The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1888-08-16
MEAN MEN OF MASSACHUSETTS.
some Interesting Examples of Thrift In
the Old Bay State.

They were sitting at the club the
other evening, telling stories of "meann
men. 1.-The closest man | ever knew"
said one, sis today one of the wealth
lest citizens of Massachusetts. When
he was a young man he got job m a
shoe-shop, and earned Sc or 81 week.
When Saturday came he got his money
the first he had ever earned-and
that afternoon he invested 81 in a ring
which he showed on the following
Monday with a good deal of pride.
But his shopmates showed him that
what purported to be gold was only
thinly-washed brass, and that the
alleged stone was only a piece of
glass. The whole thing was not worth
fifteen cents. He was a good deal
crestfallen, but said nothing. The
next morning he turned up minus the
ring, but unusually bright and clipper.
Perhaps you boys think / don't un-
derstand business he said. Il sold that
ring for $3, and made clean dollar on
it And to whom did You sell it?
they asked. TO my sister,
- can cap that, said another. 81
was crossing on the steamer to Liver
pool q few years ago, and found my
self seated next to gentleman who
had been prominent in Massachusetts,
politics and is sometimes spoken of as
statesman. On three or four differ
ent days / opened quart of cham
payne, and always asked him to join
me in drinking it, an invitation he
never declined. Finally one day he
ordered pint, and, instead of offering
me any, said he thought it a pity that
they didn't put it up in smaller bottles.
because a pint was more than any man
really needed. but that he had to drink
it all to save waste. since the corks
were SO made that they couldn't be put
back" s.Would you mind telling me
that mans name in confidence?n asked
the member who had told the ring
story. ssNot at all, was the answer.
Then there was a whispered confer
ence, and the first speaker quickly
said: Il thought so. It's the same
man.
II was Caseur's turn. He recalled
the following: A gentleman we'll
known in Boston in his time was ill,
simply because his stomach refused to
do its work Food was repnlsive to
him and he was daily growing weaker
from sheer lack of eating. A friend, a
man of immense wealth of those days,
called to see him, and told him of a
wonderful piece of mutton that he had
had on his own table the day before.
..Let me send you piece" he said.
The sick man smiled and thanked him,
and the next day magnificent piece
of mutton was received, cooked, and
given to the invalid, in the vain hope
of awakening an appetite. But all to
no purpose, and before many weeks he
passed away. And now comes the
point OF the story. Within ten days
after his death his executors received,
written in the trembling hand of the
millionaire who had sent the meat, a
bill in due form, showing that the es-
tate of the deceased was indebted, not
TO the butcher, mind you. but to the
millionaire, in the sum of two dollars
and odd cents for sundry pounds OF
mutton furnished on date named.
And the bill was paid and receipted
with the millionaire's signature, and is
still preserved by one of the business
associates of the deceased, who was un-
willing that the estate should pay the
bill, because he said it was we'll worth
the money to him as an autograph; so
he paid it thimself-Bost0n Herald.