Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1853-12-29
The Harners.

The recent terrible loss Of these brothers BY
FIRE, amounting to over one million dollars, is
an example of the surprising array of individ
ual fortune not often experienced. Yet after
this great loss we are told they saved stereo-
type plates in their vaults worth half mil
lion dollars, and their private fortunes are
large. Their insurance, $3.50, 900, was
enough to pay every note.
After such a calamity, twenty-five years of
active business life having transpired, one
would suppose these enterprising brothers
would retire from business upon the remnant
of their fortunes. They could hardly hope to
live long enough TO build up such another vast
and perfect system of business and after see
ing one million worth of their property de-
voured by the flames, it is natural to suppose
that the courage TO begin again must be some
what dormant.
Not SO with the Harpers. In this calami-
tJ they furnish the world with one of the best
examples of the indomitabIeness and perse-
verance Of the American character the pres
ent age can produce. In three days after the
fire, the Harper Brothers had quietly worked
out a scheme for business which in a few
months will give them new and improved
Buildings, and machinery, and place them on
their feet again, triumphant over disaster. In
the meantime their Magazine is to appear at
the regular time, in typographical execution
not whit behind its predecessors, and ar
rangements for having printing executed have
been made as far distant as Cincinnati We
glory in the "spunk' Of such men. They
honor themselves and their countrymen.
The Home Journal says only once, and only
for moment, did the irmness of James Har-
per give way. 1t was on the Monday after
the fire. All day long, offers of assistance
from banks, insurance companies, capitalists,
and friends had come pouring in, till it seemed
as if the whole Of the floating resources Of this
metropolis had nothing else to do or desire,
than to help the Brothers Harper in their time
ofcalamity. The heart of James Harper was
full The man Of business had become the
man Of feeling. An old friend Of thirty years
standing, came in, took his hand, and said, "Is
mere anything that can do q This was the
crop mat made the cup overflow. 81 can't
stand THIS said James, ''it humans me''-and
burst into tears This was not weakness-it
was strength; and we glory in that. too.
These offers of help were all the more
proper, b,cause they were not needed This
may seem hard saying, but it is a trr. enc
1t is as much the instinct of human n,,,ro
proverbially is the way of "Heaven >, -
help those who help themselves, and to with
hold help from those who do not-need it as
they may. And all the instincts of human ma
ture and all the ways of Heaven are right.
The Harpers, forty years ago, were journey
men printers. BY industry, prudence, econo-
N.Y. and good management, they have become
the leaders in the most difficult branch of bust
ness known among men, and built up an es-
adjustment unapproached by any in the world
for extent resources, celebrity, or prosperity.
Thus they acquired the right to and certainty
of every kind Of assistance, by placing them
selves at an immense distance from the want a
it. The principle and the moral of this applv
as well to the apprentice boy who patronizes
he six penny savings bank, as to the kings of
he book trade