Francis Lynde

“ Your weak point is carelessness. Oversights in business are always expensive; there is hardly a day passes in which you couldn't neglect something that might make us no end of trouble."
Tom hung his head and made many good resolutions, some outspoken but more to himself. He was a dutiful son, and nothing was further from his intention than mere lip-service. Hence, when his father had left the office to take the train for Duluth, he copied the letters, cleaned up the desk, and did everything he could find to do before going home. ”

“ The search for the traveling passenger-agent of the Utah Inland promised to be sufficiently exciting. Everywhere Tom went, Cargill had just preceded him. The chase led him around and about among the railway-offices, and finally took him back to his starting-point at Cargill's headquarters in East Third Street. Here, again, he was a minute too late. The passenger-agent had just gone down to take the train for Minneapolis; and as Tom braced himself for a run, the office-boy gave him a telegram. ”

“ Now, a well-regulated conscience, when it is once unhandsomely snubbed, is apt to avenge itself by taking a nap. Tom saw Harry half a dozen times during the next two days, but he never thought to ask about the mail ”