Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1900-04-27

III t .v,ee 'surcy one may tell the sim.
ple ruin about HIMSELF, took grant noira
~ enlIghten him, and he showed gepr,ino
world. 'e"ly rare IN TINS
-, we lunched at the Bohemian oI,b and
.ne quality of the lunch was n revoIation
~ me- we had terrapn and chamnogne
"nu olher things that | had not been
T., Seus ,,o TO, but my refined tastes fl
~ qulte readily to these things as IL |
90 III er useu TO them all my life. Best
~ i-eouurG Hardman informed me
ui,S L. "oulu DC glad to have me lunch
o,,,,a,i I'm every day when | had no other
engagements thanked him and nor.
Ially promised never to mako anv con.
nlcting engagement.
-, Inc days that followed wero mucb
IKE that first day. II ever did anv.
tnlhg lke work or earned n dollar for
ny Hlhu employer, candor compels me
W W uuIhlt mat | have no recollection OF
~ nuI could ever make out what Leon.
lu haruman was doing in the way of
BUSINESS NO transactions were ever
crossed at his office. His afternoons
however, were uniformly spent away
from the office, knew not where nor
now and If he made any money at all II
was made in secret operations. I felt
somewhat piqued at his clandestine wav
OF doing things, but as my salary was
always paid promptly and | lunched reg.
ularly at his expense it did not seem to
me proper to call him to account
for the space of three years | was
mus associated with Leonard Hartman,
uuring which time he claimed to be pros
pering and seemed to be happy and con-
ture of his business or the amount of his
profits My early qualms of conscience
for not having been more serviceable 70
MN soon gave way to placid unconcern
ABOUT his secret operations, whatever
they were.
his demeanor toward me never chang
ca. 1t was always gentle, even deferen-
tal' something not usual in an EMPLOYER
we were more like companions than
anything else.
Almost three years to a day from the
commencement of my singular service
Leonard Hardman died. This was n
hard shock to me, for | felt a warm at.
tachment for him. Moreover | was
troubled at the thought of having to
hunt another situation.
When his will was opened, it was
found to contain, much to my surprise
and delight, handsome legacy of $50
OOO in my favor | gathered together
his papers so that his affairs could be put
in order and among other things found in
his private rooms at the club where he
lived Che was n bachelor) a book which
proved to be n diary, carefully kept to
the very day of his death.
The contents of this diary we're and
have ever since been a source of intense
humiliation TO me. | am generous
enough, however, to overlook and excuse
the yagaries of a man who had proved
SO good friend TO me and who possess
ed so many noble qualities. From the
date of my engagement in his service al
most daily references were made to my
self in this strange diary. Some of these
references were kind. others most un-
kind. What gave me kecnest grief and
still grieves me and what | now freely
forgive because palpably the product of
mind enfeebed by long devotion to
business are the following entries:
Jan. 10, lSS2.-Richard Kent has
this day entered my service have a
theory which wish to put thoroughly to
the test, and Kent is the subject of my
experiment.
"Jan. %. 1SS3.-It is now something
more than a year since Richard Kent
came to my office. My theory has work
ed out. But let me explain:
"All business success worth the name
is the result of good judgment Some
men have judgment at times good and
at times very bad. No man has good
judgment in all things and at all times,
because man is fallble. Some men ex-
hibit bad Judgment all the time.
while | had been successful in my
business affairs, nevertheless on occa-
sions lost heavily as the result OF bad
conclusions. 1t finally occurred to me
that If | had an adviser in the shape of
man who was wrong all the time
should be able to accomplish great re-
suits. | sought a long time before
found him. Richard Kent proved to be
the man, and n treasure he is.
"Kent is a well educated, well bred
man of 49, smart in many things, bril-
liant in a few things, but the worst rea-
soner l ever met in my life. On any
proposition of ordinary difficulty he uni
formly goes wrong. | have never known
him to fail. Whenever l am in doubt
what to do | ask his advice and then do
the other thing. His fallibility is per-
! feet"
Whatever my faults Gf | have any
fear is not one of them. have nothing
to conceal. | give the foregoing extracts
with profound sorrow and only because
they are necessary to explain the vision
III