Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1895-06-18
FOR LITTLE FOLKS.


~
ne zsading Venture % = Youthful Morn
Der ~ iho oratsbar FAMILY.
When they put the price Of peanut
bhtiio down 20 ~ cents q pound IN the
fig stores Maudo 0ratebar. the oldest
Of the Grafebar children, had an idea.
Peanut brittle costs 30 cents a pound In
iho grocery stores and confectionery
stores up around whero the Gratobars
live Maude'a iden wns 10 take some Of
her money-sho Is thrifty and always
has q little money-and buy peanut brit
Gle At ono Of the big stores at ~ cents
and job IL out 10 che children at 30.
She thought that she could rely ON the
trade OF the Gratebar household. whoro
ah0 was well known, and tho sequel
showed that her confidence was not mis-
placed.
Maude bought three pounds Of pea
nut brittle ut ~ cents a pound, 80 cents;
car fare added, 10 cents; total invest
ment, 40 cents. Sold &C 20 cents a
pound this would manifostly bring In
90 cents, 10 that Maudo expected to
make IA cents on the deal Trade opened
very briskly. Philip and George and
Clara, the other Gratebar children,
transferred their entire trade IN peanut
brittle TO the homo store. Maudo sold In
any quantity asked fora single penny's
worth, II desired. This made it very
handy for George and Clara, the two
younger children, who could run into
their mothers room and ask for apenny
Hnd then sc0ot into Maude's room and
buy peanut brittle with e.
Maude used q toy scale and weights
that had been given to one Of the chill
drsn AZ a Christmas present This was
bad, for the weights had never boon
sealed, and despite her thrift Maude is
generous, and what between the UNI
sealed weights and her own generosity,
whenever the children bought 1 cents
worth she really gave them nearer 3
cents worth, so that when the peanut
brittle was half gone, and she should
have had 80 conts, she really had only
"a. But this loss might have been re-
trieved and the deal still closed at q
profit II Maude had not begun to give
credit Maude knew we'll enough that
that wasn't business, but what could
abe do when little Clara came along and
said mother'd gone out, and she wanted
. cents worth Of peanut brittle and
asked Maude to trust her for il till
mother oamo in. Could Maude refuse 70
trust her own little sister for a cents
worth Of peanut brittle? Why, certain
ly not She let hor have it.
At the end Of o week George and
Clara had run mp a joint account Of 10
cents. Then Maude shut down on them
absolutely. No more peanut brittle, ex-
cept for cash and the payment Of all
back indebtedness. That threw them at
onco back upon their mother. Called
upon for 10 cents all at once instead Of
for pennies separately, Mrs. Gratebar
Investigated. She found the two young
or children in debt to Maude, and
Maude herself uncomfortable over the
situation. Philip had bought 10 cents
worth Of brittle, so that tho total cash
receipt lad been 81 cents. But even
counting what the little children owed
as good there wasn't brittle enough re-
manning on hand, sven IL sold Tor cash
and at full price. to make good the
original investment
Things were getting complicated, and
Mrs. Gratobar acted promptly. She paid
the ohildron's debts, and then at once
bought the entire remaining stock Of
brittle and divided it among all the
children. Mrs. Gratebar paid 10 cents
for this remainder, 80 that after all
Maude closed out the deal at a small
profit, but it wasn't enough to pay for
the bother, and that would have been
sufficient 10 deter her from all such ven
lures in the future, even if this had not
been the express understanding with
which Mrs. Gratebar came to tho res.
Que. New York Sun.