The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-10-08
BEN'S BID.

village storekeeper, to Ben 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 chicken farm at once.
Slowly the flock of chickens grew. The
first days Of summer saw him with 20
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 off
few more. But the 1st of September
came, and more than 60 chickens were the
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 it then on bigger
scale, and he hoped to realize enough from
his sales to keep him through the 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 cot
tage Ben 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
hands and looked him in the face. Ben, "
he said, I'm afraid we're in for hard
times yet.
''What do you mean, dadP'' asked Bon.
eThe 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 usP'' exclaimed
Ben.
$50 they do, Ben, but the law gives an
other man the right to sell them and take
the money they bring if we owe him mon
ey and can't pay it. There is some one to
whom I owe money, a man borrowed
from when your mother was sick. I owe
him S1O0.
He was here to see me about it the 9TH
er day, and l tried to get him to wait.
But he says he's tired of waiting, and the
sheriff'n 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.
The next cay he 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 sale. ''Mr. Bas-
sett, - he said, chow does sheriff sell you
out?''
Ben asked several questions before he
left. Then he walked slowly home, and
all the while in his mind he was turning
over a di1nly defined project which had
been suggested to him by what he had
heard.
a week later Ben received the money for
his chickens, So so. He was proud boy,
and he would have shown his satisfaction
more if itshad not been for the impending
trouble which made his father so misera-
BILE that he could not leave his bed.
On Monday in the 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 the
cottage and there was not one 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-
ton of the goods to be sold.
1t was pitiful array, after all. A few
TOOLS miscellaneous assortment of cheap
furniture, kitchen stove, with some cook
ing utensils and china and some linen and
blankets.
But one item in the lot-the chickens
the sheriff counted on as his drawing card.
Half hundred of fine hens and market
able chickens were coopod in a 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 a starting figure in de-
fault of an actual bid.
''Sixty dollars for this choice lot of chick
ems and household goods?'' he 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 the job, for he had been
told about the case by some of the village
people, but he had a duty to perform, and
! he knew he must get as much out OF the
sale as he could.
Mr.. Singers creditor evidently had no
representative on the ground, and even the
low prices were not taken up with.
The sheriff dropped his offer now 81 at a
time, but apparently in vain 1t looked
as if the sale would come to nothing.
Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four! Not
a response came from those about.
Three dollars! The sheriff was smiling
at the ridiculous offer and was just about
to name 81 and 81 in quick succession,
hoping for no reply, when a boyish voice
close Mt hand answered:
Il bid IS.
The officer looked down on the speaker
and saw Ben. The boy held up three 81
notes in his hand. The sheriff smiled
More than one man in the crowd felt like
cheering the bidder. But the officer knew
that he could not accept tho offer at once.
"Three dollars l am bidr' he announced
"Who bids four?"
Every one was SILENT and So was the
one bid offered, and after one expostulatio1
the sheriff took the offer.
The chicken farm was saved, and The
chicken farm proved a success. A yea
later, when Mr.. Singer was once morI
working steadily and his rheumatism wa!
gone, his creditor was paid in full the
amount borrowed from him, and the pro
cceJls from Ben's chicken farm did not {
little to make up the sum required.-Ex
change.