A number of years ago a certain firm of four men in Boston were
rated as “A1.” They were rich, prosperous, young and prompt.
One of them had the curiosity to see how they were rated, and
found these facts in Dun’s and was satisfied, but at the end
these words were added: “But they all drink.”
He thought it a good joke at the time, but a few years later two
of them were dead, another was a drunkard, and the fourth was
poor and living partly on charity.
That one little note at the end of their rating was the most
important and significant of all the facts collected and
embodied in their description. (Text.)
(827)