The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-08-28
happier-the consciousness that he hat
saved a mani


A very late spring obliterates the de-
mand for spring overcoats and spring
hats and spring apparel of all sorts,
Hundreds of thousands of people say,
1T seems we are going to have no
spring, and we shall go straight out OF
winter into warm weather, and we can
get along without the usual spring at.
tire" Or there is no autumn weather,
the heat plunging into the cold, and
the usual clothing which is compro
mise between summer and winter is not
required, II makes n difference in the
sale Of millions and millions Of dollars
Of goods, and some oversanguine young
merchant is caught with vast amount
OF unstable goods that will never be
salable again, except at prices ruinously
reduced.
The young merchant with a some
what limited capital is in predica,
ment What shall the old merchants
do as they see the young man in this
awful crisis2 Rub their hands and
laugh and say; Good for him. He
might have known better. When he
has been in business as long as we
have he will not load his shelves that
way. Hal Hal He will burst up be-
fore long. He had no business to open
his store so near to ours anyhow"
Sheriff's salel Red flag in the window.
How much is bid for these out-of-
fashion spring overcoats and spring
hats, or fall clothing out of date1
What do l hear in the way of bid"
-Four dollars" absurd, cannot
take that bid of four dollars apiece.
Why, these coats when first put upon
the market were offered at fifteen dol
lars each, and now l am offered only
four dollars Is that all2 Five dol
lars, do hear2 Going at that Gone
at five dollars" and he takes the whole
| lot.
The young merchant goes home that
night and says to his wife well,
Mary, we will have to move out of this
house and sell our piano. That old
merchant that has had an evil eye on
me ever since started has bought out
all that clothing, and he will have it
rejuvenated, and next year put it on
the market as new, while we will do
well if we keep out of the poorhouse. "
The young man, broken spirited, goes
to hard drinking. The young wife with
| her baby goes to her fathers house,
and not only is his store wiped out, but
his home, his morals, and his prospects
for two worlds-this and the next. And
devils make banquet of fire and fill
their cups of gall, and drink deep to
the health of the old merchant who
swallowed up the young merchant who
got stuck on spring goods and went
down. That is one way, and some of
you have tried it.
| WAY TO SAVE HIM.
But there is another way. That
young merchant who found that he
had miscalculated in laying in too
many goods of one kind and been flung
of the unusual season, is standing be-
hind the counter, feeling very blue and
biting his finger nails, or looking over
his account books, which read darker
and worse every time he looks at them,
and thinking how his young wife will
have to be put in a palmer house than
she ever expected to live in, or go to a
third rate boarding house where they
have tough liver and sour bread five
mornings out of the seven.
An old merchant comes in and says
"Well, Joe, this has been hard season
for young merchants, and this pro-
longed cool weather has put many in
the doldrums, and | have been think
ing of you good deal of late, for just
after started in business | once got
into the same scrape. Now, if there is
anything can do to help you out l
will gladly do it. Better just put those
goods out of sight for the present, and
next season we will plan something
about them. will help you to some
goods that you can sell for me on com
mission, and will go down to one OF
the wholesale houses and tell them
that l know you and will back you up,
and if you want few dollars to bridge
over the present, | can let you have
them. Be as economical as you can,
keep stiff upper lip, and remember
that you have two friends, God and
myself. Good morning"
The old merchant goes away and the
the young man goes behind his desk,
and the tears roll down his cheeks II
is the first time he has cried. Disaster
made him mad at everything, and mad
at man and mad at God. But this
kindness melts him. and the tears seen
to relieve his brain, and his spirits rise
from ten below zero to eighty in tbs
shade, and he comes out of the crisis
About three years after. this young
merchant goes into the old merchants
store and says: well, my old friend,
was this morning thinking over what
you did for me three years ago You
helped me out of an awful crisis in my
commercial history. learned wisdom,
prosperity has come and the pallor has
gone out of my wife's cheeks, and the
roses that were there when | courted
her in her fathers house have bloomed
again and my business is splendid, and
I thought ought to let you know that
you saved a man"
In a short time after, the old mer-
chant, who had been good while shaky
in his limbs and who had poor spells, is
called to leave the world and one
morning after he had read the twenty.
third Psalm about The Lord is my
Shepherd, he closes his eyes on this
world, and an angel, who had been for
many years appointed to watch the old
mans dwelling, cries upward the news
that the patriarch's spirit is about as
cending. And the twelve angels who
keep the twelve gates of heaven, unite
in crying down to this approaching
spirit of the old man, Come in, and
welcome, for it has been told all ovel
these celestial lands that you saved G