“No, sir, I understood every word,” quickly replied Clinton, slightly blushing.
“Because, if you were, I thought I should like to keep you company,” continued Mr. Davenport. “It’s a rather dry subject, I know; but it will soon be one of practical importance to you, and Whistler, too. Have you made up your mind what profession you should like to follow, Clinton?”
“No, sir,—not exactly,” replied Clinton. “I like farming very well, but I’ve thought I should rather be a merchant than anything else.”
“Why do you think you should like to be a merchant?” inquired his uncle.
Clinton was somewhat at a loss for an answer; but at length he replied, with some misgivings:
“Why, it must be fine to own ships and warehouses, and do a great business, and make lots of money, and have everything you want, and be looked up to by every body. Besides, the merchant can have his farm, too, if he likes.”
“But you have tried farming, and you say you like that pretty well?” inquired his uncle.
“Yes, sir,” replied Clinton.
“Well,” resumed Mr. Davenport, “let me tell you one thing. With you, mercantile life is all romance, just as farming is to your cousin. On the other hand, farming is real to you, while Whistler has had a chance to observe something of the dark side of mercantile and professional life. When you think of being a merchant, you think only of fine ships, and great warehouses, and sumptuous dwellings, and the portly and dignified men who rule on ’change. You don’t think of the early years of drudgery and poverty most of these men went through, or of the temptations they were exposed to, which, perhaps, overcame a score of their companions for every one that escaped; you don’t think how they have risked health, and perhaps lost it; you don’t think what fierce struggles they have encountered, what crushing losses they have met, and what a weight of care rests upon them night and day; you don’t think it is possible that they will yet meet with overwhelming reverses, and die in poverty; and, more than all, you don’t think that these successful merchants are themselves exceptions to the great mass of the profession, who were only moderately successful, if they did not wholly fail. Is it not so?”
“Yes, sir, I never thought much of the dark side,” replied Clinton.