The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1853-06-16

young man and Mr.. Linton "You are
young yet. | was thirty-four when |
commenced my present business, aud
you are but twenty You have
seven years therefore, in your favor"
But am in debt"
How much :"
4" Five thousand dollars. Or, if am
to be held liable for my late partners
obligations, some twenty or thirty thou.
sand. But believe those claims will
not come against me. When entered
into the copartnership, | happened to
be wise enough to have a clause inserted
10 the agreement, protecting me from
all prior obligations of my new associate
in business"
And we'll for you it is that you did
SO. / i've thousand dollars, then, is all
you owe. For your comfort, | will tell
you, that, at your age, from imprudence
similar to your own, | was ten thousand
dollars in debt"
And remained so for seven years 7"
Yes, and for more than that. 1t
was ten years before | was able to wipe
off old scores"
ooh, dear! I should die if l thought
it would be ten years before | could
write myself free from debt"
I" 1t is not SO easy matter to die as
you might think" the merchant replied,
smiling.
"But what am l to do :" asked
Grant, in real distress of mind
"Do! Why there are many ways to
do. All that is wanted is patience and
resolution--not mere excitement-you
have had enough of that. You felt six
years ago, as if you had the world in a
sling. | saw it all and knew where it
would all end"
"Why did you not tell me so ?"
"Because you would not have believed
me and besides, bought wit is the
BEST No experience like a mans
own. A few years of disappointment
and trouble l saw would be necessary to
thresh off the chaff of your character"
"And pretty we'll threshed I have
been, verify! But, to come back to the
one question ever uppermost in my mind,
what am l to do :"
/" There is one thing you can do, Hen
ry," replied the merchant, " and that is
to come into my store and receive a
salary of twelve hundred dollars year" {"
"My heart thanks you for your kind
offer," replied the young man earnestly
" But to do so would be to act from
mere selfish regard to my own in
terests."
" How so :"
" The salary of clerk will yield
simply support it cannot pay off my.
debts"
"You wish then, to 60 into bust
ness :"
"I must do something to relieve my
self from debt"
/" | do not see, as things now are, that
going into business will accomplish this
very desirable object. So far, business
has tended to involve you deeper and
deeper" |
I" | know that, and it is because Of
this that | am so terribly disheartened." 4"
"Then come into my store, and devote
yourself for year or so to my business
it will yield you living BY that time
something may be open before you. 1t
is time enough yet, depend upon it, for
you to enter the arena of strife as a mer-
chant. The position is one requiring a
cooler head and more experience than
you are yet possessed of. bave long
since been satisfied from extensive OBJ
,ervations, that as a general rule, nine
men out of ten fall, who enter into busi- c
hess as merchants under thirty-nine Z
years of age" {
6 At last, but with some reluctance, I
Henry Grant fell back into his old place
Is clerk, where be remained for four q
years. During that period, early pain I
ful experiences formed in his mind :
rue plane of thought. He was enabled {
% see how and where he had been in 2
error, and how wrong ends led him into !
acts. He could not, at times, '
help smiling as a recollection Of former '