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sale of my furniture by auction at a date not far off, and the intimation that I must at once remove my wife and family from the premises. I had no alternative but to obtain furnished lodgings and place my family there, and was only allowed to remove the wearing apparel and a few articles of linen which passed the notice of the man in possession. Whether my failure to purchase the property had annoyed my creditors, or whatever else might have been the cause, I know not; but certain it was that from that day I experienced a marked change in the treatment I received, both from official and trade assignees. Whilst I had been fruitlessly striving to procure friends, as before stated, the time had drawn nigh for filing my accounts, and I then received information that I should be called upon to give other and further disclosures than were contained in the usual court forms. The accountants must have known that I was no book-keeper, and therefore I think it was very hard to be required to furnish statements I could not myself prepare. Having received no allowance since my bankruptcy, I asked them to pay a professional man to prepare the further accounts, when they declared they had no funds. I told them they were about to sell the stock and furniture, but they replied that the dividend would be small enough as it was without being diminished in that way. When the day for my examination arrived, they persuaded the court that there was need of these accounts to explain, as they said, my deficiency, and the commissioner ordered that they should be filed. As he was going out of town for his holidays, he fixed a day when he should have returned, as, he said, that he might hear the case himself. Three months' delay was thus incurred before I could have come up for my discharge, even if I could have satisfied my creditors' requirements; and during all this time I might have starved with my family for what the court or my creditors would have cared. Fortunately I could do the mechanical part of my trade, and to support them I took a situation as journeyman, and thus kept ourselves in bread and cheese. I also retained some of the favours of my old customers, and when I could not execute their orders I obtained the commission on my introducing them to other houses. I went on thus, and at my leisure time endeavoured to supply the assignees with the information they wanted, although a great deal of their inquiry related to matters which could have no bearing on by bankruptcy, and would procure no advantage to the estate. Under all these difficulties I still hoped that when the commissioner returned to town I should get through my bankruptcy, but when I again came up I was met with forms and ceremonies which the court declared I had not complied with, and was angrily told by the commissioner that if I did not do things which I could not do he would never pass me; and by the advice of my solicitor I at last put myself into the hands of the accountant who was originally engaged in the matter of my composition-deed. Through the perseverance of my solicitor the assignees were ordered to put down their questions in writing, and to confine their requisitions to matters which had occurred within the last six months, and I thus had only to answer for things which the creditors were now acquainted with. Accordingly, when I again appeared, the official assignee said he was perfectly satisfied with my accounts, and I passed my last examination. Still I was met with further and useless delay, and the court appointed another day to con

sider the order of discharge. Why this was done I cannot understand, except it was for the reason of making more costs on the side both of myself and my creditors, but so it was. When that period arrived, no opposition was offered, but the court found fault with me because I had kept no books, and I was punished for not having been taught to be an accountant. Thus misfortune followed me still, and I was prevented from again starting in business for myself for six months longer.

Thus, reader, you have the real version of my bankruptcy, as I feel it to be, and I think still I am more to be pitied than blamed. I will not, however, say good-bye until I have laid before you two or three little matters I learned while in the court:

First. That the taking away from the debtor everything that he possesses at the time of the bankruptcy only punishes the honest man, and tends to make him a knave, who is unfortunately brought under this section of the Act 24 and 25 Victoria, cap. 134.

Secondly. That the compelling a bankrupt to file such accounts as require the assistance of a skilled professional man materially assists in the concealment of assets, by giving a subsequent necessity for means which are beyond the power of an honest bankrupt.

Thirdly. That the best way to become a bankrupt is to dispose of all your property first, and become a lodger, as in this case you get rid of the supervision of the messenger's man, and will not have to board him to prevent his making yourself and your family uncomfortable.

Fourthly.The best policy is to retain the services of a skilled accountant, and have your books made up and your papers put into proper order, whilst you can pay him out of the estate in your own possession. If I had been wise enough to have acted in this manner I should have saved myself many an hour of worry and trouble occasioned by continued adjournments. As it resulted, I was compelled to pay him when I was quite denuded of means, or I should never have been enabled to comply with the technicalities required by the court.

Fifthly. That it is better to have no estate than to bring a small one into the court. In the former instance creditors are usually content to suffer the first loss than to add to it by wasting their time and monies in proving their debts, and lawyers are not tempted to prolong the bankruptcy when they see no probability of their costs being paid; in the latter case a violent opposition to the bankrupt may be expected, for, though there may be no dividend, you will have provided funds for court expenses and for fees to lawyers and counsel.

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Sixthly. That the man who wishes to make the best of the Bankruptcy Court should stop payment when he has a good estate, as then the creditors may more readily be persuaded to make him some allowIf they refuse to do so at their first meeting he may starve, for any power that the court has to interfere. With a little arrangement be may make sufficient friends of old creditors, who will see the kindness of their debtor in providing an ample dividend out of goods procured from those of a more recent date.

Seventhly. When there are ample assets the body of creditors are always more ready to take the subsequent proceedings out of court, and thus the bankrupt will escape the supervision of the commissioner and official assignee.

Eighthly. Never exhaust the resources of your personal friends and

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relations by endeavouring to stem the torrent which is urging you downwards. Float quietly into the stream, and reserve your energies and their powers of assistance against the day when you can have another fresh start. Take care that all securities given for past obligations be liquidated before assignees or creditors can offer any opposition to their being realised; and

Lastly. If you retain the services of a professional man, be candid in reply to any questions he may think it right to put to you. I have learned by experience that lawyers and accountants do not seek for information without some urgent reason. A partial confidence is often the very means of destroying your case. If there be anything to conceal, be frank with him and tell him so. You need not enter into details, but give them the intimation, and they will then know how to defend you. Of course they cannot be responsible for the consequences, but they will not draw attention to the difficulty by either pointing it out or an apparent intention to put opposing counsel on a false scent.

I have thus far applied myself to experiences in connexion with the difficulties I experienced in passing through the court, and I hope that the reader may never be brought into contact with similar ones. There are, however, certain other matters on which I would say a few words, and then I will take my leave of you. Amongst some of the advantages in the change of the Bankruptcy Acts, I think one of the greatest to be the non-distinction of certificates. Now, a man once bankrupt can claim equality with every one whom misfortune or otherwise may introduce to the notice of the commissioner. There are no invidious classifi cations of first, second, and third; and the simple onus now thrown on to the court is to determine whether the discharge shall issue or be delayed. Very wisely, fraud is not to be deduced, but established before the refusal of the discharge will be valid; and the court, inclining to mercy, is seldom called upon to act with this last severity. A commissioner under the late law might sometimes make a mistake and give a first-class certificate to an undeserving object, but this very desire to obtain the same was by many considered a proof of its value. I believe that every desired end is attained when the discharge is granted, and a great deal of useless anxiety has been obviated in making all debtors alike deserving of the same results. The simple question is whether a defaulting debtor is or is not a criminal? If he be (as a learned commissioner has taken upon himself frequently to assert) then he has no reason to complain when he is released from his penalty how the satisfaction of that judgment has been set forth. It is enough to know that he is once more a free man, and the publication of his discharge in the " Gazette" is a sufficient declaration that he is absolved from all pains and penalties connected with his former trading. So at least I feel in my own case, and I have no hesitation in starting agaiu under the conviction that in time I shall be again able to hold up my head on the basis of a new established credit. My only regret is that I was not wise enough to have secured the relatives and personal friends who might now have been enabled to assist me in my struggle for a fresh footing; but even this, I think, may be urged as a proof of my honesty in days gone by. I can state I never meant to make fowl of one and fish of another, but always intended to pay every one, if misfortune and false confidence in the faith of others had not proved my ruin.

THE PIGSKINS IN FOREIGN LANDS.

CHAP. II.

THE PIGSKINS IN FOREIGN LANDS,

Wherein Pigskin, Mrs. Pigskin, and Young Piggy cross the unpleasant waters of the "Manche," as our Gallic neighbours term the Channel, to visit the Continent.

More than thirty years have elapsed since the close of our last chapter, when Piggy and his friend Mac mounted the banquette of a diligence, on their return to the land of cakes and ale.

Time, however, which changes all things, has had its effects on our sporting friend, alike in person as in position. Piggy the Elder has long since been laid in the family-vault, side by side with his ancestors; while Piggy the Younger has become the Laird of Heatherland Hall, married the wife of his heart's early love, and glories in an only son, now ten years of age, called by his acquaintance "Piggy the Youngest," by his intimates" The Roaster."

Permit me, ere I proceed, to introduce this amiable trio to my readers.

Courtesy ought, possibly, first to give precedence to the portrait of Mrs. Piggy; but, Piggy being the Laird and head of the Clan Piggies, it is as well to place him first on the canvas-that is, the paper, When first, years lang syne, we became acquainted, during his early travels under the supposed control of the B.A.-his aged but stillliving friend and, at times, would-be counsellor-he was a slim, wiry youth, healthy and active, an ardent lover of field-sports, rather over than under the common height, with a bright, cheerful face, and agreeable manner, a kind heart, liberal disposition, though somewhat hasty in manner yet quick to forgive. Time, I rejoice to say, has had little effect on his disposition, though it has somewhat altered his form, the slightness of youth being converted into the strength of middle age, though not its robustness, and a heavy moustache according to the custom of the day, giving him a military appearance, to which he in no manner presumes, not even as a volunteer; though I question if he would not do good service with a stout horse under him if called into action, for he can ride to hounds with any man far better than most men. And men who can and do ride well to hounds are rarely laggards in the field of strife, as witness Balaclava, wherein almost every officer who so gallantly charged home on that glorious but untoward day was a sportsman.

On the evening in one of the earliest days of June we find our friend Piggy sitting in an arm-chair, newspaper in hand, at an auriel window in his so-called snuggery, which commands a lovely lowland scene of lake, woodlands, and heather lands. In the immediate front

of the window runs a well-kept grassy terrace, here and there dotted over with flower-beds in full rich summer bloom, while beyond an extensive lawn, or a portion of park land, interspersed with groups of fine oaks, slopes gradually down to a small but placid lake.

Piggy has dined, as Lowland lairds do I fancy dine, with their family circles at reasonable hours in the country; moreover, Piggy has smoked his accustomed and well-beloved pipe, though the glorious sun has as yet scarce touched the distant western mountain crest, and is evidently reading the newly-arrived paper with great satisfaction, while an open letter lies at his feet. The intelligence it conveyed was simply this- Blue Gown has won the Derby," a fact which the paper confirmed in detail. Now, I may as well at once declare, that Piggy is neither what may be termed a bettor, or does he make a book; if he did so, I should be sorry to stand in with him: but, after his beloved wife and boy, he dearly loves the horse-thus he always has a tenner on Derby, Cesarewitch, and Leger, as did the illustrious Piggy, his sire, before him; moreover, he is generally successful. On this occasion he had backed the winner early in the year, always declaring he was the best horse in England-and whether he is or not Piggy still maintains he is, as do many others and so he won his money, as he did in Lord Lyon's year for the three events-on which occasion Piggy the youngest, or the Roaster, was for the first time mounted on a Highland pony, from whose back it is now difficult to unseat him.

Thus the pleasant smile that rested on his open countenance, and the brightness of his eye, as Mrs. Piggy and her boy entered his snuggery, where they were welcomed at all times and all seasons.

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Dad," said the lad, "put up that stupid paper, and come down to the lake, the fish are rising in scores, and we have still two hours of daylight."

"Wait a wee bit, laddie," replied his Dad, caressing him, "and do you come here, Tatty, darling"-for people do call their wives darling at times, whether they love them or not; but in Piggy's case it was all sincere, for although he had known her from childhood, and been married for twelve long years, they were still as loving as two turtle doves.

As she puts her arm round her husband's neck, a very natural process, and claims to know the bright news the paper contains, permit me to sketch her form, at least fourteen years younger than our hero. Mrs. Piggy still retains all the elasticity of youth, and, in my opinion, as a friend of the family-though possibly as years elapse we judge beauty alike of face and form somewhat differently-looks even more pleasing in her womanhood than did she in her girlhood, when Piggy was wont to find everlasting excuses to cross the Border on some sporting excursion or what not, to visit a small but ancient ancestral abode in Berwickshire, which contained the lady of his love. Henrietta Buckland, since converted into Henrietta Pigskin, to the entire satisfaction of herself and Piggy as to the whole neighbourhood, where both were greatly esteemed. This happy union produced Piggy the youngest, or the familiarly termed Young Roaster, of whom more hereafter: though barely ten years of age, the tastes which he had inherited from his ancestors were sporting. And Mac, our former acquaintance,

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