Wichita eagle., 1888-02-23
THE FIVE DOLLAR BILL.

ssWhat do you think of that thing as
capital to get an education?" queried the
young six footer from the west. He ex-
tracted bill from a long, fiat pockethook
as he spoke and tossed it upon tho table
i'm front of him. IL was a SIS note that
had evidently passed through few hands,
and vet was no late issue from the gov
ernment's money factory, for the dull,
furred lines along the creases told of long
storage in some tight quarters. With its
whitened places along the folds and the
remnants of smartness about the rest OF
its face, it bore a family resemblance to a
gray headed, rosy checked, dead black
mustached police sergeant Of the old
regime.
The young man of the east picked up
the bill, unfolded it and leisurely in
spected it under the kindly glare Of the
incandescent lights Of the Sixth avenue
chop house in which he and his friends
were sitting. Two rabbits" had disap-
peared to make arrangements for visions
Of the night, the second brace OF fat
'.tobies' had suffered seriously from
draught, and half an inch Of tobacco ON
each cigar had burned into flaky white
i
side; it was CHEEKY, warm evening
within. And so the young man of the
east was nothing loath TO hear the tale OF
the 50 bill.
q don't know why it was,' quoth the
narrator, cor just how it was that | came
TO fit for college. 1t was partly luck, and
partly, suppose because my old Yankee
schoolmaster, who had drifted west al
most the year / was born, chung to the
New England idea that after the three
RS came Latin, Greek and algebra in
every well regulated curriculum. pegged
away at them dutifully for three or four
winters-school didn't keep there in
spring or summer then. the scholars had
other engagements at that time of the
year-without much idea what my work
was leading to, until when we said our
pieces on the last day of the term, the old
one took me aside.
well he said, you're about fitted
for college, guess. Which one are you
going to.'
That WIS the first I'd heard of college.
First the idea scared me, then it tickled
me- Before slept that night l had made
up my mind; I'd make the venture. And
the schoolmaster settled my choice of col
leges when he said: You will have TO pay
YOUR way; you will have to make money;
go where there's most of 1T spent, where
there are most rich youngsters who don't
realize that 81 bill sometimes means q
days work for man. They'll spend and
You'll profit, or else your fathers were
born in Connecticut for nothing
well, | came east that fall, passed my
entrance examinations-for after ell |
found that the old Yankee had .5een q
good teacher-and struck up an acquaint-
ance with one of the professors whose
looks liked. He gave me valuable adj
vice, told ne where to get room, and
how TO fit il up with stove, three or four
chairs etc. / was eXtravagant on just
one pont-T bought u good bed. When
these things were paid for / had just So
this bin and some change. That night
was my own. for the college work didn't
begin until the next morning. walked
out among the dormitories, and there
made my first strike. A truckman had a
load of trunks to deliver on the upper
floors. | offered my aid and he took it.
For that | made enough to be sure of
something to eat for another day without
impairing my capital, aaG l felt easier.
The next day I began TO get acquainted
with the men, and before night l had
secured a roommate. Low as my rent
WAS wanted TO have it shared by some
one else But eating was another ques-
ton, my appetite permitting no division,
and, although 1 did my best to pick out
the cheap and filling from the bills OF
fare, was down to my five dollar bill be-
fore | made my next discovery.
HALF dozen boys in my division had
formed 'club,' and was dining with
one of them when it came. My friends
were getting pretty bad board and paying
pretty dearly for it, They knew 1t as
well as and fell to talking about it, and
from the conversation l got an idea. That
night | travelled about the college neigh
borhood until | found house whose mis-
tress agreed to furnish me with table &C.
Communications for ten men, do the cook
ing and furnish the necessary service.
had done some mental figuring in the
meantime, and knew that her price was
satisfactory. But j went to my friends,
and that evening 1 had secured nine tc
Join my club and pay me Sc week
apiece. On the s54 figured it out that
i would be able to pay ten mems eG
penses. The plan is common enough at q
good many colleges, have since learned
but it was new there. But socn found
that as caterer / was ct disadvantage
1t was hard work TO get credit at the
shops, for my So bill was something
Coaldn't use to impress the grocers and
butchers successfully, my boarders had
vigorous appetites and catholic liking
for pretty much everything. II was q
close scrape of it for a month. Then
got a bit ahead and began to feel easier
until two circumstances combined tl
r,,in nov
one was 4 snow storm, the other was al
accident disabling one of my boarders
who owed me quite a little account
"To tell the truth, hadn't noticed how
the winter had been coming on, and the
snow caught me unawares. 1t meant
that must have an overcoat, Just at The
time one of my sources of revenue Wa:
cut of. In fact, had been depending
upon the injured man paying up his score
to give me little spending money, and
saw that as far as my restaurant was con
cerned could look Tor no help from it OF
the clothing account. But had TO hay,
the coat There was no dCabt about it. il
fact, it WAS surprising how cold felt
There was just one things to do, and hur
ri5d down town.
"Here said. rs rushed fnto ready
made clothing store, Sgive me big over
coat, the warmest you've got. =
1.-The salesman fitted me garment tina
certainly had the virtue OF weight. Blu
like the man who was supposed to be dead
but wasn't, aud came home to read hi
own epitaph, thought it couldn't be lai,
OF, too thick. II was not beautiful gar
ment but it was pretty cheap-aboUt $50