Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-08-26
TOWANDA:
r,nrsday Morning, August 26, 1853.
,c.,m Dickens Household Words, July lO.l
The End Of Fordyce, Brothers,

l.. rorr rs can remember, I have always
AZ a. tbe city-takiug a strange delight in
,'iorinr 1s up and down its busy streets, ell
''.Sg, IL merchants in their favoriJe gather
.'J0 .rIscrs and listening to the marvellous his
WI WI, Of many of its greatest money-makers:
1rGo rl,, these men, perhaps. because | am not of
.n nn, I am of that listlesS, aimlesS, dreamy
..m, .nra which could not make money if it tried.
II. 5,1, most promising enterprise would wither
.i,r my touch. Few are the guneaS in my
.,,s .,,Eot that can call my own, but am we'll
,.tsrt .t and no feeling of envy arises in my
r:nJ ~n os listen to the musical cIinking of coin
Y 5ot comes from the open doors of the rich
4 hnkng houses.
NV Nv most frequent haunt is an old nook in
N IN heart of the city, which, although now
,@,orn open as a public thoroughfare, must
I,va been in former times the private garden
n : some wealthy merchants mansion. The
.,,roncp is under low archway, built with
s-rgs of the deepest purple red, and over the
,,,fvav in a white niche, stands short, wea-
Is-boatpn figure of a man, cut in stone, in
.o,-rme of former age. Passing over the
r,.rorp pavement through the arch, you find
r-self in a small quadrangle containing that
arrest Of all things in these modern days-a
lv Garden. Small care does it now receive,
rs;9Dse no one can claim it as his own. The
,.mnd is black and hard-thc yellow gravel
g7inr long since been trodden Out-and the
1pf vegetation which it boasts are two large
betput trees that seem to gain in breadth
mi yiror as the years roll on. A few droop-
H ~ flowers in one corner show that some town
9I hand is near, fond of the children of the
rrntrv, though little yerSed in their nature
\ ml their ways. Under the shade of one OF
lie trees stands an old wooden seat, Clipped
| r many places, and rudcly carved with names
ri dates. Sitting on this bench, and looking
etore YOU to the other side of the quadrangle,
lie eye rests upon a short passage running I'M
r wooden arches, like an aisle in the old
flemish Exchange of Sir Thomas Gresham.
I'm the face of the MISUNDERSTANDING sur
Mounting these arches now turned into Off
8 is fixed a rain washed sun-dial, and over
Ills is a small wcathercock turret that at one
time contained a bell
Any time between twelve o'clock and four,
may be found seated upon that old bench un-
E The tree Sometimes | bring q book, and
4 rad sometimes ! sit in lStleSS repose, repeO-
4 ping the place with quantity dressed shadows
,. the old StOut-hcarted merchants of the past.
seldom have more than one companion. I'm
l.g the archway, and along the passage, busy
-an pass to and from their work the whole
ly long, but they are too much occupied, or
y TO anxious, to give moments glance at the
y ,rieu, or to lmger by the way. My only
n soTyisitor is an old clerk, whose years must
H U numbered nearly ninety, but whose memo
q is clear and strong, although his body is
II at with age He is a kind of penSioner con-
4 ac'od with the place, and is the owner Of the
v S faded flowers in the corner of the ground,
lch he tends with his own hands. For
" .atY long, weary years he has lived in these
buildings, never having been out of the CT
further than Newington fields. Here he
as 5oTn and here, when the appointed time
BAL. come, within sound Of the familiar bells,
l the familiar footsteps of the money-ma-
.S trampIing over his head, he will drop in
a city grave
From the day when | ventured TO give him
me advice about the management of a lilac
N an apparently In dying state, he came and
BY my side, pouring into my willing ear all
stories that he knew about the old houses
lat surrounded us. He soon found in me a
m lAthetic listener, who never interrupted or
scared Of his LarPativps-the stores of q
enory which extends over more than three
l,ibs of century of time
Al one corner of the quadrangle is a part
NE building with several long, dark, mar
wv dusty windows, closely shut up with hea
@Een shutters, scarcely visible through the
u, npon the glass. None Of the panes are
.hen like those Of house in chancery, but
general gloomy, ruined appearance would
1uedly have given it up as a prey to des,
Guoa If 1t had not been in its present Sc
led position Its dismal aspect excited my
F'est and | obtained from my companion
'eTsIon Of its story.
give it in his own person, though not ex-
~dg IN bis own words.
ABOUT the middle of the last century, two
o1erS were in business in these houses as
Issa merchants whose names were James
y robert Fordyce. They were quiet, mid
ased, amiable gentlemen, tolerably rich,
,nO'aOle IN their dealings, afTable and be-
.'oient to their servants, as / found during
n lew Years that was in their employment
-,F transactions were large, and their cor
y'ldeuts very numerous but, although
must have been constantly receiving in
.lauon, by letter and otherwise, that would
,s oeen valuable to them in Speculations Oh
Nock market, they never, to the best Of
NIo|ledge, made use of it for that pur,
out confined their attention strictly tC
- Uade. This building was not divided
as You see it now In that corner which
Y: ..oSed up were our contingencies, the
~, '''G room of the two brothers being on the
,r.u ,. ioor. The!rest of the square was used
4 5 a, ,'enouses, except the side over the arches
~ "at was set apart as the private residence
~, & Partners who lived there together, one
NJ bachelor, and the other q widoweI
d T;' I5u' children. was quite young man
,,;. t~N ume but / remember everything as
~ ,CI"y as If it was only yesterday that an