The Progress. (Shreveport, La.) 1892-1900, 1898-09-10
BUYING A BURNING VESSEL
rne Successful Speculation OF Peer
Young College Student.


Young College student.
There IL Il certain minister In View
England town who, his friends are asocus
toned to declare, half jnkingly, halt scri
ous,y, has undoubtedly missed his voca-
ton. T''"y base this opinion not upon any
lack Of Jho .lcrgy!nnn's ability in his pro
fcsSion, hV. upon unliSta!iabie CONNER
c!4i qualifications Of his which would have
made him an unusually cnterprising man
of business Their favor;to illustration in
support Of tbs iLca is the story Of u daring
speculation which thc minister conducted
successfully In his college days
In common with large number Of 9th
ar students in tho small seacoA7t town
where the institution was situated young
b was desperately poor. The facilities
there were not particularly good for en-
nbling man to work his way through
his college course, and he had tried in vain
to Aud anything Vt which he could earn
enough 50 pay his expenses. At tho time
plon he following incident occurred he
had Just so left of the sum with which
NJ had begun the year. He owed most q
this and could see no prospect of obtain
ing any more. He had lain awahe 10,
some time one night wondering II, ate
al, he would be forced TO leave college tol
b. had scarcely dropped asleep when he
vas hrouaou by a confused noise outside
and by brilliant glare eliminating the
sky. Going to the window and looking
off toward the sea, ne was startled 30 dis
tinguish the outlines of a burning vessel,
which was slowly making her way toward
the shore. Dressing hastily, he rushed out
already thronsed with the townspeople
Nlnt students The flames on tho vessel,
which WAS a small steam propeller, were
making only moderate healway, and it
was evident that she would get ashore be-
fore the lives Of her crew were threatened
This was In fact accomplished, but by The
time the last man had hoe0 brought safely
70 land the fire was raging furiously, and
tho little steamer seemed doomed. Hes
captain, who proved to be also her OWNER;
stood gazing at his property ruefully for
mo1nont, then turned his back upon 4
and started to walk away. Young B.
stopped him, struck by sudden idea
Aren't you going 10 try to save any
thing from your vessely'' he asked
NO." replied the disguised captain
with a shrug Of his shoulders. TN
through with ber--for the present, any
way, II there's anything left tomorrow
morning, I may try to get 1t, but guess
there won't he. Pm going to look for a
lodging now. Good night"
win you sell INC that boat just as she
lies for S4o?' eagerly inquired B.,
naming tho entiN sum in his possession
Tho captain stared at him in astonish-
ment Yes, I'm hanged If I won't" no
replied, with grim look Of amusement.
"1'm sick Of the whole business"
B lost no time in making his ar
engagements. Calling classmate who was
IN the whars. he whispered some dircc-
lions in his ear Then, turning to the
captain, he said
IF YOU viii go with this young man,
he viii give you she $40 at once. can t
spare the time, because I've got to get
right 10 work on tho vessel.
This was no sooner said than done
With few students and some of tho men
from the town, whom he promised to re-
pay literally as soon as he had disposed
of bis new property, the young speculator
went to work vigorously upon the burning
steamer. Their efforts toward putting the
fire out We're even more successful than
they could have hopedior, and when lnorD-
ing daWnod 1t was evident that a cOnsiCs
cradle amount Of valuable property, in
Guiding the machinery, had been saved.
70 cut the story short, b sold the hull
and wreckago for $780, only very small
percentage of which had to be paid to the
men who bad assisted him. In Speaking
Of the incident since he has often said that
1t gave him keener pleasure than he re-
members feeling after any other achieve