The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1915-08-12


He was president Of one bank, and
the principal stockholder in the other,
which was practically an allied institu-
tion; 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 & 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 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
weil-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
toms which have grown out Of them.
Then resentment awoke, and with it
a soaring ambition to reconstruct the
social fabric of the countritied town
upon a model of her own deVising.
In this charitable undertaking she
was aided and abetted by her father,
who indulgently paid the bills. At her
instigation he built an imposing red
brick mansion on the sloping shore OF
Lake Minnedaska, named it-or suf-
| fered her to name it-"Mereside," had
an artist of parts up from Chicago to
! design the decorations and superintend
the furnishings, had 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 hac
been a perverso minority refusing
stubbornly to bow the head in the
house of-Grierson. The Farnhami
were Of it, and the Raymers, with {
following of a few Of the families
called "old" as age is reckoned in the
middle West. The men Of this minor
ity we're slow to admit the omnipo
tence of Jasper Griersons money, and
the women were still slower to accep
Miss Grierson on terms of social equal
ity.
At the housewarming this minorit.
had been represented only by various
ly worded regrets. At reception
given to mark the closing Of Mereside
socially, on the eve Of Miss Margery'
departure for the winter in Florida
the regrets were still polite and still
unanimous. Miss Margery laughed dc
family and set her white teeth on
determined resolution to reduce thi
inner citadel of conservatism at al
costs. Accordingly, she opened tn
campaign on the morning after the re
ception; began it at the breakfast ts
BILE when she was pouring her father
coffee.
"You know everybody, and every
body's business, poppa: who is tn
treasurer of st. Johns?" she inquired
GLOW should know?" grumbled tn
magnate, whose familiarity wit
church affairs was limited to certai
writings of legal nature concernin
;. the Presbyterian house Of worshi
:, upon which he held mortgage.
y "You ought to know" asserted Mi:
Margery, with some asperity. isn't
Mr.. Edward Raymer?"
Il Jasper Grierson frowned thoughtfu
a a ly into space. why, yes; come
. think of it, l guess he is the ma
3 Anyway, he's one of their-what
, you call 'em-trustees?"
l. "Wardens," corrected Margery.
y Eyes, that's it; knew it was som
y thing connected with a penitentiar
~ What do you want Of him?"
:, Nothing much of him; but wa
Il a check for FIVE hundred dollars pa
able to his order"
10 Jasper Grierson's laugh was su
&c gestivs Of the noise made by a rus
70 door hinge. The fitting of the gold
10 cornucopia had made him a ruthle
- money-grubber, but he never que
H. toned his daughters demands.
oF "Going In for the real old sine
ID pure, blue-ribbon brand of respectful
a ity this time, amt you, Madgie?
10 chuckled; but he wrote the check
~ the spot.
'y Two hours later, Miss Grierson's cl
a. ter, driven by herself, paraded in Ma
street to the delight Of any eye
a thetic. When the clean-limbed Ke
@ tuckian had measured the length
st- Main street he was sent on across t
ne railroad tracks into the industrial HI
er of the town, and was finally halted
10 front of the Raymer Foundry and N
~ chine works.
d. Raymer was at his desk when t
ne smart equipage drew up before the
fee door; and a moment later he "
a at the curb, bareheadsd, Offering
IN help the daughter of men out Of I
n robe wrappings.
~ Raymer held the ONCE door or
for her, and in the grimy little d
ka which had been his fathers bef'
IT, him, placed q chair for her at
IL desk-end.
'rS Nov you can tell me in conf
ng what can do for you," he said.
'er "oh, it's only little thing. ca
ve- to see you about renting pew in
an Johns; that is our church, you kno'
= l...L Z.