Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1854-03-30
nltstfI!aneous.
MY OWN STATEMENT.


portant point or not. To me, this question
about birthplace is a matter of small moment.
should have reached the same position now
hold, had been brought into the world under a
hedge. An error of civilization will always in
,s9vest man with. honor, whatever may be his
character, if be born in palace. SCORE
such feeling.
My parents being in comfortable circumstan-
ccs, received a good education. Welived in q
large, old-fashioncd house near what is now the
heart Of the city. Long since, the mansion dis
appeared, crushed by the march of commerce,
| will mention here curious fact, that after the
death of my parents, and before the old house
was demolished, my brother Tom, a silly, reck-
less fellow (as you will see) wandered about it,
and even obtained the key, and moped for an
hoar or two in the deserted rooms, particularly
his mothers chamber. 1t is a wonder that the
moisture of the damp walls, oozing through the
ragged paper and the wind from the broken
window panes, did not make him sick; but ]
sappos. the excitement springing from the SEN
timental nonsense rife in ill-regulated minds,
destroyed the ill effects of the musty air.
was never favorite at home, even when a
boy My mother, to be sure, was always kind
but she loved my brother Tom and my sister
Nancy better, great deal better than me. My
father was strange sort of u man, and talked
but little. He never liked me. My brother
and sister rather avoided ma; and Nancy, cs-
peclally, never gave me reason to suppose sic
did any thing but fear me. do not know, the
reason of this. I was always well.bchaved
my principles were of tie first orderr and are to
this day gave her great deal of excellent
advice, which she never followed: Many lessons,
too, has Tom had from me, concerning th6prop-
er course to succeed in the world. | might as
we'll have advised infants. Whelr I .wps Old
enough to see that was not liked, L SXiseEy
affairs. tyR ~ !A+
Having no condaoss for plly, 2'shhvo, since my
thirteenth year, ensagedin no game whatever;
therefore, in my bdyhood. I had no intimate COM
panions. Why Should Isessociate with boys
when my mind was far away from them and
their pursuits! The only lad had any partic-
Fssiar liking for, was John Solomons, youth Of
Jewish parentage; and he cheated me ont of
ten dollars in an afflir of boyish traffic. l re-
spccted his adroitness; but the loss of the money
CALLED me- and ffom that time had no deal
ings with him. I was the more gricved in this
matter, as had arranged, as. supposed, to
make tn, above sum outlets him, when .by an
unlookod-for dhd mastery stroke in the coursc
of the nagotiation, he o6taifGa the 4avantags
OF me. ~
While very young, Observed the advantage
which wealth gains. noticed the gnsral love
of gold. Foreigners, particularly EaSishmes,
say it is the peculiar vice ofthis eossefy IS
false. 1t is peculiar to no cey>sfy and during
my visit to England .whisher vent on impor-
tant financial business, found thst, in that
land, it was passion which absorbed all the
rest it was even stronger there than the idola-
try of rank, which is saying great deal. The
bully islanders have one great gift which quite
charmed me--the art Of keeping money after
they get it. In this they arc greatly in advance
Of us, for consider our grand national fault to
be an inability to hoard money, which is very
painful to an enlarged mind. | say that Ns-
covered early the great point to be gained in this
world, and since that time have devoted my,
self to the acquisition of wealth. l have always
been strictly honest, but also strictly economi-
cal. think a man has right to his own ; and
if | do not choose to throw away my thousands
to colleges or charitable institutions, in what
am | to be blamed! What I have made will
keep. Let each man take care of himself.
When my mother died, was twenty mine
years of age; my brother Tom was twenty, and
my sister Nancy seventeen. After this event,
Nancy was much broken down. Tom was as
bad as any woman | ever saw, while my father
seemed to fail from that hour. Back-biters in
the mercantile world have accused me of being
hcartless. They do not know me for am
sure l was very sorry when my mother died, and
when she blessed each of us before she departed,
wept. But why was it, that while Tom and
Nancy grasped her hands and caught the un-
spcakable love of her dying look, while my fa-
ther knclt by her side gazing in dry-eyed agony
at her features, which the hand of death had
already touched why was it that | stood in
comparative calmncss at the foot of the bed I
Some may say that wanted feeling some may
cant about heartlessncss but say it was be-
cause had been treated coldly by the family,
and had gradually been induced to regard my
self ar q stranger at homo. Did know that
was as capable of loving my mother as Tom,
(who, by-the-bye, could never lay up cent in
the world, could have been allowed Then
what Use is there in all this humbug about feel
ings Perhaps the reason of Toms greatness in
my mothers eyes lay in the fact of his being a
handsome fellow, for that sort of thing always
takes with women. And [, to speak plainly,
was ugly. lam said to havea strange cast IN my
eye, which gives me a disagroeable expression.
An enemy Of mine has called it u stony, wicked
look, as though | could help it if it were 80.
am thin in person, and in early you'll was afllic-
It'd with dyspepsia, which iinpartea..to my fea-
lures yellow tinge. Therefore, % fools and
silly girls my form and features night have been
unpleasing but what of that +! II thlsh'ilesy,
EN- am not a handsome man, Theg1is'of beau
ty might have been curse to me- ..
The house was lonely afser mspothcfs DEATH
fsSos :.
60. xssRp