Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-04-05
MILLION.DOLLAR SOUVENIRS.
Ways of the Late Charles Lockhart
Paral1e1ed Only In Novels.


Paralle1ed Only In Novels.
II am not surprised that the late
Charles Lockhart cut off one Of his
daughters with a measly 100000 be
cause she didn't name the baby after
him." said Philadelphia man. "He
was always doing things which rich
men are supposed to do only in novels
For instance, about ten years ago
children were there. After grace was
said-Lockhart was a strict Scotch
Presbyterian, you know-they turned
over their plates in the good old family
style. Under each plate was a check
for a million dollars.
GA little dinner souvenir said
Lockhart.
Zone of his tricks would make a
plot for a Sunday school book, if the
same plot hadn't happened so often il
Sunday school books that it is getting
trite.
There was new silverware and
jewelry establishment struggling
along. Not a small shop, you under
stand, but big concern which was
not yet recognized as a leader in fash
ionable trade. One very hot summer
afternoon a TALL sad, and rather Ill
dressed man entered the shop and said
that he wanted to buy wedding pres
ent.
Now, it was a hot day, the clerks
were tired and irritated, and the
stranger looked like a visitor from the
remote farming district with $149 tx
spend. He passed from counter tt
counter, pricing things.
1.-THE clerks were not at all cordial
At last down at the end of the silver
ware departmental he bumped into 9
young fellow, new man in the shop
This clerk was trying to make good
Also, to do the situation justice, he
hadn't been there long enough to know
the difference between q promising
customer and an unpromising one.
THE old man went higher and high
er in his examination of silverware
He got to pricing full sets Of silver
plate. After the young clerk had rur
through the list, he said:
Is that the best you've got?
1.-The young clerk remembered ther
that the firm had begun the manufac
ture of a specially designed, extra
heavy set of plate for rich New York
family. The order had been Cancelled
but some Of the pieces had been fin
ished for show. He trotted out thai
set.
"The old man figured out on the
back Of an envelope every frill which
could be added to a set Of silver plate
showed his list at the clerk, and asked
how much it would cost. The clerk
consulted the manager, and answered
that it would be fifty thousand and
some odd dollars and cents.
"'All right, have it made for me,
said the old man.
"'How much do you want to depos
it?' asked the clerk.
"'Oh, said the customer, I'll paw
the whole thing and get it off my
mind So he drew a check for the
amount.
"The clerk didn't recognize the sig
nature, he'd never heard of Charles
Lockhart, so he took it to the manager
and asked if the latter thought that it
was good
Good for thousand times fifty
thousand said the manager.
"Lockhart came back to that store
In the Christmas season that year The
clerks knew him that time, for the
$4,000 purchase had become a tradi
ton Of the store. He went past them
all, though, and asked for the clerk
who had sold him the silver plate
When he found his man, Lockhart
bought $4,000 worth of Christmas
presents.
"This story ends the way it ought
to end for the Sunday school library
The clerk with an $4,000 a year Gus
toner on his string attracted the at
tention of the firm, and now he's a bic
man in the silverware business.
Sounds like a chapter from Thrift,
by Samuel Smiles, doesn't it?'-Wash
ington Post.