Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-04-02


Have smoke! With old man
Ezekial whose name was financial
furry in six states! Jack moved for
ward in a daze,-as though the re-
quest was a command.
He sank down into the patrican
chair, putting his wet cap behind him.
His trousers legs Immediately began
to steam. The old financier opened
the top drawer of his desk and
brought out long thin cigar-boX.
Jack took one of the Havanas with
raw red fingers.
"Now then, just for the sake
of some memories of my own,
tell me about the wife and six boys
and the-struggle to get into bust
ness"
"Mr Ezekial, how can you pos
sibly be interested in that?"
"We've all been there, son,-we've
all been there"
Have you been there, Mr.. Eze-
kial?"
"Certainly, young man. It's the
life-story of American business from
Maine to the Golden Gate all down
the years."
Many dark days in the past eleven
years had Jack longed for father
to whom he could go with his strug
gle and his perplexities and ask for
advice on how to find the way out.
But there had been no father. He
had never known that kind of par
ent. Men are only boys grown up.
Every man at some time or other has
longed for the father of his boyhood
to help him in the dark and bitter
years of struggle and disappoint-
ment and heartache. There was
nothing maudlin about the longing.
And here before the fire for the
moment Jack Purse found himself
with clean, kindly, successful old
man-verily, the father of his dreams.
And with the eternal boy-heart he
told the story Of his life and career
thus far. He told of the death of
his mother at twelve years, the news
paper business at North Sidney, the
bankruptcy, the loss of his own
father, the job in Paris. He told as
best he could of his love affair, the
girls plight, the marriage, the home
on Pleasant street, the six sons for
whose lives he had made himself re-
sponsible. There was no attempt at
effect, no subtle plea for sympathy,
for he was not that kind of man. He
was simply tired, perplexed, baffled.
He wanted to know what the world
wise old financier in his difficulty
would do And so he stated his case.
"You mean to tell me-" demanded
old Ezekial incredulously "that you
had fifty-fve hundred dollars in your
fingers to do with what you wanted
and you went and paid it out for bills
the court had declared it was legally
unnecessary for you to settler"
eyes, sir. At least my wife didv
"Why?"
"Those men put money into our
business and gave US credit expect
ing to receive their money back.
They'd turned over full value and done
their part. Bankruptcy may be nee ,
essary in some cases but in this one
it looked to me like a skin-game for
those creditors! Legally I didn't !
have to pay them; morally did-so
long as was alive and could earn
the money that debt was just as
pressing as if the court had not made
my financial escape legal"
"And they got their money-every
one in full"
eyes, sir. One day while I was at
work Mary found my list of creditors
with the sums owed them together
with interest. Instead of putting her !
money into the savings bank, she put |
it into a checking account and she
sat down and wrote checks for all ;
of them and mailed them unbeknown !.
to me until the receipts came in"
"My God!" cried the old financier. !
He forgot to smoke. He simply star
cd at the bedraggled printer with
wide-opened eyes. After time he
said:
"And what about this ochre bed |
you referred to? What's the story of !
that?"
Jack hesitated. Should he tell this
old financial buccaneer about the de-
post he had found on the Osgood
farm; of old man Osgood's indiffer-
cnce to it's value; of his willingness
to sell for a puny thousand dollars?
il The elderly man must have grasped
what was passing in the others mind.
"Go on, young man. Don't be a.
fraid to tell me all about it. I may
cut the Threats of gang of money
buzzards now and then with lemon
juice in their CUTS but I haven't yet
reached the place where I've found
it necessary to rob the widows, Or
phans, school-teachers and struggl-
ing fathers with six babies. Tell me
all about it!"
And Jack told him. And after he
had brought the whole narrative
down to the present moment there
came a long silence in the rich a.
partment broken only by the crack
ling of the logs. |
"We've all been there, son." repeat
ed old Ezekial. 81 know! I had
a good woman once like
that"