Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1922-01-20

Panics winch FOlloWeo tHc DuiSh'nS
of the Bubble Of Speculation.
Samson and Harry saw the bursting
of the great bubble Of 81. Late that
night, Disaster, loathsome and thou
sand-legged, crept into the little city.
It came on a steamer from the East
and fastened from home to home,
from tavern to tavern. Great
had suspended payment; New o r
had suffered a panic; many large DUST
ness enterprises In the East a
failed; certain agents for the
of Illinois had absconded with he
states money; in the big cities there
had been an, ominous closing of door
and turning Of locks; a great army
of men were out of employment. The
little city was in a frenzy OF excitement.
Tile streets were filled with a shout
ing, half-crazed throng. New fortunes
had shrunk to nothing and less thai
nothing In a night. Lots In the city
were offered for a 1.-THE Of what their
market value had been. Davis a
known that the storm would arrive
with the first steamer and in the
slang of business had put on a life
preserver. Samson knew that the
time to buy was when every n
wanted to sell. He bought two corner
lots in the city and two acres on the
prairie half a mile from town. They
got their deeds and went to the KEEL
SOS to bid them %good-by.
After hearty farewells Samson and
Harry set out for their home. They
were not again to see the gentle race
and hear the pleasant talk Of Jack
, Kelso. He had once said, in the pres
ence of Samson, that it is well to
remember, always, that things can not
go on with us as they are. Changes
! come-slowly and quite according to
our calculations, or so swiftly n
unexpectedly that they fill us with
=, o n dsion. Learned and wise in the
weighty problems of humanity he had
little prudence in regulating the af-
fairs Of his own family.
Kelso had put every dollar he had
and some that he hoped to have into
land. BIN, who had been teaching in
one of the schools, had invested all
her savings in a dream city on the
shore of an unconstructed canal.
Like many who had no experience
with such phenomena they underesti-
mated the seriousness of the panic.
They thought that, in a week or so,
its effect would pass and that Illinois
would then resume its triumphal
march toward its high destiny. Not
even Samson Traylor had a correct
notion of the slowness of Time.
The effect of the panic p~aralyzed
the city. Men whose "red-dog money"
was in every ones pocket closed their
shops and ran away. The wild adven-
,turers cleared out. Their character
may be judged by the words Of n
of them reported by the editor of the
Democrat:
81 failed for a hundred thousand
dollars and could have failed for a
million, If Jackson had kept his hands
of"
Hard times hung like a cloud over
the city. Its population suffered some
diminishment in the mex two years, in
spite of its position on the main high
way of trade. Dream cities, canals
and railroads built without hands be-
came part of the poetry of American
commerce.
Chat autumn, men and women who
had come to Mrs. Kinzie's party in
Jewels and in purple and fine linen
had left or turned their hands to hard
labor. The Kelsos suffered real dis
tress, the schools being closed and the
head of the house having taken to his
he'd with illness. BIN went to work
as a seamstress, and with the help Of
Mrs. Kinzie and Mrs. Hubbard was
able to keep the family from want.
The nursing and the care Of the baby
soon broke the health of Mrs. Kelso,
never a strong oma BIN came
home from her work one evening and
found her mother i'll.
"Cheer up. my daughter" said Jack.
"An old friend of ours has returned
to the city. He is a rich
oasis in the desert of poverty. He
has loaned me a hundred dollars in
good coin"
"Who has done thisT" BIN asked.
"Mr. Lionel Davis"
I'VE must not take his money" said
BIN.
81 had a long talk with him." Kels0
went on. "He has explained hat un-
fortunate incident of the horse. 1t
was a bit of offhand folly born of an
anxious moment"
But the man wants to marry me-"
'He said nothing of such a pur-
pose"
HE will be in no hurry about that"
said BIN. "He is a shrewd operator.
Every n hates him. They say that
he knew what was coming when he