The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-09-01
HIS FAILURE.

I should never have known that he
was failure if he had not told me so
himself. Most assuredly he had not the
air of one For his coats were always
fashionably cut, and his taste in liqueurs
was almost as delicate as my own, and
he could afford to crafty it far more
frequently.
Such was tho testimony of appearance.
and SO far rs knew his history it point
ed to the same conclusion. He had been,
l understood, ii writer, like myself,
though even less successful, and then
fortunate speculations" had enabled
him to retire from q calling which he
found more honorable than remunera-
tive and spend his afternoons in playing
billiards at the club.
And yet Everard Deane esteemed him
self failure. He told me so emphatic
ally one evening at the hour when
truth ''peeps over the glass's edge when
dinners done.
"It WAS all that COMPOUNDED Stock E1-
change" he murmured, gazing gloom
lily into glass of green clartreuse.
begged him to accept my cordial
SoiiEolhtulutlOHS. LII b IL DelVcr WAY TO
fail than most" 1 said. For l had
known SO many who failed upon the
Stock Exchange and lived happily
drinking champagne and driving about
in broughams- afterward.
But Everard Deane protested.
II don't mean what you mean" he
said. II didn't lose money on the Stock
Exchange. l made it-lots of it. That
is the mischief of it. That is precisely
why am Il failure -
He looked gloomier than ever as he
spoke and ordered second green char
treuse.
Jerking his head so as to indicate
man at the farther end of the room-a
we'll dressed man, excessively bejeweied
with whom, half an hour since. he
had cordially shaken hands, he whis-
pered:
"That is the man who has been my
evil genius. You know him."
81 think So It's Morrison Parker, the
great financier, isn't it:'
1t is, and Morrison Parker, the great
financier, has been my evil genius. It's
foolish story, but 1 sometimes like TO
tell it after dinner. a brandy and soda:'
accepted, and when the waiter had
brought the glasses Eycrard Deane re-
sumed:
Il was an author, you know-a young
author-with great aims and high am
billions. made enough money to live
upon by writing for tho papers, but
looked upon literature, not as n trade.
but as an art. was member of the
Waste Paper club, where all of us pro-
fessed to take the Same artistic views of
life and letters and sat up till the small
hours discussing them through Il haze
OF tobacco smoke and stcaming grog |
was very happy there until the day came
when Morrison Parker joined tho club
He owned newspaper-The Stock Ex-
change Recorder, 1 think he called it
and therefore he was technically quail
fed. But when he came and sat up with
us in the small hours he did not talk
literature. He talked finance
Yet the two subjects may OCCASION
ally have relations with each other"
suggested.
Precisely That is the point that
Morrison Parker used to insist upon,
especially when he had had u good day
and made us drink champagne with
him to celebrate his luck Why do so
many half educated city men profess to
look down IN anthors:' he would ask.
And then ''t would answer his own
question. LecGusc there isn't one au-
thor IN SOC WHO knows how 10 make
81 0oo year That has always been
the great roproach of letters, from DIR.
-Iohnscn's time to ours. It's high time
to put an end to that reproach Why
don't you fellows do it?'"
sighed, wishing that knew how 10
put an end 10 it myself, and then ask
ed:
end "a yopr friend descend from
tne scAaral 20 the particular and tell
yon how il conld ho donc:'
"ao did. re told us all 10 omen q
Speculative acc nnt in Lcuisvillcs.' y
ouisvillas! That is the name of an
Amer4,an railroad, believer"
.it is And openinga speculative ac-
count means buying the shares without
being able to pay for them, selling them
at profit and putting the difference in
your pocket. Simple, isn't it?'
Every simple, I" said. 1.-THE merest