Waterbury Democrat., 1902-12-26

l
 ceived him graciously, but, as he thought, with a slightly surprised ex- pression on her face; then he drifted away from one group to another. i. At first he felt difident and out of place, but as this wore off he found himself talking with men whose names he was familiar with as being l leaders in the financial world. And l little by little they began to listen to him with interest, and then with def erence. John Williams had not 1 passed much of his time in idleness, and, besides thoroughly familiarizing i himself with the various makes and trade marks and other intricate de- tails Of the goods in which his en- l pIoyers dealt, he had stored his mind with vast fund of miscellaneous in- l formation. And it so happened that l rare and unique makes of earthcn- ware was just now the subject in which the fashionable world was in l terested. @..s e
 J But as the evening wore away his face began to look puzzled, then questioning, then grave. At last he
 made his way across the room to his l hostess. -4a.s.ss .~ass.s:t-
 l s'I am glad you have come" she said. While the guests were arriv- l ing could only just bid you vel come. Now, how is Agnes and how l arc your sisters?'
 '-It is about them wish to speak, 5 he said, bluntly. ''Mr. Ware asked | me if my people were well, ard one of your daughters just asked me il l my sisters were coming to the city soon. Now, I am alone in the world. l My mother has been dead ten years, and I never had any sisters. There has been mistake" ..-.
 Aren't you John Williams, at Bur 1 ton & True's?'
 ''Yes." ~.s.. She looked puzzled. s
 "Is there another clerk of the same name in the establishments"
 ''Not that know of. There are sev- | eral Williamses, but do not think any 1 of them are named John."
 "It is curious. Agnes Williams wrote me that her son was coming to the city to engage with Burton 6 True, and that she hoped I would look after him little, She is an old school friend of mine. thought that you ap- peared rather older than her son could be-" 9,s:a,.sssksbess. ~.,4s#ts 4s#ts.xtsf
 ''Wel1, my being here is nistake,'' '' he said, gravely. ":But you must allow me to thank you, Mrs. Ware, for the pleasantest evening of my life. will go now. I am sorry for the person whose place have usurped, but can not help being little glad on my own l account. It has given me something I to think about and has shown me there l are more sides to life than a narrow
 minded man sometimes sees.'' s~ | ''But, really you must not go until the end of the evening" Mrs. Ware in- ] terpesed, pleasantly. ''It has been a mistake, certainly; but hope you will not make that reason for leaving us.'' .s He shook his head. %sa@vs-, .%
 ! 'cI would better go,' he answered. ''I do not like to take advantage of mis- takes" sa:Es 's,.skssss*5 s5.9. E: < :s,,,ss
 When he saw the new man come in 1 the next morning he left his desk with | a sudden presentiment of the truth. 'tWhat did you say your name was?" ',''Williams, sir.'' sa. .s. f>------- l "John?''
 l ts stYes; John Williams
 ,d- ttH'm!'' s,~.~.s.;.r, "Iam MT. Burton's s nephew" the new man continued, blandly, ''and am learning the routine of each depart ment, with view of entering the firm in January I would have told you this yesterday if you had given me an op- 1 portunity. But I am afraid shall have 1 to ask you to excuse me from handling the heavy boxes. I am not particu- larly robust, and must content myself with the lighter work" -sa :$isfest
 ssvery well.'' F ;. e.s x s sss:':::' ' :
 Head of Department Williams creed l was to view the world as huge ma | chine, of which he and his fellow l clerks were cogs Emotion of any kind was looked down upon by him as un- l businesslike; so now he turned stoical- ly to his desk, and his copy clerk thought he had merely been giving some orders to the new man. : But all through the day there was a peculiar light in the matter-of-fact 1 eyes of the chief, and when he went to l his boarding house that night he did not turn to his books, as usual, but sat gazing out across the twinkling lights of the great city, thinking.
 Tn the main office few weeks later MT. Burton suddenly laid down his pen. fa e.sJ=. SSsss
 .sDo you know, True,' he said, con- fidentially, sI believe our machine clerk, Williams, is becoming human ized. I actually caught him lifting a beggar child out of the mud to-day and saw him giving s.her pennies. I must ask him up to the house some time I wouldn't be surprised if there was considerable good material be- meath that shell of his."
 tsYes," answered Mir. True, poising his pen meditatively above his ledger, q think you are right. Williams has been good automaton, but I always l held that business man could not reach the best success by mere me chanical ability and then both bent 1 over their desks and were speedily lost l in the computations evolved by their swiftly moving pens.N. Y. Times.
 His Pension Came Too Late