speckilation. Mr. Kimball said he thought he 'd rather get rich quick
than not get rich at all. That was the way he put it 'n' it sounded so
sensible 't I felt to agree. Then he begin to unfold how (he had the
newspaper in his hand), 'n' as soon as he was unfolded I read the
advertisement. It was a very nice advertisement an' no patent medicine
could have sounded easier to take in. You buy two rubber trees 'n' then
wait two years 'n' get fifty per cent till you die. Well, Mrs. Lathrop,
I went over that advertisement fifty times to try 'n' see what to do 'n'
yet the more I studied it the less faith I had in it somehow. The
picture of the man who tended the trees was up on top 'n' little
pictures of him made a kind of pearl frame around the whole, 'n' he was
honest enough lookin', as far as I could judge, but--as I told Mr.
Kimball--what was to guarantee us as he 'd stick to the same job steady,
'n' I certainly did n't have no longin' in me to buy a rubber tree in
southeast Peru 'n' then leave it to be hoed around by Tom, Dick, 'n'
Harry. So I shook my head 'n' said 'no' in the end 'n' then we looked up
railway stocks. Mr. Kimball read me a list of millionaires 'n' he asked
me if I would n't like to be called 'Susan Clegg, queen of the Western
Pacific'--but I 'm too old to be caught by any such chaff, 'n' I told
him so to his face, and then it was that we come to his favorite scheme
of the 'Little Flyer in Wheat.' That was what he called it, 'n' I must
say that I think it's a pretty good name, only if I know myself I 'll
buy wheat as never sets down hereafter.

"Well, Mrs. Lathrop, it took a deal of talkin' 'n' Mr. Kimball had to do
a lot of figgerin' before my eyes afore I was ready to believe him when
he said as five of us could go in together 'n' double our money every
few days for a month or so. He showed me as what he was figgerin' from
was printed in plain letters 'n' red ink in a city paper, 'n' after a
while I opened my mouth 'n' swallowed the whole thing, red ink 'n' all.
Mr. Kimball, Mr. Dill, Mr. Shores, me, 'n' me over again, was the five,
'n' we bought the share right off, fully believin' as we 'd begin the
wheat-flyin' the same way--" Susan paused and set her teeth a little
vigorously for a moment,--then:

"Well, Mrs. Lathrop, that was the way it all begun, 'n' I can lay my
hand anywhere 'n' swear as all my bad luck is founded solid on Mr.
Kimball in consequence. The very day after we begun with our fly ins