Daily globe., 1883-08-19
CHAT.

ward, blushing and bashful kind. Only
the most persistent questioning could
elicit from him the least expression of
opinion concerning the weather, and when
he did respond it was with the air of
person who feared the information might
be used to his ultimate disadvantage.
The eyes were quick-glancing and albeit
you were never so guarded in looking
closely at him, he always caught you in the
act of scrutiny, and reddening glow
sufused his pink and white scrofuIous
complexion.
Notwithstanding his ungainly makeup,
he was even then regarded as having been
born with the banking mind. If his
horoscope had been cast about that time,
people would have said he was likely to be.
bank president, wary and prudent.
The profitable and fortunate years as
they filled his purse and swelled his divi-
dends, would likewise fill the angles and
awkwardness of his frame with respectable
adipose tissue, and nothing would be
wanting to finish the picture of moneyed
success-if the man lived up to general
expectations, and stayed at the plodding
programme of that reputable country
bank.
But he didn't.
Some years after his sojourn at the
hotel aforementioned 1 saw him in rail
way car, and the unassuming grub had
winged out pretty gaudy,
The next scene shows the whilom rustic
fnancier as the boldest real estate opera
tor in the metropolitan market with the
most tremendous transactions effected
and inehoates, and lots of other specula-
tions all working together and promising
the most enormous revenues to the daring
guerrilla among old methods of doing
business.
Why, in the records of purchases and
transfers his name was so recurreut as to
make simple-minded folk, who take every
thing literally and never dream of
the duplicate check" system, believe him
to ke the modern Midas whose touch turned
everything to gold.
But then Midas had ass ears, and so
had the fast fnancier with his 0dupIicate"
subterfuges, and it may be said illustrat.
lively of all congenital sharpers that their
cunning stupidity has the ear marks of the
animal whose name is synonym for it,
or else he is shamefully slandered, for, in
the cited celebrated instance of King
Midas, his touch was golden, and his ears
were those of the ass.
The last time 1 saw the fast financier was
in the Bank of Minnesota He looked
thin, tense, and nervous, and his eyes we're
hot and eager. Who in his senses would
want the gain to be wrested from such
racking anxiety, and such wearing watch
fulness? Who would be so reckless as to
| barter peace of mind, and the easy sleep
of contented competence, for the harrow
| ing returns of such irregular investments.
Happily our social structure is made up
| of diversified contrasts, human, religious,
political and philosophical. You can turn
from the fast financier to his antipodal op-
posite in the person of my landlord, whose
ambition is refreshingly alien to the
mania of mere money getting. His way
of life is not with the rushing, the crowd
ing, or the gouging. No speculator ever
showed his prosperous margins with half
the elation this clean-hearted and scholarly
gentleman will exhibit over a collection
of Aztec arrow heads. He will give his
time and thought and valuable advocacy
to projects for public enlightenment and
state benefit without perceptible suspi-
cion of self interest throughout, and with
no requital save the intellectual sat-
isfaction he derives from his scientific and
| artistic researches.
'Tis we'll to have some of the quality of
the Lotus eaters.
It's saving of the nerves and tissues
may be demonstrated in the course of
years just as the German Sauant tells us in
scientific technicality the exact decrease in
the weight of silver forks and spoons at
stated intervals of twenty, thirty, or fifty
years. With ordinary usage it's scarcely
perceptible, and yet the common way is to
save the silver and use up the nerves in
unproductive excitement. speculation
duplicate" paper business, and the rest.
The domestic life of the fast fnanciers
antipodal opposite is as calm, refined and
edifying as such mans ought to be. and
alas, seldom is.
Perhaps it is case where heredity is
very legible.
Last Friday was an anniversary in this
exceptional home, and while it wasn't
full dress affair it had evidences of fam
lily history which swell affairs and money
bags might envy. There was quaint ar
MORALLY craven silver of the time 100
and family portraits of the year 171O.
The scene at the supper table made an
interior" worthy of the most eloquent
canvas, and a master hand to give it a de-
served permanence. The lovely face of
the hostess great-great grandmother once
Mile. Judith de la Mejanelle looked from
its frame with dewy freshness On mouth
and eyes, and the rose on her corsaqe as
| bright as if she had sat for the exquisite
picture yesterday-and yet she has been
dust for century in Germantown, Pa.
beside her pious consort. Jean Etienne.
who kept memorial on parchment, which
his father began August 16. 1852, in the
most exemplary but embarrassing old
| French.