The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-19
FELIX GREGORY, MILLION
 ARE,

There gaes Felix Gregnry Wouldn't you Ike to he i'm his shoes? Worth eoof i've millions if he's worth cent. Makes Wall Street sSake every time he goes into the market" Thus spake a young man, to his companion as they were hurryinx across the avenue to catch an elevated train, pointing to q man riding toward the city in mag nificent turnout.
 This was but one of many express sions of envy heard along the avenue as the carriage rolled rapidly toward the financial center of the city. Hut had rnose who made the envious re- marks been able to read the mind or the tall, austere man in the carnage they might have hesitated to change places with him, however humble their Tot.
 Beneath the unmoved features and back ef the cold gray eyes of the man in the carriage there was bitterness unspeakabfe and a seethng cauldron of discontent which amounted nearly to rebellion this fine May morning. For the first time in his life he was dissatisfied with himself and wondered if after all he had planned his life wisely. For the first time he doubted if success in the business world was the true end of life. He had had a hard life and had met all the require mentS unfinchingiy. He had worship ed but one divinity. and that was Money" and for this he had eschew- ed all pleasures. And now. after life of self denial he beheld all his hopes tumhliug about him. He foresaw with a feeling akin to terror a deselate old age not far ahead.
 His mind reverted to his school days when he had determined to be rich man; how he had left the village bong before his fellows and gone to work in the counting room; how he had tofi- ed and saved. all the time learning the business in all it's details; how he had come to the great city to take bet ter place and had climbed the ladder of success step by step, working harder than his fellow clerks and saw ing more rigid1y until he not only forged ahead faster than they. but also possessed means to take advaHt- age of opportunities as they presented themselves. He recalled his marriage to Emma Whitney. a negative, color less girl the daughter of wealthy man. and how this connection had given him the means to make the first great stroka of his financial career. She had pined and died in few years. but not before leaving him a son. He recalled with deepest pangs the. satis- faction the birth of his son had given him. He was already a rich man and had laid the, plans that were to make him multi millionaire, and this son was to continue the business and per- petuate the name.
 Then came over him again the sick entng truth. His boy had turned out a failure a drunkard, a gambler, a rake-and worse than all, d criminal. Yes. God help him. He had been guilty of repeated forgeries, and only yesterday the sickening truth had been forced upon him-there was no re- demptfon for the unregeuerate young man. He was criminal beyond hope, and he had cast him off
 Probably, thought Felix Gregory. he himself was somewhat to blame. In the fierce struggle of money getting he had allowed the boy to grow up pretty much in his own way. He had sent him to the finest institutions of learning in the country. Even the wild extravagances of young Felix had not alarmed him.
 Let him go the pace with the rest of the young bloods. I guess can stand it as well as the other fathers," he had said to himself
 But after graduation, when the boy would not settle down he had become alarmed All his efforts had been of no avail and when yesterday he had been confronted with proof that the boy not only had run through the amble allowance made him and the great sums borrowed, which the father had been compelled to repay, but had actually crossed the line of criminality and become a forger, the indignation of the father had reached a point where he had refused to stand for him farther.
 In the midst of these bitter refiec- tions the carriage drew up before a palatial office building and Felix Gre gory descended and walked inside. As he stepped in the door he ran directly into a man coming out. Both paused and glanced at the other. A gleam of half recognition came into the face of each
 "Felix!''
 "Johni"
 Sure enough it was John Treat, the old time chum of his schoolhoy days perhaps the only person in the world with whom Felix Gregory had ever been on terms of intimacy~It had-been years since they had mst-away hack before Felix had left the old town. and they had drifted clear out of each others lives and knowledge. Gregory insfsted that Treat go to his office and have talk. It was evident that Treat had not met with the success in the world enjoyed by his old time friend. His clothes were of the cheaper order, but they were serupulously neat and we'll kept. The lines in his face were