Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1869-03-04
THE TWO CLERKS.
A Good Story for the Boys

In Market Square, in the pleas.
ant city of Newport, was a crock.
ery-ware store, over the door of
EN hich was a black sign bearing in
gilt letters, the name Benjamin
Hudson. For many years this
! crockery-ware store had been there
with the great pitcher hanging in
front for a sign; indeed, when Mr..
Hudson first opened the store,
some forty years previously, he
was quite a young man, and the
sign over his door was very bright
and handsome; but now his eyes
had grown dim, and the owner
was called "Old Hudson" by all
the boys and girls of the city.
The windows of his store had
great attractions for all the chill
dren that passed that way. There
were beautiful vases, handsome
China mugs, with "EIlen," "Fan-
n.y." "William," and lots of other
names inscribed upon them; there
were also plates, with pictures on
them, asserting Franklin's mixims;
and funny clocks shaped like dogs
that would roll their eye-balls to
and fro every time they ticked,
and many other things, curious
and ornamental
Mr.. Benjamin Hudson had
grown rich in his business, for he
had conducted.it all himself, and
taken care that nothing should
be wasted or lost by neglect. He
had made mistakes, to be sure,
as every man will make some
blunders during a lifetime, but by
skillful management he quickly
recovered from them. Sixty-fve
years had begun to bend over Mr..
Hudson's shoulders, and dim the
brightness of his eye, and he
found business more irksome than
lit formerly had been.
81 must have a partner" said
he one day to himself as he sat
before a cheerful fire. 81 must
have some one interested in the
business who is young and active,
and will take the weight from off
my shoulders, for I cannot do as |
used to do"
Now, in Mr.. Hudson's employ
wire two young men-Herbert
Bond and Charles Sehmour. They
had been with him an equal length
Of time, and had performed their
duties faithfully and well. Charles
did his work quickly, and had a
more quiet demeanor, and accom-
plished quite as much without
making a great stir about it..
81 must have either Herbert or
Charles for a partner" soliloquized
Mr.. Hudson; (which one / cannot
decide. They both do very well
in the store; but | ought to know
something of them out of the store,
and l am sorry to say that that is
a point / have never paid proper
attention to. My clerks come
here in the morning and go away
at night; what becomes of them
over night, l know not; and yet |
ought to know. Neither of them
has parents in the city; they live
in some of the numerous boarding
houses, and l hope are steady and
well-behaved. l must see them
in their homes, and then decide
which shall be my partner"
The next day MIR. Hudson as
certained- the boarding houses of
his two clerks, without letting
them know for what purpose; and
after supper, that evening, his
wife and daughters were somewhat
astonished to see him go to the
hall and put on his coat and hat.
"Where are you going, papa2"
asked Lily, the youngest daughter,
who could hardly remember the
evening when her father had not
remained at home.
81 am going to make call, Lily,
on two young men of my ac-
quaintance; shallnot gone long,"
replied Mr.. Hudson. And, bid
ding them good night, he went
out.
Herbert's boarding house was
the nearest of the two, and here
Mr.. Hudson stopped first. Itwas
a neat looking house, In q very