The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-04-08
He Reached His Goal.
Ioriginal.l

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ulty OF doing more than one thing at
time successfully. He was an edu-
Gated man with refined and inteliec-
tual tastes. He had inherited a busi-
ness from his father which took every
moment of his time from o'clock in
the morning till late at night
Old6eld laid out the following course
for himself: He would remain lat the
grindstone" till he had accumulated
100000. This he would invest in
/ bonds paying per cent interest, or
5000 year. Then he would proceed
to enjoy himself. First he would spend
a great deal of time with his wife and
children, whom while business man
he never saw except at rare intervals;
second, he would cultivate his tastes,
read, listen to music and look at works
of art.
Employed at Oldfield's warehouse
was a porter named Collins. He. like
his employer. had a wife and children;
but, unlike his employer, on going
home at night he left his work behind
him. At o'clock in the evening he
went home. Be 1t summer or winter.
his youngest child. boy of three,
would come running TO meet him, and
his wife stood ready at the door to
give him the accustomed kiss. The
husband got good wages, and the wife
was frugal woman; therefore they
had all they required In their humble
station and nothing TO worry about.
One evening Oldfeld wishing to see
his porter about some goods that
needed to be shipped by an early train
in the morning, went to his house. He
found Collins on all fours on the floor,
riding his children on his back, while
the wife was sitting before a com.
Portable fire darnlng stockings and
laughing at them. Oldfield gave his In
structlons and went away. 1t was the
busy season, and he needed the even
ing hosrs to midnight to get through
his days duties, so he went back to his
office. AS he worked he thought of his
porter playing with his children. Col
llns was the man of all others In. his
employ whom he had never envied, for
he was the lowest of the lot in the
social scale. He did not envy him now,
for he would not like to descend to
Collins position. but he wished that he
had the time the porter spent with his
family to be with his own wife and
children.
Why could not he, who had every ad-
vantage of Collins, be able to do
what Collins could dot Oldfield made
from $4,000 to $4,000 a year, while
the porter made but 5000. The porter
was happier in his work, for he was
constantly singing us he rolled about
his heavy truck, and when he went
home he was happier still. Strange.
wasn't It?
Oldfeld calculated that lie had half
the fortune he had fixed as his limit
before retiring II he could live on a
could save the balance. But could he
live on that amount? His family had
n certain station to keep up. They
must all dress well, and the children
must go to the best schools. The pres
ent expenditures were at the rate Of
$4,000 a year. To come down to
$1,000 Gwlce what his porter received
would be a terrible strain on himself.
his wife and his children. 1t would be
impracticable. However, he went home
and talked about 1t to his wife. She
had so longed to have him with her
and their children that she favored
making the attempt.
After much talking and planning
they gave up their house in town and
took cottage In the country. Oldfeld
fitted up room at the store. for he
was obliged to remain at work nights,
and 1t required too much time to go
back and forth. For fire years he saw
less of his family than before, some
times not sleeping under the same roof
with them for weeks. Living upon
1920 year was great discomfort
TO him and to his wife, for they had
been used to much more. The chill
dren, who were young when the change
came, soon got used to It and were as
happy as before.
At the end of the FIVE years heavy
loss was sustained In the business, and
1t was five years more before John Old
field invested 100000 in bonds and
closed out his business He did so only
because he was determined to adhere
to his plan, for he felt that to do as he
wished would require double the In
come he possessed.
He removed his family to the city
and divided his time between the libra
ries, picture galleries, musical gather
ings and his home. Every evening he
spent at home, though his children had
grown too old to romp and had formed
acquaintances of their own age. In
deed, some Of them were continually
engaged either at their lessons or
dancing school or in some amusement
with their companions. His wife was
devoted to him, but they had no plan
ming to do for themselves or their chill
dren. The income was fixed. and 1t was
easy to lay out its expenditure. II was
not so easy to live within 1t. Oldhed
found his evenings dull. AS for the
days, he found that his aesthetic tastes
: had lain dormant so long that they
ceased to respond to works of art. He
s did not enjoy leisure because life was
I all leisure. There was no contrast with
r work to make leisure enjoyable.
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