The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1899-07-08


meet the old butler, had It directly from
Samuc himself, one day, that there was
/ u pot Of actual gold coin in the cabinet
Of the library upstairs, and that here,
very often, instead Of reading any Of
the books on the adjacent shelves
books which he had long ago ceased
from the horrible extravaganza of pur-
chasing-he would sit crouchinEly be-
side his green-shaded lamp for hours
and hours of an evening, arranging the
gold pieces into piles of a certain
height, making Of these piles medal
lions. and then altering the latter with
slow but inccssant variance until his
frealkisl manipulations reminded you of
nothing SO much as the sluggish rcYo-
luton of a Kaleidoscope.
Talk like this keenly interested STAN
field. Now and then he would refer TO
Samuel's gossipy confidence during
talks with his wife. As time went on
the city pushed itself up past tracts of
land that but yesterday, as might be
said, were open country. The Stan.
fields moved their place of residence to
one further uptown, though cheaper and
more modest than that which they had
formerly held.
Martha protested a little at this.
There's no use, Alfred she said, Sin
our reducing expenses. We don't want
to save, you know" By this time they
had got into the way of speaking quite
freely to one another regarding Van Do
ren's expected demise.
NO" he replied, ''not to save-ot
course not But money is money, my
dear, and we need not squander ii"
"Squander it," faltcred Martha. She
could not understand the change in
her husband. He had lost a good deal
OF his old bonhomie. He was given to
fits of brooding that puzzled her, and
sometimes he would start from one of
these and suddenly ask her how much
certain grocer's bill had been or Just
whatamount she had paid for young Al
freds last pair of shoes, for young Ger
trude's newest dozen of hose.
At last poor, gentle Martha walked
up and gave her lord grand scoldinp.
He listened to it very patiently, and
told her with a sort of dazed smile
which she somehow detested) that he
had thought so much of money lately
as to find himself caring about It,
watching its expenditure in a really pc
culiar way.
You think altogether too much on
the subject of money" said Martha,
with reproachful heat. ''Are we not |
quite comfortable as we are? And if a |
certain thing doesn't happen within the
next five years or so, why on earth |
should you care2 For a good while vet |
we can send the children to public |
schools. That certainly is far better than
not educating them at all. We've no
reason to bother ourselves about money
~ uonc in the least. OF course, Won
nirht have advanced yourself more
with Van VeclSten & Co. Now, Alfred.
don't moan to say anything unpleas-
INT, but You know, dear, that You your
'elf told me, not long ago, you'd got to
&c sort of machine there in Water
trcct, neither caring for promotion
lot using an effort to secure it.
True" replied Stanfield, 81 must
,ull myself together. / must show
hem what I'm worth and demand a
'SVbSA Sdlui y
But he did neither. Tie was always
rafting, waiting for his uncle to die.
he Van Vecktcn firm found no fault
With him, but they had got to regard
i'm in the light OF a merely plodding
nd unambitious worker. Perhaps theV
Inspected the truth-that old Van Doren
al made him his heir, and that he had
cen the old miser's win, and that he
eaiized how any hour might make him
oh. AS it was, they trusted him com
letely, gave him certain work to do.
nd satisfied themselves that he did it
18th a certain stolid apathy He was
OF useless to them. He was in a Tvav
ute useful. But his emp gers had a
'nse OF abilities partially dormant. {
A