Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-08-29
CHAPTER III-(Continued.)

CHAPTER III-(Continued)
'sDid Mrs Winship-" she began,
with some hesitation.
sFor mercys sake, Paula Mrs.
Tratford exclaimed, hastily. don't
get those Winships on the brain. |
thought they were dead and buried
long ago. and, dear knows, they've
given us trouble enough"
Let her go on, Aunt Julia" George
Trafford reasoned, calmly. Since the
subject has come up, she'd better
know it just as it is"
81 was going to say" Paula said,
with dignity, "if Mrs. Winship
thought that papa had done her
wrong"
"Most people think you do them
wrong if you do things better than
they can Trafford answered, quickly.
There's no kind of business, from
the stage to the church. in which
the strong workers isn't held as an
enemy by the feeble and the indif.
ferent. That's inseparable from
human nature, and your father has
had to face It, The hostility he has
encountered has been in proportion
to his success; 50, naturally, It's been
colossal"
"And I'VE never known him to
utter harsh word Mrs. TrafforG
observed, quaveringly. "As each new
attack has arisen, he has faced about
to crush it. When that's len done
he has given it no mere thought
it hasn't beer to help those he has
beaten. Where he has seen people
with ability he has often taken them
into his own employment; and there
are plenty of wealthy men today who
can tell you that their fortunes were
made when your father singled them
out as clever opponents. There's
Henry Desmond, for instance, who
was only an obscure young lawyer at
Utica until he gained the McTavish
case against us From that very
moment your father kept his eye on
him, and when the Brewer action was
brought in Albany he put the whole
case in Desmond's hand. That made
Desmond what he is; and there are
hundreds of others of whom the same
thing is true. Your father has the
most wonderful way of converting his
enemies into friends. It's sort of
art of his. I've never heard of it any
where else-unless it was in Mary
Queen of Scots"
"Couldn't he have done that with
the Winships?' Paula asked, return
ing to the personal point.
.In business" Trafford explained,
swinging himself round SO as to lean
over the arm of his chair, and speak
ing for Paula's benefit-"in business,
~ oef
will turn themselves about SO as to
put up with second-best They Will
even accept their-best and fourth
best rather than go with no advant-
age whatever But every now and
then you meet some one with whom
it must be all or nothing. They'll not
bargain, or compromise, or meet you
halfway. or resort to any of the shifts
with which business men have often
to be content. They'll fight you to the
bitter end, and die before they yield
In fact they're people with the fight
Ing rather than the business instinct,
and, when you meet them they leave
you no choice but to crush them cut
Of your way"
Were the Winships like that?"
Eyes, they were. They were like
that, only worse. You could no more
beat modern methods into old Roger
Winship's mind than you could into Il
mountain of brass. Because he was
the largest owner of coal-lands in
New Hampshire, he looked upon him
self as sort of ruler by divine right
For nearly thirty years he had operat-
ed the Devlin Mines
But they're ours!" Paula exclaim.
ed.
MOVIES" Trafford assented
with short Taught But when your
father first cast his eyes on them the
Devlin Coal Company was practically
Did Roger Winship. He worked the
mines and sold the coal in hum
drum, provincial, old-fashioned way
and made handsome income. Then
came your father-with new ideas
and victory behind him all along the
line"
But papa didn't want to take the
Devlin Mines from Mr. Winship?"
No; not at all. He was only de
yeloping the plan with which he hat
begun-that he should control the en-
tire output and sale of coal in the
sphere under his immediate influence
AS you know, that sphere expanded
as he went on, like growing empire
At first when he was a young man
he thought of coal production onl!