The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-06-02
Tl.e 9utlaad Daily Glube.
MONDAY MORNING, JUNE 2, 1878.
From the st. Louis Democrat.
A simple story of n ScIf-Made Man.


The simple story of John Hefferman
teaches us that honesty and patience are
sure to be rewarded, more forcibly than
that great moral lesson could be impressed
on our minds by didactc discourse.
John Heflerman was poor boy when he
entered the establishment of Messrs. Gold
sticks & Moneybags; but he brought to
them certificate from his Sunday school
teacher, saying that he was an honest lad,
who could learn more verses and forget
them quicker than any boy in his class. His
employers were obliged to test his honesty
in various ways, but he stood the test no.
bly,. When Mr.. Moneybags saw him pick
up n pin from the floor he ives sweeping, he
thought John might be guilty of taking
things, and dropped ten cent shinplaster
in the same place; but John honestly
swept it out without noticing it, and brushed
it into n corner, where he could pick it up
at his leisure. Then Mr.. Moneybags over
paid him his weekly stipend by the amount
of 81, and waited to see what the boy would
do. At the dead hour of night the Money
bags household was aroused by the furious
ringing of the bell. The old gentleman put
on his dressing gown and descended to the
door, where he found John Hefferman,
with tear in his eye and dollar bill in
his hand. John declared that he could not
rest in his virtuous couch after discovering
the mistake, until it was rectifed.
"Why didn't you keep it?" asked Mr..
Moneybags. 81 would not have known
that had overpaid you"
"Kecp it?" exclaimed John. " Little do
you know the precepts that were instiled
into my youthful breast by my sainted
grandmother. But confess that the temp
tation was strong one. l was saving
money to buy Bible for my widowed
mother, and had accumulated the sum of
fifteen cents. With this dollar could have
completed the purchase, and | admit that |
looked at it with longing eyes. But honesty
triumphed over temptation, and virtue is its
own reward"
Keep the dollar for your honesty said
the benevolent old gentleman. I" Buy your
Bible, and be happy. | would ask you to
marry my daughter and would take you into
| partnership in the usual way; but it hap
pens that my daughters are all sons, and
you must excuse me for the present.
John went home, his heart was swelling
with the consciousness of having done his
duty, and made dollar clear. The next
day he invested that dollar in a chuckaluck
outfit for the benefit of the benighted young
heather in the next alley.
I Young Hefferman was then promoted to
a desk, and five dollar bill was once placed
temptingly within his reach; but John was
secure in his honesty, and wasn't certain
that the bill was good one. Then he was
put in charge of the bank deposits, and his
character for honesty was established.
One day when he was going to the bank,
he looked at the ticket as usual, and discov-
ored that he was the bearer of So 900 in cur
rency. He then knew that the time had
come for honesty and patience to be re-
warded, and he stnfied the bills into his
pockets, and took the train for the West.
lie is now one of the most prominent resi-
dents of the Pacific slope, where he has al
ready bought country seat on the coast,
and expects to buy seat in the Senate.
But he still preserves the chuckaluck outfit
that gave him his start in life, and points
with pride to the bank ticket, which proves
to his children that virtue is its own reward.