Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-11-29

: commanded to CONT. it may lie that
old El!ersly was wholly unconscious of
MS supcrciiiousnc~S. fancied he WAS
treating me as If were almost an
equal: but | suspect he rather acccntu-
'ted his natural manner with the idea
OF impressing upon me that in our deal
he WAS giving at least rs much as l..
recall that / thought about him for
several minutes after he WAS gone
philosophical on the folly OF Il mans
deliberately weaving II net to entang!e
himself. AS if any man was ever
caught IN any net no of his " weav-
ing and setting: AS If / myself We're not
gust then working AT me last row of
mesheS of Il net in which / WAS 10 en-
snare myself.
My petty and inevitable success with
that helpless creature added amazing
~. iudicrous'y. 10 that dangerous Ella
tlon which. rs l can now see. had been
OWL in me ever since the day Roe
Duck yielded so readily to my demands
as to National Coal. The whole trouble
with me was that up To that time /
mad won all my victories by the plain
est Kind of str~aishtaway hard work. l
was imagining myself victor in contests
OF wit against wit. Which,. in fact. no
one with any special equipment of
brains had ever opposed me; all the
really strong men had been helping me
because they found me useful. Too
easy Success-there is the clue to the
wild folly that seems utterly incon-
sistent with the reputation for shrewd-
ness | had, and seemed to nave earned
u find a certain small amount Of
legitimate Reuse for my falling under
Langdon's spell. He had. and has. fas-
ctnations. through personal magnetism.
which 1t is hardly III human nature to
resist. But for my sclf-hypnotism In
the case OF Roebuck. l find no excuse
whatever for myself.
He sent for me and told me what
share In National Coal they had de
cided to give me for my M~nnasquale
mines. 'Langdon and Melville" said
he, "think me too LIBERAL: far too libcr-
al, my boy. But l insisted-in you ease
| felt we could afford to be generous
rs well as just" All this with am air
n the parent.
having seen that he was Il %hypocrite. l
felt his hypocrisy at once. and NY first
impulse was to jump for my breast
works. But instantly my vanity got
behind me. held me in the open. pushed
me IN toward him. If you will notice.
almost all confidence games rely for
success chiefly upon enlisting Il mans
vanity to play the traitor to his judg-
ment. So, instead OF reading his lib
crafty as plain proof of intended
t~reachery, I read it as plain PROOF of
my w greatness, and Of h fear 1t
Il inspired in old Roebuck. Laugh
with me if you like: but, before you
laugh at me. think car~efully-those OF
you who have ever put yourselves to
the test on the field of action-think
carefully whether you have never found
that you head decoration which you
thought a crown was in reality the
peaked md belled cap Of the fool.
YD..k -. .-.,:A ..,-- ~.~H l~r0 "a -~
Led on by 1t. i proceeded to nave one
OF those ridiculous generous impulses"
II persuaded myself hat there must
be some decency in this liberality,
in addition to the prudence which
I fiattered myself was the chief
cause. Il have been unjust
misjudging his character" And in
credible though it seems. I said to him
with Il good deal of genuine emotion:
II don't lSnow how to thank you, Mr..
Roebuck. And, instead of trying. 1
want to apologize to you. I have
thought many hard things against you;
ter have been attending to my own
conscience. instead of criticising
yours"
had often thought his face about
the most repulsive. hypocrisy-glazed
of evil passions that ever
IIOrlteQ ~ uellO III tHe lleSn. IL Hau
seemed to me the fitting result of a
long career which. according to COM
mon report. was stained with murder,
with rapacity and heartless cruelty.
with the most brutal secret %sensuality.
and which a left in it's wake the
ruins of lives and hearts and fortunes
innumerable. I had looked on the vast
wealth he had heaped mountain high
rs Il monument to devil daring-other
mon had. no doubt dreamed IF doing
the ferocious things he had done. but
their weak. human hearts failed when
it anne to executing such horrible acts.
and they had to be content with small
er fortunes. with the comparatively
small fruits of their comparatively
small infamics. He had dared all. he
had won: the most powerful bowed
with quaking knees before him. and
trembled lest they might. by n blunder-
ing look or word excite his anger and
cause him to snatch their possessions
from them.
Thus I had regarded him. accepting
the universal judgment. believing the
thousand n n stories. But as his
eyes,. softcned by his hugely generous
act. beamed upon me now. I was
amazed that l had SO misjudged him.
In hat face witch I had thought
there was. to my hypnotized gaze, the
look of strong. sincere-yes ~holy-beau-
ty and ~power-the look of an archangel.
Inank you. bi;fcklock. said he. In
a voice that made me feel az II 1 were
n little boy in the crossroads church,
believing I could almost zee the angels
floating above the heads Of the singers
in the choir behind the preacher.
"Thank o. I am 10 surprised that
you have misjudged me. God has given
me a great work to do. and those who
do His will in this wicked world must
expect martyrdom. I should never have
had the courage to do what have
done. what He has lone through me.
had He not guided my every step. You
are not a religious mani"
1T try to do what's square, said I.
But I'd prefer not to talk about that
That's right! That's right" he ap-
I-aA..oA nnnsnAaAlss u naaAsu ..Aa-a--a