The Minneapolis journal., 1903-12-26
THE MAIN CHANCE
"A
CpnghN@ by MarMG
BIZ MEREDITH NICHOLSON
Copyright. 1903, by Bobbs-Merrill Co.

mighty foolish women, besides the
: downright wicked ones. l guess our
! young men in Clarkson are as good as
there are anywhere. Most Of them
have to work, and that's. good for
, them. l guess 1 Iappreciate family and
, that kind of thing as we'll as the next
: man. but it amt everything. He was
t speaking slowly, and when he made a
; long pause here, Evelyn rose and went
over to the open crate and poked in
the ashes for the few remaining Goals.
| He watched her as she stopped, not
ing, half consciously, the fine line of
her profile, the ripple of light in her
) hair, the girlishness of her slim figure.
) mo use of fooling with that fire" he
said. She knew that he wished to say
| more, and she put the poker in it's
: brass rack and rose and stood by the
mantel.
; "At my age, life gets more uncertain
every day; l seem to be pretty sound.
but was 81 my last birthday, and If
| I'd been in the army they would have
kicked me out of my job; but SO long
: as I work for myself 1 suppose I'll
! hang on until can't stand UP In the
harness any more.
''But that's a mistake, father" she
put in. why shouldn't you take some
!, rest now? If there's no other Yay,
why not close out your interest in the
, bank and take things easier? You
ought to travel; you've never been
of things in Europe that you'd enjoy;
the rest and change would do you a
. world of good. Can't we go this sum-
/ mer, and take Grant? 1t would be nice
= for us all to go together.
He shook his head with the depre-
eating air which men. of Porter'sE type
; have for such suggestions. 1t would
be mighty nice, but I can't do It.
There's Thompson away and no telling
when he'll be back, and have other
| things beside the bank to look alter;
more than you know about She
) knew only vaguely what his interests
, were, for he never mentioned them
to her: he believed that women are
! Incapable Of comprehend1ns such
things; and his natural secretive-
} ness was always on guafd.
He even entertained kind OF
, superstition that if he told of any
l thing he was planning he jeopardlzed
: his chances of success.
} mo, 1 guess there amt going to be
;. any Europe for me just now. But L q
\ be glad to have you and Grant go. :.
l He had been side-tracked in his talk
and chewed his cigar while trying to
3 find the way back to the main line
Y Then he broke out irrelevantly:
l Wary doesn't seem to settle
:. down. We used to think Wary had
9 | great things in him, but they're
= mighty slow coming OUT
"Well he's still young said Eve
lyn. 1T takes young man a lons
! time to get a start these days in the
g professions' Her father looked at
"Im afraid it isn't lack Of oppa-
;. tunity with Wary. If he's ever gel
o after anything in real earnest ne
e could make it go; but he seems to foo
d away his time.'' He said this as II ne
| expected Evelyn to continue her de-
:, fense, but she said merely:
.It is too bad if he's doing that
e when he has the ability" She walked
{ back to her chair and sat down. She
|. knew that Wary was really at work.
: but she was afraid to show any par
! ticular knowledge Of him.
"It's one of the queer things to me
=, =, that young fellows who have every
chance don't seem to get on as well
I: as others who haven't any backing
t Now, all Wary had to do was to stay
7. in his office and attend to business
a or that's all he needed to do three or
four years ago, when he set up tC
t practice; but now everybOdy's glVer
him up. A man who doesn't want ar
n opportunity in this world doesn't have
: to kick it very hard to get rid of it
E Other fellows, who never had any
Z chance, are watching for the luckie1
ones to Slip. There are never any
:, lonesome places on the ladder. Now
y | there's Wheaton, He again ex-
~ amined Evelyn's face in one of those
tranquil stares with which he made
II his most minute scrutiny of people
: Wheaton ain't a showy fellow like
e Wary, but he's one of the sort that
II make their way because they keep ar
eye open to the main chance. jim
&" came into the. bank as a messenger
k and cues he's had pretty much every
5, job we've got, and he's done them
d we'll" He had lighted his cigar and
Was talking volubly. When ThornP-
q son played out and had to go away
IT we looked around for somebody or
the inside who knew the run Of oul
business to put in there to help me
d None of the directors wanted to come
o in, and so we pulled Jim out of the
paying teller's cage, and he's just
i about saved my back. Now, Jim's
not so smart, but he's steady and safe
. and that's what counts in business .
He leaned back in his chair and
+ wobbled the cigar in his mouth.
t These young Napoleons of finance
n are forever chasing off to Canada with
y other folks money; they're too bril-
Y liant. I tell 'em down town that il
d ain't genius we want in business it's
T just ordinary, plain everyday talent
for getting down early and staying
I at your job. That's what I say. There
: was Smith over at the Drovers' Ma
y tional; he was a clear case of genius
- - They thought over there that he was
- making business by chasing around
. . the county attending banquets and
- speaking at bankers conventions.
q guess Smiths essays were financially
= sound, too, for Smith knew
finance, scientific finance, like g
f. college professor, and used tc
7 come to the clearing meet
n ings and talk to beat the band about
q what Bagehot said and how the Bank
D of England did; but all the time he
was spending his Sundays over in
n Kansas City, drumming UP banking
e business by playing poker with the
|. gentlemen he expected to get for his
h customers. He's running a. laundry
it now on the wrong side of the Cana
e dian border. Over at the Drovers
they amt so terribly scientific now,
: and their cashier don't have *
!; pense fund to carry him around the
II country making connections. Making
S connections" he repeated, and
e chuckled. He had the conceit of his
# own wisdom, and while he was al
5. ways generous in his dealings with
n his rivals, and had several times
Q helped them out of difficulties, he
q rejoiced in their errors and congra t
ulated himself on his foresight and
: caution.
q You oughtnt to laugh at the
:. 7ourpfan of other peonle'' Ga ia 1--WE