Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-08-23
Why They Didn't Get Along.
BY rs. ARTHUR


NVltt ~ OF lle pFouts. MS pelsDHei oNSoAu
showed q serious aggregate Of figures, reach
ing to over twenty-six hundred dollars; So,
one halt Of the capital was gone. But he
hoped for better things in the future, and in
creased instead Of reducing his expenses
The second year business was a little better
there was a small profit but not equal to his
expenses. So the capital in trade sustained
another reduction. At the end offour years,
Air. Barker was driving large business, and
living showily. He had expanded rapidly,
and some people thought him growing rich
fast. But, if bis daily shifts und expedients
for raising money 10 meet his payments had
been known not a few would have changed their
opinion in regard to him. BE need not have
been in this iscondition. Iffrom the beginning
Of this business enterprise, he had reduced all
his family expenses 10 the lowest possible
figure, and kept money in his business that
was now forever lost he would have been
safe and comparatively easy. But he must
live for other peoples eyes. And this proved
his ruin.
And now there came a "stringency in the
money market; and one day Mr.. Joseph
Barker failed 10 makeup, as the brokers
say, before o'clock. A ruin of his credit
was the consequence. So, the wheels Of busi-
ness being stopped, nothing was left but to
call meeting Of the parties interested and
submit statement of his affairs They did
not look very promising on the question Of
dollar for dollar. Extravagant living and
excessive discounts exceeded the profits Of
his business two-iold. Had it not been for
tile extrayagant living. the excessive dis
counts might have been avoided.
After various meetings of creditors, the
final conclusion was to accept fifty cents on
the dollar, and give Mr.. Barker one, two and
three years extension,
The first step a wise and prudent man
would now have taken, any one must seer
But Barker was rot wise and prudent in this
particular. He could not bear TO step down
from his social place. To retire from his
seven hundred dollar house into one at the
rent OF three hundred; to sell off costly
furniture and replace it with the homely and
simply useful. So far as he was personally
concerned, he felt that be would be happier
in mind were this change made. But the
bugbear of "What viii the people think ?"
was in his way. Itwas not what they might
think, sensibly, that influenced but not what
they might think meanly and sel6shly. he
was afraid Of the petty triumph and sneer.
"0h they've had to come down at lastp
Mr.. Barker could not brave this.
So the old expensive style was continued.
q will make it up, he said to himself "by
extra devotion to business. My bands are free
to work again, and will drive thing with a
will. Letthe nest at home remain undis-
turbed. Misfortune shall notthrow its shadow
there" -I..
Andhe did drive things with will. Long
before the extension notes were due, be took
them out of the way, thus re-establishing his
credit Popular in his manners, and always
at his post, Barker not only made custom
rapidly but was able to retain It. There was,
consequently, steady increase Of business
BE was on the highway to prosperity; only
that his wheels had clog on them. His
style Of living was too expensive, Twas not
in consequence of a very heavy range ofproft,
that be bad been able to lift his extension
notes before they were due; but because on
the property left in his hands by the creditors,
he was able to realize over eighty per cent
The difference set down as profit showed
handsomely in the two years business. But
after that, the annual balance sheets did not
look SO well. Still, the results were highly
satisfactory; and hope, ambition, and con-
scious ability pointed to high success in the
future. An unusually brisk season, about
this time, turned the heads of a good many
men engaged in mercantile pursuits, and
a mania for building and owning houses and
country seats prevailed to large extent
Barker, who was weak man in this direc-
ton, readily went with the crowd. He must
have a house of his own. So, without fully
counting the cost etook upa lot, decided on
a plan, got estimates, and set builder to
work. The estimate said six tE5usand dollars
when the house was ready to be occupied,
the bills footed up eight thousand. New
furniture for the parlOrs, and some of the
chambers, Including expensive articles ofmere
ornament, added fifteen hundred dollars TO
this sum.
On the very day after Mr. Joseph Barker
moved into his house, be came near being
protested for lack of FIVE hundred dollars
There were. several notes to pay, and money
having become suddenly " scarce, as it almost
always does when man goes into the bor-
rowing business, be found it exceedingly
difficult to raise the full amount needed
Already nearly Eve thousand dollars of solid
cash had gone into the new house. sum
so large as this would have made him quite
easy in financial matters. But for want Of
this sum be was closely crowded, as regards
his payments. It was thing to note, that
the promise to pay which had come so near
being dishonored, stood charged to his personal
account and had been given just six months
before, to his carpenter.
From the day the Barkers moved into their
new house, with q q flourish of trumpets," as
has been said, things seemed to go wrong
The spring business had been unusually light;
scarcely two-thirds in amount, when compared
with the previous year. Besides this, Gus
TONERS, from some unexplained cause, did
not pay up as usual, and mechanics saw with
concern, hard summer before them-such,
we mean, as were considerably extended,
in commercial phrase Barker was among
these and he was not disappointed in his an
ticipations, for there was scarcely day from
the fret Of June TO the thirty-frst Of August,
Oh which be was not an anxious borrower Of
money From the time he compounded with
his creditors up to this period, full ten thous-
and dollars had been taken from the business,
| for no other end than to crafty a weak,
social pride. With this now in hand, he
would have been easy and safe; without it, he
was in peril.
The fall business, forward to which men
like Mr. Barker had looked with anxious hope,
proved altogether unsatisfactory, and our
young merchant found the night beginning
to close darkened around him. In his ex-
tremity, to prevent a failure, he raised money
on his house by mortgage, and gave large
creditor, who became cognizant Of the state
ofhis affairs, a judgment bond as security for
an extension of time on his payments, the
transaction to be held strictly confidential on
both sides. By this means he was enabled to
get through the winter.
We viii say nothing as to Mr.. Barkers en-
joyment Of bis new house. The reader may
imagine that for himself The very heavy
spring business that Smust follow two such
light seasons, did not come to the anxiouslY