The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1875-07-16

course.
ct went away from that meeting feel
ing strangely. On going to my store, l
remember sitting down at my desk and
resting my head between my hands, try
ing TO think just where L WAS and what L
had been doing. L remember saying to
myself rs the excitement under which 1
had been labOring cooled down and my
brain got clearer, Have L been dream
ing or acting the foolP l was doing a
moderately profitable business that re-
quired careful working. My capital,
while sufficient to ensure success, was
not large, and needed to be well cared
for and handled judiciously. could
not take two thousand dollars away from
it without deranging my calculations and
limiting, in some degree, my operations.
And yet, L put down my name for a
thousand shares of stock, Mt par value
of fifty dollars each, and might be called
on 10 pay assessments to the full amount
Z" 1 felt the cold sweat on my forehead.
said to myself, What came over me
L must have lost my senses = Then it
flashed into my thoughts that the wine
drank at your sisters reception had been
the evil influence which led me astray-
the binding power that obscured my
Judgment. / was startled ut the revela-
tion-startled and ashamed.
"But there was no going back upon
what | had done. L had entered into an
honorable contract, and could not, with
out loss of business standing, refuse to
meet its requirements. Your father
came to see me late in the afternoon to
ak over the new mining enterprise.
saw that his fine enthusiasm was gone
and he did not fail to observe that in re-
ferring to the copper product his mind
rested more upon the work that had to
be done than on the splendid results to
| be obtained.
! "He was not sure that the sanguine
individual who had led rs into the
! scheme was the cool, reliable man we
needed for the management of our affairs
in the mining region. His calm, strong,
practical mind was going over the whole
ground in sober earnest and it was
plain that the rosy hues which had sc
pleased our eyes few hours before were
fading fast away.
But he was not one to look bach
after once putting his hands to any work,
He was sensitive and proud, and more
willing to face an enemy and dare loss
than TO acknowledge n mistake. Under
the influence of his unwonted enthu
siasm he had drawn number of CAPT
talists and men of business into mining
enterprise, and he felt pledged to the
work of its success.
" At an early day our charter was il
hand, when an election of officers was
held, and your father made President OF
the company. The care and work, the
anxieties and disappointments he en-
dured for the next year or two, in his
efforts to manage the affairs of the com
pany broke his spirits and impaired his
health. Money was poured into the
mine like water into sand; assessment
after assessment was made until each
shareholder had paid in thirty dollars {
share.
cit was impossible for me to take
thirty thousand dollars out of my bust
ness without destroying it; so / was
forced to sell half of my stock ut Il loss
of fifty cents on the dollar. L carried
the balance at crippling cost. Bu
your father paid at each assessment, I'M
til he had sixty thousand dollars locked
up III certificates, that commanded Nc
dividends, and had ceased to be quoted
Mt any price in the stock market.
81 Will not detail the experience We
had in copper mining. 1t was con
tinued series of disappointments from
the time the ground was broken unit
the work was abandoned. Ore was
found, but never III paying quantities
What was sent to market paid us about
mill pound for dollar expended il
procuring it. Our superintendent
whose calls for money was incessant, al
ways wrote in the most glowing terms
Every indication was good. We were
surely approaching one of the great
lOdes which other operators had struck
i'll that region, and the moment we
reached 1t, our stock would go up to, and
far beyond, par. But the lode was never
found. AT the end of a year and hall
the mine was abandoned.
81 shall never forget the meeting OF
directors mt which we voted to stop work.
Your father, who presided at the meet.
ing, sat III the chair more like n statue
than a living man. AT its close l walked
with him. He was not inclined to talk.
| saw that he was deeply mortified and
evidently much troubled. He had put
sixty thousand dollars into this bubble,
and it had burst. The land, for which
we paid twenty thousand, would not sell
for enough to meet the claims that still
stood against the company. So all was
gone.
Z" As we paused at a corner of the
street where our ways parted he said,
with much bitterness
"' To think of my being such fool
I cannot account for it except Oh the
hypothesis OF temporary insanity. In
less than an hour after | put my name
down for two thousand shares of that ac-
cursed stock, knew that / had com
mitted the greatest blunder of my life,
and nothing but a morbid sense OF mer-
camille honor kept me from repudiating
the whole thing. If L had done so j
would have saved myself and others
from these cruel losses and disappoint-
ments.
60 have long since OWNED the cause
of both your folly and mine, replied.
+" You have
He spoke with nervous throb in
his voice. The color deepened in his
face. He looked at me with something
like startled suspicion in his eyes.