iss
Mattie; a something, if not regal, at least a kinship to the king.
Under her democracy lay a respect for the founded institution;
impersonal; an integral part of the law of the State; in fact, a
minor sovereignty within an empire.

"Stockholder yourself!" retorted Red. "Don't you call me names."

"What do you mean, Will?" asked Miss Mattie, with wide-opened eyes.

"I mean you're a stockholder as good as anybody--you've got half my
stack. Now, hold on! Just listen! This is a queer run, Mattie,
from the regulation point of view, this company of ours; I know
enough about fillin' and backin' to know that--you ought to have
seen the pryin', and pokin', and nosin' around them Boston men did
before they took holt of the Chantay Seeche and made it a stock
company! One feller was the ablest durn fool I ever come acrosst.
I used to let on I didn't savvey anything about it. 'Now, explain
to me,' says I to him. 'You say you have so many shares of them
stock,' waving my hand to a bunch of critters in the distance.
'What part do you take? I mean, what's your share of each animal,
and does the last man get the hoofs and the tail?' 'Oh! you don't
understand,' says he. 'I'll explain it to you.' So he starts in
to tell me that 'stock didn't necessarily mean beef critters,' and
a lot more things, whilst old man Ferguson, who was putting the
deal through, stood listening and chewing his teeth, thinking I was
going to give our friend the frolicsome hee-hee at the wind-up.
But I stood solemn, and never even drew a smile, for fear of
queering Ferguson. Well. That's the proper way to start a
company; make it as dreary and long-winded as possible. We ain't
done that, and perhaps we'll go broke for breaking the rules, and
then your stock won't be worth a cuss; so don't you get excited
about it. I wanted the Saunders family to be represented. Pretty
soon the old lad with the nose will be around, and you'll have a
chance to read about the 'parties of the first part,' and 'second
parts of the party' and 'aforesaids' and 'behindsaids' and the rest
of the yappi them lawyers swing so that honest men won't know what
the devil they're up to."

"Oh, Will! How can I ever thank you!" cried Miss Mattie, her eyes
filling. It seemed a great and responsible position to the gentle
lady to be a stockholder in the corporation. It wasn't the
monetary value of the thing; it was the pride of place.

"If you don't know how, don't try," ret