The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-07-31
ENDS TH II ARE ODD.
TEE MONEY AND TIaE WEATHER !
TRxFr.E CLOSE IN LOUISVILLE. Is
sunday observations About Banks and
Bankers and Some Remarks About
Square Meals and Country Life.
Correspondent OF the Post.

Elble f0r me 10 preulct With ai1F ueSTSe VI
certainty how this letter is going to end.
Like Burns epistle to a young friend, it
is as apt to turn into q song as a sermon
But il will commence with the weather,
which at this moment is an all absorbing
and oppressive topic, superceding the sale
of goods, the transfer Of bonds and stocks
and the grip of the alleged money lender,
for that individual is now myth. At
several different periods Of my life have
had doubts Of his existence in the flesh.
Many writer's have described him as if
they had seen, talked with him, and felt
the clutch Of his cold, metallic fingers
But have they not also described Blue
Board and Jack the Giant Killer! so TAR
as can gather the former gentleman is
every whit as unreal and npsubstantlal as
the latter This am sure OF, that It ne
ever lived in Louisville he is now dead
as dead as ga nail in the door" You
can't find him anywhere. One man will
tell you she is there"-occupying seat
in the back Office OF the bank, or desk in
certain cellar on Main street, OF III
number 1920, Commercial building. But
don't you fool yourself nor allow your
self to be fooled, Cor 1 tell you have
been to all of these places aud have found
out he is not there. He has no seat in
the bank and no desk either In collar or
attic. If any man thinks he has found
him let him only put fngcrin the button
hole Of his coat and attempt to pat him
gently and famiiiarly On the back, and 10,
he's gone! Like other gloats he wont
stand the touch Of mortals. You May
take one aside, attempt to speak privately
and in whispers. when presto! whew.-oh
he vanshes into thin air.
THE THREE FALLS.
Some time in The 18th century two
brothecg came from Lombardy to Paris.
Their coat Of arms consisted of three
gilded balls. They were the first pawn
brokers-the first persons who wero
known to have loaned money on personal
security: The three balls have since be-
come the sign of their successors in bust
ness. Now an going to see II they are
MYTHS too, If things don't 'sbrighten up"
as it were. shall see if they arc going
back on the blood of their ancestors.
But to the weather. You little realize
how you at Big Stone Gap are blessed in
this respect Tie atmosphere to-day has
been heavy and hot; 40 breeze, not even
the shaking Of leaf. It seems to be
rotting in the sky from shcer stagnatlon.
People are gasping in shops; children are
sweltering; clerks find it too oppressive to
Whit CT sarette; shop girls III gauzc seem
too tired and languid to get up the usual
smile, and old, clean shaven gentlemen
who emerged from their shaded houses
this morning wearing spotless linen, find
their collars limp with moisture, falling
about their necks. The heavens are
brassy: the black smoke Of the foundries
lowers sullenly over the city like the pail
with which the gloomy genius OF Dore
draped hell. The heads of the street car
mules droop to their knees and everything
that moves seems to sweat, except the
bank cashier who hasn't enough blood in
him to produce sweat. Hang these fell
lows, how they could change the tempera-
ture and Tighten up things, if they would.
What breezy, refreshing day We should
have if they would only relax the sinewy
clutch they have on the necks OF the
money bags, or let fellow climb over the
Internal brass net work Of railing, which
they keep rubbed bright to dazzle you,
and through the little square holes of
which they peep at you dchantly. What
diabolical politeness and suavity, what
metallic smile, what mathematical nccura-
CIV, with what subtle smoothncss and grace
they count and count and pin up packages
and pack them away in the safe and set
the time lock!
Well, know III never get any Of it, so
let it 60.
But did you ever try to make mash on
a bank cashicr9 How easy is yourappar-
ent conquest, but how disappointing arc
the results. You may run with him for
years, tell him jokes, make his sides split
with laughter, opcn to him broad and
profitable projects, impress him with the
idea that you are a deep inancicr. iasci-
nate him apparently, but when you think
he is ready for the sacrifce-when YOU
have him just where yon want him and
have been struggling for months to get
him, attempt to touch him for few
hundred or a thousand. lie is q born
mind reader. IIe knows what yon are
thinking the moment you enter the bank
or take him oneside at the club. Sud-
denly his entire nature seems to change
and before you have opened your mouth
he straightens up and assumes such an
air Of distance and distrust that you won
der if you are really acquainted with him;
and, by the time you breach your brilliant
proposition it has fallen fiat. limo longer
seems to have spark Of life in it. You
are even surprised with yourself that you
should have applied to a person whom you
knew SO slightly--indeed stranger.
Why not 60 to some friend with your col.
lateral that is not '.bankable," which "the
law prevents National banks" from ac-
cepting, or which the directors of some
other bank have rejected" 1t is aston
fishing under such conditions how small
the banks surplus has become, how the
assets have dwindled since the quarterly
statement appeared in the paper that
very morning.
SOLID SUBJECT.
But TO drop these midsummer musings
which are written of cool country place
and not in the sultry city and without
having applied to a single bank official for
a loan, and to come down to business,
may say and say truly that money is close,
confidence is close, the air is close
everything is close. A few brokers tell
me that gilt edge securities are saleable
and that the street is not entirely without,
business features. But the president of