Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1862-11-27
THE ACCUSED CLERK.
Br srLvAEUs coBB, JR.

and after tea the conversation turne,
upon the subject Of honesty, as apple,
to business. / advanced the idea tha
some merchants made th.ir store
schools of dishonesty. They tsugh
their clerks all the tricks of trade fo
their own benefit; and the clerks, thu
educated, would, in after time, prsctic'
those same tricks for themselves. Mr.
Lamson admitted the truth OF the as
sertion, and then. with a smile. assured
that he could not plead guilty TO the
charge.
Bat" said he, 81 have committed
errors in business, and have commit
Ted errors in my judgment upon my fel-
lows. When l was young, | was
taught to look upon every species oI
dishonesty with feeling of horror, and
grew up to maahood with that same
feeling in possession Of me. / do moi
believe that real virtue can be car
sied too far; but believe that any line
Of conduct may be carried so far as TO
cease TO be a virtue. / can look back
now and see that. in my extreme ideas
of rigid honesty. became self-righteous
and unforgiving. In short, l forgot
that greatest of the heavenly graces-
CHARITY"
"Let me tell you little story. 1t
has not so much TO do with the moral
of the subject we have been discussing;
but it has to do with the frailty of man 8
Judgment, and is, at the same time, in
teresting:"
Thirty years ago-mercyl how time
fliesl / took George Sayers to be one of
my clerks. He was then sixteen years
old, and one of the most active, intel
ligent and efficient clerks / ever employ
ed. His mother was widow and he
was an only son. He had one sister,
two years older than himself, who had
been brought up with him. Mrs. Say
ers was an excellent woman, and | knew
that she had endeavored to rear her
children m the way of virtue and strict
est honor. Ellen Sayers-the sister
was one of the fairest maidens in our
town, and one of the best. She was
kind and gentle, and everybody loved
her. The widow was very grateful
when / took her son into my employ,
giving him at once O lucrative situation
without submitting him to the appren-
tice-ship of lower service.
"Time passed on, and at the end Of
year l gave George Sayers charge Of
my books. During that year there had
been several small sums Of money miss
ing, Of which no account could be CIV
en-. George was in a situation where
he could have taken them bad he been
so disposed; but 1 did not suspect him.
l had then no particular reason to sus-
pect him.
's1 had at that time a number of
agents in different parts Of the country,
who were in the habit Of remitting mon.
ey to him by mail. One agent, Of the
name of Gibson, was travelling in Yer
mont. In January, Gibson mailed a
letter at Montpelier, containing five
hundred dollars-6ve one hundred dol
lar notes. That letter arrived safely in
my counting-room; because l saw it,
and saw the money that was in it. My
oversight of that letter happened pc
culiarly. / was engaged during the
day ia another part of the town, in su-
perintending the alteration of some ma
chinery in my woolen mill. In the af-
ternoon, 1 had occasion to go to my
store, and entered my counting room
just after the boy had brought in batch
of letters from the post-ofice. Among
those letters were two or three Of pri-
vate nature. and / put them away when
had read them. The letter from Glib
son, containing the FIVE hundred dollars
l folded neatly up again. and was sure
that 1 put it, with the other business
letters, beneath heavy ruler, upon the
desk. George was not in at the time,
but ] supposed he would return very
shortly. l turned the key in the count
ing room door as came out, and went
back to the mill.
"About month after this, Gibson
returned, and we sat down to look over
our accounts. There was a mistake
somewhere of FIVE hundred dollars
He claimed to have remitted five hun.
dred dollars of which had no account
Where was his remittance mailed? He
looked over the items, and found that q
remittance of FIVE hundred dollars from
Montpelier had never been credited to
him. / could find no account of it any.
where; nor was any letter accompany.
ing it on file. called George Sayers
in and asked him to explain it. He
said he could not. He had never seen
any such letter-no such remittance had
ever come to hand. While the answer
was yet upon his lips, the memory o.
that letter flashed upon me-the letter
which l had seen month beforehand
I cast look upon my clerk which made
him tremble. Ayel as my gaze grew
more intense, he turned pale, and
fancied be leaned on the desk for sup
mort. / dismissed him, and then fin
isbed nv business with Gibson. The
five hundred dollars was missing; but
as / we'll knew the letter containing thai
money had been duly received at my
store, / gave him credit for it,
"Before ! again saw my clerk, made
a thorough investigation of such mat
ters as bore upon the case within my
knowledge. ] found by my diary thai
Twas at work in the wooden mill on the
or