South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1892-03-04

kOVuo huAOI m8LfOu WOuIQ Oo xOrtu-
coming - soon a i had establish.
ed my claim.
Securing the necessary credeu-
tails, but keeping the object Of my
v'sitfromthe knowledge Of ny wife.
! left home one morning, aud at
noon I vas standing before the
omcc OF my mysterious correspon-
dent. I went in without ceremony
and foand an old man in dingy
little room. clean, but poorly light
cd. and With him, a. his secretary,
apparently, . boy of sixteen. The
old man vas, do doubt, . lawyer,
With . limited practice, for the dust
showed on his books and the carpet
on the floor was little worn by the
tread of clients. He was an odd
old genius, Whoever he was, but
kindly In voice and manner, and I
had no fear that IVES to be ssbun
coed" or otherwise maltrested, so
l sat down and wo began our con-
ference.
The details are scarcely necsssa-
ry now. 1t il sufficient to say III.
A. was confirmed crank, q mil
lionaire and moneY-hater, and that
in pursuance OF a theory of his. he
had concluded to select at random
some one to whom he might give in
ready money the sum of $3.50, 900,
simply to see what the recipient
would do with it. He had worded
his advertisement peculiarly in or.
der not to be overrun with appli-
cants. Yet there had been many,
but none, urtil came, who SEEM
ed to him to be the proper person
for his experiment. When | final
ly left his Office, took with me his
check for the amount named, and
still thinking it was only joke or
Q freak. / called on some mer-
chant friends of mine and told them
the story, putting the check in as
evidence.
They were astonished beyond
measure, and my establishment even
exceeded theirs when / learned that
the name to the check was good for
ten times Its face, or more and With
two or three of t. EN- to identity me
l went to o bank and exchanged
the check for draft on New York.
That night we had a champagne
supper of the most elaborate and
generous character, and when I got
up next morning, notwithstanding
all my wealth, l don't think ever
felt quite so bad in the whole course
of my life. / took several "bra-
GERS" during the day and in the
evening left for home.
At midnight l reused my wife
and telling her everything about
my visit, except the cham payne ex-
perience. I asked her what she
thought of quarter Of million IN
cool cash and no membranes as
disadvantage She was pleased
to death with my luck, and we sat
up till daylight talking over VIII
we would do with that money and
the pleasure it was sure to bring MS.
I'm going to skip all the period
between that time and when / be-
come 40 years old. / can't endure
to think about it, much less to set
it down In plain black and white.
The money went fast, and with il
character, reputation, health, wife,
children--for three more had come
to join the first-home, friends,
everything-and it all came grad.
ually, making the agony of it more
terrible than any sudden blow could
have done.
had done it all, too. No one
was to blame except myself.
drank aud gsmbIed, and lived fast
and loose, neglecting aud disre.
garding the good, taking always to
the bad and loving it.
At forty l was houseless, home
less, q beggar, and q drunkard in
the gutter.
To-day / met en- old, old man,
feeble and tottering, and l aked
him for money because l was starv.
ing.
ado you want more Of it ?" he
smiled querulously.
looked at him as closely az nv
bieared eyes would permit.
"You laughed when told you
snce that it would be q sdisadvan.
tage' to you" he went on. "You
thought / was fool and almost told
me so. Do you think 30 now
Here's quarter"
knew him then, but / said
nothing. / took his money though,
, and with il l have bought that
which will stay my hunger forever.
The bottle which holds it is small,
but it is large enough. When you
read this, you will have heard of
that which is Of no disadvantage to
me, and may be Of much advantage
to many others. With my last
words let mo thank you. Good
bye.
XKRxEs YoUNo ZIMMERMAN.
This was all, and my whole
thought ~ in revolution. Detroit
Free Press.
Tiny, little sugar-coated granu-
les, are what DR.. Pierce's Pleas
onH DcfFok. - I'll -