Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-04-21
MISCELLANEOUS.
From the Columbian Magazine.
Going to the Dogs.
ny T. S. ARTHUR.

master mechanic.
we are sending ont all our accounts at
this season. returned the mechanic, bowling.
Il want to pay YOU
VERY well, Mr.. Baker, we're always glad
10 get money
But you must throw off something. Let
me sec'-and the customer drew out the bill
- twenty-sevcn dollars and %forty-six cents.
twenty-five will do. There, receipt the bill,
and I'll pay you
But Leonard shook his head.
Il can't deduct a cent from that bill, Mr..
Baker. Every article is charged at tour regu-
lar price
'Oh, yes. you can. Just make il twenty
FIVE dollars, even money. Here il is And
Baker counted out the cash.
Pm sorry, Mr.. Baker, but ! cannot afford
to deduct anything. If you'd only owed me
twenty-five dollars, your bill would have been
Just that amount. | would not have added
a cert beyond what is due, nor can take
anything less than my DUE
Then you won't deduct the odd money !!
Il cannot, indeed
er changed. He was evidently offended
The bill is loo high by just the sum ask
ed to have stricken OF. But no matter, | can
pay it,
Then you mean to insinuate,' said the
mechanic, who was an independent sort of a
man, that | am cheating you out Of Two dol
lars and forty-six cents =
i didn't say so.'
But it's plain that you think so, or you
wouldn't have asked an abatement. If you
considered my charges just, you wouldn't
dispute them
'Oh, never mind, never mind! we'll not
waste words about 1t. Here's your money
said Mr.. Baker; and he added another five
dollar bill 10 the sum lie had laid down.
The mechanic receipted the account and gave
the change, both Of " hich his customer thrust
into his pocket with a p~etulant air, and then
turned away and left the shop without an
other word.
Its the last bill he ever has against me-
muttered Baker TO himself, as he walked
away. IF that's his manner of treating Gus
toners, he'll soon go TO the dogs. He was
downright insulting, and no gentleman will
stand that from another, much less from a
vulgar mechanic. Mean TO insinuate p
Humph! Yes, l did mean 10 insinuate.'-
And Mr.. Baker Involuntary quickened his
pace. Hell lose one good customer he
continued, 10 himself. 1--we paid him a great
deal OF money, but its the last dollar of mine
be ever handles
Baker was as good as his word. He with
drew his custom from the offending nechan-
ic, and gave it to another.
1--WE got one Of your old customers, Leon
| nafd,' said a friend in the same business, to
the mechanic, some six or eight months after
wards.
'Ah! who is it?'
Baker,
Leonard shrugged his shoulders.
How came you TO lose him I
'1ll tell you how you can keep him.
well, how 2
IF your bill amounts to thirty dollars,
make !" thirty-three and a few odd cents, by
increasing some of the items. He will want
this surplus Knocked off, which you can af-
ford to do; then he will pay it and think you
Just the man for him.
you lost him, then, because you wouldn'
abate any thing from a true bill
Il did,
Thank you. But suppose my bill SHOULD
be twenty-siX, or seven, or eight; what then
| couldn't knock off the odd dollars for tn
purpose Of making an even sum-
mo. In that case you must add on unit
you get above thirty
And fall back to lhat?'
Yes. twill be knocking off the odd dol
lars, which he would think clear gain
THAT would hardly be honest
Hardly. But you must do it or lose hi
custom some day or other
Il shall have TO accommodate him, | sup
pose. If he will be cheated, it can't be hell
ed.'
On the very first bill that Baker paid to hi
new tradesman he obtained an abatement {
one dollar and ninety cents, odd money, bl
actually paid three dollars more than wa
justly due. Sill he was satisfied, imagir
ing that he had made a saving Of one doIls
and ninety cents. The not over scrupulou
tradesman laughed in his sleeve and kept hi
customer.
Having Withdrawn his support from Leol
nard, it was the candid opinion Of Mr.. b.
ker that he was going TO the Dogs as i
expressed it, about as fast as a man could o.
He often passed the shop, but rarely saw
customer.
mo wonder,' he would say to HIMSELF
"A man like him can't expect and don't d
serve CUSTOM
In the eyes Of Baker, the very grass seer
ed TO grow upon the pavement before Il
door of the declining tradesman. Dust Sc
tied thickly in his window, and the old 81.
turned grayer and grayer in the bleachiI
air.
Going to the dogs, and no WONDER B
ker would say 10 himself, as he went by.
He appeared TO take a strange interest
watching the gradual decay of the mechanic
fortunes. One day a mercantile friend sd
to him
DO you know any thing about this Leo
nardp
'Whyl' asked Baker.
Because he wants TO make a pretty lar
bill with me-
Son timer'
yes, on the usual credit of six months
Don't sell him. Why, the man is goi
to the dogs. at railroad speed"
'Indeedr r.
'Yes. I'm looking every day TO see h
close up. He might have done well, for
understood his business. Bot he's so un;
commodating, and ! might say, insulting
his customers, that he drives the best or
he has away. ] used to make large bi
with him, bat hayn'l dealt at his shop nc
for some tine