The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-01-30
A WOMAN
BOOMER
BY M. QUAD
Copyright, 1911, by Associated Lit
erary Press.

and magazines and was not so far be-
! hind the date The great mistake be
made was in certain line of reason
ing. When he read the alluring adj
vertisement promising stupendous div
/ idends In this or that he reasoned that
unless the advertisers were honest men
they would not make such statements
and that the postal laws stood between
him and swindle. He also reasoned
that his newspaper would refuse to
/ publish anything that had suspicious
/ look.
| 1t therefore came about that the
| farmer, after breaking his back with
hard work for forty years and having
secured comfort for Ills old age, invest
ed In fake and was badly skinned.
He worried over the matter for cou-
pie of years and then died. Mrs. Lee
was not of a confiding nature and had
been opposed to the investments. She
was left the farm, a portio8 of which
lay in the village of Dover, but her
days for hard work had gone by. She
ran things after a fashion. but the time
came when she had to think of mort
gaging a portion of the property. She
had become soured and imbittered and
had few friends.
One day the Widow Lee might have
been seen entering the office Of the
Weekly Tribune, to which she had
been a subscriber for long years. The
widow and the editor had long talk
and shook hands on 1t. The result was
that the next issue of the Tribune con-
tained the following:
I'VE learn on good authority that our
town is to have big hotel for sum-
mer visitors. That's what we have
been looking for for years-something
to start BOOM"
The next issue of the paper said:
We understand that the Widow Lee
is to have forty acres of her farm plat
ted into lots. and the cheapest one
among them will be held at $50"
The town was buzzing when the
Tribune announced:
'Tf Dover is lucky enough to get the
Higham Military school we shall be in
clover. A brickyard will be opened,
and there will be work for our masons.
carpenters. painters and laborers for
the next two years. After that every
thing our farmers can raise will find
cash market The price of real es
tate is advancing"
No one had bought or sold as yet, but
all were on the ragged edge when the
Tribune calmly announced: /,
I'VE have heard rumors that the d.
and III. railroad is thinking of running
q spur line to Dover now that there
is prospect Of its being paying In
vestment. We are Investigating the
rumors and hope 10 find them true
Nothing to thrill, and yet the people
thrilled. Real estate jumped 80 per
cent. and up went the price on the
widows lots again. Twenty or thirty
strangers arrived daily and wanted to
buy or rent. The Dover inn did more
business in week than it had ever
done in any three months. 1t was
while Doverites and strangers were /
tumbling over each other with fresh |
rumors three or four times day that !
the Tribune said:
IF the Sunshine Harvester company
comes here with its $500 men and an I
acre of factory the problem win be 4
where to find the land to build cot
tages on. The 200 or more lots owned (
by the Widow Lee will not be a tenth 1
OF those demanded. Bills will appear
tomorrow announcing an auction of
these lots, and 1t goes without saying
that the bidding viii be spirited and
the prices high. All the rest of the
farm may go under the hammer at the
same time. The report that we are to
have factory here for the building of
has sent real estate soar
ing"
The auction took place as advertised.
There was good crowd, and the bid
ding was all that could be hoped for.
Not only the lots went, but the farm
as well, and those who got any sort
Of parcel of real estate were considered
lucky.
Neither on the next day nor the next
was the Widow Lee seen to enter the
office of the Tribune. In fact. she
never entered it again. The 'whack-
up took place at her own house, and
both parties to 1t seemed eminently
satisfied. In a day or two the woman
headed for Illinois, and a week later
he editor of the Tribune came out
with the announcements:
''In retiring from the Tribune we
wish to bespeak the good will and pat
'onage of all Doveyites for the new ed
tor and proprietor, Solomon Griggs,
newspaper man of many years
The paper will still be in
dependent in politics and still receive
III kinds of green and dry wood and
,nots and stumps on subscription. IL
will also take store trade on adyertis-
ng
MANY OF our beloved subscribers
vii ask why we have sold out and
re on the point of departing from
heir midst We answer that cher
shed aunt died a few days ago and
eft us legacy and that we have re-
eived a call higher up"
A little story without a moral? A
tory that may be said to point to an
But there is a moral. One
alf the people of the country are not
Apply unless playing with fakes. and !