The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1895-10-25
1T iA Edith's father wants to buy
it to enlarge his yard, and has offered

s 1870 ~ M 0AA AAOA ~
mother died there-and they won't
sell. She doesn't want the cottage
torn down. They are not poor the
way folks are that accept old clothes
and provisions. She has a piano and
books, but they are too poor to have a
good time. They can't keep a carriage
OF go into society or travel in Europe"
There was a moments silence. His
daughters views were something of q
surprise to Mr.. Strong.
when are you going to get mamma
those, diamonds you promised her?"
asked Lucy, turning away from the
window.
ST don't know. Is she suffering for
them? l am short of money just now"
They are only twenty thousand dol
lars
(Which is exactly four times the
amount of money which could be allot-
ted to each family in the United States
by equal division of all the property
it contains"
II don't understand you, papa"
Every likely not! But if all the
property in the United States should
be equally divided among all the peo-
pie in it, there would be about one
thousand dollars apiece. The average
family contains five members, SC you
see when your mother e "a those
TWEEN ty-thousand dollar diamonds. she
will be wearing the capital OF twenty
people, OF Of four families"
"What do you meal by that, papa?
No ~, ~, -, =, ~, r :; e -, -, -, - l~,+ ,A,,4
thousand dollars worth Of diamonds,
twenty other people will have to go
without anything at all??'
THAT is about the size of it, nv
dear. Ii there are twenty people and
twenty peaches to be divided among
them, and one man takes half OF the
peaches, there will not be bat ten left
for the other nineteen people, Will
there?''
Il should not like that if Twas one of
the other people-but DO want mann
Smith has beautiful diamonds and
they are not half SO rich as you are,
papa!"
Il fear you do not realize the value
of money"
Perhaps not! I hope / never will.
should hate to be poor! By-by!
Edith is on her steps and we go. to-
gether."
A moment later the butler appeared
barring a letter on a silver tray.
"He brings my death w%arrant!" was
the thought that passed through Mr..
Strong's mind. Hobbies did not come
y. i,~ hoe .xr-,44~- w I'M ~ j - H. G.. -
1t is my death warrant"
He waited until the butler had left
the room and then opened the letter
with trembling fingers. 1t was as he
feared. The deal had failed! He sank
into a chair and covered his face with
his hands, caring nothing about partic-
ulars. 1t was enough to know that he
was lost. All the world must know his
financial distress tomorrow. Ruined!
Ruined! Could he face the world and
begin again? Could he face his own
family? The words Of his daughter:
Il should hate to be poor!!" rang in his
ears. In his mental distress, those
carelessly-spoken words, uttered with
out thought, weighed more than they
should. 1t seemed to him that they
expressed the sentiments of the whole
family. How could he tell them that
his wealth had vanished even quicker
than it had come. He started up and
paced the floor, his Thoughts acting
like whips to scourge him m"
In this, his hour of despair, his whole
life passed in review before him. He
thought of the high hopes of his
youth, when he had wished to be num-
bered among those who fought for
justice and truth and the rights of the
people. In the mad scramble for wealth
he had ceased to be just, he had dishon-
ored truth, he had trampled upon the
rights of o others! He had sold the best
part of himself for wealth, and now
ever that, the price of his infamy, was
gone! His life had been q failure
from first to last-a miserable failure!
Measured by the highest standard it
had always been a failure-even
though his check had been good for a
million! Measured by the lower
standard of worldly success,
men would write upon his brow-fail-
ure! 1t was unendurable! Why
should he continue to live when life
had lost it's value? With a sudden re-
solve, born of self-contempt and de-
spair, he stepped into another room
and came back with a revolver.
And yet-he could not go out of life
witout one last word to Mary. Poor
Mary! She might take it hard! He
would assure her that it was not
through lack of love for her that he
ended his existence, but-what reason
could he give for deserving his post at