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THE TWO STOCK-TAKINGS.

It was towards the end of the year that Mr. B. in passing through the High Street of a large market town, in which he had many years been a minister of the Gospel, stepped into the shop of one of his regular hearers. Mr. B's primary errand at that time was to buy a pair of warm gloves a second object was, if opportunity occurred, to speak a word or two to his friend, Mr. F, the proprietor of the shop.

The first object was soon accomplished: but not the second; for Mr. B- found himself unexpectedly in a scene of bustle and confusion, which contrasted rather strongly with the orderly and quiet state of affairs on such dull winterly days as that present one. The whole establishment, indeed, seemed to be inordinately making haste to some conclusion or other goods were displaced from fixtures, and were stacked in huge piles from counter to ceiling; other stacks encumbered the floor, interspersed with baskets and boxes of smaller and lighter wares: two or three shopmen, divested of their coats, and warm with exercise,

though a sharp frost prevailed without, were measuring and folding and rolling heavy goods, as though some grand event depended on their individual exertions; shopwomen were busied over drawers of ribbons, and boxes of millinery, and packets of haberdashery: apprentice lads were running to and fro, in a hurried, distracted sort of way: and, in addition to all this, was Mr. F

himself, in his glazed-in counting-house on one side of the large shop, evidently immersed in daybooks and ledgers, and with anxiety, a shade or two deeper than usual, imprinted on his coun

tenance.

He was not so intent on his work, however, as not to have observed the entrance of his minister and customer; and he stepped out of his countinghouse in time to delay the putting on of the warm gloves by a friendly shake of the hand.

"We are very busy just now, you see, Mr. B- "said the tradesman.

"Yes, I perceive," said the other, looking round. 'Making up a good order, I hope."

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"Oh dear, no,” replied Mr. F, with a smile: we are only stock-taking."

"Ah, yes I remember. Very necessary, I believe, in business, Mr. F———.”

"Very necessary, though not always very pleasant. But, pleasant or not, I always make a point of taking stock and a correct balance-sheet at the close of the year. There are some tradesmen who don't take the trouble-at least, who

don't do it so often or so regularly; but I should feel very uncomfortable in beginning a new year without knowing exactly how I stand with the world."

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"Quite right, sir," rejoined Mr. B—; “ and I trust you will find everything to your satisfaction."

"I hope so," said the tradesman, rather hurriedly and nervously; "but I am not sure. I have had some heavy losses and other drawbacks this year; but I shall know better about it in a few days: and, by the way, I cannot spare time to ask you to walk in now; but, on New-year's day I shall be glad to see you, sir. All this muddle will be over by that time."

Mr. B replied, that he would probably call then; and, buttoning up his great-coat, and putting on his new gloves, he pursued his walk; while Mr. Freturned to his counting-house, his books, and his calculations.

New-year's day soon came, and Mr. B paid his visit. Mr. F's countenance was now cleared, and his buoyant spirits showed that the examination into his circumstances had not ended in any unfavourable result. At length Mr. F claimed

the congratulations of his visitor, that things had turned out better than he expected.

"A

"I am glad to hear it," said Mr. B fresh motive for gratitude, this, sir, to Him who has given you power to get wealth."

"Yes, yes, of course," rejoined the successful tradesman, hurriedly: "gratitude, of course, is—

is the right sort of feeling. However, I did not mean to say that I had added much to my wealth through the past year. There was plenty of room for improvement in that respect."

"At any rate, it is a motive for thankfulness that you are not going back in the world, notwithstanding some losses which, I think, you gave me to understand you had sustained."

when it

"Ah! very heavy losses too, I assure you, by bad debts. These are times, Mr. Bis very difficult to know who may be trusted. I sometimes fancy that honesty and morality are going out altogether.'

"I regret to hear you say so, sir; but let us hope that things are not quite so bad. There has been much commercial difficulty in the past year. Perhaps some of your customers, whose debts you find bad, had no dishonest views in incurring them. They may have suffered even more severely than yourself, and from the same cause, so as to have been brought down to poverty and its painful straits."

"Possibly, sir; and I do not complain; that is, I do not complain of bad debts in the regular way of business, so much as of others that are not business debts. For instance, there is a man whom you know tolerably well, I believe-James W.”

"I know him, certainly; I have known him many years, poor W! I have heard sad news respecting him; and, I fear, too true."

"If you have heard that he is utterly ruined, sir,

and unlikely to pay his creditors half-a-crown in the pound, you have heard only what is true. Unfortunately, I have the best means of knowing, for I was at a meeting of W's creditors only yesterday."

"I hope his debt to you is not a very large

one."

"I am his principal creditor; and what is still worse, it is not, as I have just said, in the regular way of business, but for money lent to him from time to time."

"But how comes it that a shrewd man of business like yourself, Mr. F, did this?"

"Why, I was deceived, that is all; I am half ashamed to confess it; but I fancied W

was

all right, and only wanted more capital; and I was foolish enough to let him have it. Not that W himself meant to deceive me; for I believe he was as much in the dark as any one, as to the real state of his affairs. I have no doubt his intentions have been honest enough, and that now he would gladly pay all he owes if he were able."

"I am glad to hear you say so; and it confirms my own opinion of W. I have always believed him to be an honourable and upright man; and I thought him also a prosperous tradesman. But how then-I do not ask from mere curiosity-how do you account for his failure ?”

"It is to be accounted for in more ways than one, perhaps; by a loose way of doing business, and by over-confidence in himself and others."