THE DIRECTORS STUCK FAST.
The directors of the Morrison rubbed their hands with glee, and treated Mr. Friendly with the greatest respect, when they found that they had got rid of all their stock, not only without loss, but at an enormous profit. But then came the affairs of the company, which were not a whit better now, than when the stock was depressed. In fact, they were every day growing worse—for the interest on their enormous loans, was now becoming due, and they had nothing to pay it with.
At a meeting of the board of directors, about the time we are speaking of, for purposes of business, they all sat in silence, for some minutes, looking at each other—each one wishing that his neighbor might propose some remedy—and their hearts sank within them, as each one successively uttered a desponding sigh at the poverty of his invention, or—what was still worse to get over—the poverty of their finances. At length, Mr. Faintheart proposed that they should all resign, and let the affairs of the company take care of themselves. This course—although so successfully practised some time afterwards by their successors in office—did not suit the taste of Mr. Hold-on; who said that “the public mind was not now prepared for such a movement. A few years more, and the people will be more enlightened, and will not expect directors to retain their seats when they have nothing to gain by doing so. But, if we desert them now, the thing will be looked into; we shall be accused of all the roguery that others before us have done—we shall be hunted like rats. My motto, therefore, is, ‘don’t give up the ship;’ and, as none of you propose a remedy, I suggest that, as Nicholas now holds a large amount of the stock, perhaps he will loan us a couple of hundred thousands, especially, if he is made to believe that it is wanted to finish our works of improvement, and that when they are finished it will improve the value of his stock fifty per cent.”
A WISE SUGGESTION—ITS RESULT.
The proposal was hailed with delight, and Mr. Hold-on was deputed to manage the negotiation, which he did with the same success, in the same manner, and on the same conditions, as did Mr. Spriggins.
This cunning device of Nicholas, always to be the borrower, when he appeared to lend, is altogether a modern invention, and was very successfully practised, a few years since, in an attempt to relieve the merchants of New-York, and which, some have wickedly said, was used to enable certain gentlemen to collect their private debts, and finally went to relieve Nicholas of his money, by throwing the same debts upon him. Be that as it may, it is universally admitted that Nicholas was the first inventor of a bank, whose business was to borrow, instead of lending, money.
OLD NICK’S SHREWDNESS.
By these master strokes of policy, Nicholas came into possession of a claim of two hundred thousand dollars against the Morrison, and held an equal amount of their stock, both which in six months afterwards he found to be not worth a farthing. To these circumstances it was owing, that, through his influence, the Morrison Kennel was afterwards revived with great splendor, and scenes were enacted, which, though they have caused many a tear of grief to flow, will, I hope, not fail to excite your laughter by their relation.
My venerable friend here excused himself on account of fatigue, but with the assurance that, at our next meeting, he would introduce me to some new and original characters, and also tell me about the negotiation of a great state loan—how the directors of the Morrison helped to nurse the great “bull dog” of Pennsylvania in his sickness, and how they all ran away, when they found he was likely to die, together with some account of his disease, and his last moments.
HOW THE OPERATORS CAME OUT.