A YOUNG MAN IN NEW YORK 19 
on his mind, but he finally repaid it, with a silk handkerchief 
as interest. 
An amusing incident that occurred in 1837 reveals side- 
lights on the attitude of employees, and shows that human 
nature changes very little. The Stewart store’s strict rules re- 
quired that clerks record their tardinesses both in the morn- 
ing and after dinner and supper, somewhat in the manner of 
punching a time-clock. For each tardiness a fine of twenty-five 
cents was collected, and this sum was to be kept and given to 
a charity that the clerks should designate. The regulation 
was phrased in the pious language of the period. 
On October 1, the clerks, who possessed names like Selden, 
Goodrich, Walker, Selby, Matthew, Austin, Mills, MacFar- 
lan, and Zabriskie, demanded the accumulated fines from the 
cashier and repaired to a popular oyster-saloon in a basement 
on Broadway at Chambers street. A unanimous vote de- 
manded that an oyster supper should be served at the expense 
of the fund, which Cyrus as treasurer had in charge. This 
was done, and then followed a protracted debate as to which 
charity should receive the balance. This debate, over the 
oysters and drinks, must have been very amusing. These 
clerks were on a spree and talked in bold terms. 
At last it was unanimously resolved that there was no such 
deserving charity in the city or state of New York as the clerks 
of A. T. Stewart & Company, and that Cyrus should repay to 
each clerk the exact amount of his fines less the cost of the 
supper. By this time it was nearly daybreak. Naturally A. T. 
Stewart was not particularly pleased to hear of all this, but 
the damage had been done. 
Years later, when Cyrus was famous, Stewart remarked that 
probably the young man had received his first suggestion of 
the possibilities of telegraphy when he used to tick warnings 
to the other clerks that Stewart was approaching, so that every- 
one could appear busy and attentive. When Cyrus left the 
employ of the store, after three years there, a dozen of the 
