The tribune. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-06-30
THE SAFE KEY.

In the city of New York there are
many very large and elegant buildings,
whose first and second floors are used for
offices of insurance, banking and other
companies. In most instances these Off
ces are fitted up in elegant and expensive
style. Here clerks work until late in
the afternoon, and the rooms are then
left in charge of janitors, who come to
put the desks and furniture to rights,
and dust and sweep, and get everything
ready for another day. In some cases
the ianitors and their families occupy
upper rooms in these buildings, and
live very comfortably, high up in the
air above the world. The janitor of the
East India Buildings lived i'll this way.
Besides his wife and two girls, he had
one son, who used to help him in his
work. This boys name was Zachary, or
Zack," us he was commonly called.
At the time we introduce him to the
reader, there was nothing peculiar about
Zack, unless perhaps it was his intense
love of reading, and, am sorry to say,
his utter carelessness of his personal
appearance. Reading books did not
make him good sweeper OF duster, and
his father often scolded him sharply
for what he called his shiftlessness.
Zack, however, had one friend who
sympathized with him, not only in his
love of reading, but i'll his boyish dis
appointments and difficulties. This
friend was middle-aged bookkeeper,
named Farley, thin, pale, weak-voiced
man, who worked faithfully for his en-
ployers, often staying in the Office as
late as midnight, to make cat his ac-
counts and to finish balancing his books.
Farley delighted in getting Zack to
talk of American history, for the boy
loved to read about his own country, and
remembered a great deal of what he
read. Farley had never given much
time to such reading. 1t was pleasant to
see the gaunt boollkeeper sitting upon
his stool at night, eagerly listening,
while the shock headed Zack, upon an
other stool, with silk dusting- cloth in
one hand, and feather whisk in the
other, related stories of the fights of the
SPaniards with the Indians iP Florida,
or described the grand ceremonies that
attended the journey of Washington
through the country after the close OF
the Revolutionary war. Zack was full
of interesting facts relating to the great
men of old times, and Farley often won
dered how it was that so little fellow
came to know SO much. In return for
these entertainments, Farley taught
Zack many of the small mysteries of
count-keeping, showed him how to
take care of books, and various Office
duties. Zack looked with wonder on
the huge ledgers and journals, and at
the mighty safe, set like a great cup
board in the walls, large enough for a
man to walk inside and stand erect. He
grew to have sort of affection for the
broad white pages of Farley's folios,
with their beautiful writing and figures.
At odd hours he learned to do a great
deal in the way of adding columns and
filing papers, while poor Farley, with
his bent back and red eyes, was leaning
over his desks and toiling through the
long reckonings, making no sound save
the scratching of his pen and the laying
down of his pencil. This hard work
told upon Farley severely; so much so
as even to cause him to faint OF times;
and ZACH had more than once revived
him by bringing ice water and ammonia,
and throwing open the windows for air.
Thus the two became fast friends.
lack took great interest in the huge
locks on the safe, and two or three times
he had happenedin in the morning when
Farley was alone, and stood by to see him
open the one under his cere.' He