Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-07-25

- began life 10 the city al London
~ tne Office of a large timber firm. A.
slSteen L entered the office, and until /
rvs cl2se upon twenty was occupied in
sne Ordinary routine of the counting
mouse. l never cared much for de K
wotk' n l was glad Of the opportunity
OF leaving my desk and taking a pos:-
tlon IN our great timber-yard. Here
was a life Of physical activity, in which
l. found scope for Judgment; at the Of
! work.
~ "Marston & Co. bought and sold
Wooo OF all kinds-Swedish, North
american, West Indian, British Afri-
can: L quickly became master of nv
business. liked it, and liking in my
business is more than half the battle. I
need not go into technical detail; it will
oe enough if l say that when I reached
w n twenty years of age 1 was one
OF the best jud ges of logs in London.
10 those who know nothing of the bus
mess it may seem that little or no skill
is required in selecting timber. But
When we come to consider the wide
difference of prices of fancy wood of
the same kind the value of an expert
will appear.
cat this time I had a salary which
Will appear, while sufficient to keep a
bachelor in q homely way, was alto
gether Inadequate to the support of a
family. But"-here he leaned with a
pleasant, gentle courtesy toward his
wife-"1 had made up my mind who
my wife should be if ever 1 married.
Out of my small salary 1 was able to
lay by a little money. We used to call
this her dowry"- here he bowed again
in the direction of his wife-"for she
was an orphan, alone in the world, and
kept herself on her slender earnings as
a schoolmistress.
"Three Or four sons of members of
the firm were in the business, so that I.
being without capital, had little or no
chance Of ever attaining to "a partner
ship. There were, of course, men with
much larger salaries than my own, but
they were older by twenty years, and
waiting for dead mems shoes is bad
work. l plainly saw that marriage was
for me out of the question as long as I
staid with Marston u Co. Accordingly,
when l was about six-and-twenty, and
had saved close upon a hundred
pounds, l went to the head of the firm
and explained my case. L told HIM I
felt, so far az the business and the
treatment I received went, perfectly
satisfied, but that Twas anxious to push
my fortune so that l might settle in
life. Old Mr.. Marston was extremely
kind. He told me that they were
greatly pleased with me, and that they
would do anything in reason rather
than let me go, but that certain IN
frangible conditions of promotion OK
listed. that l could not be put over the
heads OF my seniors, and that although
he was willing to increase my salary to
the utmost limit-consistent with my
| servlces-he could not on any account
overstep the limit. I explained that
the increase he offered would not meet
my views, and that 1 had determined
| to leave as soon as a substitute for me
was supplied.
"Mr. Marston then asked me what I
proposed doing. remember as though
it was but yesterday, the mixture of
pride and humiliation I felt when told
him that 1 intended starting in business
for myself.
".May I ask he said, what business
you purpose starting imp
"'Something the same as I have been
at l said, feeling still more uncom-
Portable.
"'Ohr he cried. with a smile, you
are going to be a rival of ours?"
".No, no. I fastened to say. 4 in
tend buying and selling on commits
sion, and / wish to know, sir, If 1
may count on you as n of my pat
rons.'
"'You may count on me- said he,
cordially doing all for you l may fair
ly do. Young Bayliss,' he added,
gravely, if you want a hundred ortwo
you have but to say the word. You
can pay me back Just as you please
II thanked him most sincerely, and
told him that for my present purposes
1 wanted little or no capital, except
Just what would keep me going until
l had got my scheme into operation.
"'.And, said he, may I ask what ex-
actly is your schemeP
"'Well, sir,' said, 4 imagine 1 am
q good Judge of fancy logs
$50 they tell me, so they tell me-
aail he 'and that is the reason we are
sorry to lose you
"'And my notion is, that if I go
about here and there 1 may be able to
find logs which the want to sell
and which my judgment tells me are
good value for the money asked. And.
sir, when I asked you to help mi with
your patronage l meant that, would
you buy upon my judgment and so put
the commission for the sale in my
way"
ga very good idea for you, indeed"
said the old man. "A very good notion,
indeed. 1 understand you have made
no mistakes up to this, and L have no
doubt that we shall be able to do a good
deal with you. OF course, you know
all things OF that kind must be done
through Mr.. Watkins, the master of
the yard
":I have already spoken to Mr.. Wat
kins, sir, and he says that, with your
permission, he will be glad to help me-
sin q month L left Marston 4 Co.,
and found myself free to do as Ipleased,
and with about ESQ in my pocket. 1t
so happened that the first day Of my
lihartv and the first day of the Easter