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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. YEARS OF PREPARATIOX. T OBERT CLARK'S parents may have felt disappoint- --1 ment at their son's choice, but, with the practical common sense which guided them throughout life, they set to work to give effect to his decision. He had resolved to enter commercial life, and they would see that he did so fully equipped. They judged it expedient that he should be sent to Germany to learn the language and acquire a sound commercial training. Their eldest son, Henry, had also chosen commerce for his future career. Mr. Clark selected a suitable school, and, although Continental travelling was then beset with many difficulties which do not exist nowadays, Mr. and Mrs. Clark went themselves to Germany, and, having fully satisfied themselves, settled the brothers at Boningheim, near Heilbronn, in Wurtemburg. The school was Protestant and evangelical in character. The pupils were drawn from Germany, Switzerland, and France, many pastors' sons among their number. With one such, afterwards the well- known Pastor Appia of Paris, Robert formed a lifelong friendship. There were no visits home during the days of training in Germany. This was due in part to the difficulties in travelling, but mainly to the fact thatthe parents wished their sons to be in no way unsettled, so that they might profit to the full by the land to which they had gone. At the conclusion of his training in Germany, Robert returned home to Harmston, and some months went by while his parents were considering how they could give him the best start in commercial life. In 1842 we find him entered in the house of Messrs. Jones