The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-10-07
THE TOLTEC CAKE.

OF Aberdeen. His fortune had expand
ed, the more he had contracted, and by
his works he was known and approved.
When in his old age he retired from
business people said he was going TO en-.
ioy his money, and he thought 80 until
he found how miserable he had straight
way become. Thereby he was taught
the paradoxical truth that the vanity OF
riches often arises from lack OF re-
sources. Time, that had ever been his
taskmaster, was now his slave awaiting
employment
Outside OF eating and walking and
sleeping, which were all very well in
their way, what could he do with him
self? This question, an unwonted in
trospection which revealed deficiencies
continually asked. For the first time
during his boosted career as Il seIl'made
man Oscar was dissatisfied with his own
handiwork. Perhaps after all there
was something in this education which
he had always despised besides reading
a newspaper, writing ones name, and
ciphering on specifications. ltseened
to enable idle men to be busy, and, II
so, was it too late ior him to invoke its
aid?
About this time his daughter Rachel
returned home from boarding-school
and proved q gOad to his pride. She
was as sweet rs she was snrewd, two
Qualities that are mutually antidotal,
and she kept her hands well apart. She
never referred to her fathers imperfec-
tons, but she talked around them in
lessening circles. For instance, when
be said "hadn't orter' she somewhat
emphatically used the corrected phrase;
when he curtailed cafe 10 one
SYLLABLE she soon restored its iull Gallo
measure. Since he eat fish with a
knife and peas with q spoon, these i'm
piemenls were missing the next time
those comestiblcs were served. Thus,
leisure ami pride turned Oscar energies
10 sclt-improvement Ere the eXpira.
ton of a year no could successfully pass
the side.oi-the-spoon test and construe
A hotel menu. More than this, he had
grown pedantc and had acquired a
hobby. Now everybody knows that
n hobby taken three times day, that
is, after each meal is 4 medicine that
will surely cure the megrlms. 1t was
chance that wrote this precious pres
,cription for Oscar.
One day, at the height OF his humilia-
ton anu dstrust, he happened upon a
massive and abstruse work entitled,
"The Ancient Mound Builders" and
Time, his slave. was thereafter no longer
lazy. The weight and dimensions OF
the work appealed to his eye rs an arti-
san, the obscurity OF its subject matter
to his aroused sense OF duty. He dog
Eedly plodded through it rs through
bog, and when he had arrived Al the
back cover he was changed man, as
one naturally is who has wallOwed in a
morass. He would be an archeo!ogist,
and discover traces OF a lost race! Ii he
were not able to write about them him
self, and the mass OF the inCentinG vol
ume and the bluntness of his fingers
made him dubious in this respect, at
least he could erect model museum Tor
their exhibiting and for the aGSrandize-
ment OF his name!
Oscars environments encouraged this
ambition. For the greater part OF the
year he dwelt on his stock iarm just
beyond the limits OF Aberdeen. The
topography OF the land was peculiar.
Here and there were small circular
hills, rising from the level like bubbles
on lake. Perhaps in primeval days
when the face OF the earth was molten,
some cataciysm had of an instant cooled
and solidifed this portion. In the
centre OF fair meadow, which was the
pride OF Oscars heart, there arose one
OF these elevations as shapely, as sym
metricat as ii master eye had fixed its
measurements and his cunning hands
had leveled its side. Faith in his craft
assured him that this mound in par
ticular must be artificial, and within it
lay the secrets OF future FenowR.
Thither Oscar would now daily repair,
pacing thoughtfuIly around it, running
a tape line or delving into its soil with
a trowel, and munching his cigar the
while.
1t was thus, one evening, that Albert
Griffin furtively observed him from the
lane. Furtively, for Albert was modest
in the presence OF his elders, especially
OF one who happened TO be the unap-
preciative father Of his hearts delight.
It was toward this delight OF his heart,
namely Rachel, that the young MIN was
now vending his way, and he noted
with relief the distance OF the mound
from the house. Yet the intentness Of
Oscars attitude stayed Albert despite
his misgivings. Indeed, on their very
account 1t behooved him TO supply his
ingenuity with information. So from
behind the shelter OF tree he fingered
and looked.
What could the old codger be about
doddering there with the tools OF his
trade? Surely he could not intend to
build? What was that under his arm?
Albert's eyes were keen; but their
sharpness was not needed to make out
the outlines OF the great volume. He
recognized the "Mound Builders" at
once; like an unabridged dictionary it
spoke for itself. Well, what could such
devotion mean2 Did old Oscar imag-
inc that he might be the unfolder OF
former civilizations Truly there is no
telling whittier atiluent desperation
may driyel Albert pondered for a
while, and then slowly turned toward
the house, calculating an "ah" OF prob
able satisfaction.
Now, Albert Griffin, young and
struggling artist, was the antipodes OF
his hoped-for father.in-law. The more
his work expanded the more contracted
did his means become. For pigments
and brushes don't grow on bushes,
while their work might, for all the pub
lie seemed to care. And yet there were
a discriminating lew who predicted sue
cess; but old Oscar had never heard
their prophecies, and, il he had, would
have classed them with the contingency
OF horse thriving on sawdust Itstood
to sense, he reasoned, as men do when