Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1907-12-12
LABOR, TRADE
AND CAPITAL"

By Q. HENRY

Copyright by Jo
Across our two dishes of spaghetti
in corner of Provenzano's restau-
rant, jeff Peters was explaining to me
the three kinds of graft.
Every winter Jeff comes to New
York to eat spaghetti, to watch the
shipping in East river from the depths
of his chinchilla overCoat, and to lay
in a supply OF Chicago-made clothing
at one of the Fulton street stores
During the other three seasons he
nay be found further west-his range
IS from Spokane to Tampa In his
profession he takes a pride which he
supports and defends with a serious
and unique philosophy of ethics. His
profession is no new one He is an
incorporated, uncapitalized, unlimited
asylum for the reception of the rest
less and unwisc dollars of his fellow
men.
In the wilderness of stone in which
Jen seeks his annual lonely holiday
he is glad to palayer of his many ad
ventures, as a boy will whistle after
sundown in a wood. Wherefore, |
mark on my calendar the time of his
coming, and open question of privi-
1ege at ProvenZanO's concerning the
little wine-stained table in the corner
between the rakish rubber plant and
the framed palaZzio della something
on the wall.
There are two kinds of gratis"
said Jeff, that ought to be wiped out
by law l mean Wall street specula-
ton, and burglary"
Nearly everybody will agree with
you as 70 one of thom," said l, with a
laugh
Well, burglary ought to be wiped
out, too" said jeff; and | wondered
whether the laugh had been redun-
dant.
toout three months ago" said
Jeff, 1T was my privilege to become
familiar with a sample of each of the
aforesaid branches of illegitimate art.
| was sine qua grata with a member
of the kousebreakers' union and one
Of the John d. Napoleons of finance at
the same time"
Interesting combination" said 1,
with yawn. Did tell you l bagged
duck and a ground-squirrel at one
shot last week over in the Ramapos?"
/ knew well how to draw Jeff's stories.
Let me tell you first about these
barnacles that clog the wheels of So
ciety by poisoning the springs of rec
titude with their upas-like eye" said
JEFF, with the pure gleam of the muck
rakcr in his own.
AS | said, three months ago | got
into bad company. There are two
times in a mans life when he does
this-when he's dead broke, and
when he's rich
Now and then the most legitimate
business runs out of luck 1t was out
in Arkansas / made the wrong turn
at cross-road, and drives into this
town Of Peavine by mistake. 1t seems
] had already assaulted the disfgured
PeaVne the spring of the year be-
fore. had sold $500 worth of young
fruit trees there plums, cherries,
peaches and pears. The Peaviners
We're keeping an eye on the country
road and hoping | might pass that
way again. / drove down Main street
as far as the Crystal Palace drug
store before | realized / had commit
ted ambush upon myself and my
white horse Bill.
Tho Peaviners took me by sur
prise and Bill by the bride and began
conversation that wasn't entirely
disassociated with the subject of fruit
trees. A committee of 'em ran some
trace chains through the armholes of
my vest, and escorted me through
their gardens and orchards.
Their fruit trees hadn't lived up
to their labels. Most of 'em had
turned out to be persimmons and dog
woods, with a grove or two of black
jacks and poplars. The only one that
showed any signs of bearing anything
was a fine young cottonwood that
had put forth hornets nest and half
of an old corset-cover.
"The Peaviners protracted our fruit
less stroll to the edge of town. They
took my watch and money on ac-
count; and they kept Bill and the
wagon as hostages They said the
first time one of them dogwood trees
put forth an Amsden's June peach I
might come back and get my things.