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FERDINAND WARD’S STORY.
The Collapse That Was the Sensation
of a Decade Ago.
War( 3 Denies Ruining the Grants—
Claims to Be the Only Man in the
Deals Who is Now Poor—lmmediate
cause of the Failure.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
After withstanding a continued and
levere pressure for over eight years, a
portion of which time I was under as
pr eat mental torture as it is possible for
one human mind to sustain without break
ing down and becoming a complete and
pitiable wreck, and in the interest of one
I must leave behind to brave the troubles
and trials of a too often severe and hyp
ercritical world, and whom I do not wish
to begin life under any unnecessary dis
advantages, 1 have decided to follow the
advice of my few stanch friends and
counselors and give to the world the true
inside history of the founding, life and
financial death of the house of Grant &
Ward.
Being perfectly well aware that I shall
be censured for remaining quiet so long,
and probably accused of a ghoulish desire
to invade the sanctity of the tomb, and
well knowing that many persons to whom
1 shall necessarily refer will shield them
selves behind the plea that my experience
during the last eight years has made my
accusations unworthy of belief, I have
prepared myself with documentary evi
dence of the truth of each and every as
sertion I may make.
WANTS TO CLEAR CP THE PAST.
The oft repeated argument that “it is
all over now and the least said the bet
ter” would be true and would be ob
served did not the welfare of one in
whom I have a jtteater interest than in
anything else, twrh life, demand a clear
ing possible in connection with the un
fortunate past of the old bankink house.
An incomplete statement would leave the
sceptical public under the impression
that I was unable to Drove my assertions,
while the faithful reproduction of the
documents I hold will cleave no ishadow
of doubt in the mind of any fair sane per
son as to the correetness of the whole
statement.
At the time of the failure I was accused
of not trying to clear myself from the
charges brought against me, but of
merely trying to draw all the prominent
people possible into the tangle with me. I
shall endeavor to show, and with a cer
tainty of success, that at least eight out
of ten of the accusations made against me
at the time of the failure were false, and
explain why they were impossible.
I will not write for the purpose of con
doning my errors and mistakes, for the
world knows that for everything in which
1 have sinned I have suffered. I have
paid the penalty for over-confidence and
the belief in my ability to save a sinking
ship, which might have been saved but
for the abandonment of the vessel by the
crew, who had as much interest in the
cargo as the captain, but who had no
master’s certificate to lose.
WHERE THE MONET WENT.
At the time of the failure and many
times since I was and have been accused
of causing the ruin of many who had con
fidence in m.y ability as a financier, when,
in truth, I am to-day and was the day
of the failure the only poor man in any
way interested in the concern. The brain
of a Webster is not necessary to under
stand that not one of those interested
in the house of Grant & Ward be
came interested with the view of losing
money.
The object was to gain enormous sums,
and the schedule furnished by me shows
where the money went. For the purpose
of explaining how it went I will give
the table, which will show how the $6,000,
000 deficit of the collapsed firm was ab
sorbed :
V. S. Grant, as per shedcules $ 217,231 T 9
U. S. Grant, loss on stock assumed
by receiver 24,847 78
Read ii Smith, various profits 37,883 00
Receiver, loans and securities in
his hands 480.131 46
James D. Fish, dividends paid him 61,495 75
James D. Fish, profits paid him
from June, 1879, to May, 1880 58,964 17
James D. Fish, discounts and addi
tional protits 91,645 30
James D. Fish, profits paid him by
Grant & Ward 779.968 22
S. Bingham, profits 30,318 77
K. H. Tobey, profits 133,329 45
F G. Tobey. profits 23.031 63
W. R. Grace, profits 147,385 70
Marine National Bank, profits 332,836 33
A. Oatman, discounts 14,353 60
tv. A. Hall, discounts 5,733 32
ii W. spencer, discounts 10.831 66
B. Fish 8.821 10
J T Tappan, per J. D. F., dis
counts 5,388 00
T. Hamsdell, discounts 50 00
Irving Fish, discounts 1,613 82
A. U Graves 7.482 9t
F. Bill, discounts 3,801 16
J. R. Smith 10,5(0 60
A K. I‘euse. discounts 2,220 28
A. H. Scoville, discounts 1,200 00
• ' H. Mallory & Cos., discounts 4,305 83
Bryan H. Smith, profits 11,937 50
Offlve expenses, interest and loans 368.427 15
F Ward 633.918 16
Is. Grant, Jr., profits as partner. 144.581 41
L s. Grant, Jr., profits through
F, Ward 50.542 59
F . n. Grant, profits 133.501 48
t K. (.arrison, notes 50.000 00
George D. Morgan, bonds on loan 20.000 00
W s. Warner (estimated) 1,300,000 00
Total *5,187,972 82
DID NOT RUIN GRANT.
among the many charges against
me was that I had ruined the Grant family
when in fact when General tb S. Grant
went into the firm he did so with $50,000
borrowed from Commodore Garrison for
“at purpose. This amount, together with
ah the other sums he obtained from var
ious sources, would not offset the first
°f the foregoing schedule.
1 bat General Grant supposed he was
"Peculating in government contracts I
mn st emphatically assert, lean, if nee
fssar.v "ill, produce and publish corres
pondence over autographs that will give
undisputed proof of my correctness.
Another charge is that my schemes
ruined the Marine Bank and caused great
suffering among the depositors of that
institution, when in fact the receiver has
“heady paid the depositors of that bank
n-'-r mi per cent, and is prepared to pay
■norc. That shows that the customers of
“nt concern were not entirely ruined by
the cause of the failure.
I !*o prime cause of the failure of Grant
\\ ard was the illness of Nelson J. Tap
* he controller of the city of Mew York
' "'as interested in the success of some
1 our speculations. I offered him (£5.000
' r use of ♦IOO,OOO fora certain |>eriod,
ini i,ot having the money he arranged to
* [",sit city funds in the Marine Hank so
"•mi borrow from this institution. This
•is done, and a few days before the fa.il
i‘.*lraut & Ward the Marino Bank
a : '<*o,ooo of the city money.
J 1 ’'" illness caused the appointment of
( 1 oily in Mr. Tuppan’s place, he (Mr.
v ' !>egan to draw on the bank, which
is not according to my agreement with
‘j ‘appan.
I si a Mr. Tap|ion at his house, and ap
„ ’"‘ Inm of this fact < which ho, by the
u • /‘.l'dd.V knew) that these unox
''d drafts meant the ruin of the bank
"‘the lirin of Grant fit Ward, hut 1m
v*h,,.J >0 L W<r^e *® to avert the disaster,
, , dad he been in good health, would
• r nave oomrred, us he had provided
‘ r nmans to supply tim funds needed
e city mull we could got in our time
~ if l l, ‘ u eonsidorod as good as gold It
t . • ov <-T*lof the director* and did
Lu 1 . ,i K lk>ssiblo to avert tlm crash,
"about avail. The second draft,
which was for half a million, came in and
the bank could not meet it, and the firm
of Grant & Ward went to the wall as a
natural consequence.
DESERTING GEN. GRANT.
The desertion of Gen. Grant by those
who claimed to be and posed as his warm
est friends was one of the many causes of
our earliest embarrassment.
When the public contrast the treatment
of such men as Gen. Gordon and Gen.
Porter of the Grant family with what he
received at our hands they will not be
slow in discovering that his only enemies
were not those with whom he was openly
associated.
General Grant was induced to connect
himself with concerns that basely be
trayed him, and the firm of Grant &Ward
was obliged to bear the brunt of the
strain caused by these betrayals.
General Grant told me that General
Porter had induced him to take $200,000
of West Shore bonds on the assurance
that no more than 10 per cent, would ever
be called, when, in reality the whole $200,-
000 was called, and Grant & Ward were
obliged to find the money and also furnish
$60,000 for debenture bonds, which made
$200,000. where he supposed he would only
have $20,000 to pay at tne outside.
General Grant was drawn into all sorts
of schemes by supposed friends who
wanted his name to float their enter
prises on the promise of enormous divi
dends without risk or the expenditure of
any considerable sums of money. These
schemes almost invairably turned out
disastrously and the firm was called upon
to foot the bills.
EXTREMELY RISKY TRANSACTIONS.
Instead of being one to induce him to
enter into extremely risky transactions I
was really a restrainer, and in many eases
persuaded him not to go into ventu es
which he brought into our office and in
which he had implicit faith, born of the
assurance of friends who knew that
even with his connection they were ex
tremely doubtful and without it abso
lutely hopeless.
One of the most coolly audacious things
connected with the whole business was
the alacrity with which the directors of
the Marine Bank to a man repudiated the
hazardous risks and denied all knowledge
of the large loans made just before the
failure of that concern, when in truth
these loans were approved of and voted
by a full board of directors, who knew all
the ins and outs of the transactions in
question. When the real danger came
they retreated behind an absurd and un
true claim of ignorance, which would in
itself be criminal in any body of men in
trusted with the care of large sums of
money by depositors.
Prior to the pardoning of Mr. Fish he
made the statement that he would have
to come out of prison and go to work.
This was the main argument when his
friends sought executive clemency for the
financier. His poverty was at that time
absolutely appalling, but we have no well
authenticated account of his having en
gaged in either physical or mental labor
since returning to the city. By referring
to the foregoing schedule it will be seen
that there Is small probability of his ever
applying to any of the street rail way com
panies for employment.
A LACK OP REPORTS.
Why is it we hear nothing concerning
the affairs of Grant & Ward now?
Possibly my seclusion prevented my
reading the reports of the receiver, and
possibly the failure of the receiver to pub
lish any prevented any or many other
interested parties from reading them.
There should have at least been a show
of some dividends from the securities of
the concern, as in one case alone one of
these securities brought the handsome
sum of *1,000,000. I refer to the old
Booth's theater property, at the corner of
Sixth avenue and Twenty-third street,
which, I am informed, sold for the above
price.
Possibly these questions are leading,
but they are of interest to the clients of
Grant & Ward, as well as myself.
While on the subject of the receiver it
may be well to recall the appointment of
a man who was interested in all of Grant
& Ward’s schemes to act as receiver, as
additional protection to the Grant family,
but it may possibly escape the notice of
the public that it has been in the power of
tlie same receiver to thus far completely
cover up the transactions of the firm with
Gen. Horace Porter, Gen. Gordon, Work,
Warner and others, whose interests and
connections with the firm will make in
teresting reading when published.
NOT THE ONLT SUFFERER.
Had I been the only sufferer by and
through the failure of Grant & Ward and
the Marine Bank I would have been un
doubtedly open to the charge of seeking
both sympathy and redress long after all
interest in the affairs of these two con
cerns had ceased to be of moment to all
but those most intimately connected with
them, but as several members of the
Ward family have been accused of aiding
me in the concealment of the millions I
have beencharged with making and saving
it is but justice to the people thus ac
cused to show how impossible it was for
me to be the possessor of the sums I was
supposed to have placed to my own credit
during the time the two establishments
in question were in existence. I can only
clear those unjustly accused by showing
where the *5,000.000 deficit of the defunct
firm really went and how the disburse
ment was made.
While it is possible for those most deep
ly involved in any questionable transac
tion to cry, “Stop thief!” and point to
the one member of a company which the
public selects as the most guilty party as
“the hardened criminal 1” and be loudest
in the demand for his punishment, it ill
becomes people so deep in a transaction as
to be completely submerged in the whirl
pool made by the sinking ship to use the
first breath gained after coming to the
surface in loud cries for the arrest and
punishment of one of their fellows with
whom they were associated in every de
tail of the business that was to make them
all rich men.
THE CRIME WAS IN FAILURE.
Had the firm of Grant & Ward been
successful —which it would have been but
for an entirely unforeseen and uulooked
for circumstance, and a circumstance that
no management could avert—those inter
ested in the house would have been proud
to claim every dollar made by the tran
sactions in which we were engaged, and
not one of them would have been able to
see anything wrong in the methods of
the arch fiend who led them all by the
nose.
The crime then consisted in my failure
and not in my methods, as all innocent
men connected with the firm were after
the profits made by the transactions, in
which they could see nothing wrong until
they failed ; then they all suddenly dis
covered the enormity of the entire thing
and unhesitatingly condemned the whole
affair.
Did any one working with the house see
anvthiug wrong in the business they were
engaged in before the Marine Bank failed
to meet the city's half million draft!
□ No, not one: although each and every
one of them knew the nature of our busi
ness and was perfectly familiar with
every detail.
THE POWER OF HYPNOTISM.
Now, either I must have been possessed
with the power of hypnotizing those with
whom 1 came in contact and leadiug the
ablest financiers in the country by the
nose, while thev blindly followed my wild
and disastrous lead, or these able geutle
men must have supposed ray methods fair
and honest until they failed.
Is it not singular that among all those
who were willing to share (and wanted
the share to bea big one) the profits of
our deals, there was not one bright enough
to sec anything wrong in the deals before
the firm railed!
And then, again. I* it not singular that
all those who were engaged In the deals
are now enjoying the luxury of wealth
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1593.
and position, in spite of their having been
hoodwinked into so many questionable
transactions?
The natural query will be: Why did I
allow so much time to elapse before pre
paring the inside history of the great
failure! And to this I reply, that now for
the first time since the failure I am free
to say what I know and can prove. Now
the peculiar chain of situations that has
kept me silent is broken, and, if I, by the
devoting of the remaining years of my life
to work, can clear the wrongfully accused
of the cloud they must be weary of re
maining under and enlighten the public—
whose sympathy 1 personally neither ask
nor want—as to the true state of Grant
& Ward’s affairs, and the connection,
past and present, of others with the
house. 1 will consider that at least the
last half of my life has been spent work
ing in the right field.
Ferdinand Ward.
royal"pleasure yachts.
Three Seen Together Daring Regatta
Week at Cowes.
The Antiquated Paddle-Wheel Steam
er Victoria and Albert, in Which
the British Queen Takes Her
Outings—Reminders of the Past
Which are Never Disturbed—The
Prince of Wales’ Comfortable
Craft, the Osborne—The Hohen
zollern in Which the Kaiser Sails.
From the New York Times.
Among the most interesting features
connected with regatta week at Cowes,
Isle of Wight, is the gathering there of
the yachts which transport royalty from
port to port. For a number of years,
more than thirty, it is said, the queen has
been carried about in the paddle-wheel
steamer Victoria and Albert, which, al
though very ancient, is spacious, well ar
ranged, and exceedingly comfortable.
The space abaft the paddle boxes is re
served for the royal accommodation, and
that forward for the officers of the ves
sel, and still further forward for the
crew. The decks are covered with lino
leum, which is carefully brushed off at
certain times of the day by bronzed tars,
who go about with long-handled brushes
and sweep up imaginary flecks of dust.
The word is used advisedly, for it would
take an exceedingly sharp pair of eyes to
detect any dust on that immaculate deck.
Holystoning was found too noisy a way of
cleaning, besides which, the covering pre
vents the noise of footsteps disturbing
those below.
The pin rails and belaying pins for
securing the ropes are all silver-plated,
and shine and glitter in the sun in a most
dazzling way. Nickel plating is generally
found sufficient, but that would hardly
accord with the other fittings, and so
silver plating was adopted.
The majority of visitors who go on
board are met at the gangway by a
quartermaster,who, apparently, is always
bare-headed ; whether that is part of the
ceremony or not is hard to tell. This man
’inquires the business of the caller, and,
if in conformity to regulations, allows
him to go up the gangway, where he is
met by the officer on duty. If the caller
goes aboard simply to inquire after the
royal personages, he is shown a little
office where there is a visitors’ book in
which he is supposed to write his name.
After this he, as a general rule, returns
to his boat and goes away. It is not ex
pected that he will be received by royalty
unless sent for or unless he should bo
some high foreign dignitary or other per
son of importance.
When the queen is on board she passes
a large part of her time during the period
in which the vessel is under way in one of
the sheltered little offices just abaft the
paddle box. This is nicely upholstered
and looks very comfortable.
Down below everything has been as far
as possible left exactly as it was when the
prince consort was alive and used to take
trips with her across the channel or along
the English coast. The queen insists upon
this being done whenever it can be with
out carrying with it inconvenience. For
example, the same pattern of chintz, or
whatever it is, now covers the furniture
that was in use when the prince consort
was aboard. The various rooms are also
in the same general style of decoration
that they were left in over a quarter of a
century ago. Lady visitors hold up their
hands and exclaim in horror at what to
day seems bad taste, but then her majesty
is not there to hear them, and it would
not make an iota of difference to her if
she were. Her tender recollections of the
happy period of her married days have
been again and again remarked upon, and
as she grows older she seems to cling more
and more to the past.
The bed, with its high headboard and
curtains, looks very comfortable, but it
seems that the queen always travels with
a mattress made especially to suit her,
and she never finds the yacht comfortab'e
unless she has her own mattress to sleep
on. One room is called the robing room,
and in the wardrobe are hung boat cloaks
that were made for the queen. King
George IV., and. it is said, King George
IH. There are several of them hanging
up, and one is said to be older than this
century. The queen's is of a light blue
color, lined with silk, and it is said to
have cost about *4OO. Visitors are given
to understand that she never has worn it.
The cloaks belonging to the former kings
are of red cloth, which seems like the
finest broadcloth, and most beautifully
made. Whether or not royalty is too
much for moths, there is no appearance of
the pests having attacked the garments,
which are in excellent condition, and
which, when new, must have been re
markably handsome.
The rooms for the Princess Beatrice
and her husband, Prince Henry of Bat
tenberg, are close to those of the queen,
and are furnished simply, but comforta
bly. Down below leads a stairway, and
at its foot is the nursery, where the
Prince of Wales and Duke of Edinburgh
used to pass a large piart of their , time
when on board the yacht.
The stern apartment is very pretty,
being well lighted through the skylight
overhead and also by the stern windows,
around which are tastefully draped some
muslin curtains. Another favorite room
is one having about its wails pictures of
the various members of the royal family.
Nobody would think of changing the ar
rangement of those pictures without first
consulting the queen, who designates the
exact position in which each shall be
placed, and who is very much opposed to
having any changes made. She remem
bers just where they all are. aud
directed the identical place that
the last addition, the Duke of
York, was to occupy, and what
was to be moved to make room for it
without going near the yacht. One of the
rooms has been given up to her instructor
in one of the East Indian dialects, which
the queen has studied so diligently the
past two years that she can now speak it
quite fluently. The other rooms are given
up to the ladies in waiting and other mem
bers of the royal household, and, judging
from what can be seen, there must be a
whole lot of them. The saloon is above
the berthing deck and is nice and airy,
having windows on all sides, so that a
fine view of the surroundings is always
possible.
From the forward to the after apart
ments one goes through a long covered
way, leading down under tbe shaft of the
wheel in a very peculiar manner, which
reminds one of the railroads at various
pleasure parks, where one gets in a ear at
the ton of a hill aud goes so rapidly down
that the momentum is almost suffeiout
to take him up an equally high hill be
yond.
It is considered an excellent thing for
naval officers to get on board these royal
yachts, as promotion out of the usual
course is quite apt to follow. Then, too. it
is soft duty, for when royalty takes a
fancy to a fellow he is generally sure of
not being sent to an unpleasant place. The
captain of the Victoria atid Albert has so
well pleased the queen that, although he
is now ltear Admiral Fullerton, she will
not have him leave the yacht.
The Prince of Wales has also held on to
his yacht, the Osborne, which is also an
old-fashioned sidewheol vessel. She is
very comfortable, however, and probably
that is the reason he does not change her
for something more modern. Sha is well
adapted for cruising, and last winter
made an extensive cruise in the Mediter
ranean. The prineo and his family have
been living abroad during the regattas, at
Cowes, in which the Britannia, a lino
cutter yacht owned by the Prince of
Wales, lias generally been entered, and
as a rule, been first or second. The fit
tings and arrangements for comfort and
convenience hero are more modern than
aboard the Victoria and Albert, as the
Osborne has much more service to per
form, and the prince likes the good things
of life.
A glance from either of the above
yachts to the Hohenzollern, the private
yacht of the Emperor of Germany, car
ries a most convincing proof of the great
strides that have been made in naval
architecture. She impressss one with
two things. One is that she is very
speedy and another that she is well built.
The young kaiser is of so nervous a tem
perament that he wants to move about
rapidly, and he does not care to be obliged
to wait for smooth weather to do it in.
The Hohenzollern fills these requisites
admirably, for she has a guaranteed speed
of twenty knots, and Is high out of water,
so that it would take very heavy seas to
necessitate her remaining in port until a
calmer time.
Calling her a yacht might possibly be
considered somewhat of a misnomer, as
she is of 4,200 tons displacement, which
makes her heavier than the naval cruisers
Newark and San Francisco. She was
designed by Chief Naval Constructor
Dietrich, who has twice been in the
United States, and who has designed some
of the finest vessels built in Germany.
The machinery of the Hohenzollern de
velopes 9,000 horse power, so with that
for a team it is no wonder that she can be
driven at a speed only excelled by the
fleetest of the ocean greyhounds, about
twice her size.
Besides the upper deck, there arc two
other living decks. On the first, lighted
with twelve windows, is the large dining
room. The roof of this room serves as a
promenade deck, in the center of which is
a small smoking room. For observations
of the surroundings, when approaching a
harbor at night, there arc two search
lights, very powerful and unusually bril
liant, and there Is a fine bridge forward
for the commander, which also carries a
small house for the lookout and the quar
termaster at the wheel.
Beneath the upper deck is the main
deck, on which are Situated the principal
living rooms. Aft are the officers’ and
the secretaries’ cabins, next those of the
garde-robe women, stewardesses, the
pantries and bathrooms. Further for
ward the royal saloon, and near it the
cabins, ladies’ saloon, and bathrooms for
the suite, and about the center
of the ship the .royal cabin. These
include both dressing and sleeping rooms,
connected by a passage, and further on
the working and receiving rooms of the
kaiser and the drawing room of the
kaiserin. The rest of the. space right
across is occupied by the rooms of the
royal princes.
The officers and crew are in part quar
tered in the forward part of the middle
deck, and in front of the rooms of the
princess are the living and mess rooms of
the commander and officers. Then follow
the spaefes for the crew, the sick bay, and
the dispensary. Below this are the rooms
for the servants, the royal garde-robe, the
trunk room, the imperial caboose, and the
washing-up room.
The emperor also owns a sailing yacht,
a cutter called the Meteor, which was
once the Thistle, the same boat that vis
ited the United States to try and capture
the America's cup.
It was a sight to delight democratic
eyes to see the kaiser sailing by in his
yacht, surrounded by officers whom he
had invited to join him from the German
ships present. He was one of them for
the time being, and took as much interest
in the main sheet or the tiller as though
he were not the great potentate that he
really is. He knows all about yachting,
ships, etc., and is so very keen abont it
all that they say his army is beginning to
be very jealous of the amount of time he
passes on the water and in the inspec
tions that he makes of his men-of-war
and merchant ships in process of con
struction.
A MEAN TRICK.
From the Chicago News.
He had often tried to propose to her.
but she was such a very flippant young
person that he found it impossible to re
duce her to a sufficiently serious frame, of
mind. Then, too, he was by no means
certain as to her feelings toward him
self.
Ho .vever, he was denied the satisfac
tion of even well grounded suspicion. She
had such a baflling sort of manner. Never
had he been able to surprise her into an
admission of anything, however‘trifling,
which might be taken as an indication
that he aroused within her emotions of
any kind whatever. It was certainly
very difficult to know what to do.
Many times had he almost taken advan
tage of a momentary silence on her part.
Times without number had he nearly
clasped her in his arms as she pirouetted
past him, but she was too quick for him.
The boldest effort on his part had been
made one evening after he had brought a
friend to call upon her. Minna, Bob and
the friend had all sat in the kitchen and
pulled taffy. Next evening Bob said,
sheepishly:
“Do you know, Minna, what Ikey was
tellin’ me last night?’’
“How could I know without you told
me?” returned Minna, with spirit. She
was washing dishes and she clattered
them in the pan.
"He was asking me if I were going to
marry you.”
“And what did you tell him?”
“Told him I didn't know.”
“That was right." said Minna, swirliDg
the dishcloth around.
“And he —he said I was a durned fool if
I didn't.”
Minna went off into peals of laughter.
Then she sobered up.
“Didn’t what?”
“Didn’t marry you.”
“So you would be-if you got the
chance,” was the prompt reply.
“That’s what I toid him—if I got the
chance; but I can’t get the chance,” de
jectedly.
“What right had you to tell him you
couldn't get the chance?”
“ ’Cause you ain’t ever give it to me.”
“No, an’ I never will,” returned Minna,
with emphasis.
“Jes'wiiat I thought,” said Bob, dis
mally. “Guess I’d better go.”
"Guess ye had." remarked his hostess,
hospitably. As she spoke she wiped out
the dishpan aud hung it up on the nail
behind. "If I was you I’d learn a few
things before I came courtin'.”
“But you're a big sight clever’n me,”
answered Bob, meekly.
“That's so." said Minna, laconically, as
Bob passed dejectedly out of tlte kitchen
door.
On thinking over the interview on the
way home Bob thought that on the whole
he bad not umdn much progress.
A few days later hope returned, bright
eyed aud smiling, and Bob determined to
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make another attempt to secure the elu
sive Minna. In the soft dusk of the early
summer evening he went thoughtfully
across the field toward her father’s cot
tage, now softened of its daytime angu
larities, and, to Bob’s imagination, nest
liug confidingly in the trees.
She sat down near him on the doorstep
and leaned her head against the case
ment. She looked very pretty, her black
eyes darkening the lids and her pale face
in the dusky twilight, her hair curling in
moist little ends around her small face.
Bob looked at her, and his heart failed
him. But he remembered a certain
Thomas Anderson whom report said had
loitered beneath the honeysuckle for the
last few nights, and brought back his
oozing courage.
“They wuz talking about you last night
down at the pump,” he remarked, with
assumed cheerfulness.
“Talkin’ about me?” said Minna,
angrily. “How dared they?”
“Oh, Lord,” gasped Bob to himself. “If
she gets mad before 1 begin.”
“They wuz sayin,—sayin’ ”
“Well?” sharply, “what wuz they
sayin’?”
“They wuz sayin’ how as you’d never
marry any one, you wuz that uncertain
like and flighty like.”
“Who said that?” said Minna, turning
wrathful eyes upon him.
“I don’t exactly remember,” faltered
Bob.
“Most likely yourself!” disdainfully.
Bob could not truthfully disown the re
mark, as he had make it frequently, in
confidence, to his near companions in the
village. So. after this unexpected home
thrust he remained uncomfortably si
lent.
Minna parsued her advantage.
“Nice doings, them, fur a man!” she
went on contemptuously. “Talking about
girls when they can’t talk back fer them
selves.
If the reported conversation had not
been imaginary. Bob would have been
stricken with remorse. As it was, how
ever, although inwardly trembling, ho
saw an opening and took it.
“But I spoke back for you, Minna, I
did.”
“Oh, you did, did you?” was the dis
couraging comment. “Since it wuz you
said the worst, seems to me it wuz all you
could do.”
•They said a lot more’nldid,” Bob con
tinued with fictitious courage. “They
said as how I needn’t be hangin’ around
here, for ye’d alius scorn me till the judg
ment and not marry me at all.”
“There wuz some truth in their
remarks," remarked Minna, snubbingly.
"But there’s wusser nor that,” he
said, with well forced gloominess. “I
said as how I knowed you would marry
me ”
“Who made you so wise?” interrupted
Minna, sarcastically.
"An’ a man bet me you wouldn’t an’—
an'—l bet him you would.”
"Beasts!” ejaculated the much-in
censed Minna.
"An’l bet a fearful lot, Minna. Gosh! —
I’m scared to think of it. If I have to
give him all that money the farm'll have
ter go -sure!”
Minna looked up, frightened.
"How much ?” she asked, faintly.
"Wonder how much she’ll stand?” Bob
asked himself, perplexedly. Then he
glanced at her. tentatively.
“I'm most afeared to tell you. It’s —it’s
gosh, Minna—it's a hundred dollars.”
"Oh, my!” ejaculated Minna; “you
never did.”
“A hundred dollars!" repeated Bob,
chokingly, and, overcome by the feelings
he had arousod, he buried bis bead in bis
hands. From this safe retreat be con
tinued dislointcd remarks, broken by
emotion.
"Dou’t care for myself” (sigh)—l don't
want to live, anyway; but the farm'll
have to go, sure—and poor mother and
father!” (Sob.)
"Oh, no, no!” said Minna, tearfully.
“They’re old now to start over again (a
protracted sigh); but I kin work for ’em.
I’ll do it,” and Bob's shoulders shook
with noble suppressed emotion. “It’ll
come hard to lose the old place now (sob),
after all them years.”
“Oh, don’t, don’t, don’t, Bob! I can’t
bear it,” gasped Minna, choking down
the tears. "I’ll—l’ll ”
Bob waited a moment, then he went on:
“Poor sister can’t go to school, or noth
ing,” rocking himself to and fro in appar
ent deep grief; “an’ there’s no wood got
for the winter, an’ ’’—here he wept
aloud, and seeing this Minna, too, wopt
aloud.
“Oh, Bob,” she cried, “how could you
be so -so—” aud she burst out again into
tears.
Bob restrained himself from embracing
her, and shook his head dismally.
“Dunno, Minna.” he said, in a choking
voice; “but there ain’t no help for it now,
It s all got to go, farm an’ all.”
“Never!” Minna said, hysterically. “I
will marry you—l will!”
“’Taint right to ask you,” Bob said sad
ly and hypocritically. "You can’t care
nothin’ about me.”
"I didn't afore,” said Minna, tearfully
and shamefacedly, “but that was an aw
lul lot of money to bet on me. I like you
fur it, Bob, I do.”
“An’ will you marry me?”
She nodded.
“Thank you, Minna,” Bob said, mourn
fully. “It’s awful good in you."
A moment elapsed before he started on
the real busines of courtship—he had to
proceed carefully—and in that moment
Bob looked up at every jester of a twink
ling star and silently exchanged with it a
knowing and prodigious wink.
MODERN BOOKS CANNOT LAST.
The Paper Used in a Majority of Our
Publications Poor and Perlshabls.
From the Mall and Express.
The bibliophile of the twenty-second
century, who, if he resembles his brother
of the nineteenth, will love first editions
simply because they are first editions,
and will hunt high and low for rare books
of generations past, is likelv to find him
self in a sad plight. Unless things change
very much there will then be no first edi
tions of standard works of this century.
There will be reprints, of course, but
what is a reprint to a true bibliophile?
The dainty volumes which one looks at
with such delight now will by that time
have crumbled away into nothing or
faded into worse than nothing.
PArER OF POOH QUALITY.
The reason for all this is simply the
poor quality of the paper on which our
books are printed now. Publishers have
known of this for some time, but re
newed attention has been called to it by
an interview with C. F. Cross, an English
chemist, published in the Westminster
Gazette on the perishable quality of
modern paper.
Mr. Cross referred particularly to Eng
lish paper, but the same is true of Amer
ican paper. It should he prefaced that
the manufacture of pure rag paper has al
most entirely been superseded by the
making of paper from wood pulp or grass
fiber, treated chemically. Minerals are
often added. A pure rag paper is seldom
made now. Information gathered from
experts among publishers and paper
manufacturers all jioini to the same thing
Col. Duniel Appleiou, of the well-known
publishing house, said: “There is no
doubt of the fact that a great deal of very
poor and perishable paper is used now in
tlie making of books. This is especially
true of cheap novels, where the quality of
paper is miserable. Of oourae no repu-
table house would use poor paper and no
reputable paper manufacturer would send
out a poor article, but as a rule paper is
not as good ss it used to be. It 5s possi
ble to make as good and in some ways
better paper now than formerly, and
books are printed which will be as last
ing as the best specimens which the
Monks used to make hundreds of yoars
ago.”
TOO MUCH WOOD PULP USED.
At the Scribners’ publishing house the
truth of all this was confirmed even more
emphatically. Mr. Marvin, who buys all
the paper for the firm, and who is an ex
pert, says:
“In the bindery the other day I took
down some paper which was thirty years
old and found it as good as it ever was.
Then X took down some that was only ten
years old and found it absolutely unfit for
use from discoloration. It had been made
from wood pulp. The manufacturers
have forced the wood pulp paper on the
country by saying it was much better. It
certainly is much cheaper, and paper that
we used to pay 16 cents a pound for we
now buy for 4 and even less.
“Pure rag paper sells for 7% cents. In
treating the wood pulp with soda ash for
the purjiose of extracting the resinous
matter it is possible to get rid entirely
of the chemicals, and in time the paper is
affected by them. I believe it would be
an excellent policy for publishers to use
entirely a pure rag paper. It would in
crease the cost of books, but I think peo
ple would be willing to pay the advance
for the sake of getting something durable.
I don’t mean to say that we do not use
pure rag paper to a great extent, for we
i do, but It is true that the majority of
I books published in the country and in the
world will not last. lam sorry to say
that ten years ago I believed the manu
facturers and advocated wood pulp paper,
but now I am a firm believer in rag paper.
It is not always so pleasing to look at or
to touch as paper that has been treated
in different ways, just as the most honest
man is not always the handsomest, but
it is honest and durable.”
AMERICAN PAPER BAP-
Mr. Richard O'Hara, who is an exten
sive paper manufacturer, and one of the
few fine rag paper-makers, had some in
teresting testimony to add. He has a
large rag depot in Alexandria, Egypt. He
had seen Mr. Cross' interview, aud said:
“Don't make any exception about Ameri
can paper. It is as had, if not worse, than
others. It won’t last. The trouble is
that people won’t pay for pure rag paper
and almost force us to manufacture the
cheaper kinds. We can and do make to
day paper which is as good and durable
as any ever made, but there is no market
for it.”
IN THE LIBRARIES.
The men who handle thousands of books
yearly in the big city libraries say the
same thing. Librarian Peoples of the Mer
cantile said: “This talk about the perish
ability of paper used for books nowadays
is perfectly true, and our experience here
in the library confirms it only too strong
ly. Especially does it apply to newspa
pers. The paper they use is such misera
ble stuff that I have no idea our bound
files will last many years. I have taken
down German books and found the pages
crumbling from the mixture of clay
with the paper. Books made out of the
paper ordinarily used cannot last and
will not last. Book lovers of the future
will not be able to get first editions of
what are standard works now.”
Julian Hawthorne has chartered a low, rak
iah. piratical looking craft and is about to
start for the Sargasso sea. the scene of so
many weird and uncanny sea stories. Ha
doss not espect to rind the lost Atlantis, but
will, of course try to rind material for a hair
raising tale after the style of "Tfes 6 rasa
Hand or Tom c ringle s Log.”
5
FINEST WORKMEN THAT CAN BE HAD'.