The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-09-27
BoBBY's BUSINESS EXPERIENCE,

Bobby was a very busy boy; so busy that
OFTEN the days were not long enough, and
lessons had to give wayto the pressure tina
any man might feel who was at once editor
OF apaper, treasurer Of Debating Society,
captain OF the Eleven, and SO prominent
Club.
Ee was a popular, happy-go-lucky boy,
never stopping to think very long about
anything. particularly if it promised to
afford a ""jelly good timer But for once
N nus ME, Bobby was giving. something
forehand, too. which made 1t the more sur
Pr1s1ng. There was q reason for this, of
course; and the reason was. one which gives
rise to a great deal of thought in this
thoughtless world-lack of money.
1t was nearly vacation. In about three
weeks school would close, and then hurrah
Tor two months of fun, and this summer, if
At could only be managed, there was a
in his life before. Bobby had thought the
same on one or two other occasions. Hall
a dozen OF his particular friends had
planned a trip to Rangely Lakes, fishing
q hunting. For the last week at school
they had been talking II over, enthusiastic
as only boys can be when a fishing and
cunning expedition is on foot, and getting
somewhat wild in their plans, till to-day
they had come down to solid calculations
n appointed a committee who wAps to
arrange for the necessities of Camping ont.
IL was decided that each must furnish
twenty-five dollars, and that part of the
money-ten douar each-wast to be handed
IN TO the committee before hand for canned
ProVisions, a tent, a few cooking utensils
ana such necessities as -four, meal and
pork, and for the rest they Intended to de-
pend on uns and rods.
But while the Others had been discussing
n planning, Bobby Grey had been un-
usually silent. Twenty-Five dollars was A
large sum to him, and what was worse, Il
was = large sum to Doctor Grey, for cotn.
sry doctors are rarely rich. Coufdh askhfm
for the money-for his own pleasure
SIMPLY though how great that pleasure
looked only a boy could tell. Almost as
soon as he had asked the question did he
decide that it could not be done. 1t would
be useless and it would give his father
pam torefuse after all, rollicking, thought
less boy though Bobby Grey. was, that was
the reason why he could decide to r%elinouish
two months to perfect bliss.
NO man, theyssay, is a hero to his valet,
put somebody has cleverly added, ssThat is
more the Wallets fault than the hero's." If
SO, 1t was TO the Credit of both Bobby
there was no man in the world like
Doctor Edward Grey. Not many bows
nave mat feeling toward their fathers, how
ever much they may love and respect
worship. In the first place, the early years
OF Doctor Grey's practice had been in the
army, at first in active service on tine
plains, where he had been distinguished for
5ls dnshing bravery, his regardlessness of
uanger, his GOODNESS and m of all
surgical skill, though Indians were whirl-
ing and shouting, and Indian arrows and
bullets were whizzing past him, with death
a happy alternative from falling alive into
the@nemy's hand
What boys heart would not thrill ar tba
Thought of that figure in ton boots and
spurs, SLOUGH hat and sweeping plumes,
spanish poncho, with streaming ends and
floating scarlet sash stuck full of reyolyers?
II Is needless to state that such had not
Deen the costume worn by Doctor Grew
whilst in the service of his country. 1t was
the one furnished by Robby's lively imagi.
nation, assisted by stacks of the literature
he was in the habit of d~evouring.
Inlnk, however, Of living in the same
mouse with Buffalo Bill, Davy Crockett, GEN.
sral Custer, Dick Onslow, Kit Carson!
Ihen there were other reasons that appealed
70 the man, and not the boy, in Bobby-his
1atner's gentle ways toward women and
enildren, his standing in his profession, his
honesty and straightforward ways, his
scorn of anything that was not
above board. Bobby felt ali these
IN the family light. A doctor and
q soldier-to help and to fight. Bobby
sometimes thought in the serious moments
that come TO even boys of fourteen, that it
was just because he had been the latter
that his ideas of honor were SO rigid: as
though derived in part from a life where
the creed is I do nothing unbecoming an
officer and gentleman
After that discussion about RanoeIv-
boDDy walked home thinking yery hard.
asking his father was out of the Question.
Ihere was only one way in which it was
possible to obtain the necessary money.
It was just this: His birthday was the
always made him apresent then of twenty
nve dollars; exactly enough to cover his
expenses. 1t would not do to ask her to
advance the amount, of course. But why
f,.o, lake the ten dollars required at once,
from the funds in his possession as Treas.
nrer OF the Debating Society, and Editor
1nLChief of the School Reqtster2
He had rejected the idea at first. Still
IL had come to him again and again, he
dwelling on it longer each time, till now
fer good. He did not quite like to do it,
yet why he did not exactly know. or re.
fused to acknowledge. Not that there was
any harm in it, or the slightest danger of
nus not being able to replace it. Had not
he borrowed small sums-three cents for a
stamp, his fare to town, ten cents worth of
candy, time and again, and replaced IL
almost immediately? 1t was just a tenn
porary convenience, and it would be idiotic
to let the money lie there unused because
OF a sudden squeemishness.
What lay at the bottom of the bows
reluctance was q lurking and underlined
feeling that "father would not do it.n He
argued with himself all the way home, and
1t was not till he had reached the gate
Arthur Wales Just then rushed by ON his
bicycle; he did not lave to bother where
his money was coming from. How unfair
1T was some fellows s~houldhave everything.
Part OF the money was his, anyway; SURELY
he had the right to "lend" it to himself on
good security, when he had always had the
trouble of it-Bobby made up his mind
with a spring. And the minute hi had
done it, his doubts vanished, and HI won
dered how he could have been such aninny
as to ave hesitated.
He ran up the steps, slammed the door
after him, and proceeded to sow the seeds
of dyspepsia by eating his dinner in three
minutes. Then the Treasurer and Editor
went to his private room, got out the
collar-b-strong box, in which the funds
were deposited, and counted them. Forty.
fou dollars and sixty cents, mostly in
quarter and half dollars. He counted out
ten, dropped the rest back, changed the
borrowed money that afternoon for a bill.
and the next morning Bobby Grey's name
was down on the list, and its owner talked
longer and louder than anybody else about
Rangely.
1t was about q week after this that a
splendid bargain came right in his way. A
friend of his knew another fellow who had
a gun to dispose of. 1t was a beauty, with
all modern improvements, and he would
ooOO wv III
weapon was an old muzzle-loader with the
barrels in such q state that to fire was more
dangerous to the sportsman than to the
sport. This time he did not hesitate, but
after examining the gun, firing it once Oh
twice and stroking the shining barrels Low.
ingly, paid over the twelve dollars which
he had borrowed from the same source
there would be a slight deficiency. but he
could pick up the difference in some way.
and the bargain was too great a one to
dream of losing. He had almost begun to
look upon the funds as his own. He
slowed the gun carefully in his own closet,
and did not say anything about his bar.
gain to his family. Perhaps his father was
foolishly particular about some things.
His birth-day-the twenty-fourth, came.
And no letter from Aunt Melissa came with
it. 1t did not worry him, however,; she al
ways had sent him his birthday. present
ever since he was a little fellow, and nc
doubt it would arrive soon; besides, that
queerly pleasant feeling, as though the
funds were really his own, was not without