Year: 1878

GOrmloyS adventure.


Old Hiram GOrmley was an individual
whom Fortune had not forgotten in her
distribution of the good things of this
world. He had fine fortune, a mag
nificent dwelling, and a plump, good
tempered wife. Moreover, he had a
great reputation for sanctity and up
rightness and was an elder of the church
10 which he belonged A very good
man and a thorough Christian, old
Hiram considered himself, for he had
family prayers every morning, went TO
church every Sunday, and allowed the
cook TO give all the uneatable scraps of
bread which remained in the larder TO
any beggar who applied for them. \
judicious parent he believed himself to
be. and just one, for when his only
daughter had married against his will
he had east her OFF forever, and refused
10 see her when she stood weak and
trembling at his door to tell him that
her husband lay on the verge of death
and starvation stared them in the face.


.'As she sowed so she must reap" he
muttered. as he saw her turn away,
hiding her grieved face in her shabby
bonnet. ''She might have had old
Grimes and lived in clover, but she
made her own choice and must abide by
- ha haal- n
his account book and banished his
daughter from his mind as soon as
might be.


Old Hiram GOrmley was. as | have
said, very wealthy, but he yet clung te
trade with the utmost pertinacity.
Money getting was his life, and he was
never so happy as while making bar
gain. Among other things, he had
speculated in flour, and had made more.
perhaps. in that line of business than
in any other. How old Hiram and his
brothers in trade chuckled as the poor
mans loaf decreased and the store in
their own Golfers augmented, is best
known TO themselves.


Ii was at such a season that Hiram
Gormley sat before his parlor fire,
basking in its blaze and sinking gently
into an after-dinner nap. His pOrtly
form filled the huge velvet chair, and
his portrait looked from its gilded
frame upon its drowsy original with a
bland smile entirely of the artists own
ha1 trf
to dine, and the carriage was TO be sent
for her at an appointed hour, so that
the old man and his portrait were alone
together in the comfortable room.


They were alone, at least for many
minutes. But as the silvery-toned
time-piece rung out the hour of seven,
the outer door was opened, and a small
man. clad in faded green velveteen
coat, entered the room, with the soft
tread of stealthy cat. He was a
queer-looking individual. so withered
and wrinkled that he might have re-
sembled an old goblin, and his white
hair stood out, strangely enough, on
either side of his brown forehead.
Upon his meagre lower limbs he wore
great, mud-stained boots, a world too
wide for him, and in his hand he car
ried cap of the same color and material
as his coat. He looked first at old
Hiram, then at his portrait, then back
again to the original, and finally
stepped forward and touched him on
the shoulder.


Hiram Gormley awoke with start,
and, springing to his feet, regarded the
visitor with astonishment.


"Who are you, and what do you
want here?" he asked, in manner
sufficiently imperative.


"WhO | am is a matter of no import
ance,' said the stranger; but L am
here on business. L believe you are
buying up fiour?"


. am" said old Hiram, becoming
interested and gracious in moment.
Take a seat, sir. and let me under
stand your business"


He pointed to a chair, and the visitor
seated himself Immediately, crossing
his muddy boots, and folding his elfin
arms upon his bosom. as he bent down
his head and peered from under his
dropping brows straight into Hiram
GOrmley's face.


"We have flour to SELL" he said.


"We?'' said Hiram, Interrogatiyely-


q / and my partner, or more politely
speaking, my partner and l." re-
sponded the little man.


"Oh," said Hiram; and may / ask
the name of the firm?"


I'D rather not mention names until
I'm sure that we shall come to terms"
said the little man. But let me tell
you, Mr.. Gormley, that such chance
has never been offered to one man be-
fore. If you accept it, bread will run
up this year to such price that loaf
of bread will be worth its weight in
gold, and rich men will pay great sums
for what they now esteem as nothing.
How many barrels do you think we
have on hand, my partner and ~


The little man bent forward and
whispered something in his ear which
made him start to his feet once more.


$50 many.r he cried; "why, the
very spectators themselves will be at
nv feet, / shall be the richest man in
all the world. I'll buy It all in-all,