The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-07-11
LABOR, TRADE
AND CAPITAL"
lconyrlght. by Loseph b. Bowle.l
By o. HENRY

Copyright, by JC
Across our two dishes Of spaghetti.
In a 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 supply Of Chicago-made clothing
At one OF the Fulton street stores.
During the other three seasons he
may be found further west--hs range
is from Spokane to Tampa. In his
profession he takes a pride which he
supports and defends with q serious
and unique philosophy OF ethics. His
profession is no new one. He is an
Incorporated, uncapitalised, unlimited
asylum for the reception OF the rest.
less and unwise dollars OF his fellow.
Inen.
In the wilderness OF stone in which
Jen seeks his annual lonely holiday
he is glad to palaver OF his many ad.
ventures, as a hoy will whistle after
sundown in wood. Wherefore, |
mark on my calendar the time of his
coming and open question OF privi.
Iege at Provenzauo'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. mean Wall street specula
tion, and burglary"
Nearly everybody will agree with
you as to one of them,' said I, with
laugh.
Well, burglary ought to be wiped
out too" said JEFF; and wondered
whether the laugh had been redun.
dant
about three months ago" said
Jeh, lit was my privilege to become
familiar with sample OF each Of the
Aforesaid branches of illegitimate art.
| vas sine qua grata with n member
OF the housebreakers' union and one
OF the John d. Napoleons OF finance at
the same time"
Interesting combination" said I,
With yawn. did ! tell YOU bagged
a duck and ground.squirrel al 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
Jea, with the pure CLEAN OF the muck.
raker In his own
"Ae ] 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
husiness runs out Of luck. 1t was ont
In Arkansas ! made the wrong turn
at crosa-road. and drives into this
town OF Peavine by mistake. II seems
had elready assaulted the disfgured
Peayine the spring of the year be-
fore | had sold $500 worth OF young
fruit trees there plnms, cherries,
peaches and pears The Peaviners
were keeping an eye on the country
road and hoping might pass that
way. again. ! drove down Main street
as far rs the Crystal Palace drug
store before realized had commit
ted ambush upon mysels and my
white horse Bill. ...
THE Peayiners took me by sur.
prise aid Bill by the bride and began
a Conversation that wasn't entirely
difassocioied with the subject OF fruit
trees. A committee OF EN- ran some
tface chains through the armholes of
my vest, and escorted me through
their gardens and orchards.
AtTbeir fruit trees hadn't lived up
to their labels. Most OF EN- 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 corsetcoyer
"1'he Peaviners protracted our fruit
less stroll to the edge OF town. They
took my watch and money on ac.
count; and they kept BIZ and the
wagon as hostages, They said the
first tint one OF them dogwooa trees
pDt forth ali Amsden's June peach
might come back and get ms things.