Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1907-01-02
| A Wall Street Story
IOriginal.l

TO use IOrclDle eApTtSSfou, uViCu
over" The merchant prince, the law
yer, the doctor, the clerk, the coach
man. the housemaid We're all lin it."
About that time / got into the kettle"
myself with a thousand dollars that
had been left me by an aunt. Stocks
kept going up, and l doubled my
money. When summer came on put
it all in the common stock of the North
ern Pacific railroad preparatory to go
ing to the country. With my $4,000 l
bought 200 shares, my broker lending
me what was needed to complete the
purchase, holding my stock for Sc
curity The price was par.
went to the mountains to join
party of which Miss Gylling was
member, with a view to closing win
contract Of marriage. She appeared to
be much pleased to see me, but some
what constrained. l did not know it
at the time but she was not quite GER
tain that / was a desirable part,
financially. / was quite certain that l
was not. had but 81, 900 in the world,
and a recession Of 10 per cent in the
value of the stock in which it was in
vested would wipe it out as chalk fig
ures may be wiped from blackboard.
But it was love, not money, that / was
considering, and / supposed Miss CYL
ling was influenced solely by the die
tates of her heart.
Miss Gylling soon showed that she
! was temporizing with me. She did
not wish me to make declaration I'M
til she knew how l was situated finan-
cially. l, supposing she was not sure
she loved me, cast about for some other
girl to whom l might devote myself,
/ thus giving Miss Gylling an opportu-
nifty to learn how prospect Of losing
me would affect her. Little Agnes
Worsley, whose plump figure round,
rosy cheeks and laughing eyes were
! pleasant to look upon, seemed to me
a fitting person for my purpose.
| When it was evident that my atten-
tons to Miss Worsley were not pleas
ing to Miss Gylling l inferred that the
/, latter had a better knowledge Of the
state Of her heart, and, taking advan-
tage Of this fact, i made my PROPOSE
ton. I was disappointed that she did
not fall into my arms and whisper
YES" She did no such thing. She re
gretted having led me too far, though,
she ''liked me very much" and gave
me hope that / might be accepted in
time. Chilled by this reception of my
declaration, l turned away to meet a
telegraph boy, who handed me a dis
patch. Opening ii, / read:
/ ''One hundred and fifty bid for North
ern Pacific. Shall, we SELF"
4. Going to the writing room Of the ho-
tel, / wrote an order to sell, and hand
ing it to the boy directed him to send
it at once. Miss Gylling came into the
room as | was going out and asked me
If had received any bad news. / was
so excited at having made $4,000 that
/ told her of my good fortune, though,
not caring to be known as a Spectator,
1 did not give her the method by which
it had been acquired.
| For the rest of the day she seemed at
(, loss how to treat me. One moment
she would appear to favor me and at
another to repulse me. Just before sep
arating for the night she promised to
give me an answer the next day and
led me to believe it would be favorable
In the morning Ireceived telegram
from my broker asking why / had not
replied to his inquiry. l at once went
to the telegraph Office and found that
the boy who had carried my message
had been run over by an automobile
and the order to sell had not been tele
graphed wrote "a duplicate order tc
sell and handed it into the receiving
clerk, then went to the hotel. AS / en-
tered / heard a man say, whats the
matter with Northern Pacific? A few
minutes later message followed me
from the telegraph Office from my bro
ker.
"Shall we sell Northern Pacific? One
hundred bid"
Here was loss of all my profit, anG
from the message it looked as if the
stock would go lower. Miss Gylline
came up, and l handed her the mes
sage, saying that 1t advised me of the
loss of the $4,000 had made the day
before She looked somewhat discon
certed, as though the loss or something
connected with 1t annoyed her and
seeing her mother across the hall, lef
me to join her.
was sitting on the piazza, feeling
very much disgruntled over my bat
luck, when Miss Worsley came along
I wanted some one to sympathize with
me and told her how i had made $40,
600 and lost II. She not only sympa
thized with me, but encouraged me t.
hope something might happen tina
there was no prospect Of happening
delightful trait possessed by some wo
men with more heart than practica
sense. A boy stepped up to me ant
handed me a telegram:
! "Sold 200 Northern Pacific at 1000"
"That stupid telegraph girl has writ
ten 1000 for 10O," remarked.
Just then a man passed me reading I
newspaper, and I saw I'm scare head
lines:
Northern Pacific 1000"
asked him what 1t meant, and b,
said there was no doubt that 1000 wa
bid for the stock. but little or none wa