The prices for entertainment at the taverns were moderate,
and none of the proprietors accumulated property.
VII
BEGINNINGS IN BUSINESS
In the autumn of 1837 as my second year with Mr. Woods was approaching
a close, I informed him that I proposed to go to Exeter, N. H., attend
the Academy, and then either enter college or proceed with the study of
the law. At about the same time I corresponded with Mr. Abbott, the
principal of the Academy, in regard to terms, board, etc.. Upon this
notice Mr. Woods made me a proposition to continue with him and share
the business. He offered to furnish the capital, to give me my board,
and one fourth of the net profits. My means were very small, the
business was quite sure to yield a profit, and the prospect of
gaining a small amount of capital at the age of twenty-three, when the
partnership was to end, controlled me and I accepted the proposition.
The partnership began March 1, 1838, when I was two months over twenty
years of age. I had then been in Groton three years, and I had formed
the acquaintance of many young men in the Lyceum, in business and in
social ways. In connection with the Lyceum I prepared papers which I
read as lectures. One of these papers upon banking, signed B.,
appeared in the Bay State _Democrat_, edited by Lewis Josselyn, the
publisher.
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