The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1935-10-04

Published by Special ARRANGEMENTS With The
Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate.
Incorporated
Copyright: 1895: BY GOUVERNEUR MORRIS
GIN TWO PARTS PART ONE)
FATE LED JOHNNIE BRINKLEY
TO GOLD PROSPECTING, AND
A DREAM LED HIM TO A
TREASURE, WHICH WAS
ENOUGH TO LAST HIM
A LIFETIME.
The money was gone and there was
nothing that Johnnie Brinkley could
do about it. The trust officer express
ed sorrow and was almost apologize.
The committee on Investments had
guessed wrong. Even committees are
human and liable to err. He was not
the only sufferer. The blame must not
be put on the trust company, but on
world conditions which had caused the
unparalleled depression.
johnnie Brinkley was strongly tempt
ed to punch the trust officers SNUG
face, but resisted. The fine for doing
so would be at least twenty-five dol
lars and with the exception of some
small change that was all the money
he had left in the world.
He strolled out of the great trust
company building into the bright sun
light OF Hill street, walked briSkly to
the Athletic club. wrote his resignation
to the board of governors, left it in care
OF the clerk, and once more went out
into the sunlight.
He was trying to think very fast.
tice. And he had given most of his
young life to the development of a fine,
healthy body and skill in games and
had pretty much allowed his mental
processes to take care of themselves.
He had supposed until that very
morning that he would always have at
least a thousand dollars a month to
live on. And the problem of a young
gentleman who has nothing to live on
nov presented itself to him for the
first time. He supposed hat ordinarily
you got a job and went to work, but he
had read the newspapers sufficiently
to know that there were ten Or twelve
million men out of work and that jobs
were scarcer than hens teeth.
For a long time he sat on a bench
in the park and tried to think things
out. He dismissed the thought of
Hollywood and the movies because he
did not wish to act even supposing that
he had it in him to do so, and because
~ La w NC CAua14y 111ChpC-
rienced in all the other branches of the
great industry. Furthermore he had
read that all the great companies were
in distress, laying off experienced work.
ers by the hundreds and cutting sal
aries. The park benches were pretty
well filled with men of all ages, most
of whom looked as if they, too, were
on the ragged edge of things.
Johnnie Brinkley wondered how long
it would be before his natty and prac-
tically new suit began to shine at the
knees and elbows and his shoes to wear
out. But he recalled with satisfaction
that in his rooms he had many other
suits and pairs of shoes and shirts and
things. Perhaps he could raise some
money on some of them. And this re-
minded him that he must have a talk
with his landlady and explain what had
happened.
unparked his car and drove home.
bedroom, and bath in an old fashioned
house on Franklin street. He had &C.
cupied these rooms since the death Of
his parents and he was fond of his
landlady because she was what he call
ed a square shooter"
Mrs. Radcliffe heard him out and she
remarked that many other young men
were in the same boat and she didn't
know what the world was coming to
anyhow. She told him not to worry
about the rent until he felt able to pay
it. And she wanted to know, if it
wasn't i%ndiscreet, what he proposed to
do for a living.
Over his writing table, at which he
and never written anything but checks,
hung a water color painting, not too
bad, of a rustic cabin sitting among
digger pines on the bank of a stream.
This painting caught his eye and gave
him an inspiration. To hear him talk,
Mrs. Radcliffe might have thought that
he had reached a decision only after
careful and methodical thought. He
pointed to the picture.
That's in the mother lode country"
he said, mot far from John Town. This
years taxes have been paid and I have
kept the cabin in order out of senti-
ment. It's where father got his start.
He found a pocket worth five OF six
thousand dollars, bought stock in the
Bright Angel mine, and made quite a
killing. I am not hoping for any luck
like that but once a mans got the
knack of banning gold he can make
three or five dollars a day. It won
cost me a dollar a day to live, it's grand
country and when I was a kid father
showed me how to work a pan. III be
independent. There won't be any boss
and I am so excited about it that I am
almost glad I'm broke"
His wardrobe yielded some tough
Scotch tweeds, hunting boots of good
leather we'll broken in, flannel shirt,
and of course, sweaters and mufflers.
He made a selection and told Mrs. Rad
cliff to raise what she could on the re-
mainder. She might, they agreed.
squeeze out for herself a good part of
the unpaid rent. The old lady had
been so kind about everything that he
had the impulse to kiss her good-by,
but he was a very shy young man even
where old ladies were concerned and
the impulse ended in a handshake and
a kiss blown from the fingers when he
was sitting in his car and ready to drive
off.
Gold fever is the most quickly caught
of all the great family of fevers. And