Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1914-01-22

young friends all call you broadway.
It's worrying your uncle.
what will he proposeg?s
IF you won go into the business.
he Will try to buy you out.
Jackson looked at him in dumb de
light. For money? Ready money!"
YES; it's what I'm afraid of, Jack
son. Be careful how you sell to him.
eTl1 be careful that heSpays me.
That's all ! ri about.
Don't be in a hurry. What Pm
afraid 0f-but / ought not to talk in
this way. Abner Jones has never
done me an III turn. Of course your
father was nay client
And dear uncle put his hooks into
my dad whenever he could get them
caught SOS be could pull, didn't he?1
sHe is a shrewd business man. But
don't sell. jackson" The Judge was
clearly i'll at
sIfS I don't sell, will / have to turn
to and make gum?"
you ought to. Al goose that lays
a golden egg should be welI,cared for"
Let uncle raise the poultry. I'd
i 46bACA 0OA LIZ C956sN#M# E4 4sHtE t#h
"But, Jackson
Judge, viii you come to see me in
New York;"
The conversation had brought Jack
son Jones to sudden realization Of the
fact that in eleven months or less he
would be twenty-five, and that, as soon
as he was twenty-five, he would be
free, according to the terms Of his
dead fathers will. to spend his own
exactly as he pleased.
II suppose you'H go there just as
soon rs you r master of your for
tune"
The boy leaned forward eagerly,
when will it happen, Judge? Will it
be on the midnight that begins my
birthday, or the midnight that it ends
with QuickI I've got t know"
Better wait till the next day, Jack
son. That's the safest. Oh, / know
you'll go! But don't sell to your uncle.
Promise me-"
when will he make me the ofer?"
Before your birthday, Jackson"
us it as close as that? Is liberty as
close as that2 I hadn't realized.
Couldn't we get him to talk to me to-
night about it? If L agreed to sell to
him for half, would he agree to let my
birthday come at once instead of when
it's scheduled? would
The judge was laughing, somewhat
~ruefully. jackson Jones amused him,
always; to some extent he could SYM
pathize with his revolt against Jones'
vile. He himself had revolted against
J~onesyille in his youth, but there had
been no fortune coming to him with
the arrival of his manhood to release
him from the hated village. And, be-
sides, he was uncomfortable tonight.
He wondered IL he ought to tell Broad
way what he had learned.
VIII you consider me your law
yer?' the judge asked.
Consider YOU my lawyer, Judge? Of
course yoHsare my lawyer. Weren't
you my fathers dawyer?"
Not always; I did not draw his
will, for instance. And in other things
your uncle-well, if your father had
but listened, as ! hope you'll listen, his
brother Abner never would have"
"Surei know. And you've already
been my lawyer. Didn't you get me
out of Jail there in New Haven? Imag-
inc being locked up in New Haven!
And I'd only dropped a melon from the
window. If the chief of police hap
pened to be going by, was that my
fault? I'd have eaten the melon if it
hadn't been so spoiled. And still they
locked me up! They made a criminal
Of me! It's bad enough to be a GRIM
inal, but to be a criminal imprisoned
in New Haven-heavens! Suppose a
man should be locked up in J~onesville!
Why, he'd die of shame"
Well If you accept me as your law
yer, when your uncle asks you to sell
out your interest in the Jones Gum
company you will refuse. When you
do that, he'll try to bind you not to
sell out to the trust as long as you
both live. 1 hope you'll never sell out
to the trust, but don't sign any pa
pers, Jackson, although you know
what the trust purchase Of the factory
would mean to Jonesyille-and to all
of u.s."
"Tll not sell out to the trust, Judge,
but if my uncle"
Hell not offer you a fair price. He'll
want to get a bargain. And remem
Der that the company will get richer
every year"
But the trust may bust It."
Il hope you'll take that chance, my
boy, rather than ever be a party to
running the old home town"
"All right, judge. ! won't sell to
Uncle, Abner-anyway. just now. I
won't need the money. There's enough
coming to me to keep me busy for a
whiIe."l
Jackson. l wish you might feel dit.
ferently about the starting Of your life
as a grown a If you could culti-
yate a feeling of responsibility-
1T bores- me. / could never even
spell it."
I'm afraid it does, Jackson, and
that worries me. Rut-"