The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-09-07
A Plebeian
Son
His High Bred Wife
Made Him Over
By F. A. mitchell

Edward Schenk one morning, with
carpetbag In hand, bid his old father
and mother goodby. He was going to
leave the little shack In which he had
been born and had lived fer seventeen
years. He was going to the city to
make bis fortune. And he was likely
to succeed in doing so, for he had In
him the principle Of bringing every
thing to his own advantage. He was
a natural trader, and In every trade he
made there was a margin Of profit for
him. One of his boyish transactions
was this: He traded a jackknife he
owned for a more elaborate one which
was rusty and dull Taking of the
rust, sharpening the blades and polish
ing up the handle. he traded it for
better one with one Of its blades bro
ken. The broken blade he filed into a
nail cleaner and traded the knife for
another, receiving rs cents to boot.
The knife he now owned he put up at
a rattle, charging 10 cents a chance.
The result was that the original knife,
which was worth little or nothing. had
been metamorphosed into 1925. The
boy who won 1t paid very nearly what
it was worth. and the boys who did
not win it contributed to the traders
juvenile fortune.
When Schenk reached the city he had
500 that had grown out of jackknives,
tops, marbles, children's wagons that
he had manufactured himself and other
articles In which he had dealt. He hired
himself to junk dealer. and. selecting
different articles that he found in
stock. he repaired them and sold them
for more than they were worth. turn
ing In to his employer the price they
would ordinarily have brought
Schenk grew rich. No sooner had
he climbed the dollar ladder than
he wished to climb the social ladder.
He sat by day, Immediately dressed,
in a beautifully furnished Office at a
rosewood desk, with clerks and Office
boys at his call. He put men who were
members Of different clubs under OBJ
legations to him. then asked them to
propose him for membership. Unfor-
tunately he had done business in q
sma1r way in his own name and was
remembered by some as Schenk the
junkman. This kept him out of sew.
eral Of the best clubs, but he was ad.
mitted to the rest and in time became
member Of those that had turned him
down.
BY similar process he worked his
way into a dancing club called the Car
pet Beaters. He had never beaten car
pets, but he had done work equally
mental Consequently he disliked the
name Of the club and wondered how
the managers could have selected 1t.
forgetting that they were so far re-
moved from the class who really beat
carpets that they were not at all sensi.
tive in the matter.
BY this time. like one Of the jack
knives that had been the beginning of
his fortune, Schenk had been so fur.
bished as to have value in the matri.
monial market Mothers urged their
daughters to set their caps for him.
But the daughters demurred. If the
odor of the junk shop did not still
hang about him there was a certain
cheapness that. like certain rust spots
on his juvenile jackknives, could not be
rubbed out. But he was capable of
enduring no end of snubbing from
certain ladies who were to the man.
ner born and contented himself with
being endured by others who were not
first water" or whose mothers had an
eye on his fortune.
He finally succeeded in the matri.
monial market as he had succeeded In
the commercial markets-that Is, by
giving an inferior for superior arti.
Gle. Miss Celia Evans, the daughter OF
refined parents, consented to marry
him because he had helped her father
out Of commercial hole 1t was sup.
posed at the time that he had done
what he did from a kindness of heart
but he made a fair profit out Of the
transaction.
Celia was told of Schenk's mag
nanimity and after that accepted at
tentions from him which she had pre-.
viously denied him with a fairly good
grace. He wanted her. and the as
sistance he had rendered her father
, had been a part Of a plan he had laid
to win her. That a pecuniary profit
had stuck to his magnetic fingers was
simply owing to their attraction fol
the precious metals. He stuck to the
girl till, urged by her parents, she con
sented to marry him.
| And now that Mr.. Schenk was about
to make another round In the socia
ladder a matter came up Of IN embar
RAISING nature. Matrimony is a juno
ton of families. This junction may b.
put aside in all ways but one. Every
child born to the married pair derives
! its being from each and both families
| 1t Is natural, therefore. that when two
persons are about to be married there
should be introductions between theil
respective near blood relations.
The embarrassing feature in Schenk's
case was that his father and mother
had continued to live in the shack
where he had left them. and there had
been no more change in them than In
fha shack tha onIx chance L. ooh -