Mary Ogden had so much talking to do and so many questions to answer, at the breakfast table, that her cup of coffee was cold before she could drink it, and then she and her mother and her aunt went into the parlor2 to continue their talk.
John Ogden himself waited there a long time before going over to the shop. His helper had the forge ready, and the tall blacksmith at once put a rod of iron into the fire and began to blow the bellows3. The rod was at white heat and was out on the anvil4 in no time, and the hammer began to ring upon it to flatten5 it out when John heard somebody speak to him:
"Mr. Ogden, what are you making? I've been watching you—and I can't imagine!"
"Well, Deacon Hawkins," said the blacksmith, "you'll have to tell. The fact is I was thinking—well—my daughter has just come home."
"I'm glad to hear it and to hear of her success," answered the Deacon. "Miss Glidden told us. If you're not busy, I wish you'd put a shoe on my mare's off hind6 foot."
The blacksmith then went to work in earnest: and meanwhile Mary, at the house, was receiving the congratulations of her friends. "Why, Mary Ogden, my dear! Are you here?" exclaimed Miss Glidden. "I'm so glad! I'm sure I did all I could for you." "My dear Mary!" exclaimed another. And Mary shook hands heartily7 with both her callers, and expressed her gratitude8 to Miss Glidden.
It was a day of triumph for Mary, and it must have been for Miss Glidden, for she seemed to be continually persuading herself that much of the credit of Mary's advancement9 was hers. The neighbors came and went, and more than one of Mary's old school-fellows said to her: "I'm glad you are so fortunate. I wish I could find something to do." When the visitors were gone and Mary tried to help with the housework, her mother said positively10, "Now, Molly, don't touch a thing; you go upstairs to your books, and don't think of anything else; I'm afraid you won't have half time enough, even then."
Her aunt gave the same advice, and Mary was grateful, being unusually eager to begin her studies; and even little Sally was compelled to keep out of Mary's room.
During the latter part of that Monday afternoon John Ogden had an important conference with Mr. Magruder, the railway director; and the blacksmith came home, at night, in a thoughtful state of mind.
His son Jack11, at about the same time sat in his room, at the Hotel Dantzic, in the far-away city he had struggled so hard to reach; and he, too, was in a thoughtful mood.
"I'll write and tell the family at home, and Mary," he said after a while. "I wonder whether every fellow who makes a start in New York has to almost starve at the beginning!"
He was tired enough to sleep well when bed-time came; but, nevertheless, he was downstairs Tuesday morning long before Mr. Keifelheimer's hour for appearing. Hotel-men who have to sit up late often rise late also.
"For this once," said Jack, "I'll have a prime Dantzic Hotel breakfast. After this week, my room won't cost me anything, and I can begin to lay up money. I won't ride down town, though; except in the very worst kind of winter weather."
It delighted him to walk down that morning, and to know just where he was going and what work he had before him.
"I'm sure," he thought, "that I know every building, big and little, all the way along. I've been ordered out of most of these stores. But I've found the place that I was looking for, at last."
The porters of Gifford & Company had the store open when Jack got there, and Mr. Gifford was just coming in.
"Ogden," he said, in his usual peremptory12 way, "put that press-work on the paper-bags right through, to-day."
"One moment, please, Mr. Gifford," said Jack.
"I've hardly a moment to spare," answered Mr. Gifford. "What is it?"
"A customer," said Jack; "the Hotel Dantzic. I can find more of the same kind, perhaps."
"Tell me," was the answer, with a look of greater interest, but also a look of incredulity.
Jack told him, shortly, the substance of his talk with Mr. Keifelheimer, and Mr. Gifford listened attentively13.
"His steward14 and buyers have been robbing him, have they?" he remarked. "Well, he's right about it. No doubt we can save him from ten to twenty per cent. It's a good idea. I'll go up and see him, by and by. Now hurry with your printing!"
Jack turned to the waiting "Alligator15," and Mr. Gifford went on to his desk.
"Jones," he said, to his head clerk, "Ogden has drummed us a good hotel customer," and then he told Mr. Jones about it.
"Mr. Gifford," said Mr. Jones, shrewdly, "can we afford to keep a sharp salesman and drummer behind that little printing-press?"
"Of course not," said Mr. Gifford. "Not after a week or so. But we must wait and see how he wears. He's very young, and a stranger."
"Young fellows soon grow," said Mr. Jones. "He'll grow. He'll pick up everything that comes along. I believe you'll find him a valuable salesman."
"Very likely," said Mr. Gifford, "but I sha'n't tell him so. He has plenty of confidence as it is."
"It's not impudence16," said Mr. Jones. "If he hadn't been pushing—well, he wouldn't have found this place with us. It's energy."
"Yes," said Mr. Gifford; "if it was impudence we should waste no time with him. If there is anything I despise out and out, it's what is often called cheek."
Next, he hated laziness, or anything resembling it, and Jack sat behind the Alligator that day, working hard himself and taking note of how Mr. Gifford kept his employees busy.
"No wonder he didn't need another boy," he thought. "He gets all the work possible out of every one he employs. That's why he's so successful."
It was a long, dull, hot day. The luncheon17 came at noon; and the customers came all the time, but Jack was forbidden to meddle18 with them until his printing was done.
"Mr. Gifford's eyes are everywhere," said he, "but I hope he hasn't seen anything out of the way in me. There are bags enough to last a month—yes, two months. I'll begin on the circulars and cards to-morrow. I'm glad it's six o'clock."
Mr. Gifford was standing19 near the door, giving orders to the porters, and as the Alligator stopped, Jack said to him: "I think I will go visiting among the other hotels, this evening."
"Very well," said Mr. Gifford quietly. "I saw Mr. Keifelheimer to-day, and made arrangements with him. If you're going out to the hotels in our interest, buy another hat, put on a stand-up collar with a new necktie; the rest of your clothing is well enough. Don't try to look dandyish, though."
"Of course not," said Jack, smiling; "but I was thinking about making some improvements in my suit."
He made several purchases on his way up town, and put each article on as he bought it. The last "improvement" was a neat straw hat, from a lot that were selling cheaply, and he looked into a long looking glass to see what the effect was.
Jack buys a new hat.
Jack buys a new hat.
"There!" he exclaimed. "There's very little of the 'green' left. It's not altogether the hat and the collar, either. Nor the necktie. Maybe some of it was starved out!"
He was a different looking boy, at all events, and the cashier at the desk of the Hotel Dantzic looked twice at him when he came in, and Mr. Keifelheimer remarked:
"Dot vas a smart boy! His boss vas here, und I haf safe money. Mr. Guilderaufenberg vas right about dot boy."
Jack was eager to begin his "drumming," but he ate a hearty20 supper before he went out.
"I must learn something about hotels," he remarked thoughtfully. "I'll take a look at some of them."
The Hotel Dantzic was not small, but it was small compared to some of the larger hotels that Jack was now to investigate. He walked into the first one he found, and he looked about it, and then he walked out, and went into another and looked that over, and then he thought he would try another. He strolled around through the halls, and offices, and reading-rooms, and all the public places; but the more he saw, the more he wondered what good it would do him to study them.
It was about eight o'clock in the evening when he stood in front of the office of the great Equatorial Hotel, feeling very keenly that he was still only a country boy, with very little knowledge of the men and things he saw around him.
A broad, heavy hand came down upon his shoulder, and a voice he had heard before asked, heartily:
"John Ogden? You here? Didn't I tell you not to stay too long in the city?"
"Yes, you did, Governor," said Jack, turning quickly. "But I had to stay here. I've gone into the wholesale21 and retail22 grocery business."
Jack already knew that the Governor could laugh merrily, and that any other men who might happen to be standing by were more than likely to join with him in his mirth, but the color came at once to his cheeks when the Governor began to smile.
"In the grocery business?" laughed the Governor. "Do you supply the Equatorial?"
"No, not yet; but I'd like to," said Jack. "I think our house could give them what they need."
"Let me have your card then," said one of the gentlemen who had joined in the Governor's merriment; "for the Governor has no time to spare—"
Jack handed him the card of Gifford & Company.
"Take it, Boulder23, take it," said the Governor. "Mr. Ogden and I are old acquaintances."
"He's a protégé of yours, eh?" said Boulder. "Well, I mean business. Write your own name there, Mr. Ogden. I'll send our buyer down there, to-morrow, and we'll see what can be done. Shall we go in, Governor?"
Jack understood, at once, that Mr. Boulder was one of the proprietors24 of the Equatorial Hotel.
"I'm called for, Jack," said the Governor. "You will be in the city awhile, will you not? Well, don't stay here too long. I came here once, when I was about your age. I staid a year, and then I went away. A year in the city will be of great benefit to you, I hope. Good-bye."
"Good-bye, Governor," said Jack, seriously. "We'll do the right thing by Mr. Boulder;" and there was another laugh as Jack shook hands with the Governor, and then with the very dignified25 manager of the Equatorial Hotel.
"That will do, for one evening," thought Jack, as the distinguished26 party of gentlemen walked away. "I'd better go right home and go to bed. The Governor's a brick anyhow!"
Back he went to the Hotel Dantzic, and he was soon asleep.
The Alligator press in Gifford & Company's was opening and shutting its black jaws27 regularly over the sheets of paper it was turning into circulars, about the middle of Wednesday forenoon, when a dapper gentleman with a rather prominent scarf-pin walked briskly into the store and up to the desk.
"Mr. Gifford?" he asked.
"Yes, sir."
"I'm Mr. Barnes," said the dapper man. "General buyer for the Equatorial Hotel. Your Mr. Ogden was up with us, last night, to see some of his friends, and I've come down to look at your price-list, and so forth28."
"Oh!" quietly remarked Mr. Gifford, "our Mr. Ogden. Oh, quite right! I think we can satisfy you. We'll do our best, certainly. Mr. Jones, please confer with Mr. Barnes—I'll be back in a minute."
Up toward the door walked Mr. Gifford, but not too fast. He stood still when he arrived at the Alligator press.
"Ogden," he said, "you can leave that work. I've another printing hand coming."
Jack's heart beat quickly, for a moment. What,—could he be discharged so suddenly? He was dismayed. But Mr. Gifford went on:
"Wash your hands, Ogden, and stand behind the counter there. I'll see you again, by and by. The buyer is here from the Equatorial."
"I promised them you'd give them all they wanted, and as good prices as could be had anywhere," said Jack, with a great sense of relief, and recovering his courage.
"We will," said Mr. Gifford, as he turned away, and he did not think he must explain to Jack that it would not do for Mr. Barnes to find Gifford & Company's salesman, "Mr. Ogden," running an Alligator press.
Mr. Barnes was in the store for some time, but Jack was not called up to talk with him. Mr. Gifford was the right man for that part of the affair, and in the course of his conversation with Mr. Barnes he learned further particulars concerning the intimacy29 between "your Mr. Ogden" and the Governor, with the addition that "Mr. Boulder thinks well of Mr. Ogden too."
Jack waited upon customers as they came, and he did well, for "a new hand." But he felt very ignorant of both articles and prices, and the first thing he said, when Mr. Gifford again came near him, was:
"Mr. Gifford, I ought to know more than I do about the stock and prices."
"Of course you ought," said Mr. Gifford. "I don't care to have you try any more 'drumming' till you do. You must stay a few months behind the counter and learn all you can. You must dress neatly30, too. I wonder you've looked as well as you have. We'll make your salary fifteen dollars a week. You'll need more money as a salesman."
Jack flushed with pleasure, but a customer was at hand, and the interruption prevented him from making an answer.
"Jones," remarked Mr. Gifford to his head clerk, "Ogden is going to become a fine salesman!"
"I thought so," said Jones.
They both were confirmed in this opinion, about three weeks later. Jack was two hours behind time, one morning; but when he did come, he brought with him Mr. Guilderaufenberg of Washington, with reference to a whole winter's supplies for a "peeg poarding-house," and two United States Army contractors31. Jack had convinced these gentlemen that they were paying too much for several articles that could be found on the list of Gifford & Company in better quality and at cheaper rates.
"Meester Giffort," said the German gentleman, "I haf drafel de vorlt over, und I haf nefer met a better boy dan dot Jack Ogden. He knows not mooch yet, alretty, but den1 he ees a very goot boy."
"We like him," said Mr. Gifford, smiling.
"So do I, und so does Mrs. Guilderaufenberg, und Miss Hildebrand, und Miss Podgr-ms-chski," said the German. "Some day you lets him visit us in Vashington? So?"
"I don't know. Perhaps I will," said Mr. Gifford; but he afterward32 remarked grimly to Mr. Jones: "If I should, and he should meet the President, Ogden would never let him go until he bought some of our tea and coffee!"
That day was a notable one in both Crofield and Mertonville. Jack's first long letter, telling that he was in the grocery business, had been almost a damper to the Ogden family. They had kept alive a small hope that he would come back soon, until Aunt Melinda opened an envelope that morning and held up samples of paper bags, cards, and circulars of Gifford & Company, while Mrs. Ogden read the letter that came with them. Bob and Jim claimed the bags next, while Susie and Bessie read the circulars, and the tall blacksmith himself straightened up as if he had suddenly grown prouder.
"Mary!" he exclaimed. "Jack always said he'd get to the city. And he's there—and earning his living!"
"Yes, but—Father," she said, with a small shake in her voice, "I—wish he was back again. There'd be almost room for him to work in Crofield, now."
"Maybe so, maybe so," he replied. "There'll be crowds of people coming in when they begin work on the new rail way and the bridge. I signed the deeds yesterday for all the land they're buying of Jack and me. I won't tell him about it quite yet, though. I don't wish to unsettle his mind. Let him stay where he is."
"This will be a trying day for Mary," said Aunt Melinda, thoughtfully. "The Academy will open at nine o'clock. Just think of what that child has to go through! There'll be a crowd there, too,—oh, dear me!"
Mary Ogden sat upon the stage, by previous orders from the Academy principals, awaiting the opening exercises; but the principals themselves had not yet arrived. She looked rather pale, and she was intently watching the nickel-plated gong on the table and the hands of the clock which hung upon the opposite wall.
"Perhaps the principals are here," Mary thought as the clock hands crept along. "But they said to strike the bell at nine, precisely33, and if they're not here I must do it!"
At the second of time, up stood Mary and the gong sounded sharply.
That was for "Silence!" and it was very silent, all over the hall, and all the scholars looked at Mary and waited.
"Clang," went the gong again, and every boy and girl arose, as if they had been trained to it.
Poor Mary was thinking, "I hope nobody sees how scared I am!" but the Academy term was well opened, and Dr. Dillingham was speaking, when the Reverend Lysander Pettigrew and Mrs. Henderson, the tardy34 principals, came hurrying in to explain that an accident had delayed them.
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1
den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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3
bellows
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| n.风箱；发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的名词复数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的第三人称单数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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4
anvil
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| n.铁钻 | |
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5
flatten
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| v.把．．．弄平，使倒伏；使(漆等)失去光泽 | |
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6
hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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7
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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8
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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9
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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10
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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11
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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12
peremptory
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| adj.紧急的，专横的，断然的 | |
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13
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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14
steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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15
alligator
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| n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼) | |
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16
impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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17
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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18
meddle
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| v.干预，干涉，插手 | |
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19
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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20
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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21
wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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22
retail
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| v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格 | |
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23
boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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24
proprietors
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| n.所有人，业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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25
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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26
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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27
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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28
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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29
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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30
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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31
contractors
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| n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 ) | |
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32
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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33
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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34
tardy
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| adj.缓慢的，迟缓的 | |
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