He also worked some at the desk. He looked
into the account books and saw in neat writing, "Goods received" and
"Goods sold." He noticed how his father wrote letters and reckoned
up his accounts. He even took his pen in hand and put the addresses
on the letters and packages as well as he could.
But soon he was back in his careless habits. He was no longer
attentive to business. He wrapped up salt instead of sugar. He put
false weights on the scales. He gave some too much and others too
little. His hands, only, were in the business, his mind was far away
on the ocean with the ships. When he helped unload the wagons, he
would often let the chests and casks drop, so that they were broken
and their contents would run out on the ground. For he was always
thinking, "Where have these casks come from and how beautiful it must
be there!" And many times packages came back because Robinson had
written the name of the place or the country wrong. For when he was
writing the address, he was always thinking, "You will be laid upon
a wagon and will then go into the ship." One day he had to write a
letter to a man far over the sea. He could stand it no longer. His
father had gone out. He threw down the pen, picked up his hat and ran
out to the Hudson to see the ships, and from that time on he spent
more time loitering along the river than he did in the store.
III
ROBINSON'S DEPARTURE
Robinson's father soon noticed that his son was no longer attending
to his work, and one morning sent for him to come to his office.
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