To the list of signally good men must now be added Mr. B. I do not say
that he should be included in any extension of _The Golden Legend_, but
no catalogue of irreproachables, beyond the wiles of temptation, can
henceforth be complete without him, and as a model of rectitude in
business his portrait should be on the walls of every commercial school.
I can see him as the hero of this tract and that, and in course of time
his early life may be written and circulated: _The Childhood of Mr. B.,
or, The Boy Who Took the Right Turning._
And who is Mr. B.? All that I know of him I find in an Eastern sheet
which I owe to the kindness of a friend--_The Bangkok Times Weekly
Mail_. Glancing through this minute and compact little paper, which is
as big as any paper ought to be, my eye alighted upon an extract from
_The North China Daily News_, and it is here that Mr. B. shines forth.
A certain dealer, it seems, had received an order for a machine, but,
being unable to deliver it, and wishing to avoid the penalties attending
a breach of the contract, he had to resort to guile. The following
letter to a confederate at once displays him as a Machiavellian and
introduces us to that inconvenient thing, a Far Eastern incorruptible:--
"Regarding the matter of escaping the penalty for non-delivery of
the Bar Machine, there is only one way, to creep round same by
diplomat, and we must make a statement of strike occur our factory
(of course big untrue) and please address person on enclosed form
of letter, and believe this will avoid the trouble of penalties of
same.
"Mr. B. is most religious and competent man, also heavily upright
and godly, it fears me useless apply for his signature. Please
attach same by Yokohama Office, making forge, but no cause for fear
of prison happenings as this is often operated by other merchants
of highest integrity.
"It is the highest unfortunate Sir. B. is so godlike and excessive
awkward for business purposes."
So there you have Mr. B. Some day, perhaps, he may read this letter and
realise how extremely awkward an inflexible standard of morality can
make things for one's neighbours. The last sentence of all has a
pathetic ring, as of a Utopian throwing up the sponge: "I think much
better to add little serpent-like wisdom to upright manhood and thus
found good business edifice."
* * * * *
"£1 down secures a ---- bicycle for you in time for Whitsuntide."
_Advt. in "Yorkshire Observer, June 9."_
So if you are in a hurry and want it by next Christmas you had better go
somewhere else.
* * * * *