Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1896-10-10
WELL so1B TURTLE.
IT WAS OF TIE SWAPPING KIND, AND
THEREBY HANGS THIS TALE.


1t Opened the Way For a Country Lad to
Wall Street, a Rich Wife and Business
success-Qualities Displayed In a Small
Transaction Which Pleased the Banker.
81 would not have minded Johns &C.
ticG on the floor the other day." said
broker to a party of friends yesterday,
''sf he had not used such tone of sus-
q zion when he demanded more margin
on certain stocks that l had with him
in a loan"
''It's only his way, Charlie" said
nearer. HE didn't mean to injure you
at all"
Possibly he did not" said the first
speaker. cit may have been due to the
training that old Dutch banker -
gave him and his innate desire to let
nothing escape.
"When he and were boys" Charlie
continued, Il spent several summers ON
his fathers farm out in Jersey. 1t was
there that he met his partner, and there
is a curious little story connected with
their first business transaction, one in
which he did the old fellow, but at
the same time endeared himself to him.
"John and l had been fishing, and
among other things had caught snap
ping turtle that weighed about 20
pounds We were carrying the snapper
home tied to stick, one having hold of
each end of it, VIXEN we met the bank
er driving along in buggy to his sum-
mer home.
''Our catch presented good appear
ance, and the old fellow stopped to in
quire about it. as he had never seen SO
large turtle before except in the mar
ket. He asked what we were going to
do with it, and we told him what deli.
cious soup it would make. At once he
wanted it and offered so cents for it. I
was for accepting the so cents, but not
SO John. He felt that he had custom
er and held out for 81, and he got it.
"Old - was little afraid of the
snapper's jaws, but John and bridled
the turtle by passing a bit of fishing
line around it and between its jaws
and so tied its head we'll back under its
shell. We then received our silver dol
lar, tossed the snapper under the seat of
the old mans buggy, and he drove off
with it.
GAS he did so l started ON toward
home, but John sat by the roadside.
What are you waiting for?' said.
The snapper said John.
It's gone," said I.
'Mebbe it is, and mebbe it amt.
Wait minute and watch the old man.
said he.
"And sure enough, before the old
man had gone half mile we heard him
yell and then saw him jump from his
buggy.
"John rolled on the grass and laugh
ed nearly as loudly as the old man had
yelled.
"Picking himself up, he said, Let's
go get our snapper
I'D rather have the dollar said.
What's the matter with having
both?' he replied, and tossing me the
dollar and telling me to remain where
was he started up the road after the
old man, who was afraid to go near his
buggy, for the snapper had bitten
through its bride, had nipped the old
mans shins and had taken undisputed
possession of the buggy.
He found the old fellow in a state
per i'll the most expressive German at
his command and rubbing his shins at
the same time.
"What you sell me-de devil?' asked
the cid man.
"'No, a nice fat, juicy snapper, said
John, and I sold him too cheaply, too.
He'll make delicious soup and plenty
of it.
'Donnerwettcr! Soup! I'll hat no
soup! Gif me my tollar and take de
brute
"'I haven't your dollar. Charley has
it back there in the road. Take the
snapper to him, and l guess he'll give
you the dollar.
"'Me! Me take dat eatin ting? I
wouldn't get into that PIGGY now for "a
quarter each way. Get i'm out and keep
the tollar.'
''It was like rolling off a log for John
to take stick, prod the snapper and
jerk him to the ground as soon as he
had fastened his jaws upon it. Old
Du.chy, as we called him, jumped into
his buggy as soon as the snapper reach
ed the ground and drove hurriedly away.
"Of course l rejoined John, and We
soon had his snappership swinging from
our stick We walked home in tri-
umph, with the dollar in one pocket and
the snapper, i=:etaphorically, in the
other. Our joke was too good to keep,
and that night We related it to all who
visited the mill.
"The cid man bore us no i'll will, but
still he never wanted to buy any more
of our 'schnappers, although he occa-
sionally stopped to look at them from
the seat of his buggy when he met us
carrying them home.
"John and We're sitting on the mill
steps one evening when the old man
drove up. He stopped, asked John to
ride with lin, and together they drove
n, They We're gone about an hour.
Tint night John said, I'm going to be
banker
'You--~oing to be a banker! What
nonst nse! exclaimed.
Nonsense or not, it's fact. The old
man tonight asked me to take position
with him. told him I knew nothing
of the business and would be q failure.
"'You pc failure!' he said. You,
who haf sot me schnapper and hat
got my tollar and my schnapper! Dot
is too funny You come Wit me. / want