Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1842-12-29
III E r A ID OF TIL E TIMES.

"Ain't YOU the young man." said Mr.
Sharp with u comical kind nI n look,
"who sat out 10 board out a subscription
to The New England Magazine al my
mousse two or three years agD Z"
"Yes," said Peter, ~ believe Pm
the su,ne person who once had the honor
OF taking board u, your house"
"WeiI," said Mr. Sharp, 81 want to
give you n job"
"Wha, is il 7" said Peter.
"Hele, | want you TO collect those
bills for me-" said MIR. Sharp, taking e
bundle from his desk, $50, IN be hang
cd il 1 can l've tried ill Pm tired"
Whereupon he opened the bundle and
assorted OUT the bills, and :nade sche-
dule Of them, amounting, in the aggre-
gate, to about thousand dollars.
"Thrie," said he, 81 will give you
upon that lisl ten per cent commissions
on all you collect and on that list III
give YOU twenty-five per cent, on all you
collect. What say you, will you under
take the job 7"
"Well, III try" said Peter, "and
see what can do with them. How soon
must ! return them ~
"Takc your own time for it," said MIR.
Sharp; "I've seen enough of you To
know pretty well wha, you are"
Peter accordingly took tho bills and
entered on his new task, following II mp
with diligence and perseverance. In u
few weeks he called again at Sharp's
store.
"W,ll, said Mr.. Sharp, "have you
made out to collect anything on those
bills We. 2"
"Yes," said Peter.
"There were some Of the ten per cent
list ,ha'I thought it probable you might
collect" said Mr.. Sharp. GLOW many
have you collected !"
can Of thcm," said Peter.
"All of them ~ said Sharp; "well,
fact, that's much more than | expected
The twenty-five per cent list were all
dead dogs, wasn't it ? You got nothing
on them, suppose, did YOU Z"
"Yes, | did," said Peter.
"Did you, though : How much ?"
said Sharp
81 got them all,' said Peter.
"Oh, that's all joke said Sharp.
emo, il isn't a joke" said Peter.-
"lve collected every dollar of them, and
here's the money!" ",aking ou, his pocket.
book, and counting ont the bills.
Mr.. Sharp received the money with
the most perfect astonishment. lie had
no, expected that one half Of the amount
would ever he collected.
He counted out the commissions on
tho ten per cen. list, and then the con-
missions on the twenty-five per cen,
list, and handed the sum over to Peter.
And then he counted out fifty dollars
more, and asked Peter to accept that as
a present; "par'ly," said he "becansc
you have accomplished this task so very
far beyond my expectations, and partly
because my acquaintance with you has
taught me one OF the best lessons ot my
life. 1t has taught me the value OF
perseverance and punctualiy. l have
reflected upon it much ever since you
undertook to board ouI the bill for the
magazine at my house"
"Why, yes" said Peter, 81 think
perseverance and punctualhy are great
helps in the way of business"
"If every person in the community"
said MIR. Sharp, "wouid make it point
TO pay all his bills promptly, the mo-
ment they become due, what a vast i'm
provea,ent it would make in the cond
iion Of society all round. That would
pun people in condition, at all times, to
be able TO pay their bills promptly"
We might add, that Peter Punctual
afterwards opened store in the city, in
a branch of business which brought MIR.
Sharp TO be a customer to him, and he
has been one Of his best customers ever
since, paying all Of his bills promptly,
and whenever Peter requires it, even
paying in advance.