The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1915-08-21

tenn, Grierson's interest pTedominated |
in every considerable business venture |
in it, save and excepting the Raymer
Foundry and Machine works
He was president OF one bank, and |
the principal stakeholder in the other |
which was practically an allied institu-
ton; he was the sole owner of the
grain elevator, the saw and planning
mills. the box factory and a dozen
smaller industries in which his name
did not appear. Also, it was his money,
or rather his skill as promoter, which
had transformed the Wahaska Pine
boro railroad from a logging switch,
built to serve the sawmill, into an i'm
portant and independent connecting
link in the great lake region system
In each of these commercial OF in
dustrial chariots the returned native
sat in the drivers seat; and those who
remembered him as a loutish young
farmland overlooked the educative re-
suits of continued success and mar
veled at his gifts, wondering how and
where he had acquired them.
While the father was thus gratifying
a purely Gothic lust for conquest, the
daughter figured, in at least one small
circle, as a beautiful young Vandal,
with a passion for overturning all the
well-settled traditions. At first her at
titude toward Wahaska and the Wa
haskans had been serenely tolerant;
the tolerance of the barbarian who
neither understands, nor sympathizes
with, the homely virtues and the Gus
iaI, aF
Then resentment aWoke, and with it
soaring ambition to reconstruct the
social fabric of the countrifed town
upon a model of her own devising-
In this charitable undertaking she
was aided and abetted by her father,
who induIgently paid the bills. At her
instigation he built an imposing red
brick mansion on the sloping shore Of
Lake Minnedaska, named tor suf-
fered her to name it-"Mereside," had
an artist OF parts up from Chicago to
design the decorations and superintend
the furnishings, had a landscape gar
| dener from Philadelphia to lay out the
| grounds and, when all was in readi-
ness, gave a housewarming to which
the invitations were in some sense
/ mandatory, since by that time he had
a finger in nearly every commercial
and industrial pie in Wahaska.
But there were still obstacles to be
surmounted. From the first there had
been a perverse minority refusing
stubbornly to bow the head in the
/ house of-Grierson. The Farnhams
were of it, and the Raymers, with a
following of a few of the families
called "old" as age is reckoned in the
middle West. The men of this minor
ity were slow to admit the omnipo-
tence of Jasper Grierson's money, and
the women were still slower to accept
Miss Grierson on terms of social equal
ity-
At the housewarming this minority
had been represented only by various
ly worded regrets. AT a reception
given to mark the closing Of Mereside
socially, on the eve of Miss Margery's
departure for the winter in Florida
the regrets were still polite and still
unanimous. AIisssMargery laughed de
family and set her white teeth on {
determined resolution to reduce thi!
inner citadel of conservatism at al
costs. Accordingly, she opened th'
campaign on the morning after the re
ception; began it at the breakfast Ia
BILE when she was pouring her father
coffee.
You know everybody, and every
body's business, poppa: who is tn
treasurer of St. John's?" she inquired
How should know" grumbled tn
magnate, whose familiarity wit
church affairs was limited to certain
writings of legal nature concernin
the Presbyterian house of worshi
upon which he held a mortgage
, You ought to know" asserted Mis-
Margery, with some asperity. Isn't
Mr. Edward Raymer?"
Jasper Grierson frowned thoughtful
! " into space why, yes; come {
think of it, 1 guess he is the mar
; Anyway, he's one Of their-what
you call 'em-trustees?
= ''Wardens," corrected MargeTy.
Yes, that's it; 1 knew it was some
thing connected with a penitentiar!
What do you want of him?"
Nothing much of him; but 1 wan
1 a check for five hundred dollars pa.
able to his order"
Jasper Grierson's laugh was SUI
gestive of the noise made by a rust
door hinge. The fitting Of the golde
: cornucopia had made him a ruthles
Il money-grubber, but he never que
l. toned his daughters demands.
Going in for the real old simon
: pure, blue-ribbon brand of RESPECTABLE
I ity this time, amt you, Madgie2"
o chuckled; but he wrote the check @
the spot
y Two hours later, Miss Grierson's Gu
ter, driven by herself, paraded in Mai
street to the delight OF any eye e
/ thetic. When the clean-limbed Ke
2 tuckia1 had measured the length
L Main street he was sent on across II
e railroad tracks into the industrial ha
II OF the town, and was finally halted
% front of the Raymer Foundry and NJ
> chine works
D. Raymer was at his desk when II
le smart equipage drew up before the c
a fee door; and a moment later he W;
a at the curb, bareheaded, offering
D. help the daughter of men out of Il
D. robe wrappings.