The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-01-13
NJ MIsTAK Els.
.RY n. G.. BuRNANp.

zz BIZ n. c., BURNAND. assit5Ss.1
The question was put to me, !" Would
like to 20 in to Hobbies u Grumpury's
Banks" said thought should-my no.
ton of my employment at Hoboes
Grumbury's being that should stana D uo
hind counter with q copper coal sno .;a
and dabble in soyereigns. Every JuI Sa'a
that I was q lucky fellow, ana Woolu ve
,.a,t nov ,y;,h Hobbies & Grumbury, OF, wnen
RHahLss ,vss ,.fs. should succeed Grum-
hnry Or Grumbury being gone, should
on,sa into Hobbes's place, or, both defunct,
: should be all alone as Ne, late Hobbies 4
Grnmbury. There was the opening, said
INV uucles, encouraging me as if l was a
ferret going in to work my way up and hunt
ont moor old Hobbies s. Grumbury. In
went. They were very particular about
their clerks being at the office at 9, and
not leaving until the last figure had been
scored and all work done, which often
didn't happen till half-past s.. at midday
would rush over to my brother at Lloyd's,
who. could always spare an hour to my
Eve minutes, and ask him to give me
luncheon, have come to the conclusion
that turtle soup and punch is not the best
thing to take in the middle of the day II
YOU want to add up sums. Birch's punch
is A l, and soon becomes A 2 and a 3.
believe my brother went back ready to
write risks for fabulous sums to the coast
of the undiscovered island if any one had
suggested such speculations then. For my
..iS. aftor ono VI thooe midday repasts, /
smiled on Hobbies through the glass door,
and winked at Grumbury when he came
out to know whose eye it was; and on my
tenth day in the bank went wrong to the
extent of thirty thousand pounds in my
account. I forget now how it was that /
had to enter it, or what took me into the
cashiers department; probably Blrch's
punch did it. At all events, the cash
ier's clerks, and Hobbies & Grumbury
into the bargain, were all kept at the
bank long after office hours, utterly unable
to make out where the money was lost !;
and I have sort of notion that, in
consequence Of this little error of mine,
something "went up" in the city and
something "went down." and the stock
exchange was somehow visibly affected.
was cautioned, and went on for more than
a week at this sort Of drudgery flor
drudgery it was to B. sA.), when my
brother at Lloyd's suddenly discovered q
wonderful beverage concocted by the head
waiter Of the Marine Insurance establish
ment. There was plenty of ice in it,
know that, and you sucked it through a
straw, like sherry cobbler; it wasn't sherry
cobbler and it wasn't any other cobbfer !;
but it was one Of those drinks that you go
on slipping, and wondering what it is, and
how it's made, and whether half glass
more would hurt you. did all this, and
the half glass more did hurt me. l have
been since Informed that offered to fight
one of the customers who, l pointed out,
had insulted me across the counter, and
whose proffered check scorned. Hobbies
s Grumbury agreed to look over this
(Grumbury was somewhat obstinate), and
remained in the bank, but avoided lunch
cons. NV evenings in town were given
up to relaxation, and my mornings
with difficulty devoted to Hobbies q Grum-
bury. In fact, I may say that, after q
time, finding refreshing sleep at night in
compatible with going to bed late and get
ting to Hobbies & Grumbury's at Q A.
NJ, devoted my evenings to the serious
work Of amusement, and the daytime to
refreshing myself with as much sleep as
coH,d get at my desk behind the counter
of Hobbies s. Grumbury's. Summer and
cricket came. Once stayed away with
leave and missed the train another time
stayed away without leave and missed two
trains. Hobbies shook his head, and Grum-
bury observed, {" 1t wouldn't do" Hobbies
sold me that "when he was a young man
he came into the city with crust, and had
to work for his daily bread. lie had no
cricket or amusements." ] didn't know
if this was an argument; if it was, had
nothing to say. l pitied poor Hobbies.
Grumbury chimed in that she had been
made to work had not known what it was
to have a holiday for years.; which, am
sorry to say it of Grumbury, was not the
strict truth, as lie never came to the bank
on Saturdays, and had stopped away on
Mondays and Wednesdays (having coun-
try farm) for the last twenty years. Both
partners thought l had made mistake in
coming into the bank, and so retired,
leaving the victory in the hands of Hobbies
& Grumbury.
"Now," said my father, who was very
angry at the partnership prospect being
obliterated, "you must do something"
We were at dessert at the time, and
being thus addressed, I began peeling an
ADplC HOl UCCGuSO NduLOu w wv w
convey an idea that had no wish to be
idle.
"The army pr said I, inquiringly.
"You're too DID," was my fathers re-
ply, surlily.
I murmured, vaguely, the Mounted
Rifles" having some indistinct notion that
you could enter this corps if such one
existed, of which I had my secret donbts,)
up to any age; perhaps be o raw recruit
at seventy.
Mounted Fiddlesticks |" said my father,
who thought I was treating the SUBJECT
with levity, and didn't want me to be, as
he expressed it, "kickiDg my heels about
at home"
couldn't help laughing at his saying,
amounted Fiddlesticks !" Whereupon ne
begged me not to play the fool at has table,
whatever I might do at Hobbies & Grum-
bury's. From which you may gather that
my parent did not possess the best of
tempers. He was, also, as you may have
seen from his view of the future partner
ship at Hobbes's, very sanguine man.
"The Law" I suggested, experiment
tally.
eyes," said he, supercilliously, "that's
all very we'll but what do you mean by
the Law"
I didn't know aohat meant, having, in
deed, spoken at hap-hazard, but had
general idea Of q long wig and being a
Judge, somehow. was silent.
"The Barr" asked my father, cor So
licitor?"
Never having considered this before, I
thought that the dutiful course would be
to refer it to him. He chose the Bar. The
prosnect he held out was a brilliant ona