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YORKVILLE ENQUIRER. ISSUED TWIOB-A-WEEK?WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY. i. m. 0RI3T * sons, Publisher.. } % jfamilg fficitispBtr: jfor 'N promotion of <hij gotitiijal, gonial, ^flriijaltmtal and (gomntqcial Interests of (hi; ffouth. j TERamoLE topyItorek VOLUME 42. YORKVILLE, S. C., FRIDAY, MAY 29, 1896. NUMBEB 44. THE FITTES' f 9 * BY J. H. C Copyright, 1896, by the Author. CHAPTER VH There seemed to be something radi* cally wrong about the prescriptions of "How to Win a Fortune In Wall Street." Chester Sewall, who tried his best to follow them faithfully, found their operation far from satisfactory and was forced to the conclusion that there was an indeflniteness about the glittering maxim, ' 'Buy stocks only when v they are at their lowest point and sell when they are highest," which made it rather difficult of specific application. ?' * a XL. l-'xxl ^ 1 1. having mastered ia? utuu uuu*. iuiu perused several financial articles in the morning papers, he "went on the street and proceeded to "operate" in a tentative way, with two "active" stocks, in the selection of which he believed himself demonstrating inspirational astuteness. From one of the specious but susv piciously seedy "curbstone brokers" on New street he bought a "put" on one stock and a "call" on the other. Hardly had he done so when those particular stocks reversed their previous tenden'ciea The one on which he had the "put" went up, and the other, upon prhich he held the "call," went down. Then he picked out another stock and tried a "straddle" on it, whereupon that security?which previously had been lively enough for any reasonable person?suddenly seemed to be paralyzed, or anchored fast, moving neither way. After that his "margin" was "wiped out" on a straight purchase of stock. All this, it will be understood, was not a matter of two or three days' experience, but of as many weeks. "They lure but to betray," he repeated sadly to himself, flinging bis little book into the fire as a "marker" on the point in his fortunes when he realized that half of his financial fleece had been shorn away and he was still simply a "lamb." He had not even had "beginner's luck." And yet he could not give up venturing farther in the vain hope that he might have a turn of m 1 ? j 1 vvnrtlr o f vio p ioruunt?, mm m icooi mu uuua ??uuv **v had lost He could see nothing else for him to do, nothing else in which to employ the remnant of his patrimony that was left So he went on "operating" and losing more, not very rapidly now, for he was timid, but none the less surely. And, as the climax of his unwisdom _ in that unlucky time, he took Irma into his confidence. He could not narrate to her the ''ups and downs'' of his speculative career, for it had been all "downs" and no "ups," and the story seemed monotonous to her, though she was too kind to say so plainly. Perhaps she wnTilrt have had more svmoathvfor him if she had realized how vital his struggle had become and could have appreciated the cruel intensity of feeling suffered by inexperienced players at that desperate game of chance in which he was engaged. But he could not bear to tell her that his first essay in the battle of life had been such a disastrous failure; that the advantages of education, upon which he had so plumed himself, had been of no help to him, and that the capital he had so lately despised because her father scorned it now seemed to him enormous, y since he no longer had it No, he affected to treat his misfortunes lightly, jested over them, though with a very sore heart, and of course made no impression upon her other than a fear that he was - ! UtrJI She had much to say just then. probably a rather unlucky chap, which did not enhance his attractiveness in her eyes. She inherited from her father a prejudice against "unlucky" persons. ? "Oh, I dare say it will all come right directly," she said lightly. "Papa, I know, makes a great deal of money in Wall street, and I have heard him 6ay that he also lost it sometimes. Nobody, I suppose, either wins or loses continually. You will have to wait for a change of fortune, that is alL " "Waiting would be bad enough simply as a delay in winning fortune, but its worst aspect is that it postpones my winning you, my darling," he replied. "Perhaps you might do better somewhere else than in Wall street Speculation mav not be vour metier. You might do better in politics." "I think I should like politics in the abstract?that is, the pure science of statesmanship, for which I believe I have some natural qualifications?but the thought of being a politician makes me shudder." "Why 60?" "The associations and requirements of the politician's existence have in them n so much that is positively revolting to a person of refinement. The influence of a politician in our form of government is entirely dependent upon the number of votes he can control. To win votes he must pander to the prejudices and even the vices of the ignorant and vulgar masses, affect a community of interest with the herd, and even cultivate intimacies among them. Independent thoucht or conscientious adherence to T SURVIVES. ONNELLY. principle would be fatal to his career. I %%?*%#! annl 1 ifp nil h^ mn m mu) wuovavuw) ?, ....^ ? long to his party. Until he rises to be the head, there is always somebody above him, a leader whom he must implicitly obey like an abject slave or be 'disciplined.' And when he rises to the head he becomes the slave of all below him, paradoxical as that statement may appear, or they will turn upon him and rend him if he ventures to call his soul his own." Irma laughed ' 'What a morbid view you take of the politician! I have l&iown only one, and him not very well, but I must say he did not seem to me such a revolting creature." "Oh, well! He may be one of the amateurs who have a mission to purify politics and who furnish respectability and amusement for the real politicians." "No. I think he will have to be classed as a professional It is Mr. Cyrus Pratt" * "Cyrus Pratt! Well, yes. I should say he would be classed as a professional I have heard of him, even in Boston. Why, he is a 'boss!' How do you come to know him?" "He comes frequently to see?papa." "T imnmnfl from what I have heard of him that he most be a very shrewd fellow. That is shown by the skill with which, himself keeping ont of offloe, he disposes of so many offices, wields their power and no doubt shares their profits.'' "Oh, Chester, he is the very man for you! Why did I not think of it before? He might take a notion to give yon a good office and so put you in the way of 6ome day becoming a 'boss' yoursell" 4 'Humph! Hardly likely. * * "Oh, you can't telL You don't know how nioe he is. I am sure he would do almost anything I asked him." The man who, situated as Chester Sewall was, could hear the lady of his love express such confidence in commanding the favors of another man and yet feel no twinge of jealous suspicion would be a much more perfect character than he. Yet he would have been ashamed to give expression to such a feeling upon so small provocation. He could simply relapse ir.to gloomy silence. But Irina did not even notice that She hah much to say just; men. The idea of becoming the architect of her lover's fortunes had suddenly seized and fascinated her. She amplified and elaborated her primary suggestion. Yes, she was sure of having sufficient influence with Mr. Pratt to make him find for her protege some prominent and lucrative office. Whatever it might be, she knew that Chester would grace it, and, his foot once upon the steep and slippery stairway of fame, he would surely climb to the top, would be known of men and envied, and even heard of as far away as Boston. Next year perhaps it might be polite for him to go to the legislature, and the year after, or perhaps the second year, to congress. Then, she did not doubt, her father would welcome him as a son-inlaw. "It's a long time to wait," sighed Chester dolefully. CHAPTER VHL When his destiny had thus been nicely molded and polished and labeled for him, he went home, a ieeDie insane c for self preservation had restrained him from a positive pledge to resign his future wholly to the direction of the political "boss. " But he had agreed to "think it over seriously," by which he meant that he would take John Latham's advice before venturing upon a political career. Chester Sewall found not a little comfort for his self love in the cherished misconception that his college education made him superior to his almost self taught friend. He would have been much puzzled to define in what the superiority consisted. Nevertheless he clung to the idea, as men most obstinately do to those things which are purely matters of faith consciously unsupported by reason. Of course, he said to himself, a man who knew little Latin and less Greek could not really be his equal. He could not deny that John's purposeful and resolute character and his ever ready knowledge of life were attributes in which he himself might perhaps be slightly deficient, but they were on a lower phine than he had attained. He could afford to acknowledge them without envying their possessor, and it would be but natural and proper for him to avail himself of them as upon occasion he might condescend to employ the muscular forces of a , builder or a blacksmith. In John's proper though undeniably inferior field any judgment he formed would probably be correct, any advice he gave likely to be good and anything he undertook most likely to succeed. Jolm just at that time was not in the humor to claim so much for himself. His self confidence had been rudely shaken. Mrs. Hall had delegated to him the duty of finding the missing witness, and lie at the outset had made no question of laying hands upon any given McCaffrey required within a week or two. But after three weeks of nousuccess, botli by himself and his agents, he began to question if the lost man was in New York "I cannot tell," said the widow when he raised this doubt to her, "that he is, but I have always since he disappeared had a premonition that lie would be discovered Ik re. My husband, when he was i on liis deathbed, said something aboul i McCaffrey having gone west, but his mind was probably wandering at cue time. It docs not stand to reason that a man would flee across the world to escape the prayers of a poor woman or fear her when he had a powerful backer interested in protecting him. Ho might have staid right here Bafely and probably, in my opinion, did so. One great trouble has been that I had never seen him. I may have run against him in tho streets a score of time s. He must be quite an old man now. " 'Has it never occurred to you as a TviRoihilitv that he mav be dead?" John asked her. "No. It has not God would not let him die without making some reparation for the great wrong he aided in doing. I am as sure of it as that I am alive?some day he will turn up again." "Well," replied John, "if he is here, he is well hidden. When I started in to find him, I went upon the hypothesis that he must either be in the directory or have relatives?other McCaffreys? who were and through whom he might be reached. It was very soon established that neither of the Michael McCaffreys in the directory was the man we want Then I went to work upon the most promising hundred of the McCaffreys that I could pick out from the list, old and young, male and female, of all classes. "The most pronounced result as yet is a profound conviction that the McCaffrey mind, for occult reasons best known to itself, has a deeply rooted antipathy to the police, and I have also a vehement suspicion that the police will be justified in looking very sharply after Hrvmcro instiirated bv the McCaffrey mind. All my inquiries after the vanished Michael elicited only demands of what I wanted with him. I did not feel myself authorized to give any definite information on that head, and the McCaffrey mind of course leaped to the conclusion that I was a minion of the law seeking to abridge the liberty of one of the clan, as a consequence of his highly creditable disregard for some statutory enactment. One amiable old lady McCaffrey pathetically regretted that she had no water handy that was hot enough to scald me, and a combative gentleman McCaffrey, strangely gifted in ornate embellishment of his parts of speech, proposed to 'do me up just for luck,' and would have assaulted me beyond a doubt if I had not been armed "I have made up my mind thut whatever talent I may have as a sportsman does not lie in the direction of McCaffrey hunting. But the game shall be pursued all the same and more effectrRi # "You shall not be sold out." ively than by me in person. The man I have engaged for the chase is an old and skillful detective, an exceptionally smart one, who being such is not at all likely to be suspected by them, and I shall keep him at work among them until I know all we want to know about 1 all the McCaffreys." 1 "I?I don't like the idea," stammered the widow uneasily, "of involving yen, a stranger, in such cn expense as that. I know it costs a great deal to hire a good detective." "Oh, that's all right," answered John 1 jauntily. "I want to do it for my own satisfaction now. And you will soon get over the idea of looking upon me as 'a stranger,' I hope. Addie has already." Addie peeped slyly at him, with a 1 little smile and ablush, and even around the old woman's mouth there was a momentary deepening of the wrinkles, as 1 if she, too, would have smiled had not that grace been long forgotten by the 1 muscles in her sad countenance. 1 John Latham told the truth when he said he wanted to keep up the McCaffrey hunt on his own account, no was determined he would not be driven from that 1 field. And, still a better reason, the continuance of the chase afforded him an excuse for frequent calls at the cot; tage to tell how his detective was getting on and to consult with Mrs. HalL Incidentally Addie was always present 1 during those visits, so that he was now sure c.f a pleasant hour or two in her society at her home, at least once and 1 sometimes twice a week. Ajid he saw 1 with pleasure that her mother was grow1 ing accustomed to the sight of him, perhaps was sometimes even pleased to see 1 him. In truth, he was making better progress than ho thought. Under her hard and cold exterior the widow hid a 1 good warm heart and was not slow to appreciate the sterling manhood of her daughter's lover. "He will make her a good husband when justice is dono and I am gone," she said to herself. * * * * 1 One evening when Latham returned home Chester Sewall said to him: "You look as happy as if you had won 1 the grand prize in a lottery." "Why, so I have, the grandest prize ^ in the lottery of life, the honest affec' tion of a noble, true hearted girL ' "Ah, yes, very delightful, no doubt," drawled Chester, affecting a cynical ' tone, "but it isn't 'practical' " "What is the "matter with you, Chet?" "Nothing, only my girl and Wall street together are teaching me the value of the 'practical.' " "Has Miss Willmarth come around to her father's views?" "I can hardly say definitely as to that. She continues urging me to go into politics under the banner of Mr. Pratt, of whom, between us, I am getting rather tired, and I have agreed to, as you suggested, look the field over and see what it offers. But there's time enough for that. The burning issue of the hour is that the last dollar I have in the world is in peril?imminent peril" "How so?" "That infernal stock cannot possibly go half a point lower. It will not be allowed to. Everybody says it is a miracle that it has got down to where it is. It must take a turn, and when it starts to go up will regain lost ground, and more, too, very rapidly. But if I do not ?? #1 HAA 4-r\ mr mnrdnn hv put* up VVV WW p*wvwv Q*** wj 10 o'clock tomorrow I shall be sold out under the rule. Every dollar I had left is in it already, and if it goes I shall be ruined." "Don't let it worry you, my boy. You shall not be sold out." CHAPTER EX. John Latham held a limited and conditional though publicly acknowledged partnership in the prominent legal firm of Gannett, Stryker & Latham, a place he had conquered by sheer merit While his financial gains from it were not as yet much better than the salary he formerly reoeived as the managing clerk of Messrs. Gannett & Strayer, the partnershiD was far more advantageous than the clerkship, since it gave him standing and a certainty of ultimate fortune. A very considerable portion of the business of the firm was the exhaustive investigation of properties and enterprises, of any and every kind, in which their rich clients contemplated investments. For this class of work clear headed, wide awake, thorough and conscientious John Latham had come to be regarded as a man of remarakble value. One of the notable tritrmphs of the firm was his first achievement in that line, and, by the way, the manner in which the opportunity therefor fell to him seemed at the time to be sheer accident A couple of clients, who were about making a joint investment of half a million dollars in a western railroad scheme, at the last moment bethought them that it would be at least a prudent thing, notwithstanding the excellent representation made to them, to have Gannett & Strykcr critically examine the enterprise before they risked their money upon it Mr. Gannett could not leave town, Mr. Strykcr chanced to be ill, and so the delicate and highly re J--' BpCHSime uuiy ?lis pL'J.iUi<j<j wmium tu their then managing clerk, Mr. Latham. His report was emphatically against the investment as nns;ifc, and in a very few months events proved his judgment correct. So heartily was his good work in that investigation appreciated that the grateful clients, in addition to paying the firm's fee, gave him a very handsome present out of the half million he had unquestionably saved to them, while his emplc yers, recognizing his valne, made a place in the firm for him. Of course there were those who enviously said "John is very lucky." But is it not strange how "lucky" men of brains and energy are? Upon reaching his office one morning a couple of days after Chester's exposition of the desperate plight of his speculations Mr. Latham found awaiting his personal consideration and prompt ae ticn an important piece of business, closely akin to that already mentioned. A southwestern railroad this time afforded the subject for an investigation, and the matter was one that would admit of nn dclav. He was busied until late in the afternoon in getting such necessary (lata as were at his,clients'command and in cksing up such office business as could bo put aside for a time. Then he wrote a letter cf instructions to the detective, whom lie characterized as his "McCaffrey chaser," and hastened off to Harlem for a farewell interview with Addie. By 7 o'clock ho was at home, packing a valise, and at 9 was abotird an express train starting out of Jersey City. At the time of Chester Sewall's launching himself upon a business career, when he set out to win a fortune in Wall street, he had sensibly taken John Latham's advice in retrenching Ins unnecessary expenditures, and one of the main steps to that end was his removal from the costly hotel where he had been living to the combined lodging and boarding house in which John resided. There he had a bedroom, small, but large enough to sleep in, for the same sum per week as ho had been paying per diem for his apartment at the hotel. It adjoined John's room, which was a largo one, and when the communicating door had been opened, the young men practically enjoyed the two in common. The larger one, in which a good fire was kept, served as their parlor. Some of the persons occupying rooms in the houso took their meals at the landlady's table, but Latham and Sewall found it better enif-pri tn their onnvenience to natronizo restaurants at such times and places as appetite and opportunity conjointly served. When Chester Sewall returned home at the usual hour for finding his friend there on the day of John Latham's hurried departure for the southwest, the busy young lawyer was in Harlem. The loneliness and quiet of the room were unendurable to a man whose distress and anxiety had wrought his nerves to the highest tension, and Chester went out again to walk, not with the object of going anywhere, but just to walk until he should have tired himself out and might hope to sleep. By the time he revisited the room his friend was Half way across the state of "New Jersey and going rapidly. From the central gas fixture in the main room depended by a string a card upon which was written: Dam Chit?Hare to go away. Don't expect me nntil yon see me. Good lock to yon. Toon, Jobs. The finder stared at the writing in dismay. He could hardly have imagined anything else that would have seemed so disastrous at this particular juncture as John's departure. Weary in body, sore in spirit, on the very verge or aespair, he had come home counting upon receiving from his friend consolation, encouragement, advice, perhaps even material aid. He felt as he fancied a man might feel who stood,alone upon a mere foothold of sand in midocean and knew that the last- ship by which he might have been saved had sailed away from him in the night. That stock, in defiance of all possibility, had gone on falling. It was a monstrous and, as it seemed to him, an unheard of thing that it should so persistently go down when everybody said it ought to go up, but it had done so until the wiseacres gravely shook their heads and said there was no knowing As he sat alone before John'8 fire. where it would stop now. The business relations between him and his broker were upon the same footing again as when he had borrowed $1,000 to protect his margin a couple of days before. Once more he was about to be sold out Whether he wanted to enlarge his debt to John in order to risk more or not he had not determined. It was a question he had proposed to leave to John, who had unconsciously settled it by going away. While waiting and watching the "ticker" that afternoon, with the gam bling fever hot upon him, he had, in obedience to a momentary impulse, entered a "bucket shop" and risked the last bank bill he possessed upon the fluctuations of a peculiarly lively wildcat mining stock, concerning which he knew absolutely nothing. It was not so much the prospect of the possible petty gain that tempted him as the idea he suddenly conceived that his luck in that small venture would forecast the fate awaiting his larger interests, which was still in the balance. It was only a $10 note anyway, too small a sum to be of any practical use. He lost, and accepting the augury was not surprised when he saw recorded "on the tape" a further fall of the stock to which ho had clung with such fatal persistence, one that "wiped cut" his margin. He was utterly ruined. As he sat alone before John's fire, turning these things over in his mind, it was a singular fact that he felt a peculiarly keen regret for the $10 thrown away in the "bucket 6hop." The thousands he had risked and lost were simply "capital," an abstract element in business transactions, that had never materialized to his sight in the form of bank notes, having always appeared in the unimpressive guise of certified checks. But the $10 note was a familiar and comprehensible thing of accurately measurable value. It would have bought 20 frugal meals. By the way, how much did he actually have loft for the purchase of food? A very serious question. He set himself at once to ransacking his pockets. Dimes were things for Thanksgiving; nickels, objects of interest ; peimies, not to be despised. How he lamented new the less of his good $10 note! But while he was prosecuting this search something was brought to light that gave a new direction to his thoughts and caused a new trouble to loom up before him. It was an envelope that he recognized at once as containing tickets of admission to the opera the next evening. He had procured them a week before, Irma having expressed a desire to witness tne representation 01 \uonengrin," announced for that date, but his business troubles had driven the fact from his memory for three or four days past What a ghastly satire upon his misery that engagement now seemed to him! Anxious about food for the immediate future and under contract to take a millionaire's daughter to the opera I The recalling of apposite Greek and Latin quotations to suit pretty much all chances and conditions was his happiest talent, but it failed him now. He was too much troubled to think of anything that seemed adequate to the occasion. Irma would expect to be taken to the opera house and home again in a carriage, of course. That was what she was accustomed to. But even street car fares would narrow his dietary plan seriously. It occurred to him that there would be wisdom in feigning sudden indisposition and sending her the tickets. She could get her father to escort her. Yes, she could, but would she? Might she not prefer Mr. Cyrus Pratt's society? That possibility decided him against the pru/Icnfiol mmairvn Via VinH fnr a rnnmpnt contemplated. There was no help for it; he would have to go himself. But now that John was gone, he knew not where, from whom could he obtain the necessary means? Why, from the pawnbroker, Of course. Strange that lie .had -not thought before of every body's r^mcle7' who would certainly advance him a handsome sum upon his superb Jergensen watch, a present to him from his father. That happy thought so far lightened the gloom of the situation that he went to his bed in measurable content and slept the sound sleep of weary youth. Early in the morning he proceeded to test his new resource and was not disappointed. The pawnbroker let him have $100, and the young man resolved that after this final night of fashionable 31 ! i-! t-l-V fa V? uiBHipauun, 1x1 willou ho wuuu ue as economical as he becomingly or prudently might, the remainder of the sum should be so carefully husbanded that it would give him subsistence for weeks to come, until he found same occupation. Remembering that the buttons of his dress coat showed signs of wear, he bought a new set, intending himself to replace with them the old ones, and with this purpose in view went directly home. Needles' and black silk thread he already had. Carrying the coat over his arm, he opened the communicating door from his little hall room to his friend's larger and warmer apartment, where he purposed doing his amateur tailoring, but upon the threshold stopped as if paralyzed by astonishment The room already had a tenant, a very pretty girl, who sat sewing near one of the win- l dowa She looked up at his entrance, but without apparent surprise said "Hello!" and went on with her work. TO BE CONTINUED. Why Barbers Exhibit a Pole.? Anciently barbers performed minor operations in surgery, and in particular blood letting. To assist in this operation, it was necessary for the patient to grasp a staff firmly in order to distend the vein in the arm from which the blood was to be taken, and for this purpose a stick or pole was always kept by the barber-surgeon, together with the fillet or bandage, he used for tyiDg the patient's arm. When the pole was not in use the tape was tied to it, so that they might be both together when wanted, and in this state, pole and tape were hung at the door as a sign. A brass basin was frequently suspended on the pole. This basin had a nrtch cut in it to fit the throat, was used for lathering customers who came to be shaved. At length, instead of hanging out the identical pole used in the operation, a pole was painted with stripes around it in the imitation of the real pole and the two bandages, one for twisting round the arm previous to blood-letting and the other for binding. , Solomon's System.?"Do you think it would be wrong for me to learn the , noble art of self-defense ?" a religiously inclined voune man inauired of his , pastor. "Certainly not," answered the minister, "I learned it in youth myself, and I have found it of great value during my life." "Indeed, sir! Did you learn the old English system or Sullivan's system ?" ' . "Neither. I learned Solomon's system." "Solomon's system!" -"Yes, you will find it laid down in the first verse of the 15 chapter of Proverbs: 'A soft answer turneth away wrath.' It is the best system of self-defense of which I have ever heard." The 8mart Boarder.?It doesn't pay to be too funny. A man who formerly boarded at a Maino hotel used always to call for "old hen" when he saw chicken on the bill of fare. The table girl and cook thereupon prepared for him, and whenever chicken 1 wan nfni/i WHS 3CI vcu au UIU ucu aiov ttbo ded, and this particular boarder always got a generous piece of that. After this order of things had continued for 4 three months without the boarded suspecting the joke, one day he called the waitress to him and told her he was getting sick of old bens, and he'd like to have a taste of chicken. "Very well," was the reply, "you can have it, but you ordered old hen regularly, and as this house always pleases its guests when it is possible we've been giving you what you ordered." Provocation For a Lawsuit.? There is a story told of a very eminent lawyer now no longer with us, who once, while endeavoring to dissuade a friend from going to law, was asked what he would himself consider sufficient ground for resorting to litigation. "My dear fellow," he replied, "I do not say that under no conceivable circumstances would I take proceedings against anyone, but I do say that if this moment you deliberately upset my ink on the table, chucked my wife out of the window, threw that volume of reports at the bust of Dickens, 'made hay' with my furniture and finally tweaked my nose, I should, no doubt, use my best endeavors to kick you down stairs; * - -1 _ 1? - ? AM AH AAlllk out once ria 01 you, uu puwer uu couu should induce me to bring an action against you. 8?~ A "baker's dozen," meaning 13, dates back to the time of Edward I, when very rigid laws were enacted regarding the sale of bread bakers. The punishment for falling short in the sale of loaves by the dozen was so severe that, in order to run no risk, the bakers were accustomed to give 13 or 14 loaves to' the dozen, and thus arose this peculiar expression.