The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-09-29
A STORY OF
TWO CIPHERS
when the Old Man Wrote His
Check He Got Mixed with
His Figures.
BY w. r. ROSE.


Obed Jarrett was Il hard man. lie
rather gloried In his hardness. A hard
man was a man who couldn't be fool.
ed. Obed jarrett never was fooled.
In his private opinion the world was
made UP of a few honest men and n
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; 1t vas 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 n little real es.
tate.
"If l was sold out tomorrow" sud
Obed, smiling grimly, 1T would bring
every penny that I've totaled It at"
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 tlnan.
cial trifles In that same old Office. He
slept In the rooms above 1t, and some.
times for days together he didn't leave
the building. There had been few
episodes to enliven the dullness Of this
money grabbing life, but tomorrow
n Of them was to take place. 10.
morrow his son, his only child. was to
be married.
1nstinctively his eyes turned to the
portrait above his desk-the portrait
of o brown haired young woman. with
smiling eyes and slightly parted lips.
As he looked upon the gentle face he
felt a little tightening about the heart.
Dead four and twenty years. Their
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 to
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 IN Office OF
his own. They started In as consult.
ing chemists and assayers and WERE
from all Obed could learn-buildlng up
a fairly remuneratlve business. lie
was certainly n good boy, though per-
haps n little lacking In that respect
for his father which, begets confidence.
It seemed but a day or two ago that
he had come to him ana said:
"Father, | am going to marry"
II was like Il blow to Obed.
"Well we'll" hc presently said In his
testy way. "since It's all settled, why
do you come to moY"
Because think you should know
aDVub ~, FuNu AINiul FtJVtly,
you didn't think to consult mo he.
fore you took this step" said the old
man grlmly.
"You couldn't expect that, father"
said the son. 81 am no longer n
boy. Besides, you can't help but up.
prove OF her. She's the dearest girl,
Her name Nv Alma Truman, and hor IN,
ther In chief accountant with Fanchar
4 Co. She's tho eldest Of six, and
they're awfully broken up at tho Idea
Vt her going. That's tho kind Of girl
TO marry, father-the kind that Ia miss
cd at home. But you must see her"
How do you expect to support herr"
inquired Obed dryly,
with these two hands and tho OK,
cellent education you have given me-"
replied Arthur.
The boy had taken him around to
tho TrumaRs' house one evening, but
there were no many Trumans, and II
WAS only q short Gull, and no had
scarcely caught q glimpse Of the girl
And now the boy was going to marry
and leave him. no felt. forever.
Their boyl Had no always remem-
bered that Arthur was their boy9
Would things have been different II
she had lived9 Would no himself have
become the dry, old. money making
machine no waaf God only knew,
How happy they had been. that brief
pear. How ambitious he was for hef
aeke. How he toilsd and planned,
And 10 rsmembesed how she would