THE MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. OCTOBER, 1863. MERCANTILE BIOGRAPHY. JOHN GRIGG, OF PHILADELPHIA. [WITH A PORTRAIT.] We have never heard any good reason why we should wait until men are dead before we speak their praises. Yet it too often happens, that we have those living among us, whom we meet in the street, and do business with every day, whose lives have been one long lesson of active goodness, industry and force of character, but of their merits the world knows little, until death removes the seal of secresy which propriety is supposed to place upon their lives. No man, indeed, can lead such a life without becoming widely known, and securing the love and admiration of associates. Still, society at large remains unaware of the treasure it possesses until it is gone from it forever. The tribute then thrown on the grave has lost half its fragrance. What more appropriate reward to a life well spent, than fit words of praise, spoken in the ear of living ex cellence? It is with the view of doing what we may to correct this wrong custom, and, at the same time, of furnishing instructive lessons from the experience of truly successful and eminent merchants, that we propose to continue the series of Mercantile Biography given in the pages of the Merchants' Magazine in years past. This month we add the portrait, with pen and pencil, of a merchant whose long life of business activity, and ability, varied experience and uprightness, entitle him to a high place among these bright examples. We shall be fortunate if we succeed in giving a few of the leading traits of this truly original character as well as the artist has portrayed the clear eye, and the marked features through which it speaks from the engraving. Adapting Bolingbroke's definition, we may call Biography (which is individual history) the practical philosophy of life, taught by examples THE MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. OCTOBER, 1863. MERCANTILE BIOGRAPHY. JOHN GRIGG, OF PHILADELPHIA. [WITH A PORTRAIT.] We have never heard any good reason why we should wait until men are dead before we speak their praises. Yet it too often happens, that we have those living among us, whom we meet in the street, and do business with every day, whose lives have been one long lesson of active goodness, industry and force of character, but of their merits the world knows little, until death removes the seal of secresy which propriety is supposed to place upon their lives. No man, indeed, can lead such a life without becoming widely known, and securing the love and admiration of associates. Still, society at large remains unaware of the treasure it possesses until it is gone from it forever. The tribute then thrown on the grave has lost half its fragrance. What more appropriate reward to a life well spent, than fit words of praise, spoken in the ear of living ex cellence ? It is with the view of doing what we may to correct this wrong custom, and, at the same time, of furnishing instructive lessons from the experience of truly successful and eminent merchants, that we propose to continue the series of Mercantile Biography given in the pages of the Merchants' Magazine in years past. This month we add the portrait, with pen and pencil, of a merchant whose long life of business activity, and ability, varied experience and uprightness, entitle him to a high place among these bright examples. We shall be fortunate if we succeed in giving a few of the leading traits of this truly original character as well as the artist has portrayed the clear eye, and the marked features through which it speaks from the engraving. Adapting Bolingbroke's definition, we may call Biography (which is individual history) the practical philosophy of life, taught by examples. To the young, nothing is so striking as fact. Rules and principles they learn, if at all, when embodied in example, which realizes them. Tell them that industry and energy are necessary to success in life, and they will believe you, as they will when told there is such a country as China. But hold up the life of such a man as Franklin, Girard or Astor, point to the living examples of successful enterprise-to MOSES TAYLOR, to THOMAS TILESTON, to PELATIAH PERIT-and they "believe because they see." Such lives teach a great lesson, not because these men are rich men-rich men they are--but they are something more. "Get money, honestly if you but get money," is a degrading precept, as foolish as it is wicked, for it inculcates a spirit which must defeat the very aim it proposes. That integrity is valuable for its own sake, and that wealth is its natural result, when combined with other qualities, is the lesson the lives of such men as we have named impressively teach. can, JOHN GRIGG, the well-known, although now retired, Bookseller of Philadelphia, began life an orphan farmer boy. A restless spirit drove him to the water, and he early exchanged the monotonous life of the farmer for the excitements of that of a sailor. The activity of the young and enterprising not unfrequently takes this direction. Amid the perils of the Bay of Biscay, and the tempests of the West Indies, he had ample opportunities, by which he did not fail to profit, to become thoroughly versed in the whole art of seamanship; a calling, than which, there is not one, perhaps, better calculated to bring out the qualities of prompt decision and self-reliance. We do not know how long his experience in reefing and steering lasted. In fact, our knowledge of the minute details of his life is not so full as we could wish. Some thirteen months of his early life were passed at Richmond, Virginia. The quickness and original force of his character, the zeal with which he pursued his studies, and resumed them when broken off, and his devotion to mathematics, in particular, for which, at this early age, he manifested that taste and capacity which often accompany the talent for practical life and affairs, attracted the notice of relatives with whom he lived, and led them to anticipate a bright future for the young student. The lady of the house, herself very fond of mathematics, assisted him: in his studies. But he was poor, he had his own way to make in the world, and soon leaving Richmond, went to Ohio, eager for the fray of life. There we find him engaged in the duties of Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas and Chancery of Warren County, Ohio, with the sole charge of this responsible office. These duties he performed to the satisfaction of all, and won for himself the esteem and friendship of such men as Mr. Justice McLean, who had not then left the courts of Ohio for the place which he adorned on the Bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, and of the Hon. Thomas Corwin and others. During the whole of Mr. GRIGG's life in Ohio, Mr. Corwin and he were intimate friends and "bosom cronies," such friends as young men become who know each other perfectly, and are in some respects alike in tastes and habits. "I can say of him," (our quotations are from a letter from Mr. Corwin,) "with entire confidence in the opinion, that he was from his boyhood up, through every change of place, occupation and fortune, an earnest, frank, sincere, honest man. After entering the Clerk's office, he very soon made himself master of every detail, and became in fact clerk of the court. I know he often wrote from fifteen to eighteen hours, every twenty-four, for weeks together." Symptoms of disease were the consequence of such habits of industry and intense application, and made change of occupation necessary. But those habits had won for him a name and character which soon enabled him to enter on a different and less harrassing pursuit. The late JOEL SCOTT, Esq., was at this time proprietor of a manufactory of woolen cloths, in Scott County, on the Elkhorn Creek, in Kentucky, a region remarkable for the beauty of its scenery, the excellence of its water power, and the fertility of its soil; the remoteness of the Atlantic cities, and the war prevailing at that time with England, operated as the most effectual of protections, and the woolen manufacture was a highly lucrative business in Kentucky; new proprietors commenced the manufacture of all descriptions of woolen cloths, on a large scale, and with much energy and apparent skill. It was early in 1815 that Mr. GRIGG became superintendent of Mr. Scorr's establishment, at Georgetown. His new situation tasked the best energies of his mind and character. He was at times placed in the most trying circumstances, and on one occasion left suddenly with the sole charge of the whole establishment upon him. But the same quickness and assiduity which made him an efficient clerk of court, made him the best of superintendents, also. The greater experience of the Old Country might be challenged to produce a wool manufacturer who knew better how to assort a fleece into five or six different qualities, or had a quicker and more practiced eye to see when a thing was well done, from the washing of the wool to the finishing of the cloth. Subsequently to this, Mr. Scorr lived in opulent retirement near Frankfort, but died some time since. He and his excellent sons belonged to that noble order of Kentucky farmers, whose fine farms and rare breeds of cattle were the pride and wealth of the State, and whose hearts and sympathies were as broad and open as their fertile acres. Although, as we believe, Mr. GRIGG never visited Georgetown after his business connection there ceased, and the two friends seldom if ever met, yet the friendship and regard which his services and character secured for him from Mr. Scorr lasted, unabated, through his life. In a letter which we received from Mr. Scorт in 1851, and to which we are indebted for some of these details, he speaks of his old friend with youthful warmth, of "his uncommon industry, activity and efficiency in business," of "his exalted and honorable feelings and principles." Mr. GRIGG "won the entire confidence and most cordial attachment," says Mr. SCOTT, "not only of myself and family, but also of all with whom he had been associated in business. This attachment was fully reciprocated by his own warm and generous heart, and was evinced not only by the manifestation of feeling, but also by the bestowal of some memorial to the various members of the family, when he took leave of us." And "still the warmth of his noble heart is unabated. Not a single year has been allowed to pass without the receipt of some substantial and cherished memorial of his abiding friendship, not only to myself, but to my children and grandchildren, all of whom he seems to embrace in the wide scope of his generous affections, although he has never seen but a single individual of them." The year 1816 brought with it still another change of residence and occupation. Mr. Scorr parted from his assistant with reluctance, but his restless activity was ambitious for a wider field and higher range. We must stop here, however, to say a word in reference to these several changes of business by Mr. GRIGG, lest our younger readers may be led, on |