The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-02-26

and the paper makers
He thought he was lying in the pile
of rags, as indeed he was, and that
the elevator, in which the rags were
| lifted to the sorting-room, gradually
settled down into the basement, with
a number of mill-hands in it. He
thought they began to heap the rags
into the elevator, and threw him in
with the rest.
| When the elevator was we'll filled it
seemed to begin to creak ON its up
ward journey nor did it stop until it
reached the upper floor, in the sort
lng-room, where the rags are all care
| fully looked over and unsuitable mat
| ter thrown out
Out came the rags upon the sorting
table in great piles-so Jeff thought
himself amongst them Then the
men and the boys, the women and the
girls, began to pick them over rapid
ly.
| One would find a stone, another a
| piece of brick, while a third would
| fish out a piece of iron that some dis
honest person had put in to make
weight.
''That's an awfully mean thing to
do" thought jeff, as he saw these
| worthless articles picked out and
thrown down chute into the river.
Il shouldn't want to be so mean as to
put such stuff as that into the rags
But just then he remembered that
he had been putting himself in over
and over again and he colored clear
up to the roots of his hair, so that he
| looked very much like a piece of red
| flannel that was next to him in the
| heap.
Pretty soon, as jeff dreamed, a nice
looking girl drew great heap of rags
| towards her on the table, and spied
him.
90 my, look here ~ she said to her
neighbor; "see what I've found ~
Il don't believe it will ever do to
make paper of him. will it % she said,
refiectively, after gazing at him for a
few moments.
why, yes, indeed" said the other
Hes been bought and paid for at 3
cents pound, and the company will
lose money if you take him out"
Poor jeff shuddered.
Il guess if she knew how many
times I've been bought and paid for"
he groaned to himself, shed be certain
sure the company couldn't afford to
let me be wasted"
AS the two girls could not agree they
called the foreman of the room, and
explained the case to him. The fore
man shook his head.
This boy" said he, ''must have
got into these rags with the intention
of cheating the paper company. No."
said he, thoughtfully, scratching his
head. No, l really don't think it
would do to make paper of him, be-
cause when a boy will do what this
hnxr hac. l.,
be so stained that none of our processes
would take the mean color out and so
he would spoil whole rum of pa
per. No, it won't do at ALL
But" said one of the girls, would |
MT it do to make just common news
paper stock of him 1t wouldn't mat
ter if it were stained little here and |
there
mo, indeed said the foreman, ex-
citedly, that is the last thing l should
think of. What we need to-day is |
clean Journalism. There ought to be
nothing mean in a newspaper. We !
need stainless press. No, no, put |
this fellow in the paper, and the edi- |
torials would be tainted with rascali- |
ty. He might do in paper for some |
sheet full of swindling advertisements, |
but we don't sell to any concern of |
that kind. 1t wouldn't do at all to
use him in our Stock
There was silence for a moment, |
during which Jeff held his breath.
Then one of the boys who hadn't |
spoken before inquired, if it might
not do, perhaps, to make common
brown wrapping-paper of him.
But the foreman saw serious objec-
tions to this.
mo. Much as I dislike to throw
away anything that belongs to the
company" said he, 81 shouldn't dare
toido even that, for this boys dishon-
esty seems so ingrained that it would |
show even in brown paper. If amer-
chant should tie up sugar in it | fear
the paper would faint the sugar Or
else it would burst open from rotten
ness and spill all the contents. It's a
bad lot of goods altogether
You can imagine how Jeff felt while
this conversation was going on. 1t
was bad enough to be considered unfit
to make common writing paper,
marked with blue lines, and picture
of the Capitol at Washington stamped
in one corner But when it came to
being discarded for printing paper,
and even for brown wrapping stuff, he
felt mean enough to have weighed
only about a pound, or a pound and a
half at most.
Throw him down the funnel,n said
the foreman. Then one of the men
seized him, and walking across the
room, dropped him head first into the
shaft.
Down, down he went, with that aw-
full sinking feeling which one has when
when he dreams that he is falling.
J.,1f tho al, In T.
grow narrow. Before he had gone
much farther, jeff thought he was
sticking hard and fast, upside down,
and in very narrow quarters, where it
soon grew difficult to breathe.
No wonder he felt So For when,
with a vigorous kick and smothered
cry, he awoke, it was to find that sew
eral more loads of rags had been pour
ed down through the scuttle upon the
top of the heap in which he had gone
to sleep.
Almost suffocated, he scrambled
out, a trif1e confused as to his identity.
Was he still a very small tin-peddler,
or really rejected rag?
Jeff felt very small and mean as he
crawled out the basement window.
He saw, with deep shame, that the
dream-foreman had been quite right
IN thinking dishonesty something that
makes even brown paper worthless in
this wOrk-aday world.
The more jeff reflected on his dream
as he rode about the country behind
his old white horse, the more he I'M
derstood how rascally he had been,
and the clearer he saw that he could
never deserve to get along unless he
became strictly square in his deal
ings with others.
He must have acted on this idea, for
when | knew him he was one of the
wealthiest and most respected bust
ness men of the place where he lived
am quite sure that his first real sue
cess in life dated from the time when
he went to the owners of the paper
mill and paid back many times over,
what he was worth at three cents
pound i-WEBB DoNNELL.
WnrdS of Wisdom,