Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1906-10-05
..H...
METROPOLITAN j(P
INCIDENT
BY HOWARD FIELDING
Copyright. IeoG, By Charles W. hooke
A MAN who is honest AT heart and
q yet deeply engaged in question
BY HOWARD FIELDING


nblt enterprises WV WV
large sums and escapes bank
ruptcy 10y au endless process OF borrow
ing from Peter to pay Paul; who Is al
ways "overdrawn' at one bank or an
other and makes the accounts good by
checks which create other Ovcrirafts;
who lives upon his reputation for
prompt paying. yet never really pays;
who preserves meanwhile conscience
rooted like a great jaw tooth and al
ways aching-such a man will have a
weary mind, though the spur of ambi-
ton may keep II going.
\ faded mind reveals itself In queer
little absurdities Observe, for exam
pie. Mr.. Robert Ely walking up the
east side OF Broadway with an unliSht-
ed cigar in his mouth An enviable
young man surely. lie Is tall, strong
aud of graceful carriage. He is
dressed in good style. with dash OF
Individuality lie has Il boyish. smooth
shaveu face. with wide gray eyes and
an engaging frankness of expression.
Who would not wish TO be Mr. Ely?
But why does he keep on fumbllng
with that matchbox after he should
long since have discovered that II Is
empty? Why Is II that neither his I'm
gers nor his eyes convey any intell-
gence to his brain?
A small boy takes note of Mr.. Ely
and offers him box of wind matches.
Light. sir" says the boy, and holds
up sizzling match 10 show that the
brisk breeze cannot blow ii out.
En-" responds Mr. Ely. looking
through the boy rather than at him,
"Yes"
He gives the boy dime and forgets
the change Then he puts the box ami
his own match safe into his pocket and
goes on. his cigar still unlighted.
In large room ON the ground floor
of tall building an exhibition of the
Jennings automatic straw hat machine
is in progress. Mr. Ely is interested
In this invention, but chiefly in the sale
Of stock in company formed to ex-
plot 1t. AS to whether the machine
will ever make straw hats for the
worlds wear Mr. Ely Is as much in
doubt as anybody else but upon one
point he has no doubt whatever
less the stock sells he II ruined man
Rather more than half of every dollar
paid for the stock goes into Mr. Ely
pocket, and there are so many holes in
that pocket that it is very hard to fiji.
Mr.. Ely has written the advertise
ments of the Jennings Automatic
Straw Hat Machine company which
have occupied pages in the Sunday pa
pers; he has arranged the present eX
hibition; he is paying all the expenses
by constant miracle of finance which
he himself would not attempt to ex
plain, The early indications of success
have been good, and if nothing hap
pens Mr.. Ely will sail with Il free
wind out of all his troubles. But
there are 50 many things that may
happen.
For example, il the public should
learn that the machine can be run al
high speed only about half an hour
and must then be stopped until certain
parts of ii have hppu claonaI thor,
would, be an end of the game. Mr.. Ely
did not know this himself when he EN-
parked in the enterprise. He knew
that the first machines built by Invent
or Jennings had such a defect, but he
supposed that 1t could be .remedef