Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-01-13
A CIeveIand KOmaaee.
Cleveland Penny PoI

have given any, poor fellow! He was
the sole support Of a young wife, and
when his salary was raised to $40 a
week, which was considered a goodly
sum in those days, he was prouder
than his rich but dyspeptic employer.
Alas he was an independent American
and took no pains to show his dislike
for a fellow clerk, a confirmed toady.
This latter clerk was very familiar
with his employer. why do many
business men smile upon cringing.
brainless spies, and place a premium
on toadyism2" remarked the indepen>
dent clerk one day. His fellow la.
b)rer vowed vengeance. One day the
clerk, in haste to make a large sale
after having sold fifteen cents worth
Of goods, put the fifteen cents in his
pocket, intending to deliver it to the
cashier as soon as he waited on the
large purchaser, The toady saw the
fifteen cents go into his enemy's peck
ct. He didn't wait to see whether it
was paid over or not. lie informed
the employer.
The clerk was summoned to the
office. He went, whistling, merrily
Il have made some heavy sales this
week, and | guess they are going to
raise my salary, thought he. "What
a shrewd employer | ami" said the
merchant. "He will wonder how
found that out, and think that | am a
wonderfully sharp man. 1t seems al
most too bad to throw him out of
work, but | must make an example of
him for the benefit of the rest" The
clerk turns pale with fright
when confronted with the accusation
Of theft. He denies it. They all do
that exclaims the employer, who
likes to play the role of a cool, keen.
sarcastic kichelieu. Prove your
innocence, says the merchant. ALAS,
| cannot, groaned the clerk, who real
yes TIL So appearanceS are against him.
W. haze no further need Of your
SERVICES eyclaims he employer.
That sentence, the most cruel that
was ever framed, the words that have
carried more desolation to the hearts
# struggling men than any other save
the sentence Of death, pierces the
clerks soul like molten metal poured
into a fresh wound. Days OF fruitless
hunting for work, days of actual want,
drive hope out of that clerks heart.
AT last success seems to crown his
efforts. Come around to morrow,
says a merchant to whom he has ap
piled, and | will set you at work"
With light step the clerk goes to the
store next day. The merchant, so
cordial yesterday, is cold to-day. IL
have changed my mind. | guess you
will hardly answer our purpose" says
the merchant coldly. The clerk walks
out Of the store with bowed head.
Despair gives place to haste.
At last an advertisement appeared
in the columns Of a Cleveland paper:
Wanted, a situation as clerk" 1t is
answered by a man who isa Judge Of
human nature, as all employers should
DO. He remembers how he himself
,nce yielded to temptation and en-
5ezzled a few dollars. but was given a
chance to reform by his indulgent en-.
ployor. who thus made a man instead
Of a wreck of him. At last the clerk
IS at work again, thanks to the aid Of
an advertising medium, and the EN-
ployer, to whom the clerk hankly con-.
ides the full story Of his troubles,
hnds his new man an excellent one
But, alas, he cannot smother the bitter
hate that was born in his soul in the
dark days of his life. He succeeds,
nd the merchant loses sight of him
Twenty years later the reader picks
up the paper containing the ad., and
inds that a magician has written the
following between the printed lines,
md added some new matter TO the
history OF that ad: Merchant No. /
is alive So is No, 9. Both have for.
gotten the clerk, No one recognizes
in the richly dressed banker the
former clerk. Thus easily is ones
identity lost in a great city, A panic
ensues. Merchant No. Is house stands
the strain, while others go down. At
last he becomes a trife worried. His
family, 10 their ease and luxury. no.
tice it, but hardly heed it. Alasl
wealth makes some women as heartless
as poverty, and adversely makes the
clerks wife true and loyal. "Pshawl
| can get all the money | want at the
bank" says merchant No. /. He goe,
to the bank. He imagines
that the cashier is not as diferential
as formerly, but drives the thought
I away. II want few thousand dollars
9 for about thirty days" says he, with q
careless air. He knows that men have
said of him that he was good for almos
any amount of money. ald he can al
7 ford to be independent. To his sur
prise the bank officials hesitate, and
ask him to wait until the next day
The following day he is asked to step
in and see Mr. So and.So, one of thu
directors. Mr.. So.and So angers him
: with troublesome questions, and ends
by uttering the humiliating words:
1--WE hardly dare let you have the
money, sir, We have an abundance
Of money waiting for good investments,
but, although yours is an old house,
, we are aware that it is not as sound as
formerly"
The merchant Indignantly quits the
bank with a feigned air Of iDdepen-
dsnee and the remark that he can
/ easily get the money elsewhere. But
why isit he finds all the avenues
closed against him. How is it that
stories Of his unsound financial con-
ditian are noised abroad?
Why does everything seem to con.
| spiro against him2 Alasl he doesn't
, know that the banker who Inundated
; him is the clerk he once discharged.
l Ha doesn't know that the bankers
emissaries are watching his every
4 move. No man MS such opportunities
Q as a banker to indulge the luxury Of
4, revenge. Suddenly merchant No. /
fails. Alasl he saves nothing from
the wreck; everything oonspires against
him. lie discovers that the banker
y has bought up thousands OF dollars
4 worth Of his paper. The banker il
) appointed receiver. The scene
D in that merchants household be.
e comes darker than tie sac