The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 4Poe, Edgar Allan
General
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 4
Poe, Edgar Allan
American fiction -- 19th century; Fantasy fiction; Horror tales, American; Short stories
“WANTED.—The advertisers, being about to commence extensive
business operations in this city, will require the services of
three or four intelligent and competent clerks, to whom a liberal
salary will be paid. The very best recommendations, not so much
for capacity, as for integrity, will be expected. Indeed, as the
duties to be performed involve high responsibilities, and large
amounts of money must necessarily pass through the hands of those
engaged, it is deemed advisable to demand a deposit of fifty
dollars from each clerk employed. No person need apply,
therefore, who is not prepared to leave this sum in the
possession of the advertisers, and who cannot furnish the most
satisfactory testimonials of morality. Young gentlemen piously
inclined will be preferred. Application should be made between
the hours of ten and eleven A. M., and four and five P. M., of
Messrs.
“Bogs, Hogs, Logs, Frogs & Co.,
“No. 110 Dog Street.”
By the thirty-first day of the month, this advertisement has
brought to the office of Messrs. Bogs, Hogs, Logs, Frogs, and
Company, some fifteen or twenty young gentlemen piously inclined.
But our man of business is in no hurry to conclude a contract
with any—no man of business is ever precipitate—and it is not
until the most rigid catechism in respect to the piety of each
young gentleman’s inclination, that his services are engaged and
his fifty dollars receipted for, just by way of proper
precaution, on the part of the respectable firm of Bogs, Hogs,
Logs, Frogs, and Company. On the morning of the first day of the
next month, the landlady does not present her bill, according to
promise—a piece of neglect for which the comfortable head of the
house ending in ogs would no doubt have chided her severely,
could he have been prevailed upon to remain in town a day or two
for that purpose.
As it is, the constables have had a sad time of it, running
hither and thither, and all they can do is to declare the man of
business most emphatically, a “hen knee high”—by which some
persons imagine them to imply that, in fact, he is n. e. i.—by
which again the very classical phrase _non est inventus_, is
supposed to be understood. In the meantime the young gentlemen,
one and all, are somewhat less piously inclined than before,
while the landlady purchases a shilling’s worth of the Indian
rubber, and very carefully obliterates the pencil memorandum that
some fool has made in her great family Bible, on the broad margin
of the Proverbs of Solomon.
THE ANGEL OF THE ODD
AN EXTRAVAGANZA.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account