The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1873-07-24
absurdttIes Of Enthusiasm.

It is a fact that Inea go mad in
herds, for nothing is so contagious as
/ enthusiasm
At an early age in she annals OF Eu-
rope its population lost their wits
about the Holy Land. AHOther age
went mad for fear of the devil, and
offered up thousands of victims to the
/ delusions of the witcheraft.
Poisoning has been quite fashion,
able at various times fierce desire
for military glory has cfazed, shall 1
say enthused, nations but avaTice, ia
the form OF Q money mania has had
as many devOtees as any OF these tenn
porary idols.
John Law, gamester and gall
lant, escSping from Kings Bench
prison, no one knew how, and fleeing
to Paris, excited the avaricious frenzy
of whole nation by his Mississippi
scheme" which was astOck company
for mining purposes in the Mississippi
Valley. He meant to be honest, but
circumstances and the enthusiasm Of
the people were too much for him. So
there was a deal of paper and precious
little gold.
But how he was besieged : Dukes,
niaTqulses, connts, and titled ladies,
too, waited daily Tor hours before his
door. He lived in a narrow, ineon-
venient street, and there wtre often
fatal accidents from the pressure Of
the crowd. a eobbler let his staH for
200 livres per day, furnishing writing
materials TO brokers and their clients,
A hunchbacked man gained eonsider-
able sums by lending his back as q
writing desk to the eager. spectators.
he removed to the Place Nendome !;
the crowd of hgi0telLcs followed the
public gardens were fOrsaken booths
and tents for business and refresh
ments were erected the chancellor,
whose conrt was near, complained
that he could not hear the ad@Ocates
for the noise. LudieroGs were the
stratagems to gain hearing. One
lady ordered her coaehman to drive
against a post And upsetsher IL he saw
Mr. Law coming and after three
days of driving around the city, pray
ing inwariiy for an epportuninyt to be
overturned, the crisis arrived, over
she went, and thus secured quantity
of stock. Another raised an alarna OF
fire near his house but this was not
so successful, for Law noticed that
while every one else sc2mpered away
she made all haste 10 get in. There
was an increase OF people in Paris to
sos, COO : carriages were Obliged to
drive at q foot-pace for the jam, and
Laws eoaehman rolled in wealth and
q caTTiage of his own. OF course this
could not last long.
The South Sea bubble, gaily tinted
and very hollow, was the admiration
ofths English just about the same
time, I120. Innumerable joint stock
companies now Started up every
where. Thel . were schemes 10 make
deal boards out Of saw=dust wheel
for perpetual motion for furnishing
funerals to any part % Great Britain /;
for insuring TO all masters and mis-
tresses the losses they might snStain
by servants. One ahventnrdr started
a company for earayingloD an un-
dertaking of great advantage, but no.
body to know what 1t is.n Many were
duped by this. The prospectus stated
that the capital required was balf a
million five Thousand eshaFes one
hundred pounds each /; deposit, two
pounds per share each subscriber
paying his deposit entitled to one hun
dred pounds per annum. How this
immense profit was to be obtained he
did not oondeseend to inform the pub
lie. Next morning the office opened,
was beset by crowds and shat up at
three. No less than one thousand
shares had been subscribed fOrand de-
posits paid i'm i've hours. The win
ner OF two thousand pennds was phi
losOpher enough to be cOntented with
his venture, which was undenlably,
''an undertaking of great advantage"
to himself, and setting out that same
evening for the continent was never
heard of more. The King at last had
to forbid such crazy speculatlons.