HARRY’S FIRST BUSINESS TRANSACTION.
Lemuel Fairchild conducted Brandon and Harry to Lovejoy’s Hotel on
Broadway, and led the way to the restaurant connected with the hotel.
“I’ve done a good stroke of business this morning,” he said. “I can
afford to stand treat. Sit down, Mr. Brandon. Sit down, Raymond. Now,
what will you have?”
“Roast beef,” answered Brandon. “I prefer the sirloin.”
“Very good. What for you, Raymond?”
“The same,” said Harry.
“Three plates of sirloin,” ordered Mr. Fairchild. “By the way, Captain
Brandon, I have been giving our young friend here a little inkling into
the way we do business in the city.”
“Well, my lad,” said Brandon, “how do you like it?”
“I think I shall like it when I get used to it, sir,” said Harry.
“I made a sale amounting to nearly eighteen thousand dollars this
morning,” remarked the commission merchant.
“You’re not used to doing business on so large a scale in the country, I
take it?” said Brandon.
“No, sir.”
“The city’s the place for a smart lad like you. You’ll make your way
here.”
“I hope so.”
“No doubt of it, if you attend to business, and do whatever you are told.”
“I mean to do my duty.”
“That’s the talk,” said Fairchild, who for a wealthy city merchant used
a variety of phrases hardly to be expected. “By the time you’re thirty
you’ll be a rich man. I didn’t start with one quarter of your advantages.
When I was your age I worked for three dollars a week, and had to pay my
board out of it. See where I am now.”
Mr. Fairchild, as I have stated, was dressed rather shabbily, and, so far
as appearance went, did not seem to have got far beyond the point where
he started.
If Harry had not witnessed the extensive scale on which he transacted
business, he might not have been very much impressed by his remarks; but,
not suspecting any deception, he supposed that everything was as stated,
and felt very much encouraged by his remarks.
“You’ll be taking our young friend as partner some of these days, Mr.
Fairchild,” said Brandon.
“I make no promises,” answered Fairchild; “but by the time he gets grown
up I shall feel the need of sharing my responsibilities with some one. If
he suits me, it may be as you say.”
“Why not? I suppose you are growing rich fast, Fairchild.”
“That isn’t for me to say. I don’t tell all about my affairs, as some
do; but I could afford to give away a hundred thousand dollars, and have
enough left to live handsomely.”
“I congratulate you on your success, and hope our young friend here will
succeed as well. By the way, I wish you would order me some coffee.”
“Certainly. Call for anything you like. Raymond, will you have some
coffee?”
“Thank you, sir, I should like some.”
“We poor sailors,” said Brandon, stirring his coffee, “don’t get rich so
fast as you merchants. We brave the elements, and you reap the profits.
That’s about the way of it, I take it.”
“By the way, when do you sail, Captain Brandon?”
“It is not quite decided. In a day or two. Were you ever on board a ship,
my lad?”
“No, sir.”
“You’d like to see one, I suppose?”
“Yes,” said our young hero, eagerly; “I should enjoy it very much.”
“Don’t you think you could spare him a little while to-morrow morning,
Fairchild? Business isn’t very driving, is it?”
“Yes, I could spare him, I think, if he would like to go.”
“All right, then. I shall be passing your office in the morning, and will
take him along and show him the Sea Eagle.”
“You are very kind, sir,” said Harry, gratefully.
He was rather surprised at the amount of attention he received from his
employer and the captain. Indeed, he had reason to be, for I may remark
for the benefit of my country readers, whose expectations might otherwise
be unduly raised, that city merchants rarely offer a prospective
partnership to a boy on the first day of his entering their employment.
Had Harry possessed more experience, he might have been led to suspect
that there was something queer about it; but he reflected that in the
city things were different from what he had been accustomed to in the
country. Even Mr. Porter, who only kept a common village store, had not
said anything about taking him into partnership at any period, however
remote; but here was a wealthy city merchant who held out the tempting
inducement. No wonder our hero indulged in some gorgeous castle-building,
and began to dream of what he would do when he was junior partner in the
city firm of Fairchild and Raymond.
At length the dinner was over, and the three walked back in company to
the office in Nassau Street.
“What shall I do, Mr. Fairchild?” asked Harry.
“You may keep on with your copying,” said his employer, carelessly. “I
have some business with Captain Brandon, and shall be away with him most
of the afternoon. Yon can attend to the office.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If any parties should call on business with me, you may tell them to
call to-morrow morning.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If a gentleman should call, and inquire my price for a consignment of
spices, you may say that the lowest figure is ten thousand dollars.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If he should be willing to pay that, you have my authority to close the
bargain.”
“Yes, sir.”
Here Mr. Fairchild went out, and Harry was left to himself. When he
reflected that he was authorized to close a bargain of so extensive a
character, involving property to the amount of ten thousand dollars, he
felt considerably raised in his own estimation.
“I might have plodded on in Vernon for fifty years, before having such a
responsibility thrown upon me,” he said to himself.
He continued his copying for an hour, when the door opened, and a man
entered briskly.
“Is Mr. Fairchild in?” he asked.
“No, sir.”
“When will he be in?”
“He may return late in the afternoon. He left word, if any one called, to
ask them to come back to-morrow morning.”
“That won’t do for me. I must leave the city this evening. I am sorry not
to find him in,” said the stranger, in a tone of vexation.
“Perhaps you will leave word about your business, and he can write to
you.”
“It was about some spices that I wished to purchase, if we could come to
terms.”
“Oh,” said Harry, with animation, “he left word with me about that. I can
tell you whatever you wish to know.”
“Do you know his price,—his lowest price?”
“Yes, sir; it is ten thousand dollars. He won’t take a cent less.”
“You are sure of that?”
“Yes, sir, he told me so expressly.”
“If he were here I would close the bargain.”
“You can do so now. I have authority to sell,” said our hero, in a tone
of pardonable importance.
“Indeed! You are quite a man of business of your age. However, if you
have authority for selling, you may make out a bill, and I will send
round my check.”
“Very well, sir.”
Harry did as requested, and the stranger, expressing himself satisfied,
departed.
Previous to Mr. Fairchild’s departure, he gave Harry permission to
write home if he desired it. Our hero decided to avail himself of this
permission, being anxious to apprize his mother of his position, and the
circumstances in which he found himself. Writing immediately after the
important business transaction just mentioned, he may be pardoned if his
letter is somewhat sanguine, and confident in its tone.
This is what he wrote:—
“DEAR MOTHER:—It is so short a time since I left home that you
may suppose I will have nothing to write; but I find things
very different in the city from what they are in Vernon. You
will be surprised when I tell you that I have just sold a lot
of spices for ten thousand dollars. Mr. Fairchild was out, and
told me what price to ask. We don’t keep the goods we sell
here. I don’t know where they are kept yet; but I shall learn
more about the business when I have been here longer. The
commission which Mr. Fairchild gets on the sale I made amounts
to two hundred dollars; so I think I have earned my wages so
far, don’t you?
“I think I shall like Mr. Fairchild. He seems disposed to
be kind to me, and has said something about taking me into
partnership some time, if I suit him. I shall try hard to do
so, as that would bring me a very large income, and I could
do a great deal for you, dear mother, and little Katy. If you
should see our place of business, you would be surprised that
so large a business could be done here. It is only a small
room, and not very pleasant. I felt disappointed at first,
but I begin to understand better now how they manage in the
city. I was disappointed in Mr. Fairchild, also. He does not
seem to care much about dress, considering how rich he is, and
what a splendid business he does. He has introduced me to a
sea-captain of his acquaintance, who has invited me to go on
board his vessel to-morrow. I shall like it, as I never was on
a ship. Most of my time is spent in copying from a ledger. I
don’t know yet where I am to board; Mr. Fairchild has not told
me, but I will try to write you again to-morrow, and let you
know all about it. I wish you were living here in the city, so
that I could board with you. That will come some time, I hope.
I close with much love to you and Katy.
“Your affectionate son,
“HARRY RAYMOND.”
This letter gave great comfort to Mrs. Raymond. She felt that, though
Harry was separated from her at present, he had embarked upon a
prosperous business career, and that better times were in store for both.
Poor woman! it was the last letter she received from Harry for many a
long, tedious day.