Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1894-09-13

w lung, NOW, duu uOA AcV "oSAoJ
Sterritt trade you out O. that. Don't
swap with him at all"
No casual observer would even sus-
pect him Of shrewdness-a fact which
he turned to his own advantage in
many bargain-but Wesley had, as
though Nature provided special COM
pensation tor the shortcomings of per-
sonal attractions, peculiar indiffer-
ence as to externalities, whether his
own or those of other people. He val
ued above par that which he had and
below par that which he had not; he
was always in the attitude OF consent
ing to an exchan pc rather than that OF
seeking it; he never fixed a price, and
never accepted one as long as there
was chance for better. He was one
of those people who could swap a
bushel Of corn for a bushel of corn
and profit by the transaction, main
tanning reputation for fair measure
and inch-for-inch honesty. Ae re-
moved at sixteen from Flat Rock to
Shiloh. He was rapidly advanced to
forty dollars a month and then to part
nership in dry goods store. He soon
became sole owner of the business.
He added line Of school books and
cofius, fourished for ten or twelve
months, insured everything and got
burned out. He went to Fairburn.
He fourished, of course. Heexpanded,
as it were, to the limit of his oppor-
tunities. His enterprise was revela-
ton to his compe titors. He had toys
for Christmas, valentines for the 14th
of February, flags for the Fourth of
July.
"A leedle too sharp" some croakers
said, commenting upon Wesley Ster-
ritt's methods, intending to convey the
idea that ne might some day overreach
himself-'jest a leedle bit too smart. :"
There were rumors that he sold
whisky-very profitable that, because
very risky, the town and county being
dry-but the grand jury never did any
thing with it, and Wesley continued
to prosper. He attended church and
Sunday -school regularly, ingratiating
himself to degree with the denom-
ination which had most adherents in
that neigh borhood. Eventually he be-
gan specializing in cotton. He sent
mysterious kilograms in cipher and re-
ceived equally mysterious answers.
The telegraph operator told all about
it, confident tally. The rumor was
speedily corroborated, as it could be
in none but small town where every
body knows every body else and every
body else's business.
lat
enough alone,' the neighbors said of
Wesley. He's in too big hurry to
git rich. He's gettin' over his depth
Fairburn held it's breath awhile
the expression is semi-fgurative, Of
course--in expecta ton of a ca catastrophe,
the sudden humiliation Of Wesley
Sterritt The negroes, who heard the
white folks whispering about it, looked
for the earth to open up and literally
swallow him. There was no tinan-
cial crash, no crack Of doom, no sensa-
ton of any sort. The man simply con-
tinued to prosper. The town rubbed
its eyes and looked again, TO be certain
Wesley was still there, and then de-
liberately settled down to the con-
viction that he was a great finan-
cier-a man who could hold his
own in conflict with the money
kings of Wall street. He came to
be regarded as an oracle in the matter
of speculative Investments. No list of
trustees or directors could be complete
without his name. He was offered the
mayoralty and declined the honor. His
store burned up, fully insured-a fact
of which some envious people and the
insurance adjuster, referring to the
similar experience in Shiloh, made
suggestive coincidence-but Wesley
collected the money and removed to
Atlanta. Some people wondered why
he didn't go on to New York at once,
instead of stopping in a smaller place,
limited field, like Atlanta. What he
should have done, or might have done,
are consideration foreign to the pur-
pose of this narrative, which is de-
signed simply to record what he did
do. He started business in Atlanta.
He was amply successful. He was dis
satisfied.
One evening, after good days bust
ness, he went home in thoughtful,
silent mood. He had little appetite
for supper. His wife---yes, indeed, he
had wife! 1t is strange how natural
ly one who knew Wesley Sterritt at
this time might, in telling the story of
his life, forget to mention the ex-
istence of Mrs Sterritt. There was
little about Mrs. Sterritt, except her
existence, to be mentioned in that
connection. Even in the account given
by her old neighbors of the marriage
the one time in her life when she
had said ~ will'-she was made sub
ordinate and incidental to the consid-
Grafton of a grist mill, which Wesley
was commonly said to have married,
the wife passing as sort of incun-
brance upon the property. Poor wom-
an! Her identity, except the mechan-
ical part of it, had faded away into
that of her husband her mentality, If
that isn't in itself too positive term,
bore to his the relation of shadow to
substance. She acquiesced, always ac-
quiesced, simply acquiesced. in what
he said and did.
Mrs. Sterritt noticed, on this par
ticular evening, that something seemed
to weigh heavily upon Wesley's mind,
and she surmised that that something
concerned her.
Martha said he abruptly, when
she had finished with the dishes and
begun with her knitting, as usual,
.'I'm goin' to buy that lot was talkin'
about yistiddy-the brick bo'din'house
place j'inin' the church"
Mrs Sterritt was vaguely startled