Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 January 1911 — OUT-SLITTERS HIS GUTTER [ARTICLE]

OUT-SLITTERS HIS GUTTER

Young Man Proud of His Diamond Got In Wrong Car at Wrong Tlmo. It was plainly evident to one and all that the young man seated down about the center of the car bad a new diamond ring in which be took a heap of pride. For some moments he sat with the rins-bearing hand on his thigh where he could get a view of it and shower his admiration on the karat-and-something stone. Then he began to polish the gem on the leg of his trousers, after which he went further and cleaned the dust from tne innards of the setting with a toothpick. He got to fretting lest other passengers should not share with him the joy of feasting their eyes on the solitaire. It represented all the earnings for several months, but he was willing that others should feast their eyes on its glitter free of charge. So he raised his hand to his mouth, and scratched at one of his teeth, that all might see. Now while this was going on, an older man across the aisle was getting more fidgety every minute. He looked as if he’d have given a whole lot for the privilege of pasting the young man opposite him one in the eye. But as that seemed likely to cause excitement among the other passengers, he took another means of getting rid of Young-Man-Proud-of-His-Diamond. He reached in his pocket and produced a heavy manila envelope from which he took- a couple of dozen diamond rings. These he proceeded to put on, about two to a finger, until his hands looked like a Christmas display in a jewelry store. Furthermore, he took out a big diamond horseshoe —an affair large enough for the hoof of a yearang colt, It seemed, and pinned It on the lapel of his coat. It was some moments before the young man who’d planted his entire fortune in a ring happened to look up and see the display opposite. When he did his face looked like that of a man who had Just seen something when there wasn’t anything there. He rang the bell—using his ringless hand, too —and got off at the next corner. Then the man across the aisle, who happened to be a jewelry salesman, put his samples back into his pocket and resumed the reading of his paper.