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CREATING WANTS.
_An old, but a true Story._
I was bred a linen-draper, and went into business with better than
a thousand pounds. I married the daughter of a country tradesman, who
had received a boarding-school education. When I married I had been in
business five years, and was in the way of soon accumulating a fortune.
I was never out of my shop before it was shut up, and was remarked by my
friends as being a steady young man, with a turn for business.
I used to dine in the parlour, where I could have an eye upon the shop;
but my new acquaintances told me this was _extremely ungenteel_; that if I
had no confidence in my men I should get others; that a thief would be a
thief, watch him how I would, and that I was now too forward in the world
to be a slave to the shop.
From being constantly in my shop from seven in the morning till eight in
the evening, I lay in bed till nine, and took a comfortable breakfast
before I made my appearance below. Things, however, went on very well--I
bowed to my best customers, and attended closely to my business while I
was in it, trade went on briskly, and the only effect of this acquaintance
was the necessity of letting our friends see that we were getting above
the world, by selling some of our old-fashioned furniture, and replacing
it with that which was more _genteel_, and introducing wine at dinner when
we had company.
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