The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-06-03

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her in, and every few days he'd be
cartin' over some little borrowin's
that somebody had paid back. But
Squire Lazenby's interest was eatin'
in all the time, and Philly he bought
more or less truck he didn't really
need, Jest because, as l told ye a
minute ago, it's so terrible easy to
make out one o. them little slips"
The storekeeper stopped abruptly
and scowled into more vacancy.
"Yes?" Uncle Bishop suggested.
Il bate vel" the storekeeper re-
sponded, feelingly. For few Sec
onds there was silence.
And all this time, you want to
remember, Peters hens and incuba-
tors were a-hatchin out chickens"
the storekeeper said, all at once. That
seemed to mark change in the cur
rent of his thoughts, and with more
cheerfulness he proceeded:
There was more'n one way that
things didn't work out with Philly
as they do in the newspaper stories.
Maybe In big city he could have
carried it through slicker, but in
smaller places most everybody knows
how much there actchilly is behind
anybody else. So, when capitalists
came in from outside and brought a
new business scheme, or there was
something promislns planned right
here in town-then, when Philly be-
gan to swell around, and show kind
Of accidentally that he had a check
book, and wait to be asked inside
the scheme, there was always some
body to get off a joke about the two
hundred dollar checks, and Philly'd
be dished.
Then he had a desperate spell
I callate Squire Lazenby may have
been squeezing him-and he thought
he'd get rich quick, too, lending
money at big interest. There were
a few weeks when folks over that
way that never did have much of
anything before were living high. l
s'pose Philly thought he'd protect
himself, but, my king! a man might
give me stack of promissory notes
as tall as the meetin' house steeple,
but the only real security ye have,
after all, is whether he means to pay
his debts. And as near's / can make
out, half Of PHILIPS customers weren't
any more responsible than-than
them chickens of Peters.
We'll, to make a long story short,
1t was more'n three years that the
bank put up with Philly, while he
was pushin' his little handful O. dol
lars back and forth and tryin' to be
millionaire by his own say-so. His
salary didn't grow, the way healthy
salary ought to do, because his mind
was mostly on schemes outside the
shop. His money didn't grow, be-
cause he hadn't put 1t in the savings
bank or in some little business-like
Peters hen farm-where he could
sort o. work with It. And last I
heard, he didn't have any check-book,
and he'd paid Squire Lazenby seven
ty-five dollars interest on that bor-
rowed fifty, and owed him sixty dol
lars yet"
About that ere hen farm"
Unele Bishop began.
But the storekeeper hushed him
with a gesture, and leaned forward
to hail venerable citizen whose an
cient horse was rambling rheumatic
ally down the road.
Hey, Ammi!" the storekeeper
called. 81 see Philly Appleton's
home. Amt this a queer time o.
year to take vacation?"
The venerable citizen checked his
horse and pondered minute.
What's that? Oh, Philly?" he
answered, at last. Peters give him
job, ye know. He's come back to
do the letter-writin' and bookkeepin'
about Peters chickens. Youths
Companion.