The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1892-06-06
A GENTLEMAN OF HIS WORD.
we've Years Not Too Long for One Man
to Remember a Prnmise

~ OHC man
to Remember a Promise.
What makes some men the souI of
honor" asked the story teller. Every
one OF US has had some experience in
ute to prove to Us that there are men Of
unlmpeachable honor. | think the
most honorable gentleman whom l ever
met was a man of absolutely Internal
luck. first saw him in a frontier town.
lie had been a cowboy, but he had got
Taught In a terrible winter back on the
plains, and at the time l first saw him
he was only a wreck of a man, with legs
mlsShapen and weak, and eyes that were
nearly blind. He seemed to be Just
clinging to life in that little Colorado
town, doing what little he could in bar
rooms or going slow errands, until fate
should be kind enough to take him
away from his misery.
He stopped me in the street one night.
"'Wnl You lend me ten dollars?' he
said roughly. Il am in a bad way and l
need it.
Now ten dollars was a good deal of
money to me at that minute, for in my
western experience | had my ups and
w W LDy IL ~ ILldL IlA1C J. w do LID ILL., Ii
downs
"'Wouldn't a dollar do you? l asked for
the fellow looked SO bad that l wanted
to do something for him, but | knew
that | should never see my money again.
No. he said doggedly, it won't. |
want to go to Denver. ] am about crazy
with pain and l want to get there and
see if | can't find some relief. | haven't
a cent in the world (There were a good
many men in that little town who were
in the same predicament.)
but | can't spare ten dollars | an
swered. i need it.
"'YOu don't need it so much as | do
he said fiercely. Lend it to me. III
pay it back to you. Give me your name
and address. III find you-if l live
We'll, | gave him the ten dollars. |
told him hat he need not worry about
paying it back. expected to get out of
my troubles some day and then | should
not feel the need of it.
"'No,' he said. Il won't touch it on
any other condition. | want to pay
it back with interest-12 per cent. a
year Money was worth something
out thcre.)
80 | wrote out my name for him,
giving him as my permanent address the
home of my family in the east. The
next day he went to Denver. Shortly
aftcrward | climbed into a saddle and
rode away to punch cows | punched
them with varying success all yer the
Colorado grazing fields for nine years.
Having had enough of cattle raising by
that time and my ideas of great fortunes
having been considerably modified, ]
sold out my cattle and came back.
"Of course, after the first few months
following my loan Of ten dollars to the
cripple, he never came into my thoughts
though there were times when that ten
dollars would have been a good friend.
but completely forgot about it. | had
been east for three years, had married
and was the proud father of the two
handsOmest children in New York, when
a letter was forwarded to me from my
fathers home in Massachusetts. It was
from the cripple. In it was a postoffice
order for my ten dollars and interest OF
it for twelve years, at l per cent. a month,
There was no word in the letter except
thanks for my kindness and the assur
ance that he was now doing pretty wei.
for him.
Il call that man a gentleman and
told him so when | wrote him, and
also told him something in the letter
which | hoped would please him-that
on that day l had made the first bank
deposit for my baby son, and that the
amount was $24.4O, his loan ald the ir.
terest, and that though the interest fol
the boy would not be anything like L
per cent, the deposit ought to bring him
good luck. That's all there is to this
story."-New York Tribune.