The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-09-14
How Donald M'Grie Bought
and Sold His Indigo.
A TALE OF OLD ABERDEEN.

it, as far as possible, never commit your
self by speaking first, and on no account
commit yourself by speaking hastily.
If these propositions can he tolerated
by the reader, let him read on, and
know that the hero of this little moral
sketch was douce and canny Scott,
small trader, well known in Aberdeen
forty years ago. He was chapman i'll
a promiscuous line. In fact-why
should we attempt to disguise the trnthY
he kept what in London would be call
ed chandler's shop.
He condescended, merely for the con-
venience of his immediate neighbOrs,
to sell candles so low as farthing
apiece-indeed, he would, for the nonce,
furnish light so attenuated that you
might purchase two for farthing, and
yet he had small beer in his emporium
more attenuated still. He also sold
dyeing materials, among which might
have classed his small ale, and he had
coculous indicus to set off against a half
penny's worth of salt, barilla against
two sheets of parliament cake for n
baubee, and indigo by the pound
against snuff by the half ounce.
Indeed, our trustworty friend, Donald
M'Grie, had no small pride in his shop;
and the street in which he lived in the
guide auld town of Aberdeen had just
so much pride in Donald. Really Dom
aid was o safe chiel; he kept his accounts
accurately both with God and man, for
he was as punctual at kirk as in his
payments, and, as he allowed no long
4, irrh hn
never to run in debt by crimes of omis-
sion, which must be some day settled
before q tribunal so awful.
Having thus sufficiently described
Donald's circumstances, we must now
proceed to narrate tbe first grand step
that he made towards acquiring the
splendid fortune that he so well dcSerV
ed, and lived so long to enjoy.
He was out of indigo; that is to say,
all the indigo that he lately had, had
gone out from his warehouse by drib-
lets. Thereupon he writes letter to a
house in London, a drysalter's in the
most extensive line Of busin, IS, order
ing "forty-one pons weight of indigo
stating at the same time that if there
was not vessel, they must "get ane."
Such were the exact words he used.
Now, at the time this occurred, COM
munication between Aberdeen and Lon
don was rare, ard at farthcst, four times
year was the utmost extent that Don
aid MGrie and his wholesale dealers adj
dressed each other There were no tel
egraph lines by which Donald could
have instantaneous communication with
the world over; nor for the matter of
that, fast steam packets traversing the
seas, nor railways the land; nothing
but those slow sailing packets which
took time, and plenty of it, to make
their trips from port to port, or the
equally slow stagecoaches. AS have
said, four times in the year was the eX.
tent of the communication between
Aberdeen and London. Remembering
this fact, let us proceed. The dealers
were very much surprised at the extent
of the order received from Donald. The
reader will not wonder at it when he is
informed that they could never suppose
for moment that n vessel could be or
dered on purpose to carry forty-one
pounds of indigo; so, after much scru-
tiny of the very hieroglyphical remarks
of M'Grie, all the heads of the firm took
it into their said heads that their cor
respondent had fairly written for forty
one tons.
They knew very little of the man,
and of the nature and extent Of his
business; ALL. however, that they did
know, was most satisfactory; they had
done business with him for nearly TWEEN
ty years, and had, during all that time,
been extremely well pleased with the
punctuality of his payments, added to
which they had heard that he was
wealthy. Upon all these grounds they,
without hesitation, executed the order;
but, as they had not anything like the
quantity on hand, they were themselves
obliged to become purchasers, in order
to fill the commission. Having collect
ed the quantity that they had supposed
Donald had specified, they shipped it to
Aberdeen, sending with it an invoice,
and also q bill of lading by post.
When MGrie received this precious
bill of lading, his astOnishment was at
once ludicrous and stupendous. At
length, i'll order to give himsefa little
mental relief, be determined tn set il
down as n hoax, for said he, "What on
earth can the people of London mean
by sending me forty-one tons ofiudigo"
1t was more than sufficient, with the
then consumption, to supply Aberdeen
for a good Scotch generation-twenty-
one years. However, his prudence still
prevailed over every other operation of
hismind.
Like canny Scot, he kept his per-
plexity to himself, for nothing was
further from his thoughts than to run
hither and thither with his mouth open
and the letter in his hand, in order to
tell his tale Of wonder and excite the
stupid ordinations of his neighbors.
Notwithstanding his stOical conduct. he
could not so far command his demeanor
but that those about him remarked a
definite, though mysterious change in
his whole man. He was nearly silent:
but the activity of his feet made up for
the idleness of his tongue. He was
fdgetty, repeatedly leaving his shop
without any conceivable reason, and
returning to it on the same rational
grounds. For once in his life, his
neighbors thought that willy Donald
did not well know what he was about.
In the midst of this agitation, time
and tide, which wait for no man,
brought the vessel that bore the indigo
to Aberdeen. 1t would seem that In
order to toquicken Donald's apprehension,
she made an extraordinary quick pas
sage. No sooner was she moored. than
the Captain hastened to find the mer-
chant to whom his large and valuable
cargo was consigned. Having gone
previously 10 the first merchants, he, 10y
nice gradations. at length arrived at
the shop of the actual consignee, honest
Donald M'Grie. Indeed the skipper was
as much astonished at the lminuteness
of the warehouse as M'Grie had been at
the magnitude of bis cargo, for the
warehouse, had it contained nothing
else, would not have held one-fifth OF
the consignment.
After the first few introductory SEN
tences, that made each aware of what
was their mutual business, the captain
became convinced that all was right
from the quiet conduct of Donald, who
aunnffor ,.o,