IN DAKOTA. 45 
happen to offer he was ready to take it. We had 
been boys together, and more like brothers than 
brothers often are, and so our meeting was as cor- 
dial on both sides as it well could be. We had din- 
ner, talked over old times and old friends, and then ° 
came the inevitable question: 
“Well, Tom, how are you getting along? I 
heard of your accident, and understand you’ve been 
having some other trouble lately. How is it?” 
I told him the whole story, keeping back nothing, 
and cofessing to the utter, inexcusable folly of the 
whole business. 
‘Yes, it was foolish, Tom, and no mistake. I 
thought you were too level-headed to be carried 
away like that. It has been a pretty expensive les- 
son to you, certainly.” 
Yes,” I said, “ experience keeps a dear school, but 
fools will learn in no other.” 
_ “You're not a fool, Tom, not by a great deal. But 
like the rest of us you have your weak spots, and this 
temptation happened to strike you in one of them, 
and so got the better of you. But you'll be strong 
enough on that point hereafter; no danger about 
that. As [ look at it you had here a comfortable for- 
tune within your grasp, and let it get away from you 
just for the sake of getting that house-a year or two 
before you ought to have built it. But such cases 
are not rare, by any means. Every day you may 
read of business failures caused by that very weak- 
ness—people anticipating their incomes by only a 
