The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-18
IMPORTANT LETTER

lT'VE just received the wedding es cards of a young fellow in our
 home office," said the out-of- town customer. And they remind me of a big day I had with this same youngster some time ago. He sure had me scared that afternoon
 Sounds exciting" said Wilkinson laz- fly. Was it burglars or anything like that?"
 "From the way he acted I thought the future of the firm depended on us that day, at least," laughed the out-of- town customer. "It was one Sunday morning and the folks had gone to church, I remember. had headache or something and didn't go. I was lounging around trying to read when there came violent ringing at the bell.
 "It was this young Dick Trumbull. And I was sure right off that something had happened at the office, he looked so troubled.
 "The day previous he had been stand ing talking to somebody in the office when the office boy brought the mail and he had slipped letter into his pock- ct. At that instant the head of the firm called him into the private office. An important commission was given hlm and he had to rush for a taxi. Now this chap had always worn funny old black coat in the office and changed to his good one when he was leaving, hanging the office coat in his locker. And the letter was in the coat pocket.
 "Now came the complications. It transpired that the day before these events young Trumbull had told the of- flee janitor that he could have that an cient coat, as he had bought new one. And it was after closing, so, of course, when he went back to the office to get the letter the coat was gone.
 "When young Trumbull couldn't find the janitor," continued the out-of-town customer, The came flying over to ask whether I knew where he lived. did, but it was away out on the country road and almost impossible to find. l had gone there once with member of the firm when the janitor fell off lad der and broke his leg, but l wasn't driv- ing the car at that time and didn't have a clear idea about the neighborhood. However. l rose to the occasion and of fered to drive Dick out there to save the reputation of the firm.
 II thought I had a good idea of the road, but it wasn't long before l was all balled up and had to stop at way side cottage to get direction. Of course, nobody knew Bill the janitor, and we had to feel our way along some more. It was about 2 o'clock when we found the house and the mans wife, who cheerful ly informed us that Bill had gone to his cousins to take him a coat that some body gave him.
 "When we first started out had been rather keen in trying to find out what he thought the letter held and who it was from, but Dick got incoherent when he tried to explain, and l gave 1t up. All l could gather was that if he didn't get that letter his goose was cooked for good and all and his life was a failure in every way.
 "Of course, the janitor wasn't at his cousins He and Bill had gone over to town. so we had to follow them. There we chased from store to store tracking them along their way, until finally we found them at the other side of the will lage having a talk with man on his front porch We had given up the search by that time and just happened to see him there as we were turning around"
 You were lucky after all,' said Will kinson. "I hope he had the important letter with him."
 Well, he didn't" said the out-of-town customer. He said he had found it and left it at his house as he took his coat with him. He said he thought there would be plenty of time to take back the letter the next day, but Dick told him it was of such importance he couldn't postpone it so long. He would hardly wait until could get the car go- ing again, he was so eager to get on."
 Such zeal for your business was praiseworthy," said Wilkinson. "You ought to appreciate such a man."
 "I do," said the out-of-tOwn customer dryly. 'I did especially when he got back to Bills house and laid his hands | on that letter. had to wait while he read it. and then he let out a whoop of | joy that would have walked the seven slcepcrs.'
 The business wasn't ruined, then?"
 Business nothing." snorted the out of-tOwn customer. Tt seems he had | written to a girl out of town, proposing