Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-12-25
WRITTEN REcoRDuN1oNJ
The Ventures and Adventures Of Charlie Gould;
A ROMANCE OF THE STOCK MARKET
WRITTEN FOR THE REcoRD-us1os.,
BY EDWARD F. cAHILL.
CHAPTER VI.

WYNN.
The duties of Charlie Gould's office were
not very exhausting. He was installed
upon high stool, with liberty to stand
when he grew tired of sitting. He had a
certain amount of writing and certain
amount of arithmetic to do, and was sent
| about with canvas bags of coin from office
to bank and from bank to Office, and was
allowed to fetch and carry generally. If
he thought that he was very important
wheel in the machine I cannot blame him ;
he was one of those who do whatever they
engaged in with their whole strength and
will he would not allow himself to be
seen anywhere in business hours without a
pen or pencil behind his ear, and he did
not mind mixing his fingers one bit-in the
way of business, and this, we are told, is
the way to succeed. He read good books
on &c How to make money, and how to
keep it, and treated himself plentifully to
good resolutions. A good resolution may
be described as a moral cocktail it makes
one feel warm under the ribs, aud it's
effects are not disagreeably lasting. Never
theless it may be feared that the relaxing
moral atmosphere of -" the street" did not
do him any good. There is, unfortunately,
among American youth a rooted distrust
of high motives. 1t is, perhaps, a neces-
sary result of business training, for one
of the first maxims, in business, is to treat
l'every man as guilty until he is
proved innocent, and as a natu-
raj inference dishonesty comes to be
regarded as the normal state of man. The
careful provisions of every contract, the
infinite precautions with which every bust
ness man surrounds himself before enter
ing into any undertaking, are one and all
so many bulwarks against the assumed dis
perience has shown that these safeguards
can neither be too many nor too ingenious
In consequence, it will depend in great
measure on the tone of mans associates
and the examples before him, whether he
arrives at the conclusion that honesty is
the best policy, or that trickery is some
thing to be admired. He may be ready to
denounce knavery in the abstract, but in
company with his good natured friends he
will do it reverence in the representative
person of millionaire who has grown rich
on the garnered savings of washerwomen
and toiling mechanics. That nothing was
wrong outside the Penal Code of Califor-
MIA, and then only when found out, was
the staple creed of most of the young men
with whom Charlie associated. There is
always an unfortunate tendency among
young men toward fippant generalization ;
they are apt to draw hasty conclusions
| from the course of those who have
compelled success, whether they have de-
served it or not, and they forget how linn
tied as to time and scope are the grounds
on which they reason. There are times
when justice seems dead; slow-footed
Nemesis is too slow for their hot blood. and
when she does come, she places her blast
ing hand as heavily on the cabin of the
poor man as on the palaces of kings.
A society, compact of such demoralizing
elements, worshiping success and informed
with gloriied selfshness as its vital prin-
ciple, was that amidst which Charlie was
now daily and hourly thrown. Some few
there were, like Jack Holmes, who took a
clearer, broader view of things, but OF
these, some were unwilling to state their
positions, knowing that their words would
be wasted, and not caring to make prose.
lytes, while others feared to be accused Of
the assumption of greater virtue than then
neighbors, for in the shamefacedness Of
youth lies the greatest strength of fashion
Meeting Dawlish on the street about {
month after his installment in Office, Char
lie was accosted by the former, as follows
{" How do you like your position, old man
Got pretty soft thing, eh?'
"Oh, like it well enough, but l hav,
got lots to do, said Charlie, with warn
consciousness that he was earning his sal
airy, and giving good measure.
"Oh, of course !" responded Dawlish
packing gold and silver about the street
is very laborious and wearing on the brain
You see, was right in what said abou
those dividends"
81 don't remember your saying anything
about them
"Oh, yes 1 told you that the Ok
Judge crowd were going to pay series o
dividends.
Now you mention it, l believe yol
did say something about one dividend"
81 always get my points from tn
best sources, you may rely upon it. TIL
stock is going up every day, owing to thi
very thing, just as 1 said it would, and i
is not near It's highest point yet. Do yol
ever do anything in that way on your owl
account" he asked, suddenly,
"What, in stocks :" said Charlie, wit
start, for in truth he had been thinkin
already how easy it seemed to get rich,
one only had little money to start with
"0f course" said Dawlish. "They al
do it, and there is fortune within reacl
of every man who viii put out his hand t
take it.
"But thought you said, few day
ago, that man was bound to get caugh
at that business, sooner or later"
That's SO, if he gets the big head ant
thinks he can run everything to suit him
self. They will turn on him too quick
he makes it worth their while, but in
small way, if you mind yourself and keel
posted, it is safe enough. 1 could hav
made an independent fortune in the las
four months if 1 had had thousand dol
lars to start with. OF course l knew before
| L. L