The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-22

Nken DztoN
 1ook. he Cure

hN HE partners pI MT. T.. GlIlnSndIi
 Montgomery Dayton were worried.
 x If he broke down 1t would mean ruin to their business. He had the repu- tation of being the coolest and best bal anced man on the stock exchange. He handled more orders and executed them better than any trader on the board. He knew everybody. He had no illusions and no prejudice. Usually he hunted with the pack, but he was not above hunting one of the pack. He had no nerves-only nerve. That Is what made his breakdown so shocking. It puzzled him, and 1t puzzled his partners. Surely 1t was not from overwork, for the mar ket had been in the doldrums for months. There had not been enough business transacted in one week to make up good days total. Speculation seemed to be stagnant. The stock market Is a good deal like the sea-it has it's periods of steady breezes, its cross currents, It's list less winds, its dead calms, its storms and its hurricanes. A philosopher takes them as they come.
 Montie Dayton was a bit of a philoso- pher, and accepted the first month of lassitude with complacency. There was lot of growing by some of his conferes, and the dullness spread over the second month, but 1t didn't bother Montie. Even the third month did not phase him, nor the fourth He rather prided himself upon the stociaI calm with which he viewed the most trying of all situations to an active, energetic man.
 Other houses in the street laid off em- ployes and reduced expenses, talked pes- simistically and wondered what the world was coming to. Montie's office ex- penses were $200 day. He had not made much in any one day since the cobwebs Tn all occasions he had only made sl2.5O as the result of a days operations. Usually his dinner cost $25 to $50, for he lived we'll and liked company. So did his partners.
 The dullness was maddening, yet Mon tie only smiled. Then, one day, when there had not been a transaction on the exchange for nearly an hour, and when men jumped at the sound of a gong or loudspoken word, Montie went quietly back to his office and started dic- tating some letters, calm and self os- sessed as ever.
 His stenographer missed word and asked Montie to repeat a sentence. He did thing then that he had never been known to do before. He pounded lis desk and he swore. He cried out in his wrath and ended by ordering his secra- tary from the room.
 When one of his partners came in to see what was causing the commotion, he found MT. E. Effingham, etc., with his head in his arms on the desk. At a word he jumped. The calm Effingham Montgomery had turned apparently into small Vesuvius. He spouted the lava of complaint and the smoke of anger. He talked unreasonably. The office force was incompetent, there were noises in the street, his partners were not in sym paathy and business was going to the dogs. In short MT. Dayton's volcanice ha oF al eruption.
 From an ordinary man this would have been nothing. But for Montie Dayton it was appalling, and the partners gathered in hurried conclave, though they could do little more than gaze at him in as- tonishment. Suddenly. in the worst DOT ton of the outburst, the broker sat down weak and plaintive, he said, q don't know what is the matter with me"
 That is why they took Montie D. to the specialist. The broker was asked a hundred or more questions. At the close of the interview the physician was quite satisfied. The trouble was all plain to him. He was used to such collapses. His diagnosis was to the effect that MT. Day ton had suffered a complete breakdown. The Wall street game had worn him out. A man can be worn out by worry ing over dullness as he can by overwork. Mir. Dayton had worn out not only his nerves, put impaired hlS stomach and his liver. And there were three or four other organs that were not above suspicion Nothing but the most complete rest and detachment from business could save the broker. As Mir. Dayton was young, a few months might show a radical change for the better, but he would have to leave town at once. The specialist suggested Virginia Hot Springs as an admirable place. The baths and the waters would undoubtedly serve to tone up his sys- tenn.
 The partners packed Montie off. They , were no more terrified than Montie nim- self. It was the first time since he was boy that he had a real good scare thrown into him. Ills did not sleep on the train, but that didn't bother him much, as he had suffered some from insomnia since the third month of the doldrums. He was thoroughly wretched at not being able to smoke. however. the doctor having forbidden it. Ordinarily