The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-01-01
A Oueer Partisan Industry.

l was sitting some time since in a no.
tary's Office, when man of most sordid
appearance entered. He surprised me
very much, for it is rare to see latter
demalion in Paris. Polonius knew the
city thoroughly when he cautioned
Laertes: Costly thy habit as thy
purse can buy" Here everybody puts
his best foot foremost. The new conner,
however, was in rags, and his matted
hair and unshaven face added to his re-
pulsive appearance. l was still more
surprised by the Difference paid him.
Magic power of gold which gives even
the recess of his rags, rather from wells
were they, so many packets of bank
notes, and so many rolls of gold coin,
that my surprise grew greater and
greater. | began to think o. Signor
Blitz, the Fakir of Ava, the Wizard of
the North. rubbed my eyes and was
all attention, that might lose no par
ticular of the transformation scene,
which | was sure was Mt hand. But |
was disappointed.
81 have always made it Il rule" he
snarled, "to have a fifty y-thousand-dol-
lar house for myself, and to give as
good a house to my children on their
majority. My eldest son and my only
daughter have each house. The house
| am now buying is for my youngest son
who will be one-and-twenty the first of
next MONTH" AS he spoke he mar
shaled coin and bank-notes for ready
counting on the table. and growled rs he
laid them down: "See if there are not
fifty thousand dollars here!" The deed
of sale needed only signature. This
formality ended, he withdrew, accom-
panied to the Office door by the notary.
On his return the latter asked:
Can you divine that mans occupa-
tionP"
IAN usurer?"
mo. He buys and sells philosophers.
But may be you don't know what a
philosopher TSP"
An inquirer into the nature of the
under"
"No, no, no! l need not tell you there
is no end to the avatars of every object
in Paris. Here water becomes wine and
wine is turned into water. The bread
left on cafe and restaurant tables be-
comes toast for soup. Clothes go from
the rich fine gentleman's back to the
poor fine gentleman's back, thence to
lower and still lower poverty, till they
reach the shoddy mill. which trans
forms them into wool again. Shoes do not
escape the common fate. They fall from
rich to poor, then to poorer and tC
poorer still, until ut last the soles are
completely worn out and nothing but
the uppers remain, battered. and worse
for wear, but still no myth, us soles
have long since become. These arc
philosophers They are used-the
best of them-to make soles, sold for
new by shop-keepers whose consciences
were left behind in their native villages
the others, to make the new shoes
you see in cobblers' stalls. The former
the 'Platos sell for six or eight
cents n pair. The latter-the Schopen
hauers never bring more than ioul
cents. The man who has just left II,
is the largest dealer in these articles in
Paris. / am afraid to repeat the figure:
he gave me as the annual total amount
OF money he turns over in the way o
trade. You would not credit it. / will
| however. toll you that no is worth n
least 5000, ,000--perhaps S8O0,O0O. 0
course all this money was not made b.
buying and selling philosophers NJ
more than Rothschild has made all hi
money by banking. Nobody make
money in this world; wealth is none.
saved. AS money flowed in (and i
came in torrents), he spent as little ant
invested as much of it as he could. II
had keen eye for investments; Ii
made money out of the Mexican loan
and fortune in the Turkish funds; h
has even had the art to squeeze none,
out of Spanish railway shares. Whel
he dies he will be worth two millions o
dollars m-J. ID. Osborne, IN Scribner.