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One of my friends is a very earnest, shrewd man, who seems to know how
to do the best thing at the right time. One day he was passing a gin
shop in Manchester, England, when he saw a drunken man lying on the
ground. The poor fellow had evidently been turned out of doors when all
his money was gone. In a moment my friend hastened across the street,
and entering a grocer’s shop, asked the clerk:--
“Will you oblige me with the largest sheet of paper you have?”
“What for, my friend? What’s the matter?”
“Oh! you shall see in a moment or two. Please get me the largest sheet
you have.”
The sheet of paper was soon brought.
“Now, will you lend me a piece of chalk?”
My friend then quickly printed, in large letters, these
words:--“_SPECIMEN OF THE WORK DONE INSIDE._”
He then fastened the paper onto the drunken man, and retired a short
distance. In a few moments several passers-by stopped to read the
notice, and in a short time a crowd assembled; then the saloon keeper,
hearing the noise and laughter outside, came out to see what it was
about. He eagerly bent down and read the inscription on the paper, and
then demanded in an angry voice:--
“Who did that?”
“Which?” asked my friend, who now joined the crowd. “If you mean what
is written on the paper, I DID THAT; but if you mean the man, YOU DID
THAT! This morning when he arose, he was sober; when he walked down
the street, on his way to work, he was sober; when he went into your
shop, he was sober; and now he is what you made him. Is he not a true
specimen of the work done inside?”
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