Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1853-01-26
From the New York Times.
BIOGRAPHICAL

BIOGRAPHICAL. r
The Private Life and Domestic Ex.
periences of Captain Thrifty.
IN TWO CHAPTERS-cHApTER ONE.
Captain Thrifty was born of poor but
honest parents; and, indeed, it was theil
unbending honesty that was near running
the financial prospects of the lad, for they
taught him that it was better to be poor
than to get riches after the fashion of AL
dermen, and to be honest than to be the
President. Before he was allowed to put
trousers on, he used to weed onions at a
penny for every third row, and the thir-
teenth of all the eggs he found was his by
agreement. AS he was obliged to do his
own reckoning, he thus learned arithme-
tic and the value of labor simultaneously
and unawares. With his first gains he
bought New England Primer to get
the explanation of whose pictures he
learned to read with all haste. Thus ano-
ther important branch of his education
and the creed of his fathers walked arm
and arm into the heart of the boy. AT
seven he exchanged wooden horse whose
head was missing, whistle that was
cracked aud would " wouiG not blow, an inch and
a-half of slate pencil, show-bill with
Bucephalus, the giraffe, the sea serpent,
the horned horse and the elephant pictu-
red on it. and sundry other things worth
having" which he had long treasured in
the till of his little green chest, for six
teen cents, to a younger brother, who
thought he had made a good bargain, be-
cause he was not required to pay cash.
but only gave a note for it. Young
Thrifty had calculated the interest, and
the year was so intolerably long that he
reminded Sam every day in the year,
Sundays excepted) that he had got to
pay him penny interest. On his birth
day. and Thanksgiving Day, too-for his
mother tGld ted him it was not wicked, if he
did have to go to meeting, 10 reckon on
that day he got out his little account
book, added up principal and interest
onion, egg money and all-and was thank
full, not only for national prosperity, the
averting of war and the good health of
the President, but also and particularly
that he was the owner ofso much money,
all honestly got, and the next morning he
gave all that he had into his fathers
hands, and took a note at six per cent.
for the amount.
At an early age he took to the water.
The first of his ''boating" he went cook,
then mate, then skipper of the old sloop
Antelope Then they built handsome
schooner for him at Drowned Meadow
Harbor, of which he took one-fourth, in
vesting all his means therein. He got a
capital freight out of New-York to New
bern, but did not get insured. because
they asked eleven per cent. for six months.
His schooner got on the bar in the Ocra-
cock Inlet, terrible storm came on be-
fore they could get her off, and everything
was lost, the men only escaping unhurt.
The young Captain was very sorry, of
course-it was very bad luck, but it
wouldn't do to insure when the premium
is going to take all the profits of the voy-
age. Nobody blamed him, for, although
it made him penniless, it certainly was a
good thing for his biographer. and for
those who would profit by his example
For he is no exemplar upon whose steps
fortune always waits. Good luck and
bad success and failure must alternate in
the history of him whom we are expected
to initiate, Just as it does in actual life,
and just as tragedy and comedy alternate,
He came to the metropolis to look for
business. He saw one man toiling like a
slave with his hands, for just enough to
feed and clothe himself, his wife and lit
tie ones New-Year of 1946 found that
man not a cent better off than New Year
of 1845, with one year more taken out of
his principal. Captain Thrifty wondered
that he did not get his living with his
hands, and set his head to work for a COM
petence. He saw another, whose hands
were white and soft, and whose muscles
were small and thin like ribbons. He
earned his living with his head. He made
beautiful bargains, and grew rich within
the year, but by crooking a sixpence down
wards instead of upwards, he lost it again
in day The Captain concluded that he
ought to have kept his hands at work to
retain what he made, and determined
that for himself, head hands, body aud
mind, all should work, seeing all were to
he supported. He readily concluded that
he could not afford to work for dollar a
day, when for the wages of six days Ia
Dor, he could have the use of a hundred
dollars, and with that Just as easily earn
two dollars day. So he borrowed a
hundred. and laying aside his Anglo-Sax-
on contempt of work. he fell to right ear
nestly, and made the first year Just twice
the number of dollars that there are days
in the year, excluding Sundays and holi-
days. But six hundred dollars wont let
man live in society and be respectable
in New York; but, very fortunately, his
business was not such as depends on one s
respectability So for year or two he
was not respectable. We hope we are
not misunderstood He behaved Ike 5