The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1864-07-15

was suggested that the Old hat should be
sold at auction. 1t was done then and
there, and the Genin hat sold for fourteen
dollars Gentlemen from city and coun.
try rushed to Genin's store to buy their
hats, many of them willing to pay even
an extra dollar, if necessary, provided
they could get glimpse of Genin him
self IN.
THIS singular freak put thousands of
dollars into the packet of "Geniu, the
Halter" aud yet never beard it charged
that he made poor hats, or that he would
be guilty OF an "imposition under fair
pretences.' On the contrary, he is q
gentleman of probity, aud of the FIRST re-
spectability. ..--gs. 3.
When the laying of the Atlantic Tele-
graph was nearly completed, l was in
Liverpool. l offered the Company one
thousand pounds sterling ($5, 000) FIR the
privilege Of sending the first twenty words
over the cable to my museum in New
York-not that there was any intrinsic
merit in the words, but that I faucied
that there was mole than S. 900 worth Of
notoriety in the operation. But Queen
Victoria and "Old Buck" were ahead of
me, their messages had the preference,
aud was compelled to "take back
seat"
BY thus illustrating what l believe the
public will coucede to be the sense in " hich
the word "humbug" is generally used
and understood at the, present time, in
this country as we'll as in England, do
not propose that my letters on this sub
ject shall be narrowed down to that def
milton of the wo d. On the contrary, l
expect to treat of various fallacies, delu-
sions, and receptions in ancient and mod
ern times, which, according to Webs'er's
definition, may be called "humbugs," in.
asmuch as they were "impOsitiOns under
fair pretences." .....
In writing of modern humbugs, how
ever, shall sometimes have occasion to
give the names of honest and respectable
parties now living, and felt it but just
that the public should fully comprehend
my doctrine, that man may, by common
usage, be termed "humbug," without
by any means impeaehiug his integrity.
Speaking of "blacking makers" re-
minds me that one of the first sensation.
alists in advertising whom 1 remember to
have seen, was Mr.. Leonard GosliDg, known
as "Monsieur Costing, the great French
Blacking-maker." He appeared in New
York in $780, He flashed like meteor
across the horizon; and before he had
been in the city three months, nearly
everybody had heard of "Gosling's Black
ing"
/ we'll remember his magnificent "four
in hand'-a splendid team of blood bays,
with long black tails, and managed with
such dexterity by Goslipg himself, who
was a great "whip," that they almost
seemed to fly. The carriage was emilia
zoned with the words "Gosling's Black
ing" in large gold letters, and the whole
turnout was SO deliberately ornamented and
bedizzened, that everybody stopped and
gazed with wondering admiration A
bugle player or band of music always
accompanied the great Gosling, and, of
course, helped to attract the publ, atteu-
ton to his establishment. At the turn
ing of every street corner your eyes rested
upon "GosliIg's Backing" From every
window gilded rlacards discoursed
eloquently Of the merits of "Gosliug's
Backing" The newspapers teemed with
poems written in its praise, and showers
of pictorial handbills, illustrated almanacs
and tinseled souvenirs, all lauding the
virtues of "Gosling's Backing smother
ed you at every point.
The celebrated originator of negro de-
lineatious, "Jim Crow Rice" made his
appearance at Hamblin's Bowery Theatre
at about this time. The crowds which
thronged there were so great that hun
dreds from the audience were frequently
admitted upon the stage. In one of his
scenes Rice introduced a negro boot
backing establishment. Costing was too
"wide awake to let such an opportunity
pass unimproved, and Rice was paid for
singing an original black Goslhg ditty,
while score of placards bearing the in.
scription, ''Use Gosliug's Backing" were
eoePohaeu DIV oiuerent polutS III tnlS negro
boot-polishing hall. Everybody tried
"Gosliug's Blacking;" and as it was
really good article, his sales in city and
country soon became immense. Goslihg
made fortune in seven years, and retir-
ed ; tut, like thousands before him, it
was "easy come easy go.'' He engaged
in lead-mining speculation, and it was
generally understood that his fortune was,
in great measure, lost as rapidly as it
was made,
Here let me digress, in order to observe
that one Of the most difficult things in
life is for men to bear discreetly sudden
prosperity. Unless considerable time and
labor are devoted to earning money, it is
not appreciated by its possessor and,
having no practical knowledge of the val
ne of money, he generally gets rid of it
with the same ease that marked its acu-
mutation. Mr.. Astor gave the experience
Of thousands when lie said that he found
more diff ,ulty in earning and saving his
first thousand dollars than in accumula-
ting all the subsequent millions which f.