The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-12-12
A STORY OF
TWO CIPHERS
When the Old Man Wrote His
Check Tie Got Mixed with
His Figures.
By W. r. ROSE.

Obed Jarrett was hard man. He
rather gloried in his hardness. A hard
man was man who couldn't be fool
ed. Obed Jarrett never was fooled.
In his private opinion the world was
made up of few honest men and 0
great many fools and knaves. An
honest man was one who paid his way
and neither asked nor gave favors-
Fools might call him hard, and knaves
might snarl because he wasn't gullible.
But what cared Obed Jarrett?
The honest man sat at his desk that
June afternoon with his pen loosely
dangling in his fingers and his check
book open before him. He was in no
hurry. To give away money was so
new a sensation that he felt justified
in prolonging it-not but that he could
amply afford to give the sum he had
fixed upon; it was the principle Of the
thing that held him irresolute.
He was worth close to $4,000. There
was a memorandum slip in the upper
right hand drawer that showed this
total in round figures. He could have
| told the amount within a dollar or two.
1t was a gilt edged property-stocks,
mortgages, cash and a little real es-
tate
"If / was sold out tomorrow" said
Obed, smiling grimly, ''it would bring
| every penny that I've totaled it att
He had won this comfortable prop
erty by shrewdness rather than hard
| work. For more than 20 years he had
| bought mortgages and loaned money
| and snapped up unconsidered fnan-
| cial trifles in that same old office. He
| slept in the rooms above it, and some
times for days together he didn't leave
the building. There had been few
| episodes to enliven the duilness of this
money grubbing life, but tomorrow
one of them was to take place. To
morrow his son, his only child, was to
be married.
Instinctively his eyes turned to the
| portrait above his desk-the portrait
Of brown haired young woman, with
smiling eyes and slightly parted lips.
AS he looked upon the gentle face he
felt little tightening about the heart
Dead four and tWe~ty years. TheiI
son was four and twenty, and he mar
ried tomorrow. Their son. Had he
done his duty by their son? He
thought so. He had certainly given
him a good schooling. The boy had
gone through college with credit tc
himself and his father and had helped
to pay his way too. ODed had wanted
him to study law, but he had a love
for chemistry and, in company with q
fellow student, had set up an office OF
his own. They started in as consult
ing chemists and assayers and were
from all Obed could learn-building uI
a fairly remunerative business. He
was certainly a good boy, though per
haps a little lacking in that respect
for his father which begets confidence
1t seemed but a day or two ago thai
he had come to him and said:
Father, l am going to marry"
1t was like a blow to Obed.
"Well, WELL" he presently said In hi:
testy way, 'since it's all settled, why
do you come to me"
because | think you should know
about it," said Arthur stoutly.
"You didn't think to consult me be
1
man grimly.
"You couldn't expect that, father,
said the son. IL am no longer {
boy. Besides. you can't help but ap
! prove of her. She's the dearest girl
Her name is Alma Truman, and her ia
ther is chief accountant with Fanche
t & Co. She's the eldest of six. ant
they're awfully broken up at the ide:
of her going. That's the kind of gir
, to marry, fdSher-the kind that is miss
t ed at home. But you must see her."
, "How do you expect to support her?
inquired Obed dryly.
"With these two hands and the ex
) cellent education you have given me,
r replied Arthur.
The boy had taken him around t
q the Trumans' house one evening, bu
D there were so many Trumans, and
was only a short call, and he ha
scarcely caught a glimpse of the gir
And now the boy was going to MARI
and leave him, he felt, forever.
Their boy! Had he always remen
O bered that Arthur was their boy
n Would things have been different
r she had lived? Would he himself hav
n become the dry, old, money maxim
machine he was? God only knew.
7 How hapT- they had been that brie
year. How ambitious he was for he
sake How he toiIed and planned
And he RENE mbered how she woul