Evening star., 1907-07-28

.yl
I'd be captured or bought or
caloed.
In the morning she slyly
touches bearded miner on the shoulder, so that
his startled pick glances aside and lays bare
pocket of gold; in the afternoon she is standing
on the street corner to intercept young Jones as
he hurrles by and present him, with one of those
irresistible smiles of hers, to grim old Jetfreys,
who is looking for just such young to take
into his law office and make partner in his
business; in the evening, when the moonlight gets
tangled up in the whispering tops of the els, she
does all sorts of strange and delightful and wonder
full things, as any lover will bear witness.
She is anywhere; she is nowhere. So it is easy
to deny her existence and hard to prove to the
willing that she is ever than the delusion of
unfavored suitOr.
This is to tell how, out of one of her wfu whim-
sizes, she sought out tinid, narrow commonplace
old in obscure little country village; how
her golden shod feet tripped again and again up
the dirt path which led to his weather beaten,
painted cottage; how, despite the angry objections
OF the whole family, she finally forced an entrance
and sat down in a wooden chair by the cylinder
stove; how all efforts to dIslodge her proved use
less, while all the time there growing up about
her instead of the small cottage, stately white
marble palace, overlooking great blue lake; until
now, seems strangely always the case, the
worthy object of her favoring affections grown
round and fatuous and pursy, denies all knowledge
OF the goddess with the golden sandals and boasts
himself pompously of business acunen and pre-
sclent shrewdness.
For more than thirty years the sign of Thomas
the little frame store the of Liberty,
Illinois. Eight blocks off, in unpainted wooden
cottage, located the BullSmith domestic estab-
lishment 1t thrifty household, innocent of any
ambition for a servant girl. Thomas Busmith ir
ourneyman harnessmaker, while the younger
still at school, delivered the surplus milk from
red and white muley to the eXtravagant
neighbors. In the back yard garden grew summer
vegetables and the years supply of potatoes and
cabbage, while in a sty behind the barn the
winters bacon and ham and side meat grunted
contentedly the hoof
Every cent penuriousy piled up at either end of
the line went to the making of six per cent mort
cages fat black farming lands. When the daz-
zing eyes of the golden goddess first fell the
wizened features of Thomas Bulsmith the sum so
loaned out was seven thousand dollars. The day
she raped for the first time his gray sun cracked
front door it happened that two mortgages for
thousand dollars each fell due and were paid.
SO she arranged that the afternoon old Will
liams, the great man of Liberty, should drop in at
the jewery store to leave his watch for repairing
Tom" said Williams he unsnapped the time
piece from its heavy gold chain and laid it the
counter, you don't happen to know anybody who
has couple of thousand to loan for ninety days,
do you.'
Now, Busmth united to the natural ndecison
OF aweak character the professional timidity of the
typical capitalist; he merely grunted and re-
Piled, Il dunno as l do, Colonel"
Well if YOU do hear of any idle money, Tom"
Williams concluded alrily, Ill be glad to pay ten
per cent. for the accommodation and give lien on
my block across the street by way of security
Now, the Williams block was the architectural
wonder and pride of Liberty, and the idea of hold
ing mortgage on it tIngled the atrophied imagna-
ton of Thomas Bullsrnith; also the thought of
lOanIng money to the local Croesus was gratifying
to a mean imag,naton and, beyond all such senti-