eaching, lecturing,
writing, and travelling, and Mr. Townsend can do the book-selling better
than you. He is a business man; he understands book-keeping; and he will
conduct the business in an orderly and efficient manner." It had always
been a principle with me never to go into debt, and I said to Mr.
Blackwell, who was then my printer, "If you will give me a guarantee
that no debt shall be incurred,--that you will never print anything till
Mr. Townsend has paid you for all work previously printed, I will agree
to your proposal." He gave me his word that he would do exactly as I
requested. Mr. Townsend was accordingly made wholesale agent for my new
periodical, and for all my other publications, and all my stock of books
was placed in his hands. For fifteen or eighteen months I gave myself no
concern about matters of business, trusting to Mr. Blackwell to keep
things right, according to his pledge.

Mr. Townsend had another business besides my book concern, the china and
earthenware business, and about eighteen months after my business was
placed in his hands, he went into Scotland to dispose of a quantity of
his surplus stock. He had only been gone a few days before word came
that he was dead. It then came out that Mr. Blackwell had allowed him to
run up a debt of nearly seven hundred pounds for printing. It also came
out that Mr. Townsend was insolvent. He had been in difficulties for
years, and he had used the money he had received for my books to prevent
his creditors from making him a bankrupt. His journey to Scotland was
his last shift, and failing in that, he had taken opiates, it was said,
to such an extent, as to cause death. The dreadful revelations that were
laid before me shocked and troubled me beyond measure, and I knew not
what to do. Mr. Blackwell, through whose neglect or unfaithfulness the
debt had been incurred, exhorted me not to be alarmed, assuring me that
he should never trouble me for the money. So I set to work to gather up
the fragments of my property, and re-organize the business. I got in
what money I could from the agents, and gave it, along with all I could
earn, to Mr. Blackwell, to reduce the debt, though it was not in
reality a debt of mine. I gave him also a sum belonging to my wife,
which she had just received as a legacy. I gave him all that came into
my hands, except a trifle that I spent in procuring food for my family;
and in eight months I had reduced the debt to two hundred and t