Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1888-12-27
NO. IT..

still another parallel TO this-lt was our
opening da; our first charge into the
camp of the rich old ded lumber of Church
st. 1t was agenst The strict staid rules of
the proud old timers TO pile any goods at
the door-it was an afront to the dignity of
the old regulars. One of Tamany's can
ddates, as ded as Coogan
and as rich, had printed vast quantity of
hankerchiefs with his hanson face. Tha
got into Topping's ten thousand dozen the
da befor election. Their was but one man
on Manhattan Island who had the cold
steel nery to bid on that prodigious pile
of plunder The hamer fel at 1lc per
doz.-seven cart leads. We ticketed
them as an advertisement at our door, ONE
CENT. Tha were worth (unprinted)
about zoe 1t was our first ticket at the
door, and Church street aristocracy swore
and laft and stormed and Gust agen. The
crush and cra-h was terrific. The police
tried to clear the narrow side way, and wag-
ons and trux and carts were wedged in
there and the line of street cars was nearly
mile long. Long befor nitefal the last
dozen was sold, and we had taut the hi
toned, stif-necker nu method-a short cut
Ia popularity, prosperity and success, and
tha wheeled in, sent to adopt the same tao
! Tx, but their asets lay dusty on the shelves,
pr ded in the ledger. They found that ne
gotiable old paper and rags wd not fetch
the red hot arbitrators that fel from under
the hamer, and tha soon saw that behind
the hard cash it required the real judg-
mcnt, the level he'd and unquivering nerv.
Their asets in al these subeties wer want
ing, and in the titan struggles topwards we
hav seen the ashes of thousand shifting
mercantile dynasties scattered to the ever
.astilg winds of Hevenl
All how this pen runs away at the men,
ZION of 23l Church st. The heroic little
bundle of fidelity, poor, dear Opie, was
cashier, bill maker, paying teller, account
mt, adjuster and entry clerk, and in place
IF salary he got four meals da, (the last
at midnite) al wasn't down with prime old
Kentuckybluegras.
How miss this magnificent, great harted
little fellow When the concentrated fire Of
nonopolized capital wd pinch and tear
when the sky was bak and we wer stand
ng upon the very brink of pandemonium
often said "Close work, Opie" He wd
,nser; "Only for little while, sir-your
ron laws will triumf; clouds may darken
he sun, but that brilliant orb will shine
iorever," and then-but-wel, it was Opie.
Still it is not bullion but brains that whirl
the wheels-that thrills the ambition aud
nerves the enterprise, and the gold is the
old stuff that feeds the mechanical appli-
nces that levels the forest, bids cities and
leuetrates the dark continents, it is still the
lnthinkable mental force that inspire, COM
lnds and conquers al things. OF what val
illus productions mere mony in the hands
f him who laks the unering judgment and
lnquivering nerv? The brainy master, with
not tithe Of his cash, will in the changing
rock downs buy so that he may sell at
What the other paid, both standing side by
.ide.
When we first unfu.led our little auction
lag on Broadway, there lowered above us a
ich, proud, time honorcd concern, who's
alcs had reached some ten Millions we
yere cutting ava in our modest little break
iek speed ut about five thousand day.
Big things it was too, then, with our little
tol Of some hundred thousand or so. It
vas fair though uneven battle between
rains and pluk on the one side, aud capi
Al and unlimited credit on the other II is
m old story. One day the red flag Aoated
rom the marble palace, and our pluky dare
levils raked in the values floor by floor to
he tune Of one hundred trukoads. and the
,reat concern, with Dun's hieSt rating, went
'rashing into the dust Of the past and was
,rascd from the mercantile calendar, whilst
he net spot cash pioneers, rated blank
stand from UNDER swept on with hi COM
mercial speed to the top.
Still the cold cash is an awful good thing
when the sheriff baks up his cart to the
doorway, demanding mony or goods-and
this ritter has been there. But then we wer
blind followers of the credit gods tha had
us down, and the last vcstige Of al earthly
asets had yanisbt except an ounce of pure
pIuk, aud with this we emerged from the
l-hes of humiliation, and facing the mon
-ter, thru down the gsntlet for life's last
Datle-just forty years old. In the whirlgig
of times relentless sweep we got the bar
barrie demon under and shall bury him.
All, me If ther is one thing sweeter than
another in this short life, it is that savage
,tuf-reyenge. Standing then in the dense
.ulfuric smoke Of the putoDic regions, this
writer made a pledge that he would beat
The Cesar Of credit if he ad to do it on the
desperate line Of five per cent. profit, and
he did, and to this murderous. unanswera-
ble voley, credit competition cannot reply.