ds
the discharge of my great mission.

"He says you write very handsomely and very plainly; that your footings
and extensions are uniformly correct."

"I try to have everything right and neat," I answered, delighted beyond
measure at this kind opinion of me.

"I took occasion, while the subject was warm, to mention a matter of
which I have been thinking lately," continued Mr. Whippleton. "I have a
great deal of out-door business to do, and the entire charge of the
books is too much for me. We are going to have another entry clerk, and
you will hereafter be the assistant book-keeper."

I was very much obliged to him for this new mark of confidence. He
explained that he did not intend to give me the entire charge of the
books yet, but that I should do the posting and keep the cash book; or
rather, that I should assist him in doing these things. He wished me to
look into the system of book-keeping the firm had adopted, and prepare
myself to keep the books in the course of a year. I promised to be
diligent and attentive, but I assured him that I already understood the
method.

"Between us both, when we have another entry clerk, we shall have a
little more time for sailing," he added. "If we can get away at three
or four in the afternoon, we shall have some jolly cruises, for we can
make an easy thing of it in the boat as well as at the desk."

"How far can you go in this boat?" I asked, as I glanced at the broad
expanse of waters to the north and east of us.

"How far? As far as you please. A thousand miles. You can go to the
head of Lake Superior, or through Lake Huron to the foot of Lake Erie."

"Not in this boat."

"Why not?"

"Because she isn't large enough."

"Yes, she is. Her cabin is large enough for two to sleep in; and there
is a cook-stove forward, where you can get up as good a dinner as they
have at the Tremont House."

"But there are violent storms on the lakes, I have read."

"So there are; but the Florina will stand almost anything in the shape
of a blow. All you have to do is to reef, and let her go it. But you
can always tell when it is going to be bad weather, and you can make a
harbor. With a boat of this size you can run into any creek or river,
anchor, and eat and sleep till it is fair weather again. I always keep
within a few miles of the shore, on a long cruise. If I can get away
for two or three weeks this summer, I intend to make a voyage up to the
strait, and down on the other side