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THE WANOERER’3 COUL.
Oli. why should 1 weep beeau •>. men weep!
And For me fierce the ini-U wind# and are veils singing, of rain,
blithesor.r.' past Soul, I’m winging.
A
«• pool of
And past the moon, with her
dream# forlorn,
And her ruin'd hills
I lick the tale -he has long forgot,
And I hear Orion’# horn.
Orion hunts with thundering the laughing <
Anti, down the #>u
They point my little grave to ft'rV
Where wet in the field it lr A
—Anita Fitch, i „ Atlantic.
JOIMM FOX
C’/O-ISV.otr MAN, U8
4—Jr x oj’t r thie/
«*»MO
T was nai long ago that a‘Chicago
woman caused rommeut, some
merriment and * great deal of
serious thought, b.v advertising that
she would give $1090 to any business
man who could within a stated time
prove to her sathTaotion that he had
been -always and in every least detail
of bis business transactions scrupu¬
lously honest. The money, It is be¬
lieved, is still hi ile- hands of the
woman who made the offer. This
docs not go to show that Chicago
business men are less honest than those
driving bargains elsewhere, but those
who followed the course of things at
the time that the competition for the
$1000 was at Its height came to the
conclusion that the woman believed
that there was a difference between
commercial honesty and personal hon¬
esty, and, as a matter of fact, not a
lew came to look on tile tiling In tlie
game light.
All this is apropos of tlie story of
n commercial transaction which went
through in Chicago the other day and
where a big Southwestern business
man lost one of the chances of tiis life
because he had not hewed straight
to tin* line of personal honesty. II is
doubtful also if anyone would be will¬
ing to stretch (lie limits of commercial
Integrity sufficiently to include his
case.
Twelve years ago a Chicago whole¬
sale grocery firm, one of tin* largest
in tlie world, received an order from
tlie Southwest for 400 bags of sugar,
loo pounds to flic bag. The merchant
who ordered the sugar is for present
purposes named John Fox. Tlie firm
that sent the sugar was Wade, Scales
& Co.
John Fox had many dealings with
Wade, Scales & Co. prior to his sugar
order, and after it as well, until a short
time ago. l ox was, and Is, a success¬
ful business man. He is rich, but there
is tt> day one fly in the commercial
ointment. Fox has moved his great
establishment iuto Chicago, but be is
/
! Ktiipi SI
-10 PPi
.
m 1 4'
s\ ¥1^
X W >■ W .
* ; tVE don’t need to woerv about tiie
MISTAKE.”
not occupying the big quarters in the
tine business district that he had
picked out for himself, Instead of
plenty of light, air, room, elevator ser¬
vice and the other tilings that lie had
expected to acquire, lie is in cramped
quarters and is making less money by
n large amount each day tliau he would
be making if lie could have secured the
place for a business home that he had
set liis heart on.
One day recently a man with a som¬
brero on strolled into the office of
Wade, Seales Ac Co, To the first man
lie met he said: “l want to see the
boss. 1 ‘have something of importance
to talk about.”
“Will yon send in your name?” asked
the grocery employe.
The visitor took the blank slip of
paper offered him and wrote this on
it:
"Mr. Nobody, .from Nowhere. This
is my name nut:! after our conversa¬
tion.”
"Give that to the boss,” lie said, “aud
tell him 1 think lie'll be glad to see
me. and that if he talks right I'll give
him my right name and where 1 came
from.”
,, tunesuy . . unre than , anything , else ,
l" 1 ' lc s,: ' hi :uul " "Me
to allow this tunonvoLUioual visitor a
chance to get into his private office,
Ginv there Mr. Nobody said: “If I'll
show you where there is $1500 duo this
firm and easily collectable, a $1509
that you know uoiliiiig about, what
will the information be worth to me?"
“1 don’t see how it'.- possible.” said
Mr. Wade, “that even with otir great
liusintss there could bo that large
amount dr ^ us aU( j we ii UO w nothing
about it.”
“Tell sno what It’s worth to me if
my ./•formation is correct—and I'll
JUV ,ce to you by your own books inside
i Jiv«> minutes that it is correct—and
i'i .• •« we’ll proceed to business."
“Information that this (inn Is so fool*
; isii ns not to know that an easy col*
i lectable $ 1500 is due It Is worth $50
to any man who will prove It. Show
me that we are such business idiots,
and I'll give you $.10 right out of my
own pocket. More than that, if by
the faintest chance what you should
say should prove to be true and we
cun collect the $1500, I’ll glVe you a
third of it.”
The sombreroed stranger went down
into an Inside pocket. “Go to youi
books, September Ik, 1889,” he said.
Mr. Wade went to'his books. There
after the stranger had mentioned an
Invoice number they found what in a
nut shell was this:
“Shipped to John Fox. Bicknell,
Aria., TOO bags of sugar of 10 ) pounds
each- 40,000 pounds."
“Now turn to your books of January-
14. 1890,” said the stranger, adding,
“this is easy money for me.”
It did not take Mr. Wade and his
bookkeeper more than a minute to find
out that instead of sending a bill for
40,000 pounds of sugar to John Fox,
they had sent him a bill for 400
pounds, a bill which he had paid
promptly. A receipt had been sent
Air. Fox, and tile transaction closed,
and through one of those absolutely
unexplainable bits of business mistakes
that will occur In houses doing trails
nt-turns of millions a year the error
had never been discovered. There was
due the firm of Wade & Scales
Jolm Fox $1500 and interest thereon
for something like twelve years.
“You see,” said the visitor, "I was
Air, Fox’s bookkeeper for years and
years. When the Dill for 400 pounds
of sugar came in 1 railed his attention
to tiie mistake, and he said: TT1 pay
tln> bill as it stands, and if they ever
send a bill for tlie remaining 3000
pounds I’ll pay that, too, but I guess
we don’t need to worry about the mis
take.’ The other day John Fox kicked
me out of bis employment for a trivial
mistake—kicked me out penniless at
thar. What I am doing now you may
consider a piece of revenge. So it is
laregly, but I also need money.”
The Westerner left the place with
$50 in liis poelcet and the next mail
took a bill to John Fox for $1500, plus
the interest for twelve years. Actuated
by curiosity to know liow tlie man
would explain the matter, Mr. Wade
inclosed with the bill a query as to
why. having received 40,000 pounds of
sugar, Mr. Fox had scut on pay for
only 40U pounds.
Within a week a check for the full
amount of the bill and interest was re
eeived. John Fox was too good a busi
ness man not to know that he must
pay Instantly, but as far as Ids dis
honesty was concerned, iliis is wliat
lie said in his letter, the, only bit of
writing that appeared except the
name aud figures on the check:
"I make it a point never to pay until
bills are presented. You never sent the
bill for tlie extra 3000 pounds.
“JOHN FOX.”
Was Fox a thief or simply commer¬
cially shrewd?
In the years that had passed John
Fox had become a multi-millionaire.
liecently he wished to open a great
establishment in Chicago. A real es
tnte agent found him a finely located
buildiug near tlie heart of the busi
ness district. Fox came way on to
look at it. He went to the agent’s
office and found him looking somewhat
downcast, ns a man might look who
was out a fat commission.
“Mr. Fox,” said the agent, “I was
utterly duiufounded this morning when
informed by the owners of the building
selected for A on that they would not
let you have it under any circum¬
stances. The owners are a firm of
wholesale grocers. When 1 pressed
them for a reason for refusing to let
the property to you, the head of the
firm handed me a slip of paper and
said: ‘1 understand Mr. Fox is to
come to see you to-day? When he
asks you for our reason in declining
to rout to him, simply give him this
piece of paper.’ 1 have the paper here,
hut, Mr. Fox, l am free to confess that
1 can; find anything in it that even
hints at a reason why tlie grocers
should decline to rent to you.”
John Fcx held out his hand and re¬
ceived the slip of paper from the
agent. He unfolded it. lie saw that
it was one of hi- owu letterheads, and
below the priming he read this, writ¬
ten in his own hand: .
"Wade. Scalics & Co.: Gentlemen—
I make it a point never to pay until
Lulls arc presented. JOHN FOX.”
—Cl:ieago Record-Herald.
nouotutu Letter Currier#.
Letter earners were sent out from
l iw Honolulu Pos office on August It
for the hrst time m the history of the
islands, though actual free delivery of
mail was not then begun. The letter
carriers were sent out to familiarize
themselves with ilie streets and house
minimriug. to apprise householder# of
the beginning of the free delivery sys
tern, and to secure a practically com
pleto mail census of the city.—Fitts
burg Chronicle-Telegraph.
STRANGE PENSION CASE
HOW A SMALL SUM HAS CROWN
INTO A FORTUNE.
On S.-0 a Month the Estate of Henry
‘
tV easier, an 1 nnt.e Union Soldier. Sow
Amount# to ®zs,ooa— story of the Vet
eran and Hi# Accumulated Wealth.
Starting $11.37 in debt thirty years
ago, and depending for a l'„felihood
wholly on a pension of $5'j « mouth
from the Government, Qne estate of
Henry Wensler, of Srfbker, AVabash
County, In<l„ now afuounfs to more
than $25,000, and is growing at a
rapid rate. Wliat is still more curious,
the Government, having paid Wensler
this pension for a generation, will, at
his death, receive back the $50 a mouth
and $8000 in addition. Such a state
of affairs has never before come within
the ken of the bureau officials, as re¬
ported by Special Agent Stephens.
The story of Wensler and his accumu¬
lated wealth is an interesting one, and
is thus related by the Wabash corre¬
spondent of the Indiapaolis News:
“During the war lie enlisted from
Wabash County in the Eighty-ninth
Indiana Infantry. While on the march
in the South lie suffered from prostra¬
tion by the heat, which caused mental
derangement, and though lie has not
at any time been violent, he has been,
to an extent, incapable of managing
his affairs. For twelve years after his
affliction Wensler was confined in the
hospital for the insane at Indianapolis,
and was discharged as being harmless
and requiring no attention. Applica¬
tion was made for a pension on ac-
count of his mental condition, and the
case was pending some time. In 18-17
his wife was divorced, and he was left
comparatively friendless.
“At that time his condition was such
that Jonathan Talmage, a local banker,
was appointed guardian, and Air. Tal
mage’s report to the Circuit Court in
September, 1870, showed that Wensler
had overdrawn his account with his
guardian $11.37. In the next report
Air. Talmage showed that the pension
of $50 a month, with a considerable
amount as arrearages, had been paid,
and as Wensler had been supported by
the State while at the hospital, the ar
r’earages amounted to a tidy sum.
“In this way the foundation of the
present fortune was laid. Four years
ago Air. Talmage died, aud Thomas F.
Bayne, a wealthy land owner of Wa
bash, was appointed guardian. Tlie
Pension Bureau required, about that
time, that all reports of guardians of
wards receiving pensions should he
made to Washington. In Iris report
of Alay 1, 1900, Air. Payne set forth
that tlie amount otfe&unds belonging to
Wensler in his hands was $23,430. and
that the total cost of administering
the guardianship was $1214. With a
few exceptions tlie funds were loaned
on gilt-edged security, at ten per cent.
interest, and later at eight per cent,
Some of the later loans have been made
at six per cent. This interest was
compounded, and the total mounted
higher and higher. Wensler was ac¬
tive, and contributed to liis own sus
tenance. For years he plipd his voca¬
tion as a huckster, and drove about the
county with his little wagon, on which
were printed in sprawling letters the
words: ‘H. Wensler, Hugster.’
“Recently he went into business in a
small way at Sniker’s Station, four
miles from Wabasli. He lives alone,
and liis expenses for food aud clothing
are almost nothing. His guardian pays
$3.50 a week for liis food, and Wens
ler takes 825 a month for other ex
ponses. The rest of the $50 pension,
and the handsome increment from the
$25,000 at interest, is re-invested as it
comes in.
“The reports of the guardian to the
Pension Bureau, making this remarka
bJe exhibit, induced Commissioner
Evans to send Special Agent Stephens
f 0 Wabash to look into the case, aud
lie uncovered the facts as stated. The
special agent says 11yn as Wensler has
no friends the money at his death will
revert to the Government. Wensler is
perhaps sixty-five years old, and never
speaks unless addressed, He is ex¬
pert in handling horses, and on several
occasions has been injured in runa
ways, but he does not seem to know
what fear is. Probably no estate in
the country has been so capably man
aged. V
is said of Wens!er that a fcTr
years ago he was seized with a desire
to manage his property, and went to
the office of a well-known Wabash
lawyer to state Ids case. ‘See here,
Air. -.’ said Wensler. ‘I am not in
sane, and I want my funds turned over
to me.’ The lawyer gazed at him in
tently for a moment and then replied:
‘You're drawing a good pension, aren't
you ?’ Wensler admitted he was.
‘Well, then,’ drawled the lawyer, ‘if
you are not insane your pension will
stop, for that’s why you are getting
it y Wensler looked wild, and shot out
of the doo: , Aml aftei . timt he M , ;s
contept to waive all rifiIlt T0 the maa .
agemem 0 f estate” " u
A Uicjcte Sweeper.
Bicycles can be fitted with a new
pavement cleaning device to wlfceh ke*'p tlie
wheel from getriug muddy, is
made of a cylinder brush held in a
frame ahead of the front wheel and
geared to the axle to revolve and
the street as the wheelman rides along,
THE B!C FACE IN THE ICE.
Gigantic Vl> ^»K<> That Startled a Sailor on
11 Norwegian Steamer.
,
A rc r j bur gigantic Scuta Claus Is
comb ^r. down from the frozen North.
" C< ' ^ling to reports brought in by
1 ' -*> Norwegian Steamer .fCntllUg
.soplila. On the blotter at the Alan*
time Exchange the vessel’s report—
“Four icebergs passed six miles north
northeast from Cape St. Francis”—
seemed but little out of the ordinary,
but ttn Interview with the Captain
brought to light a most curious freak
of Nature.
The ship, with her cargo of iron ore
for this port, passed the four bergs
when two days out from Wabana. N.
F. But little attention was paid to
them until the ship was just abreast
of the largest one. A cry from one of
tile crew on watch attracted all hands
Captain Nordahl at first thought what .
lie saw was an optical illusion, but lev
oled bis glasses, and then ordered the
course of the ship changed.
The Drottling Sophia sailed around
the end of the berg, and all members
of the crew saw at close range the
gigantic head of a man in profile, as
clearly defined in the ice as though
chiseled by a sculptor. The forehead
was at the very top. depressions gave
the appearance of eyes, tlie nose was
clear cut, and the bottom of the berg,
seamed by tiny rivulets of melting
ice, had every resemblance to a long,
flowing beard tapering off into the
water. The iceberg was over 200
feet high, and was evidently aground
in about ninety fathoms of water.
The face and head, said Captain
Nordahl, bore great resemblance to
the familiar Santa Claus.-Philadeiphia
North American.
WISE WORDS,
Shallow waters flow with vexed cur
rents.
The homes of a nation are the ba
rometer of its life.
We must answer for cur riches, but
our riches cannot answer for us.
We put a price upon riches, but
riches cannot put a price upon us.
The gem of truth bears all tests with¬
out diminished lustre or clearness.
The meanest use for money is to
make it cover a multitude of sins.
It is a great deal better to cheer one
man than to be cheered by a thousand.
Better a pair of clean bare hands
than the most expensive soiled white
gloves.
Call another a fool and you are the
fool: call yourself a fool and you be¬
gin to be wise.
Goodness outranks goods. A burst¬
ing barn and a godless heart proclaim
a fool without hope.
No lot in life is small enough to stunt
a soul. Lowly circumstances are no
bar to high thoughts.
’Tis a sad thing when a man can
have no comfort hut in diversions, no
joy but in forgetting himself.
When two hearts cease to beat as
one, it will not be long until the own¬
ers will want to beat each other.
Costliest Thimble on Record*
Think of it, a thimble which cost
$05,000 in American money! And
think of a husband who presents liis
wife with such a gift! It belongs to
tbe Queen of Siam.
Thimbles were not in use in Siam
until a comparatively recent date. Tlie
King seeing that English and Amer
ican women visiting liis court used
thimbles, hud one made for his wife.
The thimble is of gold, enriched with
precious stones. It is shaped like a
partially opened lotus flower, eaeli
petal bearing the interlaced initials of
tlie sovereign and his wife in ame¬
thysts, rubies, emeralds and topazes.
Around the rim of the, thimble can
be read the date of the marriage of
the royal pair according to the Siamese
and European calendars, each number
and each letter being of alternate dia
monus and pearls.
His Sireetbeai-t's Letter.
A colonel, on his tour of inspection,
unexpectedly entered the drill room,
when he came across a couple of sol
diers, one of them reading a letter
aloud, while tlie other was listening,
and, at tlie same time, stopping up the
ears of the reader.
“What are you doing there?” the
puzzled officer inquired of the former.
“You see, colonel, I’m reading to At¬
kins, who can't read himself, a letter
which has arrived by this afternoon’s
post from his sweetheart.”
“And you. Atkins, what in the world
are you doing?”
“Please, coiouel. I am stepping up
Murphy's ears with both hands, be¬
cause I don't mind his reading my
sweetheart's letter, but I don't want
him to hear a single word of what
she has written.”—Tit-Bits.
Gates i« Norvrsy.
A curious feature to travelers in the
high roads of Norway is the great num¬
bers of gates—upward of 10,000 in tlie
whole country—which have to be
opened. These gates, which either
mark tlie boundary of the farms or sep¬
arate the home fields from the waste
lands, constitute a considerable inocn
veuience and delay to the traveler, who
has to stop his vehicle aud get down
and open them.
y$i0'\Z :
tfn&v-- 4 &S .' '
Fame.
The ways to gain this world s app.ause
Are various and complex. by writing boosts ^
Some get the same
And some by writing cheats.
—Washington Star.
No Air.
“Is lie broke?”
“I guess so. He said if air was five
cents a barrel he'd suffocate."—Indian*
ttpolis News,
Hight in Line.
“But is he fashionable?"
“Well, I guess! He has an automo
bile and the pneumonia.” — Chicago
Record-Herafd.
Not Unsociable.
Dorothy—"Pauline, wliat makes you
so unsociable?”
Pauline—“Unsociable? I’m not a bit
unsociable; I merely don’t like society.”
—Detroit Free Press.
Tlie Land of lUont.v.
Passenger (on steamer ea route to
Europe)—“Tlie steerage appears to he
empty. Don’t emigrants ever return
to the old country?”
Captain—“Oh, yes. But they always
go back in the first cabin.’’—Chicago
News,
True Ingenuity.
“But there is no evidence to support
your theory,” protested the attorney.
“My dear sir,” was the answer, “that
fact is what shows my superior ability
as a detective. Anybody can get up
a theory if he has a whole lot of evi
donee to work with.”
Life- Saving Arrangement.
Harriet—“Harry, why is it that in
football each side has only eleven men?
Why don’t they have an even dozen on
each side?”
Harry—“Because it would endanger
the lives of two more men. I supposed
everybody knew that.”—Boston Trau
script.
“Having a Rattling Good Time.”
u
■v is Ml < 4 % -
|Pq
aim m
An.// (/
—New York Journal.
The Drawback to Originality.
‘Why do you keep repeating- quota¬
tions?” asked the irritable man. "Why
don't you say something original?”
“My dear sir, there's no use of that.
Every time I think of anything good
enough to be original I find that some
body said it years ago.”—Washington
Star,
A. D. 1811.
“Flying machines are becoming more
aEl ^ more popular every day, twit
tercel the first carrier pigeon,
" Yeg -” gloomily twittered the second
carrier pigeon, “like the automobile
aud the horse, it is said they are soon
to do away with us entirely.”—Brook
Eagle,
Discretion the lietter Part.
Aliss Gushingtcn — "But were you
never frightened, captain, when you
X l ,,, ie adv , ™ cm . f ;
Captam Ivandoi-No, I felt „ safe , so
, Ioug a f, 1 had a coupIe ot Me-preserv
ers with me.
Aliss Gushington—“Life preservers? ’
Captain Kandor—“Yes, my legs.”—
Catholic Standard and Times.
A Study in Hauteur.
‘That man is exceedingly haughty,”
remarked the plain citizen, who was
Transacting some business. “I guess
he is the proprietor of the establish¬
ment.”
“No.” said the friend, “he’s not the
proprietor. He never had to take
chances on getting customers, and
avoid making enemies. You can al¬
ways depend on it when you see a
haughty man in an office that he is
sure of his money. It may not be very
much, but he is getting it regularly.”
—Washington Star.
(oinl/at.
“I have been obliged to challenge
that man again!” exclaimed the citi¬
zen, who came from a country famous
for fighting.
“Oh,” said the trembling woman who
had clasped his hand, “do nothing
rash! Do not risk your life because of
tn insult given in the heat of political
discussion!”
"That shows how little you know
about politics,” was the soothing an¬
swer in superior tones. “Nobody said
anything about fighting. I'm going to
challenge him to resign.”—Washington
Star.