The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-11-01
A ~MRTHoD!CAL A

Gence Oh MS GypoWr1Clng
1t is remarkable that the T. P. (mean-
ing the tender passion) should have
turned the methodical mans method
calness to his undoing, IS nearly hap,
pened in the case of Mr.. George Peters,
Love should have nothing to do with a
man during business hours. There
ought to be a placard to this effect
hanging up in all we'll regulated bust
ness houses:
Clerks in love are requested by the manage.
mem not to think of the adored object be- :
tween the hours of 9 a. m. and 6 p. m. {:
by order: ::
Now George Peters was a very me
thodical person for so young a man.
When a letter got into Peters hands it
went through a certain routine, and
the answer departed from him to the
copying book, and from the copying
book to the envelope, and the envelope,
letter and all, with enclosures marked,
went into the letter box with a regu
larity that nothing but the Office clock
could emulate, and even that, the clerks
said, was not as regular as Peters, for
they claimed 1t was always fast in the
morning and mighty slow in point
ing to 6 o'clock.
1t is little wonder, then, that Peters
stood so high in the confidence of old
man Bentham. Bentham was Bent
ham Bros & Co. There. were no
brothers and no company-that was
merely The firm uame-it was all Bent
ham. Perhaps there once were brothers
and perhaps there was nee a company.
but that is all ancient history anyhow,
and has nothing to do with this strictly
modern story. And it did not inter
fere with the fact that old Bentham's
name was a lovely thing to have at the
bottom of a large check.
The clerks never speculated on the
probable effect of love on Peters be-
cause it never occurred to them that
such a thing as Peters falling in love
was within the bounds of possibility.
Love, they argued, was not an article
that can be docketed and ticketed and
referred iback for further information
and entered in the daybook and posted
ON the debit or credit side of a ledger,
so what on earth could Peters do with
it if he had it7 Manifestly nothing.
If they had known as much about
human nature as you or l they would
have surmised that when Peters did
fall 1t wa time to stand from under.
And who should Peters fall in love
with but the very woman of all others
whom he ought have given a
thought to-in other words, pretty
little Miss Sadie Bentham, if you please.
It made Peters himself cold when he
thought of it, for he knew he had just
as much chance of getting the moon
or the laureatship as the consent of old
man Bentham. The clerks always said
that it was Miss Sadie who fell in love
with Peters, principally, I suppose, be-
cause she should have known better,
and l think myself there is something
to be said for that view of the matter.
AnyhoE she came to her fathers
place of bushes very often and ap-
parently very unnecessarily, but the
old man was always pleased to see her,
no matter how busy he happened to
be. At first she barely looked at
Peters, but when she did fash one Of
those quick chances of hers at him poor
Peters thought he had the fever and
ague. He understood the symptoms
later on.
/ don't know how things came to a
climax; neither do the clerks, for that
matter, although they pretend to. Be-
sides, they are divided in their opin-
ions, SO I think their collective sur
misses amount to very little. Johnson
claims that it was done over the tele-
phone, while Farnam says she came to
the Office one day when her father was
not there and proposed to Peters on the
spot. One thing the clerks are unani-
NOUS about, and that is that Peters
left to himself would never have had
the courage. Still too much attention
must not be paid to what the clerks
say. What can they know about it?
They are in another room.
Peters knew that he had no right to
think about that girl during business
hours. He was paid to think about
the old man and his affairs, which
were not nearly so interesting. But
Peters was conscientious, and he tried
to do his duty. Nevertheless the
chances are that unconsciously little
Miss Sadie occupied some small portion
of his mind that should have been
given up to the concerns of Bentham