The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-02-27

He tapped cne site "a We head:
mo more than you are"
"Or you?"
"Oh, WE'LL" the colonel TESTED, 'tWe
all have a prejudice in favor Of our
own sanity. What I meant was that
Mercer is. asbit of fanatic; his hard
luck has-well, prejudiced him"
Keatcham's cold, firm lips straight.
enedN into his peculiar smile, which
was rather of perception than Of
humor. It siS
One might say Of him-Aunt Rebec.
ca Winter did say Of him-that he
saw the incongruous, which makes up
/ for humor, but he never enjoyed it;
possibly it was only another factor in
his contempt Of mankind.
Colonel said Keatcham, do. you
think Wall street is a den Of thieves?"
II do" said the. colonel promptly.
Il should like to take machine gun
! or two and clean you all OUT
Keatcham did not smile; he blinked
his eyes and nodded. Il presume q
good many people share your opinion
] Of u.s. S'E.
Millions, replied the colonel.
Again Keatcham nodded. II thought
so." said he. "Of course you are all
on: Wall street is as necessary to the
commonwealth as, the pores to your
skin; they don't make the poison in
|. the system any more than the pores
do; they only let it escape. And sup
pose you think that big f1nanciers who
control the trusts and the railways
and" II ..y,&
us" the colonel struck in, "well?"
! 'You think we are thieves and liars
and murderers and despots?"
Cali Of that" said the colonel placid
"; "also FOOLS"
''You certainly don't mince your
words"
-"You don't want me to. What use
would my opinion be in one-thou-
sandth attenuation? You're no homeo-
path; and whatever else you may be,
you're no coward" LIN
"Yet, you think I surrendered to
Mercer? You think did it because
was afraid he would kill me? sup
pose he would have killed me If
I hadn't. eh?"' ..et ttfs is.s Z.
[ He can speak. for himself about
that; he seems-well, an earnest sort
of man. But don think you gave in
because you were afraid, if. that is
what you mean. You are no more
afraid than he was! You wanted to
live, probably; you had big things on
hand The Midland was only a trump
in the game; you could win the odd
trick with something else; you let the
Midland 60" s NJ I.
Pretty Close really
smiled but there is a good deal
more Of 1t. I was shut up with the
results Of my-my work. He did it
very cleverly. had nothing to dis
tract me. There were the big type
written pages about the foolish peo-
pie who had lost their money, In some
cases really through my course, most
ly because they got scared and let 60
and were wiped out when, IL they had
had confidence in me and held on,
they would be very much better OF,
now. But they didn't, and they we're
ruined and they starved and took
their boys out Of college and mort
gagged their COMPOUNDED homes that
had been in their families ever since
Adam; and the old people died of
broken hearts and the girls went
wrong and some of the idiotic cutters
killed themselves-it was not the kind
Of crowd you would want shut up with
you in the dark! Twas shut UP with
them. He had some sort OF way OF
switching of the lights from the out
side. never sawsa face or heard a
voice. would have to sit there in
! the dark after he thought had read
enough to occupy my mind. It was
pnpleasant. Perhaps you suppose tha'
brought me round to- his way Of think
ing?"
The colonel meditated. "1'll tell you
honestly he said. after q pause, Il
was of that opinion, or something Of
the kind, until talked your case over
with my aunt -e
'rhe old dame Is not . fool; what
did she 5say?" S. u
IS She said no, he didn't convert you;
but he convinced you how other peo-
pie looked at your methods. You
couldn't get round the fact. that q
majority of1your countrymen think
your type Of f1nancier is worse than
smallpox, and more contagious. {"
/, "Oh, she put 1t that way, did she?
! wish she would write q prospectus
for me. Well, you think she was
nearer right than your"
Il think you do;. I myself think It
was little Of both. You've got. .
heart and q conscience originally,
though they have pretty wen tanned
out in the weather; you didn't want
to be sorry for those people. but you
are. They have bothered you q lot;
but 1t has bothered you more to think
that instead OF going down the ages ~
q colossal benefactor and empire
Yx..RY