Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1900-10-25


and the dividends were paid regularly,
and l took care of his interests. There
were several old roosters about the
building who came to me on the quiet
to get information, but l was dumb.
They limited around that he had desert
ed his wife in Chicago and was an old
masher who ought to be tarred and
feathered, but even when they showed
me the corner of 81 bill | gave up
nothing.
Two months ago 1 began to notice
change in old Mr.. Graham. He assum-
ed cold and independent attitude to-
ward me. My trust dividends were
reduced to 81 a week and then to moth
ing, and he made no explanations. He
nodded at me in a frigid way in the ele-
vator, and If l went to his room to ask
for an explanation he was always busy.
1t is hard for an elevator boy to feel
that he has been turned down. l wor-
ried over Mr. Graham's attitude for
two or three weeks and then grew cold
and stony hearted myself. If he could
do without me, could do without him.
No self respecting elevator boy will
crawl to tenant no matter how much
rent he pays. l was standing on my
dignity with both feet when he sent
for me. | rather looked for reconcil-
iation and entered his room with
smile on my face. but he looked at me
in an icy way and said:
"Boy, am about to take vacation.
l shall go to Newfoundland for a
month People will come in and in
quire for me, and you will say that
am in Newfoundland. You will add
that 1 am catching barrel Of fish per
day and enjoying myself as never be-
fore. That's ALL"
what about our trust, sir!" l asked.
"Trust? Trust? What do you meanT
"And are you no longer my adopted
father?"
boy, don't monkey with me If you
want to hold your jobl You are a
fresh young kid, and licking now and
then would be good tonic for you,
but as long as you behave yourself to-
ward me shall make no complaints.
Get along now and remember New
foundland."
/ was crushed, but only for mo-
ment; then l returned look for look
and left him to his destruction. Next
day his office was locked, and he had
disappeared. Two days later l asked
Mr.. Rasher for a day off and got it. l
had hardly struck theConey Island boat
when / spotted old Mr.. Graham. He
had o new gray suit and white hat,
and he was carrying a cane and gig
Cling and laughing with a giddy young
woman. Some elevator boys would
have walked right up to him and ask
ed If the fish were biting well, but
didn't. I lodged him and camped on
his trail When he got down to the
island, he seemed like a young colt
broke loose. He bought pop and pea
nuts and candy, and he rode with
that young woman on the horses and
toboggans and shoots. When they
went in bathing, he cantered up and
down the beach like kid and tried to
turn handsprings. 1 kept in the back
ground, and he didn't see me, and l
went home with my heart full OF sor-
row for that old man. 1t was his
daughter he was with, of course, but
why had he not taken me into his con-
fdence? Why had he said he was 60
ing to Newfoundland?
/ got Mr.. Rasher to let me off again,
and again found the pair on the boat.
| said nothing to any one, but my
young heart was grieved. Three days
later a woman called at the skyscraper
to ask for Mr.. Graham. She said she
wanted to buy lands in the west. She
was woman who stood almost six
feet high, and when she shut her jaws
together and gritted her teeth it gave
me a chill She talked land with me
for 10 minutes. AT first | got off that
Newfoundland fishing story, but after
she had taken me by the back of the
neck and lifted me off my feet l gave
her a few pointers about Coney Island.
She didn't say that she was old Mr..
Graham's wife. When l spoke of see
ing him with his daughter, she didn't
smile sarcastically. She stuck to 1t
that she was n widow who wanted to
90 out to Dakota and tear up 80 acres
of soil and grow up with corn and tur-
nips, and she was in hurry to get
there. She was in such hurry that
she started for Coney Island right
away to find Mr.. Graham and have the
deeds made out. What happened down
by the sea | learned from boy who
sat on the sands with bag of peanuts
when the thud came. Mr.. Graham and
his daughter were disporting on the
beach when the six foot widow aeiy-
ed. She looked on while the olS gent
cantered up and down in bathing
suit. but of a sudden she made dive
for him. The boy said there was long
drawn yell of alright as she seized
him. and then followed a series Of
gasps and gurgles and thumps. For
three or four minutes the sand flew SO
that no one could tell exactly what was
happening, but when it settled down
the old man was lying helpless wreck
on the shore, the daughter was n mile
away and still on the run, and the wild
ow from the west was breathing hard
and holding up scraps of bathing suit
in her hands and saying: