Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-09-18
SOMETHING For NOTHING.
That seems to be the Great Effort, tn
Great Desideratum


That Seems to he the Great Effort, the
Great Desideratum
The other morning I found upon my desk
an elegantly addressed letter. opened it
The peninanship was noticeably fine, the
phrasing correct, the purpose clear. The
wri, or introduced himself as q man OF mis-
fortune. who ventured to ask some aid, how
ever small and begging, in case had TO go
out. 10 inclose whatever ! was willing to
give, in an accompanying envelope adj
dressed 10 himself. The letter was signed by
a stencil plate. with fac-simile OF the
writer's signature and the accompanying
envelope was addressed TO himself, in the
same way. Familiarity with that sort oil
thing enabled me to decide at once TO have
nothing to do with the man, and to give him
nothing. Later in the day the door opened,
and person with patch over his eye, very
well dressed, entered the ROOM rs there
any answer to Mr. Blanks letter. he asked
sYes: the reply Is that there is nothing for
yoa. You are altogether too systematic. i
am surprised that you succeed in so thiniy
disguised fraud as this"
Without a word he turned and left the
room
There are more than hundred tenants in
tha building where | have my Office, and it
weuld be strange indeed II from some OF them
this fellow didn't get a g. or $40 bill, and
there are several hundred similar buildings
In the city, and it would be stranger yet II
from them all he didn't derive very hand
some income
But, see the pointf
In the first place be had to think out the
scheme. In the next it required time and in
cenuity TO frame and write his begging APP
peais. Then he had 10 have them delivered,
and then to call, all OF which means indus
trious pursuit Of a chosen business, and, as
VIC all know, the industrious following OF
chosen business results, ninety eight times In
hundred, in success Why then could be
not find some reputable calling, in which the
same industry, the same degree OF wit and
endeavor, would bring him fair return for
honest labor, return for honest labor not
only, but a return TO the people from whom
be gets his rewarsis
Something for nothing.
That seems to be the great effort, the great
ambition, the great deSideratumL 1t is kind
Of speculation in futures In some respects
IL is not different from the speculation which
Wall street makes respectable, and which
after all is little more than betting that q
stock which stands here today win be some
eN%fs%%h~o %.
favor, however, OF the Wall street operator
because there is chance for man there t<
lose, and that chance be has 70 take; whereai
with our friends, the begging fraternity, Thu
extreme possibility is a failure TO connec
with an accommodating pocketbook. Al
unfortunate feature of this sort Of thing u
found in the fact that many men are mis-
placed in life, and the misfortune which at
tends them falls upon their families, adding
10 their burden and their disappointment a
the keen and incisive piercings Of positiv
physical suffering. Men with hungry wive
and starving children will do almost any
thing. and don't know that they are 10 b
censurcd one iota il they take any chance
ho@e-Tsf desperate, TO do any deed, howeye
wicked, In the moment Of their dire necessit
and the hour of their extreme emergency
Joe Howard in New York Graphic.