Middletown transcript., 1903-03-07

3 H <
The price had already gone Il
ninety five cents. But when 81
many thousand bushels are a
} stake the careful farmer can dt
} no better than to consider the
!. fractions.
Il Richards faith in his friend or
:. the inside of the Chicago marked
was unbounded. At the last he
/ felt, somehow, that the work
must be quick. So he stayed in
Sheridan day and night, stop
ping at the hotel, with an eye on
| the telegraph Office
| Wheat had now gone to ninety
nine cents. Men were selling
all about him, and Richard S ears
were besieged with free advice
from "rancEers' who knew
wheat better than they did their
own wives. But Richard trust
ed to his understanding of the
situation, and, though the sus-
pense was great, still he waited.
Then suddenly one morning
the market jumped to one dollar
\
and five, and everybody gasped.
The young man almost stag
gered that morning as he got
into the railway station; and his
eyes fed hungrily upon the little
electric instruments that seemed
so busy talking around the world.
That afternoon it came, ticking
over the wires in the smoky lit
tie box of an office.
| The operator mechanically
reached over the counter and
handed him the paper with a
knowing smile.
guess you're it, he said.
Richard caught the precious
scrap out of the man s hands, and
his eyes fairly burned into s as
he read:
| RICHARD MORRISON, Sheri-
dan: Market full; sell quick. j.
G. K.
Three minutes later he was at
the desk of the elevator COM
pany and within thirty minutes
he was stufing the drafts for the
full amount OF wheat into his poe
keG.
The next day the market was
steady at ninety eight cents.
That evening as the family sat
on the front porch enjoying the
Injury of midsummer-time, old
man Heating was interrupted, in
a careful perusal of the market
reports in the daily paper-he
had lately acquired some degree
| of the daily paper habit-by the.
young man who used to be a
schoolteacher.
| Mr.. Keating, he remarked,
after a reflective silence, what
price do you place upon your
farm?
Old man Keating peered eau
tiously at the speaker over the
rim of his paper, pretending not
to see him; before he finally an
swered. He had long since
learned to expect the usually un-
expected from this young man,
Then he put down the paper.
Land and improvements, he said
though I'm not anxious to sell
I've always held at sixty thous-
and dollars, cash. Why, have
you a buyer?
That price will be satisfactory
to me, sir" replied Richard
promptly, emphasizing the pro-
noun. My only condition will be
that you put in the girl. There
was twinkle in his eye, but the
old man did not see it.
/ The girl blushed beautifully.
i Old man Heating squared
around at his adversary with a
| fierce look. Yes, I guess yer at
| yer same old tricks ag'in, amt
| yuh, young man? he urged Sc
verely.
4 No, sir. replied Richard; it's a
| plain business proposition: a
question of girls, farmsand wheat.
If I have to buy the farm to get
| the girl, why, I guess I can do it.
/ I'm in dead earnest.
I, The old mans face assumed a
comical look of defeat. Well, ]
pose you'd better take the girl,
| he said at last. I don't care so
much about that; she seems to
!, rather like you. But you can 7
have the farm, he added emphat-
ically. Nobody can beat me out
of a roof to die under in my old
age-not when I've got all my
Z faculties.
4 Do you think you've got 'em
!; all, Pa? inquired the girl mis-
chievously:
But old man Keating pad no
attention to her. Though tenn
porarily defeated, he still had his
signoutfor business. Hescratch-
ed his head as if an entirely new
thought was just taking root in
side of it, though, in fact, what
he had in mind had been there for
months, ever since the crops be-
gan to head, and Furious Foster
had come by and said that wheat
had .sriz.D
Let me see, he said; there's
neighbor Fosters thousand acres
that iines sme on thew west. Foster
! told me the other day if any one
ao,,,o y,ocin, ,rnund he might Sn1l