The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-02-16

suggested that in the future we should
have a deck of cards for a quiet little
gare'of PENNY ante.
But if what I hear is true. I don't know
about playing poker with a Standard Oh
MAJ remarked one reporter.
"Oh. that's all nonsense replied Mr..
Rogers. we are not half so bad as some
would make you think. We are always
willing to do a good turn. Z even am will
Ing TO help the Attorney General OF Mis-
souri, out If / could only answer his Ques-
lions to suit him"
How Mr.. Rogers Came 70 Mark Twain's
Relief.
One of them deals with Mark Twain,
whose labor of a lifetime was swept away
IN the crash Of his publishing house. There
was a probability that the brilliant humor
OF the man would be forever eclipsed by
the gloom OF his financial struggles. Henry
H. Rogers came to the rescue not merely
with the offer OF money. which n mill
%nonaire could tender. but forcibly took
charge and bade him delight the nation
with his stories and his philosophy. un-
mindful OF worries. It was Henry II.
Rogers who enabled Mark Twain to ap-
pear at his seventeen birthday dinner, hale
and hearty. clear in min n delicious in
humor. and maket the speech that has zone
the country round.
1t is Twain who sometimes gives to the
public the humorous stories told by Rogers
to his intimate circle, although the fnan-
cier's name Is not mentioned. Hero 1s n
nov acknowledged to v been told by
Mr.. Rogers and related q few evenings ago
by Twain at a dinner:
I'm a village suburb Of New Bedford .
friend pointed out to me q bronzed, wealth.
er-beaten old man, over ninety years OF
age.
"Do you see any passion in that old
mann" said he. You don't? Well. I can
make him q perfect volcano. I'll Just
mention to him something very casually"
And he did.
That old man suddenly gay vent to an
outburst Of profanity such as I had never
heard in my life before. I listened to him
with hat delight which one listens to an
artist. Thu cause of 1t was this:
When the old mar was a young sailor.
he came back from three years cruise and
found the whole town had taken the
pledge. He hadn't; 30 he was ostracized.
When he couldn't stand 1t any longer he
went to the secretary OF the tenn
preance society an said: Put my
name down for membership" Tho
next day he went for q three
years cruise and all through those long
years ne tortured himself by refraining
from liquor. He thought OF his pledge to
tho society and he vowed he'd keep 1t as
long as his name was IN the rolls. and he
couldn't take 1t off till he got home. What
that old sailor endured can never be told.
Finally he reached home. The first thing
he did was to buy a jug of rum. but before
taking a drink he ran to tho temperance
society. Take my name of the books,
quick he cried.
cit isn't necessary replied the secre-
tary. you were b~lackballed."
Rogers the eenefaotor of His Little
Homo Town.
The little seaport v,llaRe where this hap.
pened is Fairhavell. just across the river
from New Bedford. Mass. and there Is
where H. H. Rogers was born. He was,
got rich. The early days OF The millionaire
were spent in work such as hundreds Of
other village boys do. His highest Job
was driving the delivery wagon for the
village grocer. n there are many old
people in Fairhaven today who remember,
Henry who brought the groceries around
to the back doo.. Then he wandered of to
the oil fields of Pennsylvania and became
one OF the earliest employees OF the Stand
ard. Now he has risen to the top OF the
richest corporation in the country.
Fairhaven knows the Rogers that is gem {.
erous to the town. thoughtful OF his fellow
men, democratic to his neighbors, and as
lovable every day in the year as on the
rare occasions when the privileged few OF
the metropolis gee his inner self.
Nor is his face hard M cold when he
enters his HON and the circle of a family
that likes its own society better than the
glamor OF Fifth avenue bathrooms and the
gaycties of Broadway. Three daughters
and a son all save one, now married. mako
up hat circle. The first Mrs. Rogers d.ed
in 1898. and in 1896 Mr.. Rogers married
Mrs. l.. r. Hunt. of New York. No book
of reference gives the date of his birth.
for it is a semt-secret. He is credited with
&C years.