Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-04-21
HIS FIRST ANo orLY SPECULATION.
A Man Who Gambled In Stocks Without
Knowing what He Was Doing.

A Man Who Gambled In Stocks without
Knowing what He Was Doing.
II never speculate" said a man who has
acquired fair share Of the worlds goods,
and who enjoys them as much perhaps az
any other man similarly situated. And
yet made my first real start on a specula-
tion. won at it and quit ahead Of the
game, as gamblers say. ! have remained
ahead of that game ever since.
at was out in California that was led
into my speculation. 1t was in the days
when mining stocks went up into the sky
like rockets and came down like the sticks,
Just as certain men wanted them to do. /
went out there to make my fortune, but in
some way it would not make. really be.
lieve in luck, for did have the worst pos
sible kind of luck, and then of a sudden
but | will come to that later.
Have you ever heard of the man who
was so poor that he always earned his
breakfast, ate it; earned his dinner, ate it;
earned his supper; ate it, and then slept
where it did not cost anything2 Well,
was a good deal poorer than that man, for
ate my breakfast and then earned it. 1t
was demoraliZing, you may be sure But
happened to meet man in San Fran
cisco who was making q big stir out there
in those days. He was throwing stocks
wherever he pleased. and that meant every
where. The way thai man made money
took every ones breath away. For some
reason he took an interest in me-perhaps
it was because l could not make u cent
where he could make millions.
"'Young man. he said to Inc one day.
do you want to make some money!
II thought | did. | thought it so EN-
phatically that impressed him with my
earnestness.
"'Well, he said, give me S1o0 and I'll
fix it for you SO chat you can make SOLE
thing
"'A hundred dollarsr j said If bad
800 I'd get out of this country. haven't
100 cents.
"'You haven't, eh? Then I'll lend il to
you
81 never could pay you,' said.
eyes you can. You can pay me some
day. Just sign note for it. Business is
business, you know. Then go away and
don't ask any questions. just keep still
till get ready to talk
81 went away, no richer and no poorer
save that my name, which wasn't worth
anything to anybody, was at the end of a
note for Slo0.
II did not know much about stocks, and
did not care much about them. only
knew that there was madness in the San
Francisco market few days later. Some
stocks went up and some went down. The
stocks went up out of sight. Then hur
ricane struck the whole market and blew
it away
IA few weeks later met my friend.
"'Oh, by the way, he said, I have note
of yours in my pocket.
Eyes gulped, feeling the strings of
my heart tighten, but | can't pay it now
warned you'-
"Never mind about that now,' he said
Here's your note. Now Pm going to give
it back to you on one condition-that you
promise me never to speculate again
"I made him the promise.
"'Young man. he said then, you have
been in the biggest game that ever was
played in this market. You have won.
knew you would win. That's why let
you try it. But, young man, and he raised
his hand, pointing eloquently with his
| finger, you never in the world could have
won it if you hadn't been on the inside.
That's why made you promise
"Then he looked at memorandum,
wrote me out a check which made me
speechless and sent me away. do not to
| this day know what is the process of gam.
| bling in stocks. New York Tribune.