"There couldn't be anything more fortunate," said the mother. "What do you think, Stoffel?"
"What pleases me especially is the 'well-behaved.'"
"Yes, moral and well-behaved--do you hear, Walter? Just as I have always said. And 'prospect of salary.' What do you think of that, Stoffel?"
"Yes, mother; but--he must be 'diligent and reliable.'"
"Yes, Walter, you must be diligent and reliable. Haven't I always told you that? And they require 'Dt. Ref.'; but you are that, thank God."
"Stoffel, don't you think you'd better write the letter?"
"That's so! But if you write the letter in your own handwriting--that will be better than for such a child to write it."
Stoffel had some difficulty in making it plain to his mother that "own handwriting" meant Walter's own handwriting; but she finally saw the point, and Walter was given a seat at the table.
"Now, have you forgotten that again? Such a simple thing? Have you got down the date? Then write 'Gentlemen,' in business style. It says, 'responsible business firm.'"
"Yes," said the mother, "and add that your father had a business, too. We sold shoes from Paris. Otherwise they will think we're only shoemakers."
"And write that you are the first in school."
"And that you belong to the Dutch Reform Church."
"And that you are moral and well-behaved."
"And that you are diligent and reliable. Don't you see, you may get a salary then right away."
At last the letter was ready. It only remained to stamp it and post it. But why couldn't the young applicant deliver the letter in person and save the postage? Stoffel thought there would be no impropriety in such a course. Even a responsible business firm ought to overlook such a detail.
With a heavy heart Walter started out on his important errand. He was entering the real world, and was about to become a worshiper of the great god of "business." He was depressed by his lack of confidence, and felt that it was unbecoming in himself to make application to a "responsible business firm."
If he met a man that looked well-to-do, he would ask himself if the gentleman was a "business man," and belonged to a "responsible business firm." This last high-sounding expression embodied mysteries which he did not attempt to understand. He would learn it all later.
