The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1904-05-05

"Oh. the great man! On, the
great man. murmured the
writer. fascinated.
The grandeur of the sacrifice had
| struck them dumb. They did not un-
dcrstand the motives beneath it all. but
the fact was patent. pig Junko broke
down and sobDed.
After time the stream of logs
through the gap slackened. In Il mo.
mcnt more. save for the inevitably
stranded few. the booms were empty.
A deep sigh went up from the atten-
tive multitude.
shes goneC said one man. with the
/ emphasis OF novel discovery, and
! groaned.
| Then the awe broke from about their
minds. and they spoke many opinions
and speculations. Thorpe had disap-
peared They respected his emotion
and did not follow him.
"It was just plain foolishness, but
it was great" said St,earer. THAT no
account jackass of Big Junko amt
good white pine"
| Then they noticed group of men
gathering about the office steps, and
on il some one talking. Collins. the
bookkceper. was making a speech.
Collins was n little Ratchet faced
man. with straight. lank hair, near
/ sighted eyes, a tinid. order loving dis
/ position and great suitability for his
profession. He was accurate. unemo-
tiona and valuable. All his actions
were as dry as the sawdust in the
/ burner No one had ever seen him ex-
cited. But he was human. and now
his knowledge Of the company's affairs
| showed him the dramatic contrast. He
knew. He knew that the property OF
the firm had been mortgaged to the
last dollar in order to assist expansion,
so that not another cent could be bor-
rowed TO tide over present difficulty.
/ He knew that the notes for 100000
covering the loan to Wallace Carpenter
came due In three months. He knew
| from the long table Of statistics which
he was eternally preparing and com
/ pairing that the seasons cut should
I have netted n profit of 100000, enough
to pay the interest on the mortgages,
10 take up the notes and to furnish 2
working capital for the ensuing year.
| These things he knew in the strange
concrete arithmetical manner of the
routine bookkeeper. Other men saw
| a desperate phase of firm rivalry. He
saw struggle to the uttermost. 9th
/ er men cheered rescue. He thrilled
over the magnificent gesture of the
gambler scattering his stake in argesse
to Death.
1t was the simple turning of the hand
from full breathed prosperity to life
less failure.
His view was the inverse of his mas
ters. To Thorpe 1t had suddenly be-
come IA very little thing In contrast to
the great, sweet, elemental truth that
the dream girl had eenunclated. To
Collins the affair was miles vaster than
the widest scope of his own narrow
life.
The firm could not take up its notes
when they came due; 1t could not pay
the interest on the mortgages. which
would now be foreclosed; it could not
even pay in full the men who had
worked for it-fhat would come under
a courts adjudication.
He had therefore watched Thorpe's
desperate sally to mend the weakened
chain in all the suspense of mar
whose entire universe Is In the keeping
Of the chance moment. 1t must be re
membered that at bottom. below the
outer consciousness, Thorpe's final de
cision had already grown to maturity
On the other hand, no other though
than that of accomplishment had ever
entered the little boOkkeeper's head
The rescue and all that II had mean
had hit him like a stroke Of apoplexy
and his thin emotions had curdled Il
hysteria. Full Of the Idea he appearet
before the men.
With rapid, almost incoherent speecl
hs poured II out to them. Professions