Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-01-25
4 HISTORY OF DIR. sCHLIEM INN.

A HISTORY OF DIR. SCHLIEM ANN.
His Humble Birth and EaTIy Man
hOod = How ~ Russian NOldaer
Served Him ana a RuasiRu Rsen
DRu HeIped Htm-His TrRvelH
and Hts DigglDgs-A1s Wife aud
His Looks.
A SMALL BEGINNING.
When about sixteen years old,
Schliemann, the son Of humble
parents in Mecklenburg, Germany,
set out i'll a sailing vessel from
Hamburg to a port in Venezuela,
ir order to try his fortune, and got
wrecked on the Dutch coast.
Through the friendly services of
the German consul in Amsterdam
he obtained a position as porter in
store. The porter was not unfit
for his place-he knew little else
than his native language, and but
little about that. His early educa
ton had most undoubtedly been
neglected He JUMPED at the
chance of a hundred dollars a year.
l was myself a clerk at that time
(1S42), and had made some pro,
gress in the study of Italian for
mercantile purposes. Two years
later, while buying a matchbox one
day in toy store in Amsterdam,
and learning incidentally that this
fellow had been there speaking
Spanish, l mentioned the fact to
my teacher, who told me that
Schliemann had applied to him for
instruction in Italian, and that as
he could not pay much, he had
been referred to me as a person who
perhaps might help him. One Sun
day morning, while l was studying
my lessons, in came Schliemann
(whom didn't know at all) with
. proposal that he should teach me
Spanish and that l should teach
lin Italian. The idea, you see,
was to save expense, ny salary not
being much more than his.
A WHOLE YEAR WITHOUT A DINNER.
That is the basis on which we
built our friendship. We worked
hard, and saved-because we had to
every cent. For a whole year we
never ate dinner. We hadn't
money enough to buy one. There
was an old Russian soldier left
wounded in Amsterdam when the
allied armies were on their way to
Paris to capture the First Ma
poleon. His star was on the wape;
he blaeked Schliemapn's boots.
Nay, he did more than this-he
made Schliemann's fortune. And
this is how he did it.
A BoOTBLAcK AT AGAMEMNoN's
TolR,
One day Schliemann, who had,
recently hired him, asked what
country he came from. "From
Russia" was the reply, aud forth
with Russian grammar was
bought, which the bootblack and the
clerk (Schliemann had just been
promoted to a clerkship with a
salary of 5000 year, aud money
was fusb) thumbed together. !
laughed at my 4uiKotic friend, and
told him that lie was a fool, He
laughed back; took the bootblack
to lis room, gave him something
TO eat, and began q daily and night,
ly floor-walking, questioning, and
loud talking, which continued /
don't know hoy long. His land.
lady wanted to get I'D of him; he
made too much noise. Her weekly
receipts from this lodger were two
dollars, while his RECEIPTS from her
were small room, hot wateg, lights
and bread and butter. That bread
and butter, by the way, is an inn
pOF F,ant item, because he cut off
enough every morning to furnish
luncheon for them both--the Wo-
man thinking, doubtless, that they
were very hearty eaters.
ADVANTAGES OF KNOWING RUSSIAN
1t happened soon afterward that
a Russian gentleman with bis fam
ily from Moscow, AlexeieG by name,
on n visit for his health to one Of
the Dutch watering places, brought
a letter of credit to the banker
Schroeder, in whose employ Scblis-
nun was. Nobody iI the Office
~ -. a...l,..I =. .,,1~I . 4 ~, , IL "a