The Tupelo journal., 1909-06-18

path; and whatever else you may be,
you're no coward"
yet, you think I surrendered to
Mercer? You think l did it because
l was afraid he would kill me? l sup
pose he would have killed me II /
hadn't, eh?"
He can speak for himself about
that; he seems-well, an earnest sort
of man. But l don't 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; 0 could win the odd
trick with something else; you let the
Midland go"
pretty close, "-Keatcham really
smiled-"but there is a good deal
more of it. l was shut up with the
results of my-my work. He did it
very ~cleverly. l 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 go
and were wiped out when, if they had
had confidence in me and held on,
they would be very much better off,
now. But they didn't, and they were
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! / was shut up with
them. He had some sort of way of
switching off the lights from the out
side. / never saw a face or heard a
the dark after he thought l had read
enough to occupy my mind. 1t was
unpleasant. Perhaps you suppose that
brought me round to his way of think
ing?"
The colonel meditated. "Ill tell you
honestly" he said, after a pause, Il
was of that opinion, or something OF
the kind, until l talked your case over
with my aunt
THE old dame is not a fool; what
did she say"
"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 a
majority of your c%ountrymen think
your type of ~financier is worse than
smallpox, and more contagious"
"Oh, she put it that way, did she?
/ wish she would write a prospectus
for me. Well, you think she was
nearer right than your"
II think you do; | myself think 1T
was a little of both. You've got a
heart and a conscience originally,
though they have pretty well tanned
out in the weather; you didn't want
to be sorry for those people, but you
are. They have bothered you "a lot;
but 1t has bothered you more to think
that instead Of going down the ages as
d COLOSSAL DGuCldCtOA dAu CAlpAlO
builder, you are hung up on the hook
to see where you're at; and where
you will be If the people get thor
oughly aroused. You all are building
bigger balloons when 1t ought to be
you for the cyclone cellar! But you
are different. You a see ahead. ]
give you credit for seeing"
"Have you Eve considered" said
Keatcham, slowly. that in spite of the
Ubiquitous greed of the men you are
condemning, In spite of their oppres-
sion OF the people, the prosperity OF
the country is unparalleled? How do
you explain it?
Crops, said the colonel; the
crops we're too big for you
You might give US q little credit
your aunt does. She was here to-day;
she is a manufacturer and she COM
pretended that the methods Of busi-
ness cannot be revolutionized with