San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-08-14
A Romantic Young Lady
BY GEORGE GRANT.


But he was very anxious to have
me understand business matters, Mr..
Chelm," replied.
And he was quite right too. Don't
think for Il moment that am dissuad-
ing You from undertaking a general
supervision Of your property and trying
TO know all about it 1t is your duty
under the circumstances, | fully agree.
But it would never 10 to have you spend
ing the best years of your life cooped up
IL an Office cutting off coupons and
worrying over investments. Not, to be
sure, that there is much to be done at
present. for | never saw cleaner list of
securities than yours, but you have no
| idea Of the amount of watchfulneSs re-
quired to keep an estate like this unim-
| paired A family of children are
nothing to it, ha! ha! No, Miss Har-
Ian | tell you what we will do,
you shall have little Office adjoin-
ing mine. where you can spend one day
in every week transacting what is neces-
sary in regard TO your property. Every
thing shall be in your name. and nothing
done without your full understanding
and consent. will be at hand to DO
piled with questions, and you will be-
come as wise in finance as Necker him
self But | pray you to devote the six
remaining days to other things, aud leave
| to us dry, matter-of-fact lawyers the de-
tails of your business. have great
| many millions under my control, and the
percentage which | should derive from
| the care of yours is a matter of indiffer-
ence to me; but am very much con-
| cerned that you should not make the
| fatal mistake of becoming mere fem
| mime trustee.
yielded to persuasion; and in &C
cordance with his promise little room
| adjoining his own private Office was' al
lotted to me, and every Monday morn
ing | drove down town and spent the
day in porting over the ledgers and deeds
and reports. and in taking a general
scrutiny of my affairs At first it was
| all very confusing, but by degrees order
was reduced out of chaos to my under
| standing, and learned to take keen
| interest in the points submitted to me
| for my decision. At first | felt some
| humiliation in perceiving that my opin-
ion was consulted merely from form and
courtesy-or, more roughly, because the
law required it. was forced to laugh
\ and shake my head and acknowledge
that was not caps BILE of Judging.
had hoped that knew enough to be
of service sometimes and the con-
| seriousness of my ignorance spurred me
| to determined exertions to overcome the
deficiency. Contrary to our compact, l
read and studied at home books relating
| to financial and economical matters;
| concealed railway reports in my muff,
and tried various articles to acquire
knowledge unbeknown to Mr. Chelm.
But it was chiefly to his kindness and
unwearying attention that l owed the
proficiency gradually acquired; and |
think it was as genuine pleasure to him
| as to me when at last was able, with q
| moderate degree of confidence, to choose
| for myself between two lines of con-
duct. | often asked myself what l
should have done had attempted to act
! alone from the start
| But it was not long before another in
terest incident to and growing out of
this began to occupy my thoughts and
time. The bulk of my daily mail was
| increased by subscription lists and cir
| culars soliciting my assistance to every
| kind of charity and enterprise. People
| whom | had never seen came to the
| house to ask aid for struggling talent.
| was importuned with begging letters
from victims to all sorts of distress.
| Jealous philanthropists wrote that they
had taken the liberty of putting down
my name as a member of their societies,
| and that the annual assessment was
| now due and payable. Here again | had
recourse to the counsel of Mr.. Chelm,
whose experience, as | have limited, radi-
ated beyond the limits of his lucrative
practice, and who was not only liberal
toward the poor but familiar with their
| needs.
From him | obtained a variety of
hints and suggestions that enabled Inc
| to give my money and time intelligent
| ly, and also to refuse them without re-
morse. | was very glad of this new
duty, which easily became great pleas
ure despite my occasional disgust at the
impertinence of some applicants when
1t was discovered that was ready to
subscribe freely. | was not, however,
satisfied with the easy work of giving,
but soon passed from the passive act of
signing checks to active work among
the needy | studied the theories of
tenement houses and hygiene, and be-
came leading spirit in several charita-
BILE organizations.
renewed also my old habit of read
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