ud to own one of them.

"You see," said the magnate, as he realized that he had the victim
falling into his trap, "we do not require to sell any more shares; we
are doing well enough now, and some say we should leave well enough
alone. But, a corporation of the nature of ours cannot rest on its oars;
we must reach out for greater and better things, and to accomplish this
we must have more capital. The fact is, a proposition has just been put
to us, the nature of which I am not just now at liberty to divulge, but
it is a sure winner. But it takes capital, as I said before, and we are
compelled to sell some more stock. And, after all, it will be you and I
who will benefit, and a hundred or more favored ones who have small
savings which are netting them nothing at present, and the principal of
which is rusting in the bank at three per cent.

"Now, to come down to business. Will you join us? Now, I am not going to
press you. There are hundreds too willing; but remember, you will regret
it if you lose this chance of a lifetime. Opportunity is knocking at
your door; seize it by the fore-lock.

"The proposition I have to put before you is this: We are selling
shares at one hundred dollars each, but if you have not the cash now, we
will allow you six, twelve and eighteen months on the balance with a
payment of five hundred dollars down if you buy twenty shares. The
reason we are able to make such liberal offers is that we receive the
same terms in buying up debentures."

Simon was completely victimized. His tormentor might just as well have
addressed him in Latin, for he knew so little about debentures, joint
stock funds and the intricacies of high finance that he could not follow
the promoter and was completely dazzled with the obscurity and eloquence
of the language. And then the magnate spoke so rapidly that only
lightning could keep up with him. The result was that Simon fell into
the trap and was pinched. He not only gave away all his rainy day money,
but he burdened himself with a debt, which, to a working man, was a
mountain, and more than he could carry. He sold his house to meet the
next two payments, and just as the third payment came due the company
went into liquidation, and it consumed all their available assets to
discover that there was nothing left for the shareholders. And Simple
Simon began life over again.

Of the High Class Eskimo

Away up in the great northland, even further north than the nor