Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-07-28
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..t. lFrom All the Year Roundl -s-.-
THE LITTLE OLD GENTLEMAN.

crew af94anor ee9d3 sua hs[uT vsdj
y"Would you like to look at the Times,
sir? Singular trial that of Risk Allah
Bey against the Daily Tslegraph."s "sd5 20
[ II The speaker was a curious little old
man, cleanly dressed, cleanly shaved,
with short, crisp, white hair, and face
like a red pippin : such a face as is
hardly ever seen out of this country, and
even here rarely, save among farmers,
game keepers, or Others who are much
in the open, air and at all seasons. This
little-for he was very small indeed as
to size-this little old gentleman was
encountered in a frst-class smoking car
riage on the Southwestern railway. - E. =
'...Curious trial that, before the Lord
Chief Justice continued the old gem
tleman, as if he wanted to promote
further conversation. az was once tried
for murder ,myself'-with pleasant
smile. Yes said the little old gentle
man, ,"and'' Cooking pleasanter than
ever) every nearly hung too, | did not
get off free. I was sentenced to, trans
portation for life; went through seven
years of it, and then they. pardoned me
for what had never DONE. ....
You see,"" said the little old gentle
man, smiling more than ever, as the FIVE
other smokers in the carriage stared at
him" you see, 1 was for many years a
cattle merchant in London. My bust
ness consisted in receiving from abroad
from Holland, Germany, Normandy,
or wherever could form connection
oxen, cows, sheep, pigs, some on my own
account, others to be sold on commission
| for correspondents, who sent their ami
( mails to me for sale. The trade was a
! profitable one. Every beast sent over
on my account was fully insured, SO that
if it died on its passage / came upon
the insurance company. / had very few
bad debts and, taking one thing with
another, / may fully have calculated
upon realizing at least twenty-five per
cent. on my capital every three months.
In other words, got profit of a hun
dred per cent. per annum on the money
I had commenced business with.
"But with money comes the desire for
more. There was time before l began
to deal in cattle, when I thought myself
rich if, at the end of year, 1 had a
couple of hundred pounds in bank over
and above my expenses for the past
twelve months. Now it was otherwise.
I lamented that I had not always an
idle balance of, fifteen hundred or two
thousand pounds. I was fond Of money
for moneys sake. 1 could not make
money fast enough for my wishes in the
/ cattle trade, and therefore determined to
do little in the loan and discounting
t way. 49,. ....--.-s... -.
at is nearly twenty years ago, and I
have gone through deal of trouble
/ since. My system was never to put too
many eggs in one pot-never to lend
very much to any single person-but to
lend many small amounts to various
people. 1 used to answer the advertise.
ments Of tradesmen in difficulties, and If
I found that borrower had good secu-
rity to offer, would lend him perhaps
thirty or forty pounds, taking ten
pounds for the accommodation for a
month, and much more in proportion for
longer periods, One of my clients was
a printer, with small business, near
what was, then called the New Road, now
Marlebone road. . He had often borrow
ed twenty, thirty, and once, as much as
sixty pounds from me, and had always
repaid me to the day. The security he
gave me was always the same, the Joint
note of hand of himself and his brother,
a grocer up Hackway way. The name
of this borrower was Strange-Edward
Strange He was in delicate state of
health, always suffering from his chest,
and in severe winters he used to be laid
up for weeks together with bad cough.
He was widewer, without children.
"One day Strange came to me and
said thathe had a very excellent offer
to enter into partnership with a printer
who had been established in business
several years. The sum required to be
paid for the partnership was three hun
dred pounds, and he asked me to advance
him that amount upon the security of a
policy of insurance for one thousand
pounds upon his own life. On inquiry,
found that. years before, Strange had,
when a young and healthy man, effect
ed an insurance upon his life for five
hundred pounds, and afterwards increas-
it to one thousand pounds. This policy
he had always managed to keep up, and
still wished that it should not relapse.
AS it had been running on for nearly
twenty years, and as he paid very
small premium, and was now in bad
health. the insurance company would
have been glad to purchase it back
Therefore, after looking at the affair in
every possible way, came to the con-
clusion that the security was good, and
that might safely advance the sum of
three hundred pounds upon the security
of the policy being indorsed over to me.
This was done, and I advanced the
money! Gentlemen, the worst days
business ever did in my life. ssz
"In general a creditor sees but little
of his debtors, whether they are few or
many. The man who owes money gem
orally avoids the individual to whom he
owes it. But it happened otherwise with
Strange and myself. With the new busi-
ness that he had bought, he was not ex-
pected, nor even wished, by his new part
ner to interfere; and his own Indifferent
health made it very desirable that he
should be as free as possible from the
confined air of the close printing rooms.
The partnership he had purchased Sc
cured him certain amount of income
which, together with what he had be-.
sides, allowed him to go about in divers
parts of the country, travelling being
much recommended by his medical at
tendant. Knowing that I had to make
weekly trips to Harwich, and that I had
often to go to Rotterdam in the way of
business when looking after cattle, he
asked me whether he could be of use to