The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1910-08-11

| lese WORK and play Quaffed in health
| giving heartiness is the elixir OF youth
| Inc speculative habit of the boy SLEPT
In the college undergraduate. The days
were full, each of the things of itself
and II Tom looked forward to the
workaday future-as he did by times
the boyfsh impatience to be at 1T was
| gone. Chiawassee Consolidated was
moderately prosperous: the home let
| ters were mere chronicles of sleepy
Paradise. The skies were clear, and
the present was acutely present. Tom
studied hard and played hard; ate like
an ogre and slept like a log. And when
| he finally awoke to find himself STUN
bling bewildered on the bank OF the
epoch making Rubicon, he was over
and across before he could realize how
so narrow a stream should fill so vast
a chasm.
Tom received a letter from his ia tn
er telling Of the financial crisis, his
fear for the Chiawasse Consolidated
and asking his advice
Tom found this letter IN his mall
box one evening after a strenuous day
| In the laboratory; and that night he
| sat up with the corpse of his later
| boyhood, though he was far enough
from putting 1t that way. His father
was In trouble, and the letter was a
call for help. 1t seemed vastly incred-
| ible. Thomas Jefferson's ideal of steady
| courage. of invincible human puis-
sance, was formed on the model of the
stout-hearted old soldier who had
| fought under Stonewall Jackson. What
trumpet blast of alarm must have
| 70 To
raw recruit for help.
ITS up to me-" he unused. "and Ia
like to know what I've been thinking Of
| all this time. Why, pappy's old! he
was 40 before I was born. And I've
| been here taking it easy and having
all sorts of a good time, while he's
been playing Sindbad to Duxbury Far
ley's Old Man Of the Sea- Coming.
pappy!" he shouted; and forthwith
| flung himself down at the table 10
| write letter that was to put new life
into weary old man who was fighting
against odds in the far-away South
| land.
The lone soldier was to take heart
of grace. remembering that he had a
| son; remembering also that the son
was now a man grown, stout of arm,
steady of head. and otherwise fighting
fit If the storm should come, the
watchword must be to hold on all.
keeping stserage-way on the Chiawa s.
see Consolidated craft at all hazards,
The June examinations were not far
off. and these disposed of. the man
son would be ready to lay hold. Mean
while, let Caleb Gordon, in his capacity
OF principal minor slockholder, insist
on a full and exact statement of the
company's affairs, and-here the new
manhood asserted itself boldly-let tina
statement, or a copy of 1t, come 10
Boston by the first mail.
To this letter there was a grateful
reply In which Tom read with a smi,a
his fathers half bewildered attempt to
get over to the new point of view. II
began, Dear Buddy" and ended. "Your
affectionate !appy," but there was
man to man natter between the salr-
tation and the Signature The incuirv
into :he AFFAIR." IF Chiawassee Consoli-
dated had revealed little or nothing
more than the general manager al
ready knew. The president had turn
ed the inquirfng stakeholder over 10
Dyckman. the bookkeeper. with in
structions to give Mr.. Gordon the full
est possible Information. and:
"Dyckm7n slid out of ii. smooth and
easy-like," Calen's letter went on. He
allowed he was mighty busy. right
about then. Wouldn't just make my
self at home and examine the books
for myself? l reckon that was about
what Farley wanted him to do. I'm no
book expert. and I couldn't make head
or tail out OF Dyckman's spider tracks.
Looks to me like all the books are good
for Is TO keep people from finding
where the company Is at. What little
/ found out young Norman told me
He says we're In hole. and the first
wagon load o. dirt that comes along
will bury us out of sight"
Tom, driven now with the closing
work Of the college year. yet took time
to write another heartening letter 70
the hard-pressed old soldier. 1t had
been his good fortune to win the Clark
son prize for crucible tests. and m
have gained thereby a speaking ac-
quaintance with the multimillionairc
iron king who had founded II. Mr..
Clarkson aid not believe that the inan-
cial storm would grow to panic size.
AS for himself, Tom thought the haz-
ard was less in the times than in the
Farleys. Father Caleb was to keep his
finger on the pulse of the main office,
wiring Boston at the first sign of its
weakening.
The junior metaIlurgical was In the
thick Of the June examinations when
the catastrophe befell The brief story
of 1t came to Tom in the first dictated
letter he had ever received from his
father. and the tremulous shakiness Of
the signature pointed eloquently to the
reason. Chiawassee Consolidated was
out OF blast-"temporarily suspended"
in the pleasant euphemism of the elder
Farley; the force, clerical and manual,
was discharged, with only Dyckman
left In the deserted South Tredegar Of
fees to answer questions; and the
three Farleys. with Major Dabney. Ar
dea and Hiss Euphrasla, were to spend
the summer in Europe.
Caleb wrote In some bitterness Of
spirit Though the Gordon holdings in
the company. increased from time to
time as the iron-master had prosper
3D. amounted to little more than a
third OF the capital stock, everything
had been done secretly. The general
managers own notice of the shut down
had come in the posted Notice to EN-
ployes." When the Farleys should
leave. he would be utterly helpless; on
their return they could repudiate ev-
erything he might do In their absence
Meantime. ruin was imminent The at
fairs Of the company were In the ut
most confusion; the treasury was emp
ty, and there were no apparent assets
apart from the idle plant. Creditors
were pressing; the discharged work.
men. led by the white coal-miners
were on the verge Of riot; and Major
Dabney's royalties on the coal lands
were many months in arrears.
Tom rose promptly to the occasion.
and in all the stress of things found
space to wonder how 1t CHANGED that
he knew instinctively what to do and
now to go about 1t. Before his infor-
nation was an hour old a rash tele-
gram had gone to his father, asking
from what port and by what steamer
the Farleys would sail; asking also
1hat certain documents be sent to