operator,
and another day I would insist upon being placed in the train
dispatcher's office, and again thought I would like the general freight
office, either of which was considered a fine position.

Finally the secretary asked, one day, how I would like to have Mr. Kline
resign in my favor.

I told him I would like it first-rate if the salary was sufficient.

As soon as the green grass and flowers of spring commenced to show
themselves, I began to get nervous and anxious to make a change.

One day while several people were sitting in the depot waiting for a
train, a young enterprising looking fellow came in with a small
sample-case in his hand, and began talking to an old gentleman about
spectacles, and very soon made a sale for which he received two dollars
and fifty cents, spot cash.

After the train had come and gone, carrying with it the old gentleman,
I entered into conversation with the young man, and finally asked him,
confidentially, what that pair of spectacles cost him. He laughed and
said they could be bought for one dollar per dozen.

"That settles it right here," I said, and added:

"That settles the telegraph business with me. I'll send my resignation
to Mr. Kline forthwith, by telegraph." And I did so.

After about ten days he accepted it and sent me a pass for home and the
amount due me, which was sixty-five dollars.

On my arrival home a stormy scene ensued.

My mother said it was just like me to leave a sure thing and traffic
around over the country, with no future prospects whatever.

Mr. Keefer said the business was too slow for me, anyhow, and he had
thought so from the beginning. I explained that the experience was worth
a great deal to me.

My mother replied that I had for years been getting nothing _but_
experience.

Mr. Keefer said he'd bet I would come out all right yet.

"Yes," my mother said, "he will come out in the poorhouse, and drag you
and me with him."

She then what I expected to do next, and I told her about the immense
profits made in the spectacle business.

She laughed, and with much sarcasm remarked, that a dozen pair of
spectacles and an old tin box to carry them in, would probably be the
height of my ambition.

I told her that remained to be seen; but I would some day convince her
differently, and show her how to make money fast.

The next day I received a letter from an acquaintance residing at
Kirkersville, Ohio, in answer to one I had written him, in