Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1892-10-28
ON NINTH AVENUE.
Where a New York Millionaire
Bachelor Found Happiness.

Mr.. Eben Rumble was a man worth
knowing, He had attained eminence
by forcing his way into the group of |
magicians known as millionaires. |
People dotted their hats to HIM with q
deferential air as he passed; and in So
cial circles the good danes who had
daughters for sale wore q smile so
genial and warm that even summer
clothing seemed oppressive. They
angled for him with the patience of
Isaac Walton, who used to say that no
one was true fisherman who wasn't
willing to sit on the bank of stream
until spider spun web from his back
to the nearest tree.
If Rumble was worth knowing he
was also worth catching, assure you.
He had body which turned the scales
at one hundred and eighty, heart
bigger than his body, couple of bril-
liant brown eyes, a shock of iron-gray
hair, which gave him leonine appear
ance, and a mustache which led strang-
ers to address him as general.
At forty-three, the age at which in
troduce him, he had skillfully evaded
the Establishments and dangers of mat
rimony, and was sole possessor of him
self in fee simple. He, saw the traps
which were set for his heart and for
tune, especially the latter, and took
grim satisfaction in the thought that if
he chose to take wife he had money
enough to support her in good style.
He deliberately concluded, however,
that it would be better, on the whole,
to play the game of life with lone
hand.
Eben was a self-made man, and the
product of his labor was extremely
creditable. A great many people who
try this experiment are dismal failures.
They generally manage to acquire
phenomenal self-conceit, but most of the
best qualities of character are arrested
developments. They become pomp-
GUS, insolent and uncomfortable. They
would have made good oysters, if they
had been contented to have remained
in that station, as Tony Weller said to
his son Samivel but, as the purse
holders of the community, they are apt
to be coarse, snowy, ostentatious and
hungry for adulation.
Money-getting is a noble employ
ment. Every body wants enough to
furnish him with a good roast and a
warm blanket in his old age. That is
all that gold or bank bills will proper
ly buy. You can only eat your fill, and
one overcoat is enough to keep the
cold out
If man had score of mouths and
could enjoy eating with each one, or il
he had the legs of centipede and
needed trousers for them all, the case
would be different. But with only one
mouth and only two legs, he ought tc
be easily satisfied.
Eben took himself by the coat collar
when he had just turned forty-three,
dragged himself into corner OF his Ii
brary, seated himself in an easy chair
and played with two or three logical
propositions
81 am not quite spending my income,
he said TO the handsome face which was
reflected in the mirror. 81 have half 6
drayload of first mortgage bonds, ant
the interest is paid every six months.
made it all myself; didn't inherit any
thing except some few debts which the
old gentleman left. And" here he
thrust his hands into his pockets with
self-satsfed air-''and, bless me,
made it all honestly. Nobody nee(
shrug his shoulders at me-"
Then he got up and stood in front o
the glass. Say, old boy, do you know
the largest part of your life is gone
eh?" he inquired. "No wife, but lot
of poor relations who inquire afte
your health every Christmas and ex
pect good-sized check by return mail
If you should happen to get run owe
by a cable car, they'd contest your will
and prove that you were blooming
idiot who was unduly influenced t.
leave your fortune to the. wronI
parties That's about all the recompens
man gets for dying rich. You'
better drop this drudgery and enjo
yourself"
And he did.
He played good game of billiards a
the club, and was champion of tn
whist table. He. never dined at home
for splendid story tellers are eagerl
sought, He went to Tuxedo, to New
port and to Lenox, and was the cor
quering hero of society everywhere.
But he wasn't satisfied. No man eve
is who hasn't vile. A wife furnishe
her husband with enough to occupy a
his spare time. If lie is profoundly i
love with her, and the honeymoon
which is generally leased for 81
monthswith the option of renewal
continues indefinitely, he has all he ca
do to anticipate her wishes and inver
devices to secure her happiness. If, O
the other hand, he thinks he hi
grounds for jealousy, he is equal
busy, though in different direction
He finds both days and nights too shol
for worriment, and signs, and miser,
and suspicious, and other hobgoblir
and bugbears which he can call frol
the vastly deep. ~ @'
But if one isn't married, he has s
much leisure on his hands that he b
comes embarrassed. That was the ca:
with Rumble. He didn't know VIII;
to do and was SO tired of the humdru
that he would have spent a night in
haunted house just for the novelty
the experience. 1t would have give
him something to anticipate and pr
pare for, and, always provided
wasn't scared to death, something
talk of for week after,
He became frightfully sick of DIRE
suits and dinings out and fell into
sort of melancholy The fellow
Chaffed him, and one or two had
serious talk with him; but he gradu1
" went from pale blue to deep al