The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-08-28 00:00:00

THE nEr:z. AND TOM WALKER.

((oncluded from err Pepe? of yer.trilay.)

When Turn reached home he foe id the black print of a firger
burnt. as it were, into his forehesd, which nothing could oblite-
rate.
The first news Ms wife had to tell him WWI the ru:lden death of
Absalom Crowninehreld. the rich buccaneer. It was Eirounced in I.
I the papers.with the usual flourish, that `• A great man had fallen
in Israel.'
Torn recollected the tree which his black friend had just hewn I
down, and which was ready 'or burning. " Let die Ituebooter
rornit,'' said Toni. " who ca?e+!" He aow felt convinced that all
he had heard and seen was no illusion.
lie wee not prone to let his wife into his confidence, but as this'
was an unetag secret, lie willingly shared it win her. All her ava-
rice was awakened at the mention of hidden gold. and she urged
her husband to comply with the black mans terms. and secure
what would make them wealthy for life. However Tons might I
have felt disposed to sell himself to the devil, he was determined '
not to do NI) to oulige isis wife t so he flatly refused one of the mere
spirit of contraurction. Many and bitter were the quarrels they
had on the subject, but the more she talked the more resolute was
Tom not to be dal:ince to please her.
At lengt!l she determined to drive th. bargain on het own
count, anti if she succeeded to keep all the gain to herself. Being!
of the same fearless temper as her hus..tand. she set off' for the old
I Indian fort towards the close of a summer's day. She was many I
I hours absent. When she came back the was reserved and sullen
!in her replies. She spoke something of a black man whom she I
bad met sthout twilight hewing at the root of a tall tree: he was
sulky. however, and would rot come to terms; she was to go again
with a propitiatory offering, but what it was she forbore to say. I
The next evening she set off again for the swamp, with her a_pron •
• heavily laden. Tom waited and waited for her, but in vain.
• night came, but she did rot wake her appearance: morning. nnm.
, right returned, but still she did not conic. Toni now grew uneasy
tin her safety• eliecially as h.: found shc had carried off in her
apron the silver teapot and spoors. and every portable article of
' value. Annther night elapsed—another morning came--I•ut no
wife. In a wired, she was never heard of more.

What was nee real fate robody knows. in conleEnceof so •
many pretending to know. It is one of those facts hare be-
come confounded by .1 variety of historians. Some ;tea that •
she lost her way among the tangled mares of the swamp, and sunk
into some pit o: slough i others, more uncharitable, hinted that she
had eloped with the household booty. and made oft' to sortie other
province; while others assert that the tentpter had decovet. her into
a dismal quagmire. on the top of winch her ha, was found lying.:
In oonfimiation of this. it was said a great black man, with an axe'
on his shoulder, was seen late that very evening coining out of the
swamp. carrying a bundle tied in a check apron, with ao air of
surly triumph.
The most current and probable story, however, obseer a that
Tom Walker grew so anxious about the fate of his wife and his ,
property, that ee set out at length to seek them both at the Indian
fort. During a long summer's afternoon he searched about the
gloomy place, but no wife was to be seen. He called her name
repeatedly, but she was nowhere to be heard. The bittern alone
resounded to his voice, as he flew screaming by ; or the bull-hog I
croaked dolefully from a neighbouring pool. At length, it is mid,
just in the brown hour of twilight, when the Owls began to hoot
' and the bats to flit about, his attention was attracted by the ch.
mour of carrion crows that were hovering about a cypress tree. He
looked up, anti beheld a bundle tied in a cheek apron. and hang.
lag in the branches of the tree, with a great vulture perched hard
by as if keeping watch upon it. He leaped with joy, h'r he re-
cognised his wife's apron, and supposed it to contain the 1. usehold
valuables.
" Let us get hold of the property," told lie, consolingly to him.
self, " and we will endeavour to do without the woman.
As he scrambled up the ors.. the vulture spread its white wings,
and sailed off saeaming into the deep shadows of the forest. Tom
seized the check apron, but, woful sig!it ! found nothing but a
hart and liver tied up in it !
Such. according to the moat authentic old story, was tit that was
to be found of Tones rife. She had probobli attempted to deal
with use black man as she bsi bass aceusteassd to deal with her
husband; but though a Doe* scolds rteuerally considered a
a match for the devil, yea Is this lasianes site appears to hare had
the worst of it. She most bow Sled gems, however i for it is said
Tom noticed many Imo bet_ *gip stamped about the
tree, and tound Isanor lair, that lethal as if they had been
plucked from the isms Week shack of the wooden* Torn knew
his wife's prowess by eapeellasts.Re elnagged his shoulders, as
he looked st the sops Oa gem elapper-clewirtg. " Egad," said
hem himself, "old Somali pat have hid a tough time of let"
Teas consoled hinted!' ler tie bee of his property, with the loss of
his wife, foe he was a mss He even felt something
like eradiate towards the blush woodman, who, lie considered. had
dos ilsim a kindness. He sargbt therefore to cultivate a further
aequalotsase with him, but fir some time without success: the old
bled Die Oared ablealriswbettover people may think, he is not
always to be lag fee for. lie knows huw to play his cards
when pretty sum at puss.
At length, it ls said, when delay had whetted Toot's eagerness to
the quick, and prepared him to agree to anything other than not
in the promised treasures he meet the black man one evening in
his maul woodmsn's dress, with his axe on his shoulder,-eininter.
hag slang the edge of the swamp, and humming a tune. ffe
fected to receive I.olll'll advances with great indifference, made
brief replies, and went on hamming his tune.
Hy degrees however Tom brought him to business, and they be-
gan to haggle about the terms on which the former was to hare the
pirate's treasure. There was one condition which need not be men.
toned, being generally understood in all casts where the devil
grants favours: but there were others about which, though of less
importance, he was inflexibly obstinate. He Insisted that the mo-
ney hand through his means should be employed in his service.
He peopoeed therefore that 'runt should employ it in the black
traffic-that is to say, that he should fit out a slave ship. This,
however Tom resolithly refused; he was bad enough in-all con.'
science, but the devil himself could not tempt him to turn slave.
dealer. . _

Finding Tern so sque.unish on this point, he did not insist upon
it, but proposed instead that he should turn usurer; the devil be-
ing extremely anxious for the increase of usurer., looking upon
them as his peculiar p'opie.
To this no objections were made, for it was just to Tom's taste.
`• You shall open a broker's shop in Boston nt xt month," said
the black man. . _

..
" I'll do it to-morrow, If you wish," said Tom Walker.
"You shall lend money at two per cent. a month."
" Egad, I'll charge four ! ' replied Tem Walker.
" You shall extort bonds, foreclose mortgagee, drive the merchant
to bankruptcr—" •
" I'll drive him to the d —.1," cried Tom Walker, eagerly.
" You are the usurer for my money !" said the black legs, with
'delight. " When will you want the rhino ?"
"This very night."
" Done !" said the def.l.

" Done!" said Tout Walker. Et) they shook hands, and struck
• bargain.
A few days' time DM Tom Walker seated behind his desk in a
counting-house in Boston. His reputation for a ready-moneyed
man, who would lend money out for a good consideration, soon
sprsad abroad. Every body retnentlicrs the ti-,m of Governor Bel-
cher, when money was particularly scarce. It was a time of paper
credi.. The country had been deluged with government bills m the
famous Land Bank had been established: there had been a rage
for speculating: the
_people had run mad with sclicules for new
settlements—tor building cities In the walla-ma t lard.jol,bers
went about with maps of grants and townships, and El Dorados,
lying nobody !slew where, but which everybody was re.aly to pus.
chary. In a word, the great speculating fever which breaks out
every now and then in the country had raged to an alanniog do-
gree, and everybody was dreaming of making sudden fortunes
from nothing. As usual, the fever had subsided • the dream had
gnat off, and the iusaginary fortunes wit!. it. The patients were
eft In doleful plight, and the whole country resour.ded with the
consequent cry of " hard tines."
At this propitious time of public distress did TOM Walker set
up as a usurer in Boston. His door was soon thronged by custom.
era. The needy and the adventurous, the gambling speculator,
the dreaming land-jobber, the thriftless tradesman, the merchant
with cracked credit; in short, every one drivento raise money by
desperate meant and desperate sacrifices, hurried as Tom Walker.
Thus Tom was the universal friend of the Reedy, and he acted
like o "friend in need;" that is to say, he always exacted good
pas and good security. In proportion to the distress of the appli.
cant was the herdneas of his terms. He accumulated bonds and
ari gradually squeezed his customers closer and closer, and
lanentrgslt length dry as a spot ge front his door.
la this way he made money hand over hand, became a rich and
mighty man, and exalted hiss cocked hat upon 'Clomp. He built '
biusself,sa usual, a vast house out of ostentation, but left the greater
part of It unfinished and uefurnished out of parsimony. Ile even
set up a carriage in the fulness of his vain glory, theugh be nearly
starved the horses which drew it; and as the ungreaseil erhee•
conned and screeched on the asletrees, you would have thought
you beard the souls of the poor debtors ha was 'queering.
As Toni waxed old, however, h grew thou,olitrol. Having
secured the good things of this worn!, 1 Segos to feel anxious
about those of the text. Nu thouy: : with regret on the bargain
ha bad made with his black frierd. and s o his wits to wont to
cheat him out of rite conditions. lie became therefore, all of a
sudden' a violent chords-goer. Ile prayed loudly and strenuorey,
as if heaven were to be taken by force ci lungs. Indeed. one alight
always tell when he load sinned meat doting the week, by the des.l
:nom of his Sunday devotion. The quiet l'itristiaas, who had bean
modestly and stedtastly travelling Zia:sward, were struck with edt.
reproach at seeing t'iouselves so suddenly outstripped in their
career by this new-made convert. Toni was as rigid in religious as
in money :natters; lie was a stern supervisor and censurer of Ids
tirglibours, anti seemed to think every sin entered up to their se-
count hector 3 a credit on his own side of the pic,ns. lie even talked
of the expediency of reviving t permeation of quakers and Ana-
baptists. In a wont, Toot's zeal becuttie as notorious as his richer
:still, in spite of all this strenuous attentiou to foetus, Torn had •
lurking dread that the devil, after all, would have his dues. That
1Y might not bs taken unawares, therefore. it is said he always car.
Red a small Bible in his coat pocket. Ws had also a great folio
Bible on his owning-home desk, and would frequently he found
reading it when peoplo coiled on business. Or, such occasions ha
would lay his green spectacles in the hook to mark the place, while
lie turned round to dcive mote usurious bargain.
Sonic say that Tow grew • little crack-brained 13 his old days,
and that fancying his end approaching ho had his horse new shod,
saddled, and bridled. and buried with his test uppermost, because
i he supposed that at the last day the world would be turned upside
I downs In which ease be would find his horse standing Tardy for
, mouoting, and he was determined at the worst to give his old friend
a run fur it. This, however, is probably a mere old wires' fable.
If ha really did take suds a pra.autson, it was totally sal crliu•