thus draw attention.
Observe, I did not purchase this
plant with the intention of selling it
again, but merely to draw attention to
my green pots, and let the people see
how well the pots looked when the
plant was in them. Next day, some
one fancied and purchased both plant
and pot. The day following, I went
when the market was nearly over, judg-
ing the man would sell cheaper, rather
than have the trouble of carrying them
over the river, as he lived at Brooklyn
and in those days there were neither
steam nor horse boats. Accordingly, I
purchased two plants, and having sold
them, I began to think that something
might be clone in this way ; and so I
continued to go, at the close of the
market, and always bargained for the
unsold plants. The man, finding me a
useful customer, would assist me to
carry them home, and show me how to
shift the plants out of his pots and put
them into the green pots, if any cus-
tomers wished it. I soon found, by his
tongue, that he was a Scotchman, and
being countrymen, we wrought into one
another's hands, and thus, from having
one plant, in a short time I had fifty.
The thing being a novelty, began to
draAv attention; people carrying their
country friends to see the curiosities of
the city, would step in to see my plants.
In some of these visits the strangers
would express a wish to have some of
these plants, but, having so far to go,
could not carry them. Then they
would ask if I had no seed of such
plants ; then, again, others would ask
for cabbage, turnip, or radish seed, etc.
These frequent inquiries at length set
me to thinking that, if I could get
seeds, I would be able to sell them ;
but here lay the difficulty. As no one
sold seed in New York, none of the
farmers or gardeners saved more than
what they wanted for their own use,
there being no market for an overplus.
In this dilemma, I told my situation to
G. I., the man from whom I had always
bought the plants in the Fly market.
He said he was now raising seeds, with
the intention of selling them next spring
along with his plants in the market ;
but added, that if I would take his
seeds, he would quit the market, and
stay at home and raise plants and seeds
for me to sell. A bargain was imme-
diately struck ; I purchased his stock
of seeds, amounting to fifteen dollars,
and thus commenced a business, on the
17th of September, 1805, that became
the most extensive establishment of the
kind in the western world.
Bruised, but not Crushed the Messrs.
Brown, of Liverpool.
THE transactions of the eminent firm
of the Browns, in Liverpool, are said to
have amounted, in the year 1836, to
fifty millions of dollars. In 1837, the
American banks all over the country
went down one after the other, and
many together, almost with a universal
crash. They fell, and their fall involv-
ed the Messrs. Brown. The latter,
though bruised, were not crushed.
American commerce was at that time a
towering pile in course of erection
bank credit was the scaffolding. It
fell ; and the Browns were not far from
being smothered in the rubbish. Had
they possessed less than the strength of
giants, they could not have extricated
themselves and, giants though they
were, they would have struggled in
vain, had not a powerful hand assisted
them. The British government saw,
and looked with apprehension as it
saw, the struggles of this colossal mer-
cantile house. From Inverness to Pen-
zance, there was not a single town but
would have felt its fall. In Sheffield
and Birmingham, and the towns sur-
168
COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.
rounding them, and in Manchester,
Leeds, and all the great factory com-
munities, a large number of the mer-
chants and employers and, as a matter
of course, every man and woman em-
ployed were more or less involved in
the fate of this establishment. The
government of that day saw the immi-
nent peril, and so did the directors of
the Bank of England. The latter met,
and passed a resolution to give assist-
ance to the extent of some two million
pounds to Mr. Brown ; the exact sum
which he was authorized to draw a
loan of money, to a single individual,
unparalleled in the history of the world,
unless it be the case of George Peabody
was one million and nine hundred
and fifty-nine thousand pounds, or
nearly ten million dollars. Of this
loan, Mr. Brown took advantage to the
extent of between eight and nine hun-
dred thousand pounds, which he after-
ward repaid, besides clearing up all
other embarrassments, and ultimately
possessing one of the greatest personal
fortunes ever accumulated in the world.
The solid romance of this page in the
history of so world-renowned a firm is
rarely surpassed in interest.
Wealthy Men of Cincinnati.
THERE is a man doing business on
Main street, Cincinnati, who was re-
fused credit in 1850 for a stove worth
twelve dollars. He is now a director in
one of the banks, and is worth $150,000,
every cent of which has been made in
Cincinnati during that period. There
is another business man on the same
street, who was refused credit in 1850,
by a firm in the. drug line for the
amount of five dollars; eight years
after, the same firm lent that very man
five thousand dollars upon his endorsed
note. An extensive dealer in Cincin-
nati, now worth $100,000, and who, it
is said, can command more money on
short notice for sixty, ninety, or one
hundred and twenty days, than almost
any man in Cincinnati, went to a gro-
cery store in 1850 to purchase a hogs-
head of sugar ; it was sold to him with
many misgivings as to getting the pay
when it became due. A man whose
credit in 1850 was such that when
trusted by a clerk for a keg of salt-
petre, the employer remarked that it
might as well have been rolled into the
Ohio, was worth, in 1857, $100,000,
again a bankrupt in 1860, and now
worth $20,000. A man, now good for
$300,000, was ten years ago exhibiting
a monkey in the streets of the city, for
a living. Another heavy business man,
a bank director, sold apples in a basket
when a boy, through the streets. One
of the first merchants in the place, in
1845, and who could at that time have
bought entire blocks of houses on cred-
it, and who was a bank director, subse-
quently died intemperate and insolvent.
Another, who in 1837 was rated at half
a million of dollars, has since died, leav-
ing his estate insolvent.
Beverses of Mercantile Fortune.
THE array of agents, brokers, book-
keepers, and decayed gentlemen, who
were but lately numbered among the
merchants, bankers, and ship owners
of New York, is quite a moving specta-
cle. Thus A, B , for thirty years
connected with trade, during most of
which period he was a leading member
of the great cloth house of , has
been worth $200,000, but is now a
bookkeeper for a concern in John
ptreet. J. S. has been forty years in
trade, and was considered successful
beyond all liability to future risk, being
for many years ranked among the rich
men of the street, failed, and is now
poor. B and M., princes in the
dry goods line, built two palatial stores
in Broadway, and have been immensely
rich, but after battling honorably with
adverse fortune, failed. J. R , a re-
tired merchant, estimated at $500,000,
holding at one time $50,000 in Dela-
SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS QUALITIES.
169
ware and Hudson Canal stock, subse-
quently got involved and lost all. In-
stances like these might be multiplied
to any extent.
William Roscoe, the Poet Banker.
AFTER Mr. Koscoe had retired to pri-
vate life, he was earnestly solicited to
enter a banking house, the officers of
which desired the attention of a person
possessed of a great business capacity
and talent. He had already acted as
the confidential adviser of the house
when in difficulty, and had rendered it
valuable assistance. Yielding to the
earnest request of his friends, he became
a partner in said house, and for a time
devoted himself exclusively to its con-
cerns. Some seven years after, owing to
the demands of the time and the scarcity
of specie, the house was forced to sus-
pend. At his solicitation, the creditors
of the firm allowed them six years in
which to discharge their debts. Dur-
ing all this period Mr. Roscoe's labors
were unremitted. To meet their obli-
gations, however, the private property
of the members of the firm had to be
sold, and under the most unfavorable
circumstances. It was during this sea-
son of trial, that Mr. Roscoe wrote the
celebrated and immortal sonnet, so well
known to all who read the English lan-
guage, and so evincive of his resigna-
tion during trials so severe.
Merchant's Gratitude.
A MERCHANT resided many years,
highly respected, at Canton and Macao,
when a sudden reserve of fortune re-
duced him from a state of affluence to
the greatest necessity.
A Chinese merchant, to whom he had
formerly rendered service, gratefully
offered him an immediate loan of ten
thousand dollars, which the gentleman
accepted, and gave his bond for the
amount ; this the Chinese immediately
threw into the fire, saying, " When you,
my friend, first came to China, I was a
poor man. You took me by the hand,
and, assisting my honest endeavors,
made me rich. Our circumstances are
now reversed I see you poor, while I
have affluence."
The bystanders had snatched the
bond from the flames; and the mer-
chant, sensibly affected by such gen-
erosity, pressed his Chinese friend to
take the security, which he did, and
then effectually destroyed it.
But the disciple of Confucius, ob-
serving the renewed distress this act oc-
casioned the merchant, said he would
accept the latter's watch, or any littlo
valuable as a memorial of their friend-
ship. The merchant immediately pre-
sented his watch, and the Chinese, in
return, gave him an old iron seal, say-
ing : " Take this seal it is one I have
long used, and possesses no intrinsic
value ; but as you are going to India,
to look after your outstanding con-
cerns, should misfortune further attend
you, draw upon me for any sum of
money you may stand in need of, seal
it with this signet, sign it with your
own hand, and I will pay the money."
Father Taylor and the Banker's Ex-
hortation.
AN eminent banker fi\,m the West
End, Boston, once vibited Father Tay-
lor's church during a warm revival, and
somewhat varied the usual character of
the prayer meeting, by an address set-
ting forth the beneficence of the mer-
chant princes, the goodness of the Port
Society, and above all the duty of sea-
men to show their gratitude to the mer-
chants. He was somewhat taken aback
when Father Taylor arose, at the close
of this rather presumptuous exhorta-
tion, .and simply inquired, " Is there
any other old sinner from up-town that
would like to say a word ? "
170
COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.
" An Error in Skipping the Goods."
TOWARD the close of the Revolution-
ary war, the owners of the North
Church in New Haven, Ct., sent to a
Boston merchant for some nails, to
make repairs with, when one of the
kegs sent in return for the order was
found to contain Spanish silver dollars.
The deacons wrote to the merchant in
Boston, that there was " an error in ship-
ping the goods ;" but he answered that
the goods were sold as he bought them
of a privateersman, and " he couldn't
rectify mistakes." So the silver was
melted up into a service of plate for
the church, which is in use at the pres-
ent day. Had the deacons been less
shrewd, and stated the nature of the
" error " to the merchant, that service
of plate would never have turned up.
As it was, they realized the full benefit
of what is so much esteemed in busi-
ness correspondence brevity.
Persevering Traders.
AN old bachelor who resided in Brix-
ton, in order to prevent itinerant trad-
ers annoying him by knocking at his
door to dispose of their wares, affixed
to his knocker a label to this effect :
'The inhabitant of this house never
buys anything at the door Hawkers,
beware ! " He was dreadfully annoyed
shortly after by a loud knock at the par-
lor window, from which he saw two fel-
lows with clothes-lines, mats, and pegs
to sell. Throwing up the sash in a
pretty considerable rage, he accosted
them thus : " Can you read ? " " Yes,
master," answered the hawker. " Then
don't you see a notice affixed to my
knocker, that I never buy anything at
the door ? " ". To be sure we do ; so
we thought we would make bold and
try to do a little something at the par-
lor window." The fellow's wit pacified
the old bachelor, who straightway (he
had a good vein in him, after all) made
a purchase. Immediately afterward,
however, he sent for a painter, and had
the following addition made to his an-
nouncement: "Nor at the window
either."
Aptness and Nicety in Business Illus-
trated
ON a certain Saturday night, the
clerks of the Bank of England could
not make the balance come out right
by just one hundred pounds. This is a
serious matter in that little establish-
ment not the cash, but the mistake in
arithmetic ; for it necessitates a world
of scrutiny. An error in the balancing
has been known to keep a delegation
of clerks from each department at
work, sometimes, through the whole
night. A hue and cry, therefore, was
made after this one hundred pounds,
as if the old lady in Threadneedle street
would be in the Gazette, as an insol-
vent, for want of it. Luckily on the
Sunday morning following, the clerk
in the middle of the sermon, perhaps,
if the truth were known, felt a suspi-
cion of the truth dart through his mind
quicker than any flash of the telegraph
itself. He told the chief cashier, on
Monday morning, that perhaps the mis-
take might have occurred in packing
some boxes of specie for the West In-
dies which had been sent to Southamp-
ton for shipment. The suggestion was
immediately acted upon. Here was a
race lightning against steam, and
steam with eight and forty hours the
start given. Instantly the wires asked,
"whether such a vessel had left the
harbor?" "Just weighing anclior,"
was the reply. " Stop her ! " frantical-
ly shouted the telegraph. It was done.
" Have up on deck certain boxes mark-
ed so and so ; weigh them carefully."
They were weighed ; and one, the de-
linquent, was found heavier by just one
packet of a hundred sovereigns than it
ought to be." " Let her go," says the
mysterious telegraph. The "West India
folks were debited with just one hun-
dred pounds more, and the error was
SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS QUALITIES.
corrected without even looking into
the boxes, or delaying the voyage an
hour.
European and American Modes of
Doing Business.
THE loose and careless manner in
which business is done in this country
at least in these latter days of hurry
and venture as compared with the
practice among European merchants
was a subject frequently commented
upon by the late John Bromfield, well
known as one of the "prince mer-
chants" of Boston. In his familiar
style, Mr. Bromfield used to say,
" Here, if a purchaser is about to buy
a cargo of box sugars, he will bore into
one box, look at a second, kick a third
and take the lot ; but in Europe, they
thrust an iron searcher through and
through every box, and carefully exam-
ine every layer."
Minding: One's Own Business.
" DUKLNG my long commercial expe-
rience," says Girard, "I have noticed
that no advantage results from telling
one's business to others, except to create
jealousy or competitors when we are
fortunate, and to gratify our enemies
when otherwise." He was never known
to disregard this theory in all his pro-
tracted career as one of the greatest and
most successful of merchants.
Hon. Peter C. Brooks, of Boston, who
left one of the largest fortunes ever
amassed in this country, on being asked
what rule he would recommend to a
young man as most likely to ensure suc-
cess, answered: "Let him mind his
own business;" and to a similar in-
quiry, it has been said that Robert
Lenox, of New York, well remembered
as one of the most distinguished mer-
chants ever known in that great city,
and for his wide hospitality, once an-
swered : " Let him be beforehand with
his business." One answer seems to in-
clude the other, as no man can be 'be-
forehand, with his business, unless he
minds it unremittingly, instead of spend-
ing his time and wits in looking after
others.
John Jacob Astor's " High way to For-
tune."
" IT'S what thee'll spend, my son,"
said a sage old Quaker, "not what
thee'll make, which will decide whether
thee's to be rich or not," Franklin's
advice, only in another shape, " Take
care of the pennies, and the pounds
will take care of themselves."
John Jacob Astor used to say, that
a man who wishes to be rich and has
saved ten thousand dollars, has won
half the battle is on the highway to
fortune. Not that Astor thought ten
thousand much. But he knew that in
making and saving such a sum, a man
acquired habits of prudent economy,
which would constantly keep him ad-
vancing in wealth. The habitual small
expenses, which are designated as
" only a trifle," amount, in the aggre-
gate, like the sands of the shore, to
something pretty serious. Ten cents a
day, even, is thirty-six dollars and a
half a year, and that is the interest on
a capital of six hundred dollars ; so
that the man who saves ten cents a day
only, is so much richer than him who
does not, as if he owned a life estate in
a property worth six hundred dollars.
Gideon Lee carrying- the Lapstone.
IN the year 1834, the memorable
panic year, a report was put in circula-
tion among the New York business
men, that the house of Gideon Lee,
long so eminent and stable, had failed.
In allusion to the report, Mr. Lee re-
marked : " I commenced business, when
poor, on credit ; I thrived by credit.;
and I hold it to be my duty to sacrifice
my property down to twenty shillings
in the pound, before that credit shall
be dishonored. / have carried the lap-
stone, and I can do it again ; but I will
172
COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.
never suffer a promise of mine to be
broken, while I have a shilling left that
I can call my own."
"Usurious Interest on Money Peter C.
Brooks's Rule.
ONE of the undeviating principles
upon which Peter C. Brooks conducted
his great business was that of never,
either directly or indirectly, taking
more than legal interest. Had he been
willing to violate this rule, and that in
modes not condemned by the letter of
the law, nor by public opinion, he
might easily have doubled his fortune.
But many considerations led him to
adopt and adhere to his rule on this
subject. It was contrary to law to
take more than legal interest, and he
held it to be eminently dangerous to
tamper with the duty of a good citizen,
and break the law, because he might
think the thing forbidden not morally
wrong. This consideration was entire-
ly irrespective of the fact, that at one
period, by the law of Massachusetts, the
contract was wholly violated by the
demand of usurious interest, and the
creditor placed in the debtor's power.
But after the mitigation of the law in
this respect, Mr. Brooks's practice re-
mained unaltered. He believed and
often said, that, in the long run, six per
cent, is as much as the bare use of
money is worth in this country ; that to
demand more was for the capitalist to
claim the benefit of the borrower's skill
in some particular business, or of his
courage and energy ; or else it was to
take advantage of his neighbor's need.
He frequently said that he would never
put it in the power of any one, in a re-
verse of fortune, to ascribe his ruin to
the payment of usurious interest to
him. On more than one occasion,
when some beneficial public object was
to be promoted, he lent large sums at
an interest below the legal and current
rate.
Benevolence of Shai-kingr-qua, a Chi-
nese Merchant.
AN interesting instance of generosity
is given of a Chinese merchant, of the
name of Shai-king-qua, who had long
known a Mr. Anderson, an English
trader, and had large business transac-
tions with him. It appears that Mr.
Anderson met with heavy losses, be-
came insolvent, and at the time, of his
failure owed his Chinese friend upward
of eighty thousand dollars. Mr. A.
wished to -go to England, in the hope
of being able to retrieve his affairs ; he
called on the Hong merchant, and in
the utmost distress, explained his situa-
tion, his wishes, and his plans. The
Chinese listened with anxious atten-
tion, and having heard his story, thus
addressed him :
" My friend Anderson, you have been
very unfortunate ; you lose all I very
sorry ; you go to England ; if you more
fortunate there, you come back and
pay ; but that you no forget Chinaman
friend, you take this, and when you
look on this, you will remember Shai-
king-qua." In saying these words, he
pulled out a valuable gold watch, and
gave it to Anderson.
Mr. Anderson took leave of his
friend, but he did not live to retrieve
his affairs, or to return to China.
When the account of his death, and
of the distress in which he had left his
family, reached Canton, the Hong mer-
chant called on one of the merchants
of the factory who was about to return
to Europe, and addressed him in the
following manner : " Poor Mr. Ander-
son dead ! I very sorry ; he good
man ; he friend, and he leave two
childs ; they poor they have nothing
they childs of my friend ; you take
this for them; tell them Chinaman
friend send it I " And he put into the
returning merchant's hands several
thousand dollars for Mr. A.'s children.
SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS QUALITIES.
173
Money-getting Tact of Jews.
THAT the Jews are more successful
in money-getting than any other people
is a generally admitted fact. " As rich
as a Jew," is a proverb. How to ac-
count for it to what cause to ascribe
it has long been a puzzle. If the fol-
lowing be matter-of-fact, instead of ro-
mancing, it may be considered a partial
solution of the puzzle : " The politest
people in the world are not the French,
the English, the American, the Italian,
nor the German, but the Jewish. For
the Jews are maltreated, and reviled,
and despoiled of their civil privileges,
and their social rights; yet are they
everywhere polite, affable, insinuating,
and condescending. They are remark-
able for their industry and persever-
ance ; . indulge in few or no recrimina-
tions ; are faithful to old associations ;
more respectful of the prejudices of
others than those are of theirs; not
more worldly-minded and money-lov-
ing than people generally are ; and,
everything considered, they surpass all
nations in courtesy, affability, and for-
bearance. Few persons excel in ad-
dress a bright and polished Jew.
There is no rusticity among that peo-
ple." Whether this representation be
correct or not, we scarcely know, as the
majority of the reputed Jews in this
country, especially those in the cloth-
ing trade, are a mongrel race. But it
is certain that much of business success
depends on courtesy.
Sole Qualification of a Bill Broker.
AN ancient writer on money affairs
compressed a good deal of shrewd
truth in his brief description of what
a bill broker should be : A bill broker
ought to be a man of honor, and know
his business ; he should avoid babbling,
and be prudent in his office, which con-
sists in one sole point to hear all and
say nothing ; so that he ought never to
speak of the negotiations transacted by
means of his intervention.
Peculiar Feature in Rothschild's Busi-
ness Character.
ROTHSCHILD'S management of the
business of exchanges was one of the
most remarkable features in his char-
acter. He never hesitated for a moment
in fixing a rate either as a drawer or pur-
chaser of a foreign bill of exchange on
any part of the world ; and his memory
was so retentive, that, notwithstanding
the multifarious and immense transac-
tions into which he entered on every
foreign post-day on the Exchange, he
never took a memorandum of them,
but, on his return to his office, could
dictate to his clerks the whole of the
bargains he had made, with the various
rates of exchange, and the names of the
several parties with whom he had dealt,
with the most perfect exactness.
Commercial Fortune of a Peer.
ONE of the most popular members
of the British House of Lords is said to
have purchased his peerage with a mil-
lion of dollars in gold. One of the
methods by which that mercantile
house, of which he was the leading
member, amassed the large fortune
which they now enjoy, was this : they