The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1865-11-24
THE ACCUSED CLERK,

LUG eutJeCt OF honesty, rs appiicu 10 Uusl-
ness. advanced the idea tina. some mer-
chants made their stores schools of dishon-
esty. They taught their clerks all the
tricks Of trade for their own benefit; and
the clerks, thus educated. would in after
times practice those same tricks for them.
selves. Mr.. Lamson admitted the truth
of the assertion and then, with a smile,
assured me that he conld 10. plead guilty
to the charge.
But" said he, have committed errors
in business; and l have committed errors
in any judgment upon my fellows. When
| was young | was taught to look upon
al. species of dishonesty with feeling of
horror, and | grew up to manhood with
thai same feeling in possession Of me. |
do not believe that real virtue can be
carried too far; but believe that any line
Of conduct may be carried so far as to
cease to he a virtue. | can look back
now and see that, in my extreme ideas of
rigid honesty, | became self righteous and
unforgiying. In short, l forgot that great
est of the heavenly graces-CHARITY.
"Let me tell you little story. 1, has
net SO ,nuch to do with the moral of the
subjec. we have been discussing. but il
las TO do with the frallty of mans iudg.
ment, and is, at the same time Interesting
hlrty years ago mere, how time
flies took George Sayers to be one OF
my clerks. lie was then sixteen wears
old, and one of the most active. Intelligent,
and efficient clerks | ever employed. His
mother was widow, and he was an only
son. lie bad one sister two wears older
than himself who had been brough, up
With him. Mrs Sayers wa. an excellent
| woman, and | knew that she endeavored
to rear her children in the wav Of virtue
aud strlc:est honor. HELEN Sayers-the
sister-was one of the fairest maidens in
our town and one Of the best She was
kind and gentle, and every body loved her
The widow was very grateful wher took
her son into my employ, giving him at
! once lucrative situation without submits
ting HIM to the apprenticeship Of lower
service
"1ime passed OF, and at the end Of a
year gave George Sayers charge of my
books. During that year there had been
several small sums Of money missing, OF
which no account could Tee gwen. George
was IN situation where he could have
taken them had he been 50 disposed bu,
did not suspect him. | had then DO
particular reason to suspect him.
81 bad at that time number of agents
in different parts of the country who were
IN the habit of renting money to him by
mail. One agent of the name of Gibson
was travelling in Vermont. In January
Gibson mailed a letter at Montpel er, con
tanning five hundl ed dollars, five one-hun-
| dred-dollar notes. That letter arrived
safely IN my counting room because | saw
1t md saw the money that was in it. Nv
oversight of that letter happened peculiar
ly. was engaged during The day in an
other part OF the towr in experimenting
the alteration of some machinery in my
WOODEN mill. Ia the afternoon hal &C
caslou to go 10 my store, and entered
my counting room just after the boy had
brought IN a batch of letters from the pot
| office Among those letters were TWO or
three OF private nature and put them
! away when had read them. Tie letter
Tom Gibson, containing The five huudre.!
dollars folded neatly up again and Was
sure that put it with the other business
letters, beneath heavy ruIe upon the
| desk. George vas not in he store at Tie
time but | supposed be would return very
shortly, turned the key il The counting
room door as | came out, and went back
to the mill
About month after this Gibson re-
turned, and We sat down to look over our
accounts. There was mistake some
| where Of five hundred dollars, he claim.
ed to have RENTED FIVE hundred dollars,
OF which | had no account Where WAS
his remittance mailed? lie looked over
the items, and found that remitiarce Of
five hundred dollars from Montpelier bad
never been credited 20 hin. | could Gna
no account OF 1t anye here; nor was any
letter accompanying it on file | called
George in, aud asked him If he could ex
plain 1t. lie said he could not. He had
never seen any such lerter-no such re
nlttance had ever come to lis hand.
w h'Ie the answer was yet upon bis lips
TIE memory of that letter flashed upon
me-the letter which had seen a month
Beforehand | cast lonk upon my clerk
which made him tremble. Aye-as nv
gaze grew more intense, he turned pale.
and tancied be leaned upon the desk
Tor support. L dismissed him, and then
finished my business with Gibson. The
five hundred dollars were missing; but as
we'll knew that the letter containing the
money had been duly received a. my store,
| gave him credit for it,
Before l again saw nv clerk made
a thorough investigation of such matters
as bore upon the case within my own
knowledge. found by my diary that |
was at work in the woollen mill on the
otb day Of January. Gibson mailed his
letter at Montpelier Oh the 5ih. OF
course the letter which saw in my count
ing room, when | accidentiy dropped in
there on the afternoon of that Sth dav,
was the very letter. left that letter with
the money IN it-and now what had be-
come of III learned to my perfect sat
isfac;ion, that after | went out on that af
ternoon no one else entered the counting
room until Sayers came in. There was
but one conclusion before me. George
Sayers must have taken ,ne money. And
thus | reasoned.
" When my clerk came in, and found
those lelters upon the desk, he supposed