Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1861-03-28
BROWN & co.
A STORY OF LOVE AND DEBT.
BY p. PoDHAMNER.

porn wealthy. by some mistake that ex-
cellent intention was frustrated. Hence
resulted gentleman of expensive and
expensive tastes--which tastes the incon-
siderable sums he received from the lber-
al proprietors Of "Harper's Magazine"
in consideration of monthly installments
of his brain, by no means enabled him TO
crafty. Hence, inevitably, non-receipt-
ed bills-hence, finally, duns.
This brings me to speak Of my arch
pcrsecutor--a demon in feature and ma
lignity, merchant tailor by vocation,
Brown (of Brown Il Co. by name.
1t is but justice to Brown to mention
that he had not always seemed the fend
he proved to be. Indeed. l nad once
thought him, if not an angel, at least the
ninth moiety Of one. Angelic were his
speech and manner when / first casually
visited his fashionable establishment with
my friend Brayhsm, the half millonaire.
He spread in resistless array before me
rare and costly fabrics, culed from the
most recherche feeces and looms of Eu-
rope. He commended them to me for such
purposes as coats, waistcoats, and contin-
uations, with moving eloquence. When
expiring Virtue limited at present pecuni-
ary stringency, he stihed her dying sigh
with the honeyed assurance that he would
await my convenience. Could anything
have been more liberal?
Human virtue, alas! is weak.
My love of goodly raiment was strong.
yielded!
Months passed, during which was
the cynosure Of Broadway and the Acad-
emy of Music.
New Years came, and with it bill
from Brown & Co. My surprise at its
amount only increased my grateful sense
of obligation 20 Brown.
A few weeks afterward came Dun No
l, or the Dun Delicate-a polite note,
confding to me the fact that the firm oi
Brown d Co. had heavy payments to
meet on the next day, for which act oi
liquidation the amount Of cash in their
Golfers was inadequate. "How sad," /
thought, "that such benevolence should
end in insolvency.
A fortnight later came No. 2, or the
Dun Urgent-recapitulatory and pathetic,
concluding with an allusion to legal
measures; delivered by thick set young
man, who seemed in doubts as to wheth-
er it were not part of his duty to knock
me down.
Soon after No. 8, or the Dun Diabolic-
al. Brown himself-his errand manifest
in every line of his ill-omened face, and
each glance of his evil eye-appeared in
the parlor of my boarding house, Just af-
ter dinner, when was as usual) the
center of an admiring circle of young Ia
dies.
That day I ceased to be the lion of my
boarding-house.
will not dwell on the narrowing de-
tails of the persecution that finally drove
me to seek another home. Like some
mariner impelled by the very fury of hos
tile elements into haven of tropical de-
lights, SO L, in fleeing from the vindictive-
ness of Brown, was led by relenting Fate
to the portals of Elysium. To be cir
cumstantial. removed to quiet board
ng-house in remote part of the city,
My suite of apartments comprising a
chamber and closet) was, as usual, the
third floor back. 1t commanded birds
eye view of two very limited back yards.
Beyond them rose, four stories high, the
rear of large double house. which, my
landlady had informed me in enumerat-
ing the advantages of my room, was Mad
am Crochet's boarding school for young
ladies.
AT Madame's windows appeared, from
time to time, the usual variety of school
girl physiognomies-broad, round and at
tenuated, sallow, pale and freckled, mer-
ry, mischievous and stolid. Isoon, how
ever, remarked at the window just oppo-
site mine one ofsurpassing attractiveness.
Dimpled cheeks, lustrous blue eyes, a
profusion of sunny ringlets-pshaw how
feeble is language!
l have dealt copiously in the inceptive
and progressive phenomena of love in my
contributions to Harper's Magazine afore-
said, as the readers Of that excellent per-
iodcal know; yet cannot thus violate
the s,nctty of my personal experience.
have the more reluctance, because l
know that every correct-minded reader
will pronounce the affair highly reprehen-
sible, if not-as Madame Crochet indig-
nantly characterized it--outrageous. To
such can only plead, in extenuation of
my conduct, that l was then very young.
l will not, therefore. reproduce the
thrilling epoch when ou. windows and, l
may add our souls, were first brought in
to communication by pair of stares. l
will pass over the successive stages ofthe
futtered hankerchiel-th projectile kiss
tho deaf-and dumb alphabet. Nor
must I,out of regard for the tranquility
of Madame Crochet's menage, divulge the
secret of the postal arrangement by means
of which we were at great length enabled,
in defiance of espionage, to discharge full
broadsides of affection to each other on
gilt-edged note-paper.
Lest, on the one hand, this veni-vidi :
vici-liko summing-up Of the history of so
rich conquest should seem to SAVIOR OF
vanity, humbly record my Indebtedness
to two important auxiliary circumstances
first, in Madame Crochet's model estab-
lishment the pupils were guarded against
Irritation with such lynx-like vigilance
that il is no wonder the proclivity there
to, inherent in young feminine nature,
had in them strengthened into a positive
mania; secondly, was yet in the almost
undimmed glory of the apparel furnished
me by Brown d Co.