The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1852-09-15

he has had that COW hall as long as
we have, he will be glad to take less
than half what he paid for her."
This unriddles to the boys unsoph-
isticated mind, the hypocrisy of the
whole transaction, and he shrinks back
from his parents as scheming liars.
TO him it looks like lying, thus to de-
ceivc the stranger by such back-hand-
cd means.
He had been whipped for lying, and
taught that he must be honest and
he can see no difference between talk.
ing lie and acting it.
Under the influence of filial love he
begins to reason, and he is unwilling
to condemn his parents to the degra-
dation of liars and robbers. He re-
views the guarded modes of expression
used by his father and mother. His
father did not say it sCas the best COW
i'll the flock, and told the man he d" had
better not take the animal-that he
would not sell her unless his mother
would consent to it." 1t was not ex-
actly lying after all. Besides lis faith
cr stood high in society: he was cal
led Colonel, ard Esq, had been a
Representative was Trustee of the
Religious Society, and School Com
mittec ; and every body looked up to
him as man of honor. His mother,
too, was intimate in the family of the
minister, and had the best company
in town. Therefore, they were good
people, ard their example worthy of
imitation. Full Of this pleasing unc-
ton to his outraged conscience, and
possessing withal, through hereditary
transmission, similar tendency to
shrcwdness, and money.loving as that
of his parents, he began to mediate a
method Of profting by his first lesson
in keen business managcmcnt.-"Why
can't l sell that soft, worthless new
knife | bought Of the rascally pedlar
the other day in the same manner that
father sold the COW? Let me see, l
have the plan, and / will have the
money, and | won't tell a lie either. l
can steer clear of that"
lie carefully whets his knife, and
as carefully pockets soft stick, and
then with veil of honest looks pro-
cccds to school. At recess he very
carclcssly draws fort his knife and stick
and begins to whittle. 1t cuts finely.
The boys flock around, eager to see it,
and to learn what he paid for it. 81
got it cheap; only twenty-five cents !;
see it cut"
"I'll give you twenty-five" says
one.
al guess you WILL" says John, "af
ter | have run the risk of getting a
bad one, and proved it. See it cut"
"Ill give you thirty"
I" | will forty," says another, " and
here's the money" Forty being a
golden number in the ear of John, he
quietly pockets the money just as the
school bell rings, and they all go in to
their books-John to rejoice in the
success of his experiment, and Char.
ley to anticipate the pleasure his cx,
ccllent cutting knife will afford him.
AS soon as the school is dismissed
while Charley is hunting for a good
hard stick to show the other boys how
gloriously it would cut-John makes
all haste for home, to announce his
success and to bank his money. AL
most out of breath he enters the house
exclaiming, " Father, have sold that
pewter faced knife which l bought of
the pcdlar at twenty-five cents, for for
ty."
L" All have you ? But how did
you manage? ? You didn't tell lie,
did you, Johnny You must never
lie you know"
"Oh, no, sir. ! sharpened it very
nicely took soft stick in my pock-
ct, and kept whiting said nothing
and let them bid"
"But who bought; and have you
got your money ?"
Charles Sumner, who always has
money, bought it, here are the forty
cents"
That's right, you should never
lie, and always get your pay down, to
prevent after trouble. Isay, mother
Johnny is pretty smart. We must
make a merchant of him,-what think
you -
Well, he has done well with the
knife, surely, and always thought he
would be somebody, and get rich be-
sides, Charley is better able to pay a
high price for poor knife thanJ ohnny.
Bring the money to me, my son, and l
will save it for you"
This was lesson number two, and the
boy, from this propitious beginning,
kept practising until he was old enough
to enter store as clerk.
His father kept him short of change
for his new situation, and desiring tc
appear well with his new associates, he
began by borrowing small sums from
the money-drawer, designing to pay il
out of the first remittance. But the
economical father, desiring to keep him
short, to teach him economy, neglected
the penurious remittance until the boy
had secretly borrowed the full amount
of what he received from his father,
and he cannot pay it then and, finally
after some struggles with his defaced
conscienciousness, and urged by his nc