The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1914-02-19
A Game of Chance.
By w. H. Winslow, Phi. D.
CHAPTER II.
WOMEN SPECTATORS AND MAXlMS of'
SPECULATION.

WOMEN SPECTATORS AND MAxlMs OF
SPECULATION.
A chatter of bird like voices had hoat
ed into the Mems Board Room during
the session over the lowered tops OF two
OPAQUE glass windows in the side OF the
little office, the door of which opened
into the corridor. The voices came from
Young and elderly women SPECTATORS
who. screened from view, heard the
called quotations easily, studied a prl
vate stock ticker tape, and used tele
phone upon a large table around which
they were seated. "Sell'' and Buy
pads, sheets of quotations, News Bureau
bulletins and Wall Street Journals, were
at hand, and messenger boy stood al
the open door to wait upon the LADIES'.
This was the Ladies' Board Room, ano
the traders were more decorous and re-
fined than the mob adjacent.
"What do you think of coppers?'
asked a pretty saleslady, Miss Carolyn
Weston, who was munching sandwich,
of stately dame named Mrs. McDon-
aid, whose face was partly hidden by a
veil.
81 hope YOU are not interested, my
dear. They are dangerous for amateur
spectators. My husband says, 'Coppers
are holes in the ground, more treacher-
GUS than those of silver and gold, and
more persons have been robbed by their
managers and manipulators than IN any
other stocks He calls them, Cats and
The girl became pale and asked for
quotations of Del Monte and Cornucopia.
II have some," she said family.
Better sell them. if you can get out
with profit or a little loss, child. Del
Monte is full of water, and Cornucopla
is undeveloped and paying dividends. not
from earnings, but from cash received
from sales of stock. )"
81 cannot believe that about Cornuco-
pia. Mr.. Hambright, the President, is
friend of mine, and he assures me Its
earnings are large and Its prospects
magnificent, declared slender, sweet
faced maiden quietly.
Miss Weston's face brightend and she
hurried her lunch, saying between mouth
fuls, Il have all my savings IN them,
and their prices hold quite firmly
The elderly lady shrugged her should
ers and said, beware of friends In
stock trading. They are unreliable.
Del Monte has fallen two points since
the opening"
The girl gasped, fingered the tape,
saw the figures, became excited, and
hastily wrote an order to sell by which
she lost twenty dollars. This quick ac-
ton was admirable, worthy of an old
gambler, as it saved fifty. The stock
declined slowly to fifty cents and ulti-
mately disappeared in bankruptcy. Kun
Quick or not at ali, i" is sometimes pro-
fitable maxim of speculation, but it is
rather more applicable to Marathon
Race. -,
81 must go back to the store now,
said the girl, after booking her sale and
loss, but | will hold my Cornucopla, If
Won will tell me when to sell, Miss Pat
terson.
The latter nodded and the girl depart
ed with frou-frou rustic, and renewed
hope in her heart. Hope is the most
abundant capital of amateur specula-
tors. A pale face soon flushes. Hope
springs eternal in the human breast,
even after heavy speculative losses, Il
will make it up in some other stocks,
says the novice.
''Are you in the market, Mrs. DYER
asked a nervous blonde, Miss Alice
Bemis, over the top of a Wall Street
Journal.
cot course not, Alice; wish to see
James, who is awfully busy in the Bears
dem
81 am waiting for word from Ned.
We are taking a fly on the short SIDE OF
Amalgamated.
20, certainly. He's a horrid bear ,
James says. i should think your broth
er and father would coach you.
mo, they don't know. Don't men
ton it please. Ned, Mr.. Cutnet, 'phoned
and invited me to go to the lake this
afternoon in his new auto, and just
dropped in to see the quotations and to
find out what time he would call for me.
That's al. :"
Eyes. understand. l am mum. How
pleasant it is to speculation the lu-
re-together. James said L began
that way" and Madam beamed upon the
scheming creature, who hid her rosy
face behind her paper.
An angular woman with curls set up
straight, banged her hat over her left
ear, shifted and said, 1.-The market is
rotten today. Listen to that Smelters
tumble: down four dollars in fifteen
minutes. | have some of It,.
maggie has dropped three points and
the other coppers are following. That IS
had. - added a handsome brunette with a
Jewish cast of countenance and many
diamonds.
''That is goodp' cried Alice. "Per-
haps you are long of it.
mo, am with you; short is our side,
except when we hold the cards Tor
manipulated deap'
"A middle aged lady in mourning
garb. whose sad, careworn face and pre-
maturey gray hair excited sympathy
had been intently reading up cotton,
and. as she threw down the Long
Stable Gazette with deep sigh, Miss
Patterson asked her if she was interest
ed in the commodity.
4No, not exactly; my husband lost five
hundred dollars in the slump yesterday,
and | left him sick abed today. He has
heart disease and, in the excitement of
the panic, he smoked too much and has
lost his nerve. ] hoped to recover some
thing to-day. used to speculate little
when was teaching school, but l We lost
nv nerve, too,'' and the lady cried be-
hind her handkerchief.
Miss Patterson was too much affected
to offer advice, but Mrs. Mcdonald
touched the disconsoate woman on the
arm and said, Cheer up and be brave.
Where did your husband let go?"
''He sold out March cotton at 1920.
"Well it is only 1924 this morning.
LII, ,1yoJy nf hn