nce without further ado.

"'In the first place my name is not John, but Edward Convert, son of
Henry Convert, and grandson of Peter Convert, who many years ago was a
wealthy banker of London, England.

"'My grandfather had two sons; James, the elder, being my uncle, and
Henry the younger, my father.

"'About the time my father reached maturity, both he and my uncle fell
in love with beautiful twin sisters of a poor family, and in due course
of time each took one as a wife. This was done in direct opposition to
my grandfather's commands, and so incensed did he become over the
affair, that when he died shortly afterward, it was found that he had
cut them both off with a mere pittance, while the bulk of his estate
which was valued at several million pounds, was to be held in trust
until the eldest son of my uncle James had reached maturity, after which
it was to be delivered to him intact.

"'At that time neither my father nor uncle had children, and being of
different temperaments-my uncle a pious clergyman, and my father a
broker with gambling tendencies-they soon parted and lost track of each
other.

"'My parents emigrated to Canada and resided in Toronto for some years,
in which city I was born. When I was about five years of age my mother
died, and a short time later my father moved to Buffalo, N. Y., and
entered into the brokerage business there. As I grew up, I was educated
with the sole idea that the only purpose for which I had been created
was to get money. At home I was taught by my father, in school through
books, and at church by the pastor, that my success in life would be
judged according to the amount of money I could accumulate. Was it any
wonder, then, that I grew up to worship money as the real god, and to
finally sell my soul for it? Oh, the terrible curse of money! And what
an awful crime for parents to teach their children to love it! Had I not
been taught from infancy to crave money, I might have become a useful
member of the human family, and utilized my brain power for some worthy
cause, instead of using it to scheme, cheat, steal, and even murder, in
order that I might obtain it.

"Well, one day when I was about sixteen years old, my father, having
just returned from one of his western trips, informed me that he had
accidentally run across his brother James, the clergyman, in a little
Kansas town named Eden. He said that my uncle told him that his wife had
died sixteen years before, while g