you success in business, and doubt not but you well know that honesty and assiduity are the most likely means to insure it, and am SIR, LETTER 54. Your obliged servant. From a young Man whose Master had lately died I doubt not but you have heard of my late worthy employer's death. I have served him as an apprentice and journeyman above twelve years, and as the widow does not choose to carry on the business, I have taken the store and stock in trade, and shall be glad to deal with you in the same manner he did. I have sent the inclosed order for the payment of such bills as are due, and you may depend on punctuality with respect to the remainder, for which purpose let them be entered as my debt. Please to send the inclosed order, and let the goods be the best you have, which will oblige Your humble servant. LETTER 55. SIR, The Answer Yours I received, and am extremely sorry to hear of the death of my good friend your late master; but at the same time, pleased to find that his business has fallen into such good hands as yours. You have double advantage over a stranger, as you are well acquainted both with your late master's trade and customers, which by his dealings with me appears to be very extensive. I have sent your order in ten bales, marked O P, by the Jane, of Saggharbor, John Thompson master, and you will find them as good and cheap as any that are to be had in NewYork. I heartily thank you for your offered correspondence, and shall on all occasions use you with honor. I wish you all manner of success, Your obliged servant. and am LETTER 56. To a Correspondent, requesting the payment of a sum of money SIR, Although the balance of the account between us has been standing in my favor, yet I would not have applied to you at present, had not a very unexpected demand been made upon me for a very considerable sum, which, without your assistance, is not in my power to answer. When I have an opportunity of seeing you I shall inform you of the nature of this demand, and the necessity of my discharging it. I hope you will excuse me this freedom, which nothing but a regard to my credit and family could oblige me to take. If it does not suit you to remit the whole, part will be thankfully received by Your humble servant. SIR, LETTER 57. I have just received yours, and am sorry to hear of your affliction That the account between us was not sooner settled, was owing to th failure of my two princeipal debtors. I have just received a remittance from New-Brunswick, and am greatly pleased that it is in my power to answer the whole of your demand. The balance between us is two thousand dollars, for which I have sent an order on Mr. Cash the banker. I hope you will surmount this and every other difficulty, and am Your sincere well wisher. LETTER 58. From a Merchant at St. Thomas, to a Brother in New-York, desiring him to sell some goods, and purchhse others. SIR, According to the agreement settled between us when I left America, I have sent by the Trident, Captain Johnson, twelve bags of green coffee, marked A Z, desiring you to dispose of them to the best advantage; they are warranted good, as I examined every parcel separately, before they were sent on board. You will receive an inclosed order for several articles of American produce, to be sent by the first ship sailing for this port. Let them be as good and cheap as you can possibly procure, as they are much wanted at present. I am, sir, &c. LETTER 59. SIR, Yours I received, and the twelve bags marked A Z were delivered at the custom house. I immediately advertised them for sale in twelve different lots, but they were all purchased by a merchant here, the amount for which I have lodged in the bank in your name. I have likewise shipped on board the Despatch, Captain Hervey, the different articles which you ordered. They are in twenty bales marked B M. I am told they are the best that can be bad on the continent, and doubt not of their giving satisfaction. I am, sir, &c. CAPT. POOR, LETTER 60. An urgent demand of payment. The exigence of my affairs compels me thus importunately, nay peremptorily, to write to you. Can you think it possible to carry on business in the manner you act by me? You know what promises you have made, and how, from time to time, you have broken them. Can I therefore depend upon any new ones you make? If you use others as you de me, how can you think of carrying on business? if you do not, what must I think of the man who deals worse by me than he does by o.hers? If you think that you can trespass more upon me than you can on others, that is a very bad compliment on my prudence, or your own gratitude; for surely good usage should be entitled to the same in return. I know how to allow for disappointments as well as any man; but can a man be disappointed for ever? Trade is so dependant a thing, that it cannot be carried on without mutual punctuality. Does not the merchant expect it of me, for these very goods I send you? And can I make a return to him without receiving it from you? What end can it an. swer to give you two years credit, and then be at an uncertainty, for goods which I sell at a small profit, and have only six months credit for myself? Indeed, sir, this will never do. I must be more punctually used by you, or else must deal as little punctually with others; and then what must be the consequence? In short, sir, I expect a handsome payment by the next return, and security for the remainder; as I am very loath to take any harsh measures to procure justice to myself, my family, and creditors. For I am, if it be not your own fault, Your faithful friend and servant. I acknowledge with gratitude the lenity you have always shown, and my being obliged to disappoint you so often has given me much uneasi ness. I do assure you, sir, that I am not so ungrateful as my conduct has given you reason to believe. From the state of my accounts you wil find that the greatest part of my property in the hands of country dealers, who, although they seldom fail, yet their times of payment are very precarious and uncertain. However, to convince you of any integ. rity, I have sent by this day's post an order for 250 dollars,and next week you shall receive one much larger. The remainder shall be sent in a very short time. I am determined, for the future, to make the rules laid down in your excellent letter, a guide in my dealings with those people, whose dilatoriness in making good their payments to me, obliged me to disappoint you; and to convince you further of my integrity, the goods which I order until the old account is paid off, shall be for ready money. I doubt not but you will continue to treat me with the same good usage as formerly, and believe me unfeignedly, Your obliged humble servant. LETTER 62. From a young Man in trade, to a Wholesale Dealer, who had suddenly made a demand on kim. SIR, Your demand coming very unexpectedly, I must confess I am not prepared to answer it. I know the stated credit in this article used to be only four months; as it has been always a custom to allow two months more, I did not think you would have sent for till that time, and consequently trusted to a practice so long established in trade. Sir, I beg you will not suppose it is any deficiency which hinders me from complying with your request, nor shall I ask any more than is usual. If you will be pleased to let your clerk call this day three weeks for the one half of the sum, it shall be ready, and the remainder in a fortnight af ter. In the mean time I beg that you will not let any word slip concerning this, as very little will hurt a young beginner. Sir, you may take my word with the greatest safety, that I will pay you as I have promised; and if you have any reason to demand the money sooner, be pleased to let me know, that if I have it not I may borrow it; for if I have lost credit with you, I hope I have not done so with all the world. I am, sir, your humble servant. SIR, LETTER 63. The Answer. There is no person in the world, who would more willingly show every sort of indulgence to a young beginner than myself, and I am extremely sorry to press you on the present occasion; but I have reasons; and although it is not always either fair or prudent to mention them, yet you will give me leave to ask the following question: Whether you have any dealings with an usurer in your city, and what is his name? If you give me satisfaction on this head, I shall not urge the demand I have made upon you sooner than the time you mention; but as it may be done at once, I expect your answer by the bearer, whom you well know, for he was, as he informs me, very lately your clerk. I assure you, sir, is in consideration of the great opinion I have of your integrity, that I refer the payment of my demand to a simple answer to this question; but I fear it cannot be done. DEAR SIR, I am your friend and well wisher. LETTER 61. Soliciting the loan of money from a Friend. I believe that, ever since you first knew me, you will be ready to acknowledge that no person was ever more bashful in asking favors than myself. Indeed I have always considered it as more pleasing to an honest mind to confer than to receive a favor; but an unexpected affliction in my family obliges me to solicit your assistance by the loan of about two hundred dollars, for six months; but on this condition, that you can spare it without hurting yourself; for I would by no means choose that my friend should suffer in his present circumstances in order to oblige me. Indeed, sir, I was some days engaged among my friends to raise the money, before I could prevail with myself to ask it from you; and that I have now done it is from a principle far more noble than any la crative motive; nor indeed would I have asked it all were I not morally certain of paying it at the time promised. I hope this will not give any offence, and as I said before, if it is any way inconvenient, let me beg that you will refuse it. DEAR SIR, I am, dear sir, yours with the greatest sincerity. LETTER 65. I could not hesitate one moment in answering your letter; and had I known that my worthy friend had been in want of the sum mentioned, I should never have put his unaffected modesty to the blush by suffering him to ask for it; no, sir, the offer should have come from myself. However, the sum is sent by the bearer, but let me beg that if you consider me really as your friend, that you will suit the payment to your own circumstances, without being confined to a particular time, and not only so, but that you will likewise command my assistance in every thing else wherein I can serve you. But, lest you think me strictly formal, I have hereby given you leave to draw on me to the amount of two hundred dollars, or for any less sum, to be paid as is most suitable to your circumstances. I am, sir, your sincere friend. LETTER 66. From a Tradesman to a Customer, demanding payment of money. SIR, Your bill for goods supplied last year has now been delivered upwards of three months, and I have waited on you several times to solicit payment, but have not been so fortunate as to find you at home. I have a very large sum to make up in the course of a week, and shall esteem it a particular favor if you can let me have the amount of my bill delivered within that time. I trust you will excuse the liberty I take in writing to you on this subject, and believe me, sir, SIR, Your obedient, humble servant. LETTER 67. Answer to the preceding. I am sorry you have had the trouble of calling so often for your money, and stil more that it is not in my power to pay your bill within the time you inention. I am at present very short of cash, and shall be so for six weeks; at the end of that time I will settle with you. SIR, I am, sir, your humble servant. LETTER 68. The Tradesman's Reply. I should be sorry to appear troublesome to any customer; but you who are not in any business, may not probably know how subject tradesmen are to large demands for cash, and how much an omission of payment may injure them in the world. The credit on your bill already exceeds by some months what it usual in trade to give, and what I give my customers in general; I hope therefore you will not take it amiss, that I have drawn on yon at six weeks for the amount of my demand; and have sent the bill by my clerk for your acceptance, not doubting that it will be duly honored, and that you will excuse this liberty from Your most obedient humble servant. LETTER 69. From a Tradesman unable to honor his Acceptance, to a Merchant. DEAR SIR, It gives me the greatest pain to be under the necessity of writing to you on the subject I am now about to do, but I think it better to apprise you of the circumstance beforehand, than to permit a bill with your name on it to be dishonored without your knowledge. The failure of Mr. C. who is my debtor to a considerable amount, and from whom I was in daily expectation of payment, has strained me for cash so much |