Lives of Distinguished North Carolinians, with Illustrations and Speeches
History
Lives of Distinguished North Carolinians, with Illustrations and Speeches
North Carolina -- Biography
I had no suspicion until three months afterwards that the story
could point a moral in relation to myself. At the close of a casual
interview, after the recovery of my health, he said: "Mr. Swain,
perhaps it is convenient for you to pay for that suit of clothes
now." "What suit, Captain?" "The suit you purchased some time
since." I replied, "I never bought anything of you in my life but
one bandanna handkerchief, and I paid for that when I got it." He
turned to his book and showed me an account for a full suit of
black, dated September 10. "On that day, Captain, I was sick in
bed, and my life despaired of by my physicians." "Oh! I remember
it was F---- got the clothes." He was sent for, and in reply to my
inquiry whether he ever got a suit of clothes for me, replied he
did. "Had you any order from me to do so?" "No, sir; but you were
expected to die every hour, I knew you had no burial suit, and
thought it my duty, as your tailor, to provide one." "Where are the
clothes?" "When I found you were getting well I sold them." "What
right had you to consider yourself my tailor?" "I made a pair of
pantaloons for you last spring." At the close of the dialogue the
Captain remarked: "I claim nothing from you, Mr. Swain." The tailor
left the store under the decided impression that his best interests
would be served by a prompt settlement of the account. Had I died,
a punctual but not opulent father, would have paid the bill upon
presentation without inquiry.
The late William Boylan, the first editor of _The Raleigh Minerva_,
and the immediate successor of Colonel Polk as President of the
State Bank, was a gentleman sedate and grave in manner to a
degree that to a stranger might have been taken for austerity.
Traveling from Raleigh to Pittsborough about 1800, he and Mr.
Peace, on reaching the election ground at Brassfields, found a
multitude assembled engaged in dancing and other rural sports, in
the free-and-easy manner characteristic of the time and place.
Mr. Peace was comparatively at home. Mr. Boylan stood aloof until
a rowdy approached and invited him to enter the ring with the
dancers. On his declining, a dozen came forward, prepared to coerce
the submission of the proud aristocrat. In an instant Mr. Peace,
with great solemnity, beckoned the leader of the band aside, and
whispered: "My friend, be careful how you act. Bless your life,
that is Mr. Boylan, the man who made the almanac, and can foretell
eclipses and thunder-storms." The reference to the almanac-maker
secured at once the most deferential respect for the distinguished
visitor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account