Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1921-04-15


saw the light and tried shot In the
dark. "NIy dear Mrs. Skaggs," SAID
"lf you'll sign this deed and save us
all lot of litigation over this option
you and your husband have given me-
I'll do something handsome. | Will
on my word of hOnOr-I'll give you the
exclusive boarding house privilege at
this mine"
"And what did she say, Caliph"
"She said: Give me the pen Mr.
Webster, and please excuse my hand
writing; I'm that nervous in business
Matters"
Dolores sllvery laughter rippled
through the ROOM "But | don't see
the point" she protested.
1--WE will come to 1t presently. |
was merely explaining one persons
point of view. You would not, OF
course, expect me to have the same
point of view as Mrs. Skaggs of Ari-
zOna."
certainly not"
"All right Listen to this In 1907,
at the height of the boom times In
GOldfeld New, was worth Sl,OOO,OOO.
On the first day of October I could
have cashed in my mining stocks for
s., 900 OO-and l had lot Of cash In
bank. too. But I'd always worked so
hard and been poor so long that my
wealth didn't mean anything to me.
I wanted the exclusive privilege Of
more slavery, and so 1 staked copper
prospect, which later discovered to
consist Of uncOunted acres Of country
rock and about $25 worth Of copper
stain. In order to save 500 I did my
own assessment work, drove a pick
into my foot, developed blood poison
went to the hospital, and was nice and
helpless when the panic came along
the middle of the month. The bank
went bust, and my ready cash went
with it: I couldn't give my mining
stocks away. Everybody knew | was
a pauper-everybody but the doctor.
He persisted in regarding me as mil
llonaire and sent me bill for 5000"
GLOW perfectly outrageous! Why,
Calph, I would have let him sue me-"
81 would have, tOO-but l didn't. |
induced him to settle for 100000
shares Of stock In my copper prospect.
The par value was 81 a share and |
was going to sell block at 10 cents,
but in view of his high professional
standing let him have 1t for a nickel
a share. | imagine he still has 1t. l
bought back later all the other stock
I sold, because the property was
worthless, and in order to be a sport
I offered him $500 for his block, but
he thought was trying to swindle
him and asked $4,000"
ooh. Calph!"
"Wonderful game, isn't lt-thls
game of life. So sweet when a fell
lows taking chances! Now that am
fairly prosperous again, the only thing
in life that really matters is the I'M
certainty as to whether, when finally
I do leave SobranGe, 1 shall ride to
the steamship landing in a hack or a
hearSe."
"But you could go in hack this
morning and avoid that uncertainty"
"The millionaire drudge l told you
of could have gone to live in pretty
villa on the Riviera, but she chose a
miners boarding house"
"Then why" she persisted, did you
leave the United States with the firm
intention of remaining in SObrante in
definitely, change your mind before
you were here eight hours, and cable
this Neddy Jerome person you would
return in 60 or 90 days-and the fol
lowing morning decide to remain, aft
er all ~
"My dear young lady, If l changed
my clothes as often as change my
mind, the what-you-may-c all'em chaps
/ that manufacture a certain grand Of
clothes couldn't keep me dressed"
"But why?"
"That," he answered gravely, sis a
secret"
"Women delight to pry into mems
secrets"
81 know 1t. Had a friend once
married. Every night after dinner he
used to sit and stare into the fire anc
his wife used to ask him what he was
thinking about. He would look up al
her Owlishly and tell her it was some
thing he couldn't explain to her, be
cause she'd never understand it-ant
that was all he would tell her, al
though right frequently. I dare say
he felt like telling her some thing
she could understand? She brOOdeC
over his secret until she couldn't stanC
it any more, and one day she packed
her buds and flew home to mother
He let her stay there three months
and finally one day he sent her blue
print of what he'd been thinking
about"
"What was it,"
can internal-cOmbustlOn engine. You
see, until she left him, he'd never
been able to get set to figure ou
l. .,.ftb n