The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-07-24

A consulting chemist is one who is
consulted; he is one who gives advice.
Any chemist whose training has been
of the best, whose knowledge is large
and general, is a consulting chemist.
consulting chemists, however, in this
country, usually occupy Offices in some
huge skyscraper; they assume the ap-
pearances, as far as their surroundings
go, Of lawyers. brokers and other bust
ness men. The consulting chemist
does not keep shop; the druggist does
that for him.
But John Lorimer did keep a shop,
for all that he was a consulting chem
lst. And for all that he kept a shop,
he was nevertheless in sooth, a COM
suiting chemist. He had been con-
suited. now and then. just enough to
keep him going And he understood
MS business, too And his chemicals
We're good, and he had them in variety.
He did not do drug store business,
but he was patronized by few who
appreciated the quality of his wares.
And when the physicians of the town
desired to mix some important and
elaborate prescription they went to
LorlmerS Tor their drugs, or told their
druggists to.
The inside of the shop-half Office
and half salesroom it was-was quite
as quaint and old fashioned as was the
outside. There was evidence of up-to-
date business methods, combined with
an air of comfort.
One entering this shop, judging from
its exterior and interior, would expect
to ind in the chemist an old, shriveled
specimen Of mankind, with mysterious
manner, and sharp eyes, peering over
the rims of green or clouded spectacles.
There was no such chemist there.
John Lorimer, consulting chemist,
i
uai OF some twenty-five years. He
wore no spectacles His eyes were
Just sharp and shrewd enough to make
him interesting without spelling his
attractiveness. His nose was promi-
nent and his chin was good. He had
plenty Of back to his head. He had
the clear eye and the healthy COM
plexion-neither white nor pink-of a
young man who takes care of him.
self.
There was charm about him that
was due TO the fact that he was just
bit different from the ordinary run
of men. He parted his hair far down
upon one side. and it fell over far
down upon the other side, diagonally
across his forehead. This made him
look something like the daguerrotypes
of long ago. And he did carry out to
some extent in his manner and appear
anee the quafntness of his shop. He
was well built, as young men go, and
he wore smooth face.
Lorimer was chemist for many
reasons. The chiefest of these was
heredity. His father and grandfather
before him had been chemists, and he
had been born and brought up in an
atmosphere of chemistry. His grand
father, in an age when the drug store
was unknown, had made money; his
father, who had lived upon his fathers
IN oh hr1c aff Ar
a fashion but had not pushed it. At
his death Lorimer found out that the
money was all gone; while the busi-
ness was practically nil. Fortunately
for Lorimer-or unfortunately, it was
hard to tell Withdrawing his fathers
life he had been well instructed in,
not one, but two, of the completest
courses of chemistry in the world. He
was chemist through and through.
But what of it. after all. To be a
good chemist is one thing. To get
patronage and business in this world
is quite another. In all professions,
all trades, there is but one ability, it
seems at times, that counts-that is
the ability to get the business. If a man
can get business and control business
he can hire experts a-plenty to transact
it for him: experts who can get BUSH
ness of themselves.
John Lorimer had found it So He
was poor. The little building that served
him as an office and a shop. served
him as a home. also. Few knew this,
and fewer cared. Yet he had SOME
reputation in Monroe. Many people
knew him as an individual and as a
chemist, and respected him; but few
had occasion to patronize him. This Is
an age Of enormous output, and of out
put which is claimed TO be chemically
pure and chemically exact. Great food
mi,
corporations are constantly employing
chemists of ability. Lorimer was
chemist of ability. He had made the
attempt. not once, but many times. to
swing himself into something that was
worth while; that would not only pay
him, but would advance him. But
though he still tried, he had been beat
en- every time he had made the attempt
He was without influence But he was
young and he had his career before
him, and he was not discouraged. He
worked hard and to the purpose
Lorimer was not rolling stone He
had established himself a few years
before in the place where he was now,
and he had stayed there through thick
and thin. He could not assure himself
that his business had materially in
creased; but he kept his spirits up He
hoped against hope; he worked away
and squared his square jaw uncom-
promsingly at fate.
Constitutional Smith had once en-
tered the shop Of John Lorimer, the
chemist That was upon the day pre-
ceding the night when Ellington
O'Keefe met his fate in the dark
street. Constitutional had worn no
chain, but Lorimer had mistaken him,
nevertheless, for Ellington O'Keefe.
Smith had counted upon this, and he
had purchased, without any Inquiries
on the part Of Lorimer, a few ingre-
dents with which he had saturated