The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-02-05

NOTES.
above temptation. | must admit that
it was a balmy feeling and that as
looked around upon my fellow men and
knew that not over one in ten thousand
was honest-as honest as | was-my
self Importance was greatly added to.
Several queer things happened me one
June day. l had been down to Oxford
on little business, and as settled my
bill at the hotel previous to departure
the landlord made mistake of shil-
ling in my favor. | called his attention
to it, of course. ! had to make change
with cabby at the depot, and he would
have beaten himself out of fourpence
had | not called his attention to the
mistake A ticket seller rarely makes
mistake, at least in favor of a traveller,
but on this occasion ! was given quite
bit of change too much. and though
received only gruff word as ] return
ed it had cleared my conscience. |
shared the compartment with a travel
er, a man who had hunched up Shout
ders, pulled his hat low down and
seemed to sleep for the 80 miles he
rode with me. In the baggage rack
was a paper parcel. but he did not take
it with him as he got out. For 20 min
utes after being left alone had no Gu
riosity about that parcel. Then 1t oc-
Cured to me to inspect the contents
and be ready to turn it over as lost
property on arrival at the terminus.
My interest was languid until the
parcel was opened. | had anticipated
nothing of value, but what did ! be-
hold? In that parcel or package were
five neat packages of Bank of England
notes, each one containing 1000. There
wasn't SO much as scrap of paper
with them, nothing whatever to prove
ownership or tell how they had got
there. The wrapper was common
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. l had no idea Of
robbery, but laid it all to carelessness.
After inspecting the bills l retied the
package and smiled bit at the con-
sternation If the loser. His loss would
be only temporary, however. The pack
age would be handed over In London,
and he would merely have to prove
property to obtain possession. He
might wish to reward me, but | would
not accept penny.
1t was only when the train ran into
the station that suddenly changed my
mind. As the porter unlocked the door
and passed on and | stepped out the
thought came to me to retain that
money. Before could argue with my
self my legs were carrying me off.
was meaning all the time to give up the
parcel, and yet l was hurrying away
and lodging among the crowd. real
ly 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 It, lodged be-
tween the two by promising to return
it as soon as it should be advertised. 1
even promised my conscience that
would make long journey If neces-
sary to restore the money. To show
you that l was still an honest man let
me say that when bill was presented
to me that evening for the care Of my
horse 1 found mistake of a sixpence
in favor of the stable and rectified 1t.
Yes; was still honest, and meant to
restore that money, but must first be
satisfied as to the ownership.
Next day, to my great surprise and
also to my qualification, no advertise
ment appeared. 1t 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 for
ward dozen arguments to the contra
ry and didn't do either one. When a
week had gone by and no advertise
ment 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 it. 1t wasn't ex-
actly that the find had knocked out all
the principles 80 years had built up,
but that had never before been tempt
ed. Without temptation l had argued
only one side Of the question. After a
week had gone by dared not return
the package to the railroad, and after
three weeks had passed with no adver-
the money seemed to belong
to me. / said to myself that ought to
advertise it, but / also argued that If
the loser hadn't interest enough to seek |
to recover such a sum of money how |
could / be expected to? Unless you /
are a strictly honest man, as / knew |
myself to be, you have no idea of the
many arguments that can be advanced I
In favor Of dishonesty.
At the end of three weeks l had de-
to add the find to my bank
account and give 1t up when called up
on. Aye, | would even pay interest on I
the sum and any extra expense the
loser had been put to. This seemed
more than fair to me, and | figured
that my honesty had not suffered one
lot. The money would have gone to