El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-08-09
The Herald's
Daily Short Story
Out Of the Depths
LAaskWa.~~-

George dismissed him with a curt nod,
and the coachman went silently away.
Then he sat down alone in the quiet
night-in the same place where his
father, his grandfather, and great
grand father had sat and worried and
reckoned and weighed and decided.
After all. it had only been his grand
father who had weighed and considered
and reckoned; his father and he himself,
had not troubled to count the cost
they had flung their money away
Away over there, in the town, in a
dusty courtroom. smelling of ink and
sealingwax, and lit with gas-there II
had seemed so easy to part with 1t ALL
There he had only thought of Kidding
himself of what was only care to him.
He had sent the case of champagne
now waiting outside in the hall-quite
gaily; tomorrow they would drink the
wine. and wish luck to the newcomers
Yet, it had all been so simple away in
the town But here-here II seemed
quite different.
Memories of family pride-the Meier
plates-He got up impatiently. AS 1T
could not be altered. 1T must be borne
Only dogs may whine, men must endure
So he pushed back the top of the desk
10 go through it's contents.
Ancient bills, old letters. family
papers-the funeral cards of his parents.
the certificate of his little brothers
baptism-the brother who had died be-
fore Georges birth. Perhaps 1t would
have been better If this little Johan
had lived He might have been more
like his grandfa NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. stern,
and careful, not serving as dragon
and wasting all the money IS his father
had done.
In a little drawer, quite by itself lay
oil hoQ N.
George took it in his hand; he recog-
nized IL at once. 1t was a guide for
landowners. In this book. his grand
father, an industrious old man. had set
down during his last year. when govt
had held him prisoner in his room, his
Hfe's experiences More than once ne
had said to his son and his grandson:
1.-THE words of the old are of value
Some time when you are in trouble. read
this book
Neither had done so. Yet now. when
too late George took the old mans ad-
vice. He read how the owner Of land
must work early and late, and learn the
nea ming of the proverb.
THE eye of the master alone makes
the cattle fat"
He read words of advice for spring.
for autumn, for winter. for diseases
amongst cows. pigs, horses He read
eleven recipes for calves and seventeen
for pigs.
Three o'clock struck.
The seventeenth recipe broke off alb
ruptly in the middle, but his grand
father had written on:
Dear Son or Grandson-or God only
knows-great-g grandson, l know you
well-a foolish, hairbrained race. If
you have read your ancestors words pa
tiently so far, it is because you are in
great straights-you are at your wits
4
still living you would come to me- But
I am no longer here-yet I stretch out
hand from the grave to help you
Perhaps trouble will have improved you;
II it has not * then nothing ever WILL My
dear grandson. or great-grandson-I
hope 1t will not be my son who reads
this-press the little knob on the left
hand side of the desk, the panel will
slide back and you will find little
drawer. In it there is an order on an
English bank. L paid in there on Aug
5th, 1875. $4,000 pounds to your credit.
Pay your debts, dive simply, work we'll
think now and then of your grand
father. If the sinews are strained
[. recipe for strained sinews followed.
For some time George stared at the
ma gic writing that made him master OF
a large fortune A passionate gratitude |
filled his heart.
Tomorrow, with a grim smile, he
would tell those two men they might |
tear up the papers. All was still his.
As the first ray of sunlight came |
through the window. he went to his bed |
room. He took off his town coat and !
put on a working one that hung in the |
wardrobe. He put it on gladly. cheer /
fully, sign of what his future should |
be.
The morning breeZes played fresh and |
beautiful round the house On the roof |
the stork urged her young to courage /
for their first light