The Democrat-sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1906-1935, 1906-11-29
....H...
METROPOLITAN
INCIDENT
BY HOWARD FIELDING
Copyright, 1906, by Charles w. Hooke
BY HOWARD FIELDING
A MAN who is honest ut heart and
~ yet deeply engaged in question
"A able enterprises; who owes

"A yet deeply engaged in question
4 n able enterprises; who owes
large sums and escapes bank
ruptcy by an endless process of borrow
ing from Peter TO pay Paul; who is al
ways "overdrawn' at one bank or an
checks which create other overdrafts;
who lives upon his reputation for
prompt paying, yet never really pays;
who preserves meanwhile a conscience
rooted like great jaw tooth and al
ways aching-such a man will have Il
weary mind, though the spur of ambl-
tion may keep it going.
A jaded mind reveals itself in queer
little absurdities. Observe, for exam
pie, Mr.. Robert Ely walking up the
east side of Broadway with an unlight-
ed cigar in his mouth An enviable
young man surely. He is tall, strong
and of graceful carriage He is
dressed in good style, with a dash of
individuality. He has a boylsh, smooth
shaven 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 fumbling
with that matchbox after he should
long since have discovered that it Is
empty? Why is it that neither his fin
gers nor his eyes convey any intell
syapca tO hia l,ro In .
A small boy takes note of Mr.. Ely
and offers him a box of wind matches.
"Light, sir?" says the boy. and holds
up sizzling match to show that the
brisk breeze cannot blow 1t out.
"Eh?" 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 and
his own match safe into his pocket and
goes on his cigar still unlighted.
In large room ON the ground door
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 a company formed to eX-
plot it. 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-un-
less the stock sells he is u ruined man.
Rather more than half of every dollar
paid for the stock goes into Mr.. Ely's
pocket, and there are so many holes In
that pocket that it is very hard to fill.
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 Il constant miracle of finance which
he himself would not attempt to eS-
plain. The early indications of success
have been good, and if nothing hap
pens Mr.. Ely VIII sail with free
wind out of all his troubles. But
there are so many things that may
happen.
For example, If the public should
learn that the machine can be run at
high speed only about half an hour
and must then be stopped until certain
parts of it have been cleaned there
would be an eud of the game. Mr.. Ely
did not know this himself when he em-
barked in the enterprise He knew
that the first machines built by Invent
or Jennings had such a defect, but he
supposed that it could be remedied