The Romance and Tragedy | Page 3

trade in which I began my career.

My office life for the first two years was routine and devoid of
excitement, except for occasional strenuous experiences the result of
Mr. Derham's brusqueness and quickness to resent anything that he
deemed an attempt to take advantage of, or put a slight upon him. He
was the sort of man that makes a steadfast friend or a bitter enemy, with
no room for anything in between.
"Walter, take this contract to Winter and bring me his acceptance," said
Mr. Derham on one occasion, when, having made what in those days
was considered a large sale, he was feeling particularly good-natured
over it.
"Yes, sir," I replied, and was off at once, little knowing the reception
awaiting me in the Beaver Street office of Rudolph C. Winter.
On entering the office I approached Mr. Winter's desk and handed him
the contract. He glanced at it, and then all the nervous irritability for
which that individual was noted came to the surface at once. Springing
up from his desk, upsetting the chair in his haste and rushing toward me,
he shouted:
"Here! take this back to Mr. Derham; tell him I won't have it! I didn't
sell it; get out!" And pushing me across the office, he opened the door
and thrust me into the street, throwing after me my hat, which had been
knocked from my hand.
It did not take me long to get back to Mr. Derham and give him an
account of what had occurred.
In a fury he put on his hat, and saying "come with me," we walked
rapidly to Winter's office. Entering the door with blood in his eye, Mr.
Derham stepped up to the still wrathful merchant.
"Winter, I understand you decline to accept this contract."
"But," began Winter, when down on the desk came Mr. Derham's
clenched fist.

"No explanations now; sign first, and then after you have apologized to
my messenger, who is my representative when I send him to you,
perhaps I'll listen, and I am not sure I will not give you a good
thrashing afterwards."
The fury of Winter disappeared and in its place there was a very mild
spring. He signed the contract, told me he was sorry he had been so
hasty, and when I left them he was trying to pacify Mr. Derham.
On another occasion, Mr. Brightman, of Brightman & Smart, a
dignified gentleman at that time acting as consul for the Netherlands,
called at the office.
It appeared he had made a sale which he regretted and he called to have
it cancelled, claiming that he had been induced to make the sale
through the alleged misrepresentation by Mr. Thomas Derham, of
certain features of the market.
The argument became heated and Brightman called Thomas a liar. His
brother looked at him in silence for a moment, long enough to discover
that he was lacking either in pluck or inclination to resent the insult,
then springing at Brightman he literally threw him out of the office.
These scenes, though not of daily occurrence, were frequent enough to
relieve the monotony of office life and at the same time to give me a
wholesome fear of incurring my employer's displeasure.
In the summer of 1868 Mr. Thomas Derham was married. For some
reason unknown to me his brother did not approve, and a little later
differences arose between them, the friction increasing until finally a
separation of their business interests was agreed upon. Mr. Thomas
Derham launched out on his own account, and the competition between
the brothers became a bitter warfare, all personal intercourse ceasing.
At this time my salary was seven dollars per week, and Mr. Derham,
after the dissolution of partnership with his brother, advanced it to ten
dollars.

As he was my only employer and there were no further advances later,
this is the largest salary I was ever paid.
How large it looked to me then I remember well, and although matters
had gone from bad to worse at home and most of my earnings had to
contribute to keep the pot boiling, it seemed to me as if I were rich the
first Saturday night I carried home the ten-dollar bill.
From this time my position in the office became more dignified. A
woman was employed to do the cleaning, and Mr. Derham delegated to
me the placing of many of the smaller orders and occasionally sent me
on business trips to near-by cities.
I worked hard and faithfully to make my services valuable. I kept the
books, made collections, attended to a portion of the correspondence,
and it was not long before I had acquired a thorough knowledge of the
methods of doing the business and was able to carry out transactions to