It was the
day when Glasgow was rising from a cluster of streets round the High
Kirk and College to be the chief merchants' resort in Scotland.
Standing near the Western Seas, she turned her eyes naturally to the
Americas, and a great trade was beginning in tobacco and raw silk from
Virginia, rich woods and dye stuffs from the Main, and rice and fruits
from the Summer Islands. The river was too shallow for ships of heavy
burthen, so it was the custom to unload in the neighbourhood of
Greenock and bring the goods upstream in barges to the quay at the
Broomielaw. There my uncle, in company with other merchants, had his
warehouse, but his counting-house was up in the town, near by the
College, and I spent my time equally between the two places. I became
furiously interested in the work, for it has ever been my happy fortune
to be intent on whatever I might be doing at the moment. I think I
served my uncle well, for I had much of the merchant's aptitude, and
the eye to discern far-away profits. He liked my boldness, for I was
impatient of the rule-of-thumb ways of some of our fellow-traders. "We
are dealing with new lands," I would say, "and there is need of new
plans. It pays to think in trading as much as in statecraft," There
were plenty that looked askance at us, and cursed us as troublers of
the peace, and there were some who prophesied speedy ruin.
Pages:
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60