Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1915-09-02

When Wahaska q q city. WIN y
charter and a bonded debt. electric
waterworks and a trolley sys-
TEN, Grierson's interest predominated
In every considerable business venture
in 1t, save and excepting the Raymer
Foundry and Machine works.
He was president Of n bank, and
the principal stakeholder in the other,
was practically al 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. 1t was his money
or rather his skill as a promoter, which
had transformed the Wahaska Il Pine
boro railroad from n 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 or 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
haskdns had been serenely tolerant:
the tolerance of the barbarian who
neither understands, nor sympathizes
with, the homely virtues and the GUS
toms which have grown out of them.
Then resentment awoke, and with it
a soaring ambition to reconstruct the
social fabric of the %countrified town
upon a model of her own devising.
In this charitable undertaking she
was aided and abetted by her father,
who i%ndulgently paid the bills. At her
i~nstigation 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 we're still obstacles to be
surmounted. From the first there had
been a perverse minority refusing
s%tubbornly 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. Miss Margery laughed de-
family and set her white teeth on a
determined resolution to reduce this
inner citadel of conservatism at all
costs. Accordingly, she opened the
campaign on the morning after the re-
ception; began it at the breakfast Ia
BILE when she was pouring her fathers
coffee.
you know everybody, and every
body's business, poppa: who Is the
treasurer of st. John's?" she inquired.
How should l know" grumbled the
magnate, whose familiarity with
church affairs was limited to certain
writings of a legal nature concerning
the Presbyterian house of worship
upon which he held a mortgage.
You ought to know" asserted Miss
Margery, with some asperity. Isn't it
Mr.. Edward Raymer?"
Jasper Grierson frowned thoughtful
ly into space. why, yes; come to
think of 1t, | guess he is the man
Anyway, he's one Of their-what dc
YOU call 'em--trustees?"
"Wardens," corrected Margery.
Eyes, that's it; l knew it was some
thing connected with a penitentiary
What do you want of him."
Nothing much of him; but I want
a check for five hundred dollars pay
able to his order"
Jasper Grierson's laugh was sug
gestive of the noise made by a rusty
door hinge. The fitting Of the COLDER
cornucopia had made him a ruthles:
money-grubber, but he neve ques
toned his daughters demands.
Going in for the real old simon
pure, blue-ribbon brand of respectable
ity this time, amt you, Madgie?' hi
chuckled; but he wrote the check OF
the spot.
Two hours later, Miss Grierson's cut
ter, driven by herself. paraded in Mali
street to the delight Of any eye es
thetic. When the clean-limbed Ken
tuckian had measured the length o
Main street he was sent on across thu
railroad tracks into the industrial hal
of the town, and was finally halted ii
front of the Raymer Foundry and Ma
chine works.
Raymer was at his desk when tn
smart equipage drew up before the OF
fee door; and a moment later he wa
at the curb, bareheaded, offering Il
help the daughter Of e. out Of tn
robe wrappings.
Raymer held the Office door opel
for her. and in the grimy little del
which had been his fathers befor,