Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1899-12-02
A STORY OF
TWO CIPHERS
When the Old Man Wrote His
Check lie Got Mixed With
His Figures.
BY w. R. ROSE.

Obed Jarrett was a hard man. He
rather gloried in his hardness. y hard
man was a man who couldn't be fool
ed. Obcd Jarrett never was fooled.
In his private opinion the world was
made up of Il 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 knavcs
might Snarl because he wasn't gullible.
But what cared Obed Jarrett?
The honest man sat at his desk that
dangling in his fingers and his check
book open before him. He was in no
hurry. TO give away money was so
new 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 irrcSOlutc.
He was worth close to $50, 900. 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 Il dollar or two.
1t was Il gilt edged property-stocks.
mortgages. cash and little real es-
tate.
''If l was sold out tomorrow" said
Obed, smiling grimly, lit would bring
every penny that I've totaled it at"
lie had won this comfortable prop
erty by shrewtlncsS rather than hard
work. For more than 20 years he had
bought mortgages and loaned money
and snapped up unconsidered tnan-
cial tritlcS in that same Old office. He
slept i'll the rooms above it. and some
times for days together he didn't leave
the building. There had been few
episodes to enliven the dullness of this
money gruDbing life, but tomorrow
one of them was to take place To
morrow his son, his only child, was to
be married.
Instinctivcly his eyes turned to the
portrait above his dcSk--the portrait
Of a 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 n good schooling. The boy had
gone through college with credit to
himself and his father and had helped
to pay his way too. Oped had wanted
To Gtt,I Nv 10, Il L.,
for chemistry and. in company with
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-buildlng ND
q fairly rcmuncrative business. He
was certainly good boy, though per-
haps little lacking in that respect
for his father which begets confidence,
1t seemed but day or two ago that
he had come to him and said:
Father am going to marry"
1t was like n blow to Obed.
swell, WELL" he presently said In his
testy way, "since it's all settled, why
do you come to me?"
"Bccause | think you should know
about It," said Arthur stOutly.
"Nou didn't think to consult me be,
fore you took this step" said the old
man grimly.
You couldn't expect that, father"
said the son. I'll am no longer a
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 Fancher
& Co. She's the eldest Of six, and
they're awfully broken up at the idea
of her going That's the kind Of girl
to marry, father-the kind that is miss
ed at home. But you must see her"
"lIOw do you expect to support herr"
Inquired Ohcd dryly.
"With these two hands and the ex-
ecllent education you have given me-"
replied Arthur,
The boy had taken him around to
the Trumans' house one evening, but
there were so many Trumans, and 1t
was only n short call, and he had
scarcely caught glimpse OF the girl
And now the boy was going to marry
and leave him, he felt, forever
Their boy! Had he always remem-
bered that Arthur was their boy?
Would things have been different If
she had lived? Would he himself have
become the dry, old, money making
machine he was2 God only knew.
How happy they had been that brief
year How ambitious he was for her
sake. How he toiled and planned
And he remembered how she would