The result both surprised and pleased the merchant, who at once set him to work with the promise of befriending him if he would deserve aid. A few months proved that the youth was both active and industrious, and his benefactor took increasing interest in him. He advised Monson to attend an evening school and apply himself to those branches which would fit him for mercantile life. He provided ample means for the accomplishment of this object. Nor did he, while aiming to advance the temporal interests of his protégé, for one day forget the great object of winning him to the rank of a soldier of Christ. He presented him with a Sunday suit, and introduced him to a class in the Sabbath School, stating that it was his wish that every one in his employ should be a regular attendant on the means of grace. Monson was not without a good deal of native shrewdness. He soon perceived what he called, "the weak side" of his employer, and was quite willing for policy's sake to feign a love for religion. On the Sabbath, his seat in church on the side wing, and directly in front of his benefactor's slip was never vacant, while his apparently devout hearing of the word, inspired many a prayer in his behalf from his watchful friend. At the end of seven years, Monson found himself in a position to which he had never aspired. He was head clerk in the great commercial house of Roswell Edmond, with a salary sufficient to support himself in luxury. But though extremely fond of show, Monson had a strong motive for prudence. He was, as I have already explained, a man of unbounded ambition. He believed himself to be the possessor of uncommon abilities, and he wished to live to have his name blazoned through the land. He had early joined a club of young men, who met professedly for the discussion of the popular subjects of the day, and, I fear, for far worse purposes. Finding that his loud voice, distinct articulation, and confidence in himself, won many votes to the side he advocated, he speedily became quite a leader among his companions. Mr. Edmond, ever zealous to promote the interests of his protégé, encouraged this love for debate, only trying to divert it into a healthy channel. He selected subjects such as would really profit, and himself aided Monson in preparing his arguments. For instance: "Are there evidences enough in nature to prove the existence of a God?" "What are the arguments in proof of the inspiration of the Bible?" Fifteen years from the morning when the good man first met the hungry youth, Monson P. Tracy's name appeared on a new sign hung in place of the old one of Roswell Edmond & Co.