The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1895-06-22
CHAPTER II.

"A pound of that same merchants flesh is thine,
The court awards 1t and the law doth give it"
MERCHANT OF VENICE.
The "soop" fell into restaurant
one afternoon for his dinner It was
one of those sumptuous metropolitan
cafes of which Highfigh was justly
famous. The patrons were the elite
Of the city and such as led butter
fly existence, including society reds,
variety actors, and actresses, gambl-
ers, sportf, scoops" and profes-
sionals. The beautiful paintings,
the magnificent frescoes, the finely
carved furniture, the rich aroma from
vases of fresh cut flowers, was enough
to feast the intellectual appetite to
fullness. In truth, great many of
the boarders required nothing else
save probably glass of water and
napkin. The proprietor had ordered
superb carvings on the underside of
his tables, richer if possible than
those on top; for, said he, the most
Of my guests upon swell occasions
have generally rolled underneath the
tables before the course is finished.
Upon this occasion the astute indi-
vidual whom some call the ''suporin-
tender" began to inhale the hallowed
poesy of his surroundings, previously
having ordered soup de mulligataw-
ny, boiled halibut, Porter house steak
and spinach served on platter rub
bed with lemon peel, mutton chops
with Russian toast, lemon fritters,
escalloped oysters, pork and beans,
vegetables, two kinds Of pie, pud-
ding, coffee and claret. He COM
planned at the carte, because it offer
ed so little that was able to tempt
the vacillating desires of his delicate
stomach. He went on inhaling more
poetry, and too too, until the
postman arrived, even before he had
seen "the substance of things hoped
for and deposited letter upon the
table at his side. 1t was postmarked
Jayville, and addressed in a full,
mastery hand. "Ha," thought the
''soop," "'tis report from the COM
pany store, and probably contains a
remittance" He tore it open with
avidity and found its contents as fol-
lows:
Jayville, April 10, 1876.
Mr.. N. G. ROCKEFELLER,
Dear sir: The store has been in
operation for two weeks and is work
ing finely. Our trade for yesterday
alone amounted to $511.S9. The
miners do little grumbling now
and then, but knowing upon what
their tenure of Office depends, they
take their medicine like men.
caught one fellow buying pair of
shoe strings at the house Of would
be merchant and | had him fired. 1t
served as signal lesson to the rest.
The victim of the fire has been hang
ing about our store today, occasion
ally buying little, and it is proba-
BILE that he will be put back upon
the force, for he is said to be a first
class miner. The shift bosses have
delivered the declaration to the en-
ployes and it is we'll understood what
the miners will get if they are found
patronizing other houses than ours.
The would-be shopkeepers of Jay
vile are already planning to strike
tents and depart for other fields, and
predict that two months may not
elapse before we. shall have the trade
of the entire town. The company
boarding house will open one week
from today. I have inserted large
advertisement in both local papers,
but that will not last long; it will
serve as sop to hush their protesta-
tions until the scheme is working
properly. After that, the papers may
60, with the rest of the business
firms; for we will not need them.
We work upon the coupon system
and it is indeed surprising to see the
host of people who have bought cou
pom books, in order to stand in will
us This class Of naonIa includa,