Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1860-05-10
For .'a, he Yoriyills Enquirer. :
LETTRns FROM A FATHER--No.

9 Messsrs. Edit0ya: In my two previous letters
have given youa pretty fair outline oftny con-
ditions I am grocer and cotton merchant Of
moderate means, with large and heavily expen.
sisss family, living in good style in the suburbs
Of 9 fashionable city. AS most people do in my
circumstances, I make every shift | can to keep
up appearances. Partly for this reason, and
partly to crafty taste and desire have always
had, keep up small farm, orchard and flower
garden. This keeps the walters and nurses
for my dear and estimable wife is still afflicted
with this latter .encumbrance about the house,
busy at times when they would otherwise be
idle; and thus, as the old saying is, I make
every edge cut something. .-
Permit me now to descend q little into par
ticulars. The great misfortune Of my situation,
as I conceive, is that the reverses have met
with render it impossible for me long to sustain
my family IN thehigh Lire they have been leading.
In your private note you ask me 70 renee. Wnetn-
or or not my "iie ana l S'areed CUT IN llle ~i'n
ialse views OF eeucation anu society Z am iree
10 CONFESS 'nat "e aia 'na' our great ann was
the accumulation OF properly because We 'nousnt
IL woula give us sone, eisnncuon, eoiat' every
thing. 80 Wnea became oomparaaveiy wealthy
we began 70 spread our ssiis tof nespreeze OF
popular admiration. We could not stand pros
perlty. We e1emphned IN ourselves the old
maxim snae tN Wnomsoeyer 'as goas WISH 70 destroy
they hrst MAIDEN: Hnas maooenea us was 'o's
empty, iooisn anu iase luea 'nas money money
money is tne cnlet gooa-Securlng 70 young
ladies' long train OF the noolest admirers to
young men the smiles OF the handsomest bellies,
and to whole families the most enviable distinc-
ton. This idea made my wife buy the. finest
OF dresses for herself, and twice as many as she
,needed-nay, i've. times as many-and made
her lavish whole wardrooes OF gossamer hnery
on her growing daughters. Why, gentlemen,
fifteen years ago.. when Jane, Eliza, and Catha-
rine, were respectively ten, eight and six years
old; and when was just beginning to rea-
lize handsome income from my rife's and my
moderate patrimony; that early in life, my wife
would dress ont these then little children, on all
public occasions, in such clouds. of ribbon and
lace and dresses of the most delicate and costly
material that they looked less like human be-
ings than the fashion plates for children in Go
dey.s Lady Book. Such conduct as this It is, that
ran me in debt faster. than. my income iWould
pay out; and thus, year after year q constantly
enlargine Indebtedness has cramped me in nv
business, and crushed out INV spirit Of thrift and
enterprise. An effort to remove this heavy load,
brought upon me my recent reyerses. For I
speculated largely in cotton on borrowed money;
and the money becoming. due, I was compelled to
sell on disadvantageous terms, and thus sunk
four or five thousand dollars in one purchase
Several other trades, I made, were equally fail
ures; so that in one winter, (winter before last)
I lost about twenty thousand dollars. ~
Now, unless can stop these dreadful inroads
upon my purse, cannot deceive my creditors
long as to my true condition, and o crisis will
come directly in which my little remaining prop
erty will be swept away. 1t Isl difficult thing
for family to rise in the world gracefully and
it is equally difficult, perhaps impossible, to
make . graceful fall. This is especially the case
when people fish (as we have dons) for position
among the merely monied aristocracy. For the
aristocracy OF wealth is the most selfish,
tyrannical and narroW-spirited thing in all the
world. 1t has been bitterness and asbes n INV
t.,,a yonmov tb;nt :. !. nj. az. -.