The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1875-07-22

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 a
share.
cit was impossible for me to take
thirty thousand dollars out of my bust
ness without destroying it; SO I was
forced to sell half of my stock at a loss
of fifty cents on the dollar. 1 carried
the balance at a Gripping cost. But
your father paid at each assessment, IN
til he had sixty thousand dollars locked
up In certificates, that commanded no
dividends, and had ceased to be quoted
at any price in the stock market.
81 will not detail the experience we
had in copper mining. It was a con-
tinued series of disappointments from
the time the ground was broken until
the work was abandoned. Ore was
found, but " in paying quantities.
What was sent to market paid us about
a mill a pound fora dollar expended in
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
in that region, and the moment we
reached ii, our stock would go up to, and
far beyond, par. But the lode wa never
found. At the end of a year and a half
the mine was abandoned.
81 shall never forget the meeting of
directors at which we voted to stop work.
Your father, who presided at the meet
ing, sat in the chair more like a statue
than q living man. At its close 1 walked
with him. He was not inclined to talk.
1 saw that he was deeply mortified and
evidently much troubled. He had put
sixty thousand dollars into this bubble,
audit 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.
Gas we paused at a corner of the
ol1COU nIOAO Jul "oIo DG1uOu Ito Sttlll
with much bitterness I:
"'To think of my being such a fool
I cannot account for it except on thu
hypothesis OF temporary insanity. Ii
less than an hour after I put my nam,
down for two thousand shares of that &C
cursed stock, I knew that I had com
mitted the greatest blunder of my life
and nothing but morbid sense of mel
camille honor kept me from repudiatin.
the whole thing. If 1 had done SO
would have saved myself and other
from these cruel losses and disappoint
ments.'
81 have long since divinedth caus
of both your folly and mine,' 1 replied.
"'You have =
she spoke with q nervous throb i
his voice. The color deepened in hi
face. He looked at me with somethin
like startled suspicion in his eyes,.
&c Wine is q mocker,' 1 said.
"sWinel What has wine to do wit
a copper mine company 2 he asked.
"'It had more to do with this one,
imagine, than you suspected
"He looked at me steadily for q me
ment or two. I saw his countenanc
change. As his eyes fell slowly to til
ground, a deep sigh parted his lips.
"'Good morningl' he said, an insta1
a~fterward, and strobe away.
"He understood me.
"Trouble never comes alone. Wit
, sixty thousand dollars taken out of YOU
fathers business, and nearly twent
thousand out of mine, we were both j
peril. To reach port we must have
, smooth sea and favoring winds. 81
we had neither. There came a sudde
, panic in financial circles; banks reduce
| their lines of discount, and rates of il
terest went up to %ruinous figures
Trade sympathized and fell of
Weak houses began to totter and 6
! down, and stronger ones to show sign
5 of trouble. I struggled, and sacrificed
and held on with desperate energy /; bl
5 vainly. My boats went under.
, 81 knew that your father was sorel
, crippled ; and when I thought of him
was with a concern made acute by m
{ own sense of danger. One day, in pas
ing a large auction house, I saw him ste
| forth and stand for a moment looking b
: wildered and agitated. I crossed ov,
to see him and said
"tGood morning, Mr.. Howart
Nothing wrong, 1 hope
"sRuinl That is all he answere,
/ with a forced calmness.
"'Oh, no J 1 returned. Not SO ba
as that
| "He drew his arm in mine, and v
walked away. After a little while
! spoke, his voice less steady than befor
"'Yes, my friend, ruin-and IL
| cause you know too well. To save m,
, self, l forced a sale of my property {
: Walnut street, and it has just been strut
down at a little over half what 1 won.
: have taken for it a month agol Al
3 that means ruin The sum to be I
: ceived will not meet my wants, and
i shall be forced to suspend after all wi
assets and diminished by Il
= amount lost in this disastrous sale =
: "fAnd all this 1 could not help sa
3 ing, with bitter emphasis, comes as Il
result of a glass or two of wine taken
: business hoursI 7
I "He caught my arm with a sudd,
grip. There wa a wild, desperate, ha
T angry look in his face. It went {
, slowly, and his fingers as slowly relax
I their hold upon my arm.
I'VE parted without another wor
and the subject was never referred
a again. Your father went through b
painful ordeal and came out with q smi
remnant of property after paying h
s debts. 1 lost everything, and have be-
a poor man ever since. He was mode
ately successful in new business ente
n prises. At his death he left an esta
. worth at least a hundred thousand d.
lars less than it would have been if
a had not tasted wine in business hours
Q --