The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1900-08-30

sell, that plaything of fortune was
presently at the head of between eleVen
and twelve thousand pounds. or, as ne
reckoned it, OF upward of sixty tnou-
sand dollars.
How he had come to deserve this
wealth, any more than how ne had for
merly earned disgrace at home, was a
problem beyond the reach OF his phil
osophy. It was true that he had been
industrious at the bank, but no more
so than the cashier, who had seven
small children and was visibly sinking
in decline. Nor was the step which
had determined his ADVANCE visit to
dive with months wages in his
pocket--an act OF such transcendent
virtue, or even wisdom, as to seem
| to merit the favor OF the gods.
From some sense of this, and OF the
dizzy see-saw-- heayen-high, hell-deep
Ion which men sit clutching; or per-
haps fearing that the sources OF his
fortune might be insidiously traced to
some root In the field of petty cash; he
stuck to his work, said not a word OF
his new circumstances, and kept his
account with bank in different
quarter of the town. The concealment,
innocent as 1t seems, was the first step
in the second tragi-comedy of Johns
existence.
Meanwhile, he had never written
home Whether from diffidence or
shame, or a touch of anger, or mere
representation, or because (as we have
seem he had no skill in literary arts.
or because as am sometimes tempted
to suppose) there is law in human
nature that prevents young men-not
otherwise beasts-from the perform
ance OF this simple act of piety
months and years had gone by,
and John had never written. The
habit of not writing, indeed, was al
ready fixed before he had begun to
come into his fortune; and it was only
the difficulty of breaking this long
silence that withheld him from an in
slant restitution of the money he had
stolen or Gas he preferred to call it)
borrowed. In vain he sat before paper,
attending on Inspiration that heaven
ly nymph, beyond suggesting the
words my dear father remained OBJ
stinately silent; and presently John
would crumple up the sheet and decide,
as soon as he had "a good chance to
carry the money home in person. And
this delay, which is indefensible, was
his second step into the snares of for
tune.
Ten years had passed, and John was
drawing near to thirty He had kept
the promise of his boyhood, and was
now of lusty frame, verging toward
corpulence; good features. good eyes,
genial manner. ready laugh, long
pair of sandy whiskers, a dash of an
American accent, a close familiarity
with the great American joke, and a
certain likeness to a R-y-l P-rs-a-ge,
who shall remain nameless for me-
make UP the mans externals as he
could be viewed in society. Inward
ly, in spite of his gross body and high
ly masculine whiskers, he was more
like a maiden lady than a man of
twenty-nine.
1t CHANGED one day, as he was stroll
ing down Market street on the eve OF
his fortnight's holiday, that his eye
was caught by certain railway bills,
and in very idleness Of mind he cal
culated that he might be home for
Christmas If he started on the morrow.
The fancy thrilled him with desire, and
In one moment he decided he would go.
There was much to be done: his
portmanteau to be packed, credit to
be got from the bank, where he was a
wealthy customer, and certain offices
to be transacted for that other bank In
which he, was an humble clerk: and IL
CHANGED, in conformity with human ma
ture, that out of all this business It
was the last that came to be neglected.
Night found him, not only equipped
with money Of his own, but once more
(as on that former occasion) saddled
with a considerable sum of other peo-
pies.
Now 1t CHANGED there lived in the
same clearinghouse a fellow-clerk OF
his, an honest fellow, with what is
called weakness for drink-though 1t
might, in this case, have been called a
strength, for the victim had been drunk
for weeks together without the briefest
intermiss,on. To this unfortunate John
Entrusted letter with an Enclosure Of
bonds, addressed to the bank manager.
Even as he did so he thought he per-
ceived certain haziness Of eye and
speech in his trustee; but he was too
hopeful to be stayed, silenced the voice
OF warning in his bosom, and with one
and the same gesture committed the
money to the clerk, and himself into