Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1868-03-20
ali atflla II { q II s.
The Bankrupt's Wife

Nanv a Young man looks with eyes al
most of envy at the tenants of the spen-
did warehouses in our great commercial
cities. Busy porters roll or lift packages
of goods in and out; clerks hustle round
with pens behind their ears; princit pals
seem leisurely to overlook the transactions
which are accommodating for them mines of
wealth. They seem by some happy chance
to have escaped the sentence. In the
sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread
They look like merchant princes, to whom
the general direction Of commerce is but
recreation, while the dull and laborious
details are performed by others,
But if those who envy could only know
all--the worry, anxiety, the pain in fore
casting the future, the regrets in recalling
the past, the incessant wear and tear Ol
the mind. and weariuess OF body-tliey
would concede that the fair cXternals dc
not truly exhibit the reality. Perhaps no
profession in life is subject to s. many ad
verse chances, aud none is subject to such
disasters, growing out OF circumstances
which can neither be foreseen nor control
led. The ramticatons and connections OF
trade are so complicated and various that
the most prudent can not entirely guard
against them. He is a wonderfully sue
cessful man indeed who has conducted bus
mess through many years without the par
tial OF complete experience OF the nor
titication aud the horrors of bankruptcy.
Henry Marshall had struck upon the
commercial reefs. He was far fion hens
alone in his difli1u|ties. ii that cireum-
stanee conld be ANY cnniurt TO Lin. Ohc
of the isast Gus states oi trade had hap
pcncd wleh lnen call "c;ises.'
Women in crisis have their tall share
of the suffering, Withuat the colIiurt OF be-
ng OF any use; nor is ;heir vanity usually
considered by appeal To their advice. In
decd women are usually regarded at such
times with about the same consideration
that they receive OH the deck of a Vessel
in Il storm at sea. They are told almost in
terms. and sometimes quite plainiy, that
they are only in the way, and had better
90 aside and wait and trlst.
Waiting aud trusting are all very well
when YOU are first advised OF the extent of
the danger and the nature of the remedy.
But to wait in terrified ignorance isno such
easy matter.
The point this sketch is to show that wo
man can he OF service. if the lords of ere
alton will give them chaice.
Henry Marshall, as we have said, was q
bankrupt a business Which had yielded
him more than an ample support, and which
had promised at no distant day to enable
him to retire upon fortune, came to Il
stand still. His stock became unsalcahlc.
and his paper assets were Of no use to him
Nothing he had could he converted into
cash to meet thick coming liabilities /: and
if he could have sold everything he had in
stock at current rates iii IA panicby market
the sale would not have netted enough to
carry him through. 1.-The could have wait
cd few months or a year he could have
kept his feet; but what man can wait when
the notary is in hurry, and protest fol-
lows protest like the peals in thunder
stormi
All the proceeds of the labor of years,
were gone, and he had no choice but to
make the humilatng contesscn that he
was a bankrupt. lie had nothing to re-
proach himself with. He had not been
careless, imprudent or cytravagant. Tie
had taken no money out Of his business
for outside specu!ations, and had wasted
nothing in show or in extravaganza, far
less in vice.
One Investment he had made, such as
every successful business man is justified
in making. lie had provided home for
his 'amily. He had bought Il house and
furnished and improved it. modestly but
tastciully, and the purchase was made at
such time, and on such terms that it
helped rather than embarrassed him. 1t
had been to him. as he called it, his nest
whittier he could retire for quiet and com
fort after his days work was done. Three
little neslings were there, and their
m ther, She was as much to their dOmi--
cile as her husband; and as to the children
their world was their home. and every
thing outside seemed to them as something
foreign. Mrs. Marshalls taste and care
and honest pride had so arranged and COM
pleted all, within and without. that the
house fitted the inmates, and the inmates
the house. They seemed to have grown
into each other.
He had not settled the house upon his
wife: though according to received no
tons of probity he might Rave done So
For when lie boughtit, he was clear of al
the world, and could have answered all
demands upon him, and then have retain
ed surplus. He did not contemplate the
danger that he could ever come to want,
and if the thought had crossed his mind he
would have reasoned thus: My house and
socia. position are part OF my capital
If | secretly put what remains of my prop
erty out Of the reach of my creditors, am
living under false pretences. If openly
81, 30 titta I
or. at the best, depriving myself of part
of my capital Thus Mr.. Marshall reas-
oned. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps he
was wrong. But though he choked a little
over it, his conscience applaudea him,
when he added his house and furniture to
the schedule of his effects, to he surren-