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Chapter xii. A Large House on a Little Foundation, or Aiming at Great Things Before Little ones have been Accomplished.

At the close of my connexion with the house of Fountain, Pillar and Branch, I became an interested witness in one of those suicidal performances which occasionally take place in the commercial world.

It is well known—at least in the United Kingdom—that eminent mercantile establishments, like sturdy oaks, are generally of slow growth. In new countries, as, for instance, in America, houses and men sometimes jump into fame in the course of a few years, or even in a few months. In the old country, however, such cases are rare and are altogether exceptional. People here are not so fast as in the new world. In commercial, professional, or even in political life, it takes a beginner a long time to secure the suffrages of the public. Once secured, they are not easily enticed away—not even by the offer of superior advantages elsewhere. Most of our extensive and eminent houses originated in a small, a very small way. Like acorns, their rise has been gradual, and their expansion and power have been a work of time. Although in the field of commerce an occasional attempt to change the natural course of things page 190has been attended with success, such attempts have more frequently resulted in failure.

The house of Fountain, Pillar and Branch was a very old, extensive, and eminent one. It was here I commenced my business education. Here, from the alphabet of commercial knowledge to the more advanced stages of "profit and loss," I became versed in all—however little—of which I was at present master. But there are in the world a large number of young persons, of which at this time I happened to be one, who fail to discover when they are "well off," and who never learn the value of a good situation until it is lost. A combination and sudden move on the part of two of the leading men of the house induced me—for an imaginary advantage—to withdraw from the great commercial school in which I had been tutored, and from the service of Messrs. Fountain, Pillar and Branch.

In this, as in other large wholesale houses of the same class, there were numerous important departments. Though each department, like the branch of a railway, is connected with, and adds to or detracts from, the profits of the main establishment, each has its separate staff of assistants and manager—the manager in this particular trade being generally known as the "buyer." The returns made, the expenses incurred, and the stock kept by the respective buyers are presented to the firm, by the chief clerk, in an annual "balance sheet," in which every department displays its distinctive features. Thus, not only is the relative value of each branch of business ascertained, but likewise the value of the services of each "buyer," who is regarded as the responsible man in his own sphere, and whose personal-remuneration depends, in a great measure, on the revenue arising from the department subject to his management. Thirty years ago—but things have much improved since page 191then—many of the employers in large establishments cared little for the employés, beyond the amount in pounds, shillings, and pence, they could get out of them. So long as the employed had the outlines of honesty, and the capability of showing a large return, with remunerating profits, the details of character, "the mind that makes the body rich," or the morals which purify it, however lax, remained unnoticed, or, if noticed, remained unreproved by employers. As men entirely of the world, they paid less attention to the morals or intellectual advancement of those by whom their trade was conducted and governed than to the annual result of that government, as shown in the balance on the credit side of the ledger. But if evidence were wanting to prove that a favorable change has taken place, the following simple fact would go far to supply it. In many of those vast wholesale houses in the vicinity of which I passed my youthful days, there are now—instead of large barren or meanly furnished sitting rooms, as heretofore—not only commodious and well-furnished apartments, but extensive libraries, supplied with everything that can tend to improve the mind and enrich the understanding. For the benefit of those in their employ, a few of our merchant princes go even beyond this, by treating their employės to weekly lectures during the winter months. I have myself been recently engaged, with other professional gentlemen, to lecture on literary and scientific subjects to audiences of nearly two hundred young warehousemen—within the very walls that once enclosed my services as an assistant.

My secession from the eminent establishment in which I had passed my early probation, and obtained a good position, originated thus:—Here were two buyers, Reckless and Venture, each having an important department, and page 192each in his own department making a large and profitable return. Reckless and Venture had been in the house of Fountain, Pillar and Branch for many years. They had been here as junior assistants, and they were here now as important buyers with large salaries. The firm had raised them to what they were, both with regard to position and pay. But Reckless had no sooner secured the "box seat" of the coach than he wished to take the reins. He no sooner became chief of the first department in the house than he wanted to be made shareholder in the house itself. Venture had arranged to play a similar game, in the event of the success of his brother buyer; or, in the event of failure, to join him in any ulterior step. They thought the firm would concede their demand, rather than part with two such valuable servants. But they committed the fatal error—not an uncommon one in the way of the world—of overrating their own abilities, and at the same time of underrating the dignity and independence of their employers. While respectfully declining the proposed addition to their title, the firm assured their head buyer that they were ready to recognise the value of his services to the fullest extent, if the recognition had not already been made. After a little deliberation, they proposed to Reckless to increase his pay from eight hundred to a thousand a-year—probably a larger salary than was ever before paid or offered to a gentleman in a similar trade. To this offer was appended the remark—"When the time shall come for the admission of a new partner, such intimation must be made by one of the firm, not by a gentleman who desires to become so."

Each, in turn, rejected the offer of the other. Nothing but a partnership would satisfy Reckless. But the firm would not—on his own nomination—be satisfied with such page 193a partner. Finally they agreed, but agreed on one thing only—to part.

Reckless and Venture had previously determined their line of action. They had resolved either to become shareholders in the eminent establishment they now represented, or to found and open out a concern of their own on a grand scale, and in direct opposition to "the old house." Venture had a little money. Reckless had less. But what of that? Merchants and manufacturers in those days only wanted money when their debtors had none to give them. Good-natured creditors were themselves satisfied with the presumption that men going into a large way of business were men of capital, till proof was furnished to the contrary. It was only those who started in a small way whose means and character were rigidly inquired into. Reckless and Venture had no occasion to feel uneasy on a point of which they were certain—that of obtaining credit. But as they were unable to muster enough cash even for the preliminary expenses of a large establishment, it was necessary to admit a third person as partner in their grand design. Bounce was a suitable man. Bounce was a London draper in a good way of business. But his ideas were more extensive than his trade. He knew Reckless and Venture, and knowing the vast return they had made for "the old house," he had often intimated his wish to transfer his ability and his means from the retail to the wholesale trade. Here, then, was his opportunity. This he at once embraced by the disposal of his business, and by subscribing his person and property towards the formation of the extensive wholesale establishment which was to open under the firm of "Reckless, Venture, and Bounce."

Increased pay and the promise of future advantages induced three additional buyers and fifteen junior ware-page 194housemen to leave the old house for the new one. In this move, my case may partially illustrate several others. In the house of Fountain, Pillar, and Branch, my position was only one step below that of an old and faithful buyer, who was not to be moved by the tempting offers of the new firm. The removal of this gentlemen, either by death or any other cause, would have insured my elevation to the head of my department, and to a salary of four or five hundred a-year. But in my present restless state it might, I thought, prove a tedious affair to wait for such promotion—even in the old and familiar house wherein I had received my commercial education, and with a firm from whom I had received much kindness and consideration. The immediate opportunity for obtaining three hundred a-year, when my salary stood only at two-thirds of that amount, displayed a rise too sudden and tempting to be resisted. The offer was readily accepted, and I at once quitted the service of the old house for that of the new one, which was now preparing to astonish the world with its wonders.

Everything ready, the curtain is about to rise on the first scene in the new house of Reckless, Venture, and Bounce. The stock to be displayed is, as truly announced in their circular, "immense!" Should it fail to bring custom to the house, it did not fail to satisfy everybody behind the scenes that English, Irish, Scotch, and French manufacturers had evinced an early and earnest desire to make good customers of the new firm. Nobody that beheld their mountainous collection of manufacturers could for a moment doubt that, if their ability to sell goods equalled their ability to buy them, Reckless, Venture, and Bounce would soon command one of the largest trades in the city of London.

Every customer of the old house—there were many page 195thousands—received from the seceders a polite invitation to inspect the stock of the new establishment on the "opening day." This invitation was not responded to by the "great rush" anticipated by the firm. It neither required a police force to keep the entrance to the house clear for the ingress of anxious customers, nor was an extra number of assistants needed to attend to the wants of those that came.

Little disappointments at the beginning of a daring enterprise are often succeeded by greater ones as the drama proceeds. It was even so with the house of Reckless, Venture, and Bounce. The launch of their great design on the ocean of commerce created no excitement, except on the part of the originators. And the want of excitement on the occasion of a great event is not usually regarded as an omen of success. The disappointment occasioned by the absence of the anticipated "rush" on the opening day was the precursor of greater disappointments, as time more fully disclosed the weakness of the mainspring which was expected to keep the entire machinery of the concern in motion.

When, as leading men, Reckless and Venture were doing wonders for the old house, they regarded themselves as the magnates by which such important results were achieved. Great actors, they thought, could play equally well on any stage. True, they had never enacted first-rate parts elsewhere, and they omitted to consider the importance of anything but their own talents. The age and position of "the old house," the value of its properties, and the well-merited attachment of its numerous patrons were altogether overlooked by the two seceding actors. They did not for a moment suppose that they were only the well-finished instruments by which certain commercial operations page 196were performed, and that their employers, Fountain, Pillar, and Branch, were themselves the chief operators. On the contrary, Reckless and Venture thought themselves capable of doing what others had done for them. Ignorant both of the unlimited resources of the house they represented, and the stability of its established connexion, they supposed that, without the assistance of the former, they could easily secure the latter.

In a few months the pleasing illusion was dispelled. Amid a vast and expensive stock of goods, commercial wisdom was soon found to be the most costly article that had been purchased by the new house of Reckless, Venture, and Bounce. Had the firm known, as they now knew, the extent of their own capability, they would at first have attempted but little, because they would have seen the impossibility of accomplishing much. Early knowledge of their own power might have proved the ground-work of success, while judgment to keep within the boundary would have supplied materials for building the structure. They now discovered that the connexion which had been long wedded to the old house evinced no desire to pass their favors to the new establishment, though peculiar advantages were promised for the transfer.

The vitality of the new house was of short duration, as it suddenly expired at the not very advanced age of eighteen months. The final exit of the firm from the stage of commerce may be recorded in a few words. The majority of our great houses commenced their career at the bottom of a long hill, gradually working their way to the top. Here the workers may, if they please, enjoy their rest. But when, as in the present case, the driver or drivers of a new commercial establishment begin at the wrong end, and start their machine from the top instead of page 197the bottom of the hill, the concern soon reaches its final resting-place. Reckless, Venture, and Bounce were only eighteen months in driving their great establishment from the top of Prospect Hill down the entire decline of their commercial existence, which terminated in a well-known Court in Basinghall Street. Beyond the outside of this Court their old and faithful servant, the present recorder, has no desire to follow them.

The foregoing is a true account of the life and death of the great commercial house of Reckless, Venture, and Bounce.

As a short distance only divides commercial from family mistakes, I may briefly refer to the affair in which I was concerned—not legally—in the case of

Gentility and Poor Fare, VersusIndependence and Plenty.

Before I close the present chapter, let me turn for a few moments from a commercial to a social picture—from a hastily drawn sketch on the busy mart of commerce to the rough but not less truthful outline of a scene in the domestic drama of life. The incident I am now about to relate originated through my connexion with the house, the life and death of which have just been recorded. It is not, however, on this account the subject is deemed worthy of note, but because the story itself is illustrative not only of what has long been, and still continues to be, a social evil,—or at least a family error—but that it at the same time suggests a remedy for the thing complained of.

During my connexion with the eminent house of Fountain, Pillar, and Branch, I was lodged and boarded in the establishment. But my engagement with the opposition house, and consequent elevation in pay and position(?) page 198made it incumbent on me to provide apartments and partial board on my own account. An advertisement expressive of these wants was within two days responded to by offers so numerous that a division of the advertiser into two hundred parts would not have allowed a fractional allotment of the individual to each and all of the "desirable homes" to which one mortal body had been invited. The style and composition of a letter often denote something of the character of the writer. Such, at least, was my belief, when out of a large bundle of epistolary addresses I selected that of Mrs. Maria Mental, whose offer of the "advantages of a well-educated circle" was deemed worthy of consideration. An interview with the lady settled the question, agreeably with the favorable opinion created by her letter. An engagement to "board and lodge" with Mr. and Mrs. Mental was the result.

Poor Mental! But let me begin with the lady, to whose lofty notions of gentility must be ascribed those innumerable little troubles and trials which pressed heavily on the otherwise cheerful and sweetly-tempered members of her own family. Mrs. Mental had a touch of the lady in every accomplishment but one—the income. Her daughters had been trained to a similar style, and with the same cheering prospect. They had left school, and were now at home, taking of their mamma lessons in their last and most difficult study—"how to make both ends meet."

Mr. Mental was one of the most amiable of men, an affectionate husband, and a kind and indulgent parent. He studied every want of his accomplished partner, and appeared to satisfy every want but one. But that happened to be an important one—the want of money. His occasional inability to satisfy this want was probably one of the greatest troubles of a long and anxious career. Yet he page 199derived from his greatest care his greatest happiness. The very mainspring of his existence was so completely wound up in the welfare of his children, and so inseparably linked by the potent chain of parental affection, that his whole life appeared like one long, romantic, but unsubstantial dream; for, in his kindred spirit, some active agent moved, unseen, the never-failing hand of time, and minutes, hours, and years seemed passed and passing away in one continued and unfruitful course. For a man of education, refined taste, but limited means, to provide even for a young and numerous family is not always an easy task. But how to provide for, or agreeably dispose of, a grown-up family, the youngest at the age of fourteen, was a question that defied all Mr. Mental's affectionate and anxious efforts to solve. His early life had been interwoven with, and illumined by hope. But now it contained every feature but the brightest. The patron who had obtained for him his situation in a government office was dead. He had lost his interest at headquarters, and with it, his chance of promotion. Except with the holders of a few overdue bills, he had now no interest with anybody. He was one of those fortunate or unfortunate beings whom Fate with one hand supplied with many of the living branches of fortune, while with the other hand she withheld the fruit. Two sons, five daughters, an accomplished wife, and one hundred and fifty pounds a-year comprised Mr. Mental's family and family resources.

Appearances are often deceptive. It is not always a serene or sunny exterior, either in person or place, that denotes a corresponding calm or warmth within. The gentility of a fair form does not, in itself, prove that the figure has recently been supplied with a substantial meal. Neither is the neatness of a detached cottage a sure sign page 200that its inmates, during an inclement season, are kept warm by good fires and the like. Mrs. and the Misses Mental were themselves the very pictures, or rather the very realities of neatness and gentility. Their habitation was in keeping with its inmates, or at least with the female portion thereof. Each was typical of the other, while all gave evidence of the pervading spirit that turned everything to the best advantage—whether the renovating power had been applied to a time-worn table cover, curtain, or carpet, or to a reversible apron, a cloak, a cashmere, or cap-ribbon. But a few of the personal inconveniences that arose from the constant endeavour of a family to keep up "appearances" beyond their means may be gathered by what follows.

In her well-written and equally well-indited reply to my advertisement, Mrs. Mental had modestly intimated that "an agreeable addition to her family circle would not be objected to." This was one of the reasons assigned for an offer to open the door of her private establishment to a stranger. But a brief residence in my new abode led to the discovery that a personal extension of the family circle was not the only "agreeable addition" to the domestic hearth. It was the sum of thirty shillings, payable weekly for partial board and lodging, that made the new comer "an agreeable addition." The only pain created by its payment was the knowledge of how much the small stipend was needed by the head of a large family of recipients. Poor Mental! He never received a quarter's salary that it was not immediately dispensed in small portions to clamorous little tradesmen to whom larger sums were due. Yet the debtor was honest, and I pitied him from my heart. With one hundred and fifty pounds a-year he could not, of course, satisfy claims to the amount of two hundred a-year. But why, with a fixed salary, was his expenditure in excess page 201of his income? A word or two with his accomplished wife may furnish the question with an answer.

Mrs. Mental was the only surviving child of a deceased officer, whose good name happened to be her sole inheritances—save and except a disciplined taste for gentility, the standard of which she faithfully carried to the last. In the true spirit of many a poor yet deserving soldier, the soldier's daughter was ever dreaming of promotion that never came. When the sprightly Charles Mental was first appointed to a government situation his young bride believed that, like an ensign who in time becomes a general, her devoted Charles would gradually rise from the post of junior clerk to that of prime minister. Even when he had lost his interest at "head quarters," and, with it, all chance of promotion, his fair partner, both in habit and costume, still maintained her position above the rank and file of society. She could not or would not accommodate herself to circumstances. When a batch of young officers (male and female) had made their appearance, the style of the parent-general was kept up as before. Though the juvenile staff had often to muster on "short commons," their dear mamma had always the newest style of costume both for parade and review. She could bear the loss of a good dinner rather than lose the outward forms of fashion. This was the severe and artificial school of discipline in which the branches were trained.

But Clara, the youngest daughter, had a spirit of her own, with less false pride and more real independence than any other member of the family. She had no wish to continue at home, dependent on those whose means were so circum-scribed; But she dreaded still more the worse than menial situation of a poor governess. She had no desire to follow in the path of two senior sisters, who passed half their time page 202in situations they could no longer keep, and the other half with parents who could no longer keep them. She sighed for a more independent position, even though it should be one of less refinement and gentility. As her spirit continued to sigh for independence, I on one occasion put the question—"Would a respectable business situation be ac-ceptable?" The enquiry struck terror to every one of the family, except that one whom it chiefly concerned. The bare idea of anything connected with the "shop" for a member of the Mental family—especially a female member—was in itself something dreadful. It was like an electric shock on every nerve of gentility.

"What!" exclaimed Mrs. Mental, "a situation in a shop? I hope I may never behold a child of mine in so degrading a position. I shudder at the contemplation of such a sight. What!—to see one's own daughter behind the counter? Pray, Mr. Foster, don't inflame Clara's romantic spirit with anything of that sort."

But Clara's independent spirit was already on fire. Like that of a lucifer match the ignitable matter had only waited a sharp twitch to force it into a blaze. The touch had been given. A flame was kindled which would either continue through life or (if quenched) leave the frame a spiritless mass. Again and again, this young and vigorous heart solicited me to procure for her a situation in a house of business. Again and again the mother made the daughter's solicitude of no avail. Time passed. The steadiness and brilliancy of the child's resolve tended to moderate the parent's opposition. A situation in a first-class house of business—not far from Regent Street—was at length submitted for approval. After a sharp contest in her own mind between gentility and expendiency, Mrs. Mental reluctantly consented to the disgrace of her family, by page 203allowing her daughter to accept what her daughter had already resolved to embrace—a position in a "shop," or, as an indignant mamma ironically observed, "to play in public the distinguished part of female counter-jumper."

Poor Clara! Great as was the parent's antipathy to business, that of the other female members of the family was greater. During the first few months of her business probation, she was treated by her sisters in a manner the very opposite to that of sisterly kindness and affection. It was probably the presence of the lodger, or his thirty shillings a week, that prevented these well-trained young ladies from prosecuting with still greater rigour that independent spirit which they declared had "disgraced them by becoming a shop girl."

This exhibition of empty pride on the one hand and proud independence on the other proved of benefit even to the lodger, who was thus made familiar with a few of the shams and realities of life. For some time previously, my ideas of refinement and gentility had somewhat outgrown the strength of my position. A taste for literature and the fine arts had not only made more glaring the coarse habits of those commercial brothers who were exclusively devoted to money-making, but had almost caused me to look with contempt on my own kin, and to forget the fount from whence my importance sprung. But a residence with the Mental family, together with an introduction to a large circle of their acquaintances who were as accomplished, as poor, and as proud as themselves, soon disclosed the secrets of the artificial "make up" of that genteel society which I subsequently discovered comprised rather an extensive class in the world. Here I beheld accomplished young ladies pass more than half their time in tuning their sweet voices and strumming away on a hired piano; page 204young ladies who carried their wardrobes on their backs, yet would rather forego a Sunday dinner than omit—even at the cost of their last shilling—to trim those wardrobes with some trifling emblem of the newest fashion. When I saw these things and heard the pretty damsels declare that they were in every way superior to "shop girls" who were well fed, well paid, well clothed, and well conducted, I began to contrast external show with internal comforts, and to exclaim—"give me sensible shop girl sisters before highly-glazed gingerbread dolls."

The house of—never gave an immediate salary to a young lady totally unacquainted with business. Being, however, favorably impressed with the manner and general appearance of the new candidate for commercial honors, the firm promised to reward Clara Mental at the earliest period at which her services might be found of value. She had not long to wait for the fulfilment of the promise. I cannot state the exact period at which her salary began, having omitted to enter it in my diary. It was not, I believe, more than six months after the young lady had entered on the duties of business. I have it recorded that at the expiration of two years from the time of her novitiate she was in the receipt of a salary of sixty pounds a-year, and that she expressed herself as being "very comfortable, equally independent, and perfectly happy!" Not bad, either in position or pay, for a young lady at the age of nineteen!

Success in anything, or in any sphere of life, is the prime minister of conciliation. Had Clara, in her noble struggle for independence, failed in the attempt—failed either through a natural inaptitude for business or from any other unblameable cause—her effort would have been pronounced as silly as herself, if not as mad as the lodger page 205who gave the cue to her folly and opened a course for its indulgence. But as Clara did not fail, indignant foes were soon changed to sympathizing friends. The romantic spirit of that child, who in the "distinguished character of female counter-jumper" had threatened the fall of social gentility, was now regarded as a family star of the first magnitude. Parents no longer despised the position of the daughter by whom—contrary to expectation—they had not been disgraced. Even senior sisters condescended to acknowledge the talent, if not to commend the taste, of the enterprising "shop girl" whom they at first disowned and persecuted.

Without dwelling on all the subsequent features in this truthful story, the sequal may be briefly given. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Mental lived to see the final position and reward of the successful "shop girl." Clara had accomplishments superior to the majority of young ladies engaged in business. But her accomplishments did not prove a barrier either to commercial or social advancement. Because this young lady—behind the counter—not only played her part well in business, but could, if required, play well and sing well out of business, nobody took a dislike to her on that account. The close of her commercial career would justify the opposite conclusion. At the age of twenty-three—after five years self-support and independence—Clara Mental became the wife of one of the first merchants in the city of London.

Wealth is power. Now, then, the rich merchant's wife had an opportunity for avenging past insults—for teaching contemptuous sisters and unfeeling friends that tokens of unkindness can be returned to the dealers in their own coin. On attaining an exalted and powerful position, a despotic spirit is wont to reflect the frown of every former page 206foe. But who can change a noble heart into a despotic and revengeful one? Not even its owner. Like the root of a tree, its natural character is retained to the last. The once despised but forgiving "shop girl" who received the scorns and the rebukes of others without retaliation, did not now from her lofty station resent insult with injury. The lady of substantial means did not from her temple of fortune embitter the position of would-be ladies without means, when she had an opportunity of returning good for evil. No. But let one patent fact supply the moral and close the story. At this moment not only are two unmarried sisters supported by the good Mrs.——, late Clara Mental—but also two of the children of another sister, whose taste for refinement and gentility induced her to accept for a husband, from a respectable profession, a gentleman without practice.

The story is ended. I have no desire to follow the modern custom of pinning to a little drama, when the drama is over, a long and prosy "tag." But the preceding sketch of an incident in real life is suggestive of one or two queries. These are respectfully submitted—unanswered—for the consideration of the large number of mothers and daughters of gentility whom such queries may concern. I will not go into the important question—whether men of from ten to fifteen stone in weight are, or are not, "out of place" behind the counter of a lace or fancy establishment; or whether in that effeminate assumption of manner and address necessary to the successful display of ladies' collars, capes, and night caps, the actors do not sacrifice all that is manly—save and except the figures of men? This question chiefly concerns themselves, yet not themselves alone; for in the total absence of their sex from such places, such places would necessarily have to be filled by the opposite sex.

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But as this legitimate field for female action is not in the sole or undisputed possession of male officers, let me put the questions of which I have given notice. I ask yourselves, the youthful thousands—who shall say how many?—of ill-fed, thinly-clad, yet highly-accomplished spinsters at present located in the United Kingdom, whether the love of gentility is strong enough, if not to keep you, at least to induce you to keep as you are? Or whether, like the heroine just named, you are ready to doff your notions of false pride and enter on a noble struggle for self-support and independence? In a great commercial country, there is plenty of room even for novices under the age of twenty, whilst there is room enough, and to spare, for efficient hands at almost any age. Depend on it, young ladies, your accomplishments would not prove a barrier to commercial success, if ability and industry only enable you to pursue the course for its attainment. You must not all expect, nor would all desire, to meet with rich husbands on your journey. Some of you, like the heroine's senior sister, would, no doubt, rather marry a teacher of music, and afterwards meet with a kind relative to teach the children everything else. I am convinced that the duties as well as the hardships of a junior governess, dependent on her own exertions for support, are as great, if not greater, than those of any member of any class in the great family of mankind. On the other hand, I am satisfied, from personal knowledge, that a junior assistant in a respectable commercial establishment has greater comfort, greater liberty, and less real cause for anxiety and care than almost any other working member of any class in the kingdom—not excepting the employers whom she may serve.

With no object beyond a desire for your own welfare, I entreat you, my numerous young sisters of refinement and page 208accomplished country cousins, who, like pretty captives in a cage, are now singing and hopping about for a bare and anything but natural existence, to weigh well the questions herein submitted for your consideration.

Turning for a moment from a social to a political subject, let me briefly refer to

A Political Squib.

Just at this period—10th of April, 1848—other than either social or commercial affairs broke in on the peace of the metropolis. One of those fiery monsters, which once in an age rise up to disturb the quiet of the political horizon, was going either to explode the British constitution or be itself exploded. It was now when a huge rocket, that many dirty hands had for many years been filling with sulphurous matter, was about to be ignited. "Chartism" was the serpent's name. Nothing short of an entire revolution was apprehended. A change from established principles to no principle at all was to be effected in a day.

In order to arrest this dreaded innovation on law and order, commissions were granted to a larger number of "staff officers" than had ever before paraded the streets of London. To put down internal rebellion, special constables, in their magical and multitudinous creation, typified the recent sudden rise of the noble army of volunteers now ready to guard their Queen and country from external foes. Everything and everybody had been prepared for a fight. Corrupt spirits in power were not disposed to yield quietly to still more corrupt spirits that craved for power. Number One, or the chief office in the way of the world—the Bank—was studded with soldiers and sandbags, all ready for a desperate resistance to any illegal claim on the golden treasures within.

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But after all this excitement—after many months of preparation on the part of General O'Trigger and his deluded troop for a grand demonstration against the invincible arm of sovereign rights—the whole affair proved a gigantic sham. In design, as in execution, it had nothing in it but a little of that spirit of madness which subsequently proved fatal to the unfortunate leader. Mad-brained fanatics, either in politics, religion, or anything else, became formidable only by the cries of their opponents. If the noisy advocate of any bad cause were allowed to expend his breath unnoticed, his cause would soon die a natural death. After the failure of the "grand demonstration," special constables and others were allowed to resume their former occupations in peace and quiet.

Almost contemporaneously with the foregoing subject there appeared

A Kingdom with two Kings.

Having referred to what political revolutionists failed to accomplish by violent means, let me by way of contrast briefly allude to a wonderful social change that is effected without even the semblance of violence. The present period will some day be regarded as a very remarkable one. In an age of wonders, England has given birth to an event unlike any that has ever been, or will probably ever again be, recorded in her history. By this event the leading features of Number One have become prominent, not only in their individual, but also in their national character. The drama itself will prove a great and permanent one—one of the utmost public importance—although the original actors therein are merely important as showing the sort of stuff of which a large portion of the public is composed.

I now speak of nothing more nor less than a social page 210revolution. But like all revolutions that benefit mankind, it is accomplished without bloodshed. Unlike two royal terriers of French and Austrian breed, who after a desperate fight for territory, quietly sit down to arrange their differences and divide the spoil, England effects a mighty change, not only without drawing the sword, but simply by drawing from the pockets of the people a few millions sterling for the permanent good of society and the commercial interests of the world at large. The country is carefully mapped out, and certain sections or associated bodies of the people, commonly called "companies," soon constitute a little community in themselves. After a few harmless though not inexpensive parliamentary battles, they obtain at once and for ever the right to extensive tracts of land running in all directions through the most wealthy nation in the world. Hence arises an important community of landed proprietors who daily increase both in number and wealth, and whose possessions are already extending from north to south and from east to west.

In all times as in all countries, whether savage or civilized, every tribe has had its chief and every nation its ruler. Be the people ever so rude or ever so refined, be their form of government ever so crude or ever so polished, a head of some sort or other has ever been as necessary to each class or community as is the human head to the human body. Thousands and tens of thousands of Her Majesty's loyal subjects had now become railway-share proprietors. Without any abatement in their attachment to the Queen or their loyalty to the throne, they openly acknowledged another monarch in the person of a railway king, who has suddenly sprung up from among their own body, emerging, as if by magic, from an obscure position and poor estate to take his seat like a real hero, on the pinnacle of power, wealth, and fame. Thus England for the first time in her page 211history has two kings at one time, or rather, two ruling monarchs—one being our gracious sovereign lady, the Queen. The railway king during his brief reign is the most popular potentate that ever swayed a golden sceptre. His popularity is not founded on the usual vulgar and lasting love that springs from the heart of an entire nation. Nothing of the sort. His majesty's twenty or thirty thousand subjects are all cast in the same mould with himself, and he goes direct to their sympathies and their affections with the tempting bait of "railway scrip" at a premium, which he supplies at par to as many of his votaries as time and opportunity permit. Never before had majesty so many courtiers, and never before were courtiers so solicitous for the welfare of the king's most dutiful subjects, of which they are themselves the most devoted. The golden rule of their royal master is to them a source of boundless joy. But, alas, for the brief existence even of kingly power, when that power wants the vital spirit of religious truth in its application! Little more need be said by way of a sequel to the story. God, in carrying out His own mighty designs in the various stages of the world, raises men to power and again reduces them to nothingness, as daily lessons for all who in struggling for the things of this world forget that He who gave all can also take all away. Does any one suppose that this railway king is set up and taken down simply as a moral for his own heart? Is he more selfish than his accomplices? Not a whit. His majesty is one of the worst or best abused men in the kingdom. Yet the majority of his once loyal subjects would have behaved no better than their royal master had they been placed in the golden chamber of temptation from which their master fell. Let each unscrupulous speculator take a special note of that fall to his own home, and let him place it—as a lover places an enigma—under his pillow to sleep on it.