THE SUN SETS, AND THE NIGHT COMES ON.
Having recorded the steps by which Katy had carried forward her now
flourishing trade, from the dawn of the idea up to the height of its
prosperity, we may pass over a year with only a brief note of its
principal incidents.
My young readers may have supposed that Katy and her mother had
gathered a great deal of money in the candy trade. It was not so, for
as the business increased, and Katy's labors as a saleswoman were
withdrawn, the expenses increased, and the profits were proportionally
less. And then, neither Mrs. Redburn nor her daughter had a faculty for
saving up much money; so that, though they made considerable, their
prosperity permitted new demands to be made upon the purse. They hired
two more rooms; they replaced the clothing and furniture which had been
sacrificed under the pressure of actual want, and they lived better
than they had lived before; and Mrs. Redburn had availed herself of the
services of a distinguished physician, whose attendance had cost a
large sum. It is true they lived very well, much better than people in
their circumstances ought to have lived. Therefore, notwithstanding
their prosperity, they had saved but a small sum from the proceeds of
the year's business. They were not rich; they were simply in
comfortable circumstances, which, considering their situation when Katy
commenced business, was quite enough to render them very thankful to
the Giver of all good for the rich blessings He had bestowed upon them.
These were not all temporal blessings; if they had been, their success
would only have been partial and temporary, their prosperity only an
outward seeming, which, in the truest and highest sense, can hardly be
called prosperity; no more than if a man should gain a thousand dollars
worth of land, and lose a thousand dollars worth of stocks or
merchandise. Both Katy and her mother, while they were gathering the
treasures of this world, were also "laying up treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt." Want had taught them its
hard lessons, and they had come out of the fiery furnace of affliction
the wiser and the better for the severe ordeal. The mother's foolish
pride had been rebuked, the daughter's true pride had been encouraged.
They had learned that faith and patience are real supports in the hour
of trial. The perilous life in the streets which Katy had led for a
time, exposed her to a thousand temptations; and she and her mother
thanked God that they had made her stronger and truer, as temptation
resisted always makes the soul. That year of experience had given Katy
a character; it expanded her views of life, and placed her in a
situation where she was early called upon to decide between the right
and the wrong; when she was required to select her path for life. She
had chosen the good way, as Ann Grippen had chosen the evil way.
I do not mean to say her character was formed, or that having chosen to
be good, she could not afterwards be evil. But the great experiences of
life which generally come in more mature years, had been forced upon
her while still a child; and nobly and truly had she taken up and borne
the burden imposed upon her. As a child she had done the duties of the
full-grown woman, and she had done them well. She had been faithful to
herself.
Providence kindly ordains that the child shall serve a long
apprenticeship before it is called upon to think and act for itself.
Katy had anticipated the period of maturity, and with the untried soul
of a child, had been compelled to grapple with its duties and its
temptations. As her opportunities to be good and do good were
increased, so was her liability to do wrong. She had her faults, great,
grave faults, but she was truly endeavoring to overcome them.
Tommy had returned from his voyage to Liverpool, and joyous was the
meeting between Katy and her sailor friend. It took him all the
evenings for a week to tell the story of his voyage, to which Mrs.
Redburn and her daughter listened with much satisfaction. He remained
at home two months, and then departed on a voyage to the East Indies.
Master Simon Sneed, after Katy's attempt to serve him, did not tell her
many more large stories about himself, for she understood him now, and
knew that he was not half so great a man as he pretended to be. In the
spring he obtained a situation in a small retail store where there was
not a very wide field for the exercise of his splendid abilities. He
had been idle all winter, and when he lamented his misfortunes to Katy,
she always asked why he did not sell candy. Once she suggested that he
should learn a trade, to which Master Simon always replied, that he was
born to be a gentleman, and would never voluntarily demean himself by
pursuing a degrading occupation. He was above being a mechanic, and he
would never soil his hands with dirty work. Katy began to think he was
really a fool. She could scarcely think him "poor and proud"; he was
only poor and foolish.
At the close of Katy's first year in trade, a great misfortune befell
her in the loss of Mrs. Colvin, her able assistant in the manufacturing
department of the business. A worthy man, who owned a little farm in
the country, tempted her with an offer of marriage, and her conscience
(I suppose) would not let her refuse it. Katy, though she was a woman,
so far as the duties and responsibilities of life were concerned, was
still a child in her feelings and affections, and cried bitterly when
they parted. The good woman was scarcely less affected, and made Katy
and her mother promise an early visit to her farm.
Katy's sorrow at parting with her beloved friend was not the only, nor
perhaps, the most important, result of Mrs. Colvin's departure, for
they were deprived of the assistance of the chief candy-puller. Katy
tried to secure another woman for this labor, but could not find a
person who would serve her in this capacity. After a vain search, Mrs.
Redburn thought she was able to do the work herself, for her health
seemed to be pretty well established. Perhaps, she reasoned, it was
quite as well that Mrs. Colvin had gone, for if she could pull the
candy herself, it would save from two to three dollars a week.
Katy would not consent that she should do it alone, but agreed to
divide the labor between them. The quantity manufactured every day was
so great that the toil of making it fell heavily upon them; but as Mrs.
Redburn did not complain, Katy was too proud to do so though her wrists
and shoulders pained her severely every night after the work was done.
This toil weighed heavily on Katy's rather feeble constitution; but all
her mother could say would not induce her to abandon the work. For a
month they got along tolerably well, and, perhaps, no evil consequences
would have followed this hard labor, if everything else had gone well
with Katy. The girls who sold the candy had for some time caused her
considerable trouble and anxiety. Very often they lost their money, or
pretended to do so, and three or four of them had resorted to Ann
Grippen's plan of playing "trick upon travelers." She had to discharge
a great many, and to accept the services of those whom she did not
know, and who, by various means, contrived to cheat her out of the
money received from the sales of the candy. These things annoyed her
very much, and she cast about her for a remedy.
One day, three girls, each of whom had been supplied with half a
dollar's worth of candy, did not appear to account for the proceeds.
Here was a loss of a dollar in one day. Such things as these are the
common trials of business; but Katy who was so scrupulously honest and
just herself, was severely tried by them. It was not the loss of the
money only, but the dishonesty of the girls that annoyed her.
"What shall be done, mother?" said she, anxiously, when the loss was
understood to be actual. "I can't find these girls. I don't even know
their names."
"Probably, if you did find them, you could not obtain any satisfaction."
"I went to see one girl's mother the other day, you know, and she drove
me out of her house, and called me vile names."
"I was thinking of a plan," continued Mrs. Redburn, "though I don't
know as it would work well."
"Anything would work better than this being constantly cheated; for it
is really worse for the girls than it is for us. I have often felt that
those who cheat us are the real sufferers. I would a good deal rather
be cheated than cheat myself."
"You are right, Katy; and that is a Christian view of the subject. I
suppose we are in duty bound to keep these girls as honest as we can."
"What is your plan, mother?" asked Katy.
"We will sell them the candy, instead of employing them to sell it for
us."
"But they won't pay us."
"Let them pay in advance. We will sell them the candy at eight cents a
dozen. Any girl who wants two dozen sticks, must bring sixteen cents."
"I don't believe we can find any customers."
"We can try it. For a time, probably, the sales will be less."
"Very well, mother, we will try it; for I think it would be better to
keep them honest, even if we don't sell more than half so much."
When the girls appeared the next morning to receive their stock, it was
announced to them that the business would thereafter be conducted on a
different basis; that they must pay for their candy before they got it,
and thus become independent merchants themselves. Most of them were
unable to comply with the terms, and begged hard to be trusted one day
more. Katy was firm, for she saw that they would be more likely to be
dishonest that day, to revenge themselves for the working of the new
system.
The girls were not all dishonest, or even a majority of them, but the
plan must be applied to all. Most of them went home, therefore, and
shortly returned with money enough to buy one or two dozen sticks. As
Mrs. Redburn had predicted, the effect of the adoption of the new plan
was unfavorable for a few days. The obstinate ones would not buy,
hoping to make the wholesale dealer go back to the old plan. After a
week or two, however, they began to come back, one by one, and the
trade rather increased than diminished; for many of the young
merchants, having the responsibility of selling out all the stock
imposed upon them, used greater exertion than before, and strong
efforts almost always produced some success.
Thus the business went on very prosperously though Mrs. Redburn and
Katy were obliged to work very hard--so hard that the former began to
experience a return of her old complaint. The affectionate daughter was
frightened when she first mentioned the fact, and begged her not to
work any more.
"What shall I do, Katy?" asked she, with a smile.
"Let me make the candy," replied Katy. "I am strong enough."
"No, Katy, you are not. I am afraid you are injuring yourself now."
"I am sure I am not. But I can't bear to think of your being sick
again."
"We must look out for our health, Katy; that ought to be the first of
our earthly considerations."
"We ought, indeed, mother; so, if you please, I shall not let you pull
any more candy."
"Shall I save my own health at the expense of yours?"
"I shall get along very well. I feel very strong."
"You are not very strong; I have reproached myself a great many times
for letting you do so much as you have. I have felt the pain for a
fortnight, and though I greatly fear I shall have a return of my
complaint, I cannot let you do all this work. We are neither of us fit
to perform such hard labor and both of us must be relieved from it. I
shall go out to-morrow, and make a business of finding a person to do
this work for us."
Mrs. Redburn did try, but she tried in vain. It was odd, queer strange
work, as the women called it, and they didn't want to do anything of
the kind. Katy proposed that they should employ a man; and when they
finally found one, he was a stupid fellow, and they much preferred to
do the work themselves, to seeing him daub the house all over with the
candy, and leave it half done.
They persevered, however, in their efforts to find a person, and after
trying half a dozen, who could not or would not do the work, they gave
it up in despair. But not long were they permitted to struggle with the
severe toil which their circumstances imposed upon them; for on the
night before Christmas, when a large demand for candy was anticipated,
and both of them had worked very hard, Mrs. Redburn fainted and fell
upon the floor. It was in this manner that she had been taken at the
commencement of her former long sickness, and to Katy the future looked
dark and gloomy. But she did not give up. She applied herself, with all
her energies, to the restoration of her mother; and when she was
partially conscious, she attempted to conduct her to the bed. The poor
woman's strength was all gone, and Katy was obliged to call in Mrs.
Howard to assist her.
Mrs. Redburn suffered the most severe and racking pains through the
night, and at about twelve o'clock, Katy went to Mr. Sneed's house, and
calling up Simon, begged him to go for a doctor. But the physician's
art seemed powerless to soothe her. All night long the devoted
daughter, like an angel of mercy, hovered around the bed, and did all
he could in vain attempts to ease the sufferer's pain.
Poor Katy! The sun of prosperity had set, and the night of adversity
was coming on.