Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1905-02-02

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name and its profession of 1000.
The professor looked dashed; but he
said nothing, for Clarissa had no sooner
come in than she sped out again to an
swer another ring. Returning. she laid
on the tablecloth a fourth string of
buttons, and when the bell instantly
began another frantic jingle, she Gig
gled in the professors face and went Ia
fetch the fifth.
Five button strings for breakfast
Then came confusing forenoon. made
up mostly of ClarSSa's s rather hilarlous
entries into the study with ever-neW
strings: a treSome afternoon, Wherelli
' the professor fed his house anG
tramped into the suburbs; and de-
pressing evening, in which Mrs. Batt,l
came home and said, Il told you so.
At 10 y. m, when the last girl had po
| litely handed into the maid kn0bby
package with a plain label, forty-iins
button strings lay on the parlor table
Actual count was tried, under Mrs
Battu's commiserating eyes; but the
number was not reduced. lnen lhcIe
was thoughtful silence
IL shall pay for them every one" be.
gan the professor couraSeouSly, 'if 1T
takes my last dollar
"You will have Just 500 left out OF
the $500 saved up" finished Mrs.
Battu, with awful precision. But you
must keep your word, dear" relenting'
ly, there, never mind
The next morning Professor Battu
drew forty nine checks for 500 each.
He was poor in money-rich in but
tons. The first use to which the pro-
tessor put his costly, and apparently
worthless collection was in the form OF
Gift Of the rare or curious buttons
Oh string to the Agricultural Depart.
ment of the Connecticut State govern
ment. There, elegantly cased. with the
names of the forty-nine industrious
young ladies, YOU may see this ornate
button string TO this moment.
so much of the professors story |
had from the lips of his charming
wife. My curiosity was UP. what
became OF the rest of those l4I,0OO
buttonsT' | inquired. chats Just
where the story really begins" an
swered the professor. And from this
on | may as we'll use the professors $
own narrative, as near as can recol.
lcct it,
when | had paid for tho forty-ninth
| h,,t sirit,r - an trnrplnn1 81 rpai-
ized tnat my whim had cost me the
savings Of a lifetime, and that | was
practically pennie'S. About this time
| Mr.. -------, the African explorer, was
| organizing an expedition to explore
the Congo country. Through COM
mon friend became u member of the
party with a nominal salary as botan-
list and Il good opportunity ahead lot
prosecuting my own researches
Amanda was dead set against the
African project and tried to ridicuc
ne out of it. You'd better take your
button strings along and trade them 10
the natives she said, ironically. whcn
| was arranging my outfit. III do IT.,
said |, and with that | packed the
whole lot in, more to tease my VIE
than anything else.
II i0inrd the party in London, "nd
We Landed in safety at the estuary or
the Congo, after an uncventtul voyage.
The Dutch Congo steam packets were
not then running, and We had to make
our advance up the great river by
means of small boats manned by trusty
natives hired at the settlements.
TO rrt long story short, we pushed
our explorations as far as the district
| Of Iii on the Upper Congo. AT that
point our native porters refused to 20
| farther, and deserted. We had remain-
| ing only a few brass rods for barter,
and our other supplies were nearly eX-
! hausted. Our only course was to re-
treat down the river again.
The native prince of Uli was, for a
! Central African. man of ideas, and
| possessed very remarkable interest
in the vague world beyond his own e1'
pcrience. | was parleyng with him
one day, and haggling over the amount
of yika flour we were to have for Il
dozen rods. when the diabolcal notion
occurred to me to give him few obscr'
vations on the currency question to
wreStle with. The next visit paid
him he was all alive on the subject.
"All at once remembered those but
ton strings, packed away in n chest
with lot of specimens. | reSurrected
a pocketful of the buttons and used
them to illustrate the currency prob
lem to the potentatc of uji. | suggest
ed to him that these buttons would
make much better circulating
medium than brass rods and his bulky
ivory, and that with a large surplus
of them he could become the money
king of all that country and control the
financial policy of the rival Iukat
pronounced Wee-kah and .Iumrah.
"The dead-black countenance OF
Prince Belesbau seemed to glow will
the excitement Of this newborn ambi
ton He was fascinated. How many
have youY he asked, eagerly.
For an answer | threw open the
chest, his language having no word tt
express such large number.
"The result was we concluded a bar
gain by which in return for tho buttoi
strings he was to conduct me to s
secret place where q fabulous store o
ivory had been accumulated. HI
would then furnish porters to transpor
as much Of the precious material al
our boats would carry.
by the time our boats were loadet
and we were ready to begin the return
voyage the buttons had all been pH
into circulation.
My people demand more money
bnln hi ln IN IL