Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1876-11-02
THE G.. b. G..

1t IL DrOken-Clat Is al.
Prom Scribner Tor November.
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THE G.. B. c..
A Tale of Telegram.
By JAMES PAWN.
do not as Il rule engage in CONNER.
cial speculation; but my dear friend
Jones insisted with such eloquence up.
on the success that must individually
follow upon the establishment of the
Great Butter Company-an association
formed for the manufacture Of that
commodity out Of a material which
shall be nameless, but which was 10y
no means so precariOus and open to
adulteration as cream, and the supply
Of which was practically inexhaustible
that suffered the name Of Martin.
gle to appear, for i consideration, on
the list Of directors.
1t is 4 name Well-knOwp in society,
and was up to that time untainted by
connection with trade unless. indeed,
the shopping and sale of chargers
for which will back myself against
any cavalry officer in her MaJestys
service-nay be considered ny the Pc
dantic rs coming under that head. AS
for the city, know nothing more
about it than that it was a locality ~
ing east Of Cox's, the army agents,
which was the limit Of my personal
experience in that direction. l have
always breathed quite another atmos.
phere-that of Pail Mall; wish l
could say a purer one; but the fact is,
that the atmosphere of the smoking
rooms both at ''the Rag and the "Ju.
NOR are, toward the small hours OF
the morning, when my own day is by
no means finished. something appall-
ing. had three hundred year for
directing the Butter Company and it
was far easier work, l am bound to
say. than were the old duties IN my
regiment, for which l was paid pre-
cisely similar sum. Once month the
Chairman called for me, in his brouGh-
am, and deposited me at the offices in
Cornhill, where, after an excellent
luncheon. (of which our butter formed
no ingredient,) l attached my auto
graph to certain documents, aproceed'
ing which, I believe, is technically
termed "passing the account. y There
were some persons of my acquaintance
and prOfession-persons have reason
to believe who had themselves applied
for diYectorships, and failed-who did
not scruple to call the Great Butter
Company a slippery concern, and who
affected to give me friendly counsel to
get out of it; but was too we'll ac-
customed to the system of military ex.
changes not to perceive their drift
their object was, Of course. to be ga
zetted in my stead. listened to their
Jokes about '.Maytingale the man Of
business" every time l returned from
an expedition to Cornhill with even
more than my usual good nature, for
l had twenty five golden reasons III my
pocket-the directors were paid month.
ly-for sticking to the Butter. And I
believe the Butter would have stuck to
me had it not been for my own fault
if can call that fault which was the
most extraordinary piece of ill.fortune
that ever befell a fellow, and solely
through another fellows being too
clever by half.
Well, say the G.. B. CAS- we who
belonged to it were accustomed to call
it, as the chairman said, "out of affec.
ton and euphony,' but SO far rs l
was concerned, for mere shortness-
was little ''talked about - it had its
detractors and even its enemies. Peo-
pie shook their heads at it, ESPECIALLY
when they tasted the butter,) and
prophesied we should not last and it
was necessary to advertise consider.
ably to get new customers. Our bus
mess lay rather with new ones than
old ones, perhaps but it was gradu-
ally getting spread over the country
though thinly spread, like butter up.
on bread at school.
So long as We were harmonious
among ourselves, said the chairman,
or, at all events, washed our dirty
linen at home-did not attack one
another in the papers, as so many
boards Of directors are wont to--we
should be all right; but if once there
should be mistrust of one another he
would not answer for the conse.
quences. "Let only the Great Butter
Company he true to ITSELF" said he,
during the peroration of the most pow.
erful speech l ever remember to have
heard from any man sitting, land do
not hesitate to affirm that the days OF
dairymen are numbered For though
l am still under an obligation of Sc.
cresy as to the material of which Our
butter was composed, may say it
had nothing in common with dairies--
except little water. Enough, how.
ever, of commercial details.
When playing at pool in the carly
Autumn one night at the Club l had
the misfortune to lose-neither my
money nor my life, for am amazing.
ly careful of both, but-my self-pos.
session, and somehow or other got in.
weighed into promise to go down to
old Slowcombe' to shoot upon the first
of October. 1t was foolish thing to
do, for Slowcombe is bore, and hap.
pened to owe him little money and
when man is both bore and cred.
itor it is intolerable to be under the
same roof with him, more especially
if it is his own. There were some ex.
cuses for me, for in the first place there
were 80 few men in town that we were
obliged to ask Slowcombe to make up
the pool, and secondly, when one owes
a fellow money he is bound to be civil
to him. We got talking Of pleas.
ants. and the old fellow asked me if
liked pheasant-shooting, and when ]
said yes, "Then come, said he, ''and
have q shy at mine." I no more sus.
pected Slowcombe of having any pleas
ant.shooting to give away than OF
keeping roulette.table at Hampton
Court races he was a stodgy, pursy
plethoric old fellow, who had been in
the yeomanry for day or two, Gust
to get qualification for the Club and
had then rested on his laurels. STILL
when a man farms his own land there
is always a temptation to get some
thing out of it, and it seemed he had
grown pheasants. I. ought to have
been more prudent, and l will another
time, or my name is not Martingale.
am, however, a man to my word
and never. thought of breaking my
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