154 



TOE GENESEE FARMER. 



sentation ; and in the winter of 1793, with seven- 

 teen more of the members of the said society in 

 Dalkeith, I was marclied a ])risoner into Edinburgli. 

 We enteivd the town marshaled two and two 

 throngh a concourse of pe-ple, one woman among 

 ■whom, when slie saw me bringing up the rear rank, 

 exclaimed in her broad Scotlisli dialect, 'The 

 Losli presarve us! if the king be afraid of sic a 

 little fellow as that, I dunna ken what will become 

 of him ! ' " 



"Tlie little fellow was examined and discharged 

 by the m.'tgisi rates; but either he feared he might 

 be led into overt acts of reform, or he was resolved 

 to live where tliere was po king to fear or make 

 afraid — at all events he sailed for New York with 

 his brother in 1794. When they arrived they 

 coiild not land on account of the expense of living 

 on shore, for they bad but six and a half cents be- 

 tween them. So says our tiero, " My brother and 

 I sat down on the deck, his feet against my feet, 

 and a wooden bowl of potatoes between our legs, 

 and began to scrape the skins otf from the pota- 

 toes. Wliilst thus employed, a hardware merchant 

 came on board and enquired if there were any nail 

 makers? I caught the Avord, and answered I was 

 one. He was a tall man, and looking down on me 

 inquired, with a tone of surprise, ' Can you make 

 nails?' I answered quickly, 'I would wager six- 

 pence, (all I bad.) I would make more nails in a 

 day than any man in the country.' " Thorburn 

 knew- he could make 8320 nails between 6 a. m. 

 and 9 p. m., so he was tolerably sure of a triumph. 

 Thorburn and his brother were hired ; they were 

 industrious, obliging, God-fearing young men, so 

 they were resi)ected and prospered; but we must 

 pass on to 1802, when he thus proceeds, "About 

 this time tlie Ladies of New York were beginning 

 to show their taste for flowers ; and in the fall of 

 the year, wiien the plants wanted shifting, prepara- 

 tory to being placed in the ])arlor, I was often 

 a-ked, (for he then kept a grocer's shop) for pots 

 of a liandsomer quality than the usual red earthen 

 ware. It came into my mind to paint some of my 

 common flower pots with green varnish paint. 

 They sold fast, and to good advantage. In the 

 April following I observed a man for the first time 

 selling, flower plants in the Fly Market. As I 

 pa.s3ed along I took a leaf, and rubbing it between 

 my finger and thumb, asked him for its name. He 

 answered, 'a Geranium.' Tins, as far as I recol- 

 lect, was the first time I ever heard that there was 

 a Geranium in the world." 



Thorburn bought two of those Ger.aniums, sold 

 them speedily in his " green varnished pots," and 

 soon fountl that it was a ready, profitable trade, 

 and that purcliasers asked for seeds. This .set him 

 » thinking that if I could get seeds I would be able 

 to sell them ; but here lay the ditficulty, as no one 

 sold see<ls in New York ! " He soon arranged 

 with the man "in t!ie Fly M,arket" to stay at home 

 and grow plants and seeds, whilst he, Thorburn, 

 opened a shop and .sold them. Btit war broke out ; 

 he attempted to grow seeds, failed, and in 1815 was 

 released a whitewashed bankrupt, with a family to 

 support, and but twelve dollars with which to be- 

 gin life again. 



" Lawrie Todd" was not the man to be cast down, 

 for he through life strove to do what he ought to do, 

 and one passage in his morning of life Is a fair illus- 



tration of the whole until the shades of its night 

 closed, so we will quote but one — 



"One Sabbath morning some young men of our 

 passengers called at my lodgings.' 



" ' Where are you going to-day?' said they. 

 "'To church,' said I. 

 " ' Oh !' sjiid tliey, 'let us go to Long Island, and 

 take a stroll in the fields. Our hecdtii requires ex- 

 ercise after being so long on ship-board.' 



" ' You may go where you please,' said I, 'but 

 T go to church. The last words my father spoke 

 as we parted on the shore of Scotland, were, "Re- 

 member the Sabbath day!' I have not so soon 

 forgotten his words.' 



"Tliey went to the fields, I went to church; 

 they spent a few shillings, I put a penny in the 

 plate. Some of them earned nine or ten dollnrs a 

 week; I only received five and a half. They 

 would get a light wngon, drive off with some young 

 ladies, spend five or six dollars, get caught in a 

 tliunder shower — fineclothes and hats .all spoiled — 

 CI 'me home li.alt' drunk-, rise at eiglit o'clock on 

 Monday morning with aching bones, sore heads, 

 down cast looks, and guilty conscience. I went to 

 church, rose at five o'clock on Monday morning 

 with a sound head, bones and body refrts'ied and 

 rested, entered the labors of the week with a 

 clear liead and quiet conscience. At the end of 

 the year they had fine clothes, fine hat.«, and pow- 

 dered heads, but I had a hundred hard dollars in 

 the corner of my trunk. They, having lived fast, 

 all died young; while I, in consequence of my 

 regular living, have not been confined a day hy 

 sickness in fifty years." 



In 1815, a friend having lent him $500, Thorbarn 

 again connnenced business as a seedsman, and from 

 tiiat tniie his life was a long succession of prosperous 

 and ha])py years. 



The following example of his "Advertisement" 

 in the public papers, is both characteristic and 

 historic. 



" In 1799 the subscriber commenced business with 

 three pots of Geraniums, a monthly rose, and $15 

 worth of seed. The seeds grew till they filled the 

 whole continent — the Rose blossomed till it spread 

 into a tree, and the little birds formed their nests 

 under its branches. Presently there came forth a 

 host of pretender-s, boasting of what tliey could 

 do; they did nothing. In 1818 ai>peared Williaiii 

 Cobbett. Tliis same Cobbett, in 179:;-4-5, pnb- 

 lisiied the ' Porcujiine's Gazette ' in Pliiladelphia; 

 its object was to prove to a demonstration that all 

 republics were humbugs — that kings only had a 

 divine right to reign — and that the Americans 

 wore a set of consummate rebels. Tiie mob tore 

 down his office, made '|)i' of his types, and scat- 

 tered his porcupine quills in their native air. He 

 fled to Euirland, returned to New York a full- 

 blooded radical Deiiu>crat, and operu'd a seet-shop 

 at 02 Fulton street, wiiere he sold ruta baga at $1 

 jier pound, and black pigs for '^\0 each. For a 

 long space of time you couhl hear nothing in Wall or 

 Excliange streets, but Cobbett and his bhack pigs — 

 Cobtiett and his ruta bat.'a. Tlie consternation was 

 similar to that at Frankfort, when the man rode 

 through the streets with the long nose, and still the 

 wonder grew wiiether the nose was a paper one or 

 A timmer (wooden) nose. He vowed he would 

 drive Thorbarn from the boards ^ith Ins black 



