Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1911-07-07

ent-for he had done it alone-to have
been above the ordinary feeling o.
loneliness. Nevertheless, he vas tenn
p~eramentally lonesome, and at this
particular moment desperately so.
He had drifted into New York some
20 years before, utterly unheralded,
unnoticed. He had begun by filling a
small clerkship in a little dry goods
store. He kept at it until he owned
the store, and after hat a larger store
on a better street. He had developed
a genius for trade, and an executive
ability in accord, until the original
little shop had expanded into a 15-
story building covering a block on the
principal ~thoroughfare of New York
city, and its owner had become a pow
err in finance,-a merchant prince.
Such was George Gormly.
He was, too, a 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 ne
dishonest dollars. His money was
good everywhere because 1t was I'M
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 foot, the sole owner,
Of b greatest enterprise of b kind
that the world had ever seen.
This had not been achieved lightly.
He had brought it about because, with
absolute si%ngleness Of heart, he had
put every ounce of strength and time
M talent, which in him amounted to
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. OPP
~pOrtunity had favored GOrmly. He
had succeeded in everything beyond
his own or anyOne's widest dreams.
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.
It had come about in a m
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 b
had so much at heart. Like every
other business man in New York,
Gormly was overwhelmed by chart
table demands. His business was N
thing; his charity another. He en-
plOyed a special secretary to loo aft
err the eleemOsynary end of his at
fairs.
There were w 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
one of the richest and most esteemed
in hat hive of multi-mil1iOnaries,
~wouId-be-sos, a~lso-rans, and other peo-
pie. The second was the magnitude
of Miss Haldane's demand. She want
ed something like a million dollars.
This amount appalled, the secretary.
She realized that a man like GOrmly,
indeed most men if they had the pow
er, would much rather give a million
than a dime to an undertaking that
appealed to them. Still, GOrmly, hav-
ing devoted his attention so exclusive
ly to his business heretofore, was
rather staggered by the magnitude OF
the amount. He would have been
more staggered by it had he been less
so by Miss Haldane herself.
Miss Haldane had beauty. Thou
sands of people-women, hat is, and
some few men-have that. She had
more; she had presence n person
ality. Hundreds of men, and some
few women, nave these.
Those who have all three in either
sex are rare and come to view infre-
quently. Whether it was Miss Hal
danes u~ndoubted beauty, or Miss Hal
danes exquisite breeding and man
ner, or Miss Haldane's force of char
acter and determination, that most i'm
pressed him, or whether his instant
subjugation was due to the influence
OF all three, Gormly could not tell.
He was given to s~elf-analysis, as
lonely people usually are. By analyz-
ing himself he learned to analyze 9th
ers. Introspection and observation had
been great factors in his success. Here
again his experience was at fault; for
Miss Haldane defied analysis, as the
breath of summer compounded of a
thousand balmy scents cannot be re-
solved into its elements, save by the
hard scientist who is insensible to its
fra
CTO BE C~ONTINUED)
The Wonders About lis.