e saw an auctioneer's flag hanging out before a wholesale grocery and from the interior came the auctioneer's voice: "What am I bid for this exceptional lot of Java coffee, twenty-tw

tanding near the door, more to start the

wo!" call

fourth, and so up to seventy-five,

ive, and"- he paused, one hand raised dramatically. Then he brought it down with a slap in the palm of the other -"sold to Mr. Silas Gregory for seventy-five. Make a not

of what his profit would be if he sold it at retail. As he recalled, his mother was paying twenty-eight cents a pound. He drew nearer, his books tucked under his arm, and watched these operations closely. The starch, as he soon heard, was valued at ten dollars a barrel, and it only brought six. S

t eleven dollars and seventy-five cents a case. What am I bid? What am I bid? What am I bid?" He was talking fast in the usual style of auctioneers, with much unnecessary emphasis; but Cowperwood was not unduly impr

rs," commente

n," bid

" called

five," a

commodity. "Twenty-six." "Twenty-seven." "Twenty-eight." "Twenty-nine

usly but without pausing. He had, somehow, in spite of himself, been impressed by the boy's peculiar eye; and now he felt, with

ile soap. It's a fine lot. It's worth fourteen cents a bar. Will any one

ne," said

Cowperwood. The same

wo! Will anybody bid thirty-three? It's fine soap. Seven

tional Bank, and he could quote him as reference. He could sell all of his soap to the family grocer, su

tioneer

even fine cases of soap. Am I bid anything more?" Once, twice! Three times! Am I bid anything more?"- his h

eller of the Third National Ban

the man, fixed

I run up to the ban

If you're not here in an

t and ran fast; first, to his mother's grocer

nd strolling in, looked about for Castile soap. There it was, the

a bar, Mr. Dalry

ts," replied

es for sixty-two dollars just

same

s,

le calculat

would," he rep

ou pay m

note for it. Wh

nexpected proposition on the part of his neighbor'

it if I bring i

ied. "Are you going in

re I can get some o

rs; but he knew how to get in, and he knew that his father would be glad to

father, looking up from his desk when

an me thirty-two

t. What do you wa

it. Mr. Dalrymple will take it. He's already offered me sixty-two for it. I can get it fo

-like attitude he had seen his son manifest.

re, "are you going to become a financier already? You're sure you

u?" he pleaded. "I'll show you in a little

the scent of game. His father

And he counted out six five-dollar certificates of the

to the auction room as fast as his legs would carry him. When he came

for that soap

ow

you give me

ep

delive

have to take it away

lty did not

and pocketed his paper

lf an hour he was back with a drayman - an idle

hed Mr. Dalrymple whom he had come out and look at the boxes before attempting to remove them. His plan was to have them carried o

flectively. "Yes, that's the same soap. I'll take it.

up here," he replied

r some formality - because the agent in this case was a b

had seen others doing, thereby paying his father back and getting his own profit in ready money. It could

; and his father glanced u

how'd you make

paper Dalrymple had given him. "Do you want to discount

od paper! Yes, I can. It will cost you ten per cent.," he added, jestingly. "Why don't you

ou discount it and take yo

l right," he said. "I'll fix it to-morrow. Tell

Frank's mother heard about it,

he asked. "He has stuff in him, t

r. Was this the son she had nursed at her bosom not

pe you can do that

a," was his rather

o make money. He took subscriptions for a boys' paper; handled the agency for the sale of a new kind of ice-skate, and once organized a band of neighborhood youths into a union for the purpose of purch

ar old girl, Patience Barlow, who lived further up the street, was the first to attract his attention or be attracted by him. Black hair and snapping black eyes were her portion, with pretty pigtails down her back, and dainty feet and ankles to match a dainty figure. She was a Quakeress, the daughter of Qu

last manifested in a nervous swinging of her

e same school my sister does, don't you? Aren't you Patience Barlow?"

miled. "I've seen you.

ulled out some fresh sticks

he said, sweet

n carrying it a long time. I

," she replied, che

, by way of self-introduction. "She's in a lower grade t

e is. I've seen her co

o his own home as he drew near to it, as if she di

en he was about ready to turn off into th

, w

ay," she volunteered, seemingly

does sh

n twenty

affirmed, warmly, as

, growing more courageous as the distan

s," he

an to run g

ty. He felt a keen desire to kiss her, and what might tran

ut to play in the snow of a winter's night, or lingered after dusk before her own door when the days grew dark early. It was so easy to catch and kiss her then, and to talk to her foolishly at parties. Then came Dora Fitler, when he was sixteen years old

e to do to earn a little money now and then. His Uncle Seneca had allowed him to act as assistant weigher at the sugar-docks in Southwark, where three-hundred-pound bags were weighed into the government bonded warehouses under the eyes of United States inspectors. In certain emergencies he was called to assist his father, an

back in Philadelphia and stouter and more

e any salary in it for the first year, but if you mind your p's and q's, they'll probably give you some

en their

and commission men. You say you want to get in that line. When school's out, you go down and see Mr. W

anning to move with his family rather far out on North Front Street, which commanded at that time a beautiful view of the river and was witnessing the construction of some charming dwellings. His four thousand dollars a year in these pre-Civil–War times was

aterman, Sr., a man of fifty-five years of age, was the general head of the organization, inside and out - traveling about the nearby territory to see customers when that was necessary, coming into final counsel in cases where his brother could not adjust matters, suggesting and advising new ventures which his associates and hirelings carried out. He was, to look at, a phlegmatic type of man - short, stout, wrinkled ab

if the trade had been left to his care, it would have rapidly disappeared. His father foresaw this, was grieved, and was hoping some young man would e

was something easy and sufficient about him. He did not appear to be in the least flustered or disturbed. He knew how to keep books,

gone with instructions to report the following morning. "There's something to him.

n, largely vanished growth of brownish-black hair which contrasted strangely with the egg-shaped whiten

to," said his brother. "He

's ri

I bet anything he makes good.

his was a part - the noisy trucks and drays, the busy crowds hurrying to and fro, pleased him. He looked at the buildings over the way - all three and four stories, and largely of gr

kind of man I want," he observed to himself, meditati

ersation with the boy, he sensed this marked qualit