The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-09
BY &. J. RATH.

reforming il. Neither did he intend to
write book about il, He was not a
student of sociology, and he had not
the remotest notion Of trying TO upiift
folks who worked for a living. He was
just plain James T. Hopkins, doing
what suited him and minding his own
business.
Some weeks passed before he realized
that the matter of being a millionaire
was being crowded away back into
some little-frequented part Of his brain.
At first outside of business hours, he
could not help thinking about il, but
that was largely because the new life
was strange to him. 1t afforded him
some amusement to think Of what his
sister might say if she knew, or his
lawyers, or his friends. But as the new
environment became more familiar to
him he thought less about the old. He
almost looked upon it as past, for the
new side of the world was infinitely.
vast and took much time to explore.
There were fellow clerks who lunched
with him and called him Jimmy, or
Hopkins, or Hop. There were impor-
tant persons of the firm, the manager,
the customers, the Office boys, the places
to which he was sent on errands, the
banks, the lunch places, the street
crowds, the grooming subway trains, the
boarding house, the lOdgers-a myriad
Of things all new and absorbing. A
man simply did not have time to think
about his mere millions. Here, for in
stance. was a perfect museum Of hu-
manity. called a boarding house, with
a wide variety Of exhibits. Some of
them taught school. ne learned: some
/ clerked. or sold goods, or kept books.
/ One of them gave music lessons. An
other wrote things. They were a new
people to Hopkins-people with pur-
/ poses, and ambitions, and hopes, and
acknowledgements. And most of them
/ talked about what they did, so that he
/ learned about them amazingly fast.
/ Living on SO a week became a finan-
cial hobby. He had virtually dared
himself to do it. IF I'm going to play
/ the game. I'll play the game, that's all, -
said Hopkins. while I'm playing il
| I'll do it on a ten-dollar limit" So he
never sent for money, or drew on an
| account that was almost at his elbow.
/ Out Of the balance, after his board was
( paid, he found that he could buy maya
/ zines and newspapers, and pay car
/ fares. Once in a while there was enough
I for q theatre ticket He did not try to
save. Nothing of that sort entered his
/ head until the firm raised his salary.
] He had been a business man for near
/ ~ six months when that happened.
Hopkins" said the manager, we are
going TO give you SIS a week. You
seem to take an interest in your work.
| We want to make you more interested.
/ Wen put you in the stock department
/ for a while"
Fifteen! Whew, When Hopkins went
home that night he had a desire to run
| that almost overpowered him. It
/ seemed as If his feelings could only find
! expression in q wild sprint through the
streets. He had earned a raise! He was
/ getting on in the world. He had tackled
| business on its home ground and was
! scoring.
| Almost irresistible was the impulse to
| blurt il out at the dinner table. It
/ seemed as if his fellow boarders really
ought to know about it. But instead.
/ he saved I'd the news and confided it,
as they sat on the front porch, to the
girl with the brown eyes. Who was
she? Oh, a nice girl to talk to. Day
times she wrote letters in a lawyers
| Office. Her mother lived in Ohio. At
odd times, when there was enough left,
she sent a little money home, because
/ il was needed there. She was so differ
ent from the girls he knew in the days
when he was J. Thorncroft Hopkins
that at first he decided she was a shy
/ little thing. But the shyness began to
melt when they exchanged opinions on
/ the serious affairs of life and discovered
I that they were on a common field of
battle. True, for a while Hopkins felt
the hypocrisy Of his part, but gradually
that perception was dulled as the new
order Of things became more real to
| him. He found the girl interesting at
I first because hers was a typical strug-
/ gle with fortune.
/ She was quiet and brave and unas-
suming. but she had a world of ambi-
ton All the sincerity Of her nature
went into her work, unromantic as il
/ seemed. She wanted to get ahead in the
world. He liked to talk to her because
the spirit of her sincerity seemed 70 in
! fuse him and made him seem more like
a real toiler himself.
Ct got raise today" he said. awk-
wardly-
/ The girls eyes frightened.
Did you? Isn't that fne?" she said
IN get SIS now: I'm in the stock de-
/ partment," he added.
He thought he detected a fieeting
usefulness in her glance, but she said
heartily:
y am glad you got it, I think you
worked hard for il"
"Oh, ] worked hard enough. I guess"
he coTroboTated. But it's good fun. at
that. Guess III begin TO save now"
She laughed and nodded
i've been saving ever since 1
worked she said. It's not so hard as
you'd think
But he knew that the savings were
not for herself and that il was hard.
She never complained about il. how
ever. and he liked her for that. For
while they talked about their minia-
ture finances until he completely for
got that he was an inteTloper among
the toilers. Then he took what strucF
him as a daring step.