October, 1842. 



TrfE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



147 



rotilil !iO lionie at once. I In Iras tukfr) one of ili<>:-e 



bemilUiil liouses on street, and lurnislieiJ it 



supei'lily." 



" I (ki really feel rejoiced, Mrs. Allison, at Jose- 

 phine's U'lod I'ortiine," llie Iriend s:ii(l, with sin- 

 ceritv. "It is not every jiirl, novv-a-.tuys, that does 

 so well." 



" Indeed it i,s not," wns the response, and the 

 "pood mornings" weie repeated, and the Iriends 

 se[iarated. 



As Mrs. Allison had intimated, Mr. ErsUine had 



to |)ay a high rent, in eleg.int style, lor one who 

 was not a rich man. And, rertuinly, lie was not, 

 even if he were "a merchant." In commencing 

 business, he had not a sinjrie dollar ol' real capi- 

 tal. Several johhinf; honses had united in t'urinsh- 

 injr him with a fair stock of goods, because as a 

 clerlt, he had been active and shrewd, and it was 

 thought that he could not fail to do well, if [iru- 

 dent. I5ut the idea of being a merchant, com- 

 pletely turned his head. He felt himself of dou- 

 ble consef|Uencc, ;iihI assumed airs and habits ac- 

 cordingly. 1m ihe coiiiseofa few months, he 

 began to feel (ii>^.iii~fiiil w lih the slow process 

 of'acquiring we.ilih hy rct.urmg dry goods; and 

 talked freely of openiim a wlioh-sale store at the 

 end of the "year. As one of the means to this 

 end, he determined to lorni a comiection wi 

 the daughter of some good, substantial citize 

 whose note woidd always pass current at tl 

 bank board. In Mr. Allislin, he thought that I 

 had foimd his man; and in .Tosephine, a girl who 

 would make (luile a slimvy wife. Under these 

 views and feelMiu> he IkmI married. And, with 

 a view to niishad .is to Ins real condition, he had 

 furnished his iinu.>e at iwicn the expense required 

 to have made a very •lenliel appearance. 



"But how coidd he ilolhis?" one will ask, 

 "when he really had nothing to do it wiih .-" 



He bought on six months credit. He was "a 



merchant^' and had a well filled stop-e on 



street. Kverv one w.is nadv to sell him freelv. 



EverMhins" now went on" " swimminglv," as 

 they say. ,Ios..|,lune never got tired oflo".,king 



tmV ; ;lor of nilectin- upon her own elevated 



ish.' Never had'slie known what it was lo\_-njov 

 life before. Every wliere she was receiv,-d uiii, 

 attention, for was she not the w ife ol' .Mr. Erskiiie, 



merchant in street ? 



Time passed on, and sundry square little hits 

 of paper, hande.l in by a quiet, matter-of-li.ct 

 looking individual, began to accumulate on ji ^^■ire 

 point just over Mr. Erskine's dcisk, staring him in 

 the face whenever he looked n[i in a musing at- 

 titude, ti-oni morning until iiiclit, day after day. 

 Every morning, he would take down these littie 

 pieces of paper, and make memoiandiims ol the 

 sums indicated upon them, and calculate their 



count would he ex.imine<l, ami his cash con 

 Then v^oldd follow half an hour of abstracti. 

 mind, evidently of no very [ileasant character, 

 before the hnsiiiess of the day was regularly en- 

 tered upon. Presently, two or tlirt-e of these no- 

 tices would betaken from the file every morning, 

 and checks filled up, covering' the amounts they 

 called for, and all despatched to the bank. I?nt, 

 for every one that was disposed of, two would 

 come ill its place. This continued until the en- 

 tire balance in bank was drawn out. 



" What must be done now ?" the inerchaiit ask- 

 ed of himself 



" Why, I must have nil accommodation,"' was 

 the menlaV cojiclusioii. 



" But who will goon my paper ? That's the 

 important question," he went on to say. " It's 

 only three months since I was married, and I 

 don't like to come down on the old gentleman so 

 soon. Let me see. There are Wilson, and Jones, 

 and Ilambleton. Can't I venture to ask one of 

 them .' I think so. There is Hainbleton. Ha 

 has always sold me as free as the air. No 

 doubt he has perfect confidence ; and now that 1 

 have old Mr. Allison at my back, will go on my 

 paper at a word. I will try him, first, anyhow." 



And so saying, Erskine sought the store of Mr. 

 Hambletoii. 



"Good morning, Erskine!" said that individual, 

 smiling and extending his hand in a frank, en- 

 couraging manner. " What can I sell you this 

 morning." 



"In a word, then, .\lr. Ilambleton, I wantagood 

 name on a note. Most of my first payments are 

 now falling due, and you know that it is impossi- 

 ble for a new beginner to meet everything with- 

 out a little help.'' 



"Of course it is. But I am sorry to tell you, 



at it is entirely out ol my power to aid you in 

 this way. Although doing business in my own 



iiie, I have a |iartiier, and our contract is posi- 



■e that neither shall indorse or give his note 



thoiit the con.sent of the. oilier." 



"Would he not let you do it fora small amount 

 in my case .'" 



" i\'o. I have tried him several times ; but he 

 will not consent. And I am very sorry for it in 

 this ca.?e, for it would give me plea.'^ure "to accom- 

 modate ytiu. Why don't you call on Mr. Alli- 

 son ?" 



" I need hardly tell you why, Mr. Hainbleton 

 You know that I have only been married for a few 

 nionihs, to his daughter, and I wonid do almost 



your feelings," was the 

 ■re ill mv power to save 



reply, "and wish tl 

 them by at once n 



"Do you think Wilson " would object to doing 

 me the liivor 1 ask of you ?" Erskine inquired, 

 musingly. 



" I really cannot tell. I should think it doubt- 

 ful, however. Men in business are very cautious 

 in regard to these matleis. So many persons have 

 lieeii ruined by indorsing, tli..ii no one likes to put 



iii';ulv all p.uLiiersiiip contracts, there is a pro- 

 \\>\i>\\ that iieilher parly shall indorse without the 



Is tin 



way will open, then," Erskine i 

 of assumed cheerfulness. 

 ithing else that I can sell you 



'No I believe not." 



• We shall receive a fresh lot of goods to-mor- 

 V or next day from New Vork. You must come 

 •r and look at them." 



■ I will," was the brief answer, and then Ers- 

 kine retired. 



" I miist have an indorser," he said to himself, 

 as he walked towards his store. " But who shall 

 I get ? There is Cameron— 1 could get him, 1 

 suppose. But if he indorses for me, I must do 

 the same for him, and I don't want to have my 

 name too common in the market. Besides his is 

 not the most substantial concern in the city." 



Another examination of his cash account, and 

 an estimate of his payments and probable re- 

 ceipts for the next two months, during which time 

 his heaviest obligations fell due, made him feel, 

 more than ever, the necessity of doing something. 

 Two or three eflbrts more were made to get an 

 indorsement by a substantial house, but failing in 

 thi,«, he at last called upon Cameron. 



" I want your name on these two notes, Came- 

 ron," he said, presenting two bills drawn himself 

 in favor of Cameron for one thousand dollars 

 each. 



"Certainly ! with the greatest of pleasure!" re- 

 joined Cameron, taking up a pen and placing his 

 name, with a flourish, u|Kin each of the notes. — 

 As he handed them back to Erskine, he said, 



" If I can serve you in this way at any time, be 

 sure to call upon me." 



' You are certainly very kind," Erskine said, 

 really impressed with the piom|)t apparent friend- 

 liness of the act — though he had a consciousness 

 all the while, that he should be made to recipro- 

 cate to his heart's content. 



During the morning, he b«d his two notes con- 1 Char 



veyed to the discount boxes of two difiVrent bank.-', 



whose boards sat early on the succeeding day. 



Then came hours of doubt, and anxiety, and sus- 

 pense. Cameron he knew was not esteemed to 

 be very sound. His paper vias of the quality 

 called " weak" in the market, and never pa.s?ed 

 unless sliongly bolstered up. But, as he was ii 

 new applicant lor bank lavor.s, anil was known to 

 have a rich liither-iii-law, he thought that his notes 

 might pass the ordeal. 



His sleep during that night was brief and trou- 

 bled, for his payments on the next day were heavy 

 for one ol" his business and resources, Unre- 

 freshed he arose in the morning, and repaired to 

 his store, to await, in increasing anxiety, the hour 

 when he should know the result of his applica- 

 tion lor a loan. At last it was ascertained that 

 one note had been thrown out and the other dis- 

 counted. The relief experienced from the pro- 

 ceeds of one note, was of so much moment to 

 him, that he bore the disappointment of having 

 the other returned with quite a jibilosophic air. 



On the next day he succeeded in getting that 

 one discounted also. He was now comparatively 

 easy. The proceeds of these two notes, carried 

 him along in his payments quite comfortably. — 

 About a week after 'his application to Cameron, 

 that individual returned his professional call. 



"One good turn they say deserves mother," he 

 .said, laughing, as he came up to the desk wliere 

 Erskine was standing. •' You were so kind as to 

 accept of my indorsement a few days ago, and 

 now I wish to return the favor by asking your 

 name to ibis little bit of paper." 



"Certainly, certainly! For how much is it.'" 

 responded Erskine. 



"Only for fifteen hundred dollars." 

 The note was of course indorsed. As Erskine 

 thoiiiiirT at the time ho was writing his name on 

 the back of the bill, that was only the beginning 

 of a dangerous kind of bn.siness. Before three 

 months had expired, he had indorsed for Cameron 

 to the amount of ten thousand dollars, and Cam- 

 eron fiir him to the amount of six thousand. — 

 The notes had not all passed through hank, but 

 the money had been raised upon them, and not 

 always on the most favorable terms. These ope- 

 rations had the effect to inake Erskine's business 

 go on as smoothly as he could wish for a time. — 

 But his bills for ftirniture, etc. now began to fall 

 due, and he was again at his wit's ends for the 

 means whereby to meet his engagements. Bor- 

 rowing money to be returned in a lew days had 

 been resoi-ted to, and found to be a very trouble- 

 some and worrying business. He had become 

 involved in this to a perplexing extent — borrow- 

 ing to-day to pay one friend, and to-morrow to 

 pay another, and on the next day to meet a note. 

 It was towards the close of the first year of his 

 marriage, that Erskine found it impossible to keep 

 up, wiiboiit some aid from his father-in-law. Sev- 

 eral of Cameron's notes, which had fiillen due, 

 that individual had found himself unable to lift. 

 Of course Erskine had to raise the ainount to 

 prevent his own name from being dishonored. 

 His own accommodation paper the bank refused 

 to renew, unless he would give them some better 

 indorser. But one way to save himself presented 

 itself; and that was to go to Mr. Allison. Tho 

 time for making use of that long contemplated 

 resource, had now fully come, and, accordingly 

 Erskine waited upon Lis father-in-law, and made 

 known his wishes. 



" That is a thing I have never, in my life, asked 

 of any iiian,'^ was the reply. "I have seen so 

 many men rnined by indorsing for others, that I 

 have steadily persisted in neither asking or grant- 

 ing such a favor." 



" But I can assure you, Mr. Allison, that there 

 is not the slightest danger in this case," urged 

 Erskine. "My business is a most excellent one, 

 and my stock and good accounts will realize dou- 

 ble what I owe," 



"Is your name on any one's paper?" 

 Ibis question Erskine had expected, and he 

 had therefore made up his mind to answer "No;" 

 and he did so, accordingly, with a promptness that 

 deceived Mr. Allison. 

 "How much money do you want.'" 

 "My heaviest payments fiill due in this month ; 

 and I must have at least six thousand dollars more 

 than my sales and collections will realize. After 

 that, I shall be as easy as an old shoe"' 



Six thousand dollars is a good deal of money. 



