The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-09-24
CHAPTER |,
Tho Loneliness of MIR. eorr,,v.

To his great surprise, George CORN.
ly sometimes found himself feeling
lonely. and tho oftcner so as he grow
Older. Every man who has Il natural
liking for women,-and whal true man
has not?-yet who has no in.imats
friendships with or relations to the
other sex, is likely to find himself in
that state OF mind sooner or later
Gorlnly was sufficiently aged; he was
forty-four although he looked much
younger. He was sufficiently expo
rienced; he had dealt with women for
a straight quarter of a century al
though he had neither loved nor mar
ried one. He was sufficiently self re-
liant; he had built up by his own un
aided efforts the greatest retail mer
chandise business of his day and gen.
GRAFTON. He was sufficiently :ndepend.
ent-for he had done it alone-tc have
been above the ordinary feeling o.
loneliness. Nevertheless, he was tenn
peramentally lonesome. and at this
particular moment desperately SO.
He had drifted into New York some
Is years before. utterly unheralded,
upnoticed. He had begun by filing a
small clerkship in a little dry goods
store. He kept at it until he owned
the store, and after that larger store
on q better street. He had developed
genius for trade, and an executive
ability in accord, until the original
little shop had expanded into a IT,
story building covering a block on the
principal thoroughfare of New York
city, and its owner had become a pow.
er In finance,-a merchant prince.
Such was George Gormly.
He was, too. scrupulously honest
man. He sold good goods, without
deceit. Things were as he represent.
ed them. He established principles Of
accommodation in his dealings that
were unique when they were first in.
stituted in New York He made no
dishonest dollars. His money was
good everywhere because It was un.
tainted. He prospered exceedingly,
one expansion following another.
Eschewing speculation of any kind
and devoting himself strictly to the
business, he found himself in middle
life the head, the foots the sole owner.
Of the greatest enterprise of tho kind
that the world had ever seen.
This had not been achieved lightly.
He had brought 1t about because, with
absolute singleness of heart, he had
put every ounce Of strength and time
toll tab To- Ii, A.
genius, at the service of his affairs.
Time, talent, and genius do not always
produce such results; fortune still
must be considered in the game. Op.
portunity had favored Gormly. He
had succeeded in everything beyond
He might have gone on indefinitely
in his mercantile operations without
attracting special attention to himself
personally. had it not been for one
fact. That momentous happening was
his meeting with Miss Haldane.
1t had come about in common.
place way enough. Miss Haldane,
deeply interested in social settlement
work and being brought in contact
thereby with some of the poorer en-.
ployees Of the great Gormly establish.
ment. had concluded to call on the
proprietor thereof to see if she could
not induce him to make some ade.
quate contribution to the work she
had so much at heart. Like every
other business man in New York,
Gormly W: overwhelmed by chart
table demands. His business was one
thing; his charity another. He en-.
ployed special secretary to look aft.
or the eleemosynary end Of his af.
fairs
There were two reasons why the
secretary felt himself unequal to deal
with Miss Haldane and her demands.
The first reason was Miss Haldane
herself. She was a member of the
oldest and most exclusive circle in
New York society. Her family was
ono Of the richest and most esteemed