he was not unkind to me. He clothed and fed me well. He chewed tobacco
and was brimming over with funny stories, funny and usually indelicate.
I heard much swearing, too, and I began to think it the proper thing to
try to be wicked myself. I was greatly attached to the two clerks, and
they were my models in everything. One of them was also the bookkeeper
of the establishment as well as a salesman. He dressed after the mode in
trig, close-fitting suits; his pantaloons were like tights, and only
kept on his legs by straps under his boots. He played and fooled with me
in idle hours. The other clerk was exceedingly sober, often melancholy,
seldom smiled and had nothing to do with me, rarely speaking to me. I
stood in awe and admiration of him. He wrote poetry for the local
newspaper, and I think he felt above us all, and above his position. He
belonged to a distinguished family, and why he happened to be a dry
goods clerk I never knew. He seemed as much out of his natural place as
I. How restless and penned up I felt at times no words can tell. The
lean dog with freedom, is much more to be envied than the chained dog
with a golden collar. It was a small store of only three counters, and
during unoccupied hours there was nothing on the shelves or in drawers
with which I could amuse myself. In mere desperation for something to
occupy myself I counted spools of cotton and silk, unrolled and rolled
again pieces of goods, and many a hot summer afternoon, when both the
shops and the streets were deserted, I caught flies and put them in a
bottle, and then smoked them to death.

I now seldom saw my former playmates. Their families traded at a much
larger and more fashionable store. Our customers were of an humbler
class, mainly from the suburbs and adjoining villages. But a boy does
not long remain companionless, be there another boy within reach. I
became intimate first with a lad in a grocery store, whereby there was
considerable access to sugar, raisins and other sweets; through him,
together with others in similar situations, I was made a member of their
secret society, having been tested as to strength, reliability and other
qualifications. Our badge was a red morocco star, worn under the left
lappet of the vest. The only purpose of the club that I could ever
discover, was to lick every boy who did not belong to it! I was expected
to celebrate my initiation by challenging three non-members, which I
proceeded to do, licked two a