eir heads--said that he needed a
balance-wheel.

This was dinned into his ears so often that he finally came to believe
it. So after many Sunday afternoon business discussions, it was
arranged that he was to take into the business his wife's cousin, one
Lemuel Stucker, who had spent twenty years saving $9000 as general
manager for a flour and feed concern.

Stucker had worked out elaborate sets of figures to prove the needed
economies of management.

He was so tireless and sincere, so careful and exact, that it was with
a great sense of relief that Sam turned the store over to him.

Here, at last, was a man who could lift from his shoulders the daily
burden of management.

Sam's real interest in the change, as those who knew him might have
guessed, was a desire for new enterprise. He had long had an eye on a
fine opening for a clothing store in the neighboring town of
Bridgeville, twenty miles away, and he lost no time in carrying out
this project.

During the ensuing year he was so engrossed with the Bridgeville
branch that Medeena rarely saw him, and Lemuel Stucker's rather
discouraging reports on the state of business were attributed to Lem's
conservatism and natural depression of mind.

Lem was Sam's opposite in almost every particular. A small, sallow man
with a black shoe-string necktie and a look of general regret.

He spent most of his time untying knots in pieces of string, picking
up bits of wrapping paper and sharpening short lead-pencils, and he
was great on buying brooms.

His effect on the store was one of immediate and prevalent blight.

You may wonder why the boys did not complain of conditions to Sam, but
Lem was manager--and there is something so virtuous and convincing
about a first-class retrencher. His wise saws and thrifty sayings are
infectious and he makes everybody so low-spirited that they are ready
to catch anything.

No more good window displays--tacks, colored cheesecloth and other
accessories cost money, and the sun was bad for the goods.

No more trim on the counters and shelves.

Stop the high-power electric light in front of the store and reduce
the lamps inside.

These things did not all occur at once, but so gradually that it was
hard to realize just what had happened to the store.

The windows got streaky and the inside of the store looked dingy and
cold.

Then the conservative spirit got into the buying. Nothing but black
cheviots with a few drab and gray worste