148 



THE FARMER'S MONTH-LY VISITOR. 



October, 1842. 



"It seetiis so, sir, but I turn over that amoiitit 

 every three or four weeks. It is hecaut-e my busi- 

 ness is BO large, heavy paynietits falling due, fre- 

 quently within a lew tliivs of each other, that I 

 am at times pressed for njonny." 



"I don't thijds any hank will do my note for so 

 large a sum as six tijousand dollars." 



" O yes they will. 15ut I did not think of offisr- 

 ing a single note of that iiuiount. It would he 

 better to make three notes of two thousand dol- 

 lars each, and have Ihem done in {lifTercnt banks." 



Still the old man hesitated, and m-ged objec- 

 tions; but these were all met and set aside. At 

 last Erskiiie's perseverance gained the victory, 

 and he got possession of three of Mr. Allison's 

 notes, to the amount of six thousand dollars, the 

 sum tor which he had asked. These went through 

 tlic hanks as soon i'.s uflcred. 



Eveiythiug wsnl on again, for a short time, as 

 smooth" as a'suriuncr sea; and Erskiue suffered 

 himsell'oiice moie to relapse into a tidsc security. 

 He pmchased more freely, and comuienced in 

 vitiug some of the country merchants to make 

 bills uiih him, suffering thein to take goods on a 

 very small advance, at a credit of nine and twelve 

 nioutlis, for which lie had to pay in tour and six 



While the, 

 (lassiiif; her t 

 the precipice 

 She felt mori 

 consequence 



ings w 

 in pie 

 ards w 



e going on, his wife was 

 ant unconsciousness of 

 L'h she was approaching. 

 ire "up-lifted" every day, in 

 position in society, as the 



merchant," an<l had even ceased to re- 

 member seme three or four of her young friends 

 who had been so vulgar as to tnarry into the 

 "common herd" below her. 



"It's really lime that you were marriexl," she 

 said to her Iriend Wary Grant, about a year after 

 her ow n happy escape from the delights of single 

 blessedness, "and I know just the one who will 

 suit you." 



" bo you, indeed ! Who is he ?" 

 "He's a young merchant, who has been in busi- 

 ness about a year." 



" Well, what is his nnmc ,'" 

 "Edward Perkins." 

 Mary shook her head. 



" Why do you shake your head, and look such 

 decided opposition ':" 



"Because, Edward Perkins is not exiictJy tlie 

 man for ine, if he is a merchant." 

 "Why not?" 



" He does not suit my fancy, Josephine, and 

 would not if he were the prince of merchants." 

 " Who does suit your fancy then, Mary ? For 

 I am sure I caimot tell." 



" As we !H-e on this subject, Josephine, I will 

 tell you, more particularly, as one of my errands 

 here ihjs morning was to inform you that I am to 

 be married in n couple of weeks." 



" Married ! Whv you lake me all by surprise ! 

 And now that you have told ine that much, tell 

 me w ho the ha'pp.v fellow is." 



" His name is Bradford. I supjiosR you know 

 him." 



"IMary, you cannot he in earnest !" Mrs. Erskine 

 said, ina "changed tnne,aii<i with a sobered coun- 

 tenance. 



" And why not, Josephine r" 

 "Marry ^ir. Bradford! Surely yon cannot be 

 in earnest ?" 



"Josephine, 1 cannot imderstand yon." 

 " Marry a clerk ! .\ mere nobody !" 

 "He Is a man, and a gentleman !" was Mary's 

 firm and dignilleil reply, ''.^nd further, Mrs. 

 Erskine, as I have just imiaiated, he is to become 

 my husband in two weeks. You will, therelbr 

 see the propriety of choosing your words rather 

 more carefully." 



"Certainly, Mary. And I must njiologize, I 

 Btippose, for my seeming rudeness. But, indeed, 

 what yon say pains me exceedingly. Surely, you 

 are not going to reduce yourself to the level of a 

 man who is only a clerk. Don't you see, that you 

 will at once lose your station in society r" 



"Most cheerfully will I give up any position 

 that I have held, to become the wife of the man I 

 have chosen. But I do not lear any such result in 

 this case." 



"You will find yourself mistaken, then, I can 

 tell you," Mrs. Erskine replied, drawing herself 

 up with a certain dignified air. 



" I do not fear it. 1 know of no one who will 

 think any the less of me." 



•'\f \.iie.y do not- thiuU tfc k,ss of j'wj, Mary, 



still, you cannot be admitted, except alone, intu 

 good society." 



" How do you mean alone ?" 



" I mean without your husband." 



"And do you really think, Josephine, that i 

 woidd place my foot over any threshold where 

 my hu>band was not admitted ?" 



"lam sure I cannot tell how you woidd do, 

 Mary, hut such an interdiction there will most cer- 

 tainly be." 



coimtenance. "There are few jueu more gener- 

 ally esteemed than Mr. Bradford, for gentlemanly 

 deportment and unwavering integrity of charac- 

 ter." 



" Yes, hut he is only a clerk." 



" And so was your husband only a clerk once." 



" That is nothing. He is not a clerk no»v." 



" Neither will Bradford be a clerk after the first 

 of next month, when he will become a jiartner in 

 one of the oldest and best houses in the eity. i 

 only wish thatl was in his place ; for I knovv that 



five years from now, he will be worth ten dol- 

 lars to my one." 



" You are jesting with me," Mrs. Erskine said, 

 a sudden paleness overspreading her countenance. 



" I never jest on such subjects," was the brief 

 rcjily. 



"I must go to see Mary, and apologize for what 

 1 have said," Josephine renjarked, after a long and 

 j)ainful silence. 



" I slM)idd not suppose that any such an apolo- 

 gy would be received," her husband replied. "The 

 insult — 1 can call it liy no milder name — was too 

 gross." 



Ill two weeks, as Mary had said, she was mar- 

 ried to Mr. Bradford, and in n few days afterwards 

 the newspapers contained the announcement that 

 ■ husband hail been associated in business with 



old and lii;^hly respectable firm of , , 



&Co. 



Instead of seeking to make any show, the new- 

 ly married pair retired to a pleasant and neatly 

 furnished dwelling, where Mary found in domes- 

 tic ipiiet and retirement that true happiness for 

 rhich Mrs. Erskine sought in vain and ostenta- 

 tious parade. 



It was about three years after Erskine's nmr- 

 iage, that he found his business, upon a thorough 



ivesti,i.-atii>ri, iii>-xlricably involved. Cameron 

 had faikd, and left him to pay some twelve ihou- 

 (ind dollars of accommoilaiion (laper, which hud 

 een kept ruiming for his (Cameron's) benefit. — 

 And worse than all, in this crisis, the name of 

 old Mr. Allison was on Erskine's paper to at least 

 :im of twenty thousand dollars. For more 

 than u year, the young man had toiled night ami 

 day lo keep his lieail above water. But his legit- 

 imate hnsiuess was almost entirely neglected, and 

 nearly the whole of his time spent in " financiir- 

 vailed nothing that he borrowed 

 ihousands of dollars every week, to relurn thou- 

 sands of dollars borrowed in the week [irevious. 

 It availed nothing that he kept two or three bank 

 accounts, to jirevent the large amount of his 



"askings" from being known to the directors of 

 any one institution. The crisis would and did 

 come. 



Mr. .41111800 was standing behind his counter 

 one day about this time, with his apron on, and 

 his sIcVves rolh'd up, musiiig in no \,-_\y quiet 

 mind, ovei- the very heavy respousihiliiy under 

 w hich he was placed for ins son-iii-Iaw, w hen that 

 individual entered. 



'• Good uioii:ing, Charles!" he .said, endeavor- 

 ing to smile. 'You look troubled about sonje- 

 thing," he added, marking the expression of the 

 young man's countenance more closely. 



"And I feel troubled," was the gloomy response 



" Why, what is the matter, Charles ?" Mr. Alii 

 wu asked, his heart Iwuuding wiili a siwiden-j'tiL 



sation, and then continuing to beat strongly, and 

 to him hndihiy. 



"I am afraid that my business is involved be- 

 yond hope ;" and the young man leaned against 

 the counter in nuich aL'ilniion. 



" Why do you think so ?" asked Mr. Allison, in 

 a voice as culm as he coiilil assume. 



" Because I have met with several heavy losses 

 lately. Cameron's failure has involved a "loss of 

 at least twelve thousand dollars, and I have sunk 

 more than that smn by my. country custom." 



" What are >ou going ,0 do?" 



" I cannot tell. One thing is certain ; 1 shall 

 not be able to meet my payments to-morrow. — 

 They are five thousamrdollars,and I have not one 

 hundred. Every resource is exhausted. Failure, 

 ineutable ami totally ruinous, stares me in the' 



'■And I shall be involved in that ruin," said Mr. 

 Allison, pacing the narrow space liehiinl his coun- 

 ter backwards and forwards, in manliest agitation 

 of mind. 



" I trust not, sir," p^rskine venturerl to say. 

 " Yoimg man," said the father-in-law, pausing 

 and looking Erskine steadily and steridy in the 

 face, " when you fail, I shallbe stripped "of every 

 thing. The hard earnings of forty, industrious 

 years will be scattered to the wind.s,"and I turned 

 upon the world, in my old age, without a dollar, 

 t'ool, fool that I was, to suffer my better convic- 

 tions to be overruled !" 



" You are only on my paper to the RtnoLuit of 

 about twenty lli"ousauirdollars," Erskine said, af- 

 ter the old man had ceased speaking. 



''Only twenty thou,sand ! And pray sir, how 

 much do you snppo.se I am worth ?' 



"At least three times that sum," was the confi- 

 dent reply. 



"You were never more nnstaken in your life, 

 sir ! 1 am, or rather was worth about twenty thou 

 sand dollar.s, and no more. Of comse I am now 

 a beggar!" He said this with a bitterness of tone, 

 that touched the heart of the imprudent ajul reck- 

 less young man, ami made him feel a keen com- 

 punction for what he had done. 



But no affliction of nnud coidd stay the onward 

 course of events. The morrow came, and Ers- 

 kine's store was closed. He had failed. Then 

 came meetings of creditors, assignments, etc. — 

 Everything was given up, splendid ftnniture and 

 all ; and ftlrs. Erskine was compelled lo seek re- 

 fuge in her father's house, for her husband, now 

 a brok-en " merchant," had no place in which to 

 give her a shelter. But worse than all, the hard 

 earnings of her lather were drained out to lift 

 notes upon which he had placed his name. His 

 houses were sold, and his stock reduced, so that 

 when all was over, he had the fixtures of his shop 

 left, his hoii.seholil furniture, and a very small 

 stock of fins and trimmings, with which to go on 

 with his business, and eke out a support forn still 

 large and expensive family. As for Erskine, he 

 was glad to obtuin a situiitinn as clerk upon a 

 moderate salary, and as for Josephine, much as 

 she despised a clerk, she found herself in the end, 

 oidy the wife of a clerk. 



On the same day that Mrs. Erskine left Iter 

 beaulilid home, to fall bark into obscurity, Mrs. 

 Bradford changed her neat iilde dwelling for one 

 more imposing in appearance, yet possessing no 

 higher attractions for her eye, than the pleasant 

 place where the first two years of her happy wed- 

 ded lilt! ha«l been spent. Her husband's inteiest 

 ill the hiisiiicss had proved much more productive 

 than he had anticipated,and although in no way de- 

 sirous of making a more showy appearance than 

 that w hich he already made, his partners insisted 

 that he shoidd take that external po.sitioti in so- 

 ciety which his meims and standing clearly war- 

 ranted ; and it was in yielding to their vvishe.a, 

 that he had taken a beautiful house and furifished 

 it in handsome style. 



Of course Mrs. Bradford did not seek to renew 

 an acquaintance with Mrs. Erskine. The change 

 in their relative ciriMunstances would have been 

 a suffii lent inducement for her to have gone to 

 her and suffered the past to sleep in oblivion.-— 

 But conscious that there was no real change in 

 Josephine's character, and having no sympathy 

 with such views as she had professed and acted 

 upon, she deemed it best for both, now that there 

 was a separation, to li.t the gulf remain between 

 them. 



The effect upon Josephine's mind, it is to be 

 ho|>ed, was salutary. Changes like these, by al- 



