The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-01-15
A POOR "BUT" MAN.
Something Lacking to Gain Sue
cess and Happiness.

/ SOmeGnlng Lacking TO 6eAln sue
cess and Happiness.
| One of the best-known men in New
/ York is the Colonel Everybody who
/ has lived long enough in the city to
know Broadway from the BOwery has
| seen him score of times or more, and
| those who have lived in hotels or board
ing houses are intimately acquainted
with him. The appearance of the
Colonel varies with circumstances.
/ His usual age is somewhere in the
neighborhood of fifty years. He is
! sometimes tall and bearded, sometimes
short and smoothly shaven, but he is
always a shrewd observer, a ready
! talker, and has a fund of information
| at his command which came to him
! largely from observation. His name
also shares the variable quality Of his
appearance. He is often doctor, not
unfrequently Major, sometimes Gen
eral, and most geaerally plain mister,
but for the purpose of Identification in
! this case he is Colonel, fifty years of
age, tall, neatly formed, with the easy
bearing of a man of the world, shrewd
in his observations and communicative
to degree.
1t was at side table in a cozy chop
house. just off Broadway above Madi-
/ son Square, to be particular, that the
! Colonel sat one evening a short time
ago with the writer for his vis-a-vis.
Speaking of different types of peo-
| pie we meet in boarding houses" said
the Colonel, "did you ever know a
but manP"
"a but man?"
eyes. He is one of the commonest
of all the men know. You meet him
! everywhere. "
mot by that name thought"
''Well, perhaps not. He is generally
a moderately. good fellow. He has
some weakness though, some damaging
! fault which blights his career and is
expressed invariably by this qualifying
conjunction. He is always described
as "a very nice fellow, but or "a very
good business man, but OF course
you have heard of him. He is typical
in all countries and in every rank of
life. Great Generals, commanding
statesmen, and even monarchs have
toppled and fallen below the lowest
levels of humanity on account of the
one fatal omission in their characters
denoted by this potent monosyllable.
Il knew a young man." continued
the Colonel, 'whOm / will call
George He was a winning fellow,
with a bright. happy, cheerful, sunny
temperament which lghtened the at
mosphere of every room he entered.
His face was handsome, open and in
! genuous as a child's He was tidy in
his dress, an easy talker and generally
managed to say something entertain
ing. So, soon after he engaged a hall
bedroom in our boarding house he be-
came a prime favorite with everyone.
Even the silent husband of our little,
! Oyer-wOrked landlady liked him, and
this was a compliment shared by no
one else i'm the house.
Il took great interest in the boy and
| he made a confidant of me to an extent
that was oftentimes burdensome, for
we none of us care about assuming the
! entire control of our acquaintances,
! however much we MAJ like them
George was employed in a wholesale
| dry goods house as entry clerk-not an
! important place in itself, but one likely
! TO lead to something better. He was
fairly good entry clerk, too, barring
a slight tendency to carelessness and a
/ lack of interest in the details of his
I work. The head of the firm was Mr..
| Caldwell, dead these many years, / am
sorry to say. He had occasion to see a
! good deal of George, and one day,
i when there was a vacancy in the of
| fee, he translated him from the base
| ment to a desk in the glass-walled
room on the main floor. George was
! highly elated with the change and con-
! fided to me that he was on the high
! road to success, as he picturesquely
| put it: All ] have to do now is to reach
out my hand and pluck fortune from
| the stem where it grows. And so it
I looked to me. Mr.. Caldwell was gem
erous. wealthy, and had habit of adj
vancing his employees as far and as
! rapidly as they could go. George re-
manned in the Office a year or more {.
without making any particular adj
1 vancement. He did his work fairly
/ we'll, but i'm spite of this he was not adj
/ vanced to anything better, When the
days work was light he spread it over
! the seven hours he was in the office,
| and when il was heavy he managed TO
finish 1t within the same specified time.
| This was strictly Just TO the firm, but
/ the fact remained that after two years
service he was absolutely nnacquainted
with anything else than the duties
/ which appertained to his own position.
During this time George managed
to become acquainted with Mr.. Cald-
/ well s fnOLbeTleSS daughter 4liluEtu- ~ 4
4 charming, vivacious girl, full Of life
! and spirits She often came 10 her
fathers Office and George was so enter
tanning, as he well knew how to be,
that an intimacy sprang up between
them, and in the course Of time he be-
came a regular visitor at the merchants
residence, with Mr.. Caldwelis entire
consent, for he never denied his daugh-
ter any wish which should not be in
dulged, and George was a gentleman
both BY breeding and instinct When
the merchant observed. as he did in
time. that his daughter was beginning
/ to think rather more Of his clerk than
/ she did Of her other friends, and he
too took an added interest i'm the young
man, in q variety Of ways he showed
| his friendship TO the boy. George was
not unmindful of this, but with good
taste he never attempted 10 impose
upon him, but continued modestly at
| his work. content 10 wait for what the
future might bring forth