. 
Of  this  the  law  reports  of  the  London 
journals  record  an  amusing  instance. 
One  Piper  &  Gibbs  entered  into  a 
partnership  for  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  a  beverage  invented  by  Piper, 
and  called  "  Tortont's  Amana."  After- 
ward a  Mr.  Baker  joined  the  concern, 
bringing  a  capital  of  five  thousand 
dollars.  Still  they  were  not  content. 
Tortoni  was  not  the  name  to  make 
men's  mouths  water  for  their  divine 
drink.  So  they  finally  induced  M. 
Soyer  to  join,  on  the  understanding 
that  he  was  to  have  one  third  of  the 
profits  for  allowing  the  drink  to  be 
called  "  Soyer'a  Nectary  The  concern 
in  this  way  became  so  flourishing  that 
the  other  partners  wished  to  cheat  the 
inventor  out  of  his  share  of  the  gains, 
resulting  in  a  suit  at  law. 


Treatment  of  CMnese  Bankruptcy. 

In  China,  the  merchants  doing  busi- 
ness on  a  particular  street  or  immediate 
neighborhood  are  associated  together 
for  immediate  protection,  counsel,  etc., 
under  the  name  of  the  Kai-fong.  In 
Canton,  there  are  several  thousands  of 
these  small  bodies. 

These  men,  in  the  event  of  a  bank- 
ruptcy occurring  among  them,  mark  the 
delinquent,  and  watch  lest  he  should 
ever  return  to  do  business  in  their  quar- 
ter. "  Gone  to  Hong  Kong,"  is  as  famil- 
iar a  phrase  applied  to  an  absconding 
debtor  in  Canton,  as  "  gone  to  Texas  " 


was  in  by-gone  days  to  a  northern  debtor 
on  his  sudden  withdrawal  from  his 
creditors.  On  the  shop  door  of  a  trader 
who  has  thus  "  vamosed,"  is  posted  a 
red  paper — an  ordinary  bill  made  out 
in  usual  form  by  some  creditor,  and 
thus  attached  to  the  house  as  a  formal 
demand  for  payment ;  this  is  followed 
in  a  few  days  by  many  others,  until  the 
shop  door  and  windows  completely 
glare  with  the  vermilion  hue.  And 
there  they  remain,  none  daring  to  re- 
move them,  continually  publishing  to 
every  passer-by  the  name  and  just  lia- 
bilities of  the  absconding  debtor.  The 
law  of  the  laud  gives  to  the  creditor 
the  right  to  sell  the  wife  and  children 
of  a  debtor  into  slavery,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  recourse  is  had  to  this  mode 
of  reimbursement ;  but  there  is  gener- 
ally a  dread  of  having  anything  to  do 
with  Chinese  officers  of  justice. 

If  the  delinquent  return,  the  Kai- 
fong,  as  a  body,  belabor  and  worry  him 
in  various  ways,  injure  his  credit,  inter- 
fere with  his  custom,  and,  by  many 
methods,  so  harass  him,  that  he  is 
obliged  to  quit.  And  even  should  he 
go  to  another  quarter  of  the  city,  the 
Kai-fong  of  that  neighborhood  are  soon 
posted  up,  and  the  bankrupt  is  com- 
pletely driven  away.  He  must,  of 
necessity,  go  to  another  city,  where 
he  is  not  known.  As  to  appealing  to 
the  police  for  help,  in  such  a  case,  it 
is  entirely  useless ;  the  Kai-fong  are 
too  powerful  to  fear  any  interference. 
It  is  not,  generally  speaking,  to  any 
settled  principle  of  honesty,  but  rather 
to  the  dread  of  the  commercial  disabili- 
ties involved,  that  these  Chinese  shop- 
keepers' wholesome  observance  of  sol- 
vency is  owing. 


Sharp  Hit  at  Repudiation. 

Shortly  after  that  startling  fact 
in  American  finance — the  repudiation 
of  the  Pennsylvania  bonds, — Sydney 
Smith  was  shown  a  lump  of  American 
ice,  upon  which  he  remarked, "  That  he 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


447 


was  glad  to  see  anything  solvent  come 
from  America ! " 


Obtainingr  a  Certificate  of  Bankruptcy. 

The  "Brothers  Cheeryble"  of  the 
novelist  are,  in  fact,  scarcely  over- 
charged portraits  of  two  real  English 
merchants ;  and  of  these  men  the  fol- 
lowing story  is  well  authenticated  : 

The  elder  brother  of  this  house  of 
merchant  princes  amply  revenged  him- 
self upon  a  libeller,  who  had  made 
himself  merry  with  the  peculiarities  of 
the  amiable  fraternity.  This  man  pub- 
lished a  pamphlet,  in  which  one  of  the 
brothers  (D.)  was  designated  as  Billy 
Button,  and  talking  largely  of  their 
foreign  trade,  having  travellers  who 
regularly  visited  Chowbent,  Bullock 
Smithy,  and  other  foreign  parts.  Some 
"kind  friend"  had  told  W.  of  this 
pamphlet,  and  W.  had  said  that  the 
man  would  live  to  repent  of  its  publi- 
cation. This  saying  was  in  turn  kind- 
ly conveyed  to  the  libeller,  who  said 
that  he  should  take  care  never  to  be  in 
their  debt.  But — the  man  in  business 
does  not  always  know  who  shall  be  his 
creditor.  The  author  of  this  pamphlet 
in  course  of  time  became  bankrupt,  and 
the  brothers  held  an  acceptance  of  his 
which  had  been  indorsed  by  the  draw- 
er, who  had  also  become  bankrupt. 
The  wantonly  libelled  men  had  thus 
become  creditors  of  the  libeller — they 
now  had  it  in  their  power  to  make 
him  repent  of  his  audacity.  He  could 
not  obtain  his  certificate  without  their 
signature,  and;  destitute  of  that,  he 
could  not  enter  into  business  again. 
He  had  secured  the  number  of  signa- 
tures required  by  the  bankrupt  laws, 
except  one. 

It  seemed  folly  to  hope  that  the  firm 
of  brothers  would  supply  the  important 
deficiency  in  question.  What  1  they 
who  had  been  cruelly  made  the  laugh- 
ing-stock of  the  public,  forget  the 
wrong,  and  favor  the  wrong-doer? 
He  despaired ;  but  the  claims  of  a  wife 


and  children  forced  him  at  last  to  make 
the  application.  Humbled  by  misery, 
he  presented  himself  at  the  counting 
room  of  the  wronged,  W.  was  there 
alone,  and  his  first  words  to  the  delin- 
quent were,  "  Shut  the  door,  sir  !  " 
sternly  uttered.  The  door  was  shut, 
and  the  libeller  stood  coweringly  be- 
fore the  libelled.  He  told  his  tale,  and 
produced  his  certificate,  which  was 
instantly  clutched  by  the  injured  mer- 
chant. 

"  You  wrote  a  pamphlet  against  us 
once  !  "  exclaimed  W.  The  supplicant 
expected  to  see  his  parchment  thrown 
into  the  fire  ;  but  this  was  not  its  des- 
tination. W.  took  a  pen,  and  writing 
something  on  the  document,  handed  it 
back  to  the  owner.  He,  poor  bank- 
rupt, expected  to  see  there,  "Rogue, 
scoundrel,  libeller  !  "  inscribed ;  but 
there  was,  in  fair,  round  characters,  the 
signature  of  the  firm  !  "  We  make  it 
a  rule,"  said  W.,  "  never  to  refuse  sign- 
ing the  certificate  of  an  honest  trades- 
man, and  we  have  never  heard  that  you 
were  anyihing  else."  The  tears  started 
into  the  poor  man's  eyes. 

"  Ah,"  said  W.,  "  my  saying  was  true, 
I  said  you  would  live  to  repent  writing 
that  pamphlet.  I  did  not  at  all  mean 
it  as  a  threat ;  I  only  meant  that  some 
day  you  would  know  us  better,  and 
would  repent  you  had  tried  to  injure  us. 
I  see  you  repent  it  now."  "  I  do — I  do," 
said  the  grateful  man.  "  Well,  well, 
my  dear  fellow,"  said  W.,  "  you  know 
us  now.  How  do  you  get  on  ?  What 
are  you  going  to  do  ?  "  The  poor  man 
stated  that  he  had  friends  who  would 
assist  him  when  his  certificate  was  ob- 
tained. "  But  how  are  you  oflF  in  the 
mean  time  ?  " — to  which  the  answer 
was,  that  having  given  up  everything 
to  his  creditors,  he  had  been  compelled 
to  stint  his  family  of  even  the  necessa- 
ries of  life,  that  he  might  be  enabled  to 
pay  the  cost  of  his  certificate.  "My 
dear  fellow,"  said  W.,  "  this  will  never 
do ;  your  family  must  not  sufier.  Be 
kind  enough  to  take  this  ten-pound 


448 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


note  to  your  wife  from  me.  There^ 
there,  my  dear  fellow — don't  sob ;  it 
will  be  all  well  with  you  yet.  Keep  up 
your  spirits,  set  to  work  like  a  man, 
and  you  will  raise  your  head  yet."  The 
overpowered  man  endeavored  in  vain 
to  express  his  thanks — his  tears  and 
emotions  forbade  words. 


Day  &  Martin— New  and  Old. 

On  the  death  of  the  surviving  part- 
ner of  the  celebrated  and  wealthy  firm 
of  Day  &  Martin,  blacking  manufac- 
turers, the  executors  continued  the 
business  and  the  name  of  the  old  firm, 
the  same  as  heretofore.  One  of  the 
original  Day's  nephews,  however,  soon 
after  associated  himself  with  a  person 
named  Martin,  and  set  up  a  blacking 
manufactory,  thus  using  the  old  firm's 
name,  and  labelling  their  bottles  in 
close  imitation  of  those  of  the  old  es- 
tablishment. The  genuine  blacking 
was  put  up  in  bottles,  with  a  label 
containing,  as  the  place  of  manufacture, 
the  words  "  97  High  Holborn."  The 
new  concern,  in  devising  the  cut  for 
their  label,  substituted  the  royal  arms 
for  those  of  the  original  firm,  and  in- 
serted "  90i  Holborn  Hill,"  in  place  of 
97  High  Holborn.  This  affair  led  to  a 
suit  at  law,  when  it  was  decided  that 
the  contrivances  of  the  new  concern 
were  calculated  to  lead  the  bulk  of  the 
unwary  public  into  the  impression  that 
that  concern  was  connected  with  the 
old  manufactory,  and  thus  to  benefit 
the  new  to  the  injury  of  the  old  estab- 
lishment; and  "No.  90i  Holborn  Hill" 
was  soon  among  the  things  that  were 
and  are  not. 


Sheridan's  Treatment  of  a  Creditor. 

Sheridan  had  for  some  years  hired 
his  carriage  horses  from  Mrs.  Edbrooke 
in  Clarges  street,  and  his  bill  was  a 
heavy  one.  Well,  Mrs.  Edbrooke 
wanted  a  new  bonnet,  and  blew  up  her 
mate  for  not  insisting  on  payment.  The 


curtain  lecture  was  followed  next  day 
by  a  refusal  to  allow  Mr.  Sheridan  to 
have  the  horses  till  the  account  was 
settled.  Mr.  S.  sent  the  politest  possi- 
ble message  in  reply,  begging  that  Mrs. 
Edbrooke  would  allow  his  coachman  to 
drive  her  in  his  own  carriage  to  his 
door,  and  promising  that  the  matter 
in  question  should  be  satisfactorily  ar- 
ranged. The  good  woman  was  de- 
lighted ;  dressed  in  her  best,  and  bill 
in  hand,  she  entered  the  M.  P.'s  chari- 
ot. Sheridan  had  meanwhile  given  or- 
ders to  his  servants.  Mrs.  Edbrooke 
was  shown  up  into  the  back  drawing 
room,  where  a  slight  luncheon,  of  which 
she  was  begged  to  partake,  was  laid 
out;  and  she  was  assured  that  her 
debtor  would  not  keep  her  waiting 
long,  though  for  the  moment  engaged. 
The  horse-dealer's  wife  sat  down  and 
discussed  a  wing  of  chicken  and  glass 
of  wine,  and  in  the  mean  time  her  vic- 
timizer  had  been  watching  his  oppor- 
tunity, slipped  down  stairs,  jumped 
into  the  vehicle,  and  drove  off.  !Mrs. 
Edbrooke  finished  her  lunch  and  wait- 
ed in  vain ;  ten  minutes,  twenty,  thirty 
passed,  and  then  she  gave  the  bell  a 
woman's  pull :  "  Very  sorry,  ma'am, 
but  Mr.  Sheridan  went  out  on  impor- 
tant business  half  an  hour  ago."  "  And 
the  carriage?"  "Oh,  ma'am,  Mr. 
Sheridan  never  walks  !  " 


Won't  Look  at  Him. 

That  eminent  and  excellent  Boston 
merchant,  Robert  G.  Shaw,  was  one 
day  met  by  a  gentleman,  who,  after  a 
brief  conversation,  asked  Mr.  S.  to  lend 
him  a  certain  sum  of  money,  as  he  was 
short  of  that  article — not  an  imcommon 
thing  with  said  individual,  as  with 
many  others.  Mr.  Shaw,  raising  his 
spectacles,  replied,  "  Yes,  sir,  with 
pleasure,  on  one  condition."  "  What 
is  that,  sir  ?  "  "  Why,  that  when  we 
next  meet,  you  will  turn  your  face 
toward  me,  look  pleasant,  and  not  turn 
away  !    I  lent  Mr. a  small  sum  of 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


449 


money,  about  a  month  ago,  and  ever 
since  that  time  he  has  cut  me,  most  de- 
cidedly. Meet  him  where  I  may,  on 
State  street.  Commercial  street,  or  in 
the  Exchange,  and  he  always  turns  his 
head  away.  When  I  lend  a  man  money, 
and  he  is  owing  me,  I  want  him  to  look 
me  full  in  the  face,  as  though  nothing 
had  happened ;  and  then  I  shall  be  wil- 
ling to  lend  him  again."  ' 


Ko  Use  for  Pistols. 

On  a  certain  occasion,  a  French  mer- 
chant from  Bordeaux,  who  had  a  house 
at  Barcelona,  where  he  resided,  receiv- 
ed, in  the  course  of  business,  a  large 
sum  of  money  from  a  Spanish  trader, 
at  a  time  when  he  was  much  embar- 
rassed in  his  affairs ;  he  was,  therefore, 
unwilling  to  receive  the  money,  and 
yet  fearful  to  refuse  it,  lest  his  credit 
should  be  shaken.  Shortly  afterward, 
he  failed  and  absconded.  His  creditor 
traced  him  to  Gibraltar,  and  thence  to 
Cadiz.  There  he  found  him  lying  sick, 
without  attendants,  in  a  garret.  On 
entering  the  room,  the  Spaniard  stern- 
ly demanded  his  debtor's  books.  Re- 
ceiving them,  he  sat  himself  down,  and 
spent  several  laborious  hours  examin- 
ing them,  referring  to  the  Frenchman 
merely  upon  points  where  he  wanted 
information.  When  he  had  completed 
this  investigation,  he  returned  the 
books  without  comment,  and  departed. 
Shortly  afterward  he  returned,  accom- 
panied by  a  physician,  and  had  his 
debtor  removed  to  a  comfortable  apart- 
ment, and  then  addressed  him  thus : 
"  I  am  satisfied  that  you  have  not  been 
guilty  of  fraud,  but  you  have  done  me 
a  great  wrong :  had  you  been  frank,  I 
should  have  enabled  you  to  hold  your 
ground.  Now  that  we  are  in  the  same 
boat,  let  me  know  how  much  will  ena- 
ble you  to  recommence  business."  The 
simi  being  specified,  he  said,  "  Well, 
you  shall  have  it,  on  condition  that 
you  pledge  me  your  word  of  honor 
that  you  wUl  not  leave  Spain  without 
29 


my  permission."  The  debtor  was  about 
to  give  vent  to  expressions  of  grati- 
tude, when  his  creditor  stopped  him : 
"  It  is  you,"  said  he,  "  who  have  ren- 
dered me  a  service,"  and,  unbuttoning 
his  coat,  showed  him  a  brace  of  pistols, 
adding,  "  one  of  these  was  for  myself." 


'Credit." 


Among  the  piquant  aphorisms  upon 
this  somewhat  shaky  topic  may  be 
mentioned  Lord  Alvanley's  description 
of  a  man  who  "  muddled  away  his  for- 
tune in  paying  his  tradesmen's  bills ;  " 
Lord  Orford's  definition  of  timber,  "  an 
excrescence  on  the  face  of  earth,  placed 
there  by  Providence  for  the  payment 
of  debts ; "  and  Pelham's  argument, 
that  "it  is  respectable  to  be  arrested 
for  debt,  because  it  shows  that  the 
party  once  had  credit." 


"  What  is  Sauce  for  the  Ooose  is,"  &c. 

EvEBYBODY  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
and  many  outside  of  that  village,  re- 
member how  actively  Mayor  Kings- 
land  exerted  himself  in  causing  various 
city  nuisances  to  be  abated,  during  his 
term  of  office.  Among  his  various  re- 
forms, he  caused  the  various  boxes, 
bales,  and  barrels  which  had  so  long 
encumbered  sidewalks,  in  the  business 
portion  of  the  city,  to  be  removed,  and 
any  merchant  caught  using  the  side- 
walk as  a  storehouse  was  forthwith 
made  to  pay  a  penalty  for  his  violation 
of  the  city  ordinance.  Many  mer- 
chants were  victims  of  the  mayor's  un- 
relenting adherence  to  the  laws,  and  a 
vast  improvement  was  certainly  mani- 
fest in  the  regions  of  the  old  "  burnt 
district."  But  it  proved  the  mayor's 
lot  to  play  in  the  same  meshes  which 
had  thus  involved  others.  While  the 
persons  employed  by  him  at  his  oil 
store  were  engaged  in  receiving  a  large 
consignment  of  oil,  his  neighbors  were 
taking  notes  and  entering  complaints 
at  the  mayor's  office  for  his  violations 


450 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


of  the  city  laws.  The  complaints  were 
well  founded,  the  proofs  abundant,  and 
before  the  well-directed  wrath  of  Kings- 
land  the  mayor  could  be  appeased, 
Kingsland  the  merchant  enriched  the 
city  treasury  some  three  hundred  dollars. 


Buying:  a  Pianoforte  Establishment. 

On  the  death  of  Mackay,  of  the  firm 
of  Chickering  &  Mackay,  the  Boston 
pianoforte  makers,  Mr.  C.  was  the  pur- 
chaser of  the  whole  concern,  amount- 
ing, it  is  believed,  to  more  than  half  a 
million  of  dollars.  The  condition  of 
sale  was,  Mr.  Chickering  was  to  give 
his  own  notes,  secured  by  mortgage  on 
the  premises.  Thus  the  security  was 
good,  although  perhaps  the  best  Mends 
of  Mr.  Chickering  scarcely  dared  to 
hope  he  would  ever  be  able  to  pay  a 
Bum  so  large.  It  was  divided  into  in- 
stalments, for  each  of  which  a  distinct 
note  was  given,  payable  "  on  or  before  " 
a  specified  day.  This  mode  of  making 
the  notes  was  indicated  by  Mr.  Chick- 
ering, and  to  which,  of  course,  no  ob- 
jection was  ofiered.  The  legal  adviser, 
however,  of  Captain  Mackay,  a  shrewd 
lawyer  and  a  Mend  also  of  Mr.  Chick- 
ering, intimated  his  scepticism  in  re- 
gard to  the  utility  of  the  permission  to 
pay  the  notes  "  before  "  they  came  due, 
by  playfully  asking  the  maker  of  them, 
if  he  efcefr  expected  to  pay  them  1  Mr. 
Chickering  without  hesitation  replied 
in  his  wonted  simplicity,  that  he  should 
not  have  given  them,  did  he  not  expect 
to  pay  them.  Accordingly,  all  of  these 
notes  were  paid,  as  they  became  due, 
till  the  agent  of  Captain  Mackay's  es- 
tate requested  that  they  might  remain, 
desiring  no  better  investment  than  the 
notes  themselves.  Yet,  shortly  subse- 
quent to  the  great  fire,  notwithstanding 
this  request,  the  notes  were  all  paid. 


Savine:  the  Credit  of  a  City :  Theodore 
Payne. 
In  the  gloomiest  days  that  San  Fran- 
cisco has  ever  known — when  the  city 


was  involved  in  debt  to  an  immense 
amount,  and  very  few  could  discern 
by  what  means  its  liabilities  could 
ever  be  met,  or  its  diflBculties  over- 
come— when  many  lost  all  confidence, 
and  even  left  the  place  in  despair — 
when  real  estate  had  deteriorated  in 
value  to  almost  nothing — when  the 
corporation  scrip  could  not  be  sold 
for  one  third  its  face  value — when,  in 
fact,  the  great  mass  of  the  population 
were  fast  relinquishing  all  hopes  of  its 
future  prosperity — there  was  one  mer- 
chant prince,  Theodore  Payne,  a  clear- 
sighted and  therefore  far-seeing  citizen, 
who  doubted  not  its  subsequent  great- 
ness. A  large  portion  of  the  city  prop- 
erty had  been  sold  at  sheriflPs  sale  im- 
der  executions  in  favor  of  the  creditors, 
at  mere  nominal  prices,  redeemable  six 
months  after  date  of  sale.  The  limited 
time  expired,  but  the  commissioners 
were  without  funds  to  redeem  the 
property.  Mr.  P.  took  a  deep  interest 
in  matters  thus  vitally  affecting  the 
credit  and  honor  of  the  city,  and  per- 
ceiving that  this  large  amount  of  prop- 
erty was  likely  to  be  inevitably  sacri- 
ficed, nobly  stepped  forward  and  offered 
the  needed  relief — drawing  his  check 
for  the  whole  sum,  which  was  gladly 
accepted.  "With  great  exertion  and 
persevering  tact  he  succeeded  in  call- 
ing the  attention  of  capitalists  to  the 
true  condition  of  things,  and  the  ulti- 
mate destiny  of  the  city  as  a  great  com- 
mercial metropolis  ;  and  the  advice  he 
gave  to  others  he  followed  himself,  and 
thus  became  one  of  the  wealthiest  citi- 
zens of  the  place. 


Death  of  an  old  Business  Favorite. 

CoRGAT,  in  his  "  Crudities,"  says  that 
he  saw  the  following  quasi-obituary 
inscription,  which  some  witty  rogue 
had  posted  up  :  *'  On  ne  loge  pas  ceans 
a,  credit :  car  il  est  morf — ^les  mauvais 
payeurs  I'ont  tu6." — ("Here  is  no 
lodging  upon  credit :  for  credit  is 
dead — ^bad  payers  have  killed  it.") 


AFRAID  OF  SHERIFFS  HAT. 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICL4.L  ASPECTS. 


451 


Friuli,  the  Florentine  Mercliant,  and 
his  Lost  Purse. 

A  PEASANT  once  entered  the  hall  of 
justice  at  Florence,  at  the  time  that 
Alexander,  duke  of  Tuscany,  was  pre- 
siding. He  stated  that  he  had  the 
good  fortune  to  find  a  purse  of  sixty 
ducats ;  and  learning  that  it  belonged 
to  Friuli  the  merchant,  who  offered  a 
reward  of  ten  ducats  to  the  finder,  he 
restored  it  to  him,  but  that  the  latter 
had  refused  the  promised  reward.  The 
duke  instantly  ordered  Friuli  to  be 
summoned  into  his  presence,  and  ques- 
tioned him  as  to  why  he  refused  the 
reward.  The  merchant  replied,  that 
he  conceived  the  peasant  had  paid 
himself;  for  although,  when  he  gave 
notice  of  his  loss,  he  said  this  purse 
only  contained  sixty  ducats,  it,  in  fact, 
had  seventy  in  it.  The  duke  inquired 
if  this  mistake  was  discovered  before 
the  purse  was  found.  Friuli  answered 
in  the  negative.  "Then,"  said  the 
duke,  "  as  I  have  a  very  high  opinion 
of  the  honesty  of  this  peasant,  I  am  in- 
duced to  believe  that  there  is  indeed  a 
mistake  in  this  transaction ;  for,  as  the 
purse  you  lost  had  in  it  seventy  ducats, 
and  this  which  he  found  contains  sixty 
only,  it  is  impossible  that  it  can  be  the 
same."  He  then  gave  the  purse  to  the 
peasant,  and  promised  to  protect  him 
agaiast  all  future  claimants. 


Wine  Merchant  at  his  Debtor's  Table. 

ChaTjIEB,  the  wine  merchant,  was 
Sheridan's  creditor  to  a  large  amount, 
and  had  stopped  supplies.  Sheridan 
was  to  give  a  grand  dinner  to  the  lead- 
ers of  the  Opposition,  and  had  no  port 
or  sherry  to  offer  them.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  day  fixed,  he  sent  for  Cha- 
lier,  and  told  him  he  wanted  to  settle 
his  account.  The  importer,  much 
pleased,  said  he  would  go  home  and 
bring  it  at  once.  "  Stay,"  cried  the 
debtor,  "will  you  dine  with  me  to- 
day ?    Lord ,  and  So-and-so 


are  coming."  Chalier  felt  flattered, 
and  readily  accepted.  Returning  to 
his  office  he  told  his  clerk  that  he 
should  dine  with  Mr.  Sheridan,  and 
therefore  leave  early.  At  the  proper 
hour  the  merchant  arrived  in  full  dress, 
and  was  no  sooner  in  the  house  than 
his  host  dispatched  a  message  to  the 
clerk  at  the  office,  saying  that  Mr.  Cha- 
lier wished  him  to  send  up  at  once 
three  dozen  of  Burgundy,  two  of  claret, 
two  of  port,  etc.,  etc.  Nothing  seemed 
more  natural,  and  the  wine  was  for- 
warded, just  in  time  for  dinner.  It  was 
highly  praised  by  the  guests,  who  ask- 
ed Sheridan  who  was  his  wine  mer- 
chant. The  host  bowed  graciously 
toward  Chalier,  gave  him  a  high  re- 
commendation, and  impressed  him 
with  the  belief  that  he  was  telling  a 
polite  falsehood,  in  order  to  secure  him 
other  customers.  Little  did  Chalier 
think  that  he  was  drinking  his  own 
wine,  and  that  it  was  not,  and  probably 
never  would  be,  paid  for ! 


Afraid  of  the  SheriiPs  Hat. 

C was  an  unfortunate  man,  so  far 

as  financial  and  business  matters  were 
concerned.  Bills  were  presented  to  him 
for  payment,  and  writs  served  upon  him 
so  often,  that  he  finally  became  desper- 
ate. One  warm  summer  day,  he  was 
passing  by  the  Skinpenny  North  Amer- 
ican Hotel,  on  the  steps  of  which  he 
aU  at  once  discovered  the  sheriff  stand- 
ing. Now  the  sheriff  was  a  portly  man, 
and  perspired  freely.  Accordingly  he 
took  off  his  hat  to  wipe  his  brow,  just 
as  the  unfortunate  individual  came 
alongside.     "For  Heaven's  sake,  Mr. 

Sheriff,  don't ! "  shrieked  C ;  "  shoot 

me,  stab  me,  but  don't  let  me  see  them 
''are  papers  !  " 

"  Them  'are  papers  "  didn't  happen 

to  be  in  the  hat  that  time,  and  C 

bore  the  laugh  willingly. 


452 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Jobbing  in  Debtors'  Shop-Lieases. 

SpECUiiATiON  in  shop-leases  is  a  favo- 
rite species  of  excitement  and  traffic 
with  a  certain  class  of  jobbers  in  Lon- 
don. The  plan  is  to  lend  money  at  a 
usurious  interest  upon  the  lease  of  a 
tradesman  in  difficulty ;  if  he  recovers 
his  position,  and  pays  oS  the  loan,  it 
is  not  a  bad  stroke  of  business  for  him ; 
but  if  he  fails,  and  goes  into  the 
"  Gazette,"  it  is  a  better  one,  as  the 
lease  is  sure  to  be  bought  at  a  good 
profit  by  some  one  in  the  same  line  of 
business,  who  on  the  strength  of  the 
bankrupt's  connection  added  to  his 
own,  hopes  to  do  better,  A  tradesman 
who  has  a  lease  can  always  make  money 
upon  it ;  and  there  are  a  prodigious 
number  of  leases  at  all  times  in  the 
hands  of  the  money  lenders.  Some- 
times it  comes  to  pass,  at  the  failure 
of  a  trader,  that  the  lease  of  his  shop 
forms  the  sum  total  of  the  assets  of 
the  bankrupt,  and  even  that,  it  may  be, 
is  mortgaged  for  its  fuU  value. 

Cabinet  of  Debtors'  Autographs. 

The  man  who,  in  the  late  *'  tin  pan- 
ic," or  crisis,  replied  to  the  remark  of 
a  polite  notary  "  that  he  had  brought 
a  notice  of  protest  for  five  thousand 
dollars,  probably  a  mistake," — "  Oh  1 
no,  a  regular  bu'stl" — tJuit  man  is 
almost  equalled  by  the  editor  of  a 
western  paper,  who  owes  a  bank  a 
thousand  dollars,  for  which  they  hold 
his  note.  The  wag  of  a  debtor  an- 
nounces it  thus  in  his  paper : — "  There 
is  a  large  and  rare  collection  of  auto- 
graphs of  distinguished  individuals  de- 
posited for  safe-keeping  in  the  cabinet 
of  the  Farmers'  and  Merchants'  Bank, 
each  possessing  an  additional  associa- 
tive value  from  being  accompanied 
with  a  note  in  the  hand-writing  of  the 
autographist.  We  learn  that  they  have 
cost  the  bank  a  great  deal  of  money. 
They  paid  over  a  thousand  dollars  for 
ours.    We  hope  great  care  is  exercised 


in  preserving  these  capital  and  interest- 
ing relics,  as,  should  they  be  lost,  we 
doubt  whether  they  could  be  easily 
collected  again.  Should  the  bank, 
however,  be  so  unfortunate  as  to  lose, 
we'll  let  them  have  another  at  half 
price,  in  consequence  of  the  very  hard 
times, — a  gain  of  five  hundred  dollars 
to  the  bank,  considering  that  they  had 
to  pay  us  a  thousand  for  our  first  auto- 
graph ! " 

♦ 

"Wouldn't  Steal  Indiana  Money  at 
Par." 

By  the  laws  of  Indiana,  the  jury  are 
obliged,  in  the  trial  of  all  indictments 
of  larceny,  if  they  find  the  defendant 
guilty,  to  estimate  the  value  of  the 
property  stolen ;  when,  if  the  amount 
is  five  dollars,  or  over,  the  penalty  is 
imprisonment  in  the  State  penitentiary. 
If  under  five  dollars,  the  culprit  is  only 
confined  in  the  county  jail. 

A  fellow  was  under  trial  for  stealing 
a  five-dollar  note  of  the  State  Bank  of 
Indiana ;  and  his  counsel,  finding  an 
acquittal  hopeless,  called  several  brokers 
to  testify  that  the  note  was  at  a  dis- 
count of  one  per  cent,  for  specie,  which 
testimony  the  prosecuting  attorney 
rebutted  by  calling  several  business 
men,  who  testified  that  they  were 
always  in  the  habit  of  receiving  and 
paying  such  notes  at  five  dollars. 

In  summing  up  and  giving  the  case 
to  the  jury,  the  prosecutor,  a  man  of 
little  cultivation  but  considerable 
shrewdness,  told  the  jury  that  this 
defendant  was  "  the  meanest  man  he 
ever  saw.  Why,  gentlemen  of  the 
jury,"  said  he,  "  I  have  practised  in 
the  courts  of  this  state  twelve  years, 
and  have  prosecuted  criminals  guilty  of 
all  sorts  of  crimes  and  meannesses,  but 
I  never  before  found  a  rascal  so  '  all 
fired '  mean,  that  he  wouldn't  be  wil- 
ling to  steal  Indiana  money  at  par  !  " 


Honest  Quaker  Bankrupt. 
A    PROMINENT    Quaker    merchant, 
having  through  accumulated  reverses 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


4811 


become  insolvent,  and  not  being  able 
to  pay  more  than  about  fifty  per  cent, 
on  his  creditors'  demands,  formed  a 
resolution,  if  fortune  favored  his  future 
endeavors,  to  pay  the  whole  amount, 
and  in  case  of  death  he  ordered  his 
sons  to  liquidate  his  debts  by  their 
joint  proportions.  His  life,  however, 
was  spared,  and,  after  struggling  with 
a  variety  of  difficulties, — for  his  liveli- 
hood chiefly  depended  on  his  own 
labor, — he  at  length  saved  sufficient 
to  satisfy  every  demand.  One  day,  the 
old  man  went  with  a  very  considerable 
sum  to  the  surviving  son  of  one  of  his 
creditors,  who  had  been  dead  thirty 
years,  and  insisted  on  paying  him  the 
money  he  owed  his  father,  which  he 
accordingly  did  with  heartfelt  satis- 
faction. 


Wiping  out  an  Old  Score. 

Mr. ,  a  Boston  merchant,  who 

was  unfortunate  in  business  thirty 
years  ago,  and  consequently  unable  at 
that  time  to  meet  his  engagements  with 
his  creditors,  after  more  than  twenty 
years  of  toil,  succeeded  in  paying  every 
creditor,  except  one  whose  residence 
could  not  be  ascertained,  the  whole 
amount  due  them.  During  those 
twenty  years  he  brought  up  and  edu- 
cated a  large  family  ;  but  still  he  owed 
one  of  his  former  creditors.  He  was 
not  satisfied  to  thus  keep  another's 
property;  he  made  inquiry,  and  re- 
ceived information  that  the  party  had 
died  some  years  since.  He  then  pur- 
sued his  inquiries  respecting  the 
administrator,  and  ascertained  his 
name  and  residence,  wrote  to  him, 
explained  the  circumstances  of  the 
debt,  and  requested  him  to  inform  him 
of  the  manner  in  which  he  would  receive 
the  money.  The  answer  to  this  was 
responded  to  by  a  remittance  of  the 
whole  amount,  principal  and  interest. 


James  G-.  King-,  the  Banker,  and  Lord 
Ashburton  :  Cause  of  Merchants 
Pailingr. 

In  the  year  1832,  James  G.  King,  the 
renowned  banker,  took  up  his  residence 
on  the  heights  of  Weehawken,  on  the 
Hudson  river,  where  he  had  previously 
bought  some  fifty  acres  of  land  and 
built  a  substantial  house.  The  beauty 
of  the  spot,  rough  and  unimproved  as 
it  was  when  he  purchased,  its  fine 
natural  forest,  and  its  great  capabili- 
ties, gave  ample  employment  to  his 
taste  and  his  means,  yet  never  tempted 
him  into  hasty,  excessive,  or  other  than 
gradual  and  measured  outlay  and  im- 
provement— a  sure  test  of  his  calm  and 
sober  judgment. 

The  late  Lord  Ashburton,  when 
walking  round  these  grounds  with 
Mr.  King,  and  listening  to  his  descrip- 
tion of  what  he  had  done  and  how 
long  he  had  been  doing  it,  and  of 
what  yet  might  be  done,  and  the  time 
it  would  require  to  accomplish  it,  said 
to  him  :  "  Half  the  failures  of  eminent 
London  merchants  have  been  occa- 
sioned by  the  ambition  to  have  a  fine 
place,  and  by  imdue,  excessive,  and 
hasty  expenditure  thereon;  but  I  see, 
by  the  manner  in  which  you  have  gone 
about  your  improvements,  that  you  are 
in  no  danger  from  that  source." 


Helping:  Girard  to  Collect  a  Debt. 

Mr.  Girard  was  once  waited  on  by 
a  gentleman,  who  said  :  "  Mr.  Girard, 
if  I  can  tell  you  how  you  can  make  a 
thousand  dollars,  will  you  give  me  five 
hundred  toward  our  new  church  ? " 
To  this  Mr.  Girard  readily  assented. 
The  gentleman  then  told  him  of  a  debt 
of  a  thousand  dollars,  which  he,  Girard, 
had  long  considered  dead,  but  which 
might  be  recovered  by  taking  certain 
steps.  The  debt  was  recovered  by  the 
means  thus  pointed  out,  and  Girard 
subscribed  the  five  hundred  dollars..     > 


454 


COMMERCIAL   AND   BUSINESS   ANECDOTES. 


Engrlish  Booksellers  and  American 
Customers. 

Daniel  Appleton  was  almost  the 
pioneer  American  bookseller  who  visit- 
ed England,  for  the  purpose  of  opening 
a  commercial  credit  in  that  country, 
and  the  result  proved  that  he  was  equal 
to  what  he  undertook. 

He  found  that  Americans  were  in  bad 
odor,  and  it  was  difficult  to  produce 
any  impression  which  would  counteract 
that  feeling.  He  called  on  one  large 
firm,  with  whom  he  wished  to  open  an 
account,  but  was  met  by  the  cold  reply, 
that  they  had  lost  too  much  by  Ameri- 
cans, and  made  up  their  minds  not 
to  trust  any  more  dealers  from  that 
country. 

Mr.  Appleton  at  once  replied,  "  You 
say  you  have  lost  money  by  Ameri- 
cans !  Will  you  be  kind  enough  to 
turn  to  the  accounts,  and  make  out 
bills  for  all  the  goods  sold  to  Ameri- 
cans, and  I  will  give  you  a  check  for 
the  amount  on  the  spot." 

The  English  publisher  was  complete- 
ly taken  aback,  and  could  not  believe 
what  he  had  heard. 

"Turn  to  the  accounts,"  says  Mr. 
Appleton,  "and  I  will  pay  every  bill 
that  you  have  lost  by  trusting  an 
American."  The  bookkeeper  was  call- 
ed and  told  oflF  the  debit  amounts  and 
names,  but  not  one  single  American 
firm  was  found.  Thej  were  all  Eng- 
lishmen ! 

After  that,  Mr,  Appleton  had  no 
difficulty  in  procuring  credit. 


John  J.  Audubon  and  John  J.  Astor. 

Among  the  subscribers  to  Audubon's 
magnificent  work  on  ornithology,  the 
subscription  price  of  which  was  one 
thousand  dollars  a  copy,  appeared  the 
name  of  John  Jacob  Astcw.  During 
the  progress  of  the  work,  the  prosecu- 
tion of  which  was  exceedingly  expen- 
sive, Mr.  Audubon,  of  course,  called 
upon  several  of  his  subscribers  for  pay- 


ments. It  so  happened  that  Mr.  Astor 
(probably  that  he  might  not  be  trou- 
bled about  small  matters)  was  not  ap- 
plied to  before  the  delivery  of  all  the 
the  letterpress  and  plates.  Then,  how- 
ever, Audubon  asked  for  his  thousand 
dollars;  but  he  was  put  off  with  one 
excuse  or  another. 

"  Ah,  M.  Audubon,"  would  the  own- 
er of  millions  observe,  "  you  come  at  a 
bad  time ;  money  is  very  scarce  ;  I  have 
nothing  in  bank ;  I  have  invested  all 
my  funds." 

At  length,  for  the  sixth  time,  Audu- 
bon called  upon  Astor  for  his  thousand 
dollars.  As  he  was  ushered  into  the 
presence,  he  found  William  B.  Astor, 
the  son,  conversing  with  his  father.  No 
sooner  did  the  rich  man  see  the  man  of 
art,  than  he  began — 

"Ah,  M.  Audubon,  so  you  have 
come  again  after  your  money.  Hard 
times,  M.  Audubon — money  scarce." 
But  just  then,  catching  an  inquiring 
look  from  his  son,  he  changed  his  tone : 
"  However,  M.  Audubon,  I  suppose  we 
must  contrive  to  let  you  have  some  of 
your  money,  if  possible.  William,"  he 
added,  calling  to  his  son,  who  had 
walked  into  an  adjoining  parlor,  "  have 
we  any  money  at  all  in  the  bank  ?  " 

"  Yes,  father,"  replied  the  son,  sup- 
posing that  he  was  asked  an  earnest 
question  relating  to  a  matter  which 
they  had  been  talking  about  when  the 
ornithologist  came  in,  "  we  have  two 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars 
in  the  Bank  of  New  York,  seventy 
thousand  in  the  City  Bank,  ninety 
thousand  in  the  Merchants',  ninety- 
eight  thousand  four  hundred  in  the 
Mechanics',  eighty-three  thousand — " 

"That'll  do,  that'll  do,"  exclaimed 
his  father,  interrupting  him.  "  It  seems 
that  William  can  give  you  a  check  for 
your  money." 


Crinkles  in  the  Credit  System. 

The  advantage  of  the  credit  system 
Ib  pretty  well  illustrated  in  the  follow- 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICLiL  ASPECTS. 


455 


ing  item :  In  one  of  the  interior  villages 
of  Wisconsin  is  a  tavern  keeper,  and  in 
the  same  place  an  honest  old  German 
blacksmith,  of  whom  the  former  relates 
that  he  employed  him  to  do  some  iron 
work,  and  paid  him  cash  for  it  at  the 
time ;  but  afterward  that  a  neighbor 
had  some  similar  work  done  on  time  for 
a  less  price;  he  inquired  the  reason 
therefor,  and  the  reply  was  as  follows : 
"  You  zee,  I  'ave  zo  much  scharge  on 
my  book,  and  I  zometimes  lose  urn, 
and  zo  ven  I  'ave  a  goot  cash  customer 
I  scharge  goot  price  ;  but  ven  I  puts  it 
on  my  book  I  do  not  like  to  scharge  zo 
much,  zo  if  he  never  pay  um  I  no  lose 
zo  mucli." 


Confidence  in  a  Debtor's  Promise. 

In ,  Connecticut,  Mr.  Ewing  had 

borrowed  twenty  dollars  of  his  neigh- 
bor. Squire  Robinson,  and  had  failed 
to  make  payment  according  to  promise. 
Two  or  three  times  he  had  failed ;  and 
at  length  he  told  the  squire  that  he 
would  certainly  pay  him  on  Saturday 
next,  if  his  life  was  spared  till  that 
day.  The  day  came  and  went,  and 
no  money  came.  The  next  morning, 
bright  and  early,  the  squire  sent  word 
to  the  sexton  of  the  church  that  Mr. 
Ewing  was  dead,  and,  as  was  custom- 
ary in  those  days,  the  bell  should  be 
tolled.  The  sexton  tolled  forty-nine 
times,  the  deceased  being  in  his  fiftieth 
year.  "  Who  is  dead  ?  "  the  neighbors 
asked.  "  Mr.  Ewing,"  said  the  sexton. 
But  in  the  course  of  the  morning  Mr. 
Ewing  was  out  as  usual,  on  his  way  to 
church,  and  learned  that  he  was  dead, 
and  the  town  had  been  told  of  it  when 
the  sexton  tolled  the  bell  in  the  morn- 
ing. The  joke  soon  leaked  out,  and 
the  next  day  the  squire  got  his  money. 


Staying'  his  Own  Debt. 

One  of  the  kindest-hearted  men  in 
the  world,  probably,  is  Squire  Paul,  of 
Nashville.    The  squire  is  a  rich  man. 


has  tenants,  sells  property,  and  has 
many  debts  owing  to  him.  His  agent 
sued  a  man  for  a  debt,  and  according 
to  law  the  debt  must  be  paid  when 
judgment  was  rendered,  or  "  stayed  " 
by  some  good  man  becoming  security 
for  the  payment  of  the  debt,  interest, 
and  costs  at  the  end  of  eight  months. 
The  "poor  party"  applied  to  Squire 
Paul  to  stay  a  debt  for  him,  and,  ac- 
cording to  custom,  the  squire  could  not 
say  no,  but  complied  ;  and  thus,  much 
to  the  agent's  disgust,  became  the  stay- 
er of  his  own  debt. 


Jury  Deliberations  on  a  Ilailroa.d 
Case. 

"  Once  on  a  time,"  a  case  was  tried 
before  the  Wisconsin  Circuit  Court, 
against  a  railroad  company.  The 
plaintiff  had  sold  to  the  company  in 
former  years  a  piece  of  land  for  about 
$1,000,  and  was  to  take  his  pay  in  the 
stock  of  the  company,  if  delivered 
within  a  certain  time.  It  was  proved 
on  the  trial  of  the  cause,  that  the  stock 
was  delivered  to  the  agent  of  plaintiff, 
but  not  till  long  after  the  time  agreed 
upon,  and  it  had  thus  depreciated,  so 
as  to  be  almost  worthless.  The  plain- 
tiff, in  consequence,  refused  to  accept 
it  as  pay,  and  brought  his  suit  for  the 
value  of  the  land.  There  was  consider- 
able said  in  the  progress  of  the  cause 
about  this  stock,  etc.,  but  the  attorney 
for  the  defendant  contented  himself 
with  excepting  to  certain  rulings  of 
the  judge,  and  when  the  case  went  to 
the  jury,  knowing  that  imder  the 
rulings  of  the  Court  the  plaintiff  had 
made  a  complete  case,  declined  making 
any  argument  to  the  jury.  The  jury 
retired.  To  the  astonishment  of  the 
bar,  and  everybody  else,  they  were 
out  a  long  while,  but  they  finally  re- 
turned a  verdict  for  the  plaintiff  for  all 
he  claimed.  Considerable  curiosity  was 
manifested  to  know  the  reason  why  the 
jury  delayed  so  long  in  finding  a  ver- 
dict in  so  plain  a  case.  One  of  the  jury 


456 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


finally  let  the  secret  escape.  It  appears 
that  Jemmy  Mann  was  on  that  jury. 
Jemmy  had  dealt  some  in  cattle,  etc., 
but  not  largely  in  law,  nor  did  he 
know  much  about  railroads.  After  the 
jury  retired,  the  first  ballot  showed 
eleven  to  one — eleven  for  plaintiff  and 
one  for  defendant.  Several  ballots  were 
taken  with  the  same  effect.  After  some 
investigation,  it  was  ascertained  that 
Jemmy  was  the  man  who  was  for  the 
defendant.  His  reason  for  voting  in 
this  way  was  demanded.  '.'  And  sure," 
replied  Jemmy,  "  would  you  be  after 
paying  a  man  twice  for  his  land  ? 
Didn't  the  witness  say  that  the  plain- 
tiff had  received  his  pay  in  stock;  and 
wouldn't  I  like  to  know  what  he  did 
with  the  cattle,  before,  as  an  honest 
man,  I  can  vote  for  giving  him  any 
more  ?  "  It  took  some  time  to  make 
Jemmy  understand  the  difference  be- 
tween railroad  stoclc,  at  fiileen  cents  on 
the  dollar,  and  horses  and  cattle,  etc. ; 
but  he  finally  yielded  to  the  persisten- 
cy of  the  eleven  obstinate  men  who 
were  for  the  plaintiff,  and  who  didn't 
seem  to  care  what  he  had  done  with 
the  "  cattle." 


Stealing:  Goods  at  the  Betail  Price. 

At  a  session  of  the  Circuit  Court  in 
Pepin  County,  Wisconsin,  a  criminal 
was  on  trial  for  grand  larceny — the  in- 
dictment charging  the  stealing  of 
sundry  articles  of  dry  goods,  clothing, 
etc. — and  the  amount  proved  to  be 
stolen  was  but  little  more  than  sufll- 
cient  to  make  the  required  amount  ne- 
cessary to  sustain  the  indictment  for 
grand  larceny.     The  jury  fomid  him 

guilty ;  and  Judge  W ,  presiding, 

asked  him  if  he  had  anything  to  say 
why  he  should  not  proceed  to  pro- 
nounce sentence.  The  prisoner  quietly 
remarked  that  he  thought  the  goods 
were  valued  too  high,  and  that  they 
ought  to  charge  them  at  cost.    Judge 

W replied  that  the  construction 

of  the  law  was  such  that  a  prisoner 


could  not  steal  at  cost,  but  only  at  the 
retail  price  ;  and  he  was  thereupon  sen- 
tenced to  be  sent  to  the  State  prison 
for  two  years. 


Certificates  of  Solvency. 

The  moral  of  the  following  is  to  pay 
as  you  go ;  and  if  you  can't,  don't  go 
at  all.     (  Vide  "  Hakper.") 

One  of  the  legal  fraternity  of  the 
village  of  Cohoes  is  a  man  who  not 
many  years  ago  earned  his  bread  and 
butter  by  making  boots  and  shoes; 
but  having  been  assured  by  an  itine- 
rant phrenologist  that  he  had  mistaken 
his  calling,  he  applied  himself  to  the 
study  of  law,  and  in  due  time  "  de- 
scended from  the  bench  to  the  bar." 
Finding  it  impossible  in  his  new  voca- 
tion to  make  both  end»  meet,  he  was 
not  unfrequently  annoyed  by  brief  and 
uncourteous  notes,  reminding  him  of 
long-forgotten  notes  that  needed  some- 
thing to  place  them  in  equilil/rio.  One 
of  these  was  (unfortunately,  as  the  se- 
quel will  show)  thrust  in  his  coat 
pocket  and  forgotten.  Having  ex- 
hausted his  credit  among  the  tailors 
of  Cohoes,  he  attempted  to  "  stick " 
Messrs.  Tape  and  Linen,  of  Albany.  A 
coat  having  been  made  according  to 
his  order,  he  called  to  take  it  away, 
at  the  same  time  remarking  that  "  he 
would  send  his  check  for  the  amount 
next  week."  To  this  the  senior  part- 
ner replied  that,  "although  it  was 
probably  all  right,  yet,  as  he  was  an 
entire  stranger,  they  could  not  be  con- 
sidered unreasonable  if  they  required 
some  sort  of  reference  before  allowing 
the  coat  to  be  taken  from  the  shop." 
The  propriety  of  this  was,  after  a 
slight  affectation  of  wounded  pride, 
admitted ;  and  our  seedy  counsellor 
left  in  search  of  a  certificate  of  solven- 
cy. Having  finally  secured  the  neces- 
sary document,  he  returned  to  the 
scene  of  his  late  discomfiture,  and  with 
an  air  of  triumph  drew  an  envelope 
from  his  pocket,  threw  it  on  the  coun- 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


457 


ter,  and  requested  Mr.  Tape  to  "  read 
that."  The  latter  gentleman  complied, 
and  read  as  follows  : 

"  ConoES,  October  25, 1853. 

«'  J M ,  Esq. : 

"  Sir  :  Inclosed  find  our  bill  of  $43 
against  you,  for  clothing  furnished 
nearly  two  years  ago.  Unless  paid  at 
once,  it  will  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
an  attorney  for  collection. 

"  Yours,  etc.,    Jones  &  Mason." 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  when  the 
above  note  was  handed  back  with  the 
remark  that  there  had  evidently  been 
some  mistake,  the  counsellor  left  the 
store  very  abruptly,  and  in  a  style  that 
contrasted  most  ludicrously  with  that 
in  which  he  entered. 


Suit  against  a  Railroad  Company. 

In  a  city  not  one  hundred  miles  from 
New  York,  the  president  of  one  of  the 
city  railroads  was  informed  by  his 
counsel  that  a  suit  was  commenced 
against  his  company  by  a  neighboring 
corporation.  The  counsel  stated  that 
the  suit  was  by  hill  in  equity.  Not 
being  familiar  with  law  terms,  he  was 
heard  informing  a  number  of  his  broth- 
er presidents  of  the  suit  in  question, 
which  he  said  most  sincerely  was  hy 
JnU  of  iniquity  !  That  he  came  so  near 
the  truth  in  the  novel  statement,  made 
some  amusement  to  the  parties  listen- 
ing to  him. 


Unexpected  Judgrment  against  Bank 
Birectors. 

One  of  the  most  curious  legal  and 
criminal  events  in  the  history  of  the 
Bank  of  England  occurred  in  the  year 
1819.  Mr.  Ransom,  an  engraver,  hav- 
ing paid  a  one-pound  note  to  a  Mr. 
Mitchener,  the  latter  found  it  was  de- 
tained by  the  bank,  upon  the  ground 
of  its  being  a  forgery.  Upon  this,  Mr. 
Mitchener  claimed  a  repayment  of  the 
amount  from  Mr.  Ransom,  which  was 


refused  until  the  return  of  the  note. 
Mr.  M.  immediately  summoned  him, 
and  procured  the  attendance  of  Mr. 
Fish,  an  inspector  of  the  bank,  with 
the  note  in  question.  Ransom  request- 
ed to  look  at  it,  and  permission  having 
been  granted,  he  deliberately  placed  it 
in  his  pocket,  and  avowed  his  inten- 
tion of  keeping  it.  An  appeal  to  the 
magistrate  was  of  no  avail,  as  he  de- 
clined to  interfere ;  on  which  Ransom 
went  to  Mitchener's  house,  and  paid 
the  twenty  shillings. 

This  style  of  treatment  was  rather 
too  decided  for  the  bank  quietly  to 
permit,  and  Fish — it  is  presumed  at 
the  instigation  of  the  directors — made 
a  charge  in  writing  against  Ransom, 
for  knowingly  having  a  forged  note  in 
his  possession.  On  this  the  magistrate 
committed  him,  to  remain  till  duly  dis- 
charged by  law.  After  a  few  days'  in- 
carceration, he  was  liberated  on  bail. 
Mr.  Ransom,  however,  was  not  to  be  so 
quietly  dismissed.  He,  in  turn,  brought 
an  action  for  false  and  malicious  im- 
prisonment against  Fish ;  and,  after 
producing  several  witnesses,  the  evi- 
dence of  whom  went  to  show  that  the 
note  was  genuine,  and  no  person  being 
present  from  the  bank  to  prove  the 
contrary,  as  the  directors  were  quite 
unprepared  for  this  statement,  the  jury 
brought  in  a  verdict  for  the  plaintiff 
of  £100.  Previous  to  this  period,  it 
had  always  been  the  practice  of  the 
bank  to  detain  the  forged  notes  which 
were  offered  to  them  for  payment,  with 
the  view  of  saving  the  public  from  be- 
ing again  imposed  upon.  Since  the 
circumstances  enumerated,  however,  the 
notes  have  been  returned  to  the  parties 
presenting  them;  the  same  beneficial 
result  being  obtained  by  stamping  the 
word  "forged"  upon  them  in  several 
places.  , 

Deciding  a  Case  in  Botany  before  a 
Dutch  ICagistrate. 

An  English  amateur  botanist,  while 
travelling  in  Holland  when  the  tulip 


458 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


fever  was  raging,  and  being  quite  a 
novice  in  tuberous  plants,  happened 
one  day  to  see  a  tulip  root  lying  in  the 
conservatory  of  a  wealthy  Dutch  mer- 
chant. Being  ignorant  of  its  quality, 
he  took  out  his  penknife  and  peeled  off 
its  coats,  with  the  view  of  making  ex- 
periments upon  it.  When  it  was  by 
this  means  reduced  to  half  its  original 
size,  he  cut  it  into  two  equal  sections, 
making  all  the  time  many  learned  re- 
marks on  the  singular  appearance  of 
the  unknown  bulb.  Suddenly  the 
owner  pounced  upon  him,  and  with 
fury  in  his  eyes,  and  stamping  with  ex- 
citement, asked  the  amazed  botanist  if 
he  knew  what  he  had  been  doing  ? 

"  Peeling  a  most  extraordinary  on- 
ion," replied  the  philosopher. 

"  Hundert  tauserid  duyvel,'*^  said  the 
Dutchman,  "  it's  an  Admiral  Van  der 
EycTc  !  » 

"  Thank  you,"  replied  the  traveller, 
taking  out  his  note  book  to  make  a 
memorandum  of  the  same  ;  "  are  these 
admirals  common  in  your  country  ?  " 

"  Death  and  the  devil,"  said  the  Dutch- 
man, seizing  the  astonished  man  of  sci- 
ence by  the  collar,  "  come  before  the 
syndic,  and  you  shall  see." 

In  spite  of  his  remonstrances,  the 
traveller  was  led  forthwith  through  the 
streets,  followed  by  a  mob  of  persons. 
When  brought  into  the  presence  of  the 
magistrate,  he  learned,  to  his  consterna- 
tion, that  the  root  upon  which  he  had 
been  quietly  experimenting  was  worth 
four  thousand  florins ;  and,  notwith- 
standing all  he  could  urge  in  extenua- 
tion, he  was  lodged  in  prison  until  he 
found  securities  for  the  payment  of  this 
sum. 


Artifice  to  Escape  Bankruptcy. 

The  expedition  of  Charles  Edward 
fills  a  conspicuous  page  in  the  history 
of  England.  It  was  as  romantic  as  it 
was  remarkable,  and  struck  a  panic 
into  the  commercial  heart  of  England. 
Landing  in  the  wilds  of  Moidart,  at- 


tended by  only  seven  devoted  men,  the 
prize  at  which  he  aimed  was  a  king- 
dom. His  march  was  one  scene  of  tri- 
umph. With  but  a  solitary  guinea  in 
his  pocket,  the  gallant  adventurer  en- 
tered the  fair  city  of  Perth.  From 
Perth  he  passed  on  to  the  capital  of 
Scotland — the  lofty  loyalty  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Scotland  responding  to  the 
claims  of  the  unfortimate  house,  and 
the  tartan  of  the  clan  Stuart  waving  a 
joyous  welcome  from  street  and  square 
of  the  city  of  palaces.  The  person  of 
the  Pretender,  his  chivalrous  adven- 
ture, his  princely  bearing,  won  him 
golden  opinions.  Men  fought  for  him. 
Women  embraced  him.  At  Doune 
some  Scottish  lasses  kissed  his  hand; 
and  one,  with  the  romantic  enthusiasm 
of  girlhood,  begged  permission  to  kiss 
the  royal  lips.  The  favor  was  gracious- 
ly granted  by  the  young  chevalier,  who, 
taking  the  loyal  lady  in  his  arms,  kissed 
her  blushing  face  from  ear  to  ear,  to 
the  great  vexation  of  the  other  ladies, 
who  had  been  contented  with  a  less 
liberal  allowance  of  his  princely  grace. 
When,  therefore,  Carlisle  had  capitu- 
lated, when  Pearith  was  invested,  and 
Manchester,  with  its  thirty  thousand 
inhabitants,  "  was  taken  by  a  sergeant, 
a  drummer,  and  a  girl,"  dismay  pos- 
sessed all  hearts.  London  expected,  at 
once,  to  witness  the  triumphant  entry 
of  the  rebel  army,  the  seizure  of  her 
treasure,  and  the  plunder  of  her  citi- 
zens. Substantial  traders  exaggerated 
the  alarm  thus  spread  throughout  the 
shops  and  the  counting  houses ;  and 
the  merchants  outvied  each  other  in 
liberal  subscriptions — for  the  Pretend- 
er was  already  at  Derby. 

The  effect  of  this  alarming  state  of 
things  upon  the  national  bank  was  as 
usual.  Its  interests  were  closely  in- 
volved in  those  of  the  State ;  and  the 
creditors  flocked  in  crowds  to  obtain 
payment  for  their  notes.  The  direct- 
ors, unprepared  for  such  a  casualty, 
had  recourse  to  a  justifiable  artifice. 
The  Chevalier    Johnston,  whose    evi- 


THEIR  LEGAL  AND  JUDICIAL  ASPECTS. 


459 


dence  was  collected  immediately  after 
the  battle  of  CuUoden,  says,  that  the 
bank  only  escaped  hankruptcy  Jyy  a  strat- 
agem. Payment  was  not  refused,  but 
the  corporation  retaiued  its  specie,  by 
employing  agents  to  enter  with  notes, 
who,  to  gain  time,  were  paid  in  six- 
pences; and  as  those  who  came  first 
were  entitled  to  priority  of  payment, 
the  agents  went  out  at  one  door  with 
the  specie  they  had  received,  and 
brought  it  back  to  another,  so  that  the 
hma  fide  holders  of  notes  could  never 
get  near  enough  to  present  them.  By 
this  artifice,  the  bank  preserved  its 
credit,  and  literally  faced  its  creditors. 
History  records  the  retreat  of  the  young 
Pretender  from  Derby,  the  news  of 
which  stopped  the  run. 


Failure  of  the  Governor  of  the  Bank 
of  England. 

In  1834  a  great  sensation  was  created 
throughout  England  by  a  circumstance 
which  was  only  important  from  its  in- 
cidental connection  with  the  Bank  of 
England.  Mr.  Richard  Mee  Raikes, 
governor  of  the  bank,  a  gentleman 
universally  respected,  was  compelled, 
from  various  unforeseen  events,  to  an- 
nounce a  suspension  of  payments,  which 
was  followed  by  the  appearance  of  his 
name  in  the  list  of  bankrupts.  The 
rumor  spread  among  the  less-informed 
class — among  the  dwellers  in  the  sub- 
urbs, and  the  inhabitants  of  the  coun- 
try, that  the  governor  of  the  bank  had 
failed.  The  annuitants  and  small  class 
of  fund-holders,  who  look  upon  the 
head  of  the  establishment  as  an  inte- 
gral part  of  the  corporation,  regarded 
their  fortunes  gone,  and  their  property 
forfeited.  The  autumn  dividends  were 
just  due:  and  it  was  remarkable  to 
witness  the  earnestness  with  which 
they  were  applied  for.  The  oflBces 
were  crowded  with  applicants;  and, 
if  the  slightest  delay  occurred,  though 
occasioned  by  their  own  ignorance, 
they  regarded  it  as  an  invidious  delay 


of  their  rights,  and  a  confirmation  of 
their  fears.  Time,  however,  in  this  as 
in  other  things,  brought  "  healing  on 
its  wings,"  and  confidence  to  the  breasts 
of  public  creditors. 


Subscriptions  for  the  Govermuent  by 
Philadelphia  Herchants. 

At  a  critical  period  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  when  there  was  great 
danger  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Ameri- 
can army,  for  want  of  provisions  to 
keep  it  together,  a  number  of  patriotic 
gentlemen  in  Philadelphia — principally 
the  bankers  and  merchants— subscribed 
to  the  amount  of  some  two  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  pounds,  payable  in 
gold  and  silver,  for  procuring  them. 
This  movement  was  considered  nearly 
equivalent  to  assuming  the  debt  of  the 
Government,  and  was  in  the  highest 
degree  creditable  to  the  mercantile 
community.  The  provisions  were  pro- 
cured. The  two  highest  subscriptions 
were  those  of  Robert  Morris,  for  £10,- 
000,  and  Blair  McClenachan,  £10,000. 
Thomas  Willing  subscribed  £5,000.  Mr. 
Willing,  and  his  associate  in  commerce, 
Robert  Morris,  as  well  as  his  connec- 
tion, Mr.  Clymer,  were  all  members  of 
Congress  of  1776.  To  the  great  credit 
and  well-known  patriotism  of  the  house 
of  Willing  &  Morris,  the  country  owed 
its  extrication  from  those  trying  pecu- 
niary embarrassments  so  familiar  to  the 
readers  of  our  Revolutionary  history. 
The  character  of  Mr.  Willing  has  been 
thought  to  resemble,  in  many  respects, 
that  of  Washington ;  and  in  the  discre- 
tion of  his  conduct,  the  fidelity  of  his 
professions,  and  the  great  influence, 
both  public  and  private,  which  belong- 
ed to  him,  the  destined  leader  (Wash- 
ington) was  certain  to  find  the  elements 
of  an  affinity  by  which  they  would  be 
united  in  the  closest  manner. 


Iiafayette's  Loan  to  Matthew  Carey. 
After  passing  through  many  strik- 
ing experiences  as  a   politician   and 


460 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


journalist  abroad,  Matthew  Carey  land- 
ed in  Philadelphia  on  the  1st  of  No- 
vember, 1784 ;  and,  while  he  was  yet 
contemplating  a  removal  to  the  coun- 
try, until  sufficient  funds  should  be  re- 
ceived from  the  sale  of  his  newspaper 
in  Dublin  (which  place  he  found  it 
prudent  to  leave,  in  view  of  the  Gov- 
ernment prosecution  for  libel  which 
hung  like  a  drawn  sword  over  his 
head)  to  enable  him  to  engage  in  busi- 
ness, the  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  having 
heard  of  his  arrival,  desired  that  he 
should  call  upon  him.  The  marquis 
previously  aware  of  the  persecutions  he 
had  suffered,  and  admiring  his  noble 
spirit,  made  inquiries  of  him  as  to  his 
future  plans  and  prospects.  On  stating 
that  it  was  his  intention,  at  as  early 
a  day  as  possible,  to  establish  a  news- 
paper, Lafayette  entered  fully  into 
the  project,  and  promised  him  such 
influence  as  he  could  command 
with  Robert  Morris,  Thomas  Fitzsim- 


mons,  and  other  leading  men  in  that 
region. 

On  the  following  morning,  Mr.  Carey 
was  surprised  at  receiving  a  letter  from 
Lafayette,  containing  the  sum  of  four 
hundred  dollars.  This  was  the  more 
remarkable  from  his  not  having  said  a 
word  about  desiring  to  borrow,  or  in 
any  way  to  receive  money  from  the 
marquis — no  such  thought  having  en- 
tered his  mind.  This  sum  of  money — 
the  fabric  upon  which  it  may  be  said 
Mr.  Carey  built  his  fortune,  first  as  a 
journalist  and  then  as  a  printer  and 
bookseller — he  considered  it  a  solemn 
duty  to  repay,  in  assisting  Frenchmen 
in  distress;  which  he  did,  fully  and 
amply.  While  it  was  not  the  desire  of 
Lafayette  that  it  should  be  regarded  in 
the  light  of  a  loan,  but  as  a  free  gift, 
Mr.  Carey,  in  after  years,  consigned  to 
him  an  invoice  of  tobacco,  besides,  on 
his  arrival  in  New  York,  in  1834,  re- 
paying him  the  entire  amount. 


PART  NINTH. 


Anecdotes  of  Merchants,  Bankers,  Traders,  Aim 

MiLLIONNAIRES,  IN  THEIR  DOMESTIC  RELATIONS. 


PAET  E'ES'TH. 

Anecdotes  of  Merchants,  Bankers,  Traders,  and  Millionnaires,  in 
their  Domestic  Eelations. 

PERSONAL  APPEARANCE,  MANNERS,  CONVERSATION,  TASTES,  SOCIAL  TRAITS  AND  HABITS ;  PE- 
CULIAR EXPERIENCES ;  GENIAL  SALLIES,  JESTS,  AND  JOCULARITIES ;  LAST  HOURS,  WILLS, 
ETC. 


Domestic  happiness,  thou  only  hliss 

Of  paradise  that  hath  survived  the  fall  I 

Cowper's  "Task." 
No  money  is  tetter  spent  than  what  is  laid  out  for  domestic  satisfaction.— Johnson. 
A  man  that  knows  how  to  mix  pleasures  with  business,  is  never  entirely  possessed  by  them.— St. 

EVBBMOMD. 

He  is  80  full  of  pleasant  anecdote — 
So  rich,  so  gay,  so  poignant  in  his  wit, 

Baillie's  "Db  Montford." 
What  you  leave  at  your  death,  let  it  be  without  controversy ,  else  the  lawyers  will  be  your  heirs. 

— OSBORN. 

The  grave  is  the  common  treasury  to  which  we  must  all  be  taxed.— Buekk. 


Baring's  Daugrhter  and  M.  Labou- 
chere. 

In  1822,  M.  Laboucheke,  then  a  clerk 
in  the  banking  house  of  Hope  &  Co., 
Amsterdam,  was  sent  by  his  patrons  to 
Mr.  Baring,  the  London  banker,  to  nego- 
tiate a  loan.  He  displayed  in  the  affair 
so  much  ability,  as  to  entirely  win  the 
esteem  and  confidence  of  the  great 
English  financier. 

"  Faith  I "  said  Labouchere  one  day 
to  Baring,  "  your  daughter  is  a  charm- 
ing creature ;  I  wish  I  could  persuade 
you  to  give  me  her  hand." 

"Toung  man,  you  are  joking;  for 
seriously,  you  must  allow  that  Miss 
Baring  could  never  become  the  wife  of 
a  simple  clerk." 

"  But,"  said  Labouchere,  "  if  I  were 
in  partnership  with  Mr.  Hope  1 " 

"  Oh  !  that  would  be  quite  a  differ- 
ent thing;  that  would  entirely  make 
up  for  all  other  deficiences." 

Returned  to  Amsterdam,  Labouchere 


said  to  his  patron,  "  You  must  take  me 
into  partnership." 

"  My  young  friend,  how  can  you 
think  of  such  a  thing  ?  It  is  impossi- 
ble.   You  are  without  fortune,  and  " — 

"  But  if  I  became  the  son-in-law  of 
Mr.  Baring  ? " 

"  In  that  case  the,  affair  would  be 
soon  settled,  and  so  you  have  my 
word." 

Fortified  with  these  two  promises, 
M.  Labouchere  returned  to  England, 
and  in  two  months  after  married  Miss 
Baring,  because  Mr.  Hope  had  promised 
to  take  him  into  partnership ;  and  he 
thus  became  allied  to  the  house  of 
Hope  &  Co.  His  was  a  magnificent 
career. 


Domestic  Trouble  of  Bothschild. 

At  the  time  of  the  decease  of  Baron 
Rothschild's  grandson,  a  very  young 
child,  the  Baron  was  so  much  afllicted, 
that  for  some  time  he  gave  up  the  care 


464 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


of  his  affairs,  and  neglected  his  vast 
business  enterprises.  During  this  sea- 
son of  grief,  a  friend  came  to  offer  him 
his  condolence ;  the  Baron  recalled, 
with  a  melancholy  tenderness,  the  win- 
ning ways  of  the  lost  little  child : 
"  They  brought  him  to  me  every  morn- 
ing," said  he,  "  here  is  my  cabinet,  and 
I  think  I  see  him  now,  on  my  table, 
overturning  all  my  papers," 

At  this  moment,  an  agent  from  the 
exchange  came  in.  It  was  the  hour 
when  he  came  to  take  the  orders  of  the 
prince  of  finance,  and  to  render  him  an 
account  of  the  movement  in  the  funds, 
and  the  aspect  affairs  had  taken  on  the 
Bourse  down  to  the  latest  period.  In- 
terrupted in  the  overflowings  of  his 
memories  and  regrets,  M.  de  RothschUd 
fell  into  a  melancholy  revery,  while  the 
agent  launched  bravely  into  the  subject 
of  his  habitual  visit,  and  continued, 
with  the  most  minute  detail,  his  expos6 
of  the  state  of  financial  matters,  with- 
out being  disconcerted  by  the  silence 
of  his  auditor,  which  he  attributed  to 
continued  and  deep  financial  calcula- 
tion. 

HaAdng  thus  finished  his  report  on 
the  state  of  all  the  various  stocks  nego- 
tiated on  'Change,  the  agent  added: 
"  A  new  advance  in  the  public  funds  is 
expected — do  you  believe  in  it,  M.  le 
Baron  ? "  M.  de  Rothschild,  aroused 
from  his  revery, "raised  his  head,  and 
replied,  with  an  accent  full  of  sadness 
and  gravity,  "  I,  sir  ?  I  believe  only  in 
God," 


CoTitts,  the  G^eat  Banker,  chooslns:  a 
"Partner." 

Not  a  partner  for  his  counting-house, 
but  for  the  domestic  circle.  When  a 
single  man,  and  known  to  be  a  banker 
of  such  great  wealth,  Mr.  Coutts  was 
an  object  of  attraction  to  more  than 
one  noble  family  having  portionless 
daughters,  in  the  hope  that  such  an  al- 
liance would  be  the  means  of  relieving 
them  from  their  pecuniary  necessities ; 
but  these  aristocratic  matrimonial  spec- 


ulators were  all  self-deceived  and  con- 
founded by  the  choice  Mr,  Coutts  made 
of  a  wife — falling,  as  it  did,  upon  Eliz- 
abeth Starkey,  a  superior  domestic  in 
his  brother's  service,  with  whom  he 
lived  many  years  in  the  enjoyment  of 
every  domestic  comfort.  The  result  of 
this  imion  was,  three  daughters,  who 
respectively  married  the  Marquis  of 
Bute,  the  Earl  of  Guilford,  and  Sir 
Francis  Burdett. 

On  the  death  of  his  wife,  Mr.  Coutts 
married  Miss  Mellon,  an  actress — a 
marriage  which  caused  both  Mr,  and 
Mrs.  C.  much  ridicule.  These  attacks, 
however,  were  mainly  directed  against 
the  lady;  but  they  only  tended  to 
strengthen  the  confidence  Mr.  Coutts 
had  placed  in  his  wife,  and  this  confi- 
dence was  in  the  end  displayed  in  a 
most  remarkable  manner.  When  he 
died,  he  left  the  whole  of  his  vast 
property  —  nine  hundred  thousand 
pounds — ^to  Mrs.  Coutts,  for  her  sole 
use  and  benefit,  and  at  her  own  dis- 
posal, without  even  mentioning  any 
other  person,  or  leaving  a  single  legacy, 
large  or  small,  to  any  individual  or  for 
any  object. 

Mrs.  Coutts  subsequently  married  the 
Duke  of  St.  Albans,  but  under  her  mar-, 
riage  settlement  reserved  to  herself  the 
sole  control  ovei"  the  property  left  by 
Mr.  Coutts ;  and  on  her  death,  true  to 
the  confidence  placed  in  her  by  Mr.  C, 
she  left  the  whole  of  his  great  wealth 
to  his  favorite  grand-daughter  Angela 
Burdett,  now  Miss  Angela  Burdett 
Coutts,  who  is  the  principal  proprietor 
of  the  Coutts  Bank,  the  business  being 
conducted  by  trustees  for  Miss  Burdett, 
under  the  old  style  of  Coutts  &  Co. . 


Personal  Appearance  of  Stephen 
Girard. 

Gerard's  form  was  low  and  square, 
although  muscular,  with  feet  large,  and 
his  entire  person  and  address  exhibit- 
ing the  aspect  of  a  rough  old  sailor. 
Nor  was  his  countenance  calculated  to 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


465 


alter  the  impression  that  would  be 
likely  to  be  produced  by  the  appear- 
ance of  his  person. 

A  face  dark,  and  colorless,  and  cold, 
although  deeply  marked  with  the  lines 
of  thought,  indicated  a  man  who  had 
been  accustomed  to  the  hard  fare  of 
life ;  and  it  possessed  an  iron,  or,  as  it 
has  been,  perhaps,  more  properly  desig- 
nated, a  stone-like  expression.  His 
"  wall-eye  "  seemed  to  add  to  that  air 
of  general  abstraction,  which  was 
evinced  by  his  general  demeanor, 
whether  engaged  in  his  domestic 
affairs,  or  the  more  active  business  of 
his  banking  operations.  But  the  dull 
eye,  which  seemed  ordinarily  to  sleep 
in  its  socket,  and  whose  predominant 
expression  was  cunning,  sometimes  kin- 
dled as  if  with  fire,  when  any  topic 
adapted  to  his  taste  was  pressed  upon 
'  his  attention.  His  mouth,  when  not 
relaxed  by  an  insinuating  smile,  ex- 
pressed unutterable  determination.  His 
high  cheek  bones,  and  breadth  of  face, 
gave  indications  of  the  extraordinary 
character  of  the  man ;  and  this  was  not 
diminished  by  his  wearing  a  queue. 

His  mind  appeared  to  be  engaged 
less  upon  the  little  details  of  business 
than  in  devising  those  great  projects  of 
mercantile  speculation  which  tended  so 
directly  to  swell  his  coffers,  and  yet  he 
was  scrupulous  in  his  devotion  to  all 
those  minute  points  of  business  which 
fell  within  the  wide  circle  of  his  enter- 
prises. But  if  a  ship  was  to  be  built, 
or  a  house  constructed,  or  a  vessel  to 
be  freighted,  his  presence  was  seldom 
wanting  to  superintend  and  direct  the 
most  unimportant  details. 

From  the  year  1812,  he  was  partially 
defective  in  the  hearing  of  one  ear,  and 
as  he  could  only  speak  in  broken  Eng- 
lish, and  seldom  conversed,  excepting 
upon  business,  this  circumstance  threw 
around  his  appearance  an  air  of  even 
greater  mystery.  His  ordinary  style  of 
dress  was  in  exact  keeping  with  his 
plain  and  homely  traits.  He  constant- 
ly wore  an  old  coat  cut  in  the  French 
80 


style,  and  remarkable  only  for  its  an- 
tiquity, generally  preserving  the  same 
garment  in  use  for  four  or  five  years. 
Nor  did  he  maintain  a  nery  costly 
equipage.  An  old  chair,  distinguished 
chiefly  for  its  rickety  construction,  as 
well  as  its  age,  which  he  at  last  caused 
to  be  painted  and  marked  with  the 
letters  8.  G.,  drawn  by  an  indifferent 
horse,  suited  to  such  a  vehicle,  was  the 
style  he  preferred  in  this  respect. 


Aster's  Appearance  and  Kanners. 

CoNSiDERrNG  his  extraordinary  ac- 
tivity until  a  late  period  of  his  life,  Mr. 
Astor  submitted  to  the  helplessness  of 
age  with  uncommon  resignation.  When 
his  impaired  eyesight  no  longer  permit- 
ted him  to  read,  his  principal  relief 
from  the  wearisomeness  of  unoccupied 
time  was  in  the  society  of  his  friends 
and  near  relatives.  All  who  knew  him 
were  strongly  attached  to  him,  and 
none  but  those  who  were  ignorant  of 
his  true  character  believed  him  unami- 
able  and  repulsive.  His  smile  was  pe- 
culiarly benignant,  and  expressive  of 
genuine  kindness  of  heart,  and  his 
whole  manner  candid  and  courteous  to 
every  one  entitled  to  his  respect.  There 
was  something  so  impressive  in  his 
appearance,  that  no  one  could  stand 
before  him  without  feeling  that  he  was 
in  the  presence  of  a  superior  intelli- 
gence. His  deep,  sunken  eye,  his  over- 
arched brow,  denoted  the  prophetic 
mind  within.  Although  he  lived  to  a 
great  age,  and  was  the  victim  of  much 
suffering,  he  did  not  murmur,  nor  did 
he  become  unreasonable  and  peevish. 
He  was  not  wont  to  talk  much  on  the 
subject  of  religion,  or  freely  communi- 
cate his  views  in  relation  to  the  life 
beyond  the  grave.  With  regard  to  his 
religious  views,  it  is  known  that  he 
was  a  member  of  the  German  Reformed 
Congregation  in  New  York. 


466 


COMMERCIAL   AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


De  Hedici,  the  "  Haguificent  Mer- 
chant," when  a  Child. 

Lorenzo  de  Medici,  the  "magnifi- 
cent merchant "  of  his  time,  was,  when 
a  child,  presented  one  day  by  his  father 
to  a  royal  ambassador,  to  whom  he  was 
talking  of  him  with  the  natural  fond- 
ness of  a  parent,  and  desired  the  am- 
bassador to  put  some  question  to  his 
son,  and  thus  see  by  his  answer  wheth- 
er he  was  not  a  boy  of  parts.  The  am- 
bassador did  as  he  was  desired,  and 
was  soon  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
what  the  father  had  told  him;  but 
added,  oracularly,  "  This  child,  as  he 
grows  old,  will  most  probably  become 
stupid,  for  it  has  in  general  been  ob- 
served that  those  who,  when  young,  are 
very  sprightly  and  clever,  hardly  ever 
increase  in  talent  as  they  grow  older." 
Young  Lorenzo,  hearing  this,  crept 
gently  to  the  ambassador,  and  looking 
him  archly  in  the  face,  said  to  him,  "  I 
am  certain  that  when  you  were  young, 
you  were  a  boy  of  very  great  genius." 
Lorenzo  being  then  asked,  "  Who  are 
the  greatest  fools  in  the  world?"  re- 
plied promptly,  "  Those,  surely,  who 
put  themselves  in  a  passion  with  fools." 


Sligrhtly  Personal. 

Fbom  some  cause  or  other.  Lord  Al- 
len had  taken  it  into  his  head  to  make 
a  butt  of  a  certain  banker,  who  be- 
longed to  the  same  club  as  himself; 
and  hearing  that  this  banker  had  peti- 
tioned for  the  removal  of  a  monument 
which  had  been  placed  opposite  to  his 
place  of  business,  asked  him,  one  day, 
in  rather  an  imperious  manner,  his  mo- 
tive for  joining  the  inhabitants  of  the 
district  in  such  a  petition. 

The  banker  replied  that  it  collected 
a  throng  of  idlers  and  dirty  boys  about 
the  spot,  to  the  great  hindrance  of 
business,  and  the  annoyance  of  his 
neighbors. 

"  Oh,"  said  his  lordship,  "  of  course 
every  man  knows  his  own  business  best, 


but  I  should  have  thought  it  rather 
advantageous  to  you  than  otherwise." 

"  How  so,  my  lord  ? "  rejoined  the 
banker. 

"  Because,"  said  his  lordship,  "  while 
you  are  standing  idle  at  your  own  shop 
door,  it  would  prevent  your  seeing  the 
crowds  of  people  that  flock  to  the  re- 
spectable banking  house  of  Messrs.  Bul- 
lion «S;  Co.,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
street ! " 

Of  course  his  lordship's  spleen  was 
now  gratified,  for  the  whole  club  was 
convulsed  with  laughter;  but  the  tri- 
umph was  only  of  short  duration,  for 
the  banker  soon  learned  that  his  lord- 
ship— whose  peculiarly  pompous  man- 
ner had  obtained  for  him  the  sobriquet 
of  "  King,"  by  which  title  and  no  other 
was  he  commonly  known  among  his 
most  intimate  friends — had  previously 
arranged  with  his  creditors  by  the  pay- 
ment of  ten  shillings  on  the  pound. 
The  banker  was  determined  to  be  re- 
venged, and  within  a  few  hours,  before 
the  novelty  of  King  Allen's  last  had 
subsided,  he  went  to  the  club,  when  it 
was  crammed  with  members,  and  hav- 
ing got  their  attention,  observed  that 
"  if  *  King  Allen's '  coronation  was  to 
take  place,  and  his  champion  were  to 
throw  down  his  gauntlet  in  Westmin- 
ster Hall,  he  would  pick  it  up." 

"  Why,  why  ? "  resounded  from  all 
the  members  of  the  club. 

"  Because,"  said  the  banker,  "  I  find 
he  has  assumed  a  title  to  which  he  has 
no  claim,  for  he  has  compoimded  with 
his  creditors,  and  paid  them  ten  shil- 
lings in  the  pound ;  he  is  therefore  no 
king,  but  merely  a  half-sovereign." 


Baron  Bothschild  Defendinsr  Himself 
with  a  Bier  Ije^er. 

Threats  of  murder  were  frequently 
sent  to  Rothschild  by  persons  intent  on 
obtaining  from  him  sums  of  money.  A 
stranger  once  waited  upon  him  with 
the  information  that  a  plot  had  been 
formed  to  take  his  life ;  that  the  loans 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS   OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,   ETC. 


467 


which  he  had  made  to  Austria,  and  his 
connection  with  Governments  adverse 
to  the  liberties  of  Europe,  had  marked 
him  for  assassination ;  and  that  the 
mode  by  which  he  was  to  lose  his  life 
was  arranged. 

But  though  Rothschild  smiled  out- 
wardly at  this  and  similar  threats,  they 
said,  who  knew  him  best,  that  his  mind 
was  often  troubled  by  these  remem- 
brances, and  that  they  haunted  him  at 
moments  when  he  would  willingly 
have  forgotten  them.  Occasionally  his 
fears  took  a  ludicrous  form.  Two  tall, 
mustachioed  men  were  once  shown 
into  his  counting  house.  Mr.  Roths- 
child bowed ;  the  visitors  bowed,  and 
their  hands  wandered  first  in  one  pock- 
et, and  then  in  another.  To  the  anx- 
ious eye  of  the  millionnaire  they  as- 
sumed the  appearance  of  persons  search- 
ing for  deadly  weapons.  No  time 
seemed  for  thought;  a  big  leger, 
without  a  moment's  warning,  was 
hurled  at  the  intruders;  and,  in  a 
paroxysm  of  fear,  he  called  for  assist^ 
ance,  to  drive  out  two  customers,  who 
were  only  feeling  in  their  pockets  for 
letters  of  introduction.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  he  dreaded  assassination 
greatly. 

"You  must  be  a  happy  man,  Mr. 
Rothschild,"  said  a  gentleman  who  was 
sharing  the  hospitality  of  his  splendid 
home,  as  he  glanced  at  the  more  than 
regal  sumptuousness  of  the  appoint- 
ments of  the  mansion. 

"  Happy  !  me  happy  !  "  was  the  re- 
ply. "What!  happy,  when,  just  as 
you  are  going  to  dine,  you  have  a  let- 
ter placed  in  your  hand,  saying,  *  If 
you  don't  send  me  £500,  I  will  blow 
your  brains  out !  Happy  1  me  happy  !  " 
And  the  fact  that  he  frequently  slept 
with  loaded  pistols  at  the  side  of  his 
gilded  bed,  is  comment  enough  upon 
the  happiness  of  the  richest  man  on  the 
face  of  the  globe. 


Prancis  Barlngr  at  the  Virginia  Inn. 

When  a  young  man,  Mr.  Baring 
travelled  through  the  western  part  of 
Virginia,  which  was  at  that  time  peo- 
pled, in  some  of  its  localities,  by  a  pret- 
ty rough  class,  and  the  vehicle  he  used 
was  a  very  handsome  and  newly  var- 
nished travelling  carriage,  in  style 
comporting  with  his  high  personal  and 
business  character.  In  accordance  with 
the  favorite  custom  of  those  wild  fel- 
lows, who  usually  carried  a  penknife 
or  nail  in  their  pockets,  one  of  the 
idlers,  who  stood  and  leaned  about  the 
door  of  the  tavern,  when  the  banker 
had  alighted  for  refreshment,  amused 
himself  by  scratching,  with  a  nail,  all 
sorts  of  ridiculous  figures  on  the  var- 
nished surface  of  the  carriage  door. 
Baring,  who  came  out  of  the  inn,  and 
caught  our  friend  engaged  in  this 
agreeable  and  polite  occupation,  the 
instant  he  saw  what  was  going  on, 
very  sharply  expressed  his  disappro- 
bation. The  loiterer  responded  as 
quickly : 

"  Look  here,  sir !  don't  be  saucy ; 
we  make  no  ceremony.  T'other  day 
we  had  a  European  fellow  here,  like 
yourself,  who  was  mighty  saucy,  so  I 
pulled  out  my  pistol  and  shot  him 
dead,  right  on  the  spot.  There  he 
lies !  "  The  banker  rejoined,  in  the 
coolest  manner  imaginable,  by  asking : 

"  And  did  you  scalp  him,  too  ?  " 

The  fellow  was  so  struck  with  this, 
and  felt  the  reproach  upon  his  savage 
rudeness  so  keenly,  that,  after  gazing 
at  Baring  suddenly  and  earnestly  for  a 
moment  in  silence,  he  exclaimed : 

«  By !  sir,  you  must  be  a  clever 

fellow  !  let's  shake  hands  1 " 

It  would  not  have  been  easy  to  give 
a  sharper  lesson. 


Palace  of  Lafitte,  the  French  Banker. 

The  long-celebrated  "Rue  Lafitte," 
in  Paris,  was  originally  christened  Rue 
d'Artois,  in  1770— in  honor  of  the  ill- 


468 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


fated  prince  wliom,  after  sixty  agitated 
years,  the  great  banker  Lafitte  was,  by 
his  masterly  combinations,  to  drive 
from  the  throne.  After  a  while,  the 
name  of  Cerutti  was  substituted.  At  the 
end  of  the  street  rose  the  magnificent 
Hotel  Th61usson — a  residence  of  the 
Genevese  banker,  the  patron  of  Necker, 
whose  fortune  and  less  ambitious  pop- 
ularity survived  those  of  his  more  illus- 
trious junior  partner.  It  became  the 
headquarters  of  the  luxury  of  the  day. 
In  course  of  time,  Murat  took  this  pal- 
ace ;  and  not  long  after  it  fell  into  the 
hands  of  Berchut,  an  army  tailor,  who 
had  made  a  fortune  by  selling  uniforms, 
in  days  when  their  first  owners  seldom 
had  the  good  luck  to  wear  them  out. 
He  invested  it  in  the  erection  of  build- 
ings on  speculation,  and,  in  the  carry- 
ing out  of  these  schemes,  the  hotel 
which  had  become  so  famous  in  the 
annals  and  chronicles  of  its  occupants 
was  at  last  demolished. 

Here,  in  this  memorable  quarter^ 
lived  Jacques  Lafitte,  whose  financial 
greatness  was  felt  in  both  hemispheres, 
at  times  overtopping  the  influence  and 
power  even  of  crowned  heads.  Hither, 
on  the  39th  of  July,  1830,  when  the 
battle  was  well-nigh  decided,  flocked 
the  courtiers  of  his  provisional  majesty, 
the  populace,  and  who  seemed  on  the 
eve  of  a  definite  reinstatement  in  his 
anarchical  rights.  The  sordid  in- 
triguer, the  waiter  on  Providence,  the 
timid  capitalist  who  sought  protection 
rather  than  promotion — all  eagerly 
crowded  these  approaches,  now  so  soli- 
tary, with  urgent  advice  and  covert 
solicitations.  It  was  a  trembling  and 
undignified  assemblage  in  such  a  place ; 
for  the  result  of  affairs  out  of  doors  yet 
hung  in  the  balance ;  the  fear  of  being 
too  late  was  in  ludicrous  conflict  with 
that  of  being  too  early ;  at  any  moment 
a  few  files  of  infantry  might  direct 
their  steps  thitherward,  become  the 
focus  of  insurrection — and  then  the 
game  was  up  I 

It  is  due  to  the  brilliant  and  cour- 


ageous banker  to  say,  that  he  stood 
firm,  as  became  the  representative  of 
the  great  moneyed  interest,  in  this  its 
crowning  struggle.  On  one  occasion, 
the  sound  of  musketry  in  the  neighbor- 
hood actually  cleared  the  palace  of  all 
its  visitors ;  it  proved  to  be  only  the 
discharge  in  the  air  of  a  regiment  fra- 
ternizing with  the  mob — but  Lafitte, 
unterrifled  and  unconquerable,  remain- 
ed at  his  post,  and  profited  by  the  in- 
terval of  domestic  solitude  to  get  his 
sore  leg  dressed. 

But  Lafitte  was  ruined  by  this  revo- 
lution, as  is  well  known.  His  palace 
was  repurchased  for  him  by  subscrip- 
tion; and  an  inscription  on  the  front 
long  recorded  this  fact  to  passers  by. 
It  has,  however,  now  been  removed  into 
the  courtyard.  Surely,  it  was  not  a 
thing  to  be  ashamed  of.  The  genius 
of  finance,  however,  in  its  domesticity, 
has  not  quite  abandoned  its  favor- 
ite quarter.  M.  Rothschild  himself 
long  lived  in  the  Rue  Lafitte,  and  now 
and  then  illumined  the  locality  with  a 
splendor  of  Hebrew  hospitality  which 
reduced  the  Christendom  of  Paris  to 
envy  and  despair. 


"  Uerely  a  Family  Dinner." 

The  maxim  "All  is  not  gold  that 
glitters,"  if  not  purely  English  in  its 
origin  and  application,  is  at  all  events 
not  much  recognized  in  France.  In 
the  latter  country,  the  reputation  of  a 
man  for  wealth  is  about  in  proportion 
to  his  display  of  it.  A  showy  house 
of  business,  and  an  elegant  style  of  liv- 
ing, indicating  that  the  proprietor  has 
abundant  wealth  himself,  are  essential 
prerequisites  to  his  being  intrusted 
with  the  wealth  of  others. 

The  contrast  which  prevails  to  this 
state  of  things  in  England,  is  strikingly 
illustrated  by  the  following  domestic 
incident :  A  retired  merchant,  of  enor- 
mous fortune,  and  living  in  great  seclu- 
sion, is  said  to  have  kept  his  money 
account  with  a  banking  firm  headed  by 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,   BANKERS,   ETC. 


469 


a  baronet.  His  balance  in  the  bank 
was  generally  from  thirty  to  forty  thou- 
sand pounds,  and  the  baronet  deemed 
it  only  a  proper  attention  to  so  valua- 
ble a  customer,  to  invite  him  to  dinner 
at  his  villa  in  the  country.  The  splen- 
dor of  the  banquet,  to  which  the  old 
man  reluctantly  repaired,  impelled  him 
to  indulge  in  an  apology  to  his  host 
for  subjecting  the  latter  to  so  much  do- 
mestic inconvenience.  The  baronet  re- 
plied that,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  in- 
cumbent on  him  to  apologize,  for  tak- 
ing the  liberty  of  asking  his  guest 
to  partake  of  a  merely  family  dinner. 
Nothing  further  passed ;  but  the  next 
morning,  the  customer,  who  had  thus 
partaken  of  only  a  "  family  dinner  "  at 
his  titled  banker's,  drew  his  whole  bal- 
ance out  of  the  bank.  It  would  not  be 
safe  to  estimate  the  customer's  "  spec  " 
by  that  invitation  to  dinner  at  much 
less  than  "thirty  to  forty  thousand 
pounds,"  the  amount  which  he  shrewd- 
ly drew  out  the  next  morning. 


Scene  at  a  Banker's  Dejeuner  :  Robert 
Morris  and  his  Father. 

In  the  zenith  of  Robert  Morris's 
mercantile  fame,  a  friend  had  presented 
him  with  a  fine  turtle.  Unwilling  to 
incur  the  trouble  of  dressing  it  at 
home,  Mr.  Morris  sent  it  to  a  celebrated 
refectory  a  few  miles  from  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Schuylkill,  and  gave  quite  a  general 
invitation  to  ladies  and  gentlemen  to 
partake  of  his  hospitality. 

Festivity  was  at  its  height ;  every 
countenance  was  clothed  in  smiles, 
when  suddenly  the  countenance  of  the 
lively  host  grew  pale,  his  gayety  for- 
sook him,  and  every  attempt  to  rally 
his  paralyzed  spirits  was  ineffectual. 
A  general  anxiety  to  discover  the  cause 
of  this  change  was  evident  through  the 
whole  circle ;  yet  a  restraining  delicacy 
prevented  a  too  minute  inquiry ;  until, 
at  length,  Mr.  Morris  himself,  taking 
one  of  the  company  aside,  addressed 


him  thus :  "  A  circumstance  has  oc- 
curred which  has  greatly  affected  me. 
I  am  this  moment  informed  that  the 
man  who  killed  my  father  is  in  this 
house."  The  association  of  ideas  pro- 
duced by  this  accident  was  too  power- 
ful to  be  subdued ;  and  he  added,  to 
the  information  of  the  cause  of  his  dis- 
tress, a  request  that  his  friend  would 
apologize  for  his  weakness,  and  retired 
from  a  scene,  the  cheerfulness  of  which 
was  now  become  irksome,  and  its  mirth 
a  scene  of  intolerable  anguish. 

The  circumstances  of  the  event  in 
question  were,  in  brief,  as  follows: 
About  two  years  had  elapsed  since  his 
father's  establishment  in  this  country  as 
a  merchant.  On  the  fatal  morning,  he 
had  received  information  of  the  arrival 
in  the  Delaware  of  a  ship  from  Liver 
pool,  consigned  to  himself;  he  imme- 
diately went  on  board,  and  having 
made  the  necessary  inquiries  and  ar- 
rangements, left  the  vessel  to  return  to 
the  shore.  At  this  moment,  just  as  he 
had  reached  the  boat,  the  captain,  as  a 
tribute  of  particular  respect  to  his  vis- 
itor, ordered  a  gun  to  be  fired — it  was 
the  flattery  of  death ;  the  wadding  of 
the  gun  lodged  in  his  shoulder,  and, 
notwithstanding  the  promptest  and 
most  able  exertions  of  medical  skill,  a 
mortification  took  place,  which,  in  a 
few  days,  terminated  his  existence, 
leaving  Robert,  in  his  fifteenth  year, 
fatherless. 


Unfortunate  Polly  Lum,  the  Wife  of 
Oirard. 

At  the  early  age  of  nineteen,  Girard 
appears  to  have  been  susceptible  to  the 
"  tender  passion ;  "  for  at  that  period 
his  affections  became  warmly  interested 
in  the  daughter  of  an  old  caulker,  or 
shipbuilder,  who  resided  in  that  section 
of  the  city  where  Girard  kept  his  shop. 
The  object  of  his  attachment  was  Mary, 
or  Polly  Lum,  as  she  was  then  familiar- 
ly called,  a  damsel  who  was  then  but 
very  young,  distinguished  for  her  plain 
comeliness,  and  who  resided  as  a  servant 


470 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


girl  in  the  family  of  one  of  the  citizens. 
As  soon  as  it  was  found  that  affairs 
were  hastening  to  a  crisis,  and  Girard 
harboring  serious  designs  of  making 
her  his  wife,  a  feeling  of  downright 
opposition  was  aroused,  and  he  was  for- 
bidden an  entrance  to  the  house.  This 
difficulty  was,  however,  encountered 
with  success,  and  Polly  Lum  became 
his  wife.  The  matrimonial  alliance 
thus  formed,  was  attended  with  any- 
thing but  domestic  happiness.  A  want 
of  congeniality  in  their  dispositions,  a 
neglect  of  duty  on  her  part,  or  an 
austere  and  morose  temper  in  himself, 
appears  to  have  prevented  any  portion 
of  domestic  bliss,  which  ended  in  his 
application  to  the  Legislature  of  Penn- 
sylvania for  a  divorce,  but  unsuccess- 
fully. She  was  subsequently  received 
into  the  hospital  as  a  lunatic,  where 
she  remained  twenty -five  years,  till  her 
death.  His  only  child,  a  daughter, 
born  in  the  hospital,  died  in  infancy. 
On  receiving  information  of  her  death, 
her  husband  selected  the  place  of  her 
interment,  and  requested  that  as  soon 
as  all  the  arrangements  for  her  funeral 
had  been  completed,  he  should  be 
called.  At  the  close  of  the  day,  her 
coffin  was  seen  moving  along  the 
avenue  to  the  grave,  and  was  there 
deposited  in  the  manner  of  the  Friends. 
Among  the  group  of  mourners  was  her 
husband,  whose  countenance  remained 
unchanged  as  monumental  bronze  while 
the  funeral  obsequies  were  performing. 
He  shed  no  tear;  and  after  bending 
over  the  remains  of  his  wife,  as  if  to 
take  a  last  look,  he  departed,  saying 
to  his  companions,  in  the  tone  of  a 
stoic,  as  he  left  the  spot,  "  It  is  very 
well,"  and  thus  returned  home.  Some 
reparation  was,  however,  made  for  this 
unfeeling  spirit  by  a  gift  to  the  hospi- 
tal, about  this  time,  of  three  thousand 
dollars,  besides  suitable  presents  to  the 
attendants;  and  also  a  considerable 
sum  that  was  originally  granted,  in- 
cluding his  fee  as  a  member  of  the  cor- 
poration.   It  is  related  that  he  first  saw 


Polly  Lum,  when  she  was  a  servant  girl, 
going  to  the  pump,  without  shoes  or 
stockings,  but  with  rich,  black,  and 
glossy  hair,  hanging  in  dishevelled 
curls  about  her  neck.  On  applying  to 
the  Legislature  for  a  divorce — because 
the  condition  of  his  wife  was  a  great 
inconvenience  to  him  in  the  manage- 
ment of  his  vast  real-estate  property — 
he  offered  a  large  sum,  for  the  use  of. 
the  State,  if  it  might  be  effected,  but 
unavaUingly. 

> 

Boston  Merchant's  Reason  for  not 
Marrying:. 

John  Beomfield,  a  wealthy  Boston 
merchant,  remained,  through  life,  proof 
against  the  binding  charms  of  "the 
silken  cord."  It  was  a  subject  seldom 
touched  upon  by  his  friends,  as  they 
knew  it  rather  annoyed  him.  Occa- 
sionally, however,  the  matter  would  be 
brought  up — as  is  almost  inevitable ; 
and,  when  questioned  as  to  his  motives 
for  remaining  in  a  state  of"  single  bless- 
edness," he  would  treat  it  pleasantly, 
and  reply,  in  substance,  that  he  regard- 
ed the  other  sex  too  highly  to  inflict 
upon  any  one  of  them  such  a  husband 
as  he  should  make.  "  No  woman,"  he 
would  say,  "  who  has  a  grain  of  dis- 
cretion, would  consent  to  bind  herself 
to  such  a  nervous  old  bachelor  as  I  am ; 
and  a  woman  without  discretion  would 
be — not  to  my  taste." 


Thirty  Thousand  Dollars'  "Worth  of 
Sleep  by  a  Boston  Merchant. 

One  of  the  wealthy  merchants  of 
Boston,  now  dead,  often  told  his  friends 
an  anecdote  in  his  own  experience,  and 
which  he  recommended  to  all  those 
who  desired  to  enjoy  a  serene  old  age, 
without  allowing  their  wealth  to  dis- 
turb their  peace  of  mind.  He  said  that 
when  he  had  obtained  his  fortune,  he 
found  that  he  began  to  grow  uneasy 
about  his  pecuniary  affairs,  and  one 
night — ^when  he  was  about  sixty  years 
of  age — his  sleep  was  disturbed  by  un- 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,   BANKERS,   ETC. 


471 


pleasant  thoughts  respecting  some  ship- 
ments be  had  just  made.  In  the  morn- 
ing, he  said  to  himself;  "This  will 
never  do ;  if  I  allow  such  thoughts  to 
get  the  mastery  over  me,  I  must  bid 
farewell  to  peace  all  my  life.  I  will 
stop  this  brood  of  care  at  once,  and  at 
a  single  blow  ! "  Accordingly,  he  went 
to  his  counting  room,  and  upon  exam- 
ination found  that  he  had  thirty  thou- 
sand dollars  on  hand.  He  made  out  a 
list  of  his  relations  and  others  he  de- 
sired to  aid,  and  before  he  went  to  bed 
again  he  had  given  away  every  dollar 
of  the  thirty  thousand.  He  said  he 
slept  well  that  night,  and  for  a  long 
time  after  his  dreams  were  not,  as  for- 
merly, disturbed  by  anxious  thoughts 
about  vessels  or  property.  There  may 
perhaps  be  some  among  the  relatives 
of  other  such  rich  but  anxious  mer- 
chants, who  would  like  to  have  the 
sle€p  of  the  latter  promoted  by  just 
such  means  1  ^ 

Glut  in  the  Market. 

A  WEAiiTHY  London  merchant,  who 
resided  near  Windsor,  and  lately  retired 
from  business,  called  upon  Sir  Astley 
Cooper,  to  consult  with  him  upon  the 
state  of  his  health.  The  patient  was 
not  only  fond  of  the  good  things  of 
this  world,  but  indulged  in  high  living 
to  a  great  excess.  This  was  soon  dis- 
covered by  Sir  Astley,  who  thus  ad- 
dressed him :  "  You  are  a  merchant, 
sir,  and  therefore  must  possess  an  ex- 
tensive knowledge  of  trade ;  but  did 
you  ever  know  of  an  instance  in  which 
the  imports  exceeded  the  exports,  that 
there  was  not  a  glut  in  the  market  ? 
That's  the  case  with  you,  sir;  take 
more  physic,  and  eat  less  ! "  The  gen- 
tleman took  the  hint,  and  has  since 
declared  tha^  Sir  Astley's  knowledge 
of  the  "  first  principles  of  commerce," 
and  the  mode  of  giving  his  advice,  ren- 
dering it  "  clear  to  the  meanest  capaci- 
ty," has  not  only  enabled  him  to  enjoy 
good  health  since,  but  has  probably 
prolonged  his  life  for  many  years. 


W.  B.  Astor  and  his  Clerical  Classmate. 

Among  the  classmates  of  William  B. 
Astor,  in  Columbia  College,  was  a 
young  man  who  became  a  preacher. 
The  students  separated — the  one  to 
handle  millions  and  to  touch  the 
springs  of  the  money  market,  and  be- 
come the  colossus  of  wealth ;  the  other 
to  his  flock,  as  a  poor  domestic  mis- 
sionary, whose  history  was  indeed  a 
"  shady  side."  The  latter  struggled  on, 
through  thick  and  thin,  and  never  in 
all  his  privations  thought  of  sending  a 
begging  letter  to  his  old  classmate. 
But  being  once  on  a  time  in  New  York, 
he  yielded  to  the  inclination  to  make 
him  a  visit.  Mr.  Astor  received  him 
courteously,  and  the  two  conversed  on 
the  scenes  of  their  early  days.  As  the 
pastor  rose  to  depart,  an  idea  struck 
the  capitalist's  heart,  which  may  be 
mentioned  to  his  credit.  "  Can  I  do 
anything  for  you  ?  "  he  inquired.  He 
had,  in  fact,  misconceived  the  object 
of  the  visit,  and  supposed  that  under 
the  guise  of  a  friendly  call,  lurked  an 
inclination  to  beg,  which  fear  of  refusal 
had  repressed.  The  poor  clergyman  at 
once  perceived  the  drift  of  the  ques- 
tion. Nothing  could  have  been  further 
from  his  mind,  and,  blushing  at  the 
thought,  he  acknowledged  the  sugges- 
tion with  gratitude,  and  retired. 


Uaking:  a  Will:  Samuel  Appleton. 

The  practical  form  which  Samuel 
Appleton's  faith  in  a  spiritual  life  as- 
sumed was  touchingly  illustrated  in  an 
incident  that  occurred  during  the  year 
preceding  his  own  death.  A  favorite 
nephew,  to  whom  he  had  bequeathed 
in  his  will  a  large  proportional  amount 
of  his  estate,  died  before  him ;  and  by 
the  terms  of  the  will,  a  half  sister,  be- 
tween whom  and  Mr,  Appleton  there 
was  no  blood  relationship,  became  en- 
titled to  these  bequests.  The  executor 
called  Mr,  Appleton's  attention  to  the 
fact,  thinking  that  he  might  wish  to 


472 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


make  some  change  in  the  disposition 
of  his  property.  After  taking  the  sub- 
ject into  full  consideration,  his  reply 
was :  "  If  in  the  other  world  there  is 
any  knowledge  of  what  is  done  in  this, 
I  should  not  like  to  have  my  nephew, 
whom  I  so  loved  and  trusted,  find  that 
my  first  act,  on  learning  his  death,  was 
the  revocation  or  curtailment  of  a  be- 
quest made  in  his  favor,  and  which,  if 
he  had  survived  me,  would  have  even- 
tually benefited  her  who  was  nearest 
and  dearest  to  him.  The  will  must 
stand  as  it  is." 


Will  of  Gayot,  the  French  ISIiUionnaire. 

An  old  man,  of  the  name  of  Guyot, 
lived  and  died  in  the  town  of  Mar- 
seilles, France.  He  amassed  a  large 
fortune  by  the  most  laborious  industry 
and  the  severest  habits  of  abstinence 
and  privation.  His  neighbors  consid- 
ered him  a  miser,  and  thought  that  he 
was  hoarding  up  money  from  mean  and 
avaricious  motives.  The  populace  often 
pursued  him  with  hootings  and  execra- 
tions, and  the  boys  not  unfrequently 
amused  themselves  by  throwing  stones 
and  other  missiles  at  him,  all  of  which 
treatment  he  bore  without  the  least  re- 
sentment. He  at  length  died,  and  in 
his  will  were  found  the  following  calm 
and  generous  words :  "  Having  ob- 
served, from  my  infancy,  that  the  poor 
of  Marseilles  are  ill  supplied  with  wa- 
ter, which  can  only  be  purchased  at  a 
great  price,  I  have  cheerfully  labored, 
the  whole  of  my  life,  to  procure  for 
them  this  great  blessing ;  and  I  direct 
that  the  whole  of  my  property  shall  be 
laid  out  in  building  an  aqueduct  for 
their  use." 


Anselm  Bothschild's  Will. 

Anselm  Rothschild,  who  died  in 
1855,  left  no  issue,  but  a  fortune  valued 
at  some  twenty-five  to  thirty  million 
dollars.  He  bequeathed  the  sum  of 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  con- 


tinue the  alms  which  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  distributing  every  week,  as 
well  as  for  the  distribution  of  wood  to 
the  poor  in  winter.  To  the  fund  for 
giving  a  dower  to  Jewish  maidens,  he 
left  twenty-five  thousand  dollars;  to 
the  fund  for  the  sick,  as  well  as  to  the 
Jewish  hospital,  five  thousand  dollars 
each  ;  to  the  Jewish  school,  twenty -five 
thousand  dollars,  and  sums  of  twelve  to 
fifteen  hundred  dollars  each  to  the  sev- 
eral Christian  establishments.  To  the 
clerks  who  were  more  than  twenty 
years  in  the  employ  of  the  firm,  he  left 
one  thousand  dollars  each ;  to  the 
others,  five  hundred  dollars  each ;  to 
the  jimiors,  from  one  hundred  and  fifty 
to  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  each ; 
and  many  legacies  to  servants.  It  is 
said  that  he  left  to  his  godson.  Sir  An- 
thony Rothschild,  of  London,  ten  mil- 
lion dollars,  and  an  equal  share  with 
the  other  nephews  and  nieces  in  the 
residue  of  his  estate. 


Oastronomic  Peats  of  a  Uerchant. 

There  are  some  curious  anecdotes 
told  about  the  awful  eating  habits  of 
"  Old  Salles,"  so  well  known  in  former 
times  as  an  eccentric  and  wealthy  New 
York  merchant.  At  one  time  he  went 
to  a  boarding  house  in  Pearl  street, 
kept  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Conrad.  He  had 
been  turned  out  of  various  places, 
where  his  voracity  became  too  great  for 
any  profit.  At  the  new  place  he  was 
unknown,  and  terms  were  agreed  upon 
for  one  month.  When  it  expired,  the 
bill  was  handed  to  him,  with  a  request 
to  leave.  The  proprietor  informed  him 
that  he  could  not  afford  to  keep  him 
at  that  price. 

"Is  dat  de  matter?  Den  chargee 
more,"  said  Salles.  The  j;)revi0us  price 
was  four  dollars  a  week ;  two  dollars 
were  added,  making  it  six  dollars  per 
week,  and  another  month  was  com- 
menced. At  its  expiration,  a  bill  was 
presented  to  Mr.  SiUes,  and  he  was 
again  told  he  must  leave.     The  bill 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


473 


was  paid.  Another  month  was  entered 
upon  at  eight  dollars  a  week.  Another 
month,  and  it  was  raised  to  ten  dollars 
per  week.  When  that  expired,  the  un- 
happy landlord  received  the  sum  due, 
and  agaia  besought  Mr.  Salles  to  leave. 
Salles  said,  with  an  oath,  "  Chargee 
more.     Chargee  all  you  want." 

With  tears  in  his  eye,  the  man  re- 
plied :  "  It  is  no  use,  Mr.  Salles.  I  will 
not  have  you  any  longer,  anyhow. 
The  more  I  charge,  the  more  you  eat." 


Cope,  the  Quaker  Herchant,  mistaken 
for  a  SEajor-General. 

Some  years  since,  Thomas  P.  Cope, 
the  eminent  Quaker  merchant  of  Phila- 
delphia, was  travelling  in  the  Western 
States  with  General  Cadwallader,  who 
was  indeed  "every  inch  a  general." 
On  arriving  at  a  hotel,  the  names  of 
the  travellers  were  of  course  registered. 
Having,  perhaps,  some  business  with, 
or,  more  probably,  desiring  to  be  hos- 
pitable to  General  Cadwallader,  a  resi- 
dent of  the  place  where  the  travellers 
were  spending  the  night,  after  examin- 
ing the  record  of  the  names,  stepped 
to  the  porch,  and  observing  a  gentle- 
man walking  up  and  down,  with  a 
quick,  firm  step,  and  wearing  a  mrtout 
with  an  upright  military  collar,  he 
thought  he  could  not  be  deceived  as  it 
regarded  the  official  title  of  the  visitor, 
whom  he  immediately  saluted  as  "  Gen- 
eral," and  proceeded  at  once  to  intro- 
duce himself  and  his  business.  It  was 
not  an  easy  matter  to  satisfy  him  that 
he  had  mistaken  a  worthy  member  of 
the  "  Society  of  Friends,"  in  the  full 
dress  of  that  peaceable  sect,  for  a 
United  States  "  Major-General." 


William  Sturgris  in  the  Ijegrislature. 

The  name  of  William  Sturgis  is  well 
known  as  that  of  a  Cape  Cod  man  who 
became,  in  due  time,  one  of  the  "  solid 
men  of  Boston '' — in  early  days  captain 
of  a  ship  trading  on  the  northwest 


coast,  and  afterward  of  the  firm  of 
Bryant  &  Sturgis.  A  man  of  indomi- 
table energy  and  unerring  sagacity,  he 
amassed  a  large  fortune,  and  then  en- 
joyed in  his  old  age  the  luxury — the 
greatest  luxury  for  which  the  affluent 
are  to  be  envied — of  doing  good. 
Years  since,  Mr.  Sturgis  was  a  member 
of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature.  On 
one  occasion  a  somewhat  pretentious 
member  interlarded  his  speech  with 
Latin  quotations,  to  the  annoyance  of 
the  practical  merchant,  who  was  in- 
terested in  the  matter  under  discussion, 
and  meditated  taking  part  in  it.  To 
his  request  that  the  learned  gentleman 
would  confine  himself  to  the  vernacu- 
lar, he  re'ceived  a  curt  response.  But 
in  making  his  reply,  he  put  his  adver- 
sary to  utter  confusion  by  a  long  har- 
angue  in  Indian,  with  which  language 
he  was  familiar  through  his  commercial 
dealings. 

> 

Too  Mtich  Money. 

Mr.  p.,  a  wealthy  man  retired  from 
business,  was  urged  by  a  friend  to  en- 
gage in  a  mercantile  scheme,  from 
which  the  realization  of  large  profits 
was  very  apparent.  "  You  are  right," 
said  he,  "  as  regards  the  probable  suc- 
cess of  the  speculation,  but  I  shall  not 
embark  in  it.    /  have  too  much  money 

Mowy 

He  was  naturally  asked  for  an  expla- 
nation of  this  very  unusual  remark,  and 
said,  in  reply  ;  "  Yes,  I  would  not  cross 
the  street  to  gain  thousands  ;  I  should 
be  a  happier  man  if  my  income  were 
less.  I  am  old,  and,  in  a  year  or  two, 
whatever  I  possess  will  avail  me  nought 
— my  daughters  are  dead,  and  I  have 
three  sons  upon  whom  I  look  with  a 
father's  fondness.  My  own  education 
had  been  neglected;  my  fortune  was 
gained  by  honest  labor  and  careful 
economy  ;  I  had  no  time  for  study,  but 
I  resolved  that  my  sons  should  have 
every  advantage.  Each  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  gaining  a  fine  classical  educa- 


474 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


tioD,  and  then  I  gave  them  the  choice 
of  a  profession.  The  eldest  would  be  a 
physician ;  the  second  chose  the  law ; 
the  third  resolved  to  follow  my  foot- 
steps as  a  merchant.  This  was  very- 
well — I  was  proud  of  my  sons,  and 
hoped  that  one  day  I  might  see  them 
distinguished,  or  at  least  useful  to  their 
fellow  men.  I  had  spared  no  expense 
in  their  training ;  they  had  never  want- 
ed money,  for  I  gave  each  a  liberal  al- 
lowance. Never  had  men  fairer  pros- 
pects of  becoming  honored  and  re- 
spected— but  look  at  the  result.  The 
physician  has  no  patients ;  the  lawyer 
not  a  single  client ;  and  the  merchant 
is  above  visiting  his  counting  room. 
In  vain  I  urge  them  to  be  more  indus- 
trious. What  is  the  reply  ?  '  There  is 
no  use  in  it,  father — we  never  shall 
want  for  money ;  we  know  you  have 
enough  for  all.'  Thus,  instead  of  being 
active,  energetic  members  of  society, 
my  sons  are  but  idlers,  men  of  fashion 
and  display.  Had  they  been  obliged 
to  struggle  against  diflSculties,  to  gain 
their  professions,  and  were  they  now 
dependent  on  their  own  exertions  for 
support,  my  sons  would  have  gained 
honor  to  themselves  and  me." 


lizperience  of  a  Levantine  SCerchant. 

Matthias,  the  renowned  Levantine 
merchant  of  former  days,  had  spent  his 
whole  life,  from  his  boyhood  upward, 
in  travelling,  for  the  sake  of  gain — to 
the  east,  and  the  west,  and  to  the 
islands  of  the  South  Seas.  He  had  re- 
turned to  his  native  place,  Tarsus,  in 
the  full  vigor  of  manhood,  and  in  pos- 
session of  the  vast  wealth  which  his 
commercial  enterprise  had  enabled  him 
to  amass.  His  first  step  was  to  make 
a  respectful  call  upon  the  governor, 
and  to  present  him  with  a  purse  and 
a  string  of  pearls,  in  order  to  bespeak 
his  good  will.  Then  he  built  himself 
a  spacious  palace  in  the  midst  of  a  gar- 
den of  unvarying  beauty  on  the  borders 
of  an  enchanting  stream,  and  began  to 


lead  a  quiet  life — so  congenial  after  the 
fatigues  of  his  many  voyages.  Most 
persons  considered  him  to  be  the  hap- 
piest of  men  and  merchants  ;  but  those 
intimate  with  him  knew  that  his  con- 
stant companions  were  sadness  and  dis- 
content. When  he  had  departed,  in 
youth,  in  quest  of  fortune,  he  had  left  his 
father,  and  his  brothers  and  sisters,  in 
health,  although  poor ;  but  when  he  re- 
turned, in  hopes  to  brighten  and  gild 
the  remainder  of  their  days,  he  found 
that  during  his  years  of  absence  the 
hand  of  death  had  fallen  upon  them 
every  one,  and  that  there  was  no  one  to 
share  his  prosperity.  The  blight  that 
came  over  his  heart  no  wealth  of  gold 
or  brilliant  surroimdings  could  remove 

or  make  up  for. 

> 

Going:  to  g«t  Acquainted  with  his 
Family. 

Some  men  devote  themselves  so  ex- 
clusively to  business  concerns,  as  to  al- 
most entirely  neglect  their  domestic  and 
social  relations.  A  gentleman  of  this 
class  having  at  last  failed,  was  asked 
what  he  intended  to  do  :  "I  am  going 
home  to  get  acquainted  with  my  wife 
and  children,"  said  he. 


Girard's  Beception  of  THr.  Baringr. 

When  one  of  the  head  partners  of 
the  house  of  Baring, — Francis,  the 
second  son  of  Lord  Ashburton, — visited 
Philadelphia,  his  birthplace,  in  1818, 
he  supposed  that  he  might  excite  an 
agreeable  surprise  to  Mr.  Girard,  by 
informing  him  of  the  safe  arrival  of 
his  ship,  the  Voltaire,  from  India.  Ac- 
cordingly, he  called  at  the  counting 
room  of  Mr.  Girard,  whom  he,  how- 
ever, did  not  find  there  at  the  time. 
The  clerk  told  him,  that  if  he  wanted 
to'  see  Mr.  Girard  himself,  he  must 
visit  him  early  in  the  morning,  at  his 
large  farm,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  city.  Having  engaged  a  carriage, 
Mr.  Baring  proceeded  to  the  farm  of 
the  banker,  in  Passyunk,  and  imme- 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


475 


diately  asked  for  Mr.  Girard.  He 
received  in  reply,  "  Yonder  he  stands." 
They  pointed  out  to  him  a  small,  low- 
set  man,  of  about  sixty,  with  gray  hair, 
bare-headed,  without  coat  or  jacket, 
and  in  his  shirt  sleeves,  rolled  up  above 
the  elbows,  who  stood  with  a  hay-fork 
in  his  hand  helping  to  load  hay  on  a 
farm-wagon.  He  said,  "  Is  that  Mr. 
Girard?"  "Yes,"  they  answered; 
whereupon  he  stepped  up  to  him  and 
gave  his  name. 

"  So,  so  ! "  remarked  Mr.  Girard ; 
"  then  you  are  the  son  of  the  man  that 
got  married  here  ? " 

"  I  came  to  inform  you,"  said  Mr. 
Baring,  "  that  your  ship,  the  Voltaire, 
has  arrived  safely." 

"  I  knew  that  she  would  reach  port 
safely,"  replied  Girard ;  "  my  ships 
always  arrive  safe ;  she  is  a  good  ship. 
Well,  now,  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you, 
but  I  have  no  time  to  talk  with  you  at 
present ;  it  is  harvest  time,  and  I  have 
a  great  deal  to  do.  There,  walk  aroimd 
yonder  a  little,  look  at  my  cows,  and 
get  some  of  the  folks  to  give  you  a 
glass  of  milk,  for  you  can't  get  such 
milk  in  all  London." 

Baring  complied  with  Girard's  blunt 
invitation ;  and,  as  he  himself  was 
something  of  an  eccentric,  and,  conse- 
quently, liked  eccentrics,  he  was  not  a 
little  amused  at  thinking  what  a 
curious  reception  was  this,  for  one  of 
the  heads  of  the  first  house  in  London 
to  meet  with,  at  the  hands  of  one  who 
was  at  the  head  of  the  American  com- 
mercial world ! 


German  Merchant  of  One  Hundred 
Houses. 

At  Hanau  a  merchant  resided,  whose 
history  was  somewhat  curious.  A 
quarrel  with  his  stepmother  induced 
him  to  "  leave  his  father's  house,"  when 
young,  and  embark  for  England. 
Having  acquired  in  trade,  in  London, 
a  fortune  sufficient  for  comfort  in  Ger- 
many, he  married,  and  returned  to  his 
native  town,  where  he  found  that  his 


parents  were  dead,  and  that  their  pro- 
perty had  fallen  to  him.  A  large  ram- 
bling house  containing  thirteen  rooms 
on  a  floor,  and  adorned  with  pictures 
of  old  electors  and  landgraves  was  a 
part  of  his  patrimony.  The  house  goes 
by  the  name  of  Noah's  Ark,  from  the 
singularity  of  its  construction,  arising, 
as  the  story  goes,  from  a  cause  not  less 
singular.  The  upper  story  is  a  com- 
plete second  house,  erected  on  the  first. 
The  builder,  an  opulent  citizen,  who 
possessed  ninety-nine  houses  in  Hanau, 
was  ambitious  of  rounding  his  number 
to  one  hundred,  but  the  jealousy  of  the 
citizens  opposed  his  whim,  unless  he 
consented  to  pave  a  path  to  the  church, 
some  hundred  yards  long,  with  rix-dol- 
lars.  He  declined  this  exorbitant  tax 
to  gratify  their  "  whim ; "  but  unwil- 
ling to  forego  the  distinction  of  owning 
one  hundred  houses,  he  contented  him- 
self with  a  hundredth  placed  on  the  top 
of  one  of  the  ninety-nine. 


Stock  Broker  and  his  Family  in  the 
Studio  of  Hoppner. 

A  WEALTHY  stock  broker  once  drove 
up  to  the  door  of  Hoppner,  the  cele- 
brated painter — and  who  was  one  of 
the  genus  irritdbile — and  two  carriages 
emptied  into  his  hall,  the  party  com- 
prising a  gentleman  (the  said  broker) 
and  lady,  with  five  sons  and  seven 
daughters,  all  samples  of  pa  and  ma, 
as  well  fed  and  as  city  bred  and  comely 
a  family  as  any  within  the  sound  of 
Bow  bell. 

"  Well,  Mr.  Pamter,"  said  the  stock 
broker,  "  here  we  are— a  baker's  dozen. 
How  much  will  you  demand  for  paint- 
ing the  whole  lot  of  us— prompt  pay- 
ment for  discount  ? "  "  AVhy,"  replied 
the  astonished  painter,  who  then  might 
be  likened  to  a  superannuated  ele- 
phant,— "why,  sir,  that  will  depend 
upon  the  dimensions,  style,  composi- 
tion, and "    "  Oh,  that  is  settled," 

quoth  the  enlightened  broker:  "we 
are  all  to  be  touched  off  in  one  piece 


4V6 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


as  large  as  life,  all  seated  upon  our 
lawn  at  Clapham,  and  all  singing  '  God 
save  the  King.' " 

"  These  things,"  said  Hoppner,  in 
relating  the  circumstance  to  his  edito- 
rial friend  and  crony,  GiflFord, — "  these 
things — and  be  hanged  to  you  scrib- 
blers !  are  part  and  parcel  of  the  delec- 
tables  of  portrait  painting." 


The  Merchant  and  his  Distinguished 
Valet,  John  Fhilpot  Cxirran. 

One  morning,  at  an  inn  in  the  south 
of  Ireland,  a  gentleman  who  was  travel- 
ling on  mercantile  business,  came  run- 
ning down  stairs,  a  few  minutes  before 
the  appearance  of  a  stage  coach,  in 
which  he  had  taken  a  seat  for  Dublin. 
Seeing  an  ugly  looking  little  fellow 
leaning  against  the  door  post,  with 
dirty  face  and  shabby  clothes,  he  hailed 
him,  and  ordered  him  to  brush  his  coat. 
The  operation  proceeded  rather  slowly ; 
the  impatient  merchant  cursed  the  lazy 
Talet  as  an  idle,  good  for  nothing  dog, 
and  threatened  him  with  corporal 
punishment  on  the  spot,  if  he  did  not 
make  haste  and  finish  his  job  well 
before  the  arrival  of  the  coach.  Terror 
seemed  to  produce  its  effect ;  the  fel- 
low brushed  the  coat,  and  then  the 
trowsers,  with  great  diligence,  and  was 
rewarded  with  sixpence,  which  he  re- 
ceived with  a  low  bow. 

The  merchant  went  to  the  bar,  and 
paid  his  bill  just  as  the  expected  vehi- 
cle arrived  at  the  door.  Upon  getting 
inside,  guess  his  astonishment  to  find 
his  friend,  his  quondam  valet,  seated 
snugly  in  one  corner,  with  all  the  look 
of  a  person  well  used  to  comfort.  After 
two  or  three  hurried  glances,  to  be  sure 
his  eyes  did  not  deceive  him,  he  com- 
menced a  confused  apology  for  his 
blunder,  condemning  his  own  rashness 
and  stupidity ;  but  he  was  speedily 
interrupted  by  the  other  exclaiming — 

"  Oh,  never  mind ;  make  no  apolo- 
gies ;  these  are  hard  times,  and  it  is 
well  to  earn  a  trifle  in  an  honest  way. 


I  am  much  obliged  for  your  handsome 
fee  for  so  small  a  job.  My  name,  sir, 
is  John  Philpot  Curran ;  pray  what  is 
yours  ? " 

The  merchant  was  thunderstruck  by 
the  idea  of  such  an  introduction ;  but 
the  drollery  of  Curran  soon  overcame 
his  confusion,  and  the  traveller  never 
rejoiced  more  at  the  termination  of  a 
long  journey  than  when  he  beheld  the 
distant  spires  of  Dublin  glittering  in 
the  light  of  a  setting  sun. 


Polly  Kenton  and  Oirard's  Doctors. 

Conscious,  on  one  occasion,  of  being 
overtaken  by  a  violent  disease,  Girard 
called  to  him  Miss  Polly  Kenton,  who 
had  lived  with  him  for  upward  of 
thirty  years,  and  said  to  her,  "  Polly, 
I  am  about  to  be  sick.  I  shall  proba- 
bly become  deranged  or  delirious,  and 
the  doctors  will  be  called  in,  and  they 
will  stuff  me  with  medicine.  Now,  I 
wish  you  to  swear  that  you  will  taste 
everything  they  prescribe,  before  giving 
it  to  me,  and  don't  allow  me  to  take 
anything  except  camomile  tea,  and 
senna  and  manna."  She  was  accord- 
ingly sworn ;  and  in  the  result  the 
patient  recovered. 

A  short  time  before  his  death.  Miss 
Kenton,  in  putting  up  a  curtain,  fell 
and  dislocated  her  wrist.  Upon  Girard 
being  informed  of  it,  he  directed  her  to 
place  her  arm  in  a  bucket  of  ice  water, 
which  she  did ;  but  the  pain  became 
so  excessive,  that  she  was  induced  in 
her  situation  to  send  for  a  physician ; 
unluckily,  Girard  returned,  discharged 
the  physician,  and  followed  that  up  by 
discharging  Miss  Kenton,  who  had  been 
so  many  years  his  indispensable  attend- 
ant. He  afterward,  it  is  true,  left  her, 
in  his  will,  three  hundred  dollars  a  year, 
but  he  never  forgave  the  disregard  of 
his  orders. 

He  had  an  agent  and  a  confidential 
clerk,  Mr.  R.,  who  had  been  years  with 
him,  and  who  was  what  might  be  called 
his  right-hand  man.    Mr.  R.  was  sick 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


477 


with  typhus  fever.  Of  course  Mr. 
Girard  was  his  only'  doctor  also ;  he 
prescribed,  as  a  cure,  Holland  gin,  and 
of  course  the  patient  died. 


Italian  Banker's  Bargrain  for  a  Fish. 

A  WEALTHY  banker  in  Italy  was 
about  to  celebrate  his  marriage  feast. 
All  the  elements  were  propitious  to  his 
purpose,  except  the  ocean,  which  had 
been  so  boisterous  as  to  deny  the  very 
necessary  appendage  of  a  fish  "  course." 

On  the  very  morning  of  the  fete, 
however,  a  poor  fisherman  made  his 
appearance,  with  a  turbot  so  large, 
that  it  seemed  to  have  been  created  for 
the  occasion.  There  was  much  satis- 
faction at  its  appearance,  and  the  fisher- 
man was  ushered  with  his  splendid 
prize  into  the  saloon,  where  the  banker, 
in  the  presence  of  his  gay  visitors,  re- 
quested him  to  put  any  price  he  thought 
proper  on  so  rare  an  object,  and  it 
should  be  instantly  paid  him. 

"  One  hundred  lashes,"  said  the  fisher- 
man, "  on  my  bare  back,  is  the  price  of 
my  fish,  and  I  will  not  bate  one  strand 
of  whip-cord  on  the  bargain," 

The  banker  and  his  guests  were  not 
a  little  astonished,  but  our  chapman 
was  resolute,  and  remonstrance  was  in 
vain.  At  length  the  banker  exclaimed, 
"  Well,  well,  the  fellow  is  a  humorist, 
and  the  fish  we  must  have,  but  lay  on 
lightly,  and  let  the  price  be  paid  in  our 
presence." 

After  fifty  lashes  had  been  adminis- 
tered, "  Hold,  hold  ! "  exclaimed  the 
fisherman,  "  I  have  a  partner  in  this  busi- 
ness, and  it  is  fitting  that  he  should 
receive  his  share." 

"  What !  are  there  two  such  mad- 
caps in  the  world?"  exclaimed  the 
banker ;  "  name  him,  and  he  shall  be 
sent  for  instantly  I " 

"  You  need  not  go  for  him,"  said  the 
fisherman  ;  "  you  will  find  him  at  your 
gate,  in  the  shape  of  your  own  porter, 
who  would  not  let  me  in  until  I  prom- 
ised that  he  should  have  the  half  of 


whatever  I  might  receive  for  my  tur- 
bot." 

"  Oh,  oh ! "  said  the  banker ;  "  I  now 
see  through  it — bring  him  up  instantly ; 
he  shall  receive  his  stipulated  moiety 
with  the  strictest  justice." 

The  ceremony  being  finished,  the 
porter  was  discharged,  and  the  banker 
amply  rewarded  the  fisherman. 


Dress  and  Personal  Peculiarities  of 
liong-worth. 

Mb.  Lokgworth  was  of  small  stat- 
ure, his  height  being  five  feet  and  one 
inch,  an  evident  stoop  in  his  figure 
making  him  appear  shorter  than  he 
really  was.  His  hair  was  partially  gray, 
thin,  and  scattered  over  the  sides  and 
back  of  his  head.  It  was  to  him  a 
matter  of  thorough  indifference  wheth- 
er his  clothes  were  new  or  old,  or  in 
any  possible  resemblance  to  style  and 
fit ;  and  if  they  became  somewhat  over- 
worn, or  soiled  by  labor  in  his  garden, 
or  here  and  there  torn  a  bit,  it  was  to 
him  no  matter.  He  might,  when  the 
dilapidation  was  a  little  excessive,  and 
the  company  more  elegant  than  he  ex- 
pected, get  off'  a  sly  joke  or  two  about 
his  appearance  in  such  fashionable 
company,  and  say  that  his  wife  would 
scold  him  for  not  brushing  up  a  little 
when  he  was  going  out  among  gentle- 
men ;  but  he  felt  not  the  slightest  per- 
sonal concern  about  it,  and  the  very 
consciousness  of  it  would  pass  away 
with  the  quizzical  smile  that  always 
accompanied  his  apology. 

He  was  always  regular  and  temperate 
in  his  habits,  vigorous  and  active  in 
body,  and  gave  daily  personal  atten- 
tion to  his  business,  spending  much  of 
his  time  with  strings  and  pruning  knife 
in  his  grapery  and  garden.  Until  a  few 
years  before  his  death,  when  a  stroke 
of  disease  somewhat  impaired  the  fac- 
ulty, he  was  possessed  of  a  remarkably 
comprehensive  and  tenacious  memory, 
forgetting  nothing  he  ever  knew,  and 
nothing  he  ever  said.    He  repeated  his 


478 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


quotations  and  told  his  stories,  of 
which  a  varied  and  endless  store 
seemed  at  his  command,  always  in  the 
same  invariable  words.  He  finally 
found  frequent  occasion  to  complain, 
when  at  a  loss  for  a  name  or  a  date, 
that  "  Old  Longworth  has  got  so  for- 
getful." To  aid  his  memory  in  matters 
relating  to  his  business  and  his  daily 
engagements,  he  usually  carried  a  mis- 
cellaneous assortment  of  papers  in  the 
crown  of  his  hat,  and  a  small  paper 
memorandum  pinned  upon  his  coat- 
sleeve. 

Mr.  Longworth  was  exceedingly 
talkative  and  companionable,  perfectly 
sincere,  and  in  his  hospitality  knew  no 
distinction  of  persons.  He  was  sharp 
and  sarcastic  in  repartee,  thoroughly 
informed  in  his  facts,  facetious  and 
cheerful  in  his  humor — which  was  one 
of  his  most  characteristic  traits — and 
abounded  in  quizzes  and  anecdotes  of 
the  most  enlivening  description.  He 
was  particularly  fond  of  banter,  and 
sly,  jocular  personalities,  and  of  speak- 
iog  of  himself  in  the  third  person — 
most  commonly  as  "  Old  Longworth." 

His  house  was  a  plain,  capacious, 
home-looking  buUding,  its  fine  locality 
and  beautiful  garden  and  surrounding 
grounds  rendering  it  the  most  popular- 
ly attractive  spot  in  the  city — univer- 
sally known  throughout  the  western 
country,  and  freely  used  by  citizens 
and  strangers  as  a  place  of  visit  and 
promenade. 


Extravagrance  of  French  Bankers  in 
Private  Life. 

The  enormous  accumulations  of  the 
French  bankers  and  financiers  of  the 
old  school  were,  in  many  instances, 
dissipated  in  a  manner  which,  at  least, 
showed  the  easy  method  by  which 
their  gains  were  obtained.  M,  de  Ca- 
lonne,  one  of  the  great  bankers  of  his 
day,  furnishes  a  notable  example  of 
this.  For  a  New  Year's  gift,  he  gave 
a  favorite  lady  a  handful  of  pistachio 


nuts,  wrapped  up  in  papillotes ;  and  in 
presenting  them,  he  warned  her  not  to 
destroy  the  papillotes  without  proper 
precaution.  The  lady  wanted  a  comfit- 
box  to  contain  the  pistachios.  The  ex- 
travagant and  enamored  financier  offer- 
ed her,  for  the  purpose  named,  a  superb 
gold  box  enriched  with  diamonds  ;  but 
what  was  the  surprise  of  his  mistress 
when,  opening  the  box,  she  found  it 
full  of  new  louis,  and,  unfolding  the 
multitude  of  papers,  discovered  each 
of  them  to  be  a  cash  note  for  three 
h^mdred  livres. 

Another  banker,  M.  Baudard  de 
Saint  James,  affords  a  similar  case  of 
reckless  prodigality  in  his  personal 
habits.  This  renowned  financier,  hav- 
ing more  money  than  taste  or  principle, 
spent  enormous  sums  on  the  noted  cy- 
prian.  Mademoiselle  de  Beauvoisin, 
who  had  long  held  his  heart  by  her 
captivating  spell.  The  weak-minded 
millionnaire  gave  her,  in  jewels  and 
other  presents,  nearly  two  million 
livres,  besides  an  annuity  of  sixty 
thousand  livres.  At  her  death,  the 
sale  of  her  effects,  derived  from  her 
connection  with  the  banker,  furnished 
some  curious  developments  touching 
her  past  relations  to  that  monarch  of 
the  money  mart.  Among  the  number- 
less articles  pertaining  to  her  toilette 
were  some  two  hundred  rings,  each  ri- 
valling the  other  in  value ;  there  were 
above  one  hundred  suits  of  the  most 
elegant  dresses ;  linen  of  choicer  qual- 
ity than  any  known  in  court  circles; 
and  her  collection  of  loose  diamonds, 
like  the  shop  of  a  jeweller,  were  amas- 
sed in  papers.  This  sale  made  a  great 
noise  in  Paris ;  and  every  frail  one  as- 
pired to  become  the  mistress  of  the  be- 
reaved millionnaire.  But  M.  de  Saint 
James — whose  real  name  was  Saint- 
gemme,  which  he  had  thus  anglicized 
— shortly  afterward  became  bankrupt, 
and  finally  insane. 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


479 


liagmiflcent  Residence  of  Bothschild 
ia  Paris. 

The  French  chateau  or  palace  of  M. 
Rothschild — the  Ferrieres  domain,  once 
the  property  of  Fouch6— was  built  by 
Sir  Joseph  Paxton;  it  covers  an  im- 
mense surface,  and  is  all  in  a  style  of 
kingly  splendor. 

The  internal  decorations  have  all 
been  executed  after  the  designs  of  Eu- 
gene Lami,  architect.  Independent  of 
the  auxiliary  buildings  and  stables, 
which  are  all  that  wealth  can  make 
them  (the  stables  being  made  to  ac- 
commodate eighty  horses),  the  chateau 
is  a  magnificent  establishment,  the  ser- 
vice of  which  is  carried  on  by  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  servants.  Besides  the 
private  apartments  of  the  Rothschilds, 
there  are  eighteen  complete  suites  of 
apartments  for  visitors. 

An  extensive  porch,  remarkable  for 
candelabra  in  Italian  earthenware, 
forms  the  entrance.  A  winding  stair- 
case leads  into  the  hall — a  room  which 
is  always  unique  in  France — and  which 
occupies  the  grand  centre  of  the  build- 
ing ;  it  is  about  one  hundred  and  thirty 
feet  long,  and  of  nearly  the  same  width, 
seventy  feet  high,  and  is  covered  in  by 
a  glass  roof.  It  is  in  this  vast  apart- 
ment that  the  chief  portion  of  the  artis- 
tic riches  of  the  chateau  is  to  be  found, 
and  the  number  and  value  of  which  is 
so  great,  that  it  has  as  yet  been  found 
impossible  to  catalogue  them.  A  li- 
brary containing  thousands  of  superb 
volumes,  Italian  cabinets,  a  collection 
of  gems  and  medals,  noble  canvases 
by  Velasquez,  Vandyke,  Giorgione,  etc., 
are  arrayed  round  the  walls,  the  upper 
part  of  which  is  surrounded  by  a  gal- 
lery hung  with  tapestry  from  the  Gobe- 
lins. This  gallery  is  reached  by  an 
immense  stone  staircase,  protected  by  a 
richly-carved  ebony  balustrade,  and 
decorated  with  pictures  by  Snyders. 
Underneath  runs  a  frieze  of  Limoges 
enamels,  let  into  the  wall. 

The  staircase  leads  to  the  hall  gallery 
on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  to  a 


sumptuously  decorated  lobby,  which 
communicates  with  the  private  and 
reception  rooms,  the  splendor  of  these 
latter  being  almost  beyond  description. 
The  style  of  the  dining  room  is  similar 
to  that  of  the  great  Garter  Room  at 
Windsor  Castle,  only  it  is  more  splen- 
did, and  in  better  taste.  It  opens  into 
a  smaller  family  dining  room,  decorat- 
ed with  fresco-paintings  by  Rousseau. 
It  would  fill  a  volume  to  describe  the 
grandeur  of  the  furniture,  the  gold  and 
silver  plate,  and  other  appointments  of 
this  palace  of  wealth  and  luxury. 


IiOtiis  d'Ors  and  Razors ;  or,  Bankers 
and  Barbers. 
Shoktlt  before  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, a  perruquier  attending  a  banker 
in  Paris,  had  dressed  his  hair,  and  was 
proceeding  to  shave  him,  when  he  sud- 
denly quitted  the  room  in  great  haste 
and  apparent  embarrassment.  After 
waiting  some  time,  the  banker  sent  to 
the  house  of  the  hair  dresser,  to  inquire 
why  he  had  left  him  without  finishing 
his  dressing.  The  poor  fellow  was  with 
much  difficulty  induced  to  go  back, 
when  at  last  he  consented,  and  was  in- 
terrogated as  to  the  cause  of  his  quit- 
ting the  room  so  suddenly.  "  Why, 
sir,"  said  the  poor  fellow  to  the  banker, 
much  agitated,  "  the  sight  of  those 
rouleaus  of  louis  d'ors  on  your  table, 
and  the  recollection  of  my  starving 
family,  so  wrought  upon  me,  that  I 
was  strongly  tempted  to  murder  you  ; 
but  I  thank  God  that  I  had  resolution 
to  quit  the  room  instantly,  or  I  fear 
I  should  have  committed  the  horrid 
crime."  The  banker,  sensible  of  the 
danger  he  had  escaped,  inquired  into 
the  circumstances  of  the  barber's  fam- 
ily, and,  finding  them  embarrassed,  set-  ^ 
tied  an  annuity  on  him  of  one  thousand 
livres. 


Bleeding  a  Banker  by  the  Job. 

MoNSiEtTB  Vatjdkville,  the  banker, 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  in 


480 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Paris  on  the  score  of  avarice,  though 
rated  at  one  million  sterling.  At  the 
age  of  seventy-two  he  contracted  a  fe- 
ver, which  obliged  him  to  send — the 
first  time  in  his  life — for  a  surgeon  to 
bleed  him,  but  who,  asking  him  ten- 
pence  for  said  operation,  was  forthwith 
dismissed.  He  sent  for  an  apothecary, 
but  he  was  as  high  in  his  demand.  He 
then  sent  for  a  barber,  who  at  length 
agreed  to  undertake  the  operation  for 
threepence  each  time.  "  But,"  said  the 
stingy  old  fellow,  "how  often  will  it 
be  requisite  to  bleed  ?  "  *'  Three  times," 
answered  the  barber.  "And  what 
quantity  of  blood  do  you  intend  to 
take  ?  "  "  About  eight  ounces,"  was 
the  reply.  "  That  will  be  ninepence — 
too  much,  too  TWMcA,"  said  the  miser ; 
"  I  have  determined  to  adopt  a  cheap- 
er way:  take  the  whole  quantity  you 
design  to  take  at  three  times  at  once, 
and  it  will  save  me  sixpence."  This 
being  insisted  upon,  he  lost  twenty- 
four  ounces  of  blood,  which  caused  his 
death  in  a  few  days.  He  left  his  im- 
mense property  to  the  king. 


Uarriagre  Salt  by  Colston,  the 
IVLillionnaire. 

The  well  known  charitable  inclina- 
tions of  Colston,  the  English  nullion- 
naire  and  merchant,  were  put  to  a  very 
peculiar  test,  at  a  time  when  he  enter- 
tained some  thoughts  of  "  changing  his 
condition" — as  even  rich  men  will, 
sometimes.  He  paid  his  addresses  to 
a  lady  with  whose  attractions  he  had 
become  somewhat  smitten,  but  being 
somewhat  timorous  lest  he  should  be 
hindered  in  his  favorite  charitable  de- 
signs, he  thought  he  would  once  for  all 
make  a  trial  of  her  temper  and  disposi- 
tion ;  he  therefore,  one  morning,  filled 
his  pockets  with  gold  and  silver,  in  or- 
der that,  if  any  object  presented  itself 
in  the  course  of  their  tour  over  London 
Bridge,  he  might  satisfy  his  intentions. 
While  they  were  walking  near  St.  Mag- 
nus' church,  a  woman  in  extreme  mis- 


ery, with  twins  in  her  lap,  sat  begging ; 
and,  as  he  and  his  interested  lady  were 
arm  in  arm,  he  beheld  the  wretched 
object,  put  his  hand  into  his  pocket, 
and  took  out  a  handful  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver, casting  it  unhesitatingly  into  the 
poor  woman's  lap.  The  lady,  being 
greatly  alarmed  at  the  profuse  generos- 
ity, colored  prodigiously ;  so  that,  when 
they  had  gone  a  little  further  toward 
the  bridge,  she  turned  to  him  and  said, 
"  Sir,  do  you  know  what  you  did  a  few 
minutes  ago  ? "  "  Madam,"  replied  Mr. 
C,  "  I  never  let  my  left  hand  know 
what  my  right  hand  doeth."  He  then 
took  his  leave  of  her,  and  for  this  rea- 
son he  never  married  to  the  day  of  his 
death,  although  he  lived  to  the  age  of 
fourscore  and  five. 


Gideon  Lee  and  His  Library. 

When  Gideon  Lee  commenced  busi- 
ness in  New  York,  on  his  return  from 
the  South,  his  health  was  impaired  and 
feeble,  yet  he  was  compelled  to  labor 
by  the  strong  law  of  necessity.  "I  re- 
member," said  he,  "  one  day,  while 
lifting  and  piling  up  leather,  my 
strength  failed  me,  and  I  fell  on  the 
floor.  I  wept.  My  spirits  were  so 
broken  by  the  thought  that  I  must  die 
in  the  day-spring  of  life,  and  leave  my 
family  unprovided  for ;  it  seemed  to  be 
so  cruel  a  fate.  I  got  home  and  sent 
for  my  physician.  He  was  a  man  of 
sound  sense,  and  knew  me  well.  I 
asked  him  if  he  thought  I  could  recov- 
er ?  *  Why,  yes,  if  you  choose.'  '  Well, 
I  do  choose.'  '  Then  send  that  library 
of  yours  to  the  auction — that  will  stop 
your  reading;  eat  a  fresh  beefsteak 
every  day,  and  with  it  drink  a  glass  of 
brown  stout;  buy  yourself  a  horse — ^ 
'  Why,  doctor,  I  am  unable  to  incur  the 
expense.'  '  Then  die ;  for  die  you  will, 
if  you  don't  do  so.'  I  sent  every  book 
in  my  possession,  except  the  Bible,  im- 
mediately to  the  auction.  I  bought  an 
old  horse,  and  lived  as  he  had  directed. 
I  did  not  suffer  myself  for  years  to  look 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


481 


into  a  book,  nor  did  I  omit  to  take  my 
exercise  each  day.  I  gradually  got 
better,  but  I  had  a  long  and  tedious 
time  of  it." 

The  independence  and  steadiness  of 
Lee's  character  were  manifested  on  a 
tour  of  travel  which  he  had  undertaken 
on  foot,  when  wanting  a  supper  and 
night's  lodging,  and  having  no  money 
to  pay  for  them.  He  knocked  at  the 
door  of  a  farmer,  and,  after  explaining 
his  circumstances,  he  proposed  to  chop 
enough  wood  to  pay  for  his  meal  and 
lodging ;  which,  being  assented  to  by 
the  farmer,  he  went  to  work  and  earned 
what  his  self-respect  forbade  him  to  ac- 
cept as  a  charity. 


Jewish  Banker's  Free  Table. 

It  is  one  of  the  many  interesting  an- 
ecdotes told  of  the  domestic  life  of 
Abraham  Goldsmid,  of  London,  so 
eminent  as  a  banker  in  the  last  century, 
that  he  was  unstinted  in  the  hospitali- 
ties of  his  house,  manifesting  this  trait 
sometimes  in  a  peculiar  manner.  Being 
an  extraordinary  early  riser — generally 
the  first  in  his  family — it  was  his  con- 
stant habit  to  call  up  his  numerous  vis- 
itors by  four  o'clock  on  summer  morn- 
ings, and  after  taking  a  refreshment  of 
the  choicest  tea  and  coffee,  etc.,  he 
would  take  them  round  his  grounds 
and  garden  till  the  hour  of  breakfast, 
after  which  he  dressed  for  the  day,  and 
was  in  his  town  counting  house  gene- 
rally by  ten  o'clock. 

Notwithstanding  the  vast  extent  and 
responsibilities  of  his  business,  no  man 
seemed  to  take  more  delight  in  domes- 
tic pleasures  and  hospitalities.  Accord- 
ing to  the  tenets  of  his  religion,  he 
strictly  observed  the  Jewish  Sabbath ; 
and  that  of  the  Christians,  on  the  fol- 
lowing day,  was  kept  by  him,  at  his 
country  house,  with  a  general  and  lux- 
urious hospitality,  open  to  all  who  had 
ever  been  once  introduced  to  him. 

On  these  occasions,  the  table  was  fur- 
nished with  everything  in  its  season, 
31 


cooked  both  according  to  the  Dutch 
and  English  fashions,  the  latter  of 
which  he  never  partook  of  himself,  but 
his  visitors — generally  as  many  Chris- 
tians as  Jews — were  at  liberty  to  in- 
dulge themselves  either  according  to 
fancy  or  religion  ;  and  the  great  bank- 
er seemed  never  happier  than  when, 
mingling  in  this  social  company,  he 
divested  himself  of  all  ideas  of  "^»e  per 
cent. !  " 


Pleasant  Parlor  Voyagres. 

A  MERCHANT  Well  known  for  his 
facetiousness,  was  dining  with  an  Eng- 
lish nobleman,  and  as  the  company 
were  talking  of  a  voyage  to  India, 
some  glasses  of  Cape  wine  were  handed 
round  the  table.  All  the  guests  ex- 
pressed their  praises  of  its  exquisite  fla- 
vor, and  wished  much  to  have  a  sec- 
ond taste  of  it.  When  the  merchant 
found  it  was  in  vain  to  indulge  this 
hope,  he  turned  to  the  person  who  sat 
next  to  him,  and,  happily  alluding  to 
the  voyage  to  India,  said,  "  As  we  can- 
not dovhle  the  Cape,  suppose  we  go  back 
to  Madeira." 


Rothschild's  Purchase  of  a  Painting. 

That  Rothschild's  liberality  was  not 
commensurate  with  his  wealth,  is  at- 
tested by  an  anecdote  related  by  Mar- 
goliouth,  who  had  a  particular  knowl- 
edge of  the  great  Hebrew.  There  was, 
he  says,  a  Mr.  Herman,  in  London,  an 
Israelite,  who  dealt  in  fine  pictures  and 
paintings.  He  used  to  know  Roths- 
child, when  in  Manchester.  They 
used  frequently  to  meet  together  at  the 
same  dining  rooms.  When  Mr.  Herman 
subsequently  established  himself  in 
London,  he  called  upon  the  then  chief 
rabbi,  Dr.  Herschell,  and  asked  him 
for  a  line  of  recommendation  to  Roths- 
child, with  a  view  to  disposing  of  a 
couple  of  most  valuable  paintings. 
The  rabbi  vouchsafed  the  recommen- 
dation.   Mr.  Herman  called  upon  the 


482 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


miUionnaire,  his  co-religionist,  with  the 
precious  objects  of  art.  Rothschild 
seemed  startled  when  Mr.  Herman 
asked  £300  for  a  picture,  which  was 
really  cheap  at  that  price.  "  What  I 
three  hundred  pounds  I  I  cannot  afford 
to  spend  so  much  money  on  pictures ; 
I  must  buy  ponies  for  my  boys,  and 
such  like  things,  which  are  either  use- 
ful or  profitable ;  but  I  cannot  throw 
away  money  on  paintings.  However, 
as  the  rabbi  recommends  you  to  me,  I 
will  buy  a  picture  from  you  for  one 
hundred  and  thirty  pounds.  I  do  not 
care  what  sort  of  a  thing  it  is — I  want 
to  make  it  a  present  to  some  one. 
Choose  one  from  among  your  collec- 
tion for  that  amoimt." 


**The  Stone  that  was  Bejected:" 
Judah  Touro's  Benefactions. 

An  instance  of  the  disinterested 
character  of  Judah  Touro's  religious 
benefactions  is  thus  related :  Some 
poor  wandering  Orientals,  professing 
to  be  agents  to  collect  funds  for  the 
relief  of  the  persecuted  Christians  in 
Jerusalem,  had  applied  in  vain  to  sev- 
eral rich  men  in  New  Orleans.  At  last, 
a  gentleman,  of  rather  a  jocular  turn  of 
mind,  suggested,  as  a  joke,  that  the 
poor  Christians,  who  desired  to  raise 
funds  to  build  up  their  church  in  Jeru- 
salem, should  seek  the  aid  of  Mr.  Touro 
(who,  though  a  most  wealthy  and  be- 
nevolent merchant,  was  a  strict  Jew),  in 
behalf  of  their  object.  The  missiona- 
ries acted  upon  the  suggestion,  and 
soon  returned  to  thank  the  gentleman 
who  had  directed  them  to  so  "  liberal  a 
Christian."  Mr.  Touro  had  subscribed 
two  hundred  dollars  to  their  cause ! 


Under  Iffedical  Treatment— Jacob 
Barker  as  a  Patient. 

Jacob  Barker  having  occasion  to 
expose  himself  to  peculiar  danger, 
when  the  yellow  fever  was  raging  in 
New  Orleans  in  1837,  and  not  being 


acclimated,  asked  his  physician.  Dr. 
Kerr,  for  a  prescription  to  be  used  in 
case  of  attack ;  the  doctor  prepared  the 
medicine,  and  instructed  Mr.  B.  under 
no  circumstances  to  have  a  vein  opened 
— that  as  soon  as  the  approach  of  the 
enemy  was  perceptible,  usually  indicat- 
ed by  a  chill,  to  resort  to  cupping  of 
the  head  and  ancle,  baths  of  warm  wa- 
ter strongly  impregnated  with  cayenne 
pepper  and  mustard,  drinking  warm 
lemonade,  and  as  soon  as  the  skin  be- 
came a  little  softened,  to  take  the  medi- 
cine. Should  there  be  much  pain  in 
the  head  or  back,  which  is  usual,  ice  to 
be  applied  constantly,  refraining  from 
aU  food  save  ice,  and  eating  as  much 
of  this  as  inclination  dictated.  If  the 
fever  continued  or  returned,  twenty 
grains  of  calomel  to  be  taken  the  fol- 
lowing day,  in  either  case  in  a  day  or 
two  a  large  dose  of  castor  oil.  Mr. 
Barker  was  taken  at  Plaquemine,  in 
the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the  coiui;.  He 
immediately  repaired  to  the  hotel,  pur- 
sued the  course  recommended  by  Dr. 
Kerr,  sending  for  Dr.  Cummings,  a 
highly  respectable  physician  of  that 
place,  to  visit  him  with  his  cupping 
apparatus.  He  came,  said  he  had  no 
such  apparatus,  and  proposed  to  open 
a  vein,  which  Mr.  Barker,  of  course,  de- 
clined. 

"  Sir,"  said  the  doctor,  "  you  are  a 
very  sick  man,  and  ought  to  have  some 
medicine  immediately." 

"  I  know  that,  but  not  until  I  have 
been  cupped." 

"Then,  for  what  have  you  sent  for 
me?" 

"  To  cup  me." 

*'  You  might  as  well  have  sent  for  a 
barber." 

"Provided  he  could  cup  me  as 
weU." 

Cupping  apparatus  not  being  found 
in  Plaquemine,  an  express  was  sent  to 
Baton  Rouge.  Dr.  Ogden  came  pro- 
vided, and  the  operation  being  per- 
formed, the  doctor  remarked : 

"You   are    a   very  sick  man,  and 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,   ETC. 


483 


ought  to  take  some  medicine  imme- 
diately." 

"  I  intend  to  do  so,"  replied  Mr. 
Barker,  "  for  wMch  purpose  I  have  it 
in  my  pocket." 

"  I  suppose,"  said  the  doctor,  *'  you 
have  no  objection  to  letting  me  see  it ; " 
and  who,  having  seen  it,  said,  "  I  do 
not  think  it  will  do  you  any  harm,  al- 
though I  should  not  give  you  half  the 
quantity," 

Mr.  Barker  took  it,  believing  it  to  be 
fifty  grains  of  calomel,  when  the  doctor 
remarked,  "  You  seem  to  love  it."  "  Oh, 
no,"  said  Mr.  Barker,  "  I  do  it  mechan- 
ically, because  it  is  to  be  done."  Mr. 
Barker  was  well  again  in  ten  days. 


Hancock,  the  Patriot  BEerchant. 

DuRiHG  the  siege  of  Boston,  General 
Washington  consulted  Congress  upon 
the  propriety  of  bombarding  the  town  of 
Boston.  Mr.  Hancock,  a  distinguished 
merchant,  was  the  President  of  Congress. 
After  General  Washington's  letter  was 
read,  a  solemn  silence  ensued.  This 
was  broken  by  a  member  making  a 
motion  that  the  House  should  resolve 
itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole,  in 
order  that  Mr.  Hancock  might  give  his 
opinion  upon  the  important  subject,  as 
he  was  deeply  interested,  from  having 
all  his  estate  in  Boston,  which  estate 
was  very  large  and  valuable. 

After  Mr.  Hancock  had  left  the 
chair,  he  addressed  the  chairman  of 
the  committee  of  the  whole,  in  the  fol- 
lowing words :  "  It  is  true,  sir ;  nearly 
all  the  property  I  have  in  the  world  is 
in  houses  and  other  real  estate  in  the 
town  of  Boston ;  but  if  the  expulsion 
of  the  British  army  from  it,  and  the 
liberties  of  the  country,  require  their 
being  burnt  to  ashes — issue  the  order 
for  that  purpose  immediately." 


Friend  Coates's  Management  of  Girard. 

GrRAED  insisted  on  being  the  sole 

and  immovable  judge  of  his  benevolent 


duty.  If  rightly  approached,  he  would 
give  largely,  but  if  dictated  to  or  treat- 
ed with  impertinence,  he  would  not 
give  at  all.  Samuel  Coates,  one  of  the 
old  Friends,  knew  how  to  manage 
Girard,  while  many,  from  want  of  this 
specific  knowledge,  sought  aid  from 
him  unsuccessfully.  Mr.  Coates  was 
one  of  the  managers  of  the  Pennsylva- 
nia Hospital,  which  was  then  much  in 
need  of  funds.  He  undertook  to  get  a 
donation  from  Mr.  Girard,  and  meeting 
him  in  the  street,  stated  his  object. 
Mr.  Girard  asked  him  to  come  to  him 
the  next  morning. 

Mr.  Coates  called,  and  found  Girard 
at  breakfast.  He  asked  him  to  take 
some,  which  Mr,  Coates  did.  After 
breakfast,  Mr.  Coates  said,  "  Well,  Mr. 
Girard,  we  will  proceed  to  business." 
"  Well,  what  have  you  come  for,  Sam- 
uel ? "  said  Mr.  Girard.  "  Just  what 
thee  pleases,  Stephen,"  replied  Mr. 
Coates.  Girard  drew  a  check  of  two 
thousand  dollars,  which  Mr.  Coates  put 
in  his  pocket  without  looking  at  it. 
"  What !  you  no  look  at  the  check  I 
gave  you  ?  "  said  Mr.  Girard.  "  No  ; 
beggars  must  not  be  choosers,  Ste- 
phen," said  Mr,  Coates.  "Hand  me 
back  again  the  check  I  handed  you," 
demanded  Girard.  "No,  no,  Stephen 
— a  bird  in  the  hand  is  worth  two  in 
the  bush,"  responded  Mr.  Coates.  "  By 
George,"  said  Girard, "  you  have  caught 
me  upon  the  right  footing,"  He  then 
drew  a  check  for  five  thousand  dollars 
and  presented  it  to  Mr,  Coates,  observ- 
ing, "Will  you  now  look  at  it?" 
"  Well,  to  please  thee,  I  will,"  said  Mr. 
Coates.  "  Now  give  me  back  the  first 
check,"  demanded  Mr,  Girard— which 
was  accordingly  done. 


John  J.  Aster's  Board  and  Clothes. 

It  is  said  that  when  John  Jacob 
Astor  was  once  congratulated  by  a  cer- 
tain person  for  his  wealth,  he  replied 
by  pointing  to  his  pile  of  bonds,  and 
maps  of  property,  at  the  same  time  in- 


484 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


quiring,  "  Would  you  like  to  manage 
these  matters  for  your  board  and 
clothes  ? "  The  man  demurred  at  the 
idea.  "  Sir,"  continued  the  rich  man, 
'■'■  His  all  that  I  get ! '''' 


Seventy-Five  Thousand  Dollars  at  one 
Draught. 

One  of  the  most  singular  anecdotes 
is  related  of  Thomas  Gresham,  the 
princely  merchant  of  Queen  Elizabeth's 
time.  The  Spanish  ambassador  to  the 
English  court  having  extolled  the 
great  riches  of  the  king  his  master,  and 
of  the  grandees  of  bis  kingdom,  before 
the  queen,  Sir  Thomas,  who  was  pres- 
ent, told  him  that  the  queen  had  sub- 
jects who,  at  one  meal,  expended  not 
only  as  much  as  the  daily  revenues  of 
his  king,  but  also  of  all  his  grandees  ; 
and  added,  "  this  I  will  prove  any  day, 
and  lay  you  a  considerable  sum  on  the 
result." 

The  ambassador  soon  after  came  un- 
awares to  the  house  of  Sir  Thomas, 
and  dined  with  him ;  and,  finding  only 
an  ordinary  meal,  said,  "  Well,  sir,  you 
have  lost  your  wager."  "  Not  at  all," 
replied  Sir  Thomas,  "  and  this  you 
shall  presently  see."  He  then  pulled 
out  a  box  from  his  pocket,  and  taking 
one  of  the  largest  and  finest  eastern 
pearls  out  of  it,  exhibited  it  to  the  am- 
bassador, and  then  ground  it,  and 
drank  the  powder  of  it  in  a  glass  of 
wine,  to  the  health  of  the  queen  his 
mistress.  "  My  lord  ambassador,"  said 
Sir  Thomas,  "  you  know  I  have  often 
refused  fifteen  thousand  pounds  for 
that  pearl ;  have  I  lost  or  won  ?  "  "I 
yield  the  wager  as  lost,"  said  the  am- 
bassador, "  and  I  do  not  think  there 
are  four  subjects  in  the  world  that 
would  do  as  much  for  their  sovereigns." 


-New  Orleans  Broker  Renouncing  a 
Fortune. 

When    Mr.    Lefevre,    the    wealthy 
Louisiana  sugar  planter,  died,  his  es- 


tate was  appraised  at  about  seven  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars.  He  died  with- 
out issue,  and  his  wife  had  some  time 
previously  preceded  him  to  the  grave. 
On  his  will  being  opened,  it  was  found 
that  he  had  left  the  whole  of  his  prop- 
erty to  be  divided  equally  between  two 
gentlemen  of  New  Orleans,  one  a  neph- 
ew of  the  testator's  wife,  and  the  other 
the  broker  who  had  transacted  his 
business  in  that  city — a  man  in  no 
wise  related  to  him,  only  in  the  way  of 
business.  To  the  astonishment  of  his 
friends,  this  broker,  on  finding  that  he 
had  been  made  legatee  to  half  the  mil- 
lionnaire's  vast  estate,  went  before  a 
notary  public  and  renounced  the  whole 
legacy,  making  it  over  in  favor  of  the 
relatives  of  the  deceased  in  France, 
consisting  of  nephews  and  nieces  to  the 
number  of  twenty  or  thirty,  and  all 
humbly  situated  in  life.  The  old  man 
had  previously  made  a  will,  in  which 
his  French  relatives  were  handsomely 
remembered ;  but,  on  returning  from  a 
visit  from  them,  for  some  reason  known 
only  to  himself,  he  tore  the  will  to 
pieces  and  wrote  a  new  one,  leaving 
everything  to  his  wife's  nephew  and 
his  broker.  The  broker  who  thus  so 
magnanimously  renounced  his  share  of 
the  estate,  gave  ais  his  reason  for  so  do- 
ing, that  he  was  already  as  rich  as  he 
wished  to  be,  and  felt  so  independent 
that  he  did  not  wish  it  to  be  in  the 
power  of  any  one  to  say  that  any  part 
of  his  fortune  was  not  of  his  own 
making. 


Amos  liEwrence's  Opinion  of 
Marriage. 

This  distinguished  and  excellent 
merchant  was  an  advocate  of  early 
marriages,  but  was  strenuously  opposed 
to  any  man's  marrying  a  fortune.  Speak- 
ing of  a  desirable  match  for  a  firiend, 
he  said,  "  My  only  objection  to  her  is, 
she  has  a  few  thousand  dollars  in  cash. 
This,  however,  might  be  remedied ;  for 
after  purchasing  a  house,  t^  halance 


DOMESTIC   RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,   BANKERS,   ETC. 


485 


might  he  given  to  near  connections,  or  to 
some  public  institution.''''  As  this  benev- 
olent millionnaire  was  in  the  habit  of 
illustrating  and  giving  point  to  his 
opinions  by  pleasing  reminiscences,  the 
absence  of  anything  of  the  kind  in  con- 
nection with  the  above  remark,  is  evi- 
dence that  the  good  man  was  unable  to 
cite  any ! 


Ebenezer  Prancis  and  the  Students' 
Table. 

When  the  late  Ebenezer  Francis, 
one  of  the  heaviest  of  Boston  bankers, 
was  treasurer  of  Harvard  College,  he 
used  occasionally  to  visit  the  Com- 
mons' Hall,  and  from  the  first  was  dis- 
agreeably struck  with  the  ordinary  ap- 
pearance of  the  table,  both  the  food  and 
the  equipage.  He  saw  only  a  bare 
pine  table,  on  which  no  cloth  was  ever 
spread,  the  cheapest  kind  of  crockery, 
iron  spoons,  and  the  poorest  descrip- 
tion of  knives  and  forks.  Of  this  for- 
bidding scene  he  gave  a  lively  picture 
to  the  corporation,  and  proposed  an 
entire  reform.  Induced  by  his  repre- 
sentations, some  of  the  faculty  made  a 
personal  inspection,  which  convinced 
them  of  the  justice  of  Mr.  Francis's  dis- 
satisfaction, and  rendered  them  equally 
displeased  with  the  condition  of  things 
in  the  Commons'  Hall.  But  with  an 
impoverished  treasury,  there  seemed  to 
be  an  insuperable  bar  to  eflfecting  the 
needed  changes.  Indeed,  much  hesi- 
tancy was  felt  as  to  the  expediency  of 
the  proposed  reform,  both  on  account 
of  the  cost,  and  the  liability  to  destruc- 
tion of  the  property  by  a  set  of  unruly 
young  men.  These  objections  were 
met  by  Mr.  Francis,  by  the  declara- 
tion that,  as  to  the  cost,  he  would  see 
that  the  college  was  not  the  poorer  by 
the  reform,  and  as  to  the  destruction  of 
the  property,  he  would  trust  to  the  stu- 
dents' honor.  Immediately  he  pur- 
chased, at  his  own  expense,  a  suitable 
supply  of  good  table  linen;  ordered 
from  England  the  necessary  quantity 


of  tableware  of  the  best  kind,  and,  to 
give  it  a  distinctive  character,  had  it 
decorated  with  views  of  the  college 
buildings;  he  also  sent  an  order  to 
SheflSeld  for  the  best  knives  and  forks, 
and  procured  from  Boston  a  supply  of 
spoons.  Such  decided  improvements 
naturally  astonished  the  students,  who 
could  scarcely  believe  their  own  eyes. 
So  great  was  the  contrast,  that  they 
doubted  the  reality  of  the  scene,  and 
suspected  the  spoons  to  be  only  the  old 
iron  ones,  slightly  coated  with  silver. 
To  satisfy  their  doubts,  a  student  car- 
ried one  of  the  spoons  to  an  assayer  in 
Boston,  who  pronounced  it  the  best  of 
silver.  There  was,  as  Mr.  Francis  had 
predicted,  no  destruction  of  the  table 
wares.  So  carefully,  indeed,  was  it 
kept,  that  a  part  of  the  same  service 
is  now  in  use  at  the  commencement 
dinners. 


Unparalleled  Will  of  Thelluson,  the 
liOndon  Banker. 

Peter  Thelluson  was  a  London 
banker  whose  ruling  passion  was  an  in- 
satiate love  of  money.  He  died  in 
July,  1787,  worth  upward  of  seven 
hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling. 
By  his  singular  will,  after  bequeathing 
to  his  wife  and  children  about  one 
hundred  thousand  pounds,  he  directed 
that  the  residue  of  his  property  should 
be  vested  in  the  purchase  of  estates,  to 
accumulate  untU  such  time  as  all  his 
children,  and  the  male  children  of  his 
sons  and  grandsons,  shall  die,  and  then 
the  lineal  male  descendants,  who  must 
bear  the  name  of  Thelluson,  shall  in- 
herit in  three  equal  lots — the  number 
of  his  sons — thus  creating  prospective- 
ly three  large  landed  estates.  In  case 
of  failure  of  male  descendants,  the  es- 
tates to  be  sold  and  the  proceeds  ap- 
plied toward  the  paying  of  the  nation- 
al debt.  Many  attempts  were  made  to 
upset  this  singular  will,  but  they  all 
failed.  It  has  been  calculated  that 
ninety    or    one   hundred    years    must 


486 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


elapse,  from  the  date  of  the  •will,  before 
the  lineal  male  descendants  can  take 
possession  of  the  property;  and  if, 
during  that  period,  the  sums  of  money 
left  by  the  testator  could  have  been  in- 
vested at  five  per  cent.,  compound  in- 
terest, they  would  amount  to  more 
than  three  hundred  and  fifty  million 
dollars.  No  more  wills  of  this  kind 
can  be  made,  for  a  subsequent  act  of 
Parliament  limits  the  power  of  bequest 
to  a  life  or  lives  in  being,  and  twenty- 
one  years  after  the  death  of  the  sur- 
vivor. 


Business  and  Something:  Else. 

A  YOUNG  man  went  from  New  York 
city  to  the  far  West,  where  he  com- 
menced business  on  his  own  account, 
and  married.  His  former  business  asso- 
ciates in  the  city  were  interested  in  his 
"  luck,"  and  when  a  merchant  of  that 
city  was  about  to  journey  to  the  place 
where  the  young  man  had  located,  he 
was  requested  just  to  visit  the  emi- 
grant trader,  and  ascertain  how  things 
were  getting  along.  Accordingly,  the 
New  York  Paul  Pry  ascertained  the 
whereabouts  of  the  young  man,  and 
called  on  him  quite  early  in  the  morn- 
ing. The  introduction  of  the  New  York- 
er to  his  wife  was  quite  offhand  and  un- 
ceremonious, and  he  was  requested  to 
be  seated,  and  partake  of  the  morning 
meal.  The  young  wife  had  prepared  the 
steak,  biscuit,  and  cofiee  with  her  own 
hands,  and  for  a  table  had  used  her 
kneading-board,  over  which  a  napkin 
was  spread,  and  the  "  board "  placed 
on  her  lap.  The  New  Yorker  declined 
a  seat  at  the  meal,  and  by  and  by  took 
his  leave.  On  making  his  report  to  his 
New  York  friends  as  to  how  he  found 
their  former  comrade  living,  he  describ- 
ed the  style  as  "  magnificent  1 " — and 
for  explanation  of  the  superlative,  he 
said  that,  "  were  he  the  owner  of  that 
young  man's  furniture,  he  would  not  take 
ten  thousand  doUars  /or  the  legs  of  his 
table !»  ■i'^   <--^-' 


Medical  Practice  as  viewed  by  Qirard. 

Gibahd's  belief  in  the  many  simple, 
though  not  always  adapted  remedies 
with  which  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
treating  the  sick,  was  accompanied,  as 
is  not  unusual  in  such  cases,  with  a 
rather  disparaging  opinion  of  the  medi- 
cal profession.  In  the  annual  recur- 
rence of  the  fever  which  followed  for 
many  years  the  epidemic  of  1793,  and 
in  which  his  services  were  always  freely 
rendered  to  the  sick  and  poor,  he  at- 
tributed much  of  the  severity  of  the 
disease  to  the  ignorance  of  the  local 
physicians  about  the  nature  of  the  pes- 
tilence. The  following  humorous  allu- 
sion to  the  doctors  is  found  in  a  letter 
written  in  January,  1799,  to  his  friend 
Devize,  then  in  France,  but  who  had 
been  associated  with  him  as  physician 
of  the  Bush  HiU  hospital  in  1793.  Af- 
ter describing  the  eflfects  of  the  epi- 
demic, he  says:  "During  all  this 
frightful  time,  I  have  constantly  re- 
mained in  the  city,  and  without  neg- 
lecting my  public  duties,  I  have  played 
a  part  which  will  make  you  smile. 
Would  you  believe  it,  my  friend,  that  I 
have  visited  as  many  as  fifteen  sick 
people  in  a  day,  and  what  will  sur- 
prise you  still  more,  I  have  lost  only 
one  patient,  an  Irishman,  who  would 
drink  a  little.  I  do  not  flatter  myself 
that  I  have  cured  one  single  person, 
but  you  will  think  with  me,  that  in 
my  quality  of  Philadelphia  physician, 
I  have  been  very  moderate,  and  that 
not  one  of  my  confreres  has  kUled 
fewer  than  myself." 


An  old  Merchant's  Style  and 

Eqiiipa^e.  ^f 

Among  the  most  eminent  New  Eng- 
land merchants  of  the  last  century  was 
Thomas  Russell,  who  was  one  of  the 
first  who  engaged  in  the  American 
trade  with  Bussia  at  the  close  of  the 
revolutionary  war,  his  place  of  busi- 
ness being  Boston.    He  was  of  an  old 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


487 


Charlestown  (Mass.)  family — if  any- 
thing relating  to  family  can  be  called 
old  in  this  country,  especially  in  refer- 
ence to  the  middle  of  the  last  century — 
and  resided  there  a  part  of  the  year  till 
his  death.  Mr.  Russell  was  regarded, 
in  his  day,  as  standing  at  the  head  of 
the  merchants  of  Boston.  According 
to  the  fashion  of  the  day,  he  generally 
appeared  on  'Change  in  full  dress — 
which  implied  at  that  time,  for  elderly 
persons,  usually  a  coat  of  some  light- 
colored  cloth,  small-clothes,  diamond 
or  paste  buckles  at  the  knee  and  in  the 
shoes,  silk  stockings,  powdered  hair, 
and  a  cocked  hat ;  in  cold  weather,  a 
scarlet  cloak.  A  scarlet  cloak  and  a 
white  head  were,  in  the  last  century,  to 
be  seen  at  the  end  of  every  pew  in  some 
of  the  Boston  churches.  Though  living 
on  the  bank  of  Charles  river,  on  great 
occasions,  before  the  bridge  connected 
Charlestown  with  Boston,  his  family 
drove  to  town  in  a  coach  drawn  by 
four  black  horses,  through  Cambridge, 
Brighton,  and  Roxbury.  Mr.  Russell, 
at  his  decease  in  1796,  is  supposed  to 
have  left  the  largest  property  which 
had  at  that  time  been  accumulated  in 
New  England. 


Tavern-Waiter  and  his  Banker. 

To  be  a  tavern-waiter  and  yet  have  a 
banker  is  what  falls  to  the  lot  of  but 
few.  Indeed,  such  a  case,  if  existing 
at  all,  must  be  found  to  stand  quite  by 
itself.  Old  Mr.  Goldsmid,  the  million- 
naire  banker,  was  for  many  years  ac- 
customed to  dine  in  a  plain  and  simple 
way  at  the  London  Tavern,  and  was 
usually  served  by  the  same  waiter. 
This  waiter  had  always  been  remark- 
able for  his  civility  and  attention.  One 
day,  however,  Mr.  G.  observed  that  he 
was  very  inattentive,  and  seemingly 
absent-minded. 

"  What's  the  matter  with  you  to-day, 
John  ?  "  inquired  the  banker,  just  as  he 
was  about  to  quit  the  house. 
•   "Nothing,  sir;   that  is  to  say,  sir, 


nothing  very  particular,"  observed  John, 
in  a  somewhat  faltering  tone. 

Mr.  G.  was  strengthened  in  his  con- 
viction, by  the  waiter's  confused  man- 
ner of  speaking,  that  something  par- 
ticular was  the  matter. 

"Come,  come,  John,  just  tell  me 
what  makes  you  so  absent-minded  and 
unhappy  like  ?  "  said  Mr.  G. 

"  Well,  Mr.  Goldsmid,  since  you  are 
so  pressing  in  your  kind  inquiries,  I 
am  sorry  to  say  that  about  half  an  hour 
ago  I  was  arrested  for  debt,  and  must 
go  to  prison  this  evening,  if  I  cannot 
pay  the  money." 

"Arrested  for  debt,  John!  What 
induces  you  to  get  into  debt  ?  " 

"Why,  sir,  to  tell  the  truth,  I  am 
not  able  to  support  my  wife  and  five 
children  with  what  I  can  make  in  this 
house,"  said  the  waiter,  in  very  touch- 
ing terms. 

"  And  what  may  be  the  amount  for 
which  you  are  arrested  ?  " 

"  I  am  ashamed  to  mention  it,  sir." 

"  Let  me  hear  it,"  said  Mr.  G. 

"  Why,  sir,  it's  for  fifty-five  pounds," 
stammered  the  waiter,  in  broken  ac- 
cents, and  looking  steadfastly  at  the 
floor. 

"  Bring  me  a  pen  and  ink,"  said  Mr. 
G.  A  pen  and  ink  were  immediately 
brought,  when  Mr.  G.  drew  from  his 
pocket  his  check  book,  and  having 
written  a  check  for  one  hundred  pounds, 
put  it  into  the  waiter's  hand,  saying, 
"Here,  go  with  that,  John,  to  my 
banking  house,  and  you  will  get  as 
much  for  it  as  will  pay  your  debt,  and 
be  a  few  pounds  to  your  family  be- 
side." 


"  One  among'  Ten  ThonsancL" 

About  the  year  1772,  the  well-known 
London  grocer  Higgins  died,  and  left  a 
considerable  amount  to  a  merchant  in 
that  city,  saying  to  him  at  the  time 
that  he  made  his  will,  "  I  do  not  know 
that  I  have  any  relations,  but  should 
you  ever  by  accident  hear  of  such,  give 


488 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


them  some  relief."  The  merchant, 
though  thus  left  in  full  and  undisputed 
possession  of  a  large  fortune,  on  which 
no  person  could  have  any  legal  claim, 
advertised  for  the  next  of  kin  to  the 
deceased,  and  after  some  months  were 
spent  in  inquiries  of  this  sort,  he  at 
length  discovered  some  scattered  links 
in  the  genealogical  chain.  He  called 
these  distant  relatives  together  to  dine 
with  him,  and  after  distributing  the 
whole  of  the  money,  according  to  the 
diflFerent  degrees  of  consanguinity,  paid 
the  expenses  of  advertising  out  of  his 
own  pocket.  The  fact  of  such  conduct 
on  the  part  of  a  man  no  more  than  hu- 
man is  almost  beyond  credence. 


Uansion  of  Morris,  the  Philadelphia 
Financier. 

It  has  been  remarked  as  somewhat 
striking  in  the  personal  history  of  Rob- 
ert Morris,  that  while  his  financial  ope- 
rations for  the  Government  were  pre- 
eminently characterized  by  a  wise  and 
successful  management,  his  direction 
of  his  own  private  affairs  was  attended 
with  little  else  than  error  and  ruin. 
This  was  strikingly  manifested  in  the 
building  of  his  palatial  residence,  the 
grandest  ever  attempted  in  Philadel- 
phia. The  whole  proved,  by  the  mis- 
calculations of  his  architect,  Major 
I'Enfant,  a  ruinous  and  abortive 
scheme.  A  gentleman  was  present  at 
Mr.  Morris's  table  when  I'Enfant  was 
there,  and  first  broached  the  scheme  of 
building  him  a  grand  house  for  $60,- 
000.  Mr.  Morris  said  he  could  sell  out 
his  lots  and  houses  on  High  street,  for 
180,000,  and  so  the  thing  was  begun. 

Mr.  Morris  purchased  the  whole 
square,  extending  from  Chestnut  to 
Walnut  street,  and  from  Seventh  to 
Eighth  streets,  for  $50,000— a  great 
sum,  for  what  had  been,  till  then,  the 
Norris  family's  pasture  ground.  Its 
original  elevation  was  twelve  to  fifteen 
feet  above  the  present  level  of  the  adja- 
cent streets;  and  with  such  an  extent 


of  high  ground  in  ornamental  cultiva- 
tion, and  a  palace  fronting  on  Chest- 
nut street,  the  effect  could  not  but  be 
signally  grand. 

Immense  funds  were  expended  before 
the  structure  reached  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  and  the  arches,  vaults,  and  la- 
byrinths were  numerous.  It  was  final- 
ly got  up  to  its  intended  elevation  of 
two  stories,  presenting  four  sides  of  en- 
tire marble  surface,  and  much  of  the 
ornamentation  worked  in  costly  relief. 
It,  however,  failed  to  meet  the  owner's 
taste,  and,  as  he  became  more  and  more 
sensible  of  the  ruin  thus  brought  upon 
him  by  the  undertaking,  he  was  often 
seen  contemplating  it,  and  heard  to 
vent  imprecations  on  himself  and  his 
lavish  architect.  He  had,  besides,  pro- 
vided by  importation  and  otherwise 
the  most  costly  furniture — all  of  which, 
together  with  the  marble  mansion  it- 
self^  had  to  be  abandoned  to  his  cred- 
itors. 

He  saw  the  mansion  raised  enough 
to  make  a  picture,  and  to  preserve  the 
ideal  presence  of  his  scheme ;  but  that 
was  all.  The  magnitude  of  the  estab- 
lishment could  answer  no  individual's 
wealth ;  and  the  fact  was  speedily  real- 
ized, that  what  cost  so  much  to  rear, 
could  find  no  purchaser  at  any  reduced 
price.  The  creditors  were  therefore 
compelled,  by  slow  and  patient  labor, 
to  pull  down,  piecemeal,  what  had 
been  so  expensively  got  up.  Some  of 
the  underground  labyrinths  were  bo 
deep  and  massive  as  to  have  been  left 
undisturbed,  and  at  some  future  age 
may  be  discovered,  to  the  great  per- 
plexity of  archaeological  quidnuncs. 


"  Old  Ben  Bussell." 

Pkobably  no  man  was  better  known 
in  the  business  and  social  circles  of 
Boston,  at  a  former  period,  than  the 
above-named  worthy.  He  was  a  good 
joker,  but  "  once  on  a  time  "  was  fair- 
ly caught  in  his  own  trap.  He  was 
perhaps  better  known  as  Major  Ben. 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


489 


Russell,  and  being  met  one  day  by  his 
old  friend  Busby,  he  was  familiarly  sa- 
luted "with  a  hearty  shake  of  the  hand, 
and  "How  do  you  do,  old  Ben.  Rus- 
sell ? "  "  Come,  now,"  said  Major  Ben., 
"  I'll  not  take  that  from  you — not  a  bit 
of  it ;  you  are  as  old  as  I  am  this  min- 
ute." "  Upon  my  word,"  said  Mr.  Bus- 
by, "  you  are  my  senior  by  at  least  ten 
years."  "Not  at  all.  Mend  Busby; 
and,  if  you  please,  we  will  determine 
that  question  very  soon — ^just  tell  me 
what  is  the  first  thing  you  can  recol- 
lect ?  "  "  Well,  the  very  first  thing  I 
recollect,"  said  Mr.  Busby,  "  was  hear- 
ing people  say,  "There  goes  old  Ben. 
Russell  1 ' " 


Oirard  and  the  Beg'^ar. 

A  POOR  beggar,  on  a  stormy  winter 
evening,  called  at  Mr.  Girard's  office, 
and  stated  that  his  family  was  in  want 
of  bread.  Girard  refused  to  give  him 
anything,  but  took  a  memorandum  of 
his  residence,  and  dismissed  him.  Up- 
on the  poor  man's  leaving,  Girard  told 
one  of  his  clerks  to  follow  him  and  as- 
certain whether  his  story  was  true. 
Upon  the  clerk's  return,  with  the  in- 
formation that  the  statement  was  true, 
Girard  gave  orders  that  his  baker 
should  leave  four  loaves  of  bread  a  day 
for  the  poor  man's  family,  as  long  as  it 
might  be  necessary,  and  send  the  bill 
to  him. 


Sazauel  Appleton's  Disposition  of  Ms 
Income. 

AnoNa  the  resolutions  formed  by 
Samuel  Appleton,  of  Boston,  as  found 
among  his  papers,  was  the  following : 
"  I  promise  during  the  following  year, 
to  spend  the  whole  of  my  income, 
either  in  frivolity,  amusement,  public 
utility,  or  benevolence."  Although  the 
last  object  is  introduced  so  casually, 
those  who  were  acquainted  with  him 
will  understand  how  large  a  place  it 
held  in  his  thoughts. 


Another  similar  paper  was  found,  of 
a  subsequent  date,  in  which,  after  say- 
ing in  general  terms  that  he  has  ob- 
served men,  as  they  have  grown  old  in 
years,  growing  anxious  about  property 
till  they  have  seemed  to  think  of  little 
else — and  wishing  himself  to  avoid  that 
state  of  mind,  he  promises  that  during 
the  ensuing  year  he  will  spend  the  whole 
of  his  income  ;  making,  however,  with 
the  careful  forethought  of  one  who 
meant  to  perform  what  he  resolved,  the 
single  reservation  of  such  a  part  of  the 
dividends  on  his  manufacturing  stocks 
as  should  be  required  to  pay  any  new 
assessments.  How  large  and  liberal 
were  his  ideas  of  one's  duty  to  promote 
the  welfare  of  others,  is  attested  by  the 
fact  that  the  amount  which  he  gave 
away  during  his  life  was  scarcely  less 
than  what  he  had  retained  for  himself. 


A  Millionnaire  on  Giving:  Away 
Honey :  Peter  C.  Srooks. 

Peter  C.  Brooks,  one  of  New  Eng- 
land's most  noted  millionnaires,  made 
it  a  systematic  practice  to  give  away 
considerable  sums  of  money,  both  for 
public  and  private  purposes,  though 
always  in  the  same  way  that  he  did 
everything  else,  namely,  without  any 
parade.  It  appeared  from  his  books, 
that  he  annually  expended,  in  this  way, 
large  amounts,  but  known  at  the  time 
only  to  "  Him  who  seeth  in  secret." 
He  remarked  to  one  of  his  sons,  not 
long  before  his  death,  that  "  of  all  the 
ways  of  disposing  of  money,  giving  it 
away  is  the  most  satisfactory." 


JSx.  Girard  and  the  Baptist  Clereryman. 

Rev.  Dr.  Stoughton  called  on  Mr. 
Girard  for  aid  in  behalf  of  the  Sansom 
street  new  Baptist  church  edifice,  Phila- 
delphia, Dr.  S.  being  pastor,  and  very 
highly  distinguished  at  the  time.  Girard 
received  him,  as  he  usually  did  beg- 
gars, coolly  and  courteously,  and  gave 
him  a  check  for  five  hundred  dollars. 


490 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS   ANECDOTES. 


Dr,  Stoughton  received  it  with  a  low 
bow ;  but  upon  examining  it,  expressed 
bis  astonishment,  adding :  "  only  five 
hundred  dollars:  surely  you  wUl  not 
give  us  less  than  a  thousand  ! "  "  Let 
me  see  the  check,  Mr.  Stoughton,"  said 
Girard;  "perhaps  I  have  made  one 
mistake."  The  doctor  returned  bini 
the  check.  With  the  utmost  sangfroid 
Girard  tore  it  into  fragments,  observ- 
ing, "  Well,  ilr.  Stoughton,  if  you  will 
not  have  what  I  give,  I  will  give  noth- 
ing." 

» 

Beliirious  Opinions  of  Girard. 

The  religious  sentiments  which  Gir- 
ard maintained,  and  which  he  was  un- 
willing to  disguise,  were  of  the  school  of 
Rousseau  and  Voltaire  ;  and  so  deeply 
did  he  venerate  their  characters,  that 
the  marble  busts  of  these  two  scholars 
were,  it  is  stated,  the  only  works  of  art 
that  adorned  his  confined  chamber,  and 
a  complete  set  of  the  writings  of  the 
latter  author,  together  with  a  few 
treatises  on  gardening,  were  the  only 
volumes  which  constituted  the  library 
of  his  dwelling  house.  The  respect 
with  which  he  regarded  the  names  of 
these  individuals  is  evinced  in  the 
beautiful  ships  which,  from  time  to 
time,  were  dispatched  by  him  from  the 
port  of  Philadelphia.  He  appears,  in- 
deed, to  have  preserved  throughout 
life  a  stoicism  in  his  merely  speculative 
opinions,  which  referred  all  surround- 
ing circumstances  to  second  causes, 
rather  than  to  their  true  source.  A 
total  disbeliever  in  the  Christian  sys- 
tem, he  was  still  willing  to  bestow  large 
sums  upon  different  Christian  denomi- 
nations, bounties  which  took  eflfect 
while  he  was  yet  alive. 


Suspected  Beligrious  Fidelity 
of  Bothschild:   Bemarkable  Scene. 

There  has  long  been  a  curious  story 
current  amongst  the  Jews,  to  the  eflfect 
that  Baron  Rothschild  was  at  one  time 


thinking  of  renouncing  Judaism  and 
of  embracing  Christianity.  His  eldest 
brother,  Anselm,  was  informed  of  the 
report;  he  immediately  wrote  letters 
to  his  four  brothers,  Solomon,  Nathan, 
Charles,  and  James,  urging  upon  them 
to  repair  with  the  least  possible  delay 
to  Frankfort.  The  brothers  obeyed 
the  summons.  When  all  met,  Anselm 
said :  "  I  want  you  all  to  accompany 
me  to  our  father's  grave."  When  there, 
the  first-bom  said  :  "  I  insist  upon  all 
of  you  taking  a  solemn  oath  at  this 
solemn  place,  that  you  wUl  never  re- 
nounce the  religion  of  your  father,  nor 
ever  embrace  Christianity."  The  broth- 
ers were  taken  by  surprise,  and  of 
course  took  the  required  oath.  Whether 
the  precise  details  of  this  story  be  true, 
it  at  least  shows  that  Baron  Rothschild 
was  looked  upon  with  suspicion  by  his 
Jewish  brethren,  since  they  could  con- 
jure up  a  fiction  of  this  kind,  and  give 
it  the  widest  circulation. 


Jadah  Tonro  and  Dr.  Clapp. 

One  of  the  personal  legacies  in  Judah 
Touro's  will,  was  the  sum  of  three 
thousand  dollars  to  Rev.  Dr.  Clapp, 
the  prominent  XJniversalist  divine,  who 
so  long  officiated  in  the  first  and  only 
church  of  that  denomination  in  the 
State  of  Louisiana.  The  personal  rela- 
tions of  Dr.  Clapp  and  this  Hebrew 
merchant  were  of  a  very  interesting 
nature,  and  strikingly  illustrate  the 
liberality  and  expansiveness  of  Mr. 
Touro's  religious  character.  The  church 
erected  many  years  ago  for  Mr.  Clapp's 
society  became  incumbered  with  debt, 
and  was  sold  by  the  sheriff.  The  rapid 
growth  of  the  second  municipality,  in 
the  most  central  part  of  which  this 
church  stood,  had  rendered  this  a  very 
desirable  site  for  stores.  It  was  appre- 
hended by  Mr.  Clapp's  friends  that  the 
church  would  be  bought  by  parties  in- 
inu'cal  to  him,  and  that  this  then  small 
congregation  would  be  left  without  a 
suitable  place  in  which  to  hold  their 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


491 


worship.  Great  sympathy  and  interest 
were  exhibited  in  behalf  of  the  popular 
divine,  but  the  great  value  of  the  prop- 
erty placed  it  beyond  the  power  of  his 
friends  to  save  it  from  passing  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  pastor  and  congrega- 
tion. Mr.  Touro  having  received  a 
hint  of  the  state  of  affairs,  appeared  at 
the  sale,  in  his  usual  quiet,  modest 
manner,  and  without  intimating  to  any 
person  his  intention,  bid  off  the  church. 
He  then  informed  Mr.  Clapp,  that  he 
could  continue  to  worship  God  in  his 
own  way  as  long  as  the  edifice  stood, 
"  with  none  to  make  him  afraid."  And 
so,  for  twenty  years,  the  Universalists 
of  New  Orleans,  with  their  eloquent 
minister,  were  indebted  to  the  kindness 
and  liberality  of  a  strict  Israelite,  for  a 
temple  in  which  to  perform  their  relig- 
ious duties.  All  this  time,  the  property 
occupied  by  the  church  was  of  the  value 
of  fifty  or  eighty  thousand  dollars.  Not 
a  cent  of  rent  was  ever  demanded  by 
Mr.  Touro,  for  the  use  of  the  property, 
and  the  pastor  was  allowed  to  receive 
the  pew  rents  for  his  own  remuneratioa. 


John  KoDonoerh's  Personal  Appear- 
ance. 

John  McDonoqh,  the  eccentric  mU- 
lionnairo  of  New  Orleans,  is  thus  de- 
scribed by  a  most  pleasing  writer  in 
the  Continental  Magazine,  who  also  fur- 
nishes some  other  most  readable  me- 
morabilia concerning  this  and  other 
noted  capitalists,  which  have  been 
transferred  to  these  pages  : 

In  the  year  1850,  and  for  nearly 
forty  years  previous,  there  could  be 
seen  almost  every  day  in  the  streets  of 
New  Orleans,  a  very  peculiar  and  re- 
markable-looking old  gentleman.  Tall 
and  straight  as  a  pillar,  with  stern,  de- 
termined features,  lit  up  by  eyes  of  un- 
common, almost  unnatural  brilliancy, 
with  his  hair  combed  back  and  gath- 
ered in  a  sort  of  queue,  and  dressed  in 
the  fashion  of  half  a  century  ago — to 
wit,  an  old  blue  coat,  with  high  collar. 


well-brushed  and  patched  but  some- 
what seedy,  pantaloons  of  like  date  and 
texture,  hat  somewhat  more  modern, 
but  bearing  unmistakable  proof  of  long 
service  and  exposure  to  sun  and  rain ; 
old  round-toed  shoes,  the  top-leathers 
of  which  had  survived  more  soles  than 
the  wearer  had  outlived  souls  of  his 
early  friends  and  companions ;  a  scant 
white  vest,  ruflflied  shirt,  and  voluminous 
white  cravat,  comiileted  the  costume  of 
this  singular  gentleman,  who,  with  his 
ancient  blue  silk  umbrella  under  his 
arm,  and  his  fierce  eye  fixed  on  some 
imaginary  goal  ahead,  made  his  way 
through  the  struggling  crowds  which 
poured  along  the  streets  of  New  Or- 
leans. 

The  last  time  this  strange  and  spec- 
tral figure  was  seen  making  its  accus- 
tomed rounds  was  on  the  26th  of  Oc- 
tober, 1850.  On  that  day,  a  very  re- 
markable event  occurred,  which  at- 
tracted the  notice  of  passers-by,  and 
was  even  snatched  up  as  an  item  by 
the  ever- vigilant  reporters  of  the  daily 
press ;  this  consisted  simply  in  a  nota- 
ble variation  from  the  routine  and  hab- 
its of  the  old  gentleman  in  the  long- 
tailed  blue.  He  was  seen  to  stop  on 
Canal  street,  to  hesitate  for  a  few  mo- 
ments, and  then  deliberately  enter  an 
omnibus  bound  for  the  lower  part  of 
the  city.  Such  an  occurrence  created 
quite  a  sensation  among  street-comer 
gossipers.  There  must  really  be  some 
new  and  pressing  emergency,  which 
could  produce  this  departure  from  the 
custom  and  invariable  habits  of  forty 
years :  so  said  every  one  who  knew  the 
old  gentleman.  The  omnibus  stopped 
at  the  court  house ;  the  subject  of  these 
observations  and  his  blue  umbrella 
emerged  from  it,  and  both  soon  disap- 
peared in  the  corridor  leading  to  the 
so-called  "  halls  of  justice." 

That  was  the  last  that  was  ever  seen 
of  the  strange  old  gentleman  on  the 
streets  of  New  Orleans.  The  evening 
journals  of  the  next  day  contained  the 
following :— 


492 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


"  Died,  this  morning,  the  27th  of  Oc- 
tober, 1850,  at  McDonoghville,  opposite 
the  city  of  New  Orleans,  after  a  short 
illness,  John  McDonogh,  a  native  of 
Baltimore,  but  for  forty  years  a  resi- 
dent of  Louisiana." 


Looks  and  Manners  of  Rothschild. 

Rothschild's  beauty  of  countenance 
was  in  no  sort  of  equality  with  the  per- 
fection of  his  finances.  He  was,  in- 
deed, a  butt  in  this  respect,  for  the 
satirists  of  the  day,  who  "  loved  a  shin- 
ing mark"  then,  as  now.  His  huge 
and  somewhat  slovenly  appearance ; 
the  lounging  attitude  he  assumed  as 
he  leaned  ponderously  against  his  pillar 
in  the  Royal  Exchange  ;  his  rough  and 
rugged  speech  ;  his  foreign  accent  and 
idiom,  made  caricature  fasten  upon  and 
claim  him  as  its  own — while  even  ridi- 
cule lost  all  power,  in  the  end,  over  a 
subject  which  defied  its  utmost  skill. 


Takingr  Care  of  His  Umbrella. 

A  MEBCHANT  in  the  Dutch  trade, 
who  had  been  a  resident  of  New  York 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  had  in  his 
possession  a  silk  umbrella  of  rather 
antique  appearance  and  uncommonly 
large  proportions,  which  attracted  the 
notice  of  a  friend  in  company,  who 
said  to  him  in  jest :  "  I  should  not  be 
surprised  to  hear  you  had  brought  out 
that  ancient  umbrella  with  you  from 
Holland."  *'  You  have  guessed  right," 
he  replied ;  "  I  did  bring  it  when  I 
came  to  this  country,  and  have  had  it 
in  constant  use  ever  since ;  but  I  sent 
it  once  during  the  time  to  Holland  to  be 
newly  covered."  This  merchant  was 
liberal  and  charitable,  but  he  took  good 
care  of  his  umbrella,  as  of  other  things, 
and  died  worth  a  million  of  dollars. 


Wealthy  Hen  Imagining:  Themselves 
Poor. 

Men  who  have  accumulated  large 

fortunes  from  small  beginnings,  when 


they  have  passed  the  middle  age  of 
life,  often  imagine  themselves  in  pover- 
ty. A  singular  case  of  this  kind  is  re- 
lated of  an  Englishman,  as  follows : 
A  large  manufacturer  residing  in  York- 
shire, one  day  called  on  the  relieving 
officer  of  the  district,  and  pleaded  for 
relief  Appreciating  instantly  the  state 
of  mind  in  which  the  well-known 
applicant    was,    the    officer    replied, 

"  Certainly,  Mr. ;  call  to-morrow, 

and  you  shall  have  it."  Satisfied,  the 
applicant  retired,  and  the  officer  has- 
tened to  the  gentleman's  son,  stated  the 
case,  and  expressed  his  opinion  that 
the  relief  demanded  should  be  given. 
"  Give  it,"  said  the  son,  "  and  we'll  re- 
turn you  the  money."  Accordingly, 
this  wealthy  manufacturer  next  day  re- 
ceived relief,  and  for  many  weeks  regu- 
larly applied  for  his  five  shillings  per 
week ;  until  at  last  the  hallucination 
vanished,  and  his  mind  was  completely 
restored. 


Death-bed  Snrronndingrs  of  the  New 
»  Orleans  Croesus. 

Ik  a  cold,  desolate,  dreary,  brick 
building,  constituting  almost  the  only 
visible  sign  of  the  existence  of  the  town 
of  McDonoghville,  situate  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Mississippi,  opposite  to  the 
centre  of  New  Orleans,  and  in  a  large 
room,  the  furniture  of  which  was  old- 
fashioned,  worn,  and  time  stained,  there 
lay  on  a  small  hard  mattress  the  gaunt 
figure  of  John  McDonogh,  the  million- 
naire,  tortured  with  pain  and  fast  sink- 
ing under  the  ravages  of  that  terrible 
disease,  the  Asiatic  cholera.  The  only 
beings  near  were  negroes ;  no  white 
persons  were  ever  allowed  to  spend  the 
night  under  that  roof  Those  negroes 
were  the  rich  man's  slaves  in  law,  but 
companions  and  friends  in  fact.  His 
immense  business,  his  vast  estates  were 
administered  through  them.  Even  his 
documents  were  copied  by  them.  They 
were  true  to  him  in  his  moment  of  dis- 
tress and  sickness.  All  that  their 
limited  knowledge  of  medicine  could 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


493 


suggest  was  done  for  his  relief.  At 
last,  in  disregard  of  his  command,  a 
physician  was  brought  from  the  city, 
who  pronounced  his  condition  a  very 
critical  one.  The  doctor's  first  demand 
was  for  brandy. 

"  Massa,  there  a'n't  bin  no  brandy  in 
this  house  for  twenty  years,"  was  the 
reply  of  an  old,  gray -headed  domestic. 

A  servant  was  despatched  to  the 
nearest  grocery,  but  it  proved  to  be  too 
late.  The  dying  man  perceived  his 
condition,  and  requested  that  his  law- 
yer should  be  sent  for.  In  an  hour  that 
gentleman  arrived.  He  was  just  in 
time. 

"  Roselins,"  he  said,  addressing  one 
of  the  most  eminent  of  the  lawyers  of 
the  New  Orleans  bar,  as  he  held  his 
hand,  "  you  see  I  am  going ;  you  see  I 
am  not  afraid  to  die.  Take  care  of  the 
estate  ;  'tis  not  mine,  'tis  God's  and  the 
poor's."  And  thus,  without  a  struggle, 
the  soul  of  John  McDonogh  passed  to 
its  Maker. 


Sis^iora  Almonastre  and  John 
McDonogrh. 

Is  his  early  manhood,  John  McDon- 
ogh was  styled  the  handsomest  of  his  sex 
in  New  Orleans.  That  such  a  young 
man  should  attract  the  favorable  notice 
of  ambitious  Creole  beauties,  who  then 
composed  the  only  female  society  in 
New  Orleans,  of  managing  mothers, 
desirous  of  providing  for  their  daugh- 
ters, or  of  fathers,  who,  in  addition  to 
the  latter  motive,  might  also  desire  to 
secure  a  connection  which  might  pro- 
mote their  own  business  prospects, 
was  quite  natural.  The  handsome 
American  merchant,  with  his  still  hand- 
somer fortune,  was,  therefore,  much 
courted.  Though  always  gay,  gallant, 
and  polite,  Mr.  McDonogh  proved  for 
some  time  invulnerable  to  even  the 
charms  of  Creole  beauty.  At  last  there 
were  indications  that  a  young  Orlean- 
noise,  of  fortune  equal  to  his  own,  and 
of  personal  charms  that  were  the  theme 
of  general  praise  and  admiration,  had 


captured  the  obdurate  Crcesus.  Tliis 
young  damsel  was  then  emerging  into 
sweet  sixteen.  She  was  the  toast  and 
heiress  of  the  city.  Her  name  and 
family  were  among  the  oldest  in  the 
French  and  Spanish  colonies.  Her 
father  was  SeQor  Don  Pedro  Almonas- 
tre, an  old  oflicial  under  the  Spanish 
Government,  who,  by  prudent  invest- 
ments, accumulated  a  large  property  in 
the  very  centre  of  New  Orleans.  He  it 
was  who  donated  the  ground  on  which 
the  Cathedral  of  St,  Louis  now  stands. 
It  is  for  the  rest  of  his  soul  that  mass 
is  offered  up  and  the  bells  are  toUed 
every  Sunday  afternoon  in  that  venera- 
ble temple. 

This  daughter  and  only  child  of  Al- 
monastre was  bom  in  the  colony,  of  a 
French  Creole  mother.  She  had  at- 
tained the  age  of  sixteen  about  the  year 
1811.  It  was  then  that  Mr,  McDon- 
ogh's  propositions  for  an  alliance  were 
favorably  considered,  and  all  the  ar- 
rangements were  made  for  the  betrothal 
of  the  parties. 

Suddenly,  however,  a  new  actor  ap- 
peared on  the  stage,  who  overturned 
this  well-arranged  scheme.  There  re- 
sided in  the  city  a  grim,  austere,  and 
wealthy  man,  who  had  served  in  the 
French  and  Spanish  armies,  and  was 
noted  no  less  for  his  ferocity  and  pride 
— ^which  had  been  displayed  in  several 
sanguinary  duels — than  for  his  wealth. 
He  had  an  only  son,  a  handsome,  grace- 
ful, and  fascinating  young  man,  who, 
at  the  suggestion  of  his  father,  and  per- 
haps at  the  prompting  of  his  own 
heart,  stepped  forward  to  lay  his  claims 
at  the  feet  of  the  lovely  heiress  of  Al- 
monastre. Fortunately  for  the  cause 
of  humanity,  though  unfortunately  for 
the  American  merchant,  the  yoimg 
Frenchman  supplanted  him  in  the  re- 
gard of  the  fair  Creole. 

The  alliance  of  two  such  wealthy 
families  as  the  Pontalbas  and  Almo- 
nastres,  was  a  great  event  in  the  city, 
and  it  was  duly  celebrated  by  many 
brilliant   festivities,  at   the   close  of 


494 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


which  the  happy  couple  departed  for 
Paris,  accompanied  by  the  father  of  the 
young  man.  Purchasing  a  splendid 
hotel  in  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain,  the 
Pontalbas  gave  themselves  up  to  all 
the  fashionable  dissipations  of  that  gay 
city.  The  younger  Pontalba  was  ap- 
pointed by  Napoleon  one  of  his  pages, 
with  the  title  of  count.  But  in  course 
of  time,  discontent,  contention,  and 
jealousy  swept  like  a  storm  through 
that  household ;  the  husband,  thinking 
he  had  been  dishonored,  left  his  own 
roof  for  the  chateau  of  his  father,  where 
they  both  lived  morose  and  secluded 
On  the  occasion  of  a  visit  of  the  count- 
ess, on  business,  one  day,  to  her  father- 
in-law,  during  the  absence  of  her  hus- 
band, a  terrible  tragedy  ensued — the 
blowing  out  of  the  elder  Pontalba's 
brains  by  his  own  hand,  and  the  al- 
most fatal  wounding  of  the  countess  in 
her  breast  and  hand,  by  shot  and  bul- 
let, probably  by  the  same  pistol  as  that 
in  her  father-in-law's  grasp.  After  her 
recovery,  she  lived  in  Paris,  in  great 
elegance,  until  1830,  when  the  Revolu- 
tion finding  her  a  fierce  Bourbonite,  she 
returned  to  New  Orleans  for  a  short 
time,  when  finding  Louis  Philippe's 
dynasty  an  unproscriptive  one,  she  left 
for  Paris  again.  Here  she  resided  un- 
til 1840,  when  she  came  back  to  New 
Orleans  once  more,  directing  her  atten- 
tion to  the  improvement  of  her  splen- 
did property,  which  encloses  Jackson 
Square,  where  she  built  some  forty  ele- 
gant houses,  and  otherwise  beautified 

that  locality. 

» 

Disposing  of  One's  Surplus  Income. 

NATHAmraL  Ripley  Cobb,  of  Boston, 
displayed  the  character  of  a  conscien- 
tious merchant  in  a  remarkable  degree. 
He  was  one  of  those  noble-hearted  men 
of  wealth  whose  affluence  is  constantly 
proved  by  their  munificence.  Yet  it 
was  not  always  proved  from  what  is 
strictly  denominated  "  affluence  "  that 
he  was  so  benevolent,  insomuch  as  the 


most  solemn  vows,  voluntarily  assumed, 
were  upon  him,  that  he  would  never  be- 
come rich.  Thus,  in  November,  1831, 
he  drew  up  the  following  remarkable 
document : 

"  By  the  grace  of  God,  I  will  never 
be  worth  more  than  fifty  thousand 
dollars.  By  the  grace  of  God,  I  wiU 
give  one  fourth  of  the  net  profits  of 
my  business  to  charitable  and  religious 
uses.  If  I  am  ever  worth  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars,  I  wiU  give  one  half  of  my 
net  profits ;  and  if  I  am  ever  worth 
thirty  thousand,  I  will  give  three 
fourths — and  the  whole  after  fifty 
thousand.  So  help  me  God,  or  give  to 
a  more  faithful  steward,  and  set  me 
aside.— N.  R.  Cobb,  Nov.,  1821." 

He  adhered  to  this  covenant  with 
strict  fidelity.  At  one  time,  finding 
that  his  property  had  increased  beyond 
fifty  thousand,  he  at  once  devoted  the 
surplus,  seven  thousand  five  hundred, 
as  a  foundation  for  a  professorship  in 
an  institution  for  the  education  of 
ministers,  to  which  he  also  gave,  on 
various  occasions,  during  his  short  life, 
twice  that  amount.  He  was  likewise  a 
generous  friend  to  multitudes  of  young 
men,  whom  he  assisted  in  establishing 
themselves  in  business,  and  to  many 
who  were  unfortunate. 


Girard's  Treatment  of  "  Splendid 
Church."  Projects. 

It  is  known  that  Mr.  Girard  had  no 
preference  for  one  sect  more  than  an- 
other, and  he  not  unfrequently  contribu- 
ted considerable  sums  toward  building 
churches,  sometimes  of  one  denomina- 
tion and  sometimes  of  another. 

The  Methodists  wished  to  build  a 
church  in  Tenth  street,  just  north  of 
Chestnut.  Thomas  Haskins,  a  mer- 
chant, and  a  neighbor  of  Girard,  called 
on  him,  and  urged  his  suit  for  aid  in 
very  modest  terms.  Girard  replied,  "  I 
approve  of  your  object,"  and  presented 
him  with  a  check  for  five  hundred  dol- 
lars.  The  Methodist  society  failed,  and 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,   BANKERS,  ETC. 


495 


the  house  was  bought  by  the  Episcopa- 
lians, who  wished  to  alter  it  into  the 
splendid  Gothic  house  now  called  St. 
Stephen's  Church.  A  committee  waited 
upon  Mr.  Girard,  told  him  their  plan, 
and  asked  his  aid.  He  gave  them  a 
check  for  five  hundred  dollars.  They 
were  disappointed,  and  said,  "  Why, 
you  gave  the  Methodists  fire  hundred 
dollars  for  their  little  church,  and  we 
are  going  to  build  a  more  splendid 
edifice,  and  surely  you  will  give  us 
something  comporting  with  the  grand- 
eur of  our  design.  Have  you  not 
omitted  a  cipher  ?  " 

They  returned  the  check,  asking 
Girard  to  make  it  five  thousand  dol- 
lars. Girard  tore  it  in  pieces,  and 
added,  "  /  will  not  give  you  one  cent. 
Your  society  is  rich — the  Methodists 
are  poor.  You  remind  me  of  the  rich 
man  in  the  Gospel.  He  would  pull 
down  and  build  greater.  Profit  by  his 
fate,  gentlemen.  I  have  nothing  to 
give  for  your  splendid  church." 


Last  Da3rs  of  Business  and  Financial 
Celebrities. 

Peter  C.  Brooks,  the  Boston  mil- 
lionnaire,  ^who  lived  to  the  age  of 
eighty  years,  retained  the  management 
of  his  afiairs  in  his  own  hands,  till 
about  a  month  before  his  decease. 
Finding  himself,  one  morning,  some- 
what at  a  loss  to  imderstand  a  matter 
of  business  which  required  his  atten- 
tion, he  calmly  said  to  a  son  who  was 
with  him,  "  It  is  time  for  me  to  abdi- 
cate," and  having  executed  a  power 
of  attorney  to  dispossess  himself  of  the 
management  of  his  property  with  as 
little  concern  as  he  would  have  signed 
a  receipt  for  a  few  dollars,  never  spoke 
of  aflFairs  again.  Mr.  Brooks  was  for 
many  years  a  prominent  Unitarian,  as 
have  also  been  his  sons-in-law,  Hon, 
Edward  Everett  (formerly  a  Unitarian 
preacher),  Rev.  Dr.  Frothingham,  and 
Hon.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  now 
Minister  to  England. 


Samuel  Appleton  had  always  dread- 
ed a  lingering  dissolution,  and  his  desire 
that  the  last  hour  might  come  suddenly 
was  granted.  On  the  last  morning  of 
his  life  he  enjoyed  his  usual  health. 
During  the  day  he  had  sufiiered  some 
pain  and  uneasiness,  but  the  remedies 
applied  had  relieved  him,  and  he  said, 
"  I  will  now  try  to  sleep."  He  com- 
posed himself  for  this  purpose,  and 
sank  into  slumber.  In  a  few  minutes, 
however,  his  companion  was  alarmed 
by  his  louder  breathng  ;  she  ran  to  his 
bedside  and  summoned  an  attendant. 
He  was  lying  in  the  same  attitude  of 
repose,  but  it  proved  to  be  the  repose  of 
death.  His  gifts  to  religious  and  bene- 
volent objects,  through  his  long  life, 
were  constant  and  generous,  and  in  his 
last  will  and  testament  there  was  abun- 
dant evidence  of  his  desire  that  at  his 
death  "  his  works  should  follow  him." 

Gideon  Lee  spent  his  last  moments  in 
a  dying  charge  to  his  sons,  in  which  he 
enjoined  them  always  to  "  fill  up  the 
measure  of  time."  "  Be,"  said  he, 
"  always  employed  profitably  in  doing 
good,  in  building  up ;  aim  to  promote 
the  good  of  yourselves  and  of  society ; 
no  one  can  do  much  good  without 
doing  some  harm,  but  you  wiU  do  less 
harm  by  striving  to  do  good ;  be  indus- 
trious, be  honest," 

Jacob  Lorillard,  when  he  perceived 
that  his  death  was  approaching,  which 
he  had  not  expected  until  it  was  near 
at  hand,  exhibited  no  agitation  nor 
fear.  He  called  his  children  around 
him,  and,  beginning  with  the  youngest, 
he  gave,  in  an  affecting  and  impressive 
manner,  to  each  of  them,  according  to 
their  respective  dispositions,  characters, 
and  habits,  the  particular  kind  of  coun- 
sel appropriate  to  the  case.  After  do- 
ing this,  he  gradually  passed  away. 

Lorenzo  de  Medici  sustained  the 
last  conflict  with  equanimity.  It  appear- 
ed from  his  conduct  as  though  it  were 


496 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


those  about  Mm  who  momentarily 
expected  that  fate,  and  that  he  alone 
was  to  be  exempt.  Even  to  the  last, 
the  scintillations  of  his  former  vivacity 
were  perceptible.  Being  asked,  on 
taking  a  morsel  of  food,  how  he 
relished  it,  "  As  a  dying  man  always 
does,"  was  his  reply.  Having  affection- 
ately embraced  his  surrounding  friends, 
and  submitted  to  the  last  ceremonies 
of  the  church,  he  became  absorbed  in 
meditation,  occasionally  repeating  por- 
tions of  Scripture,  and  accompanying 
his  ejaculations  with  elevated  eyes  and 
solemn  gestures  of  his  hands,  till  the 
energies  of  life  declining,  he  pressed  to 
his  lips  a  magnificent  crucifix,  and 
calmly  expired. 

GiRARD,  in  his  eighty-second  year, 
had  nearly  lost  the  use  of  his  eye,  and 
was  frequently  seen  groping  in  the 
vestibule  of  his  bank,  disregarding  the 
assistance  of  others,  a  species  of  temerity 
which,  as  it  proved,  nearly  cost  him  his 
life;  for,  crossing  Second  street  and 
Market,  a  dearborn  wagon  rapidly 
drove  by,  and  nearly  took  off  his  ear, 
and  bruised  his  face,  having  struck 
furiously  against  his  head,  and  pros- 
trated his  person;  an  injury  which 
proved  serious  and  permanent.  By 
this  accident  the  whole  of  his  right  ear 
was  nearly  lost,  and  his  eye,  which  was 
before  but  opened  slightly,  was  entirely 
shut ;  and  from  that  time  his  flesh  was 
gradually  wasted  away,  and  his  health 
declined.  Mr.  Girard  had  long  re- 
garded death  with  apparent  indiffer- 
ence, having  stated  many  years  pre- 
viously that  it  fell  within  the  course 
of  nature  that  his  life  should  terminate, 
even  at  that  period.  And  this  event 
was  soon  to  be  realized.  During  the 
month  of  December  he  was  attacked 
with  a  species  of  influenza,  and  the 
disease  undermined  his  system  until 
the  26th  of  that  month,  when  he  ex- 
pired, in  a  back  room  of  the  third  story 
of  his  house  in  Water  street.  A  short 
time  before  he  died,  he  got  out  of  bed 


and  walked  across  the  room  to  a  chair, 
but  almost  immediately  retiuned  to 
his  bed,  placing  his  hand  to  his  head, 
and  uttering  the  words,  "  How  violent 
is  this  disorder !  How  very  extraordi- 
nary it  is ! " — being  the  last  intelligible 
words  that  ever  fell  from  his  lips. 

JtTDAH  TotTRO,  a  few  days  before  his 
death,  sent  for  a  notary  public,  and 
dictated  the  remarkable  wUl,  in  which 
he  made  so  noble  and  philanthropic  a 
distribution  of  his  large  wealth.  The 
bequests  were  all  conveyed  in  such 
calm  and  specific  terms,  and  were  so 
entirely  free  from  all  conditions  or 
saving  clauses,  that  there  could  not  be 
the  slightest  prospect  of  any  dispute 
or  litigation  growing  out  of  them.  Of 
all  things,  he  most  disliked  lawsuits 
and  controversies  of  every  kind.  He 
had  provided  in  his  will  that  his  mor- 
tal remains  should  be  deposited  by  the 
side  of  the  other  members  of  his  family, 
in  the  Jewish  cemetery  of  Newport,  R. 
I.  Almost  in  his  last  moments  he  re- 
newed this  injunction,  and  said  to  those 
around  his  dying  couch,  "  When  I  am 
dead,  carry  me  to  the  spot  of  my  birth, 
and  bury  me  by  the  side  of  my  mother." 

Rothschild's  sickness  and  death 
proved  that  a  millionnaire — though 
the  greatest  under  the  sun — is  but  a 
man.  His  affairs  called  him  to  Frank- 
fort, and  he  was  there  seized  with  his 
last  illness.  The  profession  there 
could  do  nothing  for  him,  and,  scarcely 
even  as  a  last  hope,  Mr.  Travers,  the 
eminent  surgeon,  made  a  rapid  journey 
to  see  if  English  science  could  avail  the 
dying  Croesus.  The  effort  was  vain, 
and  the  inevitable  fate  was  well  and 
worthily  met.  There  appears  even  a 
certain  degree  of  dignity  in  his  resig- 
nation to  the  last  struggle,  and  some- 
thing touchingly  manful  in  the  wording 
of  the  will  which  was  to  surrender  to 
others  the  gold  won  by  the  sweat  of 
his  brain.  Breathing  an  almost  patri- 
archal simplicity,  it  recommends  his 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,   BANKERS,   ETC. 


491 


sons  to  undertake  no  great  transaction 
without  the  advice  of  their  mother,  of 
whom  he  speaks  with  tender  and  even 
touching  aflfection  :  "  It  is  my  special 
wish  that  my  sons  shall  not  engage  in 
any  transaction  of  moment,  without 
having  previously  asked  her  maternal 
advice."  The  first  intelligence  of  the 
death  of  the  great  financial  monarch 
was  received  by  the  same  method 
which  had  so  often  contributed  to  his 
success.  Beneath  the  wings  of  a  pi- 
geon, shot  in  sport  at  Brighton,  were 
discovered  the  words,  "  II  est  mort " 
(He  is  dead).  His  remains  were  carried 
to  England.  The  Austrian,  Prussian, 
Neapolitan,  and  Portuguese  ambassa- 
dors assisted  at  his  funeral.  The 
coffin  or  casket  which  contained  his 
massive  remains  was  elaborately  carved 
and  gorgeously  ornamented,  looking 
like  some  splendid  piece  of  artistic 
skill,  destined  for  the  boudoir  of  a 
lady,  rather  than  for  the  damp  of  the 
grave.  ^ 

Bekindlins  of  the  Old  Spark. 

The  youthful  flame  of  John  McDon- 
ogh,  of  New  Orleans,  when  he  was  a 
yomig  and  prosperous  merchant  of 
that  city,  was  the  Countess  Pontalba, 
or  Miss  Ahnonastre,  as  was  her  maid- 
en name.  It  happened  one  day,  many 
years  after,  while  the  countess  was  in  a 
notary's  office,  for  the  purpose  of  sign- 
ing some  deeds,  that  a  taU,  grave,  and  ec- 
centric-looking old  gentleman  entered, 
and  seeing  the  notary  engaged,  took 
his  seat  to  wait  his  turn.  After  com- 
pleting her  signature  of  the  deeds,  the 
countess,  raising  her  eyes  from  the 
parchment,  perceived  that  she  was  the 
object  of  close  and  keen  observation 
of  the  eccentric  old  gentleman  with 
the  very  brilliant  and  piercing  eyes. 
A  single  glance  served  to  bring  that 
face  and  form  distinctly  back  to  her 
memory.  Rushing  up  to  the  old  gen- 
tleman, she  threw  her  arms  around  his 
neck,  in  an  aflfectionate  embrace,  ex- 
claiming : 


"  Oh,  Jklr.  McDonogh  !  is  it  you  ?  I 
have  not  forgotten  you  during  our 
long  separation."  And  after  a  pause, 
her  emotions  checking  her  utterance, 
she  continued :  "  We  were  once  be- 
trothed ;  it  would  have  been  better  for 
both  if  we  had  married.  Is  it  too  late 
to  repair  that  fatal  error  ? " 

For  the  first  time  for  forty  years,  the 
old  man  was  deeply  afiected  by  a  ten- 
der and  human  feeling.  The  ancient 
love  was  aroused  from  the  deep  re- 
cesses of  his  heart,  where  it  had  lain 
dormant  and  forgotten,  and  for  a 
moment  triumphed  over  the  passion 
which  had  been  growing  and  expand- 
ing for  the  half  of  his  lifetime,  until  it 
had  gained  the  entire  mastery  of  his 
soul.  Greatly  moved  by  this  peni- 
tence of  his  once-loved  and  betrothed, 
Mr.  McDonogh  begged  to  be  permit- 
ted to  consult  his  better  judgment,  and 
tearing  himself  away  from  the  bewitch- 
ments of  the  countess,  he  repaired  in- 
stantly to  the  office  of  his  lawyer. 
"Walking  in  with  the  appearance  of 
great  excitement,  he  paced  the  office 
of  the  lawyer  in  an  anxious  and  excited 
maimer  for  some  time,  to  the  profound 
astonishment  of  his  ancient  counsellor. 
At  last  the  cause  of  this  emotion  was 
explained,  when,  turning  to  his  lawyer, 
Mr.  McDonogh  confessed  that  he  was 
under  a  great  excitement  produced  by 
meeting  his  old  love,  the  countess. 
"And  what  would  you  think  now, 
R ,  if  I  were  to  marry  her  ?  " 

"  I  should  think,"  replied  the  unsen- 
timental counsellor,  "that  you  had 
become  crazy." 

"  Ah  ? "  replied  the  millionnaire  iu- 
terrogatively,  and  then  pausing  thought- 
fully, he  contiuued :  "  And  you  would 
think  right— you  would  think  right ; 
so  let  us  to  business." 


Bdinbnrgh  Mercliant  Findin)?  a  Purse. 

While  prosecuting  his  accustomed 
morning  tour  in  the  suburbs  of  Edin- 
burgh, a  merchant  of  that  city  found, 


498 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


as  he  walked  along,  a  purse  containing 
a  considerable  sum  of  money.  He  ob- 
served a  lady  at  a  considerable  dis- 
tance, who,  he  thought,  might  be  the 
owner  and  loser.  Determined  to  be 
correct  as  to  the  party  to  whom  he 
delivered  it,  he  fell  upon  a  strange  yet 
ingenious  plan  to  effect  this.  He  re- 
solved to  act  the  part  of  a  "  poor,  dis- 
tressed tradesman,"  and  boldly  went 
forward,  hat  in  hand,  and  asked  alms. 
This  was  answered  with  a  polite  "  Go 
away !  I  have  nothing  to  give  you." 
The  poor  man,  however,  persisted  in 
his  entreaties  until  he  had  got  assist- 
ance for  his  "  famishing  wife  and 
children ; "  the  lady,  from  reasons,  no 
doubt,  similar  to  "  Mrs.  Maclarty's," 
at  last  condescended — but,  to  her  dis- 
may, found  that  the  wherewith  was 
minus.  The  good  merchant,  now  satis- 
fied that  he  was  correct,  with  a  polite 
bow  returned  the  purse,  with  a  word 
of  advice  to  her,  that  in  future  she 
should  be  more  generous  to  the  dis- 
tressed and  destitute. 


The  Merchant  Family  of  Medici, 
Sesargram. 

As  whatever  relates  to  the  illustrious 
merchant  family  of  the  Medici  is  of 
universal  interest,  the  following  remark- 
able account  of  the  disinterment,  a  few 
years  ago,  of  about  sixty  of  its  mem- 
bers, who  were  buried  in  the  crypt  of 
the  stately  pile  of  San  Lorenzo  at  Flo- 
rence, is  peculiarly  noteworthy. 

The  wooden  cofl5ns  of  the  vaults 
having  been  found  mouldering  away, 
orders  were  giving  to  have  them  re- 
placed, and  consequently  all  the  bodies, 
with  the  exception  of  two,  were  trans- 
ferred into  new  receptacles. 

During  these  operations,  the  remains 
of  the  famous  Giovanni  delle  Bande 
Neri,  and  his  son  Cosimo,  the  first 
Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  were  once 
more  exposed  to  mortal  gaze.  The 
bodies  of  Eleanora  di  Toledo,  wife  of 
the  latter,  and  her  son  Francis  the  First, 


were  found  to  be  so  fresh  as  to  appear 
only  recently  laid  in  the  sepulchre; 
that  of  Francis,  especially,  warranted 
the  supposition  of  his  having  died  from 
some  strong  arsenical  poison.  By  the 
side  of  Cosimo  lay  his  dagger,  possibly 
the  one  which  he  plunged  into  the 
breast  of  his  son  Garcia,  the  fratricide. 
Each  body  was  accompanied  with  a 
medal,  and  ticketed  and  labelled  with 
the  most  business-like  precision ;  and 
all  were  arranged  in  the  state  costume 
of  their  day.  Giovanni,  the  father  of 
Cosimo,  was  the  only  one  covered  with 
a  helmet.  Gaston,  the  last  of  the  house, 
closed  the  series. 


Household  Uasnificence  of  Portingna, 
the  Great  Chinese  Merchant. 

PoRTrNGTTA,  the  famous  Chinese  mer- 
chant of  Canton,  has  an  estate  on 
which  he  spends  half  a  million  dollars 
a  year — an  immense  sum  in  a  coimtry 
where  labor  is  to  be  had  almost  for 
nothing.  The  property  is  larger  than 
a  king's  domain. 

This  China  merchant  made  his  for- 
tune in  the  opium  trade,  and  is  said 
to  possess  more  than  twenty  million 
dollars.  He  has  fifty  wives  and  eigh- 
ty domestics,  without  counting  some 
thirty  laborers,  gardeners,  &c.,  and 
owns  in  the  north  of  China  a  still 
finer  estate.  In  front  of  his  residence 
is  a  fine  garden  of  vast  extent,  in  which 
are  the  rarest  flowers,  and  a  wide  alley 
leads  to  the  principal  entrance.  The 
apartments  of  the  house  are  magnifi- 
cent in  size,  and  the  floors  are  in 
marble;  the  rooms  are  also  orna- 
mented with  columns  of  the  same 
material  and  of  sandal  wood,  encrusted 
with  mother-of-pearl,  gold,  silver,  and 
precious  stones.  Splendid  mirrors  of 
unsurpassed  height,  furniture  in  rare 
and  costly  wood  covered  with  Japan 
lacquer,  and  sumptuous  carpets  of 
velvet  and  silk,  decorate  the  rooms. 
The  apartments  are  separated  from 
each  other  by  movable  partitions  of 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETS. 


499 


cypress  and  sandal  wood,  which  parti- 
tions are  ornamented  with  charming 
designs,  cut  right  through  the  wood, 
so  as  to  permit  one  room  to  be  seen 
from  the  other.  From  the  ceilings  are 
suspended  the  most  gorgeous  chande- 
liers, glittering  with  gems  of  every 
hue. 

There  are  more  than  thirty  piles  of 
buildings  in  the  whole  of  this  private 
palace,  which  are  united  by  covered 
galleries,  with  columns,  and  pavements 
in  marble.  The  lodgings  of  the  women 
are  decorated  with  more  than  Eastern 
splendor.  An  entire  army  might  be 
lodged  in  the  house  and  grounds. 
Watercourses,  upon  which  are  gilded 
junks,  traverse  in  all  directions ;  and 
at  intervals  are  prodigious  basins,  in 
which  are  swans,  ibices,  and  an  infinite 
variety  of  birds.  In  front  of  the  women's 
apartments  is  a  theatre,  in  which  a 
hundred  actors  can  perform,  and  so 
placed  that  those  who  are  in  the  apart- 
ments can  see  without  difficulty.  Near 
the  outer  door  is  a  printing  office,  in 
which  Portingua  causes  the  memoirs 
of  his  family  to  be  prepared  for  pos- 
terity. 


Doctrine  of  Benevolence  held  by 
Girard. 

Although  Girard  granted  large  aids 
to  large  objects,  he  withheld  assistance 
from  deserving  subjects  of  individual 
benevolence.  No  man  sought  his  alms 
with  a  prospect  of  relief,  and  beggary, 
in  most  cases,  departed  from  his  door 
as  hungry  as  when  it  came.  His  doc- 
trine appears  to  have  been  this :  that 
the  granting  of  small  sums  to  obscure 
objects,  that  the  opening  of  his  heart 
to  those  appeals  which  would  naturally 
be  made  upon  the  wealth  of  so  opulent 
a  man,  would  have  diminished  his 
chances  of  bestowing  his  bounties 
upon  those  important  subjects  which 
would  redound  to  his  fame.  •  And  it 
was  necessary  to  understand  his  pecu- 
liar self-will,  and  the  character  of  his 
temper,  to  obtain  aid  at  all.    The  so- 


licitor for  aid  who  made  small  de- 
mands upon  his  charity,  was  relieved 
with  thousands;  the  individual  who 
came  before  him  in  the  spirit  of  exac- 
tion, was  put  away  with  nothing. 


Lorillard  and  the  liOad  of  Wood. 

It  was  an  opinion  entertained  by 
many  persons,  that  Lorillard  was  too 
free  and  undiscriminating  in  the  exer- 
cise of  his  bounty,  for  "  even  his  fail- 
ings leaned  to  virtue's  side."  On  one 
occasion,  in  the  depths  of  winter,  a 
woman,  whom  he  had  often  relieved, 
called  upon  him  for  a  little  assistance 
to  procure  some  wood.  Having  some 
doubts  of  her  worthiness,  he  said  that 
he  would  inquire  about  her,  and  dis- 
missed her  without  any  relief. 

A  short  time  after,  he  left  his  office 
in  company  with  a  gentleman  who  had 
been  present  at  the  interview,  and  ob- 
serving a  cartman  with  a  load  of  wood 
on  his  cart,  he  asked  the  price  of  it, 
and  directed  him  to  take  it  to  a  certain 
street  and  number,  which  was  the  place 
where  the  disappointed  petitioner  re- 
sided. His  companion  remarked,  with 
some  surprise,  "  Did  you  not  say  that 
you  intended  to  make  some  inquiry 
about  her?"  He  replied,  "While  I 
should  have  been  inquiring  about  the 
matter,  the  poor  woman  might  have 
frozen  to  death." 


Colston,  the  Benevolent  Tffillionnaire 
Merchant. 

Edwaed  Colston,  at  the  age  of  for- 
ty years,  became  a  very  eminent  East 
India  merchant,  prior  to  the  incorpora- 
tion of  the  great  East  India  Company, 
and  had  forty  sail  of  ships  of  his  own, 
with  immense  riches  flowing  in  upon 
him.  He  still  remained  uniform  in 
his  charitable  disposition,  distributing 
many  thousand  pounds  to  various 
charities  in  and  about  London,  besides 
private  gifts  in  many  parts  of  the  king- 
dom. In  the  year  1708,  he  instituted 
a  very  magnificent  school  in  Bristol, 


500 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES 


which  cost  him  an  immense  sum,  and 
endowed  the  same  with  a  large  annual 
income.  He  likewise  gave  ten  pounds 
for  apprenticing  eyery  boy  in  that 
place,  and,  for  twelve  years  after  his 
death,  the  same  amount  to  put  them 
into  business.  His  private  charities, 
however,  are  believed  to  have  far  ex- 
ceeded those  in  public. 

A  most  interesting  act  of  beneficence 
on  the  part  of  Mr.  C.  was  the  follow- 
ing :  It  appears  that  one  of  his  ships, 
trading  to  the  East  Indies,  had  been 
missing  upward  of  three  years  and  was 
supposed  to  be  destroyed  at  sea,  but  at 
length  she  arrived,  richly  laden.  When 
his  principal  clerk  brought  him  the  re- 
port of  her  arrival,  and  of  the  riches 
on  board,  he  said,  that  as  she  was  to- 
tally given  up  for  lost,  he  would  by  no 
means  claim  any  right  to  her ;  he  there- 
fore ordered  the  ship  and  merchandise 
to  be  sold,  and  the  proceeds  thereof  to 
be  applied  toward  the  relief  of  the 
needy,  which  directions  were  imme- 
diately carried  into  effect. 


KetTiming-  a  Favor. 

A  Philadelphia  merchant,  in  for- 
mer times,  whose  wealth  and  standing 
were  only  equalled  by  the  uprightness 
of  his  principles  and  the  benevolence 
of  his  acts,  rescued  a  mechanic  from 
the  clutches  of  poverty,  and,  what  was 
worse  in  those  days,  from  the  hands  of 
the  sheriff.  The  son  of  the  mechanic 
was  young  at  this  time,  but  old  enough 
to  know  his  father's  benefactor.  Many 
years  after  this,  the  merchant  himself 
fell  into  difficulties;  and  at  the  most 
trying  moment,  when  all  his  friends 
had  forsaken  him,  the  mechanic's  son, 
now  comparatively  wealthy,  stepped 
forward  to  his  relief.  "  I  am  much  in- 
debted to  you,"  said  the  reduced  mer- 
chant. "  By  no  means,"  was  the  reply ; 
"  I  have  only  paid  the  debt  which  my 
father  contracted,  at  the  comer  of 
Chestnut  street,  thirty  years  ago,  when 
I  was  just  old  enough  to  know  the 


cause  of  my  poor  mother's  grief."  The 
merchant,  at  this  allusion  to  that  by- 
gone but  touching  reminiscence,  grasp- 
ed his  hand,  while  the  tears  were  al- 
lowed free  course  down  his  cheek. 


Settling  a  Knotty  Account :  Quaker 
Philosophy. 

A  MEKCHANT  had  a  dispute  with  a 
Quaker  respecting  the  settlement  of  an 
account.  The  merchant  was  deter- 
mined to  bring  the  account  into  court, 
a  proceeding  which  the  Quaker  very 
earnestly  deprecated,  using  every  argu- 
ment in  his  power  to  convince  the  mer- 
chant of  his  error ;  but  the  merchant 
was  inflexible.  Desirous  to  make  a  last 
effort,  the  Quaker  called  at  his  house 
one  morning,  and  inquired  of  the  ser- 
vant if  his  master  was  at  home ;  the 
merchant,  hearing  the  inquiry,  and 
knowing  the  voice,  called  out  from 
the  top  of  the  stairs,  "  Tell  that  rascal 
I  am  not  at  home."  The  Quaker, 
quietly  looking  up  at  him,  calmly  said, 
"  Well,  friend,  the  Lord  put  thee  in  a 
better  mind.'* 

The  merchant,  struck  afterward  with 
the  meekness  of  the  reply,  and  having 
more  deliberately  investigated  the  mat- 
ter, became  convinced  that  the  Quaker 
was  right  and  himself  wrong.  He  re- 
quested to  see  him,  and,  after  acknowl- 
edging his  error,  he  said,  "  I  have  one 
question  to  ask  you — how  were  you 
able,  with  such  patience,  on  various  oc- 
casions, to  bear  my  abuse  ? "  "  Friend," 
replied  the  Quaker,  "  I  will  tell  thee. 
I  was  naturally  as  hot  and  violent  as 
thou  art.  I  knew  that  to  indulge  this 
temper  was  sinful,  and  I  also  found 
that  it  was  unprofitable.  I  observed 
that  men  in  a  passion  always  speak 
loud;  and  I  thought  that  if  I  could 
control  my  voice,  I  should  repress  my 
passion.  I  have,  therefore,  made  it  a 
rule  never  to  let  my  voice  rise  above  a 
certain  key ;  and  by  a  careful  observ- 
ance of  this  rule,  I  have,  by  the  bless- 
ing of  God,  entirely  mastered  my  nat- 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,   BANKERS,   ETC. 


601 


ural  tongue."  Such  good,  frank  phil- 
osophy was  not  lost  upon  the  merchant 
in  after  years. 

Why  Guy  the  millionnaire  never 
Harried. 

Thomas  Guy,  for  many  years  a  book- 
seller carrying  on  business  at  No.  1 
Comhill,  London,  known  as  the  "  lucky 
comer,"  and  afterward  a  broker  and 
banker,  made  his  immense  fortune  by 
shrewd  speculations  in  stocks  and  Gov- 
ernment securities.  Among  the  various 
anecdotes  related  of  this  marvellous 
money-getter,  is  one  of  a  somewhat 
domestic  nature,  and  which  not  only 
illustrates  his  personal  traits,  but  also 
confirms  the  homely  adage,  that  "  there 
is  many  a  slip,"  &c. 

After  he  had,  as  he  thought,  discov- 
ered in  the  conduct  of  his  maid  ser- 
vant, in  addition  to  a  frugal  disposi- 
tion, one  who  would  at  all  times  con- 
form to  his  rules  and  regulations,  he  on 
a  particular  occasion  intimated  to  her 
that  it  was  his  intention  to  make  her  his 
wife ;  and,  having  taken  the  necessary 
steps  toward  the  completion  of  that  in- 
teresting ceremony,  the  wedding,  and, 
as  a  preparative,  given  particular  in- 
struction to  a  stone  mason  to  repair 
the  pavement  opposite  his  house,  it 
chanced  that  Sally,  the  intended  bride, 
observed  a  dilapidated  stone,  not  ex- 
actly within  the  line  of  her  master's 
house,  but  very  near  it ;  she,  therefore, 
heedless  of  Guy's  positive  orders  to  the 
contrary,  directed  the  man  to  remove 
it,  and  to  replace  it  by  a  new  one, 
which  was  accordingly  done. 

On  Guy's  return — for  he  had  been 
absent  during  the  day — his  eye  caught 
sight  of  the  new  stone,  and  in  an  angry 
tone  he  desired  to  know  why  his  or- 
ders had  not  been  obeyed,  and  why 
that  stone,  pointing  to  the  new  one, 
had  been  placed  there.  The  mason 
replied  that  it  was  by  his  mistress's 
orders.  Guy  immediately  called  poor 
Sally,  and  told  her  that  she  had  over- 
stepped her  duty,  adding,  "  If  you  take 


upon  yourself  to  order  matters  con- 
trary to  my  instructions  before  we  are 
married,  what  will  you  not  do  after  ?  I 
therefore  renounce  my  matrimonial  in- 
tentions toward  you."  So  Sally  failed 
to  become  the  banker's  wife,  and  as  the 
day  for  "  breach  of  promise  "  cases  did 
not  belong  to  that  period,  the  matter 
here  ended. 


Sir  Thomas  F.  Buxton's  Conversations 
with  Rothschild. 

Sm  Thomas  F.  Buxtok,  in  a  letter 
to  his  daughter,  says :  "  We  yesterday 
dined  at  Ham  House,  to  meet  the 
Rothschilds,  and  very  amusing  it  was. 
He  (Rothschild)  told  us  his  life  and 
adventures.  He  was  the  third  son  of 
the  banker  at  Frankfort.  "  There  was 
not,"  he  said,  "  room  enough  for  us  aU 
in  that  city.  I  dealt  in  English  goods. 
One  great  trader  came  there,  who  had 
the  market  to  himself:  he  was  quite 
the  great  man,  and  did  us  a  favor  if  he 
sold  us  goods.  Somehow  I  offended 
him,  and  he  refused  to  show  me  his 
patterns.  This  was  on  a  Tuesday.  I 
said  to  my  father,  I  will  go  to  Eng- 
land. I  could  speak  nothing  but  Ger- 
man. On  the  Thursday  I  started.  The 
nearer  I  got  to  England,  the  cheaper 
goods  were.  As  soon  as  I  got  to  Man- 
chester, I  laid  out  all  my  money,  things 
were  so  cheap,  and  I  made  good  profit." 

"  I  hope,"  said ,  "  that  your  chil- 
dren are  not  too  fond  of  money  and 
business,  to  the  exclusion  of  more  im- 
portant things.  I  am  sure  you  would 
not  wish  that." 

"  I  am  sure  I  would  wish  that,"  said 
Rothschild ;  "  I  am  sure  I  would  wish 
that,  I  wish  them  to  give  mind,  and 
soul,  and  heart,  and  body,  and  every- 
thing to  hisiness;  that  is  the  way  to  he 
happy.  Stick  to  one  business,  young 
man,"  said  Rothschild,  addressing  Ed- 
ward ;  "  stick  to  your  brewery,  and 
you  may  be  the  great  brewer  of  Lon- 
don. But  be  a  brewer,  and  a  banker, 
and  a  merchant,  and  a  manufacturer, 
and  you  will  soon  be  in  the  Gazette.'''' 


502 


COMMERCIAL  AND   BUSINESS   ANECDOTES. 


Robert  Baxclay  becomingr  a  Banker 
instead  of  a  Courtier. 

The  celebrated  financial  house  of 
Barclay,  in  London,  narrowly  escaped 
never  coming  into  existence — no  less  a 
personage  than  the  king  himself  stand- 
ing in  near  and  peculiar  relation  to  this 
fact,  as  the  following  wiU  show : 

On  the  occasion  of  the  state  visit  of 
George  the  Third  to  the  city,  on  the 
first  lord  mayor's  day  after  his  acces- 
sion to  the  throne,  and  when  the  caval- 
cade had  reached  Cheapside,  the  ac- 
clamations of  the  people  were  so  great 
as  to  pierce  the  air  with  their  shouts ; 
added  to  which  the  dismal  noise  made 
by  the  creaking  of  the  various  signs 
which  then  hung  across  the  streets, 
caused  one  of  the  horses  attached  to 
the  king's  carriage  to  become  unman- 
ageable, causing  considerable  confusion 
to  the  procession,  and  alarm  to  their 
majesties. 

Just  at  this  moment,  a  certain  Qua- 
ker, named  David  Barclay,  a  linen  dealer 
in  Cheapside,  and  who  was  viewing  the 
procession  from  the  balcony  of  his  first- 
floor  window,  perceived  the  critical  sit- 
uation of  the  king  and  queen,  and  at 
once  descended  to  the  street.  The 
procession  had  now  halted,  and  the 
Friend,  approaching  the  carriage,  calm- 
ly addressed  the  king,  saying,  "  Wilt 
thee  alight,  George,  and  thy  wife  Char- 
lotte, and  come  into  my  house  and  view 
the  mayor's  show?"  (The  king,  who 
had  on  many  occasions  before  he  came 
to  the  throne  evinced  a  strong  partial- 
ity for  Quakers,  and  who,  from  the 
plainness  of  his  manner,  would  very 
likely  have  been  one  himself,  had  he 
not  been  bom  to  a  throne,  condescend- 
ed to  accept  the  invitation  of  the  wor- 
thy shopkeeper,  and  in  the  balcony  of 
the  first  floor  of  that  house,  the  king 
and  queen  stood  during  the  remainder 
of  the  pageant. 

David,  with  simple  gravity  of  man- 
ner, introduced  to  their  majesties  the 
whole  of  his  family.    His  eldest  son, 


Robert,  who  was  then  a  young  man 
about  twenty  years  of  age,  received 
especial  notice  from  their  majesties. 
On  taking  their  leave  to  proceed  to 
Guildhall,  his  majesty  said,  "  David, 
let  me  see  thee  at  Saint  James's,  next 
Wednesday,  and  bring  thy  son  Robert 
with  thee."  Accordingly,  plain  David 
Barclay  and  his  son  Robert  attended 
the  court  levee,  and  on  approaching 
the  royal  presence,  the  king,  throwing 
aside  all  regal  restraint,  descended  from 
the  throne,  and  giving  the  Friend  a 
hearty  shake  of  the  hand,  welcomed 
him  to  St.  James's.  He  said  many 
kind  things  both  to  the  father  and  to 
his  son — among  the  rest  he  asked  Da- 
vid what  he  intended  to  do  with  Rob- 
ert ?  and  without  waiting  for  a  reply, 
said,  "  Let  him  come  here,  and  I  will 
provide  him  with  honorable  and  profit- 
able employment." 

The  cautious  and  self-possessed  Qua- 
ker, with  many  decorous  apologies,  and 
with  much  humility,  requested  permis- 
sion to  reject  the  proposal,  saying,  "  I 
fear  the  air  of  the  court  of  your  majesty 
would  not  agree  with  my  son."  The 
king,  who  had  seldom  or  never  wit- 
nessed a  similar  rejection  of  intended 
royal  favor,  said,  "  Well,  David,  well, 
well,  you  know  best,  you  know  best; 
but  you  must  not  omit  to  let  me  see 
you  occasionally  at  St.  James's." 

Soon  after  this,  "  David  "  saw  his  son 
Robert  established  as  a  banker  in  Lom- 
bard street;  and  who,  instead  of  be- 
coming a  courtier,  under  such  flatter- 
ing favoritism  of  the  king,  became  the 
founder  of  one  of  the  most  eminent 
and  powerful  banking  firms  of  the  day. 


Hospitality  of  Stephen  GKrard. 

EvEKY  day,  Mr.  Girard  performed  a 
journey  to  the  "  Neck,"  where  lay  his 
farm,  and  to  the  laborious  cultivation 
of  which  he  devoted  the  greater  por- 
tion of  his  leisure  time.  But  even  here, 
where  it  might  be  supposed  that  he 
would    have    exercised   at   least    the 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,   BANKERS,   ETC. 


603 


ordinary  rites  of  hospitality,  no  friend 
was  welcomed  with  a  warm  greeting. 
In  one  instance  an  acquaintance  was 
invited  to  witness  liis  improvements, 
and  was  shown  to  a  strawberry  bed 
which  had  been,  in  the  greater  part, 
gleaned  of  its  contents,  and  told  that 
he  might  gather  the  fruit  in  that  bed, 
when  the  owner  took  leave,  stating 
that  he  must  go  to  work  on  a  neigh- 
boring bed.  That  friend,  finding  that 
this  tract  had  been  nearly  stripped  of 
its  fruit  by  his  predecessors,  soon  stray- 
ed to  another  tract,  which  appeared  to 
bear  more  abundantly,  when  he  was  ac- 
costed by  Mr.  Girard.  "I  told  you," 
said  he,  "  that  you  might  gather  straw- 
berries only  in  that  bed."  Such  was  his 
hospitality. 

t 

M.  Rothscliild  at  Home. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  entertain- 
ments given  by  the  elder  Rothschild, 
the  charities  to  which  he  occasionally 
subscribed,  and  the  amount  and  char- 
acter of  his  transactions  in  the  money 
market,  afforded  constant  material  for 
everybody's  talk.  Peers  and  princes  of 
the  blood  sat  at  his  table,  clergymen 
and  laymen  bowed  before  him,  and 
they  who  preached  loudest  against 
mammon,  bent  lowest  before  the  mam- 
mon worshipper.  Gorgeous  plate,  ex- 
quisite furniture— an  establishment  such 
as  many  a  noble  of  Norman  descent 
would  envy — graced  his  entertain- 
ments. 

Without  social  refinement,  with  man- 
ners which,  offensive  in  the  million, 
were  considered  but  hrusque  in  the  mil- 
lionnaire,  he  collected  around  him  the 
fastidious  members  of  the  most  fastidi- 
ous aristocracy  in  the  world.  He  saw 
the  representatives  of  all  the  states  in 
Europe  proud  of  his  friendship.  By 
the  democratic  envoy  of  the  new  world, 
by  the  ambassadors  of  the  imperial 
Russ,  was  his  hospitality  alike  accept- 
ed ;  while  the  man  who  warred  with 
slavery  in  all  its  forms  and  phases  was 


himself  slave  to  the  golden  reputation 
and  gracious  favors  of  the  Hebrew. 
Though  never  having  cultivated  a  taste 
for  literature  or  the  fine  arts,  his  palace 
contained  in  abundance  the  richest  vol- 
umes of  the  European  press,  in  the 
diffierent  languages,  and  he  deferred  to 
the  exactions  of  his  position  by  possess- 
ing himself  of  the  rarest  and  costliest 
productions  of  painter  and  sculptor  for 
the  adornment  of  his  halls  and  draw- 
ing rooms.  Yet,  in  respect  to  these,  he 
was  in  no  sense  a  coimoisseur,  for  his 
taste  and  perceptions  lay  in  an  entirely 
different  direction.  It  is  not  known 
that  he  ever  exhibited  any  reluctance 
to  gratify  the  wants  of  his  household, 
no  matter  what  the  expense,  nor  how 
widely  their  preferences  might  differ 
from  his  own. 


ULr,  Vanderbilt's  Holiday. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1854,  the  at- 
tention of  the  public  was  directed  to  an 
item  in  the  New  York  papers,  contain- 
ing information  that  Mr.  Cornelius 
Vanderbilt,  the  enterprising  and  opu- 
lent merchant,  was  constructing  an  im- 
mense and  magnificent  steamship,  which 
he  intended  as  a  yacht  for  the  accom- 
modation of  his  family  and  some  in- 
vited friends  in  a  voyage  to  the  prin- 
cipal seaports  of  Europe.  The  an- 
nouncement of  this  project  excited  no 
little  interest  in  the  public  mind,  and 
the  excursion  became  one  of  the  pleas- 
ant topics  of  conversation  of  the  day. 
Mr.  Vanderbilt  was  known— and  still 
continues  to  be — as  a  thoroughly  prac- 
tical man,  whose  energy  and  pereever- 
ance,  combined  with  strong  intellect 
and  high  commercial  integrity,  had 
given  him  immense  wealth  ;  all  his  un- 
dertakings had  been  crowned  with  sig- 
nal success,  and  his  great  enterprise  in 
opening  a  communication  with  the 
Pacific  by  the  Nicaragua  route  made 
him  a  reputation  in  Europe.  A  general 
expectation  was  naturally  excited,  there- 
fore, that  he  would  carry  out  his  plan, 


504 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


ia  connection  with  the  noble  vessel  in 
process  of  construction,  in  a  manner 
that  would  redound  to  the  honor  of 
the  country,  and  of  the  mercantile  pro- 
fession, of  which  he  was  then  and  is 
now  so  prominent  a  member. 

Various  opinions  were  entertained  as 
to  Mr.  Vanderbilt's  ultimate  designs. 
Many  imagined  that  he  purposed  to 
effect  some  great  commercial  operation 
— he  was  to  sell  his  ship  to  this  mon- 
arch or  that  Government;  or,  that  he 
was  to  take  contracts  for  the  supply  of 
war  steamers  :  all  sorts  of  speculations 
were  entertained  by  that  frequently 
misinformed  character — the  public.  In 
February,  Mr.  Vanderbilt  gave  to  a 
friend  who  was  sitting  with  him  in  his 
library,  the  first  information  of  his  in- 
tention in  respect  to  the  vessel,  and  in- 
vited his  guest  to  accompany  him  to 
Europe  in  the  month  of  May. 

The  ship  was  then  on  the  stocks,  but 
the  owner  named  the  very  day  on  which 
he  should  sail,  giving  the  details  of  his 
proposed  route,  and  from  which  few 
deviations  were  afterward  made.  Mr. 
Vanderbilt  expressly  stated  that  his 
sole  object  was  to  gratify  his  family 
and  afford  himself  an  opportunity  to 
see  the  coast  of  Europe,  which  he  could 
do  in  no  other  way — remarking  that, 
after  more  than  thirty  years'  devotion 
to  his  business,  in  all  which  period  he 
had  known  no  rest  from  labor,  he  felt 
that  he  had  a  right  to  a  complete  holiday. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  cruise  of  the 
North  Star — a  most  superb  craft  of 
twenty-five  hundred  tons  burden,  and 
most  sumptuous  in  all  its  appointments 
— was  peculiarly  pleasant  and  success- 
ful, and  did  high  honor  abroad  to  the 
merchant  who  thus,  in  the  style  of  a 
sovereign,  visited  the  four  quarters  of 

the  globe. 

« 

Costly  Banquet  by  a  Merchant  to 
Charles  the  Fifth. 

M.  Daniels,  a  Jewish  merchant  of 
Anvers,  gave  a  dinner  one  day  to 
Charles  the  Fifth,  and  had  served  up 


for  him,  at  the  dessert,  pies  cooked 
upon  a  cash  bond  for  two  millions, 
which  the  emperor  had  given  him  for 
that  sum,  borrowed  of  the  Jew  some 
time  previously,  when  the  monarch  was 
"  hard  up,"  As  the  company  were  in 
ecstasies  at  so  rich  a  hospitality,  Dan- 
iels said  that  he  did  not  pay  too  dearly 
for  the  honor  which  the  emperor  had 
done  him,  a  simple  merchant,  in  dining 
at  his  table.  "  You  esteem  yourself  too 
little,"  interrupted  the  imperial  visitor ; 
"for,  while  the  nobility  ruin  me,  the 
men  of  learning  instruct  me,  and  the 
merchants  enrich  me." 


Parlor  Talk  between  James  SotliscIiild« 
the  Banker,  and  the  Poet  Heine. 

Baron  James  Kothschild  had,  like 
his  brother  Nathan,  the  reputation  of 
being  a  boor — or  brute,  socially ;  at  any 
rate,  when  he  took  a  whim  to  be.  He 
seemed,  when  in  this  mood,  to  delight 
in  showing  off  his  parvenu  vulgarity, 
and  assumed  the  airs  of  a  nabob  with 
every  one  for  whom  he  did  not  particu- 
larly care.  One  or  two  good  anecdotes 
are  told  of  his  encounters  with  men  of 
mind.  Having  quizzed  the  poet  Heine 
once  rather  sharply,  at  dinner,  the  lat- 
ter betrayed  his  host  into  some  remark 
on  the  name  of  the  wine  they  were 
drinking — Lacrima  Christi.  "  Curious 
name — ^I  can't  account  for  it,"  said  the 
millionnaire.  "  Oh  I  "  replied  the  wit, 
"  the  etymology  is  very  simple ;  Christ 
weeps  that  Jews  should  drink  such 
excellent  wine  1 " 

On  another  occasion  having  been  in- 
troduced to  the  famous  lawyer,  M.  Cr6- 
mieux — a  coreligionist  of  the  banker's, 
by  the  way,  and  slightly  deformed — 
Rothschild  rudely  said:  "Why,  are 
you  Cr6mieux  ?  I  should  have  thought 
the  famous  Cr6mieux  would  have  been 
a  better-looking  man."  Cr6mieux 
laughed,  and  after  some  remarks  ob- 
served, "  Well,  I  am  glad  I  have  met 
you,  baron.  You  are  sure,  by  the  way, 
that  you  are  Baron  Rothschild ? "  "Of 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


505 


course,"  replied  the  counting-house 
monarch ;  "  why  doubt  it  ?  "  "  Oh  1 
only  because  I  fancied  the  great  Baron 
Rothschild  would  have  been  a  better- 
bred  man." 


Commercial  Advantage  of  a  Blind  Eye. 

The  fact  of  Mr.  Girard  having  one 
of  his  eyes  blind  is  thought  to  have 
contributed — as  Milton  has  expressed 
it  under  a  similar  affliction — to  drive 
his  thoughts  inward,  and  thus  to  have 
engrafted  upon  his  native  stem  of  be- 
nevolence something  of  a  morose  and 
rugged  spirit,  under  the  dissatisfaction 
which  he  would  naturally  feel  with  his 
destiny,  and  panting  after  a  recompense 
for  his  loss. 

This  defect  in  his  vision,  and  which 
subsequently  increased  so  as  to  cause 
total  blindness,  was  not  observed  or  felt 
by  him  until  he  was  in  his  eighth  year. 
At  that  time,  his  attention  was  first  di- 
rected to  it  by  the  boys,  who  began  to 
ridicule  him  for  his  blind  eye,  or  what 
was  then  an  obvious  deformity  to 
others,  though  unknown  to  himself 
This  ridicule  from  his  playmates  and 
companions  he  felt  so  keenly,  that  he 
resolved  to  go  to  a  doctor,  and  take  his 
advice  how  to  cure  it.  The  physician, 
after  an  examination  of  the  eye,  assured 
him  the  defect  could  easily  be  removed, 
by  cutting  the  skin  or  film,  which  had 
grown  over  it ;  but  Girard,  always  in- 
clined to  be  self-willed  and  obstinate, 
and  having  a  boyish  repugnance  to  a 
surgical  operation,  declined  to  undergo 
such  treatment.  After  that,  he  does 
not  appear  to  have  made  any  efforts  to 
have  it  restored,  until  very  late  in  life, 
when  he  resorted  to  a  nostrum  present- 
ed to  him  by  one  of  his  captains ;  he 
used  it  without  success. 

It  is  probable  that  his  active  life  and 
incessant  movements  kept  him  from 
devoting  any  time  to  its  cure ;  or  that 
he  early  despaired  of  it,  having  made 
up  his  mind  never  to  submit  to  the 
operation  of  the  knife.   Many  supposed 


that  he  had  lost  his  eye  entirely,  and 
that  it  was  closed  up  ;  but  this  was  not 
the  fact — the  eye  was  entire,  though 
deformed  and  blind.  He  himself  con- 
fessed that  the  ridicule  of  the  boys  hurt 
him  much.  This  bodily  defect  con- 
tributed, no  doubt,  in  some  measure, 
to  sour  his  temper,  and,  at  an  after  pe- 
riod, to  turn  the  current  of  his  thoughts 
so  shrewdly  and  with  such  concentration 
to  the  pursuits  which  he  followed  with 
such  incomparable  success.  At  a  later 
day,  his  eye  was  still  further  injured, 
while  passing  through  the  streets,  by  a 
blow  from  a  snowball.  This  defect 
contributed  to  give  a  severe  and  harsh 
expression  to  his  ample,  and  otherwise 
well-expressed  and  well-formed  coun- 
tenance. 


Banker  vs.  musician. 

M.  C ^K,  a  German  tenor  singer  of 

some  note,  resident  in  Paris,  was  in- 
jured by  a  fall,  so  as  to  be  unable  to 
use  his  voice  professionally,  until  the 
lapse  of  a  long  time,  and  his  recovery 
was  attended  with  the  presentation 
of  medical  and  apothecaries'  bills  which 
he  was  unable  to  meet.  On  applying 
to  Meyerbeer,  the  great  composer,  also 
a  German,  that  brother  introduced  him 
to  his  friends,  who  afforded  him  tem- 
porary aid;  but  in  order  to  meet  all 
his  necessities  he  projected  a  musical 
matinee,  and  was  favored  by  Meyerbeer 
with  a  note  of  introduction  to  Baron 
Rothschild,  whose  countenance  of  the 
project  was  known  to  be  very  desira- 
ble in  order  to  its  success.    M.  C r 

delivered  the  letter  to  Baron  R.,  whom 
he  found  at  breakfast.  The  baron  in- 
vited his  visitor  to  share  his  meal,  and, 
at  its  conclusion,  retiring  for  a  few 
minutes  to  his  cabinet,  returned  and 
handed  him  two  papers — one  a  note 
for  five  hundred  francs,  and  the  other 
a  note  to  M.  Meyerbeer,  as  follows : 

"  M.  GiACOMO  Meyerbeer  : — Dear 
and  great  friend :  I  am  only  an  earthly 


506 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


baron.  You,  on  the  contrary,  are  a 
prince  of  the  harmonious  spheres.  I 
am  more  than  a  millionnaire ;  you  are 
more  than  I.  Let  us  each  give  to  our 
friend  of  our  abundance — I  of  my 
bank-notes,  you  of  your  genius.  I  com- 
mend him  to  your  high  and  mighty 
protection.  He  needs  assistance  to- 
ward a  matinee.  Were  it  a  financial 
matinee,  my  bank-bills  might  aid  ma- 
terially toward  its  success ;  but  it  is  a 
musical  matinee,  and  this  comes  under 
your  province.  Do  you  as  follows : 
Cause  it  to  be  announced  that  you  will 
play  a  new  composition.  The  matinee 
wUl  bring  in  ten  thousand  francs — that 
is  to  say,  nine  thousand  and  five  hun- 
dred more  than  I  contribute.  You  are 
more  than  eighteen  times  as  rich  as 

Yours,  Rothschild." 

Meyerbeer  read  the  note,  and  ex- 
claimed with  anger,  "What  egotism 
this  financier  has  ! "  but  he  forgave  the 
point  of  the  rather  practical  joke,  and 

M.  C r's  mxttinee  brought  him  ten 

thousand  francs,  as  the  banker  fore- 
told. 


Ooldschmid's  Oomfortini:  Sort  of 
Hoax. 

Abbaham  Goldschmid,  "  the  benev- 
olent Jew  banker,"  as  he  was  commonly 
and  very  justly  termed,  accidentally 
became  acquainted  with  one  of  those 
simple  and  single-minded  country  cu- 
rates, whose  poverty  was  the  disgrace, 
and  whose  piety  was  the  glory,  of  the 
Establishment.  This  was  the  man  for 
Abraham  Goldschmid — Jew  though  he 
was — at  once  to  approve  and  benefit. 
He  obtained  all  the  particulars,  as  was 
his  custom  in  such  a  case,  and  in  a  few 
weeks  a  letter  was  received  which  told 
the  curate  he  had  been  allotted  a  share 
of  the  new  loan.  Such  a  letter  was  in- 
deed a  mystery  to  the  worthy  clergy- 
man, who  indifferently  put  it  aside, 
with  a  confirmed  notion  that  some  sort 
of  a  hoax  was  intended.  He  had  not 
long  to  wait.    The  next  day  brought  a 


second  letter,  and  with  it  comfort  and 
consolation  in  the  shape  of  a  large  sum 
which  had  been  realized  in  the  allot- 
ment. 


Grand  Sdieme  Disclosed  in  McDon- 
ogh's  Will. 

Intense  was  the  curiosity  of  the  pub- 
lic to  know  what  disposition  had  been 
made  by  John  McDonogh  of  his  enor- 
mous property,  when  his  will  was  pro- 
bated and  read  in  court.  It  was  a  cu- 
rious document,  written  on  stout  fools- 
cap by  the  testator  himself,  in  a  re- 
markably neat,  clear  hand,  with  the 
lines  as  close  as  type,  and  his  autograph 
signed  to  every  page.  Being  a  holo- 
graphic will,  under  the  law  of  Louisiana 
it  required  no  witness.  Ever  since 
1838,  the  will  had  lain  among  certain 
old  papers  of  the  deceased.  In  its  pre- 
paration, he  had  consulted  the  most 
eminent  lawyers  and  studied  the  most 
approved  law  books  bearing  on  his 
grand  scheme. 

After  setting  forth,  in  the  usual  form, 
his  nativity,  his  present  residence,  his 
belief  in  God  and  the  uncertainty  of 
life,  and  that  he  has  no  heirs  living  in 
the  ascending  or  descending  line,  and 
directing  an  inventory  of  his  property 
to  be  taken  immediately  after  his  death, 
he  proceeds  to  bequeath  to  the  children 
of  his  sister,  a  widow  lady  in  Balti- 
more, a  ten-acre  lot  in  that  city,  the 
usufruct  to  remain  in  the  widow,  with 
six  thousand  dollars  in  cash.  He  then 
emancipates  his  old  servants,  ten  in 
number,  whom  he  designates.  The 
rest  of  his  slaves  he  provides  shall  be 
sent  to  Liberia.  Certain  of  them  are 
to  be  sent  after  serving  those  who  shall 
succeed  to  his  estate  for  fifteen  years. 
The  slaves  to  be  sent  to  Liberia  are  to 
be  supplied  with  ploughs,  hoes,  spades, 
axes,  clothing,  garden  seeds,  etc. ;  also 
with  letters  of  recommendation  to  the 
colonists,  and  with  a  copy  for  each  of 
the  Holy  Gospel  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament. 

The  will  then  proceeds  to  declare 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


507 


that,  "for  the  more  genenal  diflfusion 
of  knowledge  and  consequent  well- 
being  of  mankind,  convinced  as  I  am 
that  I  can  make  no  disposition  of  those 
worldly  goods  which  the  Most  High 
has  been  pleased  so  bountifully  to  place 
under  my  stewardship,  that  will  be  so 
pleasing  to  Him  as  that  by  means  of 
which  the  poor  will  be  instructed  in 
wisdom  and  led  into  the  path  of  virtue 
and  holiness,"  he  gives  all  the  residue 
of  his  estate  to  the  corporations  of  New 
Orleans  and  Baltimore,  in  equal  propor- 
tions of  one  half  to  each,  for  the  several 
intents  and  purposes  set  forth,  and  es- 
pecially for  the  establishment  of  free 
schools  for  all  classes  and  castes  of  col- 
or, wherein  they  shall  all  be  instructed 
in  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  and  in 
reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  history, 
geography,  etc.,  provided  that  the  Bible 
shall  be  used  as  one  of  the  class-books, 
and  singing  taught  as  an  art. 

And  now  comes  the  ingenious  scheme 
which  had  engaged  the  constant 
thought  and  study  of  the  testator  for 
forty  years.  Of  his  real  estate,  no  part 
is  ever  to  be  sold ;  but  it  is  all  to  be 
let  out  on  leases  never  to  exceed  twen- 
ty-five years,  to  be  improved  by  the 
tenants  or  lessees.  At  the  expiration 
of  those  leases  the  property  is  to  revert, 
free  of  cost,  to  his  estate,  to  be  there- 
after rented  out  by  the  month  or  year. 
All  his  personal  property  is  to  be  sold 
and  converted  into  real  estate,  the  ag- 
gregate of  which  is  styled  his  general 
estate,  and  which  is  to  "  constitute  "  a 
permanent  fund  on  interest,  as  it  were, 
namely, — a  real  estate,  aflFording  rents, 
no  part  of  which  fund  (of  the  principal) 
shall  ever  be  touched,  divided,  sold,  or 
alienated,  but  shall  forever  remain  to- 
gether as  one  "  estate." 


Home  liuxuries  of  Ancient  Merchants. 

An  antique  specimen  of  the  trading 
craft  from  Norway,  reproaching  a 
Dutchman  with  luxury,  "  What  is  be- 
come," said  he,  "  of  those  happy  times, 


when  a  merchant  on  going  from  Am- 
sterdam to  the  Indies  left  a  quarter  of 
dry  beef  in  his  kitchen,  and  found  it  at 
his  return?  Where  are  your  wooden 
spoons  and  iron  forks  ?  Is  it  not  a 
shame  for  a  sober  Dutchman  to  lie  in 
a  damask  bed  ? "  "  Go  to  Batavia," 
answered  the  man  of  Amsterdam ;  "  get 
ten  tons  of  gold,  as  I  have  done,  and 
see  whether  you  will  not  want  to  be  a 
little  better  clothed,  fed,  and  lodged ! " 


English  Merchant's  Wife  Priced  by  a 
Mandarin. 

Not  long  since  a  young  English  mer- 
chant took  his  blooming  wife  with  him 
to  Hong  Kong,  where  the  couple  were 
visited  by  a  wealthy  mandarin.  The 
latter  regarded  the  lady  very  attentive- 
ly, and  seemed  to  dwell  with  delight 
upon  her  movements.  When  she  at 
length  left  the  apartment,  he  said  to 
the  merchant,  in  broken  English  (worse 
than  broken  China)  :  "  What  you  give 
for  that  wifey-wife  yours  ? "  "  Oh," 
replied  the  husband,  laughing  at  the 
singular  error  of  his  visitor,  "  two  thou- 
sand dollars."  This  the  merchant 
thought  would  appear  to  the  Chinese 
rather  a  high  figure ;  but  he  was  mis- 
taken. "  Well,"  said  the  mandarin, 
taking  out  his  book  with  an  air  of 
business,  "  s'pose  you  give  her  to  me ; 
I  give  -^onfive  thousand  dollars  I " 

It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  the 
yoimg  merchant  was  more  amazed  than 
amused  ;  but  the  very  grave  and  solemn 
air  of  the  Chinaman  convinced  him  that 
he  was  in  sober  earnest ;  and  he  was 
compelled,  therefore,  to  refuse  the  offer 
with  as  much  placidity  as  he  could  as- 
sume. The  mandarin,  however,  con- 
tinued to  press  the  bargain:  "I  give 
you  seven  thousand  dollar,"  said  he ; 
"  you  take  'em  ?  " 

The  merchant,  who  had  no  previous 
notion  or  thought  of  the  commercial 
value  of  the  commodity  which  he  had 
taken  out  with  him  on  his  business 
tour,  was  compelled,  at  length,  to  in- 
form his  visitor  that  Englishmen  were 


508 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


not  in  the  habit  of  selling  their  wives 
after  they  once  came  in  their  posses- 
sion— an  assertion  which  the  Chinaman 
was  very  slow  to  believe.  The  mer- 
chant afterward  had  a  hearty  laugh 
with  his  young  and  pretty  wife,  and 
told  her  that  he  had  just  discovered 
her  full  value,  as  he  had  that  moment 
been  oflfered  seven  thousand  dollars  for 
her ;  a  very  high  figure,  "  as  wives  were 
going  "  in  China  at  that  time  I 


Disinterested  Feat  of  a  Merchant,  and 
its  Reward. 

M.  LoBAT,  a  notable  merchant  of 
Bayonne,  ill  in  heath,  had  retired  in 
the  beginning  of  winter,  to  a  country 
house  on  the  banks  of  the  Adour.  One 
morning,  when  promenading  in  his 
rdbe-de-chambre,  on  a  terrace  elevated 
a  little  above  the  river,  he  saw  a  travel- 
ler thrown  by  a  furious  horse,  from  the 
opposite  banks,  into  the  midst  of  the 
torrent.  M.  Lobat  was  a  good  swim- 
mer ;  he  did  not  stop  a  moment  to  re- 
flect on  the  danger  of  the  attempt,  but 
ill  as  he  was,  threw  off  his  robe-de- 
chambre,  leaped  into  the  flood,  and 
caught  the  drowning  stranger  at  the 
moment  when,  having  lost  all  sensa- 
tion, he  must  have  otherwise  inevitably 
perished.  "  O  God  ! "  exclaimed  M. 
Lobat,  clasping  him  in  his  arras,  and 
recognizing  with  a  transport  of  joy  the 
individual  he  had  saved,  "  sacred  hu- 
manity !  what  do  I  not  owe  to  thee  ? 
I  have  saved  my  son ! " 


Thomas  Greshanx's  Curious  Armorial 
or  Crest. 

Thomas  Gresham,  who  built  the 
Royal  Exchange  in  London,  was  the 
son  of  a  poor  woman,  who,  while  he 
was  an  infant,  abandoned  him  in  a  field. 
While  thus  exposed,  the  chirping  of  a 
grasshopper  attracted  a  boy  to  the  spot 
where  the  child  lay ;  and  his  life  was, 
by  this  means,  preserved.  After  Sir 
Thomas,  had,  by  his  unparalleled  suc- 


cess as  a  merchant,  risen  to  the  pinnacle 
of  commercial  wealth  and  greatness,  he 
chose  a  grasshopper  for  his  crest ;  and 
becoming,  under  Queen  Elizabeth,  the 
founder  of  the  Royal  Exchange,  his 
crest  was  placed  on  the  walls  of  the 
buUding  in  several  parts,  and  a  vane 
or  weathercock,  in  the  figure  of  a  grass- 
hopper, was  fixed  on  the  summit  of  the 
tower. 


Otorden  of  a  French  Stock  Broker. 

M.  DE  LA  BoRDE,  whose  stock  op- 
erations made  him,  at  one  time,  a  sec- 
ond Croesus  in  the  money  circles  of 
Paris,  conceived  the  idea  of  displaying 
his  opulence  and  taste  by  the  formation 
of  a  garden  of  marvellous  extent,  beauty 
and  cost.  The  spot,  respecting  which 
he  formed  this  conception,  appeared  to 
be  the  most  unfavorable  possible,  being 
an  extensive  marshy  ground — a  turfy 
earth  surrounded  by  mountains,  crossed 
by  the  river  d'Etampes.  The  financier, 
however,  said  let  there  be  a  garden, 
and  there  was  a  garden. 

To  give  this  loose  and  muddy  bot- 
tom a  proper  firmness,  was  the  first 
command;  about  four  hundred  labor- 
ers were  at  once  employed  to  trench  a 
mountain,  to  smooth  its  fragments,  and 
to  spread  it  in  a  layer,  after  having 
cleared  away  the  first  bed  of  the  marsh, 
of  its  immense  accumulation  of  slime 
and  mire.  This  marshy  earth  was 
then  thrown  over  the  smooth  bed  of 
the  mountain  which  had  disappeared ; 
and  the  mingled  soils  thus  produced 
one,  equally  adapted  for  the  future 
plantations.  The  river,  which  ran  in 
a  straight  line,  was  made  to  assume 
that  of  Hogarth's  line  of  beauty,  roll- 
ing its  waters  in  serpentine  brightness  ; 
they  were  ingeniously  conducted,  and 
were  seen  falling  into  a  magnificent 
basin,  and  then  passing  under  an  im- 
mense artificial  bridge,  formed  of  ir- 
regular pieces  of  rock.  They  some- 
times rolled  into  little  cascades,  by  sub- 
terranean grottoes,  where  the  velvet 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


509 


turf  lured  the  eye  by  its  enchantment. 
Without,  its  sparkling  brightness  riv- 
eted the  attention,  and  anon  its  deep- 
swelling  reverberations  engaged  the 
ear;  within,  mystical  murmurs  lulled 
with  their  softness,  and,  at  a  farther 
distance,  to  vary  the  sensations  of  the 
traveller,  a  deep  silence  prevailed.  In 
still  another  place,  the  effect  was  to 
startle  with  bewilderment  and  alarm. 
The  rocks,  piled  above  one  another  in 
a  gloomy  light,  discovered  their  point- 
ed and  threatening  fragments — every- 
thing appeared  in  a  crumbling  state, 
and  every  breeze,  echoing  through  hol- 
low arches,  seemed  to  betoken  disaster. 
And  then  more  agreeable  objects  di- 
versified the  scene  and  delighted  the 
vision.  The  way  was  studded  with 
elysian  beauties  and  winsome  views. 
Floating  islands  displayed  their  varie- 
gated charms,  and  rarest  gems  of  sculp- 
ture-art were  liberally  scattered  about 
the  lawns  and  green  bowers. 

Thus,  the  art  of  the  banker  vanquish- 
ed nature.  The  cost — upward  of  a  mil- 
lion dollars — was  enormous,  and  the 
taste  exquisite.  Though  seemingly 
wasteful,  the  employment  of  so  many 
hundreds  of  persons,  at  a  time  when 
France  was  crowded  with  living  skele- 
tons for  want  of  bread,  was  perhaps 
the  most  profitable  financial  "  opera- 
tion "  (for  others)  which  the  great  bro- 
ker ever  engaged  in. 


Wedding  Gift  of  Bothscliild  to  his 
Niece. 

The  fashionable  world  of  London, 
and  indeed  of  all  Europe,  was,  in  1853, 
in  a  state  of  the  greatest  ferment,  on 
account  of  the  marriage  of  Miss  Leo- 
nora Rothschild,  of  London,  daughter 
of  Baron  Lionel  de  Rothschild  of  that 
city,  to  her  cousin.  Baron  Alphonso,  of 
Paris,  son  of  Baron  James  Rothschild, 
of  the  latter  place.  All  the  prepara- 
tions were  on  a  scale  of  magnificence 
comporting  with  the  position  of  the 
.'wealthiest  family  in  the  world,  and  the 


gifts  from  friends  ranged  all  the  way 
from  ten-cent  pincushions,  from  Jewish 
charity  pupils  who  were  made  com- 
fortable by  the  endowments  of  the 
bride's  family,  up  to  a  set  of  jewels  val- 
ued at  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars — or  as  much  as  an  East  India- 
man  loaded. 

But  strangest  among  all  the  gifts 
was  a  fat,  rather  dirty,  strong,  plain 
envelope  with  broken  seal,  and  ad- 
dressed to  Madame  la  Baronne  Al- 
phonse  de  Rothschild.  "  Wliat  might 
this  contain,  pray  ? "  said  the  brides- 
maids, hustling  each  other  excitedly. 
Thereon  hung  a  tale.  This  marriage 
was  the  doing  of  Anselm  de  Roths- 
child, who  loved  his  fair  young  niece 
Leonora,  as  though  she  had  been  his 
daughter.  He  it  was  who  repressed 
the  somewhat  vagrant  tendencies  of 
young  Alphonse — hankering  after  Pa- 
risian sweets — and  forced  him,  by  a 
gentle  pressure,  to  cany  out  the  Roths- 
child policy  of  intermarriage.  So, 
when  the  old  man  had  carried  his 
point,  there  was  a  fluttering  among  the 
little  breasts  of  the  fair  daughters  of 
the  kindred  families,  and  a  terrible 
curiosity  to  know  how  "  Uncle  An- 
sehn  "  would  testify  his  joy.  Day  after 
day  it  leaked  out  that  this  uncle  had 
ordered  that,  and  that  that  aunt  in- 
tended to  give  this — but  what  Uncle 
Anselm  was  to  give  no  living  soul  could 
divine.  Even  when  the  day  came,  and 
strong-backed  porters  arrived  deeply 
laden  with  the  treasures  of  this  world, 
and  the  present-room  was  duly  set  out 
with  gorgeous  gifts,  no  word  came  from 
Baron  Anselm,  and  a  dreadful  sus- 
picion came  over  the  minds  of  the  fam- 
ily that  he  was  going  to  disgrace  him- 
self by  giving  nothing.  At  the  very 
last  moment,  when  the  old  gentleman 
had  depreciated  immensely  in  credit 
with  the  female  members  of  his  family, 
there  was  a  cry  that  he  was  coming. 
There  was  a  strange  mixture  of  twinkle 
in  his  eye — reminding  one  of  the  stories 
told  of  his  father — and  of  quivering 


510 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


about  the  corners  of  his  lips,  as  he  ap- 
proaehed  his  pet  and  kissed  her. 

"  Here,  Leonora,"  said  the  old  baron, 
"here  is  a  letter  for  you."  And  he 
handed  her  a  fat  envelope,  and  sidled 
away. 

"  A  letter,  uncle  !  for  me ! " 

"  Yea,"  said  the  old  man,  with  a  stop- 
page in  the  throat,  "a  letter— good 
advice."    And  he  disapi)eared. 

Of  course  there  was  a  rush  to  open 
the  letter.  It  contained  hank  hills  for  Jive 
millions  of  dollars.  This  was  the  bank- 
er's present. 

*  . 

A  Banker's  Love  of  Birds— Girard's 
Ijittle  Songrsters. 

The  smallest  means  of  adding  to  his 
fortune  were  never  neglected  or  over- 
looked by  Girard.  To  him  nothing 
was  a  trifle,  if  a  penny  could  be  made 
by  it.  His  breed  of  canary  birds  was 
among  the  most  choice  and  extensive 
in  the  world,  and  he  was  careful  to  sell 
them  at  the  highest  price.  The  fond- 
ness of  Girard  for  these  little  creatures 
was  remarkable;  he  had  his  favorites 
among  them,  and  doubtless  enjoyed 
many  a  happy  moment  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  music  of  their  songs — a 
sweet  and  singular  solace  from  the  dis- 
tractions of  trade,  and  which  seemed 
to  indicate,  after  all,  a  native  trait  of 
tenderness  lurking  at  the  bottom  of  his 
heart.  True,  he  sold  them,  and  they 
contributed  to  gratify  his  superlative 
passion  in  that  way ;  but  it  would  be 
ungenerous  to  suppose  that  he  was  not 
susceptible  to  feelings  of  delight  from 
those  winsome  strains  of  melody  which, 
at  the  same  time,  naturally  commanded 
so  high  a  price  in  the  market. 


Household  Peculiarities  of  Girard. 

The  private  habits  of  Girard,  and 
his  manner  of  living,  partook  of  that 
seclusion  and  simplicity  which  charac- 
terized him  through  life.  Without  be- 
ing ostentatious,  he  was  remarkable  in 
his  household  arrangements  for  a  neat- 


ness that  made  up  for  lack  of  splendor, 
and  an  appearance  of  comfort  and  utili- 
ty which  nothing  could  exceed. 

His  dwelling  house,  in  winter,  was 
carpeted  from  the  cellar  kitchen  to  the 
attic  story.  His  furniture,  though 
plain,  was  substantial,  and  sometimes 
bearing  an  impress  of  the  opulence  of 
its  owner.  Thus,  his  drawing  room 
was  furnished  with  ebony  chairs  and 
sofa  having  crimson  velvet  seats,  which 
though  sombre,  were  rich,  and  capable 
of  enduring  for  centuries.  But  the  gen- 
eral aspects  of  his  rooms  was  that  of 
plain,  simple,  and  uncostly  character, 
which  one  would  expect  in  the  man- 
sion of  a  respectable  citizen,  who  had 
no  reputation  for  wealth.  His  furni- 
ture, like  his  dress,  exhibited  a  perfect 
contrast  to  the  wealth  of  the  man. 

In  his  chamber  there  was  nothing 
either  sumptuous  or  elegant ;  on  the 
table,  he  kept,  unloaded,  a  brace  of 
splendid  blunderbusses,  of  Ketland's 
make,  .with  brass  barrels  and  steel  bay- 
onets— they  were  of  admirable  work- 
manship, but  appeared  never  to  have 
been  used.  In  one  comer  of  his  bed 
chamber  stood  an  old-fashioned  small 
mahogany  desk  and  bookcase,  in  which 
was  contained  his  library  of  Voltaire's 
works.  The  walls  were  ornamented 
with  colored  prints,  representing  the 
female  negroes  of  St.  Domingo,  and  in 
one  spot  was  a  small  print  of  his  bank- 
ing house,  so  situated  that  his  first 
glance,  when  he  awoke,  as  he  lay  in 
bed,  must  necessarily  light  upon  it. 

His  meals  occupied  but  a  brief  pe- 
riod. To  his  breakfast  he  gave  but  a 
few  minutes,  unless  he  had  a  guest,  out 
of  whom  he  was  extracting  information 
essential  to  business  and  conducive  to 
profit.  He  generally  dined  about  one ; 
and  though,  when  in  robust  health,  a 
good  feeder,  yet  he  never  gratified  his 
appetite  to  the  full  extent.  Supper,  he 
took  none,  except  occasionally  a  biscuit 
and  a  glass  of  water,  previous  to  going 
to  bed.  At  a  more  advanced  period 
of  his  life,  he  varied  his  diet  and  mode 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,   BANKERS,   ETC. 


511 


of  living,  so  as  to  adapt  them  to  his 
impaired  vigor  and  altered  constitu- 
tion ;  and  for  the  last  seven  or  eight 
years  of  his  existence,  he  abstained  al- 
together from  animal  food,  but  dined 
liberally  on  bean  broth,  and  similar 
vegetable  and  farinaceous  preparations. 
He  was  a  water  drinker,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  claret  and  cider,  of  both  of 
which  he  was  extremely  fond. 

With  the  society  of  children,  Girard 
was  excessively  gratified,  and  nothing 
pleased  him  so  much  as  to  have  some 
little  prattler  waiting  on  him — for  he 
always  made  it  a  point  to  keep  them 
employed  on  something  useful.  When 
his  nephews  arrived  from  France,  en- 
gaging boys  of  twelve  and  fourteen,  he 
expressed  much  satisfaction,  and  seem- 
ed ardently  attached  to  them.  But  he 
appeared  afraid  to  indulge  this  feeling, 
and  hastily  despatched  them  oflf  to 
school,  lest  he  might  contract  a  habit 
toward  them  which  would  spoil  them 
in  the  end. 


Gideon,  the  Jew  Banker,  Catechising 
his  Child. 

Sampson  Gideon,  the  great  Jew 
banker  in  London,  and  the  founder 
of  the  house  of  Eardley,  was,  like  most 
men  whose  minds  are  absorbed  in 
one  engrossing  pursuit,  not  very  ad- 
vanced in  literary  or  religious  knowl- 
edge. He  educated  his  children  in 
the  Christian  faith,  but  said  he  was  too 
old  himself  to  change.  Being  desirous 
to  know  the  proficiency  of  his  son  in 
his  new  creed,  he  asked,  "  Who  made 
you  ? "  to  which  the  fitting  reply  was 
given,  viz.,  "God."  He  then  asked, 
"  Who  redeemed  you  ? "  and  to  this 
the  Christian  response  was  promptly 
made.  Not  knowing  what  else  to  say, 
he  stammered  out,  "  Who — who — who 
gave  you  that  hat  ? "  when  the  boy, 
with  parrot-like  precision,  replied  in 
the  third  person  of  the  Trinity.  The 
story  was  related  with  great  unction 
at  that  period,  at  the  wealthy  banker's 
expense. 


Groceries  and  liiterature. 

A  GBOCER  who,  naturally  enough  for 
his  trade,  had  retired  on  a  "  plum  " — 
being  the  reverse  of  one  making  many, 
since  in  this  case  many  plums  had  made 
one — took  a  literary  turn,  in  order  to 
amuse  himself  in  his  retirement.  One 
day,  at  table,  some  of  his  commercial 
guests  mentioned  the  town  of  Stockton- 
upon-Tees.  "  Bless  me,"  said  the  gro- 
cer, "  I  never  heard  of  that  work  before. 
I  should  certainly  like  to  read  Stockton 
upon  Teas."  Bent  upon  satisfying  his 
literary  taste,  he  on  the  same  day  took 
his  way  to  the  nearest  bookseller,  and 
inquired  for  the  work,  handing  him 
the  name  of  the  book  carefully  written 
thus:  "  Stockton  upon  Teas."  "There 
is  no  such  book — never  heard  of  it," 
said  the  bookseller,  StiU  further  to 
satisfy  the  grocer,  he  looked  over  his 
catalogue.  "  No,"  said  the  man  of 
books,  "  no  such  work  here,  and  I'm 
sure  you  wo'nt  find  it  anywhere.  There 
is  a  city  called  '  Stockton-upon-Tees ' — 
perhaps  it  is  that  you  mean."  The 
man  of  ounces  and  pounds  vamosed — 
a  ray  of  light  broke  upon  him — the 
first  that  had  invaded  his  plodding 
cranium  since  he  stood  behind  the 
counter  weighing  his  codfish — the 
genus  to  which  he  himself  belonged. 


Business  and  Beauty. 

The  deficiency  in  the  practical  part 
of  female  education  is  a  fact  which  has 
been  often  but  never  too  much  de- 
plored. The  following  notes  of  an 
examination  instituted  by  a  mercan- 
tile gentleman  in  search  of  a  wife  into 
a  young  lady's  knowledge  of  business 
is  testimony  complete  on  this  point. 

Young  lady  examined :  Has  heard 
of  the  monetary  question ;  should  think 
it  was  a  warning.  Knew  what  Stocks 
were;  regard  them  as  the  "highest" 
necessity  in  a  gentleman's  dress.  A 
dividend  was  a  sum  in  Long  Division. 
A  bonus  was  a  sort  of  pill;    Scrip  was 


512 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


a  little  bag — sometMng  like  a  reticule. 
Exchange  was  no  robbery.  Had  read 
about  Consols— they  were  ancient  Ro- 
mans; Julius  Caesar  was  one,  so  was 
Pompey.  Supposed  the  Three  Per 
Cents  must  mean  the  Triumvirate.  A 
Bull  was  a  horned  animal,  or  an  Irish 
mistake.  A  Bear  was  a  cross,  disagree- 
able person,  like  some  people  she  could 
name.  An  Exchequer  BUI  was  an  in- 
strument with  a  hook.  The  Bullionists 
were  a  religious  sect.  Was  afraid  the 
Inconvertibles  were  very  wicked  people. 
Gold  was  a  metal ;  knew  nothing  more 
about  it,  except  that  it  was  the  root  of 
all  evil,  and  that  railway  cuttings  and 
branch  banks  come  of  the  root. 


Philantliropic  Couragre  of  Girard. 

DuKiNQ  the  prevalence  of  the  yellow 
fever  in  Philadelphia,  in  1793,  the  indi- 
vidual who  was  seen  with  the  badges 
of  mourning  upon  his  arm  was  avoided 
as  the  Upas  tree,  and  almost  every  per- 
son was  involved  in  the  fumes  of  cam- 
phor or  tobacco. 

While  this  pestilence  was  raging  at 
its  utmost  height,  an  individual,  of 
low  and  square  stature,  was  perceived 
alighting  from  a  coach  which  drew  up 
before  a  hospital  where  the  most  loath- 
some victims  of  this  disease  had  been 
collected  for  the  purpose  of  being  at- 
tended by  medical  aid.  The  man  en- 
tered this  living  sepulchre,  and  soon 
returned  bearing  in  his  arms  a  form 
that  appeared  to  be  suffering  in  the 
last  stages  of  the  fever — a  being  whose 
countenance  was  suffused  with  that 
saflfron  color  which  seemed  to  be  the 
certain  harbinger  of  death.  The  body 
was  deposited  in  a  coach,  and  the 
carriage  drove  away.  The  man  who 
was  thus  seen  performing  this  act  was 
Stephen  Oirard.  It  might  be,  and 
indeed  has  been  said,  that  having  gone 
through  the  seasoning  process  in  a 
tropical  climate,  he  was  proof  against 
the  disease.  But  whether  that  was  or 
was  not  the  case,  it  does  not  abate  in 


any  measure  the  credit  which  is  due  in 
thus  exposing,  at  least,  his  life  in  behalf 
of  a  fellow  being.  And  it  is  a  well-at- 
tested fact,  that  during  the  prevalence 
of  the  disease  he  continued  a  constant 
attendant  at  the  hospital,  performing 
all  those  offices  which  would  seem  revolt- 
ing to  the  most  humble  menial. 


Practical  Eloauence  of  a  Boston 
Merchant. 

Whtle  a  committee  of  Boston  mer- 
chants were  collecting  subscriptions  in 
aid  of  the  Boston  testimonial  to  the  San 
Francisco  rescuers,  a  person  was  called 
upon  whose  benevolence  was  not  usu- 
ally commensurate  with  his  pecuniary 
ability,  and  something  of  a  "  set-to " 
was  therefore  not  whoUy  unanticipated 
by  his  visitors  on  the  occasion  in  ques- 
tion. He  hesitated  about  subscribing, 
averring  that  the  testimonial  should 
come  from  persons  engaged  in  com- 
merce, and  he  himself  was  not  in  mer- 
cantile pursuits.  The  member  of  the 
committee,  with  great  promptness  and 
justice,  answered  this  quibble  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms :  "  Sir,  your  own  family  re- 
cently crossed  the  ocean  as  passengers  in 
a  ship.  Had  she  met  with  a  disaster,  and 
a  friendly  boat  come  to  take  off  those  on 
board,  and  refused  to  save  any  persons 
but  the  sailors,  as  society  had  adopted 
the  rule  that  each  class  of  the  community 
must  take  care  of  its  own  members  and 
no  others, — ^what  would  have  been  your 
feelings  to  have  known  that  your 
daughters  were  lost  on  account  of  their 
father's  advocating  such  distinctions 
in  cases  of  relief?"  This  manly  and 
felicitous  appeal  was  successful — the 
right  sort  of  a  response  coming  at  once 
from  the  gentleman's  pocketbook. 


Old-School  merchant's  Offerincr  to  his 
Country:  John  liangrdon,  of  New 
Hampshire. 

When  the  news  of  the  fall  of  Ticon- 
deroga  reached  New  Hampshire,  the 
provincial  legislature  was  in  session  at 
Exeter.    It  was  a  period  when  the  re- 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC.  613 


sources  of  the  patriots  "were  almost 
exhausted;  the  public  credit  was 
gone ;  and  the  members  of  the  assem- 
bly were  disheartened.  John  Langdon, 
one  of  the  noblest  and  most  thorough- 
bred merchants,  was  speaker  of  the  as- 
sembly at  the  time.  He  rose  in  his  place, 
on  the  morning  after  the  intelligence 
was  received,  and  addressed  the  house, 
in  mercantile  brevity,  to  the  following 
efiect :  "  My  friends  and  feUow  citizens 
— I  have  three  thousand  dollars  in  hard 
money;  I  will  pledge  my  plate  for 
three  thousand  more.  I  have  seventy 
hogsheads  of  Tobago  rum,  which  shall 
be  sold  for  the  most  it  will  bring. 
These  are  at  the  service  of  the  State. 
If  we  succeed  in  defending  our  fire- 
sides and  homes,  I  may  be  remunera- 
ted ;  if  we  do  not,  the  property  would 
be  of  no  value  to  me."  Langdon  was 
an  old-school  merchant  of  the  genuine 

stamp. 

I 

Samuel  Slater  on  Eztravaerance  in 
liiviner. 

Mr.  Samuel  Slater's  habits  of  living 
was  often  the  topic  of  remark  among 
his  townsmen.  On  a  certain  occasion, 
this  subject  was  made  the  staple  of 
quite  an  interesting  conversation  be- 
tween himself  and  a  few  of  his  inti- 
mate friends,  when  he  was  a  little  more 
than  fifty  years  *  of  age,  and  estimated 
to  be  worth  half  a  million  of  dollars. 
It  was  in  the  front  room  of  the  Bank, 
where  they  were  accustomed  to  meet 
and  discuss  all  sorts  of  things  of  inter- 
est. At  that  time  he  lived  in  an  old 
wooden  house  which  might  have  cost 
two  or  three  thousand  dollars — decent 
and  comfortable,  it  is  true,  and  much 
like  the  better  sort  of  houses  in  the 
village,  excepting  perhaps  half  a  dozen. 
He  also  owned  a  good  horse  and  chaise, 
the  common  pleasure  vehicle  at  that 
period  in  many  parts  of  New  England. 
His  friends  told  him  it  was  not  right 
for  a  man  of  his  property  to  live  in 
that  style ;  that  he  ought  to  build  a 
better  house  and  keep  a  coach. 
88 


Mr.  Slater  replied  much  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner :  *'  Gentlemen,  I  admit 
that  I  am  able  to  have  a  large  and 
costly  house,  rich  furniture,  and  ser- 
vants to  take  care  of  it ;  that  I  am  able 
to  have  a  coach,  with  a  driver  and  foot- 
man to  attend  me.  And  it  is  not  that 
I  am  miserly  that  I  do  not  have  them. 
But  it  is  a  duty  in  me  to  set  an  exam- 
ple of  prudence  to  others,  and  especially 
to  my  children.  The  world  is  too  much 
inclined  to  extravagance.  If  the  style 
you  recommend  is  to  be  considered  an 
evidence  of  wealth,  and  I  were  on  that 
account  to  adopt  it,  others  not  able 
might  follow  my  example,  in  order  to 
be  thought  rich.  In  the  end  it  might 
prove  their  ruio,  while  prudent  and 
honest  people  would  have  to  suffer  for 
it.  And  you  know  I  have  six  boys.  If 
they  live,  and  have  families,  each  will 
want  to  live  in  as  much  style  as  their 
father.  Now,  if  I  am  able  to  live  as  you 
recommend,  my  property,  when  divided 
in  six  parts,  might  not  be  suflBcient  to 
support  six  such  establishments;  be- 
sides, business  may  not  continue  as 
good  as  it  is  at  present.  I  wish  to 
set  a  good  example  for  my  children. 
If  they  do  not  follow  it,  the  fault  is 
not  mine." 


Freaks  of  Wealthy  Merchants. 

The  wealth  which  now  exists  in 
Amsterdam  is  said  to  fall  much  short 
of  what  it  was  during  the  period  of 
Dutch  commercial  preeminence.  It 
is  not  long  since  strangers,  in  visiting 
Amsterdam,  were  shown  the  spacious 
house  of  a  merchant,  who,  after  lavish- 
ing much  on  furniture  and  paintings, 
actually  caused  the  floor  of  one  of  his 
apartments  to  be  laid  with  Spanish 
dollars,  set  on  edge. 

Whims  equally  ridiculous,  for  dispo- 
sing of  an  overplus  of  wealth,  appear 
to  have  been  far  from  uncommon  in 
former  times  in  Holland.  There  is,  in 
Amheim,  an  old,  fantastical-looking 
dwelling,  the  original  owner  of  which 


514 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


was  a  Jew  merchant,  and  he  erected 
the  house  out  of  pure  revenge.  His 
coflFers  were  so  well  replenished  that  he 
was  at  a  loss  how  to  employ  his  super- 
fluous cash.  At  last  he  hit  upon  a 
fanciful  expedient.  He  determined  to 
make  a  pavement  before  his  residence 
of  large  massive  plates  of  silver,  and  to 
surround  it  with  an  ornamental  chain, 
of  the  same  costly  material.  Before 
carrying  this  plan  into  effect,  however, 
it  behooved  him  to  obtain  the  sanction 
of  the  authorities.  These  worthies, 
however,  void  of  sympathy,  set  their 
faces  against  a  proposition  which 
might  have  compelled  them  to  increase 
the  strength  of  the  town-guard.  En- 
raged at  their  non-compliance,  Moses 
determined  to  punish  them.  He  ordered 
his  dwelling,  situated  in  the  principal 
street,  to  be  pulled  down,  and  on  its 
site  he  erected  the  one  now  standing. 
It  is  literally  covered  with  diabolical 
figures,  amounting,  it  is  said,  to  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five, — one  for  each 
day  in  the  year,  to  afford  the  city 
worthies  both  abundance  and  variety. 


Sportive  Death  of  the  French  Banker, 
Dan^e. 

On  the  evening  before  his  death,  M. 
Dang6,  illustrious  on  the  roU  of  French 
bankers  and  millionnaires,  received  vis- 
its of  fashion  in  the  most  pompous 
manner.  His  apartment  was  embel- 
lished in  the  most  luxurious  style. 
Seated  on  a  sumptuous  couch,  and 
dressed  in  a  magnificent  robe  de  cTiam- 
hre,  which  floated  around  him  in  folds 
shining  with  the  most  curious  embroi- 
dery, and  buttoned  with  a  diamond  of 
rarest  size  and  brilliancy,  he  talked  of 
quitting  the  world  in  the  gayest  man- 
ner possible.  But  this  was  not  the 
effect  even  of  French  philosophy,  but 
rather  of  that  characteristic  apathy  of 
his  nature,  which  had  rendered  him 
dead  to  every  touch  of  sensibility — a 
quality  quite  in  keeping  with  the  re- 
quisites of  an  unscrupulous  financier,  as 
he  was.    He  made  his  nephew  his  ex- 


clusive legatee,  on  condition  of  his  pay- 
ing five  millions  of  livres  in  legacies — a 
condition  which  that  favored  mortal 
Tery  cheerfully  complied  with,  and  ap- 
propriated to  himself  the  comfortable 
sum  of  eight  millions,  that  being  the  re- 
mainder of  M.  Dang^'s  fortune. 


That  little  Child  in  the  Countingr 
Soom. 

The  counting  room  of  a  well-known 
mercantile  house  in  London  was  enter-  , 
ed  by  a  gentleman,  just  as  some  unfa- 
vorable intelligence  had  been  received. 
The  head  of  the  firm,  with  his  hard  but 
honest  features,  looked  at  once  stem 
and  anxious.  A  small  hand  twitched  his 
coat  behind  !  He  turned  slowly  around, 
with  a  sullen  and  almost  savage  brow. 
His  eye  fell  upon  the  prettiest  little  hu- 
man face  that  ever  gleamed  upon  the 
earth.  But  the  child's  merry  laughter 
was  scarcely  more  delightful  than  the 
bland  and  radiant  smile  that  kindled 
on  the  merchant's  careworn  cheek.  His 
aspect  underwent  such  an  instantaneous 
and  entire  change,  that  he  looked  as  if 
he  had  changed  his  nature  also.  Had 
a  painter  stamped  his  portrait  on  the 
canvas  at  that  happy  moment,  it  would 
have  presented  an  exquisite  illustration 
of  amenity  and  love.  Few,  however, 
of  his  mercantile  friends,  would  have 
recognized  in  that  portrait  the  man  of 
business.  He  was  single  and  childless ; 
but  the  fondest  parent  could  not  have 
greeted  his  own  offspring  with  a  sweet- 
er welcome  than  he  gave  to  that  little 
child  in  the  counting  room. 


Nicholas  Lonsrworth's  Bread. 

One  of  Mr.  Longworth's  permanent 
and  quiet  charities  was  the  weekly  dis- 
tribution at  his  house,  every  Monday 
morning,  of  three  hundred  to  eight 
hundred  ten-cent  loaves  of  bread  to 
whoever  would  apply  for  them.  Once, 
when  flour  was  high,  and  the  bakers 
had  reduced  the  size  of  their  loaves, 
Mr.  Longworth  thought  he  would  be 


/ 


.'t^^\^S^ 


THAT  LITTTLE  CHILD  IN  THE  COUNTING  BOOM. 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


515 


doing  Ms  beneficiaries  a  good  turn  by 
having  the  loaves  made  partly  of  rye, 
and  thus  considerably  enlarging  instead 
of  reducing  their  size.  His  "  patrons," 
however,  as  soon  as  they  found  it  out, 
raised  such  a  clamor,  and  called  him  so 
many  disparaging  names,  and  annoyed 
him  so  much  with  their  threats  and 
complaints,  that  he  was  glad  to  order 
a  return  to  the  pure  wheat. 


Bellgrious  Bearing  of  Judaism,  on  Stock 
Operations:  the  Pereires. 

The  name  of  the  Pereire  brothers, 
Jewish  bankers  in  Paris,  is  well  known. 
A  member  of  some  large  stock  com- 
pany, of  which  one  brother  is  a  chief 
manager,  fell  into  dispute  with  him 
concerning  some  of  the  operations,  and 
being  dissatisfied  at  the  absorbing 
share  which  M.  P6reire  took  in  the 
management,  as  weU  as  vexed  at  the 
rough  way  in  which  he  treated  his 
protestations,  finally  exclaimed,  "Do 
you  mean  to  eat  me  up  ?  "  "  My  reli- 
gion," answered  the  banker,  "  prohibits 
me  from  doing  that." 


Out  of  Fashion. 

A  MERCHANT  desired  the  most  fash- 
ionable tailor  in  Paris  to  make  him  a 
coat  in  a  particular  way.  "  Sir,"  said 
the  tailor,  "  that  shape  has  been  out  of 
fashion  these  six  months;  pray,  do 
have  it  of  a  proper  cut."  "I  do  not 
care  for  the  fashion,"  said  the  mer- 
chant, "  I  will  wear  my  coat  in  the  way 
that  is  most  agreeable  to  me."  The 
tailor  remonstrated,  and  begged  in 
vain ;  but  at  last,  unwilling  to  lose  a 
good  customer,  he  said,  "  Well,  sir,  I 
have  only  to  entreat,  as  a  return  for  ex- 
ecuting your  order,  that  you  will  keep 
it  a  secret  who  is  your  tailor,  or  I  shall 
lose  all  my  business." 


Retiring:  from  Business:   "IHelting 
Day." 

Almost  every  man  sets  out  in  life 

with  the  determination,  when  a  certain 


sum  has  been  accumulated,  to  retire 
from  the  cares  of  business  and  enjoy 
for  the  balance  of  his  days  "  otium  cum 
dignitate."  Visions  of  sunny  farms 
and  rural  retreats  are  ever  before  him ; 
but,  unfortunately,  few  men  have  the 
courage,  when  the  required  sum  has 
been  obtained,  to  be  contented  to  re- 
tire. In  the  course  of  years,  new  tastes 
have  been  acquired,  and  new  wants 
added  to  the  humble  catalogue  with 
which  he  commenced  life.  The  rural 
retreat  has  now  become  a  suburban 
residence,  with  coach,  horses,  stable, 
&c.,  &c.,  and  a  few  thousands  more 
have  become  necessary.  So  he  goes 
toiling  on,  his  ambition  widening  and 
extending  as  he  pushes  and  urges  his 
way  on  to  competence  and  fortune. 
During  all  this  time  he  forgets  that  he 
is  getting  older — that  his  capacity  for" 
enjoyment  is  getting  more  contracted 
every  day — that  his  tastes  and  habits 
are  becoming  unalterably  confirmed  in 
business  life,  so  that  when  he  does  mus- 
ter up  the  firmness  to  yield  his  place  in 
the  business  world  to  younger  men,  he 
is  about  as  unhappy  a  mortal  as  one 
could  wish  to  meet  on  a  summer's  day. 
Here  is  a  case  in  point : 

A  tallow  chandler  of  London,  after 
many  years'  devotion  to  his  calling, 
accumulated  a  handsome  fortune,  and 
retired  to  his  villa ;  but  time  hung  so 
heavily  on  his  hands  that  he  used  to 
have  a  melting  day  once  a  week,  and 
made  his  own  candles  for  amusement. 
He  had  neglected  through  his  life  to 
lay  in  any  store  of  knowledge  but  what 
pertained  to  candles,  had  neglected  a 
taste  for  reading,  or  otherwise  to  pre- 
pare his  mind  as  well  as  his  pocket  for 
the  purposes  of  a  period  of  leisure. 
His  great  object  had  been  to  make 
enough  to  retire  on,  without  caring  to 
provide  something  to  retire  wUh. 


Oirard's  Will:   the  Item  about 
Ministers. 

QraAKD's  will  contains  the  following 

memorable  provision,  which,  it  may 


516 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


safely  be  asserted,  is  without  a  parallel 
in  any  document  of  the  kind  drawn  up 
in  a  Christian  land  :  "  I  enjoin  and  re- 
quire, that  no  ecclesiastic,  missionary, 
or  minister,  of  any  sect  whatever,  shall 
ever  hold  or  exercise  any  station  or  duty 
whatever  in  the  said  college ;  nor  shall 
any  such  person  ever  be  admitted  for 
any  purpose,  or  as  a  visitor,  within  the 
premises  appropriated  to  the  purposes 
of  said  college." 


Hali£a,x,  the  Sn^lisli  Banker's  Opinion 
of  "Ijending:  to  the  Ijord;"  with  a 
Personal  Application. 

Thomas  Halifax,  the  once  noted 
millionnaire,  did  not  enjoy  a  high 
reputation  for  liberality.  During  a 
severe  winter,  when  requested  to  join 
his  neighbors  in  a  subscription  for  the 
poor,  and  being  pleasantly  remarked 
to,  that  "  he  who  giveth  to  the  poor 
lendeth  to  the  Lord,"  he  replied,  "  He 
did  not  lend  on  such  slight  security ; " 
and  it  is  curious  that,  when  he  himself 
afterward  applied— on  his  becoming 
bankrupt — to  a  rich  neighbor  for  assist- 
ance, a  similar  reply,  couched  in  similar 
language,  was  given  to  his  application. 


Female  Members  of  the  Bothschild 
Family. 

Most  of  the  members  of  the  Roths- 
child family  have  married,  and  lived 
in  great  splendor ;  and  it  is  observed, 
as  something  characteristic  of  the  race, 
that  their  choice  of  wives  has  usually 
been  very  creditable.  In  London,  the 
widow  of  Baron  Nathan  was  held  in 
great  esteem  on  account  of  her  inex- 
haustible charity ;  her  sister,  the  lady 
of  Sir  Moses  Montefiore,  was  not  less 
popularly  known  as  a  suitable  helpmate 
for  her  philanthropic  partner ;  and  the 
same  may  be  said  of  the  sister  of  Baron 
Nathan,  widow  of  the  brother  of  Sir 
Moses  Montefiore. 

But  there  is  another  woman  of  this 
wonderful  family  who  deserves  to  be 
mentioned  in  an  especial  manner.   This 


is  the  widow — since  dead — of  the  bank- 
er of  Frankfort,  the  mother  of  the  five 
brothers,  and  grandmother  of  those 
flourishing  men,  whose  fame  has  risen 
so  proudly  among  the  moneyed  aris- 
tocracy of  Europe.  The  following  no- 
tice of  this  remarkable  and  most  "vener- 
ated lady,  written  a  short  time  before 
her  decease,  by  a  pleasant  German 
author,  is  of  peculiar  interest : 

In  the  Jews'  street  at  Frankfort-on- 
the-Maine,  in  the  midst  of  Gothic  fa- 
cades, black  copings,  and  sombre  al- 
leys, there  is  a  house  of  small  exterior, 
distinguished  from  others  by  its  luxu- 
rious neatness,  which  gives  it  an  ap- 
pearance singularly  cheerful  and  fresh. 
The  brass  on  the  door  is  polished,  the 
curtains  at  the  window  are  as  white  as 
snow,  and  the  staircase — an  unusual 
thing  in  the  damp  atmosphere  of  this 
dirty  quarter — is  always  dry  and  shin- 
ing. The  traveller  who,  from  curios- 
ity, visits  this  street — a  true  specimen 
of  the  times  when  the  Jews  of  Frank- 
fort, subjected  to  the  most  intolerable 
vexations,  were  restricted  to  this  in- 
fected quarter — will  be  induced  to  stop 
before  the  neat  and  simple  house,  and 
perhaps  ask,  "  Who  is  that  venerable  old 
lady  seated  in  a  large  arm  chair  behind 
the  little  shining  squares  of  the  window 
of  the  first  story  ? "  And  this  is  the 
reply  every  citizen  of  Frankfort  will 
make :  "  In  that  house  dwelt  an  Israel- 
ite merchant,  named  Meyer  Anselm 
Rothschild.  He  there  acquired  a  good 
name,  a  great  fortune,  and  a  numerous 
offspring ;  and  when  he  died,  the  wid- 
ow declared  she  would  never  quit,  ex- 
cept for  the  tomb,  the  unpretending 
dwelling  which  had  served  as  a  cradle 
to  that  name,  that  fortune,  and  those 
children."  __♦__ 

Reminiscences  of  Mr.  Astor's  Iiibrary 
Bequest. 

In  an  account  of  the  interviews  of 
friendship  which  were  held,  not  un- 
frequently,  between  John  Jacob  Astor 
and  Washington  Irving,  a  few  reminis- 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


617 


cences  are  given  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  former  prince  merchant  was 
led  to  found  the  magnificent  library 
which  bears  his  name.  According  to 
Irving,  Mr.  Astor  desired  to  leave  to 
New  York  some  memorial  of  his  citi- 
zenship. He  thought  of  several  ways, 
and  among  others  that  of  endowing  a 
Professorship,  but  finally  determined 
to  found  a  library,  and  frequently  con- 
sulted him  concerning  it.  The  plan 
met  with  his  most  hearty  approval; 
and  he  frequently  endeavored  to  in- 
duce him  to  establish  it  during  his  life- 
time, in  order  that  he  might  be  witness 
to  its  good  results.  Mr.  Astor  fre- 
quently invited  Irving  to  dine  with 
him  at  his  country  residence  at  Hell 
Gate,  and  talk  about  the  library.  After 
dinner  he  would  call  for  the  city  plot 
and  discuss  its  location.  The  first  in- 
tention was  to  locate  it  in  Astor  Place, 
which  was  finally  changed  for  its  pres- 
ent more  eligible  site  in  Lafayette 
Place.  On  one  occasion  he  told  Irving 
that  he  thought  of  altering  his  will  in 
regard  to  the  library.  This  intelligence 
completely  dumbfounded  Irving,  who 
supposed  that  after  all  the  whole  pro- 
ject was  to  be  abandoned.  He  was, 
however,  quickly  reassured  by  the  in- 
formation that  Mr,  Astor  proposed  to 
add  to  the  original  bequest  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars 
an  additional  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
making  the  legacy  for  the  purpose 
four  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Irving 
was  delighted,  and  proposed  imme- 
diately to  draw  up  a  codicil  to  that 
efiiect,  which  he  did  on  the  spot.  He 
afterward  ascertained  that  the  codicil 
containing  this  bequest  was  not  the  one 
written  by  him,  but  was  drawn  up  by 
Mr.  Astor's  legal  adviser. 


Domestio  Advantages  of  Commercial 
Decay. 

The  city  of  Salem,  Massachusetts, 
once  rivalled  Boston  in  the  extent  and 
importance  of  its  trade,  but  within  the 


last  fifty  years  it  has  fallen  from  its 
high  estate,  and  dwindled  into  com- 
parative commercial  insignifiance.  The 
people  of  this  ancient  burgh  are  natur- 
ally sore  on  this  point,  and  their  sensi- 
tiveness gives  the  point  to  the  follow- 
ing, which  occurred  not  many  years 
ago: 

A  merchant  of  Salem  meeting  a 
friend  from  the  adjoining  town  of 
Marblehead  told  him  that  he  had 
been  over  to  that  town  to  engage 
summer  lodgings  for  his  family  by 
the  seashore,  that  his  children  might 
have  the  benefit  of  the  pure  air  and 
green  fields;  and,  in  playful  allusion 
to  the  well-known  propensities  of  the 
urchins  of  that  town,  he  added,  "  And, 
strange  to  say,  for  once  the  boys  did'nt 
mock  me  as  I  went  along."  The  Marble- 
header,  a  little  touched,  humphed  once 
or  twice,  and  said,  as  he  walked  away, 
*'  I  don't  see  why  you  want  to  run  such 
risks  in  sending  your  children  to  our 
town  at  all ;  the  air  of  Salem  is  pure 
enough,  and  there  is  grass  enough  for 
them  to  play  on  in  any  of  your  st/reeW 


Matrimonial  and  Financial  Bonds  in 
Jolm  Law's  Time. 

One  of  the  lucky  speculators  in  John 
Law's  notorious  Mississippi  Scheme,  of 
the  last  century,  was  a  man  of  the  name 
of  Andr6.  Without  character  or  educa- 
tion, this  man  had,  by  a  series  of  well- 
timed  speculations  in  Mississippi  bonds, 
gained  enormous  wealth,  in  an  incredi- 
bly short  space  of  time.  As  a  writer 
of  that  day  expresses  it ;  "he  had 
amassed  mountains  of  gold."  As  he 
became  rich,  he  grew  ashamed  of  the 
lowness  of  his  birth,  and  anxious 
above  all  things  to  be  allied  to  nobility. 
He  had  a  daughter,  an  infant  only  three 
years  of  age,  and  he  opened  a  negotia- 
tion with  the  aristocratic  and  needy 
family  of  D'Oyse,  that  this  child 
should,  upon  certain  conditions,  marry 
a  member  of  that  house.  The  Marquis 
D'Oyse,  to  his  shame,  consented,  and 


518 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


promised  to  marry  her  himself  on  her 
attaining  the  age  of  twelve,  if  the 
father  would  pay  him  down  the  sum 
of  a  hundred  thousand  crowns,  and 
twenty  thousand  livres  every  year, 
until  the  celebration  of  the  marriage. 
The  Marquis  was  himself  in  his  thirty- 
third  year.  This  scandalous  bargain 
was  duly  signed  and  sealed,  the  stock- 
jobber furthermore  agreeing  to  settle 
upon  his  daughter,  on  the  marriage 
day,  a  fortune  of  several  millions.  The 
Duke  of  Brancas,  the  head  of  the  family, 
was  present  throughout  this  negotiation, 
and  shared  in  all  the  profits.  M.  Simon, 
in  his  account  of  this  transaction,  and 
who  treats  the  matter  with  the  levity 
becoming  what  he  thought  so  gocd  a 
joke,  adds,  that  "  people  did  not  spare 
their  animadversions  on  this  beautiful 
marriage,"  and  further  states  that  the 
project  fell  to  the  ground  some  months 
afterward  by  the  overthrow  of  Law, 
and  the  ruin  of  the  ambitious  Mon- 
sieur Andr6.  It  would  appear,  how- 
ever, that  the  "noble"  family  never 
had  the  honesty  to  return  the  hundred 
thousand  crowns. 


Execatorship  of  Mr.  Astor's  WiU. 

The  personal  friendship  and  intimate 
confidential  relations  which  subsisted 
between  those  great  New  York  mer- 
chants, John  Jacob  Astor  and  James 
Gore  King,  were  well  known.  This 
continued  without  interruption,  until 
death  removed  the  former  from  among 
the  living.  It  was  a  cherished  wish  of 
Mr.  Astor,  many  years  previously  urged 
upon  Mr.  King,  that  he  would  consent 
to  be  one  of  the  executors  of  his  estate. 
Mr.  King  was  very  averse,  however,  to 
undertaking  any  such  trust,  of  which 
the  responsibilities  would,  as  in  this 
case,  extend  beyond  the  probable 
period  of  his  own  life ;  but  after  re- 
peated requests  he  consented,  and  by 
the  last  win  of  Mr.  Astor,  Mr.  King 
was  named  an  executor  and  also  a 
trustee  of  the  public  library,  for  the 


establishment  of  which  the  will  made 
so  liberal  provision.  It  so  happened 
that  owing  to  his  change  of  residence, 
and  consequently  ceasing  to  be  a  citi- 
zen of  New  York,  Mr.  King  could  not, 
according  to  the  laws  of  the  State, 
enter  upon  the  duty  of  an  executor 
without  giving  bond  in  twice  the 
amount  of  the  personal  property  of 
the  deceased,  for  the  faithful  perform- 
ance of  that  duty.  Mr,  W.  B.  Astor, 
who  well  knew,  and  himself  shared  in, 
his  father's  strong  desire  that  Mr.  King 
should  serve  in  that  capacity,  at  once 
offered  to  give  the  required  bonds  him- 
self, but  Mr.  King  absolutely  declined, 
not  wUling  that  any  one  should  be  bound 
in  the  penalty  of  millions  for  him.  He, 
however,  at  the  request  of  the  executors, 
habitually  met  with  them  as  a  friend 
and  adviser,  but  without  any  official 
character. 


Down  on  tlie  Doctors. 

Benjamin  Fullek  was  the  most 
eminent  ship  broker  of  his  time  in 
Philadelphia,  and  was  remarkable  for 
his  correctness  in  business  transactions. 
He  accumulated  a  handsome  fortune, 
and  died  a  bachelor.  Like  many  other 
gentlemen  of  that  day,  he  abhorred 
physic,  and  the  visits  of  medical  men 
in  their  official  capacity.  At  one  time, 
while  lying  dangerously  ill,  on  his  snug 
little  bed,  in  his  bachelor  chamber,  over 
his  counting  house,  a  consultation  of 
physicians  was  held  in  his  room.  The 
doctors  conversed  together  in  an  audible 
voice,  and  just  as  they  had  concluded 
him  past  recovery,  and  that  nothing 
further  could  be  done  in  his  case,  to 
their  great  astonishment  he  drew  aside 
the  curtains,  and  exclaimed,  in  his  vau- 
al  energetic  manner : 

"  Gentlemen,  I  am  greatly  obliged  to 
you — I  feel  much  better  since  you  en- 
tered the  room  1  You  may  go  away 
now,  gentlemen ;  I  shall  not  want  your 
services  any  longer." 

While  the  physicians  looked  at  each 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  OF  MERCHANTS,  BANKERS,  ETC. 


519 


other  in  amazement,  he  rang  the  bell, 
and  addressing  the  servant,  said, 

"  Show  the  gentlemen  down  stairs." 

The  medical  dignitaries  assured  the 
servant  that  his  master  was  delirious, 
and  presuming  there  was  no  hope  of 
his  recovery,  were  proceeding  to  give 
directions  that  he  might  be  indulged 
in  anything  he  might  desire  to  have, 
when  Mr.  Fuller  cut  them  short  by 
calling  out, 

"John,  John,  turn  them  out,  and 
fasten  the  doors  after  them;  I'll  take 
no  more  of  their  infernal  drugs." 

On  the  return  of  the  servant,  he  had 
all  the  bottles  and  medicines  thrown 
out  of  the  window,  and  the  crisis  of 
his  disease  being  then  passed,  he  from 
that  moment  rapidly  recovered.  He 
lived  for  many  years  afterward,  and 
when  his  friends  joked  with  him  on 
this  treatment  of  the  doctors,  he  would 
reply,  "  The  scoundrels  wanted  to  kill 
me  with  their  cursed  stuffs,  but  I  lived 
to  attend  both  their  funerals." 


Incidents  of  'WiUiam  Bingham's 
Doznestic  Life. 

The  name  of  William  Bingham  was 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  among 
the  citizens  and  capitalists  of  Philadel- 
phia, during  the  last  half  of  the  eight- 
eenth century.  He  married  Anne,  the 
daughter  of  Thomas  Willing,  one  of 
the  early  celebrated  families  of  that 
city.  He  was  well  known  in  Europe, 
and  his  wealth  and  position  introduced 
him  to  the  notice  of  many  eminent  for- 
eigners. Among  the  most  distinguish- 
ed were  the  Barings.  Alexander  and 
Henry  Baring  married  daughters  of  Mr. 
Bingham,  which  gave  to  the  family  a 
very  high  standing— so  much  so,  that 
Mr.  Bingham  carried  an   aristocratic 


hauteur  to  the  farthest  extent.  Alex- 
ander Baring  married  Anna,  the  eldest 
daughter ;  and  the  inheritance  he  had 
to  thank  her  for,  at  the  death  of  her 
father,  amounted  to  $900,000.  She 
bore  him  nine  children,  of  whom  seven 
are  still  living.  The  eldest  of  these, 
called  William  Bingham,  after  his 
grandfather,  became  afterward  better 
known  as  Lord  Ashburton.  His  wife 
was  Lady  Sandwich,  but  their  mar- 
riage was  chUdless.  Alexander  Baring 
was  just  twenty-four  years  of  age,  in 
1798,  when  he  was  married. 

Mr.  Bingham  was  the  first  person 
that  gave  a  masquerade  ball  in  Phila- 
delphia, and,  true  to  his  predilections, 
the  strictest  measures  were  used  to 
keep  out  mechanics  and  their  wives* 
But  it  is  in  connection  with  his  Man- 
sion House  that  Mr.  Bingham  will  most 
peculiarly  be  remembered,  bo  far  as  his 
personal  or  social  characteristics  are 
concerned.  The  ground  in  the  rear  of 
the  Mansion  House,  to  Fourth  street, 
was  a  vacant  lot,  inclosed  by  a  rail 
fence,  and  to  this  the  boys  resorted  to 
fly  their  kites.  Mr.  Bingham  built  the 
Mansion  House  about  the  year  1790; 
and  it  was  considered,  at  the  time,  the 
finest  house  in  the  city.  He  inclosed 
the  whole  area  with  a  painted  board 
fence,  and  planted  a  line  of  Lombardy 
poplars  around  it.  These  poplars  were 
the  first  ever  seen  in  Philadelphia.  The 
grounds  generally  were  laid  out  in 
beautiful  style,  and  variegated  with 
clumps  of  shade  trees.  The  fence,  be- 
ing very  high,  prevented  the  public 
fi"om  seeing  this  beautiful  woodland 
scene ;  and,  in  consequence  of  this, 
William  Bingham  was  much  cen- 
sured for  doing  what  he  chose  with  his 
own  property.  After  his  death,  the 
whole  was  sold  off  in  lots,  and  was  soon 
covered  with  brick  houses. 


PART  TENTH. 


AmcDOTEs  Of  Oeanob  Dealinos  and  Ventuses. 


PAET   TEE'TH. 

Anecdotes  of  Chance  Dealings  and  Ventures. 

AUCTIONS,  FANCT  STOCKS,  SHARE  COMPANIES,  LOTTERIES,  AND  QUIXOTIC  SPECULATIONS ;  WITH 
NOTICES  OF  WONDERFUL  COMMERCIAL  DELUSIONS,  FINANCIAL  MANIAS,  BUBBLES,  PANICS, 
— ^THEIR   CAUSES,   ABETTORS,   INCIDENTS,   VICTIMS,   AND   RESULTS. 


Mess.  O  yes  1  O  yes  I    This,  sirs,  Is  to  give  notice,— 
The  auction  of  Menoechmus  will  begin 
The  seventh  of  this  month  :  when  will  be  sold 
Slaves,  household  goods,  farms,  houses,  and — et  cetera. 

"  Twin  Beotheks,"  Act  V.  sc.  7. 
Hope  1  fortune's  cheating  lottery  1 
Where  for  one  prize  an  hundred  blanks  there  be. — Anok. 
The  earth  hath  bubbles,  as  the  water  has. 
And  these  are  of  them.— Shakspbabb. 
Credulity's  always  in  fashion  : 

For  folly's  a  fund  < 

Will  ne'er  lose  ground 
"While  fools  are  bo  rife  in  the  nation. 

Fielding's  "Farce." 
The  Tulip  next  appeared  ;  all  over  gay. 
But  wanton,  full  of  pride,  and  full  of  play. — Cowley. 


Jack  and  the  Dutch  Tulip  Speculator. 

When  that  greatest  of  all  modem 
Utopias — the  Dutch  tulip  speculation — 
had  blinded  the  eyes  of  the  usually 
staid  capitalists  and  circumspect  bank- 
ers and  traders  of  Holland,  a  man's 
wealth  was  estimated  not  according 
to  any  such  vulgar  standard  as  houses 
and  lands,  bonds  and  mortgages,  etc., 
nor  by  the  plebeian  treasures  represent- 
ed by  troy  weight,  but  by  the  num- 
ber of  tulip  bulbs  or  plants  which  he 
possessed — or  perhaps  had  merely  seen ; 
80  precious  was  the  sight  or  touch  of 
them  regarded  at  that  period  of  com- 
mercial fanaticism. 

It  happened,  one  day,  that  an  Eng- 
lish sea-captain  had  occasion  to  call  at 
the  residence  of  a  distinguished  capi- 
talist of  that  country,  at  an  early  hour 
of  the  morning,  accompanied  by  one 


of  his  sailors,  in  the  capacity  of  a  ser- 
vant, and  the  latter  was  told  that  he 
might  walk  in  Meinherr's  beautiful 
garden,  till  he  was  ready  to  return. 
After  admiring  the  regularity  of  the 
walks,  the  extreme  beauty  of  the  shrub- 
bery and  flowers  that  bordered  the  be- 
witchingly  attractive  paths,  as  they  led 
successively  to  sparkling  fountains,  par- 
terres fragrant  with  the  rarest  exotics, 
and  arbors  rich  with  song  birds  and 
hanging  vases,  he  noticed — in  con- 
trast with  all  this  affluence  of  style— a 
slender  stem  of  a  plant  which  he  took 
to  be  an  onion ;  without  hesitation  he 
pulled  it  up,  and  devoured  it,  but 
found  that  he  had  mistaken  its  char- 
acter on  chewing  it.  Directly  after, 
the  man  of  the  palace  came  into  the 
garden  to  gratify  the  English  ship- 
master with  a  sight  of  the  ham  of  his 
acknowledged  wealth.    On  discovering 


524 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


the  fact  of  the  destruction  of  his  tulip 
— for  this  it  was  on  which  Jack  had 
attempted  to  make  his  morning  re- 
past— ^the  luckless  man  exclaimed,  in 
an  agony  of  mind,  "  I  am  ruined !  I  am 
ruined ! " 


Panic  Blunders— Wrong:  Certificate  at 
the  Bank. 

In  the  midst  of  one  of  the  worst  of 
our  business  panics,  and  at  the  moment 
when  everybody  thought  all  the  banks 
were  going  to  the  dogs  together,  Jones 
— the  inevitable  Jones — rushed  into  the 
bank  of  which  he  was  a  stockholder, 
and  thrusting  the  certificate  into  the 
face  of  the  transfer  clerk,  he  said,  in 
great  haste,  "  Here,  please  transfer  half 
that  to  James  P.  Smith  !  "  The  clerk 
looked  at  it,  and  asked,  "  Which  half, 
Mr.  Jones ? "  "I  don't  care  which  half," 
replied  Jones,  puzzled  at  the  inquiry. 
"  You  had  better  go  to  the  courts ;  I 
can't  make  the  transfer  without  a  legal 
decision.  If  you  reaUy  wish  to  trans- 
fer your  other  half  to  Mr.  Smith,  we 
can't  do  it  here."  Jones  was  confound- 
ed. He  knew  the  banks  were  all  in  a 
muddle,  but  this  was  too  deep  for  him. 
He  took  his  certificate  from  the  hand 
of  the  smiling  clerk,  and,  on  looking  at 
it,  lo !  it  was  his  marriage  certificate ! 
Being  a  printed  form,  on  fine  paper, 
and  put  away  among  his  private  pa- 
pers, it  was  the  first  thing  that  Mr, 
Jones  laid  hands  on  when  he  went  to 
his  secretary  for  his  bank-stock  scrip. 
He  went  home,  kissed  his  wife — glad 
to  find  she  hadn't  been  transferred  to 
3Ir.  Smith — and,  taking  the  right  pa- 
pers this  time,  hastened  down  town,  in 
season  to  get  the  matter  all  straight. 


Great  "  Si>ec."  on  the  Tapis. 

Among  the  speculations  at  present  in 
progress,  is  a  Great  Libyan  Desert  and 
West  End  Junction  Arabian  Sand  As- 
sociation, for  the  purpose  of  supplying 
England  and  the  Continent  of  Europe 
with  sand  paper.    Tables  have  already 


been  prepared,  showing  the  daily  con- 
sumption of  this  useful  article  in  the 
metropolis  alone ;  and  it  is  suggested 
that,  by  the  manufacture  of  scouring 
paper  also,  the  Company  will  be  able 
to  take  advantage  of  the  present  rage 
for  travelling,  and  put  it  in  the  power 
of  any  person  of  moderate  means  to 
scour  the  whole  continent.  A  sample 
of  the  sand  may  be  seen  at  the  Com- 
pany's temporary  (very  temporary) 
office  in street. 


Speculative  Erenzy  of  the  French,  in 
John  Law's  Time. 

The  volatile  and  inconsiderate  char- 
acter of  the  French  has  perhaps  never 
been  so  strikingly  illustrated  as  in  the 
frenzy  which  characterized  their  treat- 
ment of  Law's  Quixotic  Mississippi 
scheme.  On  his  issuing  the  fifty  tliou- 
aand  new  shares,  at  fiive  hundred  and 
fifty  livres  each,  the  dirty  street,  Quin- 
campoix,  in  which  Law  resided,  was 
fairly  impassable.  People  of  the  high- 
est rank  clustered  about  his  dwelling, 
to  learn  their  destiny,  and  delicate 
women  braved  all  weathers  with  the 
hope  of  enriching  themselves.  Three 
hundred  thousand  applications  were 
made  for  the  fifty  thousand  shares; 
and  the  destiny  of  an  empire,  remark- 
able for  its  national  hauteur,  seemed  in 
the  hands  of  John  Law,  the  son  of  a 
Scottish  jeweller.  Advantage  was  taken 
of  this  eagerness.  Three  hundred  thou- 
sand additional  shares  were  issued  at 
five  thousand  livres  each,  and  the  re- 
gent availed  himself  of  the  popular  ex- 
citement to  pay  off  the  national  debt. 
The  whole  of  the  foreign  trade  was 
placed  in  the'  possession  of  the  com- 
pany, and  the  public  ran  with  increased 
eagerness  at  each  creation  of  stock. 
Prelates,  marshals,  and  peers  cringed 
to  the  lacqueys,  and  swarmed  in  the 
ante-chamber  of  a  Scottish  adventurer. 
A  rumor  of  his  indisposition  sent  the 
stock  down  nearly  two  hundred  per 
cent.,  and  the  announcement  of  his  re- 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


525 


covery  sent  it  up  in  the  same  propor- 
tion. The  frenzy  became  general.  A 
rage  for  shares  infatuated  every  rank, 
and  the  air  echoed  with  Mississippi 
and  Quincampoix.  From  six  in  the 
morning  until  eight  in  the  evening  the 
street  was  filled  with  fervent  worship- 
pers of  this  scheme. 

The  dissolute  courtiers  of  the  yet 
more  dissolute  regent  shared  in  this 
spoil.  The  princes  of  the  blood  were 
not  too  proud  to  participate.  The  ante- 
chamber of  Law  was  crowded  by  women 
of  rank  and  beauty — the  mistress  of 
Law  was  flattered  by  ladies  as  irre- 
proachable as  the  court  of  the  regent 
would  allow  them  to  be — and  inter- 
views with  Law  were  sought  with  so 
much  assiduity,  that  one  lady  caused 
her  carriage  to  be  upset  to  attract  his 
attention,  and  another  stopped  before 
his  hotel,  and  ordered  her  servant  to 
raise  the  cry  of  "Fire."  The  people 
emulated  one  another  in  luxury.  Equip- 
ages more  remarkable  for  splendor  than 
taste  rolled  about  the  streets.  Footmen 
got  up  behind  their  own  carriages,  so 
accustomed  were  they  to  that  position. 
One  of  those  who  had  done  so,  recol- 
lected himself  in  time  to  cover  his  mor- 
tifying mistake  by  saying  he  wished  to 
see  if  room  could  be  made  for  two  or 
three  more  lacqueys,  whom  he  had  re- 
solved to  hire.  The  son  of  a  baker, 
wishing  a  service  of  plate,  sent  the  con- 
tents of  a  jeweller's  shop  to  his  wife, 
with  directions  to  arrange  the  articles 
properly  for  supper.  The  opera  was 
crowded  with  cooks,  ladies'  maids,  and 
grisettes,  dressed  in  the  superbest  style 
of  fashion,  who  had  fallen  from  a  gar- 
ret into  a  carriage. 

At  last,  the  Rue  Quincampoix  be- 
came too  confined  for  the  mighty  fever 
which  infested  the  metropolis,  and  the 
Place  Vendome,  chosen  in  its  stead, 
soon  presented  the  appearance  of  a  fair. 
But  Law  was  again  compelled  to  move, 
owing  to  the  complaint  of  the  Chan- 
cellor, who  could  not  hear  the  pleading 
of  the  advocates.    The  projector  then 


purchased  the  Hotel  de  Soissons,  and 
in  its  beautiful  gardens  established  his 
temple.  In  the  midst,  among  the  trees, 
about  five  hundred  small  tents  and  pa- 
vilions were  erected.  Their  various 
colors,  their  gay  ribbons  and  banners, 
the  busy  crowd  which  passed  in  and 
out,  the  hum  of  voices,  the  noise,  the 
music,  the  strange  mixture  of  business 
and  pleasure,  combined  to  give  the 
place  the  air  of  enchantment. 


"  Down  with  your  Duat ! " 

This  is'one  of  the  patent  phrases  in 
sham  auction  establishments,  and  these 
establishments  are  now  a  decided  insti- 
tution in  the  mercantile  making-up  of 
large  cities.  They  are  composed  of 
imaginary  auctioneers,  imaginary  buy- 
ers, and  "  lots  "  of  imaginary  valuable 
property.  They  are  to  be  found  in  va- 
rious parts  of  our  great  city,  and  those 
who  attend  them  out  of  mere  curiosity 
are  never  known  to  complain  that  they 
were  not  enlightened  to  the  full  extent 
of  their  desire.  The  establishments 
generally  present  a  large  assortment  of 
showy  and  tempting  articles,  whose 
real  value  is  determined  by  what  they 
will  fetch.  The  casual  visitor  has  only 
to  wink  his  eye,  rub  his  nose,  yawn, 
sneeze,  or  cough,  and  if  he  will  "  down 
with  his  dust,"  he  is  sure  to  find  him- 
self the  fortimate  purchaser  of  a  pair 
of  elegant  cut-glass  decanters,  which 
cannot  be  matched — no,  not  even  by 
one  another ;  or  a  dozen  of  table  knives, 
which  could  not  be  injured  by  opening 
oysters. 


The  Waterloo  among^  Auction-Battles. 

The  sale  by  auction  of  the  Duke  of 
Roxburghe's  celebrated  library  is  ac- 
knowledged to  have  been  the  greatest 
auction  contest  that  ever  took  place. 
The  great  passion  and  pursuit  of  the 
Duke's  life  was  the  collection  of  rare 
and  costly  volumes.  There  were  of  it 
some  ten  thousand  separate  "lots,"  as 


526 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


auctioneers  call  them,  and  almost  every 
book  was  one  of  rank  and  mark. 

The  most  memorable  event  of  this 
auction  related  to  the  Editio  Princeps 
of  Boccaccio,  a  book  printed  in  Venice 
in  1474,  but  which,  at  the  time  of  its 
being  sought  for  by  the  Duke,  was  so 
extremely  rare  as  to  have  been  obtained 
by  him  only  at  a  cost  of  several  hun- 
dred dollars,  and,  a  thorough  biblio- 
maniac as  he  was,  he  prized  it  bejond 
any  other  volume  in  his  collection. 

When,  therefore,  after  several  weeks 
of  the  sharpest  competition  among  the 
book-hunters  for  the  various  works  al- 
ready offered,  the  auctioneer  arrived  at 
this  volume,  the  climax  of  the  battle 
was  reached.  The  moment  of  sale  ar- 
rived. Evans,  the  knight  of  the  ham- 
mer, prefaced  the  putting  up  of  the 
article  by  an  appropriate  oration,  in 
which  he  expatiated  on  its  extreme 
rarity,  and  concluded  by  informing  the 
company  of  the  tegret,  and  even  an- 
guish of  heart,  expressed  by  Mr.  Van 
Praet,  that  such  a  treasure  was  not  to 
be  found  in  the  imperial  collection  at 
Paris.     Silence  followed  this  address. 

The  honor  of  firing  the  first  shot  was 
due  to  a  gentleman  of  Shropshire,  un- 
used to  this  species  of  warfare,  and 
who  seemed  to  recoil  from  the  rever- 
beration of  the  report  himself  had 
made.  "  One  hundred  guineas,"  he 
exclaimed.  Again  a  pause  ensued,  but 
anon  the  biddings  rose  rapidly  to  five 
hundred  guineas.  Hitherto,  however, 
it  was  evident  that  the  firing  was  but 
marked  and  desultory.  At  length  all 
random  shots  ceased,  and  the  cham- 
pions stood  gallantly  up  to  each  other, 
resolving  not  to  flinch  from  a  trial  of 
their  respective  strengths. 

A  thousand  guineas  were  bid  by  Earl 
Spencer — ^to  which  the  Marquess  of 
Blandford  added  ten.  One  could  now 
have  heard  a  pin  drop.  All  eyes  were 
turned — all  breathing  well-nigh  stopped 
— every  sword  was  put  home  within  its 
scabbard — and  not  a  piece  of  steel  was 
aeen  to  wave  or  to  glitter,  except  that 


which  each  of  these  champions  bran- 
dished in  his  valorous  hand.  At  last 
the  contest  closed  down.  "  Two  tJwu- 
sand  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds^''  said 
Lord  Spencer.  The  spectators  were  at 
this  absolutely  electrified.  The  Mar- 
quess quietly  adds  his  usual  "  few,"  and 
so  there  was  an  end. 

Mr,  Evans,  ere  his  hammer  fell,  made 
a  short  pause — and  indeed,  as  if  by 
something  preternatural,  the  ebony  in- 
strument itself  seemed  to  be  charmed 
or  suspended  in  the  mid-air.  However, 
at  last  down  dropped  the  hammer. 
Such  a  result  naturally  created  excite- 
ment in  commercial  as  well  as  book- 
collectors'  circles,  for  here  was  an  ac- 
tual stroke  of  trade  in  which  a  profit 
of  more  than  two  thousand  per  cent, 
had  been  netted.  Eleven  thousand  dol- 
lars for  a  single  volume  ! 


New  York  Pawnbroker's  Custoiner. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  more 
readable  sketch  of  a  man's  feelings  and 
expedients  when  in  a  financial  strait, 
than  that  which  Kimball  gives  of  Par- 
kinson at  the  pawnbroker's.  Here  it 
is :  Up  to  that  time  I  had  never  visited 
a  pawnbroker's  shop.  It  seemed  as  if 
it  were  a  species  of  humiliation  to  en- 
ter one.  Disappointed  of  receiving  a 
small  sum  I  had  that  day  counted  on, 
and  knowing  I  must  not  go  home  with- 
out some  money,  I  determined  to  make 
the  trial.  I  had  in  my  pocket  a  valu- 
able watch,  of  an  approved  maker.  It 
had  cost  me  $200.  I  looked  at  it.  Nev- 
er did  it  seem  so  much  of  a  companion 
as  at  that  moment.  I  strolled  slowly 
along  Nassau  street  till  I  reached  the 
Park,  and  stood  quite  undecided.  It 
was  here  that  Downer,  on  his  way 
home,  came  up  with  me. 

"  What  are  you  waiting  for  ?  " 

I  told  him. 

"It's  of  no  use,"  he  replied,  "to 
pawn  anything.  You  will  lose  it,  that's 
all ;  and  you  will  be  just  as  bad  off  af- 
terward.   If  you  have  anything  to  part 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


52V 


with,  sell  it ;  for  you  ■will  keep  on  pay- 
ing twenty -five  per  cent,  per  annum  for 
two  or  tliree  years,  and  it  goes  in  the 
end." 

*'  That  may  be,"  I  said,  "  but  there  is 
no  help  for  it ;  I  must  have  the  money 
to-night." 

"  Hold  on,  Parkinson,"  said  Downer, 
as  I  started  to  cross  the  street;  *'let 
me  go ;  I  have  been  through  with  it ; 
just  as  lief  hs  not,  I  tell  you." 

I  was  on  the  point  of  assenting,  and 
had  partly  raised  my  hand  to  my  pock- 
et, when  I  looked  in  his  face,  and  saw 
his  harsh,  repulsive  features  betraying 
the  strongest  feeling.  He  seemed  actu- 
ally, as  it  were,  in  pain  on  my  account. 
Had  I  been  a  child,  about  exposing 
myself  to  some  great  peril,  he  could 
not  have  appeared  more  apprehensive 
or  considerate. 

"  No,  my  friend  !  "  I  exclaimed,  "  I 
will  go  through  it  too ;  better  now  than 
at  any  other  time." 

"  Mind,  you  ask  for  as  much  again 
as  you  want,"  he  said. 

I  nodded,  and  crossed  over  to  where 
Simpson  displays  three  golden  balls, 
the  arms  of  the  Lombard  merchants, 
who  were  the  first  in  old  times  to  lend 
money  on  pledge  of  chattel  securities. 

My  heart  beat  violently  as  I  entered. 
I  would  not  thrust  myself  into  one  of  the 
coffin-like  stalls,  but  walked  straight 
up  to  the  couijiter,  where  a  man  was  al- 
ready engaged,  attempting  precisely 
what  I  proposed  to  do,  to  wit :  to  get 
a  loan  on  his  watch. 

He  had  just  handed  it  in.  Behind 
the  counter  stood  not  a  black-eyed, 
long-bearded,  sharp-visaged  Jew,  as 
my  imagination  had  pictured,  but  an 
intelligent,  business-like  looking  indi- 
vidual, who  carelessly  opened  one  side 
of  the  watch,  and  shutting  it  again, 
without  the  least  examination,  said : 

"  How  much  do  you  want  ?  " 

"Twenty-five  dollars,"  replied  the 
man.  "  "Will  give  you  ten."  "  Can't 
you  give  fifteen  ?  "    "  Only  ten." 

It  was  now  my  turn.   My  hand  trem- 


bled as  I  drew  out  my  watch.  The 
fate  of  my  predecessor  argued  poorly 
for  me. 

The  watch  was  speedily  transferred 
to  the  hand  of  the  pawnbroker.  The 
same  careless  examination  was  passed 
— just  a  springing  of  one  of  the  sides, 
as  if  by  habit,  and  then  the  monoto- 
nous "  How  much  do  you  want  ?  "  "I 
must  have  fifty  dollars  on  it."  "  'Tis 
good  for  that,"  was  the  answer,  "  but 
we  are  not  loaning  over  twenty-five 
dollars  on  any  watch.  The  demand  is 
so  great,  and  we  must  give  our  small 
customers  the  preference."  "  I  suppose 
so,  but  really  I  must  have  this  money, 
and  I  beg  you  to  accommodate  me." 
There  was  a  moment's  hesitation ;  then 
he  turned  around,  and  took  up  two 
pieces  of  paper.  What  name  ? "  he  in- 
quired.    "  Parkinson." 

In  just  a  minute  a  ticket  was  handed 
to  me  (the  name  written  on  it  looked 
more  like  Frogson  than  anything  else), 
fifty  dollars  was  placed  in  my  hand, 
and  the  transaction  was  closed.  A  new- 
comer took  my  place,  and  I  marched 
away  triumphant.  I  felt  very  grateful 
to  the  man  behind  the  counter.  I 
hardly  knew  why,  but  I  stepped  out 
on  the  pavement  with  a  happy  appreci- 
ation of  the  institution  of  pawnbrokers, 
since  it  could  thus  so  suddenly  bring 
relief  to  the  suffering.  Just  then  I  cast 
my  eyes  up  at  the  dial  plate  on  the  City 
Hall,  and  was  surprised  that  it  was  so 
late,  and  unconsciously  I  undertook  to 
compare  the  time  with  my  own.  My 
hand  took  its  usual  course  to  my 
watchguard,  but  it  grasped  vacancy; 
a  slight  pang,  and  it  was  over.  After 
all,  my  friend  of  the  three  balls  had  a 
very  perfect  security,  and  an  excellent 
rate  of  interest. 


Female  Strategy  to  obtain  Bubble 
Stock. 

One  among  the  many  ludicrous  strat- 
agems employed  to  obtain  access  to 
John  Law,  in  order  to  secure  shares  in 
his  Mississippi  scheme — then  the  uni- 


528 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


versal  rage,  and  bearing  a  premium 
many  times  manifolding  the  par  rate — 
was  that  resorted  to  by  a  lady.  She 
had  striven  in  vain,  during  many  long 
and  anxious  days,  so  much  so  as  to  put 
her  in  a  state  of  despair  of  ever  seeing 
him  at  his  own  house;  she  therefore 
ordered  her  coachman  to  keep  a  strict 
watch  whenever  she  was  out  in  her  car- 
riage, and  if  he  saw  Mr.  Law  coming, 
to  drive  against  a  post  and  upset  her. 
The  coachman  promised  obedience, 
and  for  three  days  the  lady  was  driven 
incessantly  through  the  town,  praying 
inwardly  and  watching  intently  for  the 
opportunity  to  be  overturned.  At  last 
she  espied  Mr.  Law,  and,  pulling  the 
string,  called  out  to  the  coachman, 
"  Upset  us  now  I  for  God's  sake,  upset 
us  now  1 "  The  coachman  drove  against 
a  post,  the  lady  screamed  as  only  woman 
can,  the  coach  was  overturned,  and 
Law,  who  had  seen  the  accident,  has- 
tened to  the  spot  to  render  assistance. 
The  cunning  dame  was  led  into  Law's 
Hotel  de  Soissons,  where  she  soon 
thought  it  advisable  to  recover  from 
her  fright,  and,  after  apologizing  to 
Mr.  Law,  confessed  her  stratagem. 
Though  so  honest  a  man.  Law  smiled 
at  the  deception,  and  entered  the  lady 
in  his  books  as  the  purchaser  of  his 
stock. 


Financial  Use  of  Saints. 

In  Lima,  there  is  a  public  lottery, 
which  the  Government  farms  to  a  pri- 
vate individual,  for  a  considerable  sum. 
The  tickets  are  drawn  weekly,  and  the 
price  of  a  ticket  is  one  real.  The  larg- 
est prize  is  one  thousand  dollars,  and 
from  that  down  to  one  hundred.  A 
lottery  on  a  larger  scale  is  drawn  every 
three  months ;  the  highest  prize  in  this 
lottery  is  four  thousand  dollars,  and 
the  price  of  the  ticket  is  four  reals.  To 
every  ticket  is  affixed  a  motto,  usually 
consisting  of  an  invocation  to  a  mint, 
and  a  prayer  for  good  luck  ;  and  at  the 
drawing  of  the  lottery,  this  motto  is 


read  aloud,  when  the  number  of  the 
ticket  is  announced.  Few  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Lima  fail  to  buy  at  least 
one  ticket  in  the  weekly  lottery.  The 
negroes  are  particularly  fond  of  trying 
their  luck  in  this  way,  and  in  many  in- 
stances they  have  drawn  large  sums. 


BnxlesqLtie  on  Modem  Business 
Utopias. 

Reynolds's  inimitable  burlesque 
of  the  "  Universal  Stone-Expelling 
and  Asphaltum-Substituting  Equitable 
Company"  will  answer  for  all  that 
class  of  trading  Utopias  which  so  won- 
derfully ensnare  both  the  simple  and 
the  wary  alike,  of  the  staid  English 
public. 

To  commence  with  Captain  Walsing- 
ham,  who  appears  to  have  been  the 
projector  of  this  peerless  Company,  and 
who  was  taking  measures  to  give  it  its 
due  prominence  before  the  public,  will 
suffice.  He  began  by  hiring  a  splendid 
suite  of  offices  in  Bartholomew  Lane, 
and  forthwith  purchased  desks,  tables, 
and  chairs,  to  place  in  them.  He  pro- 
cured a  painter,  who  painted  the  words 
"  Public  Office  "  upon  the  door, "  Wait- 
ing Room  "  upon  another,  "  Committee 
Room  "  upon  a  third.  He  then  hired 
three  individuals,  who,  under  the  de- 
nomination of  clerks,  were  to  sit  at  a 
desk  in  the  Public  Office,  chatter  and 
read  the  newspapers  when  they  were 
alone,  and  apply  themselves  like  mad- 
men to  three  great  books  with  clasps, 
when  a  stranger  came  in.  A  servant  in 
blue  livery,  with  white  buttons,  was 
also  engaged,  to  lounge  about  in  the 
passage  outside  the  entrance  door 
which  led  to  the  offices ;  and  a  man 
with  printed  prospectuses  to  give  away, 
was  stationed  in  the  street.  A  general 
meeting  of  the  directors  was  then  called 
and  advertised,  to  discuss  the  business 
and  dispose  of  the  capital  of  the  Com- 
pany ;  but  as  there  was  as  yet  no  busi- 
ness to  occupy  their  attention,  they  dis- 
cussed a  capital  luncheon  instead. 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


629 


Burlesque  oil  Modern  BasineBs  Utopias. 


In  a  few  days,  a  paragraph  was 
drawn  up  by  the  excellent  chairman 
and  inserted — upon  pajrment — in  one 
or  two  of  those  accommodating  daily 
papers  which  do  not  put  the  absurd 
word  "Advertisement"  at  the  begin- 
ning ;  and  this  paragraph  stated  that 
they — ^the  papers — were  informed  upon 
the  best  authority  that  the  materials 
which  composed  said  Asphaltum  were 
derived  from  Asiatic  sources;  where- 
upon Mr.  Snuffery,  as  treasurer  and 
secretary,  wrote  a  letter  to  all  the  jour- 
nals to  contradict  this  report — and,  as 
Mr.  Snuflfery's  letter  was  inserted  for 
nothing,  the  Company  gained  its  aim 
in  obtaining  publicity  at  the  least 
possible  expense. 

Another  paragraph,  tending  to  show 
that  the  Asphaltum  would  never  be 
applied  to  universal  use,  was  then  paid 
for  and  inserted  conspicuously  in  the 
Morning  Teapot;  at  this,  the  Company 
pretended  to  be  in  the  most  direful 
wrath — so  much  so,  that  Messieurs 
Kumrig  &  Sharp,  the  Company's  soli- 
citors, were  instructed  to  bring  an  ac- 
tion against  the  aforesaid  Morning  Tear 
pot,  which  had  thus  been  used  to  pour 
84 


hot  water  upon  the  heads  of  the  associa- 
tion. But,  after  a  great  deal  of  public 
display,  red-hot  letter  writing,  pamph- 
leteering, fending  and  prcrving,  that 
eminent  legal  firm  declared  that  it  was 
not  necessary  to  proceed  with  the  suit ; 
and  so  the  whole  business  was  an- 
nounced, to  the  great  relief  of  the  agi- 
tated (!)  public — ^to  have  been  arranged 
in  the  most  amicable  manner  possible. 

A  few  shares  were  next  issued,  and 
private  friends  were  sent  roimd  to  pur- 
chase up  these  shares  at  a  premium  ; 
so  that  the  transaction  took  wind,  and 
the  Company  succeeded  in  getting  it- 
self blamed  for  allowing  only  the  ac- 
quaintances and  favorites  of  the  direct- 
ors to  get  any  of  the  stock  and  profit 
by  the  speculation.  The  demand  for 
shares  was  therefore  immediate  and 
great ;  and  when  a  piece  of  the  pave- 
ment fronting  the  house  in  which  the 
offices  of  the  Company  were  situate, 
was  robbed  of  its  stone  and  subjected 
to  the  process  of  the  Asphalte,  the  en- 
thusiasm and  credulity  of  the  public  in 
favor  of  this  great  institution  knew  no 
bounds.  A  grand  dinner  was  given  by 
the  directors  at  the  City  of  London 


530 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Tavem;  and  Mr.  Muggins  was  gene- 
rously permitted  by  the  worthy  chair- 
man to  advance  the  Company  another 
fire  hundred  pounds. 


Buying:  his  own  Ctoods  at  Anotion. 

Old  Colonel  W.,  formerly  one  of  the 
best  known  characters  in  a  certain  east- 
em  city,  was  really  remarkable  for  but 
one  passion  out  of  the  ordinary  range 
of  humanity,  and  that  was  for  buying 
at  auction  any  little  lot  of  trumpery 
which  came  under  the  head  of  "  miscel- 
laneous," for  the  reason  that  it  couldn't 
be  classified.  Though  close-fisted  in 
general,  he  was  continually  throwing 
away  his  money  by  fives  and  tens  upon 
such  trash.  In  this  way  he  had  filled 
all  the  odd  corners  in  his  dwelling  and 
outbuUdings  with  a  mass  of  nondescript 
articles,  that  would  have  puzzled  a 
philosopher  to  conjecture  what  they 
were  made  for,  or  to  what  use  they 
could  ever  be  put.  This,  however,  was 
but  a  secondary  consideration  with  the 
Colonel ;  for  he  seldom  troubled  his 
head  about  such  articles  after  they  were 
fairly  housed.  Not  so  with  his  wife, 
however,  who  was  continually  remon- 
strating against  these  purchases,  which 
served  only  to  clutter  up  the  house,  and 
as  food  for  the  mirth  of  the  domestics. 
But  the  Colonel,  though  he  often  sub- 
mitted to  these  remonstrances  of  his 
better  half,  couldn't  resist  his  passion ; 
and  so  he  went  on,  adding  from  week 
to  week  to  his  heap  of  miscellanies. 

One  day,  while  sauntering  down  the 
street,  he  heard  the  full,  rich  tones  of 
his  friend  C,  the  well-known  auction- 
eer, and  as  a  matter  of  course  stepped 
in  to  see  what  was  being  sold.  On  the 
floor  he  observed  a  collection  that  look- 
ed as  if  it  might  have  been  purloined 
from  the  garret  of  some  museum,  and 
around  which  a  motley  group  was  as- 
sembled; while  on  the  counter  stood 
the  portly  auctioneer,  in  the  very  height 
of  a  mock-indignant  remonstrance  with 
his  audience :  "  Nine  dollars  and  ninety 


cents  ! "  cried  the  auctioneer ;  "  Gentle- 
men, it  is  a  shame,  it  is  barbarous,  to 
stand  by  and  permit  such  a  sacrifice  of 
property  1  Nine  dol-lars  and  ninety — 
good  morning,  Colonel !  A  magnifi- 
cent lot  of — of — antiques — and  all  go- 
ing for  nine  dollars  and  ninety  cents. 
Gentlemen  1  you'll  never  see  another 
such  lot;  and  all  going — going — for 
nine  dollars  and  ninety  cents.  Colonel 
W.,  can  you  permit  such  a  sacrifice  ?  " 
The  Colonel  glanced  his  eye  over  the 
lot,  and  with  a  nod  and  a  wink  assured 
him  that  he  could  not.  The  next  in- 
stant the  hammer  came  down,  and  the 
purchase  was  the  Colonel's,  at  ten 
dollars. 

As  the  articles  were  to  be  paid  for 
and  removed  immediately,  the  Colonel 
lost  no  time  in  getting  a  cart,  and  hav- 
ing seen  everything  packed  up  and  on 
the  way  to  his  house,  he  proceeded  to 
his  own  store,  chuckling  within  him- 
self that  now  at  least  he  had  made  a 
bargain  at  which  even  his  wife  couldn't 
grumble.  In  due  time  he  was  seated  at 
the  dinner  table,  when,  lifting  his  eyes, 
he  observed  a  cloud  upon  his  wife's 
brow.  "  "Well,  my  dear  ?  "  said  he,  in- 
quiringly, "  Well  I "  responded  his  wife ; 
"  it  is  not  well,  Mr.  W. ;  I  am  vexed  be- 
yond endurance.  You  know  C,  the 
auctioneer  ? "  "  Certainly,"  replied  the 
Colonel ;  "  and  a  very  gentlemanly  per- 
son he  is,  too."  "  You  may  think  so," 
rejoined  the  wife,  "  but  /  don't,  and  I'll 
tell  you  why.  A  few  days  ago  I  gath- 
ered together  all  the  trumpery  with 
which  you  have  been  cluttering  up  the 
house  for  the  last  twelve-month,  and 
sent  it  to  Mr.  C,  with  orders  to  sell 
the  lot  immediately  to  the  highest  bid- 
der, for  cash.  He  assured  me  he  would 
do  so  in  all  this  week,  at  farthest,  and 
pay  over  the  proceeds  to  my  order. 
And  here  I've  been  congratulating  my- 
self on  two  things :  first,  on  having  got 
rid  of  an  mtolerable  nuisance — and 
secondly,  on  receiving  money  enough 
therefor  to  purchase  that  new  velvet 
hat  you  promised  me  so   long  ago. 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


631 


And  now,  what  do  you  think  1  This 
morning,  about  an  hour  ago,  the  whole 
load  came  bach  again,  without  a  word  of 
explanation.  The  Colonel  looked  blank 
for  a  moment,  and  then  proceeded  to 
clear  up  the  mystery.  But  the  good 
wife  was  pacified  only  by  the  promise 
of  a  ten-dollar  note  beside  that  in  the 
hands  of  the  auctioneer — on  condition, 
however,  that  she  should  never  mention 
it.    Of  course  she  kept  her  word  I 


Hograrth's  Plan  of  Selling:  Pictures  by 
Auction. 

HoGABTH  supported  himself  by  the 
sale  of  his  prints :  the  prices,  however, 
of  his  paintings  kept  pace  neither  with 
his  fame  nor  with  his  expectations. 
But  he  knew  the  passion  of  his  coun- 
trymen for  novelty — how  they  love  to 
encourage  whatever  is  strange  and  mys- 
terious ;  and,  hoping  to  profit  by  these 
feelings,  the  artist  determined  to  sell 
his  principal  paintings  by  an  auction 
of  a  very  singular  nature. 

To  this  end,  he  offered  for  sale  the 
six  paintings  of  the  Harlot's  Progress, 
the  eight  paintings  of  the  Rake's  Prog- 
ress, the  four  Times  of  the  Day,  and 
the  Strolling  Actresses,  on  the  follow- 
ing conditions : 

First,  that  every  bidder  shall  have 
an  entire  leaf  numbered  in  the  book  of 
sale,  on  the  top  of  which  will  be  enter- 
ed his  name  and  place  of  abode,  the 
sum  paid  by  him,  the  time  when,  and 
for  what  pictures. 

Second,  that  on  the  day  of  sale,  a 
clock,  striking  every  five  minutes,  shall 
be  placed  in  the  room,  and  when  it  has 
struck  five  minutes  after  twelve,  the 
first  picture  mentioned  in  the  sale  book 
shall  be  deemed  as  sold ;  the  second 
picture,  when  the  clock  has  struck  the 
next  five  minutes  after  twelve,  and  so 
on  in  succession,  till  the  nineteen  pic- 
tures are  sold. 

Third,  that  none  advance  anything 
short  of  gold  at  each  bidding. 

Fourth,  no  person  to  bid  on  the  last 


day,  except  those  whose  names  were 
before  entered  in  the  book.  As  Mr. 
Hogarth's  room  is  small,  he  begs  the 
favor  that  no  persons,  except  those 
whose  names  are  entered  on  the  book, 
will  come  to  view  his  paintings,  on  the 
last  day  of  sale. 

This  plan  was  new,  peculiar,  and  un- 
productive. It  was  probably  planned 
to  prevent  biddings  by  proxy,  and  so 
secure  to  the  artist  the  price  which  men 
of  wealth  and  rank  might  be  induced 
to  offer  publicly  for  works  of  genius. 
A  method  so  novel  probably  disgusted 
the  town ;  they  might  not  exactly  un- 
derstand this  tedious  formula  of  enter- 
ing their  names  and  places  of  abode  in 
a  book  open  to  indiscriminate  inspec- 
tion;  they  might  wish  to  humble  an 
artist  who,  by  his  proposals,  seemed  to 
consider  that  he  did  the  world  a  favor 
in  suffering  them  to  bid  for  his  works ; 
or  the  rage  for  paintings  might  be  con- 
fined to  the  admirers  of  the  old  mas- 
ters. Be  that  as  it  may,  he  received 
but  little  more  than  two  thousand  dol- 
lars for  his  nineteen  pictures — a  price 
by  no  means  equal  to  their  merit. 


First  Book  Auction  in  Eng'land. 

The  first  book  auction  in  England, 
of  which  there  is  any  record,  is  of  a 
date  as  far  back  as  1676,  when  the  li- 
brary of  Dr.  Seaman  was  brought  to 
the  hammer.  Prefixed  to  the  catalogue 
there  is  an  address,  which  thus  com- 
mences :  "  Reader,  it  hath  not  been 
usual  here  in  England  to  make  sale  of 
books  by  way  of  auction,  or  who  will 
give  the  most  for  them ;  but  it  having 
been  practised  in  other  countries,  to 
the  advantage  of  both  buyer  and  seller, 
it  was  therefore  conceived  (for  the  en- 
couragement of  learning)  to  publish 
the  sale  of  these  books  in  this  manner 
of  way."  ^ 

Bank  N'otes  at  Ten  Cents  a  Tard. 

The  failure  of  the  Citizens'  Bank, 
Memphis,  some   years  ago,  naturally 


532 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS   ANECDOTES. 


occasioned  intense  excitement,  as  well 
as  severe  hardship  to  many  of  those 
who  were  the  victims  of  its  ruinous 
career.  When  the  crowd  gathered 
around,  composed  mostly  of  mechanics 
and  working  men,  with  here  and  there 
a  woman,  and  at  intervals  a  poor  mar- 
ket man,  there  was  observed  one  vnry 
little  fellow,  with  a  wonderfully  exag- 
gerated nose,  who  had  a  package  of 
the  Bowleg's  notes  in  his  hands.  Some 
one  asked  him  how  much  he  had.  He 
said,  "  Those  bills,  amoimting  to  $300, 
are  the  profits  of  my  labor  for  the  last 
six  months, — look  at  my  hard  hands, 
and  see  how  I  have  toiled ;  I  have  a 
wife  and  children  for  whom  I  must 
buy  bread,  and  for  whom  I  must  pro- 
vide a  shelter,  and  a  home ;  but,  gen- 
tlemen, it  is  all  gone.  They  may  be 
houseless  wanderers  and  homeless  beg- 
gars, if  I  should  knuckle  to  this  mis- 
fortune. It  is  all  gone."  The  little 
gentleman,  with  the  Slaukenbergius 
nose,  which  Tristram  Shandy  tells 
about,  at  this  point  in  his  speech, 
*'  humped  "  himself,  and  began  to  lay 
his  wild-cat  bills  in  a  lineal  row  down 
in  the  centre  of  the  street.  When  they 
were  thus  arranged,  he  turned  to  the 
crowd,  saying,  "  Gentlemen  and  ladies, 

I  will  sell  this- infernal  stuff  at  ten 

cents  a  yard,  tape  measure.''''  The  crowd 
roared,  and  good  humor  was  thus  sub- 
stituted for  the  angry  mutterings  which 
had  become  pretty  audible,  and  which, 
by  any  accident,  might  have  resulted 
in  the  demolition  of  the  bank  building. 


yirttLous  and  Touching:  Appeal. 

"  Here,  ladies  1 "  said  an  auctioneer, 
"  I  have  a  very  interesting  picture  to 
oflFer  you — a  representation  of  the  mur- 
derer Robinson,  in  the  very  act  of  ap- 
proaching his  victim.  The  head  of 
Miss  Jewett  is  a  portrait,  taken  from  a 
plaster  cast  shortly  after  her  death, 
and  admitted  by  Robinson  himself  to 
be  a  most  astonishing  likeness.  The 
figure  of  Robinson  is  a  fac-simile — as 


like  him  as  two  peas.  I  have  been  cred- 
ibly informed  that  at  the  trial,  two  re- 
spectable old  gentlemen,  who  had  never 
seen  the  prisoner,  recognised  him  at 
once  from  his  resemblance  to  this  pic- 
ture. And  the  cloak,  ladies  !  the  cloak 
is  the  very  identical  one  which  the 
murderer  wore !  What  shall  I  have 
for  this  valuable  painting  ? " 

"  One  dollar," — from  an  old  lady. 

"  Thank  you,  ma'am ;  ©ne  dollar,  one 
dollar — ^half— two — two  and  a  half- 
three,  three  dollars  ;•  three  dollars  are 
bid  for  this  invaluable  picture ;  only 
three ;  worth  at  least  ten  1  Three  dol- 
lars, three  dollars — going  at  three  dol- 
lars ! — going,  going !  Ladies,  this  pic- 
ture is  invaluable  as  a  moral  lesson  as 
well  as  a  work  of  art.  I  would  recom- 
mend it  to  all  mothers  who  have 
grown-up  daughters.  Put  this  picture 
before  them,  and  what  temptation 
could  ever  induce  them  to  leave  the 
paths  of  virtue  !  Ladies,  the  owner  of 
this  picture  has  daughters ;  they  have 
grown  up  from  youth  to  womanhood ; 
they  have  never  left  the  paths  of  vir- 
tue ;  and  their  mother  ascribes  it  to 
the  influence  of  this  very  picture  !  " 

This  address  produced  a  manifest  sen- 
sation. -  There  was  quite  a  stir  among 
the  matrons,  and  one  vixenish-look- 
ing old  maid,  with  a  sharp  face,  hooked 
nose,  and  iron  spectacles,  was  heard  to 
whisper  to  her  neighbor,  that  "  to  be 
sure  it  was  so ;  and  that  if  she  had'nt 
had  just  such  a  pictur,  she  did'nt  know 
what  might'nt  have  happened  to  her." 
The  auctioneer  put  up  the  picture  again, 
and  the  good  ladies  now  vied  with  each 
other  in  purchasing  this  invaluable 
safeguard  to  female  virtue ;  and  as 
they  were  assured  that  there  was  not 
another  to  be  had  in  the  city  for  love 
or  money,  it  was  finally  knocked  down 
to  Mrs.  Chasteley, — a  faded  dame  wear- 
ing green  goggles — at  three  dollars  and 
a  half;  having  cost  originally,  frame 
included,  the  sum  of  three  shillings. 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


533 


Ittr.  Hume's  Anxiety  to  Avoid  a 
Pecuniary  Loss. 

Joseph  Hume  was  a  heavy  invester 
in  the  disastrous  Greek  loan,  which  he 
loudly  advocated  both  in  his  position 
as  a  member  of  the  government  and  as 
a  speculator.  He  had  £10,000  of  the 
loan  assigned  him.  The  price  fell  six- 
teen per  cent.,  and  his  ardor  was  said 
to  have  fallen  in  proportion.  Alarmed 
at  a  loss  so  great,  the  senator  endeav- 
ored to  release  himself  from  the  bur- 
den ;  but  when  he  applied  to  the  depu- 
ties and  contractors,  he  was  met  with 
the  reply,  that,  had  the  stock  risen,  he 
would  not  have  returned  the  gain.  The 
argument  was  sound,  but  the  head  is 
obtuse  when  the  purse  is  endangered ; 
and  Mr.  Hume — clear-headed  generally 
— "  could  not  see  "  the  fairness  of  the 
position. 

After  some  correspondence,  the  depu- 
ties at  last  agreed  to  take  the  scrip  oflf 
of  Mr.  Hume's  hands,  at  thirteen  instead 
of  sixteen  per  cent,  discount ;  thereby 
saving  Mr.  Hume  £300  out  of  the  loss 
of  £1,600,  which  he  at  first  feared.  In 
time,  the  Greek  cause  grew  prosperous, 
the  stock  rose  to  par,  and  Mr.  Hume, 
with  a  singular  power  of  perception 
compared  with  his  previous  notions, 
claimed  the  £1,300  which  he  had  lost. 
The  surprise  of  the  deputies  may  be 
imagined.  Mr.  Hume,  however,  was 
powerful — he  was  a  senator — and  to 
him  was  accorded  a  privilege  for  which 
others  might  have  looked  in  vain. 

But  a  further  question  arose.  Mr. 
Hume,  remarkable  for  the  closeness  of 
his  calculations,  discovered  that  £54 
was  due  for  interest !  This  also  he 
applied  for,  and  this  too  was  granted. 

The  defence  of  Mr.  Hume  in  .this 
transaction  was  comprised  in  the  asser- 
tion, that,  some  of  his  public  or  politi- 
cal actions  having  been  misinterpreted, 
because  he  was  a  proprietor  of  stock, 
he  had  determined  to  part  with  it. 
The  deputies  oflFered  to  save  the  friend 
of  the  cause  so  great  a  loss ;  and  Mr. 
Hume  thought  the  conclusion  at  which 


they  had  arrived  a  sound  one.  After 
some  correspondence,  they  agreed  to 
take  his  stock  at  thirteen  per  cent, 
discount,  the  market  price  of  sixteen 
per  cent,  being  but  nominal.  Mr,  Hume 
wished  to  be  relieved  entirely ;  but 
this  the  deputies  declined.  Shortly 
after  Mr.  Hume  was  definitely  informed 
that  those  gentlemen  would  pay  him 
the  sum  he  was  deficient ;  and,  as  he 
considered  this  but  simply  fair,  and 
not  as  a  favor,  he  also  considered  he 
was  entitled  to  claim  the  interest.  "  The 
worst  that  any  one  can  say  of  me,"  said 
this  cunning  casuist,  "  is,  that  I  may 
have  evinced  an  over-anxiety  to  avoid  a 
pecuniary  loss^ 


Harking  a  liOttery  Ticket. 

A  LoNBON  merchant,  while  staying 
in  the  country  with  a  friend,  happened 
to  mention  that  he  intended,  the  next 
year,  to  buy  a  ticket  in  the  lottery  ;  his 
friend  desired  that  he  would  buy  one 
for  him  at  the  same  time,  which  of 
course  was  very  willingly  agreed  to. 
The  conversation  dropped;  the  ticket 
never  arrived,  and  the  whole  affair  was 
entirely  forgotten — when,  most  unex- 
pectedly, the  country  gentleman  re- 
ceived information  that  the  ticket  pur- 
chased for  him  by  his  Mend  had  come 
up  a  prize  of  twenty  thousand  pounds  1 
Upon  his  arrival  in  London,  he  inquired 
of  his  friend,  the  merchant,  where  he 
had  kept  the  ticket,  and  why  he  had 
not  informed  him  that  it  was  pur- 
chased. "  I  bought  them  both  the  same 
day,  mine  and  your  ticket,  and  I  flung 
them  both  into  a  drawer  of  my  bureau, 
and  I  never  thought  of  them  afterward." 
"  But  how  do  you  distinguish  one  ticket 
from  the  other?  and  why  am  I  the 
holder  of  the  fortunate  ticket  more  than 
you  ? "  "  Why,  at  the  time  I  put  them 
into  the  drawer,  I  put  a  little  mark  in 
ink  upon  the  ticket  which  I  resolved 
should  be  yours ;  and  upon  reopening 
the  drawer,  I  found  that  the  one  so 
marked  was  the  fortunate  ticket." 


534 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Jonathan  Hunt's  Land  Speculations. 

The  late  eccentric  Jonathan  Hunt, 
of  New  York,  who  accumulated  a  vast 
fortune  South,  was  quite  noted,  a  few 
years  ago,  for  his  dashing  land  specula- 
tions in  New  York,  and  his  relatives 
actually  served  on  him  a  warrant  de 
lunatico  inquirendo,  with  a  view  of  pre- 
venting him  wasting  his  estate.  Sub- 
sequently, however,  it  turned  out  that 
these  incessant  purchases  which  had 
made  him  a  leading  man  at  the  Mer- 
chants' Exchange,  and  an  object  of 
distrust  to  his  family,  were  splendid 
operations.  Poor  Hunt's  bid  was  sub- 
sequently refused  by  the  auctioneers, 
on  the  score  of  insanity ;  while  the  lots 
he  bought  on  Madison  avenue  and  else- 
where, were,  in  fact,  as  speculations, 
superior  to  the  operations  of  the  most 
sagacious  speculators. 


Winners  and  Losers  in  Grant's  Bubble. 

Thkee  hundred  thousand  pounds — 
a  most  prodigious  sum — was  embarked 
by  the  marquis  of  Chandos,  in  "  Grant's 
Bubble,"  and  the  duke  of  Newcastle 
advised  him  to  sell  when  he  could 
make  the  tolerable  profit  of  cent,  per 
cent.  The  marquis  was  greedy — hoped 
to  make  it  half  a  million,  and  the  advice 
was  declined.  The  panic  came,  and  the 
entire  enormous  investment  went  in  the 
shock.  Samuel  Chandler,  the  eminent 
non-conformist  divine,  risked  his  whole 
fortune  in  the  bubble,  lost  it,  and  was 
obliged  to  serve  in  a  bookseller's  shop 
for  a  number  of  years,  while  he  also 
continued  to  perform  ministerial  duty. 
The  elder  Scraggs  gave  Gay  one  thou- 
sand pounds  stock,  and,  as  the  poet 
had  been  a  previous  purchaser,  his 
gain  at  one  time  amounted  to  twenty 
thousand  pounds.  He  consulted  Dr. 
Arbuthnot,  who  strongly  advised  him 
to  sell  out.  The  bai;'d  doubted,  hesi- 
tated, and  lost  all.  The  doctor,  who 
gave  such  shrewd  advice,  was  too  irre- 
solute to  act  on  his  own  opinion,  and 


lost  two  thousand  pounds;  but,  with 
an  amiable  philosophy,  comforted  him- 
self by  saying,  it  would  be  only  two 
thousand  more  pairs  of  stairs  to  ascend. 
Thomas  Hudson,  having  been  left  a 
large  fortune,  was  tempted  to  embark 
the  whole  of  it  in  the  scheme.  After 
his  loss,  he  went  to  London,  became 
insane,  and  "  Tom  of  Ten  Thousand  " 
as  he  called  himself,  wandered  through 
the  public  streets,  a  piteous  and  pitiable 
object  of  charity.  One  tradesman,  who 
had  invested  his  entire  resources  in  the 
stock,  came  to  town  to  dispose  of  it, 
when  it  reached  "  one  thousand."  On 
his  arrival,  it  had  fallen  to  nine  hundred, 
and,  as  he  had  decided  to  sell  at  one 
thousand,  he  determined  to  wait.  The 
stock  continued  to  decline ;  the  trades- 
man continued  to  hold,  and  became,  as 
he  deserved,  a  ruined  man.  Others  were 
more  fortunate,  but  the  great  majority 
were  of  course  involved  in  ruin. 


"  Our  liady  of  Hope." 

In  the  city  of  Barcelona,  Spain,  there 
is  a  peculiar  pawnbroking  establishment 
bearing  the  dainty  name  of  "  Our  Lady  of 
Hope,"  where  loans  are  made  without  in- 
terest to  necessitous  persons,  on  the  depo- 
sit of  any  articles  in  pledge.  Two  thirds 
of  the  value  of  the  deposit  are  at  once 
advanced,  and  the  loan  is  made  for  six 
months  and  a  day :  but  if,  at  the  expira- 
tion of  that  period,  the  depositor  should 
declare  himself  unable  to  redeem  it, 
another  period  of  six  months  is  allowed. 
At  the  end  of  the  second  six  months 
the  pledges  are  sold,  but  if  they  yield 
more  than  the  amount  advanced,  the 
difference  is  given  to  the  original 
owner.  This  institution  is  very  popu- 
lar. Thousands  are  every  year  suitors 
for  the  favor  thus  afforded  by  "Oiir 
Lady  of  Hope." 


"  Tattersall's." 

The  name  of  TattersaU's  is  familiar 
and  respected  throughout  Europe,  and 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


635 


it  is  the  synonym  for  honorable  horse- 
dealing  by  auction  wherever  known. 
The  founder  of  this  great  auction  mart 
was  Richard  Tattersall,  who  was  train- 
ing groom  to  the  second  and  last  Duke 
of  Kingston,  vmtil  his  employer's  death 
in  1773.  He  then  appears  to  have 
opened  his  establishment,  though  the 
foundation  of  his  fortune  was  laid  by 
the  sale  to  him  of  the  race  horse 
"  Highflyer,"  for  the  enormous  sum  of 
twelve  thousand  dollars ;  and,  it  is 
supposed,  on  credit — an  evidence  of 
the  purchaser's  high  standing  for  in- 
tegrity. His  mart  is  now,  and  has 
been  from  the  outset,  a  place  where 
gentlemen  might  congregate  without 
breathing — or  at  all  events  in  a  greatly 
lessened  degree — the  bad  vapor  that 
usually  surrounds  the  stable;  where 
men  of  taste  might  enjoy  the  glimpses 
aflforded  of  the  most  beautiful  speci- 
mens of  an  exquisitely  beautiful  race, 
without  being  continually  disgusted 
with  the  worst  of  all  contacts — a 
merely  professional  jockey  or  horse 
dealer. 

There  is  an  area  or  tap  room  set  apart 
for  the  throngs  of  grooms,  jockeys, 
and  poorer  horse  dealers  and  horse 
fanciers.  At  another  point  is  the  sub- 
scription room,  fitted  up  in  the  interior 
with  desks,  and  ornamented  with  a 
rare  portrait  of  "  Eclipse."  Here  the 
wealthier  and  more  aristocratic  classes, 
who,  in  a  great  measure,  dispense  law 
and  fashion,  and  opinion  in  all  that 
concerns  horse  breeding,  racing,  and 
betting,  congregate  in  exclusive  pri- 
vacy. 

The  courtyard  is  the  great  business 
place  of  Tattersall's — renowned  through 
all  the  length  and  breadth  of  horse- 
loving,  horse-breeding,  horse-racing 
Europe,  and  which  from  all  parts 
sends  hither  its  representatives.  There 
is  a  bust  of  George  IV.,  conspicuously 
displayed,  because,  when  he  was  a 
prince,  in  his  eighteenth  year,  he  was 
a  constant  attendant  at  Tattersall's. 
Since  then,  there  is  no  important  name  I 


in  sporting  annals  but  can  be  found 
among  the  list  of  visitors.  Around 
three  sides  of  the  courtyard  extends 
a  covered  way ;  and  at  the  extremity 
of  one  side  stands  the  auctioneer's  ros- 
trum, overlooking  the  whole  area. 
The  ranges  of  ordinary  stabling  are 
also  admirable  specimens  of  what  has 
been  done  in  modem  times  to  serve 
the  health  and  comfort  of  their  stately 
inhabitants.  The  public  days  are  the 
Mondays  in  each  week,  through  the 
year,  with  the  addition  of  Thursdays 
in  the  height  of  the  season. 

A  more  motley  assemblage  than  the 
buyers  or  lookers  on,  during  sale  days, 
it  would  be  impossible  to  find.  Noble- 
men and  ambitious  peddlers,  bisljops 
and  blacklegs,  horse  breeders,  grooms, 
jockeys,  mingling  promiscuously  with 
the  man  of  retired  habits  and  studious 
mind,  fond  of  riding  and  breeding  the 
wherewithal  to  ride,  tradesmen  about 
to  set  up  their  little  pleasure  chaise  or 
business  cart,  and  commercial  travel- 
lers, whose  calling  has  inoculated  them 
with  a  passion  for  dabbling  in  horse 
flesh,  and  who,  in  the  inns  along  their 
routes,  talk  with  great  gusto  and  decis- 
ion of  aU  that  pertains  to  Tattersall's, 
on  the  strength  of  some  occasional 
half  hour's  experience  in  the  court- 
vard  I 


Ijast  Word  at  an  Auction  :   a  Lady  in 
the  Case. 

An  auction  affords  a  rare  opportu- 
nity for  the  exercise  of  that  determined 
penchant,  sometimes  ascribed  to  ladies, 
for  having  "  the  last  word."  We  can- 
not tell.  But  here  is  a  stray  example 
of  the  alleged  peculiarity,  as  it  exhib- 
ited itself  at  an  auction  sale  of  a  large 
old-fashioned  chest  of  drawers,  in  the 
offer  of  which  no  one  at  first  seemed  to 
take  the  least  sort  of  interest. 

The  auctioneer  of  course  enlarged  on 
all  its  supposable  excellences,  directed 
attention  to  the  size,  soundness,  and 
durability  of  the  article,  and  eventually 
a  low  voice  from  the  heart  of  the  crowd 


636 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


gave  a  bid,  and  but  little  below  its 
actual  value.  The  orator  now  tried,  as 
usual,  to  get  up  an  opposition,  but  in 
vain ;  and  after  repeated  declarations 
that  he  would  sell  if  there  were  no 
advance,  the  hammer  came  down. 
With  its  descent  came  a  squeak  from 
the  opposite  end  of  the  room,  offering 
two  shillings  more. 

"  "Was  ye  in  time,  man  ? "  demanded 
the  auctioneer, 

"  Yes,  and  it's  mine,"  replied  a  shrill 
whisper. 

"Then,  ladies  and  gentlemen,"  he 
continued,  "  this  splendid  article  must 
go  up  again,  for  justice  is  the  motto  of 
the  sale." 

Up  it  went,  and  the  woman's  offer 
was  forthwith  followed  by  a  still  higher 
bid  from  the  man,  who  seemed  deter- 
mined on  having  the  drawers ;  but  she 
was  equally  resolute,  and  advanced 
proportionally.  The  contest  was  left 
to  the  pair,  and  they  continued  to  bid 
against  each  other,  being  mutually  iras- 
cible, till  the  drawers  rose  to  a  price 
considerably  above  that  of  their  pris- 
tine beauty  and  fashion ;  then  the 
deeper  voice  was  silenced,  and  the  lady, 
having  the  last  word,  was  declared  the 
purchaser. 

The  crowd  opened  a  way  to  her 
prize ;  but  as  she  advanced,  a  respect- 
able looking  artizan  from  the  centre 
exclaimed  with  a  most  rueful  tone, 
"  Oh,  Maggie,  is  it  ye  ?  Guid  life,  I 
wud  hae  had  them  an  hour  syne  at 
thirty  shillin'  less  ! " 


Bidding:  on  Gtirard's  Old  Chaise. 

In  front  of  an  auction  store  in  Phila- 
delphia, there  was  exposed,  at  high 
noon,  a  personal  souvenir  of  old  Stephen 
Girard,  long  the  great  merchant-mil- 
lionnaire  of  that  city,  in  the  shape  of 
a  strong-built,  antique  chaise,  in  which 
he  used  to  ride  about  in  the  transaction 
of  his  business.  As  a  memento  of  its 
former  renowned  owner,  its  sale  was 
doubtless  expected   to    attract   great 


competition ;  but  no  one  appeared  to 
be  in  sympathy  with  it  or  its  associa- 
tions. Occasionally  a  hasty  glance 
would  be  directed  toward  it  by  a 
feverish  broker,  on  his  way  to  'Change  ; 
and  one  stout  countryman  seated  him- 
self in  it,  and  tried  the  springs.  No 
antiquarians,  no  lovers  of  Girard  or 
Mammon,  no  speculators  appeared  to 
be  present.  As  the  day  advanced, 
however,  and  the  imaginations  of 
people  became  a  little  awakened,  in 
justice  to  the  mortified  vanity  of  the 
chaise,  it  may  be  said  that  considerable 
excitement  was  manifested,  and  it  was 
momentarily  expected  that  a  committee 
of  little  boys  from  the  college,  or  a 
deputation  of  Third-street  brokers,  or 
the  posterity  of  those  whom  Girard 
might  have  befriended,  would  be  seen 
meeting  on  the  hallowed  ground,  and 
magnanimously  rivalling  each  other 
by  high  bidding,  in  their  eagerness  to 
obtain  the  cherished  "  vehicular."  But 
no ;  the  chaise  was  knocked  down  for 
less  than  half  its  real  value,  the  Girard 
prestige  to  the  contrary  notwithstand- 
ing. There  is  a  lesson  in  this,  for  all 
"  poor-rich  men." 


Wagrer  between  a  Stock  Broker  and  a 
Capitalist. 

A  STOCK  BKOKER,  shortly  before  his 
death,  had  laid  a  wager  on  parole  with 
a  rich  capitalist  at  Paris.  About  two 
months  after  his  decease,  the  latter 
made  his  appearance  at  the  residence 
of  the  widow,  and  informed  her  that 
her  late  husband  had  lost  a  bet  of  six- 
teen thousand  francs.  Upon  his  pro- 
ceeding to  inquire  whether  she  could 
rely  solely  on  her  informant's  assurance 
that  the  transaction  had  taken  place, 
and  fulfil  the  engagement  contracted 
by  the  deceased,  the  widow  without 
hesitation  produced  a  book  from  her 
secretary,  and  proceeded  to  count  bank 
notes  to  the  amount  of  sixteen  thou- 
sand francs ;  when  she  did  so,  however, 
she  was  immediately  interrupted  by  the 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


637 


capitalist :  "  Madam,"  said  he,  "  as  you 
give  such  convincing  proof  that  you 
consider  the  wager  binding,  I  have  to 
pay  you  sixteen  thousand  francs.  Here 
is  the  sum,  for  I.  am  the  loser,  and  not 
your  late  husband." 


Perils  of  Stock  Gambling::   William 
Abbott. 

The  late  William  Abbott,  in  his 
"  Life  and  Times,"  gives  a  specimen  of 
his  stock-broking  experience  when  in 
London.  It  is  a  passage  worth  not- 
•  ing: 

"  A  friend  of  mine,"  says  Mr.  Abbott, 
"  connected  with  the  stock  exchange, 
on  one  occasion  pointed  out  to  me  the 
great  advantage  of  occasionally  pur- 
chasing five  thousand  consols  on  time, 
knowing  that  I  had  capital  unem- 
ployed ;  the  certain  profits  were  placed 
before  me  in  such  an  agreeable  point 
of  view,  that  I  could  not  resist  the  bait. 
In  the  course  of  two  days,  I  received  a 
check  for  fifty  poimds,  a  sum  by  no 
means  unpleasant,  considering  that  I 
had  not  advanced  one  farthing.  The 
natural  consequence  was  that  I  repeated 
the  dose  with  various  success,  until  I 
was  ultimately  well  plucked.  I  sus- 
tained a  loss  of  a  thousand  pounds.  I 
then  began  to  life  very  uneasy,  until  I 
fortunately  discovered  that  by  one  coup 
I  had  made  two  hundred  pounds.  My 
broker  had  muddled,  of  course,  with- 
out being  able  to  make  up  his  differ- 
ences. The  parties  of  whom  I  had 
purchased,  through  my  agent,  refused 
to  pay  me,  as  they  had  no  knowledge 
of  a  third  person,  and  were  therefore 
considerable  sufferers  by  the  aforesaid 
broker.  I  could  not  understand  the  jus- 
tice of  this  measure,  for  I  always  .paid 
my  losses  to  the  moment ;  so  I  walked 
to  Temple  Bar,  pulled  off  my  hat  most 
gracefully  to  that  venerable  arch,  and 
vowed  never  again  to  pass  it  in  the 
pursuit  of  ill-gotten  wealth." 


Auctioneering  in  England  and  America. 

Auction  sales  of  books  in  London 
are  not  so  numerously  attended  as  in 
the  United  States,  and  there  is  no  noise, 
no  bustle,  and  rarely  any  disputing 
about  who  bids  off  the  books.  A  table, 
some  ten  or  twelve  f?et  in  length,  is 
placed  at  the  foot  of  the  auctioneer's 
desk,  around  which  the  buyers  sit  or 
stand  as  they  prefer;  the  books,  as 
they  are  led  out  to  the  sacrifice,  are 
placed  on  the  table  for  inspection,  and 
an  offer  being  made  in  an  ordinary  tone 
of  voice,  the  auctioneer  takes  it  up  in 
the  same  tone,  repeating  the  bids  pretty 
much  in  this  way  :  "  A  pound — a 
guinea  —  two-and-twenty  shillings  — 
three  and  twenty — four  and  twenty — 
shall  I  say  once  more  for  you? — five 
and  twenty  shillings;  are  you  all 
done  ? "  etc.,  and  a  tap  with  his  little 
ivory  hammer  gives  notice  that  the 
victim  is  guillotined ;  and  then  another 
is  brought  to  the  block.  Little  or  noth- 
ing is  said  by  the  auctioneer  in  com- 
mendation of  his  wares ;  he  presumes 
that  the  bystanders  know  what  they 
came  for,  and  allows  them  to  act  for 
themselves.  They  sell  more  rapidly 
than  is  the  case  in  the  United  States. 
In  another  respect,  also,  the  usage  is 
different;  the  bids  are  made  for  the 
lot,  and  not  per  volume ;  and  where  the 
books  are  of  no  peculiar  value,  fifteen 
or  twenty  volumes  are  put  up  in  a  lot 
— but,  whether  valuable  or  not,  they 
are  never  sold  by  the  volume.  It  is 
rare  that  the  bookseller  will  allow  a 
book  to  be  knocked  down  at  less  than 
two  thirds  its  shop  price,  unless  it  is 
one  that  is  wholly  decried. 


Allaying  a  Panic. 

DuRmo  one  of  the  panics  which 
overtook  the  trading  community  of  the  y 
city  of  London,  a  committee  of  bankers, 
headed  by  Lord  Overstone — but  then 
plain  Mr.  Lloyd — waited  upon  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  and  re- 


538 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


quested  him  to  authorize  the  Bank  of 
England  to  issue  a  few  millions  more 
bank  notes,  such  notes,  as  is  well 
known,  being  regarded  by  the  British 
public  as  the  absolute  equivalent  of 
specie.  They  urged  that  such  an  issue 
would  at  once  have  the  effect  of  allay- 
ing the  panic,  and  that,  without  it,  most 
of  the  mercantile  firms  must  fail. 

The  Chancellor,  a  man  of  experience, 
replied :  "  No,  gentlemen  ;  the  mer- 
chants and  private  bankers  must  take 
care  of  themselves."  "  Very  well,  my 
lord,"  replied  Mr.  Lloyd,  "  we  shall 
take  care  of  ourselves.  Be  so  good  as 
to  examine  that  memorandum.  You 
will  there  perceive  that  our  balances  in 
the  Bank  of  England  exceed  the  bal- 
ance to  the  credit  of  the  banking  de- 
partment by  several  hundred  thousand 
pounds.  We  shall  draw  them  out 
bright  and  early  to-morrow  morning, 
and  before  night  the  bank  wUl  fail. 
My  lord,  I  have  the  honor  to  wish  you 
a  very  good  morning." 

Lord  John  Russell  happened  to  be 
in  the  room,  and  he  begged  the  depu- 
tation to  wait  a  few  moments,  while  he 
withdrew  to  consult  with  the  Chancel- 
lor. Mr.  Lloyd  waited.  In  five  min- 
utes the  Chancellor  stepped  forward 
with  a  grim  smile,  and  said  :  "  Gentle- 
men, the  order  in  council  will  issue  to- 
morrow morning,  and  the  bank  will  be 
authorized  to  make  the  extra  issue  you 
demand." 

The  deputation  left ;  the  promise  of 
the  Chancellor  was  kept ;  the  order  in 
council  appeared,  and  the  panic  was 
allayed  at  once.  Strange  to  say,  it  wets 
not  necessary  to  issiie  one  of  the  notes  att- 
thorized.  Confidence  was  restored,  and 
business  went  on  as  usual. 


Selling:  a  Dyin?  Horse  xinder  the 
Hammer. 

An  auctioneer,  who  kept  a  celebrated 
horse  bazaar,  and  at  which  place  he 
held  regular  weekly  sales  of  said  ani- 
mals, was  accosted  by  a  thorough-bred 


Green  Mountain  Yankee  one  day,  about 
fifteen  minutes  before  the  commence- 
ment of  a  sale,  in  the  following  manner : 
"You!"  says  the  Yankee,  "how  do 
you  sell  horses  now  ? "  "  How  do  I 
sell  horses  now  ?  What  do  you  mean  ?  " 
"  'Cause  I've  got  an  almighty  smart 
cretur  I  should  like  to  sell  at  auction ; 
but  I  shouldn't  like  to  hove  him  away." 
"  Well,  my  friend,  you  bring  your  ani- 
mal along ;  I  won't  give  him  away. 
What  do  you  expect  to  get  for  yoxir 
animal  ?  "  "  Well,  if  I  should  put  him 
up  to  auction,  I  should  calkelate  to 
limit  him  at  fifteen  dollars,  but  you 
might  sell  him  for  five."  "For  five 
dollars  !  sell  him  for  five  !  Why  what 
kind  of  an  animal  is  he  ?  Is  he  sound  ? " 
"  Sound  as  a  dollar  (whispering  up  to 
his  ear) — I  shouldn't  like  to  warrant 
him."  "Well,  well,  my  friend,  bring 
your  horse  along,  and  I'll  see  what  I 
can  get  for  him." 

Accordingly,  when  the  fellow's  horse 
was  put  up,  the  greatest  Hd  the  auc- 
tioneer had  on  him  was  one  dollar  and 
a  half  Thinking  it  too  bad  to  sell  the 
animal  for  less  than  five  dollars,  at 
which  price  he  was  limited,  he  stooped 
down  to  the  Yankee  owner,  who  was 
fidgeting  at  his  elbow  all  the  time,  and 
said  to  him :  "  Friend,  do  you  wish  to 
sell  this  animal  for  only  one  dollar  and 
a  half?"  (In  the  auctioneer's  ear:) 
"  Sell  him,  sir,  he's  dying  1 " 

He  had  not  been  knocked  down  more 
than  fifteen  minutes  before  they  led 
him  a  few  yards,  and  he  fell  down 
dead. 

After  the  sale,  the  Yankee  came  to 
the  auctioneer,  saying :  "  Well,  rather 
bad  business,  that  cretur's  dying  so. 
Well,  now  you've  got  the  money  for 
him,  take  out  your  fees,  and  I'll  take 
the  balance."  "  Oh,  no  !  "  says  the 
auctioneer,  "  it  will  take  all  the  money 
he  brought  to  eat  up  the  charges." 
"  Well,  I  guess  I  got  off  pretty  cheap — 
I  couldn't  give  him  away,  last  Tewsday." 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


589 


"  Qoinfir— Going— Gone  1 " 

The  difference  between  a  person's 
main  body  and  a  person's  mere  ear, 
when  they  are  respectively  arrested, 
may  be  said  to  be  this :  that,  whereas 
the  former  is  immediately  seized  with 
a  violent  desire  to  run,  the  latter  is  only 
taken  with  agreeable  curiosity  to  stop. 

Accordingly,  the  above  sounds  of 
"  Going — going — gone,"  no  sooner  beat 
upon,  the  drum  of  a  city  pedestrian's 
ear,  than  he  suddenly  pauses  and  looks 
about  to  see  where  the  blow  has  come 
from,  for  it  is  but  natural  to  turn  round 
on  receiving  a  blow — at  least  to  see 
whom  it  is  has  been  dealt  to  you  by. 

The  dealer,  on  these  occasions,  is  an 
auctioneer,  and  his  dealings  are  so  open 
to  the  scrutiny  of  the  world  that  he 
plies  his  honest  vocation  in  a  shop,  the 
front  of  which  seems  to  have  flown 
away.  Indeed,  there  is  such  an  air  of 
openness  about  him  and  his  business, 
that  you  involuntarily  walk  in.  The 
greatest  respect  is  shown  to  you  as  you 
enter.  Dark-looking  gentlemen  creep 
backward  to  make  room  for  you,  and 
the  auctioneer  at  once  appeals  to  your 
judgment,  in  the  case  in  hand,  in  the 
most  flattering  manner.  The  boy  with 
the  dirty  apron  and  bags  of  sleeves, 


that  look  as  if  they  had  been  black 
leaded,  is  sharply  directed  to  "  hand 
the  tray  to  the  gentleman  for  his  in- 
spection." 

Every  little  article,  from  a  boot  jack 
downward,  is  held  up  admiringly  un- 
der your  nose,  as  if  they  were  bouquets 
that  only  required  to  be  sniffed  to  be 
appreciated ;  and  the  bidding,  which, 
on  your  entrance,  was  only  carried  on 
in  timid  and  fictitious  whispers,  breaks 
out  now  into  that  big,  confident  tone, 
which  can  only  be  inspired  by  some 
fresh  source  of  encouragement.  The 
auctioneer's  manner  grows  twice  as 
big — his  hammer  knocks  twice  as  loud. 
You  know  this  is  all  done  in  honor  of 
yourself,  and  you  feel  called  upon  to 
do  something  to  deserve  it.  A  silver 
cruet  stand  is  being  eagerly  disputed 
for  (apparently)  among  the  quack  nul- 
lionnaire  purchasers  present.  It  is 
only  twenty  dollars.  How  remarkably 
cheap  !  It  is  true  you  do  not  want  it, 
and  you  have  a  long  fight  within  your- 
self whether  you  shall  buy  it.  But  the 
worthy  auctioneer  sees  your  distress, 
and  relieves  your  embarrassment  by 
knocking  down  the  cruet  stand  to  you, 
congratulating  you,  moreover,  in  the 
kindness  of  his  heart,  upon  "  the  very 
great  bargain  you  have  got."     You 


540 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


take  it  home  covetously,  but  only  to 
discover,  alas  !  that  your  "  bargain  " 
would  be  dear  at  five  shillings. 

One  can  scarcely  pass  one  of  these 
mock-auction  establishments,  that  only 
keep  open  house  that  they  may  the 
easier  "  take  in  "  visitors,  and  not  walk 
in  for  five  minutes  purposely  to  enjoy 
the  popular  farce  of  Raising  the  Wind 
that  is  being  acted  inside  in  the  broad 
daylight.  The  company  is  invariably 
the  same,  having  a  large  dash  of  Jews ; 
and  the  Jews  one  meets  at  these  auc- 
tions are  allowed  by  their  own  race  to 
be  seldom  particularly  handsome.  It 
would  almost  seem,  indeed,  as  if  their 
physiognomy,  from  attending  such 
places,  had  been  made  especially /or- 

UddiTig 

♦ 

Very  Hopeful  Investment. 

The  wit  who  put  this  leaf  into  Har- 
pers' "Drawer"  deserves  a  pension, 
and  a  good  long  life  to  enjoy  it : 

"  Can  you  give  me  specie  for  this  ? " 

"No." 

"  What  can  you  give  me  ? " 

«  Nothing." 

"  Nothing  !    Why  ? " 

"  You  are  making  '  a  run '  upon  our 
institution — a  run,  sir.  This  species 
of  presentation  we  are  bound  to  resist. 
You  are  trying  to  break  us,  sir — to 
make  us  stop  payment,  sir.  But  you 
can't  do  it,  sir." 

"  But  haven't  you  stopped  payment, 
when  you  refuse  to  redeem  ?  " 

"  No,  sir.  Ours  is  a  stock  institution. 
Your  ultimate  security,  sir,  is  deposited 
with  the  auditor.  We  carCt  'break,' 
sir — we  canH  stop  payment," 

"  But  have  you  no  specie  on  hand  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,  and  we  are  bound  to  keep 
it  on  hand ;  the  law  obliges  us  to  keep 
twelve  and  one  half  of  specie  on  hand. 
If  we  paid  it  out  every  time  one  of  you 
fellows  calls,  how,  sir,  could  we  '  keep 
it  on  hand,'  according  to  law  ?  We 
should  be  in  a  pretty  box." 


"  Then  I  shall  proceed  to  have  the 
note  protested." 

"  Very  well,  sir,  you  will  find  a  no- 
tary public  at ,  provided  he  is  at 

home.  He  lives  about  one  hundred 
and  forty  miles  from  here.  But  you'd 
better  go  home,  sir,  and  rely  upon  your 
ultimate  security.  We  canH  pay  specie ; 
find  "it  won't  do— but  you  are  ultimate- 
ly secure." 

The  "  ultimate  security  "  is  disregard- 
ed, the  note  is  protested,  "  without  re- 
gard to  ea^eme^''  and  the  notary  direct- 
ed to  prosecute  the  "  Squash  Bank  at 
Lost  Prairie,"  to  collection  as  soon  as 
possible.  "  How  long,  by  the  way," 
asks  the  holder,  "  will  it  be  before  I 
can  expect  to  realize  upon  the  ultimate 
security  of  the  institution  ?  Thirty 
days,  is  it  not  ?  " 

"  Not  quite  so  soon  as  that,  sir.  I 
shall  forthwith  give  notice  to  the  offi- 
cers of  the  Squash  Bank.  If  they  pay 
no  attention  to  it,  I  shall  ofier  its  se- 
curities in  my  hands  for  sale ;  but  in 
discharging  my  necessary  duty  to  all 
the  creditors  of  the  institution,  I  shall 
not  proceed  to  offer  any  of  its  assets  in 
this  market  until  after  at  least  ninety 
days'  notice  in  New  York,  London,  and 
Paris,  so  as  to  insure  the  largest  and 
best  prices  for  the  securities — and  not 
even  then,  if,  in  my  opinion,  the  ulti- 
mate interests  of  all  concerned  will  be 
promoted  by  a  further  extension  1 
Hem ! " 

"  But,  my  dear  sir,  how  long  will  it 
be  before  I  shall  be  able  to  actually 
realize  upon  my  demand  ?  " 

To  this  pregnant  question  the  notary 
replies,  that "  he  couldn't  say,  indeed ; 
it  depends  something  on  the  fate  of  the 
war  in  Europe — even  now  more  doubt- 
ful than  ever.  Still,  you  can  rely  upon 
your  ultimate  security." 

*'  Ultimate  secukity — but  I — I  want 


my  money 


/" 


"  Oh,  ay,  ah !  that's  a  different  thing ! " 
This  was  what  might  be  termed  a 
very  "  hopeful "  investment. 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


541 


Furor  for  Chartered  Companies. 

The  following  are  some  among  the 
many  companies  which  applied  for 
charters,  during  the  mercantile  stock- 
jobbing excitement  which  possessed 
the  minds  of  the  English  during  the 
fore  part  of  the  last  century,  and  which 
involved  so  many  in  the  crash  of  finan- 
cial ruin  which  followed  soon  after: 
For -supplying  London  with  sea  coal — 
capital,  £3,000,000 ;  erecting  salt  works 
in  Holy  Island,  £2,000,000;  paving 
streets  of  London,  £2,000,000  ;  buying 
and  selling  lands  and  lending  money, 
£5,000,000 ;  carrying  on  the  royal  fish- 
ery, £10,000,000 ;  erecting  loan  offices, 
£2,000,000;  improving  leasable  lands, 
£4,000,000;  exporting  woollens,  £4,000,- 
000 ;  for  a  grand  dispensary,  £3,000,- 
000 ;  purchasing  lead  mines,  £2,000,000 ; 
importing  walnut  trees  from  Virginia, 
£2,000,000;  dealing  in  lace,  holland, 
etc.,  £2,000,000;  trading  in  produce, 
£3,000,000 ;  making  looking  glas^s, 
etc.,  £2,000,000  ;  paying  pensions, 
£2,000,000 ;  improving  malt  liquors, 
£4,000,000  ;  purchasing  fenny  lands  in 
Lincolnshire,  £2,000,000  ;  insuring  mas- 
ters and  mistresses  all  losses  by  servants, 
£3,000,000  ;  importing  tobacco,  £4,000,- 
000 ;  furnishing  the  cities  of  London 
and  Westminster  with  hay  and  straw, 
£3,000,000 ;  erecting  hospitals  for  ille- 
gitimate children,  £2,000,000 ;  import- 
ing beaver  fur,  £2,000,000. 


Chronicles  of  the  "Black  Day"  in 
Iiondon. 

The  terrible  and  long-to-be-remem- 
bered panic  in  London,  of  1835,  grow- 
ing out  of  the  foreign  loan  speculations, 
commenced  on  the  21st  of  May.  Every 
one  grew  alarmed,  and  those  who  had 
bought  as  a  permanent  investment 
parted  with  all  their  interest  at  a  mere 
song.  Private  gentlemen,  who  had 
been  tempted  to  invest,  hurried  with 
heavy  hearts  to  their  brokers,  and,  to 
add  to  the  distress,  the  greatest  holder 
turned  "  bear." 


At  the  close  of  the  market  in  the 
evening  the  confusion  was  indescrib- 
able. Some  were  rejoicing  at  their 
deliverance,  though  suffering  a  large 
loss,  while  others  were  absolutely 
ruined.  In  many  panics  there  had 
been  hope.  They  were  known  to  be 
clamors  which  time  would  rectify ;  but 
there  was  no  hope  for  the  holder  of  the 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  stock,  which 
had  ridden  over  everything  else  in  the 
market,  and  now  engulfed  so  many  for- 
tunes— it  was  hopeless,  beyond  any  fu- 
ture redemption.  Every  one  felt  as- 
sured that  no  dividend  could  ever  be 
paid  upon  it;  and  when  this  was  re- 
membered, men  cursed  the  fatuity 
which  had  led  them  to  buy  waste  pa- 
per, and  execrated  the  greediness  which 
had  lured  them  to  ruin.  Those  who 
the  week  before  possessed  "  securities  " 
which  would  have  realized  hundreds 
of  thousands,  found  themselves  reduced 
to  utter  bankruptcy.  Brokers  who 
had  kept  to  their  legitimate  business 
were  defaulters ;  most  who  had  bought 
for  time  were  unable  to  pay  their  dif- 
ferences ;  while  sedate  and  respectable 
men,  who  had  laughed  at  speculation, 
and  thought  themselves  too  sagacious 
to  be  taken  in  by  companies,  had  ven- 
tured their  all  on  the  faith  of  foreign 
Governments. 

Establishments  were  reduced,  fami- 
lies were  ruined  and  scattered,  delicate- 
ly nurtured  women  were  compelled  to 
earn  their  bread.  Death  ensued  to  some 
from  the  shock,  gaunt  misery  was  the 
lot  of  others,  and  frantic  confusion 
marked  the  money-dealers'  haunts  of 
business.  Almost  every  third  man  was 
a  defaulter.  All  foreign  securities  were 
without  a  price;  the  bankers — those 
who  yet  stood  on  their  legs — reftised  to 
advance  money;  the  brokers'  checks 
were  first  doubted,  and  then  rejected — 
nothing  but  bank  notes  would  be 
taken ;  and,  with  a  desperation  which 
will  never  be  forgotten,  the  jobbers 
closed  their  books,  refused  to  transact 
any  business,  and  w^ted  the  result  in 


542 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


almost  abject  despair.  The  various 
stocks  bore  no  price,  the  brokers  ceased 
to  issue  their  lists,  and  the  blackboard 
was  found  inadequate  to  contain  the 
names.  It  was  not  the  dark,  but  the 
Mack  day  of  the  London  Exchange. 


Atkinson,  the  Eccentric  Speciilator. 

At  the  close  of  the  last  century  there 
flourished  in  England  an  adventurous 
but  successful  speculator,  and  whose 
fortune,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  amount- 
ed to  half  a  million  pounds.  A  curious, 
and  not  at  all  a  parsimonious  man,  he 
occasionally  performed  eccentric  ac- 
tions, but  never  to  any  one's  hurt.  One 
day,  during  one  of  the  brief  pauses  in 
a  dinner  conversation,  he  suddenly 
turned  to  a  lady  by  whom  he  was  sit- 
ting, and  said :  "  If  you,  madam,  will 
trust  me  with  one  thousand  poimds,  for 
three  years,  I  will  employ  it  advantage- 
ously." The  speculating  but  success- 
ful character  of  the  speaker  was  famil- 
iarly known  ;  the  offer  so  frankly  made 
was  as  frankly  accepted ;  and  in  three 
years,  to  the  very  day,  Mr.  Atkinson 
waited  on  the  lady  with  ten  thousand 
pounds,  to  which  amount  his  speculat- 
ing sagacity  had  enabled  him  to  in- 
crease the  sum  intrusted  to  him. 


Our  American  Iiand  Fever. 

The  years  1835  and  1836  will  long 
be  remembered  by  the  Western  settler 
— and  by  not  a  few  people  at  the  East 
too — as  the  period  when  the  madness 
of  speculation  in  lands  had  reached  a 
point  to  which  no  historian  of  the  time 
will  ever  be  able  to  do  justice.  A  faith- 
ful picture  of  those  red-hot  days — the 
first  gigantic  bubble  from  which  our 
country  has  suffered — would  subject 
the  most  veracious  chronicler  to  the 
charge  of  exaggeration.  The  whirl, 
the  fervor,  the  flutter,  the  rapidity  of 
step,  the  sparkling  of  eyes,  the  beating 
of  hearts,  the  striking  of  hands,  the  utter 
abamdon  of  the  hour !  The  "  man  of  one 


idea  "  was  visible  everywhere  ;  no  man 
had  two.  He  who  had  no  money  beg- 
ged, borrowed,  or  stole  it ;  he  who  had, 
thought  he  made  a  generous  sacrifice 
if  he  lent  it  at  cent  per  cent.  The 
tradesman  forsook  his  shop  ;  the  farmer 
his  plough  ;  the  merchant  his  counter ; 
the  lawyer  his  office ;  the  clergyman 
his  study — to  join  the  general  chase. 
The  man  with  one  leg,  or  he  that  had 
none,  could  at  least  get  on  board  a 
steamer,  and  make  for  Chicago  or  Mil- 
waukie ;  the  strong,  the  able,  but  above 
all,  the  "  enterprising,"  set  out  with  his 
pocket  map  and  his  pocket  compass,  to 
thread  the  dim  woods,  and  see  with  his 
own  eyes.  Who  would  waste  time  in 
planting,  in  building,  in  hammering 
iron,  in  making  shoes — in  commerce,  in 
stocks — when  the  path  of  wealth  lay 
wide  and  flowery  before  him  ? 

A  ditcher  was  hired  by  the  job  to  do 
a  certain  piece  of  work  in  his  line. 
"  Well,  John,  did  you  make  anything  ?  " 
"  Pretty  well ;  I  cleared  about  ten  dol- 
lars a  day,  but  I  could  have  made  more 
by  standing  round  " — i.  e.,  watching  the 
land  market  for  bargains. 

The  host  of  travellers  on  their  West- 
em  speculating  tours  met  with  many 
difficulties,  as  might  be  supposed. 
Such  searching  of  trees  for  town  lines  ! 
Such  ransacking  of  the  woods  for  sec- 
tion corners,  ranges,  and  base  lines ! 
Such  anxious  care  in  identifying  spots 
possessing  particular  advantages  !  And 
then,  alas !  after  all,  such  precious 
blunders.  These  blunders  called  into 
action  another  class  of  operators,  who 
became  popularly  known  as  "land 
lookers."  These  were  plentiful  at  every 
turn,  ready  to  furnish  "  water  power," 
"  pine  lots,"  or  anything  else,  at  a  mo- 
ment's notice.  It  was  impossible  to 
mention  any  part  of  the  country  which 
they  had  not  "personally  surveyed." 
They  would  tell  you,  with  the  gravity 
of  astrologers,  what  sort  of  timber  pre- 
dominated on  any  given  tract,  draw- 
ing sage  deductions  as  to  the  capabili- 
ties of  the  soil !   Did  you  incline  to  city 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


543 


property  ?  Lo  !  a  splendid  chart,  set- 
ting forth  the  advantages  of  some  un- 
equalled site,  and  your  confidential 
friend,  the  land  looker,  able  to  tell  you 
more  than  all  about  it,  or  to  accom- 
pany you  to  the  happy  spot — though 
that  he  "would  not  admire,"  on  ac- 
count of  bad  roads,  nothing  fit  to  eat, 
etc. — all  from  a  purely  disinterested 
solicitude  for  your  welfare. 


Kr.  Barker's  Auction  Watch,  and 
what  it  brought  him. 

When  Jacob  Barker  was  quite  young, 
he  visited  New  York  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  a  situation  in  some  com- 
mercial house,  through  the  efforts  of 
his  brother  Abraham.  While  thus 
waiting,  he  attended  street  auctions 
and  other  places  of  novelty  to  him.  At 
one  of  those  auctions,  regardless  of  the 
admonition  often  heard  from  his  se- 
niors, to  avoid  dealing  in  old  watches 
and  old  horses,  he  was  tempted  to  bid 
twenty  dollars  for  a  gold  watch ;  it  was 
immediately  struck  off  to  him,  when  he 
supposed  he  had  been  taken  in.  It 
proved  otherwise ;  for  he  parted  with 
it  at  a  smart  profit,  shortly  after  enter- 
ing the  counting  house  of  Mr.  Hicks. 
The  circumstances  of  this  trade  with  an 
auction-bought  watch  were  as  follows : 

One  day,  Jacob  was  sent  to  Messrs. 
James  &  Samuel  Watson,  an  extensive 
commission  house  on  Front  street,  by 
Mr.  Hicks,  for  a  note  for  sperm  can- 
dles sold  them.  Those  extensive  mer- 
chants playfully  proposed  to  this  small 
boy  a  sale  of  shipbread,  saying  that 
his  fellow  clerk,  Mr.  Samuel  Hicks, 
often  purchased  the  article  of  them  in 
exchange  for  liver  oil,  for  which  article 
they  frequently  had  orders  from  Vir- 
ginia, and  with  which  bread  he  sup- 
plied the  ships  consigned  to  Mr.  Hicks 
to  profit.  Jacob  replied  that  he  had 
not  any  money  wherewith  to  pay  for 
bread ;  they  proposed  to  give  him 
credit — a  confidence  doubtless  arising 
from  his  being  in  the  employ  of  Mr. 


Hicks.  He  thanked  them,  saying  he 
dared  not  incur  a  debt — a  squeamishness 
which  did  not  last  long — adding  that 
he  had  not  any  liver  oil,  indeed  nothing 
but  a  gold  watch,  which  he  should  like 
to  barter  for  bread.  They  asked  to  see 
the  watch,  which  being  exhibited,  and 
the  price  named,  payable  in  shipbread, 
they  proposed  to  have  it  left,  and  they 
would  decide  in  the  morning,  if  he 
would  call  when  he  went  to  the  post 
oflice  for  letters;  to  this  he  assented, 
saying,  "  Tou  wish  to  have  it  examined 
by  a  watchmaker;  I  have  had  that 
service  performed,  and  know  the  watch 
to  be  good." 

He  called  in  the  morning,  when  the 
Messrs.  Watson  agreed  to  keep  the 
watch  on  the  terms  proposed  by  the 
boy  from  Nantucket.  And  now  the 
next  object  with  Jacob  was  to  find  a 
market  for  his  bread.  He  was  sent  by 
his  employer  to  collect  a  note  for  cod- 
fish sold  Thomas  Knox,  a  merchant 
doing  business  on  Wall  street.  Inquiry 
was  made  of  Mr.  Knox  if  he  did  not 
wish  to  purchase  some  shipbread  as 
stores  for  the  vessel  on  board  which  the 
fish  had  been  sent ;  the  reply  was,  that 
the  stores  were  all  on  board,  but  that 
he  had  an  order  for  three  hundred  bar- 
rels of  bread  for  a  ship  which  was  un- 
dergoing repairs  at  the  shipyard,  which 
would  be  wanted  in  about  three  weeks, 
and  inquired  of  the  lad  at  what  price 
he  would  furnish  that  quantity.  He 
had  but  ten  barrels ;  his  reply  was,  that 
he  would  go  for  and  immediately  bring 
a  sample,  with  the  information  re- 
quired, for  which  he  repaired  to  the 
store  of  the  Messrs.  Watson.  They  ex- 
pressed a  great  disposition  to  sell ;  said 
it  was  a  consignment  which  had  been 
long  on  hand,  therefore  they  would . 
sell  cheap.  A  conditional  bargain  was 
made,  they  to  take  Mr.  Knox's  note  at 
four  months,  without  Barker's  endorse- 
ment, if  he  could  not  get  it  at  a  shorter 
period. 

A  sample  of  the  bread  was  taken  to 
Mr.  Knox,  the  price  named  on  a  credit 


544 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


of  sixty  days ;  an  answer  was  promised 
the  next  morning,  for  which  Barker 
was  punctual  to  call,  when  he  was  in- 
formed that  John  Hyslop,  an  extensive 
baker,  asked  the  same  price  for  the 
same  quality  of  bread,  on  a  credit  of 
ninety  days,  Mr.  Knox  remarking,  "  You 
are  a  pleasant  little  fellow,  and  if  you 
will  allow  the  same  credit,  I  will  take 
the  bread  of  you."  This  being  agreed 
to,  Barker  observed  that  he  "  should 
like  to  have  a  memorandum  to  that 
effect."  Knox  smiled,  gave  the  memo- 
randum of  the  agreement,  taking  an  or- 
der on  the  Messrs.  Watson  for  the 
bread ;  when  delivered,  a  note  was 
drawn  for  the  amount  due  them,  and, 
as  a  matter  of  accommodation,  Mr. 
Knox  paid  the  balance  in  cash. 

Barker  thus  turned  his  watch  into 
more  money  than  he  gave  for  it,  and 
made  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dol- 
lars profit  on  the  bread.  When  the 
sickly  season  came  on,  he  had  leave  of 
absence,  visited  Ballston,  purchased  a 
horse,  on  which  he  travelled  to  New 
Bedford,  swapped  the  horse  for  crude 
sperm  oil,  had  the  oil  refined  and  sent 
to  New  York,  where  it  yielded  double 
the  cost  of  the  horse — which  termi- 
nated Jacob's  auction  traffic  in  old 
horses  and  old  watches. 


Selling-  tlie  Gem  of  the  Collection. 

"  Gentlemen,  I  most  particularly 
call  your  attention  to  tJiis  lot,  which 
cost  my  employer  an  immense  sum. 
He  always  esteemed  it  the  gem  of  Ms 
collection.  A  finer  work  of  this  great 
master  cannot  be  seen,  and  in  such  a 
state  of  purity ;  often  and  often  has  he 
refused  five  hundred  guineas  for  this 
masterpiece,  which  I  am  now  submit- 
ting entirely  to  your  hands ;  you  will 
have  it  at  your  own  price — there  is  no 
reserve.  Gentlemen,  give  me  a  bid- 
ding; shall  I  begin  at  four  hundred 
guineas  ? " 

No  answer — a  pause.  "Well  I  am 
astonished.   Gentlemen,  do  look  again  I 


I  shall  be  ashamed  to  give  an  accoimt 
of  this  to  my  employer.  I  fully  ex- 
pected for  such  a  treasure  of  art  to 
obtain  a  great  sum.  Say  two  hundred 
guineas — one  hundred  guineas — well, 
anything  you  please :  I  am  in  your 
hands,  there  is  no  reserve  ! " 

Upon  this,  the  real  owner  of  the  pic- 
ture, who  is  a  dealer,  left  his  seat,  took 
out  his  eyeglass,  advanced  to  the  easel 
upon  which  the  picture  was  placed, 
and  bended  down  on  one  knee  the 
more  closely  to  scrutinize  his  own 
property.  The  auction  room,  in  which 
this  scene  took  place,  has  a  low  ceiling, 
and  but  indifferent  light.  The  owner 
played  this  art  of  attitudinizing  and 
viewing  with  wondrous  dramatic  effect ; 
and,  in  a  voice  pregnant  with  affect- 
ed surprise  and  anxiety,  he  bid  thirty 
guineas.  The  auctioneer  already  had 
his  cue.  "Well,  I  am  astonished  I 
thirty  guineas  for  such  a  recherche  gem  1 
You  must  be  joking  with  me,  gentle- 
men 1 — you  carCt  be  serious."  Forty 
guineas  are  now  offered  by  a  confed- 
erate, which  in  turn  is  eagerly  bid  on 
by  the  owner  at  forty-five  guineas. 
This  dalliance  was  carried  on  by  the 
auctioneer,  the  owner,  and  the  confed- 
erate, interspersed  with  a  deal  of  by 
play  and  mysterious  nods  and  whisper- 
ings, until  a  stranger  present  was  be- 
guiled into  an  offer  of  seventy  guineas, 
when  the  owner  of  the  picture  shut  up 
his  eyeglass  and  coolly  turned  his  back 
to  the  auctioneer — a  telegraphic  signal 
understood  by  the  whole  party  that 
the  right  victim  was  entrapped. 

As  the  picture  in  question  was  thus, 
of  course,  knocked  down  to  a  pur- 
chaser, it  may  be  of  interest  to  state, 
that  it  was  bought  by  the  dealer  some 
time  before,  at  a  sale  of  imported  rub- 
bish, for  twenty-five  shillings;  was 
lined,  the  dirt  rubbed  off,  one  unsatis- 
factory figure  obliterated,  and  the  heads 
of  the  figures  altered.  A  poor  but 
cleverish  artist  did  all  this  for  the  pit- 
tance of  thirty  shillings. 

That  night,  the  health  of  said  pur- 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


545 


chaser  of  "  masterpieces "  was  gayly 
toasted — a  few  bottle  of  extra  "  Pine 
Apple  "  brand  being  broken  on  the  oc- 
casion. 


Soutli  Sea  Schemes. 

The  South  Sea  delusion  had  its  date 
in  1720,  and,  were  it  not,  in  its  conse- 
quences, so  full  of  the  materials  that 
make  tragedy,  it  might  have  been  rep- 
resented on  the  stage  as  an  admirable 
farce.  It  was  commenced  in  1710,  and 
was  remarkable  for  the  wild  excitement 
which  attended  its  operations.  The 
pretence  for  the  scheme  was  to  dis- 
charge the  national  debt  by  reducing 
all  the  funds  into  one.  It  was  favored 
by  the  Government,  and  large  pre- 
miums were  paid  for  the  refusal  of  the 
stock  at  high  prices.  Some  of  the  di- 
rectors were  created  baronets  for  "  their 
great  services,"  and  all  kinds  of  artifice 
and  exaggeration  were  resorted  to,  to 
maintain  the  inflation  of  prices.  Fifty 
per  cent,  was  confidently  predicted; 
inestimable  markets  and  valuable  ac- 
quisitions in  the  South  Seas  were  prom- 
ised; and  mines  of  hidden  treasure 
mysteriously  alluded  to  by  the  agents 
of  the  scheme.  'Change  Alley  was 
crowded  with  peers  of  the  realm,  who 
forgot  their  pride  ;  country  gentlemen, 
who  forsook  their  homes;  clergymen, 
who  disregarded  the  sobriety  of  their 
calling ;  and  ladies,  who  forgot  their 
natural  timidity,  in  the  hope  of  making 
money.  The  monarch  was  said  to  have 
profited  by  it.  His  ill-favored  German 
mistresses  made  great  fortunes  and  sent 
them  over  to  Hanover.  One  of  the 
journals  of  that  time  says :  "  Our  South 
Sea  equipages  increase  every  day ;  the 
city  ladies  buy  South  Sea  jewels,  hire 
South  Sea  maids,  take  new  country 
South  Sea  horses;  the  gentlemen  set 
up  South  Sea  coaches,  and  buy  South 
Sea  estates — they  neither  examine  the 
situation,  the  nature  or  quality  of  the 
soil,  or  price  of  the  purchase,  only  the 
annual  rent  and  the  title — for  the  rest, 
35 


they  take  all  by  the  lump,  and  pay 
forty  or  fifty  years'  purchase."  All  the 
anticipations  indulged  in  respecting 
this  scheme,  were  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  it  promised  no  commercial  advan- 
tages of  importance,  and  was  buoyed 
up  by  nothing  but  the  folly  and  rapaci- 
ty of  individuals. 


Stock-Jobbing:  Bubbles— Commercial 
liunacy. 

Such  was  the  absurd  enthusiasm  in 
speculation  in  England,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  last  century,  that  new 
"  companies "  started  up  almost  every 
day.  One  of  the  London  papers  thus 
alludes  to  these  events :  "  The  hurry 
of  our  stock-jobbing  bubblers  has  befen 
so  great  this  week  that  it  has  exceeded 
all  that  was  ever  known.  There  has 
been  nothing  but  running  about  from 
one  coSee  house  to  another,  and  from 
one  tavern  to  another,  to  subscribe,  with- 
out eommining  what  tTie  proposals  were. 
The  general  cry  has  been,  '  For  O — 's 
sake,  let  us  but  subscribe  to  something  ;  we 
dori't  care  what  it  is.''  So  that,  in  short, 
many  have  taken  them  at  their  words, 
and  entered  them  adventurers  in  some 
of  the  greatest  cheats  and  improbable 
imdertakings  that  ever  the  world  heard 
of" 

Among  these,  was  a  "  company  for 
carrying  on  an  undertaking  of  great 
advantage,  but  nobody  to  know  what 
it  is ;  every  subscriber  who  deposits 
two  pounds  per  share  to  be  entitled 
to  one  hundred  pounds  per  annum." 
Even  this  insolently  audacious  attempt 
on  the  credulity  of  the  nation  succeed- 
ed ;  and,  when  the  arch  rogue  opened 
his  shop,  the  house  was  besieged  with 
applicants.  In  five  hours,  two  thou- 
sand pounds  were  deposited  in  the 
hands  of  the  projector,  and  from  that 
day  he  ceased  to  be  discoverable  in 
England.  Projects  like  these  enlisted 
the  lowest  with  the  highest.  On  some 
sixpence,  and  on  others  one  shUling 
per  cent,  was  paid ;  and,  as  no  capital 


546 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


was  thus  required,  the  comparative 
beggar  might  indulge  in  the  same  ad- 
venturous gambling,  and  enjoy  the 
same  bright  castles  in  the  air  which 
marked  the  dreams  of  the  rich  and  the 
great.  Some  came  so  low  as  to  ask 
only  one  shilling  deposit  on  every  thou- 
sand pounds.  Persons  of  quality,  of 
both  sexes,  were  engaged  in  these. 
Avarice  triumphed  over  all  social  dis- 
tinctions ;  gentlemen  met  their  brokers 
at  taverns — ladies  at  their  milliners' 
shops.  The  perquisites  of  the  projectors 
were  so  great  that  they  wore  dresses  of 
gold  and  lace,  and  answered,  when  re- 
monstrated with,  that  "  if  they  did  not 
put  gold  on  their  clothes,  they  could 
not  make  away  with  half  their  earn- 
ings." ^ 

Pemviau  lioan  Infatuation. 

The  desire  to  invest  in  foreign  loans, 
on  the  part  of  English  capitalists,  has 
sometimes  amoimted  to  a  mania.  The 
way  in  which  the  Peruvian  loan  was 
arranged,  together  with  the  circum- 
stances which  atftended  it,  is  a  fa- 
mous illustration  in  point.  No  sooner 
was  it  imderstood  that  the  State  of 
Peru  had  consented  to  borrow,  than  the 
utmost  anxiety  prevailed  to  lend.  The 
ostensible  contractor  was  overwhelmed 
with  applications.  The  reply  was,  that 
he  would  dispose  of  the  scrip  in  the 
open  market.  At  the  time  appointed, 
a  crowd  of  speculators  surrounded  him, 
begging  to  know  terms,  and  pressing 
for  an  early  delivery.  All  voices  were 
lost  in  the  confusion,  and  the  agent 
calmly  waited  the  bidding  of  the  eager 
multitude. 

Various  prices  were  vociferated,  but 
the  contractor  maintained  a  reserved  si- 
lence. By  this  it  was  understood  that  the 
point  desired  was  not  reached.  After  a 
pause,  eighty-eight  was  named  by  him. 
This  was  known  to  be  a  premium  of  eight 
per  cent,  on  the  contracting  price,  and 
a  storm  of  indignation  arose  at  the 
idea  of  any  one,  but  the  assembly, 
making  so  large  a  profit.     "  Shame, 


shame  ! "  "  Gross  extortion  ! "  met  the 
contractor's  ears.  Still  there  was  an 
eager  pressure  to  get  near  him,  and 
those  who  could  approach  sufficiently 
close  considered  themselves  fortunate 
in  taking  sums  varying  from  five  thou- 
sand to  ten  thousand  pounds.  The 
practical  reception  of  his  terms  ap- 
peared so  satisfactory  that  the  contrac- 
tor soon  advanced  the  price  to  eighty- 
nine,  on  which  he  was  once  more  met 
with  the  same  expressive  language. 
Again,  however,  his  acuteness  proved 
correct,  and  some  of  the  scrip  was 
taken  at  the  increased  rate.  The  noise 
became  so  great,  and  the  confusion  so 
excessive,  that  few  could  be  supplied ; 
and  though  many  applications  were 
made,  there  was  no  answer.  The  at- 
tention of  the  crowd  was  soon  diverted 
by  the  offer  of  a  broker  to  supply  the 
scrip  at  eighty-eight. 

The  speculator  was  taken  at  his 
word,  and  very  large  amounts  were 
sold.  By  this  time  the  news  had  reach- 
ed the  Stock  Exchange  ;  and  in  a  short 
period  a  considerable  number  of  the 
members  had  assembled,  and,  pressing 
round  the  contractor  with  great  indig- 
nation, moved  him  and  his  agents  from 
one  part  of  the  edifice  to  another.  The 
crowd  soon  became  so  exasperated,  that 
they  forced  them  out  of  the  building. 
A  desperate  struggle  followed,  and  at 
last  they  were  allowed  to  reenter.  Be- 
ing tumultuously  called  upon  to  name 
a  price,  one  of  them  mentioned  ninety 
as  the  minimum.  Soon  after  this  they 
left;  with  their  departure  the  mania 
appeared  to  subside ;  and  many  of  the 
purchasers,  fancying  their  bargains 
were  imprudent,  actually  sold  on  the 
spot  at  a  lower  price  than  they  had 
given.  Such  was  the  anxiety  to  obtain 
a  portion  of  the  loan  to  Peru,  a  loan 
which  now  bears  no  interest  whatever. 


Satire  on  Spectilation. 

In  a  satirical  novel,  the  writer  pro- 
poses the  prospectus  of  a  company  to 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


647 


drain  the  Red  Sea  in  search  of  the 
gold  and  jewels  left  by  the  Egyptians 
in  their  passage  after  the  Israelites. 
Another  bubble  to  be  projected  is  call- 
ed "  The  Gold,  Wine,  and  Olive  Joint- 
Stock  Company,"  one  of  the  characters 
of  which  is  represented  as  saying  to 
some  honest  verdant :  "  Why,  you  talk 
as  if  we  had  any  real  business  to  trans- 
act. All  we  have  to  do  is  to  puff  our 
shares  up  to  a  premium,  humbug  the 
public  into  buying  them,  and  then  let 
the  whole  concern  go  to  ruin," 


Paterson  and  His  Darien  Expedition. 

William  Paterson,  the  merchant 
statesman,  was  the  soul  of  the  renown- 
ed Darien  Expedition.  On  visiting  the 
West  India  Islands,  he  made  himself 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  capa- 
bilities of  the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  better 
known  as  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 
This  place,  which  is  between  Mexico 
and  Peru,  is  within  six  weeks'  sail  of 
most  parts  of  Europe,  the  East  Indies, 
and  a  part  of  China — one  of  the  best 
situations  for  a  colony  from  a  trading 
and  manufacturing  country  on  the  face 
of  the  earth.  He  first  proposed  the 
plan  to  the  English,  and  then  to  other 
European  people,  all  unsuccessfully. 
Finally,  taking  advantage  of  the  hatred 
between  England  and  Scotland,  he 
brought  it  plausibly  before  the  latter, 
the  people  of  which  country,  anxious 
to  participate  in  advantages  similar  to 
those  enjoyed  by  the  East  India  Com- 
pany of  England,  warmly  countenanced 
the  project.  Indeed,  the  prospect  of 
sharing  in  the  profits  of  another  East 
India  Company  stirred  all  the  accu- 
mulative propensities  of  human  na- 
ture ;  and  the  every  thought  of  a  nation 
remarkable  for  an  absence  of  undue 
speculation,  seemed  now  embarked  in 
a  scheme  which  promised  universal 
riches. 

The  frenzy  of  the  Scotch  nation  to 
sign  "  the  solemn  league  and  covenant," 
never  exceeded  the  rapidity  with  which 


they  ran  to  subscribe  to  the  Darien 
Company.  The  nobility,  the  gentry, 
the  merchants,  the  people,  the  royal 
burghs,  without  the  exception  of  one, 
and  most  of  the  other  public  bodies, 
subscribed.  Young  women  threw  their 
little  fortunes  into  the  stock ;  widows 
sold  their  jointures  to  get  command  of 
money  for  the  same  purpose.  Four 
hundred  thousand  pounds — half  the 
cash  in  Scotland — was  subscribed,  and 
to  this,  England  added  three  hundred 
thousand,  and  Hamburg  and  Holland 
two  hundred  thousand  more.  Twelve 
hundred  persons  sailed  in  five  vessels 
from  Leith  ;  and  those  who  had  been 
refused  for  want  of  room,  hid  them- 
selves in  the  ships,  and  clung  to  the 
ropes  and  timbers,  imploring  the  liber- 
ty to  go.  They  set  sail  in  July  and  ar- 
rived at  their  destination  in  September, 
where  they  purchased  land  of  the  In- 
dian possessors,  proclaimed  freedom  of 
faith  and  trade  to  all ;  built  a  fort,  es- 
tablished a  station,  and  commenced 
labor  in  earnest.  Upon  many  a  fair 
summer's  eve  did  the  companions  of 
Paterson  find  themselves  on  the  sum- 
mit of  the  loftiest  peak,  gazing  through 
the  clear  air  of  that  fine  climate  to- 
ward the  bleak  mountains  of  their 
northern  home.  In  the  watch  tower 
which  they  had  built  upon  a  mountain 
a  mile  above  the  surface  of  the  sea, 
they  often  sat,  enjoying  the  beautiful 
air  and  speculating  upon  their  future 
prospects. 

The  first  letters  written  from  the 
colony  were  fired  with  enthusiasm — the 
wealth,  fruitfulness,  etc.,  of  the  situa- 
tion— the  abundant  resources  of  hunt- 
ing, fowling,  fishing — these  were  the 
themes.  One  river  was  named  the 
Golden  River ;  another  place  was  called 
the  Golden  Island.  But,  unhappily, 
by  and  by  their  stock  of  provisions 
ran  low,  making  them  dependent  on 
Indian  hospitality  for  their  necessities. 
Summer  brought  disease ;  provisions 
grew  scarcer ;  the  other  colonists  were 
forbidden  to  trade  with  them.    Thus, 


548 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


with  their  numbers  daUy  diminishing 
beneath  the  tropical  sun,  the  bold  Scots 
began  to  shrink  from  the  dangers  they 
had  dared.  The  fort  was  soon  after 
attacked  by  the  Spaniards  and  com- 
pelled to  surrender,  and  thus,  his  colony 
weakened  and  famished,  Paterson  saw, 
with  anguish  almost  inexpressible,  the 
failure  of  his  cherished  scheme  and  the 
call  for  a  speedy  departure.  Thirty 
only  of  those  who  left  the  pier  of  Leith 
with  such  bounding  ambition,  again 
set  foot  on  their  native  soil.  The  pro- 
jector, though  seized  with  derange- 
ment on  the  voyage,  and  more  like  a 
skeleton  than  a  man,  was  one  of  them. 
Not  a  family  in  Scotland  escaped.  In 
cash  or  kindred  all  suffered.  It  was  a 
national  calamity,  which  fell  alike  on 
peer  and  peasant.  That  it  was  not  the 
mere  dream  of  a  speculative  enthusiast, 
is  certain  from  the  interest  taken  in 
discouraging  it.  That  it  was  eminent- 
ly practical,  is  almost  proved  from  a 
people  so  cautious  as  the  Scotch  ad- 
venturing so  freely.  The  mere  fact  that 
Paterson  embarked  in  it,  if  not  a  direct 
evidence  in  its  favor,  is  at  least  a  direct 
proof  of  his  faith  iu  its  practicability. 
Paterson  survived  many  years  in  Scot- 
land, pitied,  respected,  but  neglected. 


"Old  Diirby"  at  an  Auction  Sale. 

"  Old  Digby  "  was  an  English  mil- 
lionnaire,  noted  for  his  extreme  penury 
combined  with  unaffected  kindness  of 
manner  in  dealing,  so  that  he  never  ad- 
vanced his  rents,  no  matter  how  easy 
the  opportunity.  He  was  frequently  to 
be  seen  dressing  scabbed  sheep,  pick- 
ing up  sticks,  locks  of  wool,  cabbage 
leaves,  etc. ;  and  when  he  died  there 
was  found  a  heap  of  stones,  or  coggles, 
upon  his  premises,  which  are  said  to 
have  been  carried  there,  by  a  few  at  a 
time,  in  his  own  pockets — a  part  of  his 
"  gains." 

It  happened,  on  a  certaia  time,  that 
•a  very  considerable  estate  was  to  be 
aold  at  auction,  in  the  southern  part  of 


the  kingdom.  Mr.  Digby  attended  the 
sale,  in  a  dress  of  ludicrously  small  val- 
ue, and  the  auction  room  was  crowded 
with  persons  of  the  first  distinction ; 
of  course  such  a  curious-looking  stran- 
ger caused  many  side  looks  and  sneer- 
ing whispers,  and  some,  supposing  the 
old  Hunks  could  have  but  little  busi- 
ness there,  teasingly  asked  him  if  he 
knew  the  conditions  of  sale  ?  He,  not 
at  all  put  by  at  such  treatment,  said 
he  should  be  glad  to  hear  them  read — 
they  were  read,  and  business  proceeded 
with. 

Mr.  Digby  was  silent  until  the  estate 
got  up  to  forty  thousand  pounds ;  he 
then  bid!  and  the  whole  assembly 
stared  with  amazement.  The  biddings 
went  on  briskly  for  a  time ;  but  his 
competitors  imagining,  perhaps,  that 
he  could  not  make  good  the  engage- 
ment, and  that  there  would  be  a  re- 
sale, dropped  the  contest,  and  the  estate 
was  knocked  down  to  Mr.  D.  at  forty- 
five  thousand  pounds.  Being  directly 
called  upon  for  the  deposit,  he  said: 
"  You  shall  have  it,  gentlemen,  imme- 
diately, and  the  money  for  the  whole 
estate  to-morrow,  if  you  can  make  it 
safely  over  to  me  at  that  time."  He 
then  took  out  his  pocket  book  and 
gave  a  draft  at  sight  on  his  banker  for 
the  sum  required.  Mr.  Digby  died 
worth  one  million  dollars. 


Scenes  at  a  Turkish  Auction. 

The  Turkish  auctioneer  is  by  no 
means  so  august  and  consequential  a 
person  as  in  America.  Sometimes  before 
one  has  time  to  sit  down  and  light  a 
cigar,  he  will  have  retximed  three  times 
from  a  sally  to  sell  the  same  cracked 
pipkin,  and  three  times  have  been 
thrust  back  by  the  scuff  of  the  neck 
for  not  having  obtained  a  reasonable 
offer  for  it.  Somebody  in  the  auction 
shed  bids  for  it  at  last,  and  the  de- 
lighted auctioneer,  with  a  most  villan- 
ous  wink,  is  preparing  to  hand  over  his 
unsalable  pipkin  to  the  somebody  in 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


549 


question,  when,  -whack !  the  same  re- 
morseless knuckles,  as  usual,  are  thrust 
between  the  collar  of  his  shirt  and  the 
nape  of  his  neck.  Thus  goaded,  he 
makes  another  excited  bolt  out  of  the 
shed,  and,  next  moment,  is  heard  shout- 
ing the  praises  of  the  cracked  pipkin 
again,  in  the  same  furious  manner  as  be- 
fore. The  somebody  who  was  disposed 
to  purchase — one  not  broken  in  at  auc- 
tion— looks  rather  disconcerted;  but 
nobody  else  pays  any  further  attention 
to  the  proceedings  for  the  present.  In 
fact,  all  seem  to  be  rather  glad  than 
otherwise,  to  have  got  rid  of  the  auc- 
tioneer, probably  in  the  hope  that  the 
festive  occasion  may  be  prolonged  until 
a  later  hour.  So  they  sit  down,  light 
their  cigars,  and  talk  over  the  news. 
Presently  the  auctioneer  returns.  While 
the  majority  of  his  customers  are  wran- 
gling, he  has  slyly  disposed  of  the  pip- 
kin to  the  somebody  who  first  bid  for 
it — his  roguish  wink  to  the  purchaser 
rather  signiiying  that  he  should  expect 
a  con-si-de-ra-tion  for  himself  at  a  con- 
venient season.  After  this  sale  of  the 
pipkin — the  only  thing  thus  far  dis- 
posed of — the  auctioneer  desires  a  little 
repose,  and,  squatting  cross-legged  on 
the  bankrupt's  counter,  joins  in  the 
general  discourse.  The  whole  com- 
pany heedlessly  forget  why  they  as- 
sembled together,  and  idle  away  their 
time  until  it  is  necessary  to  disperse, 
and  the  auction  continues  at  some  fu- 
ture day. 


Trade  between  Flywheel  and 
Singecst. 

Flywheel  was  an  acute  trader — so, 
at  least,  he  thought  himself^whose 
forte  was  dealing  in  patent  rights.  Af- 
ter some  years  of  itinerant  vending,  he 
conceived  the  design  of  exchanging 
the  remainder  of  his  "  inventions  "  for 
a  nice  little  farm,  on  which  he  might 
crown  a  youth  of  labor  with  an  age  of 
ease ;  and,  when  not  busy  expatiating 
upon  the  merits  of  improved  boot  jacks 
or  baby  jumpers,  he  would  often,  by 


anticipation,   enjoy   the    comforts    of 
such  a  possession. 

One  day  he  met  with  an  innocent- 
looking  farmer  from  New  Hampshire, 
who  intimated  his  willingness  to  change 
his  occupation,  if  he  could  obtain  an 
equivalent  for  his  farm,  which  he  de- 
scribed as  high  land  in  a  wholesome 
locality,  with  other  apparently  attract- 
ive qualities.  "  In  short,"  said  Mr. 
Singecat,  the  owner,  "  a  man  might 
raise  anything  on  it." 

Now,  thought  Flywheel,  if  I  can  only 
induce  my  friend  to  go  into  the  patent 
line,  and  get  him  to  take  my  stock  of 
documents  and  models  in  exchange  for 
his  place,  it  will  be  a  glorious  trade. 
So,  suggesting  the  subject  in  his  most 
persuasive  manner,  dwelling  strongly 
upon  "  the  profits  of  the  business  to  a 
thorough-going  man,  which,"  said  he, 
insinuatingly,  "  I  perceive  you  are,  Mr. 
Singecat,"  and  earnestly  declaring  that 
nothing  but  a  desire  to  retire  to  a  coun- 
try life  would  tempt  him  to  propose 
such  a  sacrifice  of  his  own  articles — his 
talk  and  chat,  after  considerable  chaf- 
fering about  "  boot,"  etc.,  were  efiect- 
ive,  and  a  barter  was  concluded. 

Now,  Flywheel  valued  himself  as  an 
infallible  physiognomist,  and  knew  he 
could  tell  an  honest  man  at  first  sight ; 
therefore,  waiving  the  delay  necessary 
for  an  examination  of  the  title  and 
property,  the  respective  transfers  were 
immediately  made,  when,  pocketing 
his  deed,  he  went  home  well  pleased  at 
having  done  such  a  "  good  thing."  Of 
course,  he  told  a  few  friendly  neighbors 
all  about  it,  not  omitting  some  self- 
complacent  remarks  relative  to  the  cut- 
ting of  eye  teeth,  concerning  a  man  be- 
ing posted,  and  so  forth.  By  and  by 
he  set  out  to  see  his  new  homestead ; 
but  soon  returned  with,  it  was  observ- 
ed, a  diminished  flow  of  spirits.  Time 
passed ;  and  as  he  had  not  moved  to  his 
"  country  seat,"  but  had,  instead,  quite 
subsided  upon  the  topic  of  agriculture, 
which  had  hitherto  been  his  special 
theme,  hia  friends  began  to  ask  the  rea- 


550 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


son  why.  At  last  he  yielded  to  their 
importunity,  and  thus  confessed : 

"  Well,  gentlemen,  I  hired  a  guide  to 
point  it  out  to  me,  and  went  to  look  at 
my  'estate.'  The  approach  to  the 
premises  was  rather  rough,  but  roman- 
tic. At  length  we  reached  a  spot  com- 
prising less  than  a  hundred  acres  of 
barren  heights,  almost  inaccessible  to  a 
goat — and  this  was  the  farm  !  Nearly 
a  perpendicular  one,  sirs.  Egad,  I 
needed  a  long  ladder  with  which  to 
get  on  my  own  ground  I 

"  After  dolefully  viewing  the  '  crops ' 
— of  stone,  alas !  which  completely 
clothed  the  prolific  soil — slightly  mor- 
alizing upon  the  folly  of  buying  '  a  pig 
in  a  poke,'  and  estimating  the  money 
yalue  of  what  I  had  given  for  this  ele- 
vated tract,  I  recalled  Singecat's  say- 
ing, when,  with  seeming  reluctance,  he 
agreed  to  a  trade,  that  '  a  man  might 
raise  anything  on  it ! '  And,  upon  re- 
flection, I  had  to  admit  that,  even  sup- 
posing superphosphates  were  power- 
less, and  Archimedes'  lever  unattain- 
able, still  a  man  might,  at  least  upon  a 
pinch,  if  his  talent  were  only  fair,  as  he 
himself  had  done,  cunningly  '  raise  the 
wind  I ' " 

The  moral  of  Flywheel's  experience 
is,  that  we  should  never  be  too  anxious 
to  "  go  it  blind  "  in  any  transaction. 


Uock-Auction  "  Capitalists." 

Among  the  very  select  company  pe- 
culiar to  a  mock-auction  establishment, 
there  is  one  character  that  always  takes 
the  leading  business,  and  remarkably 
well  he  performs  it.  He  may  be  called 
the  capitalist  of  the  concern,  and 
though  he  spends  hundreds  every  busi- 
ness day,  he  is  not  known  ever  to  ar- 
rive at  the  end  of  his  capital.  The 
amount  that  prodigal  man  must  spend 
every  year  would  infallibly  drive  Roths- 
child into  the  workhouse. 

Nothing  is  too  good  or  too  common 
— too  expensive  or  too  cheap — for  him. 
One  minute  he  will  buy  "  silver  "  can- 


delabra, the  next  a  "gold"  thimble. 
In  the  morning  he  will  add  a  five-hun- 
dred-dollar dressing  case  to  his  enor- 
mous property,  and  in  the  afternoon 
amuse  himself  by  bidding  a  shilling  for 
a  little  trumpery  penknife.  He  must 
thus  have  somewhere  between  forty- 
nine  and  fifty  million  penknives,  for 
one  article  alone  1 

But  the  articles  he  has  the  greatest 
hankering  for  are  evidently  razors,  and 
yet,  to  look  at  his  unshorn  beard,  no 
one  would  imagine  that  he  ever 
"  shaved,"  from  one  month  to  another. 
The  hairs  stick  out  on  his  chin  like  the 
wires  in  a  musical  snuff-box.  It  is  most 
amusing  to  watch  him  when  the  razors 
are  handed  round.  He  will  snatch  one 
off  the  tray,  draw  the  edge  across  his 
nail,  breathe  upon  it,  then  hold  it  up 
to  the  light,  and,  after  wiping  it  in  the 
gentlest  manner  upon  the  cuff  of  his 
coat,  bid  for  it  as  ravenously  as  though 
he  had  seen  it  only  a  thousand  times 
before,  and  as  if  he  would  not  lose  the 
rare  article  for  all  the  wealth  of  the 
Indus.  He  has  clearly  a  mania  for  the 
article  that  works  the  keenest "  shave." 

What  he  does  with  aU  the  wares  he 
buys  it  would  be  difficult  to  tell — cer- 
tainly no  one  place  would  be  large 
enough  to  contain  all  the  rubbish  of 
which  he  has  been  the  "  purchaser  "  for 
years  past.  His  collection  of  bureaus 
alone  would  cover  a  Western  prairie, 
and  he  must  possess  by  this  time  more 
dumb  waiters  than  there  are  real  wait- 
ers in  the  whole  country.  The  number 
of  boot  jacks,  too,  which  he  must  have 
"  upon  his  hands,"  would  have  crushed 
any  other  man  long  ago. 


O-ood  Speculation  Iiost  in  Chicagro 
liands. 

In  the  summer  of  1839,  happening  to 
be  in  Chicago,  HI.,  Dr.  Humphrey,  of 
Amherst,  Mass.,  bought  two  small  lots 
of  land,  at  the  going  rate,  and  sold 
them  seven  or  eight  years  after,  for 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars,  which  was 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


551 


thought  to  be  a  fair  price.  "Now," 
said  the  doctor,  writiug  of  his  experi- 
ence in  the  matter,  "  the  New  Rich- 
mond Hotel,  one  of  the  first  in  Chica- 
go, stands  on  the  same  ground,  which 
I  am  assured  would,  if  I  had  kept  it  to 
this  time,  have  brought  me  eighty 
thousand  dollars.  So  you  see  how  nar- 
rowly I  escaped  being  a  rich  man,  and 
rearing  my  boys,  had  they  been  young, 
to  rely  upon  my  fortune,  and  not  upon 
their  own  industry,  economy,  and  good 
behavior.  I  slept  upon  the  premises 
last  night,  at  a  fair  hotel  charge,  and 
without  being  kept  awake  one  moment 
in  thinking  of  what  I  had  lost.  I  had  ex- 
cellent accommodations,  and  what  could 
I  ask  for  more  ?  If  the  children  of  the 
proprietor,  who  bought  the  land  of  me 
(if  he  has  any),  escape  with  the  great 
fortune  as  safely  as  mine  have  done 
without  it,  it  will  be  an  exception  to' 
the  general  experience  of  wealthy  fam- 
ilies." 


Caricature  of  Commercial  Specxilation. 

Theke  is  presented  in  a  French  work 
— "  Memoires  de  la  Regence  " — a  fac- 
simile of  an  ancient  caricature  of  com- 
mercial speculation,  representing  the 
"  Goddess  of  Shares  "  in  her  triumphal 
car,  driven  by  the  "  Goddess  of  Folly." 
Those  who  are  drawing  the  car  are  im- 
personations of  the  Mississippi,  with 
his  wooden  leg,  the  South  Sea,  the  Bank 
of  England,  the  Company  of  the  West 
of  Senegal,  and  of  various  assurance 
schemes.  Lest  this  car  should  not  roll 
fast  enough,  the  agents  of  these  com- 
panies, known  by  their  long  foxtails 
and  their  cunning  looks,  turn  round 
the  spokes  of  the  wheels,  upon  which 
are  marked  the  names  of  the  several 
stocks  and  their  value,  sometimes  high 
and  sometimes  low,  according  to  the 
turns  of  the  wheel.  Upon  the  ground 
are  the  merchandise,  day  books  and 
ledgers  of  legitimate  commerce,  crushed 
under  the  chariot  of  Folly.  Behind  is 
an  immense  crowd  of  persons,  of  all 


ages,  sexes,  and  conditions,  clamoring 
after  Fortune,  and  fighting  with  each 
other  to  get  a  portion  of  the  shares 
which  she  distributes  so  bountifully 
among  them.  In  the  clouds  sits  a 
demon,  blowing  bubbles  of  soap,  which 
are  also  the  objects  of  the  admiration 
and  cupidity  of  the  crowd,  who  jump 
upon  one  another's  backs,  to  reach 
them  ere  they  burst.  Right  in  the 
pathway  of  the  car,  and  blocking  up 
the  passage,  stands  a  large  building, 
with  three  doors,  through  one  of  which 
it  must  pass,  if  it  proceeds  farther,  and 
all  the  crowd  along  with  it.  Over  the 
first  door  are  the  words  "  Hopital  des 
Foux  ; "  over  the  second,  "  Hopital  des 
Malades  ;  "  and  over  the  third,  "  Hdpi- 
tal  des  Gueux," 


Dutchman's  Gold  in  a  Safe  Place  at 
Liast. 

Everybody  will  remember  the  star- 
tling money  panic  they  had  at  San 
Francisco  some  years  ago,  and  the 
story  "  John  Phoenix  "  used  to  tell  of 
its  effects — ^individually  illustrated.  Be- 
fore the  fright,  an  old  Dutchman,  by 
dint  of  hard  labor,  had  accumulated 
some  five  hundred  dollars,  which  he 
cautiously  deposited  in  one  of  the 
banking  houses  for  safe  keeping.  Ru- 
mor soon  came  to  his  ears  that  they 
were  not  very  safe — some  said  that  they 
had  "  broke."  Next  morning  he  trem- 
blingly drew  his  balance,  and  put  the 
shining  gold  into  his  pocket.  He 
breathed  decidedly  freer,  but  here  was 
a  dilemma.  What  should  he  do  with 
it  ?  He  did  not  dare  to  keep  it  in  his 
shanty — and  as  for  carrying  it  about 
with  him,  'twas  too  precious  heavy. 
So,  after  a  sleepless  night  or  two,  in 
constant  apprehension  of  burglars,  he 
deposited  it  in  another  "  banking 
office,"  Another  day — the  panic  in- 
creased— there  was  a  run  on  his  bank 
— he  pushed  in — drew  his  gold — and 
felt  easier  once  more.  Another  anxious 
day  and  night  for  his  "  monish,"  and 
again  it  was  deposited  in  a  mfe  bank. 


552 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES, 


This  time  he  felt  safer  than  ever  before, 
and  went  quietly  to  his  work.  But  the 
panic  reached  that  bank,  and  anxious 
depositors  besieged  the  doors.  Myn- 
heer heard  the  news,  and  put  post 
haste,  book  in  hand,  for  the  scene  of 
action — jammed  in  with  the  crowd — 
drew  his  gold,  new  and  bright — ^put  it 
safe  in  his  corduroys — and  was  happy 
once  more ;  but  here  was  the  dilemma 
fresh  again — where  to  put  it !  He  had 
gone  pretty  much  the  rounds  of  the 
banks,  and  having  had  such  narrow  es- 
capes, couldn't  and  wouldn't  trust  them 
any  more.  He  sat  down  on  a  curb 
stone,  and  soliloquized  thus :  "  I  put 
mine  monish  in  von  bank,  ven  he 
preak;  I  put  him  in  de  oder  bank, 
ven  he  preak  too ;  I  draw  him  out ;  I 
can  no  keep  him  home  ;  I  put  him  into 
dis  bank,  now  dis  one  preak;  vat  te 
tuvil  shall  I  do  ?  I  now  take  him  home 
and  sew  him  up  in  my  frow's  petticoat, 
and  if  she  preakes,  I  preakes — her 
head  1 " 


Bidding:  and  Winking:  at  Auctions. 

Smith,  the  auctioneer,  is  a  popular 
man,  a  wit,  and  a  gentleman.  No  per- 
son is  offended  at  what  he  says,  and 
many  a  hearty  laugh  has  he  provoked 
by  his  humorous  sayings.  He  was  re- 
cently engaged  in  a  sale  of  venerable 
household  furniture  and  "  fixings."  He 
had  just  got  to  "  going,  and  half,  a 
half,  going ! "  when  he  saw  a  smiling 
countenance,  upon  agricultural  shoul- 
ders, wink  at  him,  A  wink  is  always 
as  good  as  a  nod  to  a  blind  horse  or 
a  keen-sighted  auctioneer;  so  Smith 
winked,  and  they  kept  "  going,  going, 
going  1 "  with  a  lot  of  glassware,  stove 
pipes,  carpets,  pots,  and  perfumery,  and 
finally  this  lot  was  knocked  down, 
"  To — whom  ?  "  said  Smith,  gazing  at 
the  smiling  stranger,  "  Who  ?  heigh  I " 
said  the  stranger,  "  I  don't  know  who," 
"  Why,  you,  sir,"  said  Smith,  "  Who  ? 
me  ? "  "  Yes,  yes ;  you  bid  on  the  lot," 
said  Smith.     "  Me  ?  hang  me  if  I  did," 


insisted  the  stranger,  "  Why,  did  you 
not  wink  and  keep  winking  ? "  "  Wink- 
ing !  wbU,  I  did,  and  so  did  you  at  me. 
I  thought  you  were  winking  as  much 
as  to  say, '  Keep  dark,  I'll  stick  some- 
body into  that  lot  of  stuff; '  and  I 
winked,  as  much  as  to  say,  '  I'll  be 
hanged  if  you  don't,  mister,'  " 


"Candle"  Auctions. 

The  Romans  gave  to  this  kind  of 
trading  the  descriptive  name  of  atictio 
— an  increase,  because  the  property  was 
publicly  sold  to  him  who  would  offer 
most  for  it.  In  modem  times,  a  differ- 
ent method  of  sale  has  been  sometimes 
adopted,  which  is  called  a  Dutch  auc- 
tion, thus  indicating  the  local  origin 
of  the  practice.  It  consists  in  the  pub- 
lic offer  of  property  at  a  price  beyond 
its  value,  and  then  gradually  lowering 
or  diminishing  that  price,  until  some 
one  consents  to  become  the  purchaser. 
In  England,  persons  are  now  sometimes 
invited  to  a  "  sale  by  the  candle,"  or 
by  the  "  inch  of  candle,"  The  origin 
of  this  expression  seems  to  have  been 
the  employment  of  candles  as  the  means 
of  measuring  time,  it  being  declared 
that  no  one  lot  of  goods  should  con- 
tinue to  be  offered  to  the  biddings  of 
the  persons  who  were  present  for  a 
longer  period  than  would  suflBce  for 
the  burning  of  an  inch  of  candle :  as 
soon  as  the  candle  had  wasted  to  that 
extent,  the  then  highest  bidder  was  de- 
clared to  be  the  purchaser. 


Earliest  American  Sale  of  Books  by 
Catalogue  at  Auction. 

The  first  sale  of  books  by  catalogue 
at  auction  in  this  country  was  in  Bos- 
ton, in  1717,  and  had  the  following 
title: 

"  A  Catalogue  of  Curious  and  Valu- 
able Books  Belonging  to  the  late  Reve- 
rend &  Learned  Mr.  Ebenezer  Pember- 
ton,  consisting  of  Divinity,  Philosophy, 
History,    Poetry,    de.,    generally   weU 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


653 


bound;  To  be  Sold  by  Auction,  at 
the  Crown  CoflFee-House  in  Boston,  the 
Second  Day  of  July,  1717,  Beginning 
at  Three  o'  Clock  afternoon,  and  so  De 
Die  in  Diem,  until  the  whole  be  sold. 

"Also  a  Valuable  Collection  of 
Pamphlets  will  then  be  exposed  to 
sale. 

"  The  Books  may  be  viewed  from 
the  25th  Day  of  June  until  the  Day  of 
Sale,  at  the  House  of  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Pemberton,  where  attendance  will  be 
given." 

The  first  bookseller's  catalogue  was 
issued  by  Benjamin  Franklin,  in  1744, 
in  Philadelphia. 


Stray  Leaf  from  a  SpecTilator's  History. 

AiiOKa  with  an  undue  expansion  of 
his  regular  business,  Mr,  Beers  had  ven- 
tured largely  in  one  of  the  most  bril- 
liant and  promising  speculations  of  the 
day.  These  were  the  foundations  on 
which  he  had  latterly  essayed  to  build 
the  temple  of  his  fortune,  and  he  now 
felt  them  swelling  and  sinking  beneath 
his  feet,  while  the  edifice  itself,  totter- 
ing to  its  fall,  threatened  every  moment 
to  crush  him. 

Far  and  wide,  over  land  and  sea,  to 
the  east  and  west,  to  the  north  and 
south,  the  chain  of  his  correspondence 
extended,  and  his  semi-annual  importa- 
tions flew  from  his  warehouses,  as  it 
were,  on  the  wings  of  the  wind.  Heavy 
discounts  and  long  credits,  rendered 
easy  and  general  by  the  fatal  facilities 
which  the  banks  afforded,  sustaiued  for 
a  long  time  the  bright  delusion,  and  all 
hearts  beat  high,  and  all  tongues  were 
eloquent  with  the  hope  of  splendid  for- 
tunes, realized  almost  by  the  toss  of  a 
copper.  But  by  and  by,  alas  1  the  so- 
ber certainty  of  protested  notes,  and 
extensive  country  failures,  startled  men 
into  suspicion  and  reflection.  In  pro- 
portion as  facilities  were  withdrawn, 
the  fall  of  the  million  jobbers,  scattered 
"  thick  as  leaves  "  everywhere  over  the 
land,  became  accelerated.    Then  com- 


menced the  crash  in  the  distant  cities 
— then  in  those  more  near — then  the 
metropolis  itself  began  to  ring  with 
harsh,  iron-tongued  rumors  of  her 
proudest  houses ;  confidence  gave  way 
to  universal  caution  and  distrust,  and 
the  dark  leaden  clouds  rolled  heavily 
over  the  firmament,  charged  with  the 
black  and  sulphurous  artillery  of  the 
coming  tempest.  Black,  indeed, — al- 
most rayless,  was  the  firmament  which, 
for  a  short  period,  had  hung  over  Ju- 
lian Beers.  A  bolt  or  two  had  already 
scathed  the  greenness  of  his  fortune ; 
every  moment  might  bring  the  unmiti- 
gated fury  and  the  overthrow.  Had 
his  adventures  run  only  in  the  regular 
channel  of  his  business,  he  might,  per- 
haps, have  defied  the  storm ;  he  now 
felt,  at  least,  that  in  that  case  there 
was  a  possibility  that  all  his  engage- 
ments might  have  been  protected.  But 
that  speculation  1 

The  originators  of  it — many  of  them, 
at  least — ^had  secured  themselves ;  some 
of  them  had  realized  fortunes  by  it. 
But  Mr.  Beers,  deceived  by  its  unusual 
popularity,  had  entered  into  it  as  it  ap- 
proached the  crisis.  That  crisis  soon 
came.  It  was  as  destructive  as  it  was 
imlooked  for  in  its  movements,  and  he 
now  stood  among  the  vanishing  bub- 
bles of  the  exploded  air-castle.  To  him 
this  was  the  finishing  blow,  and  he  felt 
it  to  be  so. 

In  the  presence  of  his  diflSculties,  be- 
fore he  could  realize  the  probability  of 
others  still  more  severe,  he  had  been 
led  to  adopt  expedients  which,  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  business,  he  would 
have  repudiated.  In  the  protracted 
agony  of  his  situation,  he  went  on,  day 
after  day,  making  the  most  serious 
sacrifices  in  order  to  sustain  himself. 
But  such  sacrifices  generally  render  the 
evaded  ruin  only  the  more  certain  and 
deadly.  And  such  the  sacrifice  proved 
to  be  in  his  case. 

The  fatal  crisis  having  spent  itself 
upon  him,  he  sat  for  a  long  time  ab- 
sorbed in  the  study  of  the  documents 


554 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


before  him,  and  when  he  arose  it  was 
with  a  cheek  and  brow  of  deadly  pale- 
ness. He  paced  the  floor,  at  first  with 
a  step  somewhat  languid,  then  rapidly, 
and  with  some  show  of  agitation.  He 
sat  down  again,  and  smote  the  paper 
with  his  open  hand,  exclaiming,  '■'■All, 
ALL  scattered  to  the  winds  of  heaven  ! 
Great  God  !  can  I  be  calm — can  I  live 
under  a  state  of  things  so  dreadful — I, 
Julian  Beers,  with  the  cold  civility,  the 
sneer  of  the  world  before  me  ?  And 
for  this  I  have  toUed — for  this — pover- 
ty, want,  and  vrretchedness,  with  my 
helpless,  miserable  family  !  "  His  feel- 
ings became  too  strong  for  words.  He 
leaned  upon  his  clenched  hands,  and — 
it  may  not  be  said  he  wept,  for  the 
manhood  of  Julian  Beers  was  strong — 
but  the  convulsive  movement  of  the 
chest,  and  the  workings  of  the  counte- 
nance, told  that  even  tears  might  be  a 
relief.  But  there  was  no  help  for  it. 
Ruin  was  upon  him,  "  as  a  strong  man 
armed." 


Syrian  Auctioneers— *' Harare  I 
Haragre  I  Harag'e  I " 

Before  mounting  for  action,  the 
Syrian  auctioneer  opens  the  "  lot " 
which  he  is  to  dispose  of,  and  selects 
the  most  attractive  articles.  Thus  pre- 
pared, he  jumps  upon  the  bale,  and, 
unsheathing  a  formidable  looking  dagger, 
flourishes  the  weapon  over  his  head, 
making  imaginary  thrusts  and  stabs 
in  every  direction,  and  halloing  out 
"  Harage ! "  (which  signifies  "  auction  " 
in  Arabic,)  with  stentorian  lungs. 

The  auctioneer  seizes  upon  a  hand- 
some piece  of  Tripoli  silk  shawling, 
for  instance,  and,  cutting  away  the 
binding,  flings  it  at  full  length  over 
the  heads  of  the  surrounding  crowd, 
so  that  they  may  at  once  appreciate 
its  size  and  beauty.  Whilst  comment- 
ing upon  the  superlative  excellence  of 
the  article,  a  dirty  little  camel-driver's 
son  will  very  likely  clutch  the  costly 
article  in  his  dirty  hands  for  closer 
inspection.      The  antics   of   the  auc- 


tioneer at  this — the  savage  and  mena- 
cing dance  he  performs — the  fearful 
threats  hurled  by  him  at  the  juvenile 
offender — are  past  all  description.  The 
small  delinquent,  however,  terrified  by 
these  demonstrations  of  displeasure, 
takes  to  his  heels,  and  cautiously,  if 
ever,  shows  his  head  again  in  ihat 
neighborhood. 

The  auction  proceeds.  There  are 
Hebrews,  with  flowing  beards  and 
dusky  robes,  amongst  the  bidders; 
there  are  camel-drivers,  just  like  the 
pictures  one  sees  of  Eleazar  the  Syrian 
at  the  well ;  there  are  Persians  in  their 
queer-shaped  caps;  dervishes,  with 
their  characteristic  attire ;  muftis,  ule- 
mas,  soldiers,  sailors,  tinkers  and  tail- 
ors ;  Greeks,  Armenians,  Turks,  Druses, 
Syrians,  Arabs,  Copts,  Egyptians,  Swiss, 
Swedes,  Americans,  English,  Trench, 
Italians,  Austrians,  etc.,  etc.,  and  fore- 
most amongst  this  motley  gathering, 
boldly  stands  forth  Captain  John 
Brown,  of  the  British  schooner  "  Tear- 
away,"  who,  the  weather  being  oppres- 
sive, has  landed  for  convenience'  sake 
in  his  shirt  sleeves  and  a  straw  hat. 
The  captain  mumbles  something  about 
"  Dolly  and  the  little  uns,"  from  which 
is  inferred  his  resolve  to  purchase  some 
of  the  rarest  articles,  as  gifts  for  those 
whom  he  loves  at  home. 

"  Harage  !  Harage  !  Harage  I " — he 
of  the  hammer  (or  rather  of  the  dag- 
ger) is  a  bit  of  a  linguist ;  that  is  to 
say,  he  can  count  in  almost  every 
tongue.  Captain  Brown,  for  example, 
bids  flfty  piastres;  to  make  the  bid 
intelligible  to  every  one  present,  the 
auctioneer  translates  the  bid  rapidly 
into  every  tongue  that  he  is  master  of; 
"  Fifty  piastre," — "  cinquanta  piastree," 
— "  cinquanta  piastree," — "  Humseen 
grosh," — "Elli  croosh."  No  one  bids 
higher,  and  so  the  shawl  is  knocked 
down  to  John  Brown,  master  of  the 
British  schooner  "  Tearaway."  To 
make  things  ship-shape  and  secure, 
the  captain  carries  off'  his  prize,  and 
goes  straight  on  board  with  it;  but 


mill  am 


f?i.  E  B  D  n  3  f  i( 


THE  SYRIAN  AUCTIONEER. 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


555 


even  after  it  has  been  locked  up  in  the 
cabin,  and  he  is  lolling  musingly  over 
the  bulwarks,  smoking  his  afternoon 
pipe,  he  can  still  hear  the  auctioneer 
at  work,  as  the  land  breeze,  amidst  a 
babel  of  other  sounds,  wafts  oflf  the 
piercing  shriek  of  "Haragel"  "Ha- 
rage ! "  "  Harage  ! " 


A  Trade,  and  a  Wagrer  Won. 

"  I  RECKON  I  could'nt  drive  a  trade 
with  you  to-day.  Square,"  said  a  "  gin- 
ooine  "  specimen  of  a  Yankee  peddler, 
as  he  stood  at  the  door  of  a  merchant 
in  St,  Louis. 

"  I  reckon  you  calculate  about  right, 
for  you  cawV,"  was  the  sneering  reply. 

"  "Well,  I  guess  you  need'nt  git  huflfy 
'beout  it.  Now  here's  a  dozen  ginooine 
razor-strops — worth  $2.50 ;  you  may 
have  'em  for  $2.00. 

"  I  tell  you  I  don't  want  any  of  your 
traps — so  you  may  as  well  be  going 
along." 

"  Wal,  now  look  here,  Square,  I'll 
bet  you  five  dollars,  that  if  you  make 
me  an  oflfer  for  them  'ere  strops,  we'll 
have  a  trade  yet." 

"  Done ! "  replied  the  merchant, 
placing  the  money  in  the  hands  of 
a  bystander.  The  Yankee  deposited 
a  like  sum. 

"Now,"  said  the  merchant,  "I'll 
give  you  a  picayune  (sixpence)  for  the 
strops." 

"  They're  your'n  1 "  said  the  Yankee 
as  he  quietly  pocketed  the  stakes. 

"  But,"  said  he,  after  a  little  re- 
flection, and  with  great  apparent 
honesty,  "  I  calculate  a  joke's  a  joke ; 
and  if  you  don't  want  them  strops,  I'll 
trade  back." 

The  merchant's  countenance  bright- 
ened. 

*'  You  are  not  so  bad  a  chap,  after 
all,"  said  he ;  "  here  are  your  strops, 
give  me  the  money." 

"There  it  is,"  said  the  Yankee,  as 
he  received  the  strops  and  passed  over 
the  sixpence.     "A  trade  is  a  trade; 


and,  now  you  are  wide  awake,  the 
next  time  you  trade  with  that  'ere 
sixpence,  you'll  do  a  little  better  than 
to  buy  razor  strops." 

And  away  walked  the  peddler  with 
his  strops  and  his  wager,  amidst  the 
shouts  of  the  laughing  crowd. 


John  Law's  Notoriotis  Bubble. 

Law's  Bubble  was  the  most  ruinous 
speculation  of  modem  times.  The  pro- 
jector, John  Law,  of  Edinburgh,  raised 
himself  to  the  dignity  of  comptroller- 
general  of  the  finances  of  Europe,  upon 
the  strength  of  a  scheme  for  establish- 
ing a  bank,  an  East  India  and  a  Missis- 
sippi Company,  by  the  profits  of  which 
the  national  debt  of  France  was  to  be 
paid  oflF.  He  first  ofiered  his  plan  to 
Victor  Amadeus,  King  of  Sardinia, 
who  told  him  he  was  not  powerful 
enough  to  ruin  himself.  The  French 
ministry  accepted  of  it  in  1710  ;  and  in 
1716  he  opened  a  bank  in  his  own 
name  under  the  protection  of  the  Duke 
of  Orleans,  regent  of  France, — and  most 
of  the  people  of  property  of  every  rank 
in  that  kingdom,  seduced  by  the  pros- 
pects of  immense  gains,  subscribed 
both  in  the  bank  and  in  the  compa- 
nies. In  1718,  Law's  was  declared  a 
royal  bank,  and  the  shares  rose  to  up- 
ward of  twenty-fold  the  original  value, 
so  that  in  1719  they  were  worth  more 
than  eighty  times  the  amount  of  all  the 
current  specie  in  France.  But  the  fol- 
lowing year  this  great  fabric  of  false 
credit  fell  to  the  ground,  and  almost 
overthrew  the  French  government,  ruin- 
ing tens  of  thousands  of  families.  It  is 
remarkable  that  the  same  desperate 
game  was  played  by  the  South  Sea 
directors  in  England  in  the  same  fatal 
year. 

Law  was  a  genius  from  the  start. 
Bom  in  Edinburgh,  he  resided  for 
several  years  abroad,  and  was  noted 
for  the  facility  with  which  he  solved 
the  most  intricate  problems  in  arith- 
metic and  geometry.    He  resided  first 


556 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


at  Paris,  -where  he  acquired  great 
dexterity  in  all  games  of  chance,  and 
afterward  at  Genoa  and  Venice.  One 
cause  assigned  for  leaving  Paris,  was 
his  eloping  with  Lady  Catharine,  third 
daughter  of  Nicholas,  Lord  Banbury, 
and  -wife  of  Mr.  Senor,  or  Semour.  His 
success  in  play  was  so  great,  that  he  is 
said  to  have  acquired  twenty  thousand 
pounds.  The  favorite  maxim  incul- 
cated by  Law,  and  upon  which  his 
whole  fabric  of  the  Mississippi  scheme 
was  reared,  was,  that  the  power  and 
prosperity  of  a  nation  increase  in  pro- 
portion to  the  quantity  of  money  circu- 
lating therein,  and  that,  as  the  richest 
nations  have  not  specie  sufficient  to 
aflford  full  employment  to  their  inhabi- 
tants, this  defect  may  be  supplied  by 
paper  credit. 

It  is  not  true,  however,  that  Law  bmlt 
solely  on  a  speculation  concerning  the 
Mississippi;  he  added  the  East  India 
trade,  he  added  the  AMcan  trade,  he 
added  the  farms  of  all  the  farmed 
revenue  of  France ;  but  all  these  un- 
questionably could  not  support  the 
structure  which  the  public  enthusiasm 
— ^not  he — chose  to  build  on  these 
bases.  He  laid  the  best  foundation 
that  he  could,  perhaps  the  best  which, 
in  the  circumstances,  it  was  possible  to 
lay ;  but  the  nation  went  suddenly  mad, 
an  event  which  he  could  scarcely  have 
foreseen ;  the  Company  was  hurried  on- 
ward by  the  general  frenzy  ;  and  when 
the  delirium  had  reached  its  height, 
the  regent  was  advised  to  issue  the 
fatal  edict  which  levelled  the  whole 
&bric  to  the  dust. 


Memorable  Auction  Sale  in  New 
Orleans. 

There  once  stepped  into  the  office 
of  an  old  auctioneer  on  St.  Louis  street, 
New  Orleans,  no  less  an  individual  than 
the  rich  and  elegant  American  mer- 
chant, John  McDonogh.  It  was  the 
day  after  the  marriage  of  Miss  Almo- 
nastre — ^McDonogh's  flame — to  young 


Pontalba ;  a  disappointment  to  the 
merchant  which  changed  the  whole 
habit,  aim,  and  destiny  of  his  life; 
and  the  welfare  and  destiny  of  very 
many  besides. 

"  Sir,"  remarked*  the  merchant  to 
the  auctioneer,  at  the  same  time  hand- 
ing him  a  voluminous  roll  of  paper, 
"  there  is  the  inventory  of  my  furniture, 
carriages,  horses,  liquors,  stores,  plate, 
and  all  that  pertains  to  my  establish- 
ment in  Chartres  street.  I  desire  you 
to  sell  them  all  for  cash,  immediately." 
Accordingly  in  three  days  the  extensive 
establishment  of  Mr.  McDonogh  was 
all  converted  into  money,  to  the  great 
surprise  and  deep  regret  of  his  many 
friends  and  guests.  With  the  proceeds 
of  this  memorable  auction,  he  purchased 
a  small,  lonely  house,  on  the  opposite 
bank  of  the  river,  where,  with  scarcely 
furniture  enough  to  satisfy  the  most  ordi- 
nary use  and  demands  of  humble  life, 
he  immured  himself  in  perfect  seclusion. 
From  that  period  until  his  death — forty 
long  years — ^he  ceased  to  have  any  con- 
nection or  association  with  the  world 
except  in  the  course  of  business.  He 
would  neither  dispense  hospitality  him- 
self, nor  share  that  of  others.  Purchas- 
ing all  the  land  around  him,  he  placed 
himself  beyond  the  curiosity  and  an- 
noyance of  near  neighbors.  His  negro 
servants  alone  were  permitted  to  reside 
in  his  house ;  they  were  the  deposita- 
ries of  the  secrets  of  his  household,  and 
acted  as  his  clerks  and  agents  in  all 
his  transactions  with  the  outside  world. 
Whilst  thus  socially  secluded  and 
morose,  Mr.  McDonogh  continued  to 
prosecute  his  acquisition  of  property 
with  augmented  vigor  and  ardor.  It 
was  about  this  time  his  passion  for 
accumulating  vast  acres  of  waste  and 
suburban  land  began  to  manifest  itsel£ 
All  his  views  regarded  the  distant 
future.  The  present  value  and  pro- 
ductiveness of  land  were  but  little 
regarded  by  him.  His  only  recreation 
and  pleasure  were  in  estimating  the 
value  of  his  swamp  and  waste  land 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


557 


fifty,  a  hundred,  and  even  a  thousand 
years  to  come. 


Character  displayed  in  Auction 
Dealingrs. 

The  maxim  "  Take  care  of  the  pen- 
nies and  the  pounds  will  take  care  of 
themselves  "  should  ever  walk  arm-in- 
arm  with  that  more  sensible  one, 
"  Do'nt  save  at  the  spigot  and  lose  at  the 
bung."  A  few  five-cent  pieces  penu- 
riously  cherished,  in  following  out  the 
first-named  maxim,  may  cause  many  a 
heartburn  in  the  end,  and  he  who 
adopts  it  as  a  rule  of  conduct  runs  a 
risk  of  earning  the  application  of 
Bishop  Earle's  remark — "  He  will  re- 
deem a  penny  with  his  reputation,  and 
lose  all  his  friends  to  boot ;  and  his 
reason  is,  '  he  will  not  be  undone.'  " 

The  advocate  of  the  penny-wise  sen- 
timent is  very  likely  to  be  in  his  element 
when  chaffering  and  higgling  with  a 
strawberry  woman ;  there's  a  fine  "  I'm 
not  to  be  swindled  "  look  about  him  as 
he  worries  the  poor  worn-down  creature 
from  his  richly-draped  parlor  window 
into  parting  with  five  sixpenny  baskets 
for  two  shillings ;  but  to  see  him  in  his 
ghry^  follow  him  into  an  auction  room, 
and  observe  him  there,  if  not  too  much 
hidden  by  the  dust  from  that  second- 
hand carpet  which  he  is  so  slowly 
examining  with  a  view  to  purchasing 
"  if  it  do'nt  go  too  high."  That  specu- 
lative look  which  he  is  now  putting  on 
is  caused  by  a  measurement  in  his 
mind  of  the  third  story  back  room  of 
his  palace  in  Waverley  Place,  and  not 
from  any  misgivings  as  to  smallpox ; 
but  his  calculations  are  to  no  purpose 
— the  woman  in  the  rusty  black  dress 
will  bid  over  Mm — God  help  her !  sTie 
has  no  "  pounds  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves I " 


Keen  Auction  Dodgre  by  Bembrandt. 

Eeikg  at  one  time  in  great  want  of 
money,  and  finding  his  work  went  off 


heavy,  the  celebrated  Rembrandt  put 
into  the  newspaper  that  he  was  dead, 
and  advertised  an  auction  sale  of  the 
finished  and  unfinished  paintings  in 
his  house. 

Crowds  flocked  to  the  auction,  eager 
to  possess  one  of  the  last  eftbrts  of  so 
great  a  master.  The  merest  sketch  sold 
at  a  price  which  entire  pictures  had 
never  brought  before.  After  collecting 
the  proceeds,  Rembrandt  came  to  life 
again ;  but  the  Dutch,  who  resent  im- 
probity even  in  genius,  never  would  em- 
ploy him  after  his  resurrection. 


Parisian  Auction— How  Conducted. 

The  French  mode  of  conducting 
auctions  is  curious.  In  sales  of  im- 
portance, such  as  of  land,  houses,  etc., 
the  affair  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  a 
notary,  who,  for  the  time  being,  be- 
comes an  auctioneer.  The  property, 
whatever  be  its  nature,  is  usually  first 
examined  by  competent  judges,  who 
fix  upon  it  a  price,  considerably  less 
than  its  value,  but  always  sufficient  to 
prevent  any  ruinous  loss  by  a  concerted 
plan  or  combination  of  bidders.  The 
property  is  then  offered,  conformably 
to  previous  notice,  with  this  fixed  valu- 
ation stated.  The  notary-auctioneer  is 
provided  with  a  number  of  small  wax 
tapers,  each  capable  of  burning  three 
or  five  minutes.  As  soon  as  a  bid  is 
made  one  of  these  tapers  is  placed  in 
view  of  all  the  interested  parties  and 
lighted.  If,  before  it  expires,  another 
bid  is  offered  it  is  immediately  extin- 
guished and  a  fresh  taper  placed  in  its 
stead,  and  so  on  until  one  flickers  and 
dies  of  itself,  when  the  last  bid  becomes 
irrevocable.  This  simple  plan  prevents 
all  contention  among  rival  bidders, 
and  affords  each  a  reasonable  time  for 
reflection  before  making  a  higher  offer 
than  his  predecessor.  By  this  means, 
too,  the  auctioneer  is  prevented  from 
exercising  undue  influence  upon  the 
bidders,  or  hastily  accepting  the  bid 
of  a  favorite.    It  also  saves  him  from 


558 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


deciding  between  two  parties,  each 
protesting  himself  to  be  the  first — as 
it  must  become  evident  before  the  taper 
expires,  who  the  proposed  purchaser 
really  is. 

Tonti's  Uonei^Baisins  Projects. 

The  word  "Tontine"  is  often  met 
with,  and  has  a  curious  commercial  his- 
tory. It  is  known  that  the  reign  of 
King  William  was  productive  of  all 
conceivable  modes  and  methods  of  bor- 
rowing money.  Short  and  long  annui- 
ties, annuities  for  lives,  tontines,  and 
lotteries,  alike  occupied  his  attention. 
The  former  are  still  in  existence,  the 
latter  have  fallen  into  oblivion.  To  the 
brain  of  a  Neapolitan,  and  the  city  of 
Paris,  the  tontine  is  due. 

Lorenzo  Tonti,  in  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  vnth  the  hope  of 
making  the  people  of  France  forget 
their  discontents  in  the  excitement  of 
gambling,  suggested  to  Cardinal  Maza- 
rin  the  idea  of  annuities  with  the  ben- 
efit to  the  survivors  of  those  incomes 
which  fell  by  death.  The  idea  was  ap- 
proved by  the  cardinal  and  allowed  by 
the  court.  The  English  Parliament, 
however,  refused  to  register  the  decree 
and  the  scheme  failed.  Tonti  again 
endeavored  to  establish  a  society  on 
this  plan,  and  to  build  by  its  means  a 
bridge  over  the  Seine ;  but  the  invent- 
or christened  it,  unfortunately,  "  Tbra- 
tine,"  and  not  a  man  in  Paris  would 
trust  his  money  to  a  project  with  an 
Italian  title.  A  complete  enthusiast, 
he  allowed  Paris  no  rest  on  his  favorite 
theme,  and  proposed  to  raise  money  for 
the  benefit  of  the  clergy  in  the  same  way. 
The  assembly  reported  on  the  scheme, 
and  the  report  contained  all  that  could 
flatter  the  projector's  vanity,  but  refused 
a  permission  to  act  on  it ;  and  again  it 
was  abandoned.  The  idea,  however, 
which  could  not  be  carried  out  for  the 
people,  which  was  refused  for  the  ben- 
efit of  the  city,  and  not  allowed  for  the 
clergy,  was  claimed  as  a  right  for  the 


crown,  and  Louis  XTV.  created  the  first 
tontine  to  meet  his  great  expenses — an 
example  which  was  soon  imitated  by 
other  monarchs. 


liOrd  Castlereagh  and  the  Buined 
Broker. 

"When  the  war  of  Napoleon  was 
raging  on  the  Continent,  a  blunt  and 
honest  stock  speculator,  who  had  an 
immense  stake  depending  on  the  re- 
sults of  the  conflict,  having  heard  a  ru- 
mor that  a  certain  battle  had  taken 
place  of  immense  importance  financially 
as  well  as  politically,  but  not  knowing 
whether  the  intelligence  was  true  or 
merely  trumped  up  by  interested  sche- 
mers, determined  on  waiting  personally 
on  Lord  Castlereagh,  the  foreign  minis- 
ter, with  the  view  of  endeavoring  to  get 
at  the  truth.  He  sent  up  his  name  to 
his  lordship,  with  a  note,  stating  the 
liberty  he  had  taken,  in  consequence 
of  the  amount  he  had  at  stake,  and 
begging,  as  a  favor,  to  be  informed 
whether  the  news  of  the  battle  in  ques- 
tion was  true.  The  noble  lord  desired 
the  gentleman  to  be  sent  up  stairs.  He 
was  shown  into  his  lordship's  room. 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  his  lordship,  "  I  am 
happy  to  inform  you  that  it  is  perfectly 
true  this  great  battle  has  been  fought, 
and  that  the  British  troops  have  been 
again  victorious." 

"I  am  exceedingly  obliged  to  your 
lordship  for  your  kindness  in  giving 
me  the  information ;  I  am  a  ruined 
man,"  said  the  stock  speculator,  stun- 
ned at  the  tidings,  making  a  low  bow 
a^d  withdrawing. 

He  had  calculated  on  the  triumph, 

at   the  next   conflict,  of   Napoleon's 

army.   He  had  speculated  accordingly ; 

a  contrary  issue  at  once  rendered  him  a 

beggar. 

» 

Eaxly  Stock  Jobbing  and  Lotteries. 

It  was  something  less  than  two  hun- 
dred years  ago  that  the  word  stock 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


559 


jobber  was  heard  in  London.  But  in 
the  short  space  of  four  years  a  crowd 
of  companies,  every  one  of  which  held 
out  to  subscribers  the  hope  of  immense 
gains,  sprang  into  existence — the  In- 
surance Company,  the  Lutestring  Com- 
pany, the  Pearl  Fishery  Company,  the 
Glass  Bottle  Company,  the  Alum  Com- 
pany, the  Blythe  Coal  Company,  the 
Sword  Blade  Company.  There  was  a 
Tapestry  Company,  which  would  soon 
furnish  pretty  hangings  for  all  the  par- 
lors of  the  middle  classes,  and  for  all 
the  bed  chambers  of  the  higher.  There 
was  a  Copper  Company,  which  pro- 
posed to  explore  the  mines  of  England, 
and  held  out  a  hope  that  they  would 
prove  not  less  valuable  than  those  of 
Potosi.  There  was  a  Diving  Company, 
which  undertook  to  bring  up  precious 
effects  from  shipwrecked  vessels,  and 
which  announced  that  it  had  laid  in  a 
stock  of  wonderful  machines  resembling 
complete  suits  of  armor ;  in  front  of  the 
helmet  was  a  huge  glass  eye  like  that 
of  a  cyclop,  and  out  of  the  crest  went 
a  pipe  through  which  the  air  was  to  be 
admitted.  This  process  was  exhibited, 
on  the  Thames;  fine  gentlemen  and 
fine  ladies  were  invited  to  the  show, 
were  hospitably  regaled,  and  were  de- 
lighted by  seeing  the  divers  in  their 
panoply  descend  into  the  river,  and  re- 
turn laden  with  old  iron  and  ships' 
tackle.  There  was,  too,  a  Tanning 
Company,  which  promised  to  furnish 
leather  superior  to  the  best  brought 
from  Turkey  or  Russia. 

Besides  the  above,  there  was  a  fa- 
mous society  which  undertook  the 
business  of  giving  gentlemen  a  liberal 
education  on  low  terms,  and  which  as- 
sumed the  sounding  name  of  the  Royal 
Academies'  Company.  In  a  pompous 
advertisement  it  was  announced  that 
the  Directors  of  the  Royal  Academies' 
Company  had  engaged  the  best  masters 
in  every  branch  of  knowledge,  and 
were  about  to  issue  twenty  thousand 
tickets  at  twenty  shillings  each,  to  be 
conducted  as  follows : 


There  was  to  be  a  lottery ;  two  thou- 
sand prizes  were  to  be  drawn,  and  the 
fortunate  holders  of  the  prizes  were  to 
be  taught,  at  the  charge  of  the  Com- 
pany, Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  French, 
Spanish,  conic  sections,  trigonometry, 
heraldry,  japanning,  fortification,  book- 
keeping and  the  art  of  playing  on  the 
theorobo.  Some  of  these  companies 
took  large  mansions,  and  printed 
their  advertisements  in  gilded  letters. 
Others,  less  ostentatious,  were  content 
with  ink,  and  met  at  coffee  houses  in 
the  neighborhood  of  money  dealers. 
Jonathan's  and  Garraway's  were  in  a 
constant  ferment  with  brokers,  buyers, 
sellers,  meetings  of  directors,  meetings 
of  proprietors.  Time  bargains  soon 
came  into  fashion.  Extensive  combi- 
nations were  formed,  and  monstrous 
fables  were  circulated,  for  the  purpose 
of  raising  or  depressing  the  price  of 
shares. 

Lottery  Vagraries  in  the  Sixteenth 
Century. 

The  first  lottery  on  record  in  Eng- 
land was  drawn  in  London,  in  1569 — 
the  proceeds  being  devoted  to  public 
purposes.  The  prizes  were  partly  in 
money  and  partly  in  silver  plate ;  four 
hundred  thousand  lots  were  drawn, 
and  the  people  were  kept  in  a  state  of 
excitement,  day  and  night,  for  nearly 
four  months.  The  grim,  grotesque  de- 
spair of  the  losers,  and  the  eager  delight 
of  the  gainers,  was  for  the  time  the 
great  entertainment  of  the  town.  It 
was  not  long  before  the  people  in  their 
individual  capacity  and  for  individual 
ends,  followed  the  example  set  by  the 
Government.  Thus,  lottery  magazine 
proprietors,  lottery  tailors,  lottery  stay 
makers,  lottery  glovers,  lottery  hat 
makers,  lottery  tea  merchants,  lottery 
snuff  and  tobacco  merchants,  lottery 
barbers — where  a  man,  for  being  shaved 
and  paying  threepence,  stood  a  chance 
of  receiving  £10 — lottery  shoeblacks, 
lottery  eating  houses — ^where,  for  six- 
pence,   a    plate    of    meat    and    the 


560 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


chance  of  sixty  guineas  were  given — 
lottery  oyster  stalls,  where  threepence 
gave  a  supply  of  oysters  and  a  remote 
chance  of  five  guineas, — all  these  were 
plentiful ;  and  to  complete  a  catalogue 
which  speaks  volumes,  at  a  sausage 
stall  in  a  narrow  alley  was  the  impor- 
tant intimation  written  up,  that  for 
one  farthing's  worth  of  sausages,  the 
fortunate  purchaser  might  realize  a  capi- 
tal of  five  shillings ! 


Orand  United  Gold  and  Diamond  Dust 
Cotapany. 

The  eagerly  expected  prospectus  has 
at  last  appeared  of  the  "  Grand  United 
Gold  and  Diamond  Dust  Company." 
The  act  is  already  in  existence— the  in- 
solvent act — to  limit  the  liability  of  the 
shareholders. 

To  show  the  confidence  felt  in  the 
undertaking  on  the  spot,  it  is  respect- 
fully announced  that  fifty  thousand 
shares  are  reserved  for  the  locality 
where  the  dust  exists,  or,  in  other 
words,  for  the  dust  hole. 

Tliis  company  is  formed  for  the  "pur- 
pose of  working  the  rich  deposits  sup- 
posed to  be  imbedded  in  the  various 
banks  of  an  extensive  district.  The 
directors  are  in  treaty  for  the  lease  of 
an  extensive  river  in  the  Brazils,  the 
tide  of  which  is  supposed  to  lead  on 
to  fortune. 

They  hope,  by  getting  into  the  right 
current,  to  be  able  to  stir  up  the  sources 
of  wealth  already  alluded  to,  when  they 
may  anticipate  that  the  numerous 
"  flats  "  on  all  sides  will  yield  an  abun- 
dance of  the  precious  ore  they  are  in 
search  of.  Should  these  means  of  profit 
become  exhausted,  the  directors  have 
the  satisfaction  of  feeling  that  the  ad- 
jacent plantations  will  enable  them  to 
tak6  advantage  of  the  numerous  plants, 
and  thus,  the  gold  being  used  up,  they 
can  cut  their  sticks  immediately. 

It  is  proposed  by  the  directors  to 
take  further  powers  for  pocket  smelt- 
ing, and  otherwise  reducing  the  quan- 


tities of  auriferous  matters  that  remain 
unappropriated,  on  account  of  the  im- 
perfect manner  in  which  the  process 
of  extracting  gold  from  any  place  in 
which  it  exists,  has  been  hitherto  car- 
ried on. 

Notwithstanding  the  numerous  arts 
that  have  been  employed,  the  directors 
flatter  themselves  that  they  are  in  pos- 
session of  a  machinery  by  which  gold 
can  be  squeezed  out  from  "quarters" 
where  it  has,  until  now,  remained  so 
tightly  held  as  to  have  been  regarded 
as  utterly  unattainable.  The  process 
is  one  of  refinement,  but  it  would  be 
obviously  imprudent  to  say  more  on 
this  point  in  a  public  advertisement. 

The  directors  hope  that  enough 
money  for  their  purpose  will  be  ob- 
tained at  once,  and  they  anticipate  no 
further  calls,  but  the  subscribers  will 
have  the  right  of  making  as  many  calls 
as  they  please — for  the  recovery  of 
their  money — at  the  oflSce  of  the  com- 
pany, should  the  undertaking  be  xm- 
remunerative  to  the  shareholders. 

Applications  for  shares,  in  the  usual 
form,  may  be  made  forthwith  to  the 
secretary  ^0  tern.,  who  will  be  happy  to 
throw  liberal  samples  of  the  dust  im- 
mediately into  the  eye  of  any  appli- 
cant. 


Bacon  by  the  Shillingr's  Worth. 

Keesk,  an  apostle  of  the  hammer, 
was  once  selling  a  fine  copy  of  Bacon. 
"  How  much  for  this  Bacon  1 "  said  he ; 
"  give  us  a  bid ;  start  it,  gentlemen — 
how  much  ? "  "A  shilling  1 "  exclaim- 
ed a  moderate  bidder.  "  Oh,  no  ! "  re- 
sponded the  auctioneer ;  "  here's  *  too 
much  pork  for  a  shilling.'  " 


Origin  of  Auctions. 

The  name  "  auction,"  as  well  as  the 
thing,  comes  originally  from  the  Ro- 
mans, who,  during  their  warlike  pros- 
perities, established  the  custom  of  sell- 
ing military  spoils,  with  no  more  cere- 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


561 


Christie's  Auction  Boom. 


mony  than  that  of  merely  sticking  a 
spear  in  the  ground,  under  which  the 
sales  immediately  took  place ;  and  as 
each  bidder  increased  his  bidding  on 
the  one  before  him,  the  descriptive  ap- 
pellation of  auction^  an  increase,  was 
given  to  them.  The  late  celebrated 
London  auctioneer,  James  Christie,  en- 
joyed a  reputation  all  throughout  Eu- 
rope, for  his  singular  tact  in  his  profes- 
sion, and  no  auction  house  has,  prob- 
ably, ever  obtained  a  loftier  position  in 
the  mercantile  world  than  his.  Gar- 
raway's  is  now,  with  one  exception — 
the  Mart — the  place  where  the  greatest 
number  of  important  sales  occur  in 
London.  The  Mart  is  an  immense 
building,  built  expressly  for  auctioneers, 
and  owned  in  shares,  the  directors 
being  among  the  most  eminent  of  the 
London  auctioneers. 


86 


Lessons  of  an  Auctioneer's  Hammer. 

The  hammer  of  the  auctioneer  tells 
many  a  sad  story  of  ruined  fortunes, 
blasted  hopes,  and  of  death,  that  scat- 
ters the  much  cherished  and  hard  earn- 
ed property  to  the  four  winds.  Each 
tap  of  the  ivory  ball  consigns  some 
treasured  memento,  to  which  aflFection 
has  clung  for  many  long  years,  into  the 
hands  of  a  stranger,  to  whom  it  comes 
divested  of  its  charm  and  the  hold  it 
had  upon  the  human  heart — a  mere  ob- 
ject of  curiosity,  perhaps,  to  its  new 
possessor,  or  it  may  be  to  gratify  a  pas- 
sion for  display.  The  venerable  man- 
sion, that  has  witnessed  the  loves  and 
the  hopes,  the  joys  and  the  sorrows  of 
more  than  one  generation,  passes  under 
the  hammer  of  the  auctioneer  to  entire 
strangers — mere  bargain  hunters  and 
speculators  perhaps — to  whom  no  room, 


562 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


or  chambers,  or  fireplace  is  crowded 
with  associations  of  happy  childhood, 
youth,  manhood,  old  age — sickness, 
birth,  marriage,  death.  The  new  owner 
sees  only  timber,  bricks,  and  mortar, 
and  forthwith  commences  the  work  of 
demolition,  or  of  alteration  and  repair. 
The  auctioneer's  books,  too,  tell  a  sad 
story  of  ruinous  speculation,  bankrupt- 
cy in  trade,  unfortunate  investments, 
ships  cast  away,  splendid  misery,  fraud, 
misfortune,  and  death. 


Warranty  of  Perfect  Soundness. 

Colonel  T.,  of  Boston,  now  deceased, 
was  a  man  of  rare  tact  and  ability,  and 
by  no  means  devoid  of  wit,  in  his  pro- 
fession as  an  auctioneer.  On  one  occa- 
sion, while  engaged  in  the  sale  of  a  ves- 
sel, he  was  abruptly  interrupted  by  a 
Mr.  A.,  who,  with  a  nasal  sound  char- 
acteristic of  him,  inquired  if  the  vessel 
was  sound  ?  The  reply  was  "  Yes." 
While  the  sale  was  progressing,  and 
another  half  a  thousand  was  being  tried 
for  by  the  man  of  the  hammer,  the 
same  Mr.  A.  burst  out  again :  "  Colonel, 
do  I  understand  you  to  say  that  this 
vessel  is  perfectly  sound  ?  "  The  Colo- 
nel paused,  and  drew  up  his  portly 
frame  to  its  full  measure ;  then  looking 
Mr.  A.  full  in  the  face,  thus  addressed 
him :  "  Mr.  A.,  if  a  man  should  ask 
me  if  Mr.  A.  is  a  gentleman,  my  answer 
would  be,  'Yes.'  But  if  he  should 
ask  me  if  he  is  a  perfect  gentleman 
— ^half!  half!  am  I  offered  another 
half?"  It  is  doubtful  whether  old 
Christie  himself  in  his  palmiest  days, 
as  the  head  of  the  auctioneer  fraternity 
in  London,  ever  equalled  this  instance 
of  professional  wit. 


Engrlish  Bailwsy  Kania  of  1846. 

The  history  of  the  railway  mania  in 
England,  in  1845,  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  among  the  business  phe- 
nomena of  modem  times,  and  was  prob- 
ably due,  in  great  part,  to  the  plentiful 


supply  of  money  at  that  period.  The 
directors  of  the  railways  were  formed 
of  all  classes,  and  all  conditions.  Long 
lists  of  provisional  committee  men, 
with  their  residences  and  professions, 
were  paraded  in  papers.  The  journals 
were  increased  in  size  to  contain  the 
numerous  advertisements.  The  heat 
of  Lidia  was  no  objection.  The  cold 
of  Canada  no  preventive.  Men  who 
had  mingled  in  the  bubbles  of  1835 ; 
men  who  were  known  and  recognized 
as  adventurous  swindlers,  but  who  had 
disappeared  when  no  money  was  to  be 
obtained,  reappeared,  to  exercise  their 
customary  vocation. 

The  environs  of  the  stock  exchange 
were  crowded.  The  countess  came 
down  in  her  carriage,  and  hovered  in 
a  state  of  excitement  round  the  doors 
of  her  broker.  Grave  and  sober  men 
dabbled  in  scrip.  The  literary  man 
and  the  artist  risked  their  well-earned 
money  to  procure  a  share  in  the  profitf . 
The  youth  of  the  land  sought  to  grati- 
fy expensive  habits.  The  old  man 
sought  to  indulge  his  avarice.  The 
clergyman  traded  in  "  undeniable  se- 
curities." The  physician  murmured  of 
the  broad  and  narrow  gauge.  The 
lawyer  forsook  his  fee ;  the  lady  jeop- 
ardized her  soft  and  gentle  influences ; 
the  matron  forgot  her  children,  and  the 
maiden  her  embroidery,  in  one  uni- 
versal pursuit.  The  railways  formed 
the  current  theme  of  the  time.  Pre- 
miums and  discounts  were  the  topics 
at  breakfast,  dinner  and  supper,  and 
everything  wore  the  same  smiling  ap- 
pearance which,  twenty  years  before, 
lured  the  people  to  destruction,  and,  as 
then,  almost  everything  came  out  at  a 
profit.  If  they  went  to  a  discount,  the 
company  was  abandoned,  the  whole  of 
the  expenses  deducted  from  the  few  de- 
posits which  were  paid,  the  directors 
liberally  rewarded,  and  the  small  re- 
maining dividend  returned.  The  names 
of  the  clergy  on  the  lists  of  directors 
produced  an  opinion  from  the  Bishop 
of  Exeter,  that  for  a  clergyman  to  specu- 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


563 


late  in  railways  came  under  the  denomi- 
nation of  "  dealing  for  gain  or  profit," 
and  this  was  against  the  statute.  "  As 
the  statute  only  mentions  dealing,"  re- 
marked a  writer  in  their  defence,  "  and 
railway  speculation  involves  shuffling, 
some  of  the  reverend  gentlemen  main- 
tain that  they  do  not  violate  the  act  of 
Parliament." 

The  following  is  undoubtedly  a  faith- 
ful picture  of  the  way  in  which  many 
railways  were  "  established  : "  A  young 
gentleman  need  only  look  to  a  half-crown 
railway  map,  and  search  for  a  district 
tolerably  clear  of  the  rail.  Taking  two 
of  the  towns  that  form  that  open  space, 
he  draws  a  diagonal  with  his  pencil, 
and  thus  creates  a  direct  line.  He  then 
writes  down  the  name  of  the  company, 
his  own  name  as  "  promoter,"  either 
alone,  or  with  the  names  of  as  many 
friends  as  he  can  venture  to  take  that 
liberty  with,  or  with  any  names,  real  or 
fictitious ;  his  own  occupation,  whether 
gentleman  or  esquire,  engineer,  artist, 
or  solicitor,  or  clerk,  or  perfumer,  or 
tailor,  or  M.A.,  or  M.D. ;  his  place  of 
business,  if  he  has  one ;  his  place  of 
residence  also,  whether  it  be  castle  or 
hall,  or  in  Berkeley  Square,  or  in 
rooms  in  Gray's  Inn,  or  lodging  in  the 
borough.  In  the  course  of  his  walk  to 
the  office  in  Sergeants'  Inn,  he  may,  if  he 
please,  remodel  his  company,  changing 
every  name  in  it,  whether  of  place  or 
person,  including  himself  Arrived  at 
the  office,  he  invests  a  few  sovereigns, 
begged,  borrowed,  or  stolen,  in  fees,  and 
enters  his  company.  Advertisements 
and  letters  of  allotment  do  the  rest.  It 
may,  for  anything  the  registrar  knows 
or  cares,  be  straight  across  a  mountain 
a"  mile  high,  or  straight  across  an  arm 
of  the  sea  ten  miles  broad.  It  would  be 
his  duty  to  register  a  tunnel  under  the 
Atlantic,  and  he  would  hardly  have  the 
option  of  refusing  a  railroad  to  Jupiter, 
with  extension  to  the  other  planets,  and 
a  short  branch  to  the  moon. 


Rival  Blacking:  Companies. 

The  Morning  Advertiser,  London,  of 
November  25,  1807,  contained  the  fol- 
lowing— which  would  have  been  more 
appropriately  placed  in  its  columns  of 
entertainments,  than  in  those  devoted 
to  business : — 

Anthony  Varnifth  in  the  chair.  Sir 
John  Blackwell,  Knight,  being  indis- 
posed ;  Jacob  Brushwell,  Secretary. 

The  chairman  reported  that  Mr.  Tim- 
othy Lightfoot,  the  treasurer,  had 
brushed  oflf  with  the  old  fund,  and  that 
the  deputation  who  had  waited  on  Mr. 
Fawcett,  the  proprietor  of  the  Brilliant 
Fluid  Blacking,  at  No.  76  Hounds- 
ditch,  could  not  prevail  on  him  to  dis- 
pose of  his  right  thereto  in  favor  of  the 
company,  although  they  made  him  the 
most  liberal  oflFers.    It  was  then 

Resolved:  That  this  meeting  being 
fully  sensible  that  any  attempt  to  es- 
tablish a  rival  blacking  would  totally 
fail  of  success,  from  the  high  estima- 
tion in  which  the  above  popular  article 
is  held,  and  the  mishap  of  the  treasurer 
having  damped  the  ardor  of  the  under- 
taking, that  this  design  be  altogether 
abandoned. 

Resolved :  That  the  character  of  this 
Company  ought  not  to  be  blackened  in 
public  esteem,  as  there  is  no  direct 
proof  of  their  having  shared  the  spoils 
with  the  treasurer. 

J.  Brushwell,  Sec'y. 


One  of  the  SufTeren. 

HooKE,  the  historian  of  Rome,  was  a 
severe  suflferer  by  the  South  Sea  Bub- 
ble. He  thus  addressed  Lord  Oxford, 
in  a  letter  dated  soon  after  the  great 
explosion  :  "  I  cannot  be  said  at  present 
to  be  in  any  form  of  life,  but  rather  to 
live  extempore.  The  late  epidemical 
(South  Sea)  distemper  seized  me.  I 
endeavored  to  be  rich,  imagined  for  a 
while  that  I  was,  and  am  in  some 
measure  happy  to  find  myself  at  this 
instant  but  j  ust  worth  nothing.   If  your 


564 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


lordship,  or   any  of  your   numerous 

friends,  have  need  of  a  servant,  with 

the  bare  qualifications  of  being  able  to 

read  and  write,  and  to  be  honest,  I  shall 

gladly    undertake    any    employments 

your  lordship  shall  not  think  me  im- 

worthy  of." 

« 

Proposed  Ice  Speoolation. 

Sm  Peter  Laubie  has  conceived 
a  plan  by  which  he  anticipates  to  real- 
ize a  large  sum  of  money.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  Captain  Ross,  the 
Arctic  explorer,  discovered  a  tract  of 
ice  somewhere  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood of  the  north  pole,  which,  with 
a  prodigality  only  found  in  a  true 
sailor,  he  presented  to  his  friend  Sir 
Felix,  and  named  it  Boothia.  Laurie 
has  therefore  proposed  to  purchase  this 
valuable  lot  of  floating  capital,  and 
should  his  offer  be  accepted  will  im- 
mediately despatch  some  steamers  to 
tow  it  home,  as  he  says  it  will  form  a 
cool  watering  place  during  the  dog 
days,  and  may  then  be  let  out  in  square 
acres  to  enterprising  confectioners,  to 
grow  their  raspberry  and  strawberry 
ices.  Sir  Peter  has  always  been  known 
as  a  long-cared  man,  but,  until  this 
promising  commercial  project,  was 
never  considered  to  be  especially  long 
headed — at  least,  not  beyond  the  aver- 
age of  mercantile  speculators. 


Panoy  Hen  Fever. 

The  fever  for  "fancy"  hen  stock 
broke  out  at  a  time  when  money  was 
plenty,  and  when  there  was  no  other 
speculation  rife  in  which  every  one,  al- 
most, could  easily  participate.  The 
prices  for  fowls  increased  with  aston- 
ishing rapidity.  The  whole  community 
rushed  into  the  breeding  of  poultry, 
without  the  slightest  consideration,  and 
the  mania  was  by  no  means  confined  to 
any  particular  class  of  individuals — 
though  there  was  not  a  little  shyness 
among  certain  circles  who  were  attack- 


ed at  first ;  but  this  feeling  soon  gave 
way,  and  men  of  the  highest  standing, 
at  home  and  abroad,  were  soon  deeply 
and  riotously  engaged  in  the  subject  of 
henology. 

Meantime,  in  England  they  were  do- 
ing up  the  matter  somewhat  more  ear- 
nestly than  on  this  side  of  the  water. 
To  learn  how  even  the  nobUity  never 
"  put  their  hand  to  the  plough  and  look 
back,"  when  anything  in  this  line  is  to 
come  off,  and  the  better  to  realize  how 
fully  the  poultry  interests  were  looked 
after  in  England,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
read  the  names  of  those  who,  from  1849 
to  1855,  patronized  the  London  and 
Birmingham  associations  for  the  im- 
provement of  domestic  poultry.  The 
Great  Annual  Show,  at  Bingley  Hall, 
was  got  up  under  the  sanction  of  his 
Royal  Highness  Prince  Albert,  the 
Duchess  of  Sutherland,  Lady  Charlotte 
Gough,  the  Countess  of  Bradford,  Rt. 
Hon.  Countess  Littlefield,  Lady  Chet- 
wynd,  Hon.  Viscountess  Hill,  Lady 
Littleton,  Hon.  Mrs.  Percy,  Lady  Scott, 
and  a  host  of  other  noble  lords  and  la- 
dies, whose  names  are  well  known 
among  the  English  aristocracy. 

But,  as  time  advanced,  the  star  of 
Shanghae-ism  began  to  wane.  The 
nobility  tired  of  the  excitement,  and 
the  people  both  of  England  and  of  the 
United  States  began  to  ascertain  that 
there  was  absolutely  nothing  in  this 
"  hum  "  save  what  the  "  importers  and 
breeders"  had  made,  through  the  in- 
fluence of  the  newspapers ;  and  while  a 
few  of  the  last  men  were  examining  the 
thickness  of  the  shell,  cautiously  and 
warily,  the  long-inflated  bubble  burst  1 


Qold-Uakinsr  and  Silver-Kininff 
Companies. 

Among  the  share  or  joint-stock  com- 
panies, which  once  played  a  prominent 
part  on  the  public  credulity  in  Eng- 
land, was  one  to  make  gold ;  and  suc- 
cess was  declared  to  be  undoubted. 
The  shares  were  aU  greedily  taken; 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


665 


and  it  was  then  advertised  that,  as  the 
expense  of  producing  an  ounce  of  gold 
would  be  double  the  value  of  the  prod- 
uce, the  company  would  be  dissolved, 
and  the  deposits  kept  to  pay  expenses. 
The  capital  of  another  company — for 
mining  sUver — was  divided  between 
fifty  proprietors;  the  advertisements 
and  puflFs  resorted  to  were  disgraceful. 
The  meanest  utensils  of  the  peasantry 
in  this  mining  region  were  boldly  de- 
clared to  be  silver ;  and,  although  there 
were  but  ninety-nine  mines  of  any  kind 
in  the  whole  district,  the  company  pro- 
fessed to  have  purchased  three  hundred 
and  sixty.  In  a  place  containing  five 
thousand  inhabitants,  it  was  affirmed 
the  projectors  possessed  three  thousand 
mines;  and,  although  they  had  been 
previously  abandoned  after  a  loss  of 
£170,000,  they  were  purchased  at  a 
high  price,  and  pufied  to  an  enormous 
premium. 

Jacob  Keen  of  Wall  Street. 

One  of  the  New  York  "  money  char- 
acters "  is  thus  dressed  up,  for  a  savory 
public  dish,  by  that  all-spicy  humorist, 
Hammett.  Let  us  spread  our  napkin, 
and  enjoy  the  feast : 

In  one  of  the  numerous  dens  of  "Wall 
street  lives  and  flourishes,  and  has  lived 
and  flourished,  for  many  a  squally  year, 
a  man  whose  name,  in  the  Wall  street 
roll  of  fame,  stands  next  to  that  of  the 
father  of  American  financiering — Jacob 
Barker.  It  is  not  meant  by  "  lived  and 
flourished  "  that  Jacob  the  second — for 
he  is  a  Jacob — had  not  experienced 
many  an  up  and  down,  in  fact,  enough 
of  them  to  upset  and  shelve  any  one 
but  a  man  of  his  peculiarly  India-rub- 
ber constitution. 

He  is  the  greatest  of  all  men  for  a 
"comer,"  and  has  a  wonderful  fancy 
for  the  fancies ;  only  the  worst  of  it  is, 
that  you  never  know  when  you  have 
him ;  and  his  best  friends  and  co- 
workers, when  engaged  with  him  in 
some  desperate  scheme,  with  only  their 


noses  above  water,  are  not  perfectly 
sure  but  that  he  may  be  leading  them 
on,  and  is  perhaps  doubly  interested  in 
putting  down  the  identical  "  fancy " 
that  he  seems  to  be  sustaining  with 
the  weight  of  an  Atlas. 

No  one,  in  fact,  can  tell  for  a  certain- 
ty whether  Jacob  Keen  is  a  bull  or  a 
bear. 

Quite  a  number  of  years  since,  not 
before  his  "  smartness  "  was  fully  de- 
veloped, but  ere  the  full  power  and  ex- 
tent of  it  were  known  and  had  been 
experienced,  Jacob  went  into  what — in 
the  vernacular  of  brokers — is  termed 
"  an  operation." 

Now,  a  Wall  street  operation  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  effects  of  a  ca- 
thartic drug,  although  it  often  pro- 
duces a  very  cathartic  effect  upon  the 
pockets  of  operators  and  operatees. 
Neither  does  it  bear  any  relation  to  the 
legitimate  employment  of  the  surgeon's 
knife,  and  yet  no  "  sharper  "  steel  can 
eat  more  surely  or  more  fatally. 

Jacob,  as  has  been  said,  entered  into 
an  operation,  and  thus  it  was : 

Among  the  very  lightest  of  the  fan- 
cies— blown  about  by  every  vnnd  that 
swept  the  street — was  the  celebrated 
Hardscrabble-Soap-Mining  Company, 
which  Jacob  had  long  regarded  with  a 
loving  eye,  as  offering  peculiar  facilities 
for  a  sly  stroke  of  genius.  The  capital 
stock  of  the  company  was  represented 
by  an  upright  figure — the  only  one,  by 
the  way,  connected  with  it — and  six 
ciphers,  thus:  1,000,000.  The  real 
value  of  the  shares,  in  the  aggregate, 
was  considerably  less  than  nothing, 
but,  at  a  particular  time,  they  were  sell- 
ing for  about  |5  each. 

As  it  did  not  suit  Jacob's  purpose  to 
work  this  mine  alone,  he  proposed  to 
a  Boston  firm — Messrs.  Coggins  and 
Scroggins — to  take  hold  of  the  rope 
with  him.  They  consented,  and  fell  to 
work  with  right  good  will,  on  the  fol- 
lowing terms : 

The  contracting  parties  were  to  pur- 
chase— ^the  one  in  New  York,  and  the 


566 


COMMERCIAL  AND   BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


other  in  Boston — every  share  that  they 
could  buy  on  time,  or  deliverable  ahead, 
until  the  stock  began  to  feel  the  eflFects, 
and  then  to  commence  purchasing  for 
cash,  until  the  price  should  be  carried 
up  to  $50  per  share.  When  this  point 
should  be  reached,  neither  party  should 
allow  the  price  to  decline,  but  both 
were  bound  to  purchase  every  share 
offered  at  that  price,  in  their  market, 
until,  having  cleared  their  decks  for  a 
fall,  each  should  agree  to  "  let  go  all." 

In  this  there  was  no  copartnership  or 
division  of  profits,  but  each  worked  for 
their  own  interests. 

Everything  prospered  for  a  while, 
and  men  who  had  sold  for  five  and  ten 
were  forced  to  come  in  and  pay  up 
heavy  deficiencies.  But  Jacob  soon 
found  that  when  the  magic  price  of 
"50"  was  attained,  the  stock  flowed 
in  rather  too  freely  for  him.  All  this 
h*e  had  anticipated  and  prepared  for, 
so  that  when  his  pockets  exhibited 
symptoms  of  exhaustion,  a  shrewd 
broker  was  despatched  to  Boston, 
through  whose  hands  he  pressed  his 
stock  upon  that  market,  thus  forcing 
his  colaborers  to  buy  up  his  own  stock. 

The  Boston  house  was  a  "  warm " 
one,  and  warm  work  they  had  of  it  for 
a  time.  But  there  is  an  end  to  all 
things — except  perhaps,  a  ring — and 
our  friend  Jacob  was  not  much  sur- 
prised, one  fine  morning,  by  the  re- 
ceipt of  the  following  epistle : 

"Dear  Keen:  We  cannot  hold  on 
any  longer.  Let  go,  and  get  out  as 
well  as  you  can. 

"  Your  fellow  sufferers, 

"  COGGINS  &  SCROGGENS." 

They,  however,  were  considerably 
more  astonished  than  delighted  by  the 
reply : 

"  Dear  Coogins  &  ScROGOnrs :  Sell 
away,  I  haven't  a  share. 

"  Yours,  very  truly, 

"  J.  Keen. 
"  P.S. — I  have  another  capital  opera- 
tion in  view.  J.  K." 


As  Messrs.  C.  &  8.  probably  consid- 
ered that  the  new  operation  in  view 
might  perhaps  be  what  is  vulgarly 
termed  "all  in  their  eye,"  it  is  said 
they  declined  it. 


liOtteries  Vindicated  by  Scripture. 

The  early  advocates  of  lotteries, 
when  their  trade  was  threatened  with 
legal  demolishment,  were  accustomed 
to  defend  it  somewhat  ingeniously  by 
quotations  from  Scripture.  As  the 
Bible  was  turned  upside  and  down, 
and  shaken  and  winnowed,  by  the  sup- 
porters of  the  slave  trade,  so  was  it 
scrutinized  to  prove  the  antiquity  and 
sanctity  of  lotteries.  "  By  lot,"  it  was 
said,  "  it  was  determined  which  of  the 
goats  should  be  offered  to  Aaron.  By 
lot  the  land  of  Canaan  was  divided. 
By  lot  Saul  was  marked  out  for  the 
kingdom.  By  lot  Jonah  was  discov- 
ered to  be  the  cause  of  the  storm.  By 
lot  it  was  decided  to  whom  Christ's 
vesture  should  belong,  instead  of  rend- 
ing it.  By  lot  the  place  left  vacant  by 
the  treachery  of  Judas  was  filled  by 
the  apostles,"  «&c.,  &c. 


Getting:  up  a  Money  Panic. 

.  In  May,  1833,  a  run  upon  the  Bank 
of  England  was  produced  by  the  walls 
of  London  being  placarded  with  the 
emphatic  words :  "  Stop  the  Duke  !  Oo 
for  gold  !  " — advice  which  was  follow- 
ed as  soon  as  given,  to  a  prodigious 
extent.  The  Duke  of  Wellington  was 
then  very  unpopular ;  and  on  Monday, 
the  14th  of  May,  it  being  currently  be- 
lieved that  the  Duke  had  formed  a 
cabinet,  the  panic  became  universal, 
and  the  run  upon  the  Bank  of  England 
for  coin  was  so  incessant,  that  in  a  few 
hours  upward  of  half  a  million  was  car- 
ried off.  It  was  afterward  ascertained 
that  the  placards  in  question  were  the 
device  of  four  gentlemen,  two  of  whom 
had  been  elected  members  of  the  Re- 
formed Parliament.     Each  put  down 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


667 


one  hundred  dollars,  and  the  sum  thus 
clubbed  was  expended  in  printing 
thousands  of  those  terrible  missives, 
which  were  eagerly  circulated,  and 
were  speedily  seen  upon  every  wall  in 
London.  The  effect  is  hardly  to  be  de- 
scribed.   It  was  electric. 


Barerain-Hunters  at  Pawnbrokers'  and 
Auctions. 

You  will  perhaps  be  surprised  (we 
quote  from  LacMngton's  Memoirs),  that 
there  are  in  London,  and  probably  in 
other  populous  places,  persons  who 
purchase  every  article  which  they  have 
occasion  for— and  also  many  articles 
which  they  have  no  occasion  for,  nor 
ever  will — at  stalls,  beggarly  shops, 
pawnbrokers',  etc.,  imder  the  idea  of 
buying  cheaper  than  they  could  at  re- 
spectable shops,  and  of  men  of  property. 

A  considerable  number  of  these  cus- 
tomers I  had  in  the  beginning,  who  for- 
sook my  shop  as  soon  as  I  began  to 
appear  more  respectable,  by  introdu- 
cing better  order,  possessing  more  val- 
uable books,  and  having  acquired  a 
better  judgment,  etc.  Notwithstand- 
ing which,  I  declare  to  you  upon  my 
honor,  that  these  very  bargain-hunters 
have  given  me  double  the  price  that  I 
now  charge  for  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  volumes.  For,  as  a 
tradesman  increases  in  respectability 
and  opulence,  his  opportunities  of  pur- 
chasing increase  proportionally,  and 
the  more  he  buys  and  sells  the  more  he 
becomes  a  judge  of  the  real  value  of 
his  goods.  It  was  for  want  of  the  ex- 
perience and  judgment,  stock,  etc.,  that 
for  several  years  I  was  in  the  habit  of 
charging  more  than  double  the  price  I 
now  do  for  many  thousand  articles. 
But  professed  bargain-hunters  purchase 
old  locks  at  the  stalls  in  Moorfields 
when  half  the  wards  are  rusted  off,  or 
taken  out,  and  give  more  for  them  than 
they  would  have  paid  for  new  ones  to 
any  reputable  ironmonger. 

And  what  numerous  instances  of  this 


infatuation  do  we  meet  with  daily  at 
sales  by  auction  not  of  books  only,  but 
of  many  other  articles,  of  which  I  could 
here  adduce  a  variety  of  glaring  in- 
stances. At  the  sale  of  Mr.  Rigby's 
books  at  Mr.  Christie's,  Martin's  Dic- 
tionary of  Natural  History  sold  for  fif- 
teen guineas,  which  then  stood  in  my 
catalogue  at  four  pounds  fifteen  shil- 
lings ;  Pilkington's  Dictionary  of  Paint- 
ers at  seven  guineas,  usually  sold  at 
three;  Francis's  Horace,  two  pounds 
eleven  shillings  ;  and  many  others  in 
the  same  manner.  At  Sir  George  Col- 
brook's  sale  the  octavo  edition  of  the 
Tatler  sold  for  two  guineas  and  a  half. 
At  a  sale  a  few  weeks  since,  Rapin's 
History  in  folio,  the  two  first  volumes 
only  (instead  of  five),  sold  for  upward 
of  five  pounds !  I  charge  for  the  same 
from  ten  shillings  and  sixpence  to  one 
pound  ten  shillings.  I  sell  great  num- 
bers of  books  to  pawnbrokers,  who  sell 
them  out  of  their  windows  at  much 
higher  prices,  the  purchasers  believing 
that  they  were  buying  bargains,  and 
that  such  articles  have  been  pawned. 
And  it  is  not  only  books  that  pawn- 
brokers purchase,  but  various  other 
matters,  and  they  always  purchase  the 
worst  kind  of  every  article  they  sell.  I 
will  even  add,  that  many  shops  which 
are  called  pawnbrokers'  never  take  in 
any  pawn,  yet  can  live  by  selling  things 
which  are  supposed  to  be  kept  over  time. 


Quite  Professional. 

An  auctioneer,  speaking  to  a  horse- 
dealer  about  the  situation  of  an  estate 
he  was  going  to  sell,  in  a  level  neigh- 
borhood, said:  "The  country  is  ex- 
ceedingly beautiful,  and  I  do  so  admire 
a  rich  flat !  " 

"  So  do  I,  sir,"  replied  the  grinning 

jockey 

♦ 

Dutch  Tulip  Kania  of  the  Seventeenth 
Century 

Perhaps  the  earliest  existence  of 
that  fatal  love  of  speculation  so  ruinous 


568 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


to  tbe  credit  and  fortune  of  all  who 
press  it  to  hazardous  extent,  occurred 
in  1634,  viz.,  the  Tulip  Mania — one 
of  the  most  astonishing  of  commercial 
phenomena. 

In  the  year  named,  the  chief  cities 
of  the  Netherlands  engaged  in  a  traffic 
which  destroyed  commerce  and  encour- 
aged gambling,  which  enlisted  the 
greediness  of  the  rich  and  the  desire  of 
the  poor,  which  raised  the  value  of  a 
flower  to  infinitely  more  than  its  weight 
in  gold,  and  which  ended,  as  all  such 
concerns  have  ended,  in  wild  and 
wretched  despair.  The  many  were 
ruined;  the  few  were  enriched.  Bar- 
gains were  made  for  the  delivery  of 
autumn  roots,  and  when,  as  in  one 
case,  there  were  but  two  in  the  market, 
lordship  and  land,  torses  and  oxen, 
were  sold  to  pay  the  deficiency.  Con- 
tracts were  made,  and  thousands  of 
florins  paid  for  tulips  which  were  never 
seen  by  broker,  by  buyer,  or  by  seller. 
For  a  time,  as  usual,  all  won,  and  no 
one  lost.  Poor  persons  became  wealthy. 
High  and  low  traded  in  flowers ;  sump- 
tuous entertainments  confirmed  their 
bargains ;  notaries  grew  rich ;  and  even 
the  unimaginative  Hollander  fancied 
he  saw  a  sure  and  certain  prosperity 
before  him. 

People  of  all  professions  turned  their 
property  into  cash ;  houses  and  furni- 
ture were  offiered  at  ruinous  prices ;  the 
idea  spread  throughout  the  country 
that  the  passion  for  tulips  would  last 
forever ;  and  when  it  was  known  that 
foreigners  were  seized  with  the  fever,  it 
was  believed  that  the  wealth  of  the 
world  would  concentrate  on  the  shores 
of  the  Zuyder  Zee,  and  that  poverty 
would  become  a  tradition  in  Holland. 
That  they  were  honest  in  their  belief  is 
proved  by  the  price  they  paid.  Goods 
to  the  value  of  thousands  of  florins 
were  given  for  one  root ;  another  spe- 
cies commonly  fetched  two  thousand 
florins;  a  third  was  valued  at  a  new 
carriage,  two  gtay  horses,  and  a  com- 
plete harness ;    twelve   acres  of  land 


were  paid  for  a  fourth,  and  sixty  thou- 
sand florins  were  made  by  one  dealer 
in  a  few  weeks. 

Merchants  possessed  a  vast  or  limit- 
ed capital,  in  proportion  to  the  magni- 
tude or  insignificance  of  their  tulip 
roots.  Daughters  were  portioned  with 
a  few  ounces  magnificently,  and  noble- 
men of  the  highest  consideration  and 
family  importance  vested  their  posses- 
sions in  a  perishable  vegetable  that 
could  be  carried  in  a  teacup.  When 
the  bubble  burst,  and  the  roots  sud- 
denly fell  in  public  estimation,  abject 
poverty  stared  the  nation  in  the  face. 

The  panic  did  come  at  last.  Confi- 
dence vanished ;  contracts  were  void, 
defaulters  were  announced  in  every 
town  of  Holland ;  dreams  of  wealth 
were  dissipated ;  and  they  who,  a  week 
before,  rejoiced  in  the  possession  of  a 
few  tulips  which  would  have  realized 
a  princely  fortune,  looked  stupefied  and 
aghast  on  the  miserable  bulbs  before 
them,  valueless  in  themselves,  and  un- 
salable at  any  price.  To  parry  the 
blow,  the  tulip  merchants  held  public 
meetings,  and  made  pompous  speeches, 
in  which  they  proved  that  their  goods 
were  worth  as  much  as  ever,  and  that 
a  panic  was  absurd  and  unjust.  The 
speeches  produced  the  greatest  ap- 
plause, but  the  bulb  continued  value- 
less ;  and  though  actions  for  breach  of 
contract  were  threatened,  the  law  re- 
fused to  take  cognizance  of  gambling 
transactions. 


Merino-Sheep  Bubble. 

The  Sheep  Bubble  had  its  commence- 
ment in  the  year  1815  or  1816,  after 
the  treaty  of  Ghent,  and  at  a  period 
when  thousands  of  the  American  peo- 
ple were  actually  "  wool-mad  "  in  refer- 
ence to  the  huge  profits  that  were  then 
apparent,  prospectively,  in  manufactur- 
ing enterprises. 

In  the  summer  of  the  last-named  year 
(as  nearly  as  can  be  fixed  upon),  a  gen- 
tleman in  Boston  first  imported  some 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTUREa 


569 


half  a  dozen  sheep  from  one  of  the 
southern  provinces  of  Spain,  whose 
fleeces  were  of  the  finest  texture,  as  it 
was  said ;  and  such,  undoubtedly,  was 
the  fact,  though  the  sheep  were  so 
thoroughly  and  completely  imbedded 
in  tar,  and  every  other  offensive  article, 
upon  their  arrival  in  America,  that  it 
would  have  been  very  difficult  to  have 
proved  this  statement.  But  the  very 
offensive  appearance  of  the  sheep  seem- 
ed to  imbue  them  with  a  mysterious 
value,  that  rendered  them  doubly  at- 
tractive. 

It  was  contended  that  the  introduc- 
tion of  these  sheep  into  the  United  States 
would  enable  our  manufactories,  then 
in  their  infancy,  to  produce  broadcloths 
and  other  woollen  fabrics,  of  a  texture 
that  would  compete  with  England  and 
Europe.  Even  Mr.  Clay  was  consulted 
with  reference  to  the  sheep ;  and  he  at 
once  decided  that  they  were  exactly 
the  animals  that  were  wanted — some 
of  them  subsequently  finding  their  way 
to  Ashland. 

The  first  merino  sheep  sold  for  fifty 
dollars  the  head.  They  cost  just  one  dol- 
lar each  in  Andalusia  !  The  speculation 
was  too  profitable  to  stop  here ;  and, 
before  a  long  period  had  elapsed,  a 
small  fleet  sailed  on  a  sheep  adventure 
to  the  Mediterranean.  By  the  end  of 
the  year  1816  there  were  probably  one 
thousand  merino  sheep  in  the  Union, 
and  they  had  advanced  to  twelve  hun- 
dred dollars  the  head. 

Before  the  winter  of  that  year  had 
passed  away,  they  sold  for  fifteen  hun- 
dred dollars  the  head ;  and  a  lusty  and 
good-looking  buck  would  command  two 
thousand  dollars  at  sight.  Of  course, 
the  natural  Yankee  spirit  of  enterprise, 
and  the  love  of  the  "  almighty  dollar," 
were  equal  to  such  an  emergency  as 
this,  and  hundreds  of  "  merino  sheep  " 
soon  accumulated  in  the  Eastern 
States 

But,  in  the  course  of  the  year  1817, 
the  speculation,  in  consequence  of  the 
surplus  importation,  began  to  decline  5 


yet  it  steadily  and  rapidly  advanced 
throughout  the  western  country,  while 
Kentucky,  in  consequence  of  the  influ- 
ence of  Mr.  Clay's  opinions,  was  especi- 
ally benefited 

In  the  fall  of  1817,  what  was  then 
deemed  a  very  fine  merino  buck  and 
ewe  were  sold  to  a  gentleman  in  the 
western  country  for  the  sum  of  eight 
thousand  dollars;  and  even  that  was 
deemed  a  very  small  price  for  the  ani- 
mals 1  They  were  purchased  by  a  Mr. 
Samuel  Long,  a  house-builder  and  con- 
tractor, who  fia,ncied  he  had  by  the 
transaction  secured  an  immense  for- 
tune. Mr.  Long  had. become,  in  fact, 
really  roMd  with  the  merino  mania,  as 
the  following  authentic  anecdote  will 
show : 

There  resided,  at  this  time,  in  Lex- 
ington, Ky.,  and  but  a  short  distance 
from  Mr.  Clay's  villa  of  Ashland,  a 
wealthy  gentleman,  named  Samuel 
Trotter,  who  was,  in  fact,  the  money- 
king  of  Kentucky,  and  who,  to  a  very 
great  extent,  at  that  time,  controlled 
the  branch  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States.  He  had  two  sheep — a  buck  and 
an  ewe — and  Mr.  Long  was  very  anx- 
ious to  possess  them.  Mr.  L.  repeated- 
ly bantered  and  importuned  Mr.  Trot- 
ter, to  obtain  this  pair  of  sheep  from 
him,  but  without  success.  One  day, 
however,  the  latter  said  to  the  former : 

"  If  you  will  build  me  such  a  house, 
on  a  certain  lot  of  land,  as  I  shall  de- 
scribe, you  shall  have  the  merinos." 

"  Draw  your  plans  for  the  buildings," 
replied  Long,  instantly,  "and  let  me 
see  them ;  I  will  then  decide." 

The  plans  were  soon  after  submitted 
to  him,  and  Long  eagerly  accepted  the 
proposal,  and  forthwith  engaged  in  the 
undertaking.  He  built  for  Trotter  a 
four-story  brick  house,  about  fifty  feet 
by  seventy,  on  the  middle  of  an  acre  of 
land;  he  finished  it  in  the  most  ap- 
proved modem  style,  inclosed  it  with  a 
costly  fence,  and  finally  handed  it  over 
to  Trotter,  for  the  two  merino  sheep. 
The  establishment  must  have  cost,  at 


670 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


the  very  least,  fifteen  thousand  dollars. 
But,  alas !  A  long  while  before  this 
beautiful  and  costly  estate  was  fully 
completed,  the  price  of  merinos  de- 
clined gradually ;  and  six  months  had 
not  passed  away  before  they  would  not 
command  twenty  dollars  each,  even  in 
Kentucky.  Mr.  Long  was  thereafter  a 
wiser  but  a  poorer  man.  He  held  on 
to  this  pair  until  their  price  reached 
the  par  value  only  of  any  other  sheep ; 
and  then  he  absolutely  killed  this  buck 
and  ewe,  made  a  princely  barbecue, 
called  all  his  friends  to  the  feast,  and 
while  "  the  goblet  went  its  giddy 
rounds,"  he,  like  the  ruined  Venetian, 
thanked  God  that,  at  that  moment,  he 
was  not  worth  a  ducat  1 


Globe  Permits. 

"  Globe  permits "  were  among  the 
most  famous,  or  infamous,  of  the  proli- 
fic crop  of  financial  schemes  of  the 
"  Mushroom  Era."  This  fictitious  com- 
pany had  its  location  in  London,  and 
the  permits  which  it  issued  came  at 
last  to  be  currently  sold  for  sixty 
guineas  and  upward — though  they  were 
only  square  bits  of  card,  on  which  was 
the  impression  of  a  seal  in  wax,  having 
the  sign  of  the  Globe  Tavern.  A  bur- 
lesque upon  this  acme  of  madness  ap- 
peared as  an  advertisement  in  one  of 
the  journals  of  the  day,  in  which  it  was 
set  forth,  that  at  a  certain  fictitious 
place  on  the  following  Tuesday,  books 
would  be  opened  for  a  subscription  of 
two  millions,  for  the  invention  of  melt- 
ing down  sawdust  and  chips,  and  cast- 
ing them  into  clean  deal  boards  with- 
out knots.  From  morning  till  evening 
there  were  crowds  of  purchasers  for 
these  permits ;  and  such  was  the  wild 
confusion  of  the  multitude,  that  the 
permits  were  known  to  have  been  sold, 
at  the  same  moment,  ten  per  cent, 
higher  at  one  end  of  the  street  than 
the  other.  The  project  at  last  burst, 
and  left  hit  a  wreck  behind  ! 


Universal  Bed  and  Bolster  Mart. 

The  attention  of  all  persons  about 
to  marry — and  that  of  purchasers  in 
general— is  respectfully  directed  to  the 
"  Immense  stock  of  the  Universal  Bed 
and  Bolster  Mart,"  where  every  article 
is  warranted  for  three  weeks,  and  the 
money  returned  if  had  back  again. 
Houses  furnished  and  families  settled 
at  a  few  hours'  notice.  The  dining  ta- 
bles of  the  Bolster  Mart  are  especially 
adapted  to  the  cabins  of  ships,  for 
when  placed  near  a  fire  they  assume  a 
graceful  curl — sloping  from  the  side  to 
the  centre,  and  preventing  the  proba- 
bility of  plates  slipping  oflf  from  them. 
Captains  and  others  going  abroad,  and 
not  likely  to  come  back  again,  are  par- 
ticularly invited  to  purchase.  Every 
article  bought  at  the  great  bolster  con- 
cern is  invariably  warranted  to  stand 
until  the  legs  fall  oflf— in  any  climate. 
Persons  desirous  of  furniture  for  tem- 
porary purposes,  cannot  do  better  than 
to  resort  to  the  cheap  mart,  for  all  the 
goods  sold  there  are  particularly  adapt- 
ed to  those  who  have  an  idea  of  their 
establishments  being  broken  up  within 

a  short  period. 

> 

Auction  Sale  of  old  Fomiture,  etc., 

X^traordinary. 
An  auction  sale  of  very  old  and  rare 
furniture  is  stated  to  have  come  oflf 
lately  in  London,  including  several  ar- 
ticles which  every  one  supposed  would 
always  remain  as  heir-looms  in  the  na- 
tional family.  Among  the  articles  thus 
disposed  of  was  the  "  seat "  of  war. 
This  seat  had  been  very  much  knocked 
about,  and  had  scarcely  a  leg  to  stand 
upon.  "With  a  little  money,  however, 
judiciously  laid  out,  it  could  have 
been  put  into  repair  and  made  fit  for 
immediate  use.  It  was  offered  to  the 
French  Government  as  a  seat  the  best 
adapted  for  the  standing  army  in  Al- 
giers ;  and  with  a  little  French  polish, 
and  turning  the  seat  into  Morocco,  the 
article  would  last  for  years. 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


571 


The  Glass  of  Fashion — which  had 
lost  some  of  its  brilliancy  from  having 
been  so  frequently  looked  into — ^was 
also  "  put  up."  It  is  best  calculated 
for  those  persons  whose  evening's 
amusements  will  bear  the  morning's 
reflection,  as  every  object  viewed 
through  it  is  seen  in  a  new  light.  Old 
beaux  and  young  ladies,  residing  on 
the  shady  side  of  forty,  find  their  sil- 
ver well  laid  out  in  buying  the  glass 
of  fashion. 

The  identical  tapia  upon  which  have 
come  all  the  marriages  in  high  life  for 
the  last  fifty  years,  was  also  disposed 
of. 

It  was  hoped  that  the  pipe  of  peace 
would  likewise  be  offered,  but  it  was 
withheld  on  account  of  its  beiog 
smoked  just  at  that  time  by  two  well- 
known  parties. 

A  parcel  of  silver  spoons  which  had 
been  in  the  mouths  of  certain  individ- 
uals of  renown  when  they  were  bom, 
were  put  up,  and  excited  considerable 
competition  on  the  part  of  antiqua- 
rians, fortune-tellers,  and  the  like. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  the  cele- 
brated rod  of  iron  which  was  formerly 
used  in  England,  was  sent  over  from 
Ireland  expressly  for  this  sale,  and  the 
rule  which  Britannia  uses  in  ruling  the 
waves,  was  kindly  lent — not  disposed 
of — for  this  occasion. 


Old  ICartin,  the  Scotch  Auctioneer, 
among-  the  Ijan^uaeres. 

Old  William  Martin  was  for  a  long 
time  the  most  noted  auctioneer  in 
Edinburgh,  Scotland.  While  in  his 
auction  rooms,  Martin  was  full  of  anec- 
dote and  humor,  but  somewhat  fond 
of  laughing  at  his  own  jokes.  Being 
of  humble  origin,  he  was  rather  illiter- 
ate—at least  he  was  no  classical  scholar 
— and  perhaps  in  the  course  of  his  busi- 
ness he  frequently  sufiered  by  his  igno- 
rance of  the  dead  languages.  If  the 
book  he  was  about  to  sell  happened  to 
be  Greek,  his  usual  introduction  wie^. 


"  Here  comes  crawtaes,  or  whatever  else 
you  like  to  call  it,"  and  on  other  occa- 
sions, if  the  volume  happened  to  be  in 
a  more  modem  language,  but  the  title 
of  which  he  was  as  little  able  to  read,  he 
would  say  to  the  company,  after  a 
blundering  attempt,  *'  Gentlemen,  I  am 
rather  rusty  in  my  French,  but  were  it 
Hebrew,  ye  ken  I  would  be  quite  at 
hame ! " 

Martin,  however,  was  certainly  more 
"  at  hame  "  in  some  instances  than  he 
was  either  in  French,  Latin,  Greek,  or 
Hebrew.  On  one  occasion,  at  the  time 
Manfredo  was  performing  in  Edinburgh, 
Martin,  in  the  course  of  his  night's  la- 
bor, came  across  the  "  Life  of  Robinson 
Crusoe."  Holding  up  the  volume,  and 
pointing  to  the  picture  of  Robinson's 
man,  Friday,  he  exclaims,  *'  Weel,  gen- 
tlemen, what  will  ye  gie  me  for  my 
Man-Fredo? — worth  a  dozen  of  the 
Italian  land-louper,"  Manfredo,  who 
happened  to  be  present,  became  ex- 
ceedingly wroth  at  this  allusion  to 
him.  "Vat  do  you  say  about  Man- 
fredo !  Call  me  de  laud-loupeur  1 " 
Nothing  disconcerted  by  this  unex- 
pected attack,  Martin,  again  holding 
up  the  picture,  cried,  "  I'll  refer  to  the 
company,  if  my  Man-Fredo  is  no  worth 
a  dizen  o'  him  !  "  The  Italian  fumed 
and  fretted,  but,  amid  the  general 
laughter,  was  obliged  to  retire. 

Owing  to  ignorance,  he  sold  many 
valuable  Greek  and  Latin  books  for 
mere  trifles.  Sometimes,  when  at  a 
loss  to  read  the  title  of  a  Latin  or 
French  book,  he  would,  if  he  could 
find  a  young  student  near  him,  thrust 
the  book  before  him,  saying,  "Read 
that,  my  man ;  it's  sae  lang  since  I  was 
at  the  college,  I  hae  forgotten  a'  my 
Latin."  Having  one  night  made  even 
a  more  blundering  attempt  than  usual 
to  unriddle  the  title  of  a  French  book, 
a  young  dandy,  wishing  to  have  an- 
other laugh  at  Martin's  expense,  de- 
sired him  to  read  the  title  of  the  book 
again,  as  he  did  not  know  what  it  was 
about.      "Why,"    said   Martin,    "it's 


572 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


something  about  manners^  and  that's 
what  neither  you  nor  me  has  owre 
muckle  o'." 


"  Crack  Horses  "  at  Anction. 

"When  Mr.  Tattersall  has  any  very 
superior  horses  "  intrusted  to  his  care," 
especially  if  he  sees  some  of  the  noble- 
men or  other  gentry  of  the  realm 
around  him,  who  are  likely  to  "  bite," 
he  deviates  a  leetle  from  his  usual  disre- 
gard of  the  oily  vernacular  of  the  ham- 
mer, and  tries  his  hand  at  a  little  flat- 
tery of  those  persons,  trusting  to  the 
potent  effects  of  that  commodity  in 
procuring  some  better  "  biddings."  He 
knows  how  to  graciously  "  suit  the 
bridle  to  the  horse." 

"  There,  my  lords  and  gentlemen," 
he  will  exclaim  in  such  cases,  "  there  is 
a  chance  for  you.  You'll  never  get 
such  a  chance  again.  My  lord  duke,  I 
know  your  stud  is  unrivalled ;  but  this 
beautiful,  this  unequalled  mare  would 
be  an  honor  and  an  ornament  to  it. 
Do  you  say  three  hundred  and  fefty 
(he  always  substitutes  the  e  for  the  i  in 
pronouncing  the  words  '  fifty,'  '  thirty,' 
etc),  guineas  for  her  ? "  Three  hundred 
and  fifty  guineas  are  bid. 

"  Thank  you,  my  lord  duke,  I  admire 
your  taste.  She  possesses  rare  blood ; 
just  only  look  at  the  symmetry  of  her 
form ;  she  is  perfection  itself.  I  could, 
but  I  will  not,  dwell  on  her  matchless 
beauties — they  are  not  to  be  described. 
Only  three  hundred  and  frfty  guineas 
bid  for  her.  My  lord  duke,  she  will  be 
yours,  if  some  one  else  does  not — ^three 
hundred  and  scxty  guineas  are  bid  for 
her;  I  know  that  she  is  too  great  a 
prize  to  be  suffered  to  escape  at  such  a 
price.  Really,  my  lord  duke,  with  your 
lordship's  known  taste  and  skill  in 
horse-flesh,  I  should  be  sorry  if  you  al- 
lowed such  an  opportunity  of  proving 
that  you  possess  this  taste,  to  pass. 
Three  hundred  and  eighty  guineas  bid 
for  her;  thank  you  again,  my  lord 
duke ;  I'm  sure  you'll  not  repent  your 


bargain.  Does  any  one  say  more  for 
her  ?  Three  hundred  and  nenty  guineas 
are  bid.  You  see,  my  lord  duke,  your 
admiration  of  this  beautiful  and  excel- 
lent mare  is  not  peculiar.  She  will, 
positively,  adorn  your  stud,  as  she  did 
that  of  royalty,  when  she  belonged  to 
it.  Who  says  the  four  hundred  guineas  ? 
She's  just  a  going.  One  moment  long- 
er, and  off  she  goes.  Her  action,  my 
lord  duke,  is  beyond  all  praise ;  she 
has  no  vice ;  she  is  a  perfect  paragon 
in  every  way  you  can  take  her.  I  must 
knock  her  down,  my  lord  duke ;  but  I 
would  really  be  sorry  to  see  you  lose  so 
noble  and  charming  a  creature  for  the 
sake  of  ten  paltry  guineas.  Just  say  the 
four  hundred  guineas,  and  she  is  yours." 
"  Four  hundred.^'*  "  Thank  you  !  my 
lord  duke,  for  adopting  my  advice. 
I'm  sure  you'll  never  repent  your  bar- 
gain. Going — gone.  She  ia  yours,  my 
lord  duke." 


Pleasantries  of  Keese,  the  Book 
Auctioneer. 

The  question  has  been  propounded, 
"  Who  has  made  a  jest  in  a  New  York 
auction  room  since  the  hammer  of  John 
Keese  fell  for  the  last  time  ?  "  Keese  is 
remembered  by  the  trade  with  affec- 
tion. He  was  a  bright,  intelligent 
man,  and  an  estimable  member  of  so- 
ciety. Of  an  old  New  York  family,  he 
was  brought  up  to  the  book  trade  by 
one  of  the  Quaker  fraternity — the  Col- 
lins's — and  it  was  only  in  middle  life, 
after  various  experiments  in  business, 
that  he  became  an  auctioneer.  He  be- 
gan somewhere  about  the  year  1845 
with  a  sale  to  the  trade  in  a  large  back 
building  in  Broadway  near  Cortlandt 
street.  He  certainly  opened  proceed- 
ings with  an  excellent  entertainment 
of  oysters  and  champagne.  He  was  the 
life  of  the  company,  and  was  called 
upon,  of  course,  for  a  speech,  probably 
for  half  a  dozen.  One  of  his  good 
things,  toward  the  close,  is  worth  re- 
membering. It  particularly  pleased  the 
trade  at  the  time.    "  Gentlemen,"  said 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


673 


he,  in  allusion  to  the  entertainment, 
"  we  are  scattering  our  bread  upon  the 
waters,  and  we  expect  to  find  it  after 
many  days — buttered  ! " 

It  was  in  retail  sales,  however,  in  the 
small  change  of  the  auction  room,  that 
his  wit  appeared  to  the  most  advantage. 
No  catalogue  could  be  too  dull  for  his 
vivacity.  He  was  always  rapid,  and 
an  unwary  customer  would  be  decapi- 
tated by  his  quick  electric  jest  before 
he  felt  the  stroke.  The  following, 
among  other  things  of  the  kind  attrib- 
uted to  him,  will  give  some  notion  of 
his  pleasantries : 

"  Is  that  binding  calf?  "  asked  a  sus- 
picious customer.  "  Come  up,  my  good 
sir,  put  your  hand  on  it,  and  see  if  there 
is  any  fellow  feeling,"  was  the  ready 
reply.  A  person  one  evening  bad  a 
copy  of  "  Watts's  Hymns "  knocked 
down  to  him  for  a  trifle,  and  interrupt- 
ed the  business  of  the  clerk  by  calling 
for  its  "  delivery."  Keese,  finding  out 
the  cause  of  the  interference,  exclaim- 
ed, "  Oh,  give  the  gentleman  the  book. 
He  wants  to  learn  and  sing  one  of  the 
hymns  before  he  goes  to  bed  to- 
night I "  Apropos  of  this  time-honor- 
ed book,  in  selling  a  copy  on  another 
occasion,  when  there  was  some  rivalry 
in  the  profession,  he  turned  off  a  par- 
ody as  he  knocked  it  down : 

Blest  is  the  man  who  shuns  the  place 

Where  other  auctions  be  ; 
And  has  his  money  in  his  fist, 

And  buys  his  books  of  me. 

His  puns  were  usually  happy,  and 
slipped  in  adroitly.  Offering  one  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Hawks's  books,  he  added, 
in  an  explanatory  way,  "A  bird  of 
prey."  "  Going— going— gentlemen — 
one  shilling  for  Caroline  Fry — why,  it 
isn't  the  price  of  a  stewy  Selling  a 
book  labelled  "  History  of  the  Tatars," 
he  was  asked,  "Isn't  that  Tartars  1" 
"  No  ! "  he  replied ;  "  their  wives  were 
the  Tartars  I "  "  This,"  said  he  hold- 
ing up  a  volume  of  a  well-known  type 


to  critics,  "  is  a  book  by  a  poor  and 
pious  girl,  of  poor  and  pious  poems." 

No  one  could  better  introduce  a 
quotation.  Some  women  one  day 
found  their  way  into  the  auction  room 
to  a  miscellaneous  sale  of  furniture. 
They  were  excited  to  an  emulous  con- 
tention for  a  saucepan,  or  something  of 
the  sort.  Keese  gave  them  a  fair  chance 
with  a  final  appeal — "  Going,  going — 
'  the  woman  who  deliberates  is  lost ' — 
gone ! " 

Weatheringr  the  Storm  of  1828. 

For  a  long  series  of  years,  Samuel 
Slater,  of  Pawtucket,  experienced  un- 
interrupted prosperity  in  his  great 
manufacturing  enterprises,  his  posses- 
sions increasing  in  number  and  value 
with  incredible  rapidity.  The  war  of 
1813  placed  the  seal  upon  his  high 
destiny.  By  that  time  he  had  got  so 
far  under  way,  and  his  preparations 
were  so  complete,  others  stood  no 
chance  for  competition  with  him. 
Cotton  cloth  then  sold  for  forty  cents 
the  yard,  and  the  demand  had  no 
limits.  The  opinion  became  prevalent, 
that  such  was  his  wealth,  such  was  his 
general  prudence  and  sagacity,  and 
especially  that  such  were  his  talents  as 
a  financier,  no  business  disaster  could 
reach  him.  However,  in  the  great 
revulsion  of  1828,  among  manufac- 
turers, it  was  made  manifest  that  he 
was  the  sole  endorser  of  three  or  four 
large  establishments  among  the  unfortu- 
nate. Now,  for  the  first  time,  he  was 
known  to  make  his  own  business  a 
subject  of  conversation.  He  became 
seriously  alarmed  and  distressed;  not 
that  two  or  three  hundred  ^  thousand 
dollars,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
would  ruin  or  essentially  injure  him — 
but,  such  was  the  general  panic  in  the 
community,  and  among  the  moneyed 
institutions  of  the  country,  that  a 
man's  solvency  was  estimated  in  a 
ratio  transverse  to  the  amount  of  his 
property  connected  with  manufactur- 


674 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


ing.  But,  as  usual,  the  storm  subsided. 
The  frantic  delirium  of  the  occasion 
passed  off,  and  thousands  wondered 
how  they  could  have  been  such  fools 
as  to  have  participated  in  the  excite- 
ment. And  the  financial  ability  of  Mr. 
Slater  was  not  like  the  seamanship  of 
the  mariner  who  simply  makes  a  quick 
voyage  on  a  calm  ocean,  but  is  unable 
to  navigate  his  ship  in  a  violent  tem- 
pest ;  it  had  long  been  distinguished  for 
the  former,  and  was  now  proved  emi- 
nently sufficient  for  the  latter  exigency. 
Instead  of  experiencing  any  ultimate 
injury,  it  is  believed  he  was  greatly 
enriched  by  the  occasion. 


Scraps  of  Auction  Wit. 

It  is  rarely  that  even  that  intrepid 
class  of  men,  short-hand  writers,  under- 
take to  jot  down  an  auctioneer's  run  of 
words — especially  one  so  witty  as  was 
the  late  John  Keese.  Somebody,  how- 
ever, appears  to  have  performed  this 
feat,  and  has  rendered  the  readers  of 
Harper  the  peculiar  favor  of  serving 
up  a  few  samples  of  Keese's  inimitable 
spirit  when  under  the  inspiration  of 
"  the  hammer  "  : 

«  N'alf,  n'alf,  n'alf ;  three,  do  I  have  ? 
three,  three;  quarter,  did  you  say? 
Never  let  me  hear  an  Irishman  cry 
quarter.  N'alf,  n'alf;  knocked  down 
to  Maguire  at  three  dollars  and  a  half. 
Now,  gentleman,  give  me  a  bid  for 
*  Byron's  Works,'  London  edition,  full 
of  illustrations.  Two  dollars,  two, 
two ;  an  eighth,  eighth,  eighth ;  quar- 
ter, quarter,  quarter — the  man  that 
deliberates  is  lost.  Moffat,  at  two  dol- 
lars and  a  quarter.  The  next  thing, 
gentlemen,  is  '  The  Four  Last  Things, 
by  Dr.  Bates.'  Fifty  cents,  fifty— TTAai 
are  they  f  Bid  away,  gentlemen,  the 
book'U  tell  you  exactly  what  they  are : 
five  eighths,  five  eighths ;  five  and  six, 
five  and  six.  Chase  has  it,  at  five  and 
six.  'Stop!  thafs  my  UdJ  Too 
late,  Sir,  all  booked  to  Chase;  had 
such  a  confounded   short  name,  got 


it  right  down.  Start,  if  you  please, 
gentlemen,  on  '  Protestant  Discussions, 
by  Dr.  Cunomings,'  an  original  D.  D., — 
none  of  your  modem  fiddle-dee-dees : 
three  quarters,  quarters ;  seven  eighths ; 
do  I  have  seven  eighths  ? — yes,  it  is  all 
complete ;  a  perfect  book,  gentlemen ; 
wants  nothing  but  a  reader.  Dollar ; 
dollar,  n'eighth,  n'eighth.  Black  has 
it,  at  one  and  one  eighth.  Black  has  it, 
at  one  and  one  eighth.  Now,  gentlemen, 
I  offer  you  a  superb  'Prayer  Book,' 
Appleton's  edition,  best  morocco,  gilt 
all  over,  like  the  sinner ;  three  quar- 
ters, three  quarters,  quarters,  quarters — 
look  at  it,  gentlemen.  Here,  Sir,  let 
me  show  it  up  to  this  goodly  com- 
pany ;  you've  looked  at  it  many  a  time 
with  more  care  than  profit :  seven 
eighths;  dollar;  n'eighth;  quarter, 
quarter — large  print,  gentlemen;  good 
for  those  whose  eyes  are  weak  and 
whose  faith  is  strong;  remember 
your  grandmothers,  gentlemen — three 
eighths,  three  eighths.  Brown  has  it, 
at  one  and  three  eighths.  Now,  gen- 
tlemen, I  come  to  a  line  of  splendid 
illustrated  English  books.  Be  so 
kind  as  to  bid  for  '  Finden's  Beauties 
of  Moore,'  cloth  extra,  full  of  superb 
illustrations,  and  I've  how  much  bid 
for  this  ?  Start,  if  you  please ;  go  on. 
Two  dollars ;  and  a  half,  n'alf,  n'alf; 
three,  three;  n'alf,  n'alf;  four,  four, 
four.  These  are  all  English  books, 
printed  in  England,  bound  in  England, 
and  sacrificed  in  America ;  and  I  have 
only  four  dollars  for  this  superb  book — 
quarter,  quarter,  quarter,  and  this  goes 
to  the  great  Maguire  [at  that  time  Kos- 
suth was  being  called  everywhere  the 
great  Magyar],  at  four  dollars  and  a 
quarter.  'The  Gems  of  Beauty'  is 
the  next  book,  gentlemen.  This  is  a 
glowing  book,  beautiful  as  Venus,  and 
bound  by  Vulcan  in  his  best  days,  red 
morocco,  well  read  outside,  gentlemen, 
and  what  do  I  hear  for  that  ?  Fifty 
cents — horrible !  Two  dollars,  by  some 
gentleman  whose  feelings  are  outraged ; 
quarter,  quarter ;   half,  shall   I   say  ? 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


676 


Cash  has  it,  at  two  dollars  and  a  half. 
Now,  gentlemen,  for  the  '  Philosophical 
Works  of  John  Locke,'  best  edition, 
opened  by  John  Keese ;  start,  if  you 
please — go  on.  Dollar;  n'alf,  n'alf; 
three  quarters.  '  Bound  in  muslin  ?  ' 
Yes,  Sir ;  don't  you  respect  the  cloth  ? 
Seven  eighths,  seven  eighths;  two, 
two,  two ;  quarter,  quarter — brought 
three  dollars  the  other  day.  *  No,  it 
didn't  P  Well,  one  just  like  it  did. 
Moffat  takes  it,  at  two  dollars  and  a 
quarter.  Now  for  a  beautiful  Annual, 
gentlemen,  '  The  Ladies'  Diadem,' 
splendid  steel  engravings,  and  no  date, 
may  be  1855,  6,  7,  or  8.  Can't  tell ; 
they  publish  them  so  much  in  advance 
nowadays.  What  do  I  hear  ?  seventy- 
five,  seventy-five ;  new  book,  published 
in  England ;  dollar,  dollar ;  eighth,  do 
I  hear  ?  eighth ;  quarter ;  three  eighths, 
three  eighths  —  down.  What's  the 
name  ?  whose  bid  is  that  ?  Well,  just 
as  you  please ;  quarter,  quarter — that's 
your  bid.  Sir ;  'gainst  you  out  there ; 
three  eighths,  that's  yours.  Sir ;  what's 
the  name  ?  '  Pll  take  it ;  you  seem  to 
Je  very  anxious  to  sell  if  No,  Sir,  I'm 
not  on  the  anxious  bench ;  those  are 
the  anxious  seats  where  you  are.  I 
take  a  decided  stand  on  that ;  I  face 
the  whole  congregation.  Go  on,  if 
you  please.  The  next  book,  'Kirke 
White's  Remains,'  London  edition, 
with  splendid  portrait,  taken  from 
some  old  daguerreotype;  doUar,  dol- 
lar, dollar,  and  down  it  goes.  Who'll 
have  it?  Well,  start  it,  gentlemen. 
What  do  I  hear?  seventy-five  cents; 
seven  eighths,  seven  eighths ;  dollar  by 
all  the  house ;  n'eighth,  n'eighth.  Cash 
has  it,  at  a  dollar  and  one  eighth ; 
horrible !  I've  been  the  high  priest  of 
many  a  sacrifice.  Now,  gentlemen, 
who  wants  '  Ross's  last  Expedition ; ' 
went  to  the  poles,  and,  no  doubt,  voted 
twice.  Start,  if  you  please — go  on ; 
dollar,  did  you  say  ?  quarter,  quarter, 
quarter;  bidder  here,  half,  half" — and 
so  on  through  the  catalogue. 


Virttie  of  One-Found  Notes  in 
Stopping:  a  Bank  Bun. 

In  1825  that  vast  corporation,  the 
Bank  of  England,  narrowly  saved  it- 
self from  a  crash  that  would  have  been 
to  it  and  all  concerned  the  "  crack  of 
doom."  Mr.  Alexander  Baring  states 
that  the  gold  of  the  bank  was  drained 
to  within  a  very  few  thousand  pounds, 
— for,  although  the  published  returns 
showed  a  result  rather  less  scandalous, 
a  certain  Saturday  night  closed  with 
nothing  worth  mentioning  remaining! 
Gold  was  expected,  but  its  receipt  was 
subject  to  the  winds  and  the  waves. 
The  mercantile  barometer  was  at  the 
fever  point,  and  there  was  intense  anx- 
iety for  money. 

The  day  for  effecting  discounts  at 
the  bank  on  London  bills  was  one  full 
of  dramatic  scenes.  It  is  customary 
to  leave  them  the  day  before,  and  the 
answer  is  returned  on  Thursday.  The 
decision  is  usually  given  before  one 
o'clock,  at  the  latest.  Long  before 
that  hour  had  struck,  the  place  was 
besieged ;  and  when  at  last  the  expect- 
ed time  came,  notice  was  given  that 
the  answers  could  not  be  announced 
before  two.  Two  o'clock  arrived,  and 
the  anxiety  of  those  who  waited  was 
at  the  highest  pitch ;  and  then  another 
notice  was  given,  stating  that  a  further 
delay  must  take  place  till  half-past  two. 
During  the  whole  of  this  period  the 
directors  were  in  close  deliberation  in 
the  bank  parlor.  By  this  time  the 
assembly  was  immense ;  and,  when 
intimation  was  made  that  the  arrange- 
ments were  complete,  a  rush,  similar  to 
that  at  a  theatre,  was  made,  to  gain 
access  to  the  window  at  which  answers 
were  to  be  given.  The  confusion  was 
so  great  that  when  four  o'clock  arrived 
the  crowd  had  not  dispersed,  and  it 
actually  could  not  be  ascertained 
whether  the  bills  were  discounted,  or 
part  discounted,  or  rejected.  During 
the  ministration  of  the  clerk  at  the 
window  he  was  frequently  called  away 


676 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


to  receive  fresh  instructions.  So  great 
was  the  emergency,  that  the  principals 
of  some  of  the  first  mercantile  firms 
waited  in  person,  in  anxious  expectation, 
to  hear  their  fate.  The  directors  did 
all  in  their  power,  but  that  power  was 
limited.  The  confusion  spread.  The 
distress  continued  to  increase.  Trade 
was  at  a  stand.  The  labor  displayed 
in  the  bank  parlor  was  unceasing,  and 
the  labor  of  the  clerks  in  the  discount 
office  was  trebled.  The  counters  were 
besieged  ;  the  drain  of  notes  and  specie 
for  the  country  was  prodigious.  The 
bank  determined  to  pay  their  last 
guinea.  Fortunately,  on  the  last  day 
of  the  week,  the  tide  turned.  Reeling 
with  fatigue  and  exhaustion,  the  officers 
of  the  bank  were  able  to  call  out,  at 
last,  «  AU  is  well." 

The  incidental  mention  to  one  of  the 
directors  that  there  was  a  lox  of  one- 
pound  notes  ready  for  issue,  turned  the 
attention  of  the  authorities  to  the 
propriety  of  attempting  to  circulate 
them ;  and  the  memorable  declaration 
of  Mr.  Thornton,  in  1797,  probably  was 
called  to  mind,  that  it  was  the  want 
of  email  change,  not  a  necessity  for 
gold,  that  was  felt,  and  as  the  pressure 
on  the  country  banks  arose  from  the 
holders  of  the  small  notes,  it  was  sug- 
gested to  the  Government  that  the  pub- 
lic might,  perhaps,  receive  one-pound 
notes  in  place  of  sovereigns.  The 
Government  approved  of  the  idea,  and 
the  effect  was  electrical.  The  delight 
with  which  they  were  received  in  the 
country,  proved  that  the  want  of  a 
secure  small  currency  alone  was  felt ; 
and  that  the  notes  of  the  bank  were 
considered  eminently  safe,  is  proved 
from  the  fact  of  the  run  suddenly  stop- 
ping after  the  introduction  of  these 
small  bills.  In  Norwich,  the  Messrs. 
Gumey  staid  the  plague  by  merely 
placing  a  thick  pUe  of  one-pound 
notes  of  the  Bank  of  England  on  the 
counter. 

It  has  frequently  been  stated,  that 
by  a  mere  accident  the  box  of  one- 


pound  notes  was  discovered.  But  such 
was  not  the  case.  It  was  not  recol- 
lected by  the  officials  that  there  were 
any  one-pound  notes ;.  they  were  put 
by.  It  was  the  casual  observation  that 
there  were  such  things  in  the  house, 
which  suggested  to  the  directors  that 
it  would  be  possible  to  use  them — with 
what  result  was  soon  seen. 


Last  Sesort  for  Fetrolenixi  Companies. 

Some  time  ago  a  number  of  parties, 
being  attacked  with  the  oleaginous 
fever,  resolved  to  associate  themselves 
together  and  dig  for  oil  in  the  petro- 
leum country.  They  selected  a  site  in 
the  woods,  which  had  been  "  prospect- 
ed "  and  highly  recommended  by  one 
of  their  number  (about  six  miles  from 
a  raUroad  station  laid  down  on  the 
map,  but  not  yet  built),  and  having 
organized,  agreed  to  have  the  first  of  a 
series  of  proposed  wells  dug,  not  by 
contract,  as  was  usual,  but  by  day's 
work.  Having  procured  the  necessary 
tools,  including  a  compass  for  guidance 
in  the  woods,  the  work  was  duly  pro- 
ceeded with,  and  progress  from  time  to 
time  reported.  Calls  for  the  "  sinews  " 
were  also  made,  and  promptly  met,  xm- 
til  the  well  was  said  to  be  down  over 
one  hundred  feet,  with  a  good  show  for 
oil.  This  was  about  the  time  of  the 
"  Annual  Meeting,"  and  more  money 
being  called  for,  it  was  deemed  advisa- 
ble to  have  the  well  remeasured  and 
reported  on.  Judge  of  the  surprise  of 
the  stockholders  when,  to  use  the  lan- 
guage of  one  of  the  patriarchs  in  oil, 
the  force  of  the  oil  from  idow  had  shoved 
the  hole  up  to  eighty-six  feet !  Here  was 
a  stunner,  and  as  the  well  had  cost 
something  like  $400,  and  the  resources 
of  the  company  were  limited,  matters 
have  ever  since  remained  in  statu  quo. 

The  latest,  and  probably  the  most 
feasible  proposal,  is  to  have  the  balance 
of  the  hole  taken  up  and  cut  into  lengths 
for  pump  logs! 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


677 


Cieraxs  at  Public  Sale. 

There  was  a  public  sale  of  cigars  at 
the  auction  house  of  Messrs.  Flint,  in 
Front  street.  The  auctioneer  was  dwell- 
ing on  one  of  the  finest  lots  of  "  im- 
ported," and  according  to  custom  was 
passing  a  brand  among  the  company  to 
allow  those  who  saw  proper  to  judge 
of  the  quality  by  smoking.  Says  the 
narrator  of  this  :  A  man  near  me,  with 
a  florid  complexion,  curved  nose,  bright 
black  eyes,  and  withal  rather  a  respect- 
able representation  of  the  used-up  man 
of  the  world  who  had  not  abused  him- 
self much,  took  two  of  the  last  three ; 
the  remaining  one  being  handed  to  me. 
With  the  greatest  care  he  wrapped 
them  in  a  piece  of  paper,  and  placed 
them  in  the  watch  pocket  of  his  vest. 
I  inspected  the  one  I  took,  cut  off  the 
end,  and  was  about  reaching  for  a  light, 
when  a  hand  tapped  me  lightly  on  the 
shoulder.  Turning,  I  beheld  my  red- 
faced  Mend  smiling  very  graciously, 
and,  holding  out  his  hand,  he  asked, 
with  the  utmost  politeness : 

"  "Will  you  allow  me  to  hole  at  that 
cigar,  sir  ? " 

"  Certainly,  sir,"  I  replied,  handing 
it  to  him.  He  examined  it  very  mi- 
nutely, turning  it  over  and  over,  and 
placing  it  occasionally  to  his  nasal 
organ  by  way  of  variety.  When  my 
patience  was  nearly  exhausted,  and  I 
was  about  demanding  it  of  him,  he 
reached  for  a  candle,  placed  the  cigar 
complacently  between  his  lips,  and 
commenced  to  light  and  smoke  it  with 
the  greatest  expression  of  satisfaction  I 
ever  saw  pictured  on  a  countenance.  I 
must  confess  I  felt  somewhat  rufiied ; 
but  determined  to  show  him  that  I  did 
not  appreciate  his  "  good  joke,"  I  turn- 
ed my  back  to  him,  and  endeavored  to 
devote  my  attention  to  the  sale.  To 
my  astonishment  my  pleasant  neigh- 
bor again  touched  me  on  the  shoulder. 
I  met  his  gaze  with  anything  but  pleas- 
ure depicted  on  my  countenance. 

"Sir  I  "said  I. 
87 


He  smiled,  and,  looking  me  full  in 
the  face  all  the  time,  remarked,  with  a 
patronizing  air  that  made  me  almost 
feel  as  if  I  was  guilty  of  rudeness  to- 
ward him : 

"  A  very  fine  cigar,  sir.  I  haven't 
smoked  a  cigar  like  that  in  a  twelve- 
month, sir.  See  what  a  beautiful  ash  1 
If  I  was  luying  cigars,  that  would  be 
the  brand  for  me,  sir." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  I,  completely  floored. 
And  touching  his  hat  with  a  "  G-o-o-d 
morning,  sir,"  he  departed.  I  hastily 
inquired  of  several  who  he  was,  but 
none  knew  him  ;  and  as  we  cannot  tell 
how  soon  any  of  us  may  be  "  short "  in 
these  war  times,  I  forgive  him. 


Share  Sellers  and  Bope  Dancers. 

In  the  early  age  of  English  commer- 
cial manias,  some  of  the  most  unscrupu- 
lous and  most  successful  of  that  race 
of  stock  gamesters  were  men  in  sad- 
colored  clothes  and  lank  hair,  men  who 
called  cards  the  Devil's  books,  men 
who  thought  it  a  sin  and  a  scandal  to 
win  or  to  lose  twopence  over  a  back- 
gammon board.  It  was  in  the  last 
drama  of  the  famous  Shadwell  that 
the  hypocrisy  and  knavery  of  these 
speculators  were,  for  the  flrat  time,  ex- 
posed to  public  ridicule.  He  died  in 
November,  1692,  just  before  the  stock- 
jobbers came  upon  the  stage ;  and  the 
epilogue  was  spoken  by  an  actor  dress- 
ed in  deep  mourning.  The  best  scene 
is  that  in  which  four  or  fiVb  stem  non- 
conformists, clad  in  the  full  Puritan 
costume,  after  discussing  the  prospects 
of  the  Mousetrap  Company  and  the 
Fleakilling  Company,  examine  the  ques- 
tion whether  the  godly  may  lawfully 
hold  stock  in  a  company  for  bringing 
over  Chinese  rope-dancers. 

"  Considerable  men  have  shares,"  says 
one  austere  person  in  cropped  hair  and 
bands ;  "  but  verily  I  question  whether 
it  be  lawful  or  not." 

These  doubts  are  removed  by  a 
stout  old  Roundhead  colonel,  who  had 


678 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


fought  at  Marston  Moor,  and  who  re- 
minds his  weaker  brother  that  the 
saints  need  not  see  the  rope-dancing, 
and  that,  in  all  probability,  there  will 
be  no  rope-dancing  to  see. 

"  The  thing,"  he  says,  "  is  likely  to 
take;  the  shares  will  sell  well;  and 
then  we  shall  not  care  whether  the 
dancers  come  over  or  no." 


Bed  Herringrs  and  Dutch  Onions. 

V,  A  BTOBT  is  told  by  an  English  travel- 
ler, in  the  times  of  the  Dutch  tulip 
mania,  which  is  scarcely  less  ludicrous 
than  that  of  the  sailor  who,  taking  a 
walk  in  the  beautiful  garden  of  a  specu- 
lator ia  bulbs,  took  his  knife  to  the  pro- 
prietor's chief  treasure  in  the  shape  of 
a  tulip  root.    In  this  case,  the  proprie- 
tor was  a  merchant,  who  received  upon 
one  occasion  a  very  valuable  consign- 
ment of  merchandise  from  the  Levant. 
Intelligence  of  its  arrival  was  brought 
him  by  a  sailor,  who  presented  himself 
for  that  purpose  in  the  counting  house, 
among  bales  of  goods  of  every  descrip- 
tion.   The  merchant,  to  reward  him  for 
his  news,  munificently  made   him   a 
present  of  a  fine  red  herring  for  his 
breakfast.    The  sailor  had,  it  appears, 
the  usual  partiality  of  that  class  for 
herrings,  and  seeing  a  bulb  very  Uke 
an  onion  lying  upon  the  counter  of 
this  liberal  trader,  and  thinking  it,  no 
doubt,  very  much  out  of  its  place  among 
silks  and  velvets,  he  slyly  seized  an  op- 
portunity and  slipped  it  into  his  pock- 
et, as  a  relish  for  his  herring.    He  got 
clear  off  with  his  prize,  and  proceeded 
to  the  quay  to  eat  his  breakfast.    Hard- 
ly was  his  back  turned  when  the  mer- 
chant missed  his  valuable  Semper  Au- 
gmttis,  worth  three  thousand  florins,  or 
nearly  fifteen  hundred  dollars.     The 
whole  establishment  was  instantly  in 
an   uproar;    search    was   everywhere 
made  for  the  precious  root,  but  it  was 
not  to  be  found.     At  last  some  one 
thought  of  the  sailor. 
The  unhappy  merchant  sprang  into 


the  street  at  the  bare  suggestion.    His 
alarmed  household  followed  him.    The 
sailor,  simple  soul !   had  not  thought 
of  concealment.    He  was  found  quietly 
sitting  on  a  coil  of  ropes,  masticating 
the  last  morsel  of  his  "  onion."    Little 
did  he  dream  that  he  .had  been  eating 
a  breakfast  whose  cost  might  have  re- 
galed a  whole  ship's  crew  sumptuously 
for  a  twelvemonth ;  or,  as  the  plunder- 
ed   merchant    himself    expressed    it, 
"  might  have  sumptuously  feasted  the 
Prince  of  Orange  and  the  whole  court 
of  the  Stadtholder."    Cleopatra  caused 
pearls  to  be  dissolved  in  wine  to  drink 
the  health  of   Antony;    Sir  Richard 
Whittington  was  as  foolishly  magnifi- 
cent in  an  entertainment  to  King  Hen- 
ry the  Fifth ;  and  Sir  Thomas  Gresham 
drank  a  diamond,  dissolved  in  wine, 
to  the  health  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  when 
she  opened  the  Royal  Exchange;  but 
the  breakfast  of  this  roguish  Dutchman 
was  as  splendid  as  either.    He  had  an 
advantage,  too,  over  his  wasteful  prede- 
cessors ;  their  gems  did  not  improve  the 
taste  or  the  wholesomeness  of    their 
wine,  while  his  tulip  was  quite  delicious 
with  his  red  herring.    The  most  unfor- 
tunate part  of  the  business  for  him 
was,  that  he  remained  in  prison  some 
months,  on  a  charge  of  felony,  preferred 
against  him  by  the  merchant. 


Seasons  given  by  Thomas  H.  Perkins 
for  Decliitingr  a  Proposed  Coffee 
Speculation. 

An  instance  of  the  readiness  with 
which  that  eminent  merchant,  the  late 
Thomas  H.  Perkins,  of  Boston,  could 
sometimes  decide  on  the  advantages  to 
be  reasonably  expected  from  commer- 
cial operations  when  proposed,  will 
serve  to  show  the  extent  of  his  infor- 
mation, and  the  value  of  such  informa- 
tion in  enabling  those  who  engage  in 
commerce  to  act  with  clear  discern- 
ment, instead  of  trusting  to  blind  luck 
or  chance  in  speculation. 

The  particular  instance  referred  to 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


579 


was  this :  At  a  certain  period  the  price 
of  coflFee,  -which  for  a  long  time  pre- 
viously had  been  as  high  as  twenty-five 
cents,  had  declined  to  fifteen  cents  per 
pound,  and  Mr,  Perkins  being  in  Nevir 
York  for  a  day  or  two,  a  wish  was  ex- 
pressed by  a  certain  party  to  have  it 
suggested  to  him  that  the  temporary 
depression  having  made  it  a  fit  subject 
for  speculation,  there  was  an  oppor- 
tunity— should  he  be  disposed  to  en- 
gage in  it  on  the  extended  scale  of 
trade  to  which  he  was  accustomed — to 
secure  a  large  quantity  on  even  more 
advantageous  terms.  As  coffee  was  an 
article  out  of  the  line  of  his  usual  op- 
erations, and  not  likely  to  attract  his 
particular  attention,  the  subject  was 
mentioned  to  him  rather  for  entertain- 
ment, in  conversing  upon  the  occur- 
rences of  the  time  and  the  news  of  the 
day,  than  in  the  belief  that  he  would 
give  it  a  serious  thought. 

Without  hesitation,  and  -with  the 
ease  and  precision  of  an  able  lawyer  or 
surgeon  in  giving  an  opinion  on  any 
case  presented  to  either  of  them  pro- 
fessionally, he  answered  to  this  effect : 
"  The  depression  in  coffee  is  not '  tem- 
porary,' Whoever  makes  purchases  now 
at  fourteen,  or  even  at  thirteen  cents, 
will  find  that  he  has  made  a  mistake, 
unless  he  means  to  take  advantage  of 
any  transient  demand  to  dispose  of  it 
speedily.  There  are  more  coffee  trees 
now  in  bearing  than  are  sufficient  to 
supply  the  whole  world,  by  a  propor- 
tion that  I  could  state  with  some  pre- 
cision if  necessary.  The  decline  in 
price  is  owing  to  accumulation,  which 
will  be  found  to  increase,  particularly 
as  there  are  new  plantations  yet  to 
come  forward.  Coffee  will  eventually 
fall  to  ten  cents,  and  probably  ielow 
that,  and  will  remain  depressed  for 
some  years.  The  culture  of  it  will  be 
diminished.  Old  plantations  will  be 
sufl^red  to  die  out,  and  others  will,  in 
some  cases,  be  grubbed  up  that  the 
land  may  be  converted  to  new  uses. 
At  length,  the  plantations  will  be  found 


inadequate  to  the  supply  of  the  world. 
But  it  requires  five  or  six  years  for  the 
coffee  tree  to  reach  its  full  bearing. 
Time,  of  course,  will  be  required  for  the 
necessary  increase,  and  the  stocks  on 
hand  will  be  diminishing  in  the  mean 
time.  A  rise  must  follow.  Whoever  buys 
coffee  twelve  or  fifteen  years  hence  at  the 
market  price,  whatever  it  may  be,  will 
probably  find  it  rising  on  his  hands,  and 
fortunes  may  be  made,  unless  specula- 
tive movements  should  have  disturbed 
the  regular  course  of  events." 

With  so  clear  an  outline  for  the  fu- 
ture, it  was  interesting  to  observe  what 
followed.  Coffee  did  fall,  gradually,  to 
less  than  ten  cents,  and  remained  low. 
One  consequence,  usual  in  such  cases, 
ensued.  The  consumption  increased. 
Misled,  perhaps,  by  this,  and  an  im- 
patient desire  to  be  foremost  in  secur- 
ing advantages  which  by  that  time 
were  generally  foreseen,  parties  began 
to  move  in  a  speculative  spirit  about 
five  years  before  the  time  thus  indi- 
cated. They  made  great  purchases, 
and  large  quantities  were  held  in  ex- 
pectation of  profit.  Coffee  rose  con- 
siderably. Some  of  them  secured  a 
moderate  profit  while  they  could. 
Others  argued  that  as  coffee  had  been 
at  twenty-five  cents,  there  was  no  rea- 
son why  it  should  not  attain  that  price 
again,  and  determined  to  wait  for 
greater  profits.  The  stimulant  given 
to  the  demand  by  withholding  large 
quantities  from  sale  developed'  larger 
stocks  than  were  supposed  to  exist ;  the 
movement  was  found  to  be  premature, 
and  coffee  fell  again  in  price.  Immense 
sums  were  lost.  Bankruptcy  followed, 
with  many  a  heartache  that  might  have 
been  prevented  had  the  same  reasoning 
guided  the  action  of  those  thus  concern- 
ed as  that  which  governed  the  judgment 
of  Mr.  Perkins. 

Rise  and  Beminiscences  of  the  Trade- 
Sales. 

The  first  trade  sale  of  books  in  New 
York  was  held  at  the  old  Tontine  Cof- 


580 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


fee  House,  about  the  year  1805.  Ma- 
thew  Carey  and  other  leading  publish- 
ers of  the  day  had  borrowed  money  on 
the  security  of  some  of  their  surplus 
stock,  and,  not  being  able  to  meet  their 
obligations  on  maturity,  they  had  the 
books  sold  at  auction  by  one  Robert 
McMenamy.  The  trade  were  invited  by 
circular  to  be  present,  and  some  ac- 
tually came.  After  the  sale  there  was  a 
dinner,  at  which  there  was  much  wine- 
drinking  and  speech-making,  and  the 
auctioneer  received  his  notes  from  the 
buyers.  It  is  said  that  not  more  than 
half  of  them  were  ever  paid,  and  the 
unlucky  auctioneer  was  forced  to  fail. 
At  intervals  until  1826  similar  book 
auctions  were  held,  but  in  that  year 
P.  W.  Johnson  held  the  first  formal 
trade  sale  in  New  York,  in  a  house 
which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present 
United  States  Hotel  in  Fulton  street, 
fronting  the  ferry.  The  whole  cata- 
logue was  printed  on  a  sheet  of  letter 
paper,  and  the  sale  lasted  from  ten 
A.  M.  until  six  p.  M. 

Johnson  held  his  trade  sales  for  three 
or  four  years  subsequently  at  the  old 
Panorama  Sales  Rooms,  No.  157  Broad- 
way. The  rival  house  of  Wiggins  & 
Pearson  were  doing  business  at  No. 
169  Broadway,  and  held  a  trade  sale, 
the  catalogue  of  which  was  printed  on 
an  imperial  folio  sheet,  folded  in  12mo, 
But  Johnson  failed,  and  was  succeeded 
by  John  Doyle,  and  the  rival  concern 
followed  suit,  and  the  new  house  of 
Pearson  &  Gurley  hung  out  its  sign. 
Doyle  had  a  short  reign,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Peasley  &  Cowperthwaite. 
At  about  the  same  time,  G.  W.  Lord 
was  holding  trade  sales  on  his  own  ac- 
count ;  so  that  there  were  actually  three 
concerns  in  the  field  at  once.  In  the 
spring  of  1833  came  the  cholera,  and 
with  its  panic  a  crash  among  the  auc- 
tioneers. All  three  houses  failed,  but 
in  September  of  that  year,  J.  E.  Cooley 
held  a  trade  sale,  which  he  repeated 
annually  in  his  own  name  until  1838, 
when  he  retired,  and  placed  the  busi- 


ness in  the  hands  of  his  clerks,  who 
formed  a  copartnership  imder  the  style 
of  Bangs,  Richards  &  Piatt.  Mr.  Cooley 
went  to  Europe  for  several  years,  but  in 
1847  formed  the  house  of  Cooley,  Keese 
&  HiU,  with  which  he  remained  untU 
1850,  when  he  retired  from  business 
altogether.  Two  trade  sales  were  held 
simultaneously  in  the  city  from  1847  to 
1855,  when  trouble  arose  among  the 
trade  with  reference  to  the  practice  of 
duplicating  lots  over  and  above  the 
amount  offered  in  the  catalogue.  Bangs 
&  Company  were  then  the  official  auc- 
tioneers, but  the  controversy  waxed  so 
warm  between  the  Harpers  and  other 
leading  publishers,  that  the  American 
Publishers'  Association  was  formed,  the 
new  house  of  Geo.  A.  Leavitt  &  Com- 
pany was  organized  (the  principal 
partner  in  which  was  a  son-in-law  of 
Mr.  Cooley),  and  Bangs  Ss  Company 
were  deserted  by  all  except  Messrs.  Har- 
pers and  a  few  others.  The  result  was 
that  the  Harpers  sold  about  sixty  thou- 
sand dollars  of  their  own  publications 
at  Bangs's  sale,  while  the  young  house 
was  flooded  with  business.  In  the 
spring  and  fall  of  1856  they  are  said  to 
have  sold  nearly  four  million  three  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars'  worth  of  books. 


Sold  but  Calamitous  Speculation  of 
John  Guest. 

In  1800,  Mr.  John  Guest,  one  of  the 
most  upright  and  enterprising  mer- 
chants ever  resident  in  Philadelphia, 
established  the  largest  American  house 
in  Europe,  locating  the  chief  house  in 
London,  under  the  firm  of  John  Guest 
&  Co. ;  with  a  branch  in  Philadelphia? 
under  the  firm  of  Guest  &  Bancker; 
one  at  Baltimore,  under  the  firm  of 
Guest,  Atterbury  &  Co. ;  besides  others 
at  Charleston,  New  York,  Pitts- 
burg, &c. 

All  these  houses  became  embarraseed 
about  the  year  1810,  owing  to  a  bold 
and  laudable  speculation,  founded 
upon   information  derived   from   the 


CHANCE  DEALINGS  AND  VENTURES. 


581 


American  minister,  Mr.  Pinckney,  then 
residing  in  London.  In  anticipation 
of  a  war  between  America  and  Eng- 
land, Mr.  Guest  made  large  purchases 
of  drygoods  in  England,  Ireland,  and 
Scotland,  and  shipped  the  chief  part 
of  them  to  the  house  in  Philadelphia, 
when,  very  unexpectedly,  the  affairs 
between  England  and  America  took  a 
favorable,  pacific  turn,  and  the  news 
was  received  at  Annapolis  by  the  arri- 
val of  a  British  vessel  called  the  Bram- 
ble, stating  the  fact,  and  causing  all 
European  goods  to  fall,  even  below 
their  real  value  and  cost  of  importa- 
tion. A  large  portion  of  these  im- 
mense importations  were  hypothecated, 
and  placed  in  the  stores  of  Willing  & 
Francis,  as  the  agents  of  David  Par- 
rish,  and  a  slight  effort  made  to  sustain 
the  London  house ;  goods  still  fell  in 
price,  and  were  greatly  sacrificed  as  the 
time  for  their  redemption  arrived.  All 
hopes  of  upholding  the  concern  were 
now  abandoned,  and  the  several  firms 
closed,  yielding  up  to  the  London 
house  enough  to  pay  the  English  cred- 
itors something  less  than  a  dividend  of 
twenty-five  per  cent.  The  partner  in 
Philadelphia  had  taken  care  to  pay  all 
the  American  creditors  in  full. 

But  the  predicted  war  did  take  place, 
soon  after — in  1812 — and  all  that  Mr. 
Pinckney  promised  was  fulfilled.  Dur- 
ing the  embargo  between  the  two  coun- 
tries goods  advanced,  but  now  they 
rose  to  extreme  high  prices ;  and  if  all 
the  goods  sacrificed  by  the  different 
firms  could  have  been  retained  until 
the  period  in  question,  it  is  believed 
that,  after  securing  the  payment  of  the 
interest  to  the  English  loan  creditors 
(there  were  no  others),  John  Guest  & 
Co.  would  have  realized,  after  paying 
twenty  shillings  on  the  pound  to  all 
their  creditors,  almost  millions  of  dol- 
lars, to  be  distributed  among  the  differ- 
ent co-partners. 

Mr.  Guest  was  one  of  the  great  pio- 
neers of  the  trade  of  Philadelphia ;  his 
enterprise  and  perseverance  paved  the 


way,  half  a  century  since,  for  the  great 
business  she  now  enjoys.  No  other 
American,  in  his  time,  obtained  so  ex- 
tensive a  credit  in  England ;  and  no 
other  commercial  house  ever  carried  on 
business  upon  so  large  a  scale.  His 
failure  to  reach  the  highest  pinnacle  of 
commercial  success  was  owing  simply 
to  a  difference  in  a  few  months  of  time, 
founded  upon  an  almost  certain  con- 
catenation of  events,  which  did  take 
place,  as  his  friend,  Mr.  Pinckney,  had 

predicted. 

> 

Mlssinsr  a  Good  Chance. 

A  SINGLE  act  of  a  man's  life  may 
make  him  remarkable,  if  not  eminent, 
and  may  tend  to  complete  the  history 
of  a  country  and  people  in  their  rapid 
strides  of  improvement.  The  follow- 
ing anecdote  will  illustrate  the  prin- 
ciple : 

Anthony  Duch6,  a  French  refugee, 
came  over  with  his  wife  to  Pennsylva- 
nia, in  the  same  ship  with  William 
Penn,  who  had  borrowed  the  small 
sum  of  about  thirty  pounds  from  him. 
After  the  arrival,  Penn  offered  him,  in 
lieu  of  the  return  of  the  money,  "a 
good  bargain,"  as  he  said — a  square  of 
ground  between  Third  and  Fourth 
streets,  Philadelphia,  with  only  the 
exception  of  the  burial  ground  occu- 
pied by  Friends  on  Mulberry  and 
Fourth  street.  It  was  first  offered  to 
Thomas  Lloyd,  whose  wife  was  the  first 
person  buried  there.  The  proprietor, 
Mr.  Penn,  observing  that  he  knew  the 
lot  was  cheap,  but  that  he  had  a  mind 
to  favor  him,  in  return  for  his  kind- 
ness, Mr.  Duch6  replied, 

"  You  are  very  good,  Mr.  Penn,  and 
the  offer  might  prove  advantageous, 
but  the  money  would  suit  me  better." 

"  Blockhead  1 "  rejoined  the  proprie- 
tor, provoked  at  such  an  intended 
benefit  being  overlooked ;  "  Well,  well, 
thou  shalt  have  thy  money ;  but  canst 
thou  not  see  that  this  will  be  a  great 
city  in  a  very  short  time  ? " 


582 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


"  So  I  was  paid,"  said  Duch6,  who 
told  the  story,  "  and  have  ever  since 
repented  my  own  folly." 


Foundation  of  the  Friendship  between 
Coates  and  Qirard. 

Samuel  Coates,  of  Philadelphia, 
reckoned  three  remarkable  men  among 
his  particular  friends— Dr.  Rush,  Ste- 
phen Girard,  and  Dr.  Physick.  With 
Mr.  Girard  his  friendship  was  some- 
what peculiar,  Girard  being,  at  the 
time  of  its  commencement,  a  very  ac- 
tive philanthropist,  in  connection  with 
the  yellow  fever  and  the  hospital.  It 
was  easy  for  those  who  could  afford  it, 
to  give  money  to  the  distressed  and 
forsaken ;  but  a  much  more  formidable 
difficulty  was  to  obtain  competent  per- 
sons, or,  in  fact,  any  persons  at  all,  to 
risk,  as  it  was  then  universally  be- 
lieved, their  lives.  Many  of  the  sick 
suffered  most  shockingly  by  neglect, 
from  the  dread  of  contagion ;  and  the 
feeling  in  regard  to  service  in  wards  of 
yellow  fever  patients,  amounted  to  hor- 
ror. Stephen  Girard  and  John  Connel- 
ly were,  at  some  intervals,  the  only 
nurses  in  the  calamitous  yellow  fever 


hospital  of  1793.  They  spent  their 
whole  time  in  the  building,  attended 
the  sick  personally,  fed  them,  adminis- 
tered medicine  to  them,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  gave  all  practicable  assist- 
ance and  advice — and  this  was  much — 
to  the  external  members  of  the  commit- 
tee of  public  safety,  who  were  obliged 
to  volunteer  on  this  melancholy  service. 
In  the  frequent  intercourse  thus  occa- 
sioned between  them,  near  the  beds  of 
their  sick  and  dying  neighbors,  their 
friendship  was  first  cemented.  At  a 
later  period,  the  attention  of  the  great 
merchant  could  not  be  withheld  from  a 
director  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States;  and  the  probity  with  which 
both  that  institution,  and  the  private 
affairs  of  his  new  friend  were  conduct- 
ed, was  exactly  adapted,  as  is  well 
known,  to  confirm  the  respect  and  es- 
teem of  such  a  man  as  Girard.  The 
Pennsylvania  hospital  was  in  want  of 
funds;  and  Girard,  who  had  freely 
exposed  his  life  to  what  was  deemed 
the  most  imminent  and  appalling  dan- 
ger, now  contributed  liberally  in  money 
also.  The  conversations  which  took 
place  on  the  occasions  when  these  aids 
were  solicited,  gave  rise  to  many  inci- 
dents and  scenes  of  humor. 


PART  ELEVENTH. 


ANECDOTEa  OF  Ounious  Tmades  and  Objects  of 

Traffic. 


PAET   ELEYENTK 
Anecdotes  of  Curious  Trades  and  Objects  of  Traffic. 

HOTEL  BUSINESS  TRANSACTIONS ;    BUYING,   SELLING,   BARTERING,  AND  SHOPKEEPINO,  CHAEAO- 
TERI8TIC   OF  DIFFERENT   COUNTRIES;    RUSES,   JEUX  D'eSPRITS,   AND  DROLLERIES. 


There  is  no  man  who  is  not  In  some  degree  a  merchant ;  who  has  not  something  to  huy  or  some- 
thing  to  sell. — Saucel  Johnson. 

Without  mounting  by  degrees,  a  man  cannot  attain  to  high  things. — Sidnet. 

A  single  farthing  is  the  scmina  of  wealth— the  seed  of  a  golden  progeny.— Anok. 
Then  let  us  heat  this  ample  field, 
Try  what  the  open,  what  the  covert,  yield.- Pope. 

How  many  things  there  are  in  this  world,  of  which  Diogenes  hath  no  need  I — Izaak  Waltoh. 
In  gospel  phrase,  their  chapmen  they  betray. 
Their  shops  are  dens,  the  buyer  is  their  prey.— Drtdkn, 


Before  and  Behind  the  Counter. 

Every  object  or  article  purchased  in 
a  Roman  shop,  by  an  English  or  Amer- 
ican customer,  is  rated  at  very  nearly 
double  its  value;  and  the  universal 
custom  there,  even  among  the  people 
themselves,  is  to  carry  on  a  haggling 
market  of  aggression  on  the  part  of  the 
purchaser,  and  defence  on  that  of  the 
vender,  which  is  often  as  comical  as  it 
is  disgusting. 

In  Nataletti's  shop,  a  scene  is  de- 
scribed as  having  some  time  since  oc- 
curred between  the  salesman  and  a  lady 
purchaser,  which  would  doubtless  have 
amazed  the  parties  behind  and  before 
the  counters  of  Howell  &  James,  Stew- 
art, etc.  The  lady,  after  choosing  her 
stuff  and  the  quantity  she  required, 
was  observed  to  begin  a  regular  attack 
upon  the  shopman ;  it  was  mezza  voce, 
indeed,  but  continuous,  eager,  vehe- 
ment, pressing,  overpowering,  to  a 
degree  indescribable— and  the  luckless 
man  having  come  for  a  moment  firom 


behind  the  shelter  of  his  long  table,  the 
lady  smartly  seized  him  by  the  arm, 
and  holding  him  &st,  argued  her  point 
with  increasing  warmth.  She  next 
caught  hold  of  the  breast  of  his  coat, 
her  face  within  a  few  inches  of  his, 
and  the  amazonian  stream  still  pouring 
forth.  Her  husband  meanwhile  stood 
by  and  smiled  approvingly  at  the  thrif- 
ty and  eloquent  vocabulary  of  his  wife. 
The  shopman  looked  disgusted. 

Going  into  Gayiati's,  in  the  Corso — 
the  great  omnium  gatherum,  or  variety 
store — for  a  morning's  shopping,  an 
English  visitor  says  that  he  noticed 
first  an  attempt  to  cheat  a  lady,  in 
giving  change  for  gold.  Looking  at 
some  fans  which  were  being  shown  to 
an  Italian  purchaser  at  the  same  time, 
the  visitor  took  up  one,  which  the 
shopkeeper  said  was  worth  eighteen 
scudi — the  Roman  buyer  took  up  an- 
other, which  had  been  shown  the  Eng- 
lish visitor  at  the  same  price,  and  with 
sundry  "  nods  and  becks  and  wreathed 
smiles"  at   the  shopman,  said  in  an 


586 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


under  tone,  "  Dunque  quindici  ?  "  The 
latter  nodded,  returned  the  significant 
pantomine,  and  added,  "  Eh  1  capite." 


Traits  of  the  Shop  in  Havana. 

The  stores  in  Havana  are  designated 
by  different  names,  which,  however, 
have  no  reference  to  their  contents — 
as,  "  The  Bomb,"  a  favorite  one ;  "  The 
Stranger;"  "Virtue;"  etc.,  but  the 
name  of  the  owner  never  appears  on 
the  signboard.  The  principal  com- 
mercial houses  have  neither  sign  nor 
name,  and  can  only  be  distinguised 
from  the  larger  private  dwellings,  by 
the  bales  of  goods,  or  boxes  of  sugar 
and  bags  of  coffee,  that  are  piled  up  in 
their  lower  stories ;  the  merchant  and 
his  family,  and  clerks,  living  in  the  up- 
per part. 

Nearly  all  the  retail  shops  are  owned 
by  Spaniards ;  and,  with  very  few  ex- 
ceptions, none  but  men  are  seen  behind 
the  counters.  The  Parisian  shop  girl, 
so  celebrated  for  her  skill  in  selling, 
might,  however,  here  learn  a  lesson,  not 
only  in  overcharging,  but  also  in  that 
assiduity  in  serving,  that  will  scarcely 
permit  the  visitor  to  leave  without  pur- 
chasing something.  Let  the  novice 
take  care  how  he  offers  one  half  the 
price  asked  for  an  article,  if  he  does 
not  wish  it,  for  that,  not  unfrequently, 
is  its  real  one ;  in  almost  every  case, 
one  fourth  will  be  deducted. 

"  How  much  for  this  xippee-xappee 
(hippe  happe,)  ?  "  inquires  a  customer 
at  the  hat  merchant's.  "  Twelve  dol- 
lars," "  I  will  give  you  six."  "  Say 
eight?"  "Only  six."  "It  is  a  very 
fine  one,  senor,  take  it  for  seven ; "  and 
finding  that  to  be  about  its  value,  the 
bargain  is  closed.  "You. shall  have 
this  cane  for  a  dollar,"  said  a  Catalan 
to  a  gentleman  who  was  examining  his 
various  articles  spread  out  under  one 
of  the  arcades ;  the  gentleman  not  wish- 
ing to  buy  it,  offered  two  rials,  and  it 
was  handed  to  him,  the  latter  giving 
the  trader  two  reales  sevillanas,  but  he 


insisted  on  fuertes,  and  the  cane  was 
bought  for  one  fourth  the  price  asked. 
The  ladies,  in  shopping,  do  not,  in 
general,  leave  their  volantes,  but  have 
the  goods  brought  to  them, — ^the  strict- 
ness of  Spanish  etiquette  forbidding 
such  dainty  mortals  to  deal  with  a 
shopman ;  and  it  is  only  when  the  seller 
of  goods  happens  to  be  of  their  own 
sex,  that  they  venture  into  a  store. 


Sad  Operation  in  Leather. 

Deacon  Johnson  was  in  the  shoe 
business  in  a  certain  village,  and  on 
one  occasion  he  bought  a  large  lot  of 
leather  of  a  dealer,  larger  than  he  need- 
ed, and  more  than  he  would  have 
bought  but  for  the  fact  that  the  seller 
was  hard  pressed,  and  let  him  have  it 
at  a  little  reduction.  The  deacon 
stored  it  in  his  bam,  and  "  calculated  " 
that  the  price  would  rise  and  that  he 
should  make  a  good  spec  out  of  it. 
But  just  then  the  panic  and  the  hard 
times  came  on,  and  leather,  like  every- 
thing else,  went  down  flat.  After  a 
while,  the  deacon  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  he  should  have  to  wait  a  long 
time  for  the  price  to  come  up  so  as  to 
enable  him  to  get  his  money  back. 
One  night  his  wife  waked  him  out  of 
a  sound  sleep,  and  told  him  that  she 
heard  a  noise  in  the  bam,  and  she  was 
sure  that  thieves  were  there,  stealing 
his  leather.  It  took  her  some  time  to 
rouse  him  enough  to  understand  what 
was  to  pay ;  and  when  he  did,  he 
growled  out :  "  Well,  if  it  falls  on  fheir 
hands  as  it  has  on  mine,  they'll  wish 
they  had  let  it  alone." 


Uengin,  the  French  Pencil  Seller. 

The  most  celebrated  and  the  most 
successful  charlatan  of  Paris  was  Men- 
gin,  the  itinerant  pencil  seller.  He 
lately  died,  leaving  behind  him  a  for- 
tune of  some  four  hundred  thousand 
dollars. 

Ko  one  can  have  passed  many  days 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


687 


in  Paris,  within  the  last  ten  years,  with- 
out having  observed,  on  the  Place  de  la 
Bourse,  the  Place  du  Chatelet,  or  some 
other  open  space,  the  conspicuous  fig- 
ure of  a  tall,  handsome  man,  with  a 
brass  helmet  and  plumes,  and  a  beard 
— the  very  model  of  that  of  Hudibras, 
"  in  shape  and  hue  most  like  a  tile  " — 
standing  on  the  box  of  a  light  cart,  and 
haranguing  a  crowd.  He  wore  a  costly 
mantle  of  green  velvet  embroidered 
with  gold,  and  on  the  fingers  of  his 
white  hands  were  many  rings  of  great 
price.  Behind  him  was  a  squire,  who 
from  time  to  time  blew  a  trumpet 
to  attract  public  attention,  and  whose 
garments  were  only  less  splendid  than 
those  of  his  master.  The  only  end  or 
aim  of  all  this  pomp  an^  circumstance 
was  the  sale  of  lead  pencils  at  two  sous 
apiece. 

Mengin  possessed  in  a  high  degree 
the  art  of  commanding  the  attention 
of  his  audience.  The  laughs  he  raised 
were  rare,  but  his  face  was  full  of  prom- 
ise of  something  good  coming,  and 
thus  he  kept  alive  curiosity. 

Though  his  speeches  occupied  a  con- 
siderable time  in  the  delivery,  he  was 
essentially  a  man  of  few  words.  He 
made  long  pauses,  which  were  filled  up 
by  pantomime,  and  making  grotesque 
sketches  on  a  slate,  to  exhibit  to  his 
audience  the  superior  quality  of  his 
peijcils. 

The  substance  of  every  one  of  his 
discourses  was,  that  he  had  originally 
set  up  in  a  quiet  shop,  but  finding  that 
he  could  not  get  a  living  in  it,  he  had 
resolved  to  become  a  quack,  and  that 
from  the  hour  of  his  taking  that  reso- 
lution he  had  done  well. 

"  Why,"  he  would  say,  "  do  I  rig  my- 
self up  in  this  ludicrous  costume  ?  I 
will  tell  you  candidly.  Because,  going 
about  in  this  dress  I  sell  a  great  many 
pencils ;  and  if  I  staid  at  home  in  a 
warehouse  coat,  I  should  sell  very  few. 
I  am  a  quack,  I  admit,  but  I  am  an 
honest  one,  for  I  sell  a  good  article ; 
and  if  you  want  a    pencil,  I  doubt 


whether  you  wiU  get  as  good  a  one 
anywhere  else  for  the  money." 

The  speech  was  always  followed  by 
numerous  demands,  which  he  supplied, 
from  cases  packed  in  the  cart.  In 
course  of  time  he  was  wont  to  speak 
of  the  large  fortune  he  had  made,  and 
he  would  not  unfrequently  turn  out  the 
contents  of  several  rouleaux  of  gold,  and 
count  them  in  the  public  view. 


Fortu^tiese  diamond  SEerchant's  Bar- 
grain  with  Philip  the  Second. 

A  Portuguese  merchant  brought 
an  exceedingly  brilliant  diamond  to 
court  one  day,  about  which  all  the 
courtiers  were  in  ecstasies,  but  which 
the  king,  being  accustomed  to  rare 
things,  did  not  so  much  extol.  "  Well," 
said  his  majesty,  addressing  the  mer- 
chant, '*  what  would  you  ask  a  gentle- 
man for  this  diamond,  if  one  took  a 
fancy  to  it  ? "  "  Sire,"  answered  the 
dealer,  "  seventy  thousand  ducats,  the 
price  which  I  gave  for  this  offspring  of 
the  sun."  "  Why  did  you  give  so  much 
money?  who  did  you  suppose  would 
purchase  it  ? "  inquired  the  king.  "  I 
knew,"  replied  the  shrewd  merchant, 
"  that  there  was  a  Philip  the  Second  in 
the  world."  The  reply  of  the  flatterer 
pleased  King  Philip  more  than  the 
beauty  of  the  diamond,  and  he  imme- 
diately ordered  that  great  sum  to  be 
paid  the  merchant,  with  a  royal  gift  in 
addition. 


Sngrlish  Idol  Manufacturers. 

It  is  a  curious  and  not  very  flattering 
fact  that  Christian  manufacturers,  in  the 
foremost  Christian  land,  should  be  en- 
gaged in  producing  objects  of  idolatry 
with  which  to  supply  heathen  coun- 
tries. Alluding  to  this  description  of 
English  trade,  the  editor  of  Punch  has 
a  few  telling  paragraphs — not  "  found- 
ed upon,"  but  all  fact :  Having  learned 
from  the  "  Record  "  (says  Punch,)  that 
a  very  brisk  manufiicture  of  Hindoo 


588 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


idols  is  carried  on  by  a  most  respect- 
able and  orthodox  house  at  Birming- 
ham, we  have,  though,  we  confess  it, 
with  some  difficulty,  obtained  a  list  of 
the  articles.  The  bill  we  have  had 
duly  translated  from  Hindostanee  : 

Yamen — Ood  of  Death :  In  fine  cop- 
per ;  very  tasteful. 

NiROND — King  of  the  Demons :  In 
great  variety.  The  giant  he  rides  is 
of  the  boldest  design,  and  his  sabre  of 
the  present  style. 

VAROiirNiN — God  of  the  Sun:  Very 
spirited.  Crocodile  in  brass,  and  whip 
in  silver. 

Canbeeen — God  of  Wealth:  This 
god  is  of  the  most  exquisite  workman- 
ship ;  having  stimulated  the  best  pow- 
ers of  the  manufacturers. 

Smaller  Demi-Gods  and  Minor 
Demons  in  every  variety. 

iVb  Credit;  a,nd. Dicounta allowed  for 
Beady  Money. 


Eastern  Trade  in  Ostrlcb  and  Bird-of- 
Paradise  Feathers. 

Leghorn,  after  the  decline  of  its 
commerce  with  the  Levant,  remained 
the  great  entrepot  of  ostrich  feathers, 
and  did  business  in  that  article  to  the 
amount  of  about  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  annually.  Now,  however,  Lon- 
don is  the  principal  centre  of  that 
curious  trade.  Seven  eighths  of  the  os- 
trich feathers  which  Leghorn  receives 
come  from  Egypt,  and  the  rest  from 
Tripoli  and  Aleppo.  About  three 
fourths  of  the  whole  are  sent  to  Paris, 
and  the  other  one  fourth  to  England. 

White  feathers  are  worth  from  five 
to  twenty  times  more  than  the  black 
ones.  All  feathers,  white  and  black, 
are  sold  by  weight,  except  however, 
the  very  finest  sorts,  which  are  disposed 
of  according  to  quality.  The  price  of 
white  feathers  varies  from  one  hundred 
and  fifty  to  three  hundred  francs  the 
Tuscan  pound — nearly  twelve  ounces ; 
and  of  black,  from  thirty  to  eighty-five 
francs. 


This  trade  in  ostrich  feathers  requires 
a  good  deal  of  experience,  as  it  is  easy 
to  be  deceived  in  the  quality  when 
they  are  not  prepared.  Four  or  five 
houses  alone  are  engaged  in  the  trade 
at  Leghorn,  and  their  profits  are  large. 
The  dealers  at  Paris  are  beginning  to 
obtain  from  London  the  ostrich  feathers 
which  the  latter  get  from  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.  They  already  procure 
from  that  city  marabout  and  bird-of- 
paradise  feathers  which  come  from  Cal- 
cutta, and  vulture  and  heron  feathers 
which  come  from  Brazil. 


Tra£S.c  in  Beautiful  Circassian  Girls. 

The  traffic  in  Circassian  girls,  in 
Turkey,  has  long  been  a  regular  trade. 
Perceiving  that  when  the  Russians 
shall  have  reoccupied  the  Caucasus, 
this  traffic  in  girls  would  be  over,  the 
Circassian  dealers  redoubled  their  ef- 
forts to  introduce  into  Turkey  the 
greatest  possible  number  of  them,  while 
the  opportunity  lasted.  Such  success 
attended  this  movement,  that  the  "  ar- 
ticle "  was  greatly  reduced  in  price,  be- 
yond any  former  period.  So  extensive 
was  the  supply,  and  such  a  glut  in  the 
market,  that  dealers  were  obliged  to 
throw  away  or  part  company  with 
their  "  goods."  In  former  times,  a  fair 
and  comely  Circassian  girl  was  thought 
very  cheap  at  five  hundred  dollars,  but 
this  became  reduced  to  less  than  one 
twentieth  that  sum. 


Viper  Merchants. 

Snakes  and  serpents  furnish  quite 
an  article  of  trade  among  the  Chinese 
— used  pharmaceutically — and  the  mer- 
chants engaged  in  this  kind  of  traffic 
in  that  country  are  numerous.  The 
viper,  more  particularly,  is  exposed  for 
sale,  either  alive  in  small  baskets  of 
twisted  bamboo,  or  dead  and  reduced 
to  soup,  or  pickled  and  preserved  with 
various  seasonings  in  jars  or  barrels. 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


589 


These  dealers  generally  exhibit  a 
board,  inscribed,  in  due  business  shape, 
■with  the  quality  and  value  of  the  rep- 
tiles they  have  for  sale.  In  this  respect 
they  are  the  same  as  the  shopkeepers, 
who  make  it  a  practice  to  exhibit  a 
long  and  flaming  list  of  the  different 
sorts  of  snakes  they  have  on  hand.  It 
is  also  the  practice  of  these  traders  to 
write  up,  after  or  under  their  names  on 
the  signboard,  the  words  "Pu-hu," 
which  may  be  translated,  "  No  cheating 
here  ; "  but,  alas  1  corroborative  evi- 
dence is  much  wanting  to  substantiate 
the  truth  of  the  declaration. 


CMffonniers,  or  "  Bae  Merchants,"  of 
Paris. 

The  rag  gatherers,  or  chiffonniers,  of 
Paris,  are  a  peculiar  class,  and  once  in 
a  while  they  have  a  grand  banquet. 
One  of  the  most  notable  of  these  took 
place  in  Paris,  at  a  public  house  called 
the  Pot  Trincolore,  near  the  Barriere 
de  Fontainebleau,  which  is  frequented 
by  the  rag-gathering  fraternity.  In 
this  house  there  are  three  rooms,  each 
of  which  is  specially  devoted  to  the  use 
of  different  classes  of  rag  gatherers: 
one,  the  least  dirty,  is  called  the 
"  Chamber  of  Peers,"  and  is  occupied 
by  the  first  class — that  is,  those  who 
possess  a  basket  in  a  good  state  and  a 
crook  ornamented  with  copper;  the 
second,  called  the  "  Chamber  of  Depu- 
ties," belonging  to  the  second  class,  is 
much  less  comfortable,  and  those  who 
attend  it  have  baskets  and  crooks,  not 
of  the  first-rate  quality ;  the  third  room 
is  in  a  dilapidated  condition,  and  is 
frequented  by  the  lowest  order  of  rag 
gatherers,  who  have  no  basket  or  crook, 
and  who  place  what  they  find  in  the 
streets  in  a  piece  of  sackcloth,  as  a  re- 
ceptacle— this  being  their  only  "  stock 
in  trade." 

This  fraternity  call  themselves  the 
"  Reunion  des  Vrais  Prol6taires."  The 
name  of  each  room  is  written  in  chalk 
above  the  door,  and   generally  such 


strict  etiquette  is  observed  among  the 
rag  gatherers  that  no  one  goes  into  an 
apartment  not  occupied  by  his  own 
class. 

At  the  "  banquet,"  however,  all "  dis- 
tinctions of  rank"  are  set  aside,  and 
delegates  of  each  class  unite  as  a  broth- 
erhood. The  President  is  the  oldest 
rag  gatherer  in  Paris ;  his  age  is  eighty- 
eight,  and  lie  is  called  the  Emperor. 
The  banquet  consists  of  a  sort  of  ollapo- 
drida,  which  the  master  of  the  establish- 
ment pompously  calls  a  gibelotte,  though 
of  what  animal  it  is  mainly  composed 
is  beyond  one's  knowledge.  It  is 
served  up  in  huge  earthen  dishes,  and, 
before  it  is  allowed  to  be  touched,  pay- 
ment is  demanded  and  obtained.  The 
other  articles  are  also  paid  for  as  soon 
as  brought  in,  and  a  deposit  is  exacted 
as  security  for  the  plates,  knives,  and 
forks.  The  wine,  or  what  does  duty 
as  such,  is  contained  in  an  earthen  pot, 
called  the  Petit  P6re  Noir,  and  is  filled 
from  a  gigantic  vessel  named  Le  Mori- 
caud.  The  dinner  is  concluded  by  each 
guest  taking  a  glass  of  brandy.  Busi- 
ness is  then  proceeded  to.  It  consists 
in  the  reading  and  adoption  of  the 
statutes  of  the  association,  followed  by 
the  drinking  of  numerous  toasts  to  the 
president,  to  the  prosperity  of  rag  gath- 
ering, to  the  imion  of  rag  gatherers, 
etc.  A  collection  is  then  taken  up  in 
aid  of  the  sick  members  of  the  fra- 
ternity. 

» 

Samum  Buying  the  American  Mnsenm 
with  Brass. 

In  1841,  says  Mr.  Barnum,  I  pur- 
chased the  American  Museum  in  New 
York,  without  a  dollar,  for  I  was  not 
worth  a  dollar  in  the  world.  But  I 
was  never  disheartened ;  I  always  felt 
that  I  could  make  money  fast  enough, 
if  I  only  set  my  mind  to  it.  I  remem- 
ber meeting  a  friend  in  Broadway  a  few 
weeks  before  I  came  in  possession  of 
the  Museum. 

"  Well,"  says  I,  "  Mr.  A.,  I  am  going 
to  buy  the  American  Museum." 


590 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


"  Buy  it  ?  "  says  he,  for  he  knew  I 
had  no  property.  "  What  do  you  in- 
tend buying  it  with  ?  " 

"  Brass,"  I  replied,  "  for  *  silver  and 
gold  I  have  none.' " 

It  was  even  so.  Everybody  who  has 
had  any  connection  with  theatrical, 
circus,  or  exhibition  business,  from  Ed- 
mund Simpson,  manager  of  the  Old 
Park  Theatre,  or  William  Niblo,  down 
to  the  most  humble  puppet-show  man 
of  the  day,  knew  me  perfectly  well. 
Mr.  Francis  Olmsted,  the  owner  of  the 
Museum  building,  a  noble,  whole-souled 
man  as  one  often  meets  with,  having 
consulted  my  references,  who  all  con- 
cmred  in  telling  him  that  I  was  "  a 
good  showman,  and  would  do  as  I 
agreed,"  accepted  my  proposition  to 
give  security  for  me  in  the  purchase  of 
the  Museum  collection,  he  appointing 
a  money  taker  at  the  door,  and  credit- 
ing me,  toward  the  purchase,  with  all 
the  money  received,  after  paying  ex- 
penses, allowing  me  fifty  dollars  per 
month,  on  which  to  support  my  family, 
consisting  of  a  wife  and  three  chil- 
dren. 

This  was  my  own  proposition,  as  I  was 
determined  so  to  live  that  six  hundred 
dollars  per  annum  should  defray  all  the 
expenses  of  my  family,  until  I  had  paid 
for  the  Museum  ;  and  my  treasure  of  a 
wife  (for  such  a  wife  is  a  "  treasure  ") 
gladly  assented  to  the  arrangement, 
and  expressed  her  willingness  to  cut 
the  expenses  down  to  four  hundred 
dollars  per  annum,  if  necessary. 

One  day,  some  six  months  after  I 
had  purchased  the  Museum,  my  friend, 
Mr.  Olmsted,  happened  in  at  my  ticket 
office,  at  about  twelve  o'clock,  and 
found  me  alone,  eating  my  dinner, 
which  consisted  of  a  few  slices  of  corn- 
ed beef  and  bread  that  I  had  brought 
from  home  in  the  morning. 

"  Is  this  the  way  you  eat  your  din- 
ner ?  "  he  inquired. 

"  I  have  not  eaten  a  warm  dinner 
since  I  bought  the  Museum,  except  on 
the  Sabbath,"  I  repUed,  "  and  I  intend 


never  to  eat  another  on  a  week  day 
until  I  get  out  of  debt." 

"  Ah  !  you  are  safe,  and  will  pay  for 
the  Museum  before  the  year  is  out,"  he 
replied,  slapping  me  familiarly  on  the 
shoulders ;  and  he  was  right,  for  in  less 
than  a  year  from  that  period  I  was  in 
full  possession  of  the  Museum,  as  my 
own  property,  every  cent  paid  out  of 
the  profits  of  the  establishment. 


Coleridgre  and  the  "  Og-h  Clo' "  Man. 

CoLEKiDGE  says  :  I  have  had  a  good 
deal  to  do  with  Jews,  in  the  course  of 
my  life,  though  I  never  borrowed  any 
money  of  them.  The  other  day  I  was 
what  you  may  call  floored  by  a  Jew. 
He  passed  me  several  times,  crying  for 
old  clothes  in  the  most  nasal  and  extra- 
ordinary tone  I  ever  heard.  At  last,  I 
was  so  provoked,  that  I  said  to  him : 
"  Pray,  why  can't  you  say  '  old  clothes' 
in  a  plain  way,  as  I  do  now  ?  "  The 
Jew  stopped,  and  looking  very  gravely 
at  me,  said,  in  a  clear  and  even  fine  ac- 
cent, "  Sir,  I  can  say  *  old  clothes '  as 
well  as  you  can ;  but  if  you  had  to  say 
so  ten  times  a  minute,  or  an  hour  to- 
gether, you  would  say  '  ogh  eld' '  as  I  do 
now  " — and  so  he  marched  off".  I  was  so 
confounded  with  the  justice  of  his  re- 
tort, that  I  followed  him  and  gave  him 
a  shilling,  the  only  one  I  had. 


Boy  Traders  in  Moscow. 

The  Russian  youth  are  said  to  show 
an  address  and  dexterity  in  business 
dealings  such  as  are  displayed  only  by 
long-practised  traders  in  most  other 
countries.  M.  Kohl,  the  traveller  and 
author,  says  that  when  in  Moscow  he 
went  one  day  into  a  wax-chandler's 
shop  on  the  invitation  of  a  manikin  of 
seven  years  of  age  only — adroit,  cun- 
ning, and  too  clever  by  half. 

Dressed  in  his  little  blue  caftan  of 
precisely  the  same  cut  as  that  worn  by 
men,  the  infant  merchant  entreated  him 
to  enter  his  shop,  bowing  in  the  same 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


6di 


obsequious  fashion  as  his  elders ;  and 
when  told  by  M.  Kohl  that  he  was  not 
going  to  buy,  but  only  wanted  to  look 
at  his  wares,  he  answered,  as  com- 
plaisantly  as  his  pa'  could  have  done, 
"  Pray,  oblige  me  by  looking  at  what- 
ever you  please." 

He  showed  me  all  his  stock,  opened 
every  press  with  a  dexterous  willing- 
ness which  could  not  but  be  admired ; 
knew  not  only  the  price  of  every  sort 
of  candle,  but  the  whole  capital  invest- 
ed in  the  stock ;  the  yearly  returns,  the 
wholesale  price,  the  profit  at  so  much 
per  cent. — in  a  word,  he  had  in  every 
respect  the  demeanor  of  an  experienced 
trader.  Just  such  children  as  these  are 
often  found  at  the  money-broker's  ta- 
ble ;  and  at  an  age  when,  in  other  na- 
tions, they  would  hardly  be  trusted 
with  a  few  cents,  a  considerable  capital 
will  be  committed  to  their  care.  Many 
similar  miUionnaires  in  embryo  peddle 
small  wares  in  the  streets,  jingling  their 
money  and  handling  their  reckoning 
boards  with  so  much  address,  that  it  is 
easy  to  comprehend  how  so  many  opu- 
lent individuals  issue  from  their  ranks. 
There  are,  in  Russia,  a  great  number  of 
wealthy  merchants  who  look  back  to 
the  streets  andpeddlers'  booths  for  their 
youthful  reminiscences,  when  all  their 
merchandise  consisted  of  picture  books, 
kwas,  or  wax  tapers. 


Day  &  Martin's  Precursors. 

The  shoeblacks  of  Dublin  were  a 
numerous  and  pretty  formidable  body 
— the  precursors  of  Day  &  Martin,  till 
the  superior  merits  of  the  latter  put  an 
end  to  their  trade.  The  polish  they 
used  was  lampblack  and  eggs,  for 
which  they  purchased  all  the  rotten 
ones  in  the  markets.  Their  imple- 
ments consisted  of  a  three-legged  stool, 
a  basket  containing  a  blunt  knife  which 
they  called  a  spudd,  a  painter's  brush, 
and  an  old  wig.  A  gentleman  usually 
went  out  in  the  morning  with  dirty 
boots  or  shoes,  sure  to  find  a  shoe- 


black sitting  on  his  stool  at  the  comer 
of  the  street.  He  laid  his  foot  on  his 
lap  without  ceremony,  where  the  "  ar- 
tist "  scraped  it  with  his  spudd,  wiped 
it  with  his  wig,  and  then  laid  on  his 
composition  as  thick  as  black  paint 
with  his  painter's  brush.  The  stuff 
dried  with  a  rich  polish,  requiring  no 
friction,  and  really  but  little  inferior  to 
the  elaborated  modem  fluids,  save  only 
the  intolerable  odors  exhaled  from  eggs 
in  a  high  state  of  putridity,  and  which 
filled  any  house  which  was  entered  be- 
fore the  composition  was  quite  dry — 
sometimes  even  tainting  the  air  of  fash- 
ionable drawing  rooms.  At  present, 
the  shoeblacks  who  ply  their  trade  so 
industriously  in  all  the  various  cities 
of  considerable  size  in  Europe  and 
America,  are  boys  of  from  eight  to 
eighteen  years  of  age,  and  the  price 
obtained  for  a  job  by  these  urchins 
varies  all  the  way  from  three  or  five 
cents  up  to  a  shilling,  according  to  the 
whim  of  the  customer.  They  are  a 
bright,  sharp  set,  only  excelled  in  these 
respects  by  the  newsboys — ^the  latter, 
however,  being  looked  upon  as  a  peg 
above  the  shoeblacks,  in  a  "  business 
point  of  view." 


Italian  Marriagre  Brokers. 

In  Genoa  there  are  regular  marriage 
brokers,  who  have  pocket  books  filled 
with  the  names  of  the  marriageable 
girls  of  the  different  classes,  with  notes 
of  their  figures,  personal  attractions,  for- 
tunes, and  other  circumstances.  These 
brokers  go  about  endeavoring  to  ar- 
range connections,  in  the  same  oflT-hand, 
mercantile  manner  which  they  would 
bring  to  bear  upon  a  merchandise  tran- 
saction ;  and  when  they  succeed,  they 
get  a  commission  of  two  or  three  per 
cent,  upon  the  portion,  with  such  ex- 
tras or  bonuses  as  may  be  voluntarily 
bestowed  by  the  party  benefited.  Mar- 
riage at  Genoa  is  thus  oftentimes  sim- 
ply a  matter  of  business  calculation, 
generally  settled  by  the  parents  or  rela- 


692 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


tions,  who  often  draw  up  the  contract 
before  the  parties  have  seen  one  an- 
other ;  and  it  is  only  when  everything 
else  is  arranged,  and  a  few  days  previ- 
ous to  the  marriage  ceremony,  that  the 
future  husband  is  introduced  to  his  in- 
tended partner  for  life.  Should  he  find 
fault  with  her  manners  or  appearance, 
he  may  annul  the  contract,  on  condi- 
tion of  defraying  the  brokerage,  and 
any  other  expenses  incurred. 


^STPtian  Mummy  Trade. 

The  most  lucrative  business  in  which 
the  Egyptian  Jews  were  engaged,  ceased 
in  the  seventeenth  century.  For  a  long 
time,  "  mummy  "  was  an  article  of  great 
value  in  the  practice  of  medicine.  It 
was  foimd  in  all  the  drug  shops  of  Eu- 
rope, and,  even  to  this  day,  munimy 
powder,  mixed  with  camel's-milk  but- 
ter, is  regarded  by  the  Arabs  as  a 
sovereign  remedy  for  bruises.  "  Make 
mummy  of  my  flesh,  and  sell  me  to  the 
apothecaries,"  was  not  a  mere  figure  of 
speech.  The  repulsive  drug  was  pre- 
scribed by  the  physicians  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  for  fractures,  concus- 
sions, palpitation  of  the  heart,  and  the 
like;  while  even  Lord  Bacon  says, 
"  Mummy  hath  great  force  in  staimch- 
ing  of  blood." 

Many  speculators  embarked  in  the 
trade,  and  vast  sums  were  expended  in 
purchasing  mummies,  principally  from 
the  Jews  in  Egypt.  Tombs  and  cata- 
combs were  searched ;  and  when  the 
Government  forbade  the  transportation 
of  the  bodies  from  their  sepulchral 
habitation,  the  Jews  had  recourse  to 
fraud  and  imposition.  In  order  to 
supply  the  great  demand  for  mummy, 
they  embalmed  dead  bodies,  and  after- 
ward sold  them.  In  like  manner,  the 
bodies  of  slaves,  of  executed  criminals, 
of  unclaimed  strangers,  and  even  the 
dried  and  withered  corpses  of  travel- 
lers buried  in  the  sands  of  the  desert, 
were  by  the  Jews  transmuted  into 
gold. 


De  la  Fontaine,  physician  to  the  king 
of  Navarre,  when  travelling  in  Egypt, 
made  some  inquiries  respecting  the 
supply  of  mummy  as  a  drug.  The 
Jewish  dealers,  to  whom  he  applied 
for  information,  showed  him  thirty  or 
forty  mummies  in  a  single  pile.  The 
physician  was  anxious  to  know  where 
the  bodies  had  been  obtained,  and 
whether  the  accounts  given  by  the  an- 
cients relative  to  the  treatment  of  the 
dead,  and  their  mode  of  sepulture, 
could  be  confirmed.  The  Jew  laughed, 
and  informed  him  that  the  mummies 
before  him  were  all  of  his  own  manu- 
facture !  A  ghastly  trade,  surely,  but 
by  no  means  confined  to  the  children 
of  Abraham  or  the  land  of  the  pyra- 
mids. 


Chartier,  the  Ijeech  Uerchant. 

Henri  Chaetier,  the  leech  mer- 
chant, has  long  been  an  important 
character  among  those  engaged  in  the 
trade  of  which  he  is  the  acknowledged 
head — his  arrival  makes  quite  a  fete, 
for  aU  are  eager  to  greet  him.  If  ever 
you  pass  through  La  Brenne,  France, 
you  will  see  a  man,  pale  and  straight- 
haired,  with  a  woollen  c^  on  his  head, 
and  his  legs  and  arms  naked  ;  he  walks 
along  the  borders  of  a  marsh,  among 
the  spots  left  dry  by  the  surrounding 
waters,  but  particularly  wherever  the 
vegetation  seems  to  preserve  the  subja- 
cent soil  undisturbed ;  this  man  is  a 
leech  fisher — a  horrid  trade,  in  which- 
ever way  it  is  carried  on.  To  see  him 
from  a  distance — his  woe-begone  aspect 
— his  hollow  eyes — his  livid  lips — his 
singular  gestures — ^he  might  easily  be 
mistaken  for  a  patient  who  had  left  his 
sickbed  in  a  fit  of  delirium.  If  you 
observe  him  every  now  and  then  rais- 
ing his  legs  and  examining  them  one 
after  the  other,  you  might  suppose  him 
a  fool ;  but  no ;  he  is  bright  and  intel- 
ligent in  his  way.  The  leeches  attach 
themselves  to  his  legs  and  feet  as  he 
moves  among  their   haunts,  he  feels 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


593 


their  presence  from  their  bite,  and 
gathers  them  as  they  ckister  about  the 
roots  of  the  bulrushes  and  seaweeds, 
or  beneath  the  stones  covered  with 
green  and  gluey  moss.  Some  repose 
on  the  mud,  while  others  swim  about, 
but  so  slowly  that  they  are  easily  gath- 
ered with  the  hand.  Sometimes  the 
leech  gatherer  will  be  seen  armed  with 
a  kind  of  spear  or  harpoon ;  with  this 
he  deposits  pieces  of  decayed  animal 
matter  in  places  frequented  by  the 
leeches,  which  soon  gather  around  the 
prey,  and  are  presently  themselves  gath- 
ered into  a  vessel  half  full  of  water.  In 
summer  the  leech  retires  into  deep  wa- 
ter ;  and  the  fishers  have  then  to  strip 
naked,  and  walk  immersed  up  to  the 
chin.  One  of  the  traders — what  with 
his  own  fishing  and  that  of  his  chil- 
dren, and  what  with  his  acquisitions 
from  the  carriers,  who  sell  quantities 
at  second  hand — ^has  been  enabled  to 
hoard  up  nearly  eighteen  thousand 
leeches  in  the  course  of  a  few  months. 


Poor  Kind  of  Ice. 

An  American  gentleman  living  in 
London  in  1851,  had  frequently  noticed 
at  his  fishmonger's,  simdry  signs  of 
"  American  Ice,"  "  Norway  Ice,"  and 
"  English  Ice,"  posted  up.  One  day  he 
asked,  "  Which  ice  do  you  esteem  the 
best  ? — the  American,  I  suppose  ?  " 
"  No,  sir,  not  at  all,"  replied  the  fish- 
monger ;  "  the  English  ice  is  the  best, 
and  next  the  Norway.  The  fact  is, 
that  American  ice  is  nothing  more  than 
viater  congealed  !"  A  novelty  in  nature, 
STirely,  this  trader  dealt  in  1 


Commercial  Value  of  Insects. 

The  importance  of  insects  to  com- 
merce is  but  little  known  or  appreciat- 
ed. Great  Britain  does  not  pay  less 
than  a  million  of  dollars  annually  for 
the  dried  carcasses  of  a  tiny  insect,  the 
cochineal.  A  million  and  a  half  of  hu- 
man beings  derive  their  sole  support 
38 


from  the  culture  and  manufacture  of 
silk,  and  the  little  silkworm  alone  cre- 
ates an  annual  circulating  medium  of 
hundred  millions  of  dollars.  Honey 
and  beeswax,  thfe  product  of  the  iee, 
create  a  large  trade,  of  great  commer- 
cial importance,  every  year.  Then  there 
is  the  Spanish  Jly,  or  cantharides,  the 
value  of  which  is  well  known.  Coral 
is  another  insect  product  of  much  ac- 
count. 

Bugs  have  long  been  a  considerable 
article  in  the  Rio  Janeiro  trade.  Their 
wings  are  made  into  artificial  flowers, 
and  some  of  the  more  brilliant  varieties 
are  worn  as  ornaments  in  ladies'  hair. 
One  man  manages  to  earn  quite  a  liv- 
ing by  selling  curious  specimens  of  in- 
sects to  the  strangers  who  visit  that 
port.  He  keeps  twelve  slaves  constant- 
ly employed  in  finding  the  bugs — also 
serpents  and  shells — which  are  most  in 
demand.  The  nearest  approach  to  this 
curious  business  in  other  parts  of  the 
world,  is  that  of  the  trade  in  fireflies 
at  Havana ;  the  insect  being  caught, 
and  carefully  fed  on  the  sugar  cane,  is 
used  as  an  ornament  for  ladies'  dresses, 
giving  to  the  latter,  when  tastefully  ar- 
ranged, a  very  pleasing  appearance. 
Being  twice  the  size  of  the  American 
firefly,  it  is  very  brilliant  at  night. 
The  Creoles  catch  them  on  the  planta- 
tions and  sell  them  to  the  city  belles, 
some  of  whom  carry  them  in  tiny  silver 
cages  attached  to  their  bracelets — mak- 
ing a  sparkling  display  in  the  evening. 


Old  Women's  Trades  in  Iiondon. 

In  London  there  are  a  large  number 
of  old  women  who  carry  on  a  trade  pe- 
culiar to  themselves — not  rag  pickers 
simply,  but  snappers  up  of  trifles  of 
every  kind — and  by  means  of  which 
some  come  into  possession  of  pretty 
considerable  gains.  They  are  known 
by  their  peculiar  and  grotesque  ap- 
pearance. Some  wear  a  hat,  but  cover 
their  shoulders  with  a  gown.  Some  are 
crowned  with  an  old  bonnet,  but,  as  if 


694 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Street  Merchants. 


to  keep  up  the  mystery,  button  a  shab- 
by dress  coat  tightly  around  their  per- 
son. In  fact,  the  sex  to  which  they  be- 
long might  puzzle  the  most  expert  in 
matters  of  gender.  They  are  draggle- 
skirt-looking  creatures,  and  some  are 
not  unlike  the  hags  in  Macbeth.  They 
keep  their  eyes  constantly  on  the 
ground,  glancing  along  the  gutters  of 
the  street  with  amazing  rapidity  ;  and, 
considering  how  old  they  are,  it  is  sur- 
prising how  quickly  they  discern  the 
objects  of  their  search.  They  usually 
carry  a  coarse  dirty  bag,  into  which 
they  put  up  promiscuously  every  little 
bit  of  linen  or  woollen  rag,  string,  bone, 
or  iron,  which  they  may  be  fortunate 
enough  to  discover  in  the  mud  and 
filth.  The  little  heaps  of  dust  swept 
out  by  shopboys  from  behind  the  coun- 
ters, are  constant  mines  of  treasure — 
they  are  sure  to  find  among  them  some- 
thing to  reward  their  pains.  All  the 
things  thus  gathered  have  their  appro- 
priate value  in  the  finder's  classifica- 
tion, and  these  are  the  persons  who 
know  how  to  assort,  prepare,  and  dis- 
pose of  them  at  the  proper  places. 


Street  merchants. 

Some  facile  "writer  has  set  oflf,  in 
good  lines,  that  numerous  but  general- 
ly overlooked  class  of  "merchants," 
consisting  of  street  retailers  of  small 
goods,  wares,  and  merchandise  :  "  Ap- 
ples, two  or  three  cents — peanuts,  three 
cents  a  ha'  pint — lozenges,  two  cents  a 
roll,"  is  the  cry  of  many  poor  old  ap- 
ple women,  who  are  daily  found  on  the 
comers  of  the  streets  and  wharves, 
clothed  in  old  dilapidated  apparel,  pre- 
senting an  outside  appearance  of  pov- 
erty, and  oflfering  for  sale  at  retail  a 
few  apples,  half  a  peck  of  peanuts,  a 
box  of  lozenges,  a  dozen  sticks  of  can- 
dy, «fec.  Appearances  are  sometimes 
deceitful,  however,  and  although  many 
of  these  women  are  undoubtedly  poor, 
others  have  accumulated  quite  a  com- 
petence. The  same  may  be  said  of 
some  of  the  male  peddlers.  Not  a  few 
of  both  sexes  of  this  class  have  money 
hoarded  in  the  savings  banks,  or  in- 
vested in  real  estate,  stocks,  «fec.,  and 
occasionally  one  is  found  living  at  the 
expense  of  the  city,  during  the  winter 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


595 


season,  at  one  of  the  commodious  pub- 
lic institutions,  being  too  miserly,  lazy, 
or  indolent  to  continue  the  "  apple, 
nut,  and  lozenge  trade,"  in  cold  weath- 
er. As  an  instance  of  how  these  people 
accumulate  the  coppers,  it  is  related 
that  a  pew  in  one  of  the  Catholic 
churches  of  Boston  was  at  one  time  bid 
off  by  a  woman  for  $450.  As  the  suc- 
cessful bidder  had  not  the  appearance 
of  being  one  who  would  be  likely  to 
pay  so  high  a  price  for  a  pew  for  her 
own  accommodation,  some  of  the  by- 
standers intimated  that  she  could  not 
pay  for  it.  On  being  asked  by  the  auc- 
tioneer when  she  would  settle  the  bill, 
she  replied,  "  This  afternoon,  or  as  soon 
as  I  can  draw  the  money."  This  she 
did,  and  met  her  agreement.  The 
woman  in  question  was  for  many  years 
known  as  an  apple  seller  on  Long 
"Wharf,  in  that  city.  And  what  is  true 
of  Boston,  is  equally  true  of  other  cit- 
ies, in  respect  to  the  thrift  of  some  of 
these  "  street  merchants.'  Their  endur- 
ance of  heat  and  cold,  and  of  the  vari- 
ous changes  in  the  weather  to  which 
they  are  necessarily  exposed,  is  truly 
surprising. 

National  Characteristics  of  Honey  Qet- 
ters :  French,  Irish,  Scotch,  Oerman. 

The  Frenchman  is  a  very  witty, 
mercurial,  light-heeled  gentleman,  and 
is,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  the  dancer, 
and  the  cook,  without  a  peer ;  but  then 
the  palm  of  money  getting  cannot  be 
yielded  to  him,  while  there  are  such 
beings  in  existence  as  the  Irishman,  the 
Scotchman,  and  the  German.  In  this 
free  and  enlightened  country  they  are 
all  admitted  without  duty — ^there  is  no 
tariff  on  their  national  or  personal  char- 
acters, these  characteristics,  considered 
from  a  business  point  of  view,  being 
about  as  follows  : 

The  Frenchman,  in  ordinary  "cases," 
imports  nothing  but  politesse  and  ro- 
mancing. 

The  Irishman— the  "  broth  of  a  boy  " 


— has  a  "stock"  of  dash  and  blar- 
ney. 

The  Scotchman — pride  (of  the  right 
sort,  being  founded  not  so  much  upon 
self-esteem  as  self-respect),  and  an  in- 
exhaustible "  capital "  of  perseverance. 

The  German  has  many  points  in  com- 
mon with  the  Scotchman ;  but,  unfor- 
tunately, he  is  more  devoted  to  the 
metaphysical  than  the  mathematical, 
the  visionary  than  the  substantial,  and 
has,  therefore,  almost  always  a  whim,  a 
crotchet,  or  a  mystery,  in  his  otherwise 
clever  brain,  that  frequently  stands  in 
the  way  of  his  business  promotion :  "  I 
haf  a  broject  vitch  sail  zurbrise  de 
vorld — but  it's  a  zegret.  Ven  I  vill 
gommunigate  it,  you  sail  be  asdonish- 
ed — zo  zimple,  you  sail  vender  as  it 
nefer  endered  beoples'  prains  I  "  As  he 
rarely  can  find  any  one  to  "  buy  a  pig 
in  a  poke,"  and  he  refuses  to  go  the 
"whole  hog"  by  imparting  his  "ze- 
gret," he  eventually  drops  down  from 
his  elevation  to  whatever  comes  upper- 
most ;  for  he  is  naturally  an  honest 
man,  and  abhors  both  poverty  and 
crime. 

The  Frenchman  turns  cook,  or 
dancing  master,  or  a  teacher  of  lan- 
guages, unless  he  has  mercantile  or 
trading  auspices ;  if  he  has  travelled, 
he  will  also  teach  the  Spanish  and 
Italian  languages — and  he  gets  money. 
In  regard  to  the  Spanish  and  Italian, 
however,  his  accent  will  very  likely 
render  his  "  method "  somewhat  akin 
to  "  teaching  English  with  an  Irish 
brogue." 

The  Irishman,  who  in  all  cases  is  a 
"bom  gentleman,"  despises  drudgery, 
as  he  terms  everything  that  requires  a 
steady  application,  and  frequently  turns 
his  undeniable  talents  to  reporting  for 
the  press,  or — marries  an  heiress. 

To  turn  again  to  the  Scotchman : 
He  thinks  nothing  beneath  his  dignity 
that  is  honest,  and  boldly  and  confi- 
dently places  his  foot  on  the  lowest 
round  of  the  ladder  of  promotion,  rely- 
ing upon  his  zeal  and  ability  to  enable 


596 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


him  to  reach  the  top,  which  is  almost 
infallibly  the  case ;  for  he  is  cool  and 
collected,  and  never  misses  the  oppor- 
tunity— ^for  which  he  is  continually  on 
the  watch — to  push  his  interest.  If  he 
engages  with  a  firm,  however  wealthy, 
even  as  a  junior  clerk,  he  merely  re- 
gards it  as  the  preliminary  to  a  part- 
nership. 

t 

Shipments  of  Butclier  Birds. 

Many  years  ago,  when  rice  was  dear 
in  Eastern  China,  efforts  were  made  to 
bring  it  from  Luzon,  where  it  was 
abundant.  At  Manilla  there  was,  how- 
ever, a  singular  law,  to  the  effect  that 
no  vessel  for  China  should  be  allowed 
to  load  with  rice,  unless  it  brought  to 
Manilla  a  certain  number  of  cages  full 
of  the  little  "butcher  birds,"  well 
known  for  their  usefulness.  The  rea- 
son for  this  most  eccentric  commercial 
regulation  simply  was  that  the  rice  in 
Luzon  suffered  much  from  locusts,  and 
these  locusts  were  destroyed  in  great 
numbers  by  butcher  birds.  Sparrows 
are  also  imported  from  England  to 
New  Zealand,  for  the  destruction  of 
caterpillars,  and  sell  at  a  good  price  to 

the  shipper. 

» 

"  Cheap '»  and  "  Dear." 

Without  the  privilege  of  the  shop 
windows,  the  London  lounger's  occupa- 
tion would  be  "  gone."  "Without  their 
aid,  and  the  auction  rooms,  how,  in 
the  name  of  laziness,  would  the  wretch- 
ed member  of  a  West  End  club  contrive 
to  annihilate  the  time  between  break- 
fast and  dinner  ? 

Let  a  man  walk  leisurely,  in  London, 
from  Oxford  street,  down  Regent  street, 
along  the  Strand,  Fleet  street.  Cheap- 
side,  to  the  Lidia  House ;  let  him  stop 
and  introduce  himself  to  the  outsides 
of  individual  shops ;  let  him  enter  into 
conversation  with  them,  and  hear  what 
they  have  to  say,  and  he  will  return  to 
his  chamber  with  more  weird  ideas  of 


the  tremendous  wealth,  importance,  and 
enterprise  of  that  mighty  metropolis, 
than  ever  he  had  before. 

When  a  shop  is  once  established  in 
London,  it  is  no  longer  a  shop ;  it  is, 
in  point  of  fact,  an  estate,  from  which 
the  posssesor  can  quietly  retire,  receiv- 
ing his  rents,  through  the  hands  of  his 
shopkeeping  representative,  with  the 
same  certainty  as  if  his  property  were 
in  lands,  funds,  or  houses. 

There  are  what  may  be  termed  the 
dear  shops  and  the  cheap  shops  in  Lon- 
don. Here  is  a  shop,  for  instance,  with 
wide  mouth,  bleared  eyes,  and  dusky 
features — a  shop  that  a  poor  man  would 
no  more  think  of  entering  than  he 
would  of  intruding  into  a  duke's  par- 
lor ;  a  shop  that  says,  as  plain  as  it  can 
speak,  "  I  care  not,  I,  for  chance  cus- 
tomers ;  I  am  a  shop  of  high  connec- 
tions and  good  family."  The  employes 
of  such  a  shop  as  this  are  more  like 
clergymen  than  shopmen — bald-head- 
ed, confidential,  black-coated,  long- 
service  shopmen — ^men  of  good  salaries 
and  manner,  grave  and  independent  in 
their  deportment,  who  have  been  in  the 
establishment  nine  and  twenty  years 
come  next  lord-mayor's  day,  and  intend 
to  be  there  the  remainder  of  their  re- 
spectable lives.  These  old-established 
shops  stare  at  a  chance  customer ;  they 
are  civil,  but  cool  in  serving  him,  and 
take  care  to  charge  a  little  higher  than 
they  do  to  their  own  connections ;  they 
do  not  condescend  to  enter  into  any 
conversation  with  him ;  and  if  any  ob- 
jection be  made  to  the  price  or  quality 
of  any  article,  they  return  the  money 
with  great  indifference  and  solemnity. 
Such  is  called  a  "  dear  "  store  ;  but  it 
is  simply  a  high  price  for  a  good  arti- 
cle, and  money  is  well  spent  that  is 
spent  there. 

In  strong  contrast  is  one  of  those 
ticket  shops,  or  pretended  cheap  shops, 
a  lying,  Jeremy  Diddler  concern,  that 
assumes  to  be  always  selling  off  at  a 
great  sacrifice,  as  if  with  the  sole  ambi- 
tion to  ruin  itself  for  the  benefit  of  a 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OP  TRAFFIC. 


697 


discerning  public.  There  are  no  shop- 
men in  these  places,  but  only  some- 
thing between  young  men  and  boys 
— raw  twenty-pounds-a-year  counter 
jumpers,  in  sallow,  half-starched  cra- 
vats, and  seedy,  second-hand-looking 
coats ;  there  is  great  bustle  and  appear- 
ance of  business,  which  is  seldom  no- 
ticed in  shops  that  enjoy  the  reality. 
The  shopboys  have  a  servile,  insolent 
manner,  and  an  open,  undisguised  de- 
sire of  cheating  and  taking  you  in. 
Whatever  you  are  wheedled  or  bullied 
into  buying  at  the  pretended  cheap 
shops,  is  sure  to  be  dear,  or,  what 
amounts  to  the  same  thing  in  the  end, 
of  inferior  quality ;  you  never  quit  the 
counter  without  the  sensation — always 
unpleasant — of  having  been  taken  in, 
or  at  least  of  having  been  dealing  with 
people  whose  trade  is  to  take  people 
in. 


Remarkable  Customs  of  Oriental 
Shopkeepers. 

The  Armenians,  who  divide  with  the 
Greeks  and  Jews  the  entire  mercantile 
traffic  of  Western  Asia,  are  accustomed 
to  sit  down  and  weep  bitterly  when 
they  have  sold  any  article  of  value,  de- 
claring that  the  purchaser  has  ruined 
them.  The  Jews,  on  similar  occasions, 
rend  their  garments  (which,  by  the 
way,  are  said  to  be  worn  purposely  for 
such  sacrifice)  with  still  louder  protest- 
ations of  ruin. 

The  Greek  shopkeepers,  in  most  of 
the  Turkish  towns,  send  a  crier  through 
the  city  to  proclaim  the  arrival  of  new 
goods  and  their  prices,  every  announce- 
ment being  regularly  concluded  with  a 
declaration  that  his  employer  is  ruin- 
ing himself,  but  must  sell. 

In  Asiatic  Russia,  the  shopkeepers 
consider  it  incumbent  on  them  to  abso- 
lutely refuse  selling  their  goods  to  any 
customer,  and  the  latter  is  expected  to 
employ  himself  at  least  an  hour  in  per- 
suading the  merchant  to  deal  with 
him. 

But  the  most  extraordinary  custom 


is  that  which  prevails  among  the  mer- 
chants of  Thibet,  a  regular  stand-up  fight 
being  required  to  take  place  between 
the  seller  and  the  purchaser,  on  the  dis- 
posal of  any  considerable  quantity  of 
goods,  the  former  obstinately  rejecting 
the  price  to  which  he  has  already  once 
agreed,  and  the  latter  as  resolutely  for- 
cing it  upon  him.  It  is  not  considered 
business-like  to  settle  matters  till  a  few 
blows  have  been  exchanged  on  both 
sides,  after  which  they  peaceably  shake 
hands,  and  the  bargain  is  concluded. 


Scale  of  Prices  for  London  Civilities. 

One  of  the  English  magazine  writers 
furnishes  the  following  scale  of  metro- 
politan civilities,  and  the  orthodox 
rates  of  payment,  by  means  of  which 
many  persons  eke  out  a  livelihood  in 
that  over-populous  city : 

Holding  a  horse  for  a  few  minutes, 
twopence ;  if  with  extra  politeness, 
fourpence. 

Directions  in  topography,  or  street 
seeking,  twopence ;  with  personal  at- 
tendance, threepence. 

Picking  up  a  handkerchief,  one  pen- 
ny to  boys,  twopence  to  men. 

Shutting  a  cab  door,  to  the  water- 
man, one  penny  :  Where  does  your  hon- 
or want  to  go  ? — twopence. 

Assistance  in  case  of  accident — varies 
from  sixpence  to  a  shilling. 

And  so  on.  He  who  would  be  so  fool- 
hardy as  to  refuse  these  "  regular  rates," 
while  his  bravery  might  be  extolled, 
would  incur  the  odium  of  every  pro- 
fessional bystander,  and  might  think 
himself  fortunate  if  he  escaped  the 
open  execrations  of  the  disappointed 
benefactor. 


Wigrs  by  the  Cargo. 

It  is  related  that  one  La  Rose,  first 
valet-de-chambre  to  the  French  ambas- 
sador at  Constantinople,  in  1690,  was 
persuaded  by  some  one  in  Paris  to  lay 
out  his  savings  in  wigs,  as  a  good  spec- 


598 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


ulation  for  the  Turkish  market.  Find- 
ing, on  reaching  Constantinople,  that 
his  stock  remained  on  hand,  and  that 
he  had  been  duped,  he  fell  into  low 
spirits,  and  had  nigh  died  of  despond- 
ency. The  ambassador,  seeing  this, 
bethought  himself  of  applying  to  the 
grand  vizier,  to  see  if  he  could  not  de- 
vise sonte  plan  of  getting  rid  of  the 
cargo.  "Nothing  can  be  more  easy," 
replied  the  sultan ;  "  leave  the  matter 
to  me,"  On  the  following  day,  a  fir- 
man was  issued  and  read  in  the  Jewish 
synagogues,  commanding  all  Jews  to 
wear  wigs.  Terrible  was  the  confu- 
sion and  running  to  and  fro  among 
the  bewildered  Israelites.  Few  knew 
even  the  meaning  of  "  wigs ;  "  none 
knew  where  to  find  them.  This  hav- 
ing quickly  reached  La  Rose's  ears,  he 
joyously  delivered  his  stock  to  a  bro- 
ker, who  disposed  of  the  whole  in  a 
few  hours,  the  result  being  a  rich  har- 
vest to  La  Rose,  not  taking  into  ac- 
count the  grotesque  appearance  of 
"Abraham's  seed"  thus  caparisoned. 
The  speculator  was,  however,  directed 
by  his  master  not  to  renew  the  venture. 


Payiner  by  the  Clock  instead  of  the 
Thing:. 

"You  have  charged  me  for  a  full- 
priced  breakfast,"  said  a  complaining 
guest,  looking  at  his  bill ;  "  and  all  I 
had  was  a  cup  of  milk  and  a  chip  of 
toast."  "  You  might  have  had  coflfee 
and  eggs  for  the  same  money,"  replied 
the  waiter.  "Ahl"  cried  the  guest, 
"then  it  seems  you  charge  according 
to  the  clock ;  and  if  a  man  was  to  eat 
only  eggs  at  dinner  time,  I  suppose  he'd 
have  to  pay  for  full-grown  turkeys." 


Bealiziner  a  Profit. 

A  BIGHT  smart  business  woman 
(there  are  not  a  few  such)  was  "  come 
up  to  "  on  this  wise  by  her  promising 
son.  She  kept  a  small  store  and  a  sort 
of  tavern  on  a  public  thoroughfare  be- 


tween two  seaport  towns — ^now  digni- 
fied by  the  title  of  cities — and  had  a 
most  successful  way  of  "  realizing  a 
profit."  The  said  son,  a  jolly  sailor 
lad,  who  had  just  returned  from  a  voy- 
age, was  one  day  left  by  his  mother  in 
charge  of  the  shop  for  a  short  time, 
while  she  went  out  to  keep  her  place 
good  in  the  village  gossip  society.  Jack 
"took  the  helm,"  and  told  the  old 
woman  not  to  hurry,  and  he  would 
keep  a  sharp  look  out.  During  her 
absence  an  old  soldier,  worn  and  scored 
in  his  country's  service,  came  along,  and 
halted  a  moment  to  rest  and  refresh 
himself.  Jack  "  put  his  foot "  into  his 
new  vocation  by  asking  the  "  customer  " 
if  he  would  like  something  to  eat — 
though  in  every  place  where  he  thought 
there  was  a  likelihood  of  anything  eat- 
able being  stowed  away,  all  he  could 
find  was  the  remnants  of  the  dinner  of 
the  day  before.  This  he  placed  before 
the  hero,  and  bade  him  "  fall  to,"  which 
he  did  quite  readily.  When  he  had 
finished  and  gone  on  his  way,  there  re- 
mained of  what  Jack  had  set  before 
him  only  a  few  well-picked  bones.  On 
his  mother  returning,  he  related  the 
fact  of  his  customer's  visit,  and  asked 
her  what  it  was  worth  to  pick  those 
old  bones.  "  Well,  Jack,"  she  replied, 
quite  elated  at  what  she  supposed  was 
the  shrewdness  of  the  lad,  "a  shil- 
ling would  be  about  right."  "So  I 
thought,"  said  Jack,  "  and  that  is  what 

I  gave  him." 

t 

American  Customer  at  a  Turkish 
Bazaar. 

An  American  traveller  was  once 
wandering  through  the  trading  bazaars 
of  Turkey,  and  wished  to  buy  an  em- 
broidered handkerchief  of  one  of  the 
shopkeepers.  He  asked  the  price. 
"  Seventy-five  piasters."  "  No,"  said 
the  customer — aware  that  it  is  usual 
among  all  traders,  whatever  their  creed, 
to  ask  at  first  more  than  the  value — 
"  that  is  too  much,  I  will  give  you 
seventy ; "  and  as  the  dealer  seemed  to 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


599 


nod  assent,  he  counted  out  the  money. 
But  his  surprise  was  great,  when  the 
rough-bearded  Osmanli,  gravely  push- 
ing back  to  him  twenty  piasters,  ob- 
served :  "  This  is  more  than  the  just 
price.  It  is  always  the  custom  here  to 
bargain  over  a  thing  down  to  its  fair 
value,  and  as  fifty  piasters  is  my  fair 
price,  these  twenty  belong  to  you." 


Matrimonial  Export. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  Virginia, 
when  the  adventurers  were  principally 
unmarried  men,  it  was  deemed  neces- 
sary to  export  such  women  as  could  be 
prevailed  upon  to  quit  England,  as 
wives  for  the  planters.  A  letter  accom- 
panying one  of  these  matrimonial  ship- 
ments, dated  London,  August  12,  1631, 
says : 

"  "We  send  you,  in  the  ship,  one  wid- 
ow and  eleven  maids,  as  wives  for  the 
people  of  Virginia ;  there  hath  been 
especial  care  had  in  the  choice  of  them, 
for  there  hath  not  one  of  them  been  re- 
ceived but  upon  good  recommenda- 
tions. There  are  nearly  fifty  more  that 
are  ready  to  come.  For  the  reimburs- 
ing of  charges,  it  is  ordered  that  every 
man  that  marries  them,  give  one  hun- 
dred pounds  of  best  leaf  tobacco  for 
each  of  them." 


Feculiaxities  of  the  Northwest  Pur 
Traders. 

The  character  of  the  hunters  and 
trappers  engaged  in  the  fur  trade 
throughout  the  extreme  northwest  is 
peculiar  and  original.  The  trade  is  not 
carried  on  now,  as  in  former  times,  by 
means  of  bateaux  and  canoes,  which, 
under  the  old  French  and  English  sys- 
tems, enlivened  the  rivers  and  lakes  of 
our  old  northwestern  territory.  The 
fur-bearing  animals  have  been  driven 
from  a  great  portion  of  the  borders  by 
the  advance  of  emigration,  and  their 
shores  have  become,  to  a  great  extent, 
the  sites  of  subtantial  farmhouses  and 
prosperous  settlements.    The  canoe  has 


given  place  to  the  steamboat,  the  trad- 
ing post  to  the  city.  The  great  bulk 
of  the  trade  has  been  transferred  to  the 
region  oi'  the  mountains,  whose  wild 
recesses  contain  no  lakes  where  they 
can  disport  their  canoes,  no  streams 
which  can  float  their  furs  to  market. 
These  traders  and  trappers  transport 
their  goods  or  furs  upon  pack  horses, 
or  carry  them  on  their  own  backs  to  a 
navigable  stream.  They  move  from 
place  to  place  on  horseback,  sometimes 
conveying  their  traps  upon  their  shoul- 
ders through  deep  ravines,  up  steep 
precipices,  inaccessible  to  the  horse,  in 
search  of  places  which  contain  their 
favorite  game.  The  life  of  one  thus  en- 
gaged becomes,  therefore,  a  scene  of 
toil  and  privation,  and  yet  of  passion- 
ate excitement.  His  views  are  exag- 
gerated, his  habits  imsettled,  his  senti- 
ments, generally,  noble  and  generous, 
like  those  of  a  sailor — for  the  causes 
which  act  upon  him  are  similar  in  their 
character — and,  like  the  sailor,  he  is 
nowhere  contented  except  when  leading 
a  life  of  danger  and  excitement. 


Snow  Trade  of  Sicily. 

The  principal  export  from  Catania 
is  snow,  in  which  a  very  lucrative  trade 
is  carried  on  with  Malta,  and  some 
parts  of  the  South  of  Italy.  It  is  col- 
lected during  the  winter  in  pits  and 
hollows  on  the  mountain,  and  covered 
with  the  scoriae  and  ashes,  to  prevent  its 
thawing.  It  is  brought  down  on  mules 
to  the  coast  at  night,  in  panniers  cov- 
ered with  leaves.  The  revenue  derived 
from  this  source  is  immense,  and  ren- 
ders the  Prince  of  Patemo  one  of  the 
richest  men  in  Sicily,  Snow  is  the  uni- 
versal luxury,  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest  ranks.  It  is  sold  at  about  the 
rate  of  four  cents  a  rotolo,  or  thirty 
ounces  ;  and  the  poorest  cobbler  would 
sooner  deprive  himself  of  his  dinner 
than  of  his  glass  of  "  acqua  gelata."  It 
is  also,  of  course,  extensively  used  in 
the  hospitals:    and  a  scarcity  of  it 


600 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


would  be  considered  as  great  a  misfor- 
tune as  a  famine,  or  any  other  national 
visitation,  and  would  more  infallibly 
occasion  popular  tumults.  To  guard 
against  any  such  accidents,  the  Govern- 
ment at  Naples  have  made  the  providing 
it  a  monopoly,  the  contractor  being  re- 
quired to  give  security  to  the  amount 
of  sixty  thousand  ducats,  which  sum 
is  forfeited  if  it  can  be  proved  that  for 
one  hour  the  supply  was  not  equal  to 
the  demand. 


Frencli  Toads  an  Article  of  Commerce. 

A  siKGirLAK  feature  in  the  commerce 
between  England  and  France  is  the 
toad  trade.  It  is  well  known  that  on 
some  of  the  choice  market  gardens  near 
London,  as  many  as  five  crops  are  raised 
in  one  year,  the  principal  object  being, 
however,  to  grow  the  finest  possible 
specimens  for  high  prices.  Under  such 
a  system  of  culture,  slugs  and  other  in- 
sects are  very  formidable  foes,  and  to 
destroy  them,  toads  have  been  found  so 
useful  as  to  be  purchased  at  high  prices. 
As  much  as  a  dollar  and  a  half  per 
dozen  is  given  for  full-grown  lively 
toads,  which  are  generally  imported 
from  France,  where  they  have  also  been 
in  use  for  a  long  time  in  this  same  way. 


Kike  Sclinapps,  the  Fiddle  Dealer. 

Mike  Schnapps  is  well  known  in 
the  trade  as  a  ravenous  fiddle  ogre, 
who  buys  and  sells  everything  that 
bears  the  fiddle  shape,  from  a  double- 
double  bass  to  a  dancing  master's 
pocketable  kit.  His  house  is  one  vast 
musical  collectanea — ^with  fiddles  on 
the  walls,  fiddles  on  the  staircases,  and 
fiddles  hanging  like  stalactites  from 
the  ceilings.  He  and  his  establishment 
have  never  been  dramatized,  but  that 
there  is  material  in  either  for  a  "  clever 
comedy  in  traflSc,"  the  following  will 
show : 

"  You  vant  to  py  a  pfeedel,"  says 
Schnapps.  "  I  sail  sell  you  de  pest — dat 


ish,  de  pest  for  de  money.  Vat  you  sail 
give  for  him  ? " 

"  Well,  I  can  go  as  far  as  ten  guineas," 
says  the  customer. 

"  Ten  kinnis  is  goot  for  one  goot 
pfeedel;  bote  besser  is  twenty,  tirty, 
feefity  kinnis,  or  von  hunder,  look  you  ; 
bote  ten  kinnis  is  goot — you  sail  see." 

Schnapps  is  all  simplicity  and  candor 
in  his  dealings.  The  probability  is, 
however,  that  his  ten-guinea  fiddle 
would  be  fairly  purchased  at  five,  and 
that  the  customer  might  have  been 
treated  to  the  same  article  had  he 
named  thirty  or  forty  guineas  instead 
of  ten. 

Schnapps  was  once  asked  if  he  knew 
wherein  lay  the  excellence  of  the  old 
Italian  instruments. 

"  Mein  Gott ! "  said  he,  "  if  I  don't, 
who  de  teifil  does  ? " 

Then  he  went  on  to  say,  that  it  did 
not  lie  in  any  peculiarity  in  the  model, 
though  there  was  something  in  that; 
nor  in  the  wood  of  the  back,  though 
there  was  something  in  that;  nor  in 
the  fine  and  regular  grain  of  the  pine, 
though  there  was  something  in  that; 
nor  in  the  position  of  the  grain,  run- 
ning precisely  parallel  with  the  strings, 
though  there  was  something  in  that 
too  ;  nor  in  the  sides,  nor  in  the  finger 
board,  nor  in  the  linings,  nor  in  the 
bridge,  nor  in  the  strings,  nor  in  the 
waist,  though  there  was  something  in 
all  of  them,  nor  yet  in  the  putting 
together,  though  there  was  much  in 
that. 

"  Where  does  it  lie  then,  Mr. 
Schnapps  ? " 

"  Ah,  der  henker  1  hang  if  I  know." 

"  Has  age  much  to  do  with  it,  think 
you  ? " 

'  Not  moshe.  Dere  is  pad  pfeedels 
two  hunder  years  ole  as  veil  as  goot 
vons ;  and  dere  is  goot  pfeedels  of  pad 
models,  vitch  is  very  pad,  and  pad 
pfeedels  of  de  fery  pest  models,  and 
peautiful  make  as  you  sail  vish  to  see." 

This  is  the  *wm  total  of  the  informa- 
tion to  be  got  out  of  Schnapps  on  this 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


601 


mysterious  subject,  but  of  which.  Mike's 
head  is  the  very  lexicon  1 


Queer  Bartering*  in  Northern  Africa. 

At  Temenhint,  in  Northern  Africa, 
the  inhabitants  have  a  curious  mode 
of  barter.  The  person  who  has  any 
goods  to  sell,  mentions  what  he  wishes 
in  exchange  for  certain  commodities, 
whether  oil,  liquid  butter,  or  shahm, 
which  latter  is  a  kind  of  salted  fat, 
much  resembling  bad  tallow  in  taste 
and  smell.  If  liquids,  he  pours  water 
into  a  pot,  in  proportion  to  the  quan- 
tity of  oil  or  butter  he  requires;  if 
solids,  he  brings  a  stone  of  the  size  of 
the  shahm,  or  other  article  demanded. 
The  buyer  pours  out  water,  or  sends 
for  smaller  stones,  until  he  thinks  a  fair 
equivalent  is  offered.  The  quantities 
then  agreed  for  are  made  up  to  the  size 
of  the  stone  or  the  depth  of  the  water. 


Adam  and  Eve  Leading:  on  in  Trade. 

The  first  "  bargain  "  may  be  said  to 
have  been  made  in  Paradise,  and  it  was 
a  bargain  to  gratify  the  eye  and  taste, 
but  it  was  a  ruinous  speculation,  in 
many  of  its  aspects.  Cain,  and  Lamech, 
and  Tubal  Cain,  and  the  builders  of 
cities,  and  the  workers  in  metals,  how- 
ever, were  not  deterred  from  trading 
with  Nimrod  for  skins  and  furs. 

The  first  trading  after  the  flood  was 
between  the  mothers  and  daughters  of 
Noah's  three  sons,  when  they  were 
packing  up  to  come  out  of  the  ark, 
and  no  doubt  it  was  then  found  that 
those  who  had  been  the  neatest,  and 
had  preserved  the  best  order  in  their 
part  of  the  vessel,  were  able  to  make 
the  best  bargain,  and  there  is  but  very 
little  doubt  that  Shem's  family  were  the 
best  traders. 

The  Midianites,  who  traded  in  Egypt, 
in  spices,  balm,  and  myrrh,  to  whom 
Joseph  was  sold,  were  travelling  mer- 
chants. What  may  be  called  the  first 
actual  commercial  transaction,  recorded 


in  the  oldest  book  in  the  world,  took 
place  seventeen  hundred  years  before 
the  Christian  era,  long  before  Homer  or 
Hesiod  was  born,  or  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  or  even  the  Medes  and  Per- 
sians were  dreamed  of.  "  And  behold 
a  company  of  Ishmaelites  came  from 
Gilead,  with  their  camels,  bearing 
spicery,  and  balm,  and  myrrh,  going  to 
carry  it  down  to  Egypt ;  and  they  drew 
and  lifted  up  Joseph  out  of  the  pit, 
and  sold  Joseph  to  the  Ishmaelites  for 
twenty  pieces  of  silver;  and  they 
brought  Joseph  to  Egypt." 


Dealing:  in  "  Orrd  Tliing:s." 

In  one  of  the  small  streets  of  Edin- 
burgh, called  Niddries  Wynd,  some 
time  ago  there  lived  an  eccentric  char- 
acter, named  Willie  Tamson.  He  ex- 
hibited a  sign  bearing  this  singular  in- 
scription :  "  Orrd  Things  Bought  and 
Sold  Here," — which  signified  that  he 
dealt  in  odd  articles,  such  as  a  single 
shoe  buckle,  one  of  a  pair  of  skates,  a 
right-hand  or  left-hand  glove,  a  teapot 
wanting  a  lid,  or  perhaps  as  often  a  lid 
without  a  teapot.  By  this  craft,  how- 
ever, this  curious  mortal  contrived  to 
earn  a  decent  living ;  for  it  is  a  trait  in 
human  nature,  that  when  a  store  or 
person  gets  the  reputation  for  selling 
cheap,  every  one  takes  it  for  granted 
that  it  must  be  so — the  same  principle, 
or  crotchet,  which  leads  persons  to  fiock 
to  the  shop  where  damaged  goods  are 
advertised  for  sale  cheap,  but  where 
customers  often  pay  several  cents  per 
yard  more  for  the  damaged  article  than 
they  would  have  got  it  for,  dry  and  un- 
soiled,  in  another  store.  So  it  was  by 
this  craft  that  "old  Willie"  thrived, 
for  every  housewife  that  had  an  odd 
shoe,  or  an  odd  glove,  or  an  odd  part 
of  a  pair  of  scissors,  or  of  a  pair  of 
tongs  and  snuffers,  a  knife  without  a 
handle,  or  a  handle  without  the  blade, 
went  to  Willie  Tamson  to  get  them 
paired ;  in  short,  he  was  perhaps  the 
greatest  match-maker  in  Europe. 


602 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES, 


Exportation  of  Scotcli  Periwinkles. 
It  would  hardly  be  supposed  that  so 
trifling  an  article  in  itself  as  the  peri- 
winkle could  form  a  matter  of  extensive 
traffic ;  but  so  it  is.  Sometimes  as 
many  as  fifty  or  sixty  tons  of  these  lit- 
tle shells  are  brought  at  a  time  to  Glas- 
gow, Scotland,  from  the  island  of  Ker- 
vera,  opposite  Oban,  where  they  abound, 
and  are  gathered  by  the  poor  people, 
who  get  sixpence  a  bushel  for  collect- 
ing them.  From  this  they  are  shipped 
to  Liverpool,  and  thence  by  rail  to 
London,  to  satisfy  the  insatiable  maw 
of  the  modem  Babylonians.  Very  few 
are  consumed  in  Scotland,  as  the  popu- 
lar taste  for  "  whilks  and  buckies "  is 
not  so  strongly  marked  in  that  country, 
and  better  profits  are  consequently  ob- 
tained in  London,  even  after  paying  so 
much  sea  and  land  carriage. 


Tea  Shops  in  China. 
The  Chinese  tea  shops  are  very  much 
resorted  to,  and  a  brisk  business  is  done 
in  their  own  favorite  beverage.  The 
charge  is  ridiculously  small.  For  half 
a  penny,  a  customer  may  have  what 
they  call  a  sumptuous  meal — "  three 
cash  "  being  the  price  of  a  cup  of  tea, 
fifteen  hundred  cash  going  to  the  dol- 
lar. Their  mode  of  making  tea  is  very 
diflierent  from  ours.  They  put  the  tea 
into  the  cups,  and  then  take  them  to  im- 
mense copper  kettles  with  furnaces  in- 
side ;  filling  each  cup  with  boiling 
water,  they  put  on  its  little  cover,  and 
allow  it  to  stand  for  a  few  minutes, 
then,  pushing  the  cover  just  within  the 
rim  of  the  cup,  so  as  to  prevent  the 
leaves  making  their  escape,  they  drink 
it,  without  sugar  or  milk.  The  shop- 
keeper will  refill  the  cups  for  the  same 
money,  but  if  more  is  wanted,  a  second 
payment  must  be  made. 


Turkish  Fez  Shops:   Stationers, 

Tailors,  and  Jewellers. 
The  fez  shops  are  very  numerous  in 
the  "  sick  man's  city,"  for  turbans  de- 


crease, though  slowly.  They  are  of  a 
deep  crimson,  and  have  at  the  top  a 
little  red  stalk,  to  which  the  heavy 
blue  tassel  is  tied,  and  which  always, 
to  prevent  entanglement,  is  kept  in 
stock  with  a  sort  of  ornament  of  paper 
cut  into  a  lace  pattern  round  it.  The 
blocks,  too,  for  fezes  to  be  kept  on,  are 
sold  in  distinct  shops.  They  may  be 
seen  round  as  cheeses,  ranged  in  front 
of  a  Turk,  who  watches  them  as  if  ex- 
pecting them  to  grow.  Sometimes  one 
can  hardly  help  thinking  them  to  be 
pork  pies,  but  for  the  bare-legged  boy 
in  the  background,  who,  pushing  the 
block  with  the  flexible  sole  of  his  foot, 
keeps  it  even  upon  the  lathe. 

Stationers  and  booksellers  hardly 
show  at  all  in  Stamboul,  but  in  the  ba- 
zaar, and  there  in  a  very  limited  way 
— and  in  a  way,  too,  that  makes  an 
Englishman  or  American  wish  he  were 
away  altogether. 

The  tailor,  too,  does  not  figure 
largely,  though  the  Turks  are  seen  busy 
in  their  shops  sewing  at  quilted  gowns 
and  coverlets  stuffed  with  down ;  and 
one  can  seldom  pass  down  a  street 
without  seeing  a  man  with  a  bow,  bow- 
ing cotton,  with  the  twang  and  flutter 
peculiar  to  that  occupation,  the  slave 
behind  half  buried  in  flock,  or  emerg- 
ing from  a  swansdown  sea  of  loose 
white  feathers. 

The  jewellers — frequently  Jews — are 
chiefly  in  the  bazaars,  both  for  safety 
and  convenience.  There  they  sit,  sort- 
ing great  heaps  of  seed  pearl,  like  so 
much  rice,  squinting  through  lumps  of 
emerald,  or  weighing  filigree  earrings, 
with  veiled  ladies  looking  on,  and 
black  duennas  in  yellow  boots  in  wait- 
ing ;  but  still  there  are  a  few  outsiders 
who  sell  coarse  European  watches  with 
unseemly  French  cases,  and  large  bossy 
silver  cases  for  rose  water,  or  some  such 
frivolous  use,  shaped  like  huge  melons, 
and  crusted  with  patterning. 

It  is  not  possible  to  go  up  a  Turk- 
ish street,  if  it  contain  any  shops,  with- 
out also  finding  among  them  a  fumi- 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


603 


ture  shop,  where  Chinese-looking  stools 
and  large  chests  are  sold,  their  whole 
surface  diced  over  with  squares  of 
mother-of-pearl,  frequently  dry  and 
loose  with  extreme  age. 


Settling:  a  Question  of  Trade. 

The  crew  of  a  vessel  was  taken  by  a 
Barbary  corsair.  When  they  were 
brought  before  the  dey,  he  inquired 
their  several  occupations.  The  rig- 
gers, and  blacksmiths,  and  carpenters, 
were  all  sent  off  to  the  dockyard.  The 
sailors  had  a  comfortable  berth  pro- 
vided for  them ;  and  even  the  officers 
were  turned  to  account  one  way  or 
another. 

At  last  his  highness  came  to  a  literary 
man — a  passenger  and  a  poet.  What  to 
do  with  him,  for  a  long  while,  his  high- 
ness could  not,  for  the  life  of  him,  say ; 
till  at  last,  learning  that  the  prisoner 
was  a  man  of  sedentary  occupations, 
and  having  the  peculiarity  of  the 
habits  of  such  a  one  explained  to  him 
somewhat  by  the  interpreter,  he  ordered 
the  poet  a  pair  of  feather  breeches,  and 
set  him  to  hatching  chickens. 


Barsalning:  by  Fantomizne— Trade  in 
Cazaels. 

The  Blue  Town,  Tartary,  is  noted 
for  its  great  trade  in  camels.  The  camel 
market  is  a  large  square  in  the  centre 
of  the  town.  The  animals  are  ranged 
here  in  long  rows,  their  front  feet  raised 
upon  a  mud  elevation  constructed  for 
that  purpose,  the  object  being  to  show 
off  the  size  and  height  of  the  creatures. 
The  uproar  and  confusion  of  this 
market  are  tremendous,  vnth  the  in- 
cessant bawling  of  the  buyers  and 
sellers  as  they  dispute,  their  chattering 
after  they  have  agreed,  and  the  horri- 
ble shrieking  of  the  animals  at  having 
their  noses  pulled,  for  the  purpose  of 
making  them  show  their  agility  in 
kneeling  and  rising. 

In  order  to  test  the  strength  of  the 


camel,  and  the  burden  it  is  capable  of 
bearing,  they  make  it  kneel,  and  then 
pile  one  thing  after  another  upon  its 
back,  causing  it  to  rise  under  each 
addition,  until  it  can  rise  no  longer. 
They  sometimes  use  the  folloA?ring  ex- 
pedient ;  While  the  camel  is  kneeling, 
a  man  gets  upon  his  hind  heels,  and 
holds  on  by  the  long  hair  of  its  hump 
— if  a  camel  can  rise  then,  it  is  consid- 
ered an  animal  of  superior  strength. 

The  trade  in  camels  is  entirely  by 
proxy — the  seller  and  the  buyer  never 
settle  the  matter  between  themselves. 
They  select  indifferent  persons  to  sell 
their  goods,  who  propose,  discuss,  and 
fix  the  price;  the  one  looking  to  the 
interests  of  the  seller,  the  other  to 
those  of  the  purchaser.  These  "  sale 
speakers  "  exercise  no  other  trade ;  they 
go  from  market  to  market,  to  promote 
business,  as  they  say.  They  have  gener- 
ally a  great  knowledge  of  cattle,  have 
much  fluency  of  tongue,  and  are,  above 
all,  endowed  with  a  knavery  beyond  all 
shame.  They  dispute  by  turns,  furious- 
ly and  argumentatively,  as  to  the  merits 
and  defects  of  the  animal ;  but  as  soon 
as  it  comes  to  a  question  of  price,  the 
tongue  is  laid  aside  as  a  medium,  and 
the  conversation  proceeds  altogether  in 
signs.  They  seize  each  other  by  the 
wrist,  and  beneath  the  long,  wide 
sleeve  of  their  jackets  indicate  with 
their  fingers  the  progress  of  the  bar- 
gain. After  the  affair  is  concluded, 
they  partake  of  the  dinner,  which  is 
always  given  by  the  purchaser,  and 
then  receive  a  certain  number  of  sa- 
peks,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
different  places. 


Mercantile  Aerency  Management 
Illustrated. 

A  KEPRESENTATivE  of  One  of  the 
mercantile  agency  establishments  in 
New  York  once  called  on  a  merchant 
in  Broad  street  (we  quote  from  Mr. 
Barrett's  racy  volume  on  the  "  Old 
Merchants"),  and  asked  him  to  become 


604 


COMMERCIAL   AND   BUSINESS   ANECDOTES. 


a  subscriber.  He  explained  its  advan- 
tages. The  merchant  hesitated — at  last 
he  says,  "  Tell  me  all  about  '  James 
Samson,'  and  I  will  subscribe."  "  The 
name  is  not  on  the  agency  books,  but 
give  me  two  days,  and  I  will  find  out 
all  about  him."  The  clerk  got  the 
name  correctly,  and  said,  "  I'll  find  out 
all  about  him  if  he  is  in  the  United 
States."  A  week  elapsed.  The  clerk 
of  the  agency  called,  and  reported  as 
follows  :  "  James  Samson  is  a  peddler, 
aged  thirty;  lie  comes  to  Albany  to 
buy  his  goods,  and  then  peddles  them 
out  along  the  canal  from  Albany  to 
Buffalo.  He  is  worth  two  thousand 
dollars ;  owns  a  wooden  house  in 
Lockport  in  his  own  name ;  his  family 
reside  in  it ;  has  a  wife  and  three  chil- 
dren, two  boys  and  one  girl  ,•  boys 
named  Henry  and  Charles,  aged  four 
and  six  years,  girl  named  Margaret,  two 
years  old ;  no  judgment  out  or  mort- 
gage on  property ;  drinks  two  glasses 
cider  brandy,  plain,  morning  and  eve- 
ning— never  more ;  drinks  water  after 
each ;  chews  fine-cut ;  never  smokes ; 
good  teeth  generally ;  has  lost  a  large 
double  tooth  on  lower  jaw,  back, 
second  from  throat  on  left  side ;  has 
a  scar  an  inch  long  on  his  left  leg  knee- 
pan  ;  cause,  cut  himself  with  a  hatchet 
when  only  three  years  old ;  can  be 
found  when  in  Albany  at  Pete  Mason's, 
83  State  street;  purchases  principally 
jewelry  and  fancy  articles ;  belongs  to 
the  Shoe."  This  is  evidence  of  how 
systematically  the  system  is  carried  on. 
The  report  was  conclusive.  It  satisfied 
the  Broad  street  merchant.  The  event 
was  fifteen  years  ago.  The  merchant 
subscribed  one  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars, and  has  paid  it  yearly  ever  since. 


Funny  Commeroial  Transaction  All 
Round. 

An  old  fellow  living  at  Frankfort-on- 
the-Maine,  sent  to  a  business  corres- 
pondent at  Frankfort-on-the-Oder,  a 
large  consignment  of  cotton  stockings, 


and,  at  the  same  time,  to  another  cor- 
respondent at  the  same  place,  an  equal- 
ly large  consignment  of  cotton  night- 
caps, the  product  of  his  own  manufac- 
ture. He  wrote  to  each  the  price  at 
which  they  were  to  sell,  but  the  sum 
designated  was  found  to  be  too  large, 
of  which  fact  they  took  the  liberty  to 
inform  him. 

He  yielded  a  little  in  his  demands, 
but  still  there  was  no  offer  for  his 
fabrics.  Again  he  writes,  in  reply  to 
other  letters  of  his  correspondents, 
naming  a  yet  smaller  amount;  but 
weeks  elapse,  and  yet  no  sales.  At 
length  he  writes  to  each  correspondent 
to  make  some  disposition  of  his  manu- 
factures ;  if  they  can't  get  money  for 
them,  at  least  to  exchange  them,  no 
matter  at  what  reasonable  sacrifice,  for 
any  other  goods. 

Under  these  instructions,  the  stock- 
ing factor  calls  upon  the  nightcap 
agent,  both  unknown  to  each  other  in 
connection  with  their  principal,  and 
"  names  his  views  ;  "  he  wishes  to  ex- 
change a  lot  of  superior  stockings  for 
some  other  goods — he  is  not  particular 
what  kind,  as  the  transaction  is  for  a 
friend,  who  is  desirous  of  "  closing  his 
stock."  The  man  at  first  can  think  of 
nothing  which  he  would  like  to  ex- 
change for  so  large  a  supply  of  stock- 
ings, but  at  length  a  bright  thought 
strikes  him,  "  I  have,"  said  he,  "  a 
consignment  of  cotton  nightcaps  from 
an  old  correspondent,  which  I  shall 
not  object  to  exchange  for  your  stock- 
ings." The  bargain  was  soon  closed. 
The  stocking  factor  wrote  back  at  once, 
that  he  had  at  length  been  enabled  to 
comply  with  the  instructions  of  his 
principal.  He  had  exchanged  his 
stockings  for  "a  superior  article  of 
nightcap,"  in  an  equal  quantity,  which 
he  was  assured  were  likely  to  be  much 
in  demand  before  a  great  while.  The 
next  day  came  a  letter  from  the  night- 
cap agent,  announcing  his  success,  and 
appended  to  the  letter  was  a  big  bill 
for    commissions !       As    Yellowplush 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAITIC. 


605 


would  say,  "Fauzy  that  gentleman's 
feelinks." 


liOgran,  the  Fan  Painter. 

Logan,  so  famous  in  England  for  his 
marvellous  skill  as  a  painter  of  fans, 
at  Tunbridge,  was  an  odd,  diminutive 
figure,  but  a  most  sensible,  honest,  and 
ingenious  man.  For  some  years  he 
kept  a  shop  at  the  extreme  end  of  the 
parade  ground.  From  this  point  he 
could  see  the  whole  military  body,  and 
constantly  delineated  any  particular 
character  among  them,  on  his  fans,  so 
as  to  be  immediately  known  by  their 
forms ;  these  he  introduced  in  his 
views  of  the  parade — the  cold  bath — 
the  fish  ponds,  etc.,  and  which  gave 
him  constant  employ.  But  his  origi- 
nality of  character,  his  quaint  good 
sense,  jokes,  and  trenchant  repartees, 
for  which  he  was  so  distinguished,  are 
probably  better  remembered  than  his 
mechanic  skill. 


Jolly  Sigm-Fainters :  Rich.  Frofessional 
Tragedy. 

In  the  western  part  of  a  certain  city, 
live  and  flourish  two  jolly  young  fel- 
lows who  follow  sign-painting  for  a 
livelihood,  and  who  are  sometimes  in 
the  habit  of  cutting  up  what  are  called 
"  high  shines."     We  shall  see. 

It  so  occurred  that  one  of  the  painters 
had  some  out-door  business  to  attend 
to,  and  left  the  shop  in  charge  of  his 
partner  and  a  little  boy  who  was  em- 
ployed to  grind  paints.  During  his 
absence,  the  partner  remaining  went 
to  work  and  painted  the  boy's  neck 
so  as  to  represent  a  large  gash,  and  a 
cut  over  the  eye.  He  then  took  red 
paint,  bespattered  it  over  the  floor,  and 
clotted  the  boy's  hair,  and  made  him 
lie  down  in  a  comer.  He  then  painted 
a  great  gash  on  his  own  cheek,  bared 
his  bosom,  disordered  his  dress,  dipped 
a  long-bladed  knife  in  the  red  paint 
pot,  and  patiently  awaited  the  coming 
of  his  partner. 


Directly  afterwards  he  heard  him  at 
the  door,  and  the  performance  com- 
menced. The  partner  stuck  his  head 
into  the  room  door ;  one  glance  was 
sufficient — the  boy  was  prostrate  on 
the  floor,  with  his  throat  cut,  groaning 
and  crying  rnurder;  chairs,  tables, 
benches,  jugs,  and  paint  pots,  were 
strewed  around  the  room  in  dire  con- 
fusion, while  the  murderous  looking 
partner,  with  the  bloody  knife  uplifted 
in  his  hand,  was  running  through  the 
room  and  uttering  wild  and  incoherent 
expressions. 

It  was  evident  to  the  partner  at  the 
door  that  his  partner  had  killed  the 
boy. 

The  thought  was  horrid.  Swift  as 
lightning,  he  flew  to  his  father,  and  in- 
formed him  of  the  circumstances.  A 
number  of  friends  were  mustered,  who 
repaired  forthwith  to  the  tragical  scene. 
The  crowd  augmented  as  it  neared  the 
shop,  and  in  hastened  the  whole  posse 
with  suspended  breath ;  but  what  was 
their  astonishment  to  find  the  boy, 
without  a  mark  of  any  kind,  the  room 
in  perfect  order,  no  marks  of  blood 
perceptible,  and  the  partner  engaged 
in  lettering  a  sign !  and  utter  igno- 
rance of  any  transaction  of  the  kind 
avowed  by  both  him  and  the  boy,  to 
the  other  partner's  great  mortification 
— more  especially  as  the  persons  he 
brought  there  hinted  to  one  another 
that  during  his  absence  from  the  shop 
he  might  have  indulged  too  freely  in 
"  fire  water." 


The  Miller  and  his  Portrait. 

A  WORTHY  miller,  wishing  for  a  por- 
trait of  himself,  applied  to  a  painter  to 
have  it  accomplished.  "  But,"  said  he, 
"  as  I  am  a  very  industrious  man,  I 
wish  to  be  painted  as  loohing  out  of  the 
window  of  my  mill ;  but  when  any  one 
looks  at  me,  I  wish  to  pop  my  head  «'», 
so  as  not  to  be  thought  lazy,  or  as 
spending  too  much  time  at  the  win- 
dow." 


606 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


"Very  well,"  said  the  painter,  "it 
shall  be  done  so."  He  painted  the  mill 
and  the  mill  -window.  The  miller 
looked  at  it  and  inquired,  "  Where  is 
myself  looking  out  ? "  "  Oh,"  said  the 
painter,  "  whenever  one  looks  at  the 
mill,  as  you  and  I  are  doing  now,  you 
know  you  pop  in  your  head  to  preserve 
your  credit  for  industry."  "  That's 
right,"  said  the  miller,  "  I'm  content — 
that's  right— that  will  do  ! " 


Ktissian  Shop  Oustoms. 

The  Russians  have  the  custom,  which 
is  very  convenient  for  purchasers,  of 
exhibiting  on  one  and  the  same  spot 
almost  everything  that  is  to  be  sold  in 
a  town,  the  most  diflferent  articles  being 
collected  in  one  and  the  same  building. 
A  stranger,  therefore,  has  no  occasion 
to  inquire,  "  Where  is  this  or  that  to 
be  bought  ? "  for  he  finds  at  once 
everything  that  he  can  ask  for.  In 
every  town  in  Russia  of  any  impor- 
tance there  is  a  "  Gostinnoi  Dwor,"  and 
this  structure  is  where  the  buyers  and 
sellers  congregate.  In  no  country  does 
like  stick  closer  to  like  than  in  Russia. 
Not  only  are  the  tradesmen  to  be  found 
together  at  one  rendezvous,  but  all 
those  who  deal  in  the  same  commodity 
unite  to  form  a  smaller  mass.  Thus, 
all  the  stationers  are  in  one  row,  all  the 
silk  dealers  are  together,  and  all  the 
leather  sellers  in  one  group. 

A  peculiarity  of  the  Russian  trades- 
man is  to  deliver  everything  they  offer 
for  sale  as  much  as  possible  in  a  state 
fit  for  immediate  use.  The  reason  of 
this  is  because  Russian  buyers  scarcely 
purchase  anything  till  they  are  in 
urgent  want  of  it.  Hence  the  manu- 
facture-like production  of  every  possi- 
ble sort  of  goods.  Each  commodity 
has  its  row  of  shops,  which  is  named 
after  it,  and  the  ignorant  or  the  juve- 
nile may  be  heard  incessantly  ask- 
ing, "Father,  where  is  Fur  Row?" 
"Where  is  Cap  Row?"  "Brother, 
where  is  Boot  Row?"     "Mother,  is 


this  the  way  to  Stocking  Row  ?  to 
Petticoat  Row  ? " 

If  the  lounger  perambulating  the 
colonnade  is  amused  by  the  inquiries 
of  buyers,  he  will  be  still  more  inter- 
ested by  the  characteristic  sayings  and 
doings  of  the  Russian  tradesmen. 
These  are  all  extremely  sharp  fellows, 
with  flaxen  or  light  brown  hair  and 
beard,  dressed  in  the  kaftan  and  blue 
cloth  cap,  which  is  worn  of  the  same 
form  by  the  shopkeepers  throughout 
all  Russia.  They  are  incessantly  and 
clamorously  recommending  their  goods 
to  passengers  by  the  most  extravagant 
panegyrics.  "  What  are  you  looking 
for,  sir  ?  Clothes — the  very  best,  of  the 
newest  cut.  Hats — the  best  that  can 
be  made.  Kasan  boots — first  rate." — 
"  What  is  your  pleasure,  madam  ? 
what  can  I  do  for  you  ?  what  can  I 
serve  you  with?" — "Have  I  nothing 
that  suits  you,  sir  ? — a  bear-skin,  a  fox- 
skin,  a  wolf-skin  pelisse?  You  will 
find  everything  here,  if  you  will  be 
pleased  to  step  in." 

Officious  attendants  are  always  ready, 
cap  in  hand,  to  open  the  door  to  every 
one  who  passes,  chanting  the  while 
their  accustomed  tunes,  and  pouring 
forth  their  eloquence  without  distinc- 
tion of  person,  rank,  sex,  or  age.  Little 
boys  invite  you  in  to  the  bear-skin 
pelisses,  fine  gentlemen  to  the  clumsy 
boots,  old  women  to  the  toy  shops, 
young  lasses  to  the  shops  for  swords 
and  fire-arms,  peasants  and  laboring 
men  to  those  for  millinery  and  haber- 
dashery. They  care  not  whom  they 
address,  their  only  thought  being,  "  No 
matter  who  the  people  are — so  they 
have  money,  in  with  them  ! "  When 
the  shopkeeper  himself  does  not  under- 
take this  office,  he  employs  a  young 
"  barker,"  who,  walking  to  and  fro  the 
whole  day,  rubbing  his  hands,  sings 
out  his  polite  invitations. 

A  genuine  Oerman  tradesman,  seated 
in  his  shop,  brooding  over  plans  and 
thinking  of  his  wife  and  children,  looks 
like  calculation  personified.    The  Bv*- 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND   OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


607 


sians,  on  the  contrary,  are  almost  in. 
variably  without  thought  or  care. 
Rarely  do  you  see  them  writing  or 
keeping  accounts ;  their  business  is 
simple,  and  needs  no  such  artificial 
aids.  When,  therefore,  they  are  not 
engaged  with  customers,  or  with 
chanting  their  invitations  to  passen- 
gers, they  are  in  general  full  of  all  sorts 
of  fun  and  frolic 


Paris  "  Gratteurs." 

The  gratteur  of  Paris  is  a  "  trades- 
man "  just  below  the  chiflFonnier.  The 
man  of  this  craft  scratches,  the  livelong 
day,  between  the  stones  of  the  pave- 
ment, for  old  nails  from  horses'  shoes, 
and  other  bits  of  iron — always,  of 
course,  in  hope  of  a  bit  of  silver,  and 
even  perhaps  a  bit  of  gold ;  more  hap- 
py in  his  Tiope  than  hundreds  of  others 
in  the  possession.  He  has  a  store  or 
"magazin"  in  the  faubourgs,  where 
he  deposits  his  ferruginous  treasure. 
His  wife  keeps  this  store,  and  is  a 
"  marchande  de  f&r^''  He  maintains  a 
family,  like  another  man ;  one  or  two 
of  his  sons  he  brings  up  to  scratch  for 
a  living,  and  the  other  he  sends  to  col- 
lege ;  and  he  has  a  lot  "  in  perpetuity  " 
in  Pdre  la  Chaise.  His  rank,  however, 
in  social  circles,  is  inferior  to  that  of 
the  chiflFonnier,  who  will  not  give  him 
Ms  daughter  in  marriage,  and  he  don't 
ask  him  to  his  soireea. 


Vocation  Peculiar  to  China ;    Qossip 
at  Fifty  Cents  per  Hour. 

Theke  is  a  kind  of  employment — a 
paying  vocation  too,  it  is  said— which, 
at  least  in  its  financial  aspects,  is  pecu- 
liar to  China  alone.  The  Chinese  name 
for  this  trade  literally  signifies  gossip 
monger.  Now,  a  number  of  elderly 
ladies,  generally  widows,  make  it  their 
business  to  collect  gossip,  on  dits,  chit- 
chat, and  stories  of  all  sorts,  with  which 
they  repair  to  the  houses  of  the  rich, 
annotmcing  their  arrival  by  beating  a 


small  drum,  which  they  carry  for  that 
purpose,  and  oflTer  their  services  to 
amuse  the  ladies  of  the  family.  When 
it  is  recollected  that  shopping,  public 
assemblies,  and  even  morning  calls,  are 
all  but  forbidden  to  the  beauty  and 
fashion  of  China  by  their  country's  no- 
tions of  both  propriety  and  feet,  some 
idea  may  be  formed  of  the  welcome 
generally  given  to  these  reporting 
dames.  They  are  paid  according  to 
the  time  employed,  at  the  rate  of  about 
fifty  cents  an  hour,  and  are  besides  in 
the  frequent  receipt  of  presents — their 
occupation  affording  many  opportu- 
nities of  making  themselves  generally 
useful  in  matters  of  courtship,  rivalry, 
etiquette,  etc.  On  these  accounts  they 
generally  retire  from  business  in  easy 
circumstances,  but  are  said  never  to  do 
so  unless  obliged  by  actual  infirmity — 
so  congenial  is  the  business  to  their  fe- 
male tastes. 


Saint  Shops. 

Russians  are  given  to  imagining 
that  they  are  forsaken  by  God  and  all 
his  angels,  unless  they  have  visible  and 
palpable  representations  of  his  omni- 
presence about  them,  and  unless  he  has 
taken  actual  possession  by  the  hand  of 
the  priest ;  they  therefore  hang  their 
persons,  their  rooms,  their  doorways, 
and  their  gateways,  as  well  as  their 
churches,  with  images  of  saints.  On 
this  account,  the  necessity  arises  for  in- 
credible quantities  of  the  latter  articles. 
The  manufacture  of  these  is  quite  an 
important  business  matter,  and  there 
are  places  especially  carried  on  for  this 
devotional  traffic.  In  heaps,  like  gin- 
gerbread nuts,  and  sold  by  dozens,  lit- 
tle brass  crosses,  portraits  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  St.  John,  and  St.  George,  and 
other  amulets,  lie  exposed  like  any 
other  kind  of  merchandise  before  the 
shops.  On  the  walls  of  the  latter  hang 
glittering  figures  of  false  silver  and 
gold,  of  all  forms  and  dimensions : 
small  ones,  a  few  inches  in  length  and 


608 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


breadth,  which  the  servants  of  great 
families  fetch  away  by  the  gross,  to 
supply  new-built  houses,  where  they 
are  nailed  up  in  every  room,  behind 
the  curtains;  large  ones,  six  or  eight 
feet  high,  for  orthodox  tradesmen,  who, 
with  their  wives  and  children,  prostrate 
themselves  before  them ;  others  for  the 
use  of  village  churches  and  city  chap- 
els. Some  are  fitted,  after  the  new 
fashion,  into  mahogany  frames,  others 
adorned  in  the  old  style,  with  pillars, 
porches,  and  whole  temples,  curiously 
plated  with  silver  wire. 


"  Four-and-twenty  Self-Sealing  Enve- 
lopes, Po-oo-Tir  Cents." 

It  is  about  needless  to  give  any 
preface  to  our  present  character,  after 
so  descriptive  a  title  as  the  above. 
Nor  can  we  do  better  than  to  borrow 
the  portrait  of  this  sui-generis  eccen- 
tricity which  we  find  hanging  up  on 
the  walls  of  the  Knickerbocker — drawn 
by  one  of  its  most  skilful  artists,  with 
only  one  or  two  misshadings  of  the 
pencil : 

The  stationery  man  1  Who  does  not 
know  him  ?  Lives  there  the  individ- 
ual with  soul  so  dead,  who  never  to 
his  friend  has  made  an  observation 
concerning  the  stationery  man  ?  All 
the  world  is  acquainted  with  him,  so 
far  as  a  knowledge  which  is  all  on  one 
side  can  be  called  an  acquaintance. 
All  New  York  has  seen  him.  Every- 
body in  the  rural  districts  has  heard 
of  him.  Indeed,  it  is  a  common  thing 
in  Connecticut,  among  persons  who 
have  never  been  to  New  York,  but  who 
like  to  pretend  to  have  made  that  pil- 
grimage, to  claim  an  acquaintance  with 
the  stationery  man,  and  to  ask  you : 
"  Does  he  stand  there  yet  ? "  Of  course 
he  stands  there  yet.  That  man  will 
never  die :  he  couldn't  afford  to  do  it. 
He  may  pass  away  at  some  time  within 
the  next  fifty  years ;  but  when  he  does 
so,  mark  my  words— don't  pass  up  Nas- 
sau street,  after  midnight,  if  you  would 


not  desire  to  hear  the  sepulchral  voice 
of  a  ghostly  stationery  man  proclaim- 
ing :  "  Four-and-twenty  self-sealing  en- 
velopes, fo-oo-ur  cents ! " 

There  have  been  more  pen-and-ink 
sketches  of  that  individual  taken  than 
were  ever  made  of  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington or  Tippoo  Saib.  I  have  one  of 
them,  and  I  keep  it.  You  might  kill 
me,  or  bum  the  house  over  my  head ; 
but  induce  me  to  part  with  that  por- 
trait ? — not  quite  ! 

Because  I  respect  the  stationery  man, 
I  admire  him.  What  else  can  I  do, 
when  I  see  him  every  day,  and  at  all 
hours,  with  his  heavy  rough  coat  in 
the  warmest  weather,  and  his  chin 
buried  in  that  now  immortal  mufl9.er, 
standing  at  the  comer  under  the  cloth- 
ier's a^vning,  in  rain  or  sunshine,  from 
mom  to  dewy  eve,  and,  indeed,  till 
eight  o'clock  at  night,  proclaiming  to 
the  city  in  general,  and  to  Nassau  street 
pedestrians  in  particular,  the  cheering 
intelligence  that  he  will  give  you,  if 
you  are  disposed  to  take  them,  "  four- 
and-twenty  self-sealing  envelopes  for 
fo-oo-UK  cents."  I  never  bought  any  of 
him.  I  never  saw  him  sell  any :  though 
I  have  stood  and  watched  him  by  the 
hour.  I  don't  believe  he  ever  efl"ects  a 
transaction.  It  is  his  fate,  his  destiny, 
to  stand  at  the  corner  of  Nassau  street, 
and  repeat  those  niystic  words.  He  is, 
I  believe,  the  Wandering  Jew  of  the 
paper  trade.  I  once  plucked  up  cour- 
age enough  to  speak  to  him :  "  Sir," 
said  I,  "  can  you  tell  me  what  o'clock 
it  is  ? "  He  turned  upon  me  a  glassy 
but  yet  shining  gray  eye,  and  answered 
me  in  accents  already  familiar  to  my 
ear — "  Four-and-twenty  self-sealing  en- 
velopes, fo-oo-ur  cents  ! "  I  hurried  on 
and  left  him. 

No  man  knows  where  he  dines,  or 
whether  he  ever  dines  at  all.  His  com- 
ings out  and  his  comings  in,  are  alike 
shrouded  in  mystery.  I  once  tried  to 
follow  him  home.  Home  ?  Ha  1  ha  I 
Seeing  him  make  up  his  little  pack,  I 
determined  to  track  him.     The  rain 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


609 


was  pouring  down  heavily  that  gloomy 
night,  as  /  saw  him  leave  the  corner,  and 
direct  his  steps  up  Nassau  street.  I 
watched  him  until  he  came  within  half 
a  block  of  the  end  of  Nassau  street,  and 
then — well,  I  lost  him.  Out  of  Nassau 
street  I  Tcnow  he  did  not  go,  I  believe 
he  cannot  leave  Nassau  street.  I  can  ; 
but  before  I  left  it  on  that  memorable 
evening,  I  heard  once  more,  as  from  a 
distance,  the  mysterious  announcement 
which  declared  the  unchangeable  value 
of  "four  and  twenty  self-sealing  en- 
velopes." 

What  manner  of  man  is  this? 
Through  how  many  years  has  he  ex- 
isted on  our  globe,  and  for  how  many 
centuries  more  is  he  doomed  to  occupy 
the  corner  of  Nassau  street,  and  pro- 
claim to  a  heedless  world  his  self-seal- 
ing destiny  ?    Ah  !  who  can  tell  ? 

He  has  been  wrapped  in  the  "  en- 
velope "  which  awaits  all  mortals,  and 
now  lies  "  sealed  "  in  his  final  rest. 


Fatent-Uedicine  Uakers— Morrison, 
Brandreth,  Townsend,  etc. 

The  business  of  making  patent  medi- 
cines is  much  overdone,  even  to  an  ex- 
tent beyond  almost  any  other.  A  few 
only  have  realized  a  fortune  in  it.  It 
is  an  uncommonly  flattering  business, 
considering  alone  the  actual  cost  of 
the  stock :  hence  thousands  have  been 
rashly  invested  in  the  manufacture  and 
distribution  of  remedies  without  count- 
ing the  tremendous  cost  of  popularity. 
Unless  large  sales  are  made,  ruin  must 
follow ;  so  that,  by  a  safe  calculation, 
it  is  believed  ninety  in  every  one  hun- 
dred fail,  who  undertake  in  this  line. 

The  manner  of  doing  this  remarkable 
business  is  invariably  to  manufacture 
large  quantities,  and  establish  agencies 
in  every  part  of  the  country ;  it  being 
almost  without  exception  a  commis- 
sion, and  this  is  the  only  means  of  ex- 
tending it.  Of  course,  without  a  very 
large  capital,  nothing  of  late  years  can 
be  done  to  compete  with  the  already 
89 


established  remedies,  Townsend  la- 
bored two  years,  and  accomplished 
nothing.  Finally  a  wealthy  citizen  of 
Albany  joined  him,  investing  ample 
means ;  since  which  the  sarsaparilla 
era  soon  reached  its  zenith,  but,  as 
everything  must  have  its  day,  it  in  time 
rapidly  declined. 

Morrison,  the  London  pill  maker, 
was  one  of  the  leaders  in  this  business. 
His  pills  were  put  up  in  packages  of 
three  boxes  each — "  one,"  *'  two,"  and 
"three" — and  to  be  taken  in  regular 
order ;  holding  out  the  impression  that 
they  contained  three  difierent  kinds  of 
medicine.  These  pills  became  at  one 
time  quite  popular  in  the  United  States, 
till  the  general  agent's  sale  in  New 
England  was  one  hundred  dollars  a 
day,  when  he,  becoming  ati  extensive 
counterfeiter  of  them,  had  to  leave  the 
place.  It  was  afterward  proved  that 
these  pills  were  made  in  New  York, 
and  that  number  one,  two,  and  three, 
were  all  the  same  article.  The  medical 
faculty  came  out  in  London,  at  one 
time,  and  stated  that  Dr.  Morrison  was 
destroying  much  life  by  the  recommen- 
dation of  such  quantities  of  medicines. 
He  in  turn  prosecuted  the  faculty  for 
libel,  but  in  every  instance  was  beaten. 
In  fifteen  years  he  amassed  a  princely 
fortune,  and  bmlt  himself  a  magnificent 
palace. 

Dr,  Brandreth  came  to  this  country 
from  London  about  five  years  after 
Morrison's  pills  became  popular,  and 
established  the  sale  of  his  pills,  adopt- 
ing Morrison's  plan  of  recommending 
every  one  to  take  his  pills  in  large 
quantities ;  and  he  has  accumulated  a 
fortune.  He  gave  the  agency  in  Penn- 
sylvania to  Mr.  Wright,  a  brother  Eng- 
lishman, for  a  number  of  years.  When 
his  sales  became  very  extensive,  he  got 
up  a  counterfeit,  which  caused  Brand- 
reth to  take  away  the  agency  from 
him,  when  he  changed  the  name  of 
the  counterfeit  pills,  and  called  them 
"Indian  Vegetable  PUls,"  and  got  a 
number  of  Brandreth's  travelling  agents 


610 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


to  put  them  out  in  the  country. 
Another  Englishman  got  up  a  pill  call- 
ed "  Old  Parr's,"  stating  that  he  lived 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  on  his 
pills ;  the  story  was  too  absurd  to  be 
believed,  and  they  found  little  or  no 
sale. 

It  is  to  be  presumed  that  everybody 
is  acquainted  with  the  facts,  to  some 
extent,  connected  with  the  career  of 
Swaim,  the  originator  of  Swaim's  Pa- 
nacea, once  so  popular,  and  how,  being 
a  bookbinder,  he  came  to  find  on  the 
Manh  leaf  of  a  volume  Tie  was  Mnding,  the 
recipe  for  the  extensively  sold  medi- 
cine which  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
princely  fortune  which  he  left  behind. 
There  are  but  few  instances  of  such  rare 
good  fortime  in  business  as  this. 


Chinese  Shopkeepers. 

The  streets  of  Pekin  are  built  in  a 
direct  line,  the  greatest  being  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  broad, 
and  a  good  league  long — and  the  shops 
where  they  sell  sUks  and  chinaware, 
which  generally  take  up  the  whole 
street,  make  a  fine  appearance.  Each 
shopkeeper  puts  out  before  his  house, 
on  a  little  kind  of  pedestal,  a  board 
twenty  or  two-and-twenty  feet  high, 
painted,  varnished,  and  often  gilt,  on 
which  are  written,  in  large  characters, 
the  names  of  the  several  commodities 
he  sells.  These  kind  of  pilasters,  thus 
placed  on  each  side  of  the  street,  and 
almost  at  an  equal  distance  from  each 
other,  make  a  pretty  odd  show.  This 
is  usual  in  almost  all  the  cities  of 
China. 

A  visit  to  the  shops  of  the  merchants 
aflEbrds  a  "barbarian"  much  amuse- 
ment. There  is  one  street,  very  narrow 
and  dirty,  where  the  booksellers'  shops 
are  to  be  found,  and  where  Chinese  and 
Mantchoo  works  are  sold.  These  are 
kept  ready  bound  and  in  good  order ; 
but  an  examination  proves  many  of 
them  to  be  imperfect,  and,  besides  ask- 
ing five  times  the  value  of  the  book. 


the  dealers  will  try  to  put  off  copies 
which  want  some  of  the  leaves,  or  are 
composed  of  the  sheets  of  three  or  four 
different  works.  They  are  most  dexter- 
ous in  the  arts  of  imposition. 


Genoese  Uerchants  and  French  Ped- 
dlers. 

It  is  a  strange  fact,  and  one  which  re- 
markably illustrates  the  vicissitudes  of 
commerce  and  commercial  places,  that 
in  Genoa,  the  French  peddlers  are  those 
who  have  taken  the  place  of  her  once 
princely  merchants,  and  help  to  keep 
alive  the  remnant  of  a  commerce  which 
once  accumulated  opulence  in  that  city, 
and  extended  its  ramifications  over  half 
the  world.  At  present,  one  sees  streets 
and  palaces  without  inhabitants,  ware- 
houses without  goods,  a  custom  house 
where  almost  no  duties  are  paid,  and  a 
mole  which  has  too  frequently  no  ships 
to  shelter  from  the  weather. 

The  descendants  of  grandees  with 
pompous  titles,  and  of  merchants,  each 
of  whom  possessed  a  little  navy  of  his 
own,  now  in  many  cases  subsist  by  sup- 
plying goods  to  French  peddlers.  The 
latter,  when  preparing  to  start  on  their 
enterprise,  go  to  the  warehouses  of  the 
merchant,  with  whom  they  deal  always 
in  pairs,  with  capacious  knapsacks  on 
their  backs.  They  bestow  much  care 
on  the  selection  of  their  goods,  which 
necessarily  consist  of  small  articles,  or 
things  that  will  pack  close,  such  as 
handkerchiefs,  shawls,  dresses,  cheap 
laces,  ribbons,  reels  of  cotton,  needles, 
etc.  To  these  they  add  a  quantity  of 
Genoese  silver  jewelry,  remarkable  for 
its  tasteftilness  and  elegance. 


Shopkeepers  of  Bagdad. 

Perhaps  the  tradesmen  of  Bagdad 
are  surpassed  by  none  in  the  East,  ex- 
cepting, possibly,  their  neighbors,  the 
Persians.  No  one  at  a  glance  can  de- 
tect the  "  weak  points  "  of  a  customer 
better.    For  example,  a  passer-by  (not 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


611 


a  novice,  but  one  who  has  had  consid- 
erable experience  in  such  matters) 
sauntering  along — a  carpet  catches  his 
eye,  he  approaches,  and  becomes  de- 
sirous of  purchasing  it.  The  price  is 
demanded  in  a  careless  tone  :  "  Sixty 
dollars  I "  with  a  start  of  surprise  or  a 
sneer.  "You  must  mean  ten  dollars." 
It  is  now  the  seller's  turn  to  express 
astonishment :  "  Mashallah  ! "  exclaims 
he,  shrugging  his  shoulders,  and  ele- 
vating his  eyebrows ;  but,  pausing  a 
little—"  you  shall  have  it  for  fifty 
dollars  " — then  forty — thirty.  No  !  the 
would-be  purchaser  quits  the  shop,  but 
before  he  has  proceeded  ten  yards,  he 
is  called  back,  and  for  twenty  dollars, 
a  third  of  the  sum  first  demanded,  does 
the  carpet  change  owners. 


Men  Uanteau  Makers. 

It  seems  hardly  possible  to  believe 
that  in  the  nineteenth  century  there  are 
milliners  with  beards ;  men,  authentic 
men,  who,  with  their  massy  hands,  take 
the  exact  dimensions  of  the  Parisian 
women  of  the  highest  rank,  dress  them, 
undress  them,  make  them  turn  round 
and  round  to  be  looked  at,  neither  more 
nor  less  than  the  waxen  figures  in  the 
shop  windows  of  hairdressers.  In  the 
Rue  de  la  Paix,  Paris,  there  is  a  manteau 
maker  of  this  sort — an  Englishman, 
who  enjoys  a  great  popularity  in  the 
world  of  furbelows.  When  he  tries  on 
a  gown  on  a  living  figure  of  that  flighty 
metropolis,  it  is  with  profound  concen- 
tration that  he  feels,  that  he  sounds, 
that  he  marks  with  chalk  the  faulty 
fold  or  flounce.  From  time  to  time  he 
draws  back,  and,  to  judge  the  better 
of  his  work,  surveys  it  through  an 
opera  glass  at  a  distance,  and  then  re- 
sumes, with  an  oracular  finger,  the  in- 
terrupted modelling  of  the  gown  on  the 
body  of  his  customer.  Sometimes  he 
plants  a  flower  in  one  place,  or  ties  a 
bow  of  ribbon  in  another,  to  judge  of 
the  general  harmony  of  the  toilet ;  all 
this  time,  the  new  Eve,  in  the  process 


of  formation,  immovable  and  resigned, 
lets  the  fashionmonger  finish  his  work 
at  his  will.  At  length,  when  he  has 
moulded  his  stuff  according  to  his 
ideal,  he  takes  his  position  at  the  end 
of  the  saloon  on  a  canopy,  and,  the 
head  of  the  woman  thrown  back,  he 
directs  her  manoeuvres  with  a  wand : 
"  To  the  right,  madame ! "  "  To  the 
left!"  "Face  the  artist!"  "From 
behind ! "  etc. 


Jew  Traders  in  Holywell  Street.  > 

Like  Chatham  street.  New  York, 
Holywell  street,  London,  is  a  noted  lo- 
cality of  Jewish  traders.  Here  are  to 
be  found  at  least  a  hundred  noble 
Samaritans,  whose  daily  occupation  it 
is  to  watch  at  their  hospitable  thresh- 
olds, that  they  may  take  in  their  fel- 
low men,  and — whether  they  will  or 
no — clothe  them. 

"  Do  you  vant  a  coat  ? " — "  a  waist- 
coat ?  " — "  a  cloak,  better  as  new  ? " 
These  are  the  words,  uttered  with  a 
melody  of  intonation,  that  all  the  life- 
long day  awaken  in  the  breasts  of  the 
benevolent  the  tenderest  yearning  to- 
ward the  querists.  There  stands  Ikey 
Levi,  glancing  mildly  from  his  door- 
way as  a  jackal  from  a  tomb  1  There 
watches  Solomon  Salamons,  with  drop- 
ping lip — as  though  heavy  with  a 
weight  of  honey !— asking  the  wants 
of  passing  bipeds.  And  there,  too, 
Miriam  Jonas,  the  mother  of  a  whole 
Israel  of  Jonases — (poor  pilgrims  vend- 
ing the  aprocryphal  fruit  of  Seville 
and  Tenerifie,  and  selling  black  lead 
pencils  never  made  to  mark) — there  she 
stands,  with  the  oil  of  new-fried  floun- 
ders lustrous  on  her  face  and  balmy  on 
her  lip ! 

Here,  too,  bookworms  loiter.  A 
"  first  edition  "  of  Shakspeare  has  been 
bought  for  two-and-sixpence,  whilst 
the  magnanimous  picture  dealers  of 
this  favored  spot  commonly  add  Ra- 
phaels and  Correggios  at  eighteen  pence 
apiece — "  genooine  ! " 


612 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Surely,  there  are  solemn  thoughts 
awakened  in  Holywell  street.  Are  not 
its  dealers  the  descendants  of  the  pa- 
triarchs ?  May  not  the  blood  of  him 
who  "  wrestled  with  the  angel "  run  in 
the  veins  of  that  red-haired  Israelite 
now  hanging  on  the  buttonhole  of  that 
newly  caught  customer?  And  is  it 
possible  to  look  at  that  white-bearded 
Jew,  and  not  think  of  Moses  and — the 

profits  ? 

> 

New  SCaterlal  for  Sausagre  StufBLng: : 
the  "  Sauciesse  d'Or." 

As  every  traveller  knows,  the  "  Brus- 
sels sausages"  are  a  savory  nutrition. 
Working  men,  particularly,  dine  oftenest 
on  Brussels  sausages.  To  make  a  living 
by  the  sale  of  so  cheap  an  article,  how- 
ever, it  is  necessary  to  sell  many,  and 
Monsieur  Vaudenvale,  of  the  "  Sauciesse 
d'Or "  (as  he  descriptively  names  his 
eating  house),  has  hit  upon  the  way  to 
bring  this  about. 

At  the  usual  price,  and  like  every- 
body else,  Monsieur  Vaudenvale  sells 
sausages — but  the  one  you  eat  at  the 
"  Sauciesse  d'Or  "  may  be  a  "  blank," 
or  it  may  be  a  "  prize."  In  every  fifty 
sausages  there  is  one  in  whose  savory 
bowels  is  hidden  a  gold  doUar.  Tour 
chance,  therefore,  to  come  upon  this 
pleasant  variation  of  minced  meat,  is 
one  in  fifty.  It  is  said  that  the  number 
of  sausages  eaten  at  this  place  since  the 
establishment  of  the  golden  prize  sys- 
tem is  truly  incredible.  So  great  is 
the  crowd,  that  it  is  difficult  to  gain 
admission  at  the  door. 


NothinfiT  like  Sarsaparilla. 

The  time  was  when  there  was  "  noth- 
ing like  sarsaparilla," — like  every  dog, 
this  had  its  day.  Pills  had  their  pop- 
ularity, and  elixirs  had  their  run. 
Lozenges  took  their  turn  on  the  wheel 
of  fortune,  and  even  pastes  were  stuck 
to,  for  a  time,  by  a  number  of  adher- 
ents. The  period  at  length  arrived  for 
sarsaparilla  to  have  its  fling.    Every- 


body was  asked  in  a  hundred  different 
ways  to  buy  sarsaparilla  at  a  hundred 
different  establishments. 

At  one  concern  the  public  were 
tempted  by  a  gaudy  picture  of  a  heavi- 
ly freighted  vessel  arriving  amid  en- 
thusiastic millions,  eager  to  purchase 
its  cargo  of  sarsaparilla,  and  it  was 
delicately  hinted  that  no  time  was  to 
be  lost  in  purchasing  a  bottle  of  that 
precious  decoction  which  was  the  ob- 
ject of  so  much  interest  to  assembled 
crowds — especially  to  those  afflicted 
with^iulence. 

At  another  shop,  the  allurement  con- 
sisted in  full-length  portraits  of  Queen 
Victoria  and  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  both  of  whom,  it  was 
ingeniously  insinuated,  were  large  con- 
sumers of  sarsaparilla — in  this  way, 
indeed,  preserving  the  constitution  of 
the  countries  over  which  they  were  in 
authority. 

A  few  doors  farther  off,  the  customer 
was  enticed  by  a  portrait  of  a  bald- 
headed  individual,  and  were  requested 
to  apply  for  "  Old  Doctor  Jacob  Town- 
send's  Sarsaparilla,"  which  he  no  sooner 
made  up  his  mind  not  to  do,  than  he 
was  reminded  of  a  still  older  Doctor 
Jacob  Townsend,  with  his  still  better 
sarsaparilla,  a  few  doors  off.  Having 
crossed  over  to  avoid  all  this  sarsaparil- 
la nuisance,  he  found  himself  assailed 
by  men  whose  chests  were  placarded 
with  an  invitation  to  buy  somebody 
else's  genuine  article,  and  having  at  this 
recrossed  in  disgust,  he  tumbled  unre- 
sistingly into  the  very  arms  of  the  bill 
deliverer  of  the  hygeist,  who  offered  to 
pour  his  "  own  peculiar  "  sarsaparilla 
down  the  throats  of  the  public  at  a 
contemptibly  low  figure. 


Great  Shaving:  Operation  in  a 
Broker's  OfElce. 

There  lived  in  Macon,  a  dandified 
individual,  whom  we  ("  Sol.  Smith ") 
will  call  Jenks.  This  individual  had  a 
tolerably  favorable  opinion  of  his  per- 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


613 


sonal  appearance.  His  fingers  were 
hooped  with  rings,  and  his  shirt-bosom 
was  decked  with  a  magnificent  breast- 
pin; coat,  hat,  vest,  and  boots  were 
made  exactly  to  fit;  he  wore  kid 
gloves  of  remarkable  whiteness;  his 
hair  was  oiled  and  dressed  in  the  latest 
and  best  style;  and  to  complete  his 
killing  appearance,  he  sported  an  enor- 
mous pair  of  real  whiskers.  Jenks 
was  as  proud  as  a  young  cat  is  of  her 
tail,  when  she  first  discovers  she  has 
one. 

I  was  sitting  one  day  in  a  broker's 
office,  when  Jenks  came  in  to  inquire 
the  price  of  exchange  on  New  York. 
He  was  invited  to  sit  down,  and  a  cigar 
was  offered  him.  Conversation  turning 
upon  buying  and  selling  stocks,  a  re- 
mark was  made  by  a  gentleman  pre- 
sent, that  he  thought  no  person  should 
sell  out  stock  in  such-and-such  a  bank 
at  that  time,  as  it  must  get  better  in  a 
few  days.  "  I  will  sell  anything  I've 
got,  if  I  can  make  anything  on  it," 
replied  Jenks.  "  Oh,  no,"  replied  one, 
"not  any  thing;  you  wouldn't  sell 
your  whiskers!''^  A  loud  laugh  fol- 
lowed this  chance  remark.  Jenks  im- 
mediately answered:  "I  would — but 
who  would  want  them  ?  Any  person 
making  the  purchase  would  lose  money 
by  the  operation,  I'm  thinking." 
"  "Well,"  I  observed,  "  I  would  be  wil- 
ling to  take  the  speculation,  if  the  price 
could  be  made  reasonable."  "  Oh,  I'll 
sell  'em  cheap,"  answered  Jenks,  wink- 
ing at  the  gentlemen  present.  "  What 
do  you  call  cheap  ?  "  1  inquired.  "  I'll 
sell  'em  for  fifty  dollars,"  Jenks  an- 
swered, puffing  forth  a  cloud  of  smoke 
across  the  counter,  and  repeating  the 
wink.  "  Well,  that  is  ;  and  you'll  sell 
your  whiskers  for  fifty  dollars ? "  "I 
will."  "  Both  of  them  ? "  *'  Both  of 
them."  "  ril  take  them  !  When  can  I 
have  them  1 "  "  Any  time  you  choose 
to  call  for  them."  "  Very  well — they're 
mine.  I  think  I  shall  double  my  money 
on  them,  at  least."  I  took  a  bill  of 
sale  as    follows:    "Received    of   Sol 


Smith,  Fifty  Dollars,  in  full  for  my 
crop  of  whiskers,  to  be  worn  and 
taken  care  of  by  me,  and  delivered  to 
him  when  called  for.    J.  Jenks." 

The  sum  of  fifty  dollars  was  paid, 
and  Jenks  left  the  broker's  office  in 
high  glee,  flourishing  five  Central  Bank 
X's,  and  telling  all  his  acquaintances  of 
the  great  bargain  he  had  made  in  the 
sale  of  his  whiskers.  The  broker  and  his 
friends  laughed  at  me  for  being  taken  in 
so  nicely.  "  Never  mind,"  said  I,  "  let 
those  laugh  who  win ;  I'll  make  a  profit 
out  of  these  whiskers,  depend  on  it." 
For  a  week  after  this,  whenever  I  met 
Jenks,  he  asked  me  when  I  intended 
calling  for  my  whiskers.  "  I'll  let  you 
know  when  I  want  them,"  was  always 
my  answer :  "  take  good  care  of  them 
— oil  them  occasionally ;  I  shall  call  for 
them  one  of  these  days." 

A  splendid  ball  was  to  be  given.  I 
ascertained  that  Jenks  was  to  be  one 
of  the  managers — he  being  a  great 
ladies'  man  (on  account  of  his  whiskers, 
I  suppose,)  and  it  occurred  to  me  that 
before  the  ball  took  place,  I  might  as 
well  call  for  my  whiskers.  One  morn- 
ing, I  met  Jenks  in  a  barber's  shop. 
He  was  adonizing  before  a  large  mir- 
ror, and  combing  up  my  whiskers  at 
a  devU  of  a  rate. 

"  Ah !  there  you  are,  old  fellow," 
said  he,  speaking  to  my  reflection 
through  the  glass.  "  Come  for  your 
whiskers,  I  suppose  ? "  "  Oh,  no  hurry," 
I  replied,  as  I  sat  down  for  a  shave. 
"Always  ready,  you  know,"  he  an- 
swered, giving  a  final  tie  to  his  cravat. 
"  Come  to  think  of  it,"  I  said,  musing- 
ly, as  the  barber  began  to  put  the  lather 
on  my  face,  "  perhaps  now  would  be  as 
good  a  time  as  another ;  you  may  sit 
down,  and  let  the  barber  try  his  hand 
at  the  whiskers."  "  You  could'nt  wait 
until  to-morrow,  could  you  ? "  he  asked 
hesitatingly  :  "  There's  a  hall  to-night, 

you  know "  "  To  be  sure  there  is, 

and  I  think  you  ought  to  go  with  a 
clean  face ;  at  all  events,  I  don't  see 
any  reason  why  you  should  expect  to 


614 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


wear  my  whiskers  to  that  ball ;  so  sit 
down."  He  rather  sulkily  obeyed,  and 
in  a  few  moments  his  cheeks  were  in  a 
perfect  foam  of  lather.  The  barber 
flourished  his  razor,  and  was  about  to 
commence  operations,  when  I  suddenly 
changed  my  mind.  "  Stop,  Mr.  Barber," 
I  said ;  "  you  need'nt  shave  off  those 
whiskers  just  yet."  So  he  quietly  put 
up  his  razor,  while  Jenks  started  up 
from  the  chair  in  something  very  much 
resembling  a  passion.  "This  is  tri- 
fling 1 "  he  exclaimed :  "  You  have 
claimed  your  whiskers — take  them." 
"  I  believe  a  man  has  a  right  to  do  as 
he  pleases  with  his  own  property,"  I 
remarked,  and  left  Jenks  washing  his 
face. 

At  dinner  that  day,  the  conversation 
turned  upon  the  whisker  affair.  It 
seems  the  whole  town  had  got  wind 
of  it,  and  Jenks  could  not  walk  the 
street  without  the  remark  being  con- 
tinually made  by  the  boys — "  There 
goes  the  m/in  with  old  Sol's  whiskers!'''' 
And  they  had  grown  to  an  immense 
size,  for  he  dared  not  trim  them.  In 
short,  I  became  convinced  that  Jenks 
was  waiting  impatiently  for  me  to 
assert  my  rights  in  the  property.  It 
happened  that  several  of  the  party 
were  sitting  opposite  me  at  dinner, 
who  were  present  when  the  singular 
bargain  was  made,  and  they  all  urged 
me  to  take  the  whiskers  that  very  day, 
and  thus  compel  Jenks  to  go  to  the 
ball  whiskerless,  or  stay  at  home.  I 
agreed  with  them  it  was  about  time  to 
reap  my  crop,  and  promised,  if  they 
would  all  meet  me  at  the  broker's  shop, 
where  the  purchase  was  made,  I  would 
make  a  call  on  Jenks  that  evening  after 
he  had  dressed  for  the  ball.  All  prom- 
ised to  be  present  at  the  proposed 
shaving  operation  in  the  broker's  oflBce, 
and  I  sent  for  Jenks  and  the  barber. 
On  the  appearance  of  Jenks,  it  was 
evident  he  was  much  vexed  at  the  sud- 
den call  upon  him,  and  his  vexation 
certainly  was  not  lessened  when  he  saw 
the  broker's  oflice  was  filled  to  over- 


flowing to  behold  the  barber-ous  pro- 
ceeding. 

"  Come,  be  in  a  hurry,"  he  said,  as 
he  took  a  seat,  and  leaned  his  head 
against  the  counter  for  support,  "I 
can't  stay  here  long ;  several  ladies  are 
waiting  for  me  to  escort  them  to  the 
ball."  "  True,  very  true — you  are  one 
of  the  managers — I  recollect.  Mr.  Bar- 
ber, don't  detain  the  gentleman — go  to 
work." 

The  lathering  was  soon  over,  and 
with  about  three  strokes  of  the  razor, 
one  side  of  his  face  was  deprived  of  its 
omam£nt.  "  Come,  come,"  said  Jenks, 
"  push  ahead — there  is  no  time  to  be 
lost — let  the  gentleman  have  his  whis- 
kers— he  is  impatient."  "  Not  at  all," 
I  replied,  coolly,  "  I'm  in  no  sort  of  a 
hurry  myself— and  now  I  thini  of  it,  as 
your  time  must  be  precious  at  this  par- 
ticular time,  several  ladies  being  in 
waiting  for  you  to  escort  them  to  the 
ball,  I  believe  Fll  fiot  take  the  other 
whisker  to-nighty 

A  loud  laugh  from  the  bystanders, 
and  a  glance  in  the  mirror,  caused 
Jenkg  to  open  his  eyes  to  the  ludi- 
crous appearance  he  cut  with  a  single 
whisker,  and  he  began  to  insist  upon 
my  taking  th^  whole  of  my  property ! 
But  all  wouldn't  do.  I  had  a  right  to 
take  it  when  I  chose ;  /  was  not  obliged 
to  take  it  all  at  cnce;  and  I  chose  to  take 
but  half  at  that  particular  period — ^in- 
deed, I  intimated  to  him  very  plainly 
that  I  was  not  going  to  be  a  very  hard 
creditor,  and  that,  if  he  "  behaved  him- 
self," perhaps  I  should  never  call  for  the 
balance  of  what  he  owed  me  ! 

When  Jenks  became  convinced  I  was 
determined  not  to  take  the  remaining 
whisker,  he  began,  amidst  the  loudly 
expressed  mirth  of  the  crowd,  to  pro- 
pose terms  of  compromise — first  offer- 
ing me  ten  dollars,  then  twenty,  thirty, 
forty — fifty  !  to  take  off  the  remaining 
whisker.  I  said,  firmly,  "  My  dear  sir, 
there  is  no  use  talking;  I  insist  on 
your  wearing  that  whisker  for  me  a 
month  or  two."    "  What  will  you  take 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


613 


for  the  whiskers  ? "  he  at  length  asked ; 
"won't  you  sell  them  back  to  me?" 
"  Ah,"  replied  I,  "  now  you  begin  to 
talk  as  a  business  man  should.  Yes,  I 
bought  them  on  speculation — I'll  sell 
them,  if  I  can  obtain  a  good  price." 
"  What  is  your  price  ? "  "  One  hundred 
dollars — must  double  my  money  !  " 
"  Nothing  less  ? "  "  Not  a  farthing  less 
— and  I'm  not  anxious  to  sell  even  at 
that  price."  "Well,  I'll  take  them," 
he  groaned,  "  there's  your  money,  and 
here,  barber,  shave  off  this  d d  infer- 
nal whisker  in  less  than  no  time — I 
shall  be  late  at  the  ball." 


Itinerant  Traders  in  Bio  Janeiro. 

The  "  cries  "  of  the  itinerant  traders 
of  London  are  mere  bagatelles  to  those 
of  the  Brazilian  capital.  Both  sexes 
cry  their  wares  through  every  street. 
Vegetables,  flowers,  fruits,  edible  roots, 
fowls,  eggs,  and  every  rural  product ; 
cakes,  pies,  rusks,  doces,  confectionery, 
bacon,  and  other  delicacies,  pass  one's 
window  continually.  Your  cook  wants 
a  skillet — and  hark !  the  signal  of  a 
pedestrian  coppersmith  is  heard;  his 
bell  is  a  stewpan,  and  the  clapper  a 
hammer.  A  water-pot  is  shattered ;  in 
half  an  hour  a  moringue  merchant  ap- 
proaches. You  wish  to  replenish  your 
table  furniture  with  fresh  sets  of  knives, 
new-fashioned  tumblers,  decanters,  and 
plates,  and,  peradventure,  a  cruet,  with 
a  few  articles  of  silver — well !  you  need 
not  want  them  long.  If  cases  of  cut- 
lery, of  glass  ware,  china,  and  silver, 
have  not  already  passed  the  door,  they 
•mil  appear  anon.  So  of  every  article 
of  female  apparel,  from  a  silk  dress  or 
shawl  to  a  handkerchief  and  a  paper 
of  pins !  Shoes,  bonnets  ready  trimmed, 
fancy  jewelry,  toy-books  for  children, 
novels  for  young  folks,  and  works  of 
devotion  for  the  devout — these  things, 
and  a  thousand  others,  are  hawked 
about  daily. 

Proprietors  accompany  silver  ware, 
silks,  and  also  bread,  for  the  blacks  are 


not  allowed  to  touch  the  latter.  When 
a  customer  calls,  the  slave  brings  his 
load,  puts  it  down,  and  stands  by  till 
the  owner  delivers  the  articles  wanted. 
The  signal  of  dry  goods  venders  is  made 
by  the  yard-stick,  which  is  jointed  like 
a  two-foot  rule.  Holding  it  near  the 
joint,  they  keep  up  a  continual  snap- 
ping by  bringing  one  leg  of  the  stick 
against  the  other.  Young  Minas  and 
Mozambiques  are  the  most  numerous, 
and  are  reputed  to  be  the  smartest 
marcTiandes. 

The  way  customers  call  street  venders 
is  peculiar.  You  step  to  the  door,  or 
open  a  window,  and  give  utterance  to 
a  short  sound  resembling  shir — some- 
thing between  a  hiss  and  the  exclama- 
tion used  to  chase  away  fowls ;  and  it 
is  singular  to  what  a  distance  it  is 
heard.  If  the  person  is  in  sight,  his 
attention  is  at  once  arrested ;  he  turns 
and  comes  direct  to  you,  now  guided 
by  a  signal  which  you  address  to  his 
eyes— closing  the  fingers  of  the  right 
hand  two  or  three  times,  with  the  palm 
downward,  as  if  grasping  something — 
a  sign  in  universal  use,  and  signifying 
"  Come."  There  is  here  no  bawling  or 
chasing  after  people  in  the  street.  ? 


Goods  for  a  "Private  "Ventore." 

One  of  the  Chinese  papers  contains 
the  following  advertisement:  "Achan 
Tea  Chinchin,  sculptor,  respectfully 
acquaints  masters  of  ships,  trading 
from  Canton  to  India,  that  they 
may  be  furnished  with  figure  heads 
of  any  size,  according  to  order,  at 
one  fourth  of  the  price  charged  in 
Europe.  He  also  recommends  for  pri- 
vate venture,  the  following  idols,  brass, 
gold,  and  silver :  The  hawk  of  Vish- 
noo,  which  has  reliefs  of  his  incarna- 
tion in  a  fish,  boar,  lion,  and  turtle. 
An  Egyptian  apis,  a  golden  calf  and 
bull,  as  worshipped  by  the  pious  fol- 
lowers of  Zoroaster.  Two  silver  mam- 
mosits,  with  golden  ear  rings,  a  ram, 
an  alligator,  a  crab,  a  laughing  hyena, 


i616 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


with  a  variety  of  household  gods  on  a 
small  scale,  calculated  for  family  wor- 
ship. Eighteen  months'  credit  will  be 
given,  or  a  discount  of  fifteen  per  cent. 
for  prompt  payment  of  the  sum  affixed 
to  each  article.  Direct  China  street, 
Canton,  under  the  Marble  Rhinoceros 
and  Gilt  Hydra." 


Shop  Architectxire,  Old  and  New. 

The  shops  in  London  of  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries,  are  described 
by  a  historian  of  that  day  as  of  "  ane 
meane  appearance  " — consisting  of  an 
open  shop,  at  the  entrance  of  which 
stood  the  owner  or  his  apprentice,  and 
a  "  solar  "  or  upper  chamber  above,  in 
which  solar,  the  proprietor  resided  with 
his  household. 

The  mercantile  "  guilds,"  which  be- 
came so  wealthy  and  prosperous,  were 
then  comparatively  in  their  infancy, 
and  struggling  with  debt  and  difficul- 
ties. Wheji  they  became  prosperous, 
the  shops  of  London  became  splendid ; 
but  even  then,  their  magnificence  was 
for  a  long  time  confined  to  a  single  lo- 
cality. In  the  fifteenth  century  there 
was  a  vast  deal  of  wealth  accumulated 
in  the  metropolis,  but  it  was  engrossed 
by  comparatively  few  individuals.  One 
of  the  most  wealthy  of  these  was 
Geoffrey  Boleyn,  a  mercer  in  the  Old 
Jewry.  He  was  great-great-grandfather 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  by  her  mother's 
side,  and  was  lord  mayor  of  London  in 
1457.  In  his  time,  the  whole  of  the 
foreign  and  wholesale  trade  was  con- 
fined to  the  hands  of  a  few  great  capi- 
talists ;  and  some  of  the  most  illustrious 
families  in  the  kingdom  may  trace 
their  origin  from  men  who  were  at  that 
period  London  merchants. 

The  oldest  shops  of  which  there  is 
any  account  are  those  of  the  goldsmiths, 
or  money-dealers,  standing  in  Cheap — 
the  modem  Cheapside,  and  of  which 
these  traders  would  seem  to  have  had 
possession  from  time  immemorial.  Of 
these,  the  most  remarkable  by  far  is 


that  which  was  built  by  Thomas  Wood, 
and  described  as  "  the  most  beautiful 
frame  and  front  of  fair  houses  and 
shops  that  were  within  the  walls  of 
London,  or  elsewhere  in  England,  com- 
monly called  Goldsmiths'  Row,  betwixt 
Bread  Street  End  and  the  Cross  in 
Cheap,  but  within  Bread  Street  Ward. 
It  contained  in  number,  ten  dwelling 
houses  and  fourteen  shops,  all  in  one 
frame,  uniformly  built  four  stories 
high,  beautified  toward  the  street  with 
the  goldsmiths'  arms,  and  the  likeness 
of  woodmen  in  memory  of  his  (Thomas 
Wood's)  name,  rising  on  monstrous 
beasts ;  all  which  were  cast  in  lead, 
richly  painted  over,  and  gilt.  These 
he  gave  to  the  goldsmiths,  with  stocks 
of  money  to  be  lent  to  young  men  hav- 
ing those  shops,  &c.  This  said  front 
was  again  painted  and  gilt  over  in  the 

year  1594." 

> 

Farrot  and  Uonkey  Market. 

In  the  spring  season,  soon  after  the 
opening  of  the  navigation,  a  peculiar 
kind  of  market  is  held  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, which  draws  all  the  city,  and 
affords  an  extraordinary  and  impa- 
tiently-awaited pleasure  to  young  and 
old,  high  and  low,  and  to  many  a  skip- 
per the  source  of  a  profit  that  is  not  to 
be  despised.  Here  are  then  exposed 
for  sale  many  of  those  foreign  produc- 
tions, which  the  merchants  consider  as 
beneath  their  attention,  and  in  which 
the  captains  of  the  ships  and  the  sail- 
ors speculate  on  their  own  account. 
Parrots,  monkeys,  apes,  and  other  rare 
birds  and  animals,  are  intermingled 
with  the  magnificent  flowers  of  tropical 
regions.  Sometimes,  also,  shells,  and 
the  singular  implements  and  dresses  of 
foreign  nations,  are  oflFered  for  sale. 
After  the  dull,  silent,  and  colorless  win- 
ter, this  busy,  many-tinted  scene — the 
first  gift  presented  by  foreign  lands  to 
the  great  northern  city,  as  an  earnest 
of  the  commencement  of  a  new  business 
— is  particularly  gratifying,  and   the 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


617 


"  goods  "  go  oflF  rapidly,  especially  the 
screeching  and  grinning  class  of  them. 


Nothing:  Iiost  in  a  Ck>od  market. 

A  TOUNG  man,  brought  up  in  the 
city  of  London  to  the  business  of  an 
undertaker,  went  to  Jamaica  to  better 
his  condition.  Business  flourished,  and 
he  wrote  home  to  his  father  to  send 
him,  with  a  quantity  of  black  and  gray 
cloth,  twenty  gross  of  black  Taclca. 
Unfortunately  he  had  omitted  the  top 
to  his  T,  and  the  order,  as  near  as  it 
could  be  made  out,  stood,  twenty  gross 
of  black  Jacks.  His  correspondent,  on 
receiving  the  letter,  recollected  of  a 
man,  near  Fleet  market,  who  made 
quart  and  pint  tin  pots,  ornamented 
with  painting,  and  which  were  called, 
for  convenience,  "  black  Jacks,"  and  to 
him  he  went.  The  maker,  surprised, 
said  he  had  not  so  many  ready,  but 
would  endeavor  to  complete  the  order ; 
this,  by  the  employment  of  extra  hands, 
and  working  day  and  night,  was  done, 
and  the  articles  were  shipped.  The 
Jamaica  man  received  them  with  other 
consignments,  and  was  astonished  at 
the  mistake.  A  friend,  however,  fond 
of  speculation,  offered  to  purchase  the 
whole  lot  at  the  invoice  price — an  offer 
which  the  holder,  glad  to  get  rid  of  an 
article  he  considered  so  useless  in  that 
market,  took  up  with  at  once.  His 
friend  immediately  advertised  a  num- 
ber of  "  Fashionable  Punch  Vases " 
just  arrived  from  England,  and  sold 
the  jacks  at  the  pleasing  profit  of  two 
hundred  per  cent. 


"laid  in" — somewhat  prematurely,  as 
it  turned  out — with  a  view  to  the  im- 
mediate arrival  of  his  Hanoverian  ma- 
jesty. The  meeting  took  place  under 
the  leadership  of  Mr.  Fowle,  supported 
by  the  Messrs.  Hatch,  at  Lambeth, 
where  the  investment  had  been  most 
considerable — thousands  of  dealers  hav- 
ing been  in  attendance  along  that  por- 
tion of  the  route,  with  the  intention  of 
showing  the  Hanoverian  autocrat  how 
the  yolk  may  he  thrown  off  hy  a  free  peo- 
ple. (Oh  !)  His  majesty,  not  wishing 
to  run  the  risk  of  a  game  at  chicken 
hazard  with  the  populace,  delayed  his 
arrival  till  the  next  day,  and  ultimately 
came  by  a  different  road — the  eggs,  of 
course,  being  thus  left  on  the  hands  of 
the  dealers.  It  was  stated,  however,  at 
the  meeting,  that  Baron  Nathan  had, 
in  the  handsomest  manner,  come  for- 
ward, and  offered  to  shell  out,  by  tak- 
ing off  a  large  proportion  of  the  eggs, 
for  the  purpose  of  teaching  his  pupils 
the  Crack-oviene — an  announcement 
which  was  received  with  eggatraordi- 
nary  cheering. 


Trials  of  "Egg  Merchants. 

It  is  stated  that  the  London  egg 
merchants,  whose  hopes  had  been  great- 
ly raised  by  the  announcement  of  the 
expected  speedy  arrival  of  the  king  of 
Hanover,  held  a  meeting,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Mr.  Fowle  and  others,  to 
know  what  could  be  done  with  the 
enormous  stock  of  eggs  that  had  been 


Odd  Purchase  at  a  Grocer's. 

Mr.  L.,  a  well-known  professional 
singer  in  London,  one  day  entered  a 
grocer's  shop,  to  make  a  purchase  of 
cheese. 

"  Have  you  any  more  of  this  paper  ? " 
said  he  to  the  tradesman,  regarding 
with  curiosity  and  astonishment  that 
in  which  his  purchase  was  wrapped. 

"  Plenty,  sir,  a  great  pile  of  it." 

Mr.  L.  requested  to  see  it,  and  fol- 
lowed the  tradesman  into  a  little  back 
room,  where  many  reams  of  waste  pa- 
per were  collected,  to  be  used  in  his 
business. 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  L.,  after  inspecting 
the  pile  from  whence  the  wrapper  of 
his  parcel  had  been  taken,  "  Will  you 
sell  this  ?  what  would  you  ask  for  it  ? " 

"  Twopence  halfpenny  per  pound," 
answered  the  man,  much  astonished  at 
the  uncommon  greenness  of  his  custom- 


618 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


er ;  "  you  can  have  it  as  waste  paper  at 
that  price,  if  you  like." 

Mr.  L.  readily  assented,  and  thus 
purchased  for  a  few  shillings  thirty- 
three  complete  oratorios  and  operas  of 
Handel,  besides  fragments  of  the  best, 
viz.,  Arnold's  edition.  Henceforth,  let 
no  one  despise  the  literature  that  may 
find  its  way  to  the  grocer's,  the  trunk- 
maker's,  the  chandler's,  &c. 


Chatham  Street  Olo'  Dealers. 

Scene — Chatham  street,  New  York. 
Company  assembled — three  Jew  "  bark- 
ers "  for  ready-made  garments. 

Levi :  "  Mishter  Salamonsh,  kin  you 
inform  me  vhy  de  shentlemens  here 
present  ish  like  a  leetle  pit  of  a  shmall 
room  ? " 

Salamons :  "  I  gifes  him  oop." 
Itzig  Rosenbaum  (aus  Frankfort  am 
Main),  "  Und  I  forgifes  him  oop,  too."^ 
Levi :  "  Becase  ve're  a  clo'  set." 
Outside  Irishman :  "  An'  can  yees  till 
me  why   ye're   like   five-sixths  av   a 
closet  ?  " 

Israelites  in  chorus :  "  No,  nein." 
Irish    outsider :    "  Because    ye're    a 
lo'  set:'' 

General  confusion,  ending  in  the  par- 
ties joyously  kicking  one  another  all 
round,  and  a  harmonious  knocking  oflf 
of  hats,  terminated  by  the  appearance 
of  a  green-looking,  wondering  country- 
man. 


Tons:  Chow  Traders  in  Boers  and  Cats. 

In  the  market  of  Tong  Chow,  to 
which  the  stewards  of  the  noble  fam- 
ilies of  Peking  repair  to  purchase  vi- 
ands for  their  lords,  it  is  a  good  diver- 
sion to  see  the  butchers  when  they  are 
carrying  dogs'  flesh  to  any  place,  or 
when  they  are  leading  five  or  six  dogs 
to  the  slaughter-house ;  for  all  the  dogs 
in  the  street,  drawn  together  by  the 
cries  of  those  going  to  be  killed,  or  the 
smell  of  those  already  dead,  fall  upon 
the  butchers,  who  are  obliged  to  go 


always  armed  with  a  long  cudgel  or 
great  whip,  to  defend  themselves  from 
their  attack;  they  also  have  to  keep 
their  doors  close  shut,  that  they  may 
exercise  their  trade  in  safety. 

The  salesmen  enter  the  market  place, 
or  step  from  their  junks  on  shore,  hav- 
ing baskets  suspended  from  the  ex- 
tremities of  a  carrying-pole,  in  which 
are  contained  dogs,  cats,  rats,  or  birds, 
either  tame  or  wild,  generally  alive — 
sea  slugs,  and  grubs  found  in  the  sugar- 
cane. The  species  of  dog  most  in  re- 
quest is  a  small  spaniel,  and  the  poor 
animals  appear  particularly  dejected  in 
their  imprisonment,  not  even  looking 
up  in  the  hope  of  freedom;  the  cats, 
on  the  contrary,  maintain  an  incessant 
squalling,  and  seem  never  to  despair  of 
escaping  from  a  fate  which  otherwise 
must  prove  inevitable.  To  a  foreigner, 
Christian  or  Turk,  the  sight  is  pecu- 
liarly trying,  both  regarding  the  dog  as 
among  the  most  faithful  animals,  and 
the  cat  as  one  of  the  most  useful.  In 
the  ancient  Oriental  writings,  cats  are 
spoken  of  as  a  delicacy  at  table ;  but 
the  species  alluded  to  was  found  wild 
in  Tartary,  and  brought  thence  into 
China,  where  they  were  regularly  fat- 
tened for  the  markets  of  the  principal 
cities.  As  far  as  appearances  are  con- 
cerned, rats,  when  butchered — for  they 
are  not  brought  to  market  alive — are 
by  no  means  disgusting.  They  are 
neatly  prepared,  slit  down  the  breast, 
and  hung  in  rows  from  the  carrying- 
poles  by  skewers  passed  through  their 
distended  hind  legs. 


Flutes  vs.  Pistols. 

It  is  almost  a  standing  rule  with 
shopkeepers,  when  asked  for  an  article 
which  is  not  in  their  stock,  to  oflFer 
something  resembling  it.  Thus,  a  coun- 
tryman inquiring  at  a  village  store  for 
a  mowing  scythe,  was  replied  to  by 
the  pert  youngster  behind  the  coun- 
ter, "  Sorry,  sir,  we  have  no  scythes ; 
but  we've  got  first-chop  penknives." 


COMMERCIAL  DIGNITY  AT  THE  APPLE-STAITD. 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


619 


The  following  circumstance,  related  in 
a  Scotch  paper,  is  of  the  same  nature : 

A  vender  of  buttons,  buckles,  and 
other  small  ware,  who  occupied  a  little 
shop  at  the  head  of  the  street  in  Glas- 
gow, in  which  erewhile  the  notable 
Bailie  Nichol  Jarvie  domiciled,  noticed 
a  country  clown  standing  at  his  win- 
dow one  day,  with  an  undecided  kind 
of  wanting-to-buy  expression  on  his 
face,  and  who  finally  inquired  whether 
he  had  any  pistols  to  sell.  The  shop- 
man had  long  studied  the  counter  logic 
of  endeavoring  to  persuade  a  customer 
to  buy  what  you  have  for  sale,  rather 
than  what  the  customer  may  ask  for. 
"  Man,"  said  he,  "  what  be  the  use  of  a 
pistol  to  you  ?  Lame  yourself,  an'  may 
be  some  ither  body  w'it !  You  should 
buy  a  flute;  see,  there's  ane;  an'  it's 
na  sae  dear  as  a  pistol,  just  stop  an' 
open  finger,  about,  thae  sax  wee  holes, 
an'  blow  in  at  this  big  ane,  an'  ye  can 
hae  any  tune  ye  like,  after  a  wee  while's 
practice;  besides,  you'll  may-be  blow 
a  tune  into  the  heart  o'  some  blithe 
lassie  that'll  bring  to  you  the  worth  o' 
a  thousand  pistols  or  German  flutes 
ither."  "Man,"  said  the  simpleton, 
"  I'm  glad  that  I  have  met  wi'  you  the 
day— just  tie't  up  ;  "  and  paying  down 
the  price  asked,  and  bidding  "  guid 
day,"  with  a  significant  nod  of  the 
head,  remarked,  "It'll  no  be  my  faut 
'gin  ye  get  na  an  opportunity  of  ri- 
ding the  broose  at  my  wedding,  sin'  ye 
hae  learned  me  to  be  my  ain  piper." 


Commercial  Dignity  at  the  Apple 
Stand. 

"  The  other  day,"  says  a  pleasant 
writer,  "in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Park  (New  York),  we  encountered  a 
tall,  dignified-looking  man,  in  a  long, 
seedy  frock  coat,  buttoned  to  the  chin, 
with  a  very  glossy  old  silk  hat,  presid- 
ing at  an  apple  stand.  Somehow  or 
other,  his  manner,  his  "  style,"  struck 
us.  "What  is  the  price  of  these  ap- 
ples ?  "  we  asked,  pointing  to  a  small 


pile  of  tempting  red  ones.  "  We  shall 
have  to  charge  you  two  cents  for  fruit 
Uke  that,"  said  he,  "they  are  a  very 
superior  article.  But  there  is  an  article, 
and  of  a  good  quality,  that  we  can  put 
to  you  at  one  cent  per  apple  1 "  Shade 
of  CoMMEKCE  I  He  couldn't  have  said 
more,  nor  in  a  more  solid  and  absorbed 
manner,  if  he  had  been  offering  the 
rarest  goods  in  Stewart's  marble  palace. 
He  was  far  from  being  what  Mrs.  Par- 
tington terms  ^  non  pompous  mentis.'' " 


♦•Glasspteenl"  -^ 

This  is  one  of  the  street  employ- 
ments of  the  city.  He  is  almost  inva- 
riably a  German,  or,  as  the  profane 
have  it,  a  Dutchman,  of  an  age  any- 
where between  eighteen  and  forty.  His 
peculiarities  are  a  determined  inability 
to  make  himself  understood  in  the 
English  language,  and  a  violent  pas- 
sion for  overcharging.  If  you  are  ever 
asked  to  give  an  example  of  cleanli- 
ness, please  not  to  say,  a  Glasspteen 
man ;  for  you  wUl  tell  a  story,  in  addi- 
tion to  furnishing  an  incorrect  illustra- 
tion. The  Glasspteen  man  is  rather 
dirty  than  otherwise,  in  dress  as  in 
visage,  and  is  remarkable  for  a  strong 
smell  of  new  putty,  which,  after  a 
gas-house,  furnishes  the  most  disa- 
greeable odor  known  to  nosology. 
He  walks  about  the  street  with  a 
frame  slung  over  his  back,  and  con- 
taining some  score  or  so  of  panes 
of  glass  of  various  sizes.  His  cry 
of  "  Glasspteen,"  whence  his  designa- 
tion in  society  is  derived,  signifies  "  Do 
you  want  any  glass  put  in  ?  "  His  avo- 
cation, in  short,  is  to  increase  the  panes 
of  families,  or  to  supply  those  which 
have  been  removed  or  broken,  K  you 
call  him  he  will  come  in  with  alacrity, 
but  will  make  no  haste  to  go  away 
again.  Once  admit  him  into  your 
house,  and  he  will  linger  there  half  the 
day,  unpleasantly  mixing  the  smell  of 
putty  with  your  breakfast  and  your 
lunch.    He  will  charge  you  for  putting 


620 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


in  a  pane  of  glass  exactly  double  what 
he  is  prepared  to  take ;  and  when  you 
have  once  employed  him,  he  will  make 
you  such  a  litter  of  broken  glass  and 
dry  and  new  putty  in  front  of  your 
house,  as  might  well  induce  any  one 
who  does  not  know  you,  to  believe  that 
you  have  gone  extensively  into  the 
"  Glasspteen  "  business  yourself. 


Bicliardson,  the  Eccentric  Showman. 

This  eccentric  individual,  who  died 
some  years  ago,  left  behind  him  such  a 
fortune  as  rarely  comes  out  at  the  end 
of  a  showman's  career.  He  was  born  in 
the  workhouse  of  No.  Mario  w,  in  Bucks, 
but  ran  away  from  that  place  to  seek 
his  fortune  in  London.  After  various 
vicissitudes,  he  became  landlord  of  the 
Harlequin  public  house,  in  Drury  Lane, 
where  he  saved  some  money,  which  he 
embarked  in  fitting  up  a  portable  thea- 
tre, and  was  known  for  forty  years  as 
the  "Prince  of  Showmen."  He  used 
to  boast  that  Edmund  Kean,  and  seve- 
ral other  eminent  actors,  were  brought 
out  by  him.  His  property,  after  various 
legacies  to  the  itinerant  company  which 
had  attended  him  for  many  years,  de- 
scended to  two  nephews  and  a  niece, 
and  he  desired,  in  his  will,  to  be  buried 
in  the  same  grave  as  his  "  spotted  boy  " 
— a  lad  who,  some  years  before,  was 
exhibited  by  him,  and  attracted  great 
notice  in  consequence  of  the  extraordi- 
nary manner  in  which  he  was  marked 
on  various  parts  of  his  body. 


Haman  Hair  as  an  Article  of  Traffic. 

HxjMAN  hair  is  an  article  of  extensive 
traffic.  The  London  hair  merchants 
alone  import  annually  no  less  a  quantity 
than  five  tons.  But  the  market  would 
be  very  inadequately  supplied  if  de- 
pendence were  solely  placed  on  chance 
clippings.  There  must  be  a  regular 
harvest,  which  can  be  looked  forward 
to  at  a  particular  time ;  and  as  there 
are  different  markets  for  black  tea  and 


gredti  tea,  or  pale  brandy  and  brown 
brandy,  so  is  there  a  light-haired  mar- 
ket distinct  from  the  dark-haired. 

The  light  hair  is  exclusively  a  Ger- 
man product.  It  is  collected  by  the 
agents  of  a  Dutch  company  who  visit 
England  yearly  for  orders.  Until  about 
fifty  years  ago,  light  hair  was  esteemed 
above  all  others.  One  peculiar  golden 
tint  was  so  supremely  prized,  that  deal- 
ers only  produced  it  to  favorite  custom- 
ers, to  whom  it  was  sold  for  nearly 
double  the  price  of  silver. 

But  the  dark  brown  hair  of  France 
now  rules  the  market.  Whether  dark 
or  light,  however,  the  hair  purchased 
by  the  dealer  is  so  closely  scrutinized, 
that  he  can  discriminate  between  the 
German  and  the  French  article  by  the 
smell  alone ;  indeed,  he  even  claims  the 
power,  "  when  his  nose  is  in,"  of  distin- 
guishing accurately  between  the  Eng- 
lish, the  French,  the  Lish,  and  the 
Scotch  commodity. 

Black  hair  is  imported  chiefly  from 
Brittany  and  the  south  of  France, 
where  it  is  annually  collected  by  the 
agents  of  a  few  wholesale  Parisian 
houses.  The  average  crops  harvested 
by  these  firms  amount  yearly  to  upward 
of  two  hundred  thousand  pounds. 
The  price  paid  for  each  head  of  hair 
ranges  from  one  to  five  francs,  accord- 
ing to  its  weight  and  beauty,  the  for- 
mer seldom  rising  above  a  pound,  and 
rarely  falling  below  twelve  ounces. 
The  itinerant  dealers  are  always  pro- 
vided with  an  extensive  assortment  of 
ribbons,  silks,  laces,  haberdashery,  and 
cheap  jewelry  of  various  kinds,  with 
which  they  make  their  purchases  as 
frequently  as  with  money.  The  hair 
thus  obtained  is  transmitted  to  the 
wholesale  houses,  by  whom  it  is  dressed, 
sorted,  and  sold  to  the  hair-workers  in 
the  chief  towns,  at  about  two  dollars 
per  pound.  When  suitably  prepared 
for  perukes,  it  is  sold  at  a  greatly  ad- 
vanced price— it  may  be  ten,  or  it  may 
be  twenty  dollars  per  pound.  Choice 
heads  of  hair,  like  choice  old  pictures, 


CUKIOIJS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


621 


or  rare  old  china,  have,  howeyer,  no 
limit  to  the  price  they  may  occasionally 
command. 


Prayinff  and  Trading:  Simultaneously. 

Mr.  Hume,  whose  experiences  in 
Bombay  are  so  weU  known,  narrates  a 
curious  instance  of  a  wealthy  Parsee 
merchant  carrying  on  his  devotions  and 
trading  pursuits  at  the  same  time.  Mr. 
Hume  says : 

I  had  occasion  to  go  into  the  shop 
of  a  Parsee,  with  whom  I  had  consider- 
able acquaintance.  It  was  in  the  after- 
noon, and  I  found  him  standing  on  the 
steps  of  his  shop,  with  his  face  toward 
the  setting  sun,  busily  engaged  in  saying 
his  prayers.  Many  persons  were  pass- 
ing along  the  street  just  before  him ; 
but  this  seemed  to  cause  him  no  con- 
cern, unless  when  he  had  occasion  to 
bow  to  some  acquaintance.  When  I 
turned  to  enter  his  shop,  he  gave  me  a 
very  cordial  salutation,  bowing,  and 
moving  his  hand  for  me  to  enter,  but 
all  the  time  repeating  his  prayers  as 
rapidly  as  ever.  Perceiving  that  no 
one  was  in  the  shop  to  attend  to  me, 
he  clapped  his  hands  several  times, 
making  a  loud  noise,  the  chief  object 
of  which  seemed  to  be  well  understood 
by  the  family,  as  his  son,  a  young  man 
of  about  twenty  years  of  age,  came  run- 
ning into  the  shop. 

I  asked  him  the  price  of  the  article 
which  I  had  come  to  purchase ;  when 
he,  being  in  doubt,  went  and  inquired 
of  his  father,  who,  with  the  forefinger 
of  his  right  hand,  wrote  upon  the  palm 
of  the  other  the  price  to  be  charged. 
The  young  man  then  came  back  and 
told  me  what  his  father  had  said ;  but 
the  price  being  extravagant,  I  objected 
to  it,  and  told  him  what  I  would  give. 
The  son,  not  feeling  at  liberty  to  act 
on  his  own  responsibility,  went  and  re- 
ported my  offer  to  his  father,  who 
shook  his  head,  and  again  wrote  on  his 
hand,  as  before,  a  sum  considerably  less 
than  the  first  mentioned.    The  young 


man  again  came  and  stated  the  price 
now  asked ;  which  being  still  very  un- 
reasonable, I  was  about  to  leave,  but 
said  I  would  give  him  the  siun  ofiered 
at  first,  if  he  chose  to  take  it.  The 
young  man  again  hastened  to  his  father 
with  my  offer,  and,  as  he  shook  his 
head  at  this,  I  passed  out  at  another 
door,  leaving  him  repeating  his  pray- 
ers as  busily  as  ever.  While  I  remain- 
ed, he  appeared  much  interested  in 
what  was  passing  in  the  shop  ;  and  al- 
though praying  with  his  face  in  an  op- 
posite direction,  he  every  moment 
turned  so  far  about  as  to  catch  a 
glance  of  us,  and  observe  what  we 
were  doing. 

♦ 

liosing:  a  Oood  Customer. 

It  has  been  understood,  from  time  im- 
memorial, that  dress  indicates  the  stand- 
ing of  a  person  in  society ;  so  much  so, 
indeed,  that  even  business  is  in  many 
instances  done  on  this  absurd  principle. 
If  a  person  of  genteel  dress  steps  into  a 
store,  the  utmost  politeness  is  shown, 
and  the  greatest  pains  are  taken  to  ex- 
hibit the  stock ;  but  if  a  meanly-clad 
person  enters,  scarcely  anything  but  a 
yawn,  or  a  dull,  reluctant  movement  at 
best,  is  extended  to  such  a  visitor.  This 
course  has  been  detrimental  to  the 
trade  of  many  a  store.  Here  is  an  ex- 
ample : 

A  very  wealthy  family  moved  to 
Cincinnati  from  Philadelphia,  and  from 
reputation  they  were  acquainted  with 
a  certain  firm  in  the  former  city  before 
their  arrival,  as  said  firm  had  a  branch 
in  the  Quaker  City  which  knew  of 
these  wealthy  customers  there,  and 
who  prized  their  money  and  patronage 
much.  Said  family  wished  to  pur- 
chase a  large  amount  of  things  on  their 
becoming  settled,  and  stepping  into  the 
establishment  of  said  firm  in  their  com- 
monest dress  one  morning,  were  met 
with  the  most  forbidding  coldness. 
The  clerks  and  attendants  took  the 
party  for  "mere  servants"  or  serving 


622 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


girls,  and  did  not  show  them  even 
common  courtesy.  The  result  was,  that 
the  wealthy  family  in  question,  with 
five  hundred  dollars  in  their  pockets  to 
spend,  left  that  store  to  purchase  else- 
where. 

Perhaps  some  other  stores  go  as  far 
the  other  way — that  is,  the  clerks  and 
salesmen  are  too  polite,  and  quite  too 
obliging^  and  by  their  acts,  become  too 
familiar,  and  disgust  the  would-be  cus- 
tomer, thereby  forever  losing  good  pat- 
ronage. The  proper  course  is  to  steer 
between  extremes,  to  study  aptly  human 
nature,  so  as  to  discover  at  a  glance  a 
person  who  desires  to  buy,  and  the  med- 
dling jade  that  promenades  the  streets 
and  makes  trouble  for  the  clerks,  only 
to  show  a  pretty  hand,  and  face. 


Native  Traders  in  Ouinea. 

The  chief  native  traders  of  Guinea 
are  as  keen  men  of  business  in  their 
way  as  can  be  found  in  any  nation ; 
and  it  is  said  to  be  astonishing  with 
what  confidence  some  of  them — per- 
haps nearly  naked — will  ask  for  thou- 
sands of  dollars'  worth  of  goods  on 
credit,  and  get  trusted  accordingly. 
Not  one  in  ten,  however,  who  asks  for 
credit  is  worthy  of  it — the  matter  of 
trusting  and  his  worth  as  a  man  of 
business  being  decided  by  the  charac- 
ter the  trader  bears,  the  size  of  his 
house,  and  the  number  of  his  slaves 
and  wives. 

Some  of  them  are  splendid  mer- 
chants. They  are  hard  at  bargaining ; 
but  the  agreement  once  made,  they 
conscientiously  adhere  to  it,  and  are  ex- 
act in  their  payments.  But  they  are 
roguishly  expert  in  adulterating  their 
goods — mixing  sand  and  copper  filings 
with  gold  dust,  pouring  molten  lead 
into  the  cavities  of  elephants'  tusks  to 
increase  their  weight,  mixing  palm  oil 
with  chopped  '  plaintain-sucker  and 
mud,  etc. 

The  rich  traders  buy  all  descriptions 
of  elegant  and  costly  furniture — sofas, 


fauteuils,  ottomans,  mirrors,  gold  and 
silver  cloth,  damask  table  covers,  car- 
pets, musical  boxes,  pianos,  etc.  Not 
that  they  care  for  these  things,  but  for 
the  mere  fact  of  possession — the  ability 
to  boast  of  having  them.  As  to  put- 
ting them  to  use,  that  is  usually  out  of 
the  question.  They  may  be  seen  lum- 
bered together  in  a  large  hut,  or  packed 
in  boxes,  and  sometimes  kept  in  the 
ground. 

When  a  ship  has  sold  all  her  cargo, 
the  upper  masts  are  sent  aloft  again,  as 
a  signal  that  the  vessel  has  done  trad- 
ing, and  is  now  awaiting  the  settle- 
ment of  all  outstanding  accounts.  If 
the  negro  merchant  has  fairly  pledged 
his  word  to  pay  on  a  certain  day,  he 
generally  redeems  his  promise ;  but  in 
the  absence  of  this  he  puts  off  payment 
on  all  sorts  of  pretences,  or  perhaps 
tries  cajolery  and  threats  alternately, 
until,  the  white  man's  patience  being 
exhausted,  the  debtor  yields  to  neces- 
sity, and  sends  the  stipulated  quantity 
of  oil,  or  what  not,  on  board. 


St.  Petersburgr  Trade  in  Frozen 
Articles. 

To  strangers  in  St,  Petersburg, 
nothing  appears  more  peculiar  than 
that  part  of  the  city  dedicated  to  the 
sale  of  frozen  provisions.  The  aston- 
ished sight  is  there  arrested  by  a  vast 
open  square,  containing  the  bodies  of 
many  thousand  animals,  piled  in  pjTa- 
midal  heaps,  on  all  sides  ;  cows,  sheep, 
hogs,  fowls,  butter,  eggs,  fish,  all  are 
stiflfened  into  granite.  The  fish  are 
thus  rendered  attractively  beautiful, 
possessing  the  vividness  of  their  living 
color,  with  the  transparent  clearness  of 
wax  imitations.  The  beasts  present  a 
far  less  pleasing  spectacle.  The  pecu- 
liar manner  in  which  they  are  piled,  on 
their  hind  legs, — the  apparent  anima- 
tion of  their  attitudes,  as  if  suddenly 
seized  in  moving,  and  petrified  by  frost 
— gives  a  horrid  life  to  this  dead  scene. 
Their  hardness,  too,  is  so  extreme,  that 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


62d 


the  dealers  chop  them  up  for  purchasers 
like  wood,  and  the  chips  of  their  car- 
casses fly  off  in  the  same  way  as  splin- 
ters from  timber  or  coal.  At  certain 
hours,  every  day,  the  market,  while  it 
lasts,  is  quite  a  fashionable  resort.  The 
beauty  and  gayety  of  St.  Petersburg 
are  there,  from  representatives  of  the 
imperial  family  down  to  the  merchant 
and  his  wife. 


/,'  ■  i-8ongr-Bird  Shops  in  New  York. 

There  are  twenty  to  thirty  thousand 
'song  birds  of  different  kinds  sold  year- 
ly in  the  city  of  New  York.  Most  of 
these  are  canaries.  The  "bird  mer- 
chants" go  to  Europe  about  the  first 
of  August,  and  buy  their  stock  of  cana- 
ries, linnets,  finches,  blackbirds,  and 
thrushes,  of  the  Germans  who  raise 
them  for  sale.  They  come  back  in 
September  and  October.  The  pure 
golden  yellow  canary  takes  the  highest 
price,  and  they  are  sometimes  sold  as 
high  as  twenty-five  and  fifty  dollars  a 
pair.  How  many  homes  are  made 
happier  by  their  cheerful  notes ! 


••  Uighty  monarch,  let  nxe  send  a 
Shop!" 

When  Charles  Lamb  was  asked  his 
opinion  of  the  Vale  of  Keswick  and 
the  hills  of  Ambleside,  he  frankly  ac- 
knowledged that  there  was  more  pleas- 
ure for  him  in  the  London  shop  win- 
dows, when  filled  and  lighted  up  in 
the  frosty  evenings  before  Christmas. 
This  answer,  remarks  an  English  writer, 
though  odd  and  unexpected,  is  not  sur- 
prising. Where,  in  the  wide  world,  is 
there  such  an  exhibition  of  artistic 
wealth  and  magnificence  as  is  seen 
daily  in  the  London  shop  windows  ?  No 
doubt  some  of  the  shops  of  Paris  and 
New  York  rival  anything  of  the  kind  in 
the  British  metropolis ;  but,  taken  as  a 
whole,  the  stock  and  the  array  of  the 
London  shops  are  unmatchable.  All 
Orientals    and    Africans,    on    visiting 


Europe  for  the  first  time,  are  most 
struck  with  the  splendor  of  the  shops. 
There  was  nothing  unreasonable  in  the 
request  of  an  African  king's  son  whose 
tribe  had  been  serviceable  to  the 
French  settlements  on  the  Senegal,  in 
return  for  which  the  young  prince  was 
taken  under  the  protection  of  Louis 
the  Fourteenth,  and  sent  to  receive  an 
education  in  Paris.  After  having  seen 
and  been  astonished  at  the  French 
capital,  Louis  asked  of  him  what 
would  be  the  most  desirable  present 
for  his  father,  promising  that  whatever 
might  be  selected  should  be  sent ;  when 
the  youth  exclaimed,  with  a  look  of  the 
most  imploring  earnestness,  "Mighty 
monarch,  let  me  send  a  shop  1 " 


One  of  the  Branches  of  the  Tea 
Trade. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  tea- 
tasting  is  a  regular  commercial  profes- 
sion or  business — one  which  is  certain 
death  to  those  who  pursue  it.  The 
success  of  the  tea-broker,  or  taster,  de- 
pends upon  the  trained  accuracy  of  his 
nose  and  palate,  his  experience  in  the 
wants  of  the  American  market,  and  a 
keen  business  tact.  If  he  has  these 
qualities  in  high  cultivation,  he  may 
make  from  twenty  to  forty  thousand 
dollars  per  annum  while  he  lives — and 
die  of  ulceration  of  the  lungs.  He 
overhauls  a  cargo  of  tea,  classifies  it, 
and  determines  the  value  of  each  sort. 
In  doing  this,  he  first  looks  at  the  color 
of  the  leaf,  and  the  general  cleanliness 
of  it.  He  next  takes  a  quantity  of  the 
herb  in  his  hand,  and  breathing  his 
warm  breath  upon  it,  he  snuffs  up  the 
fragrance.  In  doing  this,  he  draws 
into  his  lungs  a  quantity  of  irritating 
and  stimulating  dust,  which  is  by  no 
means  wholesome.  Then,  sitting  down 
to  the  table  in  his  oflBce,  on  wliich  is  a 
long  row  of  little  porcelain  cups  and  a 
pot  of  hot  water,  he  "  draws  "  the  tea 
and  tastes  the  infusion.  In  this  way 
he  classifies  the  different  sorts  to  the 


624 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


minutest  shade;  makes  the  different 
prices,  and  is  then  ready  to  compare 
his  work  with  the  invoice.  The  skill 
of  these  brokers,  or  tasters,  is  fairly  a 
marvel ;  but  the  effect  of  the  business 
on  their  health  is  ruinous.  They  grow 
lean,  nervous  and  consumptive. 


Grocers  and  Bank  Presidents. 

In  a  certain  city  resides  Mr.  Brown, 
who  keeps  rather  an  extensive  grocery, 
and  Mr.  Green,  president  of  one  of  the 
banks.  Mr.  Green  dealt  occasionally 
with  Mr.  Brown.  Mr.  Brown  is  a  man 
who  has  paid  more  attention  to  busi- 
ness and  making  money  than  to  book 
knowledge.  Mr.  Green  is  an  inquiring 
man,  and  seeks  knowledge  in  every- 
thing, and  sometimes  under  difficulties. 
A  few  years  ago  in  the  winter  season, 
when  eggs  were  scarce,  an  article  was  in- 
troduced by  some  enterprising  Yankee, 
under  the  name  of  Egg  Powders,  was 
sold  by  the  principal  grocers,  and  ap- 
peared to  answer  the  purpose  very 
well.  Mr.  Green  dropped  in  one  day 
to  Mr.  Brown,  and  thus : 

"Mr,  Brown,  have  you  got  any  of 
those  Egg  Powders  ? " 

"  Yes,  Mr.  Green,  we  have." 

"  Let  me  have  a  dozen  of  them." 

The  powders  were  laid  upon  the 
counter. 

"  Mr.  Brown,  do  you  know  what 
these  powders  are  made  of? " 

"  Well,  no,  Mr.  Green,  I  can't  say  I  do ; 
but  I  suppose  they  must  be  made  out 
of  the  same  kind  of  stuff  the  hens  eat." 

Mr.  Green  paid  for  his  powders  and 
left,  not  much  satisfied  with  the  ex- 
planation. 

t 

Pnzzlingr  an  Apothecary. 

The  following  colloquy  is  vouched 
for  by  the  storekeeper  at  whose  estab- 
lishment it  occurred,  in  Indiana,  and 
who  thus  reproduces  it :  A  few  even- 
ings since,  while  musing,  "  solitary  and 
alone,"  upon  the  fortunes  (or  rather 


wiMortunes)  of  war,  especially  the  late 
Rappahannock  disaster,  a  gentleman 
stepped  into  the  drug  store,  inquired 
for  two  or  three  essential  oils,  took  a 
seat,  and  with  a  countenance  expres- 
sive of  the  highest  admiration  of  his 
own  wisdom,  gave  a  short  dissertation 
upon  the  virtues  of  the  medicines  called 
for,  showing  them  to  be  "good  for 
horses,  and  also  for  baiting  bees."  To 
all  of  which  we  nodded  assent.  He 
then  inquired  if  we  had  "  such  a  thing 
as  stra-ta-gum  ?  "  Upon  my  giving  him 
a  negative  answer,  and  expressing  a 
doubt  as  to  there  being  "  such  a  thing," 
he  confidently  insisted  that  there  was, 
as  he  "  had  been  reading  about  their 
capturing  elephants,  and  it  is  said  they 
used  stra-ta-gum  to  bait  them  with,  like 
they  bait  bees,  and  he  would  like  to 
know  what  it  was,"  Seeing  he  was  so 
anxious  about  it,  I  turned  to  the  Dispen- 
satory to  look  for  it,  when,  thinking,  no 
doubt,  it  would  facilitate  my  search, 
he  said  he  "believed  it  was  spelled 
8-t-r-a-t-a-g-e-m  ! "  And  thereupon  we 
discovered  the  joke;  and  well  we 
might,  for  if  a  "  wayfaring  man  "  had 
failed  to  see  it  at  that  point,  he  must 
indeed  have  been  the  prince  of  "  fools." 
After  as  much  of  an  explanation  as  the 
circumstances  would  warrant,  our  friend 
left,  seemingly  much  disappointed  at 
not  finding  his  "  stra-ta-gum,"  and  per- 
haps less  troubled  with  an  enlargement 
of  the  brain  than  when  he  fiist  entered 
the  drug  store. 


Making:  the  Best  of  a  Bad  Article. 

Mk.  L— —  was,  many  years  ago,  and 
may  be  yet,  extensively  engaged  in  one 
of  the  Eastern  States  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  paper,  which  at  one  time  ob- 
tained considerable  reputation.  Pre- 
vious to  his  engaging  in  tjiis  business 
he  had  attempted  another,  which  di(J 
not  prove  so  successful.  During  the 
war  of  1812,  gunpowder  became  very 
scarce,  and  commanded  a  correspond- 
ing price,  and  L,,  who  was  a  very  en- 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


625 


terprising  fellow,  and  watchful  for  every 
chance  of  making  an  "  honest "  living, 
although  thoroughly  ignorant  of  the 
business,  embarked  in  the  manufacture 
of  this  indispensable  requisite  of  war. 
He  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  contract 
from  Government  for  a  large  supply, 
but  the  very  first  instalment  was  con- 
demned and  thrown  on  his  hands. 
This  was  a  serious  loss ;  but  he  deter- 
mined to  make  the  best  of  it ;  and  the 
way  to  do  that,  he  concluded,  was  to 
peddle  the  rejected  article  among  the 
storekeepers  in  his  region.  According- 
ly, he  loaded  a  two-horse  wagon,  and 
in  two  or  three  days  he  had  got  rid  of 
twenty  or  thirty  kegs.  After  the  lapse 
of  a  few  weeks,  he  thought  he  would 
make  another  tour.  Now  he  had  dis- 
posed of  a  keg  to  Major  Conover,  a 
whole-souled  native  of  the  Emerald  Isle 
— a  shrewd  and  thrifty  man  of  busi- 
ness, honest  in  his  dealings,  generous 
in  disposition,  and  the  greatest  wag  in 
those  parts.    Hailing  the  major  from 

his  wagon,  L asked   him    if  he 

should  leave  him  another  keg  of  pow- 
der? 

Ma JOK  (with  a  hesitancy  of  manner,  as 
if  his  mind  was  not  entirely  made  up). — 
"  Well,  I  guess  not  to-day.  I  am  of 
the  opinion  that  the  stock  I  have  will 
last  till  you  come  round  again." 
"  How  did  the  other  turn  out  ?  " 
Major. — "  Well,  I  can't  complain. 
What  has  been  disposed  of  has  certain- 
ly go7w  off  much  to  my  satisfaction. 
It  might  have  been  a  good  deal  worse. 
The  greatest  difficulty  I  have,  is  to 
know  what  to  call  it,  and  what  to  sell 

it  for.     The  fact  is,   L ,  when  I 

bought  that  keg  I  had  it  placed  for 
safety  in  my  wife's  chamber.  I  knocked 
out  the  head,  and  left  it  uncovered, 
which,  I  confess,  was  a  little  careless  in 
me.  One  day  my  wife  wanted  a  fire 
made  in  the  room,  and  told  our  help 
to  take  a  shovelful  of  hickory  coals  up 
stairs.  Now  what  does  the  hvssy  do 
but  knocks  her  elbow  against  the  cheek 
of  the  door,  and  dowses  the  coals  right 
40 


into  the  powder.  She  showed  great 
presence  of  mind,  that  I  must  allow, 
and  screamed  fire  with  all  her  might. 
I  happened  to  be  at  the  foot  of  the 
stairs  with  a  bucketful  of  water,  which 
I  was  just  taking  into  the  store,  I  tore 
up  stairs  like  a  catamount,  and  dash- 
ing the  water  upon  the  flaming  mass,  I 
soon  had  the  fire  out,  but,  would  you 
believe  it,  not  till  nigh  on  to  one  third 
of  the  pesky  stuff  was  burned  up ! 
Now,  L.,  that  article  of  yours  is  a  good 
article,  I  have  no  doubt ;  but  it  is  my 
deliberate  judgment,  that  if  it  was  made 
for  ammunition,  it  is  rayther  too  slow ; 
if  it  was  intended  for  kindlin',  it's  a 
consarned  sight  too  fast." 

L did  not  wait  to  press  a  sale, 

but  giving  the  whip  to  his  ponies,  he 
went  out  of  that  town  at  the  rate  of 
something  like  2  50. 


Grindstones  by  the  Fraction. 

Tradesmen  are  so  often  seriously  an- 
noyed by  tedious  customers  that  they  are 
not  apt  to  enjoy  any  imposition  of  fun. 
One  day  a  wag  entered  a  hardware 
store  and  inquiring  for  grindstones  was 
taken  to  the  back  yard  where  there  were 
rows  of  the  desired  article  ranged  on 
either  side.  The  day  was  drizzly,  the 
rain  pouring  down  silently  but  stead- 
ily. He  examined  a  number,  but  none 
seemed  to  suit  his  purposes.  One  was 
too  large,  another  was  too  small ;  one 
was  too  coarse  in  grain,  another  the 
opposite.  At  last,  when  he  saw  the 
tradesman  was  getting  somewhat  damp 
and  uncomfortable  from  exposure  to 
the  weather,  he  thought  that  he  would 
bring  matters  to  a,  finale;  and  laying 
his  hands  on  a  pretty  fair  specimen,  he 
inquired,  "  How  much  do  you  charge  a 
pound  for  this  one  ?  "  "  Well,"  replied 
the  clerk,  "I  guess  we  can  let  you 
have  that  one  at  four  cents  a  pound." 
"  Well,"  returned  Sam,  "  knock  me  off 
a  pound  and  a  hall" 


626 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Fancy  Stoves  and  Imagrinative 
Ctustozuers. 

A  CrNCiKNATi  dealer  in  dry  goods, 
hardware,  etc.,  says :  Among  our  as- 
sortment of  goods  we  introduced  a  new 
style  of  parlor  stoves,  and  in  the  fall  of 
the  year,  as  the  weather  became  cold 
enough  for  fires,  we  fixed  up  a  fancy  plat- 
form and  placed  thereon  one  of  the  fancy 
stoves,  putting  an  elbow  of  pipe  on  the 
smoke-hole  to  designate  where  it  was. 
So  there  it  stood,  exciting  the  admira- 
tion of  some  of  our  customers,  and  the 
•curiosity  of  others.  In  the  back  part 
of  the  store  we  had  one  of  them  in  use, 
to  show  its  operation.  So  one  pretty 
cold  morning  we  were  quite  busy,  cus- 
tomers coming  and  going,  some  merely 
to  warm,  some  to  chat,  and  others  to 
purchase.  While  we  were  all  engaged 
in  selling,  a  lady  walked  in,  and  pick- 
ing up  a  counter-stool,  placed  it  by  the 
cold  stove.  None  seemed  to  pay  any 
particular  attention  to  her  until  she 
began  to  show  signs  of  getting  too 
warm.  First  off  went  mittens,  then 
shawl,  then  moving  back  a  little.  Ob- 
serving a  broad  smile  on  the  face  of 
the  person  I  was  waiting  upon,  I  be- 
came aware  of  the  laughable  mistake 
the  woman  was  laboring  under.  So 
stepping  down  to  her,  I  said,  "  Madam, 
if  you  wish  to  warm  yourself,  step  back 
to  the  rear  of  the  room,  and  you  will 
find  a  stove  with  a  fire  in  it."  The 
blank  look  that  came  over  her  face  can- 
not be  described ;  but  wetting  her  first 
finger,  she  touched  the  stove  with  a 
jerk,  and  finding  her  finger  did  not 
fiz-z,  she  realized  her  mistake,  then 
looked  at  the  pipe,  and  seeing  it  was 
disconnected,  and  no  smoke  issuing, 
confirmed  its  coldness.  So  picking  up 
her  shawl,  she  confessed  it  was  no  use 
going  back  to  the  other  stove,  for  "  she 
believed  she  was  warm  enough  any 
how,"  but  would  look  at  some  calico. 
From  that  day  on  our  friend  always 
took  a  look  at  the  stove-pipe  to  see  if 
it  really  went  into  a  chimney. 


Orthography  behind  the  Counter. 

AsTcsED  at  the  style  of  orders  which 
were  sometimes  presented  at  his  coun- 
ter for  medicine,  a  Philadelphia  drug- 
gist made  a  collection  of  curious  speci- 
mens— forming,  altogether,  quite  a  tri- 
umph over  pharmaceutical  orthogra- 
phy.   A  few  of  them  are  here  given : 

6  cents  word  spice  Ruback  (rhu- 
barb). 

6  cents  word  crima  datoer  (cream  of 
tartar). 

Gum  Rabick  (gum  Arabic). 

6  cents  of  exolasses  (oxalic  acid). 

Clanaide  (chloride)  Lime  to  take  the 
bad  smeell  out  of  the  scelar. 

I — ^A — did  potass  (iodide  of  potas- 
sium). 

A  fip's  worth  of  Blood  Bought 
(root). 

Abekack  (ipecacuanha). 

3  Sinic  A  (Seneca)  Snake  root. 

3  Pruvian  borks  (Peruvian  bark). 

3  black  licrice  (licorice). 

3  cts.  Mur. 

3  cts.  Charcole. 

3  cts.  Ores  root. 

A  box  of  Brandeth's  pills  or  some 
kind  that  is  good  for  clensing  the 
stumech. 

Wone  ounce  of  the  Surrip  of  Epeca-. 
cuanna. 

Bossom  Compey  (balsam  of  copai- 
va). 

A  Botel  of  Bruster's  Coler  (cholera) 
mixter. 

Gum  De  Achum  (gum  guaiacum). 

3  ownces  of  gumarrerbeck  and  2 
ownces  of  Eiann  Pepper  &  one  quart 
of  alcohaw  I  want  the  pulverised  gum- 
arrerbac  give  him  a  slip  of  paper  with 
figers  of  how  much  it  caust. 

please  put  the  costoc  (caustic)  in  a 
quill  whith  one  Eight  of  a  inch  out. 

3  Cents  worth  of  peneroil  the  Earb. 


Florentine  Flower-Oirls. 

The  most  fragant  bouquets  are  as- 
siduously proffered  to  pedestrians  in 


CURIOUS  TRADES  AND  OBJECTS  OF  TRAFFIC. 


627 


Florence — sold  by  unsentimental-look- 
ing flower-girls  at  prices  that  seem  al- 
most of  fabulous  cheapness  in  contrast 
with  floral  sales  elsewhere.  But  with 
the  Florentines  flowers  would  appear 
to  be  too  vulgar  an  attraction,  for  few 
but  strangers  display  taste  in  this  re- 
spect. With  thein,  however,  it  can- 
not ever  be  said  to  be  a  matter  of 
choice,  for,  like  carriages,  they  must 
receive  the  offered  bouquets  in  self- 
defence.  By  some  incomprehensible 
singularity,  these  flower  girls  are  among 
the  grossest  and  most  ill-favored  of  the 
peasantry — or,  if  they  are  fair  speci- 
mens of  the  peasantry,  the  rural  Tus- 
cans are  remarkably  deficient  in  good 
looks.  But  even  when  one  has  a  pret- 
ty face,  and  turns  it  to  profitable  ac- 
count, she  runs  the  risk  of  having  it 
peeled  by  the  knife  of  some  jealous 
rival.  This  actually  took  place  a  short 
time  since,  because  it  proved  to  its 
possessor  worth,  in  the  sale  of  flowers, 
something  more  than  twice  that  of  her 
enraged  and  homely  competitor.  The 
sum  total  of  the  monthly  gains  that  ex- 
cited the  one  to  a  deed  that  sent  her, 
or,  rather,  her  agent — for  she  did  it  by 
proxy — to  the  penitentiary,  and  the 
other  to  the  hospital,  was — eleven 
dollars  1 

The  flower  girls  are  as  pertinacious 
as  hack  drivers  or  picture  dealers. 
They  do  not  demand  money — only 
you  must  accept  their  flowers ;  if  you 
will  not  take  them,  they  arrest  you  by 
the  collar,  and  decorate  your  button- 
hole with  a  dainty  bunch,  and  then  slip 
modestly  off,  declining  all  recompense, 
knowing  that  bachelor  nature  can  never 
long  hold  its  purse  strings  closed 
against  the  language  of  flowers.  This 
they  repeat  every  morning.     If  you 


breakfast  at  Doney's,  the  Delmonico 
of  Florence,  a  fresh  bouquet  is  on  your 
table  as  soon  as  you  are  seated.  If  you 
escape  this,  you  are  overtaken  in  the 
street,  or  at  the  Cascine,  and  decorat- 
ed, despite  all  modest  resistance,  with 
the  infallible  sign  of  a  newly  caught 
stranger.  After  all,  it  is  a  very  pretty 
and  innocent  affair,  barring  the  adver- 
tisement it  holds  out  of  a  greenhorn  to 
be  plucked.       __^_ 

Batavian  Trade  in  Birds'  Nests. 

Birds'  nests  constitute  quite  an  arti- 
cle of  trade  in  Batavia,  being  sold  for 
2,500  paper  dollars  the  picul — about 
one  hundred  and  thirty-three  pounds. 
The  birds  that  make  these  nests  are 
shaped  like  the  swallow,  and  fly  with 
the  same  velocity,  but  are  smaller. 
They  are  very  numerous  on  the  islands. 
The  coast  of  Sumatra  gives  the  greatest 
supply  of  them — called  the  Salignare, 
and  found  in  great  numbers  in  the 
Philippines.  They  always  lay  in  the 
same  nest  unless  it  be  destroyed,  and 
will  keep  continually  rebuilding  when 
their  nests  are  taken  away ;  late  meth- 
ods of  insuring  good  nests  by  destroy- 
ing all  the  old  ones.  The  nests  are 
formed  of  a  glutinous  substance  found 
in  the  water.  They  are  about  the  size 
of  the  inside  of  a  swallow's  nest,  and 
some  of  them  almost  transparent.  The 
soup  made  of  them  is  very  palatable, 
but  as  it  is  dear,  it  is  not  often  met 
with ;  the  old  nests  are  of  a  black  cast, 
and  are  not  near  so  valuable  as  the 
white.  There  are  three  layers  or  thick- 
nesses in  the  nests,  which,  when  sepa- 
rated, appear  like  three  distinct  nests ; 
the  first  or  outside  layer  brings  the  least 
price,  increasing  to  the  inside,  which 
brings  the  large  price  above  quoted. 


PART  TWELFTH. 


Anecdotes  and  Chronicles  of  Insurance. 


'./T  ivt'f 


PAET   TWELFTH. 

Anecdotes  and  Chronicles  of  Insurancei 

ITS  PIONSEI^,  VARIETIES ;  CCRIOUS  BATES,  TERMS,  SUBJECTS  ;  HUUORS,  FANCIES,  AND  EX- 
CESSES;  NOTABLE  CASES  OF  LOSS  AND  ADJUSTMENT;  CABICATUBXS,  FUNS,  BAILURT, 
ETC. 


In  vain  are  all  insnranceB,  for  still 
The  raging  wind  must  answer  heaven  or  hell 
To  what  wise  purpose  must  we  then  insure  I 
Since  some  must  lose  whate'er  the  seas  devour. 

Eno.  Bard. 

The  vain  insurancers  of  life. 

And  he  who  most  performed  and  promised  lees, 
Ev'n  Short  and  Hobbs,  forsook  th'  unequal  strife. 

.  "Thrknodia  Augcstalis." 

Come  all  ye  generous  husbands  with  your  wives, 
Insure  round  sums  on  your  precarious  lives, 
That,  to  your  comfort,  when  you're  dead  and  rotten. 
Your  widows  may  be  rich  when  you're  forgotten.— Ano. 
Everything  is  insurable— at  a  premium  I— Perrott. 


InsTiring:  Dr.  Lieb's  liife. 

At  the  time  when  the  famous  Doctor 
LiEB  was  figuring  so  largely  in  politi- 
cal life,  prejudices  were  strong,  and 
party  feeling  ran  high — application 
was  made  to  the  Legislature  of  Penn- 
sylvania to  incorporate  a  "  Life  Insu- 
rance Company  "  for  the  term  of  fifty 
years.  On  this,  a  zealous  member  rose 
and  addressed  Mr,  Speaker  with — "  Sir, 
I  don't  like  this  bill,  and  I  sha'n't  vote 
for  it.  The  petitioneers  have  asked 
leave  to  be  incorporated  to  insure  lives 
for  fifty  years,  and  what  will  be  the 
consequence  of  granting  their  prayer  ? 
Why,  the  first  thing  you'll  know,  that 
mischievous  Dr.  Lieb  will  get  hia  life 
insured  for  the  whole  time,  and  then 
we  shall  have  him  tormenting  us  for 
half  a  century  to  come." 


Porcelain  Jars  and  Low  Prexnixuns. 
During  the  mania  in  England  for 
insuring    anything     and     everything. 


there  was  a  man  named  John  Perbott, 
wealthy,  consequential,  and  eccentric — 
an  insurer  of  lives,  of  merchandise,  and 
of  anything  that  was  oflfered ;  his  motto 
being,  "  Everything  is  insurable — at  a 
premium^  Li  his  private  tastes,  his 
chief  delight  was  to  collect  fine  china, 
and  in  this  he  indulged  himself  to  an 
extravagant  extent.  The  uglier  the 
specimen  the  dearer  it  was  to  John 
Perrott,  and  the  more  he  was  willing 
to  pay  for  it.  His  clerks  were  charged 
to  board  the  vessels  from  the  East  as 
soon  as  they  reached  the  Thames,  and 
he  would  at  any  time  stop  in  the  midst 
of  pressing  business  to  listen  to  infor- 
mation about  pottery  and  porcelain. 
When  a  man  came  to  insure  his  life  or  ' 
his  ship,  to  buy  an  annuity  or  to  sell 
one,  he  was  sure  of  a  favorable  bargain 
if  he  could  but  procure  some  vase  or 
jar  which  had  been  seen  by  no  one  else. 
He  had  one  fine  specimen  in  his  collec- 
tion, which  however  required  a  second 
and  similar  one  to  complete  its  value 


632 


COMMERCIAL   AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


in  his  eyes.  This  he  once  possessed ; 
but  being  lost  or  broken,  it  afforded 
him  a  constant  topic  of  complaint,  and 
out  of  it  arose  a  characteristic  story  of 
the  man. 

One  day  he  was  applied  to  by  a  mer- 
chant to  effect  an  insurance  on  a  ship 
■which  had  been  long  absent,  and  of  the 
safety  of  which  many  doubts  were  en- 
tertained. Perrott  demanded  a  very 
high  premium,  and  the  applicant  de- 
murred. 

In  the  course  of  conversation,  how- 
ever, the  merchant  "carelessly"  al- 
luded to  a  fine  porcelain  jar  of  which 
a  friend  was  possessed,  and  which  he 
thought  he  could  procure.  Perrott's 
eyes  opened  as  the  description  pro- 
ceeded. It  was  the  apple  of  his  eye — 
the  very  specimen  his  soul  desired, — 
and  his  visitor,  on  witnessing  the  anx- 
iety he  evinced,  offered  to  go  for  it, 
good-naturedly  declariog  it  was  of  no 
value  to  him,  and  at  the  express  solici- 
tation of  Perrott  went  off  immediately 
to  fetch  the  valued  prize. 

The  merchant  seemed  a  long  time 
gone,  but  Perrott  attributed  this  to  his 
own  impatience,  and  felt  fully  rewarded 
when  he  saw  him  return  bearing  the 
porcelain  he  coveted.  "With  eager 
hands  he  grasped  it ;  t?ie  insurance  on 
the  missing  ship  was  most  advantageousli/ 
concluded  for  his  client ;  and  Perrott 
went  home  a  happy  man.  On  entering 
the  boudoir  where  all  his  treasures 
were  deposited,  lo  1  his  own  jar  was 
missing,  and  he  found  on  inquiry  that 
he  had  been  outwitted  by  his  mercan- 
tile friend,  who  had  tempted  him  to  a 
low  premium  with  information  about 
his  own  property,  and  at  his  urgent 
wish  had  procured  it  from  his  home  by 
a  deception  on  his  own  housekeeper. 

Burning  with  rage,  and  vowing  ven- 
geance against  the  crafty  merchant, 
whom  he  determined  to  expose  on 
'change,  Perrott  went  to  town  the  next 
morning,  where  the  first  information 
that  greeted  him  was  the  arrival  of  the 
vessel  he  had  just  insured.     Finding 


the  tables  thus  turned  in  his  own  favor 
and  profit,  he  wisely  held  his  peace, 
merely  making  a  special  visit  to  the 
merchant  to  congratulate  him  on  the 
arrival  of  his  merchandise,  so  imme- 
diately after  he  had  insured  it. 


Aneerstein,  the  Great  English  Under- 
writer. 

John  Jumub  Angerstein  is  a  name 
preeminent  in  the  annals  of  English  in- 
surance enterprise  by  private  merchants. 
Mr.  Angerstein,  though  bom  in  St. 
Petersburg,  went  to  England  at  an  early 
age,  and  soon  became  eminent  as  a 
broker  and  underwriter.  In  the  last 
character,  such  was  his  remarkable 
judgment,  that  when  his  name  ap- 
peared on  a  policy,  it  was  a  sufficient 
recommendation  for  the  rest  to  follow 
where  he  led,  without  further  exami- 
nation ;  accordingly,  other  underwriters 
were  eager  to  see  policies  sanctioned  by 
his  name  or  subscription,  which  speed- 
ily acquired  so  great  an  authority  in 
commercial  and  other  circles,  that  for 
some  years  after,  they  were,  by  way  of 
distinction,  called  Julians — after  his 
name.  This  peculiar  ability  and  suc- 
cess increased  very  largely  Mr.  A.'a 
mercantile  business  and  celebrity,  and 
he  attained  the  highest  rank  among 
that  class,  together  with  a  princely  for- 
tune. Were  a  parallel  to  the  brilliant 
career  of  Mr.  Angerstein  to  be  sought 
in  our  own  country,  it  would  be  found 
in  the  honored  name  of  Walter  R. 
Jones,  whose  ability  and  accomplish- 
ments in  this  department  of  commerce 
may  be  said  to  be  unsurpassed  in  the 
commercial  metropolis  of  which  he  was 
so  long  an  ornament. 


Introduction  of  llaxine  IzLstirance. 

From  the  best  authorities  that  can 
be  found,  it  would  appear  that  the  con- 
tract of  insurance  was  first  invented  by 
the  Lombards  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury ;  and  as  the  Italians  were  at  that 


CHRONICLES  OF  INSURANCE. 


633 


time  engaged  in  an  extensive  trade 
with  foreign  countries,  and  carried  on 
a  rich  traffic  with  India,  it  is  but  rea- 
sonable to  suppose  that  in  order  to  sup- 
port so  extensive  a  commerce,  they 
would  introduce  insurance  into  their 
system  of  mercantile  affairs.  It  is  true, 
there  is  no  positive  and  conclusive  evi- 
dence that  they  were  the  originators  of 
this  kind  of  contract,  but  it  is  certain 
that  the  knowledge  of  it  came  with 
them  into  the  different  maritime  states 
of  Europe,  in  which  parties  of  them 
settled ;  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
they  were  the  merchants,  bankers,  and 
carriers  of  Europe,  it  is  quite  reasonable 
to  presume  that  they  also  led  the  way 
in  a  matter  which  is  so  important  for 
the  building  up  and  continuance  of 
commercial  prosperity.  It  is  certain, 
also,  that  the  Lombards  were  the  first 
who  introduced  this  contract  into  Eng- 
land; and  a  clause  is  inserted  in  all 
policies  of  insurance  made  in  that  coun- 
try, that  the  policy  shall  be  of  as  much 
force  and  effect,  as  any  before  made  in 
Lombard  street — the  place  where  these 
Italians  are  known  to  have  first  taken 
up  their  residence. 


Companies  for  Insuring  Female  Clias- 
tity,  Childrens'  Fortunes,  etc. 

AMOKa  the  numerous  quixotic  in- 
surance companies  which  were  formed 
when  the  rage  for  that  kind  of  "  job- 
bing" was  so  popular,  in  years  gone 
by,  in  England,  the  following  named 
will  doubtless  appear  sufficiently  ab- 
surd, even  to  the  present  speculative 
generation :  William  Helmes,  Ex- 
change Alley,  Insurance  of  Female 
Chastity.  A  company  for  insuring  and 
increasing  children's  fortunes.  An  in- 
surance office  for  horses  dying  natural 
deaths,  stolen  or  disabled, — Crown 
Tavern,  Smithfield.  Insurance  from 
housebreakers.  Insurance  from  high- 
waymen. Insurance  from  lying.  Plu- 
mer  &  Petty'a  insurance  from  death  by 
drinking    rum.      But    these    vagaries 


were  not  the  wildest.  After  a  time 
"  insurance  wagers "  became  the  rage. 
Policies  were  openly  laid  on  the  lives 
of  all  public  men.  When  George  the 
Second  fought  at  Dettingen,  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  was  paid  against  his  safe 
return.  When  in  1745  the  Pretender 
was  defeated,  thousands  of  pounds 
were  laid  upon  his  capture,  his  death, 
even  his  whereabouts.  When  Lord 
Nithsdale  escaped  from  the  tower  by 
his  wife  taking  his  place,  the  Wretches 
who  had  perilled  money  on  his  life, 
and  to  whom  his  impending  execution 
would  have  been  a  profit,  were  noisy  in 
their  complaints  and  execrations.  But 
no  sooner  was  it  known  that  he  was 
really  free  than  they  turned  about  and 
wagered  upon  his  recapture.  Sir  Rob- 
ert Walpole's  life  was  insured  for  many 
thousands,  and  at  periods  of  political 
excitement,  when  his  person  seemed  in 
danger,  the  odds  were  proportionately 
enlarged  by  the  speculators.  When 
Wilkes  was  committed  to  the  tower, 
policies  were  issued  at  ten  per  cent, 
that  he  would  remain  there  for  a,  speci- 
fied time.  King  George,  when  he  was 
ill,  and  Lord  North,  when  he  was  un- 
popular, were  both  good  objects  on  the 
brokers'  schedules. 


Carious  Inconsistencies  in  Insuriner 
liife. 

Before  the  present  comparatively 
perfect  system  of  regulating  life  in- 
surance was  inaugurated,  the  incon^ 
sistencies  of  the  plan  pursued  were 
very  striking,  as  viewed  from  the  exist- 
ing standpoint.  Average  lives  were 
declined,  and  for  him  whose  health 
was  not  perfect  there  was  no  chance. 

The  healthy  but  nervous  man,  whose 
pulse,  when  examined,  beat  like  a  steam 
engine,  was  very  often  refused,— and 
stories  of  rejected  applicants,  which 
speak  volumes,  are  prevalent.  One  gen- 
tleman was  declined  because  he  was 
deaf,  as  he  ran  more  risk  of  being  run 
over.    Another  was  refused  because  he 


634 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


had  been  three  times  lanhrupt,  and  his 
system  might  have  suffered.  A  third 
was  too  fuU  of  health,  and  might  die 
of  apoplexy.  A  fourth  was  deficient, 
and  might  die  of  decline.  No  life  was 
taken  that  presented  any  exceptionable 
point.  The  consequence  was,  that  men 
in  rude,  robust  health,  if  blind  in  one 
eye,  or  deaf  in  one  ear,  were  often  re- 
jected; and  there  are  numerous  in- 
stances of  the  refused  party  living  to  a 
good  old  age — while  cases  are  not 
wanting,  in  which,  after  outliving  doc- 
tor, actuary,  and  half  the  board  of  di- 
rectors, the  very  man  who  thirty  years 
before  was  refused  at  any  price,  was 
gladly  taken  by  the  same  company  at 
the  ordinary  premium. 


One  of  the  Companies. 

Some  years  ago,  the  English  country 
papers  were  filled  with  advertisements 
drawing  attention  to  the  peculiar 
claims  of  a  new  Life  and  Fire  Insurance 
Company,  Its  capital  was  stated  to  be 
five  millions ;  it  was  declared  to  be  a 
legal  corporation,  and  acts  of  parlia- 
ment to  prove  this  were  boldly  quoted. 
Cautiously,  however,  did  the  promo- 
ters proceed  in  the  metropolis,  where 
they  did  not  at  first  advertise,  content- 
ing themselves  with  establishing  agen- 
cies in  various  parts  of  the  country, 
and  publishing  advertisements  in  coun- 
try papers.  An  imposing  array  of 
names  as  directors,  declared  to  be  of 
the  first  character  and  responsibility, 
was  promulgated;  and  when  such 
names  as  Drummond  and  Perkins  ap- 
peared in  the  list,  the  uninitiated  be- 
lieved the  one  to  be  the  great  banker, 
and  the  other  the  rich  brewer,  bearing 
the  same  names.  To*  add  to  the  de- 
lusion, the  Bank  of  England  was  ad- 
vertised as  their  bankers ;  and  when 
they  opened  handsome  premises  in 
London,  Dublin,  Edinburgh,  and  Glas- 
gow, the  minds  of  the  many  were  thor- 
oughly deluded. 

They  not  only  insured  lives  at  smaller 


premiums  than  other  offices,  but  gave 
larger  annuities  for  smaller  sums.  Ac- 
cording to  their  tables,  a  man  of  thir- 
ty, by  paying  five  hundred  dollars, 
could  obtain  forty  dollars  yearly,  and 
could  insure  his  life  at  nine  dollars 
per  cent.,  thus  making  a  clear  interest 
of  thirty-one  dollars  per  annum. 

The  deed  of  the  company — for, 
strange  to  say,  it  had  a  deed — was 
signed  by  any  one  who  chose.  Any  one 
who  asked  for  a  situation  was  made  a 
governor.  A  schoolmaster  who  re- 
quested a  clerkship  was  made  a  direc- 
tor. An  errand-man  was  employed  as 
manager.  A  boy  of  sixteen  was  ap- 
pointed to  a  seat  in  the  board.  One 
director  had  been  tapman  to  a  London 
tavern ;  another  had  been  dismissed 
from  his  employ  as  a  journeyman  bell- 
hanger;  a  third  had  been  a  talet-de- 
charribre.  All  had  orders  to  dress  well, 
to  place  rings  on  their  fingers,  and  adorn 
their  persons  with  jewelry — ^fines  being 
instituted  if  they  omitted  to  wear  the 
ornaments  provided.  By  all  these 
means,  together  with  extraordinary 
puffing,  premiums  to  a  large  amount 
were  procured  by  them,  and  they  pros- 
pered. 

It  was  known,  however,  by  many,  that 
a  great  crash  must  one  day  come.  This 
was  brought  about  by  the  sharp  and 
persevering  exposures  made  in  a  Scotch 
newspaper,  the  editor  of  which  stood 
his  ground  against  every  combination 
and  menace  directed  by  those  whom  he 
opposed.  The  company  placed  a  large 
amount  in  the  hands  of  their  law  agent 
to  destroy  their  accuser,  declaring  him 
to  be  a  false  and  malicious  calumniator 
and  themselves  injured  men.  One  of 
the  agents,  who  had  been  in  London, 
had  the  audacity  to  state,  on  his  return, 
that  the  deputy  governor  of  the  Bank 
of  England  had  personally  assured  him 
of  the  respectability  of  the  association ; 
but  this  statement  was  followed  up, 
and  was  met  with  a  complete  denial 
from  the  official  in  question. 
Finally,  the  practices  of  the  company 


CHRONICLES  OF  INSURANCE. 


635 


could  not  hold  out  against  the  expo- 
sures made  ;  and  one  Jine  morning,  the 
entire  gang  absconded,  taking  with 
them  from  the  premises  every  article 
of  furniture,  after  having  realized  by 
their  operation  a  booty  largely  rising 
a  million  dollars. 


Insurance  for  Husbands. 

Some  of  the  principal  capitalists  of 
London  are  engaged  in  the  formation 
of  a  new  company  for  insurance  from 
damage  by  fire.  In  consequence  of  the 
constantly  occurring  accidents  in  that 
metropolis,  by  which  ladies,  owing  to 
the  immensity  of  their  dresses,  are 
either  burnt  to  death,  or  have  a  large 
portion  of  the  valuable  and  extensive 
stock  of  drapery  which  they  carry 
about  them  destroyed,  the  eminent 
financial  gentlemen  alluded  to  have  de- 
termined to  establish  a  Wife  Insurance 
Company. 

Bomance  and  Reality  of  Insurance. 

In  the  days  when  crusades  were  so 
common,  and  men  undertook  pilgrim- 
ages from  impulse  as  much  as  from  re- 
ligion, it  was  desirable  that  the  pilgrim 
should  perform  his  vow  with  safety,  if 
not  with  comfort.  The  chief  danger  of 
his  journey  was  captivity.  The  ballads 
of  the  fifteenth  century  are  full  of 
stories  which  tell  of  pilgrims  taken 
prisoners,  and  of  emirs'  daughters  re- 
leasing them ;  but  as  the  release  by 
Saracen  ladies  was  more  in  romance  of 
song  than  in  reality,  and  could  not  be 
calculated  on  with  precision,  a  personal 
insurance  was  entered  into,  by  which, 
in  consideration  of  a  certain  payment, 
the  assurer  agreed  to  ransom  the  trav- 
eller, and  thus  the  devotee  performed 
his  pilgrimage  as  secure  from  a  long 
or  dangerous  captivity  as  money  could 
make  him.  Another  mode  of  assurance 
was  commonly  practised,  by  which  any 
traveller  departing  on  a  long  or  danger- 
ous voyage  deposited  a  specific  amount 


in  the  hands  of  a  money  broker,  on 
condition  that  if  he  returned  he  should 
receive  double  or  treble  the  amount  he 
had  paid ;  but  in  the  event  of  his  not 
returning,  the  money  broker  was  to 
keep  his  deposit,  which  was  in  truth 
an  insurance  premium  imder  another 
name. 


The  United  Glass  and  Crockery  In- 
surance Company. 

This  office  unites  the  benefit  of  a 
mutual  association  with  the  security  of 
a  proprietary  company,  and  offers  to 
the  insured  the  following  advantages : 

To  all  domestics,  from  coachman  to 
maid-of-all-work,  an  insurance  against 
the  accidents — so  frequent  and  so 
alarming  in  families — of  broken  glass, 
china,  crockery,  and  delf  of  every  kind, 
from  carelessness,  ill-temper,  or  the 
mischievous  habits  of  dog  or  cat. 

A  very  trifling  percentage  on  the 
rate  of  wages  received  will  enable  the 
servant  thus  insuring,  to  break  more 
than  an  average  amount  of  glass  or 
crockery;  whilst  the  feeling  of  inde- 
pendence assured  to  the  breaker  will 
considerably  tend  to  elevate  him  or  her 
in  the  social  position. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  do- 
mestic is  peculiarly  liable  to  those  ac- 
cidents of  broken  glass  and  earthen- 
ware that,  for  a  time,  tend  to  ruin  the 
peace  of  families  and  endanger  the 
situation  of  the  unfortunate  servant — 
such  a  company  as  the  present  must  be 
productive  of  the  greatest  good,  as 
creating  a  cordial  understanding  be- 
tween the  employer  and  the  employed. 

When,  however,  it  is  borne  in  mind 
that  servants,  covenanting  to  pay  for 
"  all  they  break,"  are  more  than  likely 
to  be  overcharged  by  the  cupidity  of 
their  master — or,  what  is  more  fre- 
quently the  case,  their  mistress — this 
society  will  step  in,  and  throwing  its 
shield  about  the  defenceless,  will  fairly 
arbitrate  the  cost  of  the  broken  pieces. 

To  servants  of  eccentric  or  violent 


636 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


temper,  who  love  to  express  their  in- 
dependence of  master  or  mistress  by 
smashing  a  finger-basin,  or  letting  drop 
a  dozen  of  plates,  this  office  "will  be 
found  to  offer  the  most  consoling  ad- 
vantages, as  the  terms  are  at  once 
equitable  and  without  preference — the 
directors  making  only  a  slight  advance 
in  the  case  of  applicants  having  un- 
iwmlly  red  hair, 

Messrs.  Crocker  and  Ewer  have,  for 
many  years,  been  incessantly  occupied, 
calculating  the  average  duration  and 
existence  of  cups,  saucers,  dishes,  plates, 
decanters,  tumblers,  cruets,  ewers,  and 
crockery  in  general,  in  every  walk  of 
life ;  and  are  enabled,  after  the  most 
earnest  and  minute  research  into  their 
various  longevity,  to  draw  up  such  a 
Bet  of  "  tables  "  as  will  allow  the  most 
independent  footman  and  the  most 
careless  housemaid  to  break  to  their 
hearts'  content,  at  a  rate  of  insurance 
inconceivably  contemptible.  The  quar- 
rels, the  bickerings,  the  ill-blood  here- 
tofore occasioned  by  broken  glass  or 
china,  may  henceforth  be  avoided ;  and 
squalls  in  the  pantry  and  tears  in  the 
kitchen  be  forever  abolished. 

Heads  of  families,  also,  will  at  once 
see  the  evident  value  of  this  company, 
and  that  it  is  in  every  way  worthy  of 
their  countenance ;  as,  upon  engaging 
a  servant,  they  cannot  but  feel  doubly 
secure  of  their  property,  if  the  domes- 
tic to  be  hired  is  duly  insured  in  the 
"  United  Glass  and  Crockery." 

To  render  the  rates  of  insurance  as 
easy  as  possible,  servants  may  insure 
separately  for  breakfast,  dinner,  or  tea 
service ;  or  for  lamp  glasses  only. 
Office,  No.  1,  Pitcher  Court,  China 
Road. 


Jacob  Barker's  Insurance  Case— Itedi* 

vivus. 

This  story  is  so  like  Jacob,  that  it 
might  safely  have  been  imagined  of 
him,  even  if  it  had  never  been  narrated 
of  him  as  having  taken  place.    It  has 


been  often  told  in  days  past,  but  will 
bear  to  be  told  again. 

Mr.  Barker  was  a  large  shipowner. 
He  had  many  ships  at  sea,  and — as  was 
the  custom  in  those  days  as  well  as  at 
present— some  of  them  would  be  lost. 
One  of  Mr.  B.'s  ships  had  been  a  long 
time  out  of  port.  Fears  were  enter- 
tained for  her  safety.  Sharing  the 
general  anxiety,  Mr.  B.  called  at  a 
marine  insurance  office,  and  expressed 
his  desire  to  effect  a  fresh  insurance  on 
the  vessel.  The  office  demanded  a  high 
rate  of  premium,  Mr,  B.  offered  a 
lower  figure.  Without  coming  to  any 
understanding,  Mr.  B.  left  the  office. 
That  night  a  swift  messenger  from 
New  England  brought  him  news  of  the 
total  loss  of  the  vessel. 

He  said  simply,  "  Very  well,"  Next 
morning,  as  he  drove  down  to  his 
counting  house,  he  stopped  at  the  in- 
surance office.  He  did  not  get  out  of 
his  carriage,  but  calling  the  secretary 
from  his  seat,  observed  to  him,  quietly : 

"  Friend,  thee  need  not  make  out  that 
policy  ;  Vve  heard  of  the  ship^ 

"Oh,  sir!— but,  sir— Mr.  Barker," 
stammered  the  cunning  secretary,  dash- 
ing back  into  the  office,  and  reappear- 
ing again  in  a  moment,  "  we've  made 
out  the  policy,  and  you  can't  back  out 
of  it ! " 

"How  so,  friend?"  asked  the  old 
Quaker,  very  demurely, 

"  When  you  left  last  evening  we 
agreed  to  your  proposal,  and  the  policy 
was  made  out  at  once.  The  office  be- 
came liable,  and  you  must  take  it. 
See,  here  it  is ! " — and  a  clerk  at  that 
moment  brought  out  the  policy,  with 
the  signatures  hardly  dry. 

Well,  friend,"  said  old  Jacob  plainly, 
"  if  thee  will  have  it,  I  suppose  I  must 
take  it."  And  he  put  the  policy  into 
his  pocket  and  drove  to  his  office.  Be- 
fore that  evening,  the  insurance  com- 
pany and  all  the  world  had  heard  of 
the  loss  of  the  ship,  and  of  the  round 
sum  with  which  the  company  stood 
self-mulcted. 


CHRONICLES  OP  INSURANCE. 


637 


Life-and-Death  Brokers,  and  their 

"Humble  Servant." 
Walpole  relates  the  following  odd 
story  :  If  a  man  insures  his  life,  killing 
himself  vacates  the  bargain.  This  has 
produced  an  office  for  insuring  in  spite 
of  self-murder ;  but  not  beyond  three 
hundred  pounds.  It  is  presumable 
that  voluntary  deaths  were  not  then 
the  Ion  ton  of  people  in  higher  life.  A 
man  went  and  insured  his  life,  securing 
this  privilege  of  a  free-dying  English- 
man. He  carried  along  with  him  the 
insurers,  to  dine  at  a  tavern,  where 
they  met  several  other  persons.  After 
dinner,  he  said  to  the  life-and-death 
brokers :  "  Gentlemen,  it  is  fit  that  you 
should  be  acquainted  with  the  com- 
pany ;  these  honest  men  are  tradesmen, 
to  whom  I  was  indebted,  without  any 
means  of  paying  but  your  assistance, 
and  now  I  am  your  humble  servant." 
He  pulled  out  a  pistol  and  shot  him- 
self. 


Pitt,  the  Insolvent  Premier,  Instired 
by  his  Coachmakers. 

The  greatest  British  minister  of  the 
last  century  died  insolvent,  and  from 
this  arose  a  most  interesting  insurance 
action.  In  1803,  William  Pitt  was  in- 
debted to  Godsall  &  Co.,  his  coach- 
makers,  for  something  rising  five  thou- 
sand dollars.  To  secure  some  part  of 
this,  in  the  event  of  his  death,  they  in- 
sured his  life  for  seven  years,  with  the 
Pelican  Company,  for  twenty-five  hun- 
dred dollars,  at  the  rate  of  about  six- 
teen dollars  per  cent.  In  1806,  three 
years  after  this,  the  premier  died,  with- 
out sufficient  assets  to  meet  his  liabili- 
ties. The  greatness  of  his  services  to 
the  country — the  fact  that  he  had  died 
in  debt  being  a  proof  of  his  self-abnega- 
tion— demanded  an  acknowledgement, 
and  the  state  very  properly  determined 
to  pay  his  creditors.  This  was  not 
sufficient  for  the  coachmakers ;  and 
immediate  claim  was  made  by  them  for 
payment  of  the  twenty-five  hundred 


dollars  insured.  As  Godsall  &  Co., 
however,  had  received  the  entire 
amount  of  their  bill  when  Mr.  Pitt's 
other  debts  were  discharged,  the  Peli- 
can refused  to  pay,  on  the  ground  that 
their  insurable  interest  in  the  life  of 
the  deceased  had  been  terminated  by 
the  payment  of  his  debts,  and  that,  as 
the  insurance  was  to  meet  a  special 
debt,  since  discharged,  they  could  not 
recover.  On  a  trial  of  the  case,  the 
court  decided  against  the  coachmakers' 
claim. 


Underwriters  Jobbing:  with  Napo- 
leon's Life. 

During  the  whole  of  the  first  Napo- 
leon's wonderful  career,  his  life  was 
trafficked  with  in  every  sort  of  way  by 
the  underwriters  of  that  period.  The 
various  combinations  in  the  funds,  de- 
pendent on  his  life,  entered  into  by  job- 
bers, made  it  very  desirable  to  insure 
it;  and  as  every  campaign  and  every 
battle  altered  the  aspect  of  affairs,  the 
premiums  varied.  Sometimes  private 
persons  acted  as  insurers.  Thus,  in 
1809,  as  Sir  Mark  Sykes,  the  banker, 
entertained  a  dinner  party,  the  conver- 
sation turned — as  almost  all  thoughts 
then  turned — to  Bonaparte,  and  from 
him  to  the  danger  to  which  his  life 
was  daily  exposed.  The  baronet,  ex- 
cited partly  by  wine  and  partly  by  loy- 
alty, ofiered,  on  the  receipt  of  one  hun- 
dred guineas,  to  pay  any  one  a  guinea 
a  day  so  long  as  the  French  emperor 
should  live.  One  of  the  guests,  and 
he  a  clergyman,  closed  with  the  offer ; 
but  finding  the  company  object,  said 
that  if  Sir  Mark  would  ask  it  as  a  fa- 
vor, he  would  let  him  off  from  his  bar- 
gain. To  a  high  spirited  man  this  was 
by  no  means  pleasant,  and  the  baronet 
refused.  The  clergyman  sent  the  one 
hundred  guineas  next  day,  and  for 
three  years  the  banker  paid  three  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five  guineas — when, 
thinking  he  had  suffered  sufficiently 
for  an  idle  joke,  he  refused  to  pay  any 


638 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


longer.  The  recipient,  not  disposed  to 
lose  his  annuity,  brought  an  action, 
•which  was  eventually  carried  up  to  the 
highest  legal  authorities,  and  there 
finally  decided  in  favor  of  Sir  Mark, 
the  law  lords  not  being  disposed  to 
give  the  plaintiff  a  life  interest  in  Bona- 
parte to  the  extent  of  nearly  two  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year. 


Apt  Illustration  of  a  Principle. 

An  agent  of  one  of  the  metropolitan 
life  insurance  companies,  while  travel- 
ling in  the  north  of  Scotland,  met  with 
an  intelligent  man  who  farmed  some 
thousand  acres.  This  estate  he  delight- 
ed to  cultivate ;  and  though  the  period 
was  long  before  that  when  science  was 
employed  by  the  agriculturist,  he  in- 
vested all  his  profits  in  the  estate  he 
rented.  -With  great  satisfaction  he 
took  the  life  insurance  agent  over  his 
land,  pointed  to  his  improvements,  and 
boasted  his  gains. 

When  they  returned  to  the  farm 
house,  the  agent,  who  saw  that  if  his 
host  died,  all  that  he  had  done  would 
be  for  his  landlord's  benefit,  only  said 
to  him,"  You  must  have  spent  a  large 
sum  on  this  estate." 

"Many  thousands,"  was  the  brief 
reply. 

"And  if  you  die,"  was  the  ready 
rejoinder,  "  your  landlord  will  receive 
the  benefit,  and  your  wife  and  daugh- 
ter be  left  permiless.  Why  not  insure 
your  life  ? " 

The  man  rose,  strode  across  the  room, 
and  drawing  himself  up  as  if  to  exhibit 
his  huge  strength,  said,  almost  in  the 
words  of  one  of  Sir  Bulwer  Lytton's 
heroes :  "  Do  I  look  like  a  man  to  die 
of  consumption  ?  " 

The  agent,  true  to  his  vocation,  was 
not  daunted — he  persevered,  explained 
his  meaning,  enlisted  the  kindly  feel- 
ings of  his  host,  persisted  in  asking 
him  how  much  he  would  leave  his 
family,  and  at  last  induced  him  to  lis- 
ten.   They  examined  his  accounts,  and 


found  that  he  could  spare  about  six 
hundred  dollars  a  year.  The  village 
apothecary  was  almost  immediately 
sent  for,  the  life  was  accepted,  and 
policies  were  granted  for  fifteen  thou- 
sand dollars. 

In  less  than  nine  months,  this  man, 
so  full  of  vigorous  health,  took  cold, 
neglected  the  symptoms,  and  died, 
leaving  only  the  amount  for  which  he 
had  insured  his  life  to  keep  his  family 
from  want. 


Oddities  of  a  Former  Period. 

In  the  early  period  of  English  in- 
surance, as  soon  as  it  was  known  that 
any  great  man  was  seriously  ill,  in- 
surances on  his  life,  at  rates  in  propor- 
tion to  his  chance  of  recovery,  were 
freely  made.  These  bargains  were  re- 
ported in  the  public  journals ;  and  the 
effect  on  an  invalid  who  knew  his 
health  to  be  precarious,  may  be  ima- 
gined, when  he  saw  in  the  Whitehall 
Evening  Post,  that 

"  Lord might  be  considered  in 

great  danger,  as  his  life  could  only  be 
insured  in  the  Alley  at  ninety  per 
cent." 

Of  a  less  questionable,  though  still 
novel  character,  was  the  habit  of  in- 
suring property  in  any  besieged  city ; 
or  the  yet  more  common  mode  of  pay- 
ing a  premium  to  receive  a  certain  sum 
should  the  city  be  taken  by  the  day 
named  in  the  contract.  The  Spanish 
ambassador  was  accused  of  insuring 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thotasand  dollars 
on  Minorca,  during  the  seven  years' 
war,  when  the  despatches  announcing 
its  capture  were  in  his  pocket. 


Terrible  Mode  of  Benderingr  an  In- 
surance Policy  Void. 

There  resided,  at  the  close  of  the 
last  century,  in  one  of  the  districts  of 
Yorkshire,  England,  one  of  those  coun- 
try squires  of  whom  we  read  in  the 
pages  of  the  elder  novelists.    He  could 


CHRONICLES  OF  INSURANCE. 


639 


•write  sufficiently  to  sign  his  name  ;  he 
could  ride  so  as  always  to  be  in  at  the 
death;  he  could  eat,  when  his  day's 
amusement  was  over,  sufficient  to  star- 
tle a  whole  caravan  of  epicures — and 
drink  enough  to  float  himself  to  bed 
tipsy,  as  regularly  as  the  night  came. 
He  was  young,  having  come  to  his  es- 
tate early,  through  the  death  of  a  father 
who  had  broken  his  neck  when  his 
morning  draught  had  been  too  much 
for  his  seat,  and  he  seemed  at  first  ex- 
ceedingly likely  to  follow  his  father's 
footsteps. 

In  due  time,  however,  being  com- 
pelled to  visit  London  on  some  busi- 
ness, he  found  that  there  were  other 
pleasures  than  those  of  hunting  foxes, 
drinking  claret,  following  the  hounds, 
and  swearing  at  the  grooms ;  and  that, 
although  on  his  own  estate,  and  in  the 
neighborhood  of  his  own  hall,  he  might 
be  a  great  person,  all  his  greatness  van- 
ished in  the  metropolis.  With  the 
avidity  of  a  young  man  entirely  im- 
curbed,  enjoying  also  huge  animal  pow- 
ers, he  rushed  into  the  dissipation  of 
London,  where,  as  he  possessed  a  con- 
siderable share  of  mental  capacity,  he 
contrived  to  polish  his  bebavior  and 
to  appear  in  the  character  of  a  buck 
about  town  with  some  success. 

His  estate  and  means  now  became  fa- 
miliar to  those  who  had  none  of  their 
own ;  and  as  he  was  free  enough  in 
spending  his  money,  and  was  not  very- 
particular  in  his  company,  he  was 
quickly  surrounded  by  all  the  younger 
sons,  roysterers,  and  men  who  lived  by 
their  wits,  of  the  circle  in  which  he 
visited.  With  such  as  these  his  career 
was  rapidly  determined.  The  gaming 
of  the  period  was  carried  to  such  an 
extent  that  it  might  almost  be  termed 
a  national  vice,  and  into  this  terrible 
vortex  he  threw  himself  with  unstinted 
recklessness.  Mortgage  after  mortgage 
was  given  on  his  estate;  but  as  this 
was  entailed,  it  was  necessary  that  he 
should  also  insure  Ms  life,  which  was 
done   at  Lloyds',   on  the  Royal   Ex- 


change, and  with  those  usurers  who 
added  this  to  their  other  branches  of 
business. 

In  the  midst  of  his  career  there  seem- 
ed a  chance  for  his  escape.  It  may 
well  be  supposed  that  many  intriguing 
women  fixed  their  eyes  on  "  so  desira- 
ble a  match,"  and  that  many  young 
ladies  were  willing  to  share  the  for- 
tunes, for  better  or  for  worse,  of  the 
possessor  of  a  fine  estate.  At  last  the 
hour  and  the  woman  came— the  York- 
shire squire  fell  in  love  with  a  young 
lady  of  singular  beauty.  To  faU  in 
love  was  to  propose — to  propose  was  in 
this  case  to  be  accepted — and  the  mar- 
riage took  place.  Immediately  after- 
ward they  left  the  metropolis  for  the 
Yorkshire  home,  with  many  dainty 
dreams  of  bliss  in  the  future.  A  son, 
heir  to  the  entail,  was  born  to  them, 
and  soon  after  he  again  went  to  Lon- 
don, where,  tempted  beyond  his  resolu- 
tion, he  plunged  again  into  his  former 
pursuits,  pleasures  and  vices.  He  gam- 
bled, he  betted,  he  hazarded  his  all, 
until  one  fine  morning,  after  a  deep  de- 
bauch, he  arose  a  ruined  man.  He  had 
lost  more  than  his  whole  life  would  re- 
deem, the  only  security  now  left  to  the 
winners  being  his  annuity  bonds  on 
the  estate,  and  his  various  life  insurances 
should  he  die. 

Thus  situated,  he  was  aroused  to  a 
sense  of  the  wrongs  he  had  sufiered ; 
he  saw  that  he  had  been  the  dupe  of 
gentlemen  sufficiently  practised  in  the 
art  of  play  to  be  called  sharpers,  and 
saw  also,  what  was  doubtless  the  fact, 
that  he  had  been  cheated  to  their 
hearts'  content.  Almost  mad,  burning 
with  consuming  fire,  he  determined  to 
be  revenged.  Another  night  he  was 
resolved  to  try  his  luck,  and,  by  play- 
ing more  desperately  than  ever,  win 
back,  if  possible,  the  money  he  had 
lost,  and  then  forswear  the  dangerous 
vice.  With  a  desperate  resolve  to  out- 
wit them,  in  life  or  in  death,  he  once 
more  met  the  gamesters.  He  had  hither- 
to honorably  arranged  aU  the  losses  he 


G40 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


had  sustained,  and  his  opponents  were 
prepared  to  humor  him.  The  doors 
were  finally  closed,  the  shutters  were 
down  to  exclude  light,  refreshments 
were  placed  in  an  antechamber,  and  for 
thirty-six  hours  the  last  game  was 
played. 

The  result  may  be  guessed.  The 
squire  had  no  chance  with  the  men 
banded  against  him,  and  high  as  his 
stakes  were,  and  wildly  as  he  played, 
they  fooled  him  to  the  top  of  his  bent. 
Exhausted  nature  completed  the  scene, 
and  the  loser  retired  to  his  hotel.  He 
was  ruined,  wretched,  reckless.  He 
knew  that  if  he  lived  it  would  be  a 
miserable  existence  for  himself  and  his 
wife,  and  he  knew  also  that  if  lie  died, 
hy  his  own  Tiand,  not  only  would  his 
family  be  placed  in  a  better  position 
than  if  he  lived,  but  that  the  men  who 
had  wronged  him  would  be  outwitted, 
as  the  policies  on  his  life  would  he  for- 
feited, and  his  bonds  become  waste 
paper. 

His  mind  soon  became  resolved.  He 
evinced  to  the  people  of  the  hotel  no 
symptoms  of  derangement ;  but  saying 
he  should  visit  the  theatre  that  night, 
and  go  to  bed  early,  as  he  had  been 
rather  dissipated  lately,  he  paid  the 
bill  he  had  incurred,  giving  at  the  same 
time  gratuities  to  the  waiters.  He  then 
wrote  a  letter  to  one  of  the  persons 
with  whom  his  life  had  been  insured, 
stating  that  as  his  existence  was  now 
of  no  value  to  him,  he  meant  to  destroy 
himself;  that  he  was  perfectly  calm 
and  sane;  that  he  did  it  for  the  ex- 
press purpose  of  punishing  the  men 
who  had  contrived  to  ruin  him ;  and, 
as  the  policy  would  be  void  by  this 
act,  he  charged  him  to  let  his  suicide 
be  known  to  all  with  whom  his  life 
had  been  insured.  In  the  evening  he 
walked  to  the  Thames,  where  he  took 
a  wherry  with  a  waterman  to  row  him, 
and  when  they  were  in  the  middle  of 
the  current,  plunged  suddenly  into  the 
stream,  and  was  seen  no  more. 

The  underwriter  who  had  received 


the  letter,  communicated  it  to  the  other 
insurers ;  and  when  a  claim  was  made  by 
the  gamblers,  they  saw  that  they  in  turn 
had  been  duped  by  the  squire,  although 
at  the  fearful  price  of  self-murder. 


Origia  of  Fire  Insurance  Companies. 

It  is  amusing,  indeed,  to  trace  the 
incidents  which  attended  the  introduc- 
tion of  fire  insurance  companies.  The 
basis  of  a  plan  of  this  sort  appears  to 
have  been  suggested  as  early  as  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  At  that 
time,  a  person  proposed  to  Count  An- 
thony Gunther  von  Oldenburg,  that,  as 
a  new  species  of  finance,  he  should  in- 
sure the  houses  of  all  his  subjects 
against  fire,  on  their  paying  so  much 
per  cent,  annually,  according  to  their 
value ;  but  the  prospect  of  gain,  so 
tempting  to  most  persons,  could  not 
induce  the  count  to  adopt  the  plan. 
He  thought  it  good  if  a  company  was 
formed  of  individuals  to  insure  each 
other's  houses,  but  he  doubted  that  it 
could  by  him  be  *'  honorably,  justly, 
and  irreproachfully  instituted  without 
tempting  Providence — without  incur- 
ring the  censure  of  neighbors,  and 
without  disgracing  one's  name  and  dig- 
nity," adding  that  "  God  had  without 
such  means  preserved  and  blessed,  for 
many  centuries,  the  ancient  house  of 
Oldenburg,  and  He  would  still  be  pres- 
ent with  him  through  his  mercy,  and 
protect  his  subjects  from  destructive 
fires." 

The  Count's  plan  appears  not  to  have 
been  again  thought  of  until  the  great 
fire  of  1666  had  laid  the  city  of  Lon- 
don in  ashes. .  In  consequence  of  this 
calamitous  event,  the  citizens  began  to 
see  the  importance,  and  indeed  neces- 
sity, of  erecting  their  buildings  of  a 
material  less  susceptible  of  fire  than 
hitherto;  also  of  adopting  a  regular' 
system  of  precaution  against  future  ac- 
cidents, as  well  as  of  devising  some 
scheme  for  mutual  pecuniary  protec- 
tion and  reliefl 


CHRONICLES  OF  INSURANCE. 


641 


Various  proposals  were  accordingly 
submitted  to  the  Court  of  Common 
Council  of  the  City  of  London,  be- 
tween 1669  and  1680,  for  the  mutual 
relief  of  such  as  might  have  their 
houses  destroyed  by  fire — the  most  no- 
table and  acceptable  of  which  was  by 
one  of  their  own  body,  Mr.  Deputy 
Newbold.  But  if  we  may  judge  from 
the  length  of  time  that  elapsed  ere  the 
worshipful  committee  made  their  re- 
port to  the  Court,  we  should  conclude 
the  adopting  of  the  proposal  to  have 
been  attended  with  serious  difficulties ; 
and,  in  verification  of  the  old  proverb 
that  "  delays  are  dangerous,"  during 
the  period  between  the  first  presenta- 
tion of  Mr,  Newbold's  proposal  to  the 
Lord  Mayor  and  the  final  report  of  the 
committee  to  whom  the  matter  was  re- 
,  ferred  by  the  Court  of  Common  Coun- 
cil, several  private  individuals  asso- 
ciated themselves  together,  and  sub- 
mitted to  the  good  citizens  of  London 
a  "  design  for .  insuring  houses  from 
fire,"  and  on  the  16th  of  September, 
1681,  a  notice  or  advertisement  was 
issued  from  their  "  office  on  the  lack  side 
of  the  Boyal  Exchange,^''  offering  to  in- 
sure hriclc  houses  against  fire  for  six- 
pence, and  timber  houses  for  twelvepence 
in  the  pound — being  at  the  rate  of  £2 
10».  per  cfent.  for  the  brick  houses,  and 
of  £5  per  cent,  for  timber. 

Subsequently,  on  the  13th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1681,  the  Court  of  Common  Coun- 
cil did  "  agree  and  resolve  to  under- 
take y®  insuring  all  houses  w"'in  this 
city  and  libertyes  from  fire,  and  execute 
y'  same  with  all  expedicion,"  and  there- 
fore "  resolved  forthwith  to  engage  a 
sufficient  fund,  and  undoubted  security 
by  the  chamber  of  London,  in  lands 
and  good  ground  rents,  for  the  per- 
formance thereof."  Much  amusing 
pamphleteering  and  advertising  in  the 
Gazette  took  place  between  the  advo- 
cates of  the  corporation  scheme,  and 
the  "  interested  "  in  the  sale  insurance 
office  on  the  back  side  of  the  Royal 
Exchange.  The  journals,  too,  of  the 
41 


Court  of  Common  Council  at  that  pe- 
riod record  the  signing  of  many  poli- 
cies, and  bear  amusing  evidence  of  the 
zeal  and  prudence  of  the  fire  insurance 
committees  in  promulgating  the  bene- 
fits of  the  corporation  scheme,  and  com- 
bating the  antagonistic  pamphlets  is- 
sued by  their  competitors. 


Exciting:  Xiife  of  an  TJnderwriter. 

It  is  not  possible  to  conceive  of  a 
more  exciting  life  than  that  of  a  pri- 
vate underwriter.  A  sudden  change 
of  weather,  or  the  non-arrival  of  a 
ship  at  the  time  she  is  expected  or  is 
"  due,"  sinks  him  from  the  highest 
hopes  of  profit  to  the  deepest  dread  of 
loss. 

Some  branches  of  this  business  may 
well  be  said  to  be  a  sort  of  gambling ; 
at  all  events,  the  risks  of  marine  in- 
surance are  much  less  easily  reckoned, 
and  are  of  a  far  less  precise  kind,  than 
those  of  life  or  fire  insurance.  Yet 
wonderful  efforts  are  made  to  give  it 
certainty ;  the  age  and  soundness  of 
the  ship,  the  kind  of  cargo  with  which 
she  is  laden,  the  part  of  the  world  to 
which  she  is  going,  the  time  of  year,  as 
well  as  the  skill  and  character  of  the 
captain  who  commands  her,  are  ele- 
ments in  the  calculation.  Sometimes, 
as  is  well  known,  insurances  are  in- 
creased, or  new  ones  effected,  while 
the  ship  is  at  sea :  when  she  has  not 
been  met  with  by  other  vessels  reported 
to  have  crossed  her  track,  or  when  she 
has  delayed  her  arrival  into  home  port, 
the  rate  is  augmented,  according  as  the 
chance  of  some  accident  is  great. 

The  steamship  President,  which  went 
down  years  ago,  and  has  never  since 
been  heard  of,  was  "  done,"  or,  in  other 
words,  risks  were  taken  on  her  at  a 
very  high  premium,  up  to  the  latest 
minute  of  hope.  Underwriters  are 
found  who  do  not  object  to  speculate 
on  the  safety  of  ships  in  equally  des- 
perate circumstances,  or,  to  use  their 
own  slang,  "  to  take  a  few  thousands 


642 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


on  them  at  a  yery  long  price ; "  and 
vast  sums  of  money  are  frequently  won 
and  lost  in  this  way.  This  is  gam- 
bling, than  which  no  lottery  schemes 

are  greater. 

«     ■ 

Policies  and  Tragredies. 

A  Mks.  E.  came  to  the  office  of  a 
London  insurance  company,  in  her  car- 
riage, to  take  out  a  policy  upon  Ann 
E.,  whom  she  described  as  a  friend 
whose  life  had  already  been  insured 
for  three  thousand  pounds,  also  for 
twenty-five  hundred  in  a  second  office, 
and  seven  hundred  in  a  third.  The 
medical  referee  was  a  member  of  the 
Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  and  resided 
near  one  of  the  fashionable  squares  at 
the  "West  End.  Three  months  after 
the  insurance  had  been  eflfected,  Ann 
E,  died.  Upon  the  life  of  her  she 
had  eflfected  an  insurance  for  three 
thousand  pounds  in  one  office,  four 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  in  a  sec- 
ond, and  two  thousand  in  a  third, 
while  the  life  had  been  refused  in  a 
fourth.  The  lady  had  also  effected  in- 
surances on  the  life  of  her  sister,  to 
the  amount  of  twenty-four  thousand 
pounds,  but  all  of  them  had  been  re- 
fused. Further,  the  same  lady  had 
had  policies  granted  upon  the  lives  of 
almost  every  member  of  her  family, 
and  in  every  case  the  insured  had  died 
within  a  few  months  after  the  grant 
was  made,  the  certificates  of  death 
being  invariably  signed  by  the  Hon. 
M.R.C.S.,  who  had  figured  as  medical 
referee  in  connection  with  all  these 
cases.  These  circumstances  were  so 
suspicious  and  startling,  that  this  com- 
pany resisted  the  claim,  and  an  action 
was  accordingly  brought  to  trial.  Mrs. 
E.  gained  the  case,  but  the  publicity 
given  to  the  facts  brought  a  volley  of 
letters,  volunteering  information  con- 
cerning the  plaintiflF.  It  then  came  to 
light  that  the  lady  had  been  the  in- 
mate of  a  hospital  for  females  of  ques- 
tionable virtue ;  that  she  was  then  the 


mistress  of  an  eminent  baronet  banker 
at  the  West  End,  to  whom  belonged 
the  carriage  in  which  she  had  invaria- 
bly called  to  eflfect  the  insurance,  and 
the  appearance  of  which  had  aided  her 
materially  in  doing  so.  It  is  supposed 
that  she  must  have  poisoned  more  than 
thirty  persons,  in  these  criminal  in- 
surance transactions — a  catalogue  of 
tragedies  certainly  without  a  parallel. 


Iieaving:  a  Case  Out. 

A  Philadelphia  merchant,  in  the 
olden  time,  chartered  a  vessel  and 
laded  her  with  an  invoice  of  valuable 
wines  for  a  port  in  the  West  Indies, 
and  insured  the  vessel  and  cargo  at  a 
remarkably  high  figure  in  an  office 
where  one  of  his  acquaintances — a  man 
of  about  the  same  honesty  as  himself — 
was  a  director.  The  vessel  (as  was 
commercially  foreordained)  sprang  a 
leak  at  sea,  was  abandoned,  and,  as 
Byron  says,  "going  down  head-fore- 
most— sunk — in  short."  The  shipper 
demanded  his  insurance  money;  but 
being  unable  to  satisfy  the  office  as  to 
when  and  how  he  became  possessed  of 
such  a  large  quantity  of  valuable  wines, 
they  refused  to  pay,  and  the  matter  re- 
mained for  a  long  time  unsettled,  the 
shipper  urging  his  claims,  and  the 
office  professing  their  readiness  to  pay 
whenever  he  produced  the  proper  evi- 
dences. One  day  the  shipper,  meeting 
the  director,  complained  bitterly  of  the 
treatment  of  the  office,  and  wound  up 
by  saying  he  was  willing  to  leave  the 
case  out  to  the  decision  of  three  honest 
men.  "  Three  honest  men  1  Why,  my 
dear  fellow,  where  would  you  get 
them?  There  are  you  and  /,  to  be 
sure ;  but  wTiere  would  you  find  the 
other  ?  "  It  leaked  out  afterward  that 
the  vessel  had  been  scuttled  by  the 
captain,  who  was  interested  in  the  ad- 
venture, and  that  the  valuable  wine 
was  only  colored  water. 


CHRONICLES  OF  INSURANCE. 


643 


"Poor  Tim  Rooney." 

Tim  Rooney  had  his  life  insured  in 
one  of  the  British  offices,  and  the  hold- 
er of  the  policy  was  anxious,  if  possi- 
ble, to  avoid  paying  the  premiums, 
and  to  receive  the  sum  insured  during 
the  life-time  of  his  assignor.  Finally, 
a  premium  became  due,  and  he  found 
himself  unable  to  pay  it.  He  had  still 
a  few  days'  grace,  when,  crossing  the 
Liflfey  at  night  with  a  party  of  fiiends, 
he  saw  a  body  floating  on  the  stream. 
He  lost  no  time  in  pulling  it  on  shore, 
and  then,  with  a  look  of  pity,  exclaim- 
ed, "  Why,  it's  poor  Tim  Booney  !  "  His 
friends  at  first  thought  him  crazy ;  but 
when  he  repeated,  "  Sure  enough,  it's 
Tim  Rooney,"  adding,  "  and  hadn't  I 
to  pay  the  next  premium  on  his  life  ? " 
the  whole  party  were  courteous  enough 
to  understand  him.  Accordingly,  the 
report  was  circulated  that  Tim  Rooney 
had  fallen  into  the  Liflfey.  An  inquest 
subsequently  held  confirmed  the  feet, 
the  news  of  which  in  due  time  reached 
the  insurance  office.  A  certificate, 
signed  by  the  coroner,  and  testifying 
as  to  the  cause  of  death,  was  soon  after- 
ward forwarded  to  the  office,  and  the 
money  for  which  Tim  Rooney's  life 
had  been  insured,  was  paid  to  the 
proper  representative.  Some  time  af- 
terward, the  agent  of  the  company  met 
and  identified  "  poor  Tim  Rooney  "  in 
the  streets  of  London,  and  reproached 
him  with  being  still  alive.  "  Was  not 
an  inquest  held  on  you  ?  "  inquired  the 
agent.  "  That  there  was,"  replied  Tim, 
"  and  I  am  told  that  twelve  men  sat  on 
my  body  ;  but  I  am  not  at  all  dead  for 
all  that." 


Examiningr  an  Applicant. 

A  PEEP  into  that  room  of  mysteries 
— ^the  examining  apartment  of  a  life  in- 
surance company — reveals  some  side- 
shaking  dealings.  In  vain  does  the 
board  endeavor  to  persuade  some  of 
the  faded  and  rickety  adventurers,  that 


they  are  half  dead  already ;  they  still 
swear  that  their  fathers  were  almost 
immortal,  and  that  their  whole  families 
have  been  as  tenacious  of  life  as  eels 
themselves.  Among  these  one  old  gen- 
tleman had  a  large  premium  to  pay  for 
a  totter  in  his  knees;  another  for  an 
extraordinary  circumference  in  the 
girth ;  and  a  lady  of  high  respecta- 
bility, who  was  afflicted  with  certain 
undue  proportions  of  width,  was  fined 
most  exorbitantly.  The  only  customer, 
on  this  occasion,  who  met  with  any- 
thing like  satisfaction,  was  a  gigantic 
man  of  Ireland,  with  whom  it  was  evi- 
dent that  Death  was  likely  to  have  a 
puzzling  contest. 

"  How  old  are  you  ? "  inquired  the 
examiner. 

"  Forty." 

"  You  seem  a  strong  man." 

"  I  am  the  strongest  man  from  Ire- 
land." 

"  But  subject  to  the  gout  ? " 

"  No — the  rheumatism.  Nothing  else, 
upon  my  soul." 

"  What  age  was  your  father  when  he 
died  ? " 

"  Oh,  he  died  young ;  but  then  he 
was  killed  in  a  row." 

"  Have  you  any  uncles  alive  ?  " 

"  No — they  were  all  killed  in  rows 
too." 

"  Pray,  sir,  do  you  think  of  return- 
ing to  Ireland  ?  " 

"  May  be  I  shall,  some  day  or 
other." 

"  What  security,  then,  can  we  have 
that  you  will  not  be  killed  in  a  row 
yourself?" 

"  Oh,  never  fear !  I  am  the  sweetest 
temper  in  the  world,  barring  when  I'm 
dining  out,  which  is  not  often." 

"  What,  sir,  you  can  drink  a  little  ?  " 

"  Three  bottles,  with  ease." 

"  Aye,  that  is  bad.  You  have  a  red 
face,  and  look  apoplectic.  You  will, 
no  doubt,  go  oflF  suddenly." 

"  Devil  a  bit.  My  red  face  was  bom 
with  me ;  and  I'll  lay  a  bet  I  live  long- 
er than  any  two  in  the  room." 


C44 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Examining  an  Applicant. 


«  But  three  bottles—" 

"  Never  you  mind  tTiat.  I  don't  mean 
to-  drink  more  than  a  bottle  and  a  half 
in  future.  Besides,  I  intend  to  get 
married,  if  I  can,  and  live  snug." 

A  debate  arose  among  the  directors 
respecting  the  gentleman's  eligibility. 
The  words  "  row  "  and  "  three  bottles  " 
ran,  hurry-scurry,  round  the  table. 
Every  dog  had  a  snap  at  them.  At 
last,  however,  the  leader  of  the  pack 
addressed  him  in  a  demurring  growl, 
and  agreed  that,  upon  his  paying  a 
slight  additional  premium  for  his  ir- 
regularities, he  should  be  treated  as  a 
fit  subject.  ^ 

liife-Insarance  Obituary  Annotmce- 
ment. 

CoNCERKTNG  life-insurance  compa- 
nies, Gaylord  Clark  once  said :  "We 
verily  believe  that  by-and-by  they  will 
create  a  new  style  of  announcing  the 
deaths  of  our  "  friends  and  fellow  citi- 
zens." It  will  not  be  long  before  we 
shall  see  in  the  newspapers,  under  the 
obituary  head,  such  announcements  as 
this :  "  Died  of  fever,  on  Wednesday 
morning,  Timothy  Pipkin,  aged  fifty- 


six  ;  no  insurance?^  Or,  "  Died,  on  Fri- 
day morning,  Jerothnail  P.  Hopkins, 
of  a  lingering  '  squinancy,'  aged  forty- 
eight  ;  insured  one  thousand  dollars  in 
the  Wall  street  Life-insurance  Com- 
pany, and  two  thousand  in  the  Connec- 
ticut Mutual." 

An  epidemic,  also, .  taking  away 
whole  neighborhoods,  wc  may  look  to 
see  under  the  head  of  "  Great  Epide- 
mic: Failure  of  Life-Insurance  Com- 
panies,^'' something  like  the  following : 
"  We  regret  to  learn  that  two  of  our 
prosperous  life-insurance  companies 
have  been  compelled  to  suspend  pay- 
ment. An  epidemic  which  broke  out 
recently  in  Tinnecum,  and  which  at 
one  time  threatened  the  destruction  of 
the  whole  village,  could  not  be  arrested 
until  the  raging  scourge  had  destroyed 
more  than  three  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars' worth  of  sound  insurance.  The 
loss  falling  on  individuals  and  families 
is  inunense." 


TKaxii&gQ  and  Baptism.  Insurance. 

The  following  advertisements  relate 
to  a  department  of  insurance  which  we 


CHRONICLES  OF  INSURANCE. 


645 


believe  does  not  pertain  to  that  busi- 
ness as  carried  on  at  present.  In  the 
British  Apollo  for  1710  is  the  following 
notice : 

"  A  first  and  second  claim  is  made  at 
the  office  of  Assurance  on  Marriage  in 
Roll  Court,  Fleet  street.  The  first  will 
be  paid  on  Saturday  next,  wherefore 
all  persons  concerned  are  desired  to 
pay  two  shillings  into  the  joint  stock, 
pursuant  to  the  articles,  or  they  will  be 
excluded.  The  two  claimant^  married 
each  other  and  have  paid  but  two  shil- 
lings each."  Yet  they  were  to  receive 
thirty-seven  pounds.  This  advertise- 
ment may  receive  its  explanation  in 
another : 

"Any  person,  by  paying  two  shil- 
lings at  their  entrance  for  a  policy  and 
stamps,  and  two  shillings  toward  each 
marriage  until  their  own,  when  [the 
number  is]  full,  will  secure  to  them- 
selves two  hundred  pounds,  and  in  the 
mean  time  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  subscribers." 

It  appears  that  so  well  did  this  specu- 
lation answer,  that  three  offices  shortly 
opened  in  the  same  line,  one  at  least  of 
which  appears  to  have  had  a  very  ap- 
propriate location,  viz.,  in  "  Petticoat 
Lane."  Growing  out  of  such  a  concern 
was  another  company — that  for  insui*- 
ance  upon  infant  baptism.  In  this  case, 
persons  were  to  pay  two  shillings  and 
sixpence  toward  each  infant  baptism 
until  they  had  a  case  of  their  own.  If 
the  list  was  full,  they  could  then  receive 
two  hundred  pounds,  "  the  interest  of 
which  is  sufficient,"  says  the  advertise- 
ment, "  to  give  a  child  a  good  educa- 
tion, and  the  principal  reserved  until 
the  child  comes  to  maturity."  For  a 
time  these  speculative  projects  of  cre- 
dulity were  greedily  run  after. 


Assessments  in  Old  Times. 

Here  is  an  instance  of  the  singular 
manner  in  which  fire-insurances  were 
conducted  in  old  times.  It  is  a  notice, 
or  advertisement,  copied  from  the  Lon- 


don Gazette  of  July  6th,  1685  :  "  There 
having  happened  a  fire  on  the  24th  of 
the  last  month,  by  which  several  houses 
of  the  friendly  society  were  burned,  to 
the  value  of  nine  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  pounds,  these  are  to  give  notice  to 
all  persons  of  the  said  society,  that  they 
are  desired  to  pay  at  the  office,  Faulcon 
Court,  in  Fleet  street,  their  several  pro- 
portions of  their  said  loss,  which  comes 
to  five  shillings  and  one  penny  for 
every  hundred  pounds  issued,  before 
the  12th  of  August  next." 


Traffickers  in  Insurance  Bun  Mad- 
Astounding:  Policies  on  the  Chev- 
alier d'Eon's  Sex! 

Charles  Genevieve  Louis  Ati- 
GUSTE  d'Eon  de  Beaumont,  popularly 
known  as  the  Chevalier  d'Eon,  was  the 
cause  of  a  famous  trial  before  Lord 
Mansfield,  as  to  the  validity  of  a  policy 
without  an  insurable  interest.  The  ca- 
reer of  this  man,  or  woman — for  the 
question  was  long  doubtful — was  most 
remarkable.  Equerry  to  Louis  Fif- 
teenth, doctor  of  law,  ambassador,  and 
royal  censor,  employed  in  a  confiden- 
tial mission  to  the  Russian  court,  and 
said  to  be  a  favorite  of  its  empress, 
d'Eon's  reputation  in  England  was  es- 
tablished. Coming  to  the  latter  coun- 
try, he  soon  quarrelled  with  the  Due  de 
Nivernois,  ambassador  from  the  most 
Christian  king,  and  being  regarded  as 
a  calumniator,  he  was  mobbed  where- 
ever  he  appeared. 

In  the  mean  time,  doubts  being  set 
afloat  as  to  his  sex,  his  calumnies  were 
all  forgotten,  and  a  new  interest  was 
attached  to  the  chevalier,  by  the  asser- 
tion of  some  that  he  was  male,  and  of 
others  that  he  was  female.  This  was 
something  decidedly  fresh — a  positive 
windfall — for  the  wide-awake  and 
scheming  insurance  brokers  of  that 
period,  and  the  question  was  forthwith 
mooted  at  Lloyds's.  At  first  wagers  or 
bets  were  made ;  but  as  there  was  no 
readily    available    mode    of   deciding 


,646 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


whether  this  extraordinary  individual 
was  man  or  woman,  they  were  neces- 
sarily abandoned. 

It  was  decided,  therefore,  that  regular 
insurance  policies  should  be  opened  on  his 
sex,  by  which  it  was  undertaken  that 
on  payment  of  fifteen  guineas,  one  hun- 
dred should  be  returned  whenever  the 
chevalier  was  proved  to  be  a  woman. 
At  first  he  pretended  to  be  indignant, 
and  advertised  that  on  a  certain  day 
and  hour,  he  would  satisfy  all  whom  it 
concerned.  The  place  was  a  city  coffee 
house,  the  hour  was  that  of  high 
'change,  and  the  curiosity  of  the  citi- 
zens was  greatly  excited. 

The  insurances  on  this  eccentric  per- 
son's sex  were,  under  these  stirring  cir- 
cumstances, greatly  and  immediately 
increased,  policies  to  a  very  large 
amount  were  made  out,  and  to  the  ren- 
dezvous thronged  bankers,  underwri- 
ters, and  brokers  innumerable.  The 
hour  approached,  and  with  it  came  the 
chevalier,  who,  dressed  in  the  uniform 
of  a  French  officer,  and  decorated  with 
the  order  of  St.  Louis,  rose  to  address 
the  assembly. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  breathless 
attention  of  this  teeming  throng  (for  "  a 
million"  was  said  to  depend  on  his 
words),  the  eager  interest  of  some,  the 
cool  cupidity  of  others,  the  ribaldry  of 
more,  and  the  astonishment  of  all, 
as,  with  an  audacity  only  to  be 
equalled  by  his  charlatanry,  he  said 
"  he  came  to  prove  that  he  belonged  to 
that  sex  whose  dress  he  wore,  and 
challenged  any  one  there  to  disprove 
his  manhood,  with  sword  or  with  cud- 
gel." The  spirit  of  the  citizens  had 
passed  away,  or  at  any  rate  it  did  not 
serve  them  on  this  occasion ;  commerce 
had  sheathed  the  sentimental  sword  of 
chivalry,  and  none  grasped  the  gaunt- 
let thus  thrown  down  by  the  knight. 
Bankers,  brokers,  and  underwriters 
gaped  at  one  another  as  though  they 
had  lost  their  senses;  and  while  the 
boldness  of  the  speech  pleased  many,  it 
was  far  from  satisfactory  to  those  who 


came  with  the  hope  of  winning  a  wa- 
ger, or  claiming  their  insurance  money. 
The  knight  departed  in  triumph. 

Large  sums — in  one  case  amounting 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars— were  said  to  be  offered  him  to  di- 
vulge his  sex.  However  this  may  be, 
it  was  thought  nqpessary  to  settle  the 
question,  if  possible,  at  the  last,  tribu- 
nal ;  and  one  of  the  first  actions  tried 
after  the  act  to  prevent  gaming  in  in- 
surance, arose  from  one  of  the  policies 
on  the  sex  of  d'Eon,  in  which  it  ap- 
peared that  Mr.  Jacques,  a  broker,  had 
received  several  premiums  of  thirty-five 
guineas,  for  which  he  had  granted  poli- 
cies undertaking  to  return  one  hundred 
guineas  whenever  the  chevalier  was 
proved  to  be  a  woman.  The  chief  jus- 
tice declared  that  a  policy  of  insurance, 
although  not  even  on  life,  when  enter- 
ed into  without  an  insurable  interest, 
was  against  the  purport  of  the  act  in 
question,  and  contrary  to  English  no- 
tions of  moralitv. 


Daniel  Webster's  Insurance  Anecdote. 

Daniel  Websteb  said,  that  some 
time  after  he  commenced  the  practice 
of  his  profession,  in  Boston,  a  circum- 
stance occurred  which  forcibly  im- 
pressed upon  his  mind  the  sometimes 
conclusive  eloquence  of  silence,  and  he 
wondered  no  longer  that  the  ancients 
had  erected  a  statue  to  her  as  a  di- 
vinity. 

A  man  in  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  said  Mr. 
Webster,  had  insured  a  ship,  lying  at  the 
time  at  the  wharf  there,  for  an  amount 
much  larger  than  its  real  value,  in  one 
of  the  Boston  insurance  offices.  One 
day,  news  arrived  in  Boston,  that  this 
ship  had  suddenly  taken  fire,  and  been 
burned  to  the  water's  edge.  It  had 
been  insured  in  the  Massachusetts  In- 
surance Company,  of  which  General 
Arnold  Wells  was  president,  and  Mr, 
Webster  the  attorney. 

General  Wells  told  Mr.  Webster  of 
the  misfortune  that  had  happened  ta 


CHRONICLES  OF  INSURANCE. 


647 


the  company,  in  the  loss  of  a  vessel  so 
largely  insured ;  communicating  to  him, 
at  the  same  time,  the  somewhat  extra- 
ordinary manner  in  which  it  had  been 
destroyed. 

"Do  you  intend,"  asked  Mr.  Web- 
ster, "  to  pay  the  insurance  ?  " 

"  I  shall  be  obliged  to  do  so,"  replied 
the  general. 

"  I  think  not ;  for  I  have  no  doubt, 
from  the  circumstances  attending  the 
loss,  that  the  ship  was  set  on  fire,  with 
the  intent  to  defraud  the  company  of 
the  insurance." 

"  But  how  shall  we  prove  that  ?  and 

what  shall  we  say  to  Mr,  ,  when 

he  makes  application  for  the  money  ?  " 

"  Say  nothing,"  replied  Mr.  Web- 
ster, "  but  hear  quietly  what  he  has  to 
say." 

Some  few  days  after  this  conversa- 
tion, Mr. came  up  to  Boston,  and 

presented  himself  to  General  Arnold 
Wells,  at  the  insurance  office.  Mr. 
was  a  man  very  careful  of  his  per- 
sonal appearance,  and  of  punctilious 
demeanor.  He  powdered  his  hair, 
wore  clean  ruffles  and  well-brushed 
clothes,  and  had  a  gravity  of  speech 
becoming  a  person  of  respectable  posi- 
tion. All  this  demanded  civil  treat- 
ment ;  and  whatever  might  be  thought 
of  him,  one  would  naturally  use  no 
harsh  language  toward  him.  He  had 
a  defect  in  his  left  eye,  so  that,  when 
he  spoke,  he  turned  his  right  and  sound 
eye  to  the  person  he  addressed,  with  a 
somewhat  oblique  angle  of  the  head, 
giving  it  something  such  a  turn  as  a 
hen  who  discovers  a  hawk  in  the  air. 
General  Arnold  Wells  had  a  corre- 
sponding defect  in  his  right  eye. 

"  I  was  not  present  at  the  interview," 
says  Mr.  Webster,  "  but  I  have  heard  it 
often  described  by  those  who  were. 
General  Wells  came  out  from  an  inner 
office  on    the    announcement    of   Mr. 

's  arrival,  and  fixed  him  (to  use  a 

French  expression)  with  his  sound  eye 
— looking  at  him  seriously,  but  calmly. 
Mr. looked  at  General  Wells  with 


hh  sound  eye,  but  not  steadily — rather 
as  if  he  thought  to  turn  the  general's 
right  flank. 

"  They  stood  thus,  wWh  their  eyes  cocked 
at  each  other,  for  more  than  a  minute, 

before  either  spoke;   when  Mr.  

thought  it  best  to  take  the  initiative. 

"  *  It  is  a  pleasant  day.  General  Wells, 
though  rather  cold.' 

"  '  It  is  as  you  say,  Mr. ,  a  pleas- 
ant though  rather  cold  day,'  replied 
the  general,  without  taking  his  eye 
down  from  its  range. 

" '  I  should  not  be  surprised,  general,' 

continued    Mr.  ,    'if   we   should 

have  a  fall  of  snow  soon.' 

" '  There  might  be  more  surprising 

circumstances,  Mr. ,  than  a  fall  of 

snow  in  February.' 

"  Mr. hereupon  shifted  his  foot, 

and  topic.  He  did  not  feel  at  ease, 
and  the  less  so  from  his  desperate  at- 
tempts to  conceal  his  embarrassment. 

" '  When  do  you  think,  general,'  he 
inquired,  after  a  pause,  '  that  Congress 
will  adjourn  ? ' 

"  '  It  is  doubtful,  I  should  think,  Mr. 
,  when  Congress  will  adjourn ;  per- 
haps not  for  some  time  yet,  as  great 
bodies,  you  know,  move  slowly.' 

" '  Do  you  hear  anything  important 
from  that  quarter,  general  ?  ' 

"  *  Nothing,  Mr. .' 

"  Mr. by  this  time  had  become 

very  dry  in  the  throat — a  sensation,  J 
have  been  told,"  says  Mr,  Webster, 
"  one  is  very  apt  to  feel  who  finds  hin^- 
self  in  an  embarrassing  position,  from 
which  he  sees  no  possibility  of  escape. 
He  feared  to  advance,  and  did  not 
know  how  to  make  a  successful  retreat. 
At  last,  after  one  or  two  desperate  and 
ineflFectual  struggles  to  regain  s^lf-pos. 
session,  finding  himself  all  the  while 
within  point-blank  range  of  that  r^^king 
eye,  he  wholly  broke  down,  and  took 
his  leave,  without  the  least  allusion  to 
the  matter  of  insurance. 

"J2«  never  returned  to  daim  hia 
monet/." 


048 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Adjusting  an  Insurance  Loss. 

The  adjusters  of  losses  under  policies 
of  insurance  against  fire  sometimes  have 
fuimy  cases,  or  meet  an  exhilarating 
turn.  A  common  method  of  determin- 
ing the  damages  is  to  inquire  the  cost 
of  restoration  or  repairs  of  the  property 
injured.  An  adjuster  for  one  of  the 
Hartford  companies  was  once  hurried 
out  to  Elmira  to  pay  for  the  partial 
destruction  of  a  steam  engine  used  in  a 
saw-mill.  The  holder  of  the  policy  de- 
manded the  sum  of  six  hundred  dollars 
as  an  indemnity,  and  had  procured  the 
formal  certificate  for  that  sum,  with 
which  to  assert  his  claim.  The  adjust- 
er had  a  survey  made  at  once  by  an  ex- 
pert, who,  as  the  result  of  his  examina- 
tion, engaged  to  repair  all  the  damages 
for  the  sum  of  two  hundred  and  sixty 
dollars,  and  it  was  therefore  proposed 
to  pay  the  claimant  that  amount,  or  re- 
pair the  machine.  Mr.  Claimant  was 
terribly  astonished  at  all  this;  he 
didn't  believe  any  man  living  could 
repair  the  damage  for  that  sum ;  pro- 
tested earnestly  against  the  injustice  of 
asking  him  to  take  less  than  the  ori- 
ginal six  hundred  dollars — but,  on  the 
whole,  if  he  could  have  his  cash  that 
day,  he  would  take  four  hundred  dol- 
lars. Mr.  Adjuster  finally  told  him 
that  he  must  take  one  hand  or  the 
other,  and  he  accepted  the  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty  dollars.  After  the  set- 
tlement was  made,  Mr.  A.  offered  claim- 
ant to  contract  to  repair  for  the  sum 
paid,  which  l^e  indignantly  refused, 
with  tl^  delicate  remark,  "  No,  hang 
him  !  he  shan't  do  it  1  There's  a  man 
up  to  Corning  will  do  it  for  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars !  " 


Playinar  a  Bold  Oame. 

It  is  sometimes  the  case  in  England, 
that  rich  men  insure  the  lives  of  pau- 
pers, merely  as  a  speculation.  A  man 
at  one  time  wrote  from  the  Limerick 
(Ireland)  workhouse  to  an  insurance 


office,  saying  that  his  life  had  been 
insured  for  several  hundred  pounds; 
that  he  was  in  a  bad  state  of  health, 
and  that  he  was  prepared  to  give  five 
distinct  reasons  why  the  company 
should  not  pay  a  farthing  of  the  sum 
insured  for.  At  present  he  felt  that  he 
was  sinking  fast,  but  if  the  company 
would  place  him  in  a  comfortable 
house  and  feed  him  well,  he  was  con- 
vinced that  he  should  get  better,  and 
live  for  many  years.  The  letter  also 
contained  an  earnest  appeal  for  money, 
to  be  sent  by  return  of  post,  for  the 
purpose  of  prolonging  the  author's  life, 
and  relieving  the  company  from  paying 
a  large  sum  of  money  to  the  persons 
who  had  insured  him  on  speculation. 
He  thought  that  if  brought  to  London 
he  could  distinguish  himself,  and  live 
to  a  good  old  age.  He  appeared  to 
have  stated,  in  a  previous  letter,  that 
he  had  met  with  a  violent  accident, 
which  he  now  wished  to  explain  away. 
"  My  axidence,"  he  wrote,  "  was  a  spark 
which  fell  in  my  eye — "  after  which  he 
added  that  the  company  would  do  well 
to  turn  his  abilities  to  account,  as  he 
was  "  a  good  clerk,  and  by  profession 
a  bricklayer."  This  extraordinary  epis- 
tle was  accompanied  by  an  affidavit, 
acknowledged  before  a  magistrate,  tes- 
tifying to  the  false  answers  which  had 
been  given  to  the  inquiries  of  the  in- 
surance company  respecting  the  wri- 
ter's life. 

An  agent  subsequently  went  down  to 
Limerick  on  behalf  of  another  compa- 
ny, which  had  received  a  proposal  to 
insure  the  life  of  Kinna,  the  author  of 
this  letter,  and  naturally  felt  some  anx- 
iety to  ascertain  the  real  sanitary  con- 
dition of  a  man  who  alternately  repre- 
sented himself  as  a  dying  man  and  as 
destined  to  live  to  a  ripe  old  age.  On 
arriving  there,  he  was  told  by  one  of 
the  local  magistrates,  that  he  "had 
better  mind  what  he  was  about,  as 
they  all  speculated  a  little  on  life  in- 
surance down  there."  Finding  that 
Einna   had   left   the    workhouse,  he 


CHRONICLES  OF  INSURANCE. 


649 


naturally  looked  for  him  in  the  nearest 
tavern  ;  here  the  agent  was  soon  recog- 
nized and  surrounded  by  the  inmates, 
who  exclaimed,  "  Here's  the  chap  from 
the  insurance  office  !  "  They  appeared 
at  first,  inclined  to  kill  him,  but  their 
anger  soon  resolved  itself  into  thirst, 
and  he  was  obliged  to  "treat"  all 
around. 

Having  inquired  for  Kinna's  address, 
he  was  told  where  Kinna  lived,  but  at 
the  same  time  reminded  that  he  was  a 
big  man,  and  likely  to  thrash  him  or 
any  one  else  connected  with  a  life  in- 
surance office.  The  agent,  nevertheless, 
continued  his  search  for  Kinna,  and 
finally  found  him  in  a  miserable  hut. 
Kinna  not  getting  an  answer  from  the 
insurance  office  to  which  he  had  ap- 
plied for  money,  had  consented  for  a 
small  bonus  to  have  his  life  insured  ia 
another  office.  He  mistakenly  imag- 
ined, however,  that  the  agent  had  come 
from  the  office  to  which  he  had  written  to 
forward  m^ney  to  him,  and  accordingly 
represented  himself  as  suffering  the 
most  horrible  tortures  from  an  illness 
which  could  only  be  cured  by  the  kind- 
est treatment.  One  symptom  which  he 
complained  of  especially  was  an  acute 
pain  in  the  groin,  which  almost  bent 
him  double.  He  felt  unable  to  walk, 
and  was  convinced  that  he  was  break- 
ing up,  and  would  soon  die,  unless  the 
company  did  something  for  him.  The 
agent  persuaded  him  to  endeavor  to 
walk  a  short  distance,  and  even  pre- 
vailed upon  him  to  accompany  him  as 
far  as  the  bridge,  where  policemen  in 
plain  clothes  were  in  attendance  to  pre- 
vent any  violence  which  might  be  at- 
tempted by  Kinna,  in  case  of  his  disap- 
proving of  any  of  the  questions  which 
the  agent  intended  to  put  to  him. 

At  last,  Kinna  determined  to  play  a 
bold  game — pretended  that  he  could 
walk  no  more.  "  I  am  sinking  !  "  he 
exclaimed.  "  Then,"  replied  the  agent, 
emboldened  by  his  proximity  to  the 
bridge,  "  I  am  afraid  we  shall  be  un- 
able to  accept  your  life."    Kinna  at 


once  saw  the  mistaTce.  Without  being  in 
the  least  disconcerted,  he  drew  himself 
up  to  his  fiill  height,  and  said  to  the 
agent,  "  Did  you  ever  see  my  brother, 
now  ? "  The  agent  replied  in  the  nega- 
tive. "  You  have  not  ?  "  continued 
Kinna ;  "  then  I'm  just  like  him ;  bar- 
ring that  I've  lost  my  eye,  I'm  as  good- 
looking  a  fellow  as  he  is ;  and  if  you'd 
known  him,  you'd  have  known  he's 
always  had  a  pain  in  the  groin,  and 
that  it's  a  family  complaint  of  not  the 
least  importance  at  all,  at  all." 

Kinna's  life  was  insured  for  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars  by  the  speculators ;  and  being 
afraid  to  live  in  Limerick,  he  requested 
the  agent  to  remove  him,  stating  that 
he  had  been  insured  to  so  great  an  ex- 
tent, that  he  felt  his  life  was  unsafe  in 
that  town. 


German  Idea  of  the  Tiling:. 

A  THIN,  cadaverous-looking  German, 
about  fifty  years  of  age,  entered  the 
office  of  a  health  insurance  company  in 
Indiana,  and  inquired : 

"  Ish  te  man  in  vot  inshures  de  peo- 
ple's belts  ? " 

The  agent  politely  answered,  "  I 
attend  to  that  business,  sir," 

"  Veil,  I  vants  mine  helts  inshured ; 
vot  you  charge  ? " 

"  Different  prices,"  answered  the 
agent,  "  from  three  to  ten  shillings  a 
year ;  pay  ten  dollars  a  year,  and  you 
get  ten  dollars  a  week,  in  case  of  sick- 
ness." 

"  Vel,"  said  Mynheer,  "  I  vants  ten 
dollars'  vort." 

The  agent  inquired  his  state  of 
health. 

"  Veil,  I  ish  sick  all  te  time.  I'se 
shust  out  te  bed  too  tree  hours  a  tay, 
und  te  doctor  says  he  can't  do  nothing 
more  goot  for  me." 

"If  that's  the  state  of  your  health," 
returned  the  agent,  "we  can't  insure 
it.  We  only  insure  persons  who  are  in 
good  health." 


650 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


At  this,  Mynheer  bristled  up  in  great 
anger. 

"You  must  tink  Tse  a  tarn  fool; 
vot !  you  tink  I  come  pay  you  ten 
dollars  for  inshure  my  helt ;  ven  I  ws 
veil?'' 


Iiively  Operations. 

If  there  be  any  question  as  to  the 
verity  of  what  follows,  it  must  "  lie  " 
with  the  editor  of  the  "  Dbawer,"  who 
gives  it  in  the  inimitable  style  of  that 
piquant  feature  in  Harper's : 

Borem  was  the  soliciting  agent  of 
the  Gotham  Life  Insurance  Company 
in  this  city.  His  business  was  to  in- 
duce as  many  of  the  mortal  population 
of  this  world  as  possible  to  insure  their 
lives  in  his  company.  Of  course  it  was 
a  good  thing  for  them,  a  better  thing 
for  the  Company,  and  the  best  thing 
for  Borem.  Because,  according  to 
Borem's  bargain,  was  he  not  entitled 
to  ten  per  cent,  on  every  policy  taken 
out  by  any  man  whom  he  solicited,  and 
five  per  cent,  on  every  year's  renewal  ? 
No  sooner  was  this  agreement  made, 
than  Borem  commenced  and  carried  out 
a  system  of  visitation  and  solicitation 
so  extended  and  thorough  that,  in  the 
course  of  two  or  three  years,  there  was 
not  a  live  man  in  the  company  whom 
Borem  had  not  bored  almost  to  death 
to  induce  him  to  insure  his  precious  life. 
Every  day  he  compared  his  own  book 
of  memoranda  with  the  records  of  the 
company,  and  when  he  found  that  a 
man  was  down  whom  he  had  spoken 
with,  even  if  it  were  months  or  years 
before,  he  claimed  him  as  his  man, 
showed  his  entries,  and  pocketed  his 
premiums.  In  this  way  it  was  fast 
coming  to  pass  that  all  parties  insuring 
in  the  company  were  yielding  a  profit 
to  Borem,  whose  percentage  was  eating 
up  the  profits  of  their  business.  So  far 
did  he  carry  his  system  that  he  would 
stand  in  the  street,  and  whenever  he 
saw  a  man  entering  he  would  address 
Mm,  "  Going  to  insure,  sir  ? "  and  then 


taking  his  name  and  address,  would 
book  him  as  one  of  his  men,  and 
demand  his  per  cent.,  on  the  score  of 
having  solicited  him.  The  company 
was  finally  obliged  to  compromise  with 
Borem,  and  lay  him  off",  by  paying  him 
thirty  thousand  dollars,  and  giving 
him  a  handsome  policy  on  his  own  life. 
With  this  sum  he  bought  a  splendid 
farm,  and  lives  like  a  nabob  on  the  pre- 
vious profits  which  he  had  made  out 
of  this  very  profitable  business.  Here 
is  j,n  illustration  of  his  mode  of  opera- 
tion : 

Mr.  Lively  had  a  dry  goods  store 
above  Chambers  street,  and,  moreover, 
had  an  interest  in  a  broker's  oflBce,  in 
Wall  street.  Now  Borem  had  often 
seen  the  merchant  up  town  and  the 
broker  down  town,  for  Mr.  Lively  was 
part  of  the  day  in  one  place  and  part 
of  the  day  in  the  other.  It  had  not 
occured  to  Borem  that  the  Lively  of 
one  latitude  was  the  Lively  of  the 
other ;  and  so  calling  in  at  the  Wall 
street  oflSce,  he  says : 

"  Mr.  Lively,  I  believe,  sir  ? " 

"  That  is  my  name,"  said  the  gentle- 
man addressed. 

"Ah,  yes,  sir,  you  have  a  brother, 
have  you  not  ? " 

"  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Lively,  "  I  have  a 
twin  brother." 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  know  him,"  said  Borem ; 
"  he  is  a  merchant  up  town.  He  is  about 
insuring  his  life  in  our  company,  and 
I  called  to  ask  if  you  would  not  like  to 
insure  at  the  same  time.'* 

Mr.  Lively  knew  the  tricks  that 
Borem  was  up  to;  and  saying  that 
he  would  think  of  it,  turned  away. 
Borem  left  the  oflice.  Mr.  Lively  fol- 
lowed him  out,  passed  on  the  other 
side  of  the  street,  and  reached  his  store 
a  few  minutes  before  Borem,  who  was 
on  his  way  up.  Mr.  Lively  was  read- 
ing the  newspaper  when  Borem  entered, 
6ind  coming  up  to  him,  said — 

"  Mr.  Lively,  I  believe,  sir  ? " 

"  That  is  my  name,"  said  the  mer- 
chant. 


CHRONICLES  OF  INSURANCE. 


651 


"  Ah,  yes,  you  have  a  brother,  have 
you  not  ? " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Mr.  Lively,  "  I  have 
a  twin  brother." 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  know  him,"  said  Borem, 
"  he  is  a  broker  in  "Wall  street ;  he  is 
about  insuring  his  life  in  our  company, 
and  I  called  to  see  if  you  would  like 
to  insure  at  the  same  time." 

Mr.  Lively  said  he  would  think  of 
it;  and  Borem  took  his  leave,  after 
pressing  the  subject  with  his  customary 
volubility  and  impudence.  The  next 
day  he  called  on  Mr.  Lively  the  broker, 
and  the  day  following  on  Mr.  Lively 
the  merchant;  and  this  visitation  he 
continued  for  two  weeks,  making  six 
calls  at  each  place  of  business,  in  all 
twelve  times  that  he  bored  poor  Mr. 
Lively,  without  suspecting  that  the 
two  "  brothers "  were  one  and  the 
same  man.  At  last,  Mr.  Lively  up- 
town agreed  that  if  his  brother  would 
meet  him  the  next  day  at  Mr.  Wright's, 
a  mutual  friend,  who,  Mr.  Borem  said, 
was  going  to  insure, — ^he  would  apply, 
and  all  three  would  take  out  a  policy 
at  the  same  time.  "  I  have  just  dis- 
covered," said  Borem  to  Mr.  Lively, 
"how  to  distinguish  you  from  your 
brother — there  is  a  little  bit  more  of  a 
protuberance  on  the  bridge  of  your 
nose." 

So  saying,  he  hurried  over  to  Mr. 
Wright,  to  arrange  for  the  meeting  of 
the  brothers  Lively. 

"  The  h-otJiera  !  "  said  Mr.  Wright ; 
"  what  brothers  ? " 

"  Why,  the  merchant  over  here,  and 
the  broker  in  Wall  street." 

"It's  the  same  man,  Borem;  you've 
been  *?W." 

"  I  have — I  see  it  all ;  it's  a  fact ;  I'm 
done  for." 

And  rushing  back  to  Mr.  Lively's 
store,  he  looked  in,  and  putting  his 
finger  on  the  handle  of  his  face,  and  at 
a  peculiar  angle,  he  said,  laughingly, 
"  Come  to  think  of  it,  Mr.  Lively,  your 
nose  is  just  about  the  size  of  your  broth- 
er's." But  Borem  never  recovered  from 


the  mortification  of  his  trickery  ex- 
posed, and  it  probably  helped  to  bring 
him  to  terms  in  his  settlement  with  the 
company. 


Taking:  Ms  own  Bisk. 

That  there  are  times  when  a  mer- 
chant may  incur  risks  without  an  im- 
peachment of  his  prudence  is  readily 
admissible.  The  occasion  for  such  a 
risk  occurred,  once,  at  least,  in  the  mer- 
cantile experience  of  Mr.  Cope,  of  Phil- 
adelphia. His  favorite  ship,  the  Lan- 
caster, was  on  her  return  voyage  from 
Canton  with  a  cargo  of  great  value,  at 
the  breaking  out  of  the  war  Of  1812. 
He  made  repeated  applications  for  in- 
surance, but  the  alarm  was  general  and 
great,  and  the  offices  refused  to  take  a 
risk  upon  the  ship  and  cargo  for  less 
than  seventy-five  per  cent.  This  was 
an  enormous  deduction  ;  but  the  ocean 
swarmed  with  British  cruisers,  and  the 
amount  of  the  premium  of  insurance, 
considering  the  course  of  the  Lancaster, 
could  scarcely  be  regarded  as  unreason- 
able. 

Mr.  Cope  understood  his  own  aflFairs 
perfectly,  and,  satisfying  himself  that 
he  could  sustain  the  loss  of  the  whole, 
and,  consequently,  that  he  could  be  his 
own  insurer,  he  calmly  awaited  the 
result,  though  each  day's  papers  con- 
veyed intelligence  of  important  inroads 
upon  the  mercantile  marine  of  our 
country  by  British  ships  of  war.  The 
resolution,  however,  had  been  taken 
after  careful  deliberation,  and  the  only 
course  was  a  "  patient  waiting."  And 
when  darkness  seemed  to  hang  thickest 
upon  the  prospects  of  the  merchants, 
the  Lancaster  arrived  at  Philadelphia, 
one  evening,  with  her  immensely  val- 
uable cargo,  and  the  captain  received 
from  the  pilot,  in  the  Delaware,  the  first 
intimation  of  hostilities  between  this 
country  and  Great  Britain ;  the  captain 
remarking  that  he  should  have  hailed 
a  British  cruiser  for  the  news,  had  one 
come    within    "  speaking "    distance. 


652 


COMMERCIAL   AND  BUSINESS   ANECDOTES. 


The  result  of  this  was  an  immense  profit 
upon  the  cargo. 


Higli  Compliment  to  "W.  B.  Jones,  as 
an  "Cnderwriter. 

The  name  of  Walter  Restored  Jones 
is  perhaps  better  known  in  this  coun- 
try, in  connection  with  insurance,  than 
that  of  any  other  man.  He  was  admit- 
ted to  be  without  a  rival  in  that  com- 
plicated science,  and  earned  the  titlie 
of  the  first  marine  underwriter  of  his 
age  and  country.  tThe  middle  name 
of  Mr.  Jones  has  a  circumstance  con- 
nected with  it,  which  is  worth  alluding 
to.  An  elder  brother  of  the  same  name, 
having  met  his  death  by  an  accident,  it 
was  the  wish  of  his  mother,  when  the 
subject  now  under  notice  was  born,  to 
retain  the  name,  for  which  she  had  a 
peculiar  fondness ;  hence  the  epithet 
"  Restored  "  was  added  to  the  original 
Christian  name. 

At  the  early  age  of  eleven  years,  Wal- 
ter was  placed  in  the  store  of  his  eldest 
brother,  William  H.  Jones,  then  en- 
gaged in  the  flour  business.  In  this 
sphere,  the  future  underwriter  acquired 
his  first  insight  into  the  principles  and 
modes  of  business,  his  true  school.  A 
few  years  later  he  was  introduced  into 
the  office  of  the  United  States  Insur- 
ance Company,  as  clerk,  where  he  be- 
came remarkable  for  his  habits  of  meth- 
od, industry,  and  attention  to  business, 
laying  a  firm  basis  for  his  future  emi- 
nence in  a  province  of  insurance  requir- 
ing caution,  accuracy,  precision,  and 
promptness.  The  United  States  Insur- 
ance Company  was  one  of  the  first,  if 
not  absolutely  the  earliest  in  point  of 
time,  in  New  York,  and  perhaps  in  the 
Union,  for  undertaking  marine  risks. 
But  owing  to  novelty,  or  ignorance  of 
the  proper  mode  of  conducting  the 
business,  or  from  some  other  untoward 
causes,  the  association  failed  to  realize 
its  objects,  and  it  became  embarrassed 
and  was  discontinued. 

At  an  early  period  of  his  career,  Mr. 


Jones  conceived  an  aversion  to  litiga- 
tion, of  which  there  had  been  much, 
both  unnecessary  and  of  a  vexatious 
character,  in  the  early  insurance  com- 
panies, and  which  proved  in  the  end 
detrimental  to  their  interests,  and 
served  to  exclude  customers.  Mr.  Dan- 
iel Lord,  counsellor  to  the  company, 
stated  in  his  speech  at  the  dinner  given 
to  Mr.  Jones,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
complimentary  presentation  to  him  of 
a  rich  service  of  plate,  that  "  for  the 
twenty-four  years  of  the  administration 
of  this  company,  not  more  than  six  law- 
suits have  occurred  to  it,  and  I  can  re- 
collect but  four."  Perhaps  no  higher 
compliment  than  this  could  have  been 
paid  to  Mr.  Jones's  skill  and  tact  as  an 
underwriter. 

Mr.  Jones  was  one  of  the  worthies  of 
Long  Island,  though  so  long — from 
early  boyhood — connected  with  New 
York  city  as  to  be  regarded  as  one  of 
her  denizens;  yet,  as  he  never  for  a 
moment  lost  sight  of  the  place  of  his 
nativity  and  his  rural  home,  as  he  vis- 
ited it  weekly,  built  his  noble  mansion 
there,  and  there  looked  to  end  his  days 
in  peace  and  domestic  happiness,  he 
must  not  be  forgotten  in  the  list  of  emi- 
nent Long  Islanders, — Conckling,  Sand- 
ford,  Miller,  Wickham,  Golden,  Post, 
Seaman,  Mott,  Elias  Hicks,  Mount, 
Rhodes,  Hackett,  Sands,  WoodhuU, 
Truxton,  and  others. 


Juvenile  Evidence  in  an  Insurance 
Case. 

At  the  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer, 
in  New  York,  Judge  Leonard  presid- 
ing, a  German  was  tried  for  arson  in 
the  first  degree — having  set  fire  to  his 
store  in  order  to  get  the  insurance. 
His  nephew,  a  small  and  honest-look- 
ing boy,  was  the  principal  witness 
against  him — ^he  having  kindled  the 
fire  at  the  instigation  of  his  uncle  ;  and 
confessing  to  that  effect  while  in  prison, 
the  district  attorney  put  him  forward 
aa  a  witness  for  the  State. 


CHRONICLES  OP  INSURANCE. 


653 


The  boy  was  upon  the  stand  some 
hours  the  first  day,  and  was  subjected 
to  a  rigorous  cross-exanynation  by  the 
prisoner's  counsel ;  but  without  making 
him  alter  his  statement  in  the  least. 

Toward  the  close,  the  counsel,  not 
being  satisfied  that  the  poor  little  fel- 
low rightly  understood  his  questions, 
had  an  interpreter  appointed  by  the 
Court,  and  began  anew  to  endeavor  to 
confuse  him,  and,  if  possible,  break 
down  his  strong  and  truthful  testi- 
mony. 

"  Ask  him,"  said  he  to  the  interpre- 
ter, "  if  he  does  not  know  that  his  evi- 
dence in  this  case  will  injure  his  uncle, 
and  if  he  does  not  think  it  will  benefit 
himself?" 

The  interpreter  put  the  question  (the 
boy  looking  at  him  with  earnest  eyes), 
awaited  his  answer,  then  turned  and 
said,  "  He  does  not  know  whether  it 
will  injure  his  uncle.  He  does  not 
know  whether  it  will  benefit  himself. 
He  believes  in  God  !  " 

There  was  no  sympathetic  heart  in 
that  court  room  but  must  have  thrilled 
at  the  pathos  of  that  simple  reply. 


Protective  Tariffs  and  tlie  "Genesee 
Mutual." 

Not  many  miles  from  the  county 
town  of  "  Old  Genesee,"  New  York, 
there  was  a  defunct  Mutual  Insurance 
Company,  drawing  its  slimy  length 
along,  and  the  dread  of  many  who  gave 
their  premium  notes  to  the  same  in  its 
days  of  prosperity.  One  of  its  former 
secretaries  was  a  popular  stump  speaker. 
During  the  campaign  of  1844,  while 
addressing  a  large  audience — and 
among  the  number  was  Newt  S.,  a  most 
worthy  man  and  clever  wag — the  speak- 
er, coming  to  the  question  of  a  protect- 
ive tarifl',  and  while  annihilating  its  op- 
ponents, was  interrupted  by  Newt  S., 
with  the  remark,  that,  if  not  objection- 
able, he  would  like  to  propound  an  in- 
terrogatory. "  Most  certainly  not,"  the 
speaker  replied;  "it  will  afibrd  me 
pleasure  to  answer,  my  good  friend." 
"Well,  Squire,  will  you  please  to  in- 
form me  the  difierence  between  a  high, 
a  very  high  Protective  Tariflf  and  the 
Genesee  Mutual  ? " 

In  that  locality  the  question  and  its 
eflfect  will  be  long  remembered. 


PART  THIRTEENTH. 


AumcDOTBS  OF  Business  Emplot^ib. 


PAET   THIETEEITTH. 
Anecdotes  of  Business  Employ^Si 

CASHIERS,  CLERKS,  SALESMEN,  AGENTS,  FACTORS,  ETC.;  BOOKKEEPING,  ACCOUNTS,  PRICES 
AND  VALUES,  CORRESPONDENCE,  SHOP  TALK — ^TRIALS  AND  MISERIES,  BLUNDERS,  FACK- 
TI^,    WAIFS    AND    STRAYS. 


This  fellow  had  an  admirable  knack  of  fishing  out  the  secrets  of  his  castomers.  He  would  rub 
and  lather  a  man's  head,  till  he  had  got  out  everything  that  was  in  it. — Guardian. 

Young  men  soon  give,  and  soon  forget  affronts.— Addison. 

Little  that  is  truly  noble  can  be  expected  from  one  who  is  ever  poring  over  his  cash  book  or  balan- 
cing his  accounts. — Anon. 

I  asked  him  to  come  and  sit  an  hour  with  me ;  he  excused  himself— and  what  do  you  think  waa 
his  excuse  ?    He  was  engaged  with  his  mother  and  some  ladies  to  go  shopping  ! — Bybon. 


Fitz-Qreene  Halleck's  Clerkship  with 
Jacob  Barker. 

It  was  the  good  fortune  of  Jacob 
Barker,  while  a  merchant  in  New  York, 
to  have  the  services  of  Fitz-Gkeenb 
Halleck,  for  nearly  twenty  years,  as  his 
confidential  clerk ;  when  his  business  at 
last  ceased  to  yield  him  the  power  to 
employ  others.  Upon  this,  Mr.  Halleck 
devoted  himself  to  literary  pursuits, 
in  the  expectation  that  Mr.  Barker 
would  retrieve  his  fortunes  and  have 
occasion  for  his  further  services.  For- 
time,  however,  continuing  to  frown  on 
Mr,  Barker's  efforts,  a  neighboring  mer- 
chant offered  Mr.  Halleck  employment 
at  fifteen  hundred  dollars  per  annum. 
This  offer  was  named  by  Mr.  Halleck 
to  Mrs.  Barker,  when  she  inquired  if  he 
would  enter  the  service  of  another  for 
the  miserable  sum  of  fifteen  hundred 
dollars.  The  reply  was,  "  No,  madam ; 
it  is  the  miserable  want  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred dollars  that  may  tempt  me."  The 
offer  was  declined ;  but  he  soon  after- 
ward entered  the  employ  of  John 
Jacob  Astor,  with  whom  he  continued 
until  the  death  of  that  gentleman. 
42 


On  the  great  New  York  conspiracy 
trials  of  1826,  the  public  prosecutor 
called  Miss  Jarvis,  Mr.  William  R. 
Thurston,  Mr.  Halleck,  and  many 
other  friends  and  relatives  of  Mr. 
Barker  into  court,  to  prove  who  Mr. 
Barker's  intimates  and  associates  were, 
who  visited  his  house — in  other  words, 
with  whom  he  would  be  likely  to  con- 
fer. Mr.  Halleck,  with  apparent  aston- 
ishment, repeated  the  question  as  it  fell 
from  the  attorney's  lips,  and  answered, 
"  Jacob  Barker  does  in  all  things  as  he 
lists,  without  coimselling  with  any  one," 
— a  fact  which  the  prosecutor  could 
only  have  been  ignorant  of,  from  not 
knowing  Mr.  Barker. 


Precision  in  Keeping  Accounts. 

The  following  anecdote  will  show 
with  what  nice  precision  the  accounts 
are  required  to  be  kept  in  the  great 
private  banking  houses  of  the  English 
metropolis.  After  closing  the  doors  to 
customers,  every  clerk  makes  up  his 
accounts,  and  a  general  balance  is 
struck,  which  must  tally  to  the  veriest 


658 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


farthing  before  the  clerks  separate.  It 
happened,  on  the  occasion  in  question, 
that  in  one  of  these  great  establish- 
ments, there  was  two  shillings  and  ten- 
pence  minus  in  balance.  Every  clerk 
was  ordered  to  revise  his  account,  the 
silver  and  copper  money  in  the  vast 
vaults  was  re-counted, — but  still  there 
was  no  solution  of  the  cause  of  the 
deficit;  this  was  repeated  over  and 
over  again,  still  there  wanted  two  shil- 
lings and  tenpence ;  the  resident  part- 
ner would  not  suflFer  the  clerks  to  depart 
without  a  correct  balance ; — ^gladly 
would  each  clerk  have  paid  the  diflfer- 
ence  ten  times  over  from  his  own 
pocket.  The  aflfair  remained  unex- 
plained until  the  next  morning,  when, 
on  the  arrival  of  one  of  the  non-resident 
partners,  he  recollected  taking  that 
exact  sum  out  of  the  till,  for  payment 
of  the  postage  on  a  foreign  letter,  but 
without  making  the  usual  memoran- 
dum of  the  same. 


Bemarkable  Sacrifice  for  Principle. 

SojcE  time  since,  says  the  Journal  de 
Franckfort,  a  foreigner  presented  him- 
self at  the  office  of  a  merchant  in  Ham- 
burg, to  receive  cash  for  a  bill  of  two 
thousand  double  louis,  and  received 
from  the  clerk  in  attendance  ten  thou- 
sand francs  too  much.  He  did  not  per- 
ceive the  mistake  until  he  had  reached 
his  hotel,  when  he  returned  and  men- 
tioned the  fact.  The  merchant  looked 
at  him,  and  then  said, 

"  It  is  impossible." 

*'  Your  cashier  has  certainly  made  a 
mistake,"  persisted  the  foreigner. 

"  That  is  not  "possible,"  replied  the 
merchant,  in  a  decided  tone.  "Take 
your  money — no  mistakes  are  eeer 
made,  sir,  at  my  office." 

The  stranger  then  pocketed  the 
money  and  left  the  place,  when  the 
merchant,  turning  to  the  bookkeeper, 
told  him  to  enter  ten  thousand  francs 
to  the  account  of  profit  and  loss,  adding 
that  though  the  cashier  would  never 


hear  a  word  of  reproach  from  him  on 
the  subject  he  would  not  allow  any  one 
to  imagine  that  a  mistake  could  occur 
in  his  office. 


English  Bank  Clerks'  Finesse. 

On  the  Slst  of  August,  1731,  a  scene 
was  presented  at  the  Bank  of  England, 
which  is  strongly  illustrative  of  the 
money  adventures  of  that  period.  The 
tickets  for  the  state  lottery  were  deliv- 
ered out  to  the  subscribers  by  numer- 
ous clerks  at  the  bank  counter ;  when 
the  crowd  becoming  so  great  as  to 
obstruct  the  clerks  in  their  handling 
and  delivery  of  the  tickets,  they  told 
the  eager  throng,  "  We  deliver  blanks 
to-day,  but  to-morrow  we  shall  deliver 
prizes," — upon  which  many,  who  were 
by  no  means  in  pursuit  of  blanks,  re- 
tired, and  by  this  stratagem  the  clerks 
obtained  room  to  proceed  in  their  busi- 
ness. 


Broadway  Clerks,  Japonicas,  and 
Sweethearts. 

Grant  Thorbtirn  gives  the  follow- 
ing quaint  reminiscence  in  his  eventful 
business  career : — One  morning,  there 
came  into  our  premises  a  young  man, 
leading  on  his  arm  a  very  pretty  girl. 
They  stopped  about  an  hour;  she 
seemed  very  fond  of  flowers,  and  par- 
ticularly fixed  her  laughing  eyes  on  a 
beautiful  japonica.  He  appeared  much 
inclined  to  indulge  her  taste,  and  would 
have  bought  it,  but  the  price  was  five 
dollars.  Her  I  knew ;  him  I  knew  not. 
He  appeared  to  me,  however,  to  be  one 
of  those  thoughtless  young  men  who,  in- 
stead of  going  to  church,  ride  out  of  a 
Sunday,  and  thus  spend  their  week's 
wages — by  which  means  they  have  no 
means  to  spare,  either  to  treat  their 
sweetheart,  or  to  pay  their  washer- 
woman ;  be  this  as  it  may,  that  even- 
ing, between  eight  and  nine  o'clock, 
the  time  of  shutting  our  gates,  the* 
plant  disappeared;  my  suspicions  fell 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


659 


on  the  young  man  as  above.  I  resolved, 
next  morning,  on  going  immediately 
to  the  house  of  the  young  lady,  with 
pretext  of  giving  her  some  advice 
about  the  plants  I  knew  she  had  in  the 
yard,  hoping  I  would  find  my  own 
gracing  the  company.  At  once,  my 
mind  took  a  different  turn ;  I  thought 
with  myself  thus :  these  young  people 
seemed  very  fond  of  one  another — pity 
that  I  should  spoil  so  much  happiness 
for  the  sake  of  a  paltry  five  dollar  bill. 
Should  I  find  the  plant,  it  wiU  expose 
him,  and  no  doubt  spoil  the  marriage, 
for  her  father  is  a  sterling,  honest 
Dutchman.  Now,  thought  I,  should 
they  get  married,  she  may  save  him 
from  the  paws  of  the  devil,  from  whom 
many  a  wayward  bachelor  has  been 
snatched  ere  this,  by  the  helping  hand 
of  a  good  wife;  besides,  should  the 
old  gentleman  approve  the  match,  no 
doubt  he  will  empty  one  of  the  black 
leather  bags  to  set  them  a  housekeep- 
ing, and  she,  having  the  money,  will  be 
able  to  indulge  her  fine  taste  for  plants, 
— so,  by  this  means,  I  may  help  to 
count  some  of  the  dollars,  and  thus 
recover  more  than  I  have  lost.  On 
thus  reflecting,  I  very  resignedly  gave 
up  the  pursuit.  To  make  a  long  story 
short,  in  a  few  weeks  after  this,  they 
were  married,  by  the  consent  of  all 
parties ;  but  whether  my  surmises  were 
right  or  wrong-founded,  gave  me  no 
further  concern,  as,  from  the  delicate 
hand  of  the  pretty  daughter,  I  came 
in  for  a  share  of  the  old  gentleman's 
dollars,  sufficient  to  make  up  the  pre- 
vious loss,  and  pay  a  reasonable  per- 
centage besides. 


Fen  Portrait  by  an  Old  Master. 

Seventy-five  years  ago,  most  of 
the  dry  goods  stores  in  New  York 
were  in  Pearl  and  William  streets, — the 
shop  in  front,  and  generally  a  room 
behind ;  a  glass  door  intervened 
through  which  the  master  of  the 
house  could  see  while  eating  his  din- 


ner, and  if  a  person  entered,  he  imme- 
diately arose,  left  all  and  waited  on  his 
customer.  "  But  (says  one  who  belong- 
ed both  to  that  period  and  the  present) 
look  at  it  now — half  past  three  o'clock 
yesterday  afternoon,  I  called  at  the 
boarding-house  of  Mrs,  S.,  in  Broad- 
way, rang  the  bell,  and  was  answered 
by  a  '  llack  nigger.'*  '  Is  Mr.  B.  with- 
in ? '  •  He  is  at  dinner,  and  can't  be 
disturbed  when  at  dinner.'  Says  I, 
*  Go  tell  Mr.  B.  my  business  is  urgent 
and  can't  be  delayed.'  However,  he 
did  not  appear  till  after  fifteen  minutes, 
while  I  sat  in  the  parlor  gazing  on 
some  shabby  pictures,  and  magnifying 
each  minute  into  ten.  When  he  ap- 
peared, said  I,  '  Sir,  I  have  seen  your 
employer,  near  forty  years  ago,  rise 
ft-om  his  dinner  to  sell  a  yard  of  tape.' 
TTiis  fellow  is  now  third  or  fourth  clerk 
under,  in  a  vendue  store  in  Pearl  street ; 
receives  about  one  hundred  dollars  per 
annum  and  board.  He  was  just  from 
the  tail  of  the  plough,  about  eighteen 
months  ago  ;  he  now  wore  a  coat  much 
in  appearance  like  the  wind-sail  of  a 
vessel  in  the  tropics — it  reached  to  the 
middle  of  his  thighs,  which,  with  his 
legs,  were  covered  with  a  stuff  called 
'gum  elastic,'  adhering  so  close  as  to 
resemble,  in  appearance,  the  bandages 
around  the  limbs  of  an  Egyptian  mum- 
my, and  made  his  legs  seem  not  much 
thicker  than  a  Bologna  sausage ;  the 
toes  of  his  shoes  were  as  broad  as  his 
heel ;  his  neck  screwed  up  in  a  black 
leather  collar.  His  face  was  of  the  true 
Wethersfield  cut,  of  a  mixed  hue,  be- 
tween Dutch  pink  and  brick  dust.  His 
nose  sharp  enough  to  have  gouged  the 
eye  of  a  mosquito ;  whiskers  enough 
to  have  covered  his  whole  visage. 
Such  is  the  miserable  remnant  of  mor- 
tality, who  expects  to  become  a  mer- 
chant for  the  next  generation ! " 


Caledonian  Adroitness. 

"  Once  on  a  time,"  a  teller  in  one  of 
the  Glasgow  banks  found,  at  the  close 


660 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES 


of  the  day's  transactions,  that  his  cash 
was  deficient  to  the  extent  of  one  thou- 
sand pounds.  After  much  fruitless 
search,  a  reward  of  fifty  pounds  was 
offered  for  the  recovery  of  the  missing 
sum,  and  by  and  by  an  anonymous  let- 
ter came,  proposing  to  restore  it  if  the 
reward  was  raised  to  one  hundred 
pounds.  It  immediately  occurred  to 
the  bank  clerk  to  compare  the  dis- 
guised handwriting  with  that  of  every 
document  which  had  passed  through 
his  hands  on  the  day  in  question.  In 
the  process  of  a  comparison  more  than 
once  repeated,  he  lighted  upon  a  draft 
in  which  he  thought  he  could  trace 
some  indication  of  similarity.  His 
next  step  was  to  have  the  whole  of  the 
drafts  of  this  individual, — stretching 
over  a  considerable  period,  and  written 
under  every  variety  of  circumstances, — 
sought  out  and  carefully  scrutinized. 
His  suspicions  were  confirmed. 

Being  a  resolute  fellow,  and  fearing 
that  delay  might  be  dangerous,  he  sup- 
plied himself  with  a  brace  of  pistols, 
and,  with  two  friends  on  whom  he 
could  rely,  took  the  bold  step  of  going 
to  the  house  of  the  suspected  party, 
which  was  reached  at  a  late  hour  in 
the  evening.  On  obtaining  a  private 
interview,  he  stated  blandly  that  he 
believed  some  mistake  had  taken  place 
between  them  on  money  matters,  which 
he  was  desirous  should  be  quietly  ar- 
ranged. In  reply,  he  received  a  flat 
denial  of  any  such  mistake  ever  having 
occurred. 

Finding  that  *'  soft  sawder "  would 
be  of  no  avail,  the  clerk  altered  his 
tactics,  told  him  with  stem  and  deter- 
mined air  that  he  was  in  no  mood  to 
be  trifled  with — that  he  had  indubita- 
ble evidence  of  the  money  having  been 
obtained  by  him ;  and,  presenting  his 
pistols,  threatened  to  shoot  him  on  the 
spot,  if  it  were  not  that  very  instant 
forthcoming.  Thrown  oflf  his  guard 
by  this  sudden  and  extraordinary  ap- 
peal, the  poor  man  fell  into  a  fit  of 
trembling  from  head  to  toe ;  admitted 


that  one-hundred-pound  notes  instead 
of  ten-pound-notes  had  been  paid  to 
him,  and  stated  that  they  were  lying 
concealed  in  the  heart  of  one  of  the 
walls  of  Crookston  Castle.  Suspecting 
that  some  plan  to  escape  was  contem- 
plated, the  bank  clerk  was  for  a  while 
sceptical  of  the  truth  of  this  statement ; 
but  at  length  he  fell  upon  a  method 
whereby  he  could  test  its  truth,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  prevent  any  escape — 
it  was  that  of  locking  up  his  two 
friends  along  with  the  defaulter,  while 
he  should  proceed  alone  to  Crookston. 
He  accordingly  set  out,  and  reached 
the  old  castle  about  midnight,  proceed- 
ed, as  directed,  to  remove  the  fourth 
stone  from  the  bottom,  in  the  comer 
nearest  Glasgow ;  and  there,  sure 
enough,  between  two  slips  of  wood,  to 
protect  them  from  damp,  lay  the  iden- 
tical notes.  That  clerk  exhibited  the 
native  Caledonian  grit  and  adroitness  I 


Simple  Entries  and  Calculation- 
Jacob  Barker's  Method. 

The  method  of  keeping  account 
books  adopted  by  Jacob  Barker,  when 
he  was  a  clerk  in  New  York,  consisted 
in  making  a  full  explanation  in  the 
original  entry,  referring  to  it  hereafter 
by  folios,  and  when  goods  were  pur- 
chased or  sold  for  account  of  parties, 
or  moneys  drawn  from  different  banks 
and  delivered  among  diffierent  parties, 
commenced  his  entries  with  "  Sundry 
accounts  debtor  to  sundry  accounts," 
debiting  each  receiver  for  what  he  had 
received,  and  crediting  each  bank  or 
owner  with  their  proportion  of  all  that 
had  been  parted  with,  all  in  one  entry ; 
and  when  a  parcel  of  goods  belonging 
to  a  single  concern  had  been  sold  to 
different  parties,  or  money  drawn  from 
a  bank  and  divided  among  several  per- 
sons, there  was  made  a  single  entry  of 
"  Sundry  accounts  debtor  to  the  party," 
embracing  the  whole  without  mingling 
it  with  the  cash  account,  unless  a  portion 
of  the  money  remained,  in  which  case 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


661 


that  account  became  one  of  the  sundry 
accounts  for  such  residue.  Mr.  Barker 
thought  that  if  young  men  wishing  to 
acquire  a  knowledge  of  book-keeping 
would  consider  well  this  form  of  entry, 
and  understand  the  principle,  they 
would  have  but  little  more  to  do  to 
acquire  the  whole  art,  nothing  being 
more  easy  than  to  transfer  such  entries 
from  the  waste  to  the  journal  and  from 
the  journal  to  the  ledger. 

His  plan  of  calculating  interest  was 
to  increase  the  amount  of  each  item  of 
dollars  by  multiplying  them  by  the 
number  of  days — throwing  away  the 
fractions  under  fifty,  adding  one  dollar 
to  the  items  where  the  fractions  were 
over  fifty — leaving  a  single  sum  (the 
balance  of  debits  and  credits)  on  which 
to  calculate  the  interest  for  one  day, 
thus  having  but  one  item  on  which  to 
calculate  the  interest,  however  long  the 
account  might  be,  in  place  of  calcu- 
lating it  on  each  item. 


Amos  Iiawrence  when  a  Clerk. 

To  his  abstinence  from  liquor  and 
tobacco,  Amos  Lawrence  was  accus- 
tomed to  attribute  much  of  his  success 
in  life.  In  his  youth,  he  was  accus- 
tomed, with  his  companions,  every  fore- 
noon to  make  a  drink  compounded  of 
rum,  raisins,  sugar,  nutmegs,  «&c.,  with 
biscuit — all  palatable  to  eat  and  drink. 
After  being  in  the  store  four  weeks,  he 
found  himself  admonished  by  his  ap- 
petite of  the  approach  of  the  hour 
of  indulgence.  Thinking  the  habit 
might  make  trouble  if  allowed  to  grow 
stronger,  without  further  apology  to 
his  seniors,  he  declined  partaking  with 
them.  His  first  resolution  was  to  ab- 
stain for  a  week,  and  when  the  week 
was  out,  for  a  month,  and  then  for  a 
year.  Finally,  he  resolved  to  abstain 
for  the  rest  of  his  apprenticeship,  which 
was  for  five  years  longer.  During  the 
whole  period,  he  never  drank  a  spoon- 
ful, though  he  mixed  gallons  daily  for 
his  old  master  and  his  customers.    It 


must  have  been  a  diflBcult  thing  for 
young  Lawrence,  when  but  a  clerk, 
thus  to  form  and  to  adhere  to  such  a 
resolution — for  the  contempt  now  so 
frequently  bestowed  upon  the  drinker 
was  then  the  portion  of  him  who  would 
not  drink. 

At  the  same  time,  he  resolved  not  to 
use  tobacco  in  any  form,  though  not 
indififerent  to  the  fascinations  of  the 
weed.  He  loved  its  odor  in  youth,  and 
in  advanced  life  he  kept  in  his  drawer 
a  fine  Havana  cigar  to  smell  of.  He 
confessed  to  a  weakness  for  the  "  scent- 
ed rappee  "  with  which  those  of  former 
times  were  accustomed  to  cram  their 
nostrils  ;  yet  he  never  used  an  ounce  of 
snuflF.  He  chewed  but  "  one  quid,"  and 
that  before  he  was  fifteen. 


In  Pursuit  of  an  Agreeable  Business. 

A  YotTNa  pink,  sprucely  brushed  up, 
and  of  very  genteel  appearance,  entered 
a  banker's  office,  and  with  a  polite  air 
addressed  the  gentleman  there  with : 

"  Sir,  you  want  a  young  man  here, 
I  believe  ? " 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Here  are  my  recommendations," 
said  the  young  man,  as  he  handed  a 
paper  certifying  that  he  was  worthy  of 
confidence,  etc. 

The  gentleman  read  the  paper,  and 
looked  up,  remarking:  "We  should 
be  glad  to  do  your  friends  the  compli- 
ment of  engaging  you,  and  therefore 
you  will  please  let  me  say  something  in 
regard  to  fitness." 

"  What  shall  I  be  expected  to  do  ? " 
asked  the  young  man. 

"  To  aid  in  the  office  as  opportunity 
may  present,  and  to  pay  notes,  collect 
drafts,  &c.,"  was  the  answer. 

"I  don't  think  collecting  drafts 
would  agree  with  my  feelings,"  replied 
the  young  man. 

"  Well,"  quietly  responded  the  bank- 
er, "I  would  not  advise  you  to  do  any- 
thing against  your  feelings.  Good 
morning."  {Exit  Hyacinth. 


662 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Brief  Siosrrapliical  Sketch  of  a 
Banker's  Clerk. 

The  English  banker's  clerk  is  born 
to  a  high  stool.  He  is  taught  vulgar 
fractions,  patience,  and  morals,  in  a 
suburban  school.  At  fourteen  he  shoul- 
ders the  office  quill — or  "  Gillott's  fine." 
He  copies  letters  from  morning  till 
night,  but  has  no  salary ;  he  is  to  be 
"remembered  at  Christmas."  He  is 
out  in  all  weathers ;  and  at  twenty  is 
thoroughly  impervious  to  rain,  snow, 
and  sunshine.  At  last  he  gets  forty 
pounds  per  annum.  Out  of  that  revenue 
he  pays  five  pounds  a  year  to  the  "  Guar- 
antee Fund."  He  walks  five  miles  to 
business,  and  five  miles  home.  He 
never  stirs  out  without  his  umbrella. 
He  never  exceeds  twenty  minutes  for 
his  dinner.  He  drinks  water — "  beer 
gets  into  his  head."  He  has  three 
holidays  a  year — Christmas  day  and 
Good  Friday  being  two  of  them — and 
even  then  walks  to  the  office  and  back 
again  to  pass  away  the  time.  He  runs 
about  all  day  with  a  big  chain  round 
his  waist,  and  a  gouty  bill-book  in  his 
breast  pocket.  He  marries,  and  asks 
for  an  increase  of  salary.  He  is  told 
"  the  house  can  do  without  him."  He 
reviews  every  day  a  large  array  of  ledg- 
ers, and  has  to  "  write  up "  the  cus- 
tomers' books  before  he  leaves.  He 
reaches  home  at  nine  o'clock,  and  falls 
asleep  over  the  yesterday's  paper,  bor- 
rowed from  the  public  house.  He 
reaches  eighty  pounds  a  year.  He 
fancies  his  fortune  is  made ;  but  small 
boots  and  shoes,  and  large  school  bills, 
stop  him  on  the  high  road  to  inde- 
pendence, and  bring  him  no  nearer  to 
Leviathan  Rothschild.  He  tries  to  get 
"  evening  employment,"  but  his  eyes 
fail  him.  He  grows  old,  and  learns 
that  "  the  firm  never  pensions."  One 
morning  his  stool  is  found  to  be  unoc- 
cupied, and  a  subscription  is  made 
amongst  his  old  companions  to  pay  the 
expenses  of  his  funeral. 


What  is  a  "Flemish"  Account P 

The  saying  or  phrase  "A  Flemish 
Account"  has  long  been  current.  It 
always  means,  that  the  sum  to  be  re- 
ceived turns  out  less  than  had  been 
expected.  It  is  a  commercial  joke, 
familiarly  bantered  by  clerks,  and  is 
believed  to  admit  of  explanation  by 
reference  to  the  early  commercial 
transactions  between  the  English  and 
the  Flemings,  though  this  explanation 
has  some  pleasant  variations — for  exam- 
ple :  When  commerce  was  young,  the 
Flemings  were  the  great  merchants  of 
Western  Europe ;  but  those  worthies 
were  notorious,  when  furnishing  their 
accounts  current,  for  always  having  the 
balance  at  the  right  side  (for  them- 
selves,) and  hence  arose  the  term. 

Or  it  is  probable  that  the  expression 
may  have  been  derived  from  the  fact 
that  the  Flemish  ell  measures  only 
three  quarters  of  the  English  yard, 
while  the  English  ell  measures  five 
quarters,  and  that  thence  the  epithet 
"Flemish"  was  adopted  as  denoting 
something  deficient. 

The  derivation  of  the  phrase  has 
also  been  traced  to  the  word  Jlem, 
which,  in  old  Sctoch  and  English,  is 
to  "  run  away ;  "  in  modem  slang,  to 
"  make  oneself  scarce," — to  "  levant." 
Flemen  is  an  outcast,  an  outlaw.  The 
application  of  the  word  to  accounts,  in 
certain  cases,  is  pertinent. 


Fancy  Costrune  amoner  the  liCdgrers. 

An  amusing  story  is  told  of  the  first 
appearance  of  a  new  clerk  in  one  of 
the  ancient  English  banking-houses  of 
celebrity.  He  was  dressed  in  the  fash- 
ion thus  described :  He  wore  a  long 
flapped  coat  with  large  pockets;  the 
sleeves  had  broad  cuflfe  with  three 
large  buttons,  somewhat  like  the  coats 
worn  by  the  Greenwich  pensioneera 
of  the  present  day;  an  embroidered 
waistcoat  reaching  nearly  down  to  his 
knees,  with  an  enormoua  bouquet  in  the 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


663 


Imtton  hole ;  a  cocked  hat ;  powdered 
hair,  with  pig-tail  and  bag-wig ;  and 
a  ponderous  gold-headed  cane.  The 
gentleman  who  thus  made  his  d6but 
in  this  fancy  costume  was,  nevertheless, 
possessed  of  the  most  remarkable  bus- 
iness qualities, — so  much  so,  that  he 
remained  in  the  house  a  great  many 
years,  and  died  only  a  few  years  ago 
at  a  very  advanced  age,  much  respected 
by  his  employers. 


First  Set  of  Double-Entry  Socks 
Opened  in  Boston. 

"  I  PRACTISED,"  says  Amos  Lawrence, 
"  upon  the  maxitn,  '  Bminesa  'before 
friends^  from  the  commencement  of 
my  course.  During  the  first  seven 
years  of  my  business  in  Boston,  I  never 
allowed  a  bill  against  me  to  stand  un- 
settled over  the  Sabbath.  If  the  pur- 
chase of  goods  was  made  at  auction  on 
Saturday,  and  delivered  to  me,  I 
always  examined  and  settled  the  bill 
by  note  or  by  crediting  it,  and  leaving 
it  clear ;  so  that,  in  case  I  was  not  on 
duty  on  Monday,  there  would  be  no 
trouble  for  my  boys — thus  keeping  the 
business  lefore  me,  instead  of  allowing 
it  to  drive  me." 

Mr.  Lawrence  had  a  remarkable 
faculty  of  bringing  the  sterling  money 
into  our  currency,  with  any  advance, 
by  a  calculation  in  his  mind,  and 
would  give  the  result  with  great  accu- 
racy in  one  quarter  of  the  time  which 
it  took  most  other  persons  to  do  it  by 
figures.  When  employing  clerks,  he 
daily  examined  every  entry  to  detect 
errors.  He  was  dissatisfied  with  the 
loose  way  of  keeping  books  by  single 
entry,  and,  at  his  request,  the  clerk 
studied  bookkeeping  with  Mr.  Q.  Gibbs, 
who  had  just  introduced  the  new  and 
shorter  method  of  double  entry.  The 
accounts  were  then  transferred  into  a 
new  set  of  books  on  this  plan,  during 
which  process  Mr.  Lawrence  manifested 
much  anxiety,  but  expressed  his  satis- 
faction when  the  work  was  completed 


and  his  clerk  had  succeeded  in  making 
the  first  trial  balance  come  out  right. 
This  was  the  first  set  of  books  opened 
in  Boston  on  the  new  system,  and  to 
Mr.  Lawrence's  business  taste  and  skill 
is  this  improvement  due. 


Jacob  Barker's  Clerks  at  Dinner. 

"  Walteb  Barrett  "  seldom  says  a 
dry  or  witless  thing,  and,  in  one  of  his 
racy  mercantile  sketches,  he  expresses 
the  opinion — as  to  which  there  can  be 
no  variance — that  there  is  no  man  of 
whom  so  many  wonderful  things  are 
related  as  of  Jacob  Barker,  The  cele- 
brated Jacob  Little,  says  Mr.  Barrett, 
was  once  a  clerk  with  the  banker,  and 
if  young  Jacob  should  ever  get  poor, 
he  can  rise  again  by  publishing  a  book 
to  be  called  "  Recollections  of  the  Na- 
poleon of  Wall  street."  But  to  the 
story. 

Two  sons  of  old  Peter  Embury, 
Daniel  and  Peter  J.,  were  clerks  with 
the  famed  Jacob  Barker.  There  were 
seventeen  more  clerks  in  the  oflBce. 
Jacob  Barker  had  no  equal,  on  the 
contrary  he  was  superior  to  any 
money  broker  or  banker  that  ever  lived 
before,  in,  or  since,  his  time.  He  went 
ahead — stopped  for  nothing — not  even 
to  go  home  to  dinner.  His  wife  sent 
his  dinner  down  to  his  office.  His 
clerks  perfectly  detested  old  Jacob 
Barker.  He  was  a  tyrant.  When 
his  dinner  arrived,  it  would  be  on  a 
tin  warmer,  and  wrapped  up  in  a 
towel.  This  would  be  placed  on  his 
desk,  and  then  Jacob  would  sit  and  eat 
it,  the  clerks  laughing  and  making 
faces  at  each  other  in  a  quiet,  subdued 
way.  Sometimes  old  Jacob  would  not 
be  in  when  the  dinner  arrived.  In 
such  a  case  one  of  the  clerks — who  was 
a  great  wag — would  take  Jacob's  place, 
and  while  he  took  off"  the  broker  in 
first  rate  sfyle,  amidst  screams  of 
laughter  from  the  admiring  clerks, 
would  also  positively  eat  up  the  din- 
ner— ^put  the  dishes  aside,  and  Jacob 


664 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


would  suppose  the  dinner  had  not 
come.  But  on  one  occasion,  when  this 
dinner  scene  was  being  enacted,  old 
Jacob  popped  in,  and  witnessed  almost 
the  entire  performance  before  his  pres- 
ence was  discovered  by  the  principal 
performer.  "  Oh,  don't  let  me  inter- 
rupt you — eat  on,"  said  Jacob.  The 
clerk  slid.  He  was  not  discharged, 
but  remained  with  Jacob  until  he  went 
into  business  on  his  own  account. 

Mr.  Barker  was  a  remarkably  driving 
man.  If  he  had  an  appointment  with 
a  man,  he  waited  just  five  minutes,  and 
not  a  second  longer ;  then,  if  the  man 
with  whom  he  had  the  appointment 
did  not  come,  Mr.  Barker  left,  and 
never  after  would  he  make  an  appoint- 
ment with  the  same  man.  At  one 
time,  he  was  indicted  for  conspiracy, 
in  connection  with  some  stock-jobbing 
affairs.  Hugh  Maxwell  was  the  district 
attorney  in  those  gay  days.  Barker 
plead  his  own  case.  He  was  so  suc- 
cessful that  it  gave  him  the  first  idea 
he  ever  entertained  that  he  was  capa- 
ble of  becoming  a  clever  lawyer.  In 
after  years  he  went  to  New  Orleans, 
studied  law  regularly,  and  made  it  his 
profession.  Jaoob  was  also  a  good 
pilot,  and  he  frequently  piloted  his 
own  ships  out  to  sea.  He  did  this  for 
two  reasons :  the  first  was,  that  he 
saved  the  pilotage ;  and  the  second,  he 
believed  that  he  could  do  it  better  and 
with  more  safety  to  his  ships  than  any 
professed  pilot  could  do.  Fitz  Greene 
Halleck,  the  celebrated  poet,  was  the 
cashier  of  Jacob  Barker  for  many 
years. 

"  One  Thing:  Needful "  in  a  Clerk. 

If  a  vacancy  occurs  in  a  New  York 
jobbing  or  importing  house  in  the  dry 
goods  trade,  the  first  question  likely  to 
be  proposed  to  the  applicant  for  the 
place  is,  "How  many  goods  can  you 
sell  ? "  If  the  answer  is  fifty  or  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  that  settles 
the  question;  and  the  young  man  is 


accepted.  Of  course  he  must  not  steal, 
and  he  is  therefore  charged  by  his  new 
employer,  that  "honesty  is  the  best 
policy."  If  he  drinks,  even  to  intoxi- 
cation, when  away  from  business,  it  is 
a  matter  of  some  regret, — but,  after  all, 
of  no  very  great  consequence,  provided 
he  will  sell  his  "  fifty  thousand." 

A  large  and  very  respectable  dry 
goods  establishment  in  New  York 
thought  best  to  dispense  with  one  of 
these  "fifty  thousand"  salesmen,  be- 
cause he  would  get  drunk  on  brandy. 
Every  few  days,  in  spite  of  all  appeal 
and  expostulation,  he  would  disgrace 
both  himself  and  his  employers  in  this 
way,  but,  notwithstanding,  in  the  course 
of  a  year  he  would  sell  more  than  his 
"  fifty  thousand." 

Well,  this  young  man,  with  a  bold 
face,  sought  another  situation  among 
the  merchant  princes.  He  declared  em- 
phatically that  he  could  sell  his  fifty 
thousand.  The  engagement  was  con- 
cluded, and,  as  a  mere  matter  of  form, 
the  merchant  prince  sent  his  confiden- 
tial clerk  to  inquire  about  the  integrity 
of  his  new  salesman.  He  was  told  that 
the  young  man  could  sell  his  "fifty 
thousand  "  easily,  but  that  every  now 
and  then  he  would  get  drunk  on  bran- 
dy. This  fact  was  faithuUy  communi- 
cated to  headquarters.  "He  drinks 
brandy,  does  he" — said  the  merchant 
prince  ;  "  is  that  all  you  can  find  against 
him  ?  He'll  do.  Why,  I  drink  brandy 
myself— that's  no  objection!"  The 
salesman's  ability  to  sell  his  "  fifty  thou- 
sand" was  the  one  thing  needful  for 
the  success  of  his  application ;  and  that 
he  possessed. 

♦ 

Overpayinsr  a  Check. 

A  QUAKER  once  presented  a  check  for 
three  hundred  pounds  at  a  banker's  in 
London,  and  the  cashier  paid  him  four 
hundred.  The  Friend  discovered  the 
error,  and  in  the  usual  quaint  manner 
of  his  class  addressed  the  cashier,  say- 
ing: "Friend,  hast  thee  not  made  a 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


665 


mistake  ?  "  but  the  cashier,  being  very 
busy,  gave  no  heed  to  the  question.  In 
a  few  minutes  it  was  repeated  with  like 
success,  and  it  was  not  till  after  the 
question  had  been  put  for  the  third 
time,  that  the  cashier  deigned  to  ask 
in  a  somewhat  haughty  tone  to  what 
he  alluded.  The  Friend,  with  much 
humility,  said:  "I  wanted  from  thee 
three  hundred  pounds,  and  thou  hast 
given  me  four  hundred.  I  have  been 
desirous  to  draw  thy  attention  to  the 
mistake,  but  could  not  until  now  in- 
duce thee  to  regard  me.  Here  is  the 
one  hundred  back  again."  The  cashier, 
as  may  be  supposed,  was  overwhelmed 
with  shame  at  this  quiet  though  point- 
ed rebuke. 


Nice  Lesson  for  Betail  Salesmen. 

A  YOUNG  lady  having  entered  a  dry 
goods  store,  politely  requested  to  be 
shown  a  certain  article.  An  impatient 
clerk,  in  a  churlish  manner,  obeyed  her 
wishes.  "  What's  the  price  ?  "  asked 
she.  "  Three  dollars,"  was  the  uncere- 
monious reply.  "  Three  dollars  !  "  ex- 
claimed the  maiden  in  surprise ;  "  how 
very  high  your  prices  are  !  "  "  They're 
cheap  enough,  if  you'll  only  imagine 
so  1  "  was  the  surly  reply.  "  Well,  you 
may  wrap  it  up  for  me,  and  I  will  take 
it,"  said  the  lady.  The  article  was  ac- 
cordingly packed,  and  Miss  Sweet- 
pretty,  taking  it  in  her  hands,  was  leav- 
ing the  store ;  but  the  alarmed  clerk, 
running  after  her,  exclaimed :  "  Mad- 
ame, you  have  not  paid  me  !  "  "  Oh, 
yes,  I  have,  if  you'll  only  imagine  so,^^  she 
archly  replied. 


Bubble-Bank  Book-keepingr  Taueht  in 
Six  Lessons. 

Professob  McDooal,  B.B.,G.U.  J.S.S. 
(Blower  of  Bubbles  and  Getter  Up  of 
Joint  Stock  Swindles),  begs  to  acquaint 
the  swell  nobility,  light-fingered  gen- 
try, and  the  hard-up  public  generally, 
that  he  continues  to  give  instructions 


in  the  Art  of  Book-keeping,  as  applied 
to  bubble  banks  and  other  joint  stock 
swindles. 

Having  for  some  years  devoted  his 
most  careful  attention  to  the  subject, 
the  professor  can  with  confidence  re- 
commend his  system  (which  is  founded 
nominally  upon  the  Scotch,  but  differs 
from  it  widely  in  its  integrity  and  prin- 
ciples) as  being  at  once  safe,  simple, 
and  effective.  It  is  remarkable  espe- 
cially for  the  facilities  it  offiers  for  cook- 
ing the  accounts,  as  it  entirely  prevents 
any  possibility  of  checking  them.  It 
allows,  therefore,  of  overdrawing  with- 
out danger  of  detection,  and  at  the 
same  time  offers  most  peculiar  advan- 
tages to  those  who  may  avail  them- 
selves of  this  directors'  privilege,  and 
may  be  afterward  accused  of  having 
fraudulently  done  so.  By  its  complete 
mystification  of  all  matters  of  account, 
it  will  enable  any  so  calumniated  per- 
son to  declare  that  he  was  totally  un- 
conscious how  his  debt  really  stood, 
and  defy  the  most  expert  accountant  to 
make  out  the  contrary.  The  professor 
guarantees,  moreover,  from  his  personal 
experience,  that  no  unpleasant  conse- 
quences ever  will  result  from  this  or 
any  other  advantages  of  his  system, — 
the  liability  of  those  who  practise  it 
being  strictly  limited  in  all  respects  to 
the  harmless  jurisdiction  of  the  civil 
courts. 

To  clerks  of  gentlemanly  habits  and 
expenses,  the  professor's  system  will  be 
found  invaluable ;  as  it  will  enable 
them,  by  the  opportunities  it  affords 
for  perquisites,  to  live  on  a  salary  of  a 
hundred  a  year,  in  the  style  and  at  the 
rate  at  least  of  a  couple  of  thousand. 
But  it  is  to  managers,  perhaps,  that  the 
professor's  method  will  be  found  most 
advantageous,  since  it  suffers  them  to 
"  do  "  what  and  whom  they  please — an 
operation  which  is  much  facilitated  by 
the  professor's  plan  of  double-shuffle 
entry,  which,  by  the  addition  of  a  pri- 
vate "  little  book  "  to  those  which  are 
kept  for  public  business  and  inspection, 


666 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


greatly  assists  the  managers  in  all  mat- 
ters of  subtraction. 


Flaying  Even. 

Jones  was  an  Oregon  merchant, 
smoked  a  great  many  cigars,  and 
prided  himself  upon  the  accuracy  and 
infallibility  of  his  business  capacities. 
He  never  was  known  to  make  more 
than  one  error  in  business  calculation, 
and  that  was  not  his  fault  particularly. 
In  sending  an  order  to  San  Francisco 
for  beans,  he  added  a  cipher  more  than 
ne  intended,  and  thereby  ordered  and 
received  fourteen  thousand  pounds,  or 
seven  tons,  instead  of  fourteen  hundred 
pounds.  The  merchants  all  had  their 
sport  about  his  seven  tons  of  "  regular 
beans,"  and  he  bore  it  meekly,  but 
awaited  an  opportunity  to  *'  play  even," 
by  turning  the  tables  on  them.  The 
time  finally  arrived  for  him  to  prove 
beyond  cavil  that  he  was  not  the  only 
merchant  capable  of  erring,  and  he 
seized  the  opportunity  to  vindicate  his 
long-established  reputation  for  acute 
reasoning.  He  had  ordered  some  ci- 
gars from  a  Crescent  City  merchant, 
and  when  the  bill  came,  with  a  short 
note  appended,  his  visage  brightened 
for  once,  and  he  hastened  to  expose, 
^  for  twenty-five  cents  a  sight,  "the 
greatest  blunder  ever  exhibited ; "  if 
not,  he  would  return  the  money.  He 
had  taken  in  only  |2  50,  when  the  lit- 
eral copy  was  exhibited,  and  was  as 
follows :  "  Mr.  Jones, — Tours  received, 
and  contents  noted.  I  send  you  the 
best  I  have  now.  On  the  Columbia,  I 
get  about  fifty  mille  of  the  best  select- 
'  ed,  and  trust  to  get  your  further  orders. 

—Yours,  M.  Goldman."  "  That,  sir," 
said  Jones,  "  is  the  very  richest  thing 
of  the  kind  I  ever  saw  or  heard  of  1 
Fifty  millions  of  cigars  1  Why,  sir,  just 
think  of  it  1  At  forty  dollars  per  thou- 
sand, they  would  amount  to  two  hun- 
dred million  of  dollars — ^more,  sir,  than 
all  Oregon  is  worth  1  That  beats  the 
leans!  " 


Bailway  Clerks— a  Burlesaue. 

The  railway  clerk  dresses  smartly. 
He  is  a  friend  of  a  director,  or  the 
cousin  of  a  large  shareholder.  Business 
with  him  is  quite  a  secondary  consid- 
eration. He  opens  at  five  minutes  be- 
fore the  train,  and  closes  it  the  minute 
the  clock  has  struck.  He  will  take 
your  money  if  you  want  a  ticket,  but 
mind — he  is  not  answerable  for  any 
mistake.  He  has  no  time  to  count 
change,  or  answer  questions  about 
trains,  or  attend  to  stupid  people  who 
come  inquiring  about  the  persons  who 
were  killed  by  yesterday's  accident. 
It  is  not  his  business.  He  cannot,  at- 
tend to  every  one  at  once,  and  he  runs 
his  diamond  fingers  through  his  rich, 
Macassared  hair.  It's  really  no  fault 
of  his  if  you  lose  the  train — you  ought 
to  have  come  sooner;  and  then  he 
pares  off,  with  a  very  pretty  penknife, 
a  sharp  comer  that  pains  the  symmetry 
of  one  of  his  filbert  nails.  What  should 
he  know  about  "  dogs  ? " — you  had  bet- 
ter inquire  at  the  luggage  train.  You 
can  write  to  the  newspapers,  by  all 
means,  if  you  like:  the  newspapers 
don't  pay  him.  The  parcels  are  not  in 
his  department — the  porters  can  per- 
haps tell.  He  is  very  sorry  he  has  no 
change  for  a  twenty-dollar  bill— he  has 
no  doubt  you  can  get  it  round  the  cor- 
ner. He  yawns  all  the  morning,  his 
eyes  are  only  half  open  at  eight  o'clock, 
and  his  white  waistcoat  betrays  his 
dreadful  impatience  to  get  to  the  opera, 
as  the  time  draws  slowly  toward  the 
mail  train.  What  he  does  between  the 
dreary  intervals,  as  we  cannot  peep 
over  the  walls  of  mahogany  into  the 
small  circle  of  his  duties,  we  cannot 
tell.  On  a  Sunday,  however,  his  usual 
amiability  deserts  him.  His  cambric 
shirt  is  beautifully  smooth,  but  his  tem- 
per is  sadly  ruffled.  The  excursions 
upset  him.  The  number  of  absurd 
questions  annoy  him.  He  wonders 
how  people  can  be  so  foolish,  and  at 
last  makes  a  resolution  not  to  answer 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


667 


any  more  inquiries;  and  the  railway 
clerk  knows  his  own  dignity  too  well 
not  to  keep  it.  He  only  stares;  but 
occasionally  troubles  himself  to  the 
utmost  of  his  abilities  to  give  a  nod 
that  may  express  "  Yes,"  or  "  No,"  just 
as  the  person  pleases.  Beyond  this, 
the  railway  clerk  is  as  obliging  as  most 
clerks;  he  is  also  very  good-looking, 
and  after  coming  out  of  an  omnibus  on 
a  wet  day,  is"  quite  pleasant  to  look  at. 
In  the  heat  of  summer  he  looks  cool — 
in  the  depths  of  winter  he  always  ap- 
pears warm  and  comfortable.  He  is 
really  a  patteip  of  politeness  to  ladies, 
and  smiles  most  condescendingly  to 
pretty  girls,  displaying  his  gallantry 
and  white  teeth  in  a  thousand  little 
ways.  He  was  evidently  intended  by 
nature  as  an  ornament  to  a  tea-party, 
or  bom  to  grace  a  pic-nic. 


Hich.  Beward  of  Integrity.     ~ 

During  the  last  century,  a  London 
merchant,  somewhat  remarkable  for 
absence  of  mind,  left  his  counting- 
house  for  the  bank,  with  a  large  sum 
of  money,  which  he  intended  deposit- 
ing there ;  on  reaching  Lombard  street, 
he  found  his  pocket  cut,  and  his  pock- 
et-book missing.  He  immediately  sus- 
pected that  his  pocket  had  been  picked 
of  all  his  money,  and  going  back,  men- 
tioned the  circumstance  to  his  clerk. 
What,  however,  was  his  astonishment, 
at  finding  that  he  had  left  the  money 
behind,  and  that  though  his  pocket- 
book  had  been  taken  from  him,  yet  it 
contained  nothing  but  a  few  papers  of 
but  little  consequence.  Pleased  with 
the  integrity  of  his  clerk,  who  handed 
him  the  money  he  thought  he  had  lost, 
he  promised  him  a  handsome  present ; 
but  neglecting  to  fulfil  his  promise  was 
reminded  of  it.  Unwilling  to  part  with 
money,  he  gave  the  clerk  one  of  two 
lottery  tickets  he  had  purchased.  This 
ticket  drew  a  prize  of  twenty  thousand 
pounds,  which  the  clerk  made  use  of  as 
his  capital  in  going  into  business,  and 


soon  rose  to  great  eminence  and  wealth 
as  a  merchant. 


Good  Supply  in  Prospect. 

A  LADY  inquired  at  a  city  dry  goods 
store,  some  time  ago,  for  whalebone. 
The  clerk  in  attendance  produced  bun- 
dle after  bundle,  as  the  fair  customer 
successively  rejected  the  article  sub- 
mitted for  inspection.  The  whalebone 
was  all  too  short,  by  several  feet,  for  the 
purpose  desired.  But  the  clerk,  not  to 
be  outdone,  made  another  search 
through  the  store,  in  hope  of  discover- 
ing the  article  of  the  desired  longitude. 
He  was  unsuccessful,  and  flatly  "  broke  " 
his  chagrin  to  the  lady  in  a  polite 
speech  to  the  effect  "  that  the  extraor- 
dinary expansion  of  the  ladies  causing 
so  great  a  demand  for  long  whalebones, 
all  the  big  whales  had  been  killed  and 
used  up,  and  there  were  none  but  little 
ones  now  in  the  ocean — but,  madam, 
we  have  some  superior  ones  growing, 
and  shall  soon  have  the  best  supply  in 
the  market." 


Moustaches  in  the  BaJik. 

Somehow  or  other,  there  is  in  the 
English  Gentile  world — as  distinguish- 
ed from  the  Jewish — an  antagonism 
between  moustaches  and  money ;  oddly 
enough,  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence, 
will  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  least 
assertion  of  the  "  tip."  The  young  men 
of  our  generation  have  been  exhorted 
to  lay  down  their  razors  and  to  take  up 
with  moustaches;  many  unsophisti- 
cated enthusiasts  have  answered  to  the 
appeal  with  somewhat  of  the  vigor  of  a 
Samson,  putting,  as  it  may  be,  the 
hairiest  or  downiest  countenance  upon 
the  movement.  On  this,  the  tyranny 
of  bare-faced  Mammon  asserts  itself  in 
Mammon's  very  highest  place — yea,  in 
its  golden  pulpit.  Gallant  young  clerks 
of  the  Bank  of  England  were  beginning 
to  grow  good  promissory  notes  of 
moustaches,  when   Mammon,  looking 


668 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


upon  those  hirsute  shootings,  cried — 
"  Share,  young  men :  shave,  or  re- 
sign," This  is  a  hard,  tyrannous  fact. 
The  youths  of  England,  intrusted  with 
the  treasures  of  the  Bank,  were  ordered 
by  a  certain  day  to  present  clean  faces, 
or  else  a  fairly-written  resignation. 
The  clerks  did  both  :  that  is,  they  one 
and  all  exhibited  their  resignation,  by 
sacrificing  the  objectionable  hair.  And 
this  in  a  free  country — a  clerk  not  al- 
lowed to  keep  his  moustaches  and  his 

place  I 

> 

One  of  his  "  Little  Specs.'* 

When  Jacob  Barker  was  a  clerk  to 
Mr.  Hicks,  of  New  York,  he  early  dis- 
played that  peculiar  aptitude  for  spec- 
ulation which  subsequently  distin- 
guished his  career  as  a  merchant.  One 
day,  Mr.  Hicks  was  ascending  the  stairs 
in  full  view  of  a  lot  of  soap  which  had 
been  very  long  on  hand,  and  remarked, 
"Jacob,  why  does  thee  not  sell  that 
soap  ? "  The  reply  was,  "  For  the  want 
of  an  applicant.  I  will  purchase  it  at 
eight  cents  if  thee  will  give  me  four 
months'  credit  and  allow  me  to  send  it 
as  an  adventure  to  the  Havana."  Mr. 
Hicks  replied,  in  his  rapid  manner: 
"  Take  it,  take  it;  I  am  tired  of  the 
sight  of  it." 

It  was  shipped  by  a  fast  schooner, 
commanded  by  Capt.  Daniel  Waterman, 
about  sailing  for  the  Havana,  at  the 
time  when  the  British  were  capturing 
and  sending  into  New  Providence  all 
vessels  in  that  trade,  depriving  the  in- 
habitants of  their  accustomed  supplies. 
Capt.  W.  returned  safely  in  six  weeks, 
bringing  back  fifty  cents  per  pound  in 
specie  for  the  soap.  The  money  was 
brought  to  the  office,  and  Jacob  was 
engaged  in  counting  it,  when  Mr. 
Hicks,  coming  in  from  breakfast,  in- 
quired, "  What's  all  this  ? "  The  reply 
was,  "  Money  for  the  soap,  and  I  am 
now  ready  to  pay  for  it,  although  not 
due  for  more  than  two  months."  Mr. 
H.  appeared  quite    pleased  with  his 


young  clerk's  success,  and  passed  on. 
This,  it  may  be  presumed,  is  one  of 
what  Jacob  would  call  his  "  little 
specs.'' 

Cotintrsnuan  and  Clerk. 

One  morning  an  enraged  country- 
man came  into  Mr.  M.'s  store,  with  very 
angry  looks ;  he  had  left  a  team  in  the 
street,  and  held  a  good  stick  in  his 
hand.  "  Mr.  M."  said  the  angry  coun- 
tryman, "  I  bought  a  paper  of  nutmegs 
here  in  your  store,  and  when  I  got 
home,  they  were  more  than  half  wal- 
nuts ;  and  thaCs  the  young  villain  that 
I  bought  'em  of," — pointing  to  John. 

"  John,"  said  Mr.  M.,  "  did  you  sell 
the  man  walnuts  for  nutmegs  ? " 

"  No,  sir,"  was  the  ready  answer. 

"  You  lie,  you  little  villain,"  said  the 
countryman,  still  more  enraged  at  his 
assurance. 

*'  The  fact  is,  he  does  tell  a  great  many 
lies,"  said  Mr.  M.  "  and  I  don't  know 
what  to  do  with  him  ;  "  and  with  this 
license  to  his  enraged  feelings,  the 
countryman  made  at  John  with  his 
good  stick,  which  compelled  him  to 
scamper  up  a  flight  of  stairs,  throwing 
down  the  scuttle  after  him,  that,  in  its 
fall,  crushed  the  countryman's  hat  over 
his  eyes,  and  nothing  allayed  his  wrath. 
These  scuttle  doors  were,  in  those  days, 
common  in  warehouses,  at  the  heads 
of  stairs,  instead  of  casements  built 
around  them  as  now ;  and  John  briskly 
fastened  it  down,  and  kept  the  country- 
man from  following  him — not,  how- 
ever, without  having  got  two  or  three 
licks  of  the  sternly -applied  good  stick 
across  his  legs  and  thighs,  as  he  went 
up  the  stairs. 

Mr.  M.,  who  had  just  come  into  the 
store,  withdrew  to  the  counting-room, 
but  with  scarcely  repressed  laughter, 
determined  to  let  things  take  their 
course,  while  the  rest  of  them  were  en- 
joying John's  predicament,  and  the 
general  confusion,  with  great  glee. 
When,  however,  Mr.  M.  saw  that  the 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


669 


countryman  was  foiled,  and  was  still 
complaining  of  the  abuse,  -while  John 
■was  secure  in  his  beleaguered  position, 
he  came  out  again,  and  told  the  coun- 
tryman that,  if  he  had  been  imposed 
upon,  it  should  be  made  up  to  him, 
trouble  and  alL 

John,  who  overheard  what  was  said, 
now  came  to  the  hoistway,  and  rubbing 
his  thighs  at  the  same  time,  said  :  "  If 
the  goose  had  taken  the  trouble  to 
weigh  his  nutmegs,  he  would  have 
found  that  I  put  in  the  walnuts  gratis^ 

"  Oh,  you  gave  them  to  him,  did 
you  ? " 

"  Yes,  sir.  I  threw  in  a  handful  for 
the  children  to-  crack,"  said  John, 
laughing  at  the  same  time. 

"  You  were  certainly  very  consider- 
ate," said  Mr.  M.,  turning  away,  and 
unable  to  repress  a  sympathy  with 
John's  mirth. 

"  Well,  now,  if  that  ain't  a  young 
scamp,"  said  the  countryman,  his  fea- 
tures relaxing  into  a  grin,  as  he  saw 
through  the  matter. 

The  fact  is,  John  had  thrown  in  the 
handful  of  walnuts  unobserved,  and 
enjoyed  beforehand  all  the  country- 
man's disappointment  and  rage  when 
he  should  see  them,  but  without  antici- 
pating the  good  stick  feature  of  the  case. 


Lansmasre  and  Business  Letters  of 
Sothschild. 

The  language  which  Mr.  Rothschild 
could  use  when  his  anger  overbalanced 
his  discretion  was  what  must  be  called 
a  license  allowed  to  his  wealth;  and 
he  who,  when  placed  in  a  position 
which  almost  compelled  him  to  sub- 
scribe to  a  pressing  charity,  could  ex- 
claim to  his  clerk, "  Here,  write  a  check, 
I  have  made  a  —  fool  of  myself  I "  was 
courted  and  caressed  by  the  clergy,  was 
feted  and  flattered  by  the  peer,  was 
treated  as  an  equal  by  the  first  min- 
ister of  the  crown,  and  more  than  wor- 
shipped by  those  whose  names  stood 
foremost  on  the  roll  of  commercial  aris- 


tocracy— not,  of  course,  because  of  his 
personal  worth,  but  because  of  the 
wealth  in  his  breeches. 

His  mode  of  dictating  letters  to  his 
commercial  correspondents  was  charac- 
teristic of  a  mind  entirely  absorbed  in 
money-making,  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
amenities  and  compliments — even  such 
as  business  men  sometimes,  for  the  sake 
of  courtesy  and  mutual  good  feeling, 
refresh  themselves  with ;  and  his  rav- 
ings, when  he  found  a  bill  unexpectedly 
protested,  were  translated  by  the  clerk 
into  mercantile  language,  ere  they  were 
fit  to  meet  a  correspondent's  eye.  There 
was,  however,  an  occasional  gleam  of 
humor  in  him,  sternly  as  his  thoughts 
were  devoted  to  heaping  up  riches.  "  I 
am  as  much  as  you,"  he  said  to  the 
Due  de  Montmorenci,  when  his  title 
was  granted :  "  you  style  yourself  the 
first  Christian  baron,  and  I  am  the  first 
Jew  baron.'' 


SquariniT  Accounts  among  the 
Celestials. 

It  is  the  custom  among  the  Celestials, 
once  a  year  or  oftener,  to  close  all  their 
accounts  of  a  business  character.  The 
summer,  or  fifth  month  of  the  Chinese 
year, — the  dragon  boat  festival,  eighth 
month, — the  winter  solstice,  or  eleventh 
month, — and  the  new  year,  these  are 
the  epochs  of  settlement  adopted  by  a 
large  number  of  the  business  men'.  But 
in  any  case,  the  commencement  of  the 
new  year  must  find  every  merchant  free 
of  all  debt,  otherwise  he  is  not  permit- 
ted to  open  his  store  for  a  fresh  cam- 
paign. The  intense  anxiety  of  the  mer- 
chants thus  to  begin  the  year  solvent  in 
their  various  business  relations,  will 
often  prevent  a  manufacturer  from  tak- 
ing a  contract  at  the  end  of  the  year, 
lest  the  dreaded  new  year  day  should 
find  him  without  suflBcient  ready  cash 
to  liquidate  all  his  debts. 

This  peculiar  custom  gives  origin  to 
a  kind  of  festival  among  buyers,  and 
especially  among  foreigners,  who  wish 


670 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


to  make  good  bargains.  The  pressing 
necessities  of  those  native  merchants  who 
find  a  deficit  in  their  treasury,  to  meet 
the  demands  of  creditors,  drive  them 
to  sell — and  sometimes  at  an  immense 
sacrifice — objects  of  luxury  or  mrtu,  or 
whatever  else,  in  the  shape  of  embroi- 
deries and  clothing,  they  may  have,  not 
essential  to  life.  This  is  generally  ef- 
fected on  new  year's  eve.  On  that 
evening,  different  streets  in  the  city  are 
occupied  on  either  side  by  rows  of 
such  goods,  exhibited  for  sale  in  tem- 
porary stalls,  or  even  on  the  bare 
ground,  all  the  sellers  being  clothed  in 
blue.  Side  oy  side  stand  the  common 
calico-clad  dealers,  whose  whole  stock 
seems  to  be  scarce  worth  a  dollar,  and 
the  satin-embroidered  merchant,  with 
articles  of  rarest  taste  and  elegance. 
There  may  be  seen  the  Chinaman  who 
has  a  dollar  or  two  in  cash  beyond  his 
debts,  and  the  foreigner,  both  anxious 
to  secure  bargains  at  the  expense  of  the 
needy  sellers. 


How  a  Dry-Goods  Clerk  lost  his  Place. 

A  GENTLEMAK  in  the  country  placed 
his  son  with  a  dry-goods  merchant  in 
Boston,  and,  for  a  season,  all  went  on 
well.  But  at  length  the  young  man 
sold  a  dress  to  a  lady,  and  as  he  was 
folding  it  up,  he  observed  a  flaw  in  the 
silk,  and  remarked  to  his  customer, 
"Madam,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  tell 
you  there  is  a  fracture  in  the  silk." 
This  spoiled  the  bargain. 

But  the  employer  overheard  the  re- 
mark ;  and  had  he  reflected  a  moment, 
he  might  have  reasoned  thus  with  him- 
self :  "  Now  I  am  safe,  while  my  affairs 
are  committed  to  the  care  of  an  honest 
clerk."  But  he  was  not  pleased;  so 
he  wrote  immediately  to  the  father  to 
come  and  take  him  home — for,  said  he, 
"  He  will  never  make  a  merchant." 
The  father,  who  had  brought  up  his 
son  with  faithful  care,  was  not  a  little 
flurprised  and  grieved,  and  hastened  to 


the  city  to  ascertaiu  wherein  his  son 
had  been  deficient. 

Said  the  anxious  father,  "  And  why 
will  he  not  make  a  merchant  ?  "  "  Be- 
cause," said  the  employer,  "  he  has  no 
tact ;  he  voluntarily  told  a  lady  who 
was  buying  silk,  that  the  goods  were 
damaged,  and  so  I  lost  the  bargain. 
Purchasers  must  look  out  for  them- 
selves. If  they  cannot  discover  '  flaws,' 
it  would  be  foolishness  in  me  to  tell  them 
of  their  existence."  *'  And  is  this  all* 
the  fault  ? "  "  Yes ;  he  is  very  weU  in 
other  respects."  "  Well,  I  prize  my  son 
more  than  ever ;  and  I  thank  you,  sir, 
for  telling  me  of  the  matter.  I  would 
not  have  him  in  your  employ  another' 
day,  for  all  your  store  contains." 


Philadelphia  Clerk  and  his  Bible. 

In  the  same  office  with  Mr.  Inglis, 
of  Philadelphia,  was  a  young  gentle- 
man in  whom  he  took  great  interest. 
He  was  a  young  man  of  fine  character 
and  talents,  but  inclining  to  infidelity. 
He  was  the  only  son  of  a  widowed 
mother,  and  her  only  support.  He  was 
devoted  to  her  happiness.  By  degrees 
his  health,  through  constant  applica- 
tion to  business,  was  wasting  away. 
His  friend,  Mr,  Inglis,  urged  him  to  re- 
mit his  labors,  and  take  a  journey.  The 
reply  was,  that  his  circumstances  for- 
bade it.  He  had  saved  nothing,  and 
his  mother  needed  all  his  salary  after 
meeting  his  own  personal  wants.  The 
answer  was : 

"  But  you  must  go.  You  will  die  if 
you  do  not.  What  will  become  of  your 
mother  then  ? " 

The  young  man  sadly  shook  his 
head. 

"  Then  I  will  tell  you  what  I  will  do. 
You  are  aware  of  my  rapidity  in  busi- 
ness. I  can  do  your  work  and  mine 
too.  I  will  take  your  place  while  you 
are  gone,  and  pay  over  the  salary  to 
your  mother,  and  when  you  return  give 
it  up  to  you  again.  The  sole  condition 
of  this  is,  that  yon  will  accept  this  Bi- 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


671 


ble  (taking  a  pocket  Bible  from  his 
desk),  and  read  a  chapter  in  it  every 
day." 

With  deep  emotion  the  book  was  re- 
ceived and  the  promise  given.  The 
youth  took  his  departure,  and  Mr. 
Inglis  fulfilled  his  part  of  the  engage- 
ment faithfully.  But  the  invalid  was 
past  all  human  remedy — ^the  disease  was 
too  deeply  seated ;  so,  after  prolonging 
his  absence  much  beyond  the  supposed 
period,  he  finally  died.  But  he  left  en- 
couraging evidence  that  the  Bible  had 
been  attended  with  the  profit  desired 
by  the  giver. 

After  his  death,  the  directors  of  the 
insurance  company  said  that,  as  Mr. 
Inglis  had  faithfully  and  satisfactorily 
performed  the  double  duties,  hence- 
forth the  double  oflice  and  the  double 
pay  should  be  his. 


Beward  of  Business  Fidelity. 

;  Mr.  Cuthbert,  a  merchant  in  the 
East  Indies,  of  world-wide  repute,  had 
a  clerk  who  was  taken  very  ill,  and  be- 
came unusually  thoughtful  and  melan- 
choly. Mr.  Cuthbert  inquired  the  cause 
of  his  uneasiness.  The  young  man  re- 
plied that  he  was  not  afraid  to  die,  but 
had  a  mother  and  two  sisters  in  Eng- 
land, to  whom  he  had  been  accustomed 
to  send  one  hundred  pounds  every 
year,  and  his  only  regret  at  dying  was, 
that  they  would  be  left  destitute.  Mr. 
Cuthbert  begged  him  to  make  his  mind 
perfectly  easy  on  that  account,  as  he 
would  take  care  of  his  mother  and  sis- 
ters. He  was  as  good  as  his  word,  for 
he  immediately  went  to  his  attorney, 
and  executed  a  deed,  granting  an  an- 
nuity of  one  hundred  pounds  a  year,  in 
favor  of  the  mother  and  her  two  daugh- 
ters, during  their  joint  lives,  and  with 
the  benefit  of  survivorship.  He  then 
sent  the  bond  to  his  clerk,  who,  clasp- 
ing it  in  his  hands,  uttered  a  hearty 
exclamation  of  gratitude,  and  at  once 
closed  his  eyes  in  death. 


Oiling:  the  Joints  of  Business. 

It  is  oftentimes  better  for  the  har- 
mony and  success  of  men  in  business 
not  to  make  too  great  a  matter  out  of 
a  sn\all  one,  when  anything  happens 
which  may  temporarily  derange  the 
details  of  business.  Budgett,  the  fa- 
mous English  merchant,  was  noted  for 
the  smooth  and  easy  way  in  which  he 
disposed  of  business  discrepancies  and 
annoyances,  and  says  he  found  his  ac- 
count in  thus  doing,  in  the  end. 

"  Well,  what's  the  matter  ? "  said  he 
to  one  of  his  clerks,  "  I  understand  you 
can't  make  your  cash  quite  right." 
"  No,  sir."  "  How  much  are  you 
short  ? "  "  Eight  pounds,  sir."  "  Nev- 
er mind ;  I  am  quite  sure  you  have 
done  what  is  right  and  honorable ;  it 
is  some  mistake — and  you  won't  let  it 
happen  again.  Take  this,  and  make 
your  account  straight."  The  young 
man  sqcs  the  profiered  paper — an  order 
for  ten  poimds — and  he  brightens  up, 
as  full  of  admiration  and  good  resolve 
as  he  had  previously  felt  anxiety. 

Now,  what  is  the  next  matter.  This 
time  a  porter  is  summoned.  He  comes 
forward  as  if  he  expected  rebuke. 
"  Oh  !  I  have  had  such  a  complaint  re- 
ported against  you.  You  know  that 
will  never  do.  You  will  not,  I'm  sure, 
let  that  occur  again."  It  certainly  did 
not  occur  again. 

Thus,  with  the  greatest  despatch 
matter  after  matter  was  settled  in  this 
way — without  the  "grievous  words, 
which  stir  up  anger  " — and  all  who  be- 
longed to  his  oflSce  went  to  work  as  if 
some  one  had  oiled  their  joints. 


Pictorial  Bookkeepiner. 

An  old  trader,  whose  father  attended 
more  to  teaching  his  son  the  methods 
of  accumulating  money  than  knowl- 
edge, lived  acme  time  since  in  a  town 
in  one  of  the  Eastern  States.  From  ap- 
plication and  industry,  he  had  amassed 
a  property  of  about  twenty  thousand 


672 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


dollars;  and  although  not  able  either 
to  read  or  write,  he  never  hired  a  clerk, 
but  had  always  been  in  the  habit  of 
keeping  his  own  books.  He  had  in- 
vented some  few  pictorial  characters 
for  the  purpose  of  conveying  his  .ideas 
to  himself  and  others ;  they  were  formed 
as  nearly  similar  to  the  shape  of  the  ar- 
ticle sold  as  the  nature  of  the  circum- 
stances would  admit.  One  day  a  cus- 
tomer of  his  called  on  him  for  the  pur- 
pose of  settling  his  account ;  the  book 
of  hieroglyphics  was  handed  down,  and 
the  merchant  commenced  with,  "  such 
a  time  you  had  a  gallon  of  rum,  and 
such  a  time  a  pound  of  tea — such  a 
time  a  gallon  of  molasses,  and  such  a 
time  a  cheese."  "  Stop  there,"  says  the 
customer ;  "  I  never  had  a  cheese  from 
you  or  any  other  person — I  make  my 
own  cheese."  "  You  certainly  must 
have  had  it,"  said  the  merchant ;  "  it 
is  down  in  my  book."  The  other  still 
denied  ever  buying  an  article  of  that 
kind.  After  a  promiscuous  bantering 
of  pros  and  cons,  upon  recollection,  he 
informed  him  that  he  believed  he  had 
purchased  a  grindstone  about  that  time. 
"It  is  the  very  thing,"  said  the  mer- 
chant, "  and  I  must  have  forgotten  to 
put  the  hole  in  the  middle.'''' 


Beformingr  instead  of  Destroying'. 

An  instructive  case  for  merchants 
and  others  engaged  in  business  occur- 
red in  Boston,  where  the  city  constable 
traced  a  large  quantity  of  stolen  goods 
to  a  young  clerk  in  one  of  the  large 
wholesale  stores  in  the  vicinity  of  Milk 
street,  and  in  which  establishment 
business  to  the  amount  perhaps  of  a 
million  or  more  is  carried  on  during 
the  year.  The  oflBcer  in  the  first  place 
informed  the  young  man  of  his  detec- 
tion, and  he  acknowledged  his  crime. 
He  then  went  to  a  member  of  the  firm 
and  informed  him  also  of  what  had 
taken  place.  The  merchant  seemed 
troubled;  said  that  the  boy  had  for 
some  time  been  with  him,  and  to  all 


appearance  was  a  faithful  clerk ;  that 
he  had  sole  control  of  a  room  contain- 
ing one  hundred  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  goods,  with  several  lads  under 
him,  and  further  stated  that  he  paid 
him  three  and  a  half  dollars  per  week 
for  his  services.  The  officer  asked  if 
the  young  man  did  not  pay  nearly  that 
amount  for  board,  washing,  &c.  The 
merchant  acknowledged  that  he  prob- 
ably did.  He  then  called  the  clerk 
down,  and  asked  him  to  confess  the 
whole  truth,  which  he  did,  with  tears 
in  his  eyes,  and  promises  of  reforma- 
tion. The  merchant  then  told  the  offi- 
cer that  he  wanted  time  to  consider  as 
to  his  course.  When  the  officer  called 
again,  the  young  man  was  found  still 
continuing  at  his  old  employment — 
with  this  diflference,  that  his  pay  had 
been  increased  to  six  dollars  per  week. 
The  officer  asked  how  the  boy  got 
along,  to  which  his  master  replied, 
"  Admirably,  admirably ;  I  have  not 
a  better  servant  in  the  store."  Thus 
ended  the  matter,  the  young  man  still 
continuing  in  his  position,  with  the 
firm  intention  to  deserve,  by  his  future 
good  character,  the  confidence  which, 
perhaps,  he  so  little  deserved  by  his 
previous  course.  This  conduct  on  the 
part  of  the  employer  was  thus  the 
means  of  reforming  his  clerk ;  while 
exposure  and  dismissal  would  in  all 
probability  have  destroyed  him. 


Getting:  Bich  by  Bookkeeping*. 

In  old  times,  it  was  the  custom  of 
the  merchants  of  the  city  of  New  York 
to  keep  their  accounts  in  pounds,  shil- 
lings, and  pence  currency.  About  fifty 
years  ago,  a  frugal,  industrious  Scotch 
merchant,  well  known  to  the  then  small 
mercantile  community  of  that  city,  had, 
by  dint  of  fortunate  commercial  adven- 
ture and  economy,  been  enabled  to  save 
something  like  four  thousand  pounds — 
a  considerable  sum  of  money  at  that 
period,  and  one  which  secured  to  its 
possessor  a  degree  of  enviable  inde- 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


673 


pendence.  His  place  of  business  and 
residence  were,  as  was  customary  at 
that  time,  under  the  same  roof. 

This  merchant  had  a  clerk  in  his  em- 
ployment, whose  reputation  as  an  ac- 
countant inspired  the  utmost  confi- 
dence of  his  master,  whose  frugal  hab- 
its he  emulated  with  the  true  spirit 
and  feeling  of  a  genuine  Caledonian. 
It  was  usual  for  the  accountant  to  make 
an  annual  balance  sheet,  for  the  inspec- 
tion of  his  master,  in  order  that  he 
might  see  what  had  been  the  profits  of 
his  business  for  the  past  year.  On  this 
occasion,  the  balance  showed  to  the 
credit  of  the  business  some  six  thou- 
sand pounds,  which  somewhat  aston- 
ished the  incredulous  merchant.  "  It 
canna  be,"  said  he;  "ye  had  better 
count  up  agen.  I  dinna  think  I  ha' 
had  sae  profitable  a  beesness  as  this 
represents."  The  clerk,  with  his  usual 
patience,  re-examined  the  statement, 
and  declared  that  it  was  "  a'  right," 
and  that  he  was  willing  to  wager  his 
salary  on  its  correctness.  The  some- 
what puzzled  merchant  scratched  his 
head  with  surprise,  and  commenced 
adding  up  both  sides  of  the  account 
for  himself.  "  I  didna  think,"  said  he, 
"  that  I  was  worth  over  four  thousand 
pounds;  but  ye  ha'  made  me  a  much 
richer  man.  "Weel,  weel,  I  may  ha'  been 
mair  successful  than  I  had  thought, 
and  I'll  na'  quarrel  wi'  mysel'  for  being 
worth  sax  thousand  instead." 

At  early  candlelight,  the  store  was 
regularly  closed  by  the  faithful  ac- 
countant ;  and  as  soon  as  he  had  gone, 
the  sorely  perplexed  and  incredulous 
merchant  commenced  the  painful  task 
of  going  over  and  examining  the  ac- 
counts for  himself.  Night  after  night 
did  he  labor  in  his  solitary  counting 
room  alone,  to  look  for  the  error ;  but 
every  stage  of  the  examination  con- 
firmed the  correctness  of  the  clerk, 
until  the  old  Scotchman  began  to  be- 
lieve it  possible  that  he  was  really 
worth  "  sax  thousand  pounds."  Stim- 
ulated by  this  addition  to  his  wealth, 
43 


he  soon  felt  a  desire  to  improve  the 
condition  of  his  household  ;  and,  with 
that  view,  made  purchase  of  new  furni- 
ture, carpets,  and  other  elegances,  con- 
sistent with  the  condition  of  a  man 
possessing  the  large  fortune  of  six 
thousand  pounds.  Painters  and  car- 
penters were  set  to  work  to  tear  down, 
build  up,  and  beautify ;  and  in  a  short 
time  the  gloomy  residence  in  Stone 
street  was  renovated  to  such  a  degree 
as  to  attract  the  curiosity  and  envy  of 
all  the  neighbors. 

The  doubts  of  the  old  man  would, 
however,  still  obtrude  themselves  upon 
his  mind ;  and  he  determined,  once 
more,  to  make  a  most  searching  exami- 
nation of  his  accounts.  On  a  dark  and 
stormy  night  he  commenced  his  labors, 
with  the  patient  and  investigating  spir- 
it of  a  man  determined  to  probe  the 
matter  to  the  very  bottom.  It  was  past 
the  hour  of  midnight,  yet  he  had  not 
been  able  to  detect  a  single  error ;  but 
still  he  went  on.  His  heart  beat  high 
with  hope,  for  he  had  nearly  reached 
the  end  of  his  labor.  A  quick  suspi- 
cion seized  his  mind  as  to  one  "  item  " 
in  the  account.  Eureka!  He  had 
found  it — he  had  found  it !  With  the 
frenzy  of  a  madman,  he  drew  his  broad- 
brimmed  white  hat  over  his  eyes,  and 
rushed  into  the  street.  The  rain  and 
storm  were  nothing  to  him.  He  hur- 
ried to  the  residence  of  his  clerk  in 
Wall  street,  and  seized  the  handle  of 
the  huge  knocker,  with  which  he 
rapped  until  the  neighborhood  was 
roused  with  the  loud  alarm.  The  dis- 
mayed clerk  poked  his  night-cap  out 
of  an  upper  window,  and  demanded 
"Wha's  there?"  "It's  me,  you  dom 
scoundrel ! "  said  the  frenzied  mer- 
chant ;  "  ye've  added  up  the  yea/r  of  our 
Laird  with  the  pounds.''''  Such  was  the 
fact.  The  addition  of  the  year  of  our 
Lord  in  a  certain  place  among  the  items 
had  swelled  the  fortune  of  the  merchant 
to  nearly  two  thousand  pounds  beyond 
its  actual  amount. 


674 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Two  Clerks  in  a  Quarrel. 

Something  in  the  way  of  a  quarrel 
once  took  place  between  two  clerks — 
Jonas  and  Jonathan — in  a  merchant's 
counting  house.  The  quarrel  was  of 
little  importance  in  itself,  for  it  was 
merely  as  to  the  quantity  of  work  that 
each  had  to  do.  The  merchant  had 
given  six  letters  to  be  copied.  Jonas 
said  that  each  should  copy  three :  Jon- 
athan said  that,  as  they  were  not  of  the 
same  length,  one  should  copy  four  and 
the  other  two.  They  disputed  violent- 
ly about  it,  and  from  words  came  to 
blows.  Jonas  beat  Jonathan  severely, 
and  Jonathan  vowed  that  he  would  be 
revenged.  In  this  determination  he 
persevered,  and  it  was  a  part  of  his 
every  day's  thoughts  how  he  could  in- 
jure Jonas. 

Jonas  kept  what  is  called  the  "  petty 
cash  "  in  the  merchant's  counting  room, 
that  is,  he  was  charged  with  the  pay- 
ment of  all  the  small  sums  for  the  ordi- 
nary expenses  of  the  business,  and  was 
settled  with  by  the  merchant  every 
week,  on  his  producing  the  accounts, 
and  the  vouchers  for  pajrment  when 
any  receipts  were  given.  Jonas  was 
particularly  careful  to  keep  his  docu- 
ments in  order,  and  Jonathan,  who 
knew  Jonas's  pride  in  having  his  cash 
book  right,  determined  to  do  all  that 
he  could  to  embarrass  and  confuse 
him.  Whenever  Jonathan  could  lay 
his  hands  upon  any  voucher  that  Jonas 
wanted,  to  show  that  his  accounts  were 
regular,  he  took  the  opportunity,  when 
nobody  was  present,  either  to  bum  or 
otherwise  destroy  it.  This  was  a  great 
trial  to  Jonas,  and  especially  when,  on 
three  succeeding  Saturdays,  instead  of 
receiving  the  merchant's  accustomed 
praise,  he  was  reprimanded  for  negli- 
gence. Jonas  protested  that  he  had 
been  as  careful  as  usual,  but  could  not 
conceive  how  the  documents  had  dis- 
appeared. He  determined,  in  future, 
to  lock  them  up,  instead  of  leaving 
them  vmder  the  leads  of  the  desk,  as 


he  had  hitherto  done.  The  next  week, 
all  Jonas's  accounts  were  as  correct  as 
usual,  and. all  the  vouchers  in  order^ 
and  his  tranquillity  returned. 

But  this  did  not  last  long,  for  Jona- 
than, finding  that  he  had  not  succeedr 
ed  in  his  ill-natured  attempt,  was  re- 
solved to  injure  Jonas  even  more  seri- 
ously ;  and  one  day,  when  Jonas  had 
gone  to  the  docks,  and  had  by  accident 
left  the  key  in  his  desk,  Jonathan  took 
a  bank  note  out  of  the  cash  book  which 
Jonas  had  kept  there,  and  concealed  it 
in  another  part  of  the  desk. 

Jonas  came  back,  and  put  the  keys 
in  his  pocket — he  did  not  even  recol- 
lect that  he  had  put  them  in  the  desk  ; 
but  the  next  day,  when  he  opened  his 
desk  to  count  the  money  in  his  cash 
box,  the  bank  note  was  found  missing. 
This  was,  indeed,  a  sad  discovery ;  he 
racked  his  brains  to  remember  whether 
he  had  made  any  payments  that  he  had 
not  entered.  He  inquired  of  Jonathan 
whether  he  had  seen  him  pay  any 
money  away.  Jonathan  professed  to 
feel  for  his  distress,  while,  in  fact,  he 
was  rejoicing  in  it ;  and  he  was  de- 
lighted, indeed,  when  he  heard  the 
merchant,  in  his  private  room,  severely 
reproaching  Jonas  for  his  growing 
carelessness.  A  few  weeks  after,  Jonas, 
having  occasion  to  ransack  his  desk  for 
some  papers,  found  the  missing  bank 
note,  and  supposed  that  he  had,  by  ac- 
cident, stowed  it  away  with  other  pa- 
pers. He  told  his  good  fortune  to  the 
merchant ;  the  latter  recommended 
more  caution  in  future. 

Jonathan  now  tried  a  little  bolder 
game.  It  was  Jonas's  duty  to  take  the 
letters  to  the  post  office.  One  day,  a 
letter  of  great  importance,  containing 
a  bill  of  exchange  for  a  large  amount, 
was  missing.  The  merchant  had,  as 
usual,  intrusted  the  correspondence  to 
Jonas's  care,  and  had  left  the  city  for 
his  country  abode.  Next  day,  the  first 
inquiry,  when  the  merchant  came,  was, 
whether  said  letter  had  been  despatch- 
ed.   Jonas  burst  into  tears,  and  said 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


675 


that  the  letter  with  the  remittance  -was 
not  to  be  found.  "  What !  "  said  the 
merchant,  with  extreme  displeasure, 
"  that  letter  missing  ?  " — and,  quickly 
scanning  the  floor,  he  saw  the  identical 
letter  at  Jonas's  feet,  wet  and  dirty,  as 
if  it  had  been  trampled  on.  This  had 
been  also  Jonathan's  doing.  He  had 
concealed  the  letter  the  night  before ; 
he  had  flung  it,  unperceired — having 
himself  trodden  upon  it — under  Jonas's 
desk. 

In  this  way  many  months  passed. 
Jonathan  managed  with  so  much  cun- 
ning as  to  be  undiscovered  in  his  mal- 
ice ;  but  things  went  on  so  ill,  that 
finally  the  merchant  dismissed  them 
both. 

Years  rolled  by,  and  Jonas  and  Jon- 
athan had  become  merchants  them- 
selves ;  but  nothing  could  eradicate 
from  Jonathan's  mind  the  determina- 
tion to  injure,  and,  if  possible,  ruin 
Jonas.  And  he  at  last  accomplished 
it,  though  his  own  ruin  was  the  conse- 
quence. He  undermined  the  credit  of 
Jonas,  by  indirect  insinuations  as  to 
his  affairs,  by  doubts  and  innuendos, 
and  shrugs  of  the  shoulder ;  and,  by  a 
succession  of  unfounded  reports  and 
malevolently  expressed  suspicions,  Jo- 
nas's reputation  as  a  merchant  suffered, 
and  bankruptcy  took  place.  Some  of 
the  statements  by  which  Jonas  had 
been  injured  were,  however,  traced  to 
Jonathan.  He  was  prosecuted  for 
damages,  convicted,  and  his  own  insol- 
vency followed  soon. 


Ijondon  Trade  Report. 

A  London  journal  thus  enters  into 
the  facetiae  of  mercantile  nomenclature 
in  its  Trade  Report : — Beer  is  still  flat 
in  your  own  jugs,  and  seidlitz  powders 
are  on  the  rise  everywhere.  Bones  are 
steady,  at  two  pence  for  three  pounds ; 
and  wine  bottles  are  in  demand  at  five 
farthings.  New  milk  from  the  cow  has 
become  dearer  since  the  recent  extraor- 
dinary rise  in  chalk ;  and  as  far  as  the 


wine  trade  is  concerned,  the  champagne 
dealers  have  been  playing  old  goose- 
berry. The  tea  trade  is  looking  up  on 
account  of  the  unhealthy  appearance 
of  the  hedges ;  and  the  arrival  of  four 
barges  laden  with  sand  has  produced  a 
powerful  effiect  on  inferior  sugar.  But- 
ter is  not  so  firm  as  it  has  been  during 
the  severe  weather;  and  the  new-laid 
eggs  having  been  released  from  bond, 
where  they  have  remained  for  some 
time,  preserved  in  lime,  are  a  good  deal 
lower  than  our  last  quotations.  Pigs 
were  quite  stationary  when  taken  by 
the  leg,  and  dealers  who  went  the 
whole  hog  got  enormous  prices. 

The  business  done  in  the  vegetable 
market  has  been  limited.  Potatoes 
iave  suffered  from  a  disease  in  the  kid- 
neys, and  the  growers  have  been  fairly 
beaten  out  of  the  field  for  want  of  cham- 
pions. Parsley  was  firm  at  a  half-penny 
a  sprig,  and  a  good  deal  of  thyme  was 
lost  by  a  misunderstanding  among  the 
principal  dealers.  Rhubarb  was  flat 
during  the  rains,  but  rallied  at  the  end 
of  the  week  on  account  of  the  fine 
weather.  Horseradish  was  in  a  feverish 
state  until  the  close  of  business ;  and  a 
few  transactions  in  onions  under  the 
very  eyes  of  some  inexperienced  per- 
sons, produced  a  very  powerful  effect 
on  their  mode  of  looking  at  the  market 
in  general.  Roasted  chestnuts  without 
th£  coupons  were  uncommonly  active  at 
first  handling,  but  those  who  failed  to 
exercise  caution  in  this  investment 
only  burnt  their  fingers.  Spanish 
(nuts)  were  freely  taken — while  the 
owners  turned  their  backs — by  some 
doubtful  parties  in  the  market ;  and 
grapes  were  exceedingly  sour  and  imsea- 
sonable,  at  a  shilling  a  pound,  to  those 
who  could  not  purchase  them.  Aspar- 
agus is  looking  up,  and  radishes  are 
taking  a  downward  direction.  Peas 
were  almost  nothing  at  the  opening; 
and  new  potatoes  were  buoyant  in  the 
basket,  but  turned  out  rather  heavy  at 
the  settling. 

Oysters  were  dull  at  the  opening, 


676 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


but  went  down  rapidly  soon  after. 
Flounders  were  of  course  flat,  but  to 
the  surprise  of  every  one  they  showed 
an  inclination  to  come  round  toward 
the  afternoon,  and  there  were  one  or 
two  transactions  in  whelks,  but  they 
were  of  a  comparatively  insignificant 
character.  Lobsters'  claws  were  lazy 
at  the  opening,  but  closed  heavily,  and 
those  who  had  a  hand  in  them  would 
gladly  have  been  released  if  such  a 
course  had  been  possible. 

Very  little  is  doing  in  calico,  though 
several  extraordinary  shifts  are  being 
made  by  some  of  the  manufacturers. 
Inferior  stufi&  have  not  gone  down  since 
the  speech  of  Mr.  Ferrand,  but  fustian 
for  parliamentary  use  is  a  good  deal 
sought  after.  Coarse  material  is  much 
wanted  for  the  newspaper  press,  which 
has  had  a  glut  of  the  raw  article ;  and 
the  latter  is  now  considered  so  flimsy 
that  it  may  be  seen  through — which 
entirely  defeats  the  object  it  is  intended 
for. 

Money  was  very  plentiful  in  the  city 
this  morning,  and  the  man  at  the  cross- 
ing near  the  bank  carried  oflF  a  large 
sum  at  the  clearing.  Mohair  stock  was 
not  very  buoyant,  but  gloves  were  easy 
at  eighteen  pence  a  pair  and  upward. 
Coats  were  nominally  heavy,  but  were 
found  much  lighter  on  being  weighed  ; 
and  eggs,  though  they  looked  very 
promising  yesterday,  opened  very  badly 
this  morning,  purchasers  exhibiting 
considerable  shyness.  In  spices  there 
was  very  little  done ;  but  a  party  suf- 
fered greatly  who  had  been  keeping 
too  close  an  eye  to  pepper. 


Improvinfi:  a  Banker's  Broth. 

Jemmy  Taylor,  noted  as  one  of  the 
sharpest  and  most  successful,  as  well  as 
miserly,  English  stockbrokers  of  the 
last  century,  once  graciously  invited  two 
of  the  clerks  of  a  fellow  banker  to  take 
"pot  luck"  with  him.  On  paying 
their  respects  to  him,  therefore,  at  his 
residence, — though  with  no  intention 


to  dine, — ^these  rollicking  bucks  found 
the  old  boy  boiling  a  solitary  mutton 
chop,  in  an  ocean  of  water,  to  make, 
what  he  called,  some  "  comfortable  " 
broth  for  himself,  and  his  boon  friend, 
old  Daniel  Dancer,  whom  he  expected. 

After  some  complimentary  solicita- 
tions, the  two  "  benders  "  humorously 
prevailed  upon  him  to  fetch  a  pot  of 
porter,  and,  while  he  was  gone,  they 
threw  some  stray  pieces  of  his  half- 
penny candles  into  his  cookery — which, 
no  doubt,  ameliorated  the  scantiness  of 
the  culinary  mess,  and  made  it  more 
delectable  to  those  old  hunks,  who,  as 
appears  from  the  sequel,  devoured  it 
with  keen  appetites,  cordially  uniting 
iu  their  commendations  of  its  unustcal 
richness. 

But  the  next  time  Jemmy  Taylor 
met  those  two  larks  upon  'change,  the 
skinflint  banker  stoutly  accused  them 
of  theft  and  robbery,  in  stealing  his 
candles,  and  grew  warm  in  his  denun- 
ciation of  their  knavery.  The  clerks, 
however,  immediately  cleared  them- 
selves of  the  charge,  by  solemnly  de- 
claring to  the  perspiring  miser,  that 
they  had  only  committed  them  to  the 
pot,  at  the  bottom  of  which  he  would 
find  the  wicks,  if  his  hunger  had  not 
swallowed  them. 

Jemmy  was  bred  a  weaver,  but  after- 
ward became  a  banker,  which  "  trade  " 
he  pursued  with  such  usurious  keen- 
ness, that  he  was  not  long  in  amassing 
a  fortune  such  as  is  attained  by  only  a 
few. 


Apprehended  Embezzlements. 

Clerks  have  of  late  years  been  play- 
ing fast  and  loose  to  such  an  enormous 
extent  with  their  employers'  money 
and  property,  that  it  has  become  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  know  whom  to 
trust.  Apprehensions  have  for  some 
time  been  entertained  that  the  clerk  of 
the  weather  will  be  hard  up  next,  as 
having  been  engaged  in  some  act  of 
embezzlement,  his  course  having  been 


;.^^ 


IMPROVING    A    HANKKR'S   BROTH. 


xAy    cZa/f?u^ 


BUSINESS  EMPLOY^ 


677 


very  erratic  for  some  time  past,  so 
much  so  indeed  as  to  have  excited  very 
general  remark.  It  is  hinted  that  he 
may  be  taken  up  on  a  charge  of  having 
been  in  the  habit,  for  years  past,  of 
skimming  the  milky  way  and  appro- 
priating the  cream  to  his  own  use.  If 
we  were  Saturn,  we  certainly  should 
count  our  rings  every  night  to  see  that 
none  of  them  were  missing. 


Hitting  the  Nail  on  the  Head. 

Charles  Lamb's  description  of  his 
sensation  on  being  emancipated  from 
his  daily  labor  as  a  clerk  in  the  "  India 
House  "  hits  the  nail  on  the  head.  He 
says :  "  It  was  like  passing  from  life 
into  eternity.  I  wandered  about,  think- 
ing I  was  happy,  but  feeling  that  I  was 
not.  When  all  is  holiday  there  are  no 
holidays.  Think  of  this,  thou  man  of 
sudden  wealth ;  and  if  it  shall  so  chance 
that  thou  hast  been  a  tallow  chandler 
in  thy  days  of  usefulness,  make  a  clause 
in  thy  bill  of  sale  that  shall  reserve  to 
thee  the  right  of  still  assisting  at  the 
'  factory '  on  '  melting  days.'  " 


Filling:  a  Grocer's  Order. 

A  CrNcrNNATi  grocer's  house,  finding 
out  that  cranberries  commanded  six 
dollars  per  bushel,  and  under  the  im- 
pression that  the  article  could  be 
bought  to  advantage  at  St.  Mary's, 
wrote  out  to  a  customer,  acquainting 
him  with  the  fact,  and  requesting  him 
to  send  "  one  hundred  bushels  per  Sim- 
mons," (the  wagoner  usually  sent.)  The 
correspondent,  a  plain,  uneducated 
man,  had  considerable  difficulty  in  de- 
ciphering the  fashionable  scrawl  com- 
mon with  merchants'  clerks  of  late 
years,  and  the  most  important  word, 
"cranberries,"  he  failed  altogether  to 
make  out,  but  he  plainly  read,  "  100 
busTiels  persimmons^  As  the  article  was 
growing  all  around  him,  all  the  boys  in 
the  neighborhood  were  set  to  gathering 
it,  and  the  wagoner  made  his  appear- 


ance in  due  time,  in  Cincinnati,  with 
eighty  bushels,  all  that  the  wagon  bed 
would  hold,  and  a  line  from  the  coun- 
try dealer  stating  that  the  remainder 
would  follow,  the  next  trip.  An  expla- 
nation soon  ensued,  but  the  customer 
insisted  that  the  clerk  of  the  Cincin- 
nati house  should  have  written  "5y 
Simmons  "  and  not  "  per  Simmons." 


Ruin  produced  by  Sad  Reckoninsr. 

A  VERY  deserving  trader  was  ruined 
by  his  miscalculations  respecting  mer- 
cantile discounts — a  subject  requiring, 
at  all  times  and  in  every  branch  of  com- 
merce, the  close  and  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  an  experienced  accountant. 

The  article  he  manufactured  he  at 
first  supplied  to  retail  dealers  at  a  large 
profit  of  about  thirty  per  cent.  He 
afterward  confined  his  trade  almost 
exclusively  to  large  wholesale  houses, 
to  whom  he  charged  the  same  price, 
but  under  discount  of  twenty  per  cent., 
believing  that  he  was  still  realizing  ten 
per  cent,  for  his  own  profit.  His  trade 
was  very  extensive ;  and  it  was  not  un- 
til after  some  years  that  he  discovered 
the  fact,  that  in  the  place  of  making 
ten  per  cent,  profit,  as  he  imagined,  by 
this  mode  of  making  his  sales,  he  was 
realizing  only  four  per  cent.  To  £100 
value  of  goods  he  added  thirty  per 
cent.,  and  invoiced  them  at  £130.  At 
the  end  of  each  month,  in  the  settle- 
ment of  accounts,  amounting  to  some 
thousands  of  pounds  sterling  with  indi- 
vidual houses,  he  deducted  twenty  per 
cent.,  or  twenty-six  on  each  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  pounds,  leaving  one 
hundred  and  four  net  for  every  one 
hundred  pounds'  value  of  goods  at 
prime  cost,  in  place  of  one  himdred 
and  ten  pounds  as  he  all  along  ex- 
pected. 

« 

Dexterity  of  Specie  Clerks. 

Upon  an  occasion  when  a  large 
amount  of  bank  notes  was  required,  a 


678 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


clerk  in  the  Bank  of  England  is  stated 
to  have  signed  his  name,  consisting  of 
seven  letters,  including  the  initial  of  his 
Christian  name,  five  thousand  three  hun- 
dred times  during  eleven  working  hours, 
and  he  also  arranged  the  notes  he  had 
signed  in  parcels  of  fifty  each.  It  is  an 
interesting  fact,  which  also  may  be 
mentioned  in  this  connection,  that 
when  the  hand  or  the  head  has  been 
for  some  time  occupied  in  any  kind  of 
special  work,  it  cannot  instantly  change 
its  emploj^ent  with  full  effect.  The 
muscles  of  the  limbs  employed  have 
acquired  a  flexibility  during  their  ex- 
ertion— and  those  to  be  put  into  action 
a  stiffening  during  rest — which  renders 
every  change  slow  and  unequal  in  the 
commencement.  A  similar  result  like- 
wise takes  place  in  any  change  of 
mental  exertion  ;  the  attention  bestow- 
ed on  the  new  subject  is  not  so  perfect 
at  the  first  commencement  as  it  be- 
comes after  some  exercise. 


Oommercial  "Drummers"  or  Travel- 
lings Clerks. 

Not  an  uninteresting  feature  of  the 
internal  traflac  of  Great  Britain,  and  the 
same  may  apply  in  a  good  degree  to 
our  own  land,  is  the  system  commonly 
termed  commercial  travelling.  For- 
merly, almost  every  commercial  house 
of  any  note,  employed  one  or  more 
agents  or  clerks,  whose  business  it  was 
to  travel  about  the  country  and  procure 
custom  for  their  principals.  The  sys- 
tem, wherever  pursued  at  present,  is 
substantially  the  same  now  as  then. 

The  commercial  traveller — as  this 
kind  of  agent  or  clerk  is  denominated 
— is  generally  a  young  and  very  shrewd 
individual,  possessing  great  suavity  of 
manner,  and  a  remarkable  ability  to 
suit  himself  readily  to  all  the  varied 
modes  of  his  various  customers.  Fur- 
nished by  his  principals  with  choice 
samples  of  their  goods,  he  steps  into 
his  conveyance,  and  with  a  light  heart 
commences  his  circuit.    It  is  not  con- 


sidered unusual  if  nearly  a  year  elapses 
before  he  returns  to  his  employers.  At 
each  town  upon  his  route,  he  tarries  at 
the  principal  inn,  where  he  is  sure  to 
find  a  hearty  welcome.  After  thus  en- 
sconcing himself  in  comfortable  quar- 
ters, he  arranges  his  samples,  and,  if  it 
be  forenoon,  puts  them  under  his  arm 
and  issues  forth  to  visit  the  shopkeep- 
ers in  the  place.  Wherever  he  goes,  he 
is  met  with  cordiality.  Like  all  travel- 
lers, he  is  full  of  anecdote,  and  has  at 
his  command  the  rarest  news  of  his 
time.  None  are  more  glad  to  see  him 
than  the  shopkeepers'  wives  and  daugh- 
ters. To  these  he  imparts  the  most 
recent  scandal  and  the  latest  fashions, 
and  thus  affords  them  subjects  for  gos- 
sip until  his  next  visit  to  the  town.  To 
the  tradesman  he  lauds  his  samples 
with  all  the  eloquence  and  ingenuity 
of  which  he  is  capable,  and  seldom 
leaves  them  without  making  considera- 
ble bargains  in  behalf  of  his  principals. 
He  then  collects  money  due  on  former 
purchases,  and,  if  in  convenient  shape, 
forwards  the  funds,  together  with  his 
customers'  orders  for  goods,  by  mail,  to 
his  employers. 

With  few  exceptions,  these  drum- 
mers, or  clerks,  are  an  intelligent,  con- 
scientious, whole-souled  company.  Gen- 
erous, convivial,  and  full  of  anecdote, 
the  mercantile  agent  is  a  good  com- 
panion, and  his  conversation  never  fails 
to  make  glad  and  jocund  the  society 
where  he  mingles.  In  his  continuous 
journeying  about  the  country,  he  has 
mixed  with  all  classes,  and  gleaned  in- 
formation of  all  kinds  and  from  all 
sources — humorous  and  grave,  light 
and  substantial.  His  temperament  is 
mercurial,  and  he  readily  adapts  him- 
self to  the  company  which  he  is  in. 
But  if  there  be  one  place  at  which  he 
feels  more  at  home  than  another,  that 
place  is  at  the  dinner  table,  where  he 
meets  his  professional  fellows.  There 
are  generally  as  many  as  five  or  six,  and 
sometimes  more  than  twice  that  num- 
ber of  these  travellers,  in  every  town. 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYfiS. 


679 


at  certain  seasons,  tarrying  only  so  long 
a  time  as  will  suffice  them  to  accom- 
plish their  business  there.  These  stop 
at  the  same  inn,  and  eat  together  in  a 
room  apart  from  the  ordinary.  As  the 
morning  is  devoted  exclusively  to  busi- 
ness, they  take  their  ease  after  dinner, 
and  linger  over  their  Tvine.  In  the 
evening,  some  of  their  customers  drop 
in,  a  circle  is  formed,  and  the  evening 
hours  are  forgotten  in  the  recital  of 
story  and  anecdote,  the  cracking  of 
brittle  jests,  and  the  enjoyment  of  good 
■wine  and  cigars. 


Eqeping:  Score  by  Double  Entry. 

.An  Illinois  correspondent  of  the 
Knickerbocker  cracks  a  nut  for  book- 
keepers, in  the  following  style  : — ^You 
know  Elije  Scroggins,  up  here  in  White 
county  ?  Yes  ?  "Well,  about  six  years 
ago,  Elije  kept  a  kind  of  "  one  horse  " 
grocery,  on  the  edge  of  *'  Seven-mile 
Prairie."  I  don't  think  he  kept  much 
besides  "bald-faced,  thirty-day  whis- 
key," and  maybe  some  ginger  brandy. 
Times  were  mighty  tight,  and  not 
much  money  stirring  in  that  settle- 
ment ;  so  Elije  had  to  credit  most  of 
his  customers  till  corn-gathering  time, 
or  till  fur  was  good ;  and  as  he  had  no 
"  book-learning,"  he  used  to  make  some 
kind  of  a  mark  for  his  different  patrons, 
on  a  clapboard,  which  he  kept  for  the 
purpose,  and  then  chalk  down  the 
"drinks"  against  them  as  they  got 
them,  which  in  some  cases  was  pretty 
often. 

One  day  there  was  a  big  meeting  ap- 
pointed at  the  Possum-Ridge  school- 
house,  about  five  miles  from  Elije's, 
and  his  wife  persuaded  him  to  go  ;  so 
on  Sunday  morning  they  gathered  up 
the  children  and  toted  off  to  meeting 
to  make  a  day  of  it. 

Along  through  this  day,  some  of  the 
neighbors,  getting  a  leetle  dry,  went 
over  to  Elije's  to  moisten  their  clay, 
and  finding  the  door  shut,  and  nobody 
about,  they  were  somewhat  alarmed, 


and  didn't  know  but  somebody  was 
either  sick  or  dead  ;  so  they  pushed  in 
to  see  about  it,  and  finding  things  all 
right,  they  concluded  that  Elije  and 
his  old  woman  had  gone  off  on  a  visit. 
So  they  took  a  drink  all  around  out 
of  friendly  feeling  to  him,  and  were 
about  going  off,  when  one  of  them 
caught  sight  of  the  tally-board  stuck 
under  the  rafter,  and  pulled  it  down — 
and,  either  out  of  pure  devilment,  or 
thinking  it  an  easy  way  to  pay  off  a 
score,  just  gave  it  a  wipe,  and  stuck  it 
back  again. 

In  the  evening,  when  Elije  got  back, 
he  had  occasion  to  look  at  his  "  ac- 
counts" for  some  purpose  or  other, 
when,  to  his  great  astonishment  and 
dismay,  he  found  it,  in  groggery  par- 
lance, considerably  "mixed."  He 
scratched  his  head  over  it  for  some 
time,  evidently  trying  to  make  it  out, 
and  finally  calling  his  wife  in,  he  show- 
ed it  to  her,  and  said :  "  There,  thafs 
what  a  man  gets  for  going  off  and  neg- 
lecting his  business." 

On  the  whole,  however,  he  got  over 
it  pretty  quietly  for  him,  for  Elije  used 
to  swear  mightily  when  his  back  was 
up.  He  didn't  have  much  to  say  now, 
though,  but  sat,  with  his  chin  on  his 
hands,  and  his  elbows  on  his  knees, 
looking  in  the  fire  all  the  evening ;  but 
on  Monday  morning,  he  got  up  bright 
and  early,  and  taking  down  the  clap- 
board, gave  it  a  good  wash,  and  began 
very  industriously  to  figure  away  upon 
it?  Two  or  three  times  during  the 
morning,  his  wife  looked  in,  and  he 
was  still  working  away  at  it ;  and  at 
dinner  time,  when  she  came  to  call 
him,  she  ventured  to  ask  how  he  was 
getting  on,  "  Well,"  said  he,  holding 
the  tally-board  off  at  arm's  length,  and 
looking  at  it  very  earnestly,  with  his 
head  on  one  side,  "  I  don't  know  as  I've 
got  as  much  charged  as  I  had,  but  Vve 
got  it  on  letter  men  !  " 


680 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Charming  Customer  in  a  Bank— Perils 
of  a  Cashier. 

When  a  cashier  in  a  banking  house 
commits  an  error  by  paying  too  much, 
the  loss  falls  upon  the  clerk,  unless 
there  be  some  extenuating  circum- 
stances to  justify  a  contrary  course ;  the 
mistake  is  then  called  a  clerical  error. 
The  reader  -will  not  be  at  much  loss  to 
know  in  which  category  to  place  the 
following : 

One  Monday  morning,  a  very  ele- 
gantly dressed  female  entered  the  bank- 
ing house  of ,  and  presented  a  check 

for  payment,  at  the  same  time  request- 
ing, with  a  great  show  of  politeness, 
that  she  might  have  gold  in  exchange 
for  the  check.  The  lady  was  not  only  well 
dressed,  but  she  was  very  beautiful ;  so 
much  so  that  the  attention  of  the  cashier 
was  riveted  upon  her.  He  weighed 
fifty  sovereigns,  which  he  handed  to 
the  lady ;  and,  supposing  she  would 
count  them,  one  by  one,  he  anticipated 
that  the  pleasure  he  enjoyed  in  looking 
upon  her  would  thereby  be  prolonged ; 
but  he  was  mistaken — for,  to  his  sur- 
prise, instead  of  counting  them,  she 
huddled  them  all  up  together,  and  put 
them  in  a  white  pocket  handkerchief 
The  cashier,  observing  this  unusual 
mode,  said :  "  You  had  better  count 
them,  madam ; "  but  the  lady,  looking 
at  him  with  a  most  winsome  smile,  re- 
plied: "I  am  quite  satisfied,  sir,  that 
you  are  right ;  "  and  with  another  be- 
witching look,  wished  him  "  good-day," 
and  walked  leisurely  out  of  the  bank. 

The  cashier  was  so  overpowered  with 
the  beauty  of  his  customer,  that  imme- 
diately on  her  retiring,  he  went  a  few 
paces  to  a  fellow  cashier  and  asked  if 
he  had  ever  seen  so  lovely  a  creature — 
"  Such  a  'bewitching  woman  !  "  said  he, 
"  and  what  a  sparkling  brilliancy  there 
was  in  her  eye !  I  wonder  who  she 
is  ? "  This  caused  him  to  look  at  the 
check,  which  on  first  receiving  he  had 
placed  on  his  book,  without  entering 
or  once  glancing  at  it  again  ;  when  he 


was  startled  at  discovering  that  it  was 
for  five  pounds  instead  of  fifty !  Ut- 
tering an  exclamation,  he  jumped  over 
the  counter,  and  was  in  the  street  in  a 
second.  He  looked  to  the  right  and 
the  left,  but  could  distinguish  no  trace 
of  the  beautiful  lady.  He  ran  in  and 
out  of  the  several  courts  that  surround- 
ed the  bank,  but  in  vain  ;  he  returned 
to  the  banking  house  to  take  counsel 
with  his  fellow-admirer  of  the  charm- 
ing woman,  as  to  the  best  course  to 
adopt,  when  it  was  decided  that  he 
should  immediately  apply  to  the  draw- 
er of  the  check  for  the  name  and  ad- 
dress of  the  party  to  whom  he  paid  it, 
— the  body  of  the  check  simply  ex- 
pressing it  to  be  payable  to  "  house 
expenses  or  bearer." 

The  drawer  of  the  check,  Mr.  P.,  on 
being  asked  by  the  cashier  to  furnish 
him  with  the  desired  information,  ex- 
pressed his  surprise  at  what  he  called 
such  impertinent  curiosity ;  but,  on 
being  informed  of  the  mistake  that  had 
been  made,  he  immediately  gave  the 
name  and  address,  "Miss  Thompson, 
Bury  street,  St.  James's,"  adding,  "I 
beg  you  will  not  utter  a  word  of  this 
affair  to  any  one,  for  if  it  should  come 
to  the  ears  of  Mrs.  P.,  I  fear  the  most 
serious  consequences  would  result  from 
my  indiscretion,  for  the  party  in  ques- 
tion is,  I  believe,  only  too  celebrated." 

Anxious  to  catch  the  lady  on  her  re- 
turn home,  the  cashier  assured  the  gen- 
tleman of  his  silence,  and  proceeded 
with  the  utmost  expedition  to  Bury 
street.  The  door  was  opened  by  an 
innocent-looking  girl,  who,  on  being 
asked  if  Miss  Thompson  was  at  home, 
replied,  with  great  simplicity,  "No, 
sir,  Miss  Thompson  is  not  at  home  ;  " 
and,  as  though  she  wished  to  stifie  all 
further  inquiries,  she  added,  "  I  don't 
think  she  will  come  back." 

It  ultimately  turned  out,  that  the 
moment  that  "Miss  Thompson"  re- 
turned from  the  city,  she  packed  up 
her  things  and  left  the  house,  of  course 
without  leaving  her  address  or    any 


Snaia^y-^t^^J. , 


^  /  -by 


#   ^ 

y 


clije  to  her 
doubt,  tho  !ii 
the  truth  of 
blind"— for 
cise  of  her 


till 


681 
?ly     discoD- 


i-i^fit.; 


I  of  October   1857,  is  still 

tnd 
ler- 


.ry  Im^c 
.  from  all 
uid.^  da«,  * 
!ieiT   men,   hA 


,4.">d 


itwi,  "i  eowe  to  too  i  " 


.-*...,>  at  the 

ow  I  am  angry 

..,     •     .    .-y 

•>  d 

^^iatod  at  *  di«k,  who 


lillgB^:- 

pay  ill 
induu 
if  a  1'. 


dol- 


^0k. 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


681 


clue  to  her  whereabouts,  enjoying,  no 
doubt,  the  satisfaction  of  having  proved 
the  truth  of  the  saying  that  "  love  is 
blind  " — for  she  had,  by  a  naive  exer- 
cise of  her  charms,  so  far  blinded  the 
eyes  of  a  city  banker  that  he  could 
not  distinguish  between  five  and  fifty 
pounds. 

This  was  a  sad  termination  of  the 
aflFair  to  the  cashier,  who  on  his  return 
to  the  bank  felt  ashamed  to  mention 
the  circumstance  to  the  house,  and  it 
was  arranged  that  the  drawer  of  the 
check  should,  by  way  of  purchasing 
the  silence  of  the  cashier,  pay  one  half 
of  the  amount,  and  the  cashier  the 
other,  which  was  done. 


liafltte's  Wasteful  Clerk. 

In  the  zenith  of  his  prosperity  as  a 
world-renowned  banker,  Lafitte  retain- 
ed the  same  principles  of  frugality  and 
saving  that  characterized  him  in  his 
days  of  indigence.  He  was  never  the 
avaricious  and  grasping  miser,  but  he 
was  ever  the  parsimonious  saver.  He 
would  scold,  and  sometimes  read  his 
clerks  a  lecture  upon  their  wilful  waste 
of  a  pen,  a  piece  of  paper,  or  an  inch 
of  twine  ;  yet  he  had  a  vein  of  charity, 
and  could  be  magnificent  in  his  benev- 
olence. 

One  morning  a  lady  entered  the 
boudoir  of  the  banker,  to  solicit  his 
subscription  to  some  charitable  object. 
He  appeared  somewhat  ruffled  in  his 
temper  just  at  the  moment,  but  he  re- 
ceived her  graciously,  as  a  Frenchman 
knows  how. 

"  What  do  you  require,  my  good  sis- 
ter ?  "  asked  the  banker. 

"  Sir,"  she  replied,  "  I  come  to  you 
on  behalf  of  my  distressed  neighbors ; 
their  necessity  is  great." 

"  Indeed !  you  have  called  at  the 
right  time,  for  just  now  I  am  angry 
with  that  gentleman  for  wasting  my 
wafers."  At  the  same  tim^  he  pointed 
to  a  young  man  seated  at  a  desk,  who 


smiled,  but  was  evidently  discon- 
certed. 

The  benevolent  lady  pretty  much 
concluded  that  her  mission  would  be  a 
fruitless  one  ;  and  that  her  visit  might 
not  be  without  some  good  result,  she 
amiably  applied  herself  to  excuse  the 
fault  of  the  clerk,  who  had  called  down 
the  reproof  of  the  careful  money  dealer, 
by  not  making  one  wafer  serve  to  seal  two 
letters.  Lafitte  listened  attentively,  and 
afterward  presented  to  the  lady  a  check 
for  one  thousand  francs,  saying,  at  the 
same  time : 

"  If,  in  my  career,  I  had  not  econo- 
mized in  trifles,  it  would  not  be  so  easy 
for  me  to  have  contributed  to-day  to 
the  excellent  object  which  you  have  in 
hand.  Pray,  look  in  upon  me  from 
time  to  time  !  " 


Chickering:  and  his  Employes  on 
"Blue"  Day. 

The  third  of  October,  1857,  is  still 
remembered  and  spoken  of  in  Boston 
business  circles,  as  "  blue  day  ;  "  and 
could  all  the  incidents  of  mercantile 
and  trading  life  on  that  day  be  gather- 
ed in  the  form  of  a  volume,  it  would 
constitute  a  book  of  chronicles  indeed. 
One  of  those  incidents — but  in  this  case 
a  refreshing  one — is  well  known  to 
many,  but  will  bear  repetition.  The 
firm  of  Chickering  &  Sons  employed  in 
their  establishment  over  three  hundred 
persons,  and  consequently  their  weekly 
pay  roll  was  very  large.  Owing  to 
non-remittances,  from  all  parts  of  the 
country,  of  funds  due,  this  firm  did 
not  pay  their  men,  having  business 
paper  maturing  which  required  all 
their  available  money.  The  men,  with- 
out one  dissenting  voice,  passed  a  se- 
ries of  resolutions  tendering  to  Messrs. 
Chickering  their  regrets  at  such  a 
financial  crisis,  and  stating  their  wil- 
lingness and  ability  to  wait  for  their 
pay  until  a  more  favorable  time,  also 
intimating  in  the  kindest  manner  that 
if  a  loan  of  six  or  eight  thousand  dol- 


682 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS   ANECDOTES. 


Jars  would  be  useful  at  that  moment, 
they  would  be  happy  to  tender  that 
sum  as  a  willing  contribution  from 
their  savings. 

French  Female  Plot  agrainst  a  Clerk. 

A  VERT  elegantly  dressed  lady  once 
entered  one  of  the  most  fashionable 
shops  in  Toulouse,  in  quest  of  some  ar- 
ticles indispensable  for  the  toilette  of  a 
lady  d  la  mode.  A  rich  carriage  waited 
at  the  door,  and  everything  about  the 
lady  was  calculated  to  inspire  the 
greatest  confidence. 

The  shopping  was  soon  done,  and 
the  bill  presented.  "  It  is  well,"  said 
the  lady ;  "  send  one  of  your  clerks 
with  me — he  shall  be  paid,  and  the 
carriage  shall  bring  him  back." 

A  clerk  is  soon  ready ;  the  carriage 
moves  on,  and  after  a  short  ride,  stops 
before  a  large  building.  The  door  is 
opened,  and  the  lady  and  the  clerk 
enter  a  parlor.  After  a  few  minutes' 
delay,  a  gentleman  of  very  respectable 
appearance  enters,  and  receives  them 
cordially. 

"  Take  charge  of  Monsieur — I  will 
soon  return,"  says  the  lady,  and  leaves. 
In  two  minutes  the  noise  of  carriage 
wheels  is  heard. 

The  young  man,  thus  left  alone  with 
the  gentleman,  becomes  impatient,  and 
exclaims : 

"  Pay  me,  if  you  please." 

"  For  what  ?  " 

"For  the  shawls  and  dresses,  you 
know." 

"  Be  not  so  hasty,  my  young  Mend, 
I'll  answer." 

*'  For  what  ? " 

"  For  your  convalescence — calm  your- 
self." 

The  clerk  was  thinking  all  the  time 
that  he  was  speaking  to  the  lady-cus- 
tomer's brother,  when,  in  reality,  he 

was  addressing  Dr.  D ,  a  celebrated 

physician  of  maniacs.  The  lady  had 
made  the  doctor  a  visit  shortly  before 
making   her    bargain — had   consulted 


him,  and  solicited  his  aid  in  favor  of 
her  young  brother,  who  was  mentally 
deranged.  She  had  given  him  a  fuU 
account  of  the  mania  of  this  brother, 
who,  she  said,  believed  himself  to  be 
the  clerk  of  some  merchant,  and  would 
continually  demand  money  for  shawls 
and  dresses,  which  he  had  sold  on  ac- 
count of  his  employer.  Dr.  D ,  be- 
lieving thus  that  he  was  with  a  lunatic, 
treats  him  as  such.  The  clerk  asks  for 
his  money ;  the  doctor  offers  him  a 
room.  At  last  the  young  man  works 
himself  into  a  passion,  and  screams,  in 
despair,  most  fearfully.  This  only  con- 
firms the  doctor's  suspicion,  and  he  is 
contemplating  treating  his  patient  to 
shower  baths,  when  the  clerk  demands 
paper  and  ink,  proposing  to  write  to 
his  employer.  The  doctor  agrees,  think- 
ing to  discover  some  new  symptom. 
The  letter  is  written  and  despatched ; 
half  an  hour  afterward,  the  merchant 
arrives,  and  an  explanation  ensues. 
The  success  of  the  plot  was  up  to  this 
moment  complete.  The  beautiful  lady 
was — nowhere. 


Serious  Bargain  for  a  Clerkship. 

Not  many  months  ago,  a  hop  dealer 
of  the  neighborhood  of  Prague  entered 
the  counting  house  of  a  large  merchant 
of  the  latter  place,  with  whom  he  had 
commercial  relations.  The  latter  asked 
him  how  business  was  going  on,  when 
he  replied  :  "  I  am  doing  so  little  that 
I  am  almost  inclined  to  enter  your  ser- 
vice as  a  clerk."  "  What  salary  would 
you  require  ? "  asked  the  merchant. 
"  Only  two  thousand  florins  a  year," 
replied  the  other,  laughing.  The  mer- 
chant shook  hands  with  him,  saying, 
"That  is  a  bargain."  After  a  little 
further  conversation  the  hop  dealer  re- 
tired, and  neither  one  nor  the  other 
appeared  to  think  any  more  of  the 
matter. 

Six  days  after,  a  considerable  rise 
began  to  take  place  in  hops,  and  the 
merchant  went    to   Saaz,  the    largest 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


683 


market  in  Bohemia,  to  make  purchases, 
and  to  his  annoyance  found  that  the 
dealer  had  got  the  start  of  him,  and 
purchased  all  he  could  find.  Meeting 
the  dealer  in  the  street,  the  merchant 
asked  him  what  hops  he  had  purchas- 
ed, and  the  price.  "  That  is  my  affair," 
was  the  reply.  "  What  do  you  mean 
by  your  affair  ?  You  forget,  then,  that 
you  are  my  clerk,  and  that  I  have  a 
right  to  inquire  what  business  you  trans- 
act on  my  account.  You  are  free  to 
cancel  your  engagement  hereafter,  but 
for  the  present  you  act  for  me." 

The  dealer  went  to  consult  an  advo- 
cate, who  told  him  that  his  engage- 
ment as  a  clerk  was  legally  valid,  and 
that  in  any  case  a  trial  would  be  a 
tedious  affair.  He  then  went  to  the 
merchant,  and  after  a  long  discussion 
agreed  to  pay  four  thousand  florins 
(two  thousand  dollars)  damages  for 
cancelling  his  engagement,  in  order  to 
retain  for  his  own  account  the  profit- 
able speculation  he  had  made.  When 
the  money  had  been  paid,  the  Prague 
merchant  declared  that  he  would  not 
keep  a  farthing  of  it,  and  distributed 
it  among  some  poor  relations  of  the 
dealer. 


Befasal  to  become  Girard's  Cashier ; 
the  IReason  Why. 

GiRAKD  had  a  high  appreciation  of 
the  business  capacity  of  Joseph  L.  In- 
glis — especially  as  an  accurate  and  rap- 
id accountant — as  well  as  undoubting 
confidence  in  his  integrity.  For  his 
strict  religious  character  he  had  not 
the  least  regard.  When  the  cashier  of 
his  bank  died,  he  tendered  the  place  to 
Mr.  Inglis,  who  was  then  clerk  in  an 
insurance  company. 

"  Mr.  Girard,"  was  the  immediate  re- 
ply, "  I  cannot  serve  you."  Mr.  Inglis 
well  knew  that  Girard  had  no  respect 
for  the  Sabbath,  and  that  in  his  service 
he  would  be  called  on  to  post  his  books 
and  attend  to  financial  matters  on  that 
day. 


"  Why  you  not  serve  me  ?  "  said  the 
rich  banker ;  "  I  give  you  more  salary 
than  you  get  now.  It  is  a  better  place. 
Why  you  not  be  my  cashier  ?  " 

"  Mr.  Girard,"  was  the  grave  and  de- 
termined answer,  "  I  appreciate  all 
that;  but  you  and  I  serve  different 
masters,  and  we  never  could  agree." 
Mr.  Girard  understood  the  allusion, 
and  said  no  more. 


Beason  for  Trusting'  a  Clerk. 

The  late  president  of  the  United 
States  Bank  once  dismissed  a  private 
clerk,  because  the  latter  refused  to 
write  for  him  on  the  Sabbath. 

The  young  man,  with  a  mother  de- 
pendent on  his  exertions,  was  thus 
thrown  out  of  employment,  by  what 
some  would  call  an  over-nice  scruple 
of  conscience.  But  a  few  days  after, 
when  the  president  was  requested  to 
nominate  a  cashier  for  another  bank, 
he  recommended  this  very  individual, 
mentioning  this  incident  as  a  sufficient 
testimony  to  his  trustworthiness. 

"  You  can  trust  him,"  said  he,  "  for 
he  would  not  work  for  me  on  the  Sab- 
bath." 


Too  Conscientious  an  Accountant. 

A  CLEHK  in  Boston  was  dismissed 
from  his  place,  because  he  would  not 
become  a  party  to  a  falsification  in  a 
trade,  by  which  refusal  on  his  part  the 
firm  failed  to  secure  several  hundred 
dollars  which  did  not  belong  to  them, 
but  which  they  expected  to  obtain. 
For  this  fidelity  to  truth,  which  ought 
to  have  added  a  hundred  per  cent,  to 
the  estimation  in  which  he  was  held 
by  his  employers,  the  young  man  was 
dismissed  from  his  position.  A  few 
days  afterward,  hearing  of  a  vacant  sit- 
uation, he  applied  for  it.  The  mer- 
chant, who  wished  for  an  accountant, 
asked  if  he  could  refer  him  to  any  in- 
dividual by  whom  he  was  known,  and 
who  would  reconuuend  him  as  an  up- 


684 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


right  young  man.  Conscious  of  his 
uprightness,  he  replied,  "  I  have  just 

been  dismissed   from   Mr.  's,  of 

whom  you  may  inquire.  He  has  tried 
me,  he  has  known  me."  When  applied 
to,  his  former  employer  gave  a  full  and 
free  recommendation,  and  added,  "  He 
was  too  conscientious  about  little 
matters."  This  young  man  is  now  part- 
ner in  a  large  firm  in  Boston,  and  on 
the  hiffh  road  to  honorable  wealth. 


ICisforttine  Tending:  to  Liberality. 

A  WEALTHY  merchant  having  lost, 
by  one  shipwreck,  to  the  value  of  sev- 
enty thousand  dollars,  ordered  his 
clerk  to  distribute  five  hundred  dollars 
among  poor  ministers  and  other  per- 
sons ;  adding,  that  if  his  fortune  was 
going  by  seventy  thousand  dollars  at  a 
lump,  it  was  high  time  to  make  sure 
of  some  part  of  it  before  it  was  gone. 
The  clerk  forthwith  proceeded  to  dis- 
pense that  charity  which  knows  no 
earthly  account  book. 


Shocking:  Ignorance  of  City  Clerks 
Illustrated. 

An  illiterate  deacon,  in  a  certain  town 
adjacent  to  Worcester,  Mass.,  gave  to 
the  coachman  a  slip  of  paper,  upon 
which,  he  said,  were  written  the  names 
of  a  couple  of  books  which  he  wished 
him  to  call  for  at  Mr.  A.'3  bookstore. 
The  driver  called  at  the  store,  and 
handing  the  memorandum  to  a  clerk, 
said,  "  There's  a  couple  of  books  which 
Deacon  B.  wished  you  to  send  him." 
The  clerk,  upon  a  careful  examination 
of  the  paper,  was  unable  to  make 
"  head  or  tail "  of  it,  and  passed  it  to 
the  bookkeeper,  who  was  supposed  to 
know  something  of  letters  ;  but  to  him 
it  was  also  "  Greek."  The  proprietor 
was  called,  and  he  also  gave  the  thing 
up  in  despair ;  and  it  was  finally  con- 
cluded to  send  the  memorandum  back 
to  the  deacon,  as  it  was  supposed  that 
he  must  have  sent  the  wrong  paper. 


As  the  coach  arrived  at  the  village 
inn,  the  driver  saw  the  deacon  waiting 
on  the  steps.  "  Well,  driver,"  said  he, 
"  did  you  get  my  books  to-day  ? " 
"  BooTcs  f  no — and  a  good  reason  why, 
for  there  couldn't  a  man  in  Worcester 
read  your  old  hen-tracks."  "  Couldn't 
read  'ritin'  ?  Let  me  see  the  paper  !  " 
The  driver  drew  it  from  his  pocket, 
and  passed  it  to  the  deacon ;  who, 
taking  out  and  carefully  adjusting  his 
spectacles,  held  the  memorandum  at 
arm's  length,  exclaiming,  as  he  did  so, 
in  a  very  satisfied  tone,  "  Why,  it's  aa 
plain  as  the  nose  on  your  face  ! — '  T  o 
S-A-M  B-u-x — two  psalm  books  ! '  I 
guess  those  city  clerks  had  better  go 
to  school  again ! "  And  here  the 
deacon  muttered  some  impatient  reflec- 
tions upon  the  times  and  of  clerks  in 
particular,  the  want  of  attention  to 
books  by  the  risin'  generation,  &c.,  &c. 


Bank  Clerks  and  their  "Friends." 

Thk  embezzlement  of  bank  funds,  in 
many  cases,  has  either  had  its  origin  in, 
or  been  greatly  aggravated  by  the  folly 
and  vice  of  gambling;  and  this  has 
generally  been  brought  about  by  the 
persuasion  or  the  arts  of  persons  con- 
nected with  gambling  houses.  The 
bank  clerk  or  the  bank  officer,  is  a 
most  promising  victim  in  this  line,  if 
he  can  be  induced  to  make  the  first  ex- 
periment in  such  a  direction ;  and  a 
single  victim  will  reward  many  plans. 
The  following  is  one  instance  of  this 
kind: 

A  paying  teller  accepted  the  invita- 
tion of  a  friend  to  take  a  ride  in  the 
country.  The  farther  end  of  the  ride 
proved  to  be  a  house  frequented  by 
sporting  characters.  He  believed  this 
to  be  accidental — until  a  subsequent 
proposition,  after  an  interval  of  sev- 
eral weeks,  revealed  the  true  character 
and  design  of  his  polite  friend — and 
the  natural  result  followed. 

Thus  inveigled,  this  clerk  or  teller 
practised  fraud  on  a  most  adroit  plan. 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


685 


He  began  by  certifying  a  check  in  ad- 
vance of  the  dealer's  deposit ;  and  on 
the  following  day  certified  another, 
that  it  might  be  negotiated,  and  the 
means  thus  obtained  to  remove  the  first 
out  of  sight ;  to  provide  for  the  second, 
a  third  was  certified — and  so  continu- 
ously on,  the  negotiations  of  one  day 
furnishing  the  means  to  redeem  the 
checks  of  the  day  before.  The  amount 
was  gradually  increased,  until  twelve 
or  fifteen  checks,  for  amounts  between 
four  and  five  thousand  dollars  each,  were 
afloat  in  the  various  channels  of  negotia- 
tion. They  were  drawn  for  irregular 
sums,  that  they  might  "wear  a  business- 
like appearance.  No  entry  was  made 
of  any  of  them  on  the  books,  and  no 
apparent  deficiency  was  caused  in  the 
teller's  daily  cash.  An  examination  of 
his  statement  would  have  developed  no 
clue  to  the  fraud,  which  consisted  en- 
tirely of  floating  certifications.  There 
were  two  confederates  in  the  plan — one 
a  dealer  at  the  bank,  and  the  other  a 
broker  whose  account  had  been  closed 
for  irregularity  several  months  before 
the  exposure  came  about.  As  the  fraud 
could  be  maintained  only  by  a  com- 
plete daily  renewal  and  negotiation  of 
the  whole  of  it,  the  three  met  in  the 
evening  at  the  oflBce  of  the  broker,  and 
the  teller  was  advised  of  the  banks  in 
which  the  checks  had  been  deposited, 
so  that  he  could  lay  aside  those  parti- 
cular exchanges  in  the  morning,  and 
thus  prevent  them  from  passing  into 
the  hands  of  the  assistant  teller.  It 
was  then  also  ascertained  what  amount 
of  checks  must  be  negotiated  on  the 
following  day,  and  they  were  written 
by  the  confederates  and  then  certified 
by  the  paying  teller.  The  develop- 
ments of  the  case  proved  that  this 
process  had  been  carried  on  for  many 
months,  the  amount  gradually  increas- 
ing, until  it  reached  seventy-five  thou- 
sand dollars.  There  had  been,  in  the 
mean  time,  five  or  six  examinations  by 
committees  of  the  directors,  and  the 
usual  certificate  of  accuracy  in  the  ac- 


counts was  recorded.  The  teller  who 
perpetrated  this  fraud  was  a  very  ac- 
complished clerk.  His  self-possession, 
when  all  around  him  was  excitement 
and  hurry,  seemed  to  increase  with  the 
emergency.  He  manifested  an  extraor- 
dinary faculty  for  detecting  the  slight- 
est indications  of  fraudulent  or  dishon- 
orable purpose  in  others,  and  the  bank 
owed  to  him  many  fortunate  escapes 
from  loss  by  the  various  tricks  and  im- 
positions which  are  practised  by  deal- 
ers when  in  extremity.  It  was  subse- 
quently ascertained  that  he  had  been 
a  regular  attendant  at  a  gambling 
house. 

After  the  development  of  the  fraud 
in  question,  several  respectable  dealers 
with  the  bank  came  forward  and  said : 
"  Didn't  you  know  that  that  fellow  was 
a  gambler? — ^why,  I've  known  it  for 
more  than  a  year."  "  Why  didn't  you 
tell  us  of  it  ? "  "  Because  it  wasn't  my 
business." 


Bookkeeping:  in  Former  Times. 

In  the  middle  of  the  last  century  in 
this  country,  as  at  a  somewhat  earlier 
period  in  England,  it  was  not  the  uni- 
versal practice  of  merchants, — except 
those  who  were  in  very  extensive  busi- 
ness,— to  have  a  regular  set  of  books 
kept  by  a  partner  or  clerk.  The  trans- 
actions of  the  day  were  entered  in  a 
waste,  and  once  or  twice  a  week,  ac- 
cording to  the  extent  of  the  business, 
a  professed  bookkeeper,  well  versed  in 
what  were  considered  the  mysteries  of 
his  calling,  came  and  compiled  the 
journal  and  ledger.  It  was  only  in 
the  progress  of  time,  and  at  a  com- 
paratively recent  period,  that  it  was 
deemed  indispensable  to  have  the 
books  wholly  kept  within  the  estab- 
lishment, and  that  the  system  of  double 
entry  was  reduced  substantially  to  its 
present  form.  The  work  of  Booth, 
which  contributed  materially  to  this 
result,  was  published  in  England  sp 
lately  as  1789.  He  had  been  a  practical 


686 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS   ANECDOTES. 


merchant  both  in  London  and  New 
York. 


Keeping:  Accounts  in  Guinea. 

The  Guinea  merchants  give  and 
receive  receipts  for  all  their  goods  in 
writing.  Agreements  of  all  kinds, 
and  promissory  notes,  and  orders, 
from  whom  they  trade,  are  folded 
carefully  and  tied  in  the  corners 
of  their  handkerchiefs.  A  native  trader, 
doing  business  with  ten  or  fifteen  ships 
at  the  same  time,  and  whose  transac- 
tions extend  to  every  article  of  com- 
merce they  have,  has  an  incredible  num- 
ber of  written  documents  or  books  per- 
taining to  his  business,  but  the  wrong 
book  is  never  known  to  be  presented. 


Placing  the  Fen  behind  the  Ear. 

The  practice,  so  general  among  mer- 
chants and  clerks,  of  resting  their  pen 
behind  the  ear,  when  not  in  actual 
use,  is  ancient.  According  to  the  best 
account  concerning  this  matter,  the 
scribes  in  ancient  Egypt  would  clap 
the  reed-pencil  which  they  used  be- 
hind the  ear,  when  listening  to  any 
person  on  business,  as  the  painter  was 
also  in  the  habit  of  doing  when  paus- 
ing to  examine  the  eflFects  of  his  paint- 
ing. In  the  middle  ages,  also,  public 
clerks  and  registrars  were  accustomed 
to  carry  a  pen  behind  the  ear. 


Waste-Book  and  IJedgrer— their 
Meaning:. 
The  waste-book  in  a  counting  room 
is  that  in  which  all  the  transactions  of 
the  day,  receipts,  payments,  etc.,  are 
entered  miscellaneously  as  they  occur, 
and  of  which  no  account  is  imme- 
diately taken,  no  value  immediately 
found ;  whence,  so  to  speak,  the  mass 
of  affairs  is  undigested,  and  the  wilder- 
ness or  waste  is  uncultivated,  and  with- 
out result  until  entries  are  methodically 
made  in  the  day-book  and  liedger,  with- 
out which  latter  appliances  there  would, 


in  business  dealings,  and  in  bookkeep- 
ing, be  waste  indeed,  in  the  worst  sense 
of  the  term. 

Another  explanation  of  this  term  may 
be  found  in  the  following:  The  mer- 
chant's system  of  bookkeeping  was  not 
invented  perfect.  Thus,  in  many  re- 
spectable shops,  in  the  country  espe- 
cially, these  waste-books  formerly  con- 
sisted of  a  quire  or  two  of  the  com- 
monest paper  used  in  the  trade  there 
carried  on,  that  would  bear  pen  and 
ink,  sewed  together.  An  advance  upon 
this  was  the  waste-book  as  a  distinct 
book,  bound  and  ruled,  of  which  the 
day-book  or  journal  is  merely  a  fair 
copy ;  and  this  being  made,  the  former 
is  held  of  no  account.  The  word 
"  ledger  "  is  of  Dutch  derivation,  sig- 
nifying a  book  that  lies  in  the  count- 
ing house  permanently  in  one  place. 
The  word  "  day-book  "  explains  itself. 


Cost  of  a  Nap  on  the  Iiede:er. 

It  was  a  hot  sultry  day  in  the  latter 
part  of  August,  a  day  truly  worthy  of 
New  York ;  the  dirt  in  the  streets, 
which  had  been  swept  into  little  heaps, 
was  scattered  about  by  the  cart  wheels 
and  found  its  way  into  every  nook  and 
crevice, — a  day  which  makes  merchants' 
clerks  wish  for  a  mouthful  of  pure  air 
and  a  cool  draught  of  that  which 
"  drips  from  the  old  oaken  bucket." 

In  the  afternoon  of  this  very  day, 
there  might  have  been  seen  in  the 
counting  room  of  Messrs.  Shaver  & 
Skinem — if  that  be  the  correct  read- 
ing of  the  sign, — a  pale,  sickly  looking 
young  man,  about  twenty  years  of 
age ;  he  is  bending  over  a  large  ledger, 
but  he  soon  closes  it,  and  resting  his 
head  upon  his  hand  he  gazes  at  the 
cover,  but  he  does  not  see  it,  for  his 
thoughts  are  far  away  on  the  banks  of 
the  Hudson. 

"  I  wish  I  was  at  home — he  solilo- 
quizes. Brother  John  must  be  driving 
the  cows  from  pasturing,  and  the  boys 
collecting  the  sheep  from  the  hills,  and 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


687 


the  fowls  going  to  roost  on  the  old 
pear  tree,  and  the  whippoorwill  singing 
his  clear  song  on  the  cow-yard  fence. 
I  wish  I  was  there."  Now  his  head 
has  fallen  on  the  ledger,  and  wearied 
by  incessant  toil  he  has  sunk  into  a 
quiet  slumber.  It  will  take  many  hours 
of  railroad  travel  to  reach  the  destina- 
tion of  his  thoughts,  for  they  are  far, 
far  away  from  the  city. 

Look !  something  more  than  a 
shadow  glides  in  at  the  doors, 
cautiously  imlocks  a  drawer  of  the 
safe,  and  takes  therefrom  something 
that  looks  very,  like  a  five-hundred- 
dollar  bank  note — he  closes  the  drawer, 
locks  it,  and  glides  out  so  quick,  so 
noiselessly,  that  he  disturbed  nothing ; 
and  the  clerk,  all  unconsciously,  still 
sleeps  on. 

Suddenly  he  wakes  with  a  convul- 
sive start,  but  he  soon  resumes  his  usual 
composure ;  he  puts  the  book  into  the 
safe,  locks  it,  and  calling  to  the  porter, 
who  is  on  the  next  floor  above,  he  tells 
him  he  can  close  the  office  now  for  he 
is  going  home.  Home,  indeed  1  A  home 
from  necessity — a  boarding  house. 

The  next  day  he  is  looked  at  with  a 
suspicious  eye  by  Messrs.  Shaver  & 
Skinem,  and  in  the  afternoon  a  gentle- 
man with  a  star  on  his  breast  walks 
into  the  office  and  presents  a  warrant 
for  the  arrest  of  Christopher  Call,  clerk 
with  Messrs.  Shaver  &  Skinem,  charged 
with  grand  larceny.  That  night  he 
sleeps  in  the  Tombs — Tombs  for  the 
living,  not  for  the  dead,  though  there 
are  deaths  there  very  often.  He  is 
tried — pleading  not  guilty ;  he  looked 
so  thin  and  pale,  and  his  voice  was  so 
hollow,  but  clear  and  distinct,  that  it 
is  said  that  he  haunted  the  court-room 
for  months  afterward.  Yet  he  was 
acquitted.  That  night  he  was  thunder- 
ing along  the  railroad,  and  early  the 
next  morning  he  was — at  home.  But 
he  was  sick,  yes,  very  sick,  for  more 
than  a  month  after.  But  he  at  last  re- 
gained his  health.  He  never  entered 
into  mercantile  life  again,  but  he  com- 


menced farming,  and  became  a  wealthy 
and  much  respected  farmer  in  the 
vicinity  of  Hudson. 


The  Prose  of  Shopkeepinsr  set  to 
Poetry. 

"  She  stood  beside  the  counter. 

The  day  he'll  ne'er  forget ; 
She  thought  the  muslin  dearer 

Than  any  she'd  seen  yet. 
He  watched  her  playful  fingers 

The  silks  and  satins  toss ; — 
The  clerk  looked  quite  uneasy. 

And  nodded  to  the  boss.  ' 

'  Show  me  some  velvet  ribbon, 

Barege  and  satin  turc,' 
She  said ;  *  I  want  to  purchase  ! ' 

Then  gave  the  goods  a  jerk ; 
The  clerk  was  all  obedience — 

He  travelled  '  on  his  shape ; ' 
At  length,  with  hesitation. 

She  bought — a  yard  of  tape  !  " 


Scissors  vs.  Shears. 

"  Is  that  the  lowest  you  can  take  for 
these  lawns,  Mr.  Scissors  ? " 

"  Yes,  Miss,  the  very  least,  and  a  bar- 
gain they  are  too ;  I  bought  them  at 
auction,  where  they  were  closed  out  at 
a  great  sacrifice,  and  I  offer  them  to  you 
preciaely  at  costy 

"  But  I  saw  the  same  goods  at  Shears 
&  Co.'s  at  five  cents  a  yard  less." 

"  Not  the  same  goods  at  all,  ma'am ; 
theirs  are  steam  colors,  quite  an  imita- 
tion article,  and  not  near  so  wide  as 
this ! " 

The  lady,  being  timid  on  the  point 
of  colors,  is  at  last  persuaded  to  pay 
the  price ;  and^the  shopkeeper  pockets 
his  fifteen  per  cent,  profit  with  as  much 
complacency  as  if  he  had  only  drawn 
out  his  purse  to  give  a  dollar  in 
charity.  ^ 

Obtaininer  a  Clerkship  in  a  Banking: 
House. 

Mb.  Lawson,  one  of  the  most  reada- 
ble  English    authors    on  money  and 


688 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


finance,  has  given  a  sketchy  account  of 
his  first  connection  with  the  banking 
fraternity.  On  visiting  Lombard  street 
one  day,  to  get  a  shilling  changed  into 
pennies,  he,  impelled  by  some  unknown 
and  indefinable  influence,  boldly  ven- 
tured into  the  office  of  one  of  the 
largest  banking  houses  in  that  noted 
locality.  What  took  place,  he  thus 
narrates : — 

I  looked  about  me,  but  nobody  ap- 
peared to  take  any  notice.  I  saw 
young  men  standing  behind  long 
counters,  weighing  gold  and  silver  in 
scales.  I  stood  there  for  some  time, 
watching  the  tellers,  and  inwardly 
admiring  the  magnificence  of  the 
money-changers ;  at  last  I  said  to  one 
of  them,  "Pray,  sir,  do  you  want  a 
clerk?"  He  answered  sharply,  "Who 
told  you  that  we  wanted  a  clerk  ?  "  I 
replied,  "  Nobody  told  me  so,  but, 
having  recently  left  school,  I  am  desir- 
ous of  getting  some  employment.  I 
am  living  with  my  mother,  who  cannot 
afford  to  keep  me  idle  at  home,  and 
what  to  do,  I  know  not." 

Whether  the  teller  was  struck  with 
the  novelty  of  the  application,  or  the 
reason  I  adduced  for  making  it,  I  never 
could  discover.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that, 
after  waiting  about  ten  minutes,  I  was 
requested  to  walk  into  the  partners' 
room. 

On  my  entering  this  sanctum  sancto- 
rum, I  perceived  three  persons  sitting 
at  a  table.  One  was  a  venerable  and 
amiable  looking  old  gentleman,  the 
head  of  the  firm ;  the  others  were 
younger.  One  of  the  latter,  the  junior 
partner,  addressed  me,  putting  the 
question  the  teller  had  done;  and, 
nothing  daunted,  I  gave  the  same  an- 
swer, adding,  "I  do  not  like  to  be 
beholden  to  my  friends  for  my  support, 
if  I  can  anyhow  get  my  own  living." 

"  A  very  praiseworthy  determina- 
tion," he  said ;  "  and  how  old  are  you, 
™y  boy,  and  how  long  have  you  been 
from  school  ?  "  Having  satisfied  him 
upon  these  points,  he  continued  his 


queries,  asking  what  sort  of  a  hand  I 
wrote.  "  A  very  good  one,"  I  replied, 
"  at  least  so  my  master  used  to  say ;  " 
and  at  the  same  time  pulling  out  my 
school  copy-book,  which  I  had  been 
thoughtful  enough  to  put  in  my  pocket, 
I  displayed  it  before  them.  "  Aye,"  he 
said,  "  that  is  very  good  writing ;  but 
can  you  get  any  one  to  be  security  for 
you  ?  "  I  said  at  once,  and  without  the 
least  hesitation,  "  Yes,  sir."  This  reply 
was  made  without  my  having  at  that 
time  the  remotest  idea  what  the  term 
security  meant,  as  applied  in  the  sense 
in  which  he  used  it.  I  gave  him  the 
name  of  a  gentleman,  who  I  said  would 
no  doubt  do  what  was  required ;  I  also 
gave  him  the  name  of  the  steward  of 
Christ's  Hospital. 

Inquiries  were  made  of  these  gentle- 
men, which  proving  satisfactory,  I 
received  on  the  following  Wednesday 
a  visit  from  the  gentleman  at  the  bank- 
ing house  whom  I  had  accosted  on  my 
first  entering,  and  who  on  this  occasion 
said  he  was  very  happy  to  be  the  bearer 
of  the  intelligence  that  I  had  been  ap- 
pointed to  a  clerkship  in  the  banking 
house  of  Barclay,  Tritton,  Bevan  &  Co., 
and  that  I  was  to  commence  the  duties 
of  my  office  on  the  following  morning. 
"  Your  salary,"  he  added,  *'  will  be 
seventy  pounds  per  annum."  This  was 
indeed  a  most  agreeable  and  joyful  piece 
of  information,  and  such  as  I  had  no~ 
reason  to  expect.  I  accordingly  made 
my  appearance  at  the  office  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning,  which  but  a  week 
before  I  had  entered  a  wandering 
stranger.  I  remained  in  the  house 
fifteen  years,  when  the  love  of  change 
operating  upon  an  active  mind,  induced 
me  to  leave  the  bank,  and  seek  for  more 
enlivening  scenes. 


Wife  of  a  Kercliant's  Clerk. 

A  mekchant's  clerk,  of  the  Rue 
Hautville,  took  it  into  his  head  to  get 
married.  His  master  had  a  niece  of 
Spanish  birth,  an  orphan — ^not  pretty, 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


689 


though  very  sensible  and  well  inform- 
ed. At  the  balls,  during  the  winter, 
little  or  no  attention  was  paid  to  her ; 
indeed,  she  seemed  to  atteud  them 
rather  as  a  whim  than  from  inclination 
or  amusement,  as  she  seldom  danced. 
But  if  she  did  not  dance,  she  noticed 
much,  and  listened  to  more.  The  clerk 
soon  observed  that  the  lady  was  only 
invited  to  dance  when  no  other  partner 
could  be  obtained.  She  herself  had 
already  noticed  the  same  fact.  Being 
a  gallant  man,  he  acted  accordingly. 
The  incidents  that  led  to  the  denouement 
may  be  easily  divined.  In  six  weeks 
after  his  first  dance  with  the  fair  Span- 
iard, he  obtained  her  permission  to  ask 
her  uncle  for  her  hand  in  marriage. 
He,  astonished,  gave  his  clerk's  pro- 
posal a  very  cool  reception,  and  then 
had  a  long  interview  with  his  niece. 
Finally,  however,  all  was  arranged,  and 
the  lovers  were  married  on  Tuesday. 
The  Thursday  after,  at  breakfast,  Ade- 
line said  to  her  husband,  who  exhibited 
considerable  chagrin  at  being  compelled 
to  return  to  the  duties  of  his  office  thus 
early  in  the  honeymoon  : 

"Very  well — don't  go  there — go 
there  no  more  1 " 

"  My  love,  it  is  very  easy  to  say  so, 
but"— 

"  Easy  to  say  and  easy  to  do — ^both. 
I  have  a  million  and  a  half.  Nobody 
knows  it  but  my  uncle.  I  always  made 
a  point  of  forgetting  it  myself,  because 
I  wished  to  choose  a  really  disinterested 
husband.  There  need  be  no  more  office- 
work  for  you,  if  you  do  not  wish  it. 
Tet  still,  my  advice  is,  husband,  that 
you  neglect  nothing."  It  is  rather  to 
be  feared,  that  notwithstanding  the 
advice  of  "  my  love,"  the  revelation  of 
her  "  million  and  a  half"  caused  him 
to  "  spread  "  somewhat. 


•    Ben  liippincott,  Girard's  Clerk. 

Mr.  Oirard  had  a  favorite  clerk,  and 
he  always  said  "  he  intended  to  do  well 
by  Ben  Lippincott,"     So    when   Ben 
44 


got  to  be  twenty-one,  he  expected  to 
hear  the  governor  say  something  of  his 
future  prospects,  and  perhaps  lend  a 
helping  hand  in  starting  him  in  the 
world.  But  the  old  fox  carefully  avoid- 
ed the  subject.  Ben  mustered  courage. 
"I  suppose  I  am  free,  sir,"  said  he, 
"  and  I  thought  I  would  say  something 
to  you  as  to  my  course ;  what  do  you 
think  I  would  better  do  ? '  "  Yes,  yes, 
I  know  you  are,"  said  the  old  milUon- 
naire,  "  and  my  advice  is  that  you  go 
and  learn  the  cooper's  trade."  Thia 
application  of  ice  nearly  froze  Ben  out, 
but  recovering  equilibrium,  he  said  if 
Mr,  Girard  was  in  earnest,  he  would  do 
so.  *'  I  am  in  earnest ;  "  and  Ben  sought 
the  best  cooper  in  Spring  Garden,  be- 
came an  apprentice,  and  in  due  time 
could  make  as  good  a  barrel  as  the 
best.  He  announced  to  old  Stephen 
that  he  had  graduated,  and  was  ready 
to  set  up  business.  The  old  man 
seemed  gratified,  and  immediately  or- 
dered three  of  the  best  barrels  he  could 
turn  out.  Ben  did  his  prettiest,  and 
wheeled  them  up  to  the  old  man's 
counting  room.  Old  Girard  pro- 
nounced them  first  rate,  and  demanded 
the  price.  "  One  dollar,"  said  Ben, 
"  is  now  as  low  as  I  can  live  by." 
"  Cheap  enough — make  out  your  bill." 

The  bill  was  made  out,  and  "  old 
Steve"  settled  it  with  a  check  for 
$20,000,  which  he  accompanied  with 
this  little  moral  to  the  story : — 

"There,  take  that,  and  invest  it  in 
the  best  possible  manner,  and  if  you 
are  unfortunate  and  lose  it,  you  have  a 
good  trade  to  fall  back  upon,  which 
will  aflFord  you  a  good  living." 


Sample  Clerk  wtmted  in  a  Draff  Store. 

Jem  B.  is  a  wag.  A  joke  to  Jem  is 
both  food  and  raiment ;  and  whenever 
and  wherever  there  is  an  opening  for 
fun,  he  "  goes  into  "  it. 

Jem  was  recently  in  a  "drug  store, 
when  a  youth,  apparently  fiesh  from 
the  "mounting,"  entered  the  store,  and 


690 


COMMERCIAL   AND   BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


at  once  accosted  Jem,  stating  that  he 
was  in  search  of  a  job. 

"  What  kind  of  a  job  ?  "  inquired  the 
wag. 

"  Oh,  a'most  anything — I  want  to  git 
a  kind  of  a  ginteel  job ;  I'm  tired  o' 
farmin',  an'  kin  turn  my  hand  to  most 
anything." 

"  Well,  we  want  a  man — a  good, 
strong,  healthy  man,  as  sample  clerk." 

"  What's  the  wages  ?  " 

"  Wages  are  goW ;  we  pay  $1,000  to 
a  man  in  that  situation." 

"  What's  a  feller  have  to  do  ? " 

"  Oh,  merely  to  test  medicines,  that's 
all.  It  requires  a  stout  man,  one  of 
good  constitution,  and  after  he  gets 
used  to  it,  he  doesn't  mind  it.  You  see, 
we  are  very  particular  about  the  qual- 
ity of  our  medicines,  and  before  we  sell 
any,  we  test  every  parcel.  You  would 
be  required  to  take — say,  six  or  seven 
ounces  of  castor  oil  some  days,  with  a 
few  doses  of  rhubarb,  aloes,  croton  oil, 
and  similar  preparations.  Some  days 
you  would  not  be  required  to  test  any- 
thing ;  but,  as  a  general  thing,  you  can 
count  upon — say,  from  six  to  ten  doses 
of  aomething  daily.  As  to  the  work, 
that  does  not  amount  to  much — the 
testing  departn^nt,  simply,  would  be 
the  principal  lat>or  required  of  you; 
and,  as  I  said  before,  it  requires  a  per- 
son of  very  healthy  organization  to  en- 
dure it,  but  you  look  hearty  and  I  guess 
you  would  suit  us.  That  young  man 
(pointing  to  a  very  pale-faced,  slim- 
looking  youth,  who  happened  to  be  pres- 
ent) has  filled  the  post  for  the  past  two 
weeks,  but  he  is  hardly  stout  enough  to 
stand  it.  We  should  like  to  have  you 
take  right  hold,  if  you  are  ready,  and  if 
you  say  so,  we'll  begin  to-day.  Here  is 
a  new  barrel  of  castor  oil  just  come  in; 
I'll  go  and  draw  an  ounc&^' 

Here  verdant,  who  had  oeen  gazing 
intently  upon  the  slim  youth,  inter- 
rupted him  with— 

"N-no,  no,  I  g-u-ess  not,  not  to- 
day, anyhow.  I'll  go  down  and  see 
my  aunt;  and  ef  I  o'clude  to  come, 


I'll    come   up  termorrer  an'  let   you 
know." 

He  has  not  yet  turned  up. 


Saying  of  an  Old  Uerchant. 

A  DiSTiNGinsHED  merchant,  long  ac- 
customed to  extensive  observation  and 
experience,  and  who  had  gained  an  un- 
common knowledge  of  men,  said: 
"  When  I  see  one  of  my  apprentices  or 
clerks  riding  out  on  the  Sabbath,  on 
Monday  I  dismiss  him.  Such  an  one 
cannot  be  trusted."  There  is  many  a 
clerk,  compelled  to  post  accounts  on 
Sunday,  who  would  be  glad  of  just  such 
an  employer. 

» 

liOdy's  Portrait  of  a  Dry  GtKids  Clerk. 

A  liADY — somewhat  querulous,  but, 
as  is  generally  the  case,  au  fait  in  mat- 
ters of  shopping — thus  limns,  or,  per- 
haps we  should  say,  lama  the  clerks : — 
Some  stores  in  —  street  (she  says)  are 
noted  and  avoided,  for  the  imperti- 
nently familiar  manner  which  the 
clerks  think  proper  to  adopt  toward 
their  lady  customers.  When  a  lady 
goes  into  a  store  in  search  of  some 
article  that  she  is  in  want  of^  as  soon 
as  the  gentleman  sees  her,  he  comes 
forward,  makes  a  grimace,  pulls  up  his 
collar,  runs  his  fingers  through  his  hair, 
and  assumes  an  air  of  easy  familiarity 
that  is  quite  refreshing  to  look  upon. 
It  is  true  he  may  not  have  much  sense, 
but  then  he  has  a  wealth  of  smiles ;  in- 
deed, to  listen  to  his  conversation  with 
his  victimized  customer,  a  bystander 
might  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
was  proprietor  of  the  establishment, 
and  the  lady  had  made  the  article  in 
question  a  mere  excuse  for  a  morning 
call.  This  is  annoying,  though  in  such 
a  case,  ono  can  leave  the  article,  and 
walk  out ;  but  there  is  one  retail  store 
in  this  city  that  is  a  perfect  trap — once 
in  it,  it  is  impossible  to  get  out ;  if  the 
article  does  not  suit  you,  you  are  wor- 
ried and  talked  at ;  if  you  attempt  to 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


691 


move  toward  the  door,  you  are  run 
after  and  brought  back;  if  you  tax 
your  genius  to  give  a  most  unmistaka- 
bly minute  description  of  what  you  do 
want,  the  reply  is,  "  Oh,  yes,  madam, 
in  the  back  store — if  you  will  walk 
back,  we  have  exactly  the  article  you 
describe."  And  so,  instead  of  your 
getting  out,  they  really  get  you  further 
in ;  after  looking  about  on  the  shelves, 
they  profess  to  have  found  the  object 
of  their  search,  and  down  comes  the 
very  opposite  of  anything  you  ever 
wished  to  possess.  After  making  half 
a  dozen  fruitless  attempts  to  reach  the 
street  door,  and  being  each  time  perse- 
veringly  caught  and  brought  back,  you 
give  it  up,  and  become  submissive  and 
willing  to  buy  anything  they  wish  you 
to,  making  at  the  same  time  a  firm  re- 
solve— as  you  see  your  money  going 
for  the  things  that  are  not  what  you 
want — that  if  you  live  to  be  the  senior 
of  Methuselah,  you  will  never  enter 
that  store  again. 


Beward  of  Promptness  in  a  mer- 
chant's Clerk. 

A  TOTING  man  who  had  just  com- 
menced life  as  a  clerk,  was  one  day  told 
by  his  employer,  "Now,  to-morrow, 
that  cargo  of  cotton  must  be  got  out 
and  weighed,  and  we  must  have  a  reg- 
ular account  of  it." 

He  was  a  young  man  of  energy,  and 
this  was  the  first  time  he  had  been  in- 
trusted to  superintend  the  examination 
of  such  work.  He  made  his  arrange- 
ments over  night,  spoke  to  the  drivers 
about  their  teams  and  horses,  and,  re- 
solving to  commence  very  early  in  the 
morning,  he  instructed  the  usual  gang 
of  laborers  to  be  on  hand  at  half  past 
four  o'clock.    All  right ! 

His  employer  comes  in  at  the  usual 
business  hour,  and  seeing  him  sitting 
in  the  counting-room,  looks  very  black, 
— supposes  that  his  commands  had  not 
been  executed. 

"  I  thought,"  said  the  master,  "  you 


were  requested  to  get  out  that  cargo  of 
cotton  this  morning  ?  " 

"  It  is  all  done,  sir,"  said  the  young 
man,  *'  and  here  is  the  account  of  it." 

Need  it  be  said  that  that  clerk  soon 
became  as  important  a  man  as  any  in 
that  firm,  and  that  he  accumulated  an 
ample  fortune  ? 


Cliarles  Lamb  as  a  Clezk. 

Who,  says  an  American  traveller,  has 
not  heard  of  the  great  East  India  House 
in  London,  which  controls  so  many  mil- 
lions of  people  and  of  money,  and  where 
Lamb,  of  topmost  literary  &me,  used  to 
"  post  ? "  We  cared  not,  however,  for 
its  wealth  or  fame,  when  we  entered  its 
dusty  corridors,  so  full  were  we  of  other 
memories — of  clever  Charlie,  the  hu- 
morous clerk. 

After  a  tedious  ramble  among  the 
heroes  of  the  ledger,  some  of  whom 
were  Lamb's  successors  in  the  dignities 
and  emoluments  of  oflfice,  we  eventually 
stumbled  upon  a  son  of  his  executor, 
who  greeted  us  with  English  courtesy, 
and  good  naturedly  chatted  about  his 
father's  friend.  He  related  many  anec- 
dotes ;  not  otherwise  noteworthy  than 
as  proving  that  the  nersonal  recollec- 
tions of  our  author  were  still  perpetu- 
ated. He  sometimes  came  late  to 
business,  and  when  cautioned  by  his 
worthy  superior,  would  dryly  answer : 
"  Oh !  I'll  make  it  up  by  leaving  ear- 
Uer." 

,  As  Lamb  never  married,  the  East 
India  Company,  after  his  demise,  kindly 
settled  upon  his  sister  the  "Widow's 
Portion  "  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds  a  year.  In  the  register  for  the 
"  Home  Department "  of  the  Company, 
the  clerk,  after  erasing  Lamb's  name, 
made  the  usual  annotation,  that  he  was 
"  to  retire  upon  a  pension  of  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  pounds  per  annum," 

The  accountants'  apartment,  which 
Lamb  occupied,  is  rather  gloomy.  His 
old  companions  of  the  establishment 
said  he  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  a 


692 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


good-natured,  odd  little  fellow,  fonder 
of  holidays  than  of  hard  work. 


Bemarkable  Discemment  of  SCercan- 
tile  Character. 

There  was  once  a  London  merchant 
who  was  remarkable  for  his  intuitive 
discernment  of  the  character  of  business 
men  and  their  clerks.  After  passing 
through  the  store  of  a  friend,  on  a  cer- 
tain occasion,  he  said :  "  Where  did 
you  get  that  young  man  ?  "  The  infor- 
mation was  given.  "  I  would  not  keep 
him  for  a  day."  "  Why  ?  He  is  a  very 
clever  young  man."  "  Yes,  he  is  clever 
enough ;  but  he  is  a  rogue."  "  Well, 
certainly,  1  have  seen  nothing  wrong 
about  him,  and  I  never  yet  saw  his 
equal  behind  the  counter."  "  Very 
well ;  I  tell  you  I  would  not  keep  him 
an  hour,  and  you  will  find  it  out  yet." 
"But  I  can't  dismiss  him  without 
cause,  and  he  has  given  me  no  cause." 
The  merchant  insisted  to  the  last  on 
his  estimate  of  the  young  man,  and, 
after  leaving,  told  a  mutual  friend  that 
a  very  improper  young  man  was  clerk 
in  such  a  man's  shop — he  was  sure  of 
it.  His  discernment  was  so  well  known, 
that  the  yoimg  shopman  had  now  his 
employer's  eye  upon  him  with  restless 
vigilance.  It  was  not  long  before  he 
was  detected  stealing  money — a  result 
which  perhaps  would  not  have  occurred, 
had  the  "  discerning  merchant "  put  a 
friendly  word  into  the  clerk's  ear  in- 
stead of  a  suspicious  one  into  his  em- 
ployer's. 


Singrolar  Mode  of  Keepinsr  Accctrnts 
in  a  Fair  of  Boots. 

An  old  tradesman  used  to  keep  his 
accounts  in  a  singular  maimer.  He 
hung  up  two  boots,  one  on  each  side 
of  the  chimney ;  into  one  of  these  he  put 
all  the  money  he  received,  and  into  the 
other  all  the  receipts  and  vouchers  for 
the  money  he  paid.  At  the  end  of  the 
year,  or  whenever  he  wanted  to  make 


up  his  accounts,  he  emptied  the  boots, 
and  by  counting  their  several  and  re- 
spective contents,  he  was  enabled  to 
make  a  balance,  perhaps  with  as  much 
regularity,  and  as  little  trouble,  as  any 
bookkeeper  in  the  country. 


Quaker  Investigration  of  Accounts. 

When  public  suspicion  had  seriously 
set  down  upon  the  method  of  keeping 
and  rendering  his  accounts  pursued  by 
Mr.  Hudson,  the  English  railway  mon- 
arch, an  official  inquiry  was  instituted, 
and  Mr.  H.  was  obliged  to  descend 
from  his  iron  throne  and  "  walk  up  to 
the  ledger." 

"  George  Hudson,"  said  Mr.  Cash, 
the  chairman  of  the  committee,  and  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
"  Wilt  thou  take  a  seat  ?  As  thou  hast 
the  financial  department  of  this  com- 
pany under  thy  especial  control,  thou 
art  required  to  answer  a  few  questions 
which  the  committee  will  put  to  thee. 
Didst  thou  ever,  after  the  accountant 
had  made  up  the  yearly  accounts,  alter 
any  of  the  figures  ?  " 

Mr.  Hudson,  in  a  subdued  tone,  an- 
swered, after  a  few  moments'  hesita- 
tion, "  Well,  I  may  perhaps  have  add- 
ed a  thousand  or  two  to  the  next  ac- 
count," 

"Didst  thou  ever  add  £10,000?" 
continued  Mr.  Cash. 

"  Ten  thousand !  that  is  a  large  sum." 

"It  is  a  large  sum,  and  that  is  the 
reason  why  I  put  the  question  to  thee. 
Wilt  thou  give  the  committee  an  an- 
swer, yea  or  nay  ? " 

Mr.  Hudson,  in  a  very  depressed 
tone,  and  evidently  much  embarrassed, 
replied :  "I  cannot  exactly  say  what 
may  have  been  the  largest  sum  I  car- 
ried to  the  following  account." 

"  Perhaps,  George  Hudson,  thou 
couldst  inform  the  committee  whether 
thou  ever  carried  to  the  next  account 
so  large  a  sum  as  £40,000." 

"  Oh,  I  should  think  not  bo  large  a 
sum  as  that  1 " 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


693 


"  But  art  thou  quite  sure  thou  never 
didst  ? " 

Here  again  the  deposed  monarch  of 
the  railway  kingdom  showed  consid- 
erable embarrassment,  on  which  his 
Quaker  inquisitor  did  not  further  press 
the  question  ;  and  putting  the  interrog- 
atories, upon  a  sheet  of  paper,  into  his 
hand,  observed,  with  a  dry  noncha- 
lance which  seemed  almost  to  petrify 
the  former  chairman  of  the  company  : 

"  George  Hudson,  take  the  questions 
home  with  thee,  and  send  written  an- 
swers to  the  committee  at  thy  earliest 
convenience." 


Perplexities  of  Mercantile  Correspon- 
dence. 

A  MEKCHANT  of  Mobile,  Ala.,  wrote 
an  important  business  letter  to  a  gen- 
tleman in  Mississippi,  and  in  due  course 
of  time  he  received  a  letter  with  his 
own  signature  cut  out  and  pasted  on 
the  envelope.  In  the  letter  which  was 
enclosed,  the  writer  stated  that  he  had 
received  the  Mobile  merchant's  com- 
munication, but  did  not  know  who  was 
the  writer  nor  a  word  that  was  written 
in  it,  and  that  his  only  expedient  for 
finding  out  the  author  was  to  cut  out 
the  signature  and  use  it  as  the  address, 
with  the  hope  that  the  postmaster  in 
Mobile  might  be  able  to  do  more  by  it 
than  he  had.  An  instance  is  also  re- 
lated, of  an  American  merchant  being 
actually  obliged  to  go  to  Europe  in 
person,  because  of  his  inability  to  make 
out  certain  paragraphs  in  an  important 
letter  which  he  had  received  from  his 
commercial  agent  abroad. 


••Old  Salles,"  the  Silk  Buyer,  and  Mr. 
Bayard's  Clerks. 

There  was  some  years  ago,  says  the 
writer  of  those  piquant  sketches,  "  The 
Old  Merchants  of  New  York,"  a  famous 
man  named  Salles.  He  was  always 
spoken  of  as  "  Old  Salles."  He  was  a 
glove  maker  by  profession.    He  had  in 


that  business  a  partner  named  Ton- 
nelly.  The  Tonnelly  estate,  near  the 
Sixth  avenue,  takes  its  name  from  him. 
They  made  the  old-fashioned  deer-skin 
suspender,  and  after  Salles  dissolved 
partnership,  Tonnelly  carried  on  busi- 
ness in  the  old  slow  but  sure  way. 

Old  Salles  was  a  plain  man ;  in  fact, 
those  who  can  now  recall  him  to  mem- 
ory, must  say  he  was  very  slovenly  in 
his  appearance.  He  appeared  to  be  a 
poor  man.  On  one  occasion,  about  the 
time  of  the  war,  Le  Roy,  Bayard  &  Co., 
had  one  of  their  fast  clippers  arrive. 
She  had  escaped  capture,  and  brought 
in  a  large  quantity  of  silks.  The  value 
was  immense.  At  that  time  the  count- 
ing room  of  Le  Roy,  Bayard  &  Co.  was 
in  Washington  street.  William  Bayard 
knew  old  Salles  by  sight,  but  to  the 
clerTcs  he  was  not  known.  At  that  time 
old  Mr.  Salles  was  a  great  shaver  of 
notes,  but  it  is  certain  he  never  would 
shave  higher  than  seven  per  cent,  per 
annum,  the  legal  interest  of  the  State. 

When  the  clipper  arrived,  old  Mr. 
Salles  went  down  to  the  office  of  Le  Roy 
&  Co.  He  was  a  capital  judge  of  silks. 
There  was  no  better  in  the  city.  He 
asked  the  young  salesman  to  show  him 
the  samples.  He  did  so.  Old  Salles 
selected  lot  after  lot,  amounting  to 
thousands  of  dollars.  The  clerks 
thought  him  crazy.  Finally  he  stopped, 
and  the  bill  was  made  out.  "  Send  the 
goods  to  mine  shtore,  and  I  vil  pay  de 
bill,"  said  old  Salles.  The  clerks  laugh- 
ed, and  old  Mr.  Salles  left,  and  went  to 
get  his  dinner.  He  boarded  in  Pearl 
street,  and  took  his  meals  under  the  old 
Tontine  Coffee  House.  He  was  a  terri- 
ble eater,  and  dreaded  by  all  private 
boarding-house  or  hotel  keepers.  He 
ate  three  plates  of  turkey,  and  other 
things  in  proportion,  at  a  meal. 

When  it  was  three  o'clock,  the  time 
for  the  goods  he  had  bought  of  Le  Roy, 
Bayard,  «fc  Co.,  to  be  at  his  store,  old 
Salles  ^ent  there.  No  silks  had  come. 
Down  he  went  to  the  office  of  Le  Roy, 
Bayard,  &  Co. 


694 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


"Did  I  not  buy  goods  here?"  he 
asked. 

"  Yes,  but  we  want  pay  !  "  said  the 
clerk.  But  at  this  moment  Mr.  Bayard 
came  in,  and  Mr.  Salles  narrated  what 
had  occurred. 

"You  shall  have  the  goods  imme- 
diately, Mr.  Salles."  The  clerk  started ; 
but  the  silks  were  sent  round  to  Sdles's 
store,  and  he  gave  a  check  for  them. 

The  next  time  that  a  vessel  of  Le  Roy, 
Bayard  &  Co.  came  in,  Salles  was  sent 
for,  and  again  he  purchased  the  entire 
cargo.  He  made  a  monstrous  amount 
of  money  in  such  purchases.  Old  Salles 
would  resell  to  King  &  Mead  (the  A. 
T.  Stewart  of  1812),  the  largest  dry 
goods  jobbers  in  America,  and  other 
retail  dealers. 


Best  Part  of  a  Grocer's  Business. 

"  Well,  Augustus,  you  have  been  ap- 
prentice three  months,  and  have  got 
some  idea  of  the  several  departments 
of  your  trade ;  I  wish  to  give  you  a 
choice  of  occupation."  Apprentice, — 
"Thank  'ee."  Grocer,— " Well,  now, 
what  part  of  the  business  do  you  like 
best  ?  "  Augustus  (with  a  sharpness 
beyond  his  years) — "  Shuttin'  up,  sir  I " 


Betty  Starkey  and  Coutts's  Clerk. 

It  is  well  known  that  Thomas 
Coutts,  richest  among  all  the  bankers 
of  his  day,  selected  for  his  wife  Betty 
Starkey,  a  domestic  in  the  employ  of 
his  brother  and  partner  in  business, 
James  Coutts — and,  of  course,  to  the 
astonishment  and  against  the  wishes  of 
all  his  friends.  So  very  sudden  and 
vmlooked  for  was  the  elevation  of 
"  Miss  Starkey  "  that,  only  a  few  days 
before  her  marriage,  while  employed  in 
scouring  the  stairs,  one  of  the  resident 
clerks,  who  had  been  out  in  a  very 
heavy  shower  of  rain,  was  going  up  to 
change  his  clothes,  when  he  was  de- 
sired by  Betty  to  take  off  his  shoes — a 
request  which,  according  to  the  mettle 


of  his  standing,  he  deemed  so  imperti-  , 
nent,  that  he  blustered  out  a  perfect 
crash  of  adjectives  against  her,  and  as- 
cending deliberately,  left  the  dirty 
prints  of  his  feet  on  every  step.  Betty, 
on  her  part,  did  not  endure  this  provo- 
cation in  utter  silence,  but  exclaimed, 
with  some  anger : 

"  Before  long,  I'll  make  you  pull  off 
your  shoes  and  stockings  too,  if  I 
choose  it." 

After  her  marriage  with  Mr.  Coutts, 
the  clerk  expected  no  better  luck  than 
his  speedy  discharge.  The  bride,  how- 
ever, never  again  alluded  to  the  matter, 
and  always  treated  the  clerk  with  en- 
tire affability;  and  so  little  did  the 
affair  affect  his  interests,  that  in  course 
of  time  he  became  the  chief  clerk  of 
the  house.  It  may  well  be  supposed 
that  a  woman  with  such  a  disposition 
would  prove  a  good  wife  to  the  rich 
banker.    She  did. 


That  Bottle  of  Wine  among:  "Old 
Puller's"  Clerks. 

A  BANKER  of  the  genuine  old  school 
was  Mr.  Fuller — "  Old  Fuller  "  he  was 
generally  called — of  Cornhill,  London. 
On  the  day  he  completed  his  eightieth 
year,  he  happened  to  make  mention  of 
the  circumstance  at  his  bank ;  and  one 
of  his  numerous  clerks,  more  venture- 
some than  the  rest,  expressed  a  hope 
that  they  might  have  the  pleasure  of 
drinking  his  health  and  many  happy 
returns  of  the  day.  To  the  surijrise  of 
all,  the  old  gentleman  took  the  hint 
graciously,  and  said,  "Well,  we  shall 
see."  Just  before  dinner  time,  he  with- 
drew for  a  moment  or  two,  with  a 
somewhat  mysterious  and  satisfied  air 
— such  as  a  rich  banker  might  be  sup- 
posed to  wear  who  had  just  drawn  a 
check  for  a  score  of  thousands  which 
he  was  going  to  make  a  gift  of — and 
returned,  after  a  considerable  time, 
into  the  office  with  a  bottle  of  port 
held  carefully  in  his  hand,  and  which 
he  placed  upon  the  challenging  clerk's 


THE  BOTTLE  OP  WINE  AMONG  OLD  FULLEE8  CLERKS 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


695 


desk,  saying,  "  Well,  I  have  brought 
you  a  bottle  of  port  wine  to  drink  my 
health,  as  you  wished  it;  it  is  good 
wine,  and  I  hope,  young  men,  that  you 
will  commit  no  excess  with  it"  It  will 
do  no  harm  to  state,  that  the  old  gen- 
tleman's delay  in  returning  was  ascer- 
tained to  have  been  caused  by  his  en- 
deavors to  beat  down  the  trader  in  his 
price  for  the  bottle. 


Humors  of  Partnerships  in  Ztefereuce 
to  Names. 

From  the  English  directories  may  be 
culled  some  amusing  facts  with  refer- 
ence to  the  junction  of  names  in  part- 
nerships— as,  for  example,  Bowyer  & 
Fletcher ;  Carpenter  &  Wood ;  Spinage 
&  Lamb ;  Sage  &  Gosling ;  Rumfit  & 
Cutwell,  tailors ;  Pipe  &  Tabor ;  Green- 
goose  &  Measure,  another  firm  of  tai- 
lors ;  Single  &  Double ;  Foot  &  Stock- 
ing, hosiers;  and  Wright — ^late  Read 
&  Wright.  Adam  &  Eve  were  for 
some  time  surgeons  in  partnership,  in 
Paradise  Row,  London.  In  Holbom, 
Byers  &  Sellers  live  in  pleasant  proxim- 
ity on  opposite  sides  of  the  street. 

Sometimes  the  occupation  of  persons 
harmonizes  admirably  with  their  sur- 
names— a  fact  particularly  apparent  in 
the  case  of  London  innkeepers.  Gin 
and  Ginman  are  innkeepers  ;  so  is  Ale- 
house ;  Seaman  is  the  landlord  of  the 
Ship  Hotel,  and  A.  King  holds  the 
"  Crown  and  Sceptre "  resort  in  City 
Road  1  Portwine  and  Negus  are  li- 
censed victuallers,  one  in  Westminster, 
the  other  in  Bishopsgate  street.  Cork- 
er is  a  potboy,  whose  name  affords  a 
hopeful  omen  of  his  one  day  rising  to 
the  rank  of  a  butler.  Mixwell's  coun- 
try inn  is  a  well-known  resort. 

Again,  Pegwell  is  a  shoemaker ;  so 
are  Fitall  and  Treadaway,  likewise 
Pinch — the  latter  rather  unpromising- 
ly  so;  another,  Tugwell,  is  a  noted 
dentist,  so  is  Gunn — though  he  uses 
none  but  the  ordinary  arms  in  his  prac- 
tice ;  Bird,  an  egg  merchant ;  Hemp,  a 


sheriff's  officer;  Captain  Isaac  Paddle 
commands  a  steamboat ;  Mr.  Punt  is  a 
favorite  member  of  the  Surrey  wherry 
club ;  Laidman  was  formerly  a  noted ' 
pugilist;  and  Smooker  or  Smoker,  a 
lime  burner.  Skin  &  Bone  were  the 
names  of  two  millers  at  Manchester, 
and  of  course  furnished  abundant  ma- 
terial for  joke  and  sarcasm. 

Fogg  &  Mist  were  china  dealers  in 
Warwich  street;  the  firm  afterward 
became  Fogg  &  Son,  on  which  it  was 
naturally  enough  remarked  that  "  the 
sun  had  driven  away  the  mist !  "  Go- 
ing &  Gonne  was  the  style  of  a  well- 
known  banking  house  in  Ireland,  and 
on  their  faUure  in  business  some  one 
wrote, 

"  Going  &  Gonne  are  now  both  one, 
For  Gonne  is  going,  and  Going 's  gone." 

But  this  is  hardly  so  good  as  an  en- 
try in  the  custom-house  books  of  Edin- 
burgh, where  it  appears  that  ("  A." 
meaning  Alexander) — "  A.  Gunn  was 
discharged  for  making  a  false  report !  " 

The  late  Mr.  I.  Came,  the  wealthy 

shoemaker  of  Liverpool,  who  left  his 

immense  property  to  public  charities, 

opened  his  first  shop  on  the  opposite 

side  of  the  street  to  that  in  which  he 

had  been  a  servant,  and  inscribed  its 

front  with  "  I   Came  from  over   the 

way." 

> 

Advantage  of  Skilful  Bookkeeping. 

If  a  merchant  wishes  to  get  pretty 
deeply  in  debt,  and  then  get  rid  of  his 
liabilities  by  bankruptcy — if,  in  fact, 
he  proposes  to  himself  to  go  systemat- 
ically into  the  swindling  business,  and 
engage  in  wholesale  pecuniary  transac- 
tions without  a  shilling  of  his  own,  the 
first  thing  he  should  take  care  to  learn 
would  be  the  whole  art  of  bookkeep- 
ing. From  what  may  occasionally  be 
seen  of  the  reports  of  the  proceedings 
in  bankruptcy,  it  is  found  that  well-kept 
books  are  regarded  as  quite  a  test  of 
honesty,  and  though  assets  may  have 


696 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


disappeared,  or  never  have  existed, 
though  large  liabilities  may  have  been 
incurred  without  any  prospect  of  pay- 
ment, the  bankrupt  will  be  compli- 
mented on  the  straight  look  of  his 
dealings,  if  he  has  shown  himself  a 
good  bookkeeper.  To  common  appre- 
hension, it  would  seem  that  well-kept 
books  would  only  help  to  show  a  reck- 
less trader  the  ruinous  result  of  his  pro- 
ceedings ;  and  that  while  the  man  with- 
out books  might  flatter  himself  that  all 
would  come  out  right  at  last,  the  man 
with  exact  accounts  would  only  get 
into  hot  water  with  his  eyes  open.  If 
a  man  may  trade  on  the  capital  of 
others  without  any  of  his  own,  and  get 
excused  on  the  ground  that  he  has 
kept  his  books  correctly,  it  is  difficult 
to  see  why  a  thief  who  steals  purses 
and  pocket  handkerchiefs — being  none 
of  his  own — may  not  plead  in  mitiga- 
tion of  punishment,  that  he  has  care- 
fully booked  the  whole  of  his  transac- 
tions. It  would  be  interesting  to  know 
the  effect  of  producing  a  ledger  on  a 
trial  for  felony,  as  well  as  curious  to  ob- 
serve whether  a  burglar  would  be  le- 
niently dealt  with,  on  the  ground  that 
his  housebreaking  accounts  gave  proof 
of  his  experience  in  the  science  of 
"  double  entry." 


Unexpected  Promotion. 

A  Yoima  man  obtained  a  situation 
to  take  charge  of  a  store  in  New  York 
State,  at  a  moderate  salary  for  the  first 
year  or  so.  It  became,  in  course  of 
time,  the  interest  of  his  employer  to 
advance  him  to  the  head  of  his  estab- 
lishment, which,  however,  compelled 
him  to  be  employed  during  Sabbath 
forenoons,  which  was  contrary  to  his 
custom  and  desires.  He  therefore  con- 
cluded that  he  must  be  relieved  of  this 
kind  of  duty,  or  ask  permission  to  re- 
sign his  situation.  Knowing  the  char- 
acter of  his  employer,  he  confidently 
expected  that  he  should  be  set  adrift, 
and  accordingly  began  casting  around 


to  see  what  he  could  do.  He  finally 
made  the  request,  and  it  was  taken  under 
consideration  for  several  days.  The 
next  week,  he  was  informed  that  "  his 
services  must  be  given  on  the  Sabbath 
if  he  remained,  otherwise  he  might  be 
on  the  lookout  for  another  berth ;  the 
head  clerk  must  be  on  hand  Sabbath 
morning." 

The  young  man,  in  consequence  of  this, 
quietly  commenced  his  preparations  for 
leaving,  and  requested  a  settlement. 
But  the  employer  had  only  given  this 
answer  in  order  to  test  his  clerk's  prin- 
ciple. He  cared  not  for  the  principle 
involved  in  the  question  at  issue,  but 
he  did  care  for  a  trusty  cleric — one 
whom  nothing  in  a  pecimiary  way 
could  swerve  or  tempt.  The  result  was, 
not  only  a  release  from  Sabbath  occu- 
pation, but  also  an   increase    of  his 


Identifls^g'  a  Clerk. 

A  German  woman  in  Buffalo  was 
taken  up  for  passing  a  bogus  half  dol- 
lar. She  said  that  she  had  received  it 
at  the  store  of  one  of  the  first-class 
drygoods  men,  and  she  could  point  out 
the  man  who  gave  it  to  her.  The  officer 
accompanied  her  to  the  store,  and  she 
surveyed  the  clerks. 

"  Is  it  tHs  one  ? " 

"  Nix— no." 

"  This  one  ?  " 

"Nix — no."  Until  her  eye  lighted 
on  one  across  the  store  who  gloried  in 
a  moustache  of  formidable  dimensions 
and  fiery  hue. 

"  That  is  him — that  man  mit  a  big 
mouthful  of  hair  1" 

He  denied  it  lustily,  but  she  insist- 
ed ;  and  he  deemed  it  prudent  to  prune 
his  lips  and  afterward  avoid  such  a 
flaming  mark  of  recognition. 


Ready  for  a  Trade. 

It  is  told  of  a  well-known  American 
map  agent,  that  while  making  one  of 


^'^.f>^^^^x^w^-^    .^^W/'^^^?^^ 


'::1  Y    '■>  Arpler^r  .    v  t" 


-,  he  •\< 


directed  to  Mr;  Irving.     -  Is  it 
siblc,"  said  the  salesman,  with  a  ' 
and  manner  that  indicated  profi 
ft<L(nk%(rl6i>,  '^  thut  I  have  the  hoa* 
8«nre  Mr.  Irvinjr  ?  " 


<na»p«m.^ 


>^- 


<a^ 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


697 


his  travelling  trips  in  the  interior  of 
,  he  was  attacked  by  highway  rob- 
bers, who  demanded  his  money.  Being 
more  prudent  than  to  carry  money  with 
him  in  that  country,  they  failed  in 
making  a  haul.  "  But,"  said  the  Yan- 
kee, "  I  have  some  splendid  maps  of 
the  island  along  with  me,  which  I 
would  like  to  show  you ; "  and  in  a 
twinkling  he  was  off  his  horse,  had  a 
map  stuck  up  on  a  pole,  and  explained 
it  so  eflfectually  that  he  sold  each  of 
the  banditti  a  map,  pocketed  the 
money,  and  resumed  his  journey,  better 
off  for  the  encounter. 


Irviner  and  the  Engrllsh  Salesman. 

"While  in  England,  not  long  after 
his  name  had  become  familiar  to  the 
public  by  the  publication  of  the 
"  Sketch  Book,"  Washington  Irving 
made  a  purchase  at  a  shop,  aiid  desired 
the  parcel  to  be  sent  to  his  lodgings, 
directed  to  Mr.  Irving.  "  Is  it  pos- 
sible," said  the  salesman,  with  a  look 
and  manner  that  indicated  profound 
admiration,  "  that  I  have  the  honor  to 
serve  Mr.  Irving  ?  " 

Irving  modestly  acknowledged  the 
compliment  paid  to  his  accumulating 
fame,  and  a  conversation  ensued  in 
which  the  dealer  manifested  addition- 
al interest  in  his  distinguished  custom- 
er, until  a  direct  inquiry  concerning 
his  last  work  disclosed  the  fact  that  he 
supposed  he  was  engaged  in  conversa- 
tion with  the  Rev.  Edward  Lrving,  of 
the  Scottish  kirk,  whose  polemical 
works  had  given  him  an  exalted  posi- 
tion among  the  members  of  that  church. 
The  existence  of  the  "  Sketch  Book " 
was  probably  unknown  to  him.  "  All 
I  could  do,"  added  Irving,  with  that 
look  of  peculiar  drollery  which  those 
who  have  heard  him  narrate  an  inci- 
dent of  this  kind  will  remember,  "  was 
to  take  my  tail  between  my  legs  and 
slink  away  in  the  smallest  possible 
compass." 


In  Business  for  Themselves. 

While  waiting  for  a  friend  in  Third 
street,  Philadelphia,  a  gentleman  ob- 
served a  party  of  newsboys  who  were 
waiting  for  the  afternoon  papers.  A 
well-dressed  lad  walked  up  to  them. 
They  eagerly  saluted  their  former  com- 
panion, and  examined  him  on  every 
side,  and  seemed  to  admire  him  very 
much.  Soon  a  little  fellow,  with  a 
coat  reaching  to  the  ground  and  el- 
bows out,  began  to  question  him  thus : 

"  Why,  what  are  you  at  now  ? " 

"  I'm  in  a  store." 

"  What  do  you  do  ? " 

"I  sweep  out  the  store  and  run  er- 
rands." 

"  Well,  tell  me.  You  don't  feel  as 
good  now  as  when  you  were  in  hmneas 
for  yourself,  do  you  ? " 


"  Done  Brown." 

The  coolness  of  the  person  who, 
after  drinking  a  glass  of  Richardson's 
ale  at  the  bar  room  of  a  hotel,  walked 
off,  saying  he  would  pay  that  gentle- 
man for  it,  is  remarkable ;  but  the  au- 
dacity of  the  individual  who  figures  in 
the  following  is  more  wonderful :  A 
clerk  of  a  large  down-town  house  in 
New  York,  named  Brown,  was  one 
evening  approaching  the  box-office  of 
one  of  the  Broadway  theatres  to  pur- 
chase a  ticket  of  admission.  It  was 
somewhat  late,  and  but  one  or  two  per- 
sons entering  at  the  time  he  reached 
the  building.  But  as  he  was  putting 
his  hand  in  his  pocket  for  his  money 
he  was  accosted  by  an  individual  of 
respectable  appearance,  who  politely 
inquired  of  the  clerk  if  he  could 
change  a  bill  for  him.  Mr.  Brown, 
replying  he  thought  so,  brought  forth 
several  silver  coins  from  the  recesses  of 
his  pocket,  the  largest  of  which  was  a 
fifty-cent  piece.  The  stranger  looked  at 
the  cash,  bowed,  thanked  him,  and 
took  the  half  doUar.  Without  another 
word  he  handed  the  coin  to  the  box- 


698 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


keeper,  and  the  next  moment  was  in 
the  theatre,  leaving  agape  with  wonder 
the  gentleman  whose  funds  he  had  thus 
appropriated.  After  Mr.  Brown  had 
recovered  from  the  eflFects  of  this  sin- 
gular proceeding,  he  entered  the  tem- 
ple devoted  to  Thespis.  But  the  un- 
known abstractor,  who  was  now  enjoy- 
ing the  performances  in  some  snug  cor- 
ner of  the  house,  was  never  seen  again. 
Of  course  not.    Clerk  was  done  Brown. 


CoTreotiner  an  Erroneous  Entry. 

Isr  a  manufacturing  city  of  New 
England,  not  many  years  since,  there 
was  a  young  man  from  the  "  Gim  of  the 
Say,"  employed  as  bookkeeper  in  a 
large  machine  shop  and  foundery.  At 
one  time  two  castings  were  made  for  a 
customer,  each  casting  about  three  feet 
square  and  eight  inches  thick ;  one  sol- 
id, the  other  having  a  circular  hole  in 
it  about  twenty  inches  in  diameter.  He 
entered  both  in  his  books  as  solid.  Dis- 
covering his  mistake,  he  computed  the 
weight  of  a  piece  of  cast  iron  twenty 
inches  in  diameter  and  eight  inches 
thick,  when  he  corrected  his  erroneous 
entry  by  giving  the  customer  credit  in 
the  following  manner : 

"  Mb.  Smith,  Cr. 

By  one  hdle^  weighing  432  pounds." 

Probably  this  is  the  heaviest  hole  on 
record. 


Shipping  Goods  by  Ticket. 

Theke  was  in  one  of  the  large  ware- 
houses in  Boston  a  porter — an  "  intelli- 
gent contraband" — who  had  a  great 
propensity  of  laughing  at  other  peoples' 
mistakes,  and  always  took  the  oppor- 
tunity to  tax  the  delinquent  with  his 
shortcomings  before  a  crowd.  The 
system  of  shipping  goods  at  this  estab- 
lishment was  this  :  To  give  a  ticket  to 
the  porter  with  the  number  of  packages 
and  the  name  of  the  party  from  whom 
they  were  purchased,  that  they  might 


be  selected  from  among  other  goods  of 
a  similar  nature,  and  no  mistake  made. 
Now  it  seems  he  had  a  ticket  given 
him  with  only  the  numbers  on;  and 
he,  thinking  he  had  a  good  joke  on 
some  one,  wrote  the  name  on  himself 
and  shipped  the  goods — treasuring  up 
the  ticket,  however,  imtil  near  the  close 
of  business,  when  he  finds  the  delin- 
quent talking  over  the  transactions  of 
the  day  with  his  fellow  clerks.  He 
immediately  presents  the  ticket  to  one 
of  the  number,  and  asks  him  what  he 
should  think  of  a  man  that  would  give 
him  a  ticket  like  that.  The  party  re- 
plied "that  his  ticket  was  all  right." 
"  Ah !  but,"  says  the  contraband,  point- 
ing to  the  name,  "dat  little  epitaph 
wem't  on  dar  when  it  first  come  to 
me!" 


Introducingr  a  New  System  of 
Accounts. 

One  of  the  greatest  achievements  in 
the  facilities  for  keeping  accounts — 
the  reduction  of  the  labor  involved  and 
in  the  number  of  those  performing  it — 
in  the  Bank  of  England,  is  due  to  Mr. 
W.  R.  Smee.  The  scheme  was  simple. 
By  the  old  system,  the  numbers, 
amoimts,  and  dates  of  the  notes  issued 
were  copied  into  books,  in  the  order  in 
which  they  were  received.  The  amounts 
were  then  added,  and  the  notes  posted 
in  a  ledger,  that  they  might  be  referred 
to  for  the  courts  of  the  law  and  the 
public,  in  cases  of  fraud  or  litigation. 
These  postings  were  afterward  exam- 
ined from  a  copy  of  the  cash  books,  in 
which  the  notes  were  entered,  giving 
the  balance  of  each  ledger. 

The  new  system  established  the  entry 
in  the  cash  books,  and  stamped  every 
note  on  its  entrance  with  a  number 
giving  the  full  particulars  of  the  par- 
ties sending  it  in.  The  notes  are  then 
arranged  numerically,  thereby  saving 
the  copying  of  the  date  and  number, 
except  the  last  two  or  three  figures, 
and  altogether  saving  the  entry  of  the 


'     BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


699 


amount,  while  the  posting  was  done  by 
about  one  sixth  the  former  number  of 
clerks.  In  all,  a  saving  of  eighty 
clerks. 

On  the  day  of  the  commencement  of 
this  improved  system,  one  himdred  and 
twenty  clerks  were  employed.  From 
the  novelty  of  the  various  operations, 
the  balance — the  great  proof  of  success 
— was  not  arrived  at  till  near  eight 
o'clock.  On  the  second  day  of  its  trial, 
the  same  result  was  arrived  at  by  five 
o'clock.  On  the  third  it  was  tried  by 
three  o'clock,  but  without  the  same 
success,  heing  Jive  pounds  deficient. 

Every  plan  that  could  be  imagined' 
was  now  tried,  in  order  to  discover  the 
supposed  error.  For  seven  hours  were 
the  clerks  of  the  department  employed 
in  examining  and  re-examining  the 
books.  For  seven  hours  were  they  de- 
tained investigating  and  re-investigat- 
ing the  notes,  of  which  the  books  were 
a  copy ;  and  it  was  curious  to  witness 
a  young  man  of  three  and  twenty,  with 
unchangeable  confidence  in  the  sound- 
ness of  his  system,  directing,  or  at- 
tempting all  those  experiments  which 
a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  accounts 
suggested  as  most  likely  to  discover 
the  presumed  error.  At  ten  o'clock  the 
search  was  given  up,  and  the  ruin  of  the 
new  system  seemed  complete.  The  infor- 
mation spread  rapidly  that  the  office 
had  separated  without  a  balance ;  and 
it  could  have  been  no  pleasant  task  to 
Mr.  Smee  to  meet  the  governor  next 
morning  with  the  news.  The  confi- 
dence of  the  latter  was,  however,  com- 
plete; the  plan  went  on;  a  mode  of 
detection  was  adopted ;  and  it  is  to  be 
presumed  that  the  dread  of  discovery 
produced  the  note,  as  the  balance,  a 
few  days  afterward,  was  five  pounds 
over,  and  the  very  note  which  had  been 
proved  to  be  missing  was  found  to 
have  been  returned !  The  success  of 
the  new  plan  was  complete,  and  work- 
ed a  vast  change  in  the  management 
of  the  books  and  affairs  of  the  insti- 
tution. 


Trying^  his  Hand  at  the  Accoiuits. 

Mr.  Mellish,  one  of  the  directors  of 
the  Bank  of  England,  once  undertook 
to  improve  upon  the  mode  of  keeping 
the  books  of  that  institution — aiming 
at  nothing  less  than  a  radical  change. 
Being  desirous  to  ascertain  once  for  all 
the  real  nature  of  the  duty  he  had  in 
contemplation,  he  announced  his  deter- 
mination to  the  principal  of  the  ac- 
countants' office,  to  come  and  attempt 
a  day's  work. 

The  morning  arrived,  and  with  it 
Mr.  Mellish,  The'  day  was  indeed  a 
heavy  one ;  the  business  was  new ;  and 
the  books  were  brought  him  with  all 
the  gravity  suitable  to  the  occasion, 
and  perhaps  more  frequently  than  was 
absolutely  necessary.  They  came  too 
fast  for  him.  In  vain  he  exerted  him- 
self with  all  the  energy  of  which  he 
was  master ;  there  was  to  him  a  diffi- 
culty in  finding  the  proper  folios ;  that 
which  clerks,  accustomed  to  the  opera- 
tion, performed  almost  intuitively,  was 
a  great  exertion  to  a  novice,  and,  long 
before  the  day  had  passed,  Mr.  Mellish 
had  beheld  such  an  accumulation  of 
ponderous  tomes,  both  before  and  be- 
hind him,  that  he  gave  up  the  attempt 
in  despair,  and  from  this  period  an  al- 
teration was  made  in  the  amount  of 
labor,  which  was  perhaps  more  in 
proportion  to  the  clerks'  views  of 
propriety  than  before.  The  same  gen- 
tleman— and  these  things,  triffing  in 
themselves,  show  a  desire  on  the  part 
of  the  directors  to  improve  the  econ- 
omy of  the  establishment — afterward 
saw  the  principal  of  the  office  in  which 
he  had  worked  in  the  area  of  the  Royal 
Exchange.  Immediately  accosting  that 
gentleman,  he  earnestly  addressed  him 
on  the  subject  of  the  proposed  altera- 
tion in  the  mode  of  keeping  the  books, 
and  seizing  the  button  of  his  coat, 
pulled  at  it  with  the  same  energy  with 
which  he  was  talking,  nor  was  it  until 
the  button  was  divorced  from  the  coat 
that  the  accountant  whom  the  director 


voo 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


held  captive  was  enabled  to  make  Ms 
escape.  , 

Rich  Enough  to  Retire :  Abraham  New- 
land,  Cashier  of  the  Bank  of  Eng'- 
land. 
The  name  of  Abraham  Newland 
was,  perhaps,  more  generally  known  in 
English  financial  circles,  and  for  a 
longer  time,  than  that  of  any  other  one 
individual.  In  1807,  he  retired  from 
the  office  of  cashier  of  the  Bank  of 
England,  after  a  service  of  more  than 
half  a  century.  His  last  act  was  to  de- 
cline the  pension  which  the  liberality 
of  the  directors  offered— and  this  he 
could  well  afford  to  do.  The  same 
year  he  died ;  and  as  a  specimen  of  the 
fortunes  which  were  occasionally  amass- 
ed in  the  service  of  that  establishment, 
it  is  stated  that  his  property  amounted 
to  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling, or  one  million  dollars,  besides  the 
sum  of  one  thousand  pounds  a  year 
on  landed  estates.  It  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed, however,  that  this  was  saved 
from  his  salary.  During  the  whole  of 
Mr.  Newland's  career,  the  loans,  which, 
during  the  war,  were  made  almost 
yearly,  and  occasionally  oftener,  proved 
very  prolific.  A  certain  amount  of 
them  was  always  reserved  for  the  cash- 
ier's office — say  one  hundred  thousand 
pounds — and  as  they  generally  came 
out  at  premium,  the  profits  were  great. 
The  family  of  the  Goldsmiths,  then  the 
leaders  of  the  stock  exchange,  con- 
tracted for  many  of  these  loans,  and 
to  each  of  them  he  left  five  hundred 
pounds,  to  purchase  a  mourning  ring. 
From  some  remarks  in  the  papers  it 
may  be  gathered  that  the  large  funds 
of  Mr.  Newland  were  occasionally  lent 
to  these  gentlemen,  to  assist  their  va- 
ried speculations.  It  was  also  the  sub- 
ject of  frequent  allusion  in  the  pamph- 
lets of  the  period ;  and  as  those  who 
know  the  least  are  frequently  the  most 
confident,  there  was  not  much  cere- 
mony observed  in  the  strictures  passed 
upon  Mr.  Abraham  Newland. 


George  Simpson's  High  Reputation  as 
a  Cashier. 

Geobge  Simpson,  of  Philadelphia, 
enjoyed,  through  his  long  career,  the 
reputation  of  being  one  of  the  most 
competent  and  reliable  cashiers  in 
America.  On  the  establishment  of  the 
Bank  of  North  America,  the  first  bank 
in  the  Union,  and  incorporated  by  the 
Continental  Congress  and  by  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania,  he  was  appointed  one 
of  its  chief  officers ;  and  of  the  first 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  chartered 
by  the  Government,  he  was  appointed 
the  cashier,  and  continued  to  be  so 
until  its  expiration  in  1811.  When 
Stephen  Girard  established  his  bank- 
ing house,  he  appointed  George  Simp- 
son his  cashier.  Stephen  was  not  mis- 
taken in  his  man,  as  the  following  fact 
illustrates :  Mr.  Simpson  offered  him 
the  same  security  in  amount,  and  the 
same  individual,  he  had  given  the  ori- 
ginal Bank  of  the  United  States,  when 
Mr.  Girard  replied, 

"No,  Mr.  Simpson;  I  would  rather 
have  you  as  my  cashier  without  secu- 
rity, than  anybody  else  with  it." 

The  officers  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  were  all  retained  by  Mr.  Simp- 
son, when  he  was  invested  with  ple- 
nary power  over  the  concerns  of  the 
institution.  This  fact  gave  moneyed 
men  confidence  in  transacting  business 
with  the  bank  of  Stephen  Girard ;  and 
even  European  bankers  sought  an  ac- 
quaintance and  business  with  the  great 
banker  and  his  efficient  cashier.  On 
the  establishment  of  his  bank,  Mr. 
Simpson  remarked  to  him : 

"Well,  Mr.  Girard,  to  be  a  good 
merchant,  you  see  it  is  necessary  to 
have  a  bank." 

"  Yes,  Mr.  Simpson,"  replied  Girard, 
"  and  to  have  a  good  bank,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  have  a  cashier  like  you." 

This  took  place  when  his  ship,  the 
"  Montesquieu,"  was  ransomed  from 
the  British  at  the  Capes  of  the  Dela- 
ware; when  the  sum  of  ninety-three 


BUSINESS  EMPLOYES. 


701 


thousand  dollars  in  gold  was  sent  from 
his  bank  as  the  price  of  her  ransom, 
and  at  a  time  when  specie  payments 
were  suspended  by  all  the  other  banks, 
and  gold  to  that  amount  could  not 
easily  have  been  purchased  in  the  mar- 
ket. His  knowledge  of  banking  was 
acquired  by  nearly  forty  years'  labor  in 
the  vocation  of  cashier.  The  system 
on  which  he  loaned  money  was  simple, 
being  founded  on  the  combined  prin- 
ciple of  equity  and  interest.  All  the 
small  notes  that  were  considered  good 
were  discounted  in  preference  to  those 
that  were  large.  A  fair  running  ac- 
count was  considered  sufficient  to  en- 
title a  creditable  applicant  to  liberal 
discounts  of  business  paper. 


In  Europe,  too,  as  well  as  in  the 
United  States,  Mr.  Simpson  was  widely 
and  honorably  known ;  and  his  corre- 
spondence with  and  agencies  for  the 
first  and  largest  commercial  and  bank- 
ing houses  in  England,  France,  and 
Germany,  stood  without  a  parallel  in 
his  day.  David  Parrish,  who  was  at 
one  time  connected  with  the  famous 
house  of  Hope  &  Co.,  of  Amsterdam, 
and  also  largely  engaged  with  Baring, 
Brothers  &  Co.,  of  London,  brought 
letters  of  introduction  from  these 
houses  to  him.  Such  was  his  high 
standing  that  a  letter  from  him  to  any 
of  his  correspondents  in  Europe,  in- 
sured for  the  bearer  the  greatest  hos- 
pitality and  attention. 


PART  FOURTEENTH. 


Anecdotes  of  Some  of  the  Occupations  Auxiliary 
TO  Commerce  and  Merceandise, 


PAET   FOIJETEEI^TH. 

Anecdotes  of  Some  of  the  Occupations  Auxiliary  to  Oonunerce 
and  Merchandise. 

EDITORS,  PUBLISHERS,  BOOKSELLERS,  THE  MANUAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  TRADES,  ETC.  ;  WITH 
RARE  INCIDENTS  OF  BARGAIN  AND  SALE,  LUDICROUS  ADVENTURES,  HAPS  AND  MISHAPS 
— BUSINESS  FREAKS,   GENIUS,   APTITUDE,   NOVELTY  AND  RENOWN,   ETC.,   ETC. 


Of  all  the  bonds  by  which  society  is  noited,  those  of  businesB  connection  are  the  most  nomeroiu 
and  most  extensive. — Roscob  . 

Sweet  is  the  destiny  of  aM  trades,  whether  of  the  brow  or  of  the  mind.-  Bisnop  Hall. 
Work  for  some  good,  be  it  ever  so  lowly  ; 
Labor — all  labor  is  noble  and  holy. — Osgood. 


Knsic-Seller's  Oustomers. 

Haydn  used  to  relate,  with  much 
pleasure,  a  dispute  which  he  had  with 
a  music  seller  in  London.  Amusing 
himself,  one  morning,  after  the  Eng- 
lish fashion,  in  shopping,  he  inquired 
of  a  music  seller : 

*'  Have  you  any  select  and  beautiful 
music  ? " 

"  Certainly,"  replied  the  shopman ; 
"I  have  just  printed  some  sublime 
music  of  Haydn's." 

"Oh,"  returned  Haydn,  "I'U  have 
nothing  to  do  with  that." 

"  How,  sir ;  you  will  have  nothing  to 
do  with  Haydn's  music!  and  pray 
what  fault  have  you  to  find  with  it  f " 

"  Oh,  plenty ;  but  it  is  useless  talk- 
ing about  it,  since  it  does  not  suit  me ; 
show  me  some  other." 

The  music  seller,  who  was  a  warm 
friend  of  Haydn,  replied,  "  No,  sir ;  I 
have  music,  it  is  true,  but  not  for  such 
as  you,"  and  turned  his  back  upon 
him. 

As  Haydn  was  going  away,  smiling, 
46 


a  gentleman  of  his  acquaintance  en- 
tered and  accosted  him  by  name.  The 
music  seller,  still  out  of  humor,  turned 
round  at  hearing  the  name  pronounced 
which  had  just  been  the  occasion  of 
such  a  flutter,  and  said  to  the  person 
who  had  entered  the  shop : 

"  Haydn !  ay,  here's  a  fellow  who 
says  he  does  not  like  that  great  man's 
music." 

A  laugh  followed  this  remark;  an 
explanation  took  place,  and  the  music 
seller  was  made  personally  acquainted 
with  the  "fellow"  who  found  fault 
with  Haydn's  music. 


Books  and  Newspapers  in  China. 

The  best  Chinese  books,  and  chiefly 
historical  ones,  are  printed  at  the  im- 
perial press,  where  the  booksellers  of 
Pekin  and  other  towns  buy  them  at 
prices  fixed  by  the  Government.  This 
press  publishes,  likewise,  every  two 
days,  a  gazette,  containing  the  extraor- 
dinary events  which  occur  in  the  em- 
pire, the  ordinances,  and  especially  a 


V06 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


list  of  the  promotions  and  favors  grant- 
ed by  the  emperor,  such  as  yellow  robes 
and  peacock's  feathers,  which  are  equiv- 
alent to  orders  of  knighthood  in  Eu- 
rope ;  it  also  announces  the  punishment 
inflicted  on  mandarins  who  have  been 
guilty  of  misconduct,  etc.  Printers, 
and  even  booksellers  have  copper  and 
wooden  plates  engraved  for  works  of 
minor  interest ;  as  many  copies  are 
printed  off  as  required,  and  sold  at  ar- 
bitrary prices.  Very  neat  and  legible 
characters,  printed  on  fine  paper,  en- 
hance the  prices  of  the  work.  Movable 
types  cannot  be  used  for  the  Chinese 
language.  Their  best  paper  is  made 
of  cotton. 


Tonson,  the  Iiiterary  Trader. 

Jacob  Tonson's  portrait  represents 
liim  in  his  gown  and  cap,  holding  in 
his  right  hand  a  volume  lettered  Para- 
dise Lost — such  a  favorite  object  was 
Milton  and  copyright.  His  rise  in  life 
is  curious.  He  was  at  first  unable  to 
pay  twenty  pounds  for  a  play  by  Dry- 
den,  and  joined  with  another  bookseller 
to  advance  that  sum ;  the  play  sold, 
and  Tonson  was  afterward  enabled  to 
produce  the  succeeding  ones.  He  and 
Ms  nephew  died  leaving  the  large  for- 
tune of  two  hundred  thousand  pounds. 

Tonson  owed  much  to  his  industry ; 
but  he  was  a  mere  literary  trader.  He 
and  Dryden  had  frequent  bickerings ; 
he  insisted  on  receiving  ten  thousand 
verses  for  two  hundred  and  sixty-eight 
pounds,  and  poor  Dryden  threw  in  the 
finest  ode  in  the  language  to  make  up 
that  number.  He  would  pay  in  the 
base  coin  which  was  then  current,  and 
which  of  course  was  a  loss  to  the  poet. 

On  one  occasion,  Tonson  complained 
to  Dryden,  that  he  had  only'  received 
fourteen  hundred  and  forty-six  lines  of 
his  translations  of  Ovid  for  his  Miscel- 
lany, for  fifty  guineas,  when  he  had 
calculated  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  hundred 
and  eighteen  lines  for  forty  guineas; 
he  gives  the  poet  a  piece  of  critical  rea- 


soning, that  he  considered  he  had  a 
better  bargain  with  Juvenal,  which  is 
reckoned  not  so  easy  to  translate  as 
Ovid.  Fortunately  for  men  of  letters, 
such  mere  traders  in  literature  have 
about  disappeared.  Tonson,  and  all 
his  family  and  assignees,  rode  in  their 
carriages,  -Tiiila.  the  immense  profits  of 
WlioTiLS,  five-pound  Epic. 


Wimprecht,  the  Blind  Booksellei'. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  greatest  curiosi- 
ties in  the  city  of  Augsburg,  some  years 
since,  was  a  bookseller  of  the  name  of 
Wimprecht,  who  had  the  misfortune  to 
be  born  blind,  but  whose  enterprising 
spirit  enabled  him  to  struggle  success- 
fully against  the  melancholy  privations 
he  was  doomed  to  sustain,  and  to  pro- 
cure, by  his  industry  and  intelligence, 
a  respectable  support  for  a  large  family 
dependent  upon  him.  His  library  con- 
sisted of  more  than  eight  thousand  vol- 
umes, which  were  of  course  subjected 
to  frequent  change  and  renewal.  But 
as  soon  as  he  acquired  a  new  stock,  the 
particulars  of  each  book  were  read  to 
him  by  his  wife,  and  his  discrimination 
enabled  him  to  fix  its  value.  His  touch, 
to  recognize  it  at  any  period,  however 
distant,  and  his  memory,  never  failed 
him  in  regard  to  its  arrangement  in  his 
shop.  His  readiness  to  oblige,  his  hon- 
esty, and  information  of  books  in  gen- 
eral, procured  him  a  large  custom ;  and 
under  such  extraordinary  natural  dis- 
advantages, he  became  a  useful,  and 
happily  rendered  himself  a  wealthy 
member  of  the  trade  to  which  he  be- 
longed. 

« 

The  First  Color  Shop. 

It  was  of  advantage  to  the  old  school 
of  Italian  painters,  that  they  were  un- 
der the  necessity  of  making  most  of 
their  colors  themselves,  or  at  least  un- 
der the  inspection  of  such  as  possessed 
chemical  knowledge,  which  excluded 
all  possibility  of  those  adulterations  to 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


707 


which  the  modems  are  exposed.  The 
same  also  was  the  case  in  England,  till  the 
time  of  Sir  Godfrey  Kneller,  who,  when 
he  went  to  London,  took  a  servant  with 
him,  whose  sole  employment  was  to  pre- 
pare all  the  colors  and  materials  for  his 
work,  Kneller  afterward  set  him  up 
as  a  color-maker  for  artists ;  and  this 
man's  success  in  his  establishment — the 
first  in  London,  and  perhaps  in  the 
world,  of  its  kind — caused  a  great  in- 
crease of  the  trade,  and  they  are  now 
to  be  found,  some  of  them  too  on  a 
most  extensive  scale,  in  all  civilized 
countries. 


Queer  Phases  of  the  Butcher  Trade. 

Down  in  Frankfort  street,  hard 
by  William  street,  New  York,  lives  a 
Dutch  pork  seller  and  sausage-maker. 
Some  rude  boys  in  his  vicinity  had 
annoyed  him  with  taunting  inqui- 
ries as  to  the  materiel  of  which  his 
"links"  were  composed,  and  he  had 
trounced  one  or  two  of  them  rather 
roughly  for  their  impertinence.  The 
whirligig  of  time,  however,  soon 
brought  about  their  revenges.  They 
went  down,  one  morning,  into  "  the 
Swamp,"  and  collected  a  long  string  of 
the  rats  that  infest  the  stores  of  that 
neighborhood  ;  and  while  two  or  three 
boys,  by  dint  of  joke  and  taunt,'  se- 
duced the  butcher  to  pursue  them  down 
the  street,  another  entered  his  shop  and 
hung  up  the  string  of  rats  on  a  nail  in 
his  show-window,  between  the  tempt- 
ing festoons  of  his  savory  sausages  ! 

By-and-by,  people  began  to  stop  be- 
fore his  shop,  and  stare  into  his  win- 
dow— then  roar  out  laughing,  and  pass 
on.  Presently  a  large  crowd  collected, 
and  the  butcher  at  last  came  out  to 
ascertain  what  it  was  that  could  attract 
their  curiosity.  He  was  not  long  in 
finding  out.  "  Is  that  the  kind  of  stuflF 
you  make  sausages  of? "  asked  one, 
pointing  to  the  string  of  rats :  "  Got 
any  rat  steaks  ? "  inquired  another : 
"  Send  me  over  a  rat  sparerib  !  "  added 


a  third :  until  the  man,  livid  with  rage, 
shut  his  door  upon  the  crowd,  removed 
the  "  incumbrance  "  from  his  window, 
and  "  sat  him  down  and  wept,"  like  a 
big  Dutch  baby ! 


Johnson  and  the  Butcher. 

An  eminent  carcase  butcher,  as  mea- 
gre in  his  person  as  he  was  in  his  un- 
derstanding, being  one  day  in  a  book- 
seller's shop,  took'  up  a  volume  of 
Churchill's  poems,  and  by  way  of  show- 
ing his  taste,  repeated  the  following 
line : — 

"  Who  rules  o'er  freemen  should  himself  be 
free." 

Then  turning  to  Dr.  Johnson,  "What 
think  you  of  that,  sir  ?  "  said  he. 

"  Rank  nonsense,"  replied  Dr.  J.  "  It 
is  an  assertion  without  a  proof;  and 
you  might  with  as  much  propriety, 
say: 

Who  slays  fat  oxen,  should  himself  be  fat." 


Copy  of  a  Painter's  Bill. 

A  Scotch  newspaper,  of  1707,  gives 
the  following  copy  of  a  painter's  bill, 
presented  to  the  vestry  of  a  church,  for 
professional  work  done  therein : — 

"  To  filling  up  a  chink  in  the  Red 
Sea,  and  repairing  the  damages 
of  Pharaoh's  host. 

To  a  new  pair  of  hands  for  Daniel  in 
the  lions'  den,  and  a  new  set  of 
teeth  for  the  lioness. 

To  repairing  Nebuchadnezzar's 
beard, 

To  cleaning  the  whale's  belly,  var- 
nishing Jonah's  face,  and  mend- 
ing his  left  arm. 

To  a  new  skirt  for  Joseph's  garment, 

To  a  sheet  anchor,  a  jury  mast,  and  a 
long-boat  for  Noah's  ark. 

To  giving  a  blush  to  the  cheek  of 
Eve,  on  presenting  the  apple  to 
Adam, 

To  painting  a  new  city  in  the  land 
of  Nod, 


708 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


To  clearing  the  garden  of  Eden,  after 

Adam's  expulsion, 
To  making  a  bridle  for  the  Samari- 
tan's horse,  and  mending  one  of 
his  legs, 
To  putting  a  new  handle  to  Moses' 

basket  and  fitting  bulrushes, 
To  adding  more  ftiel  to  the  fire  of 
Nebuchadnezzar's  furnace, 

Rec'd  payment, 

D.  Z." 


Napoleon's  Opinion  of  a  Journalist. 

About  the  worst  recommendation 
which  a  man  could  have,  in  Napoleon's 
eyes,  was  to  carry  on  the  business  of  a 
newspaper  writer  or  editor.  Shortly 
after  the  18th  Brumaire,  Fabre  de 
I'Aude,  who  was  always  a  favorite  with 
Napoleon,  solicited,  in  imperial  hear- 
ing, an  appointment  for  one  of  his  ac- 
quaintance. 

"  What  has  he  done  ? "  was  the  la- 
conic inquiry. 

"  He  has  been  a  journalist." 

♦'  A  journalist !  "  repeated  the  first 
consul ;  "  that  means  a  grumbler,  a  cen- 
Burer,  a  giver  of  advice,  a  regent  of  sov- 
ereigns, a  tutor  of  nations.  The  caba- 
nons  of  Bicetre  are  the  fittest  places  for 
people  of  that  stamp." 


English  Pemaniers  'before  the  King:. 

In  the  month  of  February,  1765,  the 
peruke  makers  presented  a  petition  to 
the  king  of  England,  stating  their  dis- 
tressed condition,  occasioned  by  so 
many  people  wearing  their  own  hair, 
and  employing  foreigners  to  cut  and 
dress  it ;  or,  when  they  employ  natives, 
obliging  them  to  work  on  the  Lord's 
day,  to  the  neglect  of  their  religious 
duties. 

They  therefore  humbly  besought  his 
majesty,  that  he  would  be  pleased  to 
grant  them  relief;  submitting  to  his 
majesty's  goodness  and  wisdom,  wheth- 
er hit  own  example  was  not  the  only 
means  of  rescuing  them  from  their  dis- 


tresses, as  far  as  it  occasioned  so  many 
people  wearing  their  own  hair.  His 
majesty  was  "graciously  pleased"  to 
receive  the  petition,  and  to  return  for 
answer,  "  That  he  held  nothing  dearer 
to  his  heart  than  the  happiness  of  his 
people,  and  that  they  might  be  assured, 
he  should  at  all  times  use  his  endeavors 
to  promote  their  welfare." 

Several  of  the  adventurous  barbers 
who  attended  on  this  occasion,  gave 
such  offence  by  their  inconsistency  in 
wearing  their  own  hair,  that  it  was  cut 
off  by  the  mob  on  their  return.  His 
majesty  was  not  unmindful  of  the 
promise  he  gave  to  the  fraternity — at 
least,  if  we  may  judge  from  some  of  his 
public  exhibitions,  on  which  he  appears 
to  have  sacrificed  everything  like  per- 
sonal vanity,  to  his  reverence  for  wigs. 


Theatrical  Debut  of  a  Barber. 

A  HAIRDRESSER,  in  a  considerable 
town  in  England,  made  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  in  tragedy.  To  silence  an 
abundant  hissing,  he  stepped  forward 
and  delivered  the  following  speech  : 

"  Ladies  and  gentlemen :  yesterday  I 
dressed  you ;  to-night  I  o^Z-dress  you ; 
and  to-morrow,  if  you  please,  I  will  re- 
dress you.  While  there  is  virtue  in 
powder,  pomatum,  and  horsetails,  I 
find  it  easier  to  make  an  actor  than  to 
be  one.  Vive  la  bagatelle/  I  hope  I 
shall  yet  shine  in  the  capital  part  of  a 
heau,  though  I  have  not  the  felicity  of 
pleasing  you  in  the  character  of  an  em- 
peror." 

* 

Penny  Newspapers  in  America. 

Only  about  thirty  years  ago,  or  less, 
two  journeyman  printers  commenced 
the  publication  of  the  New  York  Sun, 
writing  and  setting  up  their  own  edi- 
torials and  other  matter.  They  issued 
seven  hundred  copies  daily,  which  they 
sold  to  the  newsboys  at  the  price  of 
sixty-two  and  a  half  cents  a  hundred 
copies,  and  the  boys  sold  them  for  a 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


109 


cent  each.  An  old  Ramage  press  was 
worked  with  their  own  hands.  As  their 
edition  increased — which  it  did — the 
printing  was  done  on  a  Napier  press. 
Afterward  they  employed  a  steam 
press.  One  of  the  parties  sold  his  in- 
terest for  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  be- 
came a  lawyer  and  public  man  at  the 
West.  Now,  some  tens  of  thousands  of 
copies  of  this  paper  are  thrown  off 
daily,  and  it  was  not  long  before  a 
brood  of  penny  papers  sprung  up  in 
different  parts  of  the  country. 


"Concerned  in  Trade." 

At  a  political  meeting  in  England,  a 
"  noble  lord  " — ^ar  excellence,  ventured 
to  speak  disrespectfully  of  several  dis- 
tinguished individuals  of  opposite  prin- 
ciples to  his  own,  because  they  or  their 
ancestors  had  been  "  concerned  in 
trade."    Let  us  see : 

Euripides  was  the  son  of  a  fruiterer ; 
Virgil's  father  was  a  potter  or  brick- 
maker;  Plautus  was  a  baker;  Luther 
was  the  son  of  a  poor  miner ;  the  cel- 
ebrated Italian  writer,  Gelli,  when  hold- 
ing the  high  dignity  of  council  of  the 
Florentine  Academy,  still  continued  to 
work  at  his  original  profession  of  a 
tailor. 

The  father  of  John  Opie,  the  great 
English  portrait  painter,  was  a  working 
carpenter  in  Cornwall ;  Opie  was  raised 
from  the  bottom  of  a  sawpit,  where  he 
was  employed  in  cutting  wood,  to  the 
professorship  of  painting,  in  the  Royal 
Academy. 

The  lather  of  Haydn,  the  famous 
musical  composer,  was  a  wheelwright ; 
and  filled  also  the  humble  occupation 
of  a  sexton. 

Boccaccio  was  the  natural  son  of  a 
merchant ;  Columbus  was  the  son  of  a 
weaver,  and  originally  a  weaver  him- 
self; Bunyan  was  the  son  of  a  travel- 
ling tinker ;  the  founder  of  the  house 
of  Baring  Brothers  was  a  weaver; 
Shakspeare  was  the  son  of  a  batcher ; 


Cowley,  of  a  grocer ;  Ben  Jonson,  of  a 
mason  ;  Fletcher,  of  a  chandler ;  Pope, 
of  a  linen  draper ;  Collins,  of  a  hatter ; 
Gray,  of  a  notary;  Akenside,  of  a 
butcher ;  Whitehead,  of  a  baker ; 
Henry  Kirke  White  of  a  butcher,  and 
Thomas  Moore,  of  a  grocer. 

Gay  was  apprenticed  to  a  silk  mer> 
cer ;  Sir  Edward  Sugden,  Lord  Tenter- 
den,  and  Jeremy  Taylor,  were  sons  of 
barbers ;  Dr.  Maddox,  Bishop  of  Wor- 
cester, was  the  son  of  a  pastry  cook ; 
Dr.  Milner  was  a  weaver,  and  Sir  Sam- 
uel Romilly  was  the  son  of  a  gold- 
smith ;  Richardson,  the  gifted  writer, 
and  Franklin,  the  philosopher,  were 
printers ;  John  Hunter  was  the  son  of 
a  carpenter;  Defoe  was  a  hosier,  and 
son  of  a  butcher ;  and  Dymond,  author 
of  Principles  of  Morality,  etc.,  was  a 
linen  draper,  and  traded,  or  wrote,  ac- 
cording as  he  had,  or  had  not,  custom- 
ers. Woods,  Curran,  Jeffrey,  Brydges, 
Atkins,  and  Lord  EUenborough,  were 
all  the  sons  of  humble  tradesmen ;  Am- 
yot,  of  France,  was  the  son  of  a  currier ; 
Rabelais,  of  an  apothecary;  Voltaire, 
of  a  tax  gatherer ;  Lamothe,  of  a  hat- 
ter ;  MassUlon,  of  a  turner ;  Grienault, 
of  a  baker ;  Molifire, ,  of  a  tapestry 
maker;  Rousseau,  of  a  watchmaker; 
Claude  Lorraine  was  bred  a  pastry 
cook,  and  Quentin  MatsyB  was  a  black- 
smith. 


"Our  Editor,"  Sixty  Years  A^o. 

"  OuB  editor,"  as  one  may  read  in 
Jerdan's  Autobigraphy, "  was  originally 
intended  for  the  kirk,  and  was  a  well- 
informed  person ;  but  to  see  him  at  or 
after  midnight  in  his  official  chair,  a 
writing  his  '  leader,'  was  a  treat  for  a 
philosopher.  With  the  slips  of  paper 
before  him,  a  pot  of  porter  close  at 
hand,  and  a  piece  of  tobacco  in  his 
mouth,  or  casually  laid  down,  he  pro- 
ceeded secundem  artem.  The  head  hung 
with  the  chin  on  his  collar-bone,  as  in 
deep  thought, — a  whiff— another — a 
tug  at  the  beer — and  a  line  and  a  half 


no 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSIKESS  ANECDOTES. 


or  two  lines  committed  to  the  blotted 

paper." 

« 

Kivalry  in  Business  BeneficiaL 

When  I  was  a  young  man, — says  a 
wealthy  retired  hatter, — I  set  up  in  the 
hat  trade,  and  took  a  store  where  there 
was  not  a  hat  store  within  a  quarter 
of  a  mile,  thinking  I  should  do  more 
where  there  were  no  others;  but  I 
found  that,  at  the  end  of  a  year,  all 
that  I  had  made  might  have  been  put 
into  my  naturally  small  eye,  and  not 
injured  its  sight. 

I  sat  down  one  day,  and  after  think- 
ing that  my  lot  was  a  mighty  hard  one, 
told  my  boy  that  I  was  going  out 
awhile,  and  that  he  must  keep  a  sharp 
look  out  for  customers.  I  went  down 
town,  and,  looking  around,  found  that 
two  or  three  hatters  were  driving  a  very 
good  trade  quite  near  together,  and, 
passing  into  one  of  these  stores,  I  found 
its  owner  quite  a  talkative  man.  We 
put  our  heads  together,  and  in  the 
course  of  a  week,  the  store  directly  op- 
posite his  received  my  stock  in  trade, 
and  a  coat  of  blue  paint  on  the  outside, 
while  his  received  a  coat  of  green. 

The  first  day  I  did  nothing  but  stand 
at  the  door,  and  look  pouty  at  the  green 
store,  and  my  friend  Blake  stood  on  his 
steps  looking  ditto  at  me.  As  people 
came  in,  I  commenced  running  down 
the  green  store,  and  Blake  always  run 
the  blue ;  so  between  us  both  we  built 
up  a  trade  that  was  quite  lively.  Peo- 
ple having  "taken  sides,"  and  new- 
comers always  purchasing  of  one  or  the 
other,  we  gradually  grew  rich,  and  at 
the  end  of  some  dozen  years,  we  settled 
up,  and  I  found  that  opposition,  or 
what  answered  that  name,  had  brought 
custom,  and  had  made  my  fortune. 


Quaker  Hatter  and  His  Jouzneyiuan. 

When  I  was  in  the  hatting  business, 
says  Mr.  Hanchett,  I  employed  a  man 
by  the  name  of  Jonas  Pike,  from  Mas- 


sachusetts, who  was  a  skilful  workman 
in  the  manufacture  of  hats.  But  he 
was  one  of  that  kind  of  journeymen 
who  will  have  their  "  trains,"  as  they 
were  familiarly  called  in  former  days. 
Therefore,  as  a  natural  consequence,  he 
was  without  comfortable  clothing  the 
most  of  the  time.  After  he  got  a  shop 
he  would  work  very  industriously  until 
he  had  earned  from  twenty  to  thirty, 
and  sometimes  forty  dollars'  worth  of 
clothing, — for  he  was  always  in  want 
of  clothing  when  he  commenced  work ; 
and  then  he  would  get  on  one  of  his 
trains,  and  dispose  of  every  article  of  his 
clothing  that  would  fetch  six  cents,  ex- 
pending all  for  whiskey.  When  all 
was  gone,  and  he  •  began  to  cool  off  a 
little,  he  would  be  very  ugly;  some- 
times he  would  fret  and  scold,  and  then 
he  would  coax  and  plead,  to  get  trust- 
ed for  a  hat  or  something  else,  that  he 
might  sell,  and  by  that  means  get  more 
whiskey.  When  I  refused  him,  he 
would  become  very  angry  and  threaten 
to  whip  me,  which  I  told  him  he  might 
do  as  soon  as  he  pleased.  "  But, "  said  he, 
"  I  will  not  do  it  in  your  own  shop — if 
I  had  you  out  of  doors,  I  would  thrash 
you  like  a  sack."  After  hearing  him 
repeat  these  sayings  several  times,  I 
walked  out  at  the  door.  I  then  spoke 
to  him,  saying,  "  I  am  now  out  of  the 
shop,  thou  canst  whip  me  if  thou  wish- 
est  to  do  so  very  much ;  "  at  which  he 
stepped  out  of  the  shop,  came  furiously 
toward  me,  squaring  himself  for  a  box, 
and  struck  me  a  blow  on  my  breast,  at 
which  I  put  my  hand  upon  my  cheek, 
and  presenting  it  to  his  notice,  said : 
"  Now  strike  here,  Jonas."  At  this,  he 
looked  at  me  with  dumb  astonishment, 
saying,  at  the  same  time,  with  an  oath, 
"  If  you  will  not  fight,  I  will  let  you 
alone," — and  went  into  the  shop,  sat 
down,  and  was  quiet.  He  got  sober, 
and  went  to  work ;  and  ever  afterward, 
during  the  long  period  I  employed 
him,  his  peaceable  and  obliging  dispo- 
sition was  most  marked. 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


711 


Juvenile  Bookseller's  Wit. 

A  GENTLEMAN  crossing  one  of  the 
New  York  ferries  was  accosted  by  one 
of  those  peripatetic  venders  of  cheap 
literature  and  weekly  newspapers,  who 
are  to  be  found  in  shoals  about  all  our 
public  places,  with  "  Buy  Bulwer's  last 
work,  sir  ?  only  two  shillin'."  The  gen- 
tleman, disposed  to  have  a  laugh  with 
the  urchin,  said  :  "  Why,  I  am  Bulwer 
myself !  "  Oflf  went  the  knowing  little 
lad,  and  whispering  to  another,  at  a 
little  distance,  excited  his  wonderment 
at  the  information  he  had  to  impart. 
Eying  the  pretended  author  of  "  Pel- 
ham  "  with  a  kind  of  awe,  he  approach- 
ed him  timidly,  and,  holding  out  a 
pamphlet,  said,  modestly:  "Buy  the 
Women  of  England,  sir  ?  You're  not 
Mrs.  Ellis,  he's  you  ?  "  Of  course  the 
proposed  sale  was  effected. 


Almanac  Making:— Portunate  Hit. 

When  Mr.  Thomas  was  preparing  one 
of  his  first  almanacs,  a  man  who  was 
employed  upon  the  work  with  him, 
asked  what  he  should  say  about  the 
weather  opposite  a  certain  week  in 
July.  Thomas  humorously  or  peevishly 
replied,  "  Thunder,  hail,  and  snow.''''  It 
was  so  put  down  and  printed ;  and  it 
so  happened  that  it  did  thunder,  hail, 
and  even  snow,  at  the  very  time.  This 
fortunate  hit  or  prediction  raised  the 
almanac  maker  in  the  estimation  of 
many,  and  made  his  almanac  the  most 
popular  in  America. 


Derivation  of  Names  of  Trades. 

The  names  that  designate  the  va- 
rious orders  of  tradesmen  are  in  some 
cases  very  curiously  derived. 

Tinkers,  for  instance,  or  tinklers,  as 
the  Scotch  call  them,  were  originally  so 
called,  because  the  itinerant  members 
of  that  profession  used  to  give  notice 
of  their  approach  to  villages  and  tarm- 


houses  by  making  a  tinkling  noise  on 
an  old  brass  kettle. 

Milliner  is  a  word  corrupted,  or  at 
least  altered  from  Milaner,  which  sig- 
nified a  person  from  Milan,  in  Italy. 
Certain  fashions  of  female  dress,  that 
first  prevailed  in  that  city,  were  intro- 
duced, by  notices  of  it,  into  England, 
and  hence  arose  the  word  milliner. 

The  term  cordwainer  was  one  applied 
to  a  numerous  and  flourishing  frater- 
nity, but  is  now  falling  into  disuse.  A 
cordwainer  was  maker  of  a  peculiar 
kind  of  shoes,  much  worn  formerly; 
and  the  appellation  is  a  corruption 
from  cordovaner,  a  worker  of  leather — 
brought  from  the  city  of  Cordova,  in 
Spain.  The  same  kind  of  leather  is 
now  manufactured  in  abundance  else- 
where, from  horsehides,  and  is  still  fa- 
miliarly called  Cordovan. 

The  word  landlord  was  first  applied 
to  the  keeper  of  an  inn.  Formerly, 
wayfaring  guests  were  for  the  most 
part  entertained  by  the  proprietors  of 
the  land,  the  lords  of  the  manor  through 
which  they  journeyed. 


Iron  Mercliant  and  tlie  Blacksmith. 

Thebe  was  in  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia a  blacksmith  who  was  in  the 
habit  of  complaining  to  his  iron  mer- 
chant, that  such  was  the  scarcity  of 
money  that  he  could  not  pay  his  rent. 
The  merchant  then  asked  him  how 
much  rum  he  used  in  his  family,  in  the 
course  of  the  day.  Upon  his  answering 
this  question,  the  merchant  made  a  cal- 
culation, and  showed  him  that  his  rum 
account  amounted  to  more  money  in 
the  year  than  his  house  rent.  The  cal- 
culation so  astonished  the  mechanic, 
that  he  determined  from  that  day  to 
buy  and  drink  no  spirits  of  any  kind. 
In  the  course  of  the  ensuing  year,  he 
paid  his  rent  and  bought  a  new  suit  of 
clothes  out  of  the  savings  of  his  tem- 
perance. He  persisted  in  it  through 
the  course  of  his  life,  and  the  result 
was  competence  and  respectability. 


712 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Hitting:  his  Trade. 

A  Friend  having  been  cited  as  a 
witness  at  a  quarter  sessions,  one  of  the 
magistrates,  who  had  been  a  black- 
Bmith,  desired  to  know  of  the  Quaker 
why  he  would  not  take  oflF  his  hat. 
"  It  is  a  privilege,"  said  the  Friend,  "  in 
which  the  laws  and  liberties  of  my 
country  indulge  people  of  our  religious 
mode  of  thinking."  "  If  I  had  it  in  my 
power,"  replied  the  justice,  "  I  would 
have  your  hat  nailed  to  your  head." 
"  I  thought,"  rejoined  the  Quaker,  dryly, 
"  that  thou  hadst  given  over  the  trade 
of  driving  nails." 


"Honor  and  Eame  from  no  Oondition 
Bise." 

An  American  President,  when  asked 
what  was  his  coat-of-arms,  remember- 
ing that  he  had  been  a  hewer  of  wood 
in  his  youth,  replied :  "  A  pair  of  shirt 
sleeves  !  " 

Lord  Tenterden  was  proud  to  point 
out  to  his  son  the  shop  in  which  his 
father  had  shaved  for  a  penny. 

A  French  doctor  once  taunted  Flei- 
chier.  Bishop  of  Nismes,  who  had  been 
a  tallow  chandler  in  his  youth,  with 
the  meanness  of  his  origin,  to  which 
Fleichier  replied:  "Ifyo«  had  been  bom 
in  the  same  condition  that  I  was,  you 
would  still  have  been  but  a  dipper  of 
candles." 

A  distinguished  man,  once  a  fiddler, 
being  reproached  because  of  his  voca- 
tion, replied :  "  Did  I  not  fiddle  wM  f  " 

Per  contra:  a  wealthy  but  stupid 
English  dyer,  having  gained  his  money 
by  honest  chimney  sweeping,  and  on 
this  account  feeling  ashamed  of  chim- 
neys, built  his  house  without  one,  send- 
ing all  his  smoke  into  the  shaft  of  his 
dye  works. 

♦ 

Butcher's  Blue  Blouse  or  Frock. 

The  custom  is  almost  universal  in 
England — and  the  same  may  be  said  to 


apply  in  a  good  degree  to  America, 
excepting  that  white  is  also  extensively 
worn — for  butchers  to  wear  a  blouse  or 
frock  of  a  blue  color ;  a  color  or  custom 
so  common  as  to  form  a  distinctive 
mark  of  the  trade — a  sort  of  uniform. 
The  explanation  of  this  custom  is,  that 
a  blue  dress  does  not  show  stains  of 
blood,  inasmuch  as  blood,  when  dry, 
becomes  of  a  somewhat  bluish  color. 


Shoemaker  Determined  to  Benefit  the 
World. 

Shoemakers  have  in  all  ages  been  a 
somewhat  remarkable  class  of  men. 
Meditative  and  energetic,  as  it  would 
appear,  from  the  nature  of  their  profes- 
sion, they  have  at  various  times  distin- 
guished themselves  as  patriots,  men  of 
letters,  and  other  high  callings.  Nu- 
merous examples  are  related  of  indi- 
viduals who  have  thus  imparted  a  gloss 
to  the  "  gentle  craft  " — as  shoemaking 
has  been  called,  since  the  days  of  the 
illustrious  Crispin. 

Timothy  Bennett,  a  shoemaker,  re- 
sided in  the  village  of  Hampton-Wick, 
near  Richmond,  in  Surrey.  The  first 
passage  from  this  village  to  Kingston- 
upon-Thames,  through  Bushy  Park  (a 
royal  demesne),  had  been  for  many 
years  shut  up  from  the  public.  This 
honest  shoemaker,  "  imwilling  " — as  he 
said — "to  leave  the  world  any  worse 
than  he  found  it,"  consulted  a  lawyer 
upon  the  practicability  of  recovering 
this  road,  and  the  probable  expense  of 
a  legal  process :  "  I  have  seven  hun- 
dred pounds,"  said  he,  "  which  I  should 
be  willing  to  bestow  upon  this  attempt. 
It  is  all  I  have,  and  has  been  saved 
through  a  long  course  of  honest  in- 
dustry." 

The  lawyer  informed  him  that  no 
such  sum  would  be  necessary  to  pro- 
duce this  result;  and  Timothy  deter- 
mined accordingly  to  proceed  with 
vigor  in  the  prosecution  of  this  public 
claim.  In  the  meantime.  Lord  Halifax, 
ranger  of  Bushy  Park,  was  made  ac- 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


713 


quainted  with  his  intentions,  and  sent 
for  him :  "  Who  are  you,  sir,"  inquired 
his  lordship,  "that  has  the  assurance 
to  meddle  in  this  afiair  ? " 

"My  name,  my  lord,  is  Timothy 
Bennett,  shoemaker,  of  Hampton- Wick. 
I  remember,  an't  please  your  lordship, 
when  I  was  a  young  man,  of  seeing, 
while  sitting  at  my  work,  the  people 
cheerfully  pass  by  to  Kingston  market ; 
but  now,  my  lord,  they  are  forced  to  go 
round  about,  through  a  hot  sandy  road, 
ready  to  faint  beneath  their  burdens, 
and  I  am  unwilling  (it  was  his  favor- 
ite expression)  to  leave  the  world  any 
worse  than  I  found  it.  This,  my  lord, 
I  humbly  represent,  is  the  reason  of  my 
conduct." 

"Begone;  you  are  an  impertinent 
fellow  1  you  are  an  impertinent  fel- 
low ! "  However,  upon  more  mature 
reflection,  being  convinced  of  the  equi- 
ty of  the  claim,  and  anticipating  the 
ignominy  of  defeat — "Lord  Halifax, 
the  nobleman,  non-suited  by  Timothy 
Bennett,  the  shoemaker  " — ^he  desisted 
from  his  opposition,  and  opened  the 
road,  which  is  enjoyed,  without  mo- 
lestation, to  this  day. 


Payment  for  News. 

Perhaps  the  origin  of  newspaper 
publishers  paying  for  reliable  news 
from  distant  places  may  be  found  in 
the  advertisement  announcing  the  first 
number  of  the  London  Evening  Post, 
Sep.  6,  1707,  as  follows :—"  There 
must  be  three  or  four  pound  per 
ann.  paid  by  those  gentlemen  who 
are  out  of  town,  for  written  news, 
which  is  so  far,  generally,  from  having 
any  probability  of  matter-of-fact  in  it, 
that  it  is  frequently  stuflFed  up  with  a 
We  hear,  &c. ;  or.  An  eminent  Jew  mer- 
chant has  received  a  letter,  &c. ;  being 
nothing  more  than  downright  fiction." 
The  same  advertisement,  speaking  of 
the  published  papers,  says  :  "  We  read 
more  of  our  own  affairs  in  the  Dutch 
papers  than  in  any  of  our  own." 


"I^ttingr-out"   Clothes. 

An  Irish  tailor  making  a  gentleman's 
coat  and  vest  too  small,  was  requested 
to  take  them  back  and  let  them  out. 
Some  days  after,  the  gentleman,  on 
calling  at  the  tailor's  establishment, 
was  told  that  his  garments  happened 
to  fit  a  countryman  of  his,  and  he  had 
"  let  them  out "  at  a  shilling  a  week. 


Peculiar  Custom  of  a  Tailor. 

A  TAILOR  of  Samarcand,  living  near 
the  gate  leading  to  the  burying  place, 
had  by  his  shop  board  an  earthen  pot 
hanging  on  a  nail,  into  which  he  threw 
a  little  stone  when  any  corpse  was  car- 
ried by,  and  at  the  end  of  every  day 
he  counted  the  contents  of  his  pot,  in 
order  to  ascertain  the  number  of  the 
dead.  At  length  the  tailor  died  him- 
self;  and  some  time  after,  one  that  was 
unacquainted  with  the  fact  of  his  death, 
observing  his  shop  to  be  deserted,  in- 
quired what  had  become  of  him,  when 
one  of  the  deceased's  neighbors  replied, 
"  The  fellow  has  gone  to  pot,  as  well  as 
the  rest." 


Archeaolo^cal  Tailor's  Ueasores. 

One  day.  Sir  Robert  Cotton,  being 
at  his  tailor's,  discovered  that  the  man 
was  holding  in  his  hand,  ready  to  cut 
up  for  "  measures,"  an  original  Magna 
Charta,  with  all  its  appendages  of  seals 
and  signatures.  He  bought  the  singu- 
lar curiosity  for  a  trifle,  and  recovered 
in  this  manner  what  had  been  given 
over  for  lost.  This  anecdote  is  told  by 
Colomies,  who  long  resided  and  died 
in  Great  Britain.  The  original  Magna 
Charta  is  preserved  in  the  Cottonian 
library.  It  exhibits  marks  of  dilapida- 
tion; but  whether  from  the  invisible 
scythe  of  time,  or  the  humble  scissors 
of  a  tailor,  archaeologists  must  be  left 
to  decide. 


714 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


"ShaU  I  CutP" 

At  the  first  representation  of  the 
Tom  Jones  of  Poinsinet,  two  persons 
were  observed  in  the  pit,  one  of  whom 
was  overheard  saying  to  the  other,  from 
time  to  time,  "Shall  I  cut?  ShaU  I 
cut  ?  "  This  suspicious  phrase  attracted 
attention,  and  the  pair  were  just  on  the 
point  of  being  arrested  as  pickpockets. 
"  What  Jhave  we  done  ? "  said  one  of 
them ;  "  we  are  only  tailors,  and  have 
the  honor  of  making  clothes  for  M, 
Poinsinet,  the  author  of  the  new  play. 
As  I  have  to  furnish  him  with  a  new 
dress  to  appear  before  the  public,  which 
will  be  sure  to  demand  his  appearance 
at  the  second  representation,  and  as  I 
know  very  little  of  dramatic  works,  I 
have  brought  with  me  my  principal 
journeyman,  a  very  clever  man,  for  he 
makes  out  all  my  accoimts ;  and  I  was 
only  asking  him,  from  time  to  time,  if 
he  would  advise  me  to  cut  the  cloth  in 
question,  which  must  be  paid  for  out 
of  the  profits  of  the  play." 


Answering:  a  Tailor's  Don. 

SHEKroAX, — scholar,  vdt,  and  spend- 
thrift— being  dunned  by  a  tailor  to  pay 
at  least  the  interest  on  his  bill,  an- 
swered, that  it  was  not  his  interest  to 
pay  the  principal,  nor  his  principle  to 
pay  the  interest.  The  tailor  thought- 
fully retired. 


Bsrron's  Genoese  Tailor. 

It  is  said  that  Byron  would  never 
have  gone  to  Greece  but  for  a  tailor 
in  Genoa.  The  noble  bard  was  very 
economical,  as  was  well  known,  in 
small  matters.  He  had  hired  a  villa 
at  Genoa,  and  furnished  it  with  the 
intention  of  making  it  a  permanent 
residence.  Lord  and  Lady  Blessington, 
and  a  large  society  of  English  people, 
of  good  style,  were  residing  there  at 
the  time.  In  the  fullest  enjoyment  of 
his  house  and  his  mode  of  life,  Byron 


wanted  a  new  coat ;  and,  having  some 
English  cloth,  he  left  it,  with  his  meas- 
ure, in  the  hands  of  a  Genoese  tailor, 
with  no  particular  instructions  as  to 
the  making. 

The  tailor,  overcome  with  the  honor 
of  making  a  coat  for  an  Eccelensa  Inglese, 
embroidered  it  from  collar  to  tail,  and 
sent  it  home  with  a  bill  as  thickly  em- 
broidered as  the  coat.  Byron  kept  the 
coat,  for  fear  of  its  being  sold  as  his  to 
an  actor  of  English  parts  on  the  stage, 
but  resolutely  refused  to  pay  for  more 
than  the  making  of  a  plain  and  plebeian 
garment.  The  tailor  threatened  an  at- 
tachment, and  Byron  assigned  over  his 
furniture  to  his  banker,  and  finally 
quitted  Genoa  in  disgust,  ready,  of 
course,  as  he  would  not  otherwise  have 
been,  for  a  new  project. 

From  indignation  at  an  embroidered 
coat  tail,  the  transition  to  "  Liberty  or 
death  ! "  "  Woe  to  the  Moslem  ! "  or  any 
other  vent  for  his  accumulated  bile,  was 
easy  and  natural.  He  embarked  in  the 
Greek  cause  soon  after,  and  the  em- 
broidered coat  was  not  (as  it  should 
have  been)  "flung  to  the  breeze  at 
Salamis" — the  banner  of  inspired 
heroism. 


"A  Roland  for  an  Oliver." 

"  Will  you  pay  me  this  bill,  sir  ? " 
said  a  tailor  in  Charles  street.  New 
Orleans,  to  a  waggish  debtor. 

"  Do  you  owe  anybody  anything  ?  " 
asked  the  wag. 
"  No,  sir,"  replied  the  tailor. 
"  Then  you  can  afford  to  wait  I "  and 
off  he  walked. 

A  day  or  two  afterward  the  tailor 
called  again.  Our  wag  was  not  "  at 
his  wit's  end;  "  so,  turning  to  his  cred- 
itor, he  said — 

"  Are  you  in  debt  to  anybody  ?  " 
•'  Yes,  sir,  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  am." 
"  Well,  why  don't  you  pay  f  " 
"I  haven't  got  the  numey,''''  replied 
the  tailor,  with  a  woe-begone  counte- 
nance. 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


716 


"  That's  just  my  case,  my  dear  sir ! 
I  am  glad  to  see  that  you  can  appre- 
ciate my  position.  I  always  respected 
your  judgment,  sir — give  me  your 
hand,  sirl" 

Canine  News  Dealer. 

One  of  the  carriers  of  a  New  York 
paper  having  become  indisposed,  his 
son  took  his  place;  but  not  knowing 
the  subscribers  he  was  to  supply  he 
took  for  his  guide  a  dog  which  had 
usually  attended  his  father.  The 
animal  trotted  on,  ahead  of  the  boy, 
and  stopped  at  every  door  where  the 
paper  used  to  be  left,  without  making 
a  single  omission  or  mistake. 


Newspaper  Publisher  Described. 

None  but  such  as  have  been  regular- 
ly initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  the 
newspaper  world  know  the  activity, 
the  intense  mental  labor,  or  the  fore- 
sight and  unceasing  energy  that  are 
required  to  insure  the  commercial  pros- 
perity of  a  first-rate  journal.  A  person 
involved  in  the  conducting  of  a  high- 
class  daily  newspaper  lives  in  a  perpetual 
whirl  of  excitement,  his  existence  being 
little  else,  from  the  first  day  of  Janu- 
ary to  the  last  day  of  December,  than 
one  continued  worry.  From  morning 
fo  night  he  is  obliged  to  be  in  harness, 
and  at  every  person's  command,  never 
having  one  moment  of  the  day  that  he 
can  call  his  own ;  his  eye  must  be  on 
all,  and  his  active  body  everywhere. 
At  one  moment  he  is  deep  in  a  confabu- 
lation with  the  party  who  is  fitting  up 
his  new  machine;  at  another  he  is 
arranging  terms  of  agreement  with  a 
special  correspondent  who  is  required 
in  some  foreign  country ;  now  he  has 
to  complain  of  the  non-arrival  of  his 
new  types,  or  the  unpunctuality  of  the 
person  who  supplies  him  with  ink; 
now  he  gets  into  a  passion  at  an  im- 
pudent liner  who  has  "  done "  the 
paper  with  an  invented  murder,  or  a 


"  heart-rending  suicide  ;  "  anon,  a  con- 
ference with  the  principal  editor  as  to 
the  line  of  writing  to  be  taken  up  con- 
sequent on  some  great  political  move- 
ment, demands  his  presence.  Or  the 
paper  maker  has  a  woeful  tale  to  harass 
him :  His  machinery  has  become  de- 
ranged, and  he  has  unfortunately  run 
out  of  rags  in  consequence  of  difficulties 
attending  their  importation — and  so, 
with  melancholy  visage,  he  announces 
that  there  is  only  sufficient  paper  on 
hand  to  last  three  days,  and  that  it  will 
take  four  days  to  get  his  machinery 
put  right,  even  if  the  rags  should  arrive 
in  the  mean  time.  And  so  the  day 
speeds  its  length  along,  till  wearied, 
worried,  and  headached,  the  poor 
manager  hurries  away  home,  to  dinner. 
On  the  morrow,  a  similar  routine  of 
cares  and  anxieties  is  repeated,  with 
similar  expenditure  of  bodily  and 
mental  labor.  These  little  annoyances, 
it  may  be  stated,  are  only  a  little  of 
what  the  proprietor  has  to  endure; 
indeed,  the  efforts  required  to  com- 
pete with  other  journals  are  alone 
sufficient  to  wear  out  his  life  in  a  very 
short  time. 


Commercial  Value  of  Dramatic 
Literature. 

The  value  of  dramatic  literature 
varies  with  different  managers,  different 
authors,  different  theatres,  in  England. 
Mr.  Webster  is  very  liberal,  and  will, 
perhaps,  pay  from  fifteen  hundred  to 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars  for  a  good 
and  successful  play ;  two  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars,  two  hundred  dollars,  and 
one  hundred  dollars,  for  a  farce.  Some- 
times, when  the  continued  prosperity 
of  a  piece  is  rather  doubtful,  the  quid 
pro  qtu)  takes  the  form  of  a  nightly 
payment  up  to  a  certain  sum.  The 
Keeleys  used  to  pay  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  for  a  good  burlesque;  or 
fifteen  dollars  per  night  up  to  seven 
hundred  and  fifty,  which  the  authors 
consider  very  generous.     But  the  re- 


716 


COMMERCIAL  AND   BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


muneration  does  not  stop  with  the 
London  pay.  A  good  metropolitan 
reputation  will  insure  a  frequent  pro- 
vincial performance  and  subsequent 
revivals,  and  if  the  author  preserves 
his  interest  in  the  copyright,  he  may 
derive  a  perpetual  income  from  the 
frequency  of  performance.  Sir  E.  Bul- 
wer  Lytton  is  said  to  receive  fifty  dol- 
lars for  every  performance  of  the  "  Lady 
of  Lyons."  This,  however,  is  a  rare 
exception  to  the  average  rate  of  remu- 
neration. From  ten  dollars  to  two 
dollars  and  a  half  is  the  price  ordinarily 

paid. 

« 

Beport  of  a  liord's  Speech. 

Mk.  Weddebbubn,  afterward  Lord 
Loughborough,  was  once  asked  whether 
he  really  delivered  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons a  speech  which  was  reported  in 
the  newspaper  as  having  been  made  by 
him.  "  Why,  to  be  sure,"  said  he, 
"  there  are  many  things  in  that  speech 
which  I  did  say,  and  there  are  more 
which  I  wish  I  had  said."  A  fair 
average  of  reported  speeches  of  public 
men,  not  only  of  that  period,  but  of 
the  present  also 


Proby,  the  Beporter. 

John  Proby,  according  to  his  biog- 
rapher, had  never  been  out  of  Lon- 
don, never  in  a  boat,  never  on  the  back 
of  a  horse.  To  the  end  of  bagwigs  he 
wore  a  bag ;  he  was  the  last  man  that 
walked  with  a  cane  as  long  as  himself, 
ultimately  exchanged  for  an  umbrella, 
which  he  was  never  seen  without  in 
wet  weather  or  dry;  yet  he  usually 
reported  the  whole  debates  in  the  Peers 
from  memory,  without  a  note,  for  the 
daily  paper,  and  wrote  two  or  three 
novels,  depicting  the  social  manners 
of  the  times.  He  was  a  strange  feeder, 
and  ruined  himself  in  eating  pastry  at 
the  confectioners'  shops  (for  one  of 
•whose  scores  his  friends  had  to  bail 
him) ;  he  was  always  in  a  perspiration, 


whence  he  acquired  the  sobriquet  of 
"  King  Porus ;  "  and  he  was  always  so 
punctual  to  a  minute  that  when  he 
arrived  in  sight  of  the  office  window, 
the  hurry  used  to  be—"  There's  Proby, 
it  is  half-past  two,"  and  yet  he  never 
set  his  watch.  If  ever  it  came  to  right 
time,  no  one  can  tell;  but  if  asked 
what  o'clock  it  was,  he  would  look  at 
it  and  calculate  something  in  this  sort 
— "  I  am  twenty-six  minutes  past  seven 
— four,  twenty- one  from  twelve  forty — 
it  is  just  three  minutes  past  three!" 
Poor,  strange,  and  simple,  yet  curious- 
ly informed  Proby !  his  last  domicile 
was  the  parish  workhouse,  out  of  which 
he  would  come  in  his  coarse  gray  garb, 
and  call  upon  his  friends  as  freely  and 
unceremoniously  as  before,  to  the  sur- 
prise of  servants,  who  always  entertain 
"  an  'orrid  "  jealousy  of  paupers,  and 
who  could  not  comprehend  why  a 
person  so  clad  was  allowed  to  be 
shown  in. 


Bisingr  in  the  World. 

Simon  Eyre,  a  name  familiarly 
known  in  British  annals, — was  origi- 
nally a  humble  shoemaker  in  Leaden- 
hall  street,  in  the  city  of  London,  and 
worked  his  way  up  a  "  peg  "  or  two,  in 
a  manner  bordering  somewhat  on  the 
romantic.  Hearing  that  a  vessel  laden 
with  leather  from  Tripoli,  was  wrecked 
on  the  coast  of  Cornwall,  he  conceived 
he  might  realize  a  handsome  profit  by 
purchasing  it.  He  accordingly  col- 
lected as  much  money  as  his  limited 
means  and  good  name  would  permit, 
and  departed  from  London  on  foot  to 
Penzance,  where  he  bought  the  leather, 
and  returned  to  London.  Here  he  es- 
tablished himself  as  a  dealer  in  that 
article,  and  soon  amassed  an  immense 
fortune,  sufficient  to  erect  Leadenhall, 
obtain  the  royal  honor  of  knighthood, 
and  found  a  splendid  ecclesiastical 
brotherhoood. 


OCCUPATIONS  ATTXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


Ill 


Franklin  and  the  I<ondon  Printer. 

When  quite  a  youth,  Franklin  went 
to  London,  entered  a  printing  office, 
and  inquired  if  he  could  get  employ- 
ment as  a  printer.  "  Where  are  you 
from  ?  "  inquired  the  foreman.  "  Amer- 
ica," was  the  reply.  "Ah,"  said  the 
foreman,  "  from  America !  a  lad  from 
America  seeking  employment  as  a 
printer!  Well,  do  you  really  imder- 
stand  the  art  of  printing  ?  Can  you  set 
type  ?  "  Franklin  stepped  to  one  of 
the  cases,  and  in  a  very  brief  space,  set 
up  the  following  passage  from  the  first 
chapter  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John : 
"Nathaniel  saith  unto  him,  Can  any 
good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth  ? 
Philip  saith  unto  him,  Come  and  see," 
This  was  done  so  quickly,  so  accurate- 
ly, and  contained  a  delicate  reproof  so 
appropriate  and  powerful,  that  it  at 
once  gave  him  a  character  and  stand- 
ing with  all  in  the  office. 


Placard  Printing  in  Vienna. 

There  is  a  printing  office  in  Vienna, 
the  sole  employment  of  which  is  the 
announcement  oi  fetes^  pl*ys>  and  con- 
certs— nothing  else  being  printed  there 
but  placards.  The  proprietor  of  the 
establishment  has  many  persons  in  his 
service,  who  thoroughly  understand  the 
most  striking  way  of  announcing  such 
matters  to  the  street  public,  by  the 
unique  arrangement  of  the  alluring 
words,  "  Bal  Brilliant,"  "  Magic  Illumi- 
nation," "Rose-tinted  Garments  of 
Pleasure,"  etc. 

The  monster  types  used  are  all  of 
wood;  the  eflfect  of  the  great  colored 
letters  upon  men's  eyes  and  fancies  is 
always  speculated  upon ;  and  the  pic- 
torial announcements  of  estates  for  sale 
by  lottery,  when  all  the  letters  are  com- 
posed of  pictures  of  castles  and  rural 
views,  and  where  every  "  million "  is 
represented  entwined  with  the  elegant 
and  flowery  wreaths  of  hope,  are  really 


masterpieces  in  a  psychological  as  in  a 
xylographic  point  of  view. 

The  unusual  words,  or  those  that  do 
not  frequently  occur,  are  composed,  as 
occasion  may  require,  froni  single  let- 
ters ;  but  the  celebrated  names,  Strauss, 
Lanner,  Sperl,  Elysium,  Prater,  Golden 
Pear,  etc.,  are  cut  out  of  single  blocks. 
It  is  the  same  with  the  standing  phrases, 
such  as  "  Splendid  Illuminations," 
"  Dancing  JSciree,''^  etc. 


TStotbing  like  Leather. 

At  a  public  sale  of  books  in  a  cer- 
tain city,  the  auctioneer  put  up  a  copy 
of  "  Drew's  Essay  on  Souls."  The  book 
was  finally  knocked  down  to  a  shoe- 
maker, who  very  innocently — but  to 
the  infinite  amusement  of  the  crowded 
room — asked  the  auctioneer  if  he  had 
"  any  more  works  on  shoemaking  to 
sell." 


Need  of  Reference  for  a  Tailor. 

In  the  British  Museum  there  is  a 
manuscript  with  a  remarkable  anec- 
dote of  a  tailor  and  his  mysterious  cus- 
tomer. The  tailor  was  met  out  of  doors 
by  a  person  who  requested  to  be  meas- 
ured for  a  suit  of  clothes,  to  be  ready 
on  that  spot  by  that  day  week;  and 
the  stranger  gave  him  a  piece  of  cloth 
to  make  them  with.  From  certain  cir- 
cumstances, the  tailor  suspected  his 
new  customer  to  be  the  devil,  and  com- 
municated his  conjectures  to  a  clergy- 
man, who  advised  him  to  execute  the 
order,  but  carefully  to  save  every  piece, 
even  the  minutest  shred,  he  cut  fi^m 
the  cloth,  and  put  the  whole  into  a 
wrapper  with  the  clothes;  he  further 
promised  the  tailor  to  go  with  him  on 
the  appointed  day  to  the  place  where 
they  were  delivered.  When  all  was 
ready,  and  the  day  arrived,  they  both 
went  thither,  and  the  person  waiting 
justified  the  tailor's  suspicions ;  for  he 
abused  the  tailor  with  unearthly  im- 
precations because  he  brought  a  divine, 


718 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


and  immediately  vanished  in  their  pres- 
ence, leaving  the  clothes  and  pieces  of 
cloth  in  possession  of  the  tailor,  who 
could  not  sell  the  devil's  cloth  to  pay 
himself  for  the  making,  for  fear  of  the 
consequences — from  which  may  be 
drawn,  by  way  of  moral,  that  a  tailor 
ought  not  to  take  an  order  from  a 
stranger  without  a  reference. 


Freaks  of  the  Hair-Dressing:  Trade  in 
France. 

Along  toward  the  close  of  the  last 
century,  the  hair-dressing  of  ladies  was 
so  important  and  increasing  a  business 
in  France,  that  it  became  necessary  to 
augment  the  number  of  the  builders  of 
those  "  edifices  of  beauty."  In  conse- 
quence of  this,  the  Government  declared 
that  six  hundred  ladies'  hair-dressers 
should  be  admitted  to  the  company 
of  Maitres  Barbiers-Perruquiers.  The 
price  of  their  admission  was  fixed  at 
six  hundred  livres.  Besides  this  com- 
pany, whose  talents  were  to  be  devoted 
only  to  illustrious  and  brilliant  heads, 
there  were  hair-dressers  for  the  ladies  of 
the  poorer  classes,  and  the  Bourgeoises. 
But  the  affiairs  of  these  ladies'  hair- 
dressers became  rather  serious  in  course 
of  time.  Their  order  was  augmenting 
at  every  hour,  and  they  formed  one  of 
the  most  important  bodies  among  the 
business  circles  of  Paris.  Proud  of  the 
daily  favors  they  enjoyed,  and  giddy 
with  their  pride,  they  openly  showed 
the  most  liberal  contempt  for  the  rest 
of  their  honorable  confraternity.  Bar- 
bers and  wig-combers  they  considered 
as  unworthy  peers,  and  attempted  to 
separate  themselves  from  such  ignoble 
associates.  They  even  pretended  that 
they  had  a  just  right  to  be  joined  to 
some  scientific  corps.  This  imperious 
rivalry,  and  the  melancholy  groans  of 
the  barbers,  at  last  caused  government 
interference.  Another  decree  was  is- 
sued from  the  king,  which  fixed  their 
number  at  six  hundred ;  prohibited 
their  having  more  than  one  apprentice 


every  three  years ;  to  keep  "  schools  " 
of  hair-dressing;  and,  above  all,  to 
place  under  their  signs,  the  words — 
Academie  de  Coiffeurs  ! 


Fartridgre's  Almanac  Making:. 

A  PLEASANT  story  is  told  of  Par- 
tridge, the  celebrated  almanac  maker, 
about  one  hundred  years  since.  In 
travelling  on  horseback  in  the  country, 
he  stopped  for  his  dinner  at  an  inn, 
and  afterward  called  for  his  horse,  that 
he  might  reach  the  next  town,  where 
he  intended  to  sleep. 

"  If  you  will  take  my  advice,  sir," 
said  the  hostler,  as  he  was  about  to 
mount  his  horse,  "  you  will  stay  where 
you  are  for  the  night,  as  you  will  sure- 
ly be  overtaken  by  a  pelting  rain." 

"  Nonsense,  nonsense,"  exclaimed  the 
almanac  maker ;  "  there  is  a  sixpence 
for  you,  my  honest  fellow,  and  good 
afternoon  to  you." 

He  proceeded  on  his  journey,  and 
sure  enough  he  was  well  drenched  in  a 
heavy  shower.  Partridge  was  struck 
by  the  man's  prediction,  and  being 
always  intent  on  the  interest  of  his 
almanac,  he  rode  back  on  the  instant, 
and  was  received  by  the  hostler  with  a 
broad  grin. 

"  "Well,  sir,  you  see  I  was  right  after 
all." 

"  Yes,  my  lad,  you  have  been  so,  and 
here  is  a  crown  for  you ;  but  I  give  it 
to  you  on  condition  that  you  tell  me 
how  you  knew  of  this  rain." 

"  To  be  sure,  sir,"  replied  the  man ; 
"why,  the  truth  is,  we  have  an  al- 
manac at  our  house  called  Partridge's 
Almanac,  and  the  fellow  is  such  a  no- 
torious liar,  that  whenever  he  promises 
us  a  fine  day,  we  always  know  that  it 
will  be  the  direct  contrary.  Now,  your 
honor,  this  day,  the  21st  of  June,  is  put 
down  in  our  almanac  indoors  as  '  set- 
tled fine  weather ;  no  rain.'  I  looked 
at  that  before  I  brought  your  honor's 
horse  out,  and  so  was  enabled  to  put 
you  on  your  guard." 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO   COMMERCE. 


119 


Sale  of  Noted  Works  and  Flays. 

The  ultimate  sale  of  the  copyright 
of  Paradise  Lost,  produced  to  Milton's 
widow  eight  pounds.  The  publisher 
of  Lalla  RooTch  gave  three  thousand 
guineas  for  the  copyright  of  that  poem. 

From  an  old  account  book  of  Ber- 
nard Lintot,  the  bookseller,  the  follow- 
ing information  respecting  the  prices 
paid  heretofore  for  the  copyright  of 
plays  is  obtained  :  Tragedies  were  then 
the  fashionable  drama,  and  obtained 
the  best  price.  Dr.  Young  received  for 
his  Busiris,  eighty-four  pounds ;  Smith, 
for  his  Phmdra  and  Hippolytus,  fifty 
pounds  ;  Rowe,  for  his  Jane  Shore,  fifty 
pounds  and  fifteen  shillings;  and  for 
£adi/  Jane  Gray,  seventy-five  pomids 
and  five  shillings ;  and  Gibber,  for  his 
Nonjuror,  obtained  one  hundred  and 
five  pounds. 

Bobinson  Crusoe,  in  manuscript,  ran 
through  the  whole  trade ;  nor  would 
any  one  print  it,  though  the  writer, 
Defoe,  was  in  good  repute  as  an  author. 
One  bookseller,  at  last,  not  remarkable 
for  his  discernment,  but  for  his  specula- 
tive turn,  engaged  in  this  publication. 
This  bookseller  got  above  a  thousand 
guineas  by  it ;  and  the  booksellers  may 
be  said  to  be  accumulating  money  every 
hour  by  editions  of  this  work  in  all 
shapes. 

Goldsmith  was  astonished  when  the 
bookseller  gave  him  five  shillings  a 
couplet  for  his  delightful  poem  of  the 
Deserted  Village — though  each  line  was 
fiurly  worth  as  many  pounds. 


Balance  of  Trade ;  or.  Beauties  of 
Competition. 

The  owner  of  a  thriving  mutton-pie 
concern,  which,  after  much  difficulty 
and  on  borrowed  capital,  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  firmly  establishing,  died  be- 
fore he  had  well  extricated  himself 
from  the  responsibilities  of  a  debt. 
The  widow  carried  on  the  establish- 
ment after  his  decease,  and  throve  so 


well,  that  a  speculating  baker  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  street  made  her 
the  ofier  of  his  hand.  The  lady  re- 
fused, and  the  enraged  suitor,  deter- 
mined on  revenge,  immediately  con- 
verted his  baking  into  an  opposition 
pie  shop ;  and  acting  on  the  principle 
universal  among  bakers  of  doing  busi- 
ness for  the  first  month  or  two  at  a  loss, 
made  his  pies  twice  as  big  as  he  could 
honestly  afford  to  make  them.  The 
consequence  was,  that  the  widow  lost 
her  custom,  and  was  hastening  fast  to 
her  ruin,  when  a  friend  of  her  late  hus- 
band, who  was  also  a  small  creditor, 
paid  her  a  visit.  She  detailed  her 
grievances  to  him,  and  lamented  her 
lost  trade  and  direfdl  prospects.  "  Ho, 
ho  ! "  said  her  friend,  "  that  'ere's  the 
move,  is  it  ?  Never  you  mind,  my  dear. 
If  I  don't  git  your  trade  ag'in,  there 
ain't  no  snakes,  mark  me — that's  all  1 " 
So  saying,  he  took  his  leave. 

About  eight  o'clock  the  same  even- 
ing, when  the  baker's  new  pie  shop 
was  crammed  to  overflowing,  and  the 
principal;!  was  below  superintending  the 
production  of  a  new  batch,  in  walks  the 
widow's  friend  in  the  costume  of  a  ken- 
nel-raker, and  elbowing  his  way  to  the 
counter,  dabs  down  upon  it  a  brace  of 
huge  dead  cats,  vociferating  at  the 
same  time  to  the  astonished  damsel  in 
attendance,  "  Tell  your  master,  my 
dear,  as  how  them  two  makes  six-and- 
thirty  this  week,  and  say  I'll  bring 
t'other  four  to-morrer  artemoon ! " 
With  that  he  swaggered  out  and  went 
his  way. 

Singular  enough,  so  distasteful  was 
m^mutton,  or  the  idea  of  it,  among  the 
prejudiced  population  of  that  neighbor- 
hood, that  the  shop  was  cleared  in  an 
instant,  and  the  floor  was  seen  covered 
with  hastily  abandoned  specimens  of 
every  variety  of  segments  of  a  circle. 
The  spirit-shop  at  the  comer  of  the 
street  experienced  an  unusually  large 
influx  of  customers  and  calls  for 
"  goes  "  of  brandy,  while  inter)  ectional 
ejaculations    not    purely   grammatical 


720 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


were  not  only  audible,  but  visible,  too, 
in  the  district.  It  is  averred  that  the 
ingenious  expedient  of  the  widow's 
friend,  founded,  as  it  was,  upon  a  pro- 
found knowledge  of  human  prejudices, 
had  the  desired  effect  of  restoring  the 
halance  of  trade.  The  widow  recovered 
her  commerce ;  the  resentful  baker  was 
done  as  brown  as  if  he  had  been  shut 
up  in  his  own  oven;  and  the  Mend 
who  conceived  this  measure  of  justice 
against  her  competitor  received  the 
hand  of  the  lady  as  a  reward  for  his 
commercial  aptness. 


lieaming:  the  Saddler's  Trade. 

A  RICH  saddler,  whose  daughter  was 
afterward  married  to  a  duke,  the  cele- 
brated Earl  of  Halifax,  ordered  in  his 
will,  that  she  should  lose  the  whole  of 
her  fortune,  if  she  did  not  marry  a  sad- 
dler. The  young  Earl  of  Halifax,  see- 
ing how  things  stood,  and  being  anx- 
ious to  win  so  desirable  a  bride — or 
fortune — actually  served  as  an  appren- 
tice, for  the  usual  period  of  seven  years, 
to  a  saddler,  and  afterward  "  bound 
himself"  to  the  rich  saddler's  daughter 
for  life.  He  was  probably  a  firm  be- 
liever that  there's  "nothing  like 
leather." 


Printers  and  Editors  at  Kidnight. 

Night  scene  in  the  printing  office  of  a 
metropolitan  daily  journal:  The  clock 
has  just  struck  one,  and  the  paper  be- 
gins to  assume  a  definite  shape.  As 
usual,  there  is  too  much  matter  in 
hand ;  the  printer  fidgets  about  the 
sub-editor's  room,  and  looks  nervously 
at  *'  new  copy  "  (manuscript  to  be  set 
into  type).  He  is  quite  a  peculiar  in 
his  way — ^the  master  or  boss  printer  in 
the  newspaper  office ;  a  high  forehead, 
an  intelligent  eye,  and  a  manner  half 
deferential,  half  conscious  of  his  own 
importance,  giving  serious  and  useful 
advice  in  the  quietest  possible  form  of 
good-natured  complaint — he  is  never 


put  out  of  his  way,  and  never  at  a  loss 
in  cases  of  absolute  necessity. 

"  This  can't  go  in,  sir."  "  It  mu»t  go 
in."  "  Very  well,  sir,"— is  the  regular 
colloquy,  about  this  time  of  the  night, 
between  the  printer  and  the  sub-editor. 
The  printer's  ingenuity  in  finding  space 
is  certainly  wonderful,  and  his  tact  in 
suggesting  what  should  be  preferred 
for  insertion,  is  of  more  value  than 
editors  sometimes  choose  to  acknowl- 
edge. Much  lies  in  the  appearance  and 
first  aspect  of  the  newspaper,  and  this 
the  printer  has  fully  before  him ;  and 
even  in  the  discernment  of  mere  liter- 
ary reasons,  long  experience  and  nat- 
ural shrewdness  make  him  a  safe  ad- 
viser. He  seldom  gives  advice  unless 
asked;  but  when  it  does  come,  it  is 
almost  always  worth  having. 

No  one  who  has  not  had  experience 
in  the  newspaper  office,  could  imagine 
how  long  it  takes  to  complete  the  mi- 
nor details  of  arrangement.  Things 
which  look  only  like  the  offshoots  of 
business — correcting  proofs,  cutting 
down  paragraphs,  after  the  great  work 
appears  to  be  entirely  over — all  these, 
and  a  hundred  small  matters,  nm  away 
with  one  minute  after  another.  Two 
hours  after  the  last  reporter  has  been 
asleep — three  after  the  critic  has  done 
praising  prima  donnas,  and  torturing 
musical  phrases — the  editor  has  given 
his  last  instructions,  and  the  sub  cor- 
rected his  last  proof.  They  wend  their 
way — the  one  to  his  cottage,  some 
"miles  out,"  the  other  on  foot  to  his 
city  lodgings.  The  printers  are  left 
alone  in  the  deserted  office,  working 
silently,  diligently,  and  coldly.  Hours, 
news,  passions,  opinions — all  come 
alike  to  them.  The  most  horrible  in- 
cident, the  most  magnificent  oration,  is 
to  them  all  so  much  bourgeois  and  bre- 
vier type. 

> — 

Patriotic  Hatter. 

DuKiNG  the  visit  of  General  Lafayette 
to  the  United  States,  when  all  classes 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


721 


of  citizens  were  eager  to  testify  the  re- 
spect and  gratitude  which  they  felt  for 
the  last  general  of  the  Revolutionary 
army,  a  hatter  in  New  York  sent  the 
noble  patriot  a  hat  of  the  last  Ameri- 
can manufacture.  The  General's  son, 
George  Washington  Lafayette,  was  so 
much  pleased  with  it,  that  he  at  once 
ordered  a  similar  one  for  himself.  It 
was  most  readily  furnished ;  but  when 
his  servant  offered  money,  "Tell  your 
master,"  said  the  grateful  American, 
"that  all  the  hats  I  can  furnish  the 
Fayette  family,  were  paid   for   forty 

years  ago." 

< 

Pirst  Newspaper  in  Amerioa. 

The  first  newspaper  established  in 
America,  was  issued  at  Boston,  in  1690, 
September  35th.  It  immediately  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  colonial 
legislature,  which  declared  that  its 
publication  was  contrary  to  law,  and 
that  it  contained  "  reflections  of  a  very 
high  nature."  The  authorities  prob- 
ably prohibited  the  further  publica- 
tion, for  a  second  number  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  been  issued,  and  only  one 
copy  of  number  one  is  known  to  be  in 
existence,  which  is  in  the  state  paper 
office  at  London,  and  is  a  smal^  sheet 
of  four  quarto  pages ;  one  of  them 
blank.  Its  contents  record  public  oc- 
currences, foreign  and  domestic.  Rich- 
ard Pierce  was  the  printer,  and  Ben- 
jamin Harris  the  publisher. 

The  first  regular  paper  in  this  country 
was  also  issued  at  Boston.  Its  title  was 
the  '^'^  News-Letter,^''  and  its  date  was 
September  24th,  1704,  copies  of  it  be- 
ing still  preserved  in  the  Boston  His- 
torical Society's  collections.  An  exam- 
ination of  its  earliest  numbers  is  of 
peculiar  interest.  Thus,  its  latest  news 
from  England  was  dated  one  himdred 
and  twenty  days  previously,  and  con- 
sisted of  a  speech  of  Queen  Anne  to 
Parliament,  There  is  a  notice,  also, 
that  the  mail  between  Boston  and  New 
York  set  out  once  a  fortnight.  In  the 
46 


succceeding  numbers  of  the  paper,  ne- 
gro men,  women,  and  children  are  ad- 
vertised for  sale ;  and  an  urgent  appeal 
is  made  in  one,  calling  upon  a  female 
who  had  stolen  a  piece  of  fine  lace,  val- 
ued at  fourteen  shillings  a  yard — and 
upon  another  who  had  conveyed  a  piece 
of  fine  calico  from  its  proper  destina- 
tion under  her  riding-hood,  to  return 
the  same,  or  suffer  exposure  in  the 
newspapers. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in 
Virginia  was  established  in  1780,  The 
subscription  was  fifty  dollars  a  year. 
Price  for  advertising,  ten  dollars  the 
first  week,  and  seven  dollars  for  each 
subsequent  insertion.    The  paper  was 

issued  weekly. 

— t — 

Oldest  Daily  Newspaper. 

The  "  Pennsylvania  Packet  and  Gen- 
eral Advertiser,''  which  was  commenced 
in  1771  by  John  Dunlap,  was  published 
in  1784,  Tuesdays,  Thursdays,  and  Sat- 
urdays, by  Daniel  C,  Claypole,  Its  last 
issue  as  a  tri-weekly,  was  Saturday, 
September  18th,  1784,  No,  1754.  The 
next  paper.  No.  1755,  was  issued  Sep- 
tember 21st,  by  John  Dunlap  and  Da- 
vid C.  Claypole,  as  the  ^^Pennsylvania 
Packet  and  Daily  Advertiser,^''  and  from, 
that  day  onward  it  was  pubb'shed  daily. 
In  Isaiah  Thomas's  "  History  of  Print- 
ing," and,  indeed,  in  every  book  con- 
taining any  account  of  American  news- 
papers, this  is  alluded  to  as  the  first 
daily  newspaper  in  the  United  States. 
The  name  was  afterward  changed  to 
"  American  Daily  Advertiser.^''  It  is  now 
the  "  North  American.'''' 

The  first  daily  in  New  York,  was 
commenced  March  1st,  1783,  and  called 
the  '■''New  York  Daily  Advertiser,  by 
Francis  Child  &  Co.  No.  17  Dutch 
street,  one  door  from  the  comer  of  Old 
Slip  and  Smith  street.  Price  four 
cents."  Attempts  were  made  to  pub- 
lish a  daily  newspaper  in  Boston,  in 
1796, 1798,  and  1809,  but  the  "  Boston 
Daily  Advertiser^''    commenced   about 


122 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


1813,  was  the  first  successful  daily  in 

that  city. 

I 

Showing  Up  Tailors. 

Tailoks  must  live ;  at  least  they 
think  so,  and  what  here  follows  must 
not  be  considered  any  objection  to 
Buch  an  idea  being  entertained  by  most 
of  them.  But  the  fact  is — says  a  some- 
what roiled  writer,  who  must  have 
failed  to  have  got  suited  in  his  deal- 
ings with  one  of  the  fraternity — the 
"  leaders  "  are  great  tyrants,  and  have  in- 
genious ways  of  torturing  their  victims. 
One  way  is  this :  They  invent  a  fashion 
which  is  strikingly  peculiar,  and  get  it 
into  vogue  by  acts  best  known  to  them- 
selves ;  for  example,  very  short  overcoats, 
with  long  waists,  which  look  well  on 
men  like  Count  Rossi,  whose  figure  is 
faultless.  Their  next  movement,  after 
everybody  is  overcoated  for  the  winter, 
ia  to  bring  out  a  garment  which  differs 
as  much  as  possible  from  the  one  in  fash- 
ion, that  is,  an  overcoat  with  skirts  to 
the  heels,  and  waist  under  the  armpits. 
They  get  half  a  dozen  men  of  high 
fashion,  who  look  well  in  anything,  to 
parade  their  new  invention  in  Broad- 
way, and  this  makes  the  short-coated 
majority  appear  out  of  date.  The 
manoeuvre  succeeds ;  all  the  dandies 
are  driven  to  the  extravagance  of  or- 
dering a  superfluous  coat;  the  tailors 
smile,  and  the  dandies  bleed — or  their 
fathers  do.  Some  time  ago  these  tailor 
tyrants  put  everybody  into  long  waist- 
coats, and,  consequently,  into  "  contin- 
uations "  that  just  lapped  over  the  hips. 
Suddenly  the  waistcoats  were  abbrevi- 
ated four  inches.  What  was  the  conse- 
quence ?  Why,  of  course,  the  continua- 
tions "  failed  to  connect,"  and  he  who 
would  not  exhibit  to  mankind  a  broad 
belt  of  white  around  his  waist,  was 
compelled  to  discard  all  his  store  of 
well-saved  unnamables.  And  in  vain 
might  the  oldest  customer  protest  and 
order  garments  of  the  last  fashion. 
"Consider  my  reputation,    sir,"    says 


the  tailor,  with   the  air  of  offended 
majesty. 

Of  course,  no  clever  tailor  will  take 
the  above  to  himself;  and  whoever 
wrote  it,  deserves  to  be  passed  over  to 
the  tender  mercies  of  the  yardstick  and 
shears,  without  benefit  of  clergy. 


Ungrateful  Publisher. 

When  Mr.  Holt,  a  printer,  establish- 
ed his  newspaper  in  New  York  in  1766, 
a  person  in  the  vicinity  of  Albany,  who 
was  wealthy,  but  notorious  for  his  nar- 
row, penurious  disposition,  became  one 
of  his  earliest  subscribers.  At  the  end 
of  the  first  year,  the  editor  sent  his  ac- 
count for'the  yearly  subscription,  urg- 
ing a  request  that  it  might  be  settled 
the  first  convenient  opportunity.  No 
answer,  however,  came.  The  bills  were 
sent  regularly  for  eighteen  years,  but 
with  the  same  success ;  till  at  length 
Mr.  Holt,  as  may  well  be  supposed,  got 
out  of  aU  patience  with  his  customer, 
and  had  the  whole  account  made  out 
and  sent  to  him — adding,  at  the  foot 
thereof,  that  if  it  was  not  immediately 
paid,  he  would  put  it  in  suit,  and  dis- 
continue sending  any  more  newspapers. 
The  subscriber,  having  read  the  ac- 
count and  notice,  exclaimed,  with  a 
disdainful  sneer,  "  What  an  ungrateful 
puppy  1  I  was  one  of  the  first  that  en- 
couraged his  paper  by  subscribing — 
have  continued  it  ever  since — and  this 
is  the  return  he  makes  me  I " 


Mr.  Gales  Reportingr  Mr.  Webster's 
Speech.. 

At  the  time  that  Colonel  Hayne,  of 
South  Carolina,  made  his  memorable 
speech  on  Mr.  Foot's  resolution,  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  Mr.  Joseph  Gales, 
of  the  National  Intelligencer,  happened 
to  be  present:  and  hearing  that  Mr. 
Webster  intended  to  reply,  and  would 
probably  be  quite  brief,  he  resolved  to 
try  his  hand,  for  this  particular  occa- 
sion, of  his  long-neglected  vocation  of 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


723 


short-hand  reporter.  He  undertook  the 
task,  but  finding  the  "  reply  "  was  like- 
ly to  occupy  a  number  of  hours  instead 
of  some  thirty  minutes,  the  magnitude 
of  the  labor  it  would  be  to  write  out 
his  notes  appeared  so  formidable,  that 
he  shrank  from  it  as  an  impossibility, 
with  the  many  engagements  that  de- 
manded his  attention.  The  friends  of 
Mr.  Webster  urged  upon  Mr.  Gales  the 
imperative  necessity  of  writing  out  the 
speech,  but  the  prospect  was  gloomy, 
when  suddenly  an  intimation  was  re- 
ceived from  Mrs.  Gales — who  had  in 
former  years  been  in  the  habit  of  as- 
sisting her  husband  in  elaborating  his 
reports— that  she  would  do  all  in  her 
power  to  write  out  the  speech  in  full. 
The  result  was,  that  in  the  course  of  a 
week  a  copy  was  presented  to  Mr. 
Webster  in  the  handwriting  of  Mrs. 
Gales,  and  when  published  in  the  Na- 
tional Intelligencer  had  an  extraordi- 
nary circulation.  The  original  notes, 
adorned  with  a  few  unimportant  alter- 
ations in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Web- 
ster himself,  were  subsequently  neatly 
bound  in  a  volume  and  preserved  in 
Mr.  G.'s  library.  It  is  also  well  known 
that  the  faithfulness  of  the  report  not 
only  elicited  the  warmest  commenda- 
tions from  Mr.  Webster,  but  likewise  a 
costly  gift  from  him  to  Mrs.  Gales,  in 
token  of  his  gratitude. 


America's  First  Printed  Book. 

It  seems  to  have  been  pretty  defi- 
nitely ascertained,  that  the  first  printed 
book  on  this  continent,  was  by  Crom- 
berger,  in  Mexico,  in  1544.  The  first 
book  in  our  own  territory  was  the  Bay 
Psalm  Book,  printed  in  1640,  at  Cam- 
bridge, by  Stephen  Daye. 


Scotch  Cabinet  l)[aker*s  Apprentice. 

A  YOUNG  Highlander  was  appren- 
ticed to  a  cabinet  maker  in  Glasgow, 
and,  as  a  first  job,  had  a  chest  of  ve- 
neered drawers  to  clean  and  polish. 


After  a  sufficient  time  had  elapsed  for 
doing  the  work  assigned  him,  the  fore- 
man inquired  whether  he  was  ready 
with  the  drawers  yet  ?  "  Oich  no  ;  it's 
a  tough  job ;  I've  almost  taken  the 
skin  off  my  ain  two  hands  before  I'll 
get  it  off  the  drawers."  "  What !  "  re- 
plied the  startled  director  of  plane  and 
chisel,  "  you  are  not  taking  the  veneer- 
ing off,  you  blockhead  ?  "  "  What  I'll 
do,  then  ?  I  could  not  surely  put  a 
polish  on  before  I'll  take  the  bark 
off!" 


Billingrs^te  Uarket  Dealers. 

There  are  about  fifty  fish-salesmen 
who  have  stalls  in  the  famous  BUlings- 
gate  market,  London,  for  which  they 
pay  a  comparatively  trifling  rent.  The 
tables  of  the  salesmen,  which  are  ranged 
from  one  side  of  the  covered  area  to 
the  other,  afford  ample  space  for  clus- 
tering throngs  of  buyers  around  each. 
Each  range  appears  to  form  one  table, 
but  the  portion  assigned  to  each  sales- 
man is  nine  feet  by  six. 

Each  seller  sits  with,  his  back  to  an- 
other, and  between  them  is  a  wooden 
board,  so  that  they  are  apparently  en- 
closed in  a  recess ;  but  by  this  arrange- 
ment their  pockets  escape  the  pick- 
pocket, which  was  not  the  case  when 
tliey  were  not  separated  from  the 
crowd.  The  market  management  is 
as  follows : 

At  the  lower  end  of  the  market, 
nearest  the  fishing  boats,  porters  stand 
with  baskets  of  fish  on  their  heads. 
Not  one  of  them  is  allowed  to  have  the 
advantage  over  his  fellows  by  an  unfair 
start,  or  to  overstep  a  line  marked  out 
by  the  clerk  of  the  market.  The  in- 
stant the  clock  strikes  the  accustomed 
hour,  the  race  commences,  and  each 
porter  rushes  at  his  utmost  speed  to 
the  respective  salesman  to  whom  his 
budren  is  assigned.  The  baskets  are 
instantly  emptied  on  the  tables,  and 
the  porters  hasten  for  a  fresh  supply 
repeating  this  until  all  is  brought.    It 


724 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


is  the  fishmonger's  interest  to  bring  his 
whole  cargo  into  the  market  as  soon  as 
possible,  for,  if  the  quantity  brought  to 
market  be  large,  prices  will  fall  the 
more  quickly,  and  if  they  are  high, 
buyers  purchase  less  freely,  and  he  may 
miss  the  sale.  Some  of  these  heaps  of 
glistening  fish  would  enchant  a  Dutch 
painter.  The  manners  of  Billingsgate 
— so  proverbial  and  disparaging — have 
improved,  and  yet  the  standard  phrase 
for  abuse,  either  of  the  tongue  or  pen, 
will  probably  never  be  altered. 


JUllionnaire  Butcher  of  London. 

M.  Wet,  a  French  writer  of  distinc- 
tion, while  riding  in  a  London  omni- 
bus, formed  a  passing  acquaintance 
with  a  fellow  traveller,  and  addressed 
a  few  words  to  him  concerning  a  car- 
riage which  just  drove  by.  It  was  too 
fine  to  be  elegant,  and  was  drawn  by 
two  magnificent  horses.  On  the  box, 
adorned  with  beautiful  fringe,  sat  a 
black-coated  coachman ;  there  was  not 
a  wrinkle  in  his  white  cravat — his 
snowy  gloves  were  spotless.  In  the 
vehicle,  on  downy  cushions,  carelessly 
lounged  a  man  without  a  coat,  his  arms 
bare,  his  sleeves  turned  up  to  the 
shoulders ;  an  apron,  with  the  corners 
turned  up,  served  him  as  a  girdle — so 
that  the  coachman  looked  like  a  mil- 
lionnaire  driving  a  mechanic  in  his 
working  dress.  Mr.  Wey  asked  his 
neighbor  who  and  what  was  the 
strange-looking  occupant  of  the  dash- 
ing carriage.  "  The  richest  butcher  in 
London,"  was  the  reply;  "he  is  re- 
turning in  his  own  carriage  from  the 
slaughter-house  to  his  residence.  His 
forefathers  were  in  the  same  business ; 
his  father  left  him  a  fortune  of  two 
millions,  and  he,  out  of  modesty,  fol- 
lows his  profession — a  very  honorable 
old  custom.  This  gentleman-butcher 
possesses  four  millions." 


Profits  of  a  Stall. 

A  Polish  woman,  who  has  a  stall  in 
the  Franklin  market.  New  York,  found 
herself,  about  five  years  ago,  a  widow 
with  four  young  children  and  an  estate 
of  just  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  in 
money.  Though  embarrassed  by  a 
very  poor  knowledge  of  our  language, 
she  immediately  invested  her  capital  in 
some  articles  which  she  could  sell,  and 
commenced  operations,  employing  her 
children  as  she  could  for  her  assistance. 
For  a  year  or  two  past  she  has  had  the 
market  stall.  A  few  months  ago  she 
learned  that  the  owner  of  a  good  farm 
of  seventy-five  acres,  in  one  of  the  cen- 
tral counties  of  the  State,  was  desirous 
to  sell  his  farm  for  ready  money.  She 
examined  the  farm,  found  a  good  house, 
bam,  etc.,  and  fifty  acres  under  cultiva- 
tion. Her  small  pittance  had  grown  to 
11,200.  The  Polish  widow  thus  se- 
cured her  a  country  estate,  though  still 
carrying  on  the  business  of  her  stall. 
Five  years  of  determined  effort,  even 
in  a  small  sphere,  will  bring  a  large 
amount  to  the  credit  side  of  the  cash 
book. 


Classification  of  Newspaper  Keaders. 

Shenstone,  the  poet,  divides  the 
readers  of  a  newspaper  into  seven 
classes.  These  are  as  follows :  The  ill- 
natured  look  at  the  list  of  bankrupts ; 
the  poor  to  the  price  of  bread;  the 
stockjobber  to  the  lies  of  the  day ;  the 
old  maid  to  marriages ;  the  prodigal  to 
the  deaths;  the  monopolizers  to  the 
hopes  of  a  wet  and  bad  harvest;  the 
boarding-school  and  all  other  young 
misses,  to  all  matters  relative  to  Gret- 
na Green. 


"Extras,"  etc. 

When  Mr.  Hallock  became  the  part- 
ner of  Mr.  Hale,  in  the  publication  of 
the  Journal  of  Commerce^  a  new  era  in 
some    respects   was    inaugurated    in 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE 


725 


American  journalism.  The  times  were 
troublous  in  Europe.  The  great  revo- 
lution of  1830  was  approaching.  There 
was  intense  anxiety  in  America  for 
news.  The  new  partners  bought  and 
equipped  a  small  schooner,  called  her 
"  The  Journal  of  Commerce,"  and  sent 
her  out  to  qruise  for  packet  ships,  get 
the  European  papers,  and  bring  them 
in,  one,  two,  or  three  days  ahead  of  the 
vessel's  arrival.  This  was  the  first 
American  newsboat  of  any  size.  The 
other  papers  had  row-boats  cruising  in 
the  harbor.  The  new  plan  was  laughed 
at — "  they  are  fools,  and  will  only  ruin 
themselves  the  sooner,"  was  the  com- 
mon remark.  But  the  result  proved 
the  wisdom  of  the  idea.  The  sema- 
phoric  telegraph  would  announce  "  The 
Journal  of  Commerce  in  the  offing,  stand- 
ing in."  A  few  hours  later,  "  The  Jour- 
nal of  Commerce  passing  the  Hook." 
Then  the  crowd  would  begin  to  collect 
in  the  publishing  office.  No  news 
would  be  delivered  until  an  extra  even- 
ing edition  was  ready,  and  then  Mr. 
Hale  would  sometimes  read  the  news 
aloud  to  hundreds  of  citizens,  while  the 
extras  were  sold  by  thousands.  This 
was  the  commencement  of  New  York 
Extras. 


Lawyers  and  Barbers. 

It  is  a  singular  circumstance  that 
two  of  the  most  eminent  lawyers  of 
the  present  century.  Lord  St.  Leonards 
and  the  late  Chief  Justice  Abbott  (Lord 
Tenterden)  were  the  sons  of  operative 
barbers.  The  late  chief  justice  perhaps 
never  practised  tonsorially — in  the 
shop,  at  least ;  but  certainly  the  ex- 
lord  chancellor  spent  part  of  his  boy- 
hood in  the  parental  shaving  shop,  in 
Duke  street,  St.  James.  It  is  also  nar- 
rated that  on  one  occasion,  an  eminent 
counsellor  called  at  the  shop  of  the 
elder  Sugden,  when  the  latter,  in  the 
course  of  some  familiar  small  talk,  of 
which  barbers  are  so  fond,  remarked, 
"I  have  sent  my  son  to  be  a  lawyer. 


sir;  I  hope  no  offence,  but  I've  tried 
him  at  my  own  profession,  but  he 
hadn't  the  genius  for  it." 


Perils  of  Reporting  the  Parliamentary 
Debates. 

The  first  attempt  at  a  monthly  pub- 
lication of  the  parliamentary  debates 
was  made  in  the  Oentlemari'a  Magazine, 
for  August,  1735  ;  and  the  practice  was 
continued  in  succeeding  numbers.  The 
reports  were  of  the  most  timid  and 
cautious  description,  the  names  of  the 
speakers  being  given  only  by  the  first , 
and  last  letters,  and,  in  many  cases,  no 
speaker's  name  is  mentioned ;  all  that 
appears  is  a  summary  of  the  argument 
and  discussion.  They  got  bolder  by 
degrees,  and  at  last  published  the 
names  at  length.  This  audacity,  cou- 
pled with  the  fact  that  some  of  the 
members  appeared  in  a  light  not  very 
satisfactory  to  themselves,  either  from 
their  own  defects,  or  the  incorrect  ver- 
sion of  their  oratory,  caused  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Commons  to  be  drawn  to 
the  subject.  It  was  brought  under  no- 
tice by  the  speaker,  who  was  followed 
by  Yonge,  Windham,  and  Sir  Thomas 
Winnington.  The  last  concluded  a  very 
angry  speech  with  these  words :  "  Why, 
sir,  you  will  have  the  speeches  of  this 
house  every  day  printed,  even  during 
your  session ;  and  we  shall  be  looked 
upon  as  the  most  contemptible  assem- 
bly on  the  face  of  the  earth."  The  re- 
sult was  a  thundering  resolution,  unan- 
imously agreed  to,  declaring  it "  a  high 
indignity  to,  and  a  notorious  breach  of, 
the  privileges  of  the  house  to  publish 
the  debates,  either  while  Parliament 
is  sitting,  or  during  the  recess,"  and 
threatening  to  proceed  against  offend- 
ers "with  the  utmost  severity."  The 
Oentlemari'a  Magazine  published  them 
under  the  title  of  the  "  Debates  of  the 
Senate  of  Lilliput,"  and  the  London 
Magazine  under  that  of  a  "  Journal  of 
the  Proceedings  and  Debates  in  the 
Political  Club ; "  giving  Roman  names 


726 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


to  the  speakers,  while  each  publication 
printed  an  explanatory  key  at  the  end 
of  the  year. 


Dr.  Johnson  in  the  Capacity  of  a 
Reporter. 

Db.  Johnson  was  at  one  time  em- 
ployed by  the  editor  of  the  Oentleman's 
Magazine  in  the  composition  of  the  par- 
liamentary debates,  having  the  assist- 
ance of  Mr.  Guthrie,  somewhat  famous 
in  this  line.  The  latter,  who  had  a 
good  memory,  brought  home  as  much 
as  he  could  recollect  from  the  house, 
mending  his  draught  by  whatever  other 
assistance  he  could  command ;  after 
which,  the  matter  thus  collected  under- 
went the  finishing  touches  of  Johnson. 
At  times,  Johnson  had  no  other  aid 
than  the  names  of  the  speakers,  and 
the  side  they  took,  being  left  to  his 
own  resources  for  the  argument  and 
language.  A  speech — the  celebrated 
speech,  commencing  "  The  atrocious 
crime  of  being  a  young  man,"  which 
he  put  into  the  mouth  of  Pitt,  when 
that  distinguished  orator  replied  to 
the  taunts  of  Walpole — Johnson  after- 
ward declared,  in  the  company  of 
Francis,  Wedderbum,  Foote,  and  Mur- 
phy, that  he  "  wrote  in  a  garret  in  Exe- 
ter street."  His  reports,  however,  are 
considered  by  the  editors  of  Hansard's 
Parliamentary  History,  the  most  au- 
thentic extant,  faithfully  embodying 
the  argument,  if  not  the  style,  of  the 
speakers.  It  was  once  observed  to  him, 
that  he  dealt  out  reason  and  eloquence 
with  an  equal  hand  to  both  parties. 
"That  is  not  quite  true,"  said  John- 
son ;  "  I  saved  appearances  pretty  well ; 
but  I  took  care  that  the  Whig  dogs 
should  not  have  the  best  of  it." 


Obtaininer  a  Copyrierht. 

Mr.  Johnson,  the  bookseller  in  St. 
Paul's  churchyard,  London,  obtained 
the  copyright  of  Cowper's  Poems, 
which  proved  a  source  of  great  profit 


to  him,  in  the  following  manner :  A 
relation  of  Cowper  called  one  evening 
at  dusk  on  Johnson,  with  a  bimdle  of 
these  poems,  which  he  offered  to  him 
for  publication,  provided  he  would 
print  them  on  his  own  risk,  and  let  the 
author  have  a  few  copies  to  give  to  his 
Mends.  Johnson  perused  And  approv- 
ed of  them,  and  accordingly  printed 
and  published  them.  Soon  after  they 
had  appeared  before  the  public,  there 
was  not  a  review  which  did  not  load 
them  with  the  most  scurrilous  abuse, 
and  condemn  to  the  butter  shops.  In 
consequence  of  the  public  taste  being 
thus  terrified,  or  misled,  these  charm- 
ing eflFusions  lay  in  a  comer  of  the 
bookseller's  shop  as  an  unsalable  pile 
for  a  long  period.  Some  time  after- 
ward, the  same  person  appeared,  with 
another  bundle  of  manuscripts  from 
the  same  author;  which  were  ofiered 
and  accepted  upon  the  same  terms.  In 
this  fresh  collection  was  the  inimitable 
poem  of  The  Ta»k.  Not  alarmed  at  the 
fate  of  the  former  publication,  and 
thoroughly  assured,  as  he  was,  of 
their  great  merit,  Mr.  Johnson  resolved 
to  publish  them.  Soon  after  they  had 
appeared,  the  tone  of  the  reviewers 
instantly  changed,  and  Cowper  was 
hailed  as  the  first  poet  of  his  age.  The 
success  of  this  second  publication  set 
the  first  in  motion,  and  Johnson  imme- 
diately reaped  the  fruits  of  his  un- 
daimted  judgment. 


Johnson  and  His  Dictionary. 

Mr.  Andrew  Millar,  bookseller  in 
the  Strand,  had  the  principal  charge  in 
conducting  the  publication  of  John- 
son's Dictionary ;  and  as  the  patience 
of  the  proprietors  was  repeatedly  tried, 
and  almost  exh.'iusted,  by  their  expect- 
ing that  the  work  would  be  completed 
within  the  time  which  Johnson  had 
sanguinely  supposed,  the  learned  au- 
thor was  often  goaded  to  dispatch, 
more  especially  as  he  had  received  all 
the  copy  money  by  dififerent  drafts,  a 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


ni 


considerable  time  before  he  had  finished 
his  task.  When  the  messenger  who 
carried  the  last  sheet  to  Millar  return- 
ed, Johnson  asked  him,  "  Well,  what 
did  he  say  ?  "  "  Sir,"  answered  the 
messenger,  "he  said,  'Thank  God  I 
have  done  with  him.' "  "  I  am  glad," 
replied  Johnson,  with  a  smile,  "that 
he  thanks  God  for  anything." 


Price  of  "Akenside's  Pleasures  of 
Imagination." 

DoDSLEY,  who  published  Akenside's 
Pleasures  of  Imagination,  says,  that 
when  the  copy  was  offered  him,  the 
price  demanded  for  it,  which  was  a 
hundred  and  twenty  pounds,  being 
such  as  he  was  not  inclined  to  give 
precipitately,  he  carried  the  work  to 
Pope,  who,  having  looked  into  it,  ad- 
vised him  not  to  make  a  niggardly 
offer,  for  "  this  was  no  everyday 
writer." 


Benjaxain  Pranklin  as  a  Bookseller. 

One  fine  morning  when  Franklin 
was  busy  preparing  his  newspaper  for 
the  press,  a  lounger  stepped  into  the 
store,  and  spent  an  hour  or  more  look- 
ing over  the  books,  etc.,  and  finally, 
taking  one  in  his  hand,  asked  the  shop 
boy  the  price. 

"  One  dollar,"  was  the  answer, 
"  One    dollar ! "    said  the   lounger, 
"  can't  you  take  less  than  that  ?  " 

"No,  indeed;  one  dollar  is  the 
price," 

Another  hour  had  nearly  passed, 
when  the  lounger  said, 

"  Is  Mr.  Franklin  at  home  ?  " 
"  Yes  ;  he  is  in  the  printing  office." 
"  I   want   to    see    him,"    said    the 
lounger. 

The  shop  boy  immediately  informed 
Mr.  Franklin  that  a  gentleman  was  in 
the  store,  waiting  to  see  him.  Frank- 
lin was  soon  behind  the  counter,  when 
the  lounger,  with  book  in  hand,  ad- 
dressed him  thus : 


"  Mr.  Franklin,  what  is  the  lowest 
you  can  take  for  that  book  ? " 

"  One  dollar  and  a  quarter,"  was  the 
ready  answer. 

"  One  dollar  and  a  quarter  1  Why, 
your  young  man  asked  me  only  a  dol- 
lar." 

"  True,"  said  Franklin,  "  and  I  could 
better  have  afibrded  to  have  taken  a 
dollar  then,  than  to  have  been  taken 
out  of  the  office." 

The  lounger  seemed  surprised,  and 
wishing  to  end  the  parley  of  his  own 
making,  said : 

"  Come,  Mr.  Franklin,  tell  me  what 
is  the  lowest  you  can  take  for  it  ?  " 

"  One  dollar  and  a  half." 

"A  dollar  and  a  half!  Why,  you 
offered  it  yourself  for  a  dollar  and  a 
quarter," 

"Yes,"  said  Franklin,  "and  I  had 
better  have  taken  that  price  then,  than 
a  dollar  and  a  half  now." 

The  lounger  paid  down  the  price, 
and  went  about  his  business — if  he  had 
any— and  Franklin  returned  into  the 
printing  office. 


Bival  Publishers. 

Both  Tonson  and  Lintot  were  rivals 
for  publishing  a  work  of  Dr.  Young's. 
The  poet  happened  to  answer  both  of 
their  letters  the  same  morning,  and  un- 
fortunately misdirected  them.  In  these 
epistles  he  complained  of  the  rascally 
cupidity  of  each.  In  the  one  he  in- 
tended for  Tonson,  he  said  that  Lintot 
was  so  great  a  scoundrel,  that  printing 
with  him  was  out  of  the  question ;  and 
writing  to  Lintot,  he  declared  that 
Tonson  was  an  old  rascal,  with  many 
other  epithets  equally  opprobrious. 


Sir  Kobert  Peel's  Factory  Operative. 

Every  one  knows  that  old  Sir  Rob- 
ert Peel,  father  of  the  late  prime  minis- 
ter of  England  and  grandfather  of  the 
present  baronet,  made  his  money  by 
the  cotton  spinning.    In  the  early  part 


Y28 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


of  his  career  his  business  was  not  re- 
markably extensive,  but  suddenly  he 
made  a  tremendous  start,  and  soon  dis- 
tanced all  his  rivals.  He  grew  immense- 
ly rich,  as  we  all  know,  but  all  do  not 
know  the  lucky  accident  to  which  he 
was  indebted  for  his  enormous  wealth. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  cotton  spin- 
ning machinery,  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
used  to  be  caused  by  filaments  of  cot- 
ton adhering  to  the  bobbins  or  tapes, 
which  then  formed  portions  of  the 
looms.  These  filaments  accumulating, 
soon  clogged  the  wheels  and  other  parts 
of  the  machinery,  and  rendered  it  ne- 
cessary that  they  should  be  cleared, 
which  involved  frequent  stoppages,  and 
much  loss  of  time. 

The  great  desideratum  was  to  find 
out  some  plan  of  preventing  this  clog- 
ging by  the  cotton,  and  Sir  Robert,  or 
Mr.  Peel,  as  he  was  then,  spent  vast 
sums  in  experiments.  He  employed 
some  of  the  ablest  machinists  in  the 
kingdom — among  them  James  "Watt — 
who  suggested  various  corrections ;  but 
spite  of  all  they  could  do  the  incon- 
venience remained — the  cotton  would 
adhere  to  the  bobbins,  and  the  evil 
appeared  to  be  insurmountable. 

Of  course,  these  delays  seriously 
affected  the  wages  of  the  operatives, 
who,  on  Saturdays,  generally  came 
short  in  proportion  to  the  stoppages 
during  the  previous  days.  It  was 
noticed,  however,  that  one  man  always 
drew  his  full  pay — his  work  was  al- 
ways accomplished;  in  fact,  his  loom 
never  had  to  stop,  while  every  other  in 
the  factory  was  idle.  Mr.  Peel  was  in- 
formed of  this,  and  knew  there  must 
be  a  secret  somewhere.  It  was  import- 
ant that  it  should  be  discovered,  if  pos- 
sible. 

The  man  was  watched,  but  all  to  no 
purpose ;  his  fellow  workmen  tried  to 
"pump"  him,  but  they  couldn't;  at 
last  Mr.  Peel  sent  for  the  man  into  his 
pnvate  ofllce. 

He  was  a  rough  Lancashire  man — 
unable  to  read  or  write — ^little  better, 


indeed,  than  a  mere  animal.  He  enter- 
ed the  "  presence  "  pulling  his  forelock, 
and  shuffling  on  the  ground  with  his 
great  clumsy  wooden  shoes. 

"  Dick,"  said  Mr.  Peel,  "  Ferguson, 
the  overlooker,  tells  me  your  bobbins 
are  always  clean,  is  that  so  ?  " 

"  Ee's,  master,  't  be." 

"  Well,  Dick,  how  do  you  manage  it 
— have  you  any  objection  to  let  me 
know  ?  " 

"  Why,  master  PUl,  't  be  a  sort  o' 
sacret  loike,   ye  see,   and  if  oi  told, 
t'others  'd  know  's  much  as  oi,"  replied' 
Dick,  with  a  cunning  grin. 

"  Of  course,  Dick,  I'll  give  you  some- 
thing if  you'll  tell  me — and  if  you  can 
make  all  the  looms  in  the  factory  work 
as  smoothly  as  yours — " 

"  Ev'ry  one  'n  them,  master  PUl," 

"  Well,  what  shall  I  give  you  ?  Name 
your  price,  Dick,  and  let  me  have  your 
secret." 

Dick  grinned,  scratched  and  shook 
his  great  head,  and  shuffled  for  a  few 
minutes,  while  Mr.  Peel  anxiously 
awaited  his  reply.  The  cotton  lord 
thought  his  servant  would  probably 
ask  a  hundred  pounds  or  so,  which  he 
would  most  willingly  have  given  him. 
Presently  Dick  said, 

"Well,  master  PiU,  Til  tell  'ee  aU 
about  it,  if  you'll  give  me — a  quart  o' 
beer  a  day  as  long  as  I'm  in  the  mills 
— you'll  save  that  ten." 

Mr.  Peel  rather  thought  he  should, 
and  quickly  agreed  to  the  terms. 

"  You  shall  have  it,  Dick,  and  half  a 
gallon  every  Sunday  into  the  bargain." 

"  Well,  then,"  said  Dick,  first  look- 
ing cautiously  around  to  see  that  no 
one  was  near — "  this  be  it ;  "  and  put- 
ting his  lips  close  to  Mr.  Peel's  ear,  he 
whispered,  "  Chalk  your  lobbim  !  " 

That  indeed  was  the  great  secreL 
Dick  had  been  in  the  habit  of  furtively 
chalking  his  bobbins,  which  simple 
contrivance  had  eflfectually  prevented 
the  adherence  of  the  cotton.  As  the 
bobbins  were  white,  the  chalking  had 
escaped  detection. 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


729 


Mr.  Peel  was  a  sagacious  man,  and 
saw  through,  the  aflfair  at  a  glance.  He 
at  once  patented  the  invention — had 
"chalking"  machinery  contrived,  and 
soon  took  the  lead  in  the  cotton  spin- 
ning department.  This  was  the  found- 
ation of  his  princely  fortune.  It  is  but 
right  to  add  that  he  pensioned  off  Dick 

handsomely. 

« 

Publisher's  Generosity  to  an  Author. 

The  celebrated  work  so  well  known 
as  "  Burn's  Justice,"  was  written  by 
Burn,  a  poor  clergyman  in  the  north 
of  England.  He  went  to  London  to 
sell  his  manuscript,  and  inquired  of 
the  landlord  of  the  inn  where  he  lodg- 
ed if  he  was  acquainted  with  any  book- 
seller. The  innkeeper  introduced  him 
to  one,  who,  after  keeping  the  manu- 
script for  eight  days,  offered  him  twen- 
ty pounds.  After  a  variety  of  disap- 
pointments of  the  same  kind,  the  author 
waited  on  Mr.  Millar,  who  was  then 
rising  fast  into  fame  and  fortune.  He 
had  suflBcient  strength  of  mind  to  see 
that  honesty  is  the  best  policy,  and  by 
treating  every  writer  with  justice,  and 
often  with  generosity,  he  acquired  a 
most  opulent  fortime.  He  had  in  his 
employment  gentlemen,  in  every  differ- 
ent branch  of  learning,  who  were  to  in- 
form him  of  the  merits  of  the  different 
books  submitted  to  their  inspection. 

The  manuscript  in  question  was  sent 
to  a  Scotch  student  in  the  Temple,  and 
Bum,  in  the  interim,  received  a  general 
invitation  to  Millar's  table.  In  eight 
or  ten  days  the  manuscript  was  return- 
ed to  Mr.  Millar,  with  a  note  that  it 
would  be  an  excellent  bargain  at  two 
hundred  pounds.  Next  day,  after  din- 
ner, when  the  glass  had  begun  to  circu- 
late, he  asked  Bum  what  was  the  low- 
est sum  that  he  would  be  willing  to 
receive  for  his  work.  The  poor  man 
replied  that  the  highest  offer  which  he 
had  received  was  twenty  pounds — a 
sum  too  small  to  defray  the  expenses 
of  his  journey ! 


"  Will  you  accept  two  hundred  gui- 
neas ? "  said  Mr.  Millar. 

"  Two  hundred  guineas !  "  cried  the 
parson,  clapping  his  hands  ;  "  I  am  ex- 
tremely fortunate." 

The  book  went  through  many  im- 
pressions, and  Mr.  Millar,  of  his  own 
good  will,  paid  the  author  one  hun- 
dred pounds  additional  for  each  of 
them.  As  the  author  loved  port,  the 
bookseller  further  gave  him  a  letter  of 
credit  for  the  purchase  of  a  pipe  per 
annum,  during  the  rest  of  his  life,  in 
any  wine  cellar  in  London,  where  he 
thought  proper. 

"  After  all  this,"  added  Mr.  Millar, 
in  telling  the  story,  "I  have  lived  to 
clear  eleven  thousand  pounds  by  the 
bargain." 

Mr.  Millar  gave  two  hundred  pounds 
for  the  copyright  of  "  Tom  Jones."  Be- 
fore he  died,  he  had  cleared  eighteen 
thousand  pounds  by  it,  out  of  which 
he  had  the  generosity  to  make  Fielding 
presents,  at  different  times,  of  various 
sums,  till  they  amounted  to  two  thou- 
sand pounds.  He  also  bequeathed  a 
handsome  legacy  to  each  of  Mr.  Field- 
ing's sons. 

> 

Business  Mistakes  of  Publishers. 

Cave  offered  half  the  booksellers  in 
London  the  property  of  the  "  Gentle- 
man's Magazine ; "  as  they  all  refused  to 
engage  in  it,  he  was  obliged  to  publish 
it  himself,  and  it  became  one  of  the 
most  popular  and  profitable  magazines 
in  the  world. 

Dr.  Buchan  offered  his  "Domestic 
Medicine"  to  every  principal  book- 
seller of  Edinburgh  and  London,  for 
one  hundred  pounds,  without  obtain- 
ing a  purchaser;  and,  after  it  had 
passed  through  twenty-five  editions,  it 
was  sold  in  thirty-two  shares  of  fifty 
pounds  each. 

Beresford  offered  his  copyright  of 
the  "Miseries  of  Human  Life"  to  a 
bookseller,  for  twenty  pounds.  It  was 
rejected.    It  was  subsequently  publish- 


130 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


ed,  however,  and  over  five  thousand 
pounds  realized  by  its  publication. 


Chinese  Barbers. 

The  barbers,  in  the  towns  of  China, 
go  about  ringing  bells  to  get  customers. 
They  carry  with  them  a  stool,  a  basin, 
a  towel,  and  a  pot  containing  fire. 
When  any  person  calls  them,  they  run 
to  him ;  and,  planting  their  stool  in  a 
convenient  place  in  the  street,  shave  the 
head,  clean  the  ears,  dress  the  eyebrows, 
and  brush  the  shoulders — all  for  the 
value  of  one  cent.  They  then  ring  the 
bell  again,  and  start  in  pursuit  of  an- 
other customer. 


Barbers'  Chairs. 

The  chair  in  a  barber's  shop  was  long 
proverbial,  from  its  capaciousness,  for 
accommodating  all  sizes  of  occupants ; 
whence  arose  the  phrase — "  as  common 
as  a  barber's  chair.'''' 

Plutarch  remarks  that  barbers  are 
naturally  a  loquacious  race ;  and  gives 
an  anecdote  of  king  Archelaus,  who 
stipulated  with  his  barber  to  shave  him 
in  silence.  Not  so,  however,  have 
thought  most  of  barbers'  customers : 
the  cithara,  or  lute,  was  hung  up  in 
the  shop,  to  be  played  for  their  diver- 
sion ;  and  snapping  his  shears  or  fingers 
was  a  barber's  qualification.  Of  his  art, 
or  trade,  as  practised  of  old,  Lyly  gives 
a  curious  sample  :  *'  How,  sir,  will  you 
be  trimmed  ?  will  you  have  your  beard 
like  a  spade  or  a  bodkin  ?  a  penthouse 
on  your  upper  lip,  or  an  ally  on  your 
chin  ?  a  low  curie  on  your  head  like  a 
bull,  or  dangling  locke  like  a  spaniell  ? 
your  moustachios  sharpe  at  the  ends, 
like  shoemakers'  aules,  or  shaggie  to 
fall  on  your  shoulders  ?  " 


Porfeits  in  a  Barber's  Shop. 

Formerly  forfeits  were  enforced  for 
certain  breaches  of  conduct  in  a  barber's 
shop — as,  for  handling  the  razors ;  for 


talking  of  cutting  throats ;  for  calling 
hair-powder  fiour;  for  meddling  with 
anything  on  the  shopboard. 

In  1856,  there  was  hanging  in  a  bar- 
ber's shop  at  Stratford,  Eng.,  a  set  of 
rules,  which  the  possessor  mounted  when 
he  was  an  apprentice,  some  fifty  years 
previously;  and  his  employer,  who 
was  in  business  as  a  barber  at  Stratford, 
in  1769,  frequently  alluded  to  this  list 
of  forfeits  as  being  generally  acknowl- 
edged by  all  the  fraternity  to  have  been 
in  use  for  centuries.  The  old  man  well 
remembered  large  wooden  bowls  for 
lathering;  which  bowls  were  placed 
under  the  chin,  a  convenient  niche 
having  been  cut  in  the  side  in  which 
the  chin  droJ)ped  and  kept  the  bowl 
suspended  during  the  lathering  opera- 
tion. He  used  to  relate  that  some  of 
the  customers  paid  by  the  quarter,  and 
for  these  an  especial  bowl  wa&set  apart, 
to  be  used  only  at  the  time  when  their 
shaving  money  was  due;  and  inside 
this  particular  bowl,  inscribed  in  per- 
fectly unmistakable  characters,  were 
the  words,  "  Sir,  your  quarter's  up  I " 


Fashing:  Business. 

A  GENEROUS-HEARTED  but  thorough- 
ly driving  business  man  was  coming 
out  of  a  hair-dresser's  rooms,  when  he 
paused  in  the  shop  and  looked  around : 
"  Oh,  you  sell  brushes,  and  things  of 
this  kind  ?"  "  Yes,  sir."  « "Well,  I  sup- 
pose you  sell  to  about  every  one  that 
comes  ?  "  "  No,  indeed,  sir."  "  But  I 
should.  At  all  events  you  try,  I  sup- 
pose, to  sell  to  every  one  that  comes  ? " 
"  Well,  no,  we  do  not,  sir ;  one  doesn't 
always  think  of  it."  "  But  you  ought 
— you  have  your  family  to  provide  for, 
and  you  should  have  tact  and  push  ;  if  I 
were  in  your  place,  I  would  sell  something 
to  every  one  that  comes,  and  you  ought  to 
try."  "  Very  well,  sir,  suppose  we  begin 
with  you,"  making  a  show  of  displaying 
some  wares.  "  Yes,  to  be  sure,  why 
not  ? — let  us  see."  To  work  he  sets, 
and  by  way  of  encouraging  the  hair- 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  t6  COMMERCE. 


731 


dresser  in  the  proposed  plan  of  doing 
business,  he  bought  brushes,  combs, 
etc,  to  the  amount  of  nearly  ten  dollars. 


Uoses  as  an  Engraver. 

Pkom  the  book  of  Exodus,  it  appears 
that  when  Moses  had  liberated  the  Jews 
from  Egyptian  bondage,  he  was  com- 
manded to  make  a  plate  of  pure  gold, 
and  grave  upon  it,  like  the  engravings 
of  a  signet,  "  holiness  to  the  Lord." 
He  was  also  commanded  to  "  take  two 
onyx  stones,  and  grave  on  them  the 
names  of  the  children  of  Israel,  accord- 
ing to  their  birth,  with  the  work  of  an 
engraver  on  stone,  like  the  engravings 
of  a  signet."  Both  of  these  passages 
distinctly  imply  the  practice  of  gem 
and  seal  engraving,  and  also  of  engrav- 
ing on  metal  plates. 


Wit  of  a  Oravestone  Maker. 

A  GOOD  story  is  told  of  the  facetious 
Dr.  Thornton,  of  Derry,  N.  H.,  who 
undertook  to  quiz  a  neighbor  of  his — 
an  old  Scotch  gravestone  maker.  The 
doctor,  one  day,  in  passing  the  resi- 
dence of  the  Scotchman,  who  was  busi- 
ly at  work,  drew  up  and  accosted  him 
as  follows  :  "  Mr.  W.,  don't  you  believe 
it  to  be  your  duty,  as  a  rational  man 
and  a  Christian,  to  pray  for  your  daily 
bread  ?  "  "  Ay,"  quoth  Old  Mortality, 
"I  have  thought  it  to  be  my  duty, 
but  I  dinna  noo  min  muckle  about  it." 
"I  suppose,  then,"  said  the  doctor, 
"that  you  pray  that  people  may  die, 
in  order  for  you  to  enjoy  the  profit  of 
furnishing  their  gravestones  ?  "  "  No, 
fath,"  replied  the  old  man ;  "  there's 
no  need  o'that,  while  one  Matthew 
Thornton  continues  to  practise  physic  ; 
he  kills  oflf  folks  faster  than  I  can  make 
stones  for  them." 


The  Iieamed  Blacksmith. 

Elihtj  Bubbitt  is  known  the  world 
over  as  "  the  learned  blacksmith."  Mr. 


Burritt  mentions  that,  being  one  of  a 
large  family,  and  his  parents  poor,  he 
apprenticed  himsell,  when  very  young, 
to  a  blacksmith,  but  that  he  had  always 
had  such  a  taste  for  reading,  that  he 
carried  it  with  him  to  his  trade.  He 
commenced  the  study  of  Latin  when 
his  indentures  were  not  half  expired, 
and  completed  reading  Virgil  in  the 
evenings  of  one  winter.  He  next  stud- 
ied Greek,  and  carried  the  Greek  gram- 
mar about  him  in  his  hat,  studying  it 
for  a  few  moments  while  heating  some 
large  iron.  In  the  evenings  he  sat 
down  to  Homer's  Iliad,  and  read  twenty 
books  of  it  during  the  second  winter. 
He  next  turned  to  the  modem  tongues, 
and  went  to  New  Haven,  where  be  re- 
cited to  native  teachers  in  French, 
Spanish,  German  and  Italian,  and  at 
the  end  of  two  years  he  returned  to  his 
forge,  taking  with  him  such  books  as 
he  could  procure.  He  next  commenced 
Hebrew,  and  mastered  it  with  ease, 
reading  two  chapters  in  the  Bible  before 
breakfast,  this,  with  an  hour  at  noon, 
being  all  the  time  he  could  spare  from 
work.  Being  unable  to  procure  such 
works  as  he  desired,  he  determined  to 
hire  himself  to  some  ship  bound  to 
Europe,  thinking  that  he  could  there 
meet  with  books  at  the  diflferent  ports 
he  touched  at.  He  travelled  more  than 
one  hundred  miles  on  foot,  to  Boston, 
with  this  view,  but  was  not  able  to  find 
what  he  sought ;  and  at  this  period  he 
heard  of  the  American  Antiquarian 
Society  at  Worcester.  Thither  he  bent 
his  steps,  and  arrived  in  the  city  in  the 
most  utter  indigence.  Here  he  found  a 
collection  of  ancient,  modem,  and 
oriental  books,  such  as  he  never  im- 
agined to  be  collected  in  one  place.  He 
was  there  allowed  to  read  whatever 
books  he  liked,  and  reaped  great  benefit 
from  the  privilege.  He  used  to  spend 
three  hours  daily  in  the  hall,  and  he 
made  such  use  of  his  opportunities, 
as  to  be  able  to  read  upward  of 
fifty  languages,  with  greater  or  less 
facility. 


732 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Incorrect  Editions  of  the  Bible. 

The  number  of  typographical  inac- 
curacies which  abound  in  the  bibles 
printed  by  the  king's  printers  is  re- 
markable. Dr.  Lee  states,  "  I  do  not 
know  any  book  in  which  it  is  so  diffi- 
cult to  find  a  very  correct  edition  as 
the  English  bible."  "What  is  in  Eng- 
land called  the  Standard  Bible,  is  that 
printed  at  Oxford,  in  1769,  which  was 
superintended  by  Dr.  Blayney ;  yet  it 
has  been  ascertained  that  there  are  at 
least  one  hundred  and  sixteen  errors 
in  it. 

These  errors  were  discovered  in  print- 
ing an  edition  in  London,  in  1806, 
which  has  been  considered  as  very  cor- 
rect ;  yet  Dr.  Lee  says  that  that  edition 
contains  a  greater  number  of  mistakes. 
Mr.  T.  Curtis  corroborates  Dr.  Lee's  tes- 
timony. He  states  his  general  impres- 
sion to  be,  that  the  text  of  the  common 
English  bible  is  incorrect,  and  he  gives 
a  great  variety  of  instances. 

Dr.  A.  Clarke,  in  his  preface  to  the 
bible,  states  that  he  has  corrected  many 
thousand  errors  in  the  Italics,  which, 
in  general,  are  said  to  be  in  a  very  in- 
correct state.  Between  the  Oxford 
edition  of  1830  and  the  Cambridge 
edition,  there  are  eight  hundred  varia- 
tions in  the  Psalms  alone.  Dr.  Home 
says  :  "  Booksellers'  edition,  1806.  In 
the  course  of  printing,  by  Woodfall, 
this  edition  from  the  Cambridge  copy, 
a  great  number  of  very  gross  errors 
were  discovered  in  the  latter,  and  the 
errors  of  the  common  Oxford  edition 
were  not  so  few  as  twelve  hundred." 

Mr.  OfFor,  a  retired  bookseller,  and 
who  made  a  collection  of  upward  of 
four  hundred  bibles  of  different  edi- 
tions, states  that  he  was  not  aware  of 
any  edition  he  had  examined  which 
was  without  errors;  but  Pasham's 
bible,  in  1776,  and  another  printed  at 
Edinburgh,  in  1811,  were  the  most  ac- 
curate and  the  most  beautiful  he  had 
found. 


Printed  Books;  or,  the  Devil  and  Dr. 

Faustus. 

The  first  printed  book  on  record  is 
the  Book  of  Psalms,  by  one  Faust,  of 
Mentz,  and  his  son-in-law,  Schaeffer.  It 
appeared  in  1457,  more  than  four  hun- 
dred years  ago.  Several  works  were 
printed  many  years  before,  by  Guttem- 
berg;  but  as  the  inventors  wished  to 
keep  the  secret  to  themselves,  they 
sold  their  first  printed  works  as  manu- 
scripts. 

This  gave  rise  to  an  adventure  that 
brought  calamity  on  Faust.  Having 
in  1450,  begun  an  edition  of  the  bible, 
and  finished  it  in  1460,  he  carried  sev- 
eral printed  copies  of  it  to  Paris,  and 
offered  them  for  sale  as  manuscripts. 
This  made  him  at  once  an  object  of 
suspicion.  It  was  in  those  days  when 
Satan  was  thought  to  be  ready  at  every 
man's  elbow,  to  offer  his  magic  if  called 
upon,  and  as  the  French  could  not  con- 
ceive how  so  many  books  should  per- 
fectly agree  in  every  letter  and  point, 
they  ascribed  it  to  infernal  agency,  and 
poor  Faust  had  the  misfortune  to  be 
thrown  into  prison.  Here  it  was,  that, 
in  order  to  prove  he  had  no  aid  from 
the  devil,  he  was  obliged  to  reveal  the 
secret,  and  show  to  the  proper  officers 
how  the  work  was  done. 

Perhaps  it  was  upon  this  adventure 
that  somebody  built  up  the  story  of  the 
league  of  the  devil  and  Dr.  Faustus,  as 
weU  as  wrote  those  ludicrous  dialogues, 
which,  in  some  of  the  puppet-shows, 
Faust,  under  the  name  of  Dr.  Faustus, 
is  made  to  hold  with  the  devil. 


Paying:  a  Newspaper  Bill. 

A  LONG-WETOED  subscriber  to  a  news- 
paper— there  are  many  s\ich — after  re- 
peated dunnings,  at  last  promised  that 
the  bill  should  be  paid  by  a  certain 
day,  if  he  were  then  alive.  The  day 
passed  over,  and  no  money  reached  the 
office. 

In  the  next  number,  therefore,  of 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


733 


the  newspaper,  the  publisher  inserted 
among  the  deaths  a  notice  of  his  sub- 
scriber's departure  from  this  life.  Pret- 
ty soon  after  this  announcement,  the 
subject  of  it  appeared  to  the  publisher 
— not  with  the  pale  and  ghastly  coun- 
tenance ascribed  to  apparitions,  nor, 
like  them,  did  he  wait  to  be  spoken  to, 
but  broke  silence  with — "  What,  sir,  did 
you  mean  by  publishing  my  death  ?  " 
"  Why,  sir,  I  mean  what  I  mean  when 
I  publish  the  death  of  any  other  per- 
son, viz.,  to  let  the  world  know  that 
you  are  dead."  "  Well,  but  I  am  not 
dead."  "Not  dead;  then  it  is  your 
own  fault ;  for  you  told  me  you  would 
positively  pay  your  bill  by  such  a  day 
if  you  lived  to  that  time.  The  day 
passed,  the  bill  is  not  paid,  and  you 
positively  must  be  dead — for  I  will  not 
believe  that  you  would  forfeit  your 
word."  "  Oh,  ho  !  I  see  that  you  have 
got  round  me,  Mr,  Publisher ;  but  say 
no  more  about  it — here's  the  money. 
And  hearkee,  my  wag,  you'll  contra- 
dict my  death  next  week?"  "Oh, 
certainly,  sir,  just  to  please  you ; 
though,  upon  my  word,  I  can't  help 
thinking  you  were  dead  at  the  time 
specified,  and  that  you  have  really 
come  back  to  pay  this  bill,  on  account 
of  your  friendship  to  me." 


Trading:  in  Ifews. 

The  desire  of  the  English  for  news 
from  the  capital,  on  the  part  of  the 
wealthier  country  residents,  and  prob- 
ably th©  false  information,  as  well  as 
the  impertinence,  of  the  news  writers, 
led,  anciently,  to  the  common  establish- 
ment of  a  very  curious  trade — that  of  a 
news  correspondent,  who,  for  a  sub- 
scription of  three  or  four  pounds  per 
annum,  wrote  a  letter  of  news  every 
post  day  to  his  subscriber  in  the  coun- 
try This  profession  probably  existed 
in  the  reign  of  James  I. ;  for  in  Ben 
Jonson's  play,  the  Staple  of  News, 
written  in  the  first  year  of  Charles  I., 
we  have  a  very  curious  and  amusing 


description  of  an  office  of  news  manu- 
facturers : 
"  This  is  the  outer  room  where  my  clerks  sit, 

And  keep  their  sides,  the  register  i'  the 
midst : 

The  examiner,  he  sits  private  there  within ; 

And  here  I  have  my  several  rolls  and  files 

Of  news  by  the  alphabet,  and  all  put  up 

Under  their  heads." 

The  news  thus  communicated  ap- 
pears to  have  fallen  into  as  much  dis- 
repute as  the  public  news.  In  the  ad- 
vertisement atmoimcing  the  first  num- 
ber of  the  Evening  Post,  September  6th, 
1709,  it  is  said :  "  There  must  be  three 
or  four  pounds  per  annum  paid  by 
those  gentlemen  who  are  out  of  town, 
for  written  news,  which  is  so  far  gene- 
rally from  having  any  probability  of 
matter  of  fact  in  it,  that  it  is  frequently 
stuflfed  up  with  We  Tiear,  &c.,  or.  An 
eminent  Jew  merchant  has  received  a  let- 
ter, &c. ;  being  nothing  more  than 
downright  fiction."  The  same  adver- 
tisement, speaking  of  the  published  pa- 
pers, says  :  "  We  read  more  of  our  own 
affiairs  in  the  Dutch  papers,  than  in 
any  of  our  own."  The  trade  of  a  news- 
paper correspondent  seems  to  have  sug- 
gested a  sort  of  union  of  written  news 
and  published  news;  for  toward  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  we 
have  news  letters  printed  in  type  to 
imitate  writing.  The  most  famous 
of  these  was  that  commenced  by  Icha- 
bod  Dawks  in  1696,  the  first  ntmi- 
ber  of  which  was  thus  announced: 
"This  letter  will  be  done  upon  good 
writing  paper,  and  blank  space  left, 
that  any  gentleman  may  write  his  own 
private  business.  It  does  undoubtedly 
exceed  the  best  of  the  written  news,  con- 
tains double  the  quantity,  is  read  with 
abimdantly  more  ease  and  pleasure,  and 
will  be  usefiil  to  improve  the  younger 
sort  in  writing  a  curious  hand." 


Tailor  Turned  Prophet. 

A  TAiLOB  in  Dublin,  near  the  resi- 
dence of  Dean  Swift,  took  into  the 


7U 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


"  ninth  part "  of  his  head,  that  he  was 
specially  and  divinely  inspired  to  inter- 
pret the  prophecies,  and  more  especially 
the  Book  of  Revelation,  Quitting  the 
shop-board,  he  turned  out  a  preacher, 
or  rather  a  prophet,  until  his  customers 
had  left  his  shop,  and  his  family  were 
likely  to  famish.  His  monomania  was 
well  known  to  the  dean,  who  benevo- 
lently watched  for  an  opportunity  to 
turn  the  current  of  his  thoughts. 

One  night  the  tailor,  as  he  fancied, 
got  an  especial  revelation  to  go  and 
convert  Dean  Swift,  and  next  morning 
took  up  his  line  of  march  to  the  dean- 
ery. The  dean,  whose  study  was  fur- 
nished with  a  glass  door,  saw  the  tailor 
approach,  and  instantly  surmised  the 
nature  of  his  errand.  Throwing  him- 
self into  an  attitude  of  solemnity  and 
thoughtfulness,  with  the  Bible  opened 
before  him,  and  his  eyes  fixed  on  the 
tenth  chapter  of  Revelation,  he  awaited 
his  approach.  The  door  opened,  and 
the  tailor  announced  in  an  unearthly 
voice,  "  Dean  Swift,  I  am  sent  by  the 
Almighty  to  announce  to  you — " 

"  Come  in,  my  friend,"  said  the 
dean ;  "  I  am  in  great  trouble,  and  no 
doubt  the  Lord  has  sent  you  to  help 
me  out  of  my  diflBculty." 

The  unexpected  welcome  inspired  the 
tailor,  and  strengthened  his  assurance 
in  his  own  prophetic  character,  and 
disposed  him  to  listen  to  the  disclosure. 
•  *'  My  friend,"  said  the  dean,  "  I  have 
just  been  reading  the  tenth  chapter  of 
Revelation,  and  am  greatly  distressed 
at  a  difficulty  I  have  met  with,  and  you 
are  the  very  man  sent  to  help  me  out. 
Here  is  an  account  of  an  angel  that 
came  down  from  heaven,  who  was  so 
large  that  he  placed  one  foot  on  the 
earth  and  lifted  up  his  hands  to  heaven. 
Now,  my  knowledge  of  mathematics," 
continued  the  dean,  "has  enabled  me 
to  calculate  exactly  the  size  and  form 
of  the  angel ;  but  I  am  in  great  diffi- 
culty, for  I  wished  to  ascertain  how 
much  doth  it  will  take  to  make  a  pair 
of  breeches ;  and,  as  that  is  exactly  in 


your  line  of  hmness,  I  have  no  doubt 
the' Lord  has  sent  you  to  show  me." 

This  exposition  came  like  an  electric 
shock  to  the  poor  tailor.  He  rushed 
from  the  house,  hastened  to  his  shop, 
and  a  sudden  revulsion  of  thought  and 
feeling  came  over  him.  Making  breech- 
es was  exactly  in  his  line  of  business. 
He  returned  to  his  occupation,  thor- 
oughly cured  of  prophetical  revelation 
by  the  wit  of  the  dean. 


"A  Tailor  for  Many  Years." 

It  was  a  good  trait  in  the  character 
of  that  quaint  old  Quaker,  Isaac  T. 
Hopper,  that  he  was  not  ashamed  of 
the  shop.  It  is  related  of  him  by  his 
biographer,  that  one  day,  while  he  was 
visiting  a  wealthy  family  in  Dublin, 
during  his  sojourn  abroad,  a  note  was 
handed  to  him,  inviting  him  to  dine 
the  next  day.  When  he  read  it  aloud, 
his  host  remarked :  "  Those  people  are 
very  respectable ;  but  they  are  not  of 
the  first  circle.  They  belong  to  our 
church,  but  not  exactly  to  our  '  set.' 
Their  father  was  a  mechanic."  "  Well, 
Fm  a  mechanic  myself,"  said  Isaac; 
"  perhaps  if  thou  hadst  known  that 
fact,  thou  wouldst  not  have  invited 
me  !  "  "  Is  it  possible,"  responded  his 
host,  "  that  a  man  of  your  information 
and  appearance  can  be  a  mechanic  ?  " 
"  I  followed  the  business  of  a  tailor  for 
many  years,"  rejoined  his  guest ;  "  look 
at  my  hands.  Dost  thou  not  see  the 
mark  of  the  shears  ?  Some  of  the  may- 
ors of  Philadelphia  have  been  tailors. 
When  I  lived  there,  I  often  walked  the 
street  with  the  chief  justice.  It  nev- 
er occurred  to  me  that  it  was  any  hon- 
or, and  I  don't  think  it  did  to  him." 


"Spanish.'» 

A  BRiCKMAKEK,  being  hired  by  a 
brewer  to  make  some  brick  for  him  at 
his  country  house,  wrote  to  the  brewer 
that  he  could  not  go  forward  unless  he 
had  two  or  three  loads  of  "  Spanish ; " 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


»85 


that  otherwise  his  brick  would  cost 
him  six  or  seven  thousand  chaldrons  of 
coal  extra,  and  the  bricks  would  not  be 
so  good  nor  so  hard,  by  a  great  deal, 
when  they  were  burnt.  The  brewer 
hereupon  sends  down  two  cartloads, 
with  about  twelve  hogsheads  or  casks 
of  molasses,  which  startled  the  brick- 
maker  almost  out  of  his  senses.  The 
case  was  this:  The  brewers  formerly 
mixed  molasses  with  the  ale  to  sweeten 
it,  and  abate  the  quantity  of  malt,  mo- 
lasses being  at  that  time  much  cheaper, 
and  this  they  called  "  Spanish,"  not 
willing  their  customers  should  know  it. 
Again,  the  brickmakers  all  about  Lon- 
don, mix  sea-coal  ashes  with  their  clay, 
and  by  that  shift,  manage  to  save  eight 
chaldrons  of  coal  out  of  eleven,  to  the 
burning  of  one  hundred  thousand 
bricks,  in  proportion  to  what  other 
people  burn  with  them;  and  these 
ashes  they  call  "  Spanish  ;  "  but  neither 
the  brewer  on  the  one  hand,  nor  the 
brickmaker  on  the  other,  understood 
anything  else  of  the  term  than  as  it 
related  to  his  own  separate  business. 


Country  Bankers. 

Quite  a  ludicrous  case  is  told  of  a 
young  woman  of  shabby  genteel  ap- 
pearance, who  was  taken  before  a  Lon- 
don magistrate  for  vagrancy.  The 
constable  reported  that  he  detected  her 
in  the  act  of  begging.  The  magistrate, 
in  the  usual  authoritative  tone  of  ad- 
dressing beggars,  said,  "Now,  young 
woman,  you  cannot  be  allowed  to  go 
about  begging.  I  think  you  are  an 
impostor.  What  is  your  name  ?  Where 
did  you  come  from?  What  is  your 
father  ? " 

These  three  interrogatories  were  all 
put  at  once,  but,  of  course,  required 
separate  replies.  The  young  woman, 
not  having  been  used  to  appear  before 
a  magistrate,  began  to  cry.  She  was 
told  that  that  sort  of  whimpering 
would  not  do  there,  but  the  questions 
must  be  answered.    The  girl  hesitated 


for  some  time,  but,  on  being  threatened 
with  the  treadmill,  she  replied,  "My 
name  is  Smith;  I  came  from  Lincoln- 
shire, and  my  father  is  a  banker." 

On  hearing  this,  the  tone  and  tenor 
of  the  worthy  magistrate's  address  un- 
derwent a  change.  "  What !  "  he  said, 
"  my  good  young  woman,  your  father  a 
country  ianJcer,  and  allow  his  daughter 
to  be  begging  in  the  streets  of  Lon- 
don 1  I  consider  he  disgraces  himself 
by  such  conduct.  But  surely,  my  good 
young  creature,  you  must  have  done 
something  to  offend  your  father." 
"  No,  sir ;  my  father  said  he  could  not 
afford  to  keep  me,  so  I  was  obliged  to 
leave  home." 

"  Not  aflford  to  keep  you,  and  yet  a 
country  banker.  How  can  that  be  ?  I 
must  inquire  into  this ;  I  shall  write  to 
the  clergyman  of  your  town,  whom  I 
happen  to  know,  and  ascertain  the 
truth  of  your  story,  and,  if  possible, 
prevail  on  your  father  to  take  you 
home  again." 

In  the  mean  time,  the  now  kind  and 
attentive  magistrate  ordered  that  the 
young  woman  should  be  taken  good 
care  of,  and  every  requisite  afforded 
her  until  he  received  a  reply  to  his 
letter. 

A  few  days  brought  the  clergyman's 
answer,  who  stated  that  the  young 
woman  was  not  a  daughter  of  the 
highly  respectable  banker  of  that  name, 
but  was  the  daughter  of  a  mud  hanker 
in  the  fens,  and  that  her  father  had 
been  compelled  to  refuse  to  support  her. 
The  writer  also  added,  that  it  was  pos- 
sible the  mistake  into  which  the  wor- 
thy magistrate  had  fallen  arose  from 
the  circumstance  that  in  his  part  of  the 
country  all  the  laborers  engaged  in  draiiv- 
ing  are  called  iankers — hence  the  term 
"  country  banker." 


Hutton's  Success  as  a  Bookseller. 

The  well-known  bookseller  William 
Hutton,  struggled  in  early  life  with  in- 


786 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


numerable  difficulties.  His  own  ac- 
count of  his  first  adventure  as  a  book- 
seller is  a  good  specimen  of  that  spirit 
of  indomitable  perseverance  which  is 
ever  the  forerunner  of  success.  He  de- 
termined to  set  up  that  character  in  the 
town  of  Southwell,  about  fourteen  miles 
from  Nottingham.  Here  he  according- 
ly opened  a  shop,  with,  as  he  expresses 
it,  about  twenty  shillings'  worth  of 
trash  for  all  his  stock. 

"  I  was,"  says  he,  "  my  own  joiner, 
put  up  my  shelves  and  furniture,  and 
in  one  day  became  the  most  eminent 
bookseller  in  the  place."  Being  em- 
ployed, however,  during  the  other  days 
of  the  week,  in  working  at  Nottingham 
as  a  bookbinder,  he  could  only  give 
his  attendance  at  Southwell  on  Satur- 
days, that  being,  besides,  quite  enough 
for  the  literary  wants  of  the  place. 
"Throughout  a  very  rainy  summer," 
says  he,  "  I  set  out  at  five  every  Satur- 
day morning,  carried  a  burden  of  from 
three  pounds'  weight  to  thirty,  opened 
shop  at  ten,  starved  in  it  all  day  upon 
bread,  cheese,  and  a  piat  of  ale,  took 
from  one  to  six  shillings,  shut  up  at 
four,  and,  by  trudging  through  the 
solitary  night  and  the  deep  roads  five 
hours  more,  I  arrived  at  Nottingham  at 
nine,  where  I  always  found  a  mess  of 
milk  porridge  by  the  fire,  prepared  by 
my  valuable  sister." 

This  humble  attempt,  however,  was 
the  beginning  of  his  great  prosperity. 
Next  year  he  was  ofiered  about  two 
hundred  pounds'  weight  of  old  books, 
on  his  note  of  hand,  for  twenty-seven 
shillings,  by  a  clergyman,  to  whom  he 
was  known;  and  upon  this  he  imme- 
diately determined  to  break  up  his  es- 
tablishment at  Southwell,  and  to  trans- 
fer himself  to  Birmingham.  He  did  so, 
and  succeeded  so  well,  that  by  never 
suflFering  his  expenses  to  exceed  five 
shillings  a  week,  he  found  that  by  the 
end  of  the  first  year  he  had  saved  about 
twenty  pounds.  This,  of  course,  ena- 
bled him  to  extend  his  business,  which 
he  soon  made  a  very  valuable  one,  and 


by  which  he  in  time  acquired  an  ample 
fortune. 


Bookmaking'  a  Trade. 

La  Bruyere,  many  years  ago,  ob- 
served, that  "  'tis  as  much  a  trade  to 
make  a  book  as  a  clock ;  c'est  un  me- 
tier que  de  faire  un  livre,  comme  de 
faire  une  pendule."  But  since  his  day 
many  and  vast  improvements  have  been 
made.  Solomon  said,  that  "  of  making 
books  there  is  no  end ; "  and  Seneca 
complained,  that  "  as  the  Romans  had 
more  than  enough  of  other  things,  so 
they  had  also  of  books  and  bookmak- 
ing." But  Solomon  and  Seneca  lived  in 
an  age  when  books  were  considered  as 
a  luxury,  and  not  a  necessary  of  life. 
The  case  is  now  altered ;  and  though, 
perhaps,  as  a  wit  once  observed,  no 
man  gets  a  bellyful  of  knowledge, 
every  one  has  at  least  a  mouthful. 


Iiee,  the  liearned  Carpenter  in 
England. 

Samuel  Lee,  professor  of  Hebrew  at 
the  University  of  Cambridge,  England, 
was  seventeen  years  of  age  before  he 
conceived  the  idea  of  learning  a  for- 
eign language.  Out  of  the  scanty  pit- 
tance of  his  weekly  earnings  as  a  car- 
penter, he  purchased,  at  a  bookstore,  a 
volume,  which,  when  read,  was  ex- 
changed for  another ;  and  soon,  by  de- 
grees, he  advanced  in  knowledge.  He 
had  not  even  the  privilege  of  balancing 
between  reading  and  relaxation ;  he 
was  obliged  to  pass  from  bodily  fatigue 
to  mental  exertion.  During  six  years 
previous  to  his  twenty-fifth  year,  he 
omitted  none  of  the  hours  usually  ap- 
propriated to  manual  labor,  and  he  re- 
tired to  rest  regularly  at  ten  o'clock  in 
the  evening.  And  yet  at  the  age  of 
thirty-one  years  he  had  actually  taught 
seventeen  languages. 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


737 


Apt  Speech  by  a  Carpenter. 

At  the  time  when  Sir  Richard  Steele 
was  preparing  his  great  room  in  York 
Buildings  for  public  orations,  he  hap- 
pened to  be  pretty  much  behindhand 
in  his  payments  to  the  workmen ;  and 
coming  one  day  among  them  to  see 
what  progress  they  made,  he  requested 
the  carpenter  to  get  upon  the  rostrum 
and  make  a  speech,  that  he  might  judge 
how  it  could  be  heard.  The  fellow 
mounted,  and  stretching  his  poll,  told 
Sir  Richard  that  he  knew  not  what  to 
say,  for  he  was  no  orator. 

"  Oh,"  cries  the  knight,  "  no  matter 
for  that;  speak  anything  that  comes 
uppermost." 

"  Why,  then,  Sir  Richard,"  says  the 
carpenter-orator,  "here  have  we  been 
working  for  your  honor  these  six 
months,  and  cannot  get  one  penny  of 
money.  Pray,  sir,  when  do  you  design 
to  pay  us  ? " 

"Very  well,  very  well,"  said  Sir 
Richard,  "  pray  come  down.  I  have 
heard  quite  enough,  I  cannot  but  own 
you  speak  very  distinctly,  though  I 
don't  much  admire  your  subject." 


Stickiaer  to  the  Contract. 

A  SEA  captain,  in  the  vicinity  of  Bos- 
ton, was  about  to  start  on  a  long  voy- 
age, and  entered  into  a  contract  with 
a  builder  to  erect  him  a  commodious 
house  during  his  absence.  Everything 
was  to  be  done  according  to  the  con- 
tract— no  more,  no  less — which  the 
captain  caused  to  be  drawn  up  with 
great  care.  A  large  sum  was  to  be  for- 
feited by  the  builder  if  he  should  fail 
to  observe  any  of  the  stipulations,  or  at- 
tempt to  put  in  his  notions  where  the 
contract  made  no  provision  for  them. 

The  captain  sailed,  and  returned. 
His  house  stood  in  ample  and  im- 
posing proportions  before  his  sight, 
and  he  confessed  himself  delighted 
with  the  exterior.  But  when  he  en- 
tered and  attempted  to  ascend  to  the 
47 


second  floor  of  the  building,  he  found 
no  stairs,  and  no  means  of  ascent  were 
to  be  had  till  ladders  were  sent  for. 
The  captain  felt  that  he  was  trifled 
with,  and  a  bit  of  a  nautical  gale  seem- 
ed brewing.  But  this  was  soon  quieted 
by  the  opening  of  the  written  contract, 
and  there  was  found  not  the  least  pro- 
vision for  stairs  in  any  part  of  the 
house  !  "  Give  me  your  hand,  sir," 
said  the  noble  captain  at  once;  "all 
right !  You've  stuck  to  the  contract, 
and  I  like  it." 

The  stairs  were  subsequently,  at  a 
great  expense,  put  in,  and  the  captain 
often  remarked  that  one  of  the  pleas- 
antest  things  about  his  elegant  resi- 
dence was,  the  remembrance  of  one 
man  who  could  stick  to  thcTcry  terms 
of  a  contract ! 


Ben  Bussell,  the  Printer :  Ezcitiner 
Scene. 

Benjamin  Russell — or  "  Major 
Ben,"  as  he  was  familiarly  called — 
who  for  years  figured  with  such  diver- 
sified conspicuousness,  as  editor  and 
publisher  of  the  Columbian  Centinel, 
Boston,  was  always  a  model  of  enter- 
prise and  industry.  For  years  after 
the  publication  of  that  paper,  he  not 
only  acted  as  the  sole  editor  and  re- 
porter, but  also  worked  considerably 
at  the  "  case,"  in  setting  type,  and  per- 
formed a  goodly  share  of  the  press- 
work. 

It  is  related  of  him — among  a  thou- 
sand anecdotes  and  incidents  illustrat- 
ing his  marked  individuality  of  char- 
acter— that  once  having  published  an 
article  which  was  considered  personal 
and  highly  offensive  by  a  certain  gen- 
tleman of  high  standing  in  the  commu- 
nity, the  aggrieved  person  visited  the 
unfortunate  printer,  armed  with  a  san- 
guinary-looking cowskin,  and  fully  de- 
termined to  give  him  a  sound  thrash- 
ing. According  to  the  custom  of  the 
times,  he  was  arrayed  in  white  kersey- 
mere small  clothes,  white  silk  stock- 


788 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


rngs,  and  white  vest.  Mr.  Russell  was 
at  the  time  most  busily  engaged,  with 
his  coat  oflF  and  shirt  sleeves  rolled  up, 
in  handling  the  press  balls  for  distrib- 
uting ink — rollers  were  not  known  in 
those  days — and  his  astonishment  may 
barely  be  conceived  when  he  saw  a 
well-dressed  gentleman  enter  the  office 
abruptly,  in  a  towering  passion,  and, 
making  toward  him,  "  fall  to  "  with  a 
cowskin. 

The  printer  fronted  his  antagonist, 
and  very  professionally  made  a  pass  at 
him  with  his  press  balls,  which  took 
effect,  one  on  his  visitor's  snowy  vest, 
the  other  on  his  left  cheek  and  fore- 
head. Another  blow  with  the  cowskin 
— another  thrust  with  the  balls — which 
served  adnairably  well  the  purposes  of 
both  sword  and  shield. 

In  a  few  minutes  the  advocate  of 
Lynch  law,  who,  when  he  entered  the 
office,  looked  as  neat  and  trim  as  if  he 
had  just  been  taken  from  a  bandbox, 
was  covered  with  ink — printers'  ink, 
black  and  oily — from  head  to  foot ;  his 
hat  was  knocked  off  in  the  melee,  his 
gay  costume  was  transformed  into  a  suit 
of  mourning,  and  his  face  was  as  black 
and  glossy  as  a  native  citizen  of  Tim- 
buctoo.  He  soon  found  he  was  playing 
a  losing  game,  and  beat  a  retreat,  fol- 
lowed by  Major  Ben,  who  had  now  got 
his  hand  conveniently  in,  and  gave  his 
assailant  a  last  furious  push  between 
the  shoulders,  as  he  sprang  into  the 
street,  mentally  resolving  never  again 
to  molest  a  printer,  especially  when,  en- 
gaged in  his  calling. 


Wholesale  Joke  upon  Shoemakers. 

HENiiEY,  the  celebrated  mob  orator, 
succeeded  in  collecting  the  greatest 
number  of  shoemakers  ever  known  to 
assemble,  at  one  time,  by  announcing 
that  he  would  teach  them  "  a  new  and 
most  expeditious  mode  of  making 
shoes."  When  they  were  gathered  to- 
gether in  prodigious  numbers,  they 
learned   that   the  "new  art"  to   be 


taught  them  was  no  other  than  that 
of  cutting  off  the  tops  of  boots !  Being 
thus  enlightened  in  respect  to  their 
"understandings,"  the  iimocent  fra- 
ternity dispersed. 

The  writer  of  this  anecdote  displays 
his  penchant  for  punning  by  saying,  "  I 
cannot  think  the  representatives  of 
Prince  Crispin  would  have  pocketed 
this  'bootless'  insult,  I  think  they 
would  have  'bristled'  up,  one  and 
'all,'  and  'waxing'  wroth,  would 
not  have  waited  for  the  'ends'  of 
justice,  but  would  have  brought  the 
orator  down  from  his  'gilt  tub,'  and, 
persevering  to  the  'last,'  have  put 
their  'soles'  upon  his  neck  till  he 
had  discovered,  too  late,  that  the 
'  gentle  craft '  might  not  be  insulted 
with  impunity." 


Oerman  Book  Fairs. 

The  long  celebrated  Leipsic  book 
fair  was  established  before  the  end  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  It  prospered  so 
rapidly  that,  in  1600,  the  Easter  cata- 
logue, which  has  been  annually  printed 
ever  since,  was  printed  for  the  first 
time.  It  now  presents  every  year,  in  a 
thick  octavo  volume,  a  collection  of 
new  books  and  new  editions,  to  which 
there  is  no  parallel  in  Europe.  At  the 
fair  all  the  brethren  of  the  trade  flock 
together  in  Leipsic,  not  only  from  every 
part  of  Germany,  but  from  every  Euro- 
pean country  where  German  books  are 
sold,  to  settle  accounts  and  examine  the 
harvest  of  the  year.  The  number  al- 
ways amounts  to  several  hundreds,  and 
they  have  built  an  exchange  for  them- 
selves. It  is  here  that  every  German 
author  wishes  to  produce  the  children 
of  his  brain,  and  that,  too,  only  during 
the  Easter  fair.  He  will  submit  to  any 
degree  of  exertion  that  his  work  may 
be  ready  for  publication  by  that  im- 
portant season,  when  the  whole  broth- 
erhood is  in  labor,  from  the  Rhine  to 
the  Vistula.  If  the  auspicious  moment 
pass  away,  he  willingly  bears  lus  bur- 


WHOLESALE    JOKK    UPON    SHOEMAKERS. 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


739 


den  twelve  months  longer,  till  the  next 
bibliopolical  littering. 


Property  in  Books. 

Mr.  Alexander  Donaldson,  book- 
seller, of  Edinburgh,  had  for  some  time 
opened  a  shop  in  London,  and  sold  his 
cheap  editions  of  the  most  popular 
English  books,  in  defiance  of  the  sup- 
posed common  law  right  of  literary 
property.  Dr.  Johnson,  though  he  con- 
curred in  the  opinion  which  was  after- 
ward sanctioned  by  a  judgment  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  that  there  was  no  such 
right,  was  at  this  time  very  angry  that 
the  booksellers  of  London,  for  whom 
he  uniformly  professed  much  regard, 
should  suffer  from  an  invasion  of  what 
they  had  ever  considered  to  be  secure, 
and  he  was  loud  and  violent  against 
Mr.  Donaldson.  Johnson :  "  He  is  a 
fellow  who  takes  advantage  of  the  law 
to  injure  his  brethren ;  for  notwith- 
standing that  the  statute  secures  only 
fourteen  years  of  exclusive  right,  it  has 
always  been  understood  by  the  trade 
that  he  who  buys  the  copyright  of  a 
book  from  the  author,  obtains  a  per- 
petual property ;  and,  upon  that  belief, 
numberless  bargains  are  made  to  trans- 
fer that  property  after  the  expiration 
of  the  statutory  term.  Now  Donald- 
son, I  say,  takes  advantage  here  of 
people  who  have  really  an  equitable 
title  from  usage;  and  if  we  consider 
how  few  of  the  books  of  which  they 
buy  the  property  succeed  so  well  as  to 
bring  profit,  we  should  be  of  opinion 
that  the  term  of  fourteen  years  is  too 
short ;  it  should  be  sixty  years." 

Dempster:  "Donaldson,  sir,  is  anx- 
ious for  the  encouragement  of  litera- 
ture. He  reduces  the  price  of  books, 
so  that  poor  students  may  buy  them." 

Johnson  (laughing) :  *'  Well,  sir,  al- 
lowing that  to  be  his  motive,  he  is  no 
better  than  Robin  Hood,  who  robbed 
the  rich  in  order  to  give  to  the  poor." 


English  Almanacs— First  Issuer. 

The  first  almanac  in  England  was 
printed  in  Oxford,  in  1673.  There  were 
near  thirty  thousand  of  them  printed, 
besides  a  sheet  almanac  for  twopence, 
that  was  printed  for  that  year;  and 
because  of  the  novelty  of  said  almanac, 
and  its  title,  they  were  all  vended.  Its 
sale  was  so  great,  that  the  Society  of 
Booksellers  in  London  bought  off  the 
copy  for  the  future,  in  order  to  engross 
the  profits  in  their  own  hands. 


Bather  a  Puzzling  Occupation. 

Of  Stuart— no  mean  name,  certainly 
— the  following  anecdote  is  related: 
He  had  put  up  at  an  inn,  and  his  com- 
panions were  desirous,  by  putting 
roundabout  questions,  to  find  out  his 
calling  or  profession.  Stuart  answered 
with  a  grave  face  and  serious  tone,  that 
he  sometimes  dressed  gentlemen's  and 
ladies'  hair.  At  that  time,  high-cropped 
pomatumed  hair  was  all  the  fashion. 

"  You  are  a  hair-dresser,  then  ?  " 

"  What ! "  said  he,  "  do  I  look  Uke  a 
barber  ?  " 

*'  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,  but  I  infer- 
red it  from  what  you  said.  If  I  mis- 
took you,  may  I  take  the  liberty  to  ask 
you  what  you  are  then  ?  " 

"  Why,  I  sometimes  brush  a  gentle- 
man's coat  or  hat,  and  sometimes  adjust 
a  cravat." 

"  Oh,  you  are  a  valet,  then,  to  some 
gentleman  ? " 

"  A  valet !  Indeed,  sir,  I  am  not.  I 
am  not  a  servant.  To  be  sure,  I  make 
coats  and  waistcoats,  for  gentlemen." 

"  Oh,  you  are  a  tailor." 

"  A  tailor !  Do  I  look  like  a  tailor  ? 
I  assure  you,  I  never  handled  a  goose, 
other  than  a  roasted  one." 

By  this  time  they  were  all  in  a  roar. 

"  What  are  you  then  ?  "  said  one. 

"  I'll  tell  you,"  said  Stuart.  "  Be  as- 
sured, all  I  have  said  is  literally  true. 
I  dress  hair,  brush  hats  and  coats,  ad- 
just a  cravat,  and  make  coats,  waist' 


140 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


coats,  and  breeches,  and  likewise  boots 
and  shoes,  at  your  service." 

"  Oh,  ho  !  a  boot  and  shoemaker,  af- 
ter aU ! " 

"  Guess  again,  gentlemen.  I  never 
handled  boot  or  shoe,  but  for  my  own 
feet  and  legs ;  yet  all  I  have  told  you 
is  true." 

"We  may  as  well  give  up  guess- 
ing!" 

"Well,  then,  I  will  tell  you,  upon 
my  honor  as  a  gentleman,  my  iona  fide 
profession.  I  get  my  bread  by  making 
faces." 

He  then  screwed  his  countenance, 
and  twisted  the  lineaments  of  his  vis- 
age, in  a  manner  such  as  Samuel  Foote 
or  Charles  Mathews  might  have  envied. 
His  companions,  after  loud  peals  of 
laughter,  each  took  credit  to  himself 
for  having  suspected  that  the  gentle- 
man, after  all,  belonged  to  the  theatre, 
and  they  all  knew  he  must  be  a  come- 
dian by  profession — when  to  their  in- 
creased astonishment,  he  assured  them 
that  he  was  never  on  the  stage,  and 
very  rarely  saw  the  inside  of  a  play- 
house, or  any  similar  place  of  amuse- 
ment. They  all  now  looked  at  each 
other  in  utter  amazement.  Before 
parting,  Stuart  said  to  his  companions, 

"  Gtentlemen,  you  wiU  find  that  all  I 
have  said  of  my  various  employments 
is  comprised  in  these  few  words,  I  am 
a  portrait  painter!  As  such,  if  you 
will  call  at  John  Palmer's,  York  Build- 
ings, I  shall  be  ready  and  willing  to 
brush  you  a  coat  or  hat,  dress  your 
hair  d  la  mode,  supply  you,  if  in  need, 
with  a  wig  of  any  fashion  or  dimen- 
sions, accommodate  you  with  boots  or 
shoes,  give  you  ruffles  or  cravat,  and 
make  faces  for  you." 


Humors  of  a  Beporter. 

Mabe  Supple  was  a  well-known 
parliamentary  reporter.  He  took  his 
wine  frequently  at  Bellamy's,  and  then 
went  up  into  the  gallery  and  reported 
like  a  gentleman  and  a  man  of  genius. 


The  members  hardly  knew  their  own 
speeches  again ;  but  they  admired  his 
free  and  bold  manner  of  dressing  them 
up.  None  of  them  ever  went  to  the 
printing  office  of  the  Morning  Chronicle, 
to  complain  that  the  tall  Irishman  had 
given  a  lame,  sneaking  version  of  their 
sentiments.  They  pocketed  the  affront 
of  their  metamorphosis,  and  fathered 
speeches  they  had  never  made.  His 
way  was  the  hyperbole ;  a  strong  spice 
of  orientalism,  with  a  dash  of  the  log- 
trotter.  His  manner  seemed  to  please, 
and  he  presumed  upon  it.  One  eve- 
ning, as  he  sat  at  his  post  in  the  gallery, 
waiting  the  issue  of  things,  and  a  hint 
to  hang  his  own  tropes  and  figures 
upon,  a  dead  silence  happened  to  pre- 
vail in  the  house.  It  was  when  Mr. 
AddJngton  was  speaker.  The  bold 
leader  of  the  press-gang  was  never  bent 
upon  serious  business  much,  and  at  this 
time  he  was  particularly  full  of  meat 
and  wine. 

Delighted,  therefore,  with  the  pause, 
but  thinking  that  something  might  as 
well  be  going  forward,  he  called  out 
lustily,  "A  song  from  Mr.  Speaker." 
Imagine  Addington's  long,  prim,  up- 
right figure,  his  consternation,  and 
utter  want  of  preparation  for,  or  of  a 
clue  to  repel,  such  an  interruption  of 
the  rules  and  orders  of  the  Parliament. 
The  house  was  in  a  roar.  Pitt,  it  is 
said,  could  hardly  keep  his  seat  for 
laughing.  When  the  bustle  and  the 
confusion  were  abated,  the  sergeant-at- 
arms  went  into  the  gallery  to  take  the 
audacious  culprit  into  custody,  and  in- 
dignantly desired  to  know  who  it  was ; 
but  nobody  would  tell.  Mark  sat  like 
a  tower  on  the  hindermost  bench  of 
the  gallery,  imperturbable  in  his  own 
gravity,  and  safe  in  the  faith  of  the 
brotherhood  of  reporters,  who  alone 
were  in  the  secret.  At  length,  as  the 
mace-bearer  was  making  fruitless  in- 
quiries, and  getting  impatient,  Supple 
pointed  to  a  fat  Quaker,  who  sat  in 
the  middle  of  the  crowd,  and  nodded 
assent  that   he  was  the   man.     The 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


741 


Quaker  was,  to  his  great  surprise,  taken 
into  immediate  custody ;  but  after  a 
short  altercation  and  some  further  ex- 
planation, he  was  released,  and  the  hero 
of  our  story  put  in  his  place  for  an  hour 
or  two,  but  let  oflF  on  an  assurance  of 
his  contrition,  and  of  showing  less  wit 
and  more  discretion  in  future. 


Seportingr  from.  Uemory. 

Mr.  William  Woodfall,  the  son 
of  the  celebrated  printer  of  the  Public 
Advertiser,  in  which  the  Letters  of 
Junius  first  appeared,  undertook,  with- 
out any  assistance,  the  arduous  task  of 
reporting  the  debates  of  both  houses  of 
Parliament,  day  by  day,  in  his  father's 
paper,  and  afterward  in  other  daily 
journals.  This  gentleman  possessed  a 
most  extraordinary  memory,  as  well  as 
wonderful  powers  of  literary  labor. 
It  is  asserted  that  he  has  been  known 
to  sit  through  a  long  debate  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  not  making  a 
single  note  of  the  proceedings,  and 
afterward  to  write  out  a  full  and  faith- 
ful account  of  what  had  taken  place, 
extending  to  sixteen  columns,  without 
allowing  himself  an  interval  of  rest. 
The  remarkable  exertions  of  this  most 
famous  reporter  gave  the  newspaper 
for  which  he  wrote  a  celebrity  which 
compelled  other  newspapers  to  aim  at 
the  same  fulness  and  freshness  in  their 
parliamentary  reports. 


Bare  Editorial  Philosophy. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  difficult  to  find 
an  instance  of  calmer  or  more  pleasant 
philosophy  under  business  trials  than 
that  exhibited  by  Mr.  Greeley,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  burning  of  the  Tribune 
Buildings  in  1845.  In  his  editorial 
article  the  day  after,  he  says  of  the 
catastrophe : — We  have  been  called, 
editorially,  to  scissor  out  a  great  many 
fires,  both  small  and  great,  and  have 
done  so  with  cool  philosophy,  not  re- 
flecting how  much  to  some  one  man 


the  little  paragraph  would  assuredly 
mean.  The  late  complete  and  sum- 
mary burning  up  of  our  office,  licked 
clean  as  it  was  by  the  red  flames,  in  a 
few  hours,  has  taught  us  a  lesson  on 
this  head.  Aside  from  all  pecuniary 
loss,  how  great  is  the  suffiering  pro- 
duced by  a  fire!  A  hundred  little 
articles  of  no  use  to  any  one  save  the 
owner,  things  that  people  would  look 
at  day  after  day  and  see  nothing  in, 
that  we  ourselves  have  contemplated 
with  cool  indifierence,  now  that  they 
are  irrevocably  destroyed,  come  up  in 
the  shape  of  reminiscences,  and  seem 
as  if  they  had  been  worth  their  weight 
in  gold.  We  would  not  indulge  in 
unnecessary  sentiment,  but  even  the 
old  desk  at  which  we  sat,  the  ponder- 
ous inkstand,  the  familiar  faces  of  files 
of  Correspondence,  the  choice  collec- 
tion of  pamphlets,  the  unfinished  essay, 
the  charts  by  which  we  steered — can 
they  all  have  vanished,  never  more  to 
be  seen  ?  Truly  your  fire  makes  clean 
work,  and  is,  of  all  executive  officers, 
supereminent.  Perhaps  that  last  choice 
batch  of  letters  may  be  somewhere  on 
file ;  we  are  almost  tempted  to  say, 
"  Devil !  find  it  up  ! "  Poh  !  it  is  a 
mere  cinder  now.  No  Arabian  tale 
can  cradle  a  wilder  fiction,  or  show 
better  how  altogether  illusory  life  is. 
Those  solid  walls  of  brick,  those  five 
decent  stories,  those  steep  and  difficult 
stairs,  the  swinging  doors,  the  Sanctum, 
scene  of  many  a  deep  political  drama, 
of  many  a  pathetic  tale — utterly  whiflTed 
out,  as  one  summarily  snuf&  out  a  sper- 
maceti on  retiring  for  the  night.  And 
all  perfectly  true. 


Editors  in  a  hard  Fix. 

SoifE  time  since,  an  eminent  English 
jurist,  Lord  Denman,  laid  down  the 
law  of  an  editor's  liability,  to  the  efiect 
that  an  editor  has  no  right  to  insert  any 
paragraph  before  he  has  ascertained 
"  that  the  assertion  made  in  it  is  abso- 
lutely true."    So,  then,  in  the  case  of 


742 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


the  recent  discoveries  by  the  Earl  of 
Rosse's  telescope,  an  editor  ought  to 
have  proceeded  to  the  diflFerent  planets 
mentioned  and  thoroughly  ferreted  out 
the  whole  matter,  before  he  inserted 
any  statement  respecting  them.  Ac- 
cording to  Lord  Denman's  rather  loose 
phraseology,  the  man  in  the  Moon  and 
Orion  would  both  recover  swinging 
damages  from  almost  every  editor  in 
the  United  Kingdom  for  the  "reflec- 
tions "  cast  by  the  Earl's  telescope  on 
their  character  as  planets. 


Affidavit  Toy  an  Apothecary. 

A  HIGHWAYMAN,  named  BoUand, 
confined  in  Newgate,  sent  for  a  soli- 
citor, to  know  how  he  could  defer  his 
trial,  and  was  answered,  "  By  getting 
an  apothecary  to  make  an  affidavit  of 
his  illness."  This  was  accordingly 
done  in  the  following  manner :  "  The 
deponent  verily  believes,  that  if  the 
said  James  BoUand  is  obliged  to  take 
his  trial  at  the  ensuing  sessions,  he  will 
be  in  imminent  danger  of  his  life ;  "  to 
which  the  learned  judge  on  the  bench 
answered  that  he  verily  believed  so 
too.  The  trial  was  ordered  to  proceed 
immediately. 


Pun  on  a  Cooper. 

A  YotTNo  man,  a  cooper  by  trade, 
being  pressed  very  hard  by  some  of  his 
companions  to  sing,  even  after  he  had 
earnestly  assured  them  that  he  could 
not,  observed,  testily,  that  they  merely 
intended  to  make  a  hutt  of  him.  "  No, 
my  good  sir,"  replied  one  of  them,  "  we 
only  want  to  get  a  stave  out  of  you." 


"Hopping"  from  Obscurity. 

There  was  an  Englishman  of  some 
celebrity,  who  used  to  say  that  the  first 
of  his  ancestors,  of  any  note,  was 
a  baker  and  dealer  in  hops,  who, 
ou  one  occasion,  to  procure  a  sum  of 
money,  robbed  his  feather  beds  of  their 


contents,  and  supplied  the  deficiency 
with  unsalable  hops.  In  a  few  years  a 
severe  blight  universally  prevailed,  and 
hops  became  very  scarce,  and  enor- 
mously dear ;  the  hoarded  treasure 
was  ripped  out,  and  a  good  sum  pro- 
cured for  hops  which,  in  a  plentiful 
season,  would  not  have  been  salable, — 
and  thus,  said  he,  "  our  family  hopped 
from  obscurity." 


Hatter's  Present  to  a  Jud^re. 

JtnjGE  Sewall,  of  Massachusetts, 
whose  judicial  career,  in  the  last  cen- 
tury, was  an  honor  to  himself  and  his 
profession,  went  one  day  into  a  hatter's 
shop,  in  order  to  purchase  a  pair  of 
second-hand  brushes  for  cleaning  his 
shoes.  The  master  of  the  shop  pre-- 
sented  him  with  a  couple,  "  "What  is 
your  price,  sir  ?  "  said  the  judge.  "  If 
they  will  answer  your  purpose,"  replied 
the  other,  "  you  may  have  them  and 
welcome."  The  judge,  upon  hearing 
this,  laid  them  down,  and  bowing,  was 
leaving  the  shop ;  upon  which  the 
hatter  said  to  him,  "  Pray,  sir,  your 
honor  has  forgotten  the  principal 
object  of  your  visit."  "  By  no  means," 
answered  the  judge ;  "  if  you  please  to 
set  a  price  I  am  ready  to  purchase ; 
but  ever  since  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to 
occupy  a  seat  on  the  bench,  I  have 
studiously  avoided  receiving  to  the 
value  of  a  single  copper,  lest  at  some 
period  of  my  life,  it  might  have  some 
kind  of  influence  in  determining  my 
judgment." 

Complixaent  to  Wharfinerers. 

A  BILL  was  once  brought  into  the 
House  of  Assembly  of  Jamaica,  for 
regulating  the  duties  and  fees  of  wharf- 
ingers. During  its  discussion,  Mr. 
Paul  Phipps,  a  distinguished  member, 
said,  "  I  very  much  approve  the  bill. 
The  wharfingers  are  a  set  of  knaves, — I 
was  one  myself  for  ten  years,  sir  /  " 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


748 


Old  Eng'lish  Ticker. 

An  account  is  given  of  an  old  Eng- 
lish watch,  which  was  purchased  of 
Joseph  Story,  Clerkenwell  street,  Lon- 
don, in  1676,  by  Benjamin  Andrews, 
then  about  the  first  hardware  merchant 
in  Boston,  Mass.  It  was  given  to  the 
father  of  the  present  owner,  for  good 
behavior  and  attention  to  business,  in 
his  sixteenth  year,  on  condition  that 
he  would  never  dispose  of  it.  He  died 
in  1803,  and  the  present  owner  has  had 
it  in  his  possession  ever  since.  The 
first  time  it  was  cleaned,  there  were 
but  two  watchmakers  in  Boston,  and 
one  of  them  was  unwilling  to  take  it 
in  hand  lest  he  should  injure  the  fine 
work.  The  watch  was  then  sent  to 
London,  where  it  remained  a  year,  and 
was  cleaned  at  a  cost  of  five  pounds. 
The  original  watch  paper  still  remains 
in  the  case  with  the  date  of  its  pur- 
chase. This  venerable  ticker  keeps  as 
•  good  time  as  ever,  and  seems  likely  to 
hold  good  for  a  hundred  years  more. 


Ship-bTiilding:  in  Ancient  Times. 

The  art  of  ship-building  has  been 
attributed  to  the  Egyptians  as  the  first 
inventors,  the  first  ship — probably  a 
galley — having  been  brought  from 
Egypt  to  Greece,  by  Danaus,  1485  B.  C. 
The  first  double-decked  ship  was  built 
by  the  Tyrians,  786  B.  C.  The  first 
double-decked  one  built  in  England  was 
of  one  thousand  tons  burthen,  by  order 
of  Henry  VH.,  1509  ;  it  was  called  the 
Great  Harry,  and  cost  about  sixty 
thousand  dollars.  Ship-building  was 
first  treated  as  a  science  by  Hoste,  1696. 


Too  Awkward  to  be  a  Watclunaker. 

Beaumarchais,  the  author  of  the 
Marriage  of  Figaro,  was  the  son  of  a 
Parisian  watchmaker,  but  raised  him- 
self to  fame,  wealth,  and  rank  by  the 
mere  force  of  his  talents.  A  young 
nobleman,   envious  of  Beaumarchais's 


reputation,  once  undertook  to  wound 
his  vanity  and  pride  by  an  allusion  to 
his  humble  origin — handing  him  his 
watch,  and  saying,  "  Examine  it,  sir ; 
it  does  not  keep  time  well — pray  ascer- 
tain the  cause."  Beaumarchais  ex- 
tended his  hand  awkwardly,  as  if  to 
receive  the  watch,  but  contrived  to  let 
it  fall  on  the  pavement.  "  You  see,  my 
dear  sir,"  replied  he, "  you  have  applied 
to  the  wrong  person ;  my  father  always 
declared  that  I  was  too  awkward  to  be 
a  watchmaker." 


An  Emperor  Blowing:  a  Blacksmith's 
Bellows. 

During  the  journey  of  the  Emperor 
Joseph  the  Second,  to  Italy,  one  of  the 
wheels  of  his  coach  broke  down  on 
the  road,  so  that  it  was  with  difficulty 
he  reached  a  small  village  at  a  short 
distance.  On  his  arrival  there,  his 
majesty  got  out  at  the  door  of  the  only 
blacksmith's  shop  the  town  afforded, 
and  desired  him  to  repair  the  wheel 
without  delay. 

"  That  I  would  do,  very  willingly," 
replied  the  smith,  "  but  it  being  holi- 
day, all  my  men  are  at  church, — the  very 
boy  who  blows  the  bellows  is  not  at 
home." 

"  An  excellent  method  then  presents 
of  warming  one's  self,"  replied  the 
emperor,  preserving  his  incognito ;  and 
he  immediately  set  about  blowing  the 
bellows,  while  the  blacksmith  forged 
the  iron. 

The  wheel  repaired,  six  sols  were 
demanded  for  the  job ;  but  the  emperor 
gave  six  ducats.  The  blacksmith  re- 
turned them  to  the  traveller,  saying, 
"  Sir,  you  have  made  a  mistake,  and 
instead  of  six  sols  have  given  me  six 
pieces  of  gold,  which  no  one  in  the  vil- 
lage can  change." 

"  Change  them  when  you  can,"  said 
the  emperor,  stepping  into  the  car- 
riage; "an  emperor  should  pay  for 
such  a  pleasure  as  that  of  blowing  the 
bellows." 


V44 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. - 


Errors  of  the  Press. 

The  original  memoirs  of  Cowper  the 
poet,  were  apparently  printed  from  an 
obscurely  written  mamiscript.  Of  this 
there  is  a  whimsical  proof,  where  the 
Persian  Letters  of  Montesquieu  are 
spoken  of,  and  the  compositor,  unable 
to  decipher  the  author's  name,  has  con- 
verted it  into  Mules  Quince  ! 

A  newspaper  heads  an  advertisement, 
'■'■Infernal  Remedy,"  This  may  be 
quite  true,  but  it  is  probable  that  "  in- 
ternal remedy  "  was  intended.  Mis- 
takes, even  of  a  single  letter,  are  sad 
things.  As  another  example,  a  news- 
paper commenced  an  article  on  Pro- 
fanity, with  saying,  "  It  was  a  practice 
with  our  immoral  Washington,  never 
to  allow  profanity  in  his  presence," 
etc. ;  the  word  "  immoral "  should  of 
course  have  been  "  immortal."  So,  in 
publishing  an  obituary  notice  of  a  dis- 
tinguished and  esteemed  man,  the  com- 
positor made  the  writer  to  say  of  the 
deceased,  "  He  has  truly  left  no  shal- 
low "  footprints  on  the  sands  of  time," 
instead  of  "  footprints,"  as  Longfellow's 
immortal  line  has  it. 

The  editor  of  a  religious  newspaper, 
in  reference  to  an  individual,  took  oc- 
casion to  write  that  he  was  rectus  in 
ecclesia,  that  is,  in  good  standing  in  the 
church.  The  type-setter,  to  whom  this 
was  a  dead  language,  converted  it  into 
rectus  in  culina,  which,  although  pretty 
good  Latin,  alters,  in  some  degree,  the 
sense,  as  it  accorded  to  the  reverend 
gentleman  spoken  of,  only  a  good  stand- 
ing in  the  kitchen. 

By  a  ridiculous  error  of  the  press, 
the  Eclectic  JReview  was  advertised  as 
the  Epileptic  Review,  and,  on  enquiry 
being  made  for  it  at  a  bookseller's  shop 
the  bibliopole  replied :  "  He  knew  of 
no  periodical  called  the  Epileptic  Ee- 
view,  though  there  might  be  such  a 
publication  coming  out  by  fits  and 
starts." 


SEodem  Newspaper  Office. 

To  take  a  peep  at  the  busy  picture  pre- 
sented in  the  office  of  a  largely  circulat- 
ing city  newspaper,  is  an  era  in  one's  life. 
Such  a  picture  is  thus  graphically  drawn 
by  an  English  writer,  and  the  descrip- 
tion wiU  answer  about  equally  as  well 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  : — See  that 
gigantic  machine,  instinct  with  life, 
throwing  off  the  printed  sheets  as 
quickly — or  more  so — than  the  eye  can 
count  them.  See  the  host  of  men,  re- 
minding one  of  a  body  of  large  ants, 
picking  up  tons  of  metal  by  half  a 
pennyweight  at  a  time.  See  the  great 
intellectual  head,  the  foremost  man  of 
all,  the  mighty  "  we,"  at  whose  frown 
potentates  tremble  and  ministries  dis- 
solve, surrounded  by  his  aides — ^the 
busy  reporter  new  from  his  turn  in 
"  the  gallery,"  industriously  extending 
his  notes, — the  sub-editor,  condensing 
verbose  communications,  and  extract- 
ing information  and  readable  matter 
from  a  mountain  of  letters,  blue  books, 
and  country  papers.  See  also  how  the 
post-office,  the  telegraph,  and  the  train 
rain  a  countless  succession  of  commu- 
nications upon  the  editorial  table  from 
all  the  comers  of  the  earth.  Look — 
there  is  a  packet  from  "our  special 
correspondent,"  who  is  tracking  the 
steps  of  the  British  army  in  India ; 
another  from  our  "  own  "  correspond- 
ent, who  has  been  assisting  to  annihi- 
late time  and  distance  between  Britain 
and  America,  by  laying  down  an  elec- 
tric cable  in  the  depths  of  the  Atlan- 
tic ;  a  third  from  a  lively  correspond- 
ent, who  is  dodging  the  footsteps  of 
royalty  at  the  Cherbourg  fetes.  Then, 
again,  observe  that  active  gentleman 
in  the  closely  buttoned  coat,  who  drops 
a  letter  into  the  communication  box 
and  disappears :  that  is  a  penny-a-liner, 
who  has  just  gleaned  the  particulars 
of  an  exciting  murder,  perpetrated  in 
"the  most  mysterious  manner";  an- 
other liner  has  preceded  him  with 
what  he  calls  a  capital  suicide ;  and  a 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


145 


third  will  follow,  just  as  the  paper  is 
going  to  press,  with  a  terrific  confla- 
gration accompanied  by  loss  of  life. 
The  knowing  sub-editor  has  in  a  few 
minutes  revised,  and — ^most  necessary- 
duty  of  all— abridged  this  "  copy,"  and 
given  it  a  corner  in  the  paper. 


Greatest  Beportorial  Feat. 

The  greatest  reportorial  feat  of  ante- 
telegraphic  journalism  is  stated  to  be 
that  which  was  performed  by  Mr. 
Attree,  of  the  New  York  SeraZ<?.  Daniel 
Webster  delivered  a  speech  one  after- 
noon, at  Patchogue,  Long  Island,  some 
fifty  or  sixty  miles  from  New  York. 
Mr,  Attree  went  down  to  Patchogue, 
took  full  notes  of  the  speech,  rode  the 
entire  distance  to  New  York  on  relays 
of  horses,  wrote  out  his  report,  and 
published  it  complete  in  the  next 
morning's  Herald.  For  reportorial  skill 
and  physical  endurance  combined  this 
achievement  is  believed  to  be  imsur- 

passed. 

♦ 

Beason  why  Pitt's  G-reat  Speech  was 
not  Beported. 

In  former  times,  the  reporters  of  the 
proceedings  in  the  British  parliament 
were  obliged  to  sit  or  stand  with  the 
rest  of  the  vmofficial  spectators,  no  ac- 
commodations whatever  being  provided 
for  the  newspaper  press. 

While  Pitt,  therefore,  was  premier, 
aU  the  reporters  consulted  together,  and 
agreed  that,  upon  a  certain  day,  they 
would  omit  to  notice  the  premier's 
speech.  The  day  came ;  Pitt  delivered 
a  great  and  important  oration ;  in  the 
next  morning's  paper  the  triumphant 
gladiator  found  no  record  of  his  mag- 
nificent effort.  Highly  incensed,  the 
premier  sent  for  the  editors,  and  de- 
manded the  reason  for  this  remarkable 
omission.  The  editors  referred  him  to 
the  reporters.  The  reporters  repre- 
sented that  they  were  so  crowded  and 
inconvenienced,  and  at  such  a  distance 


from  the  speakers,  that  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  hear,  much  less  to  report, 
the  speeches. 

The  result  of  this  well-devised  pro- 
test was  an  order  from  the  premier  that 
benches  should  be  reserved  for  the  re- 
porters ;  and  afterward  a  portion  of  the 
gallery  was  railed  in  for  them,  with  a 
lattice-work  in  front,  so  that  they  could 
see  and  hear,  but  be  imseen  by  the 
members.  Thus  the  reporters,  by  a 
thoroughly  British  fiction,  were  present 
in,  but  not  actually  in  the  presence  of, 
parliament,  and  were  therefore  allowed 
to  remain  in   spite  of  the  old   rule 

against  them. 

> 

Verbatim  Beporters. 

Fob  a  long  whUe,  American  reporters 
followed  the  example  of  Doctor  John- 
son, and  reported  no  speech  which  they 
did  not  adorn  or  spoil.  Daniel  Web- 
ster complained  bitterly  of  this  habit, 
and  frequently  demanded  that  his 
speeches  should  be  reported  as  deliv- 
ered or  not  at  all.  Of  all  reporters,  Mr, 
Henry  J.  Raymond,  then  connected 
with  the  Courier,  and  now  the  chief 
editor  of  the  New  York  Daily  Times, 
is  said  to  have  pleased  Mr.  Webster 
most.  The  classical  quotations  in 
which  Webster  indulged  were  always 
remarkably  apropos,  and  he  felt  con- 
siderable pride  in  having  them  re- 
ported correctly.  Mr.  Raymond,  with 
an  equal  pride  in  his  profession,  never 
depended  upon  his  notes  or  his  memory 
for  these  quotations,  but  took  the  trouble 
of  looking  them  out  in  the  books  and 
copying  them  verbatim  et  literatem.  In 
those  days  it  was  a  great  feat  to  report 
and  publish  a  long  speech.  Upon  one 
occasion,  Webster  delivered  an  address 
at  Washington,  and  Mr.  Raymond  was 
among  the  reporters  present.  Web- 
ster concluded  his  remarks  but  a  few 
moments  before  the  mail  closed,  and 
the  reporters  were  therefore  unable  to 
write  out  their  notes  for  transmission 
to  the  New  York  papers  before  the  next 


746 


COMMERCIAL  AND   BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


day.  Mr.  Raymond,  however,  being  an 
exceeding  rapid  writer,  had  taken  down 
the  speech  in  long  hand,  with  only  a 
few  simple  abbreviations,  and  observing 
the  perplexity  of  the  other  reporters,  he 
determined  to  send  oflf  his  notes  as  they 
were,  and  trust  to  the  compositors  to 
decipher  them.  This  plan  was  suc- 
cessful. 


Shoes  and  Shoemakers— Facetiae. 

Among  the  works  which  may  be  face- 
tiously classed  under  the  head  of  "  Cob- 
bler Literature,"  are  the  veracious  his- 
tories of  "  Goody  Two  Shoes,"  and  the 
"  Giant  with  his  Seven-League  Boots  " ; 
the  affecting  story  of  "  Cinderella  and 
her  Glass  Slipper,"  and  the  pathetic 
and  touching  poem  of  the  "  Old 
Woman  who  Lived  in  a  Shoe,"  with 
her  interesting  or  at  least  numerous 
progeny. 

It  is  also  most  curious  how  many 
proverbs,  and  sayings,  and  witticisms 
have  had  their  origin  in  the  vocabulary 
of  the  shoemaker.  Thus,  the  young 
are  enjoined  on  all  occasions  to  "put 
their  best  foot  forward " ;  to  rely  on 
themselves,  and  "  not  to  wait  for  dead 
men's  shoes  " ;  "  whatever  the  value 
of  a  body,  it  is  useless  without  a  *??«." 
It  was  a  sentimental  shoemaker  who 
invented  the  name  of  the  "  Oxford 
Ties  " — ^how  appropriate  to  the  friend- 
ships and  associations  formed  at  that 
celebrated  seat  of  learning,  and  which 
had  their  origin  in  that  place  !  When 
one  is  haughty  or  presuming,  he  is  said 
to  be  "  high  in  the  instep  "  ;  when  he 
has  become  poor,  he  is  said  to  be  "  run 
down  in  the  heel."  Formerly,  shoes 
were  made  so  extravagantly  large  in 
France,  that  the  toes  had  to  be  looped 
up,  until  at  length  a  law  was  made  re- 
ducing their  length  "  in  fc#o."  There 
can  be  no  more  useful  and  economical 
proverb  than  the  familiar  one,  that  "  a 
stitch  in  time  saves  nine." 

Lord  Byron  was  exceedingly  sensi- 
tive on  account  of  the  deformity  of  his 


feet,  which  was  probably  the  reason  of 
his  avoiding  the  "  clubs."  In  Hood's 
"  Diary  of  a  Joke-Hunter,"  the  uncon- 
scious punster  of  a  coachman  says  :  "  I 
expect  to  draw  the  boot  of  my  vehicle 
on  the  heel  of  Lunnen  Bridge  by  twelve 
o'clock."  A  traveller  in  China  says, 
that  no  Chinese  will  allow  himself  to 
be  visited  until  his  boots  are  on ;  and 
any  one  calling  must  wait  till  he  has 
performed  that  part  of  etiquette.  The 
Roman  Catholics  remove  their  hats  in 
passing  the  door  of  a  cathedral ;  and 
the  Mohammedans  take  off  their  shoes  on 
entering  a  mosque.  An  old  gouty  gen- 
tleman, having  lost  a  pair  of  capacious 
shoes,  said  that  the  worst  wish  he  had 
was,  that  the  shoes  might ^^  the  thief. 

The  celebrated  radical,  Hunt,  made 
a  fortune  by  the  manufacture  of  shoe- 
blacking.  After  he  obtained  a  seat  in 
parliament.  Sir  Robert  Peel  satirically 
made  an  allusion,  in  a  speech,  to  the 
shining  qualities  of  his  opponent — to 
which  Hunt  replied,  that  whereas  he 
(Hunt)  was  the  first  of  his  family  who 
had  obtained  a  fortune  by  trade.  Sir 
Robert  was  the  first  of  his  who  had 
been  able  to  live  without  trade. 

There  have  been  several  eminent 
shoemakers  who,  having  taken  Pegasoa 
for  their  hobby,  have  become  devoted 
followers  of  the  muses.  Foote^  the 
actor,  had  a  wooden  leg.  Coleman 
says  :  "  this  prop  to  his  person,  I  once 
saw  standing  by  his  bedside,  ready 
dressed  in  a  handsome  silk  stocking, 
with  a  polished  shoe  and  a  gold  buckle, 
waiting  the  owner's  getting-up  ;  it  had 
a  kind  of  tragically  comic  appearance, 
and  I  leave  to  inveterate  wags  the  in- 
genuity of  punning  upon  a  Foote  in  bed 
and  a  leg  out  of  it.  Although  rather 
too  serious  a  subject  for  a  pun,  it  seems 
somewhat  of  a  paradox,  how  a  man 
could  be  so  long  a  celebrated  come- 
dian with  one  foot  in  Hie  grave  !  " 

Mrs.  Partington, — a  dame  of  well- 
known  understanding, — one  day  took 
up  the  papers,  in  which  she  saw  some- 
thing about  the  "  Shoe  Dealers'  Bank," 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


747 


and  laying  down  her  spectacles,  she 
exclaimed,  "  Law,  me  !  I  wonder  who 
will  have  a  bank  next  ?  /  don't  want 
any  of  their  '  bills ; '  I  have  had 
enough  of  'em ;  and  Mr.  Partington 
was  always  complaining  of  their  ex- 
travagant charges.''^  It  is  a  custom,  still 
kept  up  among  superstitious  people,  to 
throw  their  old  shoes  over  their  heads 
for  good  luck,  when  vacating  a  house 
in  which  they  have  lived;  to  insure 
success,  the  person  must  not  look  be- 
hind after  the  performance  of  the  oper- 
ation. 

An  old  woman  having  predicted  to 
her  graceless  son,  that  he  would  "  die 
in  his  shoes,"  the  unfilial  vagabond, 
determined  to  disappoint  so  tender  a 
parental  prophecy,  took  the  malicious 
pains  to  kick  them  off,  just  previous  to 
being  hanged ! 


Shooting  a  Bookseller. 

"Many  a  true  word  is  spoken  in 
jest,"  the  proverb  teaches ;  and  an 
anecdote  told  of  Campbell  may  be 
thought  to  indicate  a  feeling  within  not 
very  favorable  to  those  who  had  given 
his  poem  to  the  world.  Being  in  a 
festive  party  at  a  period  when  the  ac- 
tions of  Bonaparte  were  most  severely 
condemned,  on  being  called  upon  for  a 
toast,  Campbell  gave,  "  The  Health  of 
Napoleon."  This  caused  great  surprise 
to  all  the  company,  and  an  explanation 
was  called  for. 

"  The  only  reason  I  have  for  propos- 
ing to  honor  Bonaparte,"  said  he,  "  is, 
that  he  had  the  virtue  to  shoot  a  l>ook- 
seller."  Palm,  a  bookseller,  had  re- 
cently been  executed  in  Germany,  by 
order  of  the  French  chief. 


Profitable  Book  Job. 

A  Dublin  paper  says,  that  about  the 
year  1837  Longfellow,  being  engaged 
in  making  a  tour  of  Europe,  selected 
Heidelberg  for  a  permanent  winter 
residence.   There  his  wife  was  attacked 


with  an  illness,  which  ultimately  proved 
fatal. 

It  so  happened,  however,  that  some 
time  afterward  there  came  to  the  same 
romantic  place  a  young  lady  of  con- 
siderable personal  attractions.  The 
poet's  heart  was  touched — he  became 
attached  to  her ;  but  the  beauty  of  six- 
teen did  not  sympathize  with  the  poet 
of  six-and-thirty,  and  Longfellow  re- 
turned to  America,  having  lost  his 
heart  as  well  as  his  wife. 

The  young  lady,  also  an  American,  re- 
turned home  shortly  afterward.  Their 
residences,  it  turned  out,  were  con- 
tiguous, and  the  poet  availed  himself 
of  the  opportunity  of  prosecuting  his 
addresses,  which  he  did  for  a  consider- 
able time  with  no  better  success  than  at 
first.  Thus  foiled,  he  set  himself  reso- 
lutely down,  and  instead,  like  Petrarch, 
of  laying  siege  to  the  heart  of  his  mis- 
tress through  the  medium  of  sonnets, 
he  resolved  to  write  a  whole  book ;  a 
book  which  would  achieve  the  double 
object  of  gaining  her  affections,  and  of 
establishing  his  own  fame.  Hyperion 
was  the  result. 

His  labor  and  his  constancy  were  not 
thrown  away ;  they  met  their  due  re- 
ward. The  lady  gave  him  her  hand, 
her  heart,  and  a  large  fortune,  and  the 
book  also  brought  fame  and  money, — a 
very  profitable  job  all  around  1 


Attempt  to  Print  a  Perfect  Book. 

The  celebrated  Foulises,  of  Glasgow, 
attempted  to  publish  a  work  which 
should  be  perfect  as  a  specimen  of  typo- 
graphical accuracy.  Every  precaution 
was  taken  to  secure  the  desired  result. 
Six  experienced  proof-readers  were  em- 
ployed, who  devoted  hours  to  the  read- 
ing of  each  page,  and  after  it  was 
thought  to  be  perfect,  it  was  posted  up 
in  the  hall  of  the  imiversity,  with  a 
notification  that  a  reward  of  fifty 
pounds  would  be  paid  to  any  person 
who  could  discover  an  error.  Each 
page  was  suffered  to  remain  two  weeks 


748 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


in  the  place  where  it  had  been  posted, 
before  the  work  was  printed,  and  the 
printers  thought  that  they  had  attained 
the  object  for  which  they  had  been 
striving.  When  the  work  was  issued, 
it  was  discovered  that  several  errors  had 
been  committed,  one  of  which  was  in 
the  very  first  line  of  the  first  page.  The 
Foulis  editions  of  classical  works  are 
still  much  prized  by  scholars  and  col- 
lectors. 


Austen,  th.e  Famous  Uetal  Founder. 

All  have  heard  of  the  English  "  Tu- 
bal Cain,"  William  Austen,  who  worked 
"  at  his  peril "  in  the  construction  of 
the  celebrated  tomb  at  Warwick,  in 
St.  Mary's  church,  of  Richard  de  Beau- 
champ,  Earl  of  Warwick,  who  died  in 
1439. 

In  a  document  given  in  Dugdale's 
Warwickshire,William  Austen  is  orac- 
ularly styled  "  citizen  and  founder  of 
London,"  from  which  and  the  details 
of  the  agreement  it  appears  that  he 
was  not  the  designer  or  modeller  of  the 
figures  which  he  cast  in  brass,  for  it  is 
expressly  stated  that  he  is  to  work  from 
models  made  of  timber.  This  docu- 
ment is  rather  an  amusing  one,  as  will 
be  seen :  Will.  Austen,  citizen  and 
founder,  of  London,  xiv.  Martii,  30  h. 
6,  covenanteth  &c.  to  cast,  work,  and 
perfectly  to  make,  of  the  finest  latten 
(brass)  to  be  gilded,  that  may  be  found, 
xiv.  images  embossed,  of  lords  and 
ladies  in  divers  vestures  called  weepers, 
to  stand  in  housings  made  about  the 
tomb,  those  images  to  be  made  in 
breadth,  length,  and  thickness,  &c.,  to 
xiv.  patterns  made  of  timbers.  Also  he 
shall  make  xviii.  less  images  of  angells, 
to  stand  in  other  housings,  as  shall  be 
appointed  by  patterns,  whereof  ix.  after 
one  side,  and  ix.  after  another.  Also 
he  must  make  an  hearse  to  stand  on 
the  tombe  above  and  about  the  princi- 
pal image  that  shall  lye  in  the  tomb 
according  to  a  pattern ;  the  stuflf  and 
workmanship  to  be  at  the  charge  of 


the  said  Will.  Austen.  The  said  Wil 
liam  Austen,  xi.  Feb.,  28  n.  6,  doth 
covenant  to  cast  and  make  an  image 
of  a  man  armed,  of  fine  latten,  gar- 
nished with  certain  ornaments,  viz., 
with  sword  and  dagger;  with  a  gar- 
ter ;  with  a  helm  and  crest  under  his 
head,  and  at  his  feet  a  bear  musted 
(muzzled),  and  a  griffon  perfectly  made 
of  the  finest  latten,  according  to  pat- 
terns; all  of  which  to  be  brought  to 
Warwick  and  laid  on  the  tombe,  at  the 
peril  (risk)  of  the  said  Austen. 


seiners'  Conunandments. 

Thoit  shalt  not  go  prospecting  before 
thy  claim  gives  out.  Thou  shalt  not 
take  thy  money,  nor  thy  gold  dust,  nor 
thy  good  name,  to  the  gambling-table 
in  vain ;  for  monte,  twenty-one,  roulette, 
faro,  lansquenet  and  poker,  will  prove 
to  thee  that  the  more  thou  puttest 
down,  the  less  thou  shalt  take  up. 

Thou  shalt  not  pick  up  specimens 
from  the  company  pan  and  put  them 
in  thy  mouth  or  in  thy  purse.  Neither 
shalt  thou  take  from  thy  cabin  mate 
his  gold  dust  to  add  to  thine,  lest  he 
find  thee  out,  and  straightway  call  his 
fellow  miners  together,  and  they  hang 
thee,  or  give  thee  fifty  lashes  and  two 
hours  to  leave  the  country ;  or  brand 
thee  like  a  horse-thief,  with  r  upon  thy 
cheek,  to  be  "  known  and  read  of  all " 
— Californians  in  particular.  And  if 
thou  steal  a  shovel,  or  a  pick  or  a  pan 
from  thy  toiling  fellow  miner,  hanging 
will  be  too  good  for  thee,  and  thou 
wilt  be  kicked  and  cowhided  for  thy 
pains. 

Thou  shalt  not  teU  any  false  tales 
about  "good  diggings  in  the  moun- 
tains "  to  thy  neighbor,  that  thou  may- 
est  benefit  thy  friend  who  hath  mules 
and  provisions  and  tools  and  blankets 
that  he  cannot  sell ;  lest,  in  deceiving 
thy  neighbor,  when  he  retumeth 
through  the  snow,  with  naught  save 
his  rifle,  he  presenteth  thee  with  the 
contents  thereo£ 


t^ 


PROFESSIONAL  USK  OF  BOOKS. 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMHRCK 


749 


Son  of  an  Eminent  Turkey  Merchant. 

HoRNE  TooKE  was  the  son  of  a 
poulterer,  wMch  fact  he  facetiously 
alluded  to,  when  called  upon  by  the 
proud  striplings  of  Eton  to  describe 
himself:  "I  am,"  said  young  Home, 
"  the  son  of  an  eminent  Turkey  mer- 
chant." 


Dryden  Describin?  his  Publisher. 

ToNSON,  the  eminent  publisher  of  his 
time,  having  refused  to  advance  Dryden 
a  sum  of  money  for  a  work  on  which  he 
was  engaged,  the  enraged  bard  sent  a 
message  to  him,  and  the  following  lines, 
adding,  "Tell  the  dog  that  he  who 
wrote  these  can  write  more : 

With  leering  looks,  bull-faced  and  freckled 

skin, 
With  two  left  legs,  and  Judas-colored  hair, 
And  frowzy,  pores,  that  taint  the  ambient 

air.' " 

The  bookseller  felt  the  force  of  the 
description,  and  to  avoid  the  comple- 
tion of  the  portrait,  lost  no  time  in 
sending  the  money. 


Professional  Use  of  Books. 

Tom  Osborne,  the  bookseller,  was 
one  of  "  that  mercantile,  rugged  race, 
to  which  the  delicacy  of  the  poet  is 
sometimes  exposed,"  as  the  following 
anecdote  will  more  fully  evince : 

It  appears  that  Johnson  being  en- 
gaged by  him  to  translate  a  work  of 
some  consequence,  he  thought  it  a  re- 
spect which  he  owed  his  own  talents, 
as  well  as  the  credit  of  his  employer,  to 
be  as  circumspect  in  the  performance 
of  it  as  possible,  and  in  consequence  of 
which  the  work  went  on,  according  to 
Osborne's  ideas,  rather  slowly;  he 
therefore  frequently  spoke  to  Johnson 
of  this  circumstance,  and,  being  a  man 
of  coarse  mind,  sometimes,  by  his  ex- 
pressions, made  him  feel  the  situation 
of   dependence.      Johnson,    however, 


seemed  to  take  no  notice  of  him,  but 
went  on  according  to  the  plan  which 
he  had  prescribed  for  himself. 

Osborne,  irritated  by  what  he  thought 
an  unnecessary  delay,  went  one  day  into 
the  room  where  Johnson  was  sitting, 
and  abused  him  in  the  most  illiberal 
manner :  among  other  things,  he  told 
Johnson  he  had  been  much  mistaken 
in  his  man ;  that  he  was  recommended 
to  him  as  a  good  scholar  and  a  ready 
hand— but  he  doubted  both ;  for  "  Tom 
Such-a-one  would  have  turned  out  the 
work  much  sooner;  and  that  being 
the  case,  the  probability  was,  that  by 
this  here  time  the  first  edition  would 
have  moved  oflF." 

Johnson  listened  to  all  this  for  some 
time  immoved ;  but,  at  last,  losing  all 
patience,  he  seized  a  huge  folio,  which 
he  was  at  that  time  consulting,  and, 
aiming  it  at  the  bookseller's  head,  suc- 
ceeded so  forcibly  as  to  send  him 
sprawling  on  the  floor.  Osborne 
alarmed  the  family  with  his  cries ;  but 
Johnson,  clapping  his  foot  on  his 
breast,  would  not  let  him  stir,  till  he 
had  exposed  him  in  that  situation ;  and 
then  left  him,  with  this  triumphant 
expression, — "  Lie  there,  thou  son  of 
dulness,  ignorance,  and  obscurity  !  " 


First  Newspaper  in  the  world. 

The  oldest  news  sheet  appearing  to 
be  of  a  periodical  character,  is  one 
which  was  offered  for  sale  with  the 
Libri  Collection  on  the  35th  of  July, 
1862,  and  of  which  there  is  a  duplicate 
in  the  British  Museum.  Its  title  is, 
'■'■  Newe  Zeitung  aits  Sispanien  und 
Italien  (New  Tidings  from  Spain 
and  Italy) ;  black  letter,  4  leaves  4to. 
Mense  Februario,  1534," 

The  description  of  this  in  the  cata- 
logue is  as  follows :  "  A  gazette  of  ex- 
cessive rarity,  which  appears  to  have 
been  printed  at  Nuremberg.  It  con- 
tains the  first  news  of  the  discovery  of 
Peru,  and  has  remained  unknown  to 
aU  the  bibliographers  we  have  been 


Y50 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


able  to  consult.  It  it  is  announced 
that  the  governor  of  Panumya  (Pana- 
ma), in  the  Indies,  has  written  to  his 
Majesty  (the  emperor  Charles  V.)  that 
a  ship  had  arrived  from  Peru  veith  a 
letter  from  the  regent  Francisco  Pis- 
cario  (Pizarro),  stating  that  he  had 
disembarked  and  seized  the  country ; 
that  with  two  hundred  Spaniards 
(infantry  and  cavalry)  he  had  em- 
barked ;  that  he  had  arrived  at  the 
lands  of  a  great  lord  named  Cassiko, 
who  had  refused  peace  and  attacked 
Mm ;  that  the  Spaniards  had  been 
victorious,  and  had  seized  five  thousand 
castillons  (pieces  of  gold),  and  had 
twenty  thousand  marks  of  silver ;  that 
they  had  drawn  two  millions  in  gold 
from  the  said  Cassiko,"  etc. 

It  has  generally  been  supposed,  from 
the  various  researches  which  have  been 
made,  that  the  first  newspaper  published 
in  modem  Europe  made  its  appearance 
at  Venice  in  1536 ;  but  the  jealousy 
of  the  government  would  not  allow  of 
its  being  printed,  so  that,  for  many 
years,  it  was  circulated  in  manuscript. 


Earliest  Newspaper  in  the  English, 
ZiongM&ge. 

It  would  seem  that  newspapers  were 
first  issued  in  England  by  authority 
during  the  alarm  occasioned  by  the 
approach  of  the  Armada  to  her  shores 
— in  order,  as  was  stated,  by  giving 
real  information,  to  allay  the  general 
anxiety,  and  to  hinder  the  dissemination 
of  false  and  exaggerated  statements. 
From  this  era,  newspapers,  of  one  sort 
or  other,  have,  with  a  few  intermissions, 
generally  appeared  in  London,  some- 
times at  regular,  and  sometimes  at 
irregular  intervals.  The  "English 
Mercuric  "  has  been  regarded  the  first 
printed  newspaper  in  the  English  lan- 
guage, and  was,  by  authority,  "im- 
printed at  London  by  her  highness's 
printer,  1588 ; "  in  the  days  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  The  earliest  number  pre- 
served is  dated  July  23,  in  that  year. 


The  following  are  the  names  of  some 
of  the  earliest  publications  which, 
whether  correctly  or  incorrectly  need 
not  now  be  argued,  were  regarded  as 
"  newspapers  "  : —  "  England's  Memor- 
able Accidents,"  "The  Kingdom's  In- 
telligencer," "  The  Diurnal  of  Certain 
Passages  in  Parliament,"  "The  Mer- 
curius  Aulicus,"  "The  Parliament's 
Scout,"  "The  Parliament's  Scout 
Discovery,  or  Certain  Information," 
"  The  Mercurius  Civicus,"  "  The 
Country's  Complaint,"  "  Mercurius 
Britannicus,"  etc. 

The  first  regular  series  of  weekly 
newspapers  hitherto  discovered  was 
entitled  the  "Weekly  Newes  from 
Italy,  Germanic,"  &c.,  published  in 
London  in  1623.  This  statement  is 
founded  on  the  assertion  made  by  a 
British  historian,  that  the  "English 
Mercuric  of  1588,"  long  regarded  as 
the  first  English  newspaper,  was  a 
myth — a  forgery.  The  first  daily 
morning  newspaper  was  the  "Daily 
Courant,"  1702,  London.  It  consisted 
of  but  one  page  of  two  columns,  and 
containing  five  paragraphs  translated 
from  foreign  journals. 

It  has  been  supposed  by  many  that 
the  "  Gentleman's  Magazine  "  was  the 
earliest  periodical  of  that  descrip- 
tion, while,  in  fact,  it  was  preceded 
nearly  forty  years  by  the  "  Gentle- 
man's Journal"  of  Matteux,  a  work 
much  more   resembling   our   modem 

magazines. 

♦ 

Pacetise  for  Shoemakers. 

^'  Stick  to  your  last "  is  a  homely 
but  common  proverb,  enjoining  per- 
severance, and  may  have  originated 
with  those  who  made  it  the  means  of 
such  honorable  promotion. 

"  None  but  the  wearer  knows  where 
the  shoe  pinches,"  is  another  as  com- 
mon, and  originated  with  a  noble 
Roman  who  was  asked  why  he  had 
put  away  his  beautiful  wife,  and  gave 
this  for  an  answer. 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


751 


"  The  shoemaker  must  not  go  beyond 
his  last,"  is  immediately  understood 
to  advise  no  one  to  pass  judgment  on 
things  concerning  which  he  has  no 
knowledge ;  and  is  derived  from  the 
incident  of  a  shoemaker's  criticizing 
a  slipper  which  an  artist  had  painted, 
and,  being  applauded,  he  attempted  to 
extend  his  strictures  to  other  parts  of 
the  picture,  thus  making  himself  ridic- 
ulous. 


Boman  Saint  Making:  Shoes. 

St  common  consent,  Crispin  is  the 
patron  saint  of  shoemakers,  and  he,  it 
appears,  suflFered  martyrdom  about  the 
year  303,  for  his  efforts  to  propagate  the 
doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion, 
travelling  from  Rome  to  France  for  this 
purpose,  and  making  shoes  by  the  way 
as  a  means  of  obtaining  nourishment 
for  the  body.  St.  Crispin's  Day  is  the 
twenty-fifth  of  October,  and  Shaks- 
peare  and  many  inferior  poets  have 
immortalized  its  festivals  and  promoted 
its  importance  in  the  list  of  holidays. 


Bujring:  Shoes  and  Sermons. 

An  anecdote  is  told  of  the  chaplain 
of  the  Duke  of  Leeds  and  his  shoe- 
maker, which  the  facetious  like  to  relate 
as  an  instance  of  the  wit  of  the  "  gentle 
craft "  of  the  thread  and  last.  A  shoe- 
maker, named  Walkden,  had  made  for 
him  a  pair  of  shoes,  and  on  being  asked 
the  price  replied,  "  Half  a  guinea,  sir." 

"  Half  a  guinea  for  a  pair  of  shoes  ! " 
replied  the  astonished  chaplain ;  "  why, 
I  could  go  to  Cranbourne  Alley  and  buy 
a  better  pair  of  shoes  than  these  ever 
were  or  will  be,  for  five  and  sixpence." 
He  then  threw  one  of  the  shoes  to  the 
other  end  of  the  room,  and  Walkden 
threw  the  other  after  it,  saying,  at  the 
same  time,  "  Sir,  I  can  go  to  a  store 
in  Moorfields  and  buy  a  better  ser- 
mon than  my  lord  gives  you  a  guinea 
for." 

The  duke,  being  present,  was  much 


amused  by  this  retort,  and  immediately 
ordered  half  a  dozen  pairs  of  shoes  to 
be  made  directly. 


Dowse,  the  "Literary  Leather 
Dresser." 

Thomas  Dowse  was  a  leather  dresser, 
living  in  Cambridgeport,  Mass.,  and 
who,  to  good  industry  and  success  in 
his  calling,  added  a  most  liberal  taste 
for  books  and  engravings  of  the  rarest 
quality.  He  was  commonly  known  as 
"  the  literary  leather  dresser,"  and  his 
case  is  almost  if  not  wholly  without  a 
parallel.  From  an  early  age,  all  his 
spare  earnings  were  expended  in  the 
purchase  of  books.  After  pursuing  his 
trade  as  an  apprentice  to  his  father 
until  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
he  made  the  endeavor  to  visit  Europe, 
but  was  prevented  from  fulfilling  that 
purpose  on  account  of  poverty  and 
other  obstacles.  He  therefore  applied 
himself  to  his  trade,  and  in  this  voca- 
tion he  was  eminently  fortunate.  He 
attended  to  the  duties  of  his  shop 
during  business  hours,  and  to  reading 
in  those  of  the  moaning  and  evening, 
devoting  constantly  a  large  part  of  his 
income  to  the  purchase  of  books.  His 
taste  was  not  only  for  good  books,  but 
for  handsome  editions,  and  these  he 
imported  directly  from  London.  About 
the  year  1820,  his  agent  in  London  sent 
him  the  prospectus  of  a  lottery  for  the 
disposal  of  the  sets  of  a  costly  collection 
of  engravings  of  the  most  famous  works 
of  the  old  masters,  and  of  the  water- 
color  copies  made  from  the  originals. 
Mr.  Dowse  bought  three  tickets  in  this 
lottery,  and  drew  two  prizes,  one  prize 
consisting  of  two  sets  of  the  engravings, 
colored  and  uncolored ;  the  other  prize 
being  one-half  of  the  water-color  copies 
framed,  fifty-two  in  number.  He  thus 
became  possessed  of  a  large  collection 
of  admirable  copies  of  some  of  the  most 
celebrated  paintings  in  England.  The 
paintings  were  advantageously  arranged 
in  rooms  adjoining  Mr.  Dowse's  library, 


752 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


and  formed,  with  it  an  attraction  of 
great  interest  to  persons  of  letters  and 
taste  resident  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
to  strangers. 

Mr.  Dowse  continued  to  work  at  his 
trade  till  after  he  was  seventy  years  of 
age,  and  he  lived  a  life  of  retirement 
as  well  as  celibacy.  He  was  a  great 
admirer  of  Benjamin  Franklin — so 
much  so,  that  he  erected,  at  his  own 
expense,  a  substantial  granite  obelisk 
in  Mount  Auburn,  to  Franklin's  mem- 
ory. A  few  months  before  his  decease, 
Mr.  Dowse  presented  his  library  to 
the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 
It  consisted  of  about  five  thousand 
volumes  of  a  miscellaneous  character, 
many  of  them  in  elegant  bindings,  and 
of  the  best  editions.  It  is  almost  exclu- 
sively an  English  library,  containing 
translations  of  the  principal  authors 
in  the  ancient  languages,  and  the  cul- 
tivated languages  of  modern  Europe. 
It  is  estimated  to  have  cost  Mr.  Dowse 
forty  thousand  dollars,  without  interest. 
He  left  forty  thousand  dollars  to  lit- 
erary, scientific,  and  charitable  pur- 
poses. 

— — ♦— 

Eminent  Shoemakers. 

Arnigio,  an  Italian  poet  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  of  considerable  genius 
and  learning,  followed  his  father's  trade, 
that  of  a  shoemaker,  and  in  the  course 
of  his  life  published  a  very  elaborate 
work  on  the  shoemaking  of  the  an- 
cients. 

Linnaeus,  the  founder  of  the  science 
of  botany,  was  apprenticed  to  a  shoe- 
maker in  Sweden,  but  was  afterward 
taken  notice  of,  in  consequence  of  his 
ability,  and  sent  to  college. 

David  Parens,  the  elder,  who  was 
afterward  a  celebrated  professor  of 
theology  at  Heidelberg,  Germany,  was 
at  one  time  apprentice  to  a  shoe- 
maker. 

Joseph  Pendell,  of  London,  who  was 
a  profound  and  scientific  scholar,  leav- 
ing a  superb  library,  was  bred  to  and 


pursued  through  life  the  trade  of  a 
shoemaker. 

Hans  Sachs,  one  of  the  most  famous 
of  the  early  poets,  was  the  son  of  a 
tailor,  served  an  apprenticeship  to  a 
shoemaker,  and  afterward  became 
and  continued  a  weaver 

Benedict  Badlouth,  one  of  the  most 
learned  men  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
was  a  shoemaker,  as  was  likewise  his 
father.  This  man  wrote  a  treatise  on 
the  shoemaking  of  the  ancients,  which 
he  traced  up  to  the  time  of  Adam  him- 
self. Thus  Adam  was  a  shoemaker, 
and  Eve  a  tailoress.  She  "sewed  fig 
leaves  together,"  proving  truly  the 
antiquity  of  these  two  branches  of  in- 
dustry and  skill. 

To  these  may  be  added  those  orna- 
ments of  literature,  Holcroft,  the  author 
of  the  Critic  and  other  works ;  Giflbrd, 
the  founder,  and  for  many  years  the  edi- 
tor, of  the  London  Quarterly  Review, 
one  of  the  most  profound  writers  and 
elegant  scholars  of  the  age;  Bloom- 
field,  the  celebrated  author;  Gibbon, 
Lackington,  Dr.  Carey,  and  Whittier, 
— all  these  were  shoemakers. 

John  Brand,  of  the  London  Anti- 
quarian Society,  and  author  of  several 
learned  works,  was  originally  a  shoe- 
maker, but  fortunately  found  means 
to  complete  his  studies  at  Oxford. 
Winckelmann,  the  learned  German 
antiquary,  was  the  son  of  a  shoemaker, 
and  was  for  some  time  engaged  in  the 
same  employment,  but  finally  burst  fi-om 
his  obscurity,  and  became  a  professor 
of  belles-lettres :  he  was  the  friend  and 
correspondent  of  the  most  learned  men 
of  his  times. 

Fox,  the  foimder  of  the  sect  or  body 
called  Quakers,  was  the  son  of  a  weaver, 
and  apprenticed  to  a  shoemaker. 

Roger  Sherman,  the  distinguished 
Connecticut  statesman,  was  apprenticed 
to  a  shoemaker,  and  found  ample  time, 
during  his  minority,  to  acquire  a  stock 
of  knowledge  that  led  him  oa  to  fame 
and  fortune. 

Longworth,  the  great  real  estate  mil- 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIART  TO  COMMERCE. 


753 


lionnaire,  of  Cincinnati,  was  formerly  a 
shoemaker. 


Breakiner  and  'Waxinsr  the  **  Thread." 

A  CERTAIN  member  of  the  Irish  Par- 
liament, whose  father  had  followed  the 
honest  occupation  of  a  shoemaker,  hav- 
ing, in  the  course  of  his  speech,  used 
some  language  which  caused  him  to  be 
called  to  order  by  Mr.  Curran,  the  gen- 
tleman complained  that  Mr.  Curran  had 
"  hrdken  the  thread  of  his  discoursed 

"  Then  wax  it  letter^  the  next  time," 
replied  Curran,  disdainfully. 


One  of  the  Largrest  Book  Establish- 
ments in  the  World. 

This  well-known  house  was  estab- 
lished by  the  two  senior  partners, 
James  and  John  Harper,  who  opened 
a  small  book  and  job  printing  ofBce  in 
Dover  street.  New  York,  in  1817.  Their 
first  employer  in  book  printing  was  Mr. 
Evert  Duyckinck,  a  leading  publisher 
of  that  day,  to  whose  order,  on  the 
5th  of  August,  they  delivered  two  thou- 
sand copies  of  Seneca's  Morals ;  on  the 
3d  of  December,  twenty-five  hundred 
copies  of  Mair's  Introduction  to  Latin ; 
and  on  the  7th  of  April,  1818,  five  hun- 
dred copies  of  Locke's  Essay  on  the 
Human  Understanding.  These  were 
the  first  books  they  printed.  In  1823, 
the  third  brother,  John  Wesley  Harper, 
became  a  partner  in  the  establishment, 
and  in  1826  Fletcher  Harper  entered  as 
a  member  of  the  firm.  At  that  time 
their  printing  office  had  become  the 
largest  in  the  city,  though  it  employed 
but  fifty  persons,  and  did  all  its  work 
on  ten  hand-presses.  The  establish- 
ment is  at  present  believed  to  be  the 
largest  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  Thiir- 
low  Weed  worked  as  a  journeyman 
printer  at  the  same  time  and  in  the 
same  establishment  with  Mr.  Harper. 
"James,"  says  he,  "was  our  partner 
at  the  press.  We  were  at  work  as  soon 
as  the  day  dawned ;  and  though,  on  a 
48 


pleasant  simimra*  afternoon,  toe  used  to 
sigh  occasionally  for  a  walk  upon  the 
Battery  before  sundown,  he  never  would 
allow  the  'balls  to  be  capped'  until 
he  had  broken  the  back  of  the  thir- 
teenth 'token.'"  Thus,  by  habits  of 
industry,  perseverance,  economy  and 
industry,  the  journeyman  printer  be- 
came the  head  of  the  greatest  pub- 
lishing house  in  the  western  world, 
amassed  an  ample  fortune,  and  at 
one  time  filled  the  chair  of  chief 
magistrate  of  the  greatest  metropolis 
in  America. 


Charles  Knight's  Beminiscences  of  the 
Iiondon  Book  Trade. 

Pateknosteb  Row  and  the  imme- 
diate neighborhood  of  St.  Paul's  church- 
yard and  Ave-Maria  Lane,  were  the 
]»incipal  seats  of  the  wholesale  book- 
trade  in  former  days.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  century,  according 
to  Britton,  "  most  of  the  tradesmen  at- 
tended to  their  respective  shops,  and 
dwelt  in  the  upper  part  of  their  houses." 
He  had  lived  to  see  the  heads  of  many 
of  the  largest  establishments  visit  their 
counting  houses  only  for  a  few  hours  in 
the  day,  and  leave  the  working  part  to 
junior  partners,  clerks,  and  appren- 
tices. The  greater  nimiber  of  city  book- 
sellers did  not  carry  on  the  business  of 
publisher  pur  et  simple.  They  were 
factors  of  books  for  the  London  col- 
lectors; they  were  the  agents  of  the 
country  booksellers;  they  almost  all 
were  shareholders  of  what  were  called 
chapter  books,  from  the  business  con- 
cerning them  being  conducted  at  the 
Chapter  Coffee  House.  If  we  open  a 
book  (says  Mr.  Charles  Knight,  in  his 
interesting  volume,  "Passages  of  a 
Working  Life"),  of  fifty  years  ago, 
which  had  become  a  standard  work  in 
its  frequent  reprints,  we  find  the  names 
of  twelve  or  twenty  or  even  more  book- 
sellers on  the  title  page.  The  copyright 
had  probably  long  expired.  But  these 
shareholders,  who  formed  a  Limited 


764 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Liability  Company  (not  registered), 
were  considered  as  the  only  legitimate 
dealers,  and  their  editions  the  only 
legitimate  ones.  It  was  long  before 
their  monopoly  was  broken  up  by  a 
few  daring  adventurers  who  defied  these 
banded  hosts,  and  were  ready  to  pounce 
upon  an  expired  copyright  before  it 
could  be  appropriated  by  the  large  and 
small  potentates  who  had  parcelled  out 
the  realms  of  print,  with  absolute  ex- 
clusiveness,  in  the  good  times  before 
innovation.  Trade  sales,  as  they  were 
called,  were  frequent  and  general  among 
the  primitive  race  of  booksellers;  at 
which  sales  these  share  books  were 
sold,  among  other  wares,  to  the  best 
bidders.  The  company  was  not  at- 
tracted by  elegant  banquets,  such  as 
those  at  which,  in  later  times,  I  have 
assisted  as  a  guest  and  as  a  host. 
There  was  a  plain  dinner  of  substan- 
tial beef  and  mutton,  which  the  book- 
seller ordered  at  an  adjacent  tavern, 
directing  what  dishes  should  be  pro- 
vided to  meet  the  number  of  his  ex- 
pected guests.  I  have  heard  an  illus- 
trative anecdote — I  do  not  vouch  for 
its  truth — of  one  of  the  respectable  firm 
that  lived  under  the  sign  of  the  Bible 
and  Crown.  In  the  midst  of  family 
prayer  he  suddenly  paused,  and  ex- 
claimed, "  John,  go  and  tell  Higgins  to 
make  another  marrow  pudding." 

The  "  legitimate  "  trade  had  its  code 
of  "protection,"  on  which  it  had  re- 
posed since  the  days  of  the  Tonsons 
and  Lintots.  Its  system  of  associating 
many  shareholders  in  the  production 
and  sale  of  an  established  work  kept 
up  its  price.  The  retailers  were  only 
allowed  to  purchase  of  the  wholesale 
houses  upon  certain  conditions,  which 
had  the  eflFect  of  making  it  difficult,  if 
not  impossible,  for  the  private  pvu*- 
chaser  to  obtain  a  book  under  the  sum 
advertised.  No  publisher  had  discov- 
ered that  it  was  to  his  interest  that  the 
profit  of  the  middle  man  should  be 
small,  so  that  a  book  should  be  vended 
at  the  cheapest  rate.    The  very  notion 


of  cheap  books  stank  in  the  nostrils, 
not  only  of  the  ancient  magnates  of  the 
East,  but  of  the  new  potentates  of  the 
West.  For  a  new  work  which  involved 
the  purchase  of  copyright,  it  was  the 
established  rule  that  the  wealthy  few, 
to  whom  price  was  not  a  consideration, 
were  alone  to  be  depended  upon  for 
the  remimeration  of  the  author  and  the 
first  profit  of  the  publisher.  The  proud 
quarto,  with  a  rivulet  of  text  meander- 
ing through  a  wide  plain  of  margin, 
was  the  "decus  et  tutamen"  of  the 
Row  and  of  Albemarle  street.  Conduit 
street  now  and  then  vied  in  its  grandi- 
osity; but  more  commonly  sent  forth 
legions  of  octavos,  translated  from  the 
French  with  a  rapidity  that  was  not 
very  careful  about  correctness  or  ele- 
gance— qualities  which  were  not  con- 
templated in  the  estimate  of  the  liter- 
ary cost.  These  were  the  books  whose 
cheapness  was  deceptive,  like  the  books 
issued  by  the  number-publishers.  One 
of  these  successful  tradesmen,  who,  al- 
though he  became  lord  mayor,  was  once 
"Thomas"  the  porter  in  an  old  con- 
cern for  the  production  of  the  dearest 
books  in  folio — such  as  we  may  still 
find  among  the  heir-looms  of  a  humble 
family  in  some  remote  village — was 
never  solicitous  to  buy  an  author ;  his 
great  object  was  to  buy  a  "  ground." 
"A  ground"  was  like  a  milk- walk — 
there  were  a  body  of  customers  to  be 
transferred  to  the  new  capitalist.  He 
was  once  tempted  into  the  employment 
of  original  authorship.  When  his  press 
one  day  stood  stiU  for  want  of  a  suffi- 
cient supply  of  the  commodity  for 
which  he  had  indiscreetly  bargained, 
he  exclaimed,  "  Give  me  dead  authors  1 
— ^they  never   keep   you  waiting   for 

copy."  • 

♦ 

Buying'  a  Saddle. 

Monkeys  are  scarce  in  Michigan.  A 
saddler  in  Detroit  kept  one  for  a  pet, 
who  usually  sat  on  the  counter.  A 
countryman  came  in  one  day,  the  pro- 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


765 


prietor  being  in  the  back  room.  The 
customer,  seeing  a  saddle  that  suited 
him,  asked  the  price. 

Monkey  said  nothing. 

Customer  said,  "  I'll  give  you  twenty 
dollars  for  it,"  which  monkey  shoved 
into  the  drawer  as  the  man  laid  it 
down.  The  man  then  took  the  saddle, 
but  monkey  mounted  the  man,  tore  his 
hair,  scratched  his  face,  and  the  fright- 
ened customer  screamed  for  dear  life. 
Proprietor  rushes  in,  and  wants  to 
know  what's  the  fuss, 

"  Fuss  ?  "  said  the  customer ;  "  fiiss  ? 
I  bought  a  saddle  of  your  son  settin' 
there,  and  when  I  went  to  take  it,  he 
won't  let  me  have  it ! " 

The  saddler  apologized  for  the  mon- 
key, but  assured  him  he  was  no  rela- 
tion. 


Digmity  Conferred  by  the  Blacking: 
Business. 

The  report  of  M.  Dumas,  member  of 
the  French  Institute,  on  the  Great  Ex- 
position of  French  Industry,  has  been 
"  done  into  English  "  for  the  benefit  of 
a  manufacturer  of  blacking,  whose  ar- 
ticle is  highly  spoken  of.  The  follow- 
ing is  an  extract  in  the  translator's 
most  polished  style : 

"The  service  done  by  Messrs.  Jac- 
quand  is  real.  One  does  perceive  it 
the  better  when  one  does  consider  his 
eflfects  on  the  less  comfortable  orders 
of  the  population,  on  those  for  which 
there  are  not  little  economies,  and  on 
which  it  is  of  a  great  importance  to 
spread  habits  of  cleanliness,  which  con- 
duct to  the  self-consideration,  and 
which  announce  at  the  man  who  ob- 
serves them,  the  sentiment  of  his  dig- 
nity. The  jury  confers  on  Messrs.  Jac- 
quand  a  medal  of  bronze." 


Breeches  without  a  Body. 

Brooks  is  an  oflSce  boy,  and  is  quite 
a  character.  He  is  about  sixteen  years 
old,  and  five  feet  ten  inches  in  height. 


and  proportionably  narrow.  A  more 
brief  and  very  graphic  description  of 
his  physical  build  is  expressed  by  him 
when  speaking  of  himself.  He  says, 
"  Very  little  Brooks — principally  legs." 
Brooks  needed  a  renewal  of  that  useful 
article  of  raiment  known  to  him  as 
"  trowsis,"  wherewith  to  protect  the  be- 
fore-mentioned legs  from  the  inclemen- 
cy of  the  weather  and  the  vulgar  gaze. 

Brooks  applied  to  a  gentleman  of 
the  Jewish  persuasion,  who  published 
to  the  world  the  fact  that  he  manufac- 
tured raiment  of  every  description.  By 
"  particular  request "  the  tailor  meas- 
ured Brooks  for  the  required  article  of 
clothing,  insuring,  at  the  same  time,  a 
"  dead  fit."  Our  friend  of  the  shears, 
being  of  an  inquiring  turn  of  mind — 
though  we  suspect  some  irony  in  his 
remark — thought  to  question  his  cus- 
tomer, as  he  inquired,  addressing 
Brooks : 

"  Does  my  fine  shentleman  vish  any 
pody  to  his  pantaloons  ?  " 

Brooks  answered,  "  Of  course  I  want 
a  body  to  them.  Who  ever  heard  of 
breeches  without  a  body  ? " 

"  Vel,  den,"  said  the  Jew,  «'  if  such 
is  the  case,  den  you  musht  tie  dem 
round  your  neck ;  for,  help  me  Moses, 
I  never  saw  such  long  legs  before ! " 


Books  and  Husic. 

"  Not  very  long  ago,  two  gentlemen 
from  our  town,"  writes  a  rural  reader 
to  Harper'a  Magazine,  "  paid  a  visit  of 
pleasure  and  business  to  New  York 
city.  Not  particularly  well  acquainted 
with  localities,  they  were  upon  one  af- 
ternoon absent  on  an  exploring  expedi- 
tion, and  suddenly  and  unexpectedly 
'fetched  up'  opposite  your  magnifi- 
cent publishing  house  and  printing  es- 
tablishment in  Franklin  Square.  Hav- 
ing of  course  a  knowledge,  acquired  by 
reading,  of  your  extensive  buildings 
and  grounds,  when  the  large  gilt  let- 
ters which  indicate  to  the  rural  visitor 
the  name  and  nature  of  the  firm  struck 


756 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


the  eye  of  one  of  the  friends,  he  incon- 
tinently cried  out,  'Hold  on,  Joel  I 
■want  to  take  a  look  at  the  Harpers ! ' 
Joe  dropped  his  head,  and  stood  for 
several  minutes  in  musing  mood,  in- 
tently listening,  during  which  time  his 
friend  was  surveying  the  building  and 
its  surroundings.    Presently  Joe  said, 

" '  Well,  come  along ;  you  won't  hear 
any  more  music  if  you  stand  here  all 
dayl' 

"  '  Music  ?  What  music  ? '  said  his 
friend,  eyeing  Joe  curiously. 

"  '  Why,  "  the  Harpers  "  playing,'  re- 
plied Joe,  very  innocently. 

"  The  strain  on  Andy's  vest  buttons 
was  intense  for  some  minutes;  and  it 
has  never  been  settled  to  this  day 
whether  the  music  was  in  Joe's  head, 
or  whether  he  really  expected  to  hear 
♦  the  Harpers '  playing." 


Willingr  to  Swallow  the  Joke. 

Everybody  in  Cincinnati  knows 
that  Jake  Myers  is  a  good  fellow,  and 
considerable  of  a  wag.  He  and  thirty- 
five  other  German  cabinet  makers  put 
their  funds  together  and  formed  them- 
selves into  an  association  known  as  the 
Cabinet  Makers'  Union.  Jake  was 
made  agent  of  the  concern,  and,  by  his 
good  management  and  the  hard  work 
of  the  others,  they  prospered,  and  ship- 
ped a  large  amount  of  their  wares  to 
the  South.  Some  time  ago,  one  of 
their  customers  living  in  Kentucky, 
and  in  debt  to  the  concern  about 
$1,500,  showed  signs  of  weakness,  and 
they  thought  it  necessary  for  Jake  to 
go  and  look  after  their  interests.  He 
found  the  man  had  just  sold  out,  and 
be  had  to  take  a  house  and  lot  instead 
of  the  money.  Jake  was  a  stanch  friend 
of  the  South,  and  the  balance  of  the 
concern  were  abolitionists,  and  had 
bored  Jake  a  good  deal  about  his  no- 
tions on  the  slavery  question  ;  so  Jake 
found  he  had  a  chance  of  getting  even 
or  a  little  ahead  of  his  partners.  On 
his  return  he  told  them  he  had  to  take 


two  negroes  (a  boy  and  girl),  or  get 
nothing ;  but  knowing  his  thirty-five 
partners  to  be  strong  abolitionists,  he 
thought  they  might  wish  to  set  the 
darkeys  free,  and  he  had  declined  tak- 
ing the  money  he  had  been  offered  for 
them  until  after  he  had  a  consultation 
with  his  partners.  They  all  bit ;  .and, 
after  some  deliberation,  concluded  to 
sell  the  negroes,  as  it  would  be  too 
great  a  loss  ($42  to  each  partner)  for 
them  to  stand.  They  directed  Jake  to 
sell  them  as  soon  as  possible,  for  fear 
they  might  run  away.  A  few  days  af- 
terward they  found  out  that  Jake  had 
sold  them  instead  of  the  negroes,  and 
thereon  they  all  adjourned  over  to  the 
nearest  grocery  store,  and  had  a  good 
time  of  it  the  balance  of  the  day ;  de- 
claring, by  the  strength  of  the  lager, 
that  they  all  knew  that  Jake  was  only 
joking. 


Faying:  the  Driver. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  ,  of  Boston,  was 

to  supply  the  pulpit  of  the  Rev.  Orville 
Dewey,  whilom  of  New  York.  Taking 
the  Sound  boat  on  Saturday  night,  he 
did  not  arrive  at  the  pier,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  dense  fog,  imtil  long  after 
the  bells  had  ceased  to  call  the  people 
to  church.  He  immediately  jumped 
into  a  cab  and  drove  with  all  haste  to 
the  church,  jumped  out,  whispered  to 
the  sexton  to  pay  the  driver,  and 
walked  with  ministerial  dignity  up  the 
aisle.  When  about  to  ascend  the  steps 
of  the  pulpit  a  hand  was  laid  on  his 
shoulder,  and— judge  of  his  surprise,  on 
turning,  to  behold  cabby  with  out- 
stretched hand  for  his  fare.  This  must 
be  true,  for  he  told  it  himself 


Explaining  the  Philosophy  of  Trade. 

The  following  dialogue  between  a 
"  saucy  "-looking  Irishwoman  and  a 
fellow  countryman,  who  had  apparent- 
ly just  come  over  from  the  old  sod,  was 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


757 


accidentally  overheard  by  a  Broadway 
pedestrian : 

"  Well,  Misther  Murphy,  ye  tell  me 
that  ye  think  of  gettin'  into  the  daling 
[trading]  way  here,"  said  the  lady, 
with  that  patronizing  air  always  as- 
sumed toward  late  arrivals  by  the  ould 
residenthers. 

"  Yis,  ma'am,  I  was  thinking  some- 
thing about  it;  and  I'd  like  to  have 
your  advice,  Mrs.  Dimpsey,  upon  it,  if 
y'd  plase,"  humbly  responded  Mr.  Mur- 
phy. 

"  Take  my  advice,  thin,"  said  the  fe- 
male oracle,  *'  and  thry  the  provision 
bisiness,  Misther  Murphy;  it's  always 
lookey,  and  always  safe.  Calicoes  and 
coats  gits  out  of  fashion,  and  lift  on 
your  hands  often ;  but  who  ever  heard 
of  the  cut  of  a  ham,  or  a  shoulder  of 
beef,  or  a  leg  of  mutton  changin'  ?  '* 

Mr.  Murphy's  countenance  brightened 
up  at  the  originality  of  the  idea  sug- 
gested to  him  ;  and  by  this  time  he  is 
ready  to  supply  all  consumers  of  ham, 
beef,  and  mutton,  on  reasonable  terms. 


'    WoTild  not  Stoop. 

Sir  Robert  Peel  made  George  Ste- 
phenson, the  great  engineer,  the  oflFer 
of  knighthood  more  than  once,  but  he 
steadily  refused.  He  was  not  the  crea- 
ture of  patronage,  and  had  no  desire  to 
shine  with  borrowed  lustre.  He  gave 
a  characteristic  reply  to  a  request  that 
he  would  state  what  were  his  ornament- 
al or  honorary  initials,  in  order  that 
they  might  be  added  to  his  name  in  the 
title  of  a  work  proposed  to  be  dedicated 
to  him  :  "  I  have  to  state,  that  I  have 
no  flourishes  to  my  name,  either  before 
or  after ;  and  I  think  it  will  be  as  well 
if  you  merely  say  '  George  Stephenson.' 
It  is  true  that  I  am  a  Belgian  knight ; 
but  I  do  not  wish  to  have  any  use 
made  of  it.  I  have  had  the  oflFer  of 
knighthood  of  my  own  country  made 
to  me  several  times,  but  would  not 
have  it.  I  have  been  invited  to  become 
a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  also 


of  the  Civil  Engineers'  Society,  but  ob- 
jected to  the  empty  addition  to  my 
name.  I  am  a  member  of  the  Geologi- 
cal Society,  and  I  have  consented  to 
become  president  of,  I  believe,  a  highly 
respectable  mechanics'  institution  at 
Birmingham."  He  wished  to  join  the 
Civil  Engineers'  Institute ;  but  the 
council  would  not  waive  the  condition 
that  he  should  compose  a  probationary 
essay  in  proof  of  his  capacity  as  an  en- 
gineer! Mr.  Stephenson  would  not 
stoop  to  enter,  and  turned  his  back 
upon  the  institute. 


Lord  Eardley'8  "  Gentleman" 
Applicant. 

DuRTNG  breakfast,  one  day.  Lord 
Eardley  was  informed  that  a  person 
had  applied  for  a  footman's  place,  then 
vacant.  He  was  ordered  into  the  room ; 
and  a  double-refined  specimen  of  a  ge- 
nus greatly  detested  by  his  lordship, 
made  his  appearance.  The  manner  of 
the  man  was  extremely  aflfected  and 
consequential,  and  it  was  evident  that 
he  determined  to  lower  him  a  little. 

"Well,  my  good  fellow,"  said  he, 
"  what,  you  want  a  lackey's  place,  do 
you  ? " 

"I  came  about  an  upper  footman's 
situation,  my  lord,"  said  the  gentleman, 
bridling  up  his  head. 

"  Oh  !  do  ye,  do  ye  ? "  replied  Lord 
Eardley ;  "  I  keep  no  *  upper  servants ; ' 
all  alike,  all  alike,  here." 

"  Indeed,  my  lord,"  exclaimed  this 
upper  footman,  with  an  air  of  shocked 
dignity;  "what  department,  then,  am 
I  to  consider  myself  expected  to  fill  ?  " 

"  Department,  department,"  quoth 
my  lord,  in  a  tone  of  inquiry. 

"  In  what  capacity^  my  lord  ?  " 

My  lord  repeated  the  word  "  capaci- 
ty "  as  if  not  understanding  its  applica- 
tion to  the  present  subject. 

"I  mean,  my  lord,"  exclaimed  the 
man,  "  what  shall  I  be  expected  to  do, 
if  I  take  the  situation  f  " 

"  Oh  I    you  mean  if  you  take  the 


768 


COMMERCIAL   AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


place,  I  understand  you  now,"  rejoin- 
ed my  lord ;  "  why,  you're  to  do  every- 
thing but  sweep  the  chimneys  and  clean 
the  pig-sties,  and  those  I  do  myself!  " 

The  "gentleman"  stared,  scarcely 
knowing  what  to  make  of  this,  and 
seemed  to  wish  himself  out  of  the 
room ;  he,  however,  grinned  a  ghastly 
smile,  and  after  a  short  pause,  inquir- 
ed, "  What  salary  does  your  lordship 
give  ? " 

"  Salary,  salary !  "  reiterated  his  in- 
corrigible lordship ;  "  don't  know  the 
word,  my  good  man." 

Again  the  "  gentleman  "  explained — 
*'  I  mean,  what  wages  ?  " 

"  Oh  !  what  wages,"  echoed  my  lord ; 
*'  what  d'ye  ask,  what  d'ye  ask  ?  " 

Trip  regained  his  self-possession  at 
this  question,  which  looked  like  busi- 
ness ;  and,  considering  for  a  few  min- 
utes, answered — first  stipulating  to  be 
found  in  hair  powder,  and  (on  state 
occasions)  silk  stockings,  gloves  and 
bouquets — that  he  should  expect  thirty 
pounds  a  year, 

"  How  much  !— how  much !  "  de- 
manded my  lord,  rapidly, 

"  Thirty  pounds,  my  lord." 

"  Thirty  pounds !  "  exclaimed  Lord 
Eardley,  in  affected  amazement,  "  make 
it  guineas,  and  I'll  come  and  live  with 
YOU ; "  then  ringing  the  bell,  said  to 
the  servant  who  answered  it :  "  Let 
out  this  '  gentleman ! ' — he's  too  good 
for  me ; "  and  then  turning  to  a  vis- 
itor, who  was  much  amused,  said,  as 
the  man  made  his  exit,  "  Conceited, 
impudent  puppy ! — soon  sent  him  off — 
soon  sent  Mm  off !  " 


Prize  Won  by  Stephenson  for  hia 
Famous  Locomotive, 

While  the  Liverpool  and  Manches- 
ter railroad  was  in  process  of  construc- 
tion (in  the  early  days  of  railroads), 
many  consultations  were  held  by  the 
directors  as  to  the  kind  of  power  which 
was  to  be  employed  in  the  working  of 
the  line  when  opened  for  traffic. 


Two  eminent  practical  engineers  re- 
ported against  the  employment  of  the 
locomotive.  The  whole  profession  stood 
opposed  to  George  Stephenson,  but  he 
still  held  to  his  purpose.  Urged  by 
his  solicitations  to  test  the  powers  of 
the  locomotive,  the  directors  at  last  de- 
termined to  offer  a  prize  of  £500  for  the 
best  locomotive  engine  which,  on  a  cer- 
tain day,  should  be  produced  on  the 
railway  and  fulfil  certain  conditions  in 
the  most  satisfactory  manner.  A  speed 
of  ten  miles  an  hour  was  all  that  was 
required  to  be  maintained. 

Mr.  Stephenson,  assisted  by  his  son, 
immediately  set  about  the  construction 
of  his  famous  "  Rocket."  An  impor- 
tant principle  introduced  in  the  con- 
struction of  this  engine,  was  the  mul- 
titubular boiler,  by  which  the  power 
of  generating  steam  was  greatly  in- 
creased. 

On  the  day  appointed  for  the  com- 
petition at  RainhiU,  four  engines  were 
entered  for  the  prize :  first,  Messrs. 
Braithwaite  &  Ericsson's  "  Novelty  "  ; 
second,  Mr.  Timothy  Hackworth's 
"  Sanspareil "  ;  third,  Mr.  Robert  Ste- 
phenson's "  Rocket "  ;  fourth,  Mr.  Bur- 
stall's  "  Perseverance."  Mr.  Stephen- 
son's engine  was  first  ready,  and  enter- 
ed upon  the  contest.  It  drew  after  it 
thirteen  tons'  weight,  in  wagons,  and 
the  maximum  velocity  attained  during 
the  trial  trip  was  twenty-nine  miles  an 
hour — three  times  the  speed  that  one 
of  the  judges  had  declared  to  be  the 
limit  of  possibility.  The  average  speed 
was  fifteen  miles  an  hour.  The  specta- 
tors were  filled  with  astonishment  ; 
and  one  of  the  directors  lifted  up  his 
hands  and  exclaimed,  "  Now  is  George 
Stephenson  at  last  delivered  !  "  The 
"  Sanspareil "  weighed  five  hundred- 
weights beyond  the  weight  specified, 
and  was  therefore  excluded  from  com- 
petition. The  steam-generator  of  the 
"Novelty"  burst,  and  ended  Us  per- 
formance. The  "  Perseverance "  did 
not  fulfil  the  advertised  conditions ; 
and  the  prize  of  £500  was  accordingly 


OCCUPATIONS  AUXILIARY  TO  COMMERCE. 


769 


awarded  to  the  "  Rocket,"  as  the  suc- 
cessful engine. 


Samuel  Wheeler,  the  Iron-Smith,  and 
General  Washingrton. 

Samuel  Wheeler  "was  the  most 
eminent  iron-smith  of  his  time  in  the 
United  States,  and  probably  equal  to 
any  in  the  world.  During  the  Revo- 
lutionary "War,  Mr.  Wheeler  made  a 
chain,  to  be  put  across  the  North  River, 
to  stop  the  British  troops  in  ships. 
General  Washington  had  thought  that 
the  river  could  not  be  defended  except 
by  two  armies,  one  on  each  side.  He 
happened  to  say,  in  the  hearing  of  Gen- 
eral Mifflin,  "  I  wish  I  could  get  a  chain 
made;  but  that  is  impossible."  Said 
General  Mifflin,  "I  know  a  man  that 
can  make  such  a  chain."  "Who  is 
he  ? "  "  Mr.  Samuel  Wheeler,  a  friend 
and  a  townsman  of  mine."  "  I  should 
like  to  see  that  man."  Mifflin  said, 
"  He  is  here,  now,  in  the  army."  Mr. 
Wheeler  was  forthcoming.  General 
Washington  then  said,  "  I  wish  a  chain 
made,  to  put  across  the  North  River,  to 
stop  the  British  ships.  Can  you  make 
it  ?  "  "I  can."  " Then  I  wish  you  to 
make  it."  "I  cannot  do  it  here." 
"  Then,"  said  General  Washington,  "  I 
will  cheerfully  give  you  dismission 
from  the  army.  Badly  as  we  want 
men,  we  cannot  aflford  to  keep  such  a 
man  as  you."  Mr.  Wheeler  made  the 
chain.  It  was  hauled  in  links  across 
New  Jersey.  It  was  hung,  and  did 
good  service.  It  was  ultimately  cut, 
by  building  a  fire  about  a  link,  and 
then  using  a  chisel  and  sledge-hammer. 


Ludwiok,  the  Baker-Gteneral  in  the 
Bevolutionary  War. 

Christopher  Ludwick  was  by  birth 
a  German,  who,  after  various  experien- 
ces, went  to  Philadelphia,  in  1753,  with 
an  adventure  of  £25  worth  of  clothing, 
on  which  he  made  a  profit  of  three 
htmdred  dollars,  and  again  returned  to 


Europe.  He  had  taken  the  idea  of  be- 
coming a  gingerbread  baker  in  Phila- 
delphia ;  and  in  1754  he  came  out  with 
the  necessary  prints — seemingly  a  new 
idea  among  the  simple  cake  eaters 
then  1  He  commenced  his  career  in 
Letitia  Court,  and  began  to  make 
money  fast  by  his  new  employment. 
He  proved  himself  an  industrious, 
honest,  and  good  neighbor,  which  led 
to  a  deserved  influence  among  the  peo- 
ple, and  to  the  sobriquet  of  the  "  Gov- 
ernor of  Letitia  Court." 

At  the  commencing  period  of  the 
Revolution,  in  1774,  he  had  become 
rich,  and  gave  his  influence  and  his 
money  freely  to  help  on  the  resistance 
of  the  Colonies.  He  was  elected  read- 
ily on  all  the  committees  and  conven- 
tions of  the  time  for  that  object.  On 
one  occasion,  when  it  was  proposed  by 
General  Mifflin  to  procure  firearms  by 
private  subscription,  and  while  several 
demurred  to  it  as  not  feasible,  he  put 
down  the  opposition  by  saying  aloud, 
"  Let  the  poor  gingerbread  baker  be  put 
down  for  £200  !  "  He  became  a  soldier, 
and  was  active  and  influential  as  such. 

In  the  year  1777,  he  was  cordially  ap- 
pointed by  Congress  as  baker-general 
of  the  American  army,  and  to  choose 
freely  his  own  assistants  and  necessa- 
ries. In  their  instructions  to  him,  they 
expected  to  require  from  him  one  pound 
of  bread  for  every  pound  of  flour,  but 
Christopher  readily  replied,  "Not  so; 
I  must  nat  be  enriched  by  the  war  [are 
there  no  Lud wicks  in  1864  ?].  I  shall 
return  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
pounds  of  bread  for  every  one  hundred 
pounds  of  flour." 

As  a  proof  that  he  was  respected  and 
valued  in  his  sphere,  he  was  often  in- 
vited to  dine  with  Washington  in  large 
companies,  besides  having  many  oppor- 
tunities of  long  conferences  alone  with 
him,  as  commander  of  the  army,  in  re- 
lation to  the  bread  supplies.  The  gen- 
eral appreciated  his  worth,  and  usually 
addressed  him  in  company  as  his  "  hon- 
est friend." 


760 


COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ANECDOTES. 


Trades  and  Genealogies. 

The  connection  between  trades  and 
surnames — the  derivation  of  the  latter 
from  the  former — affords  some  curious 
material,  and  is  by  no  means  destitute 
of  practical  information.  The  fact 
that  a  particular  vocation  "was,  in  for- 
mer times  much  more  than  in  modem 
days,  pursued  hereditarily,  throws  a 
good  deal  of  light  upon  the  subject, 
and  is  indeed  the  key  to  its  solution. 
Of  the  surnames  thus  derived,  the 
following  list  will  be  found  quite 
ample : — 

Barber,  Bottler,  Mason,  and  Builder, 
Carrier,  Carter,  Carver,  and  Gilder ; 
Dancer,  Drover,  Dresser,  and  Dyer, 
Cartwright,  Clothier,  Caner,  and  Crier ; 
Arrowsmitb,  Arkwright,  Agent,  and  But- 
ler, 
Carpenter,  Chandler,  Cooper,  and  Cutler; 
Bathmaker,  Butcher,  Brewer,  and  Broker, 
Cardmaker,  Carman,  Corder,  and  Coker ; 
Bellringer,  Bellman,  Bowman,  and  Black- 
er, 
Pavior,  Peddler,  Painter,  and  Packer; 
Ciurier,  Collier,  Chanter,  and  Cropper, 
Himtsman,  Hosier,  Hacker,  and  Hopper ; 
Boatwright,  Baker,  Binder,  and  Brazier, 
Grocer,  Gouger,  Grinder,  and  Glazier ; 
Herriman,  Mercer,  Merchant,  and  Miller, 
Banker,  Chapman,  Cutter,  and  Killer ; 


Fiddler,  Farmer,  Joiner,  and  Stringer, 
Gardener,  Goldsmith,  Tapper,  and  Ring- 
er; 
Horseman,  Hooker,  Barker,  and  Peeler, 
Fryman,  Fowler,  Draper,  and  Dealer ; 
Ploughright,  Packman,  Puller,  and  Plater, 
Traveller,  Tapster,  Thatcher,  and  Slater ; 
Plater,   Pitman,   Pincher,  and  Potter, 
Turner,  Trimmer,  Tanner,  and  Trotter ; 
Shoveller,  Swindler,  Stainer,  and  Smoker, 
Saddler,  Shearer,  Salter,  and  Stoker ; 
Fleshman,  Foreman,  Fuller,  and  Fyler, 
Tavemer,  Taylor,  Tasker,  and  Tyler ; 
Dtdryman,  Doctor,  Drawer,  and  Dredger, 
Herdsman,  Hawker,  Hewer,  and  Hedger ; 
Quarrier,  Quitter,  Rhymer,  and  Reader, 
Bowmaker,  Scrivener,  Presser,  and  Plead- 
er; 
Pressman,  Plainer,  Poet,  and  Pinner, 
Stajrmaker,  Sheppard,  Glover,  and  Skin- 
ner; 
Tuner,  Threader,  Bridgcr,  and  Archer,-' 
Tirer,  Thrower,  Loader,  and  Marcher ; 
Girdler,  Stamper,  Keeper,  and  Nailer, 
Rasper,  Trainer,  Baster,  and  Sailer ; 
Warrener,  Workman,  Webber,  and  Whit- 
er, 
Wheelwright,    Watchman,    Roper,    and 
Writer. 

This  list  of  names  we  might  extend, 
And  fifty  more  at  least  append ; 
Nay — if  inclined,  we  could  recite  'em 
Thus,  one  by  one,  ad  infinitum. 


INDEX 

TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEABING  ANECDOTES,  ETC. 


A  Banker's  Love  of  Birds— Girard's  little 
Songsters,  510 

A  Bankrupt  on  his  Legs  Again,  401 

A  Deep  Design,  368 

A  Good  Beginning— Old  Moses  Rothschild,  184 

"  A  Little  More,"  198 

A  Millionnaire  on  Giving  Away  Money ;  Pe- 
ter C.  Brooks,  489 

"A  Roland  for  an  Oliver,"  714 

A  Rustic  bargaining  for  a  Hat,  262 

A  Tailor  for  many  Years,  734 

A  Trade  and  a  Wager  Won,  555 

A.  T.  Stewart's  Success,  145 

"  Accommodation  "  oflFered  at  the  Bank,  119 

Accomplished  Canine  Shoplifter,  200 

Adam  and  Eve  Leading  on  in  Trade,  601 

Addison's  Loan  of  Five  Hundred  Pounds  to 
Stanyan,  428 

Addison's  Opinion  of  the  Royal  Exchange  and 
its  Frequenters,  112 

Adepts  in  Commercial  Pufling,  305 

Adjusting  an  Insurance  Loss,  648 

Advantage  of  being  a  Large  Debtor,  399 

Advantage  of  Prison  Life  to  a  French  Debtor, 
410 

Advantage  of  Skilful  Book-keeping,  695 

Affidavit  by  an  Apothecary,  742 

Afraid  of  the  Sherirs  Hat,  451 

Aged  Merchant  Saved  from  Robbery  by  the 
Weather,  176 

Agreement  for  a  Loan,  142 

Aid  in  the  Nick  of  Time:  Jacob  Barker  and 
John  Wells,  436 

Albert  Gallatin  declining  Mr.  Baring's  offer 
of  a  Fortune,  115 

Allaying  a  Panic,  537 

Alliteration  in  Advertising,  335 

Almanac  making ;  Fortunate  Wit,  711 

Almonastre  Signora,  and  John  McDonogh,  493 

Amending  the  Charter,  384 

American  Customers  at  a  Turkish  Bazaar,  598 
"  Merchants  of  the  Olden  Time — Jo- 
seph Peabody,  174 


American  Shipnology,  856 

America's  First  Printed  Book,  728 

Amos  Lawrence  when  a  Clerk,  661 

Amos  Lawrence's  Opinion  of  Marriage,  484 

Amusing  Perplexities   at  the  Custom  House, 

298 
An  Emperor  Blowing  the  Blacksmith's  Bel- 
lows, 743 
"  Error  in  Shipping  the  Goods,  170 
"  Excited  Specie  Hunter,  97 
"  Insolent  Tradesman  in  the  Clutches  of  Old 

Audley,  406 
"  Interesting  Consignment,  370 
"  Old  Merchant's  Style  and  Equipage,  486 
"  Unsettled  Commercial  Question,  405 
"  Untried  Method,  309 
Angerstein,  the  Great  English  Underwriter, 

632 
Animated  Scenes  at  the  French  Exchange,  293 
Another  Bank  Project,  72 
Anselm  Rothschild's  Will,  472 
Answering  a  Tailor's  Dun,  714 
Appleton,    Daniel,  English  Booksellers  and 

American  Customers,  454 
Appleton,  Nathan,  Merchant  of  Boston,  S3 
"        Samuel,         "       "       "       48 
"         William,        "       "        "         5 
Application  for  a  Discount  by  Astor,  102 
Apprehended  Embezzlements,  676 
Apt  Illustration  of  a  Principle,  638 

"    Speech  by  a  Carpenter,  737 
Aptness   and   Nicety  in    Business  illustrat- 
ed, 170 
Arab  Honesty  in  Business  Transactions,  140 
Archaeological  Tailor's  Measures,  713 
Arms  and  Seal  of  the  Bank  of  Ireland,  314 
Arrival  of  the  Steamer,  853 
Artful  Dodge,  206 
Artifice  to  Escape  Bankruptcy,  458 
"  Ask  any  Committee  Man,"  347 
Assessments  in  Old  Times,  645        '^ 
Assuming  the  Responsibility,  373 
Aster's  Appearance  and  Manners,  465 
"      Early  Prediction,  144 
"      Secret  Pain,  88 


764 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


Atchafalaja  Currency  by  the  Cord,  75 
Atkinson,  the  Eccentric  Speculator,  542 
Attempt  to  overthrow  Rothschild's  Power  in 

the  Money  Market,  250 
Attempt  to  Print  a  Perfect  Book,  747 
Attention  to  Trivial  Things  by  Girard,  243 
Auction  Sale  of  Old  Furniture,  etc.,  Extra- 
ordinary, 570 
Auctioneering  in  England  and  America,  537 
Audubon,  John  J.,  and  John  J.  Astor,  454 
Austen,  the  Famous  Metal  Founder,  748 
Avarice  of  Osterwald,  the  French  Banker,  244 
Avoiding  Specie  Suspension,  74 
Aztec  Merchants,  181 


Backing  up  bis  Recommendation,  438 
Bacon  by  the  Shilling's  Worth,  560 
Bad  Bank  Bill,  277 
"    Business,  223 
"    Operation  in  Leather,  586 
Baking  and  Banking,  820 
Balance  of  Trade;   or.  Beauties  of  Compe- 
tition, 719 
Bank  Clerks  and  their  Friends,  684 
"     Notes  at  Ten  Cents  a  Yard,  531 
"     Parlor  in  the  Winter,  74 
"     Teller  Filing  his  Gold  Coin,  260 
"     Tellers' "Varieties,"  92 
Banker  vs.  Musician,  505 
Bankers  of  the  Old  School,  76 

"        Snubbing  Napoleon,  87 
Banking  Habits  of  Girard,  66 
"Bankrupt,"  407 
Bankruptcy  and  Barbarism  in  Court,  396 

"  of     a    Dealer     in     "Women's 

Blacks,"  425 
Bankrupts  in  Batavia,  897 
Banks  Failing,  84 
"      of  Ease,  108 
Barbers'  Chairs,  730 
Barclay,  Robert,  becoming  a  Banker  instead 

of  a  Courtier,  502 
Bargain  Hunters  at  Pawnbrokers'  and  Auc- 
tions, 567 
Bargaining  by  Pantomime — Trade  in  Camels, 

603 
Bargaining  for  a  Jar,  234 
Bargains  in  Cochin  Chinas,  219 
Baring,  Francis,  at  the  Virginia  Inn,  467 
Baring's  Daughter  and  M.  Labouchere,  463 
Barings  (The),  Bankers,  of  London,  27 
Barker,  Jacob,  merchant,  of  New  Orleans,  43 
"  "      under  Medical  Treatment,  482 

Barnard,  the  Proud  Broker,  114 
Barnum,  P.  T.,  "  the  Prince  of  Showmen,"  of 

New  York,  29 
Barnum  Buying  the  American  Museum  with 
Brass,  589 


Baron  Rothschild  Defending  himself  with  a 

Big  Ledger,  466 
Batavian  Trade  in  Bird's  Nests,  627 
Bates,  Joshua,  of  the  House  of  Barings,  Lon- 
don, 21 
Beatty,  James,  merchant,  of  Baltimore,  28 
Before  and  Behind  the  Counter,  585 
Ben.  Lippincott,  Girard's  Clerk,  689 
Ben.  Russell,  the  Printer :  Exciting  Scene,  737 
Benefit  of  a  Doubt,  419 
Benevolence   of  Goldschmid,  the   Old  Jew 

Broker,  126 
Benevolence  of  Shai-king-qua,  the   Chinese 

Merchant,  172 
Benjamin  Franklin  as  a  Bookseller,  727 
Betty  Starkey  and  Coutts's  Clerk,  694 
Bewitching  a  Bank  Teller,  114 
Bidding  on  Girard's  Old  Chaise,  536 
Biddle,    Nicholas,    financier,    of    Philadel* 

phia,  i26 
Billingsgate  Market  Dealers,  723 
Bit  of  Yankee  Financiering  in  Wall  St.,  266 
Bleeding  a  Banker  by  the  Job,  479 
Blinders  for  Stockholders,  216 
Bold  but  Calamitous   Speculation   of  John 

Guest,  580 
Bone  and  Oflfal  Millionnaire,  161 
Bonfire  of  a  Debtor's  Papers,  424 
Bookkeeping  in  Former  Times,  685 
Bookmaking  a  Trade,  736 
Books  and  Music,  755 

"       Newspapers  in  China,  705 
"  Borrow  Money !  Borrow  Money !"  90 
Borrowing  and  Lending — a  Melange,  435 

"        Money,    or    Doing    Business    on 

Credit :  Peter  C,  Brooks's  Idea,  416 
Borrowing  Money  of  Rich  Relations,  428 
Boston  Merchant's  Reason  for  Not   Marry* 

ing,  470 
Boston  Merchant's  Opinion  of  Business  Men's 

Honesty,  157 
Boston  Merchants'    Business  Marks   or   To* 

kens,  307 
Bound  not  to  Break,  86 
Boy  Traders  in  Morocco,  590 
Boyhood  Struggles  of  a  Merchant,  125 
Breach  of  the  Bond,  445 
Breaking  and  Waxing  the  Thread,  753 
Breeches  without  a  Body,  755 
Brief  Biographical   Sketch   of   a  Banker's 

Clerk.  662 
Brief  Explanation  of  Banking,  83 
Broadway    Clerks,    Japonicas,   and    Sweet- 
hearts, 658 
Broadway  Signs,  887 

Brooks,  Peter  C,  millionnaire,  of  Boston,  49 
"  "  "  in  Court,  404 

Bruck,  M.,  Austria's  great  merchant  banker,  7 
Bruised,    but    not    Crushed :    the    Messrs. 

Brown,  of  Liverpool,  167 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


V66 


Bubble-Bookkeeping   Taught    in    Six    Les> 

sons,  665 
Bubble  Prospectuses,  281 
Burlesque  on  Modern  Business  Utopias,  528 
Burning  a  Banker's  Notes,  76 
Bums  and  the  Drowning  Merchant,  272 
Business  and  Beauty,  511 

«         "  Something  Else,  486 

"       Aspect  and  Conduct  of  the  Richest 

Banker  in  the  World,  71 
Business,  Bankruptcy,  and  Literature :  John 

Pierpont  and  John  Neal,  443 
Business  Habits  of  A.  T.  Stewart,  165 

"        Haggling  in  Scotland,  194 

"        in  London  at  FouT  o'Clock,  295 

"        Mistakes  of  Publishers,  729 
Business  Puffing  Two  Hundred  Years  Ago, 

S29 
Business  Signboards  in  Different  Nations,  332 

"        "  Suckers,"  212 

"       Value  of  a  Name,  446 

"        verstia  Disease,  141 
Bussej,  Benjamin,  merchant,  of  Boston,  15 
Butchers'  Blue  Blouse  or  Frock,  712 
Buying  a  Claim,  336 

"       Pianoforte  Establishment,  450 

"       Saddle,  754 

"    Cheap,  211 

"    His  Own  Goods  at  Auction,  530 

"    Shoes  and  Sermons,  751 

"    Wine  by  Sample,  231 
Byron's  Grenoese  Tailor,  714 


Cabalistic  Sign  for  an  Ale  House,  817 
Cabinet  of  Debtors'  Autographs,  452 
Caledonian  Adroitness,  659 
California  (Jold  Seventy  Years  Ago,  73 
Callaghan,    Daniel,    the    Irish    Mercantile 

Celebrity,  9 
"  Candle"  Auctions,  552 
Canine  N«ws  Dealer,  715 
Capital  of  European  Bankers,  81 
Captain  Macalester  and  his  Fast  Ship  "  Fanny," 

387 
Caricature  of  Commercial  Speculations,  551 
Carmeline,  the  Dentist's  Sign,  316 
Cashier  Inviting  a  Run  upon  his  Bank,  77 
Celebrated  Law  Suits  among  Rival  Cr^s,  433 
"        Question   in    Commerce    put   by 

Cicero,  140 
Certificates  of  Solvency,  456 
Change  of  "  Packet  Day,"  385 
'Change  Alley  as  a  Business  Resort,  297 
Changes  in  Mercantile  Standing,  442 
Character  Displayed  in  Auction  Dealings,  557 
Characteristic     Smuggling,      Ingennity    of 

Parisians,  226 


Charging  for  Advertisements,  381 

Charles  Lamb  as  a  Clerk,  691 

Charming  Customer  in  a  Bank — Perils  of  a 

Cashier,  680 
Chartier,  the  Leech  Merchant,  592 
Chatham  Street  Clo'  Dealers,  618 
"  Cheap  and  Dear,"  596 
Cheating  the  Oculist,  212 
Chickering  and  his  Employes  on  "  Blue  Day," 

681 
Chiffoniers,  or  "  Rag  Merchants  "  of  Paris,  589 
Child,  Francis,  Founder  of  English  Banking 

Houses,  14 
Chinese  Barbers,  730 

"        Merchant's  Gratitude,  169 
"        Shopkeepers,  610 
"        Trade  Puffing,  310 
Chronicles  of  the  "  Black  Day,"  in  London, 

541 
Church  and  State  us.  Railways,  351 
Cigars  at  public  sale,  577 
City  Merchant  Securing  a  Customer,  24I 
Class  Advertisements  in  City  Papers,  321 
Classical  Shop  Language,  310 
Classification  of  Newspaper  Readers,  724 
Coal  Dealer's  Prediction  Fulfilled — Perhaps, 

265 
Coeur  Jacques :  French  Merchant  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  36 
Coin  used  by  Judas,  100 
Coleridge  and  the  "  Ogh  Go' "  Man,  690 
Collecting  a  Draft,  431 
Colloquies  inside  the  Bank,  106 
Colloquy  between    a    Shopkeeper   and   his 

Customer,  243 

"        in  a  Dry  Goods  Jobbing  Store,  416 
Colston,  the   Benevolent   Millionnaire   Mer- 
chant, 499 
Comfort  for  Scotch  Debtors,  405 
Commencing  in  the  Sub-cellar,  135 
Commercial  Advantage  of  a  Blind  Eye,  505 

"  Croakers,  248 

"  Dignity  at  the  Apple-stand,  619 

Commercial  Drummers,  or  Travelling  Clerks, 

678 
Commercial  Envelopes,  Wrappers,  Labels,  Ac, 

311 
Commercial  Fortune  of  a  Peer,  173 

"  Importance  of  the  Cat,  846 

"  Milk,  223 

"  Value  of  DramaticLiterature,  715 

"  "     "  Insects,  593 

Companies   for   Insuring   Female   Chastity, 

Childrens'  Fortunes,  Ac,  633 
Compliment  to  Wharfingers,  742 
"  Concerned  in  Trade,"  709 
Conducting  Business  on  the  Paris  Bourse,  95 
Confidence  in  a  Debtor's  Promise,  459 

"  "  Hard  Times,  62 

"  «  Mercantile  Success,  144 


766 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


Connection  between  small  Bank  Notes  and 
Crime,  214 

Consequence  of  a  Simple  Mercantile  Specula- 
tion, 241 

"  Considering  "  a  Ship  Builder,  344 

Cofitroversy  among  Wine  Dealers,  137 

Convenient  Substitute  for  Money,  407 

Cool  Assurance  of  a  Doomed  Financier,  249 
"     "  Operation,"  425 

Cooper,  Peter,  Merchant,  of  New  York,  16 

Cope,  the  Quaker  Merchant,  mistaken  for 
a  Major-General,  473 

Cope,  Thomas  P.,  Merchant  of  Philadelphia,  53 

Cope's,  Thomas  P.,  Integrity,  155 

Copy  of  a  Painter's  Bill,  707 

"  Cornering"  among  Brokers,  247 

Coming,  Erastus,  Merchant,  of  New  York,  51 

Correct  Appreciation  of  Mercantile  Character 
by  Mr.  Astor,  186 

Correcting  an  Erroneous  Entry,  698 

Cost  of  a  Nap  on  the  Ledger,  687 

Costly  Banquet  by  a  Merchant  to  Charles  the 
First,  504 

"  Cotton  is  Quiet,"  318 

Counting-House  Dinners  of  Girard,  69 

"  Country  Bankers,"  735 

Countryman  and  Clerk,  668 

Coutts,  the  English  Banker,  3 

"       "       "  "        Choosing  a  Part- 

ner, 464 

"  Crack  Horses  "  at  Auction,  572 

Crinkles  in  the  Credit  System,  454 

Criticism  of  a  Hatter's  Sign,  316 

Croesus  and  his  Avaricious  Guest,  221 
"      Wealth  of,  91 

"Credit,"  449 

Curious  Division  of  Ships  into  Ounces,  350 
"        Financiering,  394 
"        Inconsistencies  in  Insuring  Life,  C33 
"        Reason  for  Borrowing  Money,  74 
"        Suit  against  a  Bank  Agent,  418 

Custom-House  OflBcial  dealing  with  a  Princess, 
285 

Custom-House  Swearing,  249 

Custom-Houses  and  Star  Chambers,  289 

Customs  of  the  Store  in  Church,  253 


Dadabhoy  Jeejeebhoy,  Parsee  Banker  and  Mer- 
chant, 41 
Dangers  of  Legitimate  Business  Transactions, 

224 
Daniel  Webster's  Insurance  Anecdote,  646 
Day  and  Martin — ^New  and  Old,  448 
"  "         The  Millionnaires,  of  High 

Holbom,  147 
Day  and  Martin's  Precursors,  591 
Deaconing  Both  Ends  of  the  Barrel,  206 


Deadhead  Customer — a  Clincher,  195 

Dealing  in  "  Orrd  Things,"  601 

"        With  a  Bankrupt  in  Hamburg :  Ex- 
ecution on  the  Bourse,  397 

Dean  Swift  and  the  Barber's  Sign,  806 

Death  of  an  Old  Business  Favorite,  450 

Death-bed  Surroundings  of  the  New  Orleans 
Croesus,  492 

Debt  and  the  Contribution  Box,  426 

Debtor's  Complaint  in  Court,  423 

Debts  of  Honor,  401 

Debts  Owing  and  Balances  Due,  391 

De  Buirette,  the  Illustrious  German  Merchant, 
28 

Deciding  a  Case  in  Botany  before  a  Dutch 
Magistrate,  457 

Decoration  of  Railroad  Depots,  368 

De    Medici,     "  the   Magnificent   Merchant," 
when  a  Child,  466 

"  Denison,  Old  Mr.",  of  St.  Mary  Axe,  46 

Derivation  of  Names  of  Trades,  711 

Derivation      of    "  The    Commercial     Term 
"  Bourse,"  294 

Deserved  Reward  of  Blasphemy,  265 

Detecting  Bad  Bills,  96 

Determined  not  to  be  Overreached,  200 

Determining  the  Character  of  an  Article  by  its 
Age,  196 

Determining  the  Genuineness  of  a  Check,  96 

Dexter,  Lord  Timothy,  Eccentric  Merchant, 
of  Newburyport,  20 

Dialect  of  Different  Trades,  322 

"  Died  of  a  Street  Debt!  "  417 

Dignity    Conferred   by  the   Blacking   Busi- 
ness, 755 

Disadvantage  of  being  a  Bank  Director,  107 

Discounting  a  Legacy,  237 

"  an  Hibernian's  Note,  111 

Dishonest  Grocer  Punished  by  his  Son,  412 

Disinterested  Brokers,  68 

"  Feat   of  a  Merchant,  and   its 

Reward,  508 

Disinterested  Railroad  Contractor,  376 

Dismissing  a  Shipmaster,  346 

Disposing  of  an  Old  Stock,  233 

"  one's  Surplus  Income,  494 

Disreputable  for  a  Broker  to  be  Honest  toward 
his  Creditors,  410 

"  Ditto,"  328 

Doctrine  of  Benevolence  held  by  Girard,  499 

Doing  Things  on  Shares,  271 

Domestic    Advantages    of  Commercial    De- 
cay, 517 

Domestic  Trouble  of  Rothschild,  463 

"  Done  Brown,"  697 

"  Done  For"  Twice,  238 

Down  on  the  Doctors,  518 

"  Down  with  Your  Dust,"  525 

Dowse,  the  "  Literary  Leather  Dresser,"  751 

Dr  Johnson  in  the  Capacity  of  a  Reporter,  726 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


767 


Drawing  an  Inference,  401 
"        the  Specie,  59 

Dress  and   Personal  Peculiarities  of  Long- 
worth,  477 

Drinking  Success  to  the  First  Railway,  385 
"       the  Health   of  Custom-House  Ofl5- 
cers,  287 

Dry  Goods  Drummer  "  Sold,"  204 

Dryden  Describing  his  Publisher,  749 

Dudley  North's  Opposition  to  Brokerage,  and 
How  he  was  Caught,  81 

Dummies,  or  Counterfeit  Show  Windows,  269 

"  Dun,"  407 

Dunning  as  a  Profession,  393 

Dunup's  Distressing  Failure,  434 

Duplicity  of  French  Speculators,  227 

"       Practised  by  Furnese,  the  King's 
Banker,  210 

Dutch  Tulip  Mania  of  the  Seventeenth  Cen- 
tury, 567 

Dutchman    Illustrating   a  Mercantile  Prin- 
ciple, 195 

Dutchman's  Gold  in  a  Safe  Place  at  Last,  551 

Duty  on  Pictures,  298 


E 


Earliest  American  Sale  of  Books  by  Cata- 
logue at  Auction,  552 
Earliest  American  Whaleship  in  England,  181 

"       Newspaper    in    the     English     lan- 
guage, 750 
Earliest  Printed  Advertisements,  307 
Early  Stock-jobbing  and  Lotteries,  558 
East-India   Company  and  the  Missing  Wit- 
ness, 225 
Eastern  Trade   in  Ostrich  and  Bird-of-Par- 

adise  Feathers,  588 
Easy  Creditors,  411 

Ebenezer  Francis  and  the  Students'  Table,  485 
Economical  Hardware  Merchant,  242 
Edinburgh  Merchant  Finding  a  Purse,  497 
Editors  in  a  Hard  Fix,  741 
Egyptian  Mummy  Trade,  592 
Eminent  Shoemakers,  752 
Endorsers'  Qualifications,  110 
English  Almanacs — First  Issue,  739 

"      Bank  Clerks'  Finesse,  658 

"      Booksellers  and  American  Customers : 
Daniel  Appleton,  454 
English  Business  Matters,  308 

"      Hares  by  Express,  350 

"       Idol  Manufacturers,  587 

"      Merchant  and  Spanish  Beggar,  176 

"      Merchant's    Wife   priced  by  a  Man- 
darin, 507 
English  Peruquiers  before  the  King,  708 

"       Railway  Mania  of  1845, 562 

'<      Stockbrokers'  Blackboard,  420 


Enterprise  of  Yankees  and  Russians  'Cutely 

Illustrated,  161 
Erastus  B.  Bigelow's  Boyhood  Bargain,  144 
Errors  of  the  Press,  744 
Erskine  Sifting  an  Auctioneer's  Character,  421 
Espionage  Practised  by  Girard,  197 
Establishment   of   the   Bank   of   England — 

Curious  Facts,  85 
Estimate  of  his  Own  Life  by  a  Miser,  244 
European   and    American   Mode    of  Doing 

Business,  171 
Evasions  of  Trade  Marks,  313 
Everything  by  Turns — Girard's  Example,  136 
Examining  an  Applicant,  643 
Example  of  Spanish  Mercantile  Credit,  423 
Exchanging  a  Cheese  for  a  Pinch  of  Snuff,  261 
Exciting  Life  of  an  Underwriter,  641 
Executorship  of  Mr.   Astor's   Will:   James 

G.King,  518 
Expectations  against  Re8ults,138 
Expedient  of  a  Russian  Miser,  272 
Experience  of  a  Levantine  Merchant,  474 
Explaining  his  Business,  181 

«  the  Philosophy  of  Trade,  756 
Exportation  of  Scotch  Periwinkles,  602 
Extension  and  Profits   of  Mr.  Astor's   Fur 

Business,  186 
"Extras,"  Ac,  724 
Extravagance  of  French  Bankers  in  Private 

Life,  478 
Extravagant  Business  Rhetoric,  252 


Facetiae  for  Shoemakers,  750 
Failure  of  the  Governor  of  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land, 459 
Failures  in  Business,  426 
Fancy  Costume  among  the  Ledgers,  662 
"     Hen  Fever,  664 

"     Stoves  and  Imaginative  Customers,  626 
Pate  of  a  Clerical  Dealer  in  "  Fancies,"  233 
Father   Taylor  and   the   Banker's   Exhorta- 
tion, 169 
Fauntleroy,  the  Executed  Banker,  255 
Female  Members  of  the  Rothschild  Family,  516 
"      Ship-master  from  Cape  Horn  to  San 
Francisco,  360 
Female  Strategy  to  Obtain  Bubble  Stock,  527 
Fillibustering  among  Parisian  Jewellers,  203 
Filling  a  Grocer's  Order,  677 
Final  Argument  at  a  Bank  Counter,  80 
Financial  Physic,  82 

"        Use  of  Saints,  528 
Financiering  in  Alabama,  192 
First  Advertisement  in  America,  822 
"    Book  Auction  in  England,  521 
"    East  India  House,  299 
"    Forged  Note  on  a  Bank,  255 


768 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


First  Greek  Adventure  to  America,  153 
«'    Jewish  Bill  of  Exchange,  80 
"    Newspaper  in  America,  721 
«  "        "  the  World,  749 

"    Penny  gained  by  a  Millionnaire,  126 
"    Railroad  in  Europe  or  America,  353 
"    Run  upon  Bankers,  116 
*'    Set  of  Double-Entry  Books  opened  in 

Boston,  663 
"    Ship  at  St.  Petersburgh,  371 
"    Trade  Advertisement,  315 
"    Vessel  in  the  World,  350 
Fish,  Preserved,  Merchant  of  New  York,  10 
Fitz-Greene  Halleck's  Clerkship  with  Jacob 

Barker,  657 
"Five  Per  Cent,"  330 

Five  Years  of  Privation  and  a  Fortune,  161  - 
Floating  Railways,  345 
Florentine  Brokers  and  Money  Loaners,  94 

"         Flower  Girls,  626 
Flutes  vs.  Pistols,  618 
Foot's,  Lundy,  "  Blackguard  Snuff,"  135 
"For  Her  Majesty,"  312 
Forbes,  William,  Scotch  Banker,  6 
Fordyce,  Alexander,  the  Shark  of  the  Ex- 
change, 44 
Forfeits  in  a  Barber's  Shop,  730 
Forgiving  a  Debt  and  Giving  a  Wife,  298 
Fortunate  Debtor ;   Washington  as  a  Cred- 
itor, 429 
Fortune  of  a  Commercial  Peer,  173 
Fortune-making  in  Havana,  212 
Fortunes  at  a  Single  Blow,  130 
Forwarding  by  Telegraph,  858 
Found  Goods,  430 
Foundation  of  the  Friendship  between  Coates 

and  Girard,  582 
"  Four-and-twenty  Self-sealing  Envelopes,  Fo- 

oo-ur  Cents,"  608 
Francis  Baring  at  the  Virginia  Inn,  467 
Francis,   Ebenezer,   and   the    Students'  Ta- 
ble, 481 
Franklin  and  the  London  Printer,  717 

"       Benjamin,  as  a  Bookseller,  727 
Franklin's  Multitude  of  Capitalists,  98 
Freaks    of    the    Hair-Dressing    Trade    in 

France,  718 
Freaks  of  Wealthy  Merchants,  513 
Free  Shave  and  a  Drink,  334 

"    Trade,  293 
French  Female  Plot  against  a  Clerk,  682 
Ideas  of  Advertising,  334 
Mode  of  Paying  Bills,  399 
Nicety  in  Trade  Frauds,  233 
Toads  an  Article  of  Commerce,  600 
Usurers  and  Pigeons,  275 
Fresh  Gems  from  English  Advertising  Col- 
umns, 309 
"  Fresh  Sea  Water,"  814 
Friend  Coates's  Management  of  Girard,  488 


Friend  Hopper  and  the  Due  Bill,  266 

Friuli,  the  Florentine  Merchant  and  his  Lost 
Purse,  451 

Frodsham's  Watch-Cheat,  430 

From  Honolulu  to  Kaui,  382 

Fugger,  Johannes,  and  the  Great  Commer- 
cial Family  of  Fuggers,  15 

Full-size  Headings  to  Advertisements,  338 

Funny  Commercial  Transaction  All  'Round, 
604 

Furor  for  Chartered  Companies,  541 


Galldtin,  Albert,    Declining     Mr.    Baring's 

Offer  of  a  Fortune,  115 
Game  of  the  Money  Packages,  209 
Garden  of  a  French  Stock-Broker,  508 
Garrison,    G.    K.,   Merchant,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 40 
Gastronomic  Feats  of  a  Merchant,  472 
Gave  his  Note,  430 
General  Jackson's  Indorsement  among  Boston 

Capitalists,  427 
General  Jackson's   Interview   with    Samuel 

Slater,  145 
Generosity  of  Chickering,  the   Piano-Forte 

Maker,  159 
"Genuine"  Wines,  196 
George  Hudson,  the  Railway  King,  378       .:'; 
"      Peabody's  Colossal  Fortune,  72 
"      Simpson's    High    Reputation    as    a 
Cashier,  700 
German  Book  Fairs,  738 

"       Delicacy  in  Paying  and  Receiving 
Money,  414 
German  Financial  Operation,  437  /  ■if 

"       Idea  of  the  Thing,  649 
"       Merchant  of  One  Hundred  Houses,  475 
Getting  an  Injunction  Dissolved,  482 
"        Rich  by  Bookkeeping,  672 
"       Rid  of  his  Neighbor's  Customers,  337 
'}       The    Hang    of   Mercantile    Trans- 
actions, 138 
Gideon,  Sampson,  the  Rival  of  Rothschild,  18 
Gideon,   the   Jew  Banker,  Catechizing  his 

Child,  511 
Gideon  Lee  and  his  Library,  480 

"       "    Carrying  the  Lapstone,  171 
Girard,  Stephen,  Merchant  and   Banker,  of 

Philadelphia,  29 
Girard  and  the  Beggar,  489 

"       Trying  to  raise  Five  Dollars,  142 
Girard's  Great  Government  Loan,  100 
"        Reception  of  Mr.  Baring,  474 
"       Will— the  Item  about  Ministers,  615 
Giving  Credit  "  To-morrow,"  430 
Glances  Behind  the  Shop  Counter,  61 
"  Glass-pteen  1"  619 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


169 


Globe  Permits,  570 

Glut  in  the  Market,  471 

"  Going— Going— Gone  !  "  539 

Going  to  Get  Acquainted  with  his  Family,  474 

Gold-Making  &  Silver-Mining  Companies,  564 

Goldschmid,    Abraham    and  Benjamin,    Old 
English  Bankers,  38 

Goldschmid  and  Baring's  Unfortunate  Con- 
tract—Suicide of  the  Former,  61 

Goldschmid's  Comforting  Sort  of  Hoax,  506 

Good  Land  for  Railroad,  375 
"     Speculation  Lost  in  Chicago  Lands,  550 
"     Supply  in  Prospect,  667 
"     Word  for  Girard,  176 

Goodhue,     Jonathan,     Merchant,     of    New 
York,  50 

Goodhue,  Jonathan,   Noble  Mercantile  Trait 
of,  162 

Goods  for  a  "  Private  Venture,"  615 

Government  Contractors  in  Russia,  259 

Governor  of  the  Bank  of  England  taken  by 
Surprise,  113 

Gracie,  Archibald,  Merchant  of  New  York,  52 

Grand    Scheme    disclosed    in    McDonogh's 
Will,  506 

Grand    United     Gold    and   Diamond   Dust 
Company,  560 

Grandest  Instance  of  Debt,  427 

Grant  Thorburn's  Bankuptcy,  438 

Granting  an  Extension,  445 

"  Gray,  Old  Billy,"  Merchant  of  Boston,  85 

Great  Deeds  of  European  Merchants,  134 
"      Failures  in  Hamburg,  in  1799, 408 
"      North  Pole  Railway,  373 
"      "Shaving"  Operation   in  a  Broker's 
Office,  612 

"  Great  Spec  "  on  the  Tapis,  524 

Greatest  Lending  House  in  Europe,  105 
"        Reportorial  Feat,  745 

Gresham,     Thomas,    Royal    Merchant   and 
Financier,  of  London,  26 

Gresham's  Fortunate  Letter,  174 
"  Scheme  of  Exchanges,  115 

Grindstones  by  the  Fraction,  625 

Grinnell's,  Mr.,  Liberality,  183 

Groceries  and  Literature,  511 

Grocers  and  Bank  Presidents,  624 

Grocer's   Raisin-Boxes   and    Nibbling   Cus- 
tomers, 206 

Guarding  the  Track — Erastus  Corning  and 
the  Irishman,  367 


Haase,  Henry  Engelbert,  Banker,  of  Bremen,  9 
Half  a  Million    Profit  by  one    of  Girard's 

Operations,  173 
Half  an  Hour's  Experience  with  London  Bro- 
kers, 207 
49 


Halifax,   the  English  Banker:     Opinion    of 
"  Lending  to  the  Lord,"  with  a  Personal 
Application,  516 
Hall  of  the  St.  Petersburg  Exchange,  300 
Halleck's,  Fitz-Greene,  Clerkship  with  Jacob 

Barker,  657 
Hancock,  the  Patriotic  Merchant,  483 
Handful  of  Wool  and  a  Bank  of  Money,  164 
Hanging  a  Broker,  One  Hundred  Years  Ago, 

240 
Happy  End  to  a  Debt,  891 
Hard  Old  Creditor,  411 

"    Philosophy  of  an  Annuity  Monger,  274 
Hardening  Tendency  of  Business,  224 
Harlow's  Sign  Painting  Extraordinary,  333 
Hatter's  Present  to  a  Judge,  742 
Helping  Girard  to  Collect  a  Debt,  453 
Herodotus,  a  Merchant,  41 
"  He's  a  Country  Merchant — Stick  Him !"  230 
Hide    Dealer's   Sign — Rare   Bit  of  Philoso- 
phy, 325 
Hiding  the  Dollar  with  a  Dime,  158 
High  'Change  Hours,  298 
"     Compliment  to  W.  R.  Jones,    as    an 
Underwriter,  652 
High-heeled  Boots  with  Watches  in  them,  232 
Hinges  upon  which  Trade  Swings,  138 
His  Ruling  Passion,  209 
Historical  and  Poetical  Signs,  830 
History  of  the  Old  Red  Cent,  101 
Hitting  his  Trade,  712 

"      the  Nail  on  the  Head,  677 
Hoarding  and  Amassing :  Noted  Instances,  253 
Hogarth's    Plan    of    Selling     Pictures     by 

Auction,  531 
Hogg,  William,  Pennsylvania  Millionnaire,  41 
Home  Luxuries  of  Ancient  Merchants,  507 
Honest  Quaker  Bankrupt,  452 
"Honor    and     Fame    from     no    Condition 

Rise,"  712 
Honorable    Distinction     attained     by     Mr. 

Perit,  188 
Hope,  Henry,  Banker  of  Amsterdam,  13 
Hope  &  Co.,  Peremptory  Refusal  of,  to  do 

Business  with  Girard,  134 
"  Hopping  "  from  Obscurity,  742 
Hospitality  of  Stephen  Girard,  502 
Hotel  Keeper's  Advice  to  his  Son,  405 
Household    Magnificence  of    Portinqua,   the 

Great  Chinese  Merchant,  493 
Household  Peculiarities  of  Girard,  510 
How  a  Dry  Goods  Clerk  Lost  his  Place,  670 
Howqua,  Senior  Hong  Merchant,  2 
Human  Hair  as  an  Article  of  Merchandise,  620 
Humors  of  a  Reporter,  740 

"       "  Partnership     in     Reference     to 
Names,  695 
Hunt's,  Jonathan,  Land  Speculations,  584 
Hutton's  Success  as  a  Bookseller,  735 
Hypothecating  One's  Person  for  a  Loan,  442 


770 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


Identifying  a  Clerk,  696 

Imaginative  Expressman — Artificial  Corpse, 
344 

Imitating  Signatures,  276 

"  Immediate  Relief,"  421 

Immense  Consignment  of  Gold  to  a  New  York 
House,  119 

Imperial  Affection  lor  a  Banker,  444 

Important  to  Dunners  and  Debtors,  412 

Improving  a  Banker's  Broth,  676 

In  Business  for  themselves,  697 
"  Pursuit  of  an  Agreeable  Business,  661 

Incidents   of  William   Bingham's  Domestic 
Life,  519 

Incorrect  Editions  of  the  Bible,  732 

Indian's  Idea  of  Imprisonment  for  Debt,  429 
"        Mode  of  Judging  a  Trader,  132 

Ingenious  Plot  against  a  Banker,  260 
"         Swindling  of  Pawnbrokers,  199 

Inscriptions  on  Trade  Coins,  307 

Insurance  for  Husbands,  635 

Insuring  Dr.  Lieb's  Life,  631 

Introducing  a  New  System  of  Accounts,  698 

Intruding  into  the  Bullion  Room,  99 

Irish  Advertisement,  316 
"    Banker  Redeeming  his  Notes,  93 
"    Pun  on  a  Sign,  306 

Irishman  at  the  Bank,  108 

Iron  Merchant  and  the  Blacksmith,  711 

Irving,  Washington,  and  the  English  Sales- 
man, 697 

Is  it  Lawful  to  Dun  a  Debtor?  415 

Italian  Banker's  Free  Table,  481 

"     Knavery  in  Picture  Selling,  279 
"     Marriage  Brokers,  591 
"     Picture    Dealer    Trapping    an   Expe- 
rienced Connoisseur,  193 

Itinerant  Traders  in  Rio  Janeiro,  615 


Jack  and  the  Dutch  Tulip  Speculator,  523 

Jack's  Bargain  for  Rope,  199 

Jacob   Barker  on   "Thewdness"   in    Stock 

Dealing,  214 
Jacob  Barker's  Clerks  at  Dinner,  663 

"  Forty  Kegs  of  Specie,  79 

"  Insurance  Case,  Redivivus,  636 

"  Success  when  a  Youth,  147 

Jacob  Keen,  of  Wall  Street,  565 
Jacob  Little  and  the  Missing  Bank  Bill,  83 
Jacob  Lorillard's  Note  of  Accommodation,  110 
James    Bolland's    Infamous    Financial    Ca- 
reer, 193 
James  G.  King,  the  Banker,  and  Lord  Ash- 
burton  :  Cause  of  Merchants  Failing,  453 


James    G.    King's    Treatment    of    Resent- 
ments, 162 
Jeejeebhoy   Jamsetjee,    Great    Parsee   Mer- 
chant, 19 
Jemmy  Taylor,  the  Miser  Broker,  and  the  Earl 

of  Northumberland,  200 
Jemmy  Wright's  Modesty,  331 
Jew  Losing  a  Bargain,  243 

"   Traders  in  Holywell  Street,  611 
Jewish  Banker's  Free  Table,  481 
"      Money  Lenders,  111 
"  "      Makers  in  the  Holy  City,  253 

"      Opinion  of  Rothschild,  243 
"      Perseverance  and  Shrewdness,  88 
"      Traders  and  Straw  Bait,  444 
Jobbing  in  Debtors'  Shop  Leases,  452 
John  Jacob  Astor's  Board  and  Clothes,  483 
"  "  "  Highway  to  Fortune," 

171 
John  Law's  Notorious  Bubble,  555 
John  McDonogh's  Personal  Appearance,  491 
Johnson  and  his  Dictionary,  726 

"  the  Butcher,  707 

Johnson's  Prejudice  against  Merchants,  165 
Joke  upon  a  Boston  Sign,  318 
Jolly  Sign-Painters :  Rich  Professional  Trage- 
dy, 605 
Jonathan  Hunt's  Land  Speculations,  584 
Judah  Touro  and  Dr.  Clapp,  490 
Jumel,  the  Merchant,  and  the  Carman,  358 
Juiy  Deliberations  on  a  Railroad  Case,  455 
Juvenile  Contempt  of  the  Bank,  108 

"       Evidence  in  an  Insurance  Case,  652 


Keen  Auction  Dodge  by  Rembrandt,  557 
"     Ruse  by  a  Yankee  Peddler,  263 

Keeping  Accounts  in  Guineas,  686 
"        Score  by  Double  Entry,  679 

Keese,  the  Book  Auctioneer,  Pleasantries  of, 
572 

Kentucky   Banker    who    Kept     Resuming, 
408 

Kentucky  Hams  and  Yankee  Nutmegs,  217 

Khan,    the   Celebrated    Persian    Merchant, 
18 

Killbury  and  Maimsworth  Railway  Advertise- 
ment, 306 

Kindness  to  Debtors:   Chickering,  Peabody, 
Lorillard,  443 

King  Charles  in  the  Pawners'  Clutches,  210 

King,  James  G.,  and  Lord  Ashburton,  453 

Knavery  of  British  and  Chinese  Traders  Com- 
pared, 246 

Knight's,  Charles,  Reminiscences  of  the  Book 
Trade,  753 

Knowing  his  Customers,  236 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


Ill 


Labouchere,  P.  C,  the  Youthful  Prince  Mer- 
chant, 2. 

Labouchere  and  Vincent  Nolle,  151 

Ladder  of  Commercial  Success,  157 

Lady  Shipmaster,  363 

Lady's  Portrait  of  a  Dry  Goods'  Clerk,  690 

Lafayette's  Loan  to  Mathew  Curey,  459 

Lafitte,  Jacques,  French  Banker  5 
"  "         in  a  Tight  Place,  63 

Lafitte's  Wasteful  Clerk,  681 

Language  and  Business  Letters  of  Rothschild, 
669 

Largest  Book  Establishment  in  the  World,  753 
"       Dealer  in  Commercial  Paper  in  the 
United  States,  90 

Largest  Private  Check  ever  Drawn,  105 
"      Ship-owner  in  England,  355 

Last  Days  of  Business  and  Financial  Celebri- 
ties, 495 

Last  Resort  of  Petroleum  Companies,  576 
"    Word  at  an  Auction :  a  Lady  in  the  Case, 
535 

Late  at  a  Dinnner  Party :  Creorge  Hudson,  the 
Railway  King,  142 

Latest  "  Sell"  of  the  Day,  219 

Latin  on  Business  Signs,  326 

Laughable  Opposition  to  Steam  Truns,  362 

Law  Suits  of  Girard,  438 

Lawrence,  Abbott,  Merchant,  of  Boston,  42 
"  "        not  disposed  to  Lie,  164 

"  "       Amos,  Merchant,  of  Bos- 

ton, 11 

Lawrence,  Cornelius  W.,  Merchant,  of  New 
York,  12 

Lawrence's,  Amos,  Opinion  of  Marriage,  484 

Lawyers  and  Barbers,  725 

Learning  the  Currency  in  a  Small  Way,  66 
"         "   Saddler's  Trade,  720 

Leather  Money,  80 

Leaving  a  Case  Out,  642 

Leavitt,  David,  Merchant,  of  New  York,  11 

Lee,  the  Learned  Carpenter  in  England,  736 

Lee  and  his  Travelling  Companion,  125 

Legal  Damages  and  Interest  in  Africa,  439 
"     Eccentricities  of  Commerce,  427 

Lending  a  Helping  Hand :  Abbott  Lawrence, 
141 

Lenox,  James,  Merchant,  of  New  York,  8 

Lessons  of  an  Auctioneer's  Hammer,  561 

"Letting  out"  Clothes,  713 

Liberality  of  Yakooleff,  the   Russian    Mer- 
chant, 127 

Life  and  Death  Brokers,  and  their  "  Humble 
Servant,"  637 

Life  Insurance  Obituary  Announcements,  644 

Literature  of  the  Cabin,  365 
"         and  Groceries,  312 

LitOe,  Jacob,  "  of  Wall  Street,"  22 


Little  Too  Candid,  137 

"  Lively  "  Operations,  650 

Lives  of  Bank  Notes,  73 

Lloyd,  James,  Banker,  of  London,  8 

Lloyd's  Establishment,  London,  296 

"      Nautical  Book,  851 
Locking-up  Foreign  Merchants  in  England,  123 
Locomotion  and  Amalgamation,  364 
Lodging  a  Banker  in  the  Gutter,  267 
Logan,  the  Fan  Painter,  605 
Logic  of  Specie  Payments,  68 
London  Bankers  and  Banking  Houses,  78 

"       Trade  Report,  675 
Longworth,  Nicholas,  Millionnaire  of  Cincin> 

nati,  45 
Longworth's  Celebrated  Fee,  396 
Looking-Glass  for  Wall  Street,  289 
Looks  and  Manners  of  Rothschild,  492 
Lopez,  Judah  M.,  Speculator  in  Annuities,  38 
Lord  Castlereagh  and  the  Ruined  Broker,  558 
"    Eardley's  "  Gentleman  "  Applicant,  757 
"    Mansfield's  Mercantile  Cases  in  Court,  418 
Lorillard,  the  New  York  Tobacconist,  46 
Lorillard  and  the  Load  of  Wood,  499 

"       Paying  a  Bequest  in  Bank  Stock,  105 
Losing  a  Bank  Customer,  110 
"     "Good         "         621 
Loss  of  Bank  Notes,  64 
Losses  among  Russian  Merchants,  420 
Lost  Bank  Note  of  Thirty  Thousand  Pounds,103 
Lotteries  Vindicated  by  Scripture,  566 
Lottery  Vagaries  in  the  Sixteenth  Century,  559 
Louis  d'Ors  and  Razors;    or.  Bankers  and 

Barbers,  479 
Louis  the  Fifteenth's  Opinion  of  his  own  Pa- 
per, 240 
Louis  the  Sixteenth  and  the  Saddler's  Bill,  426 
Lowell,  Francis  C,  Merchant  of  Boston,  14 
Lucky   and  Unlucky  Names  of   Ships  and 

Sailing  Days,  364 
Lucrative  Deed  of  Trust,  393 
Ludicrous  Custom  House  Examination,  294 
Ludwick  the  Baker-General  in  the  Revolution* 

ary  War,  759 
Luxuries  in  the  Car,  859 


M 


JL  Beautte  and  the  Official  Smuggler,  237 
M.  Rothschild  at  Home,  503 
"  "         on  the  Secret  of  his  Success,  101 

Magnificent    Residence    of    Rothschild    in 

Paris,  479' 
Making  a  Good  Job  of  It,  275 

"      "  Will— Samuel  Appleton,  471 
"      Conditions ;  King  James  and  the  Cora 
Merchants,  123 
Making  the  Best  of  a  Bad  Article,  624        ' -'-^ 
Manchester  Cotton  Merchants,  292 


112 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


Manifolding  Bank  Notes,  98 

Manners  at  the  English  Stock  Exchange,  283 

Mansion  of  Morris,  the  Philadelphia  Financier, 
488 

Marking  a  Lottery  Ticket,  533 

Marriage  and  Baptism  Insurance,  644 

"       Suit  by  Colston,  the  Millionnaire,  480 

Matrimonial  and  Financial  "  Bonds,"  in  John 
Law's  Time,  517 

Matrimonial  Export,  599 

McDonogh,  John,  Millionnaire,  of  New  Or- 
leans, 17 

McDonogh's,  John,  Greatest  Victory,  162 

Meaning  of  "  Stock  "  and  "  Fund,"  328 

Medici,  Lorenzo  de,  "  the  Magnificent   Mer- 
chant," of  Florence,  12 

Memorable  Auction — Sale  in  New  Orleans,  556 

Men  Mantua-Makers,  611 
"    of  Letters  frequenting  the  Share  Mart., 
801 

Mengin,  the  French  Pencil  Seller,  586 

Mercantile  Agency  Management  Illustrated, 
603 

Mercantile  Character    Comparatively    Esti- 
mated, 131 

Mercantile  Defalcation  made  Good  after  Sixty 
Years,  158 

Merchant-like,  423 

Merchant  of  Venice ;   Shylock's  Commercial 
Character  Vindicated,  222 

Merchant  Patrons  of  Literature,  130 

Merchant's  Wit  on  the  Stand,  421 

Merchants  and  Business  Resorts  in  Moscow,295 
"  "   Legislators,  133 

"         Getting  to  be  Gentlemen,  133 
"         of  the  Golden  Fleece,  128 

Merchants'  Notes  as  Currency,  103 

"  Religious  Formula:  or  Phrases,  828 

"  Merely  a  Family  Dinner,"  468 

Merino-Sheep  Bubble,  568 

Messrs.  Moan  and  Groan,  of  Cypress  Row,  220 

"  Mighty  Monarch,  Let  me  Send  a  Shop  ! "  623 

Mike  Schnapps,  the  Fiddle  Dealer,  600 

Millionnaire  Butcher  of  London,  724 

Minding  One's  Own  Business,  171 

Miners'  Commandments,  748 

Misfortune  Tending  to  Liberality,  684 

Missing  a  Good  Chance,  581 

Mock  Auction  "  Capitalists,"  550 

Mode  of  Conducting  Operations  by  Roths- 
child, 92 

Mode  of  Getting  Money  Transmitted,  354 

Model  English  Bankers,  90 

Modern  Bank  Director's  Parlor,  96 
"       Newspaper  Office,  744 

Mahommedan  Mercantile  Morality,  135 

Mahommedan's  Reason  for  not  Storing  Goods, 
181 

Money  Changers  in  China,  76 
"     Enough  to  Break  on,  131 


Money  Getting  Tact  of  Jews,  173 
"      StreetofNew  York,  112 

"  Monsieur  Smith,"  Girard's  Man,  154 

More  Cunning  than  Rothschild,  111 

Morgan,  Edwin  D.,  Merchant,  of  New  York,  81 

Morocco  Pocket  Book  Men,  225 

Morris,  Robert,  Financier,  of  Philadelphia,  1 

Morrison,  James,  "  of  Twenty  Millions,"  21 

Moses,  as  an  Engraver,  731 

Mottoes,  Business  in  Ancient  Times,  308 

Mr.  Barker's  Auction    Watch,  and  what  it 
Brought  Him,  543 

Mr.  Biddle's  Wit,  87 
"  Everett  and  the  Hindoo  Merchant,  180 
"  Gales  Reporting  Mr.  Webster,  722 
"   Girard  and  the  Baptist  Clergyman,  489 
"  Grigg's  Mode  of  Overcoming  Obstacles,  880 
"  Grinnell's  Liberality,  183 
"  Hume's  Anxiety  to  Avoid  a  Pecuniary 

Loss,  533 
"  Jones's  Experience  with  Peter  Funk,  213 
"  Vanderbilt's  Holiday,  503 

Muller,  the  Rich  Merchant  of  Nuremberg : 
Fictitious  Theft,  259 

Murdered  Merchant  Watched  by  his  Dog,  176 

Music-Seller's  Customers,  705 

Mustaches  in  the  Bank,  667 

Mutations  of  a  Merchant's  Life ;  the  New  Or- 
leans Stock  Seller,  129 

Mysteries  of  Tea  Smuggling,  229 

Mysterious  Benefactor— Incident  of  the  South 
Sea  Bubble,  158 


N 


Names  of  Vessels  and  Trade  in  New  York  in 

1680,  350 
Napoleon  and  Byron  on  Trading,  131 
Napoleon's  Opinion  of  a  Journalist,  708 
Narrow  Escape  from  Bankruptcy,  430 
National  Characteristics  of  Money  Getters — 

French,  Irish,  Scotch,  German,  595 
Native  Traders  in  Guinea,  622 
Natural  Advertising,  321 
Neapolitan  Cambiamoneta,   or  Money-Chan- 

ger,  104 
Need  of  a  Reference  for  a  Tailor— The  Devil  for 

a  Customer,  717 
New  Material  for  Sausage  Stuffing :  the  Sau- 

ciesse  d'Or,  612 
New   Orleans   Broker    Renouncing   a    For- 
tune, 484 
New  Rules  for  Railways,  364 
«'    York    Bankers    and    Western    Court 

Houses,  83 
New  York  Business  Tokens,  307 
"        "     Pawnbroker's  Customer,  526 
"       "     to  Boston  in  Four  Days,  S75 
"Newscloth,"272 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


773 


Newspaper  Publisher  Described,  715 
Nice  Lesson  for  Retail  Salesmen,  665 

"    Snare  for  a  French  Creditor,  395 
Nicholas  Biddle  and  the  Mississippi  Loan,  61 
Nicholas  Longworth's  Bread,  514 
Nine  Days  in  the  Life  of  a  Merchant,  422 
"  No  Great  Judge  of  de  Hemp :"  Girard  and 

the  Negro  in  a  Quarrel,  201 
"  No  Swearing  among  the  Crew,"  355 
No  Trust  for  Merchants  in  Small  Clothes,  429 

"  Use  for  Pistols,  449 
Noble  Mercantile   Trait  of  Jonathan  Good- 
hue, 162 
Nolte,  Vincent,  the  Wandering  Merchant,  19 
Not  Ashamed  of  Work :  Astor's  Diligence,  133 

"  Disposed  to  Lie :  Abbott  Lawrence,  164 

"  Down  on  the  Bill,  422 

"  Posted  in  Geography,  888 
Note  Buyers,  109 

Notes  with  and  without  Security,  433 
Nothing  like  Leather,  717 
"         "   Sarsaparilla,  612 
"       lost  in  a  Good  Market,  617 
Novel  Securities  for  Loans,  70 

"     Trade  Case  before  a  Prussian  Magis- 
trate, 419 


Obtaining  a  Certificate  of  Bankruptcy,  447 

"         Clerkship  in  a  Banking  House,  687 
"         Copyright,  726 
"      Security  to  be  a  Broker:  George 
Hudson's  Treatment  of  his  Enemies,  78 
Odd  Comminglings,  324 

"   Purchase  at  a  Grocer's,  617 
Oddities  of  a  Former  Period,  638 
Oiling  the  Joints  of  Business,  671 
Old  Ben.  Russell— Boston  Celebrity,  488 
"    Billy  Gray,  Merchant,  of  Boston,  35 
"    Digby  at  an  Auction  Sale,  548 
"   English  Ticker,  743 
"   fashioned  Shopkeepers,  128 
"   Guy  putting  out  the  Light:  or.  Misers 

Rating  Each  Other's  Frugality,  236 
"   Martin,  the  Scotch  Auctioneer,  among  the 

Languages,  571 
"   Salles,  the  Silk  Buyer,  and  Mr.  Bayard's 

Clerks,  693 
"    School     Merchant's     OfiTering     to     his 
Country :  John  Langdon,  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, 512 
"   School  Moneyjobbers,  274 
"   Scores  Wiped  Out,  414 
"    Vinter's  Bank  Bills,  219 
"   Women's  Trades  in  London,  593 
Oldest  Bill  of  Exchange  in  the  World,  106 
"     Daily  Newspaper,  721 
"     Vessel  in  America,  349 


On  the  Forgiven  List,  440 
One  among  Ten  Thousand,  487 
"   Cent  with  Girard,  273 
"   of  his  "  Little  Specs,"  668 
"    "  the  Branches  of  the  Tea  Trade,  628 
"    "    "  Causes  of  Bankruptcy,  419 
"    "    "  "  Companies,"  634 
"    "    "  Operations  in  'Change  Alley,  208 
"    "    "  SuflFerers,  563 
"    Price  but  not  the  Same  Article,  204 
"    Thing  Needful  in  a  Clerk,  664 
"   Thousand  Million  Pounds  Business  An- 
nually at  the  London  Clearing  House,  297 
Opulent  New  York  Merchants,  133 
Origin  of  Auctions,  560 

"        Boards  of  Trade,  289 
"       Fire  Insurance  Companies,  640 
"       Paper  Money,  101 
"       the  Express  Business  :  Hamden's 
First  Trip,  356 
Orthography  behind  the  Counter,  626 
Our  American  Land  Fever,  542 
"  Editor  Sixty  Years  Ago,  709 
"  Lady  of  Hope,  534 
Out  of  Fashion,  515 

"      Style,  321 
Ouvrard,  G.  J.,  "  the  Napoleon  of  Finance,"  25 

"       the  Banker,  and  Napoleon,  65 
Ouvrard's  Profitable  Imprisonment,  392 
Overend,  John,  Pioneer  Bill  Broker,  of  Lon- 
don, 46 
Overpaying  a  Check,  664 


"  P.  D.",  222 

Palace  of  Lafitte,  the  French  Banker,  467 
Palmerston  and  the  Station  Master,  386 
Panic   Blunders — Wrong   Certificate   at  the 

Bank,  524 
Paris  "  Gratteurs,"  607 
Parisian  Auctions — How  Conducted,  55T 

"        Female  Smugglers,  271 
Parlor  Talk  between  James  Rothschild,  the 

Banker,  and  the  Poet  Heine,  504 
Parrot  and  Monkey  Market,  616 
"  Parsons  on  Promissory  Notes,  400 
Partridge's  Almanac-Making,  718 
Patent  Medicine    Makers— Morrison,    Bran- 

dreth,  Townsend,  Ac,  609 
Paterson  and  his  Darien  Expedition,  547 
Pathos  and  Puffing  Extraordinary,  335 
Patriotic  Hatter,  720 

"       Merchants  of  the  Revolution,  127 
Patriotism  and  Prowess  of  French  Merchants, 

150 
Pat's  Definition  of  Railroad  "  Stock,"  837 
Pawnbrokers'  Three  Balls,  325 
Pawning  Money  in  Ireland,  70 


V74 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


Pay  or  Charge,  445 
Paying  a  "  Balance,"  892 
"      A  Newspaper  Bill,  732 
"      An  Old  Debt,  400 
"      At  "  Maturity,"  327 
"      By  the  Clock  instead  of  the  Thing,  598 
"      Government  Fishing  Bounties,  285 
"     Notes  in  Specie,  79 
"      Off  Jack,  355 
"      The  Driver,  756 
Payment  for  News,  713 
Peabody,  George,  Merchant  and  Banker,  of 

London,  16 
Peculiar  Custom  of  a  Tailor,  713 

"       Feature   in    Rothschild's    Business 

Character,  173 

"       Management  of  the  Bank  of  Amster- 
dam, 102 
Peculiarities  of  the  North-west  Fur  Traders,  599 
Pecuniary  Anxiety  of  the  Greatest  Merchant 

in  the  World,  439 
Pedlar  Matching  a  Sheriff,  413 
Peep  at  the  Treasure  in  Threadneedle  Street,  91 
Peeresses  Conducting  Banking  Operations,  89 
Pennsylvania  Bonds,  120 
Penny  Newspapers  in  America,  708 
Pen  Portrait  by  an  Old  Master,  659 
Peremptory  Refusal  of  Hope  and  Co,  to  do 

Business  with  Girard,  134 
Perils  of  Reporting  the  Parliamentary  Debates, 

725 
,    "     "  Stock  Gambling :  William  Abbott,  537 
Perit,  Pelatiah,  Merchant,  of  New  York,  37 
Perkins,  Thomas  H.,  Merchant,  of  Boston,  50 

"  "         "    Deliberate  Habits  of,  150 

Perplexities  of  Mercantile  Correspondence,  693 
Perseverance  Badly  Rewarded,  185 
Persevering  Traders,  170 
Personal  Appearance  of  Stephen  Girard,  464 
Peter  C.  Brooks,  the  Boston  Millionnaire,  in 

Court,  404 
Peruvian  Loan  Infatuation,  546 
Phenomena  Extraordinary,  319 
Philadelphia  Clerk  and  his  Bible — ^Mr.  In- 

glis's  Proposal,  670 
Philadelphia  Young  Merchant  yrbo  was  not 

Afraid  of  Girard :  the  Sequel,  158 
Philanthropic  Courage  of  Girard,  512 

"  Debtor,  444 

Philanthropy  and  Forty  Per  Cent.,  232 
Photograph  of  Wall  Street,  286 
Picayunes  and  Coppers,  118 
Pictorial  Bookkeeping,  671 
Pitt,  the  Insolvent  Premier,  Insured  by  his 

Coacbmakers,  637 
Placard  Printing  in  Vienna,  717 
Placing  the  Pen  behind  the  Ear,  686 
Plan  to  Ruin  the  Ancient  Firm  of  Child  &  Co. 

by  the  Bank  of  England ;  its  Defeat,  280 
Playing  a  Bold  Game,  649 


Playing  Even,  666 

Pleasant  History  of  a  Familiar  Word,  817 
"        Parlor  Voyages— Cape  Wine  and  Ma- 
deira, 481 
Pleasantries  of  Keese,  the  Book  Auctioneer,  572 
"  Pleasure  Excursions,"  377 
Policies  and  Tragedies,  642 
Politeness  in  Dunning,  415 
Polly  Kenton  and  Girard's  Doctors,  476 
Polly  Kenton's  Lard  Speculation,  164 
Poor  Kind  of  Ice,  593 
"  Poor  Tim  Rooney,"  643 
Porcelain  Jars  and  Low  Premiums,  631 
Portuguese  Diamond  Merchant's  Bargain  with 

Philip  the  Second,  587 
Portuguese  Pilgrim  in  the  Streets  of  Venice 

Proclaiming  its  Commercial  Doom,  175 
Practical  Eloquence  of  a  Boston  Merchant,  512 
Prayers  Requested  for  a  New  Undertaking,  230 
Praying  and  Trading  Simultaneously,  621 
Precision  in  Keeping  Accounts,  657 
Prejudice  against  Yankee  Clock  Pedlars,  and 

How  It  was  Overcome,  277 
Present  Prosperity  of  the  Rothschilds,  180 
Presenting  a  Frivolous  Bill  to  Girard,  411 
Presents  to  Bank  OflScers ;  Curious  Cases,  254 
Price  of  Akenside's  "  Pleasures  of  the  Imagi- 
nation," 727 
Price  of  Extortion  and  Revenge,  235 
Printed  Books ;  or,  the  Devil  and  Dr.  Fans- 

tus,  732 
Printers  and  Editors  at  Midnight,  720 
Private  Mercantile  Finances  and  Royal  Fleets, 

174 
Privateering  Exploit  of  a  Salem  Merchant,  149 
Prize  Won  by  Stephenson  for  his  Famous  Lo- 
comotive, 758 
Probable  Origin  of  Schooners,  860 
Proby,  the  Celebrated  Reporter,  716 
Professional  Use  of  Books,  749 
Profitable  and  Unprofitable  Bankruptcy,  423 

"        Book  Job,  747 
Profits  of  a  Stall,  724 
Property  in  Books,  789 
Proposed  Ice  Speculation,  564 

"       Line  from  England  to  China,  872 
Protective  Costume  for  Travellers,  374 

"         Tariffs  and  the  "  Genesee  Mutual," 
653 
Proud  Broker  Barnard,  The,  114 
Prussian  Ship  Navigated  by  a  Lady,  S60 
Publisher's  Generosity  to  an  Author,  729 
Pun  on  a  Cooper,  742 

"  Punch  "  on  Commercial  Phraseology,  822 
Punch's  Money  Vagaries,  66 

"        Own  Railway,  369 
Purchase  of  Jacob  Barker's  Ship    "United 

States  "  by  the  Emperor  Nicholas,  343 
Purloining  Speculator  in  the  French  Funds, 
245 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


775 


Pursuit  of  Specie  under  Difficulties,  63 
Pushing  Business,  730 
Puzzling  an  Apothecary,  624 

Q 

Quack  Advertisement :  Two  Centuries  Ago,  319 
Quaker  Banker  and  the  Stolen  Doubloons,  240 
"      Hatter  and  his  Journeyman,  710 
"      Investigation  of  George  Hudson's  Ac- 
counts, 692 

"     Merchant's  Idea  of  Privateering,  132 
"  "         Thousand   Dollar  Fee  to 

Mr.  "Webster,  409 
Quaker  Ship-owner  Economizing  the  Time  of 

his  Men,  198 
Quaker's  Reply  to  Fordyce,   the   Bankrupt 

Banker,  427 
Queen  Anne  Saving  the   Government  Bank 
from  Pillage,  116 
"      Jane's  Opinion  of  Merchants,  125 
Queer  Bartering  in  Northern  Africa,  601 
"    Phases  of  the  Butcher  Trade,  707 
Questionable  Sign  for  a  New  York  Clothier,  320 
Quite  Professional,  567 
Quotations  of  the  New  Exchange,  290 

R 

Bail-car  Privileges,  353 

Railroad  Damages — the  Tables  Turned,  865 

Railway  Clearing-House,  296 

"        Clerks— a  Burlesque,  666 

"       Politeness,  Scale  of,  376 
Raising  his  Customer,  245 

"        Money  on  Manuscript,  93 

"        The  Price  of  Bread,  201 
Rare  Editorial  Philosophy,  741 
"    Magnanimity  of  a  French  Creditor,  434 
"    Passenger  in  an  Omnibus,  871 
Rather  a  Puzzling  Occupation,  739 
;    «'      Dry,  375 

"      Ominous,  348 
Reading  the  Annual  Report,  347 
Ready  for  a  Trade,  696 
Realizing  a  Profit,  598 
Reason  for  Trusting  a  Clerk,  683 
,    "      Why  Pitt's  Great  Speech  was  not  Re- 
ported, 745 
Reasons  given  by  Thomas  H.  Perkins  for  de- 
clining a  Proposed  CoflFee  Speculation,  578 
Recovering  a  Wasted  Fortune,  130 
Red  Herrings  and  Dutch  Onions,  578 
Redeeming  Lost  Time,  163 
Reduction  of  French  Custom  House  Duties — 

"Death  to  the  Beet  Root,"  294 
Reforming  instead  of  Destroying,  672 
Refusal  to  become  Girard's  Clerk:  Telling 
him  the  Reason  Why,  683 


Rekindling  of  the  Old  Spark :  Curious  Ex- 
perience of  John  McDonogh,  497 

Religious  Bearing  of  Judaism  on  Stock  Oper- 
ations :  the  Perieres,  515 

Religious  Opinions  of  Girard,  490 

Remarkable  Case  of  Conscience  in  a  Business 
Alan,  182 

Remarkable  Customs  of  Oriental  Shopkeepers, 
597 

Remarkable  Discernment  of  Mercantile  Char- 
acter, 692 

Remarkable  Sacrifice  for  Principle,  658 

Reminiscences  of  Mr.  Aster's  Library  Be- 
quest, 516 

Rencontre  between  Rothschild  and  Rose,  the 
Broker,  on  'Change,  285 

Rendering  Bank  Notes  Serviceable,  116 

Renewing  a  Note,  98 

Reply  to  a  Dunning  Epistle,  417 

Report  of  a  Lord's  Speech,  710 

Reporting  from  Memory,  741 

Resolving  to  be  Rich,  273 

Responding  to  an  Advertisement,  329 

Response  to  a  Tax  Commissioner's  Dun,  414 

Restitution  by  a  Shopkeeper,  163 
"         ofBank  Notes,  257 

Results  of  a  Career  of  Overreaching,  262 

Retiring  from  Business — Engaging  to  Blow 
the  Bellows,  141 

Retiring  from  Business— "Melting"  Day,  515 

Returning  a  Favor,  500 

Reverses  of  Mercantile  Fortune,  168 

Reward  of  Business  Fidelity,  691 

"       "  Promptness  in  a  Merchant's  Clerk, 
671 

Reynolds,  the  Charitable  Quaker  Merchant,  127 

Ricardo,  David,  English  Financier,  33 

Ricardo's  Three  Golden  Rules  in  Business,  101 

Rich  Enough  to  Retire:  Abraham  Newland, 
Cashier  of  the  Bank  of  England,  700 

Rich  Reward  of  Integrity,  667 

Richardson,  the  Eccentric  Showman,  620 

Ridgway,  Jacob,  merchant,  of  Philadelphia,  37 

Rigid  Obedience  of  Shipmasters  exacted  by 
Girard,  376 

Rise  and  Reminiscences  of  the  Trade  Sales,  579 

Rising  in  the  World,  716 

Risks  and  Accidents  Assured  Against,  845 
"     ofthe  Currency,  278 

Rival  Blacking  Companies,  563 
"     Publishers,  727 
"     Steamboat  Lines,  352 

Rivalry  in  Business  Beneficial,  710 

Robert  Barclay  becoming  a  Banker  instead  of 
a  Courtier,  502 

Roman  Idea  of  Merchants,  154 
"      Money  Lenders,  68 
"      Saint  making  Shoes,  751 

Romance  and  Reality  of  Insurance,  635 
"  Trade,  299 


116 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


Romance  of  Trade :  "  Blackguard  SnuflF,"  135 
Boscoe,  William,  the  Poet  Banker,  169 
Rothschilds,  The,  Wealthiest  Bankers  in  the 

World,  23 
Rothschild  and  Astor  Compared,  151 

"  "    Lucas :  Astonishing  Strategy 

to  Learn  the  Former's  Secrets,  191 
Rothschild  trying  to  Raise  a  Small  Loan,  100 
Rothschild's  Omnibus  Fare,  373 

"  Purchase  of  a  Painting,  481 

Rough  Treatment  of  Insolvents,  444 
Royal  Pawners  and  Brokers,  107 
"     Prize  for  Raising  Money:  Raid  upon 
the  Bankers,  198 
Royal  Promissory  Notes,  406 

"     Schemes  in  Railways,  361 
Ruin  Produced  by  Bad  Reckoning,  677 
Running  a  Bank,  99 
Rush's  Celebrated  Figureheads,  339 
Russian  Money  Brokers,  109 
"      Shop  Customs,  606 


s 


Sabbath  Experiences  of  a  Shipmaster,  139 

Saint  Shops,  607 

Sale  of  Noted  Works  and  Plays,  719 

Salting  an  Invoice,  409 

Sample  Clerk  Wanted  in  a  Drug  Store,  689 

Samuel  Appleton  disposing  of  his  Income,  489 

Samuel  Slater  on  Extravagance  in  Living,  513 

Samuel  Wheeler,  the  Iron  Smith,  and  General 

Washington,  759 
Satire  on  Speculation,  546 
Saving  the  Credit  of  a  City :  Theodore  Payne, 

450 
Saving  the  Fleece :  Girard  and  his  Brother,  222 
Saying  of  an  Old  Merchant,  090 
Scale  of  Prices  for  London  Civilities,  597 

"     '*  Railway  Politeness,  376 
Scene  at  a  Banker's  Dejeuner :  Robert  Morris 

and  his  Father,  469 
Scene  in  a  Merchant's  Counting  Room  after 

the  Peace  of  1815,  152 
Scene  at  an  Express  Office,  859 
Scenes  after  Discount  Day,  104 
"     At  a  Turkish  Auction,  548 
"     In  a  Turkish  Custom  House,  291 
Scissors  vs.  Shears,  687 
Scotch  Cabinetmaker's  Apprentice,  723 

•'      Tobacconist's  Motto,  308 
Scraps  of  Auction  Wit,  574 
Search  for  a  New  Route  to  China,  186 
Second  Thought  on  a  Trade,  155 
Secrecy  in  Business  Transactions  Practised 

by  Rothschild,  156 
Securing  Trustworthy  Bank  Officers  and  the 

Safety  of  Capital,  69 
Security  for  a  Discount,  79 


Selling  a  Bad  Article,  277 

"      a  Brig :  the  Ruling  Passion,  857 

"      a  Dying  Horse  under  the  Hammer,  538 

"      One's  Body  to  a  Creditor:  Marshal 

Radetzky,  420 
Selling  Salt  by  a  Chalk  Line,  191 

«      The  Gem  of  the  Collection,  544 
Serious  Bargain  for  a  Clerkship,  682 
Settling  a  Knotty  Account— Quaker  Philoso- 
phy, 500 
Settling  a  Question  of  Taste  and  Trade,  272 
"       "        "         "  Trade,  603 
"       An  Account,  437 
Seventy-five  Thousand  Dollars  at  One  Draught, 

484 
Shaking  One's  Business  Credit,  123 
"Shall  I  Cut?"  714 
Share-Sellers  and  Rope  Dancers,  577 
Sharing  in  a  good  Operation,  156 

"        "  Rothschild's  Fortune,  252 
Sharp  at  a  Trade — Sharper  in  Getting  out  of 

It,  264 
Sharp  Hit  at  Repudiation,  446 
Sheridan's  Treatment  of  a  Creditor,  448 
Shipbuilding  in  Ancient  Times,  743 
Shipments  of  Butcher-Birds,  596 
Shipping  Goods  by  Ticket,  698 
Shocking  Ignorance  of  City  Clerks  Illustrated, 

684 
Shoemaker  Determined  to  Benefit  the  World, 

712 
Shoes  and  Shoemakers — Facetiae,  746 
Shooting  a  Book-seller,  747 
Shop  and  Business  Signs :  Ancient  Examples, 

314 
Shop  Architecture,  Old  and  New,  616 
Shopkeepers  and  Warriors,  175 
"  Going  to  Law,  395 

"  Nomenclature  of  Goods,  326 

"  ofBagdat,  610 

Showing  Up  Tailors,  722 
Signboard  Punctuation,  312 
Signora  Almonastre  and  John  McDonogh,  493 
Silkdyer's  Poetical  Sign,  338 
Simple  Entries  and  Calculation — Jacob  Bar- 
ker's Method,  660 
Singular  Mode  of  Keeping  Accounts  in  a  Pair 

of  Boots,  692 
Singular  Suit  against  Mr.  Appleton,  of  Boston, 

895 
Sir  Robert  Peel's  Factory  Operative,  727 

"  "       Opinion  of  his   Son   as   a 

Financier,  89 
Sir  Thomas  F.  Buxton's  Conversations  with 

Rothschild,  501 
Six  Days  for  Business  and  One  for  Rest,  157 
Skinflint  Philosophy,  245 
Slavers  Raising  a  Capital,  248 
Slightly  Personal,  466 
Small  Debts,  405 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


777 


Smuggled  Needles  and  the  American  Eagle,  269 
Smuggler's  Honor,  226 
Smuggling  by  the  Chinese,  271 

"        on  a  Lace  Merchant's  Dog,  231 
Snow  Trade  of  Sicily,  599 
Snug  Place  for  Bank  Notes,  270 
"  Soaking"  the  Old  Coach,  384 
Sole  Qualification  of  a  Bill  Broker,  173 
Soliloquy  of  a  Debtor,  410 
Solomon,  the  Merchant  Sovereign,  7 
"Something   or   Nothing,    and    that    very 

Quick!"  418 
Son  of  an  Eminent  Turkey  Merchant,  749 
Song-bird  Shops  in  New  York,  623 
Sources  of  Wealth  of  the  Medici  Family  of 

Merchants,  182 
South  Sea  Schemers,  545 
Southern  Accommodation  Trains,  381 
Spaniard  and  Chinaman  at  a  Trade,  231 
"  Spanish,"  734 
Spanish  Contraband  Trade,  229 

♦'       Mercantile  Dealings,  163 

"       Reals  versus  Spanish  Bonds,  84 
Specie  in  the  Broker's  Window,  64 
Speculative  Frenzy  of  the  French  in  John 

Law's  Time,  524 
"Spencer,  Rich."  merchant  and  banker,  of 

London,  35 
Sportive  Death  of  the   French   Banker,  M. 

Dang6,  514 
Sprot,  the  Banker,  and  the  Patrician  Debtor, 

415 
Squaring  Accounts  among  the  Celestials,  669 
Squelching  a  Director's  Impertinence,  371 
St.  Petersburg  Trade  in  Frozen  Articles,  622 
Stagecoach  Experience  of  Two  Merchants,  369 
Staying  his  Own  Debt,  455 
Stealing  Goods  at  the  Retail  Price,  456 
Steiglitz,  Richest  of  Russian  Merchants,  7 
Stephen   Girard's  Treatment   of  "Splendid 

Church  "  Projects,  494 
Stephen  Whitney's  Charities,  244 
Stephenson,   the   Pioneer  in  Railroad  Con- 
struction, 380 
Stewart,  Alexander  T.,   Merchant,   of  New 

York,  30 
Stewart's,  A.  T.,  Success,  162 
"  Stick  to  Your  Last,"  137 
Sticking  to  the  Contract,  737 
Stock  Broker  and  his  Family  in  the  Studio  of 

Hoppner,  475 
Stock  Exchange  Conspiracy,  214 
"     Jobbing  Bubbles — Commercial  Lunacy, 

645 
"     Terms  in  the  Sick  Room,  319 
"     "Washing,"  247 
StrangeTerminus  to  a  Railroad,  384 
Stratagem  to  Collect  a  Debt,  394 
Stray  Leaf  from  a  Speculator's  History,  653 
Street  Merchants,  594 


Streets  and  Shop  Signs  in  Canton,  317 

Striking  a  Bargain,  330 

Strong  Point  in  Mercantile  Success :  Girard's 
Silence,  153 

Strongest  Bank  in  the  World,  82 

Sturgis,  William,  in  the  Legislature,  478 

Subduing  a  Creditor's  Fury,  407 

Subscriptions  for  the  Government  by  Phila- 
delphia Merchants,  459 

Suit  against  a  Railroad  Company,  457 

Superseding  Steam,  345 

Supposititious  Will  of  the  Bank  of  England 
Directors,  117 

Suspected  Religious  Fidelity  of  Rothschild: 
Remarkable  Scene,  490 

Swan,  the  Millionnaire,  Voluntarily  in  Prison 
more  than  Twenty  Years,  for  Debt,  392 

Syrian  Auctioneers — "Harage!  Haragel 
Harage!"  654 


Tailor  turned  Prophet,  783 
Tailors'  Bills,  405 
"  Take  down  that  Old  Sign,"  331 
Taking  Care  of  his  Umbrella,  492 
"      Him  at  his  Word,  267 
"      His  Own  Risk:  Mr.   Cope  of  Phila- 
delphia, 651 
Talleyrand  and  the  Stock  Jobber,  211 
Talleyrand's  Promise  to  Pay,  432 
Tattersall,  the  London  Auctioneer,  4 
"  Tattersall's,"  534 
Tavern-waiter  and  his  Banker,  487 
Taxing  Bills  and  Receipts,  432 
Tea  Shops  in  China,  602 
Telegraph  m.  Express,  851 
Telegraphic  Capers,  367 
Telegraphing  against  Time,  366 
Tempting  Business  Paragraph,  161 
Tender  in  Payment,  400 
Terrible  Career  of  Sadler  the  Speculator,  227 
"       Mode    of  Rendering  an   Insurance 
Policy  Void,  638 
Terrible  Revenge  on  a  Bank  by  Rothschild,  95 
"        Sequel  to  Parsimony :  M.  Fescue's 
Case,  250 
That  Bottle  of  Wine  among  "  Old  Fuller's  " 

Clerks,  694 
That  Little  Child  in  the  Counting  Room,  514 
The  Bank  Detectors  Foiled,  264 
"  Banker's  Seven-Shilling  Piece,  177 
"  First  Color  Shop,  706 
"      "   Steamboat  Passage-Money  ever  Paid, 
877 
The  Great  Bankers  of  the  World  together  ia 

Rothschild's  Parlor,  60 
The  Ladder  of  Gold,  349 
"   Lady's  Broker,  77 


778 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


The  Learned  Blacksmith,  731 
"  Merchant  and  his  Distinguished  Valet, 

John  Philpot  Curran,  476 
"  Merchant  Family  of  Medici,  Hesurgam,  498 
"  Miller  and  his  Portrait,  605 
"   " Model  Debtor"  Described,  402 
"   Napoleon  of  Advertising,  332 
"   Origin  of  the  Clearing  House,  294 
•'  Prince  Regent's  Wine  and  the  Confiden- 
tial Dealer,  208 
"  Prose  of  Shopkeeping  Set  to  Poetry,  687 
"   Stone  that  was  Rejected :  Judah  Touro's 

Benefactions,  482 
"   United  Glass  and    Crockery    Insurance 

Company,  635 
"   United  Job  and  Lazarus  Bank,  81 
"  Waterloo  of  Auction  Battles,  525 
Theatrical  Debut  of  a  Barber,  708 
Thirty  Thousand  Dollars'  Worth  of  Sheep  by 

a  Boston  Merchant,  470 
Thomas  Gray,  the  Originator  of  Railways,  354 
"       Gresham's  Curious  Armorial  or  Crest, 
508 
Thomas  H.  Perkins's  Deliberate  Habits,  150 

**       P.  Cope's  Integrity,  155 
Thompson's  Travels  in  California,  381 
Thorburn's  Flowery  Path  to  Fortune,  166 

"  Grant,  Bankruptcy,  438 

Three  Merchant  Voyages  and  their  Results, 

155 
Three  Millionnaires  Quarrelling   about  One 

Farthing,  235 
Throwing  out  Jacob  Barker's  Notes,  84 

"        Sawdust  in  the  Eyes  of  Custom 
House  Officers,  270 
"Tick,"  401 
Tight  Times,  315 
Timely  Hard-money  Loan,  67 
Titles  of  Business  Firms,  314 
"  To  what  Base  Uses  have  we  Come  at  Last !" 

280 
Tobacco  in  Loaves,  249 
Tompkins'  Horse  Trade,  218 
Tong-Chow  Traders  in  Dogs  and  Cats,  618 
Tonson,  the  Literary  Trader,  706 
Tonti's  Money-raising  Projects,  558 
Too  Awkward  to  be  a  Watchmaker,  743 
"   Close  Application  to  Business,  141 
"  Conscientious  an  Accountant,  683 
"   Much  Money,  473 
Tough  Experience  of  a  Business  Drummer,  257 
Touro,  Judah,  Merchant,  of  New  Orleans,  34 
Touro's  Great  Gift  to  a  Beggar,  159 
Trade  between  Flywheel  and  Singecat,  549 

"      Placards  and  Shop  Bills,  323 
Trades  and  Genealogies,  760 
Tradesmen's  Ticketing  System,  242 
Trading  for  Ready  Money,  416 

"       in  Imaginary  Candlesticks,  26S 
"        "  News,  733 


Traffic  in  Beautiful  Circassian  Girls,  588 
Traffickers  in  Insurance  Run  Mad — Astound- 
ing Policies  on   the   Chevalier  d'Eon's 
Sex!  645 
Tragical  Result  of  Using  Bank  Notes,  224 
Traits  of  the  Shop  in  Havana,  586 
Transactions  in  the  Cab  Market,  330 

"  "   Worsteds,  219 

Treatment  of  Chinese  Bankrupts,  446 

"       "  Insolvents  by  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land, 434 
Trials  of  Egg  Merchants,  617 
Trick  for  the  "  Spashy,"  209 
Trickery  in  the  Clothing  Trade,  202 
Trying  his  Hand  at  the  Accounts,  699 
Tudor,  the  Original  Ice  Merchant,  153 
Turkish  Fez  Shops :  Stationers,  Tailors,  Jew- 
elers, 602 
Turtles  and  Gold  SnufiF  Boxes,  248 
Two  Aspects  of  Trade,  413 
"    Clerks  in  a  Quarrel,  674 
"   Playing  at  the  Same  Game,  228 


U 


Under  Medical  Treatment — Jacob  Barker  as  a 

Patient,  482 
Underwriters  Jobbing  with  Napoleon's  Life, 

637 
Unexampled  Enterprise;   the  Chinese  Wall 

for  Advertisements,  315 
Unexpected  Balance  at  Coutts's  Bank,  106 
"         Judgment  against   Bank   Direc- 
tors, 457 
Unexpected  Promotion,  696 
Unfortunate  Polly  Lum,  the  Wife  of  Girard, 

469 
Ungrateful  Publisher,  722 
Universal  Bed  and  Bolster  Mart,  570 

"        Salvage  Company,  346 

"        Stores,  835 
Unparalleled  Parsimony  and  Benevolence  of 

a  Millionnaire,  242 
Unparalleled  Railway  Damages,  347 

"  Will  of  Thelluson,  the  London 

Banker,  485  ; :  i 

Unsociable  Travelling  Companion,  868  ' 

"  Up  to  Snuflf,"  305 
Up  Trains  and  Down  Trains,  848 
Usefulness  of  Steamboats  in  Reducing  the 

Population,  356 
Usurious  Interest  on  Money ;  Peter  C.  Brooks's 

Rule,  172 


Value  of  a  Good  Credit,  132 
Vast  Wealth  of  Croesus,  91 
Vaults  of  the  Bank  of  France, 


INDEX  TO  THE  LEADING  ANECDOTES. 


119 


Verbatim  Reporters,  745 
Very  Express-ive,  324 
"    Hopeful  Investment,  540 
"    Racy,  337 
Viper  Merchants,  583 
Virginia  Usurer  Foiled,  217 
Virtue  of  One- Pound  Notes  in  Stopping  a 

Bank  Run,  575 
Virtuous  and  Touching  Appeal  of  an  Auc- 
tioneer, 532 
Vocation  Peculiar  to  China :  Gossip  at  Fifty 

Cents  per  Hour,  607 
Voltaire's  Dealings  in  Government  Stocks,  111 


W 

Wager  between  a  Stock  Broker  and  a  Capital- 
ist, 536 
Waghorn's  Great  Scheme,  374 
"  Walter  Barrett's  "  Cotton  Mission,  148 
Wanting  to  Pay  the  Cash,  262 
Warranty  of  Perfect  Soundness,  562 
Washington  as  a  Business  Man,  179 

"  Irving's  Commercial  Bankrupt- 

cy, 444 
Waste  Book  and  Ledger— their  Meaning,  686 
Wealthy  Men  Imagining  Themselves  Poor, 

492 
Wealthy  Men  of  Cincinnati,  168 
Weathering  the  Storm  of  1828,  573 
Wedding-Gift  of  Rothschild  to  his  Niece,  509 
Weighing  Short,  279 

Weight  of  Miss  Burdett  Coutts's  Fortune,  87 
Western  Method  of  Collecting  a  Debt,  397 
Whale  Fishery  Enterprise  of  Americans,  160 
What  is  a  "  Flemish  "  Account  ?  662 
"  What  is  Sauce  for  the  Goose  is,"  &c.,  449 


What  it  means  to  be  "  Selling  Off,"  197 
"     John  McDonogh  said  to  a  Lawyer,  146 
"     The  Word  "  Pay  "  Signifies,  407 
Where  "Tariff"  came  from,  328 
Whitney,  Stephen,  Merchant,  of  New  York,  14 
Who  were  the  first  Whalemen  ?  129 
Wholesale  Joke  upon  Shoemakers,  738 
Why  Guy,  the  Millionnaire,  never  Married, 

501 
Wife  of  a  Merchant's  Clerk,  688 
Wigs  by  the  Cargo,  597 
Will  of  Guyot,  the  French  Millionnaire,  472 
William  Roscoe,  the  Poet  Banker,  169 
William  Sturgis  in  the  Legislature,  473 
Willing  to  Swallow  the  Joke,  756 
Wimprecht,  the  Blind  Bookseller,  706 
Window    "  Gazers "    employed   by   London 

Shopkeepers,  203 
Wine  Merchant  at  his  Debtor's  Table,  451 
Winking  and  Bidding  at  Auctions,  552 
Winners  and  Losers  in  Grant's  Bubble,  534 
Wiping  out  an  Old  Score,  453 
Wit  of  a  Gravestone  Maker,  731 
"  Won't  Look  at  Him,"  448 
Wood,  James,  the  Gloucester  Millionnaire,  3 
"  Words  have  their  Meaning,"  334 
Working  a  Hand-car,  383 
Would  not  Stoop,  757 
Would'nt  Steal  Indiana  Money  at  Par,  452 


Yankee  Calculation  of  Railroad  Speed,  365 

"        Hoarding  Specie,  72 

"       Shrewdness  Handsomely  Illustrated, 
124 
"Your  Ticket,  Sir!  "381 


THB     END. 


Any  of  these  Books  sent  free  by  mail  to  any  address  on  receipt  of  Price. 

RECENT  PUBLICATIONS 

OF 

D.  APPLETOJST  &  COMPANY, 

443  &  445  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK. 


Life  and  Correspondence  of  Theodore 

PARKER,  Minister  of  the  Twenty-eighth  Congregational  Society,  Boston. 
By  John  Weiss,    With  two  Portraits  on  Steel,  fac-simile  of  Handwriting, 
and  nineteen  Wood  Engravings.     2  vols.,  8vo.     1,008  pages.    Price,  $6. 
"These  volumes  contain  an  account  of  Mr.  Parker's  childhood  and  self-education;  of  the 
development  of  his  theological  ideas ;  of  his  scholarly  and  philosophical  pursuits ;  and  of  his 
relation  to  the  Anti-Slavery  cause,  and  to  the  epoch  in  America  which  preceded  the  civil  war. 
His  two  visits  to  Europe  are  described  in  letters  and  extracts  from  his  journal.    An  auto- 
biographical fragment  is  introduced  in  relation  to  Mr.  Parker's  early  life,  and  his  letters  of 
friendship  on  literary,  speculative,  and  political  topics,  are  freely  interspersed.    The  illustra- 
tions represent  scenes  connected  with  various  periods  of  Mr.  Parker's  life,  the  houses  he  dwelt 
in,  his  country  baimts,  the  meeting  house,  his  library,  and  the  Music  Hall  in  which  he 
preached." 

Catechism  of  the  Steam  Engine, 

In  its  various  Applications  to  Mines,  Mills,  Steam  Navigation,  Railways,  and 
Agriculture.  With  Practical  Instructions  for  the  Manufacture  and  Manage- 
ment of  Engines  of  every  Class,  By  John  Bourne,  C,  E.  New  and  Re- 
vised Edition.     1  vol.,  12mo.     Illustrated.     Cloth,  $2. 

'  In  offering  to  the  American  public  a  reprint  of  a  work  on  the  Steam  Engine  so  deservedly 
successful,  and  so  long  considered  standard,  the  Publishers  have  not  thought  it  necessary  that 
it  should  be  an  exact  copy  of  the  English  edition.  There  were  some  details  in  which  they 
thought  it  could  be  improved  and  better  adapted  to  the  use  of  American  Engineers.  On  this 
account,  the  size  of  the  page  has  been  increased  to  a  full  12mo,  to  admit  of  larger  illustrations, 
which,  in  the  English  edition,  are  often  on  too  small  a  scale ;  and  some  of  the  illustrations 
themselves  have  been  supplied  by  others  equally  applicable,  more  recent,  and  to  us  more 
familiar  examples.  The  first  part  of  Chapter  XL,  devoted  in  the  English  edition  to  English 
portable  and  fixed  agricultural  engines,  in  this  edition  gives  place  entirely  to  Illustrations 
from  American  practice,  of  steam  engines  as  applied  to  dififerent  purposes,  and  of  appliances 
and  machines  necessary  to  them.  But  with  the  exception  of  some  of  the  illustrations  and  the 
description  of  them,  and  the  correction  of  a  few  typographical  errors,  this  edition  is  a  ikithfUI 
transcript  of  the  latest  English  edition.*' 

Life  of  Edward  Livingston, 

Mayor  of  the  City  of  New  York ;  Member  of  Congress ;  Senator  of  the  United 
States ;  Secretary  of  State ;  Minister  to  France ;  Author  of  a  System  of 
Penal  Law  for  Louisiana ;  Member  of  the  Institute  of  France,  etc.  By 
Charles  H.  Hunt,  with  an  Introduction  by  George  Bancroft.  1  vol., 
8vo.     Cloth.    $3  50. 

"  One  of  the  purest  of  statesmen  and  the  most  genial  of  men,  was  Edward  Livingston, 
whose  career  is  presented  In  this  volume.    ♦    ♦    ♦    ♦    ♦ 

"  The  author  of  this  volume  has  done  the  country  a  service.  He  has  given  ns  in  a  becom- 
ing form  an  appropriate  memorial  of  one  whom  succeeding  generations  will  be  proud  to  name 
88  an  American  jurist  and  statesman." — EvangelUt. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


History  of  the  Romans    under   the 

Empire.    By  Charles  Merivale,  B.  D.,  late  Fellow  of  St,  John's  College. 
1  vols.,  small  8vo.     Handsomely  printed  on  tinted  paper.     Price,  in  cloth, 
$2  per  vol.    Half  Morocco  extra,  $3  50. 
CONTENTS : 
Vols.  I.  and  II. — Comprising  the  History  to  the  Fall  of  Julius  Caesar. 
Vol.  III. — To  the  Establishment  of  the  Monarchy  by  Augustus. 
Vols.  IV.  and  V. — From  Augustus  to  Claudius,  b.  c.  27  to  a.  d.  54. 
Vol.  VI. — ^From  the  Reign  of  Nero,  a.  d.  54,  to  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem,  a.  d.  "70. 
Vol.  VII. — From  the  Destruction  of  Jerusalem,  a,  d.  10,  to  the  Death  of  M. 
Aurelius. 

This  valuable  work  terminates  at  the  point  where  the  narrative  of  Gibbon  commences. 

"  When  we  enter  on  a  more  searching  criticism  of  the  two  writers,  it  mnst 
be  admitted  that  Merivale  has  as  firm  a  grasp  of  his  siibject  as  Gibbon,  and  that  his  worli  is 
characterized  by  a  greater  freedom  from  prejudice,  and  a  sounder  philosophy. 

"This  History  must  always  stand  as  a  splendid  monument  of  his  learning, 
his  candor,  and  his  vigorous  grasp  of  intellect.  Though  he  is  in  some  respects  inferior  to 
Macaulay  and  Grote,  he  must  still  be  classed  with  them,  as  one  of  the  second  great  trium- 
virate of  English  historians." — North  American  Review,  April,  1863. 

Thirty  Poems. 

By  Wm.  Collan  Bryant,  1  volume,  12mo.    Cloth,  |1  25 ;  cloth  gilt,  %l  VS ; 

mor.,  $3  50. 

"  No  English  poet  surpasses  him  in  knowledge  of  nature,  and  but  few  are  his  eqnals.  He 
is  better  than  Cowper  and  Thomson  in  their  special  walks  of  poetry,  and  the  equal  of  Wads- 
worth,  that  great  high  priest  of  nature." — Tlie  World. 


Hints  to  Riflemen. 


By  H.  W.  S.  Cleveland.     1  vol.,  12mo.    Illustrated  with  numerous  Designs 
of  Rifles  and  Rifle  Practice.     Cloth.     Price,  %l  50. 
"  I  oflfer  these  hints  as  the  contribution  of  an  old  sportsman,  and  if  I  succeed  in  any  degree 
In  exciting  an  interest  in  the  subject,  my  end  will  be  accomplished,  even  if  the  future  inves- 
tigations of  those  who  are  thus  attracted  should  prove  any  of  my  opinions  to  be  erroneous." — 
mutract  from.  Pr^ace. 

Queen  Mab. 

A  new  Novel.    By  Jclia  Kavanagh.     1  vol,  12mo.    Cloth,  $1  50. 

"  No  English  novelist  of  the  present  day  ought  to  hold,  we  think,  a  higher  rank  In  her  own 

Eecnliar  walk  of  literature  than  Miss  Kavanagh.  There  Is  a  freshness  of  originality  about  all 
er  works,  and  an  individual  character  stamped  on  each, — there  is,  moreover,  a  unity  of 
thought  and  feeling,  a  harmony,  so  to  speak,  pervading  each  separate  work,  that  plainly 
speaks  original  genius,  while  the  womamy  grace  of  her  etchings  of  character.  Is  a  marvel 
or  artistic  excellence."— rodiefc 

My  Cave  Life  in  Vicksburg. 

By  a  Lady.    1  voL,  12mo,  cloth.    $1. 

"  Altogether  we  commend  the  book  as  worth  more  than  almost  any  dozen  of  books  on  the  war 
we  have  lately  noticed. " 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


Thoughts  on  Personal  Rehgion. 

Being  a  Treatise  on  the  Christian  Life  in  its  Two  Chief  Elements,  Devotion  and 
Practice.  By  Edwaed  Meyrick  Goolburn,  D.D.,  Prependary  of  St.  Paul's, 
Chaplain  to  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  and  one  of  Her  Majesty's  Chaplains  in 
Ordinary.  First  American  from  the  Fifth  London  Edition.  With  a  Prefa- 
tory Note.  By  George  H.  Houghton,  D.D.,  Rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Trans- 
figuration in  the  City  of  New  York.    1  vol.,  12mo,  430  pages.    Price  $1  50. 

There  is  nothing  in  it  that  is  dry,  uninteresting,  unreal,  cxtragavant,  impracticable,  or  beyond 
ordinary  reach  and  compass.  It  is  full  of  stimulus  and  full  of  encouragement.  It  is  a  manual, 
not  80  much,  perhaps,  for  those  who  have  abundant  leisure  and  live  a  retired  life,  as  for  those 
especially,  who  are  engaged  in  the  ordinary  avocations  of  the  world.  It  will  teach  them  how, 
while  living  in  the  world— amid  its  cares  and  perplexities — to  live  above  the  world ;  while  not 
slothful  in  business,  to  be  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord ;  in  one  word,  how  to  sanctify  the 
secular  all-engrossing  pursuit,  and  the  daily  toil. — Extract  from  Frtfatory  Note. 

The  Philosophy  of  Herbert  Spencer. 

First  Principles.     Large  12mo.     507  pages.    Price  $2. 

The  present  Volume  is  the  first  of  a  series  designed  to  enfold  the  principles  of  a  new  Phi- 
losophy. It  is  divided  into  two  parts,  the  aim  of  the  first  being  to  determine  the  true  sphere  of 
all  rational  Investigation,  and  of  the  second,  to  elucidate  these  ftindamental  and  universal  prin- 
ciples which  science  has  established  within  that  sphere,  and  which  are  to  constitute  the  basis  of 
the  system.  The  scheme  of  truth  developed  In  these  First  Principles  is  complete  in  itself  and 
has  its  independent  value ;  but  it  is  designed  by  the  author  to  serve  for  guidance  and  verification 
in  the  construction  of  the  succeeding  and  larger  portions  of  his  philosophic  plan.  « 

The  Management  of  Steel. 

Including  Foipng,  Hardening,  Tempering,  Aimealing,  Shrinking,  and  Expan- 
sion. Also,  the  Case  Hardening  of  Iron.  By  Geo.  Ede.  Employed  by  the 
Royal  Gun  Factories  Department,  Woolwich  Arsenal.  Krst  American  from 
second  London  edition.     1  voL,  12mo.     50  cents. 

"  Steel  being  one  of  the  most  valuable  metals,  and  requiring  great  care  in  the  forging,  harden- 
ing, tempering^  annealing,  and  management  of  it  in  general,  I  think,  after  having  had  nearly 
twenty  years'  good  practice,  experience,  and  study  combined,  I  am  now  able  to  give  a  little  infor- 
mation to  those  who  have  not  had  so  much  to  do  with  it  as  I  have." — Extract  from  the  Work. 

Church  Essays. 

By  George  Cfmmino  McWhorter.  Author  of  a  "  Popular  Hand-Book  of  the 
New  Testament."  1  vol.  12mo,  cloth.  Price  $1. 
The  Essays  are  upon  various  points  of  Christianf^th  and  duty,  embracing  some  of  the  most 
Important  and  interesting  topics,  such  as  the  Trinity,  Kedemption,  Grace,  Charity,  Providence, 
Prayer,  and  Death.  Some  of  the  Essays  may  be  considered  as  Theological,  yet  all  are  written  in  a 
popular  style,  and  interesting  to  the  general  reader.  The  Essay  on  Death,  and  that  on  Grace, 
are  particularly  instructive  and  beautiful  They  are  conceived  in  the  spirit  of  devout  piety,  and 
are  replete  not  only  with  instruction  in  Faith,  but  with  lessons  of  practical  duty.  The  style  is 
classical  and  chaste,  firee  fl:t>m  meretricious  ornament,  and  unsafe  excursions  of  the  imagination. 


THE 


AMUAL  CYCLOPJIDIA 

AND 

REGISTER  OF  IMPORTANT  EVENTS 


OF  THE 

YEA.Il    1863 


In  presenting  to  the  public  another  Tolume  of  the  Annual  Cyclopaodia,  containing  the 
record  of  the  most  turbulent  year  which  the  country  has  witnessed,  no  efforts  have  been 
spared  to  secure  its  completeness  and  accuracy,  and  to  preserve  it  free  fix)m  every  mark  of 
partisanship. 

The  principles  adopted  the  previous  years  have  taken  effect,  and  many  new  and  most 
important  questions  arose  under  them,  and  were  discussed  during  1863 ;  such  as  confis- 
cation, emancipation,  indemnity  oflBcial  and  pecuniary,  the  relations  of  the  insurrectionary 
States  to  the  Union,  personal  liberty,  martial  law,  prize,  the  liability  of  Great  Britain  for 
damages  done  by  the  Alabama,  &c.,  &c. 

These  discussions  are  embraced  in  its  contents,  together  with  the  important  civil  and 
political  measures  of  the  Federal  and  State  governments ;  an  accurate  and  minute  history 
of  the  struggles  of  the  great  armies  and  their  battles,  illustrated  with  maps  and  plans  of 
actions  taken  from  oflBcial  copies ;  the  debates  of  the  Federal  and  Confederate  Congresses ; 
financial  measures  of  the  government,  commerce,  &c.,  &c. ;  proceedings  in  the  Con- 
federate States  to  maintain  the  war  and  establish  their  government ;  also,  all  the  exciting 
movements  in  foreign  countries ;  the  developments  in  the  physical  sciences ;  the  progress 
of  literature ;  mechanical  inventions  and  improvements ;  the  stupendous  enterprises  of  the 
government  connected  with  the  war,  such  as  hospitals  for  the  army,  the  manufacture  of 
ordnance,  and  the  trade  regulations  in  insurrectionary  districts.  The  present  statistics 
of  the  Religious  denominations  and  Biographical  sketches  of  the  eminent  persons  deceased 
in  1863,  &c. 

The  contents  are  arranged  in  an  alphabetical  order,  and  accompanied  by  a  most  com- 
plete Index.  The  volume  is  in  the  style  of  the  New  American  Cyclop^sdia,  and  will 
match  the  volumes  for  1861  and  1862,  of  this  annual  The  work  is  published  exclusively 
by  subscription,  and  is  elegant  and  substantial. 


Price  and  Style  of  Binding  of  eaeh  Annual  Yolnme,  1861, 1862, 1863. 

In.  Clotli $4.00 

In.    Sheep, 4.75 

In.    Half  Miorocco, 5.00 

In    Half  Russia, 5.50 

In    IHiall    Miorocco, 7.00 

In   IPuU    Russia, T-OO 

And  to  insure  a  imiform  price  and  r^ularity  in  the  delivery  of  the  volume  to  subscribers 
in  all  parts  of  the  country,  local  agents  are  appointed  in  all  the  cities  and  principal  towns 
in  the  States  and  Territories. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

443  &  445  Broadway,  N.  Y. 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  UBRAflY  FACIUTV 


A    000  719  104     2 


.>.».»:k>->->v 


\>1 


.A-