Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1890-02-07

! be her brave boy and take share IN the
family troubles without complaining
He was not prepared (" say, just then,
that what was bothering him was not the
! loss Of Jenny; but the loss of his express
busine5s-for he felt in his bones, some
how, that his father aud mother would not
| like to have him to 90 20 work for them,
and he hoped that if only get the business
| started without their knowing about it, SO
that he could prove to them what good
business it was, and how well he could
manage it, they would gladly let him ga
| on with it.
So. instead of telling all about his plan,
he took another tack and asked if Jenny
and the donkey cart were not his own
and, if they were, how they could be sold
away from him. When it was ezplaine
| to him that until he was twenty one years
old everything that was called his, really
in law, belonged to his father, and 50 muSt
be sold To pay his fathers debts, he made
he found out aiterward-by saying that he
would go and talk matters over with Mr..
Wilkinson; for it was not like Billy to be
thinking of himself when other people, and
they were afraid that the family misior-
tunes were making him selfish.
Mr.. Wilkinson was Mr.. jerks lawyer,
and he and Billy were great friends. He
was "A kink old gentleman; and when Billy
sent in card with ''W. jerks, on Import
ant Business" written on it, he invited
Billy in. Billy knew that the lawyers time
was valuable, and he went straig to the
point. Can or can not my donkey and don.
| key cart be sold to pay my fathers debtsf'
he asked And Mr.. Wilkinson came straight
to the point, too, by answering, ''Of course
they can" Billy bit his lip hard, and tri
| cd to keep his selfcontrol; but he could
not help giving just one sob; aud he had 50
set his heart upon helping his father; and
her, was his plan for helping him all
knocked into cooked hat
Mr.. Wilkinson was very sorry for Billy
and tried to comfort him. But, when he found
that Billy wouldn't be comiorted, he spoke
a little sharply and said that he had ex-
pected better things of Billy, and told him
he was too big boy TO be selfish about a
miserable donkey; but just then he forget Ia
stand up for. IN very fragmentary way
for it was all he could do to keep from
crying-ne told Mr.. Wilkinson all about his
plan for helping his father, and how the
loss of Jenny and the donkey cart must, OF
course, upset it completely. Mr.. Wilkin-
son listened to Billy very attentively with
out speaking a word and was silent for a
little after he had finished.
"Billy, you are a very sensible boy" he
see the difference between a business trans
action and a personal obligation. What /
have to propose to you is business trans
action. When Jenny and the cart are
sold, as they must be, I'll buy them my
sell; and then, for IL fixed annual payment,
I'll let you have them to run your express
business with. Money is pretty low just
now, and I'll he quite satisfied to get five
pei CthL. ouJ vi III investment itSh'Li
that the lot will cost me about hundred
dollars, so you will have tn pay me five
dollars a year. No, don't interrupt me"
Billy was trying to say that he could
not think think of letting Mr.. Wilkinson
do this act of great kindness for m,-''for
interrupting me won't do any good at all.
We're talking business now, and nothing
else. | am to get II reasonable return for
my money, and you will have good mar
gin for your own profit. My offer is just
what | told you it was a moment ago
IA straight out business proposition, and
you needn't hesitate a moment about ac-
cepting it, if you think well of it"
Well, the long and short of it was that
Billy did accept the offer; and as he was
going away, after shaking hands with Mr.
Wilkinson and saying how very much
obliged he was to him, Mr.. Wilkinson said:
"YOu can begin business whenever you
please, Billy. Until the sale take place.
the donkey and cart will be yours, and af-
ter it takes place, they will be mine.
tinue to be, vested in the firm, Mr..
Wilkinson waAed his hand as if he were
speaking to n judge on the bench, ,-''therc
is no reason why operations should not be
Mr.. Wilkinson added, as Billy had his
hand on the door knob, 'is that of IA spec
ial partner. I put fixed sum into the
concern, and l am responsible for the
firms debt only so far as that sum goes
If you plunge madly into baggage smash
ing, William jerks, and smash more than
one hundred dollars worth of trunks, don t
look to me to meet your liabilities, for
WON'T"
And then Mr.. Wilkin son grinned at Bill
ly, and Billy tried hard to smile at Mr..
Wilkinson-but he was so grateful for
what Mr.. Wilkinson had done that it was
all that he could do to keep from crying
However, he got away without breaking
down, having steadied himself by the re
Election that he was now man of fbusiness,
and rs such must hold the tender emotions
in check.
What pleased him most of all was the
advice that his partner had given him,-to
begin work right away,-and the conf
dence he now felt that, with Mr.. Wilkin-
son for partner, his father and mother
would be sure to let him go ahead. lie
was 30 pleased with it all that he started
for home on dead run.
But all the wind was taken out of his
sails when he reached home, on fndin &
that his mother had been called away in
hurry by q telegram bringing word that
his Uncle John was sick, and that his
father had gone with her, and that they
would not be back until the evening. Bill
ly was sorry to hear that his Uncle John
was sck,-at least, he was as sorry as he
reasonably could be about the sickness of an
uncle whom he had seen only two or three
times in the course of his life, and whom
he might have met anywhere in the street
without recognition. For his mother.
though he was very sorry indeed; for he
knew she was very fond of her brother
John, and it did seem hard that this fresh
trouble should come to her with all the
Others Then, being reminded of the fam
ily troubles, he presently forgot all about
his Uncle Johns sickness and thought on
ly Of his project for making these troubles
less by running an express wagon.
1t was evident, since his father and