Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1873-10-16

PuAShdoCA ShiA NO tbily Duo11lCoo LII bAtO
Exchange. A year ago the price was
from four to five thousand. The value
of seats varies according to the demand.
If broker fails in business, he can
neither use his seat nor sell it until his
affairs are settled the seat is held as
part of his assets, and may be sold for
the benefit of his creditors. Taking
the number of seats in the Board at one
thousand {" seat" by the way, is a mis-
nomer, for seats would only be in the
way during the daily battles on the
hoor), and the price of each at nine
thousand dollars, the total value of
membership in the Stock Exchange is
found to reach nearly a million dollars
an increase of one hundred per cent.
within year.
! It requires very stringent rules to
keep the lively gentleman of the Ex-
change within any bounds of propriety.
A stock broker, though he be thirty
years old (and not many are much be-
yond this age), is just as sure to be in
mischief as an irrepressible school-boy,
deter him. He is a volatile and exu
berant animal, who finds delight in
pranks and peccadilloes, and looks upon
the playing of practical jokes almost as
q duty. Anecdotes innumerable might
be told to illustrate his oenchont for
| fun and frolic. When not engaged
bulling" or clearing" stocks, he is
pretty sure to be found indulging in
some wild sort of capers with "the
boys" this being the familiar and stand
ard term for his associates. Now and
then, when business is dull, he starts
war-whoop, in which he is quickly Joined
the fifty are &c skylarking" all over the
hall If the season be the end of the
summer, when the time for discarding
white hats is supposed to have arrived,
and member enters with one of these
objects on his head, it is sure to come
to grief Immediately. Before he is
fairly inside, a howl of derision is raised,
and the hat knocked off and kicked
in turn by every foot that can
reach it. The owner takes all this as a
matter of course, and seldom loses his
temper over it, even though he himsilf
be hustled all over the hall after his
hat. Next day he may have chance to
retaliate, and he surely will not allow it
to pass unimproved.
The entrance of new member affords
gala-time to the boys. He must be
initiated without delay, and, as he
knows this beforehand, he prepares him.
self for the ordeal. The moment he
enters, a signal that all understand is
given by some one near him. 1t is no
sooner heard through the hall than a
wild, demoniac yell is raised, and the
newcomer is instantly surrounded by a
scrambling, screaming, showing crowd.
His hat is likely to be the first object of
attack. The brokers seem to have a
special antipathy to hats when the mood
for frolic is on. If they do not crush
the neophyte's felt or castor over his
eyes, they are sure to send it flying to
the ceiling, some sixty feet above, and
each time it comes down it is returned
hea1enward with an exultant shout. In
the meantime, its owner is receiving at
! tentions not much milder than those
bestowed on the hat. The boys have
taken him in hand, and are hustling and
hauling him all around the chamber.
If he is not too heavy to be lifted, they
have taken him up bodily, and are play
ing queer game of pitch-and-toss with
him, throwing him hither and thither,
from one group to another, as though
he were an effigy rather than man.
Presently, perhaps, they get him to tie
center of the hall, where there is large
table, and, despite his struggles to get
away, he is laid on this, and subjected
to new process of jocular persecution.
As many of the boys as are within reach
ing distance seize him by legs, feet,
arms, and head, and pull and drag him
over the table, now to one side, now to
another, until the poor fellow, who gen.
orally preserves good nature all through,
is almost breathless. When they finally
release him his hair is all over his face,
his collar and cravat probably have dis
appeared, his hat is battered utterly out
of shape, his coat is either rent down
the back or deprived of a skirt, one of
his boots, if not both, has parted COM
pany with his feet, and his vest and
linen are " mussed" in way to make a
proper housewife groan with despair.
But the ordeal is now past, the new man
has become a broker in good standing,
and is ready an hour later to join his
prosecutors in new mischief, or con-
tribute his share to the uproar of a
struggle between bulls and bears.
But there is no delight so enjoyable
to these mischievous merry-makers as
that of catching stray countryman on
the floor. The Stock Exchange seems
to have particular attractions for our
bucolic friends coming to town on visit.
They have heard a great deal about it, and,
being in town, they want to see what it
is. It is against the rules for any per-
son not a member to go upon the floor,
but occasionally gentleman from the
rural deestricks," equipped with car
pet-bag and umbrella, and knowing
nothing about this rule, slips past the
door-keeper unnoticed. But, if the door
keeper overloooks him, the boys do not.
The instant he is seen, two or three
brokers move quietly between him and
the door, and then elbow and push him
forward, apparently by accident, until
they get him a considerable distance
from it. One of them then cries out:
"New Tennessees l''
The meaning of this is known by all.
It is signal that stranger is on the
floor. Instantly the whole business OF
the place is suspended, a terrific yell is
raised-one that would do credit to any
band of savages on the continent
the frightened and bewildered country
man finds himself pitched and hustled
hither and thither, up and down, across
and around, by a surging, screaming,
laughing crowd, and, if he looks upward,
he may see his hat dancing through the
air in one direction, his carpet-bag in all
other, and his venerable umbrella in a
third. But, fortunately for the stranger,
there is help at hand. One of the door
keepers dashes into the crowd, grasps