Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-12-16

course. had to make change vt
cabby at the depot. and he would hg
beaten himself out Of pence had
not called his attention 70 the nj
take. A ticket seller rarely makes e
mistake, at least in favor OF 4 trav-
eler, but on this occasion was given
quite bit OF change too much, and
though received only a gruH word
as returned it had cleared my con-
science. I shared the compartment
with traveller, a man who had
hunched up shoulders, pulled his hat
low down ard seemed to sleep for the
80 miles he rode with me. IN The
baggage rack was a paper parcel. but
he did not take 1t with him as he got
out For 20 minutes after being LEFT
alone had no curiosity about that
pencel. Then it occurred TO me to in
spect the contents and be ready to
turn it over as lost property on ar
rival at the terminus.
| Ny interest was languid until the
parcel was opened. had anticipated
nothing Of value, but what did be-
held? In that parcel or package were
five neat packages of Bank of England
notes, each one containing E1,e00,
There wasn't so much as a scrap of
paper with them. nothing whatever to
prove ownership or tell how they had
1
mon brown paper and had been used
before. 1t was a queer find. and
couldn't make out whether the money
belonged to the passenger who had
just left or some one before him.
had no idea of robbery, but laid Il
all to carelessness. After inspecting
the bills l retied the package and
smiled a bit at the CONSERVATION Of
the loser. His loss would be only
temporary, however. The package
would be handed over in London, and
he would merely have to prove prop
erty to obtain possession. He might
| Wish to reward me, but | would not
| accept a penny.
1t was only when the train ran into
the station that suddenly changed
my mind. Az the porter unlocked
| the door and passed on and stepped
out that the thought came to mo to
retain that money. Before could
argue with myself my legs were car
rying me off. l was meaning all the
time to give up the parcel, and yet
was hurrying away and dodgins
among the crowd. really didn't
come to myself until reaching my
chambers, and then l was In two
minds. Conscience demanded that
return the money, and the devil whis-
pered to me to retain 1t. lodged
between the two by promising TO re-
| turn 1t as soon as 1t should be adver-
| tised. / even promised my conscience
/ that l would make long journey II
necessary to restore the money. To
show you that was still an honest
man let me say that when bin was
presented to me that evening for the
care OF my horse found a mistake OF
a sixpence in favor of the stable and
rectified 1t. Yes; was still honest,
and I meant to restore that money,
but l must first be satisfied as TO the
ownership.
Next day, to my great surprise and
also to my qualification, no advertise
ment appeared. II was my duty as an
honest man to either advertise or take
| the money to the lost property Office
of the railroad line. You will agree
with me that 1t was, and yet
brought forward a dozen arguments
to the contrary and didn't do either
one When a week had gone by and
no advertisement appeared, began to
look upon the money as mine. In
three days more felt sure It was
mine. At the end of the second week
/ was figuring what use TO make Of II
1t wasn't exactly that the find had
knocked out all the principles 20 years
had built up, but that / had never be-
lore DeeH LCupbeu. NlJhout A~AtNNAT
ton had argued only one side Of The
question. After a week had gone By
/ dared not return the package 70 tho
railroad, and after three weeks had
passed with no advertisement the
money seemed to belong to me
said to myself that | ought to adver-
tise it, but / also argued that II tho
loser hadn't interest enough TO seek
to recover such sum Of money how
could 1 be expected to? Unless You
are a strictly honest man, as ! knew
myself to be, you have no idea OF tho
many arguments that can be advanced
In favor of dishonesty.
At the end OF three weeks had de-
termined to add the find to my bank
account and give 1t up when called
upon. Aye, would even pay interest
on the sum and any extra expense the
| loser had been put to. This seemed
more than fair to me, and | figured
that nv honesty had not suffered one
/ -.