The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-04-03


chum, Bob Brownley, OF Richmond,
Va, was graduated with me. He was
class poet, /, yard marshal. We had
been four years together at st. Paul's
previous to entering Harvard. No
girl and lover were fonder than we of
each other.
My people had money and to spare,
and with 1t a hard-headed, northern
horse sense. The Brownleys were
poor as church mice, but they had the
brilliant, virile blood of the old
southern oligarchy and the romantic,
"salaam.to.no-one" Dixie-land pride Of
before-the-war days, when southern
prodigality and hospitality were found
wherever women we're fair and mems
mirrors in the bottom of their julep.
glasses.
Bob's father, one OF the big, white
pillars Of southern aristocracy, had
gone through congress and the senate
of his country to the tune of Spend
and Not Spare" which left his widow
and three younger daughters and q
small son dependent upon Bob, lis
eldest.
Many warm summer afternoon,
as Bob and padded down the
Charles, and often on cold, crispy
night as we sat in my shooting-box on
the Cape Cod shore, had we matched
up for our future. / was to have the
inside run Of the great banking bust.
nses OF Randolph G. Randolph, and
Bob was eventually to represent my
fathers firm on the floor of the stock
exchange. I'D die in an Office" Bob
used to say, "and the floor Of the
stock exchange is just the chimney.
place to roast my hoe-cake in" So
when our college days were over my
,able old father stood us up against the
wall in his office, and tried us by his
tests, and proud we both were when
dad said: Jim, you and Bob have
chosen well. You, Jim, are just the
chap to step into my shoes, and Bob is
cut to thirty-second and sixty.fourth
for the floor" Proud we were, not
so much because of what my fathers
decision meant for our future, for
we knew We should get into the bust
ness all right, but because our judg.
ment was indorsed by one we both
thought as near infallible as man
could be in anything pertaining to
business affairs.
Bob was then 22 and I year old.
er-l one Of your raw-boned New Eng
land lads, not much for prettiness
but willing to weigh in raceday with
any of them for steadiness and stay.
ing qualities; Bob as handsome as
they made them, six feet tall in his
gym sandals straight as an arrow, with
the form of an Indian, and one Of
those clean, brave. all-for-heart.noth.
ing-for-policy. smiling faces to which
men yield willing friendliness, and
women, idolatry. Bob's eyes were as
big and round and purplebrown as an
English bulldogs, unfathomable, at
once mild and stern, with q childish
come-and-go perplexity; his nose as
straight as though chiseled by mas
ter for a Greek medallion, with thin
curved lips to correspond, and high,
broad forehead, whose whiteness was
set of by luxuriance Of hair that
seemed jet-black, but was of the same
rare purple.brown as his eyes. But
1t was the poise Of Bob's head that
gave his good looks their crown. Who
ever has seen a bunch Of two-year.old
colts in long g-grass Kentucky pad
dock, when the darky boy lets loose
w OF of Dol o, , ,
Is sure to remember one that threw
up its head and kept 1t poised to
make sure 1t had caught the call.
Grace. strngth and Embarrassed way
ward leadership are there personified.
Some such suggestion was ever in the
carriage of Bob's shapely head and
vigorous figure. and dull indeed would
be the man or woman who failed to
recognize the mans rare distinction
and masterfulness.
Indeed, as said bit back, Bob
Brownley was by all odds one OF the
handsomest men / have ever seen,
but besides that, he was a sterling.
manly, unaffected fellow. as true as
steel, as brave as a lion and the
best comrade friend ever had.
Perhaps it was because his fathers
death had saddled Bob's youth with
the heavy responsibilities Of husband.
ing and directing his familys slim
finances that he took to business as a
swallow to the air. We entered the
office Of Randolph G. Randolph on the
same day, and on it's anniversary, a
year later, my father summoned us
into his Office for a sort Of tally.up
talk. Neither of us quite knew what
was coming, and We thrilled with
pleasure when he said:
Jim, you and Bob have fairly out
done my expectations. l have had my
eye on both Of you and l want you
to know that the kind Of industry and
business intelligence you have shown
here would have won you recognition
In any banking house on the street
l want you both in the firm-Jim to
learn his way round so he can step
into my shoes; you, Bob, to take one
Of the firms seats on the stock ex-
change"
Bob's face went red and then pale
with happiness as he reached for my
fathers hand,