have the courts suspended, or some way devised by which the compulsory fulfilment of their engagements be deferred beyond that period so tedious to creditors, known as the Law's Delay. They sought by legislative action-or Relief Laws-to virtually suspend for a season, the collection of debts. An inflammatory and ad captandum speech had been made. The meeting. which was composed chiefly of debtors, seemed quite excited, and many were rendered almost desperate by the recital of designing men, of their sufferings and pecuniary danger. During the excitement the mayor was called for. stepped forward and exhorted his fellow citizen not to commit the folly of proclaiming their own dishonor. He besought those who were embarrassed to bear up against adverse circumstances with the courage of men, remembering that no misfortune was so great as one's own personal dishonor. That it were better for them to conceal their misfortunes than to proclaim them; reminding them that many a fortress had saved itself by the courage of its immates and their

He

determination to conceal its weakened condition, when if its real state had been made known, its destruction would have been inevitable and immediate. Above all things' said he, 'do not tarnish the honor of our infant city.'

"To the credit of Chicago, be it said that this first attempt at Repudiation Relief met, from a majority of that meeting and from our citizens, a rebuff no less pointed than deserved, and those who attempted it received merited contempt."

The spirit shown by Mayor Ogden and his cohort, which defended the credit of youthful Chicago, did much not only to inspire confidence but to convince the community that hard work and untiring industry would place it upon firm grourd again. Although the fall in values temporarily ruined many such good citizens. as Mr. Caton, who bravely fought the battle, others, such as Messrs. Ogden and Raymond, came out of the fray with their colors in shreds, but still flying.

H. G. CUTLER.

THERE was a great infusion of new blood into the little city of Chicago, in 1836. The knowledge of its existance had by that time reached the Eastern States, and the impression that it was destined to be a place of some consequence, had become prevalent among intelligent people who understood something of the resources of the great western portion of the territory of the United States, to the young men of New York, Pennsylvania, and the New England States.

Ever on the alert to better their conditions and multiply their chances of success in life, the outlook was particularly attractive, and it was this. class of enterprising young men, represented in various professions, trades and commercial pursuits, which contributed most largely to the addition made to Chicago's population in that year.

Among all those who came to Chicago, to begin life here in the first year of its corporate existence, none came more admirably equipped for a successful career than Stiles Burton, who began at that date the business of merchandising, and for many years thereafter was conspicuously identified with the trade and commerce of the city.

Mr. Burton was born in the town of Trumbull, Conn., April 6, 1808, and was the son of Eli Burton, a New England farmer. He remained on the farm on which he was bornwhich had been the home of one or two generations of his ancestors—until he was fifteen years of age, by which time he had acquired a good English education, and become thoroughly conversant with pretty

much all kinds of farm labor. He evinced a fondness for commercial rather than agricultural pursuits, however, and in his sixteenth year, entered the employ of a French wine merchant as a clerk, going with him to Charleston, S. C. He remained there two years, and embraced the opportunity which this association afforded him to gain a knowledge of the French language, at the same time that he was acquiring his business education.

The two years which he spent at Charleston ended his experience as an employe, and thereafter he was engaged in business on his own account. In 1835 he returned to Connecticut, and notwithstanding the fact that he still lacked three years of having attained his majority, he began business for himself in the town

of Bridgeport. His father had died when he was eight years of age, leaving what was considered among the Connecticut farmers a moderate fortune, to his family. His mother, who continued to reside at the old homestead in Trumbull-in a quaint old house which is still in existance'aided him in his earliest business venture, which he managed with gratifying success.

While the business which he carried on at that time was of modest proportions, it was so conducted that each year added something to his resources and enabled him to extend

his operations. In other words, it may be said he began life for himself thorougly imbued at the same time, with New England enterprise, and New England conservatism. Ambitious to build up a fortune, he was at the same time cautious about jeopardizing that which he had already had, and trusted as little as possible to the element of chance.

In 1834 he disposed of his business. in Bridgeport and removed to Montreal, Canada, where he was engaged in merchandising during the two years immediately preceding his coming to Chicago. The principal advantage he derived from this change of location, was that of being thrown among people who spoke the French language. Although his school days. had been cut short by his early application to business pursuits, he had a natural fondness for reading and study, and had neglected no opportu

nity for self-culture. His two years' residence in Montreal rounded out his knowledge of the French to such an extent that he became able both to read and speak the language fluently, and in later years he spent much of his leisure time reading the French authors in the original text.

The transfer of his business from Montreal to Chicago, was made by Mr. Burton, in the spring of 1836. He arrived in the city in May of that year, leased one of the frame business blocks on Lake street, and engaged in the wholesale grocery trade, becoming one of the pioneers in that branch of business. For the next five years he applied himself sedulously to the work of building up a large commercial establishment, and in this he was eminently successful, notwithstanding the fact that he had to pass through a period memorable for the general business depression which existed in the west. His excellent credit, strict integrity, and conservative business methods, carried him safely through this critical period, and the year 1841, found him in possession of a comfortable fortune, built up on the few hundred dollars with which he had engaged in trade at Bridgeport.

His health having become impaired, he retired temporarly from business in 1841, and went to Europe, where he traveled extensively for the next two years. Returning at the end of that time, with health much improved, he purchased a stock of goods in New