The Lamar register., 1918-11-20


church with the women. in white lin
en- and a new broadcloth suit. And
soon there were callers at the cot
tage.
Mrs. Lane opened her mouth not un-
reluctantly to her friends.
Now you'll see that you misjudged
Sim." she said. You see. the thought
that Amanda would have to grow up
without any chances just drove him
wild. And you can't blame him If he
got a mania for scrimping money to-
gether. It got SO that he boarded ev.
cry penny in the hopes Of some day
getting enough to start where his ia
ther left on. They called him a miser.
but he's the best man in the world"
Amanda's smiles were eloquent tes-
timony too. The young man who was
calling on her for the first time was
obviously infatuated.
Then. you know. he discovered this
colonial money. Eight thousand dol
lars, which his great-grandfather must
have buried at the time when the Brit
ish were here. and II It doesn't rightly
belong to us / don't know who can
claim II.
"Sim was like a man in a daze when
he brought the money into the house
that night. He couldn't believe II.
There we sat counting and counting
It over. and eight thousand dollars 1t
was, all in big. new twenty-doilar
pieces. There were four hundred Of
them, with King Georges heat
stamped on one side. and ST. George
and the dragon on the other.
Presently Sim said to me, I've 60,
four thousand more. and guess our
scrimping days are over. wife Well
at first didn't understand. But then
he told me. And SO the four thousand
is going to be spent-yes. spent
Ma'am. and the eight thousand Sim
ing to get hold OF It and then burst
up on him. Amanda's going to enter
college next term. and-I guess the
neighbors won't think SO hardly OF
Sim in future, when they see that II
was all ON account of his wife and
child"
There was no doubt as to the mag.
nitude Of the change that came over
Sim Lane. The whole nature Of the
man had changed. By the time his
daughter came back from college the
village had forgotten his miserly repu-
tation. Secure In the knowledge OF
the eight thousand gold dollars hidden
in the mattress. he spent freely. With
this change, too. his farming began
to prosper. Ten years afterward,
when Amanda was happily married to
the young man who had called, and
the mother Of children. Sim Lane was
elected mayor.
OF the two boys who had watched
him through the fence. one was Q
thriving lawyer. the other who attend
ed Sim in his last Illness. Mrs. Lane
had died the year before. which made
the lawyers ordeal less hard. A few
weeks after the funeral he had q prt
vate interview with Amanda, who first
looked indignant. and then laughed.
She could AFFORD to laugh. for her hus
band was the richest young man In
Colville.
II Sim Lane. on his deathbed, had
known what the watchers knew. he
might have smiled ironically at the
life he was leaving. wherein sham,
pass for truth. and delusion for re
ality. All the eight = thousand. and
fifteen thousand more. he left his
daughter. The mourners followed the
body to the grave. and then the truth
came out.
Jim and l." said the lawyer. had
IL
will. but 1t was Jim who conceived
the idea. You see. Jim had always
had hankering for theater folks, ano
when the p. Sinett troupe went broke
and started to walk back to the me
tropolis along the ties. they had to sell
the property for what 1t would fetch.
Nobody was willing to give more
than a few dollars for the scenery
and then only a long speculation. But
some OF the stun brought in enough
to pay the ladies' fare halfway. And
there were odds and ends left over
that nobody wanted to touch. They
were all afraid Of the property money
1t looked too real-lead stamped and
'gilded. Country folks have vague
fears of the law.
That's how Jim got that bag OF
fake gold. and he said to me what Q
joke it would be to bury 1t IN the old
r,or 4 k,r- a-A oh htc 70 M