Various - Continental Monthly, Vol. II. July, 1862. No. 1.

V >> Various >> Continental Monthly, Vol. II. July, 1862. No. 1.

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'You are sure those colors are fast?'

'Fast, ma'am! fast as the meeting-house round the corner. We will
warrant them not to run nor change. Why, for color, we have nothing like
it in the store.'

All this time, Hiram had been serving his customer; but with both ears
and at least one eye attentive to what was going on near him.

Again Pease commenced to measure, when Hiram stepped deliberately
forward and said:

'Mr. Pease is mistaken, Mrs. Esterbrook, those colors are _not_ fast.'

'What the----' hell do _you_ know about it? Pease was going to say; but
he stopped short at the second word, utterly abashed and confounded at
the extraordinary assumption of the junior clerk. Never before had Hiram
made such a demonstration. Now he stood calm and composed, firmly
fortified by the truth. He looked and acted precisely as if he were the
principal, and the objurgation of Pease died on his lips. He attempted
to cast on Hiram a contemptuous glance, as he managed to say:

'Perhaps you know more about it than I do,' and turned away to attend to
a new-comer.

'I am much obliged to you, Mr. Meeker, I declare,' said Mrs. Esterbrook.

'On the contrary, it is I who should be obliged to you for looking in.
You must excuse the mistake. Mr. Pease is not so familiar with calicoes
as I am. But I will now wait on you myself. We have a box of goods in
the back-store, not yet open, and I am sure I can find in it just what
you want.'

Any one who had seen Hiram's air, and heard him speak, would have taken
him for the proprietor. With what a low, respectful tone he addressed
the lady. How pleasantly it fell on the ear. An immense box of
merchandise to be opened and all the contents overhauled to please her!
Charley was summoned, hammer and hatchet freely used, and the goods
displayed. Hiram, who knew much better what Mrs. Esterbrook wanted than
she knew herself, selected something very acceptable. The price he put
at first cost. Not content with that, he actually sold the lady silk for
a dress, putting it at cost also, and no human being could have been in
better humor than she.

'I am very sorry, Mrs. Esterbrook, for your disappointment about the
first calico you selected,' continued Hiram. 'I do hope you and other
members of your family will look in often, even if you do not purchase;
it sometimes helps one to form a judgment to look at different stocks.
But I must be perfectly frank with you. We profess to sell cheap, very
cheap, but I can never offer you similar articles at the price you have
these; they are given you precisely at cost, as a slight compensation
for your trouble in having to look a second time. Besides, it is a
matter of mere justice to those worthy people, the Smiths, to say we do
not sell our goods at these prices, and I beg you not to so report it.'

'What an excellent young man you are,' said good Mrs. Esterbrook, in the
fullness of her heart.

'My dear madam, really I can not see any special excellence in simply
doing my duty.'

Hiram smiled one of his amiable, winning smiles, and bowed his new
customer politely out of the store.

By this time the dinner-hour had arrived. Not a word had been spoken by
Pease to Hiram since the scene just recounted. Not a syllable did he
utter at table. Hiram, on the contrary, entered into familiar
conversation, placid as usual, and enjoyed his dinner quite as well as
he ever had done. When the meal was over, Pease asked Mr. Jessup if he
would step into the store a few minutes. Mr. Jessup accordingly walked
over.

'I want to know, Mr. Jessup,' he demanded, when all were together,
including Charley, 'whether you are the owner in here or Hiram Meeker?'

'Why do you put such a question, Pease?'

Thereupon Pease told the whole circumstances very much as they occurred.
Mr. Jessup made no reply. He was taken aback himself. Hiram said not a
word.

'It's so, an't it, Charley?' cried Pease.

'I've nothing to say about it,' answered the boy. He liked Hiram, and
detested Pease, and was glad to see him humiliated.

'It is so,' observed Hiram.

Mr. Jessup was astounded.

'I shall think the matter over seriously, young men, and make up my mind
about it this evening. Now let us attend to business.'

Mr. Jessup had decided in his own mind that Hiram's conduct was very
reprehensible--not that he cared about Pease being snubbed, _that_ he
rather enjoyed than otherwise, but he thought what Hiram had done would
serve to cast discredit on the establishment. Before, however, deciding
to censure him in presence of his fellow-clerks, he determined to speak
with him privately. He took occasion without the knowledge of Pease, to
ask Hiram to step to the house, and once there, he requested him to give
his version of the affair. Hiram replied that Pease had stated it very
correctly.

'What could be your object,' asked Mr. Jessup, 'in doing what would
throw disgrace on my store, for you know such an admission would
disgrace us?'

'To serve your interests, as in duty bound,' replied Hiram.

Mr. Jessup could not so understand it, and Hiram undertook calmly to
explain how dishonest it was for Pease to do as he did. It had very
little effect on Mr. Jessup. His nerves were too strong to be unsettled
by a moral appeal. He told Hiram he was to blame, and said he should be
obliged to so express himself, when they all met, and he must add a
caution for the future.

'Fool!' exclaimed Hiram, startled out of his usual calm propriety, 'do
you not comprehend if that woman had gone out of your store with the
calico, that she not only would never enter it again, but she would
publish your name over town as a swindler and a cheat, and you never
would hear the end of it. Pease had charged her double prices, and the
goods would not stand a single washing. And you know whether or not you
are ready to pay off the mortgage Deacon Esterbrook holds on this
house.'

Mr. Jessup colored deeply. When he purchased his house he left a pretty
large mortgage on it, which the owner had sold to Deacon Esterbrook, who
was a moneyed man, and who now held it quite content with his yearly six
per cent.

'You seem to interest yourself in my private affairs,' said Mr. Jessup
in a sarcastic tone.

'Why shouldn't I, sir, so long as I am in your employ,' answered Hiram,
without noticing the irony.

'You're a devilish strange fellow, any how,' said Mr. Jessup, musingly,
'but I confess I never had a person about me half so useful.'

'I could be of much more service to you if you would conduct your
business on strict mercantile principles.'

'Why, what would you have me do different from what I am doing?'

'I would have every thing done straight and HONEST, Mr. Jessup,' said
Hiram firmly.

'Do you mean to say I am not honest?'

'It is not necessary for me to say any thing on the subject. I am only
talking about the management of your business. You censure me for not
standing still and seeing one of your neighbors grossly cheated, by
which you would have lost some of the best customers in town, to say the
least. By taking the course I did, I saved the credit of the concern
instead of injuring it, and I even spoke of it as a mistake of Pease,
instead of a deception.'

Mr. Jessup was already convinced, as indeed, his petulance proved, that
Hiram was right, but he had some pride in not appearing to yield too
soon.

'I understand the matter better now, and really, Hiram, you did just
about the right thing, that's a fact. Honesty is the best policy, after
all. I shall tell Pease he did very wrong to attempt any of his tricks
on such a person as Mrs. Esterbrook, and in future--'

'In future one of us must be an absentee from the premises,' said Hiram
coolly.

'Why, what do you mean?'

'Just this. Pease's year is up next week, and then one of us must
leave.'

Mr. Jessup fell into a brown study. He reflected on the admirable manner
Hiram had performed his duties; he could not shut his eyes to the fact
that several excellent customers had been secured through his influence;
he considered the respectability of the Meeker family, and called to
mind how indifferent Mary had become to Pease, while she seemed
gratified when Hiram was near. Again, Pease, when measured by Hiram's
more comprehensive tact and shrewdness, seemed a booby, a nobody, and
Mr. Jessup wondered how he ever acquired such an influence over him, and
he was the more disgusted with himself the more he thought about it.

'It is working right, after all,' he said to himself. 'I shall be well
rid of Pease, and Hiram shall take his place.' Then rising from his
seat, he observed: 'I will think the matter over carefully, and you
shall have my decision on the day. Now set to work as if nothing had
happened.'

Hiram went back to the store as certain of the fate of Pease as if he
was himself to decide it. 'Check-mated'--something like that passed from
his lips. His countenance, however, gave no sign of triumph, nor,
indeed, of any feeling.

In the evening Mr. Jessup announced that, after due consideration, he
was of opinion the conduct of Pease was so censurable that the
interference of Hiram was very proper, if not, indeed, praiseworthy.

'Perhaps you would like to settle with me?' said Pease ferociously.

'Just as you please,' replied Mr. Jessup.

'Well, I guess I have staid about long enough in this place when I've
lived to see you coming the honest dodge so strong as that--darned if I
han't!'

Next week Pease had quit, and Hiram Meeker was head-clerk.

Great was the astonishment through the town when it was ascertained that
Pease had been 'discharged from Jessup's store for cheating'--so the
story went. Mr. Jessup was too shrewd not to make the most of the
circumstance. He declared, in his off-hand manner, that he never
professed to have the strait-laced habits of some people; he confessed
he did not like a fellow the less for his being 'cute in a trade, and
eyes open, but when it came to lying and cheating, then any of _his_
folks must look out if he caught them at it, that's all.

With most of the people this frank, open avowal was very convincing; but
there were certain obstinate persons such as are every where to be
found, and who are fond of going against the general opinion, who did
not hesitate to declare this was all gammon. They knew Jessup too well
to 'allow' he cared any thing about it, not he. Nothing but the fear of
that honest young Meeker led to the disgrace of Pease, who no doubt
would now be made the scape-grace for all Jessup's shortcomings in the
store-way. So it went. But in the balance of accounts Jessup was a great
gainer. Of course, numerous were the questions put to Hiram. He
preserved great discretion--would say little. It did not become him to
speak of Mr. Jessup's private matters. Good Mrs. Esterbrook was not
silent, however. The story was repeated and repeated. It reached the
parsonage; it found its way among the customers of the Smiths. Mrs.
Esterbrook felt herself a good deal raised in her own importance, that
the head-clerk of a store she was never in before should be summarily
dismissed for misconduct toward her. She began rather to like that Mr.
Jessup, (the calicoes and silk proved such bargains, and just what she
wanted,) a man to do as he did was not so very far out of the way, and
as for his wife, she was a charming woman, she always said so. Mary,
too, what a sweet girl! Well, she should at least divide her custom
between the two stores if the Deacon was willing--and the Deacon was
willing, for he wanted Jessup to do sufficiently well to keep up his
interest money prompt. Not only did Mrs. Esterbrook call frequently, but
so did many others of the Smith faction. I need not say that Hiram was
indefatigable. He secured the services of a nice, active young fellow,
whom he took great pains to teach, and every thing went on like
clock-work. Mr. Jessup was content, for he saw he was constantly gaining
custom, but, in fact, he was a good deal confused, and hardly felt at
home in his own place, so completely did Hiram bring it under his own
control.

The first thing he undertook was an entire overhauling of the stock, and
a close examination of its value. Then he insisted, yes, insisted that
the prices should be marked in plain figures on the goods, so every body
could see for themselves.

Jessup remonstrated: 'Thunder! what will become of us at this rate? I
tell you there are some it won't do to be frank with. Even old Smith
never undertook to expose his marks!'

'The very reason why we should do so,' said Hiram. '_We_ are honest.'

I wish you could have heard the tone in which Hiram said that, and have
seen the expression of his countenance. It made Jessup's flesh creep, he
did not know why. So Hiram, as usual, had his own way, and overhauled
every thing. Lots of old goods piled away out of sight, as unsalable,
were brought forward, carefully examined, and marked down, on an
average, to half cost. Then appeared hand-bills to the effect that Mr.
Jessup had determined, prior to getting in a complete new, fresh,
fashionable lot of dry goods, to dispose of the stock on hand at a
tremendous sacrifice. These were sent all over the country into the
adjoining villages, every where within twenty miles. How the people
rushed to buy, and when they came, and found really that great bargains
were to be had, they resolved to come again when the new goods should
arrive.

Thus Hiram triumphed. In six months after J. Pease left, Benjamin
Jessup's store was _the_ store of Hampton, and Benjamin Jessup himself
on the road to prosperity and wealth.

Hiram Meeker was sitting alone in his room over the store, late one
evening. He had been with Mr. Jessup a year and eleven months. Another
month, and the second year would be completed.

'I believe,' so ran the current of his thoughts, 'I have learned pretty
much all there is to be found out here; have not done badly, either.
Cousin Bennett's advice to mother was right. I am not ready to go to
New-York yet. There is much country knowledge to be gained. Let me see,
I will drive over to Burnsville next week. Joel Burns is carrying every
thing before him, they say. All sorts of business. A first-class man;
neither a Smith nor a Jessup. I met Sarah Burns last week at a party
over at Croft's--lovely girl. I think Burnsville will suit me.'

Thereupon Hiram Meeker took up his Bible, which lay on the table near
him, drew himself a little closer to the fire, moved the lamp into a
convenient position, and read one chapter in course; it was in
Deuteronomy. Then he kneeled in prayer for about five minutes. As soon
as he had finished, he went to bed, equally satisfied with his labors
and his devotions; complacently he laid his head on the pillow, and was
soon asleep,

* * * * *

'I _am_ sorry to go, Mr. Jessup, but I have my fortune to make yet, you
know, and I must look a little to my own interests.'

'Yes, but confound it, Meeker, what is it you want? I expected to raise
your salary; in fact, it's no account what you charge me, you mustn't
go, that's settled.'

'Indeed I must.'

'Why, what is the matter? If you say so, I will take you into
partnership, though you are not one and twenty. Really, Hiram, don't
leave us in this way.'

'I repeat, I am sorry to do so, but as I have no intention of living in
Hampton, it is now time I should quit.'

'But what on earth am I to do without you?'

'Persevere in the course you are now pursuing. Stick honestly to good
principles, Mr. Jessup, and you will continue to prosper.'

'Damn it, I know better,' exclaimed Jessup pettishly; 'I mean--I swear I
don't know what I mean, [Hiram's cold blue eye was fixed calmly on him,]
cussed if I do; but I say 'tan't honesty which has done the thing for
me. No; old Smith is honest--so is his son; I respect both of them for
being so, yes I do. You are honest, too, Hiram; straight as a
shingle--have always found you so; but I can't tell why, yours seems
another sort of honesty from Smith's honesty, and that's a fact.'

Benjamin Jessup had a dim perception of the truth, but the more he tried
to explain, the more he floundered, till Hiram came to his relief and to
his own also, for he did not greatly enjoy the comparison Jessup was
attempting to institute.

'I think I understand you. The fact is, in the management of your
business, I have endeavored to combine what tact and shrewdness I am
master of with scrupulous fair dealing and integrity.'

'That's it, Hiram, now you've hit it, but it's the shrewdness that's
done the work. Oh! I shall never get a man who can fill your place.'

* * * * *

In due course, Hiram left for Burnsville. The prayers and good wishes of
the village went with him. Mary Jessup was disconsolate; but why? Hiram
had never committed himself. All the girls said: 'What a fool she is to
think he was going to marry any body older than himself!' and they
laughed about Mary Jessup.

NEWBERN AS IT WAS AND IS.

That part of North-Carolina borders on the Sound, has within the past
six months became the theatre of events of the most exciting nature, in
which Newbern, its principal town, has borne a prominent part.

It may be interesting to review its history. The earliest notice of it
dates back to the explorations of Raleigh's colony in 1584, when they
visited an Indian town named Newsiok, 'situated on a goodly river called
the Neus,' but the adventurers did not examine the river, and more than
a century elapsed before any further record of the visit of white men
occurred. The north-eastern counties had, however, been partially
settled by refugees from Virginia, where in the absence of law and
gospel they became as degraded a community as there was on the
continent. Their descendants have, to a considerable extent, overrun the
South to the Mississippi and on to Texas.

But it was the good fortune of the counties on the Neuse to derive their
immigrants from and to have their institutions formed by a better class
than the inferior families of Virginia, further degraded by a residence
in Eastern North-Carolina, at that period known as the harbor for rogues
and pirates.

The earliest settlers on the Neuse were French Huguenots, who first
located on the James River, in Virginia, but were afterwards induced by
the proprietors of Carolina to accept grants of land in what is now
known as Carteret County, to which place they removed in 1707. In 1710
a colony from Switzerland and Germany, under the management of Baron de
Graffenreid and Louis Michell arrived, and were settled between the
Neuse and the Trent, and in the triangle formed by these rivers, laid
out a town with wide streets and convenient lots, which in remembrance
of the capital in the Old World, was called New-Bern.

The settlers who already resided north of New-Bern soon rebelled against
their local government, and by continued depredations on the Indian
tribes in their vicinity at last brought on a fearful war, during which
a large part of both the white and red men were exterminated, so that
many of the poor Swiss and German Protestants found they had only
escaped their vindictive persecutors at home to find a bloody grave in
the forests of Carolina.

After the surrender of their grant to the crown by the lords proprietors
of Carolina, in 1729, a better state of affairs succeeded, and a more
energetic government, with its blessings and prosperity was the result.
The country was then settled and Newbern gradually rose to be a place of
importance, and subsequently the capital of the province.

The first printing-press in the province was established in 1764, and
the first periodical, _The North-Carolina Magazine_, issued the same
year, but it is doubtful if any book excepting the State laws was ever
published there. A public school was incorporated the same year, and
Newbern became the principal seat of education and social intelligence
in the province. As the seat of government and the residence of the
royal Governors, it attracted much wealth, and developed a degree of
culture which it has retained to a later day.

Arthur Dobbs, for a long period the Colonial Governor, was at this time
closely identified with the history of Newbern. He was 'by birth an
Irishman, and by nature an aristocrat.' He died at an advanced age in
1764.

In 1765, William Tryon succeeded Dobbs as Governor of North-Carolina. He
first resided at Brunswick, on the Cape Fear River, then a town of note,
but now a complete ruin, and where among its remains are still seen the
massive walls of St. Philip's Church, built by his request, at the
expense of the British government.

As Newbern was a more central position, and possessed more social
advantages, Tryon took up his abode there, not, however, till he had
made himself odious by irritating the people of the western part of the
province into a rebellion, and had butchered many who were contending
only for justice and their rights.

Tryon was aristocratic, tyrannical, and vindictive. To gratify his pride
he conceived the idea of erecting a magnificent palace, and to obtain an
appropriation from the Provincial Assembly he exhausted all his promises
and intrigues. In this effort on the legislators he was aided by the
blandishments of his lady and her sister, Miss Wake, relatives of Lord
Hillborough, and he was finally successful. The result was, that he
erected in Newbern, in 1770, the most elegant and expensive building on
the continent, the cost of which was far beyond the resources of the
province. The plans of it, which are still preserved, show that the old
descriptions of its splendor are not overwrought. Its foundations can
still be traced, and a part of one of the wings, though in a dilapidated
state, is yet in existence.

A Provincial Congress was held at Newbern, in August, 1774, of which
John Harvey was President. In April, 1779, they elected delegates to the
famous Continental Congress which met at Philadelphia, and Newbern was
for some time the most important place in the province.

During the Revolution, the State was twice invaded by the British, and
many towns suffered severely, but Newbern being remote from the seat of
war, did not particularly feel its effects.

It is somewhat strange that in Newbern secession once found its
strongest opposition, and finally its death-blow. It will be
recollected that North-Carolina once extended to the Mississippi, and
included all of what is now the State of Tennessee, the whole of which
territory was ceded to the United States in 1784. It was then partially
settled, and before the general Government had accepted the grant, the
residents established a temporary government, and formally seceding from
North-Carolina, formed 'the State of Franklin.'

On the 1st of June, 1785, the Legislature assembled at Newbern, when
Governor Martin addressed them on this subject. Declaring that 'by such
rash and irregular conduct a precedent is formed for every district and
even for every county in the State, to claim the right of separation and
independence for any supposed grievance as caprice, pride, and ambition
may dictate, thereby exhibiting to the world a melancholy instance of a
feeble or pusillanimous government, that is either unable or dares not
restrain the lawless designs of its citizens,' he advocated putting down
the movements by force if necessary. But the leaders were not to be
dissuaded from their ambitious purpose, and being joined by a few
adjoining counties in Virginia, they elected General Sevier, a hero of
the Revolution, as Governor, and the insurrection assumed a formidable
shape. But the old State met the trouble energetically, and after
exhausting all proper conciliatory measures, Sevier, with several of the
leaders, was arrested, their councils became divided, and the rebellion
was crushed. The leaders asked and obtained pardon, and an act of
amnesty was passed, so that in the subsequent political changes the
matter was forgotten.

For a long period Newbern has been the residence of wealthy and
influential families. George Pollock, a descendant of one of the
original proprietors, who died some thirty years ago, dwelt there. He
owned immense tracts of the best land in the State, and over a thousand
slaves.

There, too, was the home of Judge Gaston, a learned lawyer and a most
estimable man, who, though a Roman Catholic, was respected by all sects
and conditions, even in those days of fierce sectaries. John Stanly for
a long time gave celebrity to Newbern as a lawyer and legislator, his
oratorical powers being second to those of no man in the State. He was
the father of Edward Stanly, now appointed to act as military Governor
of the State.

The country around Newbern was originally moderately fertile, but much
of it has become exhausted by reason of improper tillage. The forests
which were once a vast extent of stately pines, and from which great
quantities of turpentine and tar were for a century and a half exported,
are now little better than barren fields. Pine lumber and staves have
long been a large article of export, which with corn and cotton make up
nearly all the articles sent abroad. But the pines are now nearly
exhausted, the trade in naval stores and lumber lessened, and in
consequence a better state of agriculture has commenced. It is found
that by the aid of fertilizers good crops of cotton can be raised on the
pine lands and the fields kept in an improving condition. For the last
thirty years it can hardly be said that the town has improved; indeed,
as a whole it has hardly held its own. Still it is a place of wealth and
comfort. There is an air of respectability in its ancient and stately
buildings, its wide streets, and abundant shade-trees, and it is as
healthy as any Southern town can be.

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