finger, and my cane, a very pretty affair, which
I had purchased with direct reference to this occasion. My first day's
experience was not encouraging. I traveled street after street, up one
side and down the other, without success. I fancied, toward the last,
that the clerks all knew my business the moment I opened the door, and
that they winked ill-naturedly at my discomfiture as I passed out. But
nature endowed me with a good degree of persistency, and the next day
I started again. Toward noon I entered a store where an elderly
gentleman was talking with a lady near by the door. I waited until the
visitor had left and then stated my errand.

"'No sir,' was the answer, given in a crisp and decided manner.
Possibly I looked the discouragement I was beginning to feel, for he
added in a kindlier tone, 'Are you good at taking a hint?'

"'I don't know,' I answered, and my face flushed painfully.

"'What I wished to say is this,' said he, looking me in the face and
smiling at my embarrassment, 'If I were in want of a clerk, I would
not engage a young man who came seeking employment with a flashy ring
upon his finger, and swinging a cane.'

"For a moment, mortified vanity struggled against common sense, but
sense got the victory, and I replied, with rather shaky voice, 'I'm
very much obliged to you,' and then beat a hasty retreat. As soon as I
got out of sight, I slipped the ring into my pocket, and walking
rapidly to the Worcester depot I left the cane in charge of the
baggage-master 'until called for.' It is there now, for aught I know.
At any rate, I never called for it. That afternoon I obtained a
situation with the firm of which I am now a partner. How much my
unfortunate finery had injured my prospects on the previous day I
shall never know, but I never think of the old gentleman and his
plain-dealing with me, without always feeling, as I told him at the
time, 'very much obliged to him.'"

REAPING.

While the years are swiftly passing,
As we watch them come and go,
Do we realize the maxim,
We must reap whate'er we sow?

When the past comes up before us,
All our thoughts, our acts and deeds,
Shall they glean for us fair roses,
Or a harvest bear of weeds?

Are we sowing seeds to blossom?
We shall reap some day,--somewhere,
Just what here we have been sowing,
Worthless weeds or roses fair.

All around us whispering ever,
Hear the