Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1906-05-04
IN ONE EASY LESSON.
HOW GERMoND LEARNED TO
BE MEAN.
BY KENNETH HARRIS.

ances for human. Callous wasn't any
name for him. Shylock didn't insist
on his pound of flesh more remorse-
lessly than he if anybody once got
into his clutches only he showed
more acumen in drafting his bonds
than did the guileless if revengeful
Jew
You might picture the man as a
shriveled and weakened old miser, with
a parchment skin, clawlike fingers, a
cold gray eye that cleaned only with
avarice and imagine him, shabby and
dirty, grubbing among his mortgages
and stock certificates in congenial sol
itude. But that wasn't Germond. He
was stout, ruddy and well groomed,
given to the adornment of diamonds
and other precious stones. His laugh
was ready and boisterous and his
handshake warm and hearty. He
could tell a good story, and for all his
reputation enjoyed a certain degree of
popularity at his club.
Some of the clubmen were talking
over this strange disparity one even
ing.
He has all the other qualifications
for good fellow" said Paynter, "but
when they made him they left out the
heart"
Not by any MEANS said Water
man. "He had heart like an OK,
pulsating with all generous emotions,
generous to a fault 1t may have be-
come atrophied, but 1t was there to
begin with. III tell you about Ger
mond, If you like, and it may be that
the episode | have to relate will in
duce you to regard him with greater
leniency."
GO anead," said Paynter.
II was up in his office one morn
ing" said Waterman. I'VE were talk
ing over a little business matter when
a woman, who had in some way eluded
the vigilance of the Office boy, came
into the room. She was pale and
emaciated, dressed in worn and thread
bare garments that made a pathetic
effort at responsibility and pathetically
failed She was past the middle age,
altogether worn, like her apparel, and
tears stood in her faded eyes as she
began to speak.
Her husband. it seemed, was
boyhood friend of Germond's and had
shown his friendship in a practical
way by lending him money at the out
set of his career. The woman made a
merely delicate allusion to this. For
years, she said, she and her husband
had battled against undeserved mis-
fortunes-it was a most pitiable story
and the man was then lying in a
wretched tenement, hopelessly Grip
Pied dying slowly of privaton. She
appealed to Germond for assistance
the merest trifle Of money for immedi-
ate necessity and some little employ
ment, however mental and hard to en-
able her to care for her husband and
repay the advances that she hoped our
friend would make. The truth of her
story was more than evident. Her sin
cerity was unmistakable.
"Germond refused her request, and
that with a coarseness, harshness, a
brutality that were shocking.
When she had gone Germond turn
GU " Lie. SuppOSc you Iuluh LudI
was pretty fierce? he said
Il was too disguised to answer.
Maybe it was a little he went on,
but I'm soured ION hard-luck stories
Now, that man she was talking about.
I paid him back the money he lent me-
Paid him every cent of it, and | didn't
have to. either. | hadn't given him
the scratch of a pen as evidence of
the debt | paid him just the same as
If | had given him my note with gilt
edged security behind it-except that
there wasn't any interest Well, about
three years after that he came to me
and wanted to borrow S25. He was on
his uppers then. He told about the
same story as his wife did just now
the first part of it. What did | do?
By George, let him have the $25. And
do you think he ever paid it back?
No, sir Not one red cent of it, | dun
ned him for years and all | got was
excuses. l turned his note over to a
collecting agency and they couldn't do
anything with it-reported back that
he wasn't worth suing and probably
never would be.
Well, when a man treats me that
way and calls himself friend, after
| had put myself out to accommodate
him, after l had paid him back what
| owed him without any sort Of COM
pulsion, wouldn't you be sore on hui
manity?'
80 you see." concluded Waterman,
there are reasons for most things if
We only knew them, and 1t must be
admitted that Germond was badly
treated"
"Of course" agreed Paynter "If
ones faith in human nature is once
destroyed 1t is hard to re-create 1t.
Ingratitude inevitably begets suspicion
and callousness. I'm glad that you
told us of this. We would never have
given Germond credit for so much gen.
crosby"