The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-01-03
A DOUBLE
MISTAKE
By ARTHUR w. BREWSTER

Happy the man in whose daily ave
cation there is no risk When | was =
young man went TO work for whole
sale drug Grm. One day retailer
wrote from neighboring town that
our concern had sold him drug that
made every one sick who took any Of
1t. 1t turned out that had put up the
package sold.
| never entirely got over the narrow
escape / had had in this case. re
ceived only the usual reprimand from
my employers, for no one can perfectly
rely ON accuracy always. Later | set
up for myself as retailer of drugs.
Though our system was perfect, we
had some narrow escapes from com
uniting uniutentiona murder When
any of my clerks made MISTAKE J
impressed unon him the Importance
of being caI eful, but ! could not h
my heart bla ne them.
There are occasions whore person
who is perfe, tly methodical, adheres 10
a system. eX rcises every care and yet
will do som thing that he can never
afterward lderstand why he did it.
Then there are occasions when 1t is
impossible t. fix the mind on ones
work. One day not long after ! had
set up for myself a young lady came
into the store and asked for some
harmless medicine. At the same time
4 man asked for a poison with when
{ kill bugs. The young lady happened
to be one who impressed me. ! cOuldn't
keep my eyes off her. Before the two
different packages were ready other
persons came in. and | did one of those
things / should not have done. In
stead OF paying no attention to new
corners till after serving those present
/ undertook to serve all of them. What
was the result? When the young lady
who had called for a simple remed"
and the man who wished bug poison
had gone horrible suspicion came
into my head that had given the poi
Hoi W Alif .NUAlAlE -ltls 'bNiu iNl wal II
her. for didn't know who she was.
Why had broken my rule about
serving a number Of persons at oncel
| couldn't answer the question except
for the reason that | had been vary
much struck with the young lady. In
deed, had looked at her so admiringly
that had noticed a faint flush come
into her cheek But the fearful conSe-
quences Of her or any one else taking
the dose of the bug poison for the me6i.
cine she had called for would surely
result fatally.
A crisis hung over my head which.
till il had passed. would Keep me in a
frightful suspense. As soon as the
calamity occurred. if | had made the
error | feared | had made. the medi-
cine | had sold would be examined,
my name would be on the package and
| would soon hear Of the trouble. The
best that could be said for my comfort
was Chat would not likely be tried
for murder, because | had no motive
for poisoning any one. But would
carry TO my grave the knowledge that
/ had through carelessness caused the
death Of the person to whom had
sold It, for | remembered she asked
me How often shall ! take it,
Furthermore my business would he
ruined and | would not have the heart
to 90 elsewhere and make another
start. I made two resolutions IN case
the trouble fell upon me-frst. would
never again start in the drug business;
second, would commit suicide.
Every morning and every evening
took up a newspaper with fear and
trembling. When a week bad passed
felt that the danger was somewhat
lessened But had the young lady died
from the effect Of poison would those
about her surely attribute her death
10 that cause? This gave me feeling
similar to that Of one who may expect
at any moment to drop down from
heart disease, ap0pleXy or some other
fatal disease
am one of those persons whose ac.
tive imaginative minds may iuGueu o.
their bodies became morbid, then
IN, simply from suspense took 90
partner into my business ana absent
ed myself from IL most of the time 4
physician told me that [ was going into
a decline But ] knew well enough
that If could be assured that / had
not killed any one / would be well
enough Finally it occurred to me shat
II the young lady had not suffered the
consequences of my possible error shs
would likely have visited my store
again
One day | was wandering aimleSSly
through an unfrequented street tor
tured by my troubles when. turning g
corner, / came face TO face with the
girl whose fate was driving me into
melancholia. There she was, tripping
along rs healthy. as rosy, as fresh as
life. Beside myself with JOY, I made
one bound, caught her in my arms ami
covered her face with kisses.
When | realized what I had done ]
was stricken with n fresh terror lest