University of Virginia Library

6. CHAPTER VI.

I HAD now no means of pleasantly passing the long winter
evenings, but such as books afforded. That winter I
went through every volume in the store—the school books,
Bible, and all—and no months of my life were ever spent
more profitably. Mine was not an isolated case, hypothetically
speaking. Most of the merchants in the far west, and
merchants' clerks having charge of establishments, were,

and still are, during those dreary seasons, confined within
their houses, without business to transact, and forced
either to take to their books, or to sit down for weeks
and months in unmitigated idiotic idleness. Many of them
become, in consequence, the best read and most thoroughly
informed men in the Union. Works of history, of science,
of poetry—in short, of whatsoever nature they can lay their
hands on—are devoured with insatiable avidity. And
what they read they remember, for their attention is uninterrupted
while they read. Their object is to shut out
from vision, and to banish from the mind, the cheerless
prospect around, and the unpleasant consciousness that the
means of acquiring profits are suspended. To do this effectually,
it becomes necessary for them to be profoundly absorbed
in the contents of the page before them. They
are completely shut out from the ephemeral society of the
living; but they can commune deeply and closely with the
illustrious dead, whose ideas are indestructible. The
thoughts, incidents and lessons of the past are better
learned in the obscurity of unbroken solitude, than amid
the din of universities, or distractions of cities; and the
unprecedented multiplication of books in this country, has
scattered the works of all ages and of all countries into
the most obscure recesses of our confederation, so that no
one who has the disposition, need want the opportunity,
to peruse them. I found dozens of volumes in every
family I applied to, which had been brought with them
from the old states. Thus, even in the newest of the
western settlements, no one can be at a loss for the means
of intellectual culture. And this is why the western merchant,
so often apparently rude in manners and coarse and
unfashionable in attire, exhibits a quality and capacity of
mind which not unfrequently put his fashionable interlocutor
to the blush. As a class, and they certainly have their distinctive
characteristics, the western merchants need not yield
to any other class in most of the great essentials which constitute
the citizen, of which America may justly boast. They
are generally brave, honorable, generous, intelligent, sensitive,
and setting aside the habit of profane swearing (which
too much prevails among them), conscientiously moral. Occasionally,
it is true, a merchant in the west makes a fraudulent
failure, and swindles his creditors; but I have never
known such to be western bred. He is an interloper, a
Shylock, and not unfrequently an impostor, whom the
eastern jobbers, in their eagerness to outstrip competition
in their sales, have inconsiderately trusted without any
well-authenticated information in regard to his solvency or
honesty, to the prejudice of their established and punctual
customers. An honest merchant, in a new country, cannot
fail to succeed, if he has any business qualifications; for
his expenses are the merest trifle, and it is his own fault if
he does not realize a profit from his sales. He pays from
fifty-two to seventy-five dollars per annum for board, and the
remainder of his personal expenses need not amount to a
larger sum. He can travel for weeks among his customers,
making his collections, without expense either for himself
or his horse, and will find a blazing hearth, a bounteous
board, and a hearty welcome, wherever he goes.

About the middle of winter, I received a letter from
Joseph, dated at Philadelphia, informing me that he had
made a proposition to his partners to purchase their interest
in the store at Pike Bluff, and had just received their reply,
accepting his offer. As the goods had all been
bought in the first place on credit, and had paid for themselves
under his management, of course his partners (who
were men of means, and deservedly enjoyed good credit),

had not been under the necessity of employing any actual
capital in the concern; and consequently the only real interest
they now had in it was their share of the profits,
some fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars. This amount
Joseph stipulated to pay them in one or two years; and
henceforward he was the sole proprietor of the establishment.
He made a full and candid statement of his affairs
to the jobbers in Philadelphia, which was corroborated in
every particular by letters from his late partners. The
Philadelphia merchants were quick to perceive his remarkable
qualifications for business. They were pleased with
his address, and frankness of expression. They were
assured of his honesty—and were satisfied. Without the
slightest hesitation, or symptoms of reluctance, (which the
true western merchant is always acute at discerning,) the
houses of whom his stock had been purchased in the
first instance, without any exception, offered to sell him as
many goods as he wanted, on the usual time—six months,
payable in twelve, charging six per cent. interest after six
months.

Joseph's new stock amounted to about seven thousand
dollars; it was well selected, and the goods were all bought
at the lowest “time prices.” He made his bills principally
in houses of long standing, of established character, and
ample capital, so that no impositions had been practiced
on him.

By the fifteenth of April, Joseph arrived at home with
his goods. The business, it was true, had been dull during
his absence; nevertheless, I had accumulated more means,
from collections and cash sales, than he anticipated.
He expressed his satisfaction at my conduct, and hinted
something about giving me an opportunity of doing better
for myself than the mere realization of an inconsiderable

salary. From my speculations and savings, I already possessed
five hundred dollars, which was more than he had
when he commenced business twelve months before.

But his first business on hand to be transacted, was his
marriage; no farther obstacles now stood in the way, and
he was not the one, in his present circumstances, to “ask
an extension of time.” Mr. White made arrangements to
board and lodge him and his bride; and so we set off late
one afternoon to the wedding. It was a two hours' ride,
and we made haste to be there at the appointed time—
Mr. White's son stipulating to stay at the store until my
return the next morning. It was not a trip of pleasure to
me. I was mounted on a horse that could not, or would
not, canter or gallop, and trotted miserably hard when
urged out of his usual slow gait. My complaints and expostulations
had no effect on Joseph; nothing could restrain
him. He saw me hammered almost to death, but
only mocked at my calamity. On he spurred, and I had
to keep up with him. At length he came to a brook, which
had overflowed its banks by reason of the recent heavy
rains, and his horse manifested much reluctance to plunge
into the current. He feared the horse, a borrowed one,
(“Old Whitey” having been disabled by an accident,) could
not swim well, if at all, and he did not wish to wet his
fine clothes.

“Luke,” said he, “your horse I know to be a good
swimmer, for I have heard his owner say so; you must let
me have him to cross this water.”

“But your horse, perhaps,” I replied, drawing a long
breath, and wishing to prolong the parley until I could become
rested in some measure, “is one of the splashing,
plunging kind, that swim with nothing but their noses

above water; and for that reason does it follow that I
must have him to cross over?”

“Come, come, dismount,” said he, alighting. “If I
were to get wet, I might have a chill, and then there would
be no kind of a wedding.”

“But,” I replied, “I am subject to fits of the ague, and
you are not. However, you are the oldest, and have a
right to command. But, remember, we are not to exchange
back again as soon as we get over.”

I mounted his horse, and he mine. He then plunged
into the whirling stream without difficulty, and I flounced
after him, by dint of much spurring and other means of
coercion. His horse swam as smoothly as a boat, with
his back above water. Joseph placed his knees on the
saddle, and went through without wetting a thread of his
garments. My horse went up and down. When his hind
feet touched the bottom, I embraced his neck with my
knees; but when he made a plunge forward, I had to
spring back a few feet. It was by means of this rocking,
hobby-horse process that we got through; and when he
made his last spring, I came off behind, holding on to his
tail, and standing up to my knees in the water, for we had
then reached the opposite side. Joseph had turned round,
and was laughing at me. That was the “unkindest cut of
all!”

“Luke,” said he, “where did you learn that fore and
aft kind of riding?”

“I invented it,” said I; “necessity is the mother of invention,
you know. Now I suppose you would like to
have your horse again, but you won't get him, unless you
are willing to sit on a wet saddle.”

“No, you may keep him,” said he, as he perceived the
seat of the saddle had been thoroughly immersed. The

balance of my ride was tolerably smooth, and this was
truly a comfort. But Joseph did not bear his infliction
without pronouncing a few hasty anathemas.

We arrived in time, and the nuptials transpired in the
usual way. There was much company, wine, cakes, &c.
Instead of a chill, I had a severe fit of the tooth-ache, and
was forced to have a tooth extracted before morning. The
doctor being only about half awake, and but half sober,
pulled the wrong tooth. It sufficed, however, to ease the
one next to it in a slight degree, and then I determined
it should remain. I groaned through a sleepless night, and
returned with a swelled jaw to Pike Bluff, the next morning,
inwardly resolving never to go to another wedding—
unless it should be my own; and that I would be in no
hurry about it—as if I could tell then what would happen!

Joseph and his bride were soon quietly settled at Mr.
White's. The spring business commenced under very
favorable auspices, but did not terminate so fortunately as
was anticipated. The fact that we had realized a handsome
profit, became pretty generally known, (as such facts
are always sure to be,) and the amount was enormously
magnified, (for the reports of good fortune are ever exaggerated,)
so that Joseph was doomed to have competition.
At that time business operations were under the propitious
control of the U. S. Bank, and credit was universal. Almost
any man from the west could obtain credit in those
days. It was therefore no difficult matter for another adventurer
to set up an opposition establishment at Pike Bluff.
So another store-house was soon in course of erection, and
another stock of goods was on the way thither. This made
Joseph uneasy. His restless, monopolizing spirit could ill
brook a disappointment. But there was no possible way
to prevent other men from selling goods in his vicinity, if

they saw proper to do so, and he had to suppress his rather
unreasonable dissatisfaction and displeasure. A hostile
course would beget sympathy in favor of his competitor,
and he considered every dollar's worth sold by his rival
as so much abstracted from his sales. He had to bear it.
But he determined to realize the means of paying his debts,
from his sales; and he was resolved that a portion of his
goods should be sold where there was no rival establishment.
So he packed up a small assortment, consisting of
about fifteen hundred dollars' worth, and sent me off with
it to found a city higher up the river, on the opposite
side. I put in my five hundred dollars, and was to
have half the profits. He wrote to Kentucky for another
brother, who was now old enough to assist him, (there
were more of the same crop growing up,) and I made my
arrangements to open my little stock at a flat place on the
north side of the river, some thirty miles farther up, where
there were a horse mill and a farm house. I had my boxes
marked Hanover, in honor of a German that lived there.
It is now a city of that name.

When I reached Hanover, I found to my surprise that the
house Mr. Grund had written about as being large enough
to hold the goods, had been originally used as a hen house.
It had been built, it was true, with some care, to exclude
the “varmints;” yet it did not come quite up to my idea of
a store room. But there was no other, and I was compelled
to take it. The door, which had been square, and was
some five feet from the ground, (the chickens being taught
to ascend on a pole,) had to be cut down to the usual form;
shelves and counters had to be constructed and placed in
the room; and finally, the whole building had to undergo
a process of thorough renovation, after my arrival with
the goods, which subjected me to a delay of several days.

These were all accomplished, however, in the shortest time
possible, and then I began business in the way we had
commenced at Pike Bluff. I had a “good run.” The
novelty of the thing brought everybody in the parts adjacent,
to town. The mill helped me, and I helped it
amazingly. Between us we had a monopoly. The proprietor
of the soil was much delighted with the idea of
realizing a fortune from the sale of lots, and, as the sequel
will show, was not altogether disappointed.

The fame of my store spread far and near, and my sales
being out of all proportion to the amount of the stock on
hand, I was soon under the necessity of ordering a farther
supply from Joseph; and at the same time I was enabled
to make him a handsome remittance. He was pleased to
see the goods converted into ready money, at fair profits;
but he was a little jealous, and in a letter protested against
my enticing his customers up the country across the river.
He claimed the south side as his exclusive dominions. I
had used some exertion to get a few of them over, who
happened to be cash buyers, and felt the justice of his expostulations;
nevertheless, I do not remember to have relaxed
my efforts. There was one of his customers, however,
whom I did not seek to entice away from him. This
was Miss Polly Beckel, who came without being invited,
and annoyed me once more. There was no ferry at Hanover;
but we kept a canoe near the store, which was sent
across for those who wished to come over. I could not
“paddle my own canoe,” but made arrangements with a
son of Mr. Grund (some fourteen years old) to do it for me.
One morning, I perceived a female on the opposite shore
beckoning for the canoe, and as there happened to be no one
in town to occupy my attention behind the counter, I got
into the boat with the boy and crossed over. Before we had

arrived within one hundred yards of the shore, I discovered
that it was the veritable wild Polly herself whom I had gone
to meet. About the same time, Wilhelm, the boy-rower,
recognized her also, and began to smile mischievously.

“What are you smiling about, Wilhelm?” I inquired.

“Why, that's that dare-devil gal, Polly Beckel, and
she'll be dead sure to cut up some capers in the boat. I
hope you can swim?” said he, looking round at me.

“Oh yes,” said I, “but you don't suppose she will
throw me overboard, do you?”

“She mought do it,” said he, with a sinister shake of
the head, “if she should get into one of her high ways.”

We struck the shore a moment after this ominous intimation,
and Polly, having tied her steed to a tree, came
prancing down to us in high spirits.

“Hurrah for you, Luke!” cried she, springing into the
boat, and wringing my reluctantly proffered hand. “This
is right. Who but the groom should come to row the
bride over the ferry?”

“But I didn't come to row you over,” said I, “nor did
I know who you were; besides, I don't know how to paddle
a canoe.”

“I'll learn you,” said she, seizing the paddles in the
hands of Wilhelm, who relinquished them instantly, and
without a word of remonstrance. He knew her skill.
The canoe sped out into the current under the impulsion
of her vigorous strokes. When we were about half way
over, she ceased rowing, and moved near to where I was
sitting. She assumed a fierce look, in which, however,
I could perceive harmless sport strikingly blended.

“Now you want some fun, I suppose,” said I, returning
her steady gaze.

“No—it is a serious matter,” she replied. “I have

got you in my power, and I have a right to make use of
my advantage. Will you promise before this witness to
marry me in thirty days?”

“I would promise,” said I, “if I did not wish to see what
you will do when I refuse—therefore I won't promise.”

“Then sink!” cried she. In an instant, and before I
could be aware of her purpose, she stooped down and
pulled a cork from an auger hole which had been bored
through the bottom of the canoe, and the water gushed up
in a stream about an inch in diameter. This was somewhat
alarming; and perceiving my surprise, she held the
cork aloft in her hand, and said in a tone of triumph:

“Promise, or sink! If you attempt to snatch the cork,
I will throw it overboard.” And she drew back her arm,
in the attitude of hurling it away. I stepped forward,
and placed my foot on the hole.

“Now,” said I, as I saw her cast one or two fearful
glances at the water, which began to spread over the bottom
of the frail boat, “I will give you one minute to replace
the cork. If you do not put it back within that time, I
will leap overboard and swim to the shore, leaving you to
get out of the difficulty of your own raising the best way
you can.”

“Oh, if you can swim, that's an end of the joke,” said
she, stopping the leak.

“But it was not one of your dry jokes, Miss Polly,”
said I; “and now it is about time for you to cease your
nonsense with me. I begin to understand the game myself,
and two can play at it. You may provoke me to retaliate.”

“No; I'll make a child's bargain with you—let you alone
if you let me alone—provided you really don't want a wife.
If you want me, you can have me before any magistrate or

parson. But you must speak quick, even before next
Thursday. On that day I am to be married to one who has
chosen me, provided I can't get one of my own choosing
before that time. And I have come to-day to buy a white
dress for the wedding.”

This was true. I sold her the dress, and she was married
at the time named—and to the man who happened to
be present when I had my first encounter with her.

Mr. Grund was not idle while I was doing such a
flourishing business. He had got the county surveyor to
lay out the town in lots, and had appointed a day of sale,
when a fourth of them (about one hundred) were to be
knocked down to the highest bidder.

On the day appointed for the sale, I did an immense
business. I sold two hundred dollars' worth of goods,
which had cost me only one hundred and twenty. Men,
women and children came from every direction in the
vicinity, to see the beginning of a new town, and many
made investments in lots. They brought from five to thirty
dollars a piece—dimensions, fifty by one hundred and fifty
feet. Thus Mr. Grund got, for a few acres of ground, more
money than he had paid a few years before for his whole
farm of three hundred and twenty acres. And the portion
sold was flat, and subject to inundation.

There was a stranger among the company at the sale, of
whom no one knew anything. He came on foot, but from
what place no one knew. He was a young man somewhat
older than myself, with a prominent nose, high cheek
bones, and small sparkling eyes. Before the day was over,
I began to suspect he might be one of those venders of “tender”
goods, a cunning Jew, in quest of a location to cheat
his neighbors, and spoil the regular trader's business. He
staid about the store, and observed with glistening eyes

every dollar I received. He bought nothing of me himself,
but inquired the prices of a vast number of articles. At
length, when the sale commenced, and the lot I occupied was
put up, he was the only one who bid against me. It had
been previously arranged that I was to have the property
at my own price, as I was instrumental in getting up the
town. But the mysterious stranger had not been a party to
the arrangement; and so he ran up the house—now dignified
by the term store-house—to fifty dollars. Upon this I
quit bidding, and hinted something about selecting another
location a few miles farther up the river, where the ground
was not so low, and not so likely to be washed away by
the June floods. This alarmed Mr. Grund, and he whispered
the auctioneer to withdraw that lot from his list, at the
same time assuring me that if I would pay for the deed, he
would make me a present of the property. They then put
up the lot adjoining mine, and the Jew bid for that also.
I now turned the tables on him. He grew very animated
as I bid against him, and then, for the first time, threw out
a hint of his purpose there. When the lot was knocked
down to him, he mounted a stump on it, and addressed
the company as follows:

“Genlemen, I am a merchant. My goots are on te way
up te river, and vill pe here in a veek. I vant to get a
house puilded along side of Mr. Shortfield's as soon as
possible—and I tink it can pe done by te time te goots
come. I vant to make a contrack for te puilding of it—
te one who pids te lowest, shall have it; but he must
take his bay in goots. I vill help puild it myself—my
labor vill be thrown in. Give me a pid, genlemen.”

It was knocked down, or rather to be knocked up, for forty
dollars, the Jew's assistance thrown in.

This announcement came upon me like a thunder-clap in

a clear sky. Already the Jew was surrounded with encouraging
friends, who predicted that Hanover would soon
be a great business place, and that he would be equally
as successful as I had been. Even Mr. Grund himself
ventured slyly to whisper a word of encouragement in his
ear. Moses told them all that I was charging too high for
my goods, and that he intended to sell his much cheaper.
This was gall and wormwood to me, and at once made me
his enemy. I could now appreciate my brother Joseph's
feelings when a competitor interfered with his prospects.
There were no means of keeping competition
away; yet I had the consolation to know that goods in St.
Louis, where the Jew had purchased, were generally from
fifteen to twenty per cent. higher than in Philadelphia,
where mine came from.

I wrote to Joseph for advice, informing him of what had
occurred. He wrote back, stating that his competitor did
not interfere with him much, as his stock had been purchased
in St. Louis. He said I had only to make it known
to the people that my rival's goods did not come directly
from the east, and then they would give mine the preference.
But Joseph did not take it into consideration that my competitor
was a Jew peddler—a dealer in tender goods, (such
as had been damaged, and sold at auction,) and that the
purchasers were men more familiar with quantities than
qualities.

Before the “new store” was in operation, a communication
came on from Washington, in reply to an application
that had been made when the lots were advertised,
establishing a post-office at Hanover, with a weekly mail,
and appointing Mr. Grund, who was on the right side in
politics, post-master. The first mail brought an anonymous
letter from St. Louis to Mr. Grund, which he handed

me to read. It ran as follows:—“Sir—there is a certain
Moses Tubal, a Jew peddler, from Indiana, gone up to your
parts to engage a house to sell goods in. Beware of him.
He will sell his goods low enough, no doubt; but it is
strongly suspected here that they are stolen goods, which
the robbers have employed him to sell. You will make
these facts known to all the people round your place.”

“That is a very curious epistle,” said I.

“That it is,” said he.

Here we both paused a considerable length of time,
while our thoughts ran in quite different channels. I was
for having Moses arrested at once, and by this means
summarily disposed of. But then, as I knew of no one who
had been robbed, and as the letter only dealt in hints,
there would be no sufficient grounds to go upon. And then
it occurred to me that, as the letter was an anonymous one,
some of the Jew's friends might suppose I had got it written
to get him out of my way.

“It is my opinion,” said Mr. Grund, “that the Jew
wrote it himself. I know something of their tricks. They
are good judges of human nature. If the impression
should get abroad that the goods are stolen, a majority of
the people would prefer to buy them, for that very reason.
They will think they can be had for less money than goods
got in an honest way. Now, suppose we try the Jew. I
will give him the letter, to do with it as he pleases; and
you and I will agree not to mention the circumstance for
two weeks. If Moses suppresses the contents of the letter,
I shall think the goods have been stolen, sure enough;
if he makes them known, I shall be convinced that it was
all a trick of his own invention.”

This was so reasonable a proposition, that I readily agreed
to it. Moses was at that moment standing on his lot, superintending

the erection of his building. I observed his actions
when Mr. Grund called him aside, and placed the letter in
his hands. He threw up his arms, and stamped, and
cursed the writer—but did not once declare he was innocent.
On the contrary, he counterfeited to the life the looks
and manners of a guilty man. He begged Mr. G., with
much apparent earnestness, not to say anything about the
letter, promising to “clear it all up” to his satisfaction in
a few weeks. Mr. Grund promptly agreed not to mention
it. This was more than the Jew hoped for, and he became
really embarrassed. Then his pretended rage increased,
and Mr. Grund left him.

My sales at Hanover had so far exceeded our calculations,
that the amount of business already done had left
both Joseph and myself with greatly reduced stocks. Indeed,
our joint sales made up a sum total equal to a year's
business at Pike Bluff—and the money already realized,
together with a very moderate amount which we could
safely rely upon deriving from collections in the fall, would
be an ample fund with which to pay all the eastern debts.
A generous confidence had been reposed in Joseph by the
Philadelphia merchants, and he resolved to embrace every
opportunity to convince them that it had not been misplaced.
Although it was agreed that he should have twelve
months' time, yet Joseph had contrived to remit two-thirds
of the amount of his indebtedness before the expiration of
six months; and all the letters he received, acknowledging
the safe arrival of his remittances, contained encouraging
expressions which greatly cheered him, and gave a new
impetus to his exertions.

Joseph and I both now began to feel like men, independent
men—and men of some substance. He was worth,
at this time, some $4000, and I about $1000. But it was

not our money which made us feel independent; it was our
conscious capacity for business, our confirmed success, our
established credit in Philadelphia, our good health, and
our confidence in the future. We were independent, because
we no longer needed the recommendations of men
of capital to obtain any reasonable amount of goods on
the usual time.

Such being our condition, there was in reality no serious
cause to apprehend any immediate detriment to our interests
from the encroachments of rival traders. In fact,
Joseph's competitor was already meditating a retreat, being
convinced of his inability to cope with so energetic and
enterprising a rival, who, besides, possessed superior
facilities in the procurement of his goods. It was quite
different, however, with my rival, the Jew. His stock
was equal to mine in amount; and he had the advantage of
me in the existence of a very prevalent belief that his goods
had cost him less than mine had cost me. It was whispered
over the country that he was a rogue, and had stolen
his goods; and the very natural inference was that he could
afford to undersell me. Mr. Grund now concurred in the
belief that he had written the anonymous letter himself,
and that it was a paltry trick to take away a portion of my
customers. It was characteristic of the peddling Jews.
Success is their motto, and they pursue it with indomitable
perseverance, and with a total indifference to reputation.
They have no credit themselves, and they credit nobody.
They trade upon the productions of others (they never
create or produce anything), and cheat the Christians with
their own wares. Such was the opinion I conceived of the
peculiar class to which my rival belonged. It may not
have been altogether unmixed with unfounded prejudice;

nevertheless, it has not been quite removed by the experience
of subsequent years.

Moses, in despite of my undisguised repulsive attitude,
now resolved to be sociable with me. He came into my
establishment every day when there were no country people
in town, and sat down to talk about matters and things
in general. And while his tongue wagged, his eyes were
not idle. They wandered from shelf to shelf, beginning
at the bottom and going up, then down again, and so on
through the entire stock, as if he were taking an inventory.
This he repeated until he had fixed in his memory the
quantities, qualities and styles of my whole assortment.
I did not, for some time, suspect his motive; but his operations
soon convinced me of the unworthy advantage he
had taken of my passive indulgence.

I ascertained from some of my customers, and from Mr.
Grund in particular, that the Jew was selling certain kinds
of goods, similar to mine on the shelves, at greatly reduced
prices; while he was selling other kinds of which I
had but few or none, at enormously high rates. This
opened my eyes to the real object of Moses in paying me
so many visits. My assortment was much broken, and it
would be a month before I could expect to receive the few
goods ordered from the east. In the mean time, Moses,
who was a “new broom, swept clean.” He caught nearly
all the cash that was passing. He continued to watch my
shelves, and I ascertained that immediately after any particular
style of my goods disappeared, a similar kind in
his establishment always rose in value; for he was conscious
of his monopoly; and when such articles were called
for, he knew they could not be had of me at any price.
Thus affairs progressed for some time, and Moses grew
bolder and more impudent, for impudence is a fixed characteristic

of the peddling Jew. But I conceived a plan
to frustrate his arrangements, and which promised me some
amusement. I began to return his visits. It is said that
the most expert strategist is never so liable to be frustrated
by an opposing scheme, as when he is absorbed in his own
secret plans. It was so with Moses. He never suspected
that I had the capacity of conceiving and executing a
counter-stratagem. Always when I returned to my own
store, I noted down on paper the result of my observations.
I also kept a memorandum of the kinds of goods he sold
at high prices. And when the list was completed, his
game was reduced to a demonstration. He sold the kinds
of goods I had the most of at about cost, and those which
I had not, at an enormous profit. The consequence was
that I was rapidly going out of business; and my rival had
circulated a report that I intended to move away in the fall.
That was the result he was aiming at, and it would very
probably have been consummated, had I not fortunately
frustrated his mode of reducing me to such an extremity.

My list being completed, I sent it off to Joseph, requesting
him to send me the articles named immediately, and
explaining my purpose to him. He responded promptly,
for it happened that he had an abundance of the goods
I needed, while he was deficient in the kind I had on
hand, and which the Jew had rendered worthless to me.
So I resolved to send him a box in exchange. When my
box arrived, Moses was all curiosity, and his entire faculties
seemed to be concentrated in his little, piercing eyes.
He was at the landing when the box was put on shore,
and slyly looked over my shoulder at the bill of lading,
hoping to ascertain what the box contained by the description;
but he was disappointed—it merely stated “one box,
weighing 300 pounds.” He then peered at every side of

the box, as it was rolled over and over up the bank. He
found nothing on it except my address. An examination
of the ends was attended with the same unsatisfactory
result. But he did not despair, while I enjoyed keenly
his fruitless efforts, and my anticipated triumphs.

“Vat kint of goots are you getting, Luke?” he inquired,
in a most familiar manner, and at the same time with an
affected air of indifference.

“I don't know, exactly,” said I, carelessly, “for I have
not seen them yet. But I have too many goods on hand
now, for the small amount of business I am doing. They
are, perhaps, the same kind I have been selling.”

This made the eyes of Moses sparkle with delight. He
had not the slightest idea that I was meditating, or capable
of meditating, an enterprise against his establishment. So
I had no hesitation in concealing the fact from him; and
perhaps violated a principle of morals in stating directly,
or leading him to infer from my remarks, what was not
exactly the truth. To this habit I was sometimes, in common
with most merchants, eastern as well as western, too
much addicted. I condemn it now, because it is wrong,
and because it is never really necessary.

It was nearly night when I got my box in the store,
where I suffered it to lie unopened till after supper. In
the mean time the Jew's curiosity had frequently brought
him in to see the precise nature of its contents—but to no
avail. I seemed to be indifferent about opening it at all, as
though it contained nothing that would be of benefit to
my declining business.

After supper, I complained of a headache, and shut
myself up in the store to sleep it off, as I alleged. But
when I was alone I worked manfully. I opened the box by
a noiseless process, so as not to be heard by Moses, who

was my close neighbor, and who was always on the alert
to pry into my secrets. I took the goods out and marked
them at very low prices, perhaps only some twenty-five per
cent. on the cost and carriage. I then hid them under the
counter, and in other places out of sight. I next repacked
the box with goods with which I was overstocked, leaving
only a few pieces of those kinds on the shelves, which I
also reduced in price; and then, towards midnight, when
I supposed the Jew was asleep, I nailed up the box again,
and left it in the place where it stood the previous evening.
Finally, after arranging the shelves so as to make it appear
that no material alterations had taken place in the nature
of their contents, I lay down on my simple couch, and
dreamed exultingly of the success I anticipated the next
day, which was Saturday, when many people, as usual,
would doubtless be in town.

Bright and early the next morning, the aquiline nose of
Moses appeared in my door, while his eyes ran rapidly
over the establishment. He had heard the hammer, and
did not doubt that I had opened the box.

“Dere's te pox,” said he; “I tought I heard you knock
it open in te night.”

“You must have been dreaming about that box,” said
I; “there it stands just as it stood last night, and as it will
stand until the boat comes down, and then I'll send it
back to Joseph. He can sell its contents sooner than I.”

Moses, well contented with the result of his exploration,
withdrew to his own premises, no doubt with a feeling of
contempt for the stupidity of a rival who suffered him to
monopolize all the business of the place. And I must do
Moses the justice to say that he had managed his affairs
very skillfully, barring his convictions of my continued obtuseness.
In the most quiet manner imaginable, and always

maintaining a show of profound respect for me, he had
contrived, for many weeks, to sell my old customers all the
goods they wanted, and placed me in the predicament of
holding the empty bag. When they desired to purchase
such articles as I had on hand, Moses was sure to undersell
me; and when they called for such goods as I was out
of, Moses invariably, and very complaisantly too, sent them
to me to satisfy themselves that they could not be had on
better terms than he offered. Now I was prepared to avail
myself of this extreme condescension of friend Moses.
Moses was a wise man, but he had not penetrated all the
hidden things of the hen-house.

The first persons who came to town that day, were a
substantial farmer, his wife and daughter, with a well-filled
stocking—such being the kind of purse in which they generally
brought their hard dollars. They looked through the
Jew's establishment first, pricing all the articles they intended
to buy, and then came to price mine. This is the
invariable custom of such plain cautious purchasers in the
west. They look at everything, and ask the price of everything,
at every store in town, before they make up their
minds where to leave their hard earnings. Those only
buy carelessly, who buy on credit, and without a comparison
of qualities and prices. And this class, whether it
be in the city or country, ultimately pay some twenty-five
per cent. more, for the same amount of merchandize, than
those who “pay as they go.”

After sitting in silence some minutes, and quietly surveying
the goods, as the country folks are in the habit of
doing, the old lady spoke first.

“I see you've got some blue calico,” said she; “but
they say you sell it higher than the Jew does.”

Now this was one of the kinds of staple goods of which I

had hitherto kept a large quantity, and the price of which
the Jew had put down. At that time, (eighteen years ago,)
its cost in Philadelphia was fourteen cents per yard, and
my price had been twenty-five cents. The Jew put it
down to eighteen and three quarter cents. But I had
packed up all I had of it, excepting a few pieces precisely
similar to the styles kept by the Jew, for Joseph.

“Who says so?” was my response, as I took down the
articles and displayed them on the counter, so that she
might see they were exactly like the Jew's goods which
she had been examining.

“He told us so himself,” she replied, while she put on
her spectacles and looked at the goods.

“What does he ask for his blue calico?” I inquired,
when I perceived she was satisfied that the goods before
her were similar to the kind she had been looking at in
my rival's store.

“He sells his'n at eighteen and three quarter cents, and
he says you ask twenty-five cents for your'n.”

“Then,” said I, “he has been slandering me. My
price is only sixteen and two-third cents, which is under
the Jew's.”

“Oh, did you ever!” exclaimed the old lady's daughter,
a fat, blooming girl of sixteen. “What a shame it is for
people to tell such lies! Buy your calico of Mr. Shortfield,
mamma—it's better, and cheaper, and prettier than
Mr. Tubal's.”

The old man lost no time in giving the hint to the old
lady, and she was not slow in taking it. The goods were
soon cut off, wrapped up, and paid for.

“Now,” said the old man, “we want to buy two solid
gingham dresses; but one of our neighbors told us you
were out of that kind of goods. I think the Jew asks

too high for his—but he told us to see if you could sell it
any lower. Perhaps he knew you had none on hand.”

“Your neighbor was mistaken,” said I, taking an armful
from under the counter. “I have a very handsom
little assortment of it. What did the Jew ask for his?”

“He asked sixty-eight and three quarter cents a yard
for this kind of goods,” replied the old man.

“Yes, this is the kind,” added both the old lady and
the daughter. Now, this kind of goods (at that time) cost
thirty cents, and the usual retail price was fifty-six and a
quarter cents. So it was plain that the Jew was playing a
very unfair game with me. I felt justified in departing
from my regular course, to “pay him back in the same
way” that he had been operating against me.

“Then,” responded I, with much assumed indignation,
“the Jew intended to cheat you. He asks more for his
goods than they are worth. I will sell you this gingham
for thirty-seven and a half cents a yard.”

“My gracious!” exclaimed the daughter. “Why
mamma, don't let's go back to the Jew's store again.
Let's buy all our goods here.”

“If Mr. Shortfield will sell us what we want as low as
the Jew, we'd as lief buy of him as anybody else,” observed
the old man, dryly, who was desirous of “bringing
me down” on all the rest of the articles he wanted. And
the more effectually to accomplish his object, he displayed
his well-filled stocking, and counted me out the money for
the two gingham dresses.

They then mentioned article after article which they had
examined at the Jew's, and for which Moses, supposing
they could not be had of me, had asked them enormous
prices, and then referred them to me to see if I could sell
them any cheaper. Contrary to his belief, I had them all,

and sold them at greatly reduced prices. The party made
all their purchases of me, and paid me some forty dollars
in old Spanish milled coin.

When the old man went after the horses, which had
been tied to the rack before the door of Moses, the Jew
watched his motions very closely. The move was incomprehensible
to him. But when he saw the whole party
depart from my door, with their saddle-bags and meal-bags
filled with bundles of goods, he looked daggers.
His lips were perfectly livid, and his cheeks were swollen
with rage and disappointment. That was a happy moment
for me. Every western merchant who has had to
compete with a Jew rival, will be at no loss to appreciate
my feelings of joy and triumph. But my success did not
end here. Party after party followed the first, all departing
in the same way from my door, fully supplied with the articles
they wanted. Every one purchased from me on better
terms than had been offered by Moses. That day my sales
amounted to one hundred and fifty dollars, mostly cash,
while Moses had not sold more than ten dollars' worth!
This was a mystery he could not comprehend. Towards
night Moses could restrain his eagerness to penetrate the
cause of so unexpected a turn in my favor, no longer. He
came in avowedly to get a note changed, but really to see
if I had not been getting some new goods. I asked him
to sit down, which he did, while his eyes ranged over the
shelves in quest of my new stock. But it was “no go.”
Everything had again assumed the old appearance. He
could perceive no change in my assortment, and I was resolved
to make no voluntary or forced revelations. In
vain he sought to find out the kinds of goods I had been
selling, and the prices.

“You had a pusy day, I peliefe,” said he.

“Why, yes,” said I, lying on my back on the counter,
manifesting signs of weariness. “A breeze sprung up in my
favor, some how or other, to-day. It has been dull enough
for some weeks with me, while the wind seemed to set
altogether in your favor. Time about is fair play. But
still it is rather curious that I should have such a brisk
day, with such a broken assortment. When my new goods
arrive from Philadelphia, I hope I shall get a fair share of
the business—if not, I'll pull up stakes and be off in the
spring.”

“My new goots vill come next month, too. But I
vouldn't keep dem here till next spring, if I couldn't sell
dem. But my stock is goot, now, and I ought to pe selling
dem priskly.”

“You have been doing all the business until to-day, and
no doubt you will keep the run to yourself till my goods
get here. Then we'll see what I can do. I've got my
invoices, and find there has been a material decline in
the east. What do you have to pay for blue and pink
solid ginghams, in St. Louis?”

“Oh, apout tirty-five cents,” said he.

“I find mine are invoiced at twenty-eight cents, this
time,” said I, carelessly, while Moses evinced much vexation.
He had a large amount of them on hand, and I was
satisfied they had cost him thirty-seven and a half cents a
yard.

The Jew returned to his own premises without solving
the problem which disturbed his mind. And as he went
out I contrived to open my drawer and cause a considerable
gingling of specie.

During the ensuing week, I did all the business. But
the Jew at length ascertained the reason. One of my
customers, who had been asked a much higher price by the

Jew than he had given me for the same goods, unrolled his
bundle and exhibited to the staring eyes of Moses a
variety of articles which he supposed he alone possessed.
He could not deny that they were lower than his own goods;
and he had the mortification to reflect that he had been
sending his customers to me under the conviction that I
could not supply their wants; whereas I had been accommodating
them in every instance. Then he learned to his dismay
that I had been selling blue calico below the unfair
reduction he had made himself! And now winter was
approaching, and most of his stock would be out of season.
Besides, it depended upon his success in the sale of the
goods on hand, whether he would be able to replenish for
the winter. I had the run, and determined not to lose it.
I deemed it better to sell even at cost and carriage, than to
hold the goods, that were soon to be unseasonable, over to
the next year. So I continued the game, and poor Moses
felt at last that he had been outdone by a Christian competitor.
To make matters still worse with him, many of
the articles which he had bought at auction proved to be
very tender, and otherwise defective, which caused a perfect
storm about his ears. But he had explanations, apologies,
and promises to pacify them all; and he determined
to be revenged on me. The western Jews are exceedingly
vindictive, and most pertinacious in their efforts to cripple
their Christian competitors.