Newspaper Library, The (Newspaper) - March 31, 1894, Milwaukee, Wisconsin OX THE POSTOFFICE OT IIS TERMS Per THE EVENING WISCONSIN 1 PRICE 5 THE BITER By CECI LI A Written for the Newspaper He was a elderly a sallow keen eyes set deep and far apart in his chin sunken a square and a hitch or hmp in his not pre possessing in and yet there him that forbade the epithet common or vulgar being ap plied to He though with a bachelor carelessness in the matter of waistbands and shirt I had met him often on the as we both belonged to that vast army of known as com whose paths the same territory often in each other a regu larity amounting to 1 was trav eling for a big mercantile firm whose various departments were represented by five other young so that at when we could arrange our route in we would contrive to put in a jolly evening 01 reunion and in some country We had atone time or run across Old as some wag in the crowd inconsiderately the old on account of his game they called the stiff knee which he afflicted but we had none of us even spoken to nor did his what firm he repre or what class of goods he car He seemed entirely and without companion correspondence or sample cases of any A battered old satchel was the only article of he seemed and we could nothing formidable than a Altogether Old was a sort of fossilized curio who interest period ically when we had time to give him any One night in the latter part of Novem when I was making trip the season in Southern 1 ac ran across him in the office of the hotel where I had come to meet the loys and talk over the business sit before striking out ior the Pa the point assigned me for my winters It was early in the and Only two of our boys had as vet arrived rest being expected by a train two hours Alter while wandering aimlessly through the hotel I happened to stumble into the reception or Hollo heres a when in the comer of the otherwise shabbily furnished apartment 1 ered a new upright It was a delightful I im mediately sat down and began to No sooner had the sound penetrated to the office than the boys came rushing in eager enthusiastic for a Ah thats fine cried Charley Just wait a minute until I tune seized an an instrument that stood the and began to thrum while Mark Daly dashed off for a man dolin he in one of the bed rooms on his way down stairs to In a few minutes he reappeared waving the fancy little instrument triumphant ly above his head Ive got all right he ex but I havent anj pick have Either of you fellows got one We were sorry we could net oblige him but Charley always rich in thought he could help him I under the in the empty drawer of the washstand in my a something that looked amazingly like a An end broken off would answer the he con regardless of our in A did you gar I Oh a observed a reiterated Char a minced Dont you suppose Charley knows the mysterious something that looks like when he sees it He and in a few minutes was back with the round smooth end of the designated That will do try ing u rare genius you Id advise you to get out a Just make a lot of and then break off the ends for mando lin It will be about as ingenious and original as the Chinese method of And new the concert began in earn popular snatches from the na tional were rendered with a bril and bravado delightful to the per thoug h what might have been the effect on other guests had there hap to be any was a different were and graciously forbore comment or surprise when hitched gracefully into the room and let himself carefully down into an armchair side of the his left leg outstretched stark and stiff in front of It is familiarly said that Music hath charms to soothe the savage and certainly in the case of friend it the open sesame to an ac quaintance and familiarity hitherto un expected and His appre of our efforts was BO intense that reserve seemed suddenly to dissipate like benzine from a renovated garment when exposed fo the air and When our repertoire was exhausted for the third or fourth we stopped modestly our audi Not he rubbing his hands lightly not bad at A lit tle practice would you do fairly We stared in his aghast at bis Not indeed Was that the best he could say for Verily the faint sweet jn I was about to reply t hotly that we had not asked his opinion of our when he not noticing the effect his words had produced The piano is certainly ex fine easy good an instrument as I ever placed in a country interest became So you sell do said his confidence in himself a little shaken by the old mans What house do you represent he smiling Why do you mean to say that you are a you make vour own pianos I ing around on the stool to read the stencilled plate on of the in i I do not But I do business for myself instead of Tor a This you is a Behr Sometimes it is a some times a often a Stein I find working for myself more profitable than Working for other peo so I start out make my pocket my and am re sponsible to no one for my But one must have soine knowledge of music to sell I patronizingly How do you manage to show them off I know a little something of he modestly thanks to my who put me at it when I was a young He raised himself to hie feet by means of the arms of his and hobbled to the I immediately relin the stool with the sec by that he UBa said graciously Dont be most anything will are not profession He winked slyly at Charley and me behind the old fellows Go ahead we as he seated himself and struck a lew But it soon became evident that was entirely ent to our He did as we supposed he with Mag or After the but alter a few preliminary into an exquisite following with one of those weird Hungarian or Polish From that he drifted to Bach and to Chopin and pouring put his soul in a flood of music so wondrous that it seemed as though not a were manipulating the We sat openmouthed with drinking in the delicious To Charleys stupid ejaculations of Beau grand he paid no sort of heed lie was beyond for gotten our very and seemed Carried away by the sound of own entrancing Our faces and ears tingled with shame when be finally censed playing and resumed his For a minute we were silenced and sat gazing at the curious old man with feelings of awe and profound then our tongues were loosened anil we began stammering our mortified Great Scott ever thought began and stopped I never and halted Whereupon always crossed the and grasping him by the hand cried Good I never heard anything finer Why didnt you let us know there was a master present when we were making such fools of Not at chuckling at Marks embarrassed little speech I did not mean to take vou but only to prove to vou that I understood my ind knew enough of music to show off a He laughed a little I as he glanced slyly in my di 1 could have kicked for my patronizing speeches but after how did I Never he soothingly You need not feel bad over a small such as vou is tbe big things in alter that af fect us for good or ill so by way of atonement fOr my as we seem to have nothing especial to do this even I will relate my brief history to if you would be pleased to hear It will perhaps give you the key to what I said it is better to work for this world than for strang lesson I would have every young man learn early in We signified our ready only too relinquish subject of upon we felt we had bet ter fight shy with If your story is as good as your music you will find appreciative we He head and smiled in acknowledgment of the compliment then his countenance suddenly loot came into his his square shut together in a spasmodic and his thin hands clinched as though grasping an His whole at was indicative of hatred and Tin Looking at him in his changed I realized he would be a resentful and implacable enemy if roused to antagonism or We all noticed the emotion under which he was and drawing our chairs around a bare center table that stood in the room we got out cigar tases and prepared to giv ing him an meanwhile to recover In a few minutes he hitched up his and in a repressed began his myself alone in the without kith or with the exception of one three older than might better have been dead than Irving the mental wreck he liad become through his un controlled After leaving col lege he had and falling in with gay companions had wandered into one dark The passion for play had possessed He spent whole nights at the gaming pain ing and losing large sums This ruinous career culminated in a quarrel in a gambling in which a challenge was a duel arranged and a bullet sunk in the heart of a This fatal act made a fugitive and a vagabond of and finally preyed upon his mind that it became and he was taken from the streets one day a raving maniac and placed in an The doctors pronounced bis case as I have already when but a young man I found fettered for life with this heavy load of grief and Pome years just before the death of my he had in the hands of tne sum of to be divided between my brother and myself upon my coming of As this domestic tragedy oc curred before the date of my when I 21 I had half the amount placed at inter est for his benefit and with the remaining I started in the world to earn and a if it were possible by fair and honorable Unlike my who had been sent away to my father had kept me at home I found myself possessed of a consider able sum of no restrictions as to its use I naturally felt im portance in a great measured To a lad city is the goal of all others to be so to the with little knowledge of life and less of but with all the hopes and aspirations early man hood alive and eager for I was desire be ing rather to accumulate than squander money so when one night I read in a newspaper an advertisement of a partner with a small amount of in a good paying I immediately applied for the honor and was The firm was a defunct music firm buf the an benevolent assured me in bland and patronizing terms that if I would put in my capital against his acquaintance and knowledge of the business we could make a good thing out of I had been fond of and being no I could think ol nothing in the way of that would be pleas anter or more to my with very few which J left to and a loose kind of contract was drawn and in a short time the new firm of William Jardine at old the local newspaper an You can I was very proud of my sew A junior partner in a store was no unworthy position fora and I set to work in earnest to learn the business and make it successful if For five I worked early and sell ing pianos and musical instruments of all inds sometimes going into the a month at a time to make but never taking a va save a made a visit to my unfortunate brother years after we opened we en beautified the our and were on the high road to Our sales steadily and the outlook for the future was altogether My partners a little girl when I entered the was fast developing into a beautiful three years she beame my trothed bride I felt my happiness was Only one thing disturbed The books were kept by the senior and I was never to trouble my self with T knew the profits of the business were increasing daily but it seemed for me toget a statement of pur although I sev eral times requested I heard ru of real estate deals in which Jardine was and even had it hinted to me that the old man was a sharper and needed looking but my love for his daughter lenient of his failings and impatient with his and GO matters drifted A few later things began to shape themselves in a way that seemed strangely inconsistent with our hitherto friendly and pleasant busi ness When 1 entered the store one after an absence of a fortnight in the I was greeted by one of our who passed me on my way to with the observation uttered in an under You Vill find a new bookkeeper Mr bookkeeper I exclaimed in Who is he where did he come from Some pet of the old I A stranger to us Became day after you went I walked ion tothe office without further As I entered I noticed Jardine sitting by the stove reading the while his usual seat at the desk was occupied by a young man of about my own with a white putty weak blue fair hair parted in the and a sickly sandy He was biting the end of a penholder while tracing a column of figures with his finger Good advancing to shake hands with at the same time glancing curiously at the new He took my hand stumbling awkwardly to his aria greeted me with evident embarrass bis face flushing to tbe top of his baldhead at my sudden Ah J good good morning got back I see what luck did pretty I I sold three and think 1 shall have an order for bad for two not he but Eight pianos a month is a fair More than an I Nine pianos is a big Hot one man in a hundred sells that many in a unless by rare good Pianos are not articles that sell off hand like drees goods or In purchasing one must bargain and plan and take time to con While talking I had taken off m coat and hat and hung them up behini the I now back to th store and stood expectantly waiting t be made known to the new bookkeep It being impossible to ignore hi protege Jardine though nest to introduce on he clearing his I had for Fairfax allow me to intro duee you to my or to speak more my grand Mr Albert young man during my con versation with had his pen behind his his hands mti his trousers and with chai tipped back on its hind legs had been listening with easy complacency to wha we had to how rose inertly to hi feet and lounged forward extending a damp hand for me to H seemed possessed of any amount o and addressed me in a tone half half Oh Fairfax did you sav Uncle Yes I think I yes of your old Jardine suppose you might call him as hes been in several Fairfax I re though in the capacity you I have the honor to hi Junior partner in the Col Old Jardine flushed arid turned aside though I dis caught the words as it is a An title is not to be insisted What did I was at a loss to I felt indignant anc humiliated at his In a min ute he recovered himself and addressee me in his usually bland manner I took the liberty of in in an assistant while you were off enjoying myself Extraordinary Was the old man trying to precipitate a quarrel with me cer tainly looked like per haps Something had gone and he was only and out I would be patient and not mind his for Mollies sake I would be very patient and I dont exactly see where the fan comes in selling pianos in the I said laughing and of course if you heeded an assistant it was all right to take I regret you did not allow me to help yon with the books if yon felt the bur den too I might have done and sent one of the men into the coun You might have said Jardine is astonish ing easily young whippersnappers the big head I my an ger rising in spite of Explain for I am completely at a loss to know what you will explain You take al together top many airs upon yourself in this If I take a who is a not a think I have the privilege without consulting or being called to account for my I was utterly confounded at the mans insolence and A part ner 1 I exclaimed Do you mean you have taken a partner without cpn the I consult yon I tried to control my rising indigna Why should me I re Why should you not consult Is it not customary for partners in busi ness to each other before taking any decisive step in matters per to mutual interest You seem tP forget that my rights this Eights rights man this farce was played Havent yon had your living but of this business for the last five what more do you want Did my ears deceive mei or was it possible that this man was an pled to whom I had intrusted heritage What did he mean by the facts in transaction You ask what have in the Do you say you have forgotten who furnished to reopen business wrth after had failed Failed Who failed If you furnished any capital in a where is your proof of the fact Show methe contract Alas I had no When I entered young and left the settling of details and drawing of a contract to and he had done In fact he make out a loose sort of agreement of which I was to had a but he me and when I pressed him for it he put me off from time to until now I learned to my horror that he had ho never signed utterly repudiated iny My God could it be I was indeed in the hands of a villain who had deliberately robbed me of my an 1 now gloated over And Mollie My could not be true f Mollie loved and this was Mollies lather down in a chair trying to col lect my when heard Old Jardines voice in my The why dont vou pro duce the contract I should well to see it taunting in his and the young near was smil ing con The sight recalled me to I arose and with what calmness I could once more confronted I seem on like yourself I am at a loss to account for the with which you arraign I came home expect ing different but find yon unaccountably If I have done anything to merit your displeasure I will seek an explanation at some For the I beg to be excused from further con versation upon the subject we will both be calmer When I think of it now how I hate myself for my Had it not been for the eyes 1 felt were looking reproachfully into how differently i should hare Suit time is con venient to dont wish to press I heard Jardine as I took down my hat and coat from the hook where I had just hung them and prepared to leave the I made my through the store to the front door like a man reeling with At every step the floor seemed rising to strike me in the while a deadly weakness overpowered The clerks must have noticed for one man who had to ins hen I went me out of doors and asked me if I was but dazed and be Come road to the drug let me get you Yon look completely done did you sav that young man the office A distant relative of they He has just come into quite a sum of Jm which ac counts lor interest in Hes been shining around Miss out driving and and they say the girls parents be agreeable to a match between But I dont I always supposed her affections were in another He winked at My heart seemed to stop my breast at the mans half jesting Great heaven Not that Any thine but might take al else if they would only spare me my Oh it could not be Mollie at was faithful I turned and walked hurriedly down the and sought my room in the There for hours the going over it again again 1 was neither nervous or fanciful my health was my trained and I usually me emergencies easily and but now I trembled and shook while trying to recall the words and events of the What had My life seemed to stretch out into before I saw myself ruined anc my business my love faithless my dreams and dearest hopes disillusioned and shattered ally I recalled the words of old If you say youve any claim show me the I tried to argue myself into a better and I re solved to seek my fiancee and ask an explanation of the days It was unfair to condemn her or her party to her fathers avaricious Perhaps even now she was grieving what was powerless to and was waiting tearfully for me to rescue her from a fate worse than marriage with She had always seemed loving and not believe At all events I would know the worst from her and no other I dressed myself with unusual wondering at the unaccountable feelin inthe midst of my that I was than the wretch t had seen in the I was standing be fore the the last touch to a lavender necktie I chose as symbolizing chastisement and when a messenger boy appeared at the door and handed me a mysterious pack Anyone who has been through the engagement and received his conge for his can readily niess at iny as well as the con tents of the a package of letters tied with a ribbon then a few souvenirs of departed joys an engagement ring a a ock of latter severed half by caressing in the rst flush of happy conscious love the whole in and emitting a faint odor of violet fume Beneath the cord that bound it was slipped a tiny stereotyped death it was all a mis take that her feelings had changed since she saw me last that papa and mamma approved of her course that she hoped I would not be but always think of her as a sympa and affectionate And so the farce was played and like hundreds of other was the dupe of a weak treacherous But I did hot fierce contempt overmastered Like like I was glad I had es caped from toils of a woman utterly of my my I hoped she might be miserable and and drink to the drees bitterness of the cup she had I saw her the pitiful creature she and for the first time under stood the application of the words wast my fancy made art I Ipo In an interview that followed with Jardine he gave me to understand my services were no longer required in he and when I pressed my or justice at least to be he my face and bade me help myself if 1 So without a scrap of paper in proof if my claim and no lope of re Iress I was turned adrift into the world nor reproaches availing to alter he decree of the who had plun no wa great change came over It as though na ture I alone for A tumult of passion raged in my and of vindictiveness and malice to the of all By dayand night I dotted I would be even them though it took a ime to accomplish mv To and for years worked laying ach year a small sum of But uring that time I met with an from a one Country where they had Beg to provide a ing my and seriously crippling This iix a amage the case crim nal and put a few unex thousands once more in iny now began to as to my former business I heard that was married to his and had a new and elegant was driving fast living well and spending Then came the report that old Jar dine had made a successful land specu lation and realized a considerable sum of Then came the announce ment that and Collins were running their best men were leaving their their sales were falling and the business generally was iar from prosperous was the opportunity I had been await Dressing one in a much worn suit of with a beard of four days hobbling and I once more entered the old store two vears I had been The senior if he had seen a ghost when I made myself known to The color forsook his face his hands and he was visibly af or appre hension I was to Col lins was in the but as notice of me I directed my conversation to the old I began by ignoring the and asking how the business was He replied rather I with in the tion of his that it was doing well as by a sudden bright he stood and looked over curiously from head to We are in need of a man he at length announced though I havent decided who to take as salesman I eagerly exclaimed why not take me sell pianos as well as the next I be glad do I was not a bad hand at This was the I had made to the The old man frowned his with his and I knew he was up to his old benevolent He hesitated before I dont he observed of Why you were a fair But know about asking you to work for Times are and we must small cant afford much of Then by a sudden tran seem to have struck hard What ails you I met with an accident that lamed and have been so I should be glad of the position if you could me I languidly His shrewd gray eyes were on my I knew he was weighing the proposition at the same time I knew he meant to beat me down to est possible so I decided to take the you must pay low lam willing to little as any He saw I was anxious to get the his instantly began a lie to tell the truth we capt afford topay anything but of course we dont want a man to work for What do you say What are you willing to take 1 thought the matter over before re I said at I am anxious to get back to the old and willing to work for small How this proposition suit we be gin 10 and double the mission every 10 cents for the first for the 40 for the and so though 1 dont wish totake advantage of Of course mean to re new every month v As indifferently One way is as good as He called to Collins and stated the with a mutual exchange of assenting winks and Certainly a reasonable Jardine if you are ought to There is only one stipulation which I shall insist upon if I reenter your is a contract duly drawn sealed and There must be misunderstanding this Jardine winced at this direct ence to his former think it is best to beon the safe side do you he enquired laughing 1 This time I Sp the contract was made out and duly and I began work for my old partner with more zeal than I had shoWn since I left the At the end of the month I had sold Tour Not a very heavy business t is not altogether considering how long I had been out of the I presented my self at the store the last Saturday night of the month and received my Old Jardine could scarcely repress a smile when he handed met my com mission and requested my flm blamed if I know how the fel ow he remarked to I left the but if he is satisfied will be the last to The next month I was sent into the old to say hat I worked up the trade for all it was worth ia drawing it I went to lome of my old well known in brmer years among others a banker and a man of great and by few words quietly dropped in his succeeded in him which readily gained ground under his advice and At the end of month I again pre sented myself to my I landed out two received my thirty and while Tardine was grumbling at the small amount of business done i ed my first orders by laying down sev enteen making sales in all for the Sever if live tn be years old the faces of the bre They glowed and fairly scin with Nineteen sales hands together and buckling that is mazing should esy een doing a elad you are I hmn jly best J I should no The vi
