“I forgive you freely,” said “Uncle Bibbins”; “but,” he added, “you must be careful next time how you insult a dead shot.” Benton promised to be more circumspect in future, and “Uncle Bibbins” supposed to the day of his death that the duel, wound, danger, and all, were matters of fact. CHAPTER III. IN BUSINESS FOR MYSELF. MY CLERKSHIP IN BROOKLYN--UNEASINESS AND DISSATISFACTION--THE SMALL POX--GOING HOME TO RECRUIT--“CHAIRY” HALLETT AGAIN--BACK TO BROOKLYN--OPENING A PORTER-HOUSE--SELLING OUT--MY CLERKSHIP IN NEW YORK--MY HABITS--OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY--IN BETHEL ONCE MORE--BEGINNING BUSINESS ON MY OWN ACCOUNT--OPENING DAY--LARGE SALES AND GREAT PROFITS--THE LOTTERY BUSINESS--VIEWS THEREON--ABOUT A POCKET-BOOK--WITS AND WAGS--SWEARING OUT A FINE--FIRST APPEARANCE AT THE BAR--SECURING “ARABIAN”--A MODEL LOVE-LETTER. Mr. Oliver Taylor removed from Danbury to Brooklyn, Long Island, where he kept a grocery store and also had a large comb factory and a comb store in New York. In the fall of 1826 he offered me a situation as clerk in his Brooklyn store, and I accepted it. I soon became conversant with the routine of my employer’s business and before long he entrusted to me the purchasing of all goods for his store. I bought for cash entirely, going into the lower part of New York City in search of the cheapest market for groceries, often attending auctions of teas, sugars, molasses, etc., watching the sales, noting prices and buyers, and frequently combining with other grocers to bid off large lots, which we subsequently divided, giving each of us the quantity wanted at a lower rate than if the goods had passed into other hands, compelling us to pay another profit. Situated as I was, and well treated as I was by my employer, who manifested great interest in me, still I was dissatisfied. A salary was not sufficient for me. My disposition was of that speculative character which refused to be satisfied unless I was engaged in some business where my profits might be enhanced, or, at least, made to depend upon my energy, perseverance, attention to business, tact, and “calculation.” Accordingly, as I had no opportunity to speculate on my own account, I became uneasy, and, young as I was, I began to talk of setting up for myself; for, although I had no capital, several men of means had offered to furnish the money and join me in business. I was in that uneasy, transitory state between boyhood and manhood when I had unbounded confidence in my own abilities, and yet needed a discreet counsellor, adviser and friend.