The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1895-11-23

upon us to inform MS that many Of
their homes had been destroyed by
fire, and respectfully to request that
during the few minutes we tarried at
their station we would subscribe
few thousand dollars for the relief Of
the sufferers. They presented writ
ten petition. regularly drawn up,
and addressed to The American No
blcmen" who were travelling through
Sweden.
This time we summoned all the cour-
age we had and told the simple truth;
for ii there is ever time when man
Is ready to lay aside all sham and give
the bottom facts concerning his in
come, it is when he is asked for sub
scription. Unhappily, however, they
refused to believe us; and by their
countenances we could discover, as we
steamed away, that they were not only
persuaded that we were millionaires,
but that we were blindly regardless Of
how to use our money in the best way.
At last we entered Stockholm. and
as, dust covered and weary, we alight-
ed from our special train" and passed
out of the depot into the street, a
swarm of two thousand spectators so
blocked the passage that the police
had to be called upon to conduct us to
our carriages.
Our experiences, however, were not
yet concluded; Indeed, they were
scarcely begun. Neither had we
reached the limit of the phenomenal
growth of our private fortunes
We had started from Copenhagen,
including in our number some COM
monplace capitalists who were the
possessors of mere million. For each
of us, however, this was soon to be-
come an insignificant figure; jnst
enough, perhaps, with which to endow
a college or help some poor relation
over tight place, but a mere baga-
telle compared with our now rapidly
accommodating wealth.
But here we were, for the first time,
about to go shopping in the streets OF
Stockholm, just plain, simple million
aires and nothing more. This was the
| city where we had understood things
| "Vdtu OC AC0oOudoAy ChCdPs Cooiiy
within purchasing power of people like
ourselves who, while we did not have
money to burn, were possessed of a
reasonable competence.
But cheap Why we had nevre
entered a town in all our travels where
the prices of everything were SO enor-
nous. Articles had appeared about US
and our fortunes in the city journals,
and just as soon as we reached a
store, whizz! fizz. the prices rose like a
rocket. Every one of us was a
marked man among those shopleep-
ers. And that in honest Swedenr'
We began to appreciate why it was
that rich people sometimes became sus-
picious and what is popularity termed
mean" Most of the millionaires,
when they had heard the prices, de-
termined to wait until they should have
! returned to America; then to purchase
the same things. at fifty per cent less
than they could where they were made;
plan which had much to commend it.
not only from an economical stand
point, but from lofty moral predilec-
ton as well, inasmuch as they would
thereby avoid the necessity of lying to
the custom house officers when they
reached the wharf.
One firm deputed clerk to call upon
| us at our hotel and offer to drive some
of us to see the beautiful sights Of the
city, without expense. Five or six
conscienceless capitalists accepted his
offer, and, free of cost to themselves,
spent the best part of day in driving
round the town and environs. They
gracefully accepted, also. his business
card when he left them at their hotel
But happened to see him standing in
front OF his store on the last day of our
| sojourn in the city. His hands were in
his pockets and there seemed to be
plenty OF room for them; indeed, there
did not appear to be anything else in
his pockets bnt his hands. He bowed
to me as passed, though was not
one who had accepted of his hospitali-
| ty; but in his department there was a
grieved and injured air, which led me
! into wondering how much he was
''out" on account of the American
millionaires.
When on the next day we babe fare
we'll to Stockholm, we breathed a sigh
of relief, that we were once again to
be our own real selves; to be dealt
with like people who had to count their
pennies, and figure up the cast. But
how little one can tell of the mysteri-
GUS ways of Providence!
AS we came into Russia we marveled
| why we were treated with SD much
Difference, and why our baggage at
the custom house was scarcely ex-
amincd at all But the day following
our arrival it was all explained. The
authorities had received orders from
their superiors to let us alone But
why?
asked this question of Russian
| gentleman. He smiled knowingly, as
If he fancied l might be playing him a
triely R1,f be foolr ont ~ hts v,<>,ly - 4