Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-08-27
FirstPu ished3
D OIL L A r &C r AC Y:
An American story.

ET 4 NEW HAND.


Blarnaby: but 1t seems clear enough TO me
that the thing must go all right. Don't YOU
see it so, Blobbel''
There's much to be said both yvays,
Blarnaby; but what's the use of trying to
swim before you get to the water! Foth-
erlngham can put the asphalt contract
through If the devils own craftiueSS has
any power over his aldermanic children !;
but suppose he fails-suppose the L. and V
affair comes out stillborn-suppose--"
But | won't suppose anything of the
sort! We know that any venture may
smash; but haven't 1 within my grasp
the magic wand that will turn even
know the world as well as dol'
BE practical, you say; and yet you are
the visionary who dreams Of inheriting for
tunes not yet made through marriage not
yet accomplished. One thing at a time is
enough for practical man like me-"
Blarnaby may have frightened his bite on
his cigar, but nobody would have noticed
that automatic signal of raging emotions.
A single puff preliminary TO the calming
smoke prepared Blobbe for the uncloudy
words that followed
See here, Blobbe, you and | have stood
together and fought together these dozen OF
score of years, in storm, in sunshine"
And in moonshine--"
Eyes, and in the fogs that you lawyers
other work together, and together we have
marched:
Sometimes creeping, sometimes stuck in
the mud
But we've climbed pretty near to the
top of the tree, and now, for the first time,
you try to brighten ME from plucking the
finest apple by suggesting that this may be
may be the one rotten bough of the tree!'
Not the only rotten one, by a long way:
but the law of probabilities piles the odds
high up against the safety of a fraii top
branch when the thick ones beneath barely
hold their own weight-especially when
that last one is to be loaded down with the
weight of wedock-"
This last word acted like sharp tonic to
Blarnaby, who instantly assumed master
full air and attitude,
Now, I'm glad you have so pointedly
indicated the trouble between US. You
object, or you foresee outside objections to
(Blobbe nodded vigorous assent to this
letter way OF putting it) the marriage con-
template. Very well; now don't interrupt
me till Pm through. Here's my view of the
case. A man finds himself possessed of tai
entS calculated to cover 4 larger area than
that of his native place and occupation. He
finds the path that leads him into public
life. He ascends from retail to wholesale,
from trading to financing, from village
councils to state conventions, from the
dSSeuoly W lue uOuSe OIL representatives,
from SenatorShip to the cabinet. True,
the last honor may have been but short
lived; but he realizes that, with ordinary
sagacity in manipulating men and move
ments, he is on the high road to the White
House, with honors dangling as thick as
olackberrles on either side, waiting for him
TO pluck Them
"WeQ. go ahead
''That's just what mean to. I'll drop
the parable and take up my own self. Here
am /, ex-senator, ex-secretary, and ex-ever
so many things else, small and large. I've
had my ups and downs, political and finan-
cial. but never got down too low to get up
nor have l ever stayed up long enough to
lose the fear of falling. To-day my every
cent is launched on the embryo Laramie
and Yellowstone Lake railroad. The new
discovery of asphalt in the territory | con-
troll may make me many times millionaire
or II may bring some millionaires down to
only knows but you and l,
Blobbe ordain that the new railroad to the
asphalt region shall fill one pocket, and the
new syndicate for paving New York with
the best asphalt in the universe shall fill the
other
If it so please the gods and little
fishesv'
And the fame of so serving my country |
and my city will enrich my public record |
with with the solid grace of practical |
The man who develops |
The resources of his native country. as this |
new industry will. not only wins his coun- |
lry's gratitude, but is entitled to its highest !
lonors. Yet there has always been one |
hing lacking in my career, Blobbe, and not |
n mine only. What is commercial emf |
hence, what is political celebrity, to an |
shmaelite like me' ! am not even classed |
ind labeled as a confirmed bachelor'-the |
'emi-sacred professional rank which opens
1ydn nj hno 70 hnl
ucky few. Socially, go careering round |
ike will-o'-the-wisp, ever twinkling,
lever fixed. And it's too late in the day, |
Slobbe, for anyone but fool to pretend |
hat either wealth alone, or political power
Ilone, can run this republic without the
potent aid of social influence"
Which is a rich aud plentiful product of
his American soil"
Who doubts it, Blobbe, l might have
married hundred American women, as
air as and more gifted than | could find in |
europe. l say it again; ] have had a hun
red opportunities. such As most men in |
ny then position (and very likely myself,
90, had natural inclination prevailed,) |
would have jumped at But my time hadn't
ONE, Blobbe, and now that it has, find
hat my aspirations have taken wider ana
igher sweep. Love may be selfish thing. |
We indulge it for our own personal advan-
age. We marry to double our single bliss,
s we think. But what when seltishness
xpands into patriotism-think OF that,
'lobbe! / marry A, and a household is
he happier-perhaps two families, ten Mt
lost l marry B., and my proud country
hares my joy; two nations embrace and re-
nit the tie of kinship! My time has come.
accept the decree of destiny You woul1
ak it"
mot at all; simply say-make haste
lowly."
Yes, and let our enterprises slide half
ray down the precipice before hook them |
4 to the only holdfast that can stop their
ALL
Are you so sure Of that, Blarnaby!"
Listen. Now for plain prose. The pipes |
re so laid that if English capital can be
,mpted to flow, everything is assured sue
ess. A happy combination of circum-
tances made 1t patent to me when in Lon |
on that the mere association of the Ossul-
lone name with my scheme would insure !
ritish support and when perceived that
arriage with her ladyship was a prize {
isily within my reach, should have been {
traitor to the highest interests of our
reat undertaking, and to my country and ;
myself, if had thrown the chance away. !
have said easily within my grasp. which
, perhaps, premature expression; but
VIII see. l have conquered the two I
orlds OF commerce and politics, aud l ! c
less Ii will be a bit ridiculous to find one I
II oaff1ed BY the third-two man-worlds |
lbdued and woman-world deiantl'' J
What the meditative Blobbe said to this
as inaudible for the clatter Blarnaby |
ade as he filed two glasses with a
nrtrr al ~4frt 4