ade sport of. It is true that there were no drunkards among
them. And why?"

"Because none of them got drunk, I should think," Henry ventured to
suggest.

"That, of course, was one reason, my son, but the main reason was that
they knew how to govern themselves."

The evening flew away with music and with talk of a long ago made
doubly dear by present happiness. The hour was growing late.
Witherspoon and Henry sat in the library, smoking. Ellen had gone to
her room to draft a form for the invitation to Henry's reception, and
Mrs. Witherspoon was on a midnight prowl throughout the house, and
although knowing that everything was right, yet surprised to find it
so.

"Now, my boy," said the merchant, "we will talk business. Your mother,
and particularly your sister, thought it well for me to make you an
allowance, and while I don't object to the putting of money aside for
you, yet I should rather have you feel the manliness which comes of
drawing a salary for services rendered. That is more American. You see
how useful Brooks has made himself. Now, why can't you work yourself
into a similar position? In the future, the charge of the entire
establishment may devolve upon you. All that a real man wants is a
chance, and such a chance as I now urge upon you falls to the lot of
but few young men. Had such an opportunity been given to me when I was
young, I should have regarded myself as one specially favored by the
partial goddess of fortune."

He was now walking up and down the room. He spoke with fervor, and
Henry saw how strong he was and wondered not at his great success.

"I don't often resort to figures of speech," Witherspoon continued,
"but even the most practical man feels sometimes that illustration is
a necessity. Words are the trademarks of the goods stored in the mind,
and a flashy expression proclaims the flimsy trinket."

Was his unwonted indulgence in wine at dinner playing rhetorical
tricks with his mind?

"I spoke just now of the partial goddess of fortune," the merchant
continued, "in the hope that I might impress you with a deplorable
truth. Fortune is vested with a peculiar discrimination. It appears
more often to favor the unjust than the just. Ability and a life of
constant wooing do not always win success, for luck, the factotum of
fortune, often bestows in one minute a success which a life-time of
stubborn toil could not have achieved. Therefore, I say to you, think
well of your position, and i