period of dejection,
and consequent ill health, your grandfather and myself mutually agreed
that it would be best for us, by way of lessening our expenses, to sell
our furniture, and break up housekeeping for a few years. My health,
which had never been good since that severe illness, of which I have
spoken, was the palpable cause; for my husband had often expressed a
desire to try the effect of rest from the cares and fatigue of
housekeeping, and now, that one sister and two of my brothers were
married and settled, there was not difficulty in the way of our doing
so. This proved to be a very fortunate step, for at the time things,
almost anything, sold well. The city was prosperous, and everybody
felt rich. Our furniture, of which we reserved sufficient to furnish
two bed-rooms, besides our valuables of plate, etc., sold for as much,
some of it for more, than we paid for it when new. And in one year
from that time, suddenly, there was a monetary pressure, which brought
every kind of property down to less than half of its value or original
cost. It was one of those pecuniary tornadoes which occasionally sweep
through the whole length and breadth of the land, levelling and
blighting everything as it passes, putting a stop to the wheels of
commerce, and bringing terror into almost every family. It came with
an astounding effect upon St. Louis. Many who felt themselves rich
were in a few days reduced to a state of poverty, not having the means
wherewith to pay their honest debts.

The firm of "Charless & Blow" were compelled to "suspend
payment." This reverse came upon them like a shock, for,
notwithstanding my husband's fears, a year or two previous, with regard
to his mercantile affairs, he had informed me, but a short time before,
that he had no doubt now but that they would be enabled to get through
with the difficulties that had been pressing him down; for, as he
expressed it, "we begin now to see our way clear." They had had no
apprehensions with regard to their endorser (for whom they also
endorsed), for "his house" was one of the oldest and (it was thought)
one of the most opulent in the city. But when the fact was known that
Mr. T had failed, and when his creditors called upon the firm of
"Charless & Blow" to respond to his notes, which were then due, it was
too much for them. At first my husband (pale from emotion) thought all
was over!--all for which he had been toiling for years; reduced to
poverty