n all that was offered, and when it
struck bottom he was still buying. Suddenly the schemers "tumbled" that
the plums they were shaking off the tree were dropping into some other
bag than their own, and they started into competition for the coveted
fruit.

Next day, and for several days afterward, there were strenuous doings in
Butte & Boston on the Boston Stock Exchange. The trading was heavy and
the price pushed up from the bottom to 6-1/2. Soon, however, it was
slammed to 2-3/4, then back to 6 again, down to 3-1/4, back to 5-3/4,
and so on, until the middle of the fourth day, when the rival News
Bureau to the "System's" favorite opinion-moulder sprang the following
notice set forth on a double-leaded sheet:

"We have just solved the Butte & Boston conundrum. The
enormous blocks of stock purchased during the past few days
have come in for transfer, and the management now know who
owns the bag into which all the stock they have for months
been planning to acquire dropped. We have unmistakable
evidence that the bag belonged to Lawson, and that he now is
in control of the Butte & Boston Company. A hasty
investigation amongst the leading floor brokers which we
have just made brings out a consensus of opinion that there
will now be music in Coppers."

The announcement was calculated to interest a good many persons, and I
was the target of a thousand inquiries. In answer to the innumerable
calls for a denial or confirmation of the statement, I issued the
following:

'Tis true. 'Tis my bag, and there are 46,000 shares in it.

It was not until the following morning that I realized what a rarely
presumptuous thing I had done. I had invaded a valuable preserve. I had
coarsely "butted into" a private copper domain without a by-your-leave
to the natives who thought it belonged to them. I was an interloper, an
intruder, an upstart. The prevailing opinion seemed to be that it now
devolved on me to present what I had purchased to those who had been a
bit late in getting to the bargain-counter, or that I should, at least,
turn it over to the conscience fund of the Stock Exchange. The copper
market reflected the indignation of the baffled schemers. It entered for
once into an open competition with Donnybrook Fair, and to judge by the
action and feeling developed in both individual and corporation classes,
the Hub had Donnybrook jigged to a wind-up. In my various contests wit