Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1858-03-12

true" was the answer
ntleman who had come hur-
% the store of Mr.. Heston. 81
the news from very reliable
Irce."
d" Failedw
eyes, and failed badly. 1t is alleged
that not ten cents on the dollar can pos
sibly be realized. hope he doesn't owe
you much"
" Not great DEAL" was answered
evasively, though with i'll concealed anxi-
ETY., "yet enough to sweep away all my
profits on the years business, should the
loss be total. / he on your books?"
eyes"
TO lar e amount ?"
Three iousand dollars"
Z" / tho ght him sound to the CORE
The reports in regard to his standing
have always been A No. L"
" He has been engaged, it is said, in
some land specuiations, which have turn
ed out disastrous!y The old story of
the dog and the shadow. We must ex-
pect such things and meet them with as
much philosophy as can be summoned to
our aid. Good morning"
And the man went out hurriedly as he
had come in. AS he left the store Mr..
Heston turned with disturbed manner
to his ledger, and threw over the leaves
nervously. Pausing at an account he
footed itup rapidly. The penciled figures
showed the sum of four thousand eight
hundred and one dollars. There was
credit by bills receivable, of four thou
sand dollars; three thousand five hundred
Of which had been discounted, and would
mature in less than a month.
Morris Heston was young man, who
had been in business only about two
years. The capital on which he com
menced was less than two thousand dol
lars, and the whole of this he had saved
from his salary. He was active, indus
trious and intelligent, and on the road
many predicted, to fortune. But in one
particular he was indiscreet, and that
was in selling too largely to single Gus
toner; for loss here was equivalent to
ruin. Already the relation between re-
ceipts ana payments was so close that
any serious deficiency in one or increase
in the other would prove source of en-
barrassment, and to have between three
and four thousand dollars worth of dis
counted bills come back upon him in four
weeks, would certainly cause him to stop
payment.
We need not picture the troubled
events that followed too surely the con-
firmed intelligence of this failure of a
distant customer. Heston was too weak
to bear the pressure that came upon him
and SO was forced to give way. A few
Of his creditors who had good faith in
his integrity and ability, would cheerful
ly have reduced their claims, and given
him ample time on TIE balance but the
majority, who had no personal interest
in him and looked only to themselves,
arr acted upon the common adage cur
rent in such cases that the first loss is
the best loss" swept everything, leaving
the unhappy, mortified, and dispirited
young man without dollar on which to
begin the world again-nay, even worse
than this, leaving him several thousand
dollars in debt, for in throwing his stock
into auction and forcing collection, seri-
GUS losses were inevitable.
Troubles rarely come alone. Anoth-
err, and to our young friend, a sadder,
disaster followed. He was under engage
ment Of marriage and the time for its
celebration had been fixed. From the
moment rumors filled the air with re-
ports of his heavy losses and danger of
failure, he thought he could perceive
change in the manner Of his betrothed.
He tried to think this only imagination,
but the change grew more apparent. At
last it became necessary for him to tell
her of his misfortune, and the blight
which had come over his worldly pros
poets. He still had faith in her; still
tried to deceive himself, notwithstanding
tho recent GLANCE In her tnnnner