The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Canadian Bankclerk, by J. P. Buschlen

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Title: A Canadian Bankclerk

Author: J. P. Buschlen

Release Date: March 11, 2010 [EBook #31602]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CANADIAN BANKCLERK ***

Produced by Al Haines

[Frontispiece: "The Conscientious Clerk" _From drawing by Paul N.
Craig, Omaha, Neb., 1913_]

A CANADIAN

BANKCLERK

BY

J. P. BUSCHLEN

TORONTO:

WILLIAM BRIGGS

1913

Copyright, Canada, 1913, by

J. P. BUSCHLEN

Dedicated

TO THE

Conscientious Clerk

_DUST._

_My box is full of others' cash,
My pocket full of air,
My head is crammed with cleric trash,
Layer upon layer._

_I gaze upon the business mob
That throngs before my cage,
And watch their human pulses throb
In greed, fear, rage._

_Yet through the vapor and the must
I often catch a smile--
As though someone had lost the lust,
And, for a while,_

_Regarded me, the shoveller,
As greater than the gold,
Which, after all, belongs to her--
Old Mother Mould._

PREFACE

The story herein told is true to life; true, the greater part of it, to
my own life. Also, I am convinced that my experience in a Canadian
Bank was but mildly exciting as compared with that of many others.

My object in publishing "Evan Nelson's" history is to enlighten the
public concerning life behind the wicket and thus pave the way for the
legitimate organization of bankclerks into a fraternal association, for
their financial and social (including moral) betterment.

Bank officials, I trust, will see to it that my misrepresentations are
exposed.

To mothers of bankclerks who attach overmuch importance to the
gentility of their Boy's avocation; to fathers who think that because
the bank is rich its employes must necessarily become so in time; to
friends who criticize the bankclerks of their acquaintance for not
settling down--this story is addressed.

To the men of our banks who are dissatisfied with the business they
have chosen, or someone else has chosen for them; to Old Country cle