THE PROMPT CLERK.
A YOUNG man was commencing life as a clerk.
One day his employer said to him:—
"Now, tomorrow, that cargo of cotton must be got out and weighed, and we must have a regular account of it."
He was a young man of energy. That was the first time he had been entrusted to superintend the execution of this work. He made his arrangements over night, spoke to the men about their carts and
horses, and, resolving to begin very early in the morning, he instructed the laborers to be there at
half past four o'clock. So they set to work, and the thing was done; and about ten or eleven o'clock
his master came in, and seeing him sitting in the counting-house, looked very black, supposing that his commands had not yet been executed.
"I thought," said the master, "you were requested to get out that cargo this morning."
"It is all done," said the young man, "and here is the account of it."
He never looked behind him from that moment —never! His character was fixed; confidence
was established. He was found to be the man to do the thing with promptness. He very soon came
to be one that could not be spared; he was as necessary to the firm as any one of the partners.