American union. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1859, 1858-10-01
THE UPRIGHT CLERK.

my JVuio uSo tueTG WIS IOuflSn-
ling store in Groton, Massachusetts.
kept by James Brazer. Groton is thir-
fty miles from Boston. Mr. Brazer did
ia large business with all the country
fround, for his stock was composed of
almost everything one could Want, cot.
ton and woolen goods, hardware, wood
ten.wnre, silks, threads, crockery, kegs
Eof tobacco, and greatquantitics ofrum
and brandy; giving plenty of employ
ment to five clerks. aa'i 19'@f
lal InMr. Brazcr's store in those days
there was custom, whichis generally
done away with now-the custom Of
drinking at III O'clock. Every fore.
noon adrink was mixed up,madc ofrum,
iraisins, sugar and nutmeg, with biscuit,
and handed round tothe master, clerks
and customers; all partook Of it and
Irelished it, and, I dare say, smackcd
their lips, and wanted more. At last
one of the clerks refused his glass;
lie had made q resolution not to take
any fora week, he said. 1t looked
very odd. His comparisons wanted to
know why "Thc habit is gyowiaq
on me, " answered Amos, for that was
his name, sand I'm afraid Of it; Slat's
why" The other clerks called him
foolish and a coward. They thought
that was no good reason ut all, for eve
Irybody drank. They laughed at him
but they did not laugh it out of him
He made his firstresolution for week,
then for month, then fora year, and
finally for five years of his apprentice
ship; and thus alone and for himself,
he took the ground of total abstinence
when spirit drinking was the univcr-
sal fashion and during the whole time
fhe never drank spoonful, though he
mixed gallons and gallons for his mas
ter. Amos made the same resolution
Iinregardto the use of tobacco he ncy-
er smoked a cigar, or chewed but one
quid, and that before he was fifteen
A great many years afterwards he
wrote to student at college: .#g
hig"l In the first place take this for
your mottoiat tho beginning Of Your
journey, that the difference of going
Just right and a little wrong, will be
THE difference Of finding yourself in
good quarters, or in miserable bog
or slough atthe end of it. Ofthe whole
number educatedin the Groton stores
some years before and after myself,no
one else, to my knowledge, escaped the
bog and slough; and my escape trace
to the single fact of my having put n
restraint upon my appetite. After
leaving school and going into the store,
mot month passed before l was i'm
pressed with the opinion tkat restraint
upon appetite was necessary to pro-
vent the slavery / saw destroying mum
bers around me. Many and many Of
the farmers, mechanics and apprenti-
ces of that day, have filed drunkards'
graves, and left destitute families and
friends r.a
Let every clerk and apprentice Who
reads this, md hope there will be ma.
ny, stop and note this point, the differ
ence Of going .just right or little
'orong, in your setting out in life, is
the difference between integrity and
dishonesty, success or disappointment,
happiness or ruin.
Attwenty-one, in 1907, Amos went
to Boston with twenty dollars in his
pocket. tie soon received an offer Of
clerkship in respectable firm. Here
he stayed but few months. His en-
ploycrs failed, and ho hired q small
store in Cornbill, and furnished it with
goods on the strength Of the confidence
with which he had inspired those who
had become acquainted with him.
Integrity, industry and system were
the foundations upon which his business
life was built. lie practised rigid
economy, never allowing himself to
spend fourpence upon unnecessary
objects until he had earncdit. During
his first seven years in the city, he
never let q bill stand against him over
the Sabbath. Ifa purchase Of goods
had been made at ali auction on Sat.
urday, he always examined and settled
the bill by note or by crediting it. so
, thati case he was not on duty on Mon
] day, thero would be no trouble for the
clerks; thus Keeping business Jfore
him instead Of allowing it to d,fre him.
At the close Of that seven years he was
worth $50, 900.
On his first coming TO the city, he
took lodgings with q widow, who had
just opened a boarding houac. Amos
asked for ono rule to be made for the
boorders, and that was, that the board.
| ers in the nnbic sitting room mirhf