under which I had been brought, and earnestly soliciting those who
owed the paper, to settle their accounts immediately. To the few who
had paid the fraction of a year in advance, I stated how much I had
lost, and appealed to their magnanimity for a remission of the
obligation I remained under to furnish the paper for the time yet
due to them. It was but the matter of a few cents, or a dollar at
most to them, I said, but it was hundreds of dollars to me.

Well, and what was the sequel to all this? Why, to sum up what
remains to be told, in a few words; only two hundred dollars out of
the sixteen hundred were collected, and from those who had paid
small trifles in advance, I received dozens of letters, couched in
the most offensive terms. Some charged me with being a swindler, and
said, if I didn't immediately send the money overpaid, or some other
paper in the place of mine, they would publish me to the world.
Others said they would be in the city at a certain time and require
me to refund; while many, residing on the spot, took out their
money's worth, by telling me to my face what they thought of my
conduct. One man issued a warrant against me for thirty-five cents,
the sum overpaid by him.

So much for my experience in starting a newspaper. A year and a half
before, I had a clerkship which brought me in seven hundred dollars
a year; was easy in mind, respected by all my friends, looked upon
as an honest man by every one who knew me, and out of debt. I
started a newspaper in a moment of blind infatuation, and now I owed
above three thousand dollars, my good name was gone, and I was
dispirited, out of employment, afraid to walk the street lest I
should encounter some one I owed, and as wretched as a man could
well be. I soon after left the city, and sought employment hundreds