Their manufacture and sale became a large and lucrative business, and
was carried on after the death of Dr. Jewett, by his son, Stephen
Jewett, Jr. The energy which young Wallace had already shown induced Mr.
Jewett to put the whole business of selling these medicines into his
hands. He entered into this employment in 1843, at the age of twenty,
and continued in it till he came to Fitchburg in 1853. In selling these
medicines he travelled over five of the New England States. He said to
the writer that this was a good school in geography for him, for he
became acquainted with the topography of these states, and the location
of all their important places.

Such were the beginnings of a business career of great prosperity. It
was in these ways that he got his start in life, and in these lesser
employments he proved himself worthy of and equal to the greater tasks
yet before him. Here he showed the same judgment and far-sighted wisdom,
which have marked his career in the larger, more conspicuous circles of
the business world, and won him a name which is everywhere repeated with
respect, and a reputation for integrity and honest dealing which any man
might covet.


HIS BUSINESS LIFE.

In 1853 Mr. Wallace came to Fitchburg and entered upon that period
which, for convenience, I have named his business life. He formed a
co-partnership with Stephen Shepley, known as Shepley and Wallace. They
were wholesale dealers in books, stationery, paper-stock, and
cotton-waste. This firm continued under the name of Shepley and Wallace,
and R. Wallace and Co. till July 1, 1865. On this day the firm
dissolved, and the business was divided. Mr. Wallace took the department