The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-08-18

M AN NIED-A young gentleman who knows
w how to .pell ana who writes good hanl
to do copying; N the country for two or three
months NJ - remain in employers hoaSe.
Address in o. hand. stating what salary i
expected, ", IL l4uO, this office
This was al advertisement I cut GU;
of the Er mug Post one spring after
noon.
In The old days l had been book.
keeper ior the late concern of Skinfint
Sarvehimout & Co., and while will
them | had been getting a good salary,
and, 10 my sorr be it said, lived
pretty well up to it; so as | made no; h.
ing by the failure of the concern, aud
lost my place as we'll, l had to come
down very low. ] had saved little.
more by good luck than from fore
thought, and this little, used with the
strictest economy, and added to by a
few dollars made here and there in odd
ways, was. all that had kept me alive for
eightt en- months. However, l didn't
feel quite disposed to go to the dogs
yet, for there was always a chance of
something tuning up in great city
like New York.
AS | looked around my room that
evening | realized how bare it was of
either furniture or adonments; how
unlike All, well, there was my paper;
and l unfolded it with all the glee of
child over a new story book. There
was, of course, the usual political news,
the usual number of railroad accidents
and criminal proceedings; there were
items of interest to investors and
theater-goers and travellers; but nothing
for me. | had no money to invest, or
for theaters, or travelling. So skipped
all that and went on to the advertise
ments, and the only one of them all
worth reading twice was the advertise
ment quoted above.
l read it two or three times, and then
decided it was worth trying. So |
hunted up sheet of paper and ad-
dressed x as follows:
-"My Dem Mr., Mrs, or Mss Y:
notice your advertisement in to,day's
issue of the Eoeninq Post. Ny hand
writing you can see for yourself. My
spelling, think, is usually correct, and
there is no doubt l am a gentleman.
As to salary, I don't know what to say
l don't wish to value my services at
more than they're worth. Should you
mean by remain in employers
house, that 1 would be boarded and
lodged at your expense, my price-that
is, asking price-is five dollars week.
"Yours respectfully,
"JAMEs W. WoLCorT."
The next afternoon heard from my
friend X, who proved to be man. His
letter ran thus:
"JAMEs w. WoLcoTT, ESQ.,:
"My dear Sir-You may be gentle
man, write good hand, and know how
to spell, but you're a fool. 1 inclose
sixty-three cents, the fare to - You
will take the 7 A. NJ. train tomorrow
morning from Grand Central depot, and
when you arrive at -, ask for my
carriage, as it will be there to meet you.
"Yours, etc.,
"SoL. HUMPHREYS"
SOL Humphreys the last man in the
world would voluntarily have written
to, and for employment, too Two years
before l had very nice little filtration
with pretty Mabel Humphreys, and it
had gone so far that if the crash in my
affairs had not occurred, believe there
might have been an understanding, if
not an engagement. But as it was |
put away all thoughts of love and love-
making and dropped pretty Mabel very
suddenly, without any kind of an under
standing, and had not seen her since.
And now to think / had fairly got
myself into it sgsinl But, ] reflected,