Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1917-03-28
A FARSEEINC
WOMAN
By ESTHER VANDEVEER

|
repeats itself. First we have the land
worth from nothing up to a few dol
lars an acre. Then some one digs a
hole in the ground to put in post,
| scoops out a cellar for house, or
| something like that, and finds In the
| dirt taken out indications Of the pre-
cious metal. He doesn't say anything
! to anybody, but goes off and gets 1t
assayed. The report being favorable,
he lets 1t be known that he has gold on
his property. Those who strike indica.
ttons pre-empt claims and organize
companies with few dollars capital.
most of which is spent for printing
| certificates of stock. Every foot of the
ground IL the vicinity Is staked out for
mines, which cross and recrOss one an
oher ut every conceivable angie There
are thousands of the certificates. near.
~ all worthless.
When the Clear Creek region of Colo
RADIO was In such stage as this man
whom l shall call Peter Anderson, q
young lawyer from the south, settled
In Denver and hung out his shingle,
He had a very frugal, patient wife.
who was a real helpmate to him. She
never permitted anything to be vast
ed, no matter how little value 1t pos
sessed. and when her husband rallied
her Oh saving worthless things she
would say cheer;ly, ut may come in
hnn tive tn, hN M rff
The principal law practiced In Col
oiadO at that time was with the re.
volver: consequently Peter Anderson
found little practice in his profession
But money was easily borrowed, and
the Andersons managed to keep body
and soul together by small loans. The
husband found it dull sitting in bis
office waiting for clients, 80 he spent
most of his time in neighboring bill
lard room playing pool. He told his
acquaintances and thus get business
She said she thought he was right
The members of such communities
are inveterate gamblers. Refresh.
ments and the price of the game were
to be paid for by the loser In addi-
ton to this, the players, all Of whom
were possessed of worthless mining
stocks. would put them up to be alb.
sorbed by the winner. A number of
these certificates came into Peter An.
derson's possession, but none of them
ever found their way back to- the per
sons from whom he won them. Every
night after he had gone to sleep his
Wife would get up. search his pockets.
take out what mining shares she found
there and lock them up in an old trunk
she kept in the garrett She never
looked ut the names of the companies
they represented or bothered her head
as to their valve. Indeed, they were
worthless or they would not have come
so easily into her husbands possession
Every night his pockets were searched
and emptied, but in the morning be
would not miss his loss. If his wife
had taken a few coins he might have
noticed it. but mining stocks were
quite different matter When he
went round to the billiard room In the
evening he would think that he had
won some shares the night before, but.
finding none in his pocket. fancy he
had been mistaken He was very
good pool player and had no difficulty
in borrowing few shares to begin on
Usually lie would win. pay off the loan
and go on playing on his own capital
Ii he left the place with stocks III his
pocket the next morning they would
be deposited. as usual in Mrs. Ander
sons trunk.
But the pool players didn't bring An.
derson any law business. and the wolf
was continually snarling about his
door. However. the wolves in such
are usually coyotes, CON-
Daratively harmless, for any man will
give or lend any other man if he has
anything he doesn't need at the mo
nent. Nevertheless Anderson's condi-
ion was not attractive, and except
when he was playing pool he was very
lispirited
One day there was a big strike up
N Clear creek. A mining company had
'pened vein that paid many hun.
lreds of dollars to the ton. Peter An.
|erson when he went home that night
old his wife about the strike. remark.
ng, "Oh. how wish had some of
he stock of the company
Il think you have DEAR" said Mrs.
anderson, and she went up to her
runk and brought down an armful of
mining share certificates. The two
orted them. tossing them when exam.
ned on the floor in their eager hunt
or the one they coveted. Presently
hey came to ten share certificate
'hich alone would keep them for
while. Then fifty share turned up.
hen another ten, then a hundred, FIVE
all denominations. 1t
'as a good while before they got
trough the accumulated pile. When
ley did they figured up shares in the
lcky company sufficient to give them
fortune Of half million dollars. i
When the excitement of the find had |:
led down a bit Anderson asked his /