KATY GETS A LETTER FROM LIVERPOOL.
Master Simon Sneed sat at the window when Katy returned, and she had to
tell him all about it. She pitied him, poor fellow, and she hoped the
lesson would do him good. She did not like to tell him so many
unpleasant things, for they would wound his pride.
"Well, Katy, what did my friend the mayor say?" asked Simon, as he
joined her on the sidewalk.
"I am afraid you will not call him your friend after this," replied
Katy.
"Why? He had not the effrontery to refuse my reasonable request?"
"The what? Please to use words that I can understand," said she, for
she was not a little disgusted with Simon's big words, now she knew how
much mischief they had done him.
"Didn't he give you the paper?"
"He did not."
"I didn't think that of him. It was shabby."
"He said he did not know you. But I showed him your paper, in which you
had written down what you thought of yourself."
"Well, what did he say to that?" asked Simon, eagerly.
"I thought he would split his fat sides laughing. He didn't seem to
believe a word of it."
"He didn't? I am surprised at that."
"He said you were a conceited puppy."
"I always took the mayor for a sensible fellow; I see I have been
mistaken."
"He didn't like it because you sent me to him upon such an errand. He
said you had imposed upon me."
"Go on, Katy; I may expect anything after what you have said," replied
Simon, with all the coolness and indifference he could command.
"He said he believed you were a worthless fellow. Then he told me to
meet him at the store of the Messrs. Sands & Co., and he would inquire
about you."
"Then you went to the store?"
"We did; and when the mayor asked Mr. Sands about you, he said you were
honest, and did your work well, but----"
"Notice that remark particularly. I hope you called the mayor's
attention to it," interrupted Master Simon. "What else did he say?"
"He said you were a nuisance----"
"Observe how far his prejudices carried him. That man believed, if I
stayed in the store, that I should supplant him and his partner. You
see how far he carried his spite."
"But he said all the good he could of you Simon," said Katy. "He said
you were honest and did your work well."
"Can a nuisance be honest, and do work well? Hath not a Jew eyes?"
queried Mr. Simon, with dramatic fervor.
"He didn't say anything about Jews."
"I was quoting Shakspeare, the immortal bard of Avon. Katy, Sands knew
that I was securing the respect and esteem of all his customers; and he
knew very well if I should step into a rival establishment, I should
take half his trade with me," continued the injured Sneed.
"He said his customers were disgusted with you. You talked so big and
thought so much of yourself, he would not have you in the store at any
price. But I should think that Runn & Reed would be glad to have you if
you can carry so much trade with you."
"They cannot know till I have had a chance to show them what I can do."
"I hope you will soon have such a chance."
"There is one thing about it; when I do, Sands & Co. will see the
mistake they have made. I think the ladies that visit their store will
miss a familiar face. They used to insist upon my waiting upon them,
though it was not exactly in the line of my duty to sell goods. Often
was I called away from the bundle department to attend them. No one
seemed to suit them but me. Why, it was only the day before I left that
an elegant, aristocratic lady from Beacon Street made me go clear home
with her."
"Why, what for?"
"To carry her bundle; but that was all a pretense."
"Did she invite you to tea, Master Simon?" asked Katy, who could hardly
help laughing in his face.
"No, but she kept me quarter of an hour at the door."
"What did she say?"
"She was trying to make it out that I had brought the wrong bundle, and
so she opened it, in the entry; but it was only to keep me there."
"You think she was smitten?" laughed Katy.
"I have an opinion," replied Simon, sagely. "There are a good many fine
ladies will miss my face."
Katy didn't think any fine lady could be much charmed with that thin,
hatchet face; and she realized now that Master Simon was a great heap
of vanity. She never thought before that he could be so silly. She
wanted to tell him that he was a great fool, for she feared he would
never find it out himself; but he was older than she was, and she did
not think it quite proper to do so.
"I must go now," said Katy. "If you don't find anything you like
better, you can sell candy, you know."
"Katy!" exclaimed Simon, sternly.
"I am poor and proud, Master Simon; I am too proud to be dependent, or
do anything mean and wicked; but I am not too proud to sell candy."
"I am," replied Simon, with dignity.
"Then yours is a foolish pride," replied Katy, with a smile to soften
the hard words; and she walked away toward her own house.
She felt thankful that she had no such pride as Simon's; and she had
reason to be thankful for when any person is too proud to do the work
which God has placed within his reach, he becomes a pitiable object,
and honest men will regard him with contempt.
Katy had to work very hard that evening, in making candy for her
assistants to sell, and it was nine o'clock before she was ready to go
to bed.
The next morning, all the girls who had engaged to come, appeared with
their trays, and were supplied with candy. Katy instructed them very
modestly in the art of selling; taking upon herself no airs, and
assuming no superiority. Ann Grippen came with them, and seemed to be
very much pleased with her new occupation.
At noon they all returned, though only two of them had sold out their
two dozen sticks. Katy gave them further instructions in regard to the
best places to sell candy, and when they came home at night, all but
one had disposed of their stock. The experiment, therefore was regarded
as a successful one. The next day several other girls, who had heard of
Katy's plan, came to the house, and wanted to be engaged. The little
merchant could not supply them, but promised, if they would come the
next day, to furnish them with a stock. Even now, the quantity
manufactured required the services of Mrs. Colvin for three hours, and
this day she engaged her to come immediately after dinner.
I need not detail the manner in which Katy's trade kept increasing. In
a fortnight she had more than a dozen girls employed in selling candy.
She was actually making a wholesale business of it, and no longer
traveled about the streets herself. By the first of December, Mrs.
Redburn had so far recovered her health as to be able to take charge of
the manufacturing part of the business, and Katy was permitted to go to
school, though she supplied the girls in the morning and at noon, and
settled all their accounts.
One day she received a call from Michael, Mrs. Gordon's man, requesting
her attendance in Temple Street. She obeyed the summons; but when she
met Mrs. Gordon and Grace, she was alarmed to see how coldly and
reproachfully they looked upon her.
"I have heard a very bad story about you, Katy," said Mrs. Gordon.
"About me?" gasped she.
"Yes; and I was very sorry to hear it."
"What was it, ma'am? I hope I haven't done anything to lose your good
will."
"I am afraid you have."
"I don't believe she did it, mother," said Grace. "She is too good to
do any such thing."
"What is it? Do tell me."
"I have been told that a little girl, who sells candy, has been playing
tricks upon passers-by in the streets; that she tells lies and deceives
them."
"I never did such a thing!" protested Katy, her cheeks covered with the
blush of indignation.
Mrs. Gordon explained the deception, and spoke in very severe terms of
it. The trick had been played off on a friend of hers, who had told of
it the evening before.
"When was it, ma'am?" asked Katy.
"Yesterday forenoon."
"I was in school then. Besides, I haven't sold any candy in the street
for more than three weeks."
"I knew it wasn't she!" exclaimed Grace triumphantly.
"I was very unwilling to believe it," added Mrs. Gordon; "but the
description seemed to point you out as the little deceiver."
"I wouldn't do such a thing, ma'am. If you inquire you will find that I
have been in school every day this week."
"I believe you, Katy. But can you tell me who it was?"
"I don't know, but I will find out;" and before she took her leave she
told the ladies how she conducted her business, which amused them very
much.
"Who played this trick?" said she to herself when she got into the
street. "If I can only find out, I will discharge her. She will bring
the business into contempt."
Of course no one would own it, and the only way she could find out was
by watching them. It must be stopped, for, besides being too honest to
allow such deception, Katy saw that it would spoil the trade.
When she got home, she found a letter which the penny-post had brought,
directed to her in large schoolboy hand.
"It is from Tommy," exclaimed she, eagerly seizing the letter and
retiring to a corner to read it.
"You and Tommy are great friends," said her mother.
"Yes, mother; but don't you see it came all the way from Liverpool?"
Mrs. Redburn sighed deeply at the mention of her native city, and a
thousand memories of the past flitted before her. Katy broke the seal,
and as this letter contained some very important information, my young
readers may look over her shoulder while she reads it. It was as
follows:--
Liverpool, Nov. 13, 1845.
"Dear Friend:--I take my pen in hand to let you know that I am well,
and I hope these few lines will find you enjoying the same blessing. I
arrived to Liverpool safe and sound, and when I got home, I will tell
you all about it. Just as we got in to the dock, I kept thinking about
what you told me. They won't let us have any fires on board ship in the
docks; so we all board ashore. I asked the man where we stopped if he
knew such a merchant as Matthew Guthrie. He did not know him, and never
heard of him. Then I went round among the big merchants, and asked
about your grandfather. I asked a good many before I found one who knew
him, and he said your grandfather had been dead ten years. I asked him
where the family was. He said Mr. Guthrie had only two daughters; that
one of them had run away with her father's clerk, and the other was
married and gone to America. He said her husband belonged to Baltimore.
This was all he knew about it, and all I could find out. We shall sail
home in about three weeks. I thought you would like to know; so I wrote
this letter to send by the steamer. Drop in and see my mother, and tell
her I am well, and had a tiptop voyage over. No more at present from
"Your affectionate friend,
"THOMAS HOWARD."
Katy read the letter twice over, and then gave it to her mother, after
explaining that she had told Tommy her story, and requested him to
inquire about her grandfather. Mrs. Redburn was too much affected by
the news from her early home to find fault with Katy for what she had
done.
Both of them felt very sad for while Mrs. Redburn thought of her
father, who had lain in his grave ten years without her knowledge, Katy
could not but mourn over the hopes which Tommy's letter had blasted.