cer politely going some distance before
or behind him it matters not which
he was accosted by a man whom he had
not seen for two years previous. Said
he to Mr. Thorburn, " I have owed you
fifteen dollars for a long time, but it
was never in my power to pay you un-
til now ; just step in this store, and I
will pay you," pointing to one close by.
Mr. T. says he received the money with
as much wonder and thankfulness as
if he had seen it drop from the clouds
into his path. He had not seen the
man for so long a time, that he never
expected the money. This man told
Mr. T. some months after, that at the
time he paid him that money, he knew
nothing whatever of his difficulties.
After having staid the time appointed
in jail, and gone through the forms by
law prescribed, " I came out," says Mr.
T., " whitewashed from all claims as
far as the law could go, but I thought
I was as much bound in justice as ever
I was to pay my honest debts, should
Providence put it in my power, by
prospering my future exertions. He
did prosper my future exertions, and
I can now show receipts for thousands
of dollars which were by law cancelled."



Legal Damages and Compound Inter-
est in Africa.

SOME of the natives of Africa, al-
though they may have little pretensions



to a knowledge of mathematics in gen-
eral, seem to have a very clear and
comprehensive idea of the principles
of compound interest on debts result-
ing from legal damages.

This appears from the custom of a
certain tribe, according to which, if a
native should steal a fowl from another,
the owner, if he had witnesses of the
fact, would suffer the matter to rest for
two or three years. He would then in-
stitute an action for damages, which
are measured by this curious standard :
it is in the first place calculated how
many eggs the fowl would probably
have laid in the course of one or two
years, how many of these would have
been hatched, how many of these
chickens themselves would have be-
come parents, for the period of time
between the commission of the robbery
and the conviction of the offender. For
this imaginary wrong, damages have
been given to the fullest extent, and
the husbands and wives, and whole
family sold, to requite the owner of
the fowl for his loss.



Pecuniary Anxiety of the Greatest
Merchant in the "World.

IT would seem as though no pinnacle
of power and affluence can place a man
wholly out of the reach of pecuniary
exigencies, or the anxiety engendered
by their anticipation. It was so with
that merchant monarch the greatest in
his day Lorenzo de Medici. In pro-
viding for the expenses of the wars in
which the Florentines had been en-
gaged, considerable debts had been in-
curred; and as they had not then
learnt the destructive expedient of an-
ticipating their future revenue, or trans-
ferring their own burdens to their pos-
terity, it became necessary to provide
for the payment of those demands.

Besides the debts contracted in the
name of the republic, Lorenzo had been
obliged to have recourse to his agents
in different countries to borrow large



440



COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.



sums of money which had been applied
to the exigencies of the State ; but it
was no improbable conjecture, that the
money which had been lavishingly ex-
pended during the heat of the contest
would be repaid with reluctance when
the struggle was over. These consider-
ations occasioned him the most harrow-
ing anxiety ; for while on the one hand
he dreaded the disgrace of being want-
ing in the performance of his pecuniary
engagements, he was not perhaps less
apprehensive on the other hand of di-
minishing his influence in Florence, by
the imposition of additional taxes.
From this difficulty he saw no possi-
bility of extricating himself, but by
the most rigid attention, as well to the
improvement of the public revenue, as
to the state of his own business con-
cerns. The increasing prosperity of
the city of Florence seconded his efforts,
and in a short time the creditors of the
State were fully reimbursed, without
an increase of the public burdens.

His own engagements yet remained
incomplete ; but whilst he was endeav-
oring, from his large property and ex-
tensive concerns, to discharge the de-
mands against him, a decree providing
for the payment of his debts out of the
public treasury relieved him of his
difficulties, and proved that the affec-
tion of his fellow citizens yet remained
unimpaired. Lorenzo did not, how-
ever, receive this mark of esteem with-
out utter humiliation at the negligence
and imprudence of his factors and cor-
respondents, who by their inattention
to his affairs, had reduced him to the
necessity of accepting such a favor.
From this period he determined to re-
linquish the fluctuating advantages of
commerce to close his mercantile af-
fairs with all possible expedition well
considering, that besides the inherent
uncertainty of commercial transactions
on so vast a scale, the success of them
depended too much on the industry and
integrity of others.



On the Forgiven List.

ONE of the old-school merchants of
Boston, very extensively engaged in
commerce, and located on Long Wharf,
in that city, died in February, 1806,
intestate, at the age of seventy-nine.
His eldest son administered upon the
estate. This old gentleman used pleas-
antly to say, that for many years he
had fed a large number of Catholics on
the shores of the Mediterranean during
Lent referring to his very extensive
connection with the fishing business.
In his day he was certainly well known ;
and to the present time is well remem-
bered by some of the " old ones down
along shore," from the Garnet's Nose
to Race Point.

Among his papers, a package of con-
siderable size was found after his death,
carefully tied up, and labelled as fol-
lows : " Notes, due bills, and accounts
against sundry persons down along
shore. Some of these may be got by a
suit or severe dunning. But the peo-
ple are poor ; most of them have had
fisherman's luck. My children will do
as they think best. Perhaps they will
think with me, that it is best to burn
this package entire."

About a month (said the narrator of
this), after our father died, the sons
met together, and, after some general
remarks, our eldest brother, the admin-
istrator, produced this package, read
the superscription, and asked what
course should be taken in regard to it.
Another brother, a few years younger
than the eldest, a man of strong, impul-
sive temperament, unable at the mo-
ment to express his feelings by words,
while he brushed the tears from his
eyes with one hand, by a spasmodic jerk
of the other toward the fireplace, in-
dicated his desire to have the paper
put into the flames. It was suggested
by another of our number, that it
might be well to make a list of debtors'
names, and of the dates and accounts,
that we might be enabled, as the in-



THEIR LEGAL AND JUDICIAL ASPECTS.



441



tended discharge was for all, to inform
such as might offer payment, that their
debts were forgiven. On the following
day we again assembled, the list had
been prepared, and all the notes, due
bills, and accounts, whose amount, in-
cluding interest, exceeded thirty- two
thousand dollars, were committed to
the flames.

It was about four months after our
father's death, in the month of June,
that, as I was sitting in my eldest broth-
er's counting room, waiting for an op-
portunity to speak to him, there came
in a hard- favored, little old man, who
looked as if time and rough weather
had been to the windward of him for
seventy years. He asked if my brother
was not the executor. He replied that
he was administrator, as our father died
intestate. " Well," said the stranger,
" I have come up from the Cape to pay
a debt I owed the old gentleman." My
brother requested him to be seated,
being at the moment engaged.

The old man sat down, and putting
on his glasses, drew out a very ancient
wallet. When he had thus done, and
there was quite a parcel of notes, as
he sat waiting his turn, slowly twisting
his thumbs, and his old gray medita-
tive eyes fixed upon the floor, he sighed ;
and I well supposed the money, as the
phrase runs, came hard, and secretly
wished the old man's name might be
found upon the forgiven list. My
brother was soon at leisure, and asked
him the common question his name,
etc. The original debt was $440; it
had stood a long time, and, with the
interest, amounted to $800. My broth-
er went to his table, and after examin-
ing the forgiven list attentively, a sud-
den smile lighted up his countenance,
and told me the truth at a glance the
old man's name was there ! My broth-
er quietly took a chair at his side, and
a conversation ensued between them.

"Your note is outlawed- it was
dated twelve years ago, payable in two
years ; there is no witness, and no in-



terest has ever been paid ; you are not
bound to pay this note we cannot re-
cover the amount."

" Sir," said the old man, " I wish to
pay it. It is the only heavy debt I
have in the world. I should like to
pay it," and he laid the bank notes be-
fore the administrator, and requested
him to count them over.

" I cannot take this money," was the
reply.

The old man became confused. " I
have cast simple interest for twelve
years and a little over," said he; "I
will pay you compound interest, if you
say so. That debt ought to have been
paid long ago, but your father, sir, was
very indulgent; he knew I had been
unfortunate, and told me not to worry
about it."

My brother then set the whole matter
plainly before him, and, taking the
bills, returned them to the old man,
telling him, that although our father
left no formal will, he had recommend-
ed to his children to destroy certain
notes, due bills, and other evidences of
debt, and release those who might be
legally bound to pay them. For a mo-
ment the worthy old man seemed to be
stupefied. After he had collected him-
self, and wiped a few tears from his
eyes, he stated, that from the time he
had heard of our father's death, he had
raked and scraped, and pinched and
spared, to get the money to pay this
debt. " About ten days ago," said he,
u I had made up the sum within twen-
ty dollars. My wife knew how much
the payment of this debt lay upon my
spirits, and advised me to sell a cow,
and make up the difference, and get
the heavy burden off my mind. I did
so, and now, what will my old woman
say ? I must get home to the Cape,
and tell her this good news. She'll
probably say over the very words she
said when she put her hands on my
shoulder as we parted : * I have never
seen the righteous forsaken, nor his
seed begging bread.' " With a hearty



442



COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.



shake of the hand, and a blessing upon
our father's memory, he went upon his
way rejoicing.

After a short silence, seizing his pen-
cil and casting a few figures, " There ! "
exclaimed my brother, " your part of
the amount would be so much; con-
trive a plan to convey to me your share
of the pleasure derived from this opera-
tion, and the money is at your service."



Changes in Mercantile Standing-.

IN old times, when debtors were lia-
ble to imprisonment, a gentleman, now
well known in Philadelphia, failed, and
was forced by some of his relentless
creditors to become the inmate of a
prison. But among his creditors there
was one glorious spirit, who, by great
exertion, and by personally involving
himself, accomplished the liberation of
his friend. He was a commission mer-
chant and partner in a house that
ranked with the first in that city for
nearly fifty years, without the slightest
taint or blemish. In the evening of
his days, however, misfortune reached
him, and he found his house tottering
amidst the financial storm then raging;
and while his distress was greatest, and
his fortunes looked darkest, the bread
he had cast upon the waters six-and-
twenty years before, came floating back
to his door. It was Ms former debtor's
check book, showing a Imlance in one of
the city banks, of two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, with checks signed in
blank to his order, and a request that
he would use the whole or any part, if
it would be of service to him !



Hypothecating: one's Person for a
Loan.

PAWNBROKERS have all sorts of cus-
tomers, pledges, and experiences. The
celebrated tragedian, Mr. Cooke, was
always fond of a frolic, on his benefit
night, declaring that he never took
liberties with his friends at any other



time. It once happened, during an
engagement in Philadelphia, that on
such an occasion he was short of money,
and at a loss to raise the wind for the
accustomed breeze. In this dilemma he
started up town in a speculative mood,
determined to inspirit himself in some
way or other. Having reached the
corner of Callowhill and Eighth streets,
he cast his eyes toward the Delaware,
and perceived one of those enticing
signs of three golden balls. He turned
the corner, and, entering the fatal door,
addressed the man behind the counter
thus : " My name is Cooke. This is
my benefit night. The manager can't
do without me, as I am up for Richard
the Third. I want some liquor. I
have no money. Now I propose to hy-
pothecate my royal person for ten dol-
lars, and you may lay me upon one of
your shelves." The joke was a queer
one, and the master of ceremonies paid
the ten dollars, and Cooke was laid up.
The theatre that night was crowded,
and at seven o'clock the manager came
forward to apologize, stating that with
the permission of the audience the per-
formance would commence with the
farce. He had sent in different direc-
tions, but was unable to find Mr. Cooke
in the city. He presumed the trage-
dian would be forthcoming in the
course of the next half hour. As the
manager retired, he was informed that
a boy wished to see him in the green-
room. He found the lad, who presented
a note written in cypher, which he at
length translated thus: "My dear

, I am in pawn for $10 ; send and

redeem me, or it will be impossible for
Eichard to be himself to-night. Yours,
COOKE." The manager started imme-
diately after the fixed star, and found
him nicely shelved, with a plate of
crackers and cheese, and a bottle of
brandy by him. In the button-hole of
his coat was a piece of paper marked
"No. 1473, pawned for $10." The
amount was paid, a hack called, and
Mr. Cooke and manager rolled to the



THEIR LEGAL AND JUDICIAL ASPECTS.



443



theatre, where the former had just time
to dress, and commence " Now is the
winter of our discontent," &c. It is
said he never played Richard better, or
received greater applause.

Business, Bankruptcy and Literature :

John Pierpont and John Neal.
JOHN NEAL and JOHN PIERPONT,
whose names are now so famous as lit-
terateurs, were formerly active business
men, ceasing to be such only with mis-
fortune and bankruptcy. Neal once
tried shopkeeping in Boston awhile,
opening a small establishment on a
capital of some two hundred dollars
sometimes prosperous in money affairs,
and then again suffering the greatest
embarrassments. In the course of time
he made the acquaintance of John Pier-
pont, and the two Johns subsequently
opened a large wholesale establishment
together in the city of Baltimore, with
a brother-in-law of Mr. Pierpont as
partner, and did an extensive and prof-
itable business for some time, upon the
revival of commerce following the war
of 1812. But in the space of two years,
" Pierpont, Neal & Lord," having then
two wholesale establishments and a re-
tail one in full blast, found their busi-
ness utterly ruined by the depreciation
of all imported articles, and they failed,
failed honestly and entirely, leav-
ing themselves so poor that Pierpont
sold his wife's spoons in order to pay
for lodgings in chambers ; and Neal
parted with all the little comforts and
luxuries he possessed in order to ap-
pease a Shylock of a creditor, who
would take nothing less than "the
pound of flesh." The future career of
these two men proved that, if their
bankruptcy was a damage to some, the
next generation were gainers by it.

Kindness to Debtors: Chickering-,
Peabody, Lorillard.

JONAS CHICKERING, whose great
business involved multitudes in the
relation to him of debtor, was most



indulgent to those who, from disap-
pointment or other honest causes,
became unable to make prompt pay-
ment. He was accustomed to say, " If
you cannot pay me now, pay me when
you can ; and if never able to pay me,
I shall not trouble you ; do not be
discouraged ; go about your business,
and you will get along well enough."
Such assurances quieted many a one,
who had unexpectedly become unable
to meet his liabilities, and it was doubt-
less the manifestation of this accommo-
dating spirit on the part of Mr. Chick-
ering toward others, that secured to
him the indulgent consideration of his
workmen and others, at a time when
his own business was so shaken by the
great commercial crisis of a former
day.

Joseph Peabody, the Salem mer-
chant, lost between one and two hun-
dred thousand dollars, by the failure
of Mr. Williams, the American banker
of London. Yet, so far from bearing
him ill-will, when that gentleman re-
turned to Salem, after an absence of
forty years, Mr. Peabody, then at a very
advanced age, painstakingly crossed
the street, and, with an extended
hand, welcomed him to his native city.

" When you meet with another honest
man in similar circumstances," wrote
Dr. Franklin once to a poor man whom
he had generously assisted, " you must
pay me by lending this sum to liim,
enjoining him to discharge the debt by
a like operation when he shall be able,
and shall meet with such another
opportunity. This is a trick of mine
for doing a deal of good with a little
money."

Jacob Lorillard was not only very
considerate of his own debtors, but as
much so of others' debtors. One who
had been the companion of his youth,
and the friend of his age, and who,
like him, had been blessed with pros-
perity and honor, was suddenly over-
taken with calamity and threatened
with ruin. When he received the



444



COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.



news, he was affected even to tears.
This shall not be, said he ; if I can sus-
tain him, I will mortgage my property
first and he did so. He immediately
assumed all the debts of his friend to
a particular institution, which were
heavy. When creditors, knowing the
intimacy which had subsisted between
them, crowded around him to ascertain
the truth or falsehood of the rumored
failure, he simply replied, "Bring me
the notes which are due to you, and on
the usual guaranty I will pay them."
He did do it, to a large amount ; and
by the aid which he rendered, and the
confidence he inspired, he not only sus-
tained and reestablished his friend,
but the whole profits of the operation
for the risk which he incurred were
entirely devoted to charity.

Hough. Treatment of Insolvents.

THE insolvent debtor, among the
Romans, was cut to pieces and dis-
tributed among his creditors, more
barbarous than the Thugs. Even in
England, the bankrupt was formerly
treated as a criminal, and subjected to
personal punishment. In Scotland, till
within a hundred years, they set the
" dyvour " upon a pillory', with stock-
ings of various colors, to subject him
to the scorn of the multitude.



Jewish Traders, and Straw Bail.

" ARE you worth 1,800, after all your
debts are paid ? " said a London magis-
trate to a Jew trader, who had been
placed before him by an attorney, to
justify in bail for one of his roguish
clients. " Eighteen hundred pounds,"
replied the Jew, " is a great deal o'
inonish ; I haven't got half so much ;
but as the attorney has given me a
twenty-pun' note, what am I to do
with it ? " " Put it in your pocket,"
said the judge. The old Jew folded up
the bank-note deliberately, placed it in
his pocket, and retired.



Philanthropic Debtor.

THE fine moral tone and exquisite
sense of justice of a certain unfortunate
debtor, is worthy of all appreciation.
He was in the kindly benevolent stage
of inebriety, and full of universal phi-
lanthropy and exuberant liberality.
After pouring forth his warmest desires
to make all men happy, he wound up
thus : " And if I owe any man any-
thing, I freely forgive him the debt ! "



Imperial Affection for a Banker.

One of the tight Jew bankers, in the
reign of Frederic, being fearful of sub-
sidies and loans, sent a letter, petition-
ing the king " to allow him to travel
for the benefit of his health," and re-
ceived the following tender answer :

" DEAR EPHRAIM. Nothing but
death shall part us. FREDERIC."

A reply pregnant with terrible mean-
ing to the poor Israelite.



Washing-ton Irving-' s Commercial
Bankruptcy.

PRIOR to 1817, "Washington Irving
was engaged in commercial affairs with
his brother-in-law, Mr. Van Wart, of
Birmingham ; and the house was in
that year, like many others, subjected
to the ruinous effects of one of those
extended revulsions of trade, which
were more frequent and more disas-
trous then than in recent times. In
the winter of 1817-18 (says Mr. Lord,
a friend of Mr. Irving), being in Liver-
pool at the crisis of those calamities,
I passed a considerable period in daily
intercourse with Mr. Irving. Meeting
him one morning after the receipt of
letters from New York, I observed a
smile on his countenance, and con-
gratulated him on the receipt of what
I presumed to be good news concern-
ing his affairs. "Yes," said he, "I
was relieved: I feel that I have got
down to hard pan. The last debts on



THEIR LEGAL AND JUDICIAL ASPECTS.



445



which I relied have proved bad ; and
in that respect I have no more ill news
to receive." It is believed that it was
in pursuance of suggestions made to
him by Roscoe the banker and author
of the lives of the Medici family of
merchants, that Mr. Irving, after the
bankruptcy of the house in which he
was a partner, determined upon his
future pursuit as a writer of books.

Granting an Extension.

MR. B. had failed ; that is, a series
of misfortunes unlookecl for, and against
which it was impossible to provide, had
reduced his means, so that he was un-
able to meet his engagements. With
a gloom of mind natural under the
circumstances, B. prepared to meet his
creditors and give them satisfaction,
so far as he was able. The day on
which they assembled at his counting-
room was rainy and dreary a day on
which a single gleaming ray of the sun
would have been, to him, a blessing.

The creditors were gathered around
a table, and with gloomy brows they
awaited the announcement of the
amount they were to expect upon
each dollar they had advanced to the
broken merchant. B. appeared with
an expression of resignation upon his
countenance, and yet it was not diffi-
cult to perceive the suppressed agony
in his heart.

For a time there was a silent examina-
tion of books and papers, as each credi-
tor sought to ascertain the amount for
which he w r ould have to suffer. Then,
a man of ready sympathies, to whom
this silence was painful, remarked, " It
is a rainy day." "Yes," replied B.,
and there was now a beam of light
on his countenance, " but it will not
always be rainy." The tone and nature
of this expression struck the sym-
pathizing merchant, and he almost
immediately arose, and proposed that
an extension should be granted, to
allow B. to recover from his disaster.



There was but little discussion. The
proposition was received with general
favor, and unanimously agreed to. The
result of this extension was, that B. re-
turned to his business with a light
heart, labored earnestly and devotedly,
and in a surprisingly short time was
enabled to pay all to whom he was
indebted.



Breach, of the Bond.

AN English trader, having sustained
a heavy loss, began, in great despair,
to denounce his calling, and to declare
that he would never follow it. One,
for some trifling consideration, pro-
cured his bond, with a penalty, not to
be again engaged in that occupation.
Afterward, the necessities of his family
forcing him to a breach of his bond, an
action was brought upon the penalty.
On the facts being disclosed, in the
trial of the case, the judge, who seems
to have been a firm and just, but im-
petuous man, is reported to have flown
into a violent passion, and given this
very emphatic opinion in Norman
French : " In my opinion there should
have been a demurrer, because the obli-
gation is void, and the condition is