The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-07-03
Watkins Little
Investment
sy .. 4. M'..-.
sy 3. Z. kI..r.


student of finance. Every morning
he would read the financial QUOTA
tions. The long lines OF initials and
the columns of figures that at first
were meaningless soon, became as an
open book to him. He could re-
member what O. J. and F. closed at
week ago last Tuesday, and IL r.,
A and w. went up a point he knew
just how much more It would have to
advance before reaching the mark
which some wise men had set for It.
Now, this man. whose name, by
the way, was Watkins. had sort Of
head for figures. and one evening
after he had been thinking for a
long time about Miriam Ives--a neat
figure she was--he did some figur-
ing on f., l.. and B. common.
"Supposing." he said to himself,
that bought about 5000 worth OF
1t at 15 and sold II at 80. That
would increase my working capital
to 5000. Then on the next slump /
could invest my $500 and sell out
for $1,000.
1t was q simple proposition. All
he had to do was to be little pa
tient. After the third turnover he
would have s2,400: the fourth
would see him $4,000 to the good
Before he got up to the fifteenth
year of his career as buyer and
seller OF f., i. and b. common his
head began to be dizzy, and, putting
his yencil In his pocket, he went out
to ask Miriam II she would be his
wife.
He kissed her few times and
told her candidly what was going to
happen.
Archibald" she whispered. ~
don't care for all these terrible
riches. Wealth is an awful respon-
sibility. Let's keep your 5000 and
furnish nice fat with It."
But he convinced her before he
left that It would be almost criminal
II he neglected to take advantage of
the opportunity which was opening
before him and he continued to
watch the financial page.
On the 18th OF July F., L. and b.
common was quoted at II. Then
A. Watson transferred $500 OF his
money from the savings department
Of the bank and opened up q check
Ing account against It. At the same
time he gave certain broker an
open order to buy twenty shares OF
F., l.. and p. common at Is. A
week later he had a dizzy spell when
he saw the stock quoted at the figure
he had named. Later in the day he
was informed by Bloodgood, Ketch-
um e. Co., that they had bought for
his account twenty shares OF F., l..
and B. common.
A week later F.. l.. and b. com
mon was quoted at II, and there
were rumors of reorganization
which might result In the wiping
out of the common stock altogether
Archibald Watkins began to have
sinking spells, and he fell into the
habit of breaking engagements with
Miriam. Two or three times he de-
cided to sell out and save what he
could of his hard-earned money, but
he put 1t off from day to day, hop
Ing there might be a reaction. By
the middle of August the stock was
quoted at Q ~, and the young man
who had figured out profits of about
SS,000.000 for himself in fifteen
years was convinced that the broker
who had referred to F., l.. and B.
common as "a nice old lady" had
been mistaken.
He quarreled with Miriam because
she thought he was foolish for not
saving, what little he could from the
wreck.
Think how much more sensible
1t would have BEEN" she answered,
~ you had taken my advice and kept
the money to furnish the fat
That made him angry. II was the
kind of talk he had always heard
from his mother when she was alive.
1t had always been, Archibald. II
you had only listened to mel"
So he rushed away from Miriam.
bitterly saying:
when get $40 share for my
stock I'll come back"
On the following day It went
down with a sickening "plop" to
3 "a, at which figure Archibald Wat
kins sold out. Deducting the COM
missions there was left for him about
$40 out of the 5000 which he had
paid as his tuition fee.
The next morning he noticed that
the reaction had begun, and In four
weeks F., l.. and B. common was
selling round 25. When 1t touched
80 again A. Watkins sat and studied
the figures long and earnestly. Also
he reread note which he had re-
ceived that morning from Miriam
Ives.
Dearest Archibald (she wrote).
see now that you really did know
what you were talking about. For
give me for the doubts | expressed
concerning your wisdom. Be sure
TO come this evening. am SO anx-
ious to tell you how much admire
you for your courage and for your
shrewdness. l have Just heard OF
the dearest fiat. And l am dying to
congratulate you on your-or may !,
dear. say 'our'---succes Yours i'm
patiently, NW