nevolent merchant, was a strict Jew"), in
behalf of their object. The missiona-
ries acted upon the suggestion, and
soon returned to thank the gentleman
who had directed them to so " liberal a
Christian." Mr. Touro had subscribed
two hundred dollars to their cause !
Under Medical Treatment Jacob
Barker as a Patient.
JACOB BARKER having occasion to
expose himself to peculiar danger,
when the yellow fever was raging in
New Orleans in 1837, and not being
acclimated, asked his physician, Dr.
Kerr, for a prescription to be used in
case of attack ; the doctor prepared the
medicine, and instructed Mr. B. under
no circumstances to have a vein opened
that as soon as the approach of the
enemy was perceptible, usually indicat-
ed by a chill, to resort to cupping of
the head and ancle, baths of warm wa-
ter strongly impregnated with cayenne
pepper and mustard, drinking warm
lemonade, and as soon as the skin be-
came a little softened, to take the medi-
cine. Should there be much pain in
the head or back, w T hich is usual, ice to
be applied constantly, refraining from
all food save ice, and eating as much
of this as inclination dictated. If the
fever continued or returned, twenty
grains of calomel to be taken the fol-
lowing day, in either case in a day or
two a large dose of castor oil. Mr.
Barker was taken at Plaquemine, in
the office of the clerk of the court. He
immediately repaired to the hotel, pur-
sued the course recommended by Dr.
Kerr, sending for Dr. Cummings, a
highly respectable physician of that
place, to visit him with his cupping
apparatus. He came, said he had no
such apparatus, and proposed to open
a vein, which Mr. Barker, of course, de-
clined.
" Sir," said the doctor, " you are a
very sick man, and ought to have some
medicine immediately."
" I know that, but not until I have
been cupped."
" Then, for what have you sent for
me?"
" To cup me."
" You might as well have sent for a
barber."
"Provided he could cup me as
well."
Cupping apparatus not being found
in Plaquemine, an express was sent to
Baton Rouge. Dr. Ogden came pro-
vided, and the operation being per-
formed, the doctor remarked :
" You are a very sick man, and
DOMESTIC RELATIONS OF MERCHANTS, BANKERS, ETC.
483
ought to take some medicine imme-
diately."
"I intend to do so," replied Mr.
Barker, " for which purpose I have it
in my pocket."
" I suppose," said the doctor, " you
have no objection to letting me see it ; "
and who, having seen it, said, " I do
not think it will do you any harm, al-
though I should not give you half the
quantity."
Mr. Barker took it, believing it to be
fifty grains of calomel, when the doctor
remarked, " You seem to love it." " Oh,
no," said Mr. Barker, " I do it mechan-
ically, because it is to be done." Mr.
Barker was well again in ten days.
Hancock, the Patriot Merchant.
DURING the siege of Boston, General
Washington consulted Congress upon
the propriety of bombarding the town of
Boston. Mr. Hancock, a distinguished
merchant, was the President of Congress.
After General Washington's letter was
read, a solemn silence ensued. This
was broken by a member making a
motion that the House should resolve
itself into a committee of the whole, in
order that Mr. Hancock might give his
opinion upon the important subject, as
he was deeply interested, from having
all his estate in Boston, which estate
was very large and valuable. '
After Mr. Hancock had left the
chair, he addressed the chairman of
the committee of the whole, in the fol-
lowing words : " It is true, sir ; nearly
all the property I have in the world is
in houses and other real estate in the
town of Boston ; but if the expulsion
of the British army from it, and the
liberties of the country, require their
being burnt to ashes issue the order
for that purpose immediately."
Friend Coates's Management of Girard.
GIRAKD insisted on being the sole
and immovable judge of his benevolent
duty. If rightly approached, he would
give largely, but if dictated to or treat-
ed with impertinence, he would not
give at all. Samuel Coates, one of the
old Friends, knew how to manage
Girard, while many, from want of this
specific knowledge, sought aid from
him unsuccessfully. Mr. Coates was
one of the managers of the Pennsylva-
nia Hospital, which was then much in
need of funds. He undertook to get a
donation from Mr. Girard, and meeting
him in the street, stated his object.
Mr. Girard asked him to come to him
the next morning.
Mr. Coates called, and found Girard
at breakfast. He asked him to take
some, which Mr. Coates did. After
breakfast, Mr. Coates said, " Well, Mr.
Girard, we will proceed to business."
" Well, what have you come for, Sam-
uel?" said Mr. Girard. "Just what
thee pleases, .Stephen," replied Mr.
Coates. Girard drew a check of two
thousand dollars, which Mr. Coates put
in his pocket without looking at it.
" What ! you no look at the check I
gave you ? " said Mr. Girard. " No ;
beggars must not be choosers, Ste-
phen," said Mr. Coates. *" " Hand me
back again the check I handed you,"
demanded Girard. "No, no, Stephen
a bird in the hand is worth two iu
the bush," responded Mr. Coates. " By
George," said Girard, " you have caught
me upon the right footing." He then
drew a check for five thousand dollars
and presented it to Mr. Coates, observ-
ing, " Will you now look at it ? "
" Well, to please thee, I will," said Mr.
Coates. " Now give me back the first
check," demanded Mr. Girard which
was accordingly done.
John J. Astor's Board and Clothes.
IT is said that when John Jacob
Astor was once congratulated by a cer-
tain person for his wealth, he replied
by pointing to his pile of bonds, and
maps of property, at the same time in-
484
COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.
quiring, " Would you like to manage
these matters for your board and
clothes ? " The man demurred at the
idea. " Sir," continued the rich man,
" it is all that I get !"
Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars at one
Draught.
ONE of the most singular anecdotes
is related of Thomas Gresham, the
princely merchant of Queen Elizabeth's
time. The Spanish ambassador to the
English court having extolled the
great riches of the king his master, and
of the grandees of his kingdom, before
the queen, Sir Thomas, who was pres-
ent, told him that the queen had sub-
jects who, at one meal, expended not
only as much as the daily revenues of
his king, but also of all his grandees ;
and added, " this I will prove any day,
and lay you a considerable sum on the
result."
The ambassador soon after came un-
awares to the house of Sir Thomas,
and dined with him ; and, finding only
an ordinary meal, said, " Well, sir, you
have lost your wager." " Not at all,"
replied Sir Thomas, " and this you
shall presently see." He then pulled
out a box from his pocket, and taking
one of the largest and finest eastern
pearls out of it, exhibited it to the am-
bassador, and then ground it, and
drank the powder of it in a glass of
wine, to the health of the queen his
mistress. " My lord ambassador," said
Sir Thomas, " you know I have often
refused fifteen thousand pounds for
that pearl ; have I lost or won ? " "I
yield the wager as lost," said the am-
bassador, " and I do not think there-
are four subjects in the world that
would do as much for their sovereigns."
New Orleans Broker Henouncing- a
Fortune.
WHEN Mr. Lefevre, the wealthy
Louisiana sugar planter, died, his es-
tate was appraised at about seven hun-
dred thousand dollars. He died with-
out issue, and his wife had some time
previously preceded him to the grave.
On his will being opened, it was found
that he had left the whole of his prop-
erty to be divided equally between two
gentlemen of New Orleans, one a neph-
ew of the testator's wife, and the other
the broker who had transacted his
business in that city a man in no
wise related to him, only in the way of
business. To the astonishment of his
friends, this broker, on finding that he
had been made legatee to half the mil-
lionnaire's vast estate, went before a
notary public and renounced the whole
legacy, making it over in favor of the
relatives of the deceased in France,
consisting of nephews and nieces to the
number of twenty or thirty, and all
humbly situated in life. The old man
had previously made a will, in which
his French relatives were handsomely
remembered ; but, on returning from a
visit from them, for some reason known
only to himself, he tore the will to
pieces and wrote a new one, leaving
everything to his wife's nephew and
his broker. The broker who thus so
magnanimously renounced his share of
the estate, gave as his reason for so do-
ing, that he was already as rich as he
wished to be, and felt so independent
that he did not wish it to be in the
power of any one to say that any part
of his fortune was not of his own
making.
Amos Lawrence's Opinion of
Marriag-e.
THIS distinguished and excellent
merchant was an advocate of early
marriages, but was strenuously opposed
to any man's marrying a fortune. Speak-
ing of a desirable match for a friend,
he said, " My only objection to her is,
she has a few thousand dollars in cash.
This, however, might be remedied ; for
after purchasing a house, the balance
DOMESTIC RELATIONS OF MERCHANTS, BANKERS, ETC. 485
might lie given to near connections, or to
some public institution? As this benev-
olent millionnaire was in the habit of
illustrating and giving point to his
opinions by pleasing reminiscences, the
absence of anything of the kind in con-
nection with the above remark, is evi-
dence that the good man was unable to
cite any !
Ebenezer Francis and the Students'
Table.
WHEN the late Ebenezer Francis,
one of the heaviest of Boston bankers,
was treasurer of Harvard College, he
used occasionally to visit the Com-
mons' Hall, and from the first was dis-
agreeably struck with the ordinary ap-
pearance of the table, both the food and
the equipage. He saw only a bare
pine table, on which no cloth was ever
spread, the cheapest kind of crockery,
iron spoons, and the poorest descrip-
tion of knives and forks. Of this for-
bidding scene he gave a lively picture
to the corporation, and proposed an
entire reform. Induced by his repre-
sentations, some of the faculty made a
personal inspection, which convinced
them of the justice of Mr. Francis's dis-
satisfaction, and rendered them equally
displeased with the condition of things
in the Commons' Hall. But with an
impoverished treasury, there seemed to
be an insuperable bar to effecting the
needed changes. Indeed, much hesi-
tancy was felt as to the expediency of
the proposed reform, both on account
of the cost, and the liability to destruc-
tion of the property by a set of unruly
young men. These objections were
met by Mr. Francis, by the declara-
tion that, as to the cost, he would see
that the college was not the poorer by
the reform, and as to the destruction of
the property, he would trust to the stu-
dents' honor. Immediately he pur-
chased, at his own expense, a suitable
supply of good table linen ; ordered
from England the necessary quantity
of tableware of the best kind, and, to
give it a distinctive character, had it
decorated with views of the college
buildings ; he also sent an order to
Sheffield for the best knives and forks,
and procured from Boston a supply of
spoons. Such decided improvements
naturally astonished the students, who
could scarcely believe their own eyes.
So great was the contrast, that they
doubted the reality of the scene, and
suspected the spoons to be only the old
iron ones, slightly coated with silvej.
To satisfy their doubts, a student car-
ried one of the spoons to an assayer in
Boston, who pronounced it the best of
silver. There was, as Mr. Francis had
predicted, no destruction of the table
wares. So carefully, indeed, was it
kept, that a part of the same service
is now in use at the commencement
dinners.
Unparalleled "Will of Thelluson, the
London Banker.
PETER THELLUSON was a London
banker whose ruling passion was an in-
satiate love of money. He died in
July, 1787, worth upward of seven
hundred thousand pounds sterling.
By his singular will, after bequeathing
to his wife and children about one
hundred thousand pounds, he directed
that the residue of his property should
be vested in the purchase of estates, to
accumulate until such time as all his
children, and the male children of his
sons and grandsons, shall die, and then
the lineal male descendants, who must
bear the name of Thelluson, shall in-
herit in three equal lots the number
of his sons thus creating prospective-
ly three large landed estates. In case
of failure of male descendants, the es-
tates to be sold and the proceeds ap-
plied toward the paying of the nation-
al debt. Many attempts were made to
upset this singular will, but they all
failed. It has been calculated that
ninety or one hundred years must
486
COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.
elapse, from the date of the will, before
the lineal male descendants can take
possession of the property ; and if,
during that period, the sums of money
left by the testator could have been in-
vested at five per cent., compound in-
terest, they would amount to more
than three hundred and fifty million
dollars. No more wills of this kind
can be made, for a subsequent act of
Parliament limits the power of bequest
to a life or lives in being, and twenty-
one years after the death of the sur-
vivor.
Business and Something- Else.
A YOUNG man went from New York
city to the far West, where he com-
menced business on his own account,
and married. His former business asso-
ciates in the city were interested in his
" luck," and when a merchant of that
city was about to journey to the place
where the young man had located, he
was requested just to visit the emi-
grant trader, and ascertain how things
were getting along. Accordingly, the
New York Paul Pry ascertained the
whereabouts of the young man, and
called on him quite early in the morn-
ing. The introduction of the New York-
er to his wife was quite offhand and un-
ceremonious, and he was requested to
be seated, and partake of the morning
meal. The young wife had prepared the
steak, biscuit, and coffee with her own
hands, and for a table had used her
kneading-board, over which a napkin
was spread, and the " board " placed
on her lap. The New Yorker declined
a seat at the meal, and by and by took
his leave. On making his report to his
New York friends as to how he found
their former comrade living, he describ-
ed the style as " magnificent ! " and
for explanation of the superlative, he
said that, " were he the owner of that
young man's furniture, he would not take
ten thousand dollars for the legs of his
table!"
Medical Practice as viewed by Girard.
GIRARD'S belief in the many simple,
though not always adapted remedies
with which he was in the habit of
treating the sick, was accompanied, as
is not unusual in such cases, with a
rather disparaging opinion of the medi-
cal profession. In the annual recur-
rence of the fever which followed for
many years the epidemic of 1793, and
in which his services were always freely
rendered to the sick and poor, he at-
tributed much of the severity of the
disease to the ignorance of the local
physicians about the nature of the pes-
tilence. The following humorous allu-
sion to the doctors is found in a letter
written in January, 1799, to his friend
Devize, then in France, but who had
been associated with him as physician
of the Bush Hill hospital in 1793. Af-
ter describing the effects of the epi-
demic, he says : " During all this
frightful time, I have constantly re-
mained in the city, and without neg-
lecting my public duties, I have played
a part which wil^ make you smile.
Would you believe it, niy friend, that I
have visited as many as fifteen sick
people in a day, and what will sur-
prise you still more, I have lost only
one patient, an Irishman, who would
drink a little. I do not flatter myself
that I have cured one single person,
but you will think with me, that in
my quality of Philadelphia physician,
I have been very moderate, and that
not one of my confreres has killed
fewer than myself."
An old Merchant's Style and
Equipag-e.
AMONG the most eminent New Eng-
land merchants of the last century was
Thomas Russell, who was one of the
first who engaged in the American
trade with Russia at the close of the
revolutionary war, his place of busi-
ness being Boston. He was of an old
DOMESTIC RELATIONS OF MERCHANTS, BANKERS, ETC.
487
Charlestown (Mass.) family if any-
thing relating to family can be called
old in this country, especially in refer-
ence to the middle of the last century
and resided there a part of the year till
his death. Mr. Russell was regarded,
in his day, as standing at the head of
the merchants of Boston. According
to the fashion of the day, he generally
appeared on 'Change in full dress
which implied at that time, for elderly
persons, usually a coat of some light-
colored cloth, small-clothes, diamond
or paste buckles at the knee and in the
shoes, silk stockings, powdered hair,
and a cocked hat ; in cold weather, a
scarlet cloak. A scarlet cloak and a
white head were, in the last century, to
be seen at the end of every pew in some
of the Boston churches. Though living
on the bank of Charles river, on great
occasions, before the bridge connected
Charlestown with Boston, his family
drove to town in a coach drawn by
four black horses, through Cambridge,
Brighton, and Roxbury. Mr. Russell,
at his decease in 1796, is supposed to
have left the largest property which
had at that time been accumulated in
New England.
Tavern-Waiter and his Banker.
To be a tavern-waiter and yet have a
banker is what falls to the lot of but
few. Indeed, such a case, if existing
at all, must be found to stand quite by
itself. Old Mr. Goldsmid, the million-
naire banker, was for many years ac-
customed to dine in a plain and simple
way at the London Tavern, and was
usually served by the same waiter.
This waiter had always been remark-
able for his civility and attention. One
day, however, Mr. G. observed that he
was very inattentive, and seemingly
absent-minded.
" What's the matter with you to-day,
John ? " inquired the banker, just as he
was about to quit the house.
" Nothing, sir ; that is to say, sir,
nothing very particular," observed John,
in a somewhat faltering tone.
Mr. G. was strengthened in his con-
viction, by the waiter's confused man-
ner of speaking, that something par-
ticular was the matter.
"Come, come, John, just tell me
what makes you so absent-minded and
unhappy like ? " said Mr. G.
" Well, Mr. Goldsmid, since you are
so pressing in your kind inquiries, I
am sorry to say that about half an hour
ago I was arrested for debt, and must
go to prison this evening, if I cannot
pay the money."
"Arrested for debt, John! What
induces you to get into debt ? "
"Why, sir, to tell the truth, I am
not able to support my wife and five
children with what I can make in this
house," said the waiter, in very touch-
ing terms.
" And what may be the amount for
which you are arrested ? "
" I am ashamed to mention it, sir."
" Let me hear it," said Mr. G.
" Why, sir, it's for fifty-five pounds,"
stammered the waiter, in broken ac-
cents, and looking steadfastly at the
floor.
" Bring me a pen and ink," said Mr.
G. A pen and ink were immediately
brought, when Mr. G. drew from his
pocket his check book, and having
written a check for one hundred pounds,
put it into the waiter's hand, saying,
"Here, go with that, John, to my
banking house, and you will get as
much for it as will pay your debt, and
be a few pounds to your family be-
side."
" One among- Ten Thousand."
ABOUT the year 1772, the well-known
London grocer Higgins died, and left a
considerable amount to a merchant in
that city, saying to him at the time
that he made his will, " I do not know
that I have any relations, but should
you ever by accident hear of such, give
488
COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.
them some relief." The merchant,
though thus left in full and undisputed
possession of a !arge fortune, on which
no person could have any legal claim,
advertised for the next of kin to the
deceased, and after some months were
spent in inquiries of this sort, he at
length discovered some scattered links
in the genealogical chain. He called
these distant relatives together to dine
with him, and after distributing the
whole of the money, according to the
different degrees of consanguinity, paid
the expenses of advertising out of his
own pocket. The fact of such conduct
on the part of a man no more than hu-
man is almost t>eyond credence.
Mansion of Morris, the Philadelphia
Financier.
IT has been remarked as somewhat
striking in the personal history of Rob-
ert Morris, that while his financial ope-
rations for the Government were pre-
eminently characterized by a wise and
successful management, his direction
of his own private affairs was attended
with little else than error and ruin.
This was strikingly manifested in the
building of his palatial residence, the
grandest ever attempted in Philadel-
phia. The whole proved, by the mis-
calculations of his architect, Major
1'Enfant, a ruinous and abortive
scheme. A gentleman was present at
Mr. Morris's table when 1'Enfant was
there, and first broached the scheme of
building him a grand house for $60,-
000. Mr. Morris said he could sell out
his lots and houses on High street, for
$80,000, and so the thing was begun.
Mr. Morris purchased the whole
square, extending from Chestnut to
Walnut street, and from Seventh to
Eighth streets, for $50,000 a great
sum, for what had been, till then, the
Norris family's pasture ground. Its
original elevation was twelve to fifteen
feet above the present level of the adja-
cent streets ; and with such an extent
of high ground in ornamental cultiva-
tion, and a palace fronting on Chest-
nut street, the effect could not but be
signally grand.
Immense funds were expended before
the structure reached the surface of the
ground, and the arches, vaults, and la-
byrinths were numerous. It was final-
ly got up to its intended elevation of
two stories, presenting four sides of en-
tire marble surface, and much of the
ornamentation worked in costly relief.
It, however, failed to meet the owner's
taste, and, as he became more and more
sensible of the ruin thus brought upon
him by the undertaking, he was often
seen contemplating it, and heard to
vent imprecations on himself and his
lavish architect. He had, besides, pro-
vided by importation and otherwise
the most costly furniture all of which,
together with the marble mansion it-
self, had to be abandoned to his cred-
itors.
He saw the mansion raised enough
to make a picture, and to preserve the
ideal presence of his scheme ; but that
was all. The magnitude of the estab-
lishment could answer no individual's
wealth ; and the fact was speedily real-
ized, that what cost so much to rear,
could find no purchaser at any reduced
price. The creditors were therefore
compelled, by slow and patient labor,
to pull down, piecemeal, what had
been so expensively got up. Some of
the underground labyrinths were so
deep and massive as to have been left
undisturbed, and at some future age
may be discovered,- to the great per-
plexity of archaeological quidnuncs.
" Old Ben Russell."
PROBABLY no man was better known
in the business and social circles of
Boston, at a former period, than the
above-named worthy. He was a good
joker, but " once on a time " was fair-
ly caught in his own trap. He was
perhaps better known as Major Ben.
DOMESTIC RELATIONS OF MERCHANTS, BANKERS, ETC.
489
Russell, and being met one day by his
old friend Busby, he was familiarly sa-
luted -with a hearty shake of the hand,
and " How do you do, old Ben. Rus-
sell ? " " Come, now," said Major Ben.,
" I'll not take that from you not a bit
of it ; you are as old as I am this min-
ute." " Upon my word," said Mr. Bus-
by, " you are my senior by at least ten
years." " Not at all, friend Busby ;
and, if you please, we will determine
that question very soon just tell me
what is the first thing you can recol-
lect?" "Well, the very first thing I
recollect," said Mr. Busby, " was hear-
ing people say, ' There goes old Ben.