The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1905-11-22

shoppers were CrOWQlnS ue SlAeeeS'
and the husting, busting life or
great city was at food tide Albert
Page, full Of business, was IN MS Oh
fee, and Frank Mason was studying
hard again. Small fortunes were be-
ing won and lost Oh State street, and
in one smoke polluted brokers' office
Nicholas Frye sat watching the price
of wheat. The September option
opened that day at 7s77A, rose to 70,
fell to 76T, rose to IS and then
dropped back to 76. he had margined
his holdings to Il, and if it fell to that
price his $4,000 would be gone and be
ruined. For many nights be had had
but little sleep, and that made hideous
by dreams filed with the unceasing
whir and click, click, click Of the
ticker. BE was worn and weary with
the long nervous strain and misery Of
seeing his fortune slowly clipped away
by the clicker's tick that had come to
sound like the teeth Of so many little
devils swapping at him To let his
holdings 90, he could not, and, lured
on and on by the brokers' daily uttered
assertion that wheat could not go
much lower, but must have a rally
soon," he had kept putting up margins.
Now all he could possibly raise was In
the brokers' hands, and when that was
gone all was lost.
Frye sat and watched the blackboard
where the uneven columns Of quota
tons looked like so many little legs
ever growing longer. Around him
were a score Of other men watching
the figures. No one cared whether an
other won or lost in the great gam
bling game that ruins thousands.
It was the caldron filed with lies,
false reports, fictitious sales and the
hope and lust Of gain that boiled and
bubbled, heated by the fires Of hell
And ever around that caldron the souls
Of men were circling, cursing their
losses and gioating over their gains.
And Frye was muttering curses.
So fast came the quotations that the
boy could no longer record them. In
stead he called them out in drawing
singsong:
september wheat now seventy
three-the half-6ve-eighths-a half
fve-eighths split-now a half-three-
eighths quarter = seventy-three."
Frye set his feet hard together and
clinched his hands. Only . cents in
price stood between him and the loss
Of all his twenty years saving. All
the lies he had told for miserable gain,
all the misery self denial he had prac-
ticed, all the clients he had cheated
and robbed, all the hatred he had won
from others, availed him not. Bis con-
temptible soul and bis life almost now
hung by a miserly 2 cents.
"Seventy-three-a quarter-an eighth
-seventy-three-now seventy-two sew
Observation-Disclosures
-three-quarters split-now fve-eighths
"a half-a halfn'
Pandemonium was raging in the Chi
cago wheat pit, and the ticker's teeth
clicked like mad.
'Seventy-two-a half-a half-three-
eghths-a half-three-eighths-a quar-
ter-seventy-twor'
, Cold beads Of sweat gathered on
Frye's forehead. One cent more and
he was ruined.
September wheat now seventy-one
seyen-eighths - seven eighths - three
quarters-seyen-eighths split-now the
three-quarter-fve-eighths-a half -
half -fve-eighths- half-a half again
three -eighths-a quarter-an eighth.
a quarter-an eighth-a quarter-anf
eighth-an eighth-a quarter spltt-an
eighth
'Seventy-one!'
Frye was ruined.
He gave one low moan, the first and
only one during those three long weeks
Of agony.
The devils teeth kept swapping; the
endless coils Of tape Kept unwinding.
The boy continued his drawl, but Frye
paid no heed. Only those spider legs
on the wall seemed kicking at him, and
that fatal seventy-one-one- kept
ringing in his ears. He arose and
staggered out and with bowed head
made his way to the Office.
Whir-r-r---r!
Click, click, click!
Seventy one-one- It was the
last he heard, and then he sank for
ward on his desk in stupor.
At this moment Uncle Terry, with
Frye's letter in his pocket and right
eous wrath in his heart was speeding
toward Boston as fast as steam could
carry him.
The clear, incisive strokes Of an ad-
jacent clock proclaiming midnight
awoke Frye. he raised his head, arose,
lit the two gas jets and sat down.
Seventy-one-one-
They brought it all back to him, and
now, alone in his misery, he groaned
aloud, and with his despair came the
dread Of the morrow, when he must go
forth crushed, broken, despairing, pen
niless.
All would know it, and all would re-
ioice. Out Of the many that hated or
feared him not one would feel grain
Of pity, and he knew it.
Then his past life came back to him.
BE had never married, and since he
had looked down upon his dead-moth-
er's face no woman's hand had sought
his with tenderness All his long life Of
grasping greed had been spent in money
getting and money saving. No sense
Of right or justice had ever restrained
him. Year after year be had added to
his hoard, carefully invested 1t, and
now it had all been swept away!
He took pen and wrote brief let
ter. Then he went to his tall safe,
opened both doors and, taking q small,
fat packet from an inner till, returned
to his desk, placed that and the letter
in one long envelope and sealed and di-