Show I n w- w I 1 A Humble Failure t. t i I WAS getting my first lesson in busi busI- t ness Now my boy said Mr Jenks r the superintendent after all I have i told you I want to give you a bit of warning if you want any candy eat all r you want in the store but never take a apiece apiece piece away unless you ou pay for it So with everything else Remember that in business strict hone honesty ty must be ob oh- served g I had been in the store for some weeks selling anything from self self- self bind binders bind bind- ers to matches matches for for the store was the only one in the village when village when one day daya a man came slouching in and asked for forthe forthe the the boss There was nothing striking about him His face impressed me as being two thirds cover covered d by a tawny beard and his dark uncombed hair hung down over his eyes contrasting disagreeably with his dusty complexion A loose cotton shirt drawn into wrinkles wrinkles wrinkles les by half a suspender supporting a apa pa pair r of patched overalls with a pair of ot soled heavy-soled shoes identified the man manas manas manas as one of the poor farmers of the plain north of of the village To the boss he explained that three years ago he had traded his year two-year-old calf for a colt and that the colt was now a horse and that a couple of days ago he had traded his second cow for another horse Now having tv t two o horses if he had a mowing lowing machine he could do his own harvesting harvesting harvesting harvest harvest- ing very quickly and then he could mow his neighbors' neighbors fields on on shares and thus pay for the mower Could the boss let him have a mower and pay forit forit for forit it in the fall He had ad never gone into debt so heavily before and he knew it was a risk but he thought he could do doit doit doit it and then his Billy was awfully smart smart smart-he he had learned his letters already and he was only six If he could make a little money with the mower he could buy Billy books and a coat to go to school in the village I thought the man grew faintly animated as he spoke of Billy Evidently he was making the greatest speculation of his life for Bills Bill's education The result was that when he drove home a mower was tied to the half-dozen half boards on four wheels block-wheels which were his wagon and the same day I entered in the day-book day of the store June 3rd Ephraim Goodnow Goodnow Goodnow Good- Good now to 1 mower 60 Three months at 1 per cent monthly September had passed and Ephraim Goodnow had not answered any of the three bills for sent him Mr Jenks therefore sent his assistant t to collect the bill saying that in such a bad year when all the crops had failed the store could not afford to have naye outstanding accounts But the assistant reported that Goodnow had no money wherewith to pay the bill and the only way to collect it was to take his wheat wheat and and at the present low rate and the poor year it would take nearly his whole stock stock stock-or or nis horses which were worth about 40 each It Well It said M Mr Jenks I need a a couple of horses to hurry on the harvest harvest- ing Go up to Goodnow tomorrow and take his horses Ill I'll give him sixty dollars for the span If he objects well objects well we can collect by law The afternoon of the next day then the assistant and I started out to cross the prairie to the hills twenty miles away where Goodnow lived The ride across the prairie did anything but cheer our spirits Nearing the foothills the grass grew scantier and the sand-ridges sand more frequent and the prairie-dogs prairie from their mounds barked at us every few steps A glistening green snake crawled slowly around a sagebrush Toward sunset we reached Goodnow's home Home A hole about four feet deep had hart been dug in the ground and covered with untrimmed poles meeting at right angles The poles had been covered with dry branches and these with earth One gable was walled up with branches branches' and earth like the roof root while the other was closed with sawed boards in which was a door Two panes of glass set without frame in the boards and held in place by a nail at each side served for windows To one side of the dug out poles had been planted in the ground gro and covered with willows and straw and earth that earth that was the stable for the horses and cow The cow thin at the sides was tied to a apost apost apost post under the shed and a woman dressed in a dirty yellow gown was milking her Back of the house was wasa a sand-pile sand here were two naked half-naked children three or four years old throwing throwing throwing throw throw- ing handfuls of sand at each other from L I. I the inside of the house I thought I heard the wail of a baby Goodnow v was just coming in from his days day's work driving his horses before his mowing machine At his side walked a boy about twelve whose dragging gate and dull look bespoke too well the man he would be On one of the horses rode a little white- white haired boy about five or six dressed i in ina a dirty shirt and a short pair of pants which were ripped up one leg nearly to the waist waist waist-it it was Billy Near the shed the horses stopped and Billy with his little hands struck his horse on the neck Deck and cried W Whoa hoa whoa Jack ack whoa and the ho horse se seemingly well pleased put his ears forward and turned his head to get a look at his little friend While the assistant was talking to Goodnow I went up to the boy and said Hello Billy 1 He looked at me with a pair of blue dancing eye and very correctly 4 Hello Hell sir I You Vou cat can read cant can't you Billy I continued 0 At that he grew grew excited and cried Mamma mamma I can read cant can't I The mother who had heard my question question question ques ques- tion and whose greatest delight was Billys Billy's accomplishments quit milking the cow ran down into the house and brought out a little tattered book of two or three dozen pages To my surprise it was the remains of a copy of Luthers Luther's Smaller Catechism Resting the book hook on the collar of the horse on which he sa sat t Billy read distinctly from the first 1 tJ remaining page For of one blood hath God made all men and wi without hesitancy the whole of Luthers Luther's Com Com- I Imen men ment 1 As he ended Goodnow came up and explained to his wife the object of our visit He had offered to give back the mower and one horse for the use of it it- it without a horse he must carry his wood fifteen miles from the mountains and carry his wheat to the mill which was Of it rf as far away But the assistant had hadr r insisted on the horses or his wheat wheat the the food for the winter winter and and had threatened court proceedings i You see mother the farmer said I spose Billy cant can't go to school this win winter ter I thought though t his voice was a little husky as he spoke The wife and mother said nothing but her eyes filled with tears The big boy with clenched hands le leaned ned against the now useless mower and looked straight at us while we led the horses away while tears cut furrows in the dirt on his face The little ones of the sand-pile sand also began to understand understand understand under under- stand what was going on and howled and rolled in the sand Little Billy sat dazed upon the ground where he had been lifted from the horse When we tied the horses to our wagon he ran to his mother and hid his face in her lap crying not aloud but piteously Mamma they're taking away my Jack mamma Jack mamma ack-mamma mamma mamma Goo Goodnow now cleared his throat The sun must have been low for I saw his eyes glisten I too felt something moving up my throat until I could not speak Damme said the assistant when we had driven over the prairie for some time that was a fine piece of work In the city the horse will bring bringa a hundred dollars any day Last vacation I passed over the same prairie and the scene of six years before came vividly to my mind I stopped at Goodnow's place A yellow- yellow haired boy of twelve years or so was in inthe inthe inthe the yard I cried Hello Billy The boy stared at me u Is Is your father at home Naw Do you still read Billy Naw I And he turned and left me J y E. E Widstoe in Harvard Advocate |