The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1895-10-28
BEN's BID.Jl

uNfkubf bu8Eosbeu dlfdm basaett, inc
village storekeeper, to Bon Singer.
Ben was IA years old. His mother had
died short time before. His father was
a carpenter by trade, but had been crippled
by rheumatism so that he could not work.
Ben started a chicken farm at once
Slowly the flock of chickens grew. The
FIRST days OF summer saw him with 70
young chickens, some of them able to
scratch for themselves.
Only few Of them were lost. A prowl-
ing 'possum got several before Ben trapped
the marauder. Cold and rains killed of
few more. But the LIST of September
came, and more than so chickens were tho
boys.
Ben planned to sell 80 or 40 in the early
autumn and to keep the remainder till the
next summer to stock his farm with afresh.
He intended to &C into 1t then ON bigger
scale, and he hoped to realize enough from
his sales to keep him through tho winter
with the part of his flock he retained.
Then one day in September as he and
his father sat In the doorway of the oob-
tage Bon noticed a couple Of tears trickle
down his fathers face. He jumped up
and threw his arms around his fathers
neck.
Presently Mr.. Singer unclasped the boys
uohth abu AOoktu MN Ill tlfo luC6. Den,
he said, I'm afraid we're In for hard
times yet"
"What do you mean, dadP" asked Bon.
"The house is only rented" said Mr..
Singer slowly. "They can't take that,
but they can take all our furniture and ev-
erything else"
"Why, they belong to usf' exclaimed
Ben.
so they do, Ben, but the law gives an
other man the right to sell them and take
the money they bring II we owe him mon
ey and oailt pay 1t. There Is some one to
whom owe money, a man 1 borrowed
from when your mother was sick. owe
him 500.
He was here to see me about 1t the 9TH
err day, and l tried to get him TO wait.
But he says he's tired of waiting, and the
sheriff'll come and sell us OUT
Ben worried over what he had heard all
night long, but he could find no way out
of their difficulty.
Tho next day no took ten Of his biggest
chickens TO the village store He had al
ready arranged with Mr.. Bassett to have
them sent to commission merchant at
Waynesboro and sold.
After he had delivered the chickens and
Mr.. Bassett had promised to get him the
money for them as quickly as possible the
idea struck the boy Of asking the store
keeper about sheriff's sale. "Mr. Bas-
sett, )" he said, "how does sheriff sell you
outp"
Ben asked several questions before he
left Then he walked slowly home, and
all the while In his mind he was turning
over dhnly defined project which had
been suggested to him by what he had
heard.
A ~ lakn. De-. A a
his chickens, $3.50. He was q proud boy,
and no would have shown his satisfaction
more II 1t had not been for the impending
trouble which made his father 80 misera-
BILE that he could not leave his bed.
On Monday in tho early part Of the
next month the sheriff, In pursuance of
formal notice, arrived at the house to
make sale to satisfy Mr.. Singers credit
or. Quite crowd had gathered about tho
cottage and there was not ono of those
present who did not sympathize with the
carpenter and his son. The sheriff mount
ed a box In the yard and began a descrip.
tion of the goods to be sold.
1t was pitiful array, after ALL A few
tools, miscellaneous assortment of cheap
furniture, a kitchen stove, with some cook
ing utensils and china and some linen and
blankets.
the sheriff counted on as his drawing card
Half hundred of fine hens and market
able chickens were cooped in q near by pen,
and upon the value of these the county
officer dwelt at length. Then, when he
thought he had the crowd sufficiently
aroused, he named u starting figure In de-
fault Of an actual bid.
"Sixty dollars for this choice lot of chick.
ems and household goodsf" ho cried.
There was no response. He repeated the
announcement, then dropped the figures
to $50. Still no one spoke.
But the crowd was dumb No one felt
inclined to buy out the crippled carpenter
and his son,
The sheriff tried again and again. drop-
ping the figure lower and lower He did
not specially like tho job for he had been
told about tho case by some of the village
people, but he had duty to perform and
he knew he must get as much out of the
sale as he could.
MIR. Singers creditor evidently had no
representative on the ground, and even tho
low prices were not taken up with.
The sheriff dropped his offer now 81 at a
time, but apparently in vain. II looked
as II tho sale would come TO nothing.
Nine, eight, seven, six, five, fourl Not
response came from those about.
Infeo uollarsi Inc Sheriff WIS smiling
at the ridiculous offer and was Just about
to name So and 81 In quick succession,
hoping for no reply, when boylsh voice
CLOSE at hand answered:
~ bid 3d."
Tho officer looked down on the speaker
and saw Ben. Tho boy held up three & |
notes In his hand. The sheriff smiled.
More than one man IN the crowd felt like
cheering the bidder But the officer know
that 10 could not accept the offer at once
Three dollars am bidl" he announced.
"Who bids fourp'
Every one was silent, and SO was tho
one bid offered, and after one expostulation
the sheriff took tho offer
The chicken farm was saved, and the
chicken farln proved success A year
later, when Mr.. Singer was once more
working steadily and His rheumatism was
gone, his creditor was paid in full the
amount borrowed from him aud the pro-
ceeds from Ben's chicken farm did not a
little TO make up tho sum required. Eek.
change.
The Wagner Assault.