I HAD now no means of pleasantly passing the long winter
evenings, but such as books afforded. That winter I
went through every volume in the store—the school books,
Bible, and all—and no months of my life were ever spent
more profitably. Mine was not an isolated case, hypothetically
speaking. Most of the merchants in the far west, and
merchants' clerks having charge of establishments, were,

[figure description] Page 118.[end figure description]

and still are, during those dreary seasons, confined within
their houses, without business to transact, and forced
either to take to their books, or to sit down for weeks
and months in unmitigated idiotic idleness. Many of them
become, in consequence, the best read and most thoroughly
informed men in the Union. Works of history, of science,
of poetry—in short, of whatsoever nature they can lay their
hands on—are devoured with insatiable avidity. And
what they read they remember, for their attention is uninterrupted
while they read. Their object is to shut out
from vision, and to banish from the mind, the cheerless
prospect around, and the unpleasant consciousness that the
means of acquiring profits are suspended. To do this effectually,
it becomes necessary for them to be profoundly absorbed
in the contents of the page before them. They
are completely shut out from the ephemeral society of the
living; but they can commune deeply and closely with the
illustrious dead, whose ideas are indestructible. The
thoughts, incidents and lessons of the past are better
learned in the obscurity of unbroken solitude, than amid
the din of universities, or distractions of cities; and the
unprecedented multiplication of books in this country, has
scattered the works of all ages and of all countries into
the most obscure recesses of our confederation, so that no
one who has the disposition, need want the opportunity,
to peruse them. I found dozens of volumes in every
family I applied to, which had been brought with them
from the old states. Thus, even in the newest of the
western settlements, no one can be at a loss for the means
of intellectual culture. And this is why the western merchant,
so often apparently rude in manners and coarse and
unfashionable in attire, exhibits a quality and capacity of
mind which not unfrequently put his fashionable interlocutor

[figure description] Page 119.[end figure description]

to the blush. As a class, and they certainly have their distinctive
characteristics, the western merchants need not yield
to any other class in most of the great essentials which constitute
the citizen, of which America may justly boast. They
are generally brave, honorable, generous, intelligent, sensitive,
and setting aside the habit of profane swearing (which
too much prevails among them), conscientiously moral. Occasionally,
it is true, a merchant in the west makes a fraudulent
failure, and swindles his creditors; but I have never
known such to be western bred. He is an interloper, a
Shylock, and not unfrequently an impostor, whom the
eastern jobbers, in their eagerness to outstrip competition
in their sales, have inconsiderately trusted without any
well-authenticated information in regard to his solvency or
honesty, to the prejudice of their established and punctual
customers. An honest merchant, in a new country, cannot
fail to succeed, if he has any business qualifications; for
his expenses are the merest trifle, and it is his own fault if
he does not realize a profit from his sales. He pays from
fifty-two to seventy-five dollars per annum for board, and the
remainder of his personal expenses need not amount to a
larger sum. He can travel for weeks among his customers,
making his collections, without expense either for himself
or his horse, and will find a blazing hearth, a bounteous
board, and a hearty welcome, wherever he goes.

About the middle of winter, I received a letter from
Joseph, dated at Philadelphia, informing me that he had
made a proposition to his partners to purchase their interest
in the store at Pike Bluff, and had just received their reply,
accepting his offer. As the goods had all been
bought in the first place on credit, and had paid for themselves
under his management, of course his partners (who
were men of means, and deservedly enjoyed good credit),

[figure description] Page 120.[end figure description]

had not been under the necessity of employing any actual
capital in the concern; and consequently the only real interest
they now had in it was their share of the profits,
some fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars. This amount
Joseph stipulated to pay them in one or two years; and
henceforward he was the sole proprietor of the establishment.
He made a full and candid statement of his affairs
to the jobbers in Philadelphia, which was corroborated in
every particular by letters from his late partners. The
Philadelphia merchants were quick to perceive his remarkable
qualifications for business. They were pleased with
his address, and frankness of expression. They were
assured of his honesty—and were satisfied. Without the
slightest hesitation, or symptoms of reluctance, (which the
true western merchant is always acute at discerning,) the
houses of whom his stock had been purchased in the
first instance, without any exception, offered to sell him as
many goods as he wanted, on the usual time—six months,
payable in twelve, charging six per cent. interest after six
months.

Joseph's new stock amounted to about seven thousand
dollars; it was well selected, and the goods were all bought
at the lowest “time prices.” He made his bills principally
in houses of long standing, of established character, and
ample capital, so that no impositions had been practiced
on him.

By the fifteenth of April, Joseph arrived at home with
his goods. The business, it was true, had been dull during
his absence; nevertheless, I had accumulated more means,
from collections and cash sales, than he anticipated.
He expressed his satisfaction at my conduct, and hinted
something about giving me an opportunity of doing better
for myself than the mere realization of an inconsiderable

[figure description] Page 121.[end figure description]

salary. From my speculations and savings, I already possessed
five hundred dollars, which was more than he had
when he commenced business twelve months before.

But his first business on hand to be transacted, was his
marriage; no farther obstacles now stood in the way, and
he was not the one, in his present circumstances, to “ask
an extension of time.” Mr. White made arrangements to
board and lodge him and his bride; and so we set off late
one afternoon to the wedding. It was a two hours' ride,
and we made haste to be there at the appointed time—
Mr. White's son stipulating to stay at the store until my
return the next morning. It was not a trip of pleasure to
me. I was mounted on a horse that could not, or would
not, canter or gallop, and trotted miserably hard when
urged out of his usual slow gait. My complaints and expostulations
had no effect on Joseph; nothing could restrain
him. He saw me hammered almost to death, but
only mocked at my calamity. On he spurred, and I had
to keep up with him. At length he came to a brook, which
had overflowed its banks by reason of the recent heavy
rains, and his horse manifested much reluctance to plunge
into the current. He feared the horse, a borrowed one,
(“Old Whitey” having been disabled by an accident,) could
not swim well, if at all, and he did not wish to wet his
fine clothes.

“Luke,” said he, “your horse I know to be a good
swimmer, for I have heard his owner say so; you must let
me have him to cross this water.”

“But your horse, perhaps,” I replied, drawing a long
breath, and wishing to prolong the parley until I could become
rested in some measure, “is one of the splashing,
plunging kind, that swim with nothing but their noses

[figure description] Page 122.[end figure description]

above water; and for that reason does it follow that I
must have him to cross over?”

“Come, come, dismount,” said he, alighting. “If I
were to get wet, I might have a chill, and then there would
be no kind of a wedding.”

“But,” I replied, “I am subject to fits of the ague, and
you are not. However, you are the oldest, and have a
right to command. But, remember, we are not to exchange
back again as soon as we get over.”

I mounted his horse, and he mine. He then plunged
into the whirling stream without difficulty, and I flounced
after him, by dint of much spurring and other means of
coercion. His horse swam as smoothly as a boat, with
his back above water. Joseph placed his knees on the
saddle, and went through without wetting a thread of his
garments. My horse went up and down. When his hind
feet touched the bottom, I embraced his neck with my
knees; but when he made a plunge forward, I had to
spring back a few feet. It was by means of this rocking,
hobby-horse process that we got through; and when he
made his last spring, I came off behind, holding on to his
tail, and standing up to my knees in the water, for we had
then reached the opposite side. Joseph had turned round,
and was laughing at me. That was the “unkindest cut of
all!”

“Luke,” said he, “where did you learn that fore and
aft kind of riding?”

“I invented it,” said I; “necessity is the mother of invention,
you know. Now I suppose you would like to
have your horse again, but you won't get him, unless you
are willing to sit on a wet saddle.”

“No, you may keep him,” said he, as he perceived the
seat of the saddle had been thoroughly immersed. The

[figure description] Page 123.[end figure description]

balance of my ride was tolerably smooth, and this was
truly a comfort. But Joseph did not bear his infliction
without pronouncing a few hasty anathemas.

We arrived in time, and the nuptials transpired in the
usual way. There was much company, wine, cakes, &c.
Instead of a chill, I had a severe fit of the tooth-ache, and
was forced to have a tooth extracted before morning. The
doctor being only about half awake, and but half sober,
pulled the wrong tooth. It sufficed, however, to ease the
one next to it in a slight degree, and then I determined
it should remain. I groaned through a sleepless night, and
returned with a swelled jaw to Pike Bluff, the next morning,
inwardly resolving never to go to another wedding—
unless it should be my own; and that I would be in no
hurry about it—as if I could tell then what would happen!

Joseph and his bride were soon quietly settled at Mr.
White's. The spring business commenced under very
favorable auspices, but did not terminate so fortunately as
was anticipated. The fact that we had realized a handsome
profit, became pretty generally known, (as such facts
are always sure to be,) and the amount was enormously
magnified, (for the reports of good fortune are ever exaggerated,)
so that Joseph was doomed to have competition.
At that time business operations were under the propitious
control of the U. S. Bank, and credit was universal. Almost
any man from the west could obtain credit in those
days. It was therefore no difficult matter for another adventurer
to set up an opposition establishment at Pike Bluff.
So another store-house was soon in course of erection, and
another stock of goods was on the way thither. This made
Joseph uneasy. His restless, monopolizing spirit could ill
brook a disappointment. But there was no possible way
to prevent other men from selling goods in his vicinity, if

[figure description] Page 124.[end figure description]

they saw proper to do so, and he had to suppress his rather
unreasonable dissatisfaction and displeasure. A hostile
course would beget sympathy in favor of his competitor,
and he considered every dollar's worth sold by his rival
as so much abstracted from his sales. He had to bear it.
But he determined to realize the means of paying his debts,
from his sales; and he was resolved that a portion of his
goods should be sold where there was no rival establishment.
So he packed up a small assortment, consisting of
about fifteen hundred dollars' worth, and sent me off with
it to found a city higher up the river, on the opposite
side. I put in my five hundred dollars, and was to
have half the profits. He wrote to Kentucky for another
brother, who was now old enough to assist him, (there
were more of the same crop growing up,) and I made my
arrangements to open my little stock at a flat place on the
north side of the river, some thirty miles farther up, where
there were a horse mill and a farm house. I had my boxes
marked Hanover, in honor of a German that lived there.
It is now a city of that name.

When I reached Hanover, I found to my surprise that the
house Mr. Grund had written about as being large enough
to hold the goods, had been originally used as a hen house.
It had been built, it was true, with some care, to exclude
the “varmints;” yet it did not come quite up to my idea of
a store room. But there was no other, and I was compelled
to take it. The door, which had been square, and was
some five feet from the ground, (the chickens being taught
to ascend on a pole,) had to be cut down to the usual form;
shelves and counters had to be constructed and placed in
the room; and finally, the whole building had to undergo
a process of thorough renovation, after my arrival with
the goods, which subjected me to a delay of several days.

[figure description] Page 125.[end figure description]

These were all accomplished, however, in the shortest time
possible, and then I began business in the way we had
commenced at Pike Bluff. I had a “good run.” The
novelty of the thing brought everybody in the parts adjacent,
to town. The mill helped me, and I helped it
amazingly. Between us we had a monopoly. The proprietor
of the soil was much delighted with the idea of
realizing a fortune from the sale of lots, and, as the sequel
will show, was not altogether disappointed.

The fame of my store spread far and near, and my sales
being out of all proportion to the amount of the stock on
hand, I was soon under the necessity of ordering a farther
supply from Joseph; and at the same time I was enabled
to make him a handsome remittance. He was pleased to
see the goods converted into ready money, at fair profits;
but he was a little jealous, and in a letter protested against
my enticing his customers up the country across the river.
He claimed the south side as his exclusive dominions. I
had used some exertion to get a few of them over, who
happened to be cash buyers, and felt the justice of his expostulations;
nevertheless, I do not remember to have relaxed
my efforts. There was one of his customers, however,
whom I did not seek to entice away from him. This
was Miss Polly Beckel, who came without being invited,
and annoyed me once more. There was no ferry at Hanover;
but we kept a canoe near the store, which was sent
across for those who wished to come over. I could not
“paddle my own canoe,” but made arrangements with a
son of Mr. Grund (some fourteen years old) to do it for me.
One morning, I perceived a female on the opposite shore
beckoning for the canoe, and as there happened to be no one
in town to occupy my attention behind the counter, I got
into the boat with the boy and crossed over. Before we had

[figure description] Page 126.[end figure description]

arrived within one hundred yards of the shore, I discovered
that it was the veritable wild Polly herself whom I had gone
to meet. About the same time, Wilhelm, the boy-rower,
recognized her also, and began to smile mischievously.

“What are you smiling about, Wilhelm?” I inquired.

“Why, that's that dare-devil gal, Polly Beckel, and
she'll be dead sure to cut up some capers in the boat. I
hope you can swim?” said he, looking round at me.

“Oh yes,” said I, “but you don't suppose she will
throw me overboard, do you?”

“She mought do it,” said he, with a sinister shake of
the head, “if she should get into one of her high ways.”

We struck the shore a moment after this ominous intimation,
and Polly, having tied her steed to a tree, came
prancing down to us in high spirits.

“Hurrah for you, Luke!” cried she, springing into the
boat, and wringing my reluctantly proffered hand. “This
is right. Who but the groom should come to row the
bride over the ferry?”

“But I didn't come to row you over,” said I, “nor did
I know who you were; besides, I don't know how to paddle
a canoe.”

“I'll learn you,” said she, seizing the paddles in the
hands of Wilhelm, who relinquished them instantly, and
without a word of remonstrance. He knew her skill.
The canoe sped out into the current under the impulsion
of her vigorous strokes. When we were about half way
over, she ceased rowing, and moved near to where I was
sitting. She assumed a fierce look, in which, however,
I could perceive harmless sport strikingly blended.

“Now you want some fun, I suppose,” said I, returning
her steady gaze.

“No—it is a serious matter,” she replied. “I have

[figure description] Page 127.[end figure description]

got you in my power, and I have a right to make use of
my advantage. Will you promise before this witness to
marry me in thirty days?”

“I would promise,” said I, “if I did not wish to see what
you will do when I refuse—therefore I won't promise.”

“Then sink!” cried she. In an instant, and before I
could be aware of her purpose, she stooped down and
pulled a cork from an auger hole which had been bored
through the bottom of the canoe, and the water gushed up
in a stream about an inch in diameter. This was somewhat
alarming; and perceiving my surprise, she held the
cork aloft in her hand, and said in a tone of triumph:

“Promise, or sink! If you attempt to snatch the cork,
I will throw it overboard.” And she drew back her arm,
in the attitude of hurling it away. I stepped forward,
and placed my foot on the hole.

“Now,” said I, as I saw her cast one or two fearful
glances at the water, which began to spread over the bottom
of the frail boat, “I will give you one minute to replace
the cork. If you do not put it back within that time, I
will leap overboard and swim to the shore, leaving you to
get out of the difficulty of your own raising the best way
you can.”

“Oh, if you can swim, that's an end of the joke,” said
she, stopping the leak.

“But it was not one of your dry jokes, Miss Polly,”
said I; “and now it is about time for you to cease your
nonsense with me. I begin to understand the game myself,
and two can play at it. You may provoke me to retaliate.”

“No; I'll make a child's bargain with you—let you alone
if you let me alone—provided you really don't want a wife.
If you want me, you can have me before any magistrate or

[figure description] Page 128.[end figure description]

parson. But you must speak quick, even before next
Thursday. On that day I am to be married to one who has
chosen me, provided I can't get one of my own choosing
before that time. And I have come to-day to buy a white
dress for the wedding.”

This was true. I sold her the dress, and she was married
at the time named—and to the man who happened to
be present when I had my first encounter with her.

Mr. Grund was not idle while I was doing such a
flourishing business. He had got the county surveyor to
lay out the town in lots, and had appointed a day of sale,
when a fourth of them (about one hundred) were to be
knocked down to the highest bidder.

On the day appointed for the sale, I did an immense
business. I sold two hundred dollars' worth of goods,
which had cost me only one hundred and twenty. Men,
women and children came from every direction in the
vicinity, to see the beginning of a new town, and many
made investments in lots. They brought from five to thirty
dollars a piece—dimensions, fifty by one hundred and fifty
feet. Thus Mr. Grund got, for a few acres of ground, more
money than he had paid a few years before for his whole
farm of three hundred and twenty acres. And the portion
sold was flat, and subject to inundation.

There was a stranger among the company at the sale, of
whom no one knew anything. He came on foot, but from
what place no one knew. He was a young man somewhat
older than myself, with a prominent nose, high cheek
bones, and small sparkling eyes. Before the day was over,
I began to suspect he might be one of those venders of “tender”
goods, a cunning Jew, in quest of a location to cheat
his neighbors, and spoil the regular trader's business. He
staid about the store, and observed with glistening eyes

[figure description] Page 129.[end figure description]

every dollar I received. He bought nothing of me himself,
but inquired the prices of a vast number of articles. At
length, when the sale commenced, and the lot I occupied was
put up, he was the only one who bid against me. It had
been previously arranged that I was to have the property
at my own price, as I was instrumental in getting up the
town. But the mysterious stranger had not been a party to
the arrangement; and so he ran up the house—now dignified
by the term store-house—to fifty dollars. Upon this I
quit bidding, and hinted something about selecting another
location a few miles farther up the river, where the ground
was not so low, and not so likely to be washed away by
the June floods. This alarmed Mr. Grund, and he whispered
the auctioneer to withdraw that lot from his list, at the
same time assuring me that if I would pay for the deed, he
would make me a present of the property. They then put
up the lot adjoining mine, and the Jew bid for that also.
I now turned the tables on him. He grew very animated
as I bid against him, and then, for the first time, threw out
a hint of his purpose there. When the lot was knocked
down to him, he mounted a stump on it, and addressed
the company as follows:

“Genlemen, I am a merchant. My goots are on te way
up te river, and vill pe here in a veek. I vant to get a
house puilded along side of Mr. Shortfield's as soon as
possible—and I tink it can pe done by te time te goots
come. I vant to make a contrack for te puilding of it—
te one who pids te lowest, shall have it; but he must
take his bay in goots. I vill help puild it myself—my
labor vill be thrown in. Give me a pid, genlemen.”

It was knocked down, or rather to be knocked up, for forty
dollars, the Jew's assistance thrown in.

This announcement came upon me like a thunder-clap in

[figure description] Page 130.[end figure description]

a clear sky. Already the Jew was surrounded with encouraging
friends, who predicted that Hanover would soon
be a great business place, and that he would be equally
as successful as I had been. Even Mr. Grund himself
ventured slyly to whisper a word of encouragement in his
ear. Moses told them all that I was charging too high for
my goods, and that he intended to sell his much cheaper.
This was gall and wormwood to me, and at once made me
his enemy. I could now appreciate my brother Joseph's
feelings when a competitor interfered with his prospects.
There were no means of keeping competition
away; yet I had the consolation to know that goods in St.
Louis, where the Jew had purchased, were generally from
fifteen to twenty per cent. higher than in Philadelphia,
where mine came from.

I wrote to Joseph for advice, informing him of what had
occurred. He wrote back, stating that his competitor did
not interfere with him much, as his stock had been purchased
in St. Louis. He said I had only to make it known
to the people that my rival's goods did not come directly
from the east, and then they would give mine the preference.
But Joseph did not take it into consideration that my competitor
was a Jew peddler—a dealer in tender goods, (such
as had been damaged, and sold at auction,) and that the
purchasers were men more familiar with quantities than
qualities.

Before the “new store” was in operation, a communication
came on from Washington, in reply to an application
that had been made when the lots were advertised,
establishing a post-office at Hanover, with a weekly mail,
and appointing Mr. Grund, who was on the right side in
politics, post-master. The first mail brought an anonymous
letter from St. Louis to Mr. Grund, which he handed

[figure description] Page 131.[end figure description]

me to read. It ran as follows:—“Sir—there is a certain
Moses Tubal, a Jew peddler, from Indiana, gone up to your
parts to engage a house to sell goods in. Beware of him.
He will sell his goods low enough, no doubt; but it is
strongly suspected here that they are stolen goods, which
the robbers have employed him to sell. You will make
these facts known to all the people round your place.”

“That is a very curious epistle,” said I.

“That it is,” said he.

Here we both paused a considerable length of time,
while our thoughts ran in quite different channels. I was
for having Moses arrested at once, and by this means
summarily disposed of. But then, as I knew of no one who
had been robbed, and as the letter only dealt in hints,
there would be no sufficient grounds to go upon. And then
it occurred to me that, as the letter was an anonymous one,
some of the Jew's friends might suppose I had got it written
to get him out of my way.

“It is my opinion,” said Mr. Grund, “that the Jew
wrote it himself. I know something of their tricks. They
are good judges of human nature. If the impression
should get abroad that the goods are stolen, a majority of
the people would prefer to buy them, for that very reason.
They will think they can be had for less money than goods
got in an honest way. Now, suppose we try the Jew. I
will give him the letter, to do with it as he pleases; and
you and I will agree not to mention the circumstance for
two weeks. If Moses suppresses the contents of the letter,
I shall think the goods have been stolen, sure enough;
if he makes them known, I shall be convinced that it was
all a trick of his own invention.”

This was so reasonable a proposition, that I readily agreed
to it. Moses was at that moment standing on his lot,

[figure description] Page 132.[end figure description]

superintending the erection of his building. I observed his actions
when Mr. Grund called him aside, and placed the letter in
his hands. He threw up his arms, and stamped, and
cursed the writer—but did not once declare he was innocent.
On the contrary, he counterfeited to the life the looks
and manners of a guilty man. He begged Mr. G., with
much apparent earnestness, not to say anything about the
letter, promising to “clear it all up” to his satisfaction in
a few weeks. Mr. Grund promptly agreed not to mention
it. This was more than the Jew hoped for, and he became
really embarrassed. Then his pretended rage increased,
and Mr. Grund left him.

My sales at Hanover had so far exceeded our calculations,
that the amount of business already done had left
both Joseph and myself with greatly reduced stocks. Indeed,
our joint sales made up a sum total equal to a year's
business at Pike Bluff—and the money already realized,
together with a very moderate amount which we could
safely rely upon deriving from collections in the fall, would
be an ample fund with which to pay all the eastern debts.
A generous confidence had been reposed in Joseph by the
Philadelphia merchants, and he resolved to embrace every
opportunity to convince them that it had not been misplaced.
Although it was agreed that he should have twelve
months' time, yet Joseph had contrived to remit two-thirds
of the amount of his indebtedness before the expiration of
six months; and all the letters he received, acknowledging
the safe arrival of his remittances, contained encouraging
expressions which greatly cheered him, and gave a new
impetus to his exertions.

Joseph and I both now began to feel like men, independent
men—and men of some substance. He was worth,
at this time, some $4000, and I about $1000. But it was

[figure description] Page 133.[end figure description]

not our money which made us feel independent; it was our
conscious capacity for business, our confirmed success, our
established credit in Philadelphia, our good health, and
our confidence in the future. We were independent, because
we no longer needed the recommendations of men
of capital to obtain any reasonable amount of goods on
the usual time.

Such being our condition, there was in reality no serious
cause to apprehend any immediate detriment to our interests
from the encroachments of rival traders. In fact,
Joseph's competitor was already meditating a retreat, being
convinced of his inability to cope with so energetic and
enterprising a rival, who, besides, possessed superior
facilities in the procurement of his goods. It was quite
different, however, with my rival, the Jew. His stock
was equal to mine in amount; and he had the advantage of
me in the existence of a very prevalent belief that his goods
had cost him less than mine had cost me. It was whispered
over the country that he was a rogue, and had stolen
his goods; and the very natural inference was that he could
afford to undersell me. Mr. Grund now concurred in the
belief that he had written the anonymous letter himself,
and that it was a paltry trick to take away a portion of my
customers. It was characteristic of the peddling Jews.
Success is their motto, and they pursue it with indomitable
perseverance, and with a total indifference to reputation.
They have no credit themselves, and they credit nobody.
They trade upon the productions of others (they never
create or produce anything), and cheat the Christians with
their own wares. Such was the opinion I conceived of the
peculiar class to which my rival belonged. It may not
have been altogether unmixed with unfounded prejudice;

[figure description] Page 134.[end figure description]

nevertheless, it has not been quite removed by the experience
of subsequent years.

Moses, in despite of my undisguised repulsive attitude,
now resolved to be sociable with me. He came into my
establishment every day when there were no country people
in town, and sat down to talk about matters and things
in general. And while his tongue wagged, his eyes were
not idle. They wandered from shelf to shelf, beginning
at the bottom and going up, then down again, and so on
through the entire stock, as if he were taking an inventory.
This he repeated until he had fixed in his memory the
quantities, qualities and styles of my whole assortment.
I did not, for some time, suspect his motive; but his operations
soon convinced me of the unworthy advantage he
had taken of my passive indulgence.

I ascertained from some of my customers, and from Mr.
Grund in particular, that the Jew was selling certain kinds
of goods, similar to mine on the shelves, at greatly reduced
prices; while he was selling other kinds of which I
had but few or none, at enormously high rates. This
opened my eyes to the real object of Moses in paying me
so many visits. My assortment was much broken, and it
would be a month before I could expect to receive the few
goods ordered from the east. In the mean time, Moses,
who was a “new broom, swept clean.” He caught nearly
all the cash that was passing. He continued to watch my
shelves, and I ascertained that immediately after any particular
style of my goods disappeared, a similar kind in
his establishment always rose in value; for he was conscious
of his monopoly; and when such articles were called
for, he knew they could not be had of me at any price.
Thus affairs progressed for some time, and Moses grew
bolder and more impudent, for impudence is a fixed

[figure description] Page 135.[end figure description]

characteristic of the peddling Jew. But I conceived a plan
to frustrate his arrangements, and which promised me some
amusement. I began to return his visits. It is said that
the most expert strategist is never so liable to be frustrated
by an opposing scheme, as when he is absorbed in his own
secret plans. It was so with Moses. He never suspected
that I had the capacity of conceiving and executing a
counter-stratagem. Always when I returned to my own
store, I noted down on paper the result of my observations.
I also kept a memorandum of the kinds of goods he sold
at high prices. And when the list was completed, his
game was reduced to a demonstration. He sold the kinds
of goods I had the most of at about cost, and those which
I had not, at an enormous profit. The consequence was
that I was rapidly going out of business; and my rival had
circulated a report that I intended to move away in the fall.
That was the result he was aiming at, and it would very
probably have been consummated, had I not fortunately
frustrated his mode of reducing me to such an extremity.

My list being completed, I sent it off to Joseph, requesting
him to send me the articles named immediately, and
explaining my purpose to him. He responded promptly,
for it happened that he had an abundance of the goods
I needed, while he was deficient in the kind I had on
hand, and which the Jew had rendered worthless to me.
So I resolved to send him a box in exchange. When my
box arrived, Moses was all curiosity, and his entire faculties
seemed to be concentrated in his little, piercing eyes.
He was at the landing when the box was put on shore,
and slyly looked over my shoulder at the bill of lading,
hoping to ascertain what the box contained by the description;
but he was disappointed—it merely stated “one box,
weighing 300 pounds.” He then peered at every side of

[figure description] Page 136.[end figure description]

the box, as it was rolled over and over up the bank. He
found nothing on it except my address. An examination
of the ends was attended with the same unsatisfactory
result. But he did not despair, while I enjoyed keenly
his fruitless efforts, and my anticipated triumphs.

“Vat kint of goots are you getting, Luke?” he inquired,
in a most familiar manner, and at the same time with an
affected air of indifference.

“I don't know, exactly,” said I, carelessly, “for I have
not seen them yet. But I have too many goods on hand
now, for the small amount of business I am doing. They
are, perhaps, the same kind I have been selling.”

This made the eyes of Moses sparkle with delight. He
had not the slightest idea that I was meditating, or capable
of meditating, an enterprise against his establishment. So
I had no hesitation in concealing the fact from him; and
perhaps violated a principle of morals in stating directly,
or leading him to infer from my remarks, what was not
exactly the truth. To this habit I was sometimes, in common
with most merchants, eastern as well as western, too
much addicted. I condemn it now, because it is wrong,
and because it is never really necessary.

It was nearly night when I got my box in the store,
where I suffered it to lie unopened till after supper. In
the mean time the Jew's curiosity had frequently brought
him in to see the precise nature of its contents—but to no
avail. I seemed to be indifferent about opening it at all, as
though it contained nothing that would be of benefit to
my declining business.

After supper, I complained of a headache, and shut
myself up in the store to sleep it off, as I alleged. But
when I was alone I worked manfully. I opened the box by
a noiseless process, so as not to be heard by Moses, who

[figure description] Page 137.[end figure description]

was my close neighbor, and who was always on the alert
to pry into my secrets. I took the goods out and marked
them at very low prices, perhaps only some twenty-five per
cent. on the cost and carriage. I then hid them under the
counter, and in other places out of sight. I next repacked
the box with goods with which I was overstocked, leaving
only a few pieces of those kinds on the shelves, which I
also reduced in price; and then, towards midnight, when
I supposed the Jew was asleep, I nailed up the box again,
and left it in the place where it stood the previous evening.
Finally, after arranging the shelves so as to make it appear
that no material alterations had taken place in the nature
of their contents, I lay down on my simple couch, and
dreamed exultingly of the success I anticipated the next
day, which was Saturday, when many people, as usual,
would doubtless be in town.

Bright and early the next morning, the aquiline nose of
Moses appeared in my door, while his eyes ran rapidly
over the establishment. He had heard the hammer, and
did not doubt that I had opened the box.

“Dere's te pox,” said he; “I tought I heard you knock
it open in te night.”

“You must have been dreaming about that box,” said
I; “there it stands just as it stood last night, and as it will
stand until the boat comes down, and then I'll send it
back to Joseph. He can sell its contents sooner than I.”

Moses, well contented with the result of his exploration,
withdrew to his own premises, no doubt with a feeling of
contempt for the stupidity of a rival who suffered him to
monopolize all the business of the place. And I must do
Moses the justice to say that he had managed his affairs
very skillfully, barring his convictions of my continued obtuseness.
In the most quiet manner imaginable, and always

[figure description] Page 138.[end figure description]

maintaining a show of profound respect for me, he had
contrived, for many weeks, to sell my old customers all the
goods they wanted, and placed me in the predicament of
holding the empty bag. When they desired to purchase
such articles as I had on hand, Moses was sure to undersell
me; and when they called for such goods as I was out
of, Moses invariably, and very complaisantly too, sent them
to me to satisfy themselves that they could not be had on
better terms than he offered. Now I was prepared to avail
myself of this extreme condescension of friend Moses.
Moses was a wise man, but he had not penetrated all the
hidden things of the hen-house.

The first persons who came to town that day, were a
substantial farmer, his wife and daughter, with a well-filled
stocking—such being the kind of purse in which they generally
brought their hard dollars. They looked through the
Jew's establishment first, pricing all the articles they intended
to buy, and then came to price mine. This is the
invariable custom of such plain cautious purchasers in the
west. They look at everything, and ask the price of everything,
at every store in town, before they make up their
minds where to leave their hard earnings. Those only
buy carelessly, who buy on credit, and without a comparison
of qualities and prices. And this class, whether it
be in the city or country, ultimately pay some twenty-five
per cent. more, for the same amount of merchandize, than
those who “pay as they go.”

After sitting in silence some minutes, and quietly surveying
the goods, as the country folks are in the habit of
doing, the old lady spoke first.

“I see you've got some blue calico,” said she; “but
they say you sell it higher than the Jew does.”

Now this was one of the kinds of staple goods of which I

[figure description] Page 139.[end figure description]

had hitherto kept a large quantity, and the price of which
the Jew had put down. At that time, (eighteen years ago,)
its cost in Philadelphia was fourteen cents per yard, and
my price had been twenty-five cents. The Jew put it
down to eighteen and three quarter cents. But I had
packed up all I had of it, excepting a few pieces precisely
similar to the styles kept by the Jew, for Joseph.

“Who says so?” was my response, as I took down the
articles and displayed them on the counter, so that she
might see they were exactly like the Jew's goods which
she had been examining.

“He told us so himself,” she replied, while she put on
her spectacles and looked at the goods.

“What does he ask for his blue calico?” I inquired,
when I perceived she was satisfied that the goods before
her were similar to the kind she had been looking at in
my rival's store.

“He sells his'n at eighteen and three quarter cents, and
he says you ask twenty-five cents for your'n.”

“Then,” said I, “he has been slandering me. My
price is only sixteen and two-third cents, which is under
the Jew's.”

“Oh, did you ever!” exclaimed the old lady's daughter,
a fat, blooming girl of sixteen. “What a shame it is for
people to tell such lies! Buy your calico of Mr. Shortfield,
mamma—it's better, and cheaper, and prettier than
Mr. Tubal's.”

The old man lost no time in giving the hint to the old
lady, and she was not slow in taking it. The goods were
soon cut off, wrapped up, and paid for.

“Now,” said the old man, “we want to buy two solid
gingham dresses; but one of our neighbors told us you
were out of that kind of goods. I think the Jew asks

[figure description] Page 140.[end figure description]

too high for his—but he told us to see if you could sell it
any lower. Perhaps he knew you had none on hand.”

“Your neighbor was mistaken,” said I, taking an armful
from under the counter. “I have a very handsom
little assortment of it. What did the Jew ask for his?”

“He asked sixty-eight and three quarter cents a yard
for this kind of goods,” replied the old man.

“Yes, this is the kind,” added both the old lady and
the daughter. Now, this kind of goods (at that time) cost
thirty cents, and the usual retail price was fifty-six and a
quarter cents. So it was plain that the Jew was playing a
very unfair game with me. I felt justified in departing
from my regular course, to “pay him back in the same
way” that he had been operating against me.

“Then,” responded I, with much assumed indignation,
“the Jew intended to cheat you. He asks more for his
goods than they are worth. I will sell you this gingham
for thirty-seven and a half cents a yard.”

“My gracious!” exclaimed the daughter. “Why
mamma, don't let's go back to the Jew's store again.
Let's buy all our goods here.”

“If Mr. Shortfield will sell us what we want as low as
the Jew, we'd as lief buy of him as anybody else,” observed
the old man, dryly, who was desirous of “bringing
me down” on all the rest of the articles he wanted. And
the more effectually to accomplish his object, he displayed
his well-filled stocking, and counted me out the money for
the two gingham dresses.

They then mentioned article after article which they had
examined at the Jew's, and for which Moses, supposing
they could not be had of me, had asked them enormous
prices, and then referred them to me to see if I could sell
them any cheaper. Contrary to his belief, I had them all,

[figure description] Page 141.[end figure description]

and sold them at greatly reduced prices. The party made
all their purchases of me, and paid me some forty dollars
in old Spanish milled coin.

When the old man went after the horses, which had
been tied to the rack before the door of Moses, the Jew
watched his motions very closely. The move was incomprehensible
to him. But when he saw the whole party
depart from my door, with their saddle-bags and meal-bags
filled with bundles of goods, he looked daggers.
His lips were perfectly livid, and his cheeks were swollen
with rage and disappointment. That was a happy moment
for me. Every western merchant who has had to
compete with a Jew rival, will be at no loss to appreciate
my feelings of joy and triumph. But my success did not
end here. Party after party followed the first, all departing
in the same way from my door, fully supplied with the articles
they wanted. Every one purchased from me on better
terms than had been offered by Moses. That day my sales
amounted to one hundred and fifty dollars, mostly cash,
while Moses had not sold more than ten dollars' worth!
This was a mystery he could not comprehend. Towards
night Moses could restrain his eagerness to penetrate the
cause of so unexpected a turn in my favor, no longer. He
came in avowedly to get a note changed, but really to see
if I had not been getting some new goods. I asked him
to sit down, which he did, while his eyes ranged over the
shelves in quest of my new stock. But it was “no go.”
Everything had again assumed the old appearance. He
could perceive no change in my assortment, and I was resolved
to make no voluntary or forced revelations. In
vain he sought to find out the kinds of goods I had been
selling, and the prices.

“You had a pusy day, I peliefe,” said he.

[figure description] Page 142.[end figure description]

“Why, yes,” said I, lying on my back on the counter,
manifesting signs of weariness. “A breeze sprung up in my
favor, some how or other, to-day. It has been dull enough
for some weeks with me, while the wind seemed to set
altogether in your favor. Time about is fair play. But
still it is rather curious that I should have such a brisk
day, with such a broken assortment. When my new goods
arrive from Philadelphia, I hope I shall get a fair share of
the business—if not, I'll pull up stakes and be off in the
spring.”

“My new goots vill come next month, too. But I
vouldn't keep dem here till next spring, if I couldn't sell
dem. But my stock is goot, now, and I ought to pe selling
dem priskly.”

“You have been doing all the business until to-day, and
no doubt you will keep the run to yourself till my goods
get here. Then we'll see what I can do. I've got my
invoices, and find there has been a material decline in
the east. What do you have to pay for blue and pink
solid ginghams, in St. Louis?”

“Oh, apout tirty-five cents,” said he.

“I find mine are invoiced at twenty-eight cents, this
time,” said I, carelessly, while Moses evinced much vexation.
He had a large amount of them on hand, and I was
satisfied they had cost him thirty-seven and a half cents a
yard.

The Jew returned to his own premises without solving
the problem which disturbed his mind. And as he went
out I contrived to open my drawer and cause a considerable
gingling of specie.

During the ensuing week, I did all the business. But
the Jew at length ascertained the reason. One of my
customers, who had been asked a much higher price by the

[figure description] Page 143.[end figure description]

Jew than he had given me for the same goods, unrolled his
bundle and exhibited to the staring eyes of Moses a
variety of articles which he supposed he alone possessed.
He could not deny that they were lower than his own goods;
and he had the mortification to reflect that he had been
sending his customers to me under the conviction that I
could not supply their wants; whereas I had been accommodating
them in every instance. Then he learned to his dismay
that I had been selling blue calico below the unfair
reduction he had made himself! And now winter was
approaching, and most of his stock would be out of season.
Besides, it depended upon his success in the sale of the
goods on hand, whether he would be able to replenish for
the winter. I had the run, and determined not to lose it.
I deemed it better to sell even at cost and carriage, than to
hold the goods, that were soon to be unseasonable, over to
the next year. So I continued the game, and poor Moses
felt at last that he had been outdone by a Christian competitor.
To make matters still worse with him, many of
the articles which he had bought at auction proved to be
very tender, and otherwise defective, which caused a perfect
storm about his ears. But he had explanations, apologies,
and promises to pacify them all; and he determined
to be revenged on me. The western Jews are exceedingly
vindictive, and most pertinacious in their efforts to cripple
their Christian competitors.

CHAPTER VII.

[figure description] Page 144.[end figure description]

During the early part of the winter, I had a visit from
Joseph. He still did most of the business at Pike Bluff,
as I continued to do at Hanover. We had now sufficient
funds in hand to pay the balance on the spring purchases,
and also for the goods ordered in the fall. Our joint sales
this year amounted to more than sixteen thousand dollars,
and the net profits could not have been less than five thousand
dollars. Joseph proposed that I should go east for our
spring goods—a proposition which I joyfully accepted.
So it was arranged that our younger brother Isaac, who
had been with Joseph, should take charge of the establishment
at Hanover during my absence.

Just about the time appointed for me to commence the
journey to Philadelphia, I received a letter from Blanche,
whom I had determined to see on my way eastward. But
this epistle was dated at Norfolk, Va. Here it is, in full,
copied from the original which now lies before me:

“Norfolk, Va., Dec. 1st, 183-.

“Dear Luke:—I cannot restrain myself any longer from
writing to you. Your last letter, informing me of your good
prospects, and of your intention to commence business for
yourself at Hanover, was directed to me, and not in an
envelope to a third person—so it fell into the hands of
my guardian-uncle, and excited his wrath and indignation
to a frightful extent. But the worst of it was that he did
not tell me what it was all about, but kept the letter himself.
Now, I am my own mistress, and have some fortune
here in old Virginia in my own right. I might at any time

[figure description] Page 145.[end figure description]

relieve myself of his supervision, and his eccentric solicitude.
Yet as my uncles are the nearest of kin that I have,
I hope to be able to avoid a rupture with them. But to
my narration. A few days after your letter fell into his
hands, he announced his intention to take me to Virginia,
and leave me under the protection of his brother, my uncle
Edgar Beaufort. Not being aware of the cause which induced
this step on his part, I was delighted with the idea
of going back to old Virginia, and so I readily agreed to
his proposition, without paying any particular attention to
his remarks about the opportunity the change would afford
me of marrying some one of my own station, equal in birth
and fortune.

“We set out at the time appointed, and I had a very
pleasant trip of it. My uncle became very indulgent as we
progressed eastward, and seemed disposed to gratify all my
wishes. We visited Philadelphia, New York, the Saratoga
Springs, and even the Falls of Niagara, before we turned
southward. He took me to balls, theatres, concerts, &c.,
and really seemed to be anxious for me to contract an
`eligible match,' as he termed it. But I fell in love with
nobody—and if any one fell in love with me, I never
heard of it. And as for the places of amusement, you
know I have no partiality for them. I always enjoyed
myself much better on Sundays at church. You have no
idea, Luke, how I was charmed to find myself within the
walls of a real church again. I was baptized and reared
in this (the Episcopal) church, and have an inextinguishable
affection for it.

“At last we reached Virginia, and as I was never partial
to the country, I obtained the consent of my uncle to board
in this pleasant city. I had not been located here more
than a month before I ascertained, for the first time, the

[figure description] Page 146.[end figure description]

cause of my removal to the east. One of my servant
women, living with uncle Edgar, who is the laundress of
his family, and whom I had taught to read, discovered your
letter to me in the pocket of my uncle's vest. She saw it
was addressed to me, and determined I should have it. So
when she came to town on the ensuing Saturday to bring
my clothes, she handed it to me. Of course it explained
everything—the reason of my removal, my uncle's anxiety
for me to make an `eligible match,' my pleasant tour, and
all. I am really obliged to you for all this kindness, and
you have my sincere thanks.

“But why should your innocent epistle produce such a
commotion with my uncle? You have never made a
declaration of love to me, nor have I ever breathed or
written a word which might lead any one to suppose that I
had a passion for you. We have merely corresponded as
friends. We have been associates, it is true, and have
esteemed each other. Because I did not drop your acquaintance,
like some others, when misfortune reduced your
family from affluence, I don't see why they should suppose
I intended to marry you. I have some pride of family,
as well as my uncles; but I cannot perceive anything derogatory
in reciprocating the friendship of a schoolmate
who happens to be poor, so long as he aspires to rise in
the world by industry, and rectitude of moral conduct.

“Your letter to me did not demand a reply, and perhaps
it would have been forgotten by both of us by this time,
if my uncle had given it to me and said nothing about it.
Perhaps by this time we might have forgotten one another,
and you would have ultimately married (as you probably
will), that brazen Miss Polly something, whom your brother
has written about to Kentucky, and I might have formed
an `eligible match,' some of these days, to the entire `

[figure description] Page 147.[end figure description]

contentation,' as Queen Elizabeth would say, of my very particular
brace of uncles. But I do not like to be watched,
suspected, and kept in leading-strings, as if I were incapable
of conducting myself with propriety; and so I have
a disposition to give my uncles a taste of my quality—by
refusing every match they make for me, and finally to
choose for myself, provided I should ever marry.

“Now I do not propose to marry you—understand that.
But you are good-looking enough to be a beau, and your
studies, incessantly pursued, have made you an intelligent
correspondent. Now if you were only, through conviction,
a member of the church, I could hold free converse with
you—and if you were so disposed, I would do so, in spite
of my uncles. I will do so, as it is, to a limited extent,
provided you will read the works I enjoin. And what is
more, without farther preface, I tender you my promise
not to consent to any `eligible match,' before I see you—
not meaning that there is any probability of ever making a
bargain `for better, for worse' with you. But I like the
idea of a correspondence, and it will afford me great
pleasure to hear of your success in everything you undertake.
And rest assured that, notwithstanding I have some
of the `high notions' of my uncles in regard to families,
I shall never consider any honorable pursuit, by which
you may acquire wealth, as disgraceful, or as rendering
you unworthy of my esteem. Be industrious, be honorable,
and, if possible, be religious, is the counsel of your old
friend,

I lost no time in replying to this epistle. No doubt I
went far beyond the limits of a formal, friendly correspondence,
for I believed myself pretty deeply in love with
Blanche. I informed her of my continued success in

[figure description] Page 148.[end figure description]

business, and of my purpose to visit Philadelphia that winter.
I requested her to address her next letter to the care of
Messrs. Y. S. & K., importers of hardware, Philadelphia,
and upon its reception, provided she approved it, I proposed
to pay her a visit at Norfolk.

I took especial care to instruct Isaac in the mode of
competing with Moses during my absence; and he was
not difficult to teach, for he, too, had already resolved to
become a successful merchant. All his thoughts, all his
aspirations, centered in the one object—and of course there
was no such word as failure in his vocabulary. The Jew
was not long in perceiving his aptitude for business, his
acumen in discovering and frustrating stratagems, which
dispelled his hopes of again acquiring “the lead” while
I was away.

The winter that year was as remarkably warm as the one
preceding it had been remarkably cold, and my departure
was delayed in consequence until about the first of February,
as it was probable I should then be enabled to
go most of the distance by water, which would be the
most speedy, economical and pleasant mode of travel. At
length I set out on horseback for St. Louis, in company
with several merchants from the neighboring counties. I
was young, full of hope, and ought to have been perfectly
happy. But I was not. My spirit was too much imbued
with the romantic notions and artificial distinctions imparted
by the mass of pernicious works I had read in the
clerk's office in Kentucky. I had a lingering contempt for
the means I was under the necessity of employing to acquire
wealth. I foolishly made a distinction between laboring for
money in my present vocation, and bartering one's services
to rogues for fees in a learned profession. The aristocratic
Beauforts considered the one not quite respectable, and

[figure description] Page 149.[end figure description]

the other altogether honorable; and, at times, my restless
fancy was too much disposed to concur with them. But
Blanche did not accord with her family in opinion; at least
she had never been known to make any such distinctions.
I say I ought to have been happy—as perfectly happy as it
is possible for one to be on earth. I had with me sufficient
money to discharge every debt we owed in Philadelphia.
I had made money, and my prospect was good for making
a speedy competence. I was respected in the community
where I dwelt, and associated on terms of perfect equality
with the highest and best of the population. Then why
should I call up in imagination other societies, other classes,
of more refined manners and more luxurious habits, and
endure voluntary unhappiness because fortune had denied
me access to them? It was simply because there had not
always been a proper Mentor at my side to place in my
hands the right kind of books. It demonstrated the fact
that an immense amount of injury is perpetrated by the
indiscriminate dissemination of works of pure fiction.
Such works may serve to amuse, and some written by
authors of common sense, may impart instruction; but
a majority of them are very apt to plant an immedicable
thorn in the breast of the young reader, to rankle and
plague him during the remainder of his life. It matters
not how exalted may be one's origin, or affluent his circumstances;
he must be doomed to tumble down, on many
occasions, from his fancied eminence, and grovel on the
earth with the rest of the worms of creation; and if his
nerves are destined to be shocked on viewing the ordinary
pursuits of life, he is quite likely to suffer a larger quantity
of misery, attributable to his fallacious notions of lofty
gentility, than the humblest laborer who toils for his daily
wages. That there are—that there must be distinctions

[figure description] Page 150.[end figure description]

in society, cannot be denied, and ought not to be deprecated.
The superior gifts and acquirements of mind, the
undeviating adherence to the principles of honor and
morality, must always, and should ever, exalt certain individuals
above the common herd that may be found destitute
of such qualities. But to suppose that a man should
be assigned a low degree in the scale of respectability,
solely because he is under the necessity of prosecuting an
honest pursuit to secure a maintenance, is altogether absurd
and ridiculous. That such groundless supposition does
prevail in certain communities, is well known to all.
But it is an evil that might be corrected by example. It
is true the accomplished and refined could obtain no reciprocity
of enjoyment in the society of the honest ignorant;
nor can such an association be required. But they could
recognize the claims to respectability of those who become
as intelligent as themselves, and as subservient to correct
principle, notwithstanding their occupations, of whatsoever
kind they may be. They should disdain to reproach any
one for his business pursuits, provided they be lawful and
not injurious to public morals. There is a distinction
without much difference, between acquiring a fortune by
honest industry one's self, and subsisting on a fortune so
acquired by one's father or grandfather. There are but
few—very few, indeed—families of wealth and pretension
in this country, which have not produced their mechanics
and men of business. Therefore, the man who
denounces as disreputable any of the useful occupations,
is very apt to be casting a stigma upon some member of
his own family, and perhaps the very one to whom he is
indebted for everything he possesses.

When we arrived at St. Louis, the river was open, and
in fine navigable order. A large number of merchants

[figure description] Page 151.[end figure description]

met there on their way to the east; and western merchants,
wherever they meet, are acquaintances and friends; so
we were all perfectly “at home” together. We met on
board the splendid new steamer, Princess Victoria, which
was to start the next morning at seven o'clock. There
was one merchant, however, disappointed in his expectations
of going along with us. This was a gentleman of
experience, and wherever he was, always had business
to attend to up to the last moment. We all regretted
that he was left behind, which occurred in the following
manner. After coming on board, paying for his passage,
and depositing his trunk in his state room (they had just
begun to construct state rooms), he turned to Captain Swan,
and addressed him as follows:

“Captain, you start at seven o'clock, A. M. to-morrow?”

“At seven o'clock precisely,” replied the captain.

“You mean seven o'clock, P. M., as usual, I suppose,
captain, which will allow me to do all my running about.”

“I mean what I say, stranger,” said the captain, very
coolly. “It is not usual with me to speak positively, when
I don't intend to act up to my words. Captain Swan is not
like some other captains you may have met with. I say
seven o'clock, A. M. At that hour I advise you to have
your corpse on board ready to start.” Saying this, the captain
hobbled (he was lame) on shore, and gave some directions
to the hands that were rolling in freight.

“I never knew a single captain in my life,” said friend
F., as the master of the boat turned away, “to push off at
the time named—and if this one starts at the hour appointed,
he will be very apt to leave `my corpse' behind.”

And so he did. By six o'clock the next morning the
Princess had her steam up, and black columns of smoke
rose from her gigantic chimneys, while the engineers

[figure description] Page 152.[end figure description]

below kept up such an incessant hissing and “fizzing” of
steam, that no one could hear himself speak on the boiler
deck, where we were all seated. Precisely at the time appointed,
Captain Swan gave the word to “let go,” which
was promptly obeyed, and a few “licks back” extricated
us from the crowd of steamers lining the busy wharf—busy
even then, but an illimitable beehive now.

But instead of steering down the stream, the pilot turned
her bow up, and we ran about a mile above the city, and
then turned round and went past under a full head of steam,
to show the good people who stared at us the capabilities
of the glorious Princess. The spray flew up six feet high
from our cut-water, and a terrible commotion was kicked
up behind us, almost throwing some of the smaller craft
out on the shore. When we got just opposite the wharf
we had left, a couple of small cannons were fired off, the
flags were run up, and a band of music on the hurricane
deck struck up “The Star Spangled Banner.” We now
beheld our friend F. running down the broad quay, waving
a white handkerchief for us to stop. He called aloud, no
doubt, but we could not hear him—he beckoned, in every
variety of attitude; and we saw him very plainly—but we
could nowhere find the captain. We—the western merchants—
being of one mind, and of one will, would have
caused the captain to stop and send ashore for him; but,
as I have said, that functionary had disappeared, and could
nowhere be found. At length, when we had gone some
six miles, we perceived the captain coming up from below,
with an air of perfect ignorance of what had transpired.
He was sorry we had not found him; and even then said he
would go back if we insisted upon it—such being the potential
influence of our class—but this was rather much
to require at his hands, and so we continued on our career,

[figure description] Page 153.[end figure description]

hoping our friend would overtake us on another boat at
Louisville.

Among the passengers on board, I may be pardoned for
giving the true initials of some of them, as it has been a
long time ago, and they were all creditable pioneers in their
line, and deserve, from a career of usefulness and merited
success, to be held in remembrance by those who have
succeeded them, and subsequently built upon the broad
and substantial foundations laid down by them. First, there
was Mr. G. C., the gentleman in manners, the genius in
financial and business operations, and the benefactor of
honest, enterprising young men. His features were regular
and handsome—barring a nose somewhat long—his eyes
were the very orbs of intelligence, and his lips expressed
his marked characteristics of benevolence and generosity.
But even then the pallor of feeble health rested upon his
face, and the locks about his temples were beginning to be
salted and peppered by the hand of unsparing time. His
physical system was too weak for his vigorous intellect,
and the wear and tear of the thousand horse power of the
machinery of his mind threatened to shatter his hull to
pieces. By forcible restraints on his genius, and by confining
his enterprises in business channels to prudent limitations,
he has fortunately been able to keep his “corpse”
erect even until this day. That he acquired a fortune,
as it was, is known to all the banks of any magnitude
in the Union, where his autograph is quite familiar,
and respected as it deserves to be; but if his body had
only been equal to his mind, there is but little doubt that
his acquisitions—honest and honorable ones in every instance—
would have sounded his fame to every quarter of
the globe. There was Mr. L., self-possessed, amiable,
quiet and easy in his manners, and always meditating

[figure description] Page 154.[end figure description]

something new for the benefit of the state, as well as for his
own profit. Unfortunately, his mind ran in advance of the
necessities of the time; and, as is generally the case with
those who introduce novel objects of usefulness, this projector
was destined to share the fate of many illustrious
predecessors. But still he accomplished much good in his
days of prosperity. So long as he confined his energies
to mercantile pursuits, he continued to reap a rich reward;
and he had the gratification of successfully establishing in
business a great number of enterprising young men in that
new country. Next, there was Mr. M. P., a gentleman of
portly form, and undoubted genius—as pioneers generally
are—but who possessed the invaluable faculty of confining
all his thoughts and operations to a single, uniform line of
business, and of course he had to grow rich. There was
Mr. St**ly, of calm, mild, but thoughtful aspect. He was
meditating expeditions beyond the borders of civilization,
which were afterwards triumphantly accomplished, and he
is now enjoying the fruits of his active life in peaceful retirement
with an independent fortune. There was Col. O.,
who was to become the associate of the last named, and to
acquire a still larger fortune, and finally to fall a victim on
the field of battle. There was Col. M., of unusual vivacity
and extraordinary conversational powers, who subsequently
retired in independence, after pursuing a uniform course
of business. He became chief magistrate of the state.
There was Mr. C. F. J., the happy lover of humor in
others, and affording a constant fund of it himself, but at
the same time a most enlightened man of business, and
the most accomplished chirographer I ever met with. Tall,
handsome, and extremely affable, it is no wonder that
when he retired with an ample fortune, an unusual degree
of popularity should keep him constantly in the councils

[figure description] Page 155.[end figure description]

of the state, and elevate him to the chair of the Assembly.
There were E. M. S., H. R., Mr. H***es (subsequently an
M. C.), Col. T., besides quite a number of others, most of
whom became men of fortune, and achieved other enviable
distinctions. There were those, of course, who formed
exceptions to this list—men who were not adapted to their
business, and failed in it; and others, who were qualified,
but lacked the perseverance, to pursue any line of policy long
enough to arrive at a desirable result. But every one of
them, so far as I am informed, who pursued the legitimate
business of a merchant, without being enticed aside into
other channels of ill-considered speculation, met with certain
success, and reaped a rich reward for all their toils
and privations. And so it is to this day. The western
merchant who perseveres in the single appropriate line of his
business, is absolutely sure of succeeding in his object. It
is the man—and pretty much that man alone—who deviates
from his legitimate career, and in his eagerness to amass
wealth before he has earned it, and before he is entitled to
it, embarks in wild speculations which promise splendid
returns on paper, but which are rarely to be realized on the
counter, that becomes bankrupt. These facts (let no one consider
them fictions) should be well considered by the young
merchants of the west. They are applicable now, and will
be applicable in all time to come; and if the admonition be
kindly received, and the hint be acted upon, the experience
of the past will unquestionably produce its benefits in the
future.

During our passage, various means were resorted to to
pass the time pleasantly. The nights were spent by too many
of us at the card table. Even the oldest and the gravest
of the company did not hesitate to take a turn at brag or
poker; and none, I believe, were exempted from eucher,
whist, backgammon and checkers. Such, at that time, was

[figure description] Page 156.[end figure description]

the universal practice—and so long as none but men of
character and honor participated, there was not much injury
done to the purses of the unskillful; for amusement, not
gain, was the object. But when gamblers by profession
made the cabins of the steamers the scenes of their
depredations, it was quite different with those who ventured
to indulge in sports of such questionable morality. Many
a young merchant was doomed to pay the penalty of his
rash gratifications, by finding himself completely relieved
of the funds destined to discharge his debts in the east.
But any one who travels on the western waters at this day,
needs not to be informed by me that this evil practice has
been, if not quite altogether, at least to a very great extent,
reformed.

But our days were spent differently. We were in the
habit of assembling on the boiler deck, for the purpose of
conversing on matters of amusement and information. We
resolved ourselves into a kind of Western Congress, Mr. C.,
of St. Charles, by spontaneous request, always in the chair.
Here the experienced merchants met to discuss matters of
expediency for the future, deduced from incidents of the
past, the relation of which was often mingled with diverting
anecdotes. The young merchants, who were making
their first visit to the east, kept in the back ground, as mere
listeners (when not especially desired to speak), to the lessons
of instruction calculated for our edification.

I recollect distinctly the first morning we assembled in
this manner; there were perhaps twenty of us seated, forming
a half circle, with the president in the centre, at the
apex, like the leader of a flock of wild geese. Each had
a cigar in his mouth, and his heels on the railing in front.
There was no sun—but the weather was mild and refreshing,
as we were fanned by the early spring breezes coming

[figure description] Page 157.[end figure description]

up the broad “father of rivers,” from the soft clime of the
orange and lemon, the magnolia and myrtle. There was
no fog; but a slight curling mist rose from the placid surface
of the stream, and vanished in thin air before it reached
to any considerable height.

The subject first discussed was the best policy of purchasing
goods in the east. Some contended that it was
best to purchase of a succession of new houses, while
others maintained that the proper mode was to confine
one's dealing to a few well selected firms, whose character
for regularity and fairness was established. This was
edifying to such of us as were making our first visit. A
representative from Palmyra (the appellation of representative
was borne by each of us), maintained the first proposition.

“There was a new house established,” said he, “last
year, with which I made a bill that pleased me; and in proof
that I did a little better with it than I did, or than any one
could do, with the old established firms, I have only to say
that they sold me the “apple 3” brown cottons a quarter
of a cent below the usual price. It is true the amount
saved by the purchase, was no great thing; but it demonstrates
the fact that a new house is willing to put up with
smaller profits, at first, until it has obtained a regular set
of customers.”

“Will the gentleman from Palmyra,” said the member
from Lexington, who took the other side, “permit me to
ask him a question?”

“It is strictly in order,” said the chairman.

“Certainly,” said the Palmyra delegate.

“Then the gentleman will be good enough to state
whether he bought any other goods from the new house;
and if so, what they were, and the prices.”

[figure description] Page 158.[end figure description]

“I did make a general bill with it,” replied the
Palmyrian, “and I was pleased with every article I purchased.
For one thing, I remember that I purchased
a few pieces of a new article, just introduced, called
`Grecianade,' for gentlemen's wear. I gave twenty-five
cts. per yard for it, and sold it readily for fifty cts. I did
not ask the price of it at the old houses—perhaps the
gentleman can inform me what they asked for it?”

“I can,” said the gentleman from Lexington, triumphantly.
“They asked only twenty-three cts. for the same
goods!” This was followed by a round of applause. “But
this is not all: I, too, was induced to make a small bill
with the new house. I did very well, I must confess,
with the articles selected. But I selected none of their
`Grecianade,' nor anything else that I was not quite
familiar with. They attempted to sell me cloths and other
goods ten per cent. higher than I paid for them elsewhere.
It takes quite a good judge of goods, and a better
one than I profess to be, to detect an excess of a few cents
or a few shillings in the yard, on goods of value. The
`tallest' merchant will frequently get beyond his depth in
Market St., or Pearl St., and then it is better to depend upon
an old friend, who has never been known to deceive, than
a new man, and an entire stranger. By taking considerable
pains, examining the tickets, &c., I found out that the cloths
of the new firm for which I was asked $5 00 per yard, were a
portion of the same invoice they asked only $4 50 for at R.'s,
S. P. & Co.'s, G., C. & Co.'s, B.'s, M. N.'s, J. N. & L. D.'s,
O. & T.'s, &c. &c. So when I wandered from the old
beaten track, I made sure of having my foot on firm bottom.
I never buy goods of strangers, unless I am familiar with
their quality and value. Then I run no risk.”

“That's all very well,” said a member from Columbia;

[figure description] Page 159.[end figure description]

“but still something may be said against confining one's
self too long to certain old houses. If they become too confident
of selling you all the goods you want, it is natural
for them to adhere to their tip top prices. It is with them
as it is with us. When certain descriptions of goods decline
in the market, they are very apt to exact the old
figures, if they suppose there is no probability of their customers
getting information of the reduction. Competition is
fair with them, as it is with us. Our customers always
derive advantage from the competition we have in our
towns. They are under no obligation to give us more for
our goods than they can be had for of our neighbors. And
so with the eastern merchant. It is true there is more safety
in the old houses—they will not be likely to impose on a
customer, as strangers sometimes do, when they can get
a good chance. Nevertheless, a new firm will offer inducements
not to be despised. To establish a business,
they are willing to put up with smaller profits than the
rich old houses; and it is our interest to avail ourselves of
all such advantages. I am done, now, and if no one else
desires to speak, I call for a decision.”

The speaker decided every question; that was the rule:
and there was no appeal from his decision. In this case,
he decided thus: “It is always best to look before you
leap—that is the old saying; and it is as applicable now
as when it was first uttered. I have no doubt the first
gentleman lost by his precipitate confidence about as
much as the second gained by his prudence; and that the
new house came off `more than even' by the operation. I
think the last gentleman who spoke, hit the mark. Where
one must depend upon the candor of the house he is dealing
with, it is better to rely upon those whose representations
have before been proved to be correct. But when
one is perfectly competent to judge for himself, it is well

[figure description] Page 160.[end figure description]

to look about him, and buy of those who offer the best bargains.
But one thing I beg to impress upon the very
young gentlemen who have never been in the east. It is
this: every merchant there, as well as in the west, follows
his business for the purpose of making money. I have
never met with a merchant who sold goods exclusively for
the benefit of his customers. And when you are told that
certain houses are selling all kinds of goods lower than
anybody else can afford to sell them, don't believe a word
of it—for, upon inquiry, you will ascertain that such firms
possess no greater capital than their neighbors, and pay
equally as much for their goods. So if they are particularly
extravagant in their declarations that they can afford to
sell, and will sell, at cost, or lower than cost, beware of
them! Buy of them staple goods, that you know all about,
if they insist upon it; but never venture where you can't
touch bottom. Confidence in another is a plant of slow
growth. And until it is so grown and proved—examined
and checked off, in mercantile phrase—it is best to be reserved
and cautious. These merchants may talk about
friendship, and of an ardent disposition to subserve your
interests; but in business transactions, pretty generally,
the design of the parties, mutually, is to realize the most
they can from each other. Such is the motive, even when
excessive assurances of attachment, kind feeling, and all
that, are made.”

The next topic was introduced by a member from Fayette.

“Gentlemen,” said he, “no doubt you all have your
`brag' houses in Philadelphia, and I have mine. I have
tried all the houses you have alluded to; and without having
anything special to allege against any of them, I can bear
witness, particularly of the fairness and trust-worthiness
of my favorite firm — Messrs. Keen, Cunning & Co. I

[figure description] Page 161.[end figure description]

have bought goods of them for three years, and every time
I return, they give me new evidences of their rectitude and
liberality.”

Here he paused a moment, being interrupted by a buzz
that went round the company. A majority of the merchants
present simultaneously uttered declarations of their admiration
of the house alluded to, and I made a memorandum of
it, as one I was resolved to make a bill with.

“I will tell,” continued the gentleman, “why it is my
`brag' house. All houses are liable to make mistakes in
the hurry of business—but this one never hesitates to correct
an error, and it is always done in a handsome manner.
Last year, when I went on, I carried with me my last invoices,
in which were two pieces of cloth charged—one
black, one blue, and each worth about fifty dollars. I told
them the blue never came to hand. That was enough.
My word was sufficient. They were satisfied. They
handed me fifty dollars, thanked me for giving them an
opportunity to correct the error, and protested that they
would always correct such errors with pleasure. And that
was not all. Upon farther inquiry, they said their young
man had by mistake put the cloth in the box of another
merchant, who had not yet informed them of it, but had
simply, and most dishonestly, paid only for the goods in
his bill. I asked them if they did not intend to make the
man pay them for the cloth. They said no; they could
afford to lose it, and they would do so rather than expose
the fellow.”

To my surprise, this speech was followed by a profound
silence, instead of the applause I looked for. The chairman
smiled mysteriously, and called upon the rest to say what
they knew of the house in question, intimating that when

[figure description] Page 162.[end figure description]

they were all done, he would have a few words to utter in
relation to it, as he was well acquainted with its character.
But they all seemed disposed to prolong the silence.

“Come, gentlemen,” said the chairman, “I am very
anxious to speak; but it is against the rule for me to do so
until you are all done. I call upon the gentleman from
Boonville to speak next.”

“Well, then,” said the Boonville member, “if I must
speak out, I shall have `to acknowledge the corn,' to make
use of a very vulgar expression too often repeated in polite
company. I have been `chiseled,' to use another refined
term in our vocabulary. The amount, I don't know, nor
do I care much about it; but the fact that I was so `green,'—
another familiar word—is what stings me somewhat, I
must confess.”

“I'm in for it, too!” said the gentleman from Fulton.

“And I,” exclaimed the most of them, one after another,
in quick succession. To my utter astonishment, the same
kind of a mistake had occurred with each of them at the
same house; and in every instance, it had been a piece of
blue cloth, or some other indispensable article in a western
assortment of goods at that day, and which each one supposed
he had bought remarkably low. I will not, of course,
make any attempt to repeat even the simple anathemas that
were uttered. The compound ones, and the new ones invented
for the occasion, would be altogether beyond my
powers of description. But still I was slow to comprehend
the cause of such a reversion of sentiment. The wonder with
me was why they did not rather sympathize with Messrs.
Keen, Cunning & Co. The money, in every instance, had
been quite promptly refunded; and, if I understood the gentleman,
the goods had been packed in the boxes belonging to
others, who were not so ready to correct the error. The loss

[figure description] Page 163.[end figure description]

of Messrs. Keen, Cunning & Co., thought I, must have been
considerable.

“Now, gentlemen,” said the chairman, “it is my time
to speak. Messrs. Keen, Cunning & Co. played off the
same game upon me several years ago. But I found them
out, and left them. Of course the plan was successful
with me, and would have been to this day, had not one of
their young men, who had been discharged, revealed the
secret. He said the mistake was designedly made. The
goods left out, were too valuable for their customers not to
miss them. And when his money was promptly and cheerfully
refunded, it was natural for the customer to conceive
a high estimate of the honor and justice of the house, and to
deal more liberally and confidingly with it than ever. He
said the firm hardly ever lost a customer, as their overcharges
were skillfully made on such descriptions of goods
as rendered discovery difficult, if not impossible.”

I may here state—that no one shall suppose such a
house exists in Philadelphia at this day—that Messrs. Keen,
Cunning & Co.'s business was extremely light that season.
As they had made arrangements for a large business,
and as there was “tightness” in the money market
when their notes fell due, they failed.

The next topic was the relative merits of New York and
Philadelphia. But as only a few of our party had been in
the habit of visiting the first-named city, the subject was
soon referred to the chairman for his irrevocable decision.

“I must give Philadelphia the preference, gentlemen,
until some reforms are introduced in New York. Prices
must necessarily be irregular in every city—but then there
is not quite as much regularity in the system of transacting
business, not the same uniformity of habits among the jobbers
in New York, that we find in Philadelphia. There

[figure description] Page 164.[end figure description]

are more sharpers, more Shylocks, more impostors in the
one than the other. Such is the general belief in Missouri,
at all events, founded upon experience. There are doubtless
a vast number of houses in New York equal in every
respect to any we find in Philadelphia, and it would be exceedingly
wrong to confound the good with the bad; but
how can strangers discriminate between them? When I
first made purchases in New York, as well as several of
my friends who began there at the same time, although
some of our bills gave us very great satisfaction, we invariably
found that we had been imposed on in others.—
Several years passed before we fell in with the right kind
of houses. A number of the jobbers there go upon the
principle that it is best to procure a constant succession of
new purchasers; and, never expecting to sell goods to the
same man twice, they resolve to make the most of him
while they have a chance. Of course he suffers `some;'
and he is very apt to confound the innocent with the guilty,
in his subsequent denunciations. Now, in Philadelphia,
the substantial fair-dealing firms form a kind of fraternity
to uphold one another; and by unanimity of action, having
in a measure the control of money matters, they are enabled
to keep out, or put out of the trade, most of the dishonest
and disqualified interlopers, who would perpetrate a stigma
on the fair name of the city. Besides, Philadelphia is
nigher to us, and the charges for transportation thence,
are not so high as they are from New York. While upon
this subject, I beg to caution my young friends against one
species of imposition constantly practised in New York on
strangers. No doubt some of you, gentlemen, will visit
that great city to gratify your curiosity, if nothing else. I
will illustrate by an anecdote, from which you will deduce
the warning. I have always been considered somewhat

[figure description] Page 165.[end figure description]

cautious, and rarely have been taken in by impostors. For
years I have been in the habit of laughing at my young
friends, who will, in despite of all the cautions contained
in the newspapers, persist in buying false watches at the
auctions in New York. It was only last spring that I met
with three of my western friends in Broadway, who had
been cheated at one of these swindling concerns the year
before. I joined them in a stroll, and we searched for the
gentleman of whom they had made their purchases. I
wanted to see the rascal made an example of. We found
the house, but there was a different name on the sign.
The present occupant could give us no information in relation
to the retired auctioneer. But he would sell us genuine
gold lever watches: and as there were some half dozen
men besides our party in the room, he held up one and
began to cry away at a tremendous rate. Some one started
it at fifteen dollars, and it was run up to forty dollars, when
the bidding ceased. `Take it, sir; examine it for yourself,
' said he, handing it to me. I thought I would look
at it, merely out of idle curiosity. Now, I profess to be a
tolerable judge of a watch. I opened it. It was a good
lever, extra jeweled. The case was eighteen carat gold.
The watch was a valuable one. I could not be mistaken.
It was altogether different from those in the pockets of my
friends. I bid forty-five dollars for it carelessly, still holding
it in my hand. `It is yours, sir, and the cheapest
watch that ever was bought,' said the auctioneer, taking
it from my hand. `Here, boy, take this watch back to
the desk. Follow him, sir, and upon your paying the clerk
there, it will be delivered to you. I cannot take the money
for it, or I would deliver it here.' I followed the boy,
keeping my eye on the watch. But as we progressed backwards,
it grew darker, there being no window behind.

[figure description] Page 166.[end figure description]

When I came to the man at the desk, he was writing by
the light of a candle. He presented a bill, received the
money, and delivered the watch. It seemed to be the
same one; and as I had watched its course pretty narrowly,
I put it in my pocket, satisfied it had not been changed for
another. But we had not walked away forty paces, before
I thought I would give it a cursory inspection by sun-light.
Bah! I perceived the cheat at once! It had been changed
in its progress to the desk, before my eyes, and I had now
a gilded thing not worth ten dollars. I paused, almost in
a passion. My first impulse was to go back and confront
the swindlers. But the laughter of my friends, whom I
had been quizzing for their obtuseness, in suffering themselves
to become the victims of such sharpers, was so just
a retaliation, and my conduct had been so inconsiderate in
venturing to cast a bid at all for any article whatever in
an establishment of rogues, that I resolved to stand rebuked,
as the just penalty of my rashness. Thus, gentlemen, is
one more liable to be swindled in New York, than in Philadelphia.
The influential business men in the latter city
would not permit such establishments to exist two days in
any of their business thoroughfares. They give a whole
city a bad name, and inflict an incalculable injury upon it.
From what I have said, you may infer it is my opinion
that the young merchant, particularly, is safest in the hands
of the old-established and long tried houses of Philadelphia.
For my part, I am now in the habit of visiting New York
as well as Philadelphia, and derive advantage from it. I
buy there of men whom I know to be as conscientious as
any others elsewhere; and as I make it an invariable rule
to buy no article without first making myself pretty well
acquainted with its value, I do not often have reason to
complain of being over-reached. I perceive no material

[figure description] Page 167.[end figure description]

difference in the prices between the two cities; but I am
sometimes enabled to obtain a greater variety of styles by
purchasing in both.”

The next topic was “drumming and boring.” The
speakers were unanimous in their condemnation of the
practice; and many of them related instances of their harsh
treatment of the young men who pursued them for their
custom. The chairman being called upon for his decision,
paused, and with a smile turned to one of the company
who had not hitherto uttered a word, and demanded, as he
had a right to do by the rules, that he should first express
himself on the subject. This gentleman was from a place
in the southwestern part of the state, without a name. No
town had yet been christened in his section. He was located
at a mill, on some river, and had his store under the same
roof. But he supplied the people with goods for fifty miles
round, and was growing rich. This representative of that
wild region deserves to be particularly noticed. His
name was Elijah Sage. His form was slight, his face pale
with ill health; and although he was not thirty years of
age, his locks were quite gray. He was hardly ever known
to smile—he had never been seen to laugh. He was repulsive
at first sight to a stranger; but all who knew him well
appreciated the genuine benevolence of his heart, which
was fated to be concealed under a sour and crabbed exterior.
Whether it was the result of disease and suffering, or that
he had discovered a philosophy of his own—for he was
known to be a profound student of human nature, and
deeply versed in history—which caused him to disapprove
of almost everything done by others, and to dissent from
almost every opinion expressed, both by public men and
private individuals, was a matter of conjecture; but, that
such was his habit, none who were in his society could

[figure description] Page 168.[end figure description]

deny. Men were often vexed and annoyed by his contradictions
when they succeeded in getting him to participate
in their debates; but when they reflected that he never
obtruded his opinions on them, they felt bound to tolerate
his eccentricities, as they were termed. Elijah not only
thought and spoke, but he likewise acted, differently from
other men. When other merchants were deterred by
financial panics from purchasing as extensively as they
had designed doing, he said nothing, and bought the more
extensively in consequence. When others were made
confident and bold by the favorable aspect of the times,
he became timid and cautious. Nevertheless, his invariable
success procured for him, and with no ill-founded reason,
the reputation of having the gift of penetration, and a more
than ordinary genius for business. He had a long nose,
as most men of genius have.

“I differ from all of you,” said he, responding to the call
reluctantly, “in regard to the `borers and drummers.' Of
course, when they come about me at the hotel, I believe
just as much as I please of their professions and promises.
But still, I sometimes meet them the next day at their employers'
establishments, and pick up good bargains among
them. I have done it often, and expect to do it again.
Besides, they display their activity in exhibiting every description
of goods they have; and it often occurs that they
show me an article not in my memorandum, which I need,
and which I can make money on. So it is mere nonsense
to condemn them. They can't force any one to buy.
They do all the labor, showing you their goods; and it costs
you nothing merely to stand, or sit, as I generally do, and
look on. Then, where is the imposition or wrong they do?
For my part, I like to see them. I like their eagerness and
anxiety to supply my wants. It is my business to see that

[figure description] Page 169.[end figure description]

they do not sell me anything I don't want, or at too high a
price. If I was compelled to believe everything they say, and
to purchase everything they insist on my taking, it would
be a different thing. The man who has not the resolution
to say no, when an article he does not want is offered him,
had better keep away from the city, and pay some one else
who can, to buy his goods for him. It is an easy thing for
me to listen to their speeches over their cases of goods,
and then simply reply that they are not the kind I want,
or that the prices don't suit me. That is an end of it.
They may return to the charge, and pour out a volley of
new arguments, a mere puff of wind, which can hurt nobody;
but still it is just as easy to remain unmoved as not.
If they should seem to be offended at my incredulity, that
is no matter of mine. They may get pleased again, if it
so please them; if not, there is no harm done to me. The
fact is, if they did not find poor weak fools at the hotels,
whom they can twist and turn as they please, their importunity
would never be complained of; and in nine cases
out of ten, when you hear western men abusing or ridiculing
them, you may safely suppose that they have on
some occasion been weak enough to become their worthy
dupes.” Here there was a writhing among the company,
and a moment after, it was succeeded by a loud burst of
laughter. Elijah continued, without any perceptible change
in his rigid features: “In regard to the employers of those
abused young men, and the conduct of the young men
themselves, I consider the practice altogether justifiable,
and, indeed, commendable. They seek to establish or to
extend a business. Who of us will hesitate to do the same
thing, in our little pitiful and contemptible spheres? Who
of us can cast the first stone? If they pulled you into
their stores and robbed you by main force, you could not

[figure description] Page 170.[end figure description]

make a greater outcry against them; while at the same
time, if you would confess the truth, those among you who
abuse them the most, would acknowledge that their attentions
never fail to flatter your vanity. Your abuse of them
is only a mode you have of boasting of your standing and
importance in the city. The practice is rather agreeable
than otherwise to the western man, inasmuch as it is better
to have a friendly recognition on entering an establishment
in quest of any article, however insignificant, than to address
cold, formal strangers, who may not know that you
are a western merchant. Besides, men of the best business
qualifications, of honor, and capital, when embarking
in business, employ these young men, as well as houses of
the reverse character; and I venture to assert that our
acquaintance with two of every three houses to which we
give preference, commenced through the very means we
are so apt to condemn. I am done. Decide, Mr. Chairman.”

The chairman decided that, as he was unable to determine
the matter, he would leave every one to the enjoyment
of his own opinion. Elijah nodded his assent, with something
like an air of triumph.

The next subject was one which interested me much.
It was in relation to the social intercourse between the
western men and the city merchants.

Each one had something to say of the hospitable attentions
he had received, or something to complain of in the
neglect of those who, while professing to be his friends
when selling him goods, had cast him off as soon as they
had pumped his pocket dry.

When they were all done, the chairman again demanded
an opinion from Mr. Sage.

“My opinion is,” said Elijah, “that those who are

[figure description] Page 171.[end figure description]

worthy of social intercourse, and have anything really attractive
about them, may, if they be so disposed, find admission
to the private circles of their acquaintances anywhere.
But we, who are in the habit of living in the woods or
wild prairies, seem to forget that habits and customs in
cities are essentially different from those of the people we
associate with; and hence our reproaches and sneers at what
we are pleased to denominate their aristocracy, when we
see a well-dressed company invited to a party, from which
we, in our coarse boots, huge blanket coats, foxy caps, and
long beards, are excluded. What kind of a figure would
we cut, if we were admitted? We may affect to despise
dress as much as we please; (Elijah was neatly dressed;)
but if we should find ourselves, in our coarse costumes, in
some magnificent saloon, surrounded by splendidly attired
ladies and gentlemen, there is not one of us but would feel
overwhelmed with shame and confusion. And why would we
have such painful feelings? Because the ladies were too
fair, and the gentlemen too effeminate or foppish? No;
but simply because we had neglected to make as genteel
an appearance as the rest of them. If the gratification of
being present on such occasions does not compensate for
the expenditure it would require to dress as well as the
rest of the company, it is our duty to stay away, even if
an invitation be tendered us. Most of our pleasures and
desires are merely creatures of the fancy. Our ordinary
clothing is the common apparel in the country we inhabit,
and attracts no particular attention; but it is offensive, and
naturally and justly offensive in places where a better description
is universally worn. In my country, I once knew
an eastern gentleman to come nigh being mobbed for wearing
a rich Spanish cloak, when everybody else wore blankets
and buckskins. He was hooted at and insulted by our

[figure description] Page 172.[end figure description]

young men, partly, perhaps, because the girls smiled at
him very graciously. In the city, they do not go that far—
they let you enjoy your peculiar fancy unmolested. It is
no aggression on their part, when they merely omit to invite
your iron-nailed heels to cut their Brussels carpets, and
the black quid in your mouth to find a place of deposit
under their fine sofas.” Here Elijah was interrupted by
the unrestrained merriment of the company. About half
of them were dressed in full Missouri costume, and three-fourths
were tasting the weed.

“You need not suppose,” continued Elijah, “that I can
plead an exemption from the error of western men—I
mean of a portion of them; for it is only a portion of them
who persist in the error. I will give you an instance of
the awkward predicaments to which I have been liable.
The first time I went east, I determined to dress precisely
as I had done at home—indeed, I wore the identical clothes
I had been wearing for twelve months in the store. Well,
nobody objected to my clothes in the houses I transacted
business with. I bought a large stock of goods, and paid
away a considerable sum of money. The merchants all
treated me with marked respect, and complimented my
judgment, while I, on my part, was satisfied with my purchases.
As long as my ideas were confined to business, I
did very well, and had no reason to complain of a want of
politeness on the part of anybody. But when my business
was done, being a young man, and having one or two idle
days on my hands, I thought I would seek some innocent
amusement and recreation. Then I began, as I thought, to
discover some signs of this so much hated aristocracy—for
a deaf ear was turned to all my hints. They were ready
and anxious to sell me goods, while they had not a word to
say on any other topic whatever. I returned to the hotel,

[figure description] Page 173.[end figure description]

and abused that refinement and taste of the Philadelphians
which I could not comprehend and appreciate. My friends
joined me in maledictions, for most of them were in a similar
predicament. In the evening I visited the theatre,
in company with several of my western associates. We
went early, to get good seats; and sure enough, when we
got in, we found the house empty, for it was not quite dark.
We cruised about, in quest of the best location, and finally
pounced upon a box, the third from the stage on the left
hand, and sat down on the front bench. We observed a
ticket pinned to the cushion, with the name of `Clear
Brook' written on it. Mr. Brook was the merchant who
had handled the largest portion of my money, and sold me
the most of my goods—and all my companions knew him.
So we thought ourselves fortunate in hitting upon his box,
and did not doubt that he would take pleasure in entertaining
us between the acts.

“The first scene passed off before Mr. Clear Brook and
his company arrived. Indeed, I observed that nearly all
the ticketed benches were unoccupied during the first scene;
and upon inquiry I was informed that the fashionables
never came early, and always retired after the first piece.
But my particular friend, Mr. Clear Brook, did come at
last; and he was accompanied by several fine gentlemen
and ladies. The gentlemen wore spotless white kid gloves,
and other finery to match. The ladies were decked in
satin, laces, brilliants, etc. It was a gorgeous bevy; and the
contrast between their glittering habiliments and our very
shabby appearance was so palpable that we hung down
our heads in shame. They paused at the door of the box,
evidently not recognizing us. We abandoned the front
bench for the ladies; but still there were hesitation and consultation
among them. We looked for Mr. Brook to come

[figure description] Page 174.[end figure description]

forward and speak to us, and to inform his gay company
that we were western men, and not a party of the rowdies
of the town. But he did no such thing. He merely gazed
at us a moment through a gold mounted glass, held in his
kid-covered hand, and then called for the box-keeper.

“This is my box, sir,” said he to that personage; “I
have taken the whole box, sir, and I desire you to clear it
out for the exclusive use of my party.” He spoke pretty
loudly, and attracted the attention of many people in the
vicinity, and especially in the pit, the latter looking up
with delight, expecting to have a scene not in the bills.
We became the centre of attraction for a brief space of
time, and our situation was becoming intolerably uncomfortable.
We stood up, turned round, and faced Mr.
Brook, that he might recognize us immediately, and put an
end to the embarrassment. We bowed. He remained stiff.
He would not recognize us. The box-keeper was required
to perform his duty, and we were unceremoniously thrust
out, and the door was closed against us. Of course we
came nigh bursting with rage and indignation; and when we
procured back seats on the opposite side of the house, our
mortification and anger were not diminished on perceiving
that Mr. Brook's party did not occupy more than half the
seats in the box we had been turned out of. We vowed
vengeance, and we had it. This circumstance was narrated
by so many that it spread all over the west, and
seemed likely to cripple the concern in which Mr. Brook
was a partner. He was compelled finally to go out of the
concern, and was never able afterwards to get into another.
But we were wrong—while his conduct was not so very
reprehensible. It was incumbent on us to conform to the
usages of the people among whom we thrust ourselves.
It was inexcusable presumption in us to suppose we might,

[figure description] Page 175.[end figure description]

without offence, and a breach of manners and good breeding,
sit beside a party of fashionably dressed ladies and gentlemen
in muddy boots, and nappy blanket coats, which had
been worn in the stage coaches, and been rubbed against all
sorts of travelers. None of us were altogether deficient in
that best kind of education, extensive reading and general
information. We knew more of history, of the classics, of
poets and plays, perhaps, than Mr. Clear Brook, or any
of his party; it is probable, that, if a just balance sheet
had been struck, we had quite as much money; and if we
had been properly dressed—and there is a propriety of dress,
as well as of speech and manners—it is probable we would
have had a cheerful recognition, and a pleasant conversation
with the young ladies. We were deprived of that
happiness by our own stupidity and folly, and should have
blamed no one but ourselves for the result.”

When Mr. Sage was done speaking, the chairman, who
always dressed genteelly, decided without hesitation that
Elijah was right.

“Such is my decision, gentlemen,” said he; “and I
feel inclined to substantiate it by a few additional remarks.
You have all observed, no doubt, that the well-dressed
gentleman receives the first attentions of the servants at
the hotels, and the best accommodations, without paying
any more for them. On the contrary, he frequently pays
less, as it is a greater satisfaction for a landlord, by good
treatment, to induce a man of genteel appearance to become
his regular customer, than one of shabby and disgusting exterior.
Indeed, he receives the latter with reluctance; and,
as he is indifferent about his returning, the probability is that
he will make him pay a few dollars more than he charges the
other, to deter him from coming back. So the shabby
gentleman who travels much, may pay, in the course of a

[figure description] Page 176.[end figure description]

year, in the way of extortions, while he has to put up at the
same time with the meanest sort of accommodation, an extra
sum fully sufficient to purchase a genteel suit of clothes.
Besides, the eastern merchant will always feel a greater pleasure
in waiting on a customer of genteel exterior, than one in
semi-barbarous costume. He will walk the streets with
the former himself, when it is necessary to conduct him to
other places—whereas he will send his porter with the
latter. The one passes along pleasantly and advantageously,
commanding the respect and attention of those
with whom he may have business to transact; the other is
a mark for the assaults of the low and degraded, who suppose
his intellects are on a par with his clothes, and
thus he is a thousand times more liable to impositions
and injuries than the first, besides the mortifications and
affronts he meets with from the servants up to the proprietors.”

“But I believe the western merchants are the best judges
of human nature,” said the representative from —'s
Mills, in my county.

“I differ from you,” said Elijah.

“I know you differ from me,” retorted the colonel, “as
you differ from everybody, and in everything. But give
your reasons.”

“I have done so,” replied Elijah, “in the matter of dress.
It is human nature to make as fine an appearance as one's
purse will afford. This is one of the legitimate enjoyments
which wealth places in one's reach. How else can we
enjoy the benefits of money than in eating, drinking, and
wearing good clothes? If a man should keep a large pile
of dollars by him merely to look at, and to guard against its
diminution, his money would then become nothing more than
an expensive jewel, a trinket, and manifestly as ridiculous

[figure description] Page 177.[end figure description]

an extravagance as is perpetrated by the rich belle who
wears a set of diamonds costing from one to fifty thousand
dollars. It is one of the leading traits of human nature for
a man to strive to excel his neighbor in appearance; and
this can be done only by artificial means. It is the character
of human nature to employ art to attain its ends.
And we may boast as we will of our free and easy independence—
but there is scarce one of us who does not feel a
conscious inferiority when addressing an eastern man who
is more genteel in his exterior than ourselves. Thus
they are the best judges of human nature in their own
spheres, as we may be in ours—and it is nothing more
nor less than brute nature for us to suppose that the rough
garments we wear on the prairies, and behind our counters,
should escape without notice in the cities. No doubt the
shaggy bear they keep at the Zoological Institute, thinks
he cuts as fine a figure in Walnut Street as he did in the
Ozark mountains. It is the nature of the brute.”

“Then I propose that we are the best politicians, in the
west,” said the colonel, smiling.

“I differ from you,” replied the imperturbable Elijah.
“They have more papers, and are better posted in all kinds
of political information. At the same time, I am willing to
admit there is not much honesty or honor among the mere
politicians, anywhere.”

“Then, perhaps, you won't agree with me that ours is
the best system of government ever instituted on earth?”
inquired the colonel, who was a decided politician in inclination.

“No, I won't! and since you seem to urge it, I'll speak
my sentiments boldly,” replied Elijah, with a somewhat
excited visage. “The American continent is at present
a vast harvest field, in which there are but comparatively

[figure description] Page 178.[end figure description]

few laborers. Each one sees the treasure scattered by a
bountiful Providence around him, and he is intent only on
seizing it for his own use. The majority know nothing,
and care less, about the government, at present. But
when the prizes are all appropriated, and the laborers shall
be increased; when the avenues to speedy wealth shall be
blocked up by dense masses, and few only be enabled to
succeed,—then they will turn upon the government, and
cast upon it all the blame of their disappointments. They
will devise new governmental schemes to improve their
condition, instead of relying upon their own honest exertions
for success; they will pull down and set up institutions,
and reforms, which can avail them nothing; and ultimately
arrive at a glorious state of anarchy. If they succeed
in enriching themselves at the expense of others, then
the veriest democratical demagogues will immediately become
the most obnoxious aristocrats in the world. This is
human nature, too. But if they fail, which is quite likely,
they will finally get a Master.”

“Do you mean a king?” interposed the colonel, disdainfully.

“Ay, a king, emperor, autocrat, or any other term you
may prefer. He will be, and must be, eventually a master.
If the Union should become too unwieldy, it may fall
to pieces—but then they may have a half dozen supreme
potentates, instead of one.”

“He's joking with you, colonel,” said the member from
Independence. “If you were to say that a monarchy was
not the natural government for human beings, he would
still differ from you.”

“Yes, I would differ from him,” responded Elijah, very
gravely, while the whole company, the chairman included,
uttered roars of laughter. “Yes, I would differ from him,”

[figure description] Page 179.[end figure description]

continued Elijah; “and I would produce arguments deduced
from the history of the world, to prove I was
right. If you believe in scriptural testimony, you will,
upon investigation, find that kings or patriarchal masters
existed on the earth as far back as you can penetrate
into the past, and at a time when the great Creator's
direct interposition in the affairs of men was of frequent
occurrence. The long line of Asiatic kings reigned with
the concurrence of the Almighty. Whether in Persia
or Egypt, the calamities He wrought were for the punishment
of the iniquities of the men, and not for the vices inseparable
from kings. He gave kings to the people himself,
and they reigned with his express sanction; witness
Saul, Solomon, and David, from whom Jesus, the `king of
the Jews,' and our blessed Mediator and Saviour, descended.
If we explore profane history, we have the
same result, viz: the incapacity of dense masses to exist
long without a permanent supreme head or master. Much
is said of Greece—but it produced its Philip and its Alexander.
And where there were no kings in name, there
were potentates in reality. Lycurgus was a great man,
but he was uncle to the King of Sparta. The famous Amphictyonic
confederacy was founded and conducted by
kings, princes, nobles, and military chieftains; and the
union was dissolved in consequence of `geographical discriminations,
' and all the tribes were subjugated by the
Macedonian kings. Pisistratus, Miltiades, Themistocles,
Aristides, Pericles, Alcibiades, &c. &c., who are supposed,
by the uninformed, to have been unadulterated Democrats,
hardly accomplished anything when not masters of the people,
and exercising almost supreme or sovereign authority.
It is true they had a democracy at Athens, for a brief
space; and then the demagogues and sycophants put

[figure description] Page 180.[end figure description]

Socrates to death, because he had the wisdom to detect and
the boldness to expose their corruptions. Then we had the
warfare of the poor against the rich, in great perfection.
Any demagogue who wanted his rich neighbor's property,
had only to fabricate charges against him, and the common
mass, who divided the plunder with the demagogue leaders,
speedily condemned and destroyed him. But the demagogues
themselves, when they grew rich, intrigued with
monarchs, took their bribes, and betrayed their country, for
the purpose of securing the stability of existing affairs, and of
securing the enjoyment of their revenues, under the strong
protection of a master. It was the same with Rome, and
would have been the same in England. The renowned
Pyms, Hampdens and Sidneys, while so full of patriotism
and republicanism, were the pensioners of Louis XIV.
While Napoleon was a great republican, he did nothing
for France; when he was master, everything. But as he
dealt in blood, in either capacity he was a scourge and a
curse—perhaps the instrument of the Almighty to punish
the people for cutting off the head of the good king Louis
XVI. And now they have driven off Charles X., and put
up Louis Philippe—perhaps they will drive him off some
day, and try once more the experiment of a republic, again
to result in the ascendency of a military master. They would
have tried a republic the last time the mob was omnipotent,
if it had not been for the influence of La Fayette, the associate
of our Washington—who knew they could not exist
without a master—and they cannot hereafter. If ever the
mob shall succeed in getting up a revolution in Great Britain,
it will be for the purpose of plunder, and they will
settle down again with a more absolute master than ever.
We must have a master, too, some of these times, to keep
us from cutting each other's throats, and plundering one

[figure description] Page 181.[end figure description]

another. I think a permanent sovereign head or master
was the design of the great Creator for the regulation of
all communities. In every bee-hive there is a king-bee—
and every flock of sheep has its bell-wether. I will relate
a circumstance which contributed to convince me that a
chief directing head would be necessary for our convenience
and protection. I went with the promiscuous multitude
once to witness an illumination of the old State House
in Philadelphia. The street was crammed and jammed,
and all who got within seeing distance, remained immovably
there, while three-fourths of the people could see
nothing of it at all—to say nothing of the bruises, black
eyes, torn dresses, and the other indispensable accompaniments
of an inconsiderate mob. The people were like a
flock of buffaloes in the wild prairie; they gored and trampled
upon each other to no purpose. Now if there had
been a master, we should have been compelled to act differently,
and the affair would have terminated much more
to our satisfaction. In Europe, on such occasions, the
master will have the masses to go up on one side and down
on the other: by such means a million can see a sight as
well as a thousand, and there can never occur any violent
collisions in the operation. And, say what you may about
royalty, it is an ineradicable trait of human nature to desire
gorgeous ceremonies and magnificent pageantries. We
will grow weary of our plain habits before the end comes.
Music and diamonds, crowns and sceptres, titles and distinctions,
will have their attractions for the multitude here,
as well as elsewhere. Even this boat bears the name of a
young princess, who will probably be a reigning monarch
in a few years. We have boats named Napoleon, Louis
Philippe, Lady Washington, Lady Jackson, &c. We are

[figure description] Page 182.[end figure description]

progressing. `Progressive democracy' never pauses until
it completes the circle, and returns to monarchy.”

The chairman, and of course every person present, not
excepting myself, pronounced against Elijah, this time.

“Your decision, gentlemen,” said Sage, “can amount
to nothing. I want the decision of your grandchildren.”