and creditor in this case, as well in regard to the brick house, as the bell contract; they could both have said, in reference to the matter, "blessed be nothing;" and had I been called upon to give up the ghost just then, I could have said, like Job, that I came naked into the world, and naked I should go out. I was compelled, painful as it was, after all my toil and anxiety, to avoid such a result, to take the benefit of the act. I therefore filed my bond, advertised in the newspapers for three months, and prepared to set sail for the Lackawaxen Canal, in Pennsylvania, where I should be earning some money, and at the same time be as far removed as possible from the taunts and sneers and curses of a certain class of public-spirited gentlemen, who are generally seen sitting in tavern-porches, and who drink rum, smoke cigars, and swear lustily, and to show their philanthropy and abhorrence of dishonesty, are usually engaged in descanting upon the demerits, and making slanderous observations of their industrious neighbours; and if one of these has been so unfortunate as to fail in business, no matter how upright and honest may have been the whole tenor of his course, these tavern-haunting gossips will be heard loudly lamenting how much they have suffered by such failure, and pleading the same in excuse for the non-payment of their tailor, board, and tavern bills. It has ever been one of the greatest mysteries to me, how so many of the above-mentioned characters pass so easily through life, generally well dressed and fat, while they scarcely make an effort above that of whittling a shingle, or picking their teeth, that have fed on other people's earnings; and at the same time the industrious and deserving, by incessant toil and frugality, can scarcely get a comfortable living. But then I am satisfied that the wellclad loafer is more justly an object of pity than of envy; the beggar in rags is a gentleman compared with the beggar in fine cloth, for the latter combines in himself the knave with the mendicant-a most unworthy compound--a composition, however, usually met with in your bar-room brawlers and village gossips. But in my case was fulfilled the old adage"Fools build houses, and wise men live in them;" for of all my acquaintance, I know of no individual who could go through the United States and show more houses of his own construction, and shops, steam-mills and water-mills, besides rail-roads, canals, lumbering, &c., than myself; and now, after all, at the meridian of life, I have not so much as a shingle to whittle, of which I can claim the fee simple. But in all these circumstances, I have realized that "Hope swells eternal in the human breast; At the time of which I was speaking, a fine speculation was presented at the South to engage myself on the public works; but the ways and means for transporting myself to the new land of promise were to be devised; and to effect this, I was reduced to the mortifying necessity of disposing of all that remained to me of the wreck of my fortune-how greatly to the humbling of my military pride! My martial equipments I sold to Edward Davis, Esq., one of my lieutenants. This recalls to my mind another one of my feats of folly. I had just returned from sitting as one of the board of Court Martial of the regiment, as my masons laid the last cap-stone of the brick house, and it was agreed by them that I should stand erect on the top battlement in full uniform, and take a bottle of liquor in hand, drink a toast, give three cheers, and throw the bottle, which was very readily complied with. While I thus stood, plumed like a peacock, had any one told me that in a few days I should be obliged to sell the very clothes that were then upon my back, and the epaulets that graced my shoulders, to bear my expenses in travelling out of sight of the very building I had toiled so hard to erect, and which I was then honouring with a toast, I can hardly say whether it would have "raised my dander," or moved me to laughter at his presumption! But, ah me! how little do we know what a day may bring forth! Military pride, manly ambition, even the glory itself of this world, all, all are the sport and playthings of fortune. All things being packed up for my departure, I bade adieu to all my friends and buildings, and very soon found myself engaged in superintending labourers on the Lackawaxen, at thirty dollars a month and board, for Littlejohn & Bellinger. It was in a wilderness country. Here I continued till the time arrived for my return to Frankfort, to attend to my insolvency matters. But here fate had prepared another sore disappointment and grievous misfortune for me, just before I was ready to return to Frankfort. I was suddenly seized with an acute inflammation of the eyes, by which, with the maltreatment of a quack doctor, I entirely lost my right eye within two days from the time I was first taken, and I have never seen out of it from that day to this: the coatings of the eye broke, and the humours ran out. I came back, however, enduring severe pain, arranged my business, and recovered my health a little. I hastened to the South again, and in less than two months had under contract more than twenty thousand dollars worth of work on the Juniata Canal, in the southern part of Pennsylvania, with little else than my face to recommend me at that time. I had three locks to build; my credit was about as good as any other man's for all I had need of, and I was soon under full headway, with bright prospects of clearing about three thousand dollars; and what made it more cheering, I was hoping to be able to pay all my honest debts in this country. By untiring application I built one lock, the first on the line, and never did I perform a piece of work more faithfully and honestly than I did that lock. But, says the reader, I hope bad luck did not attend you here, too? But I am sorry to tell you, that when hope was the highest, and my prospects the brightest, fate here again crossed my path. I took the contract under De Witt Clinton, jr., son of Governor Clinton, who was chief engineer, and a particular friend of mine. The lock was partly built up under his supervision; but the canal commissioners and he disagreed, and he left the line. There was replaced in his stead a little, contemptible, petty tyrant, who had once or twice rubbed his back against the rocks at West Point. Soon there commenced a civil, or rather an uncivil war between the contractors and canal commissioners. The only weapon used, however, both offensive and defensive, was the tongue, that unruly member, which is full of poison. About one-half of the contractors were New-York men; and there were envy and jealousy awakened in the breasts of the Pennsylvanians against Clinton and his principal assistant, Wm. H. Morell, who was also a New-Yorker, or Yankee, as we were called, charging them with being partial to their own countrymen, both in bestowing work and in granting indulgences; and this was one of the reasons that Clinton and Morell left the canal. As is common in such cases, each party took up for their friends, and here is the only charge I bring against myself in the whole transaction, which was the cause of the sad disaster which followed; and that is, that I took so conspicuous a part in behalf and support of Clinton and Morell against the canal |