The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-04-24

=
and perhaps I felt a leetle contempt
fur de one who didn't take advantage
of me when de way wus open TO.
Don't make any purtense or nom,
esty. Leave de matter open so DAT
YOU kin take advantage of good
thing when it comes along;
you shall make some bad debts.
You must expect dat and hgger ac-
cordingly. Dat is, you must hgger on
de good customers payin' up de debts
Of de bad
Don't assert yourself too much,
and don't be too reurin'. If you am
too CONSPICUOUS you will be asked to
contribute five dollars to every Fo'th
of July celebration; if you am too re-
trim you won't be asked to hold de
stakes in lection bet.
Oats about all, Brudder Green,
and you may sot down while remark
a few remarks to Brudder Absolute
White"
The one sat down and the other
stood up, and the latter was addressed
with:
"Brudder White, you have fallen
asleep at cherry meetin' of dis club FUR
years and slept frew de hull purceed-
ms, but we have nutnin' 'cept kindness
in our hearts fur you. If you haven't
done any good you haven't done any
harm, and OATS mo- dan kin be said
of most men. Time arter time I has
lent you money and you have always
paid it back. 1 believe you am a
thoroughly honest man, and fur dat
reason I'm a bit afraiG TO have you
sot out fur Households to go into the
coal-yard and ice business. You have
told sartin members of dis club dat
you believed de people of dat town
would tumble ober each other to glib
deir custom to a squar' man, ana dat
you'd be honest wild your coal and
ice if it busted you inside OF year.
you am deServin' of praise fur
such words, Brudder White, but if
you foller 'em out it won't take sixty
days to bring about de butsin' act.
You'll be workin' fur some of your
competitors fur dollar and half a
day.
"When go to buy a ton of coal I
hain't looking to git two thousand
pounds. De miner cheats de coal
company if he kin; de coal company
cheats de railroad; de railroad cheats
de wholesaler, and what's gwine to
become of de retailer if he don't cheat
me to git chen? 1 jest sorter glance
ober de coal when de cart comes up
and make up my mind dat de shortage
am not ober a hundred pounds and
let it go at dat. If I went to de coal
man I'd only obleege him to lie about
1t, and thus add another sin.
Nineteen hundred pounds of coal
fur a ton, Brudder White, and If you
kin take fifty pounds off'n dat at any
time widout bein' cotched at 1t you'll
last so much de longer. Oar am two
sorts o. coal, as you must know-de
good and de bad. When dey am
1udiciously mixed together de profits
am increased.
"As fur ice. I contract fur twenty
five pounds so many times a week. 1
smile ober dat contract, and so does
de ice man. We both know dat it
chunks. He knows dat I've got an
old mewl to sell, and dat I'm not
gwine to pint out his ringbones and
spavins. I'll do de buyer if I kin, and
de ice man knows it will do me.
Anywhere from eighteen to twenty
pounds of ice fur twenty-five, Brudder
White. If you glib mo- it will only
melt away in de box. If you should
sot out to glib twenty-seben you'd find
half your customers howlin' fur
thirty. De sQuar' man of today am de
man who am squar' by hisself. It has
come to dat~pass wild human natur'
dat we am mo- shy of an honest man
dan of rascal. We know what de
latter am, but we don't know what sort
of trick de former may be gittin'
ready to serve us.
1--WE will now riz up and sing Aud |
Lang Syne,' which was composed by
a man who died in de pore-house fur
bein' too honest, and den we will
shake hands wild de departin' breth-
rem and dispense to our varus abidin'
places. "-(Copyrighted, 1909
|
Heiress-But they tell me you are en-