The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1864-11-10
THE FALSE IMPROVISATION
My Fellow Clerk.

dayS...tt TarC OF This inconvenience is uu
to custom, part to absurd police regulations
but the result is to make the Danish capita
anything but an agreeable place Of residenc
for young men of moderate means. And O
that account I thought myself exceedingl
lucky in being permitted to be member c
4 the household of my employer, M. Hansen
of the firm of Hansen & Hoyer, merchants
Hansen & Hoyer did great deal of bust
ness in the export trade. They dealt wit
Russia, Sweden, and Pomerania, as we'll a
with London and New Y ork and it is won
derfal in how many commercial pies th
house had contrived to insert finger, neve
without profit, as their books could prove
| !, their only English clerk-all the rest be
ing Danes, except middle-aged French
man, W lived at the Hotel DIES Empereur
was the only clerk who resided under tht
ROOF OF the senior partner. M. Hansen wal
married, of COURSE and his wife was an Eng
llsh lady. His whole family consisted of &
son, Earl. and daughter, Margaret
extremely pretty girl AS for myself | was
then about twenty-four years Of age and
had been two years at Copenhagen, whittier
had been sent more with view to inquire
Into she continental method of doing bust
mss than with any reference to salary. In
deed was regarded rather as a pupil than
as irregular employee of the firm; though
Hansen & Hoyer did keepme pretty hard at
work. too, what with invoices, .Inanifests
aud letters, r-. III,
/ When | first heard that new clerk, a
countryman of my own. was coming out
from England to take mis- place at the desk
and N the family circle, | was rather glad
than otherwise.it There are but few English
residents in Copenhagen, and my opportuni-
ties for speaking my native tongue were
scanty. ~ he Danes. it is true, are excellent
lingoists; and NJ. Hansen could speak very
pure English when he chose, but he seldom
did choose; while Margaret talked Danish
to nlease her father, of whome she was very
fond. Karl was thorough Scandinavian ;
andeyen Madame Hansen, though in the
course of her twenty-three years residence in
Denmark, she had never been able to acquire
thersdifhcult pronunciation of the northern
language still tried hard to conform with
evesys habit of her husbands country. ]
was, therefore, not sorry that a compatriot
Of my own, necessarily ignorant of Danish,
wae about TO join US, and rather, because |
should then probably find my task of the
London correspondence considerably light
ened thereby sa5 ias rs1s d, 5c0f:-
There was one misgiving and one only,
in my mind, when learned that Mr.. Charles
Slm1ins-that1 was the name of the new
clerk-was to be a member of the Hansen
household, was somewhat apprehensive
Of the effect which this new conner, fresh
from city which the Danes naturally re-
gard as Babylon the Great, might produce
oi Margaret's imagination; for | loved
Margaret dearly, and had loved her long,
and hoped that L should, when my probation
was over, bear away that fresh, sweet Dan
ish rosebud to my home. 1Ya 9so38tg
The letter, however, which M. Hansen
showed me- and which was written by the
new comer's uncle, Mr.. Grantley, of Mum
4 Grantley, the old and staunch correspond
ents of the Danish house, treasured me i'm
mensely. Mr.. Grantley made it special
request that his nephew, for whom he seem
ed to entertain sort of kindly contempt,
should be kept at hard work in q manner
that should stake the nonsense out of him p
1t appeared that Mr. Charles Sinlpkins was
the son of a clergyman in Suffolk that he
had been somewhat spoiled at home, as the
idol of half dozen elder sisters and an af-
fectionate mother; and that he babe fair to
turn into an entirely useless member of So
Getty His uncle admitted that he Was a
very good young man, amiable, gentle and
well conducted, though not the genius he
fancied himself but it seemed that he played
the flute, wrote mawkish poetry, and esteem
ed himself Byronic hero-all sins Of the
first magnitude in the eyes of his gruf re-
lative, who was hard-headed man Of bust
ness. IsgGgt 8alsN sfr qa a1
So the rich uncle, to whom the Suffolk
vicar and his family were under great obi
CATIONS, and of whom they evidently stood
in awe, had insisted -that his nephew should
do something to earn his own living in
creditable ways" and as there happened to
be no vacant stool just then in the counting
house of Mum &sGrantley, the young man
had been consigned to the tutelage of Han
sen & Hoyer, who were to receive a fair
premium for teaching him all that related
to tallow, timber, methy lated spirits, Riga
Kemp, Seeland oats, and Jutland hides.
IS shall put the poor fellow under your
charge, Brooks, out of Office hours; for, of
course, old M. Adolphe must be his mentor
in the counting house. / trust to you to see
he gets into no scrapes, and to protect him
against under qulzzing or practical jokes on
the part of our youngsters o. ~ .as8
This was true enough; the young Danes,
many of them country bred youths who
were seated, during Office hours, at the
many desks in Hansen & Hoyer's counting
house, were inclined to be little boisterous
and fond of horse play, like their Viking an
cestors, when the staid elder clerks were
out of the room. However, resolved to
do my best to protect and encourage the
poor fellow. ord lm 81 pais rsar nst4 :,
''The house frau and the demoiselle wait
tea for you, sare,'' cried shrill Danish fe-
male voice, through the keyhole of my door,
as i sat missing atthe open window. .'De
ezer lnglis gentleman shall have come just
now" 3azsu -,l 1885 teis IS ...a..o :,
In response to good old Sophie's summons
hastened down to the :. parlor," SO called,
where a tall silver samovar, one of those
things which the richer of Copenhagen resi-
dents have borrowed from their Russian
neighbors, and where steaming and fragrant
tea, cranberry jelly, fresh Norway strawber-
ries, cream-such as only Denmark and Hol-
land produce--with an unwonted display of
cakes, tish and fowl, evinced that the quiet
family meal had been hastily added to for
the purpose of appeasing the hunger and
tasting new conner. That new conner was
there OF course, in the high tide of converse
ton with both the ladies, rafting, chatter
ing and producing more lpeals Of laughter
from Margaret's sweet lips than l had ever
heard before in so brief a space of time. basil
ea" Mr. Brooks, let me introduce to uthe
new member of our family circle Mr.
Charles Silnpkins. d. MIR. Simpkins, try
that cold fowl; we are famous for chickens
IN Seeland. You cannot have had anything
to eat since yon left Jntland; and an sure
though you are too polite to say So thatyou
must be half starved, 2 said worthy Madame
Hansen, piling buttered cake and short cake
layishly on her guests plate. while her
daughter poured out his tea. For my part
l stared at my fellow clerk, forgetting my
good manners in my curiosity, and utterly
at loss to account for the singular descrip-
ton his uncle had been pleased to pen, Of al
nephew of whom most uncles, as it seems to