Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1919-11-27
CHAPTER xxII-continued.

CHAPTER xxII-continued.
-f6-
At this he laughed, but not yer
heartily, and walked slowly to tn
house, leaving her bending over a ros
bush, and a shade more pensive tina,
the most pensive garden lady in an
Victorian engraving. Next day
1t happened that this same "VendC
nah" or "Rides-D Down Everything be
came the subject Of a chance CONVEX
sation between Eugene and his oil,
friend Kinney, father of the f~ire-toppet
Fred. The two gentlemen found them
selves smoking in n%eighboring leathea
chairs beside a broad window at tn,
club, after lunch.
Mr.. Kinney had remarked that he
expected to get his family established
at the seashore by the Fourth of July
and, following a train Of thought. he
paused and chuckled. "Fourth Of JULY
reminds me-" he said. slave you heard
what that George Minafer is doing?'
mo, l haven't" said Eugene, and his
friend failed to notice the crispness OF
the u~tterance.
well, SIR" Kinney chuckled again,
lit beats the devtll My boy Fred told
me about 1t yesterday. He's q friend
of this young Henry Akers, son Of F.
P. Akers Of the Akers Chemical COM
pany. 1t seems this young Akers asked
Fred If he knew a fellow named Nina
Ter, because he knew Fred had always
3ived here, and young Akers had heard
some way that Minafer used to be an
old family name here, and was sort Of
curious about 1t. Well, sir, YOU re-
member this young George sort of dis
appeared, after his grandfather's
death, and nobody seemed to know
much what had become of him
though I did hear, once or twice, that
ne was still around somewhere. Well.
sir. he's working for the Akers Chem
zeal company, out at their plant on the
T~homasville road"
He paused, seeming to reserve some
thing to be delivered only upon inquiry.
and Eugene offered him the expected
question, but only after a cold glance
through the nose-glasses he had lately
found it necessary to adopt. "What
does he do?"
Kinney laughed and slapped the arm
of his chair. Hes a nit~ro-glycerin ex-
pert"
He was gratified to see that Eugene
was surprised, If not, indeed, a little
startled.
Hes what?"
He's an expert on nitro-glycerin.
Doesn't that beat the devil! Yes, sir
Young Akers told Fred that this
George Minafer had worked like a
Aoun'-dog eve since he got started
out at the works. They have a special
plant for nitro-glycerin, way off from
the main plant, O. course-in the
woods somewhere-and George Nina
fer's been working there, and lately
they put him in charge of 1t. He over
sees shooting oil wells, too, and shoots
'em himself, sometimes. They aren't
allowed to carry it on the railroads, |
you know-have to team it. Young
Akers says George rides around over
the bumpy roads, sitting on as much as
three hundred quarts of nitro-glycerin!
My Lord! Talk about romantic tum-
bles! If he gets blown sky-high some
day he won't have a bigger drop, when
ne comes down, than he's already had!
Don't 1t beat the DEVIL Young Akers
said he's got all the nerve there is in
the world. Says he gets a fair salary,
and / should think he ought to! Seems
to me I've heard the average life in
that sort of work is somewhere around
four years, and agents don't write any
at all for nitro-glycerin ex-
perts. Hardly"
mo" said Eugene. 81 suppose not"
Kinney rose to go. "Well, it's q
pretty funny thing-pretty odd, I mean
and l suppose it would be pass
around-the-hat for old Fanny Minafer
Ii he blew up. Fred told me that
they're living in some apartment house,
and said George supports her. He was
going to study law, but couldn't earn
enough that way to take care of
so he gave 1t up. Fred's wife
told him all this. Says Fanny doesn't
DO anything but play bridge these
days. Got to playing too high for
awhile and lost more than she wanted
tell George about, and borrowed
. little from old Frank Bronson. Paid
him back, though. Don't know how
Bred's wife heard 1t. Women do hear
The darndest thingsl"
"They do" Eugene agreed.
"Well, I'm off to the store" said Mr..
briskly; yet he fingered. II
suppose we'll all have to club In and
keep old Fanny out Of the poorhouse
4 ne does blow up. From all I hear
lt's usually only a question OF time.
They say she hasn't got anything else
% depend on"
Il suppose mott
"Well-I wondered" Kinney hest.