Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1889-09-09
s'The Best Boys Story I Ever
Heard

That was what a lawyer said of
this story that I am to relate to you ;
cit is the best boys story | ever
heard
eve have had good many boys
with us from time to time,'' said Mr..
Alden, the senior member of large
hardware establishment in Market
street, Philadelphia, "as apprentices
to learn the business. What may
surprise you is that we never take
country boys unless they live in the
city with some relative who takes
care of them and keeps them home at
night, for when a country boy comes
to the city to live everything is new
to him, and he is attracted by every
show window and unusual sight. The
city boy who is accustomed to these
| things cares little for them, and if he
has a good mother he is at home and
in bed in due season. And we are
very particular about our boys-and
before accepting one as an appren-
tice we must know that he comes of
honest and Industrious parents.
'sBut the best boy we ever had is
now with us, and a member of the
firm. He is the one man in the es-
tablishment that we couldn't do with
out. He was thirteen years old when
he was apprenticed to us, and he was
with us for eleven years, acting for
first came we told him that for long
time his wages would be very small,
but that if he was a good boy his
salary would be increased at cer-
tain rate every year, and as it turned
out, when according to agreement we
should have been paying him five
hundred dollars year, we paid him
nine hundred dollars year, and he
never said word himself about an
increase of salary. From the very
outset he showed that he had an in
terest in the business. He was
prompt in the morning, and if kept a
little over time at night it never seem
ed to make any difference with him.
He gradually came to know where
everything was to be found, and if
information was wanted, it was to
this boy, Frank Jones, that every
one applied. The entire establish
ment seemed to be mapped out in his
head, and verything in il catalogued
and numbered. His memory of faces
was equally remarkable. He knew
the name of every man who came to
the store to buy goods, what he
bought and where he came from. l
used to say to him, Jones, your
memory is worth more than a gold
mine! How do you manage to re-
member?'
g Il make it my business to re-
MEMBER he would say. Il know
that if | can remember a man and
call him by name when he comes into
the store, land can ask him how things
are going on where he lives, 1 will
be very likely to keep him as GUS
| TONER
And that was the exact case. He
made friends of buyers. He took
the same interest in their purchases
as he took in the store, and would 90
to no end of trouble to suit them, and
to fulfill to the letter everything he
promised.
"Well, affairs went on in this way
until he had been with us eleven
years, when we concluded to take
him into the firm as partner. We
knew that he had no extravaganza
habits, that he neither used tobacco
nor beer, nor went to the theater.
He continued as at the beginning to
board at home, and even when his
salary was the very lowest he paid his
mother two dollars week for his
board. He was always neatly dress
ed, and we thought that it was very
probable that he had laid up one or
two thousand dollars, as his salary
for the last two years had been twelve
hundred dollars. So when we made
him the offer to become partner in
the business, and suggested that it
would be more satisfactory if he
could put some money into the firm,
he replied:
S IF ten thousand dollars will be
any object [ can put in that much. I
have saved out of my salary nine
thousand four hundred dollars, and
my sister will let me have six hun
dred.'
81 can tell you that was never
more astonished in my life than when
that fellow said he could put in ten
thousand dollars, and most of it of
his own money. He had never spent
dollar, or twenty-five cents or five
cents for an unnecessary thing, and
had kept his money in the bank,
where it gathered small interest. l
am great believer in the Bible, you
know, land l always kept two placards
in big letters up in the store. One
was this text: He that is faithful in
that which is least, is faithful in that
which is much; and on the other:
'He that is diligent in business shall
stand before kings and not before
mean men, And Frank Jones' sue
cess was the literal fulfllment of
those two texts. He had been as
faithful in the smallest things as in
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