El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-16
A STORY OF
TWO CIPHERS
When tho Old Man Wrote His
Check He Got Mixed With
His Figures.
By w. R. ROSE

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Obed Jarrett was a hard man. He
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 a
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.
eff I was sold out tomorrow" said
Obed, smiling grimly, at 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 finan-
cial trif1es 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 enhven the dullness 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 a 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 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
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 up
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 that
he had come to him and said:
Father, am going to marry
1t was like a blow to Obed.
well, WELL" he presently said in his
testy way, ''since it's all settled, why
do you come to me?"
Because 1 think you should know
about it," said Arthur stoutly.
you 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. 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
Their 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"
"How do you expect to support her?''
inquired Obed dryly.
with these two hands and the ex-
cellent education you have given me-"
replied Arthur.
The boy had taken him around to
the Humans house one evening, but |
there were so many Trumans, and it |
was only a short call. and he had
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 was? 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 |