Imperial Valley press., 1911-12-13
A PECULIAR
FACULTY
BY ARNOLD TREAT
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911.

Qlun ike TO WORK. L remember tQal
as boy during the marble season
took. no interest in the game except
"for keeps" and usually won all the
other boys marbles. When | came in
from playing the game with my pock-
cts loaded down with alleys and aces
and bullseyes my father would look
at them wonderingy.
When l was eighteen l was put to
work. My employer owned large
number of dwelling houses, and they
we're mostly vacant. The reason for
this was that he would do nothing ftr
1is tenants. They were all mortgaged
to the same man. who couldn't get the
interest on the mortgages. The mort
gagee came into the office one day
tearing mad and told my employer
that he didn't know how to manage
such property and the houses must be
put into the hands of some one else.
Hartwell, the owner. offered to put
the management in my hands. to
which Johnson, the mortagee, assent
ed l suppose Hartwell thought he
in that he was mistaken. | offered a
big commission to agents to recon-
mend the houses and gave the tenants
everything they asked. The result
was that within year l had the
houses all occupied. all in prime or
der and paying a good interest on the
investment.
When l got things running I had
nothing more to do, so l lit out into
the world for a bit of excitement. l
strolled down the street, with my
hands in my pockets and saw a red
flag out at the door of handsome
dwelling I'd got some idea of the
value of such property and thought
I'd go in and attend the sale. Per-
haps 1 would buy the property. l
hadn't any money even to pay the
percentage Of the amount of purchase
demanded when the property is knock
ed down to the highest bidder. but
that didn't trouble me a bit. | had
the assurance of Satan himself. So |
went in and found a lot of bidders,
each one acting as if he was afraid he
would have the house on his hands. 1
estimated that the property was worth
a lot more than any of the bids. l
don't know why | did SO. | only
know that | felt certain OF it. So l
raised the lastNbid by $1,000. That
scared everybody else Off, for l put on
look as much as to say, I'm bound
to own this property if l have to pay
double its value for it." The conse-
quence was that it was knocked down
to me for 21,000 The auctioneer
called on me for the usual percentage
of purchase. which was $2,100. AS /
had nothing but my wits to satisfy
him. l proceeded to exercise them.
asked him if he would take my check,
and he replied. Not without it being
certified" Then | asked him if he
would wait till ! sent a check to the
bank for certifcation. and he said he
would Since hadn't any check or
check book-or bank for that matter
to draw on l was wondering what
move | should make next. when the
wv uti VI tHt I'lOi'CttS III tthtA
asked if the sale had taken place.
When told that it had he sank in a
chair and moaned.
I've got the money" he said, with
which to pay off the mortgage"
Il thought the case must be one Of
foreclosure" l remarke1 I've bought
the property dirt cheap. I'm ready TO
sell it back 10 you for 75 per cent of
what it's worth. | consider it worth
$4,000. I'll sell it to you for 900.
The man fretted and fumed and dick
cred. but at last he accepted my terms.
."Just you give me $4,000 for my
bargain" said. "and I'll sign any
paper you like"
He agreed to do so, and made q
quick profit. Then ! told him that
what had said was true. and
thought I could sell the property for
$4,000 He declined TO bother with
me. but within a year sold it for
$4,000 1t was all luck. A railroad
terminal station was put up near the
property.
SHDpet lldl NJ,ODV dToiliu III AL
sorts of Investments and every time
put it in pulled it out with lot OF
other dollars sticking to it. Some
times | doubled it. twice trebled it
and on one deal increased it tenfold.
When | had got IL few hundred
thousand together. | went home and
asked father how he was getting on
He said he was very hard up. Our
interview ended in my drawing him
a check for double what he needed
then | sailed out to look around for
more chances.
Not long after that friend told me
that he had asked my father to eX-
plain my success My father told him
that | was no good on the principles
that govern ordinary mortals; that |
had no sense. no management in the
usual acceptation of that word - in
short. that l was born for ne'er-do-
well. but there was something in my
head somewhere to see things invisible
to other people.
My friend asked father if he thought
luck had anything TO do with the mat