Bellefonte, Pa., April 29, 1910. TOMMY BIFFBY, THE AUDACIOUS. By J. B. DUBOIS. Copyright, 1910, by American Press Asso- ciation. | “Success, gentlemen. Say, I'll tel | you what constitutes the essential and elemental requisites of true success. | It's stupendous audacity linked by an endless chaiu of enthusiasm to eternal | activity,” and Tommy Biffby banged his dafotily gloved fist directly in the | center of a wet spot on the cafe table. | “An example. please.” said Dunkin, | the general manager i “An example.” roared Tommy, “an | example! Me! I'm the example! Here am |. only five feet three in height, | with a slot machine weight of 135 | pounds. [I'm narrow chested, stoop | shouldered and toe in when | walk. My complexion is of the bilious yellow bue and embraces a mole, two warts and a squint, yet look at me! Am I not a success?” “Tommy.” said Dunkin, “I will con- fess that commercially you bave fram. ed up far beyond the most sauguine expectations of everybody connected witb the Brooklane Woolen company; but, tell us, without wading into ethe- real frills, bow bave you done it?’ “How? replied Tommy “I'll tell you how. First by employing the principle of stupendous audacity as exemplitied in vests. Each one of my vests costs $15. und | buy them by the dozen. Now, then, for a specific case. Last week a new western agency wan came in for the first time. We became friendly. We became fa- miliar, and after awhile be said to me: * “Tommy, that vest of yours is a bird. “Do you like It? | asked. ‘It's a dream,’ sald be. ‘It's yours, said |, taking it off and banding it to nim. Say, that fellow went away my friend for life, and what's the consequence? “He will go howe and spend his time asking everybody it he knows Biffby. ‘Biffby is all right. Bifby 1x Nay. Biff- by would give you the clothes off nis back, Bifby would Aud 1 tell you. geutiewen, that if you stop to apalyze my modus operandi sou will tind— what? Audacity, enthusinsw and mo- tion. Say, take it from me, if you want a thing bad enough you can get it. but you bave got to get it in your bead before you can have it in your hands.” General Manager Dunkin bad tilted his chair back against the wall duriug Tommy's remark, and, as a matter ot fact. be deliberately winked at Schinidt, the buyer, before answering. “lommy.” said he, 1 admire your splendid enthusiasm. and | admire the way vou have manmiged the sates de partment. but for unhoiy and un- savory egotism you parniyze all com- petitors.” “Do you belleve that you can get anything you want in lite it yon only want it bad enough’ asked Schmidt, “1 do.” sald Tommy “Then, by George suppose that we three gentlemen wanted the Brooklane Woolen company for our own. Could we. getty * “I'ain’t bad for an idea.” sald Tom my. his eyes on the elgar he was light ing. “Bab! said Schmidt. arising. “Sit down.” said Tommy, pulling him back into his chair “Let's see We start with an initiative thought, as fol- lows: Dunkin, who is gener manager of the Brooklane Woolen company: Schmidt, buyer for same house, and Mr Thomas RBiffby. who is manager of the sales department, eollectively as. pire to ownership of the said company —three men of brains and «gpecutive ability, three men who practically run the business Sar, this thing ap- peals to me Why shouldn't the Brook- lane Woolen company belong to us? i I'd never thought of this before We run it, don’t we?” “Come.” said Dunkin, arising. “I've all my correspondence to attend to.” “Sit down.” said Tommy. “This is be- coming loteresting Why shouldn't we own this business? Why, that's what 1 want to know. Why?" “It's pol! worth answering.” said Schmidt. “but as a quietus, Biffby, I'll tell you why First. our president. W. OC. Brooklane, owns practically every dollar of the stock; second, the cor poration is capitalized at $100,000, and we could not raise $10,000 among us.” “Oh, very well,” said Tommy. “You see it, don't you?" asked Dun- kin. “Oh, | don't know.” “Perhaps you see yourself president of the Brookiane Woolen company.” sald Schmidt, with a grin. “By thunder, sir, | do see it!" and Tommy banged the table so emphat- feally that the empty glasses danced. By way of answer both Dunakin and Schmidt walked to the cashier's desk, settled their accounts and went out, leaving Tommy at the table with his head thrust forward in a most pro- found study “How many drinks did Tommy have? asked Dunkin of Schmidt as they crossed the street to their office. “It's not a question of drink,” re- - | just as soon as 1 can fix you fellows few days Inter. buyers in the office this morning— seven, mind you. including Bape of Chicarv and Doskin of Boston-—and they were all waiting for Biffby to come in, when who should show up but Brooklane himself. Well, be did the honors handsomely and bad them all in his private office, where they were telling bim how much they though of Biffby. and, say. when Bifi- by came in. hanged if they dido’t all try to shake hands with him at once. That's right. and before they left every man jack of the crowd gave bim a smashing big fall order.” About 3 o'clock that same afternoon Dunkin saw Biffby stop at the door of President Hrooklane's private office, and. strange to relate, for once in his iife Tommy besitated several times before entering. Fifteen minutes later everybody in the outer office was startled to hear their sedate president burst into roars of hearty icughter Peal after peal of convulsive merriment eame rolling over the transom, and a few minutes later Tommy came tumbling through the doorway. Hardly Sve minutes had elapsed when the president opened the door and beckoned to nis general manager. Once lnstde Dunkin had to wait fully three minutes before the president could stop lmughing. “Dunkin.” said he ut last. “the fun- niest incident of my life has just oc- curred. Onur little friend Biffby came in here a few minutes ago and said, ‘Mr Brookiane, | bave a business proposition to offer yon.’ | “What is it. Thomas? 1 asked. i “*‘Why." said he without a finch, ‘Dunkin, Schmidt and myself wish to buy you out “Well. said I. thinking to go easy with him. ‘ure you ready to take over all of my stock? **Yex, sir. said be. “Can you produce the cash? 1 asked. just to keep up the game. “*No. sir: we haven't got a cent.) was bis answer, *“*“Then now do you expect to buy me out? | asked. **Why, sir. you are to lend us the money,’ said he. Think of it, Dunkin —~1 am to lend you fellows the money with which to buy ont my own busi- ness!" And for the second time the outer office was startled with a whirl- wind of merriment. The next morning Mr. Brooklane left for a three weeks' southern trip, and that afternoon, to the surprise of all the clerks, Miss Edith Brooklane, the president's only daughter, called and sent her card In to Mr. Biffby. They “It was foolish. and. | | of mine.” said Dunkin to Schmidt 8 | your opinion, Is it not. Mr. BiffLy 7° | | what's more, Biffby is a positive won vote upon that matter later on, in the | der. There were seven of our largest were closeted in the Intter's office for some time. aud when they came out | Mr. Bifby accompanied Miss Brook- | lane 10 her carriage Before the wee: was over Miss | Brooklune bad cated on Mr. Biffby | three times. and each succeeding call | d marked the earnest subject of | their conversation. | By the end of the nest week one of | the clerks in the foreign department | reported baving seen Bifby teave the Brooklane howe the evening before | as Inte as 10:30, and. wonder of won- | ders, during the third week of Mr. | Brooklnne's absence Mrs. Brooklave | called and held a tong conversation | with Mr. Biffby. It wax the first she | had visited the office in tive years. | President Brookiane returned on the | Monday following, and (te in the aft. | ernoon Dunkin received a message to | come to his office, ! “Dunkin.” smd be, “you remember my telling you about Biffby's business proposition? Well, | told Mrs Brook- lane and Edith all about it that night at dinner. and my wife enjoyed it as much as | did, but Edith, with never $0 much as a smile. asked. "Why vot? and did | not consider you fellows capable of running this business. Then she wanted to know all about my income outside of this business and fipally cornered me in the ad- mission that | had actually promised for five years in succession that | would spend the winter with them in Europe. Then she wound up by ask- ing why | should not consider Biffby’s proposition seriously. “But what's the use. Dunkin? When a man's family gets at him on a sub- ject of this Kind they usually win. Mrs. Brooklane joined forces with Edith, and while | was in the south Biffby actually convinced them that the entire thing was practical. The end of it all is that | have seen my attor- | ney, und he is to help you fellows whip i the pew organization into shape, and, | hang it all, I'll nance it according to : Biffby's plan. Anyway. the boy sur- | prised me when those out of town | chaps were here. Every time | tried to | talk business they said, ‘Much obliged. | Brooklane, but Tommy for ours.” | That night Dunkin went home to do | some tall thinking, as he expressed it. His time had come. Biffby's hare brained proposition by a miraculous | combination of circumstances had gone | through, and he, Dunkin, was as good es president of the company. Biffby was certainly clever, and be would suggest to Mr. Brooklane in the morning that Tommy be promoted to the position of general manager in the new company. Within a few days the preliminary papers had been drawn for reorganiza- tion. and Mr. Brookiane invited the three gentlemen into his private office. . “Boys,” said he, “I'm off to Europe up. What have you decided to do about officering the new company? “Why, we—er—have not concluded definitely,” said Schmidt. “You see— er-Biffby’s been awful busy, but—er— Mr. Dunkin and 1 bave talked the mat- ter over, and I'm quite sure that Mr. Riffby will coscur with me when I say Mr. Dunkin will make a very ca- pable president, sir, and—er—that is “Why, | think thar we had better regular way.” replied Biffby. “Of course, gentlemen, | can assure you that the twenty-eight shares of stock which, by virtue of our agree- ment, will remain iu my family will be voted according to the decision you arrive at. That will be satisfactory to you, will it not. Mr Biffby? “Why—er—1 trust that you will ap- preciate my position. Mr. Brooklane. but | frankly confess to aspirations for that office myself.” “But. Riffby. don’t you understand?" began S<hmidt. “Dunkin will bave twenty-four shares, | will have twen- ty-four shares, and with the twenty- eight sbares pledzed by Mr. Brook- lane you see the matter is virtually settled by a majority that" — “Pardon we, gentlemen.” said Tom- my. with great dignity. “but perhaps Mr. Brooklane will kindly inform us who owns the twenty-eight shares of stock he speaks of." “Certainly | will. They are in the possession of my daughter Edith.” “Well -«r excuse me, Mr. Brooklane, but—er- that is. with your permission, sir. | expect to control that stock shortly.” said Tommy, with immense dignity “What! gasped Mr Brooklave. ‘Yes, «ir- that is—er—you see, Miss Edith” ~ “Say. young man, have | your per mission to take my daughter to Eu- rope?’ asked the president, looking Biffby through and through. “Oh. yes, sir: you see. it will be two | years at jeast before we—er—we''— “Well, what do you think of that?” said Mr Brooklane, addressing the question apparently to himself. Then | he looked a1 Dunkin and Schmidt, and | from these gentiemen he turned bis | gaze upon Tommy again, and, tinally, | turning back to Xebmidt and Dunkin, | he said: ! “Gentlemen, If you will shake bands | with your new president 1 will shake ! hands with my prospective son-in-law = | Then the three gentiemen adjourned ! to the cafe “Tommy.” said Dunkin, “you will ad- | mit that several almost miraculous | circumstances have conspired to help | your cause in this little deal, won't | you?" “I'll admit nothing of the kind.” said | Tommy | “Well, bow about those out of town | buyers who arrived the very day you had picked out to talk to Mr. Brook- | lane?” i “Oh. bosh!" said Tommy. “You fel | lows are from the provinces, Why. | say, mau, every one of those chaps has worn one of my vests at some time or other. and | simply wrote them to come on and make good.” “1 say, Tommy, what was that spiel you gave nx about success? asked Schmidt. ; “Success! Gentlemen, success is stu- pendous audacity linked by an end- less chain of enthusiasm to eternal activity!” and Tommy banged his fist into a wet spot so hard that he splash- ed a smail pool of liquid refreshment nil over one of his fifteen dollar vests. Dumas’ Wealth and Poverty. Alexandre Dumas’ rise to wealth and luxury was almost as marvelous as that of his most celebrated hero. He built a magnificent chateau, which he named Monte Christo. There he en- tertained all comers, friend and stran- ger alike, with more than oriental magnificence and sometimes with ori ental mystery. His purse was open to all who sought it. and the day came when he experienced Timon's fate | without acquiring Timon's disposition. He could not become a misanthrope, though his fortune disappeared almost as suddenly as it came, and then he learned the ingratitude of men. His last days were passed not in poverty. but in narrow circumstances He left Paris in the fall of 1870 just as the German army was closing in to be- siege it and when France was feeling its deepest woe. To the last he pre- served his gayety and youthful spirit. “I had but one napoleon in my pocket when | first came here,” he said. “1 go away with two, and yet they call me a spendthrift.” i Very Devout. A new parson was presented to a living in a remote agricultural dis trict and was anxious to make him- self at home with his flock as soon us possible. He therefore began his pas toral calls at once. Among the first recipients of these attentions was Farmer Jones, whose family the now parson had noticed to be very reguinr and apparently very devout atiend ants at church. Farmer Jones was out, but his wife received the parsen, when the following dialogue took place: “I am your new rector. Mrs Jones. I have noticed with grea: pleas ure your regular attendance atchur-l and have lost as little time as possi ble, you see, in calling and improving our acquaintance.” “Yes, sir.” replicd Mrs. Jones; “we're "bliged to be reg'lar at church, for if we didn't go Farmer Smith claims that pew, and we're not goin’ to give it up for the likes o' him. So my son Peter stands at the door half an hour before service begins to keep ’im out.”—Liverpoo! Mercury. Big Hats In Colonial Days. The question of high hats at public places was of some momeat, even in colonial days. In 1769 the church nt Andover, Mass.. put it to vote wheth- er “the parish disapprove of the fo male sex sitting with their hats on in the meeting house in time of divine service as being indecent.” Inthe town of Abington in 1775 it was voted that it was “an indecent way with the feminine sex to sit with their hats and bonnets on in worshiping God.” Still ancther town voted that it was the “town’s mind” that the women should take their bonnets off in meeting and hang them on the pegs. b Honest Mistake. The story is told of a little New England girl the workings of whose Puritan conscience involved her in dif- ficulties on one occasion. She was studying mental arithmetic at school and took no pleasure in it. One day she told her mother, with much depression of spirit, that she had “failed again in mental arith- metic,” and on being asked what prob- lem had proved her undoing she sor- rowfully mentioned the request for the addition of “nine and four.” “And didn’t you know the answer, dear?” asked her mother. “Yes'm,” said the little maid; “but, you know, we are to write the anp- swers on our slates, aud before I thought 1 made four marks and count- ed up. ‘Ten, ‘leven, twelve, thirteen,’ and then, of course. | knew that wasn’t mental. so | wrote twelve for the answer to be fair.” The Cautious Kind. Before the customer paid his biil the hotel stenographer tore several pages out of her notebook and banded them to him. “Only the notes of his let- ters,” she said to the nest customer. “He is one of the cautious kind. There are pot many like him. About once in ' six months somebody comes along who | keeps such a watchful eye on his cor respondence that he won't even let a stenographer keep Lis notes. Of course it is pothin: to us, and we always give them up when asked to. | don’t know what the enutions folk co with them. | Destroy them, maybe. Anyhow, there Lis no record of foolish utterances left in the stenographer's books." —New York Sun. Little Worries. In Chesterton « “I'remendous Trifles” is this: A friend of wine who was vis- iting 0 poor woman in bereavement aud castine about for some phrase of consolntion that should not be either insolent or wenk said at mst: “1 think one can live through these great sor- rows nnd even be the hetter. What wears one is the little worries.” “That's quite right, mum.” answered the old woman, with emphasis, “and 1 ought to know, seeing I've bad ten of ‘em."” Truth, In troubled waters yon can scarce gee your face or see it very little till the water be quiet and stand still. So in troubled timex you can see little th. When times are quiet and set- tled. then truth appears.—Nelden. Ridicule is the first and last argu- ment of fools. —Simmons. Paced Too Rapidly. “Waiter. ask the orchestra to play something different.” “Apy particular selection, sir?" “Something slower. | can't chew my food properly in waltz time.”— Kansas City Journal. Travelers Guide. ENTRAL RAILROAD OF PENNSYLVANIA. Condensed Time Table effective June 17, 1909. READ DOWN READ UP. rrr STATIONS : No 1 No5No3 No 6 No 4No2 EET De AAP Bie. #105" 55 % 20| BELLEFONTE. 8 10 5 05 9 40 715 706 2 Nigh. 57) 452 9 27 72047 11] 2 51 44711921 727718 2 45 441/915 739 13 43 438 913 733723 2 39 4 34,9 09 737728 2 36 429 905 7 90/17 30 2 34 4270 @ 742733 3 32 4 24/9 00 746 738 3 29 4 21/f8 57 T4817 40 3 26: 4 18/18 54 752 744 3 22 414/850 7561749 3 18| 4 09/18 48 802 754 3 12} 4 03! 8 43 805 757, 3 10} 4 01 8 41 810802 3 05 3 561 8 36 (N. Y. Central & Hudson River K. R.) 140 853 | 309 782 15 930 ve. 235 17 112 29 11 30 Ar. 230 6 73 650 18 11% 1010 200... L900 | (Via Phila.) p.m. a.m. Arr. Lve.! a.m. p.m. t Week Days. WALLACE H. GEPHART, General Superintendent. ELLEFONTE CENTRAL RAILROAD. Schedule to take effect Monday, Jan. 6, 1910 EASTWARD | Read up. 1 i i tNo2t No4/No6 MUNN & CO., offic, a Bronrsy, New York. §245.1y. Branch Children Cry for Fletchwr’s Castoria. Yeagers Shoe Store THE MISSION OF THE PlANATE SHOE Is to make a nation of men and women to whom walking will be a pleasure and with whom perfect feet will be the rule rather than the exception. Could parents be brought to realize the importance of starting the child’s foot right, there would be little or no Pinering in later life from foot blem- ishes. As nature forms the child's foot, each toe lies flat and straight thus pro- viding the human foot with the power to balance the body, the spring to make walking easy. Unfortunately few children reach maturity without cramped, pinched and misshapen feet. This is usually caused by shoes sold by unscientific shoemen to thoughtless parents. The Pla-Mate Shoe is designated by students of the human foot to allow the bones and muscles to w in the shape that nature intended. SOLD ONLY AT Yeager’s Shoe Store, Bush Arcade Building, BELLEFONTE, PA. LYON &£ CO. Shoes Shoes LYON & CO. Come to our store to buy your Shoes. Our line is always complete. Men's Working Shoes from $1.50 to $4. Men's Fine Shoes from $1.50 to $5.00. Boys’ Working Shoes from $1. to $3.00. Children’s Shoes from 75 cts to $2.00. Ladies Dongola Oxfords $1 to $3.50. Ladies Pat. Leather Oxfords $1 to $3.50. Ladies Tan Oxfords from $1.25 to $3.50. Children’s Oxfords and Slippers 75¢ up. DRESS GOODS, CARPETS, &c. A full line of Dress Goods and Silks. Carpets, Linoleums and Lace Curtains. We are agents for Butterick Patterns. LYON & COMPANY, Allegheny St. 47-12 Bellefonte, Pa.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers