Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1889-08-30
..rhe ns., no,,. s,orr 1 Ever usnra.

That was what a lawyer said of this
story that | am to relate TO you "It is the
best boys story l ever heard. "
eve have had good many boys with us
from time to time. said Mr.. Alden, the
senior member of a large hardware estab.
lshment in Market street, Philadelphia,
las 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 every
thing 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 sea
son. And we are very particular about our
boys-and before accepting one an ap-
prentice we must know that he comes of
honest and industrious parents.
But the best boy we ever had is now
with US, and a member of the firm. He is
the one man in the establishment that we
couldn't do without He was thirteen
years old when he was apprenticed to us,
and he was with us for eleven years, acting
| for several years as salesman. When he
| first came we told him that for long time
his wages would be very small but that if
creased at a certain rate every year, and as
it turned out, when according to agreement
we should have been paying him five hun
dred dollars year, we paid him nine hun
dred, and he never said a word himself
about an increase of salary. From the
very outset he showed that he had an inter
est in the business He was prompt in the
morning. and if kept little overtime at
night it never seemed to make any differ
ence 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 establishment seemed to be mapped
out in his head and everything in it 'cata
| logued 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. used to say to him,
| Jones, your memory is worth more than
| gold mine How do you manage to re-
member 2
90 4 make it my business to remember, ,
he would say. 4 know that if l can re-
member man and call him by name when
he comes into the store, and can ask him
how things are going on where he lives,
will be very likely to keep him as a Gus
| toner
And that was the exact case. He made
| friends of buyers He took the same in
terest in their purchases as he took in the
store, and would GO to no end of trouble to
suit them, and to fulfil to the letter every,
thing he promised
"Well affairs went on this way until he
had been with us eleven years, when we
concluded to take him into the firm as a
partner. We knew that he had no extrav-
agant habits, that he neither used tobacco
nor beer, nor went to the theatre. He con-
tinued at the beginning to board at
home, and even when his salary was the
very lowest he paid his mother two dollars
a week for his board. He was always
neatly dressed, and we thought 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
a partner in the business, and suggested
| that it would be more satisfactory if he
could put some money into the firm, he re
piled
IF ten thousand dollars will be any OBJ
| ject l can put in that much. l have saved
out of my salary nine thousand four hun
| dred dollars, and my sister will let me have
six hundred
II can tell you that l was never more
astOnlshed III my life than when that fellow
said he could put in ten thousand dollars,
and most of it his own money. He had
never spent dollar, or twenty-f five cents
or five cents for an unnecessary thing, and
had kept his money in the bank where it
gathered a small interest | am a great be-
lever in the Bible, you know, and always
kept two pacards in big letters up in the
store. One was this text He that is faith
| full in that which is least, is faithful in that
which is much : and on tine other He that
is diligent in business, shall stand before
kings and not before mean men, And
| Frank Jones's success was the literal fulfil
ment of those two texts. He had been
faithful in the smallest things as in the
/ greater ones, and diligent in business. That
kind of boy always succeeds, concluded
Mr.. Alden
A small boy of ten, who had listened to
the story with eager eyes, as well as ears,
said
"But we don't have any kings in this
country Mr., Alden, for diligent boys to
stand beforel'
"Yes we do, - laughed Mr.. Alden. 1--WE
have more kings here than in any other
country in the world. We have money
kings, and business kings and railroad
kings, and land kings, and merchant kings,
and publishing kings, and some of them
WELD an enormous power. This is great
country for kings, MARY Wager Fisher
! in WIDE AiUdke.