THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



17 



boistlug apparatus aud the like, it had to 

 be enlarged. Aud the townspeople be- 

 came accustomed to having strange mei: 

 come and go. men in white, dust-covered 

 overalls and caps, and with that indefin- 

 able something which marks the face of 

 all jiien who have been to and fro upon 

 the earth — journeymen stonemasons — of 

 whom the townspeople stood somewhat in 

 awe. 



And these easy, self-possessed men, who 

 did uot appear in the least awe of the big- 

 gest dignitaries of the town, treated dull 

 Jack with much respect and took sharp, 

 short orders from him as though he 

 amounted to something. In the eyes of 

 these men, who had seen much of the 

 world, it was evident that dull Jack was 

 the principal man in the town. 



Then the town began to revise its opin- 

 ion. Dull Jack and his father were said 

 to be making money; lots of money — more 

 money than anybody in town. You see 

 there is a lot of money in that stonemason 

 business if you know how to handle it. 

 And just- before his nomination for alder- 

 man dull Jack had secured the contract fur 

 the stone work on a new courthouse in a 

 neighborhing county against bidders from 

 Chicago and St. Louis. This was consid- 

 ered a great local triumph, and dull Jack's 

 stock was in the ascendant. 



And when the campaign opened our 

 bright boy was surprised to see ho^^■ dull 

 Jack had developed. He had a way with 

 men that was past understanding. He had 

 a way of dropping one mighty hand on a 

 voter's shoulder, gathering his right hand 

 in the other, and telling him what he 

 wanted him to do, just the same as if he 

 owned him. And the funny part of it was 

 that the man would nod his head and agree 

 to do it. and, as results showed, did 

 actually go and do just what dull Jack told 

 him to do. 



But the worst thing was what the op- 

 position newspaper said. Dull Jack had a 

 big majority to overcome, but as there 

 were some important local issues at stake, 

 and as he seemed to have a good chance, 

 it was decided to make a determined ef- 

 fort to elect him. And anyone familiar 

 with American politics knows what that 

 means. So the opposition newspaper was 

 told to handle our bright boy without 

 gloves, and it did it after this fashion. 



A few sneering and slurring items 

 had been published along, but the broad- 

 side was not fired until two days before 

 election. 



Why should the people elect this man 

 alderman? the paper said. What had he 

 ever done for the city? Or, for that mat- 

 ter, what had he ever done for himself? 

 He had been out of school for ten years. 

 he was nearly thirty years old, and 

 wasn't it a fact that he had absolutely no 

 visible means of support? Hadn't he lived 

 for the past ten years largely off the earn- 

 ings of his mother, the widow of our 

 lamented though departed fellow citizen. 



Alonzo J. Brown? .Vnd wasn't it a fact 

 that this estimable lady supported herself 

 largely by her needle, making pants and 

 vests for our worth.v and enterprising mer- 

 chant tailor. J. O. Stoner, whose advertise- 

 ment appears in another page of this is- 

 sue, and than whom we have no better 

 citizen? We do not say but that the young 

 man comes of a good family and is pos- 

 sessed of talents of a certain kind, but 

 that is all the more reason why he should 

 l>e ashamed of his present mode of e.vist- 

 ence. The Blank ward didn't want to be 

 represented in the city council by a young 

 man wlio was living off his mother, when 

 it had the opportunity to support, etc. 



It was horribly brutal and not half true. 

 But there was truth in it — truth enough 

 I0 make it scorch like fire. 



Of course he was defeated — overwhelm- 

 ingly defeated. In fact, he got scarcely 

 any votes at all. It was the worst defeat 

 in the history of the town. 



For two or three days he was seen on 

 the streets occasionally, and he acted like 

 a man who was dazed. He didn't speak 

 to anybody or look at anybody if he could 

 help it. He was pretty nearly jarred off 

 his base. He had been so full of conceit 

 and vanity, and so fond of public ap- 

 probation that his rude awakening as to 

 how he really appeared nearly finished 

 him. 



Then he disappeared. In a little while 

 his mother gave it out that he had secured 

 a position in an educational institution in 

 a large neighboring city. I was in that 

 city shortly after and accidentally met him 

 on the street and learned what his posi- 

 tion was. 



You see he was rather small and had a 

 clean-shaven, youthful-looking face, and 

 he appeared much younger than he was. 

 In fact, a stranger would, in spite of his 

 28 years, take him for a boy. And he 

 had answered an advertisement and se- 

 cured a position as personal attendant to a 

 blind professor in a state institution. 

 When I met him he was leading the 

 professor along the street. If the professor 

 had had a trained dog it would have done 

 as well. 



Our bright boy had cjuit chasing balloons 

 and was down to actualities at last. Lead- 

 ing a blind professor at .f5 a week! Good- 

 ness me: 



He wouldn't talk to me much, and I 

 learned part of the foregoing later. But I 

 could see by his eye that he was as mad 

 as a wet hen, and from the set of his 

 jaw that he intended to start up hill, and 

 I knew he would get along. 



And he has. It took a year or two for 

 him to get a start, but he has been making 

 the fur fly since. You really wouldn't be- 

 lieve if I should tell you. For you see, he 

 had brains, which, while not absolutely 

 essential to success, are, when favorably 

 connected, of great advantage. 



As to which of our boys has outstripped 

 the other, it is impossible to say. They 



are in different lines, both doing wonder- ' 

 fully well, and each, I believe, keeping a 

 pretty close eye on the other. And one 

 of them, I know, would be pleased if it 

 could be arranged so they could lock horns 

 again, to give him an opportunity to wipe 

 out the disgrace of his defeat in that little 

 election for alderman. He went under 

 that time— but he'd like to try it over. 



* * * 



Of course, this little story doesn't prove 

 anything for or against our bright boy or 

 our dull boy, for our bright boy was not 

 so very bright, nor oiu' dull boy so very 

 dull. The were ju.st good, average boys, 

 built on different lines, and I have told 

 their story to show that neither of them 

 amounted to anything until he had the 

 nonsense hammered out of him. 



And that is what I am trying to prove — 

 that hammering improves a man if he has 

 the right stuff in him, and that the suc- 

 cess of the unhammered man is not apt to 



be permanent. 



* * * 



And here we have been talking of "suc- 

 cess" over two or more pages without hav- 

 ing it understood between us what we 

 mean by "success." 



My interpretation of success is the go- 

 ing ahead and conquering and doing good, 

 and building up in the line of business or 

 endeavor you are engaged in, whether it 

 be politics, business, religion or whatso- 

 ever. • 



But I still have quite a line of talk to 

 give you on this philosophy of success, as 

 elucidated by a man who is not a success, 

 as yet, but who is still in the ring. 



And I'll have to finish it nest issue. 



MR. GLADDING HONORED. 



Mr. N. A. Gladding, vice-president and 

 secretary E. C. Atkins & Co., saws and 

 saw tool manufacturers, Indianapolis, Ind., 

 has been appointed as one of the commis- 

 sioners from Indiana to the Louisiana Pur- 

 chase Exposition and World's Fair, to be 

 held in St. Louis in 1904. 



CHANGE OF OFFICER. 



Owing to the death of Mr. H. C. Huston, 

 president of the H. C. Huston I>umber 

 Company of Pittsburg, Pa., a i-eorganiza- 

 tion has been effected. Mr. J. L. Kendall, 

 the former secretary and treasurer, was 

 elevated to the presidency; H. H. Maust 

 continued as vice-president and John C. 

 Kendall made secretary and treasurer. 

 J. H. Henderson, formerly with the Ameri- 

 can Lumber & Manufacturing Company, 

 has taken a position with the Huston Com- 

 pany in the capacity of general sales man- 



NOTICE OF REMOVAL. 



We beg to announce to our friends and 

 patrons that after April 1, 1003, we will be 

 located in our new quarters, fifteenth door. 

 Farmers' Bank building. Fifth' avenue and 

 Wood street, I'ittsbm-g, Fa. 



FLINT. KKVING & STONEIJ. 



