The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-11-23

i<ksS s1ARA AN MkNi
that helpless creature added amazing
g ly. lu~dicrously, to that dangerous ella
ton which, as l can nov see. had bee
growing in me Yer since the day Roe
4 buck yielded so readily to my demand
as to National Coal. The whole trouhl
: with me was that up to that time
had won all my Victories by the plain
1 est Kind of straightaway hard work.
was imagining myself victor in contest.
r of wit against wit, when, in fact, NJ
one with any special equipment o
brains had ever opposed me; all the
t really strong men lac been helping mt
: because they found me useful. To
easy success-there is the clue to the
| wild folly that seems utterly incon
sistent with the reputation for shrewd-
ness | had, and seemed 70 have earned
| can find a certain small amount OF
legitimate excuse for my falling under
Langdon's spell. He had, and has, fas-
cinations, through personal magnetism,
which 1t is hardly in human nature to
resist. But for my self-hypnotism in
the case of Roebuck. 1 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 Manasquale
mines. "Langdon and Melville" said
he, think me too liberal; far too liber-
al. my boy. But l insisted-in your case
/ felt we could afford to be generous
as we'll as just" All this with an air
that was a combination of the pastor
and the parent.
I can't even offer the excuse of not
having seen that he was a hypocrite. I
felt his hypocrisy at once, and my first
impulse was to jump for my breast
works. But instantly my vanity got
behind me, held me in the open, pushed
me on toward him. If you will notice,
almost all confidence games rely for
success chiefly upon enlisting a mans
vanity to play the traitor to his judg-
ment. SO, instead of reading his lib
erality as plain proof of intended
~treachery, 1 read it as plain proof of
my own greatness, and of the fear it
had inspired in old Roebuck. Laugh
with me if o like; but. before you
laugh at me, think carefully-those of
you who have ever put yourselves to
the test ON the field of action-thipk
carefully whether you have never found
that our head decoration which you
thought a crown was in reality the
peaked and belled cap of the DOL.
But my vanity was not done with me.
Led on by it, I proceeded to have one
of those ridiculous generous impulses
be some decency in this liberality,
in addition to the prudence which
I f1attered myself was the chief
cause. II have been unjust
to RoebuclS," 1 thought. Il have been
misjudging his character" And in
credible though it seems, I said to him
with a good deal of genuine emotion:
Il don't know how to thank you, Mr..
Roebuck. And, instead of trying. 1
want to apologize to you. l nave
thought many hard things against you;
have spoken some of them. 1 had bet
ter have been attending to my own
conscience. instead of criticising
| yours"
I had often thought his face about
the most repulsive. hypocrisy-glazed
concourse of evil passions that ever
fronted u fiend in the flesh. 1t had
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 had left in its wake the
ruins of lives and hearts and fortunes
innumerable. I had looked on the vast
wealth he had heaped mountain high
as q monument to devil daring-other
men had, no doubt dreamed of doing
the ferocious things he had done. but
their weak, human hearts failed when
it came to executing sue horrible acts,
and they had to be content With small
er fortunes. with the comparatively
small fruits of their comparatively
small infamies. He had dared all, he
had won: the most powerful bowed
with duaking knees before him, and
trembled lest they might, by a 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 and M stories. But as his
eyes, softened by his hugely generous
act. beamed upon me now, / was
amazed that I had SO misiudged him.
In that face which I had thought
there was. to my hypnotized gaze. the
ty and power-the look of an archangel.
Thank you. Blackjack said he, in
a voice that made me feel as if were
- little boy in the crossroads church,
believing Icould almost see the angels
floating above the heads Of the singers
in the choi behind the preacher
Thank you. ] am not surprised that
YOU AVE r%isiudged me. God has given
me = great work to do, and those who
do His will in this wicked world must
expect rartyrdom. should never have
had the courage to do what have
done, what He has done through me,
had He not GUIDED my every step. You
are not a religious man"
"I try to DO what's uar said
but I'd prefer not to talk about that"
That's right! That's right" he APP,
proved earnestly. "A mans religion is
u ItitilhSi DSlStSll IllllSelI ana ms God.
But ] hope Matthey, You will never for
set that, unless you have daily. hourly
communion with Almighty God, YOU
will never be able to bear the great
burdens. to do the great work, fearless
ly. ~disregarding the lies of the wicked.
and. hardest of all to endure. the hon
estly mistaken judgments of honest
men,
TN look into it," said 1. And don't
know to what lengths of foolish speech
1 should nave gone had I not been
saved by IN office boy interrupting
with q lard for him.
"Ah, here's Walters now" said he.
Then to the boy: Bring him in when
1 ring"
1 rose to go.
mo, sit down, Blackjack he insisted.
You are in with us now. and you may
learn something by seeing o 1 deal
with the larger problems that face men
in these large undertakings, the prob
lens that " faced me in each new
enterprise 1 have inaugurated to the
glory of God"
Naturally, I accepted with enthusi-
asn..
Yon would not believe what a mood
/ had by this time been worked into hv