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-A Wall Street “Lamb.”
By mh K. SHACKLEFORD.
- CHAPTER L
“a ‘LAMB,’ BY ALL THAT'S HOLY
ConraD MEYER was. one of the well-
ice, when business
stories with him, Le generally had a new
story for them, « or else he asked for one
from his visitor:
me day Broker Barry dropped in to see
him, and was shown into his private office,
“I see you have a new office boy,” said
the piettor. “Wave you any thing else
new
“Yes, My old office boy is now a new
broker, 3 and an old chum of his is my new
office The old office boy has a new
office of his own in that little suite of old
rooms af the end of the corridor two flights
+ “hatin thunder are you telling me,
Meyer?” laughed Barry, as he sat down by
the broker's
- “Tam trying to tell you something new,
and that’s all that Lhave that is fresh.”
mean to say that Paul has set
vp. for himself ?”
“Oh, no, I didn't say that. I said he
had opened an office of hisown, He may
be setting up for somebody else to shear,”
“Has he got any fleece? Is anybody |,
don’t know. He can talk more and
say less than any boy Lever knew.
sorry to lose him; but he found another to
take his place and I let him go,"
Barry laughed and lighted acigar, He
Bnew bbs boy they were speaking of well.
d liked him for his good humor and
aroma works
“‘}Ie was here about two years,” said
Meyer, “ “and icked up more information
about stocks and bonds than all the clerks
in the office, Whether he ever made any
money I don’t know, If he didn't t wish to
tell anything, no lawyers in New York
draw it out of hi
“erhen another broker came in, and Barry
told him about Paul Clayton, Meyer's of-
fice boy, setting up
hat’s he going to do?” the ewe com-
er asked,
“Blest if I know,” laughed both Meyer
and Bai
“ Run "errands by contract, I press,” re-
marked Dekle, the new-comer, Ly office
boy last week put up his salary on a mar-
gin ina bucket shop, and lost itin ten min-
utes, I was called on by his mother ina
couple | ot days. ¥ who “wanted to know why |,
Thadn’t paid him. When I called him to
an accounting he confessed the truth. She
fell upon him like an avalanche, and treat-
ed us to a phase of domestic life that was
interesting while it lasted. 1 e of
e
sole purpose of not letting him forget it.”
Barry laughed and remarked that boys
were merciless in the matter of guying
each other, and then subject was
changed to one of business, “vhough no
business was on hand at the time, Barr
and Dekle spent some time in Meyer's of-
fice, and then went out, The great build-
jun
simply the nam
Pave Crayton.
Barry pushed open the door and went in
“Tello, Pai
room. It was neatly furnished and carpet-
ed. The door that led into the other rooms
n the walls,
“Wha
asked of the sath
was olding down this chair when
you 3 he, he replie
“ ‘Does that pay
“That's what. t am tryin ‘to find out.
I've known Mr. Meyer to make it pa:
“How?” and Barry became interested,
“Oh, he hatches his best schemes while
holding down a chair,”
“What are you trying to hatch ?"
“That's what bothers me, I Can't know
in business for jimselt b
ull” la
“Hello, Mr. Barry | Hello, Mr, Dekle |
ERD OCZ
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AGE:
whether the egg was laid by a goose, duck
a
The two brokers roared with laughter,
ans ‘Deke slapped Barry on the back, say-
8 Goo: id! Good !”
“Where's the egg?” Barry asked, as soon
as he could stop laughing long enough to
0 SO.
. paul pulled out a drawer, and took from
egg, and laid it on the desk. The two
broke stopped laughing, looked at it in
e greatest interest for several minutes,
It was larger than the average hen’s egg,
and Smaller phan ‘that of the duck or goose,
?’ Dekle asked, as he took it
up and exami vo
“Tell me and I'll tell you,” said Paul,
“* Where did you get
“16 was Jaid down here in Wall street.”
“ What's in it?”
He shrugged | his shoulders,
“What are you going to do with it?”
“*JIatch it,” he replied, and they laughed 1
again,
Helle ‘laid it back on the desk, and it
led off. He tried to catch it, but it
Singshetton the floor.
nh, L beg your pardon,” exclaimed the
ro con
“Great Scott!” gasped Barry, as he pick-
ed up a white, fleecy substance that rolled
from | the broken shell,” “ What is it, any-
w
Paul took it from him and shook it and
laid ive on the desk, a perfect miniature of
mb,” by all that’s holy,” he ex-
«A Wall street lamb"
Barry and Dekle nearly went int
erics, They whooped and yelled in. their
larity, till other brokers looked in to see
what occasioned it.
aw them and ‘asked them to
comein, They all knew him, but none of
them dreamed it was his oflice he was in-
3| viting them int
Ww:
hat’s the fin about?” Broker Cohen
“tasked of Broker Barry, and Barry told
him,
“What! Paul’soffice! Paulabroker?”
and he looked at the youth in inquiring
amazement.
“No, sir,” said Paul, laughing, “Tam
simply at tan lamb'—that’s all
ii
that where the laugh comes
Dekle. st
in} ” Sohen asked o
e laugh is on us, I believe,” replied
0 Dekle, and then he told about the egg and
what came out of it, showing the shell and
the ‘lamb.’ Then Cohen and the others
laughed. Broker Caldwell laughed long
and heartily, It struck him as extremely
funy, and asked Paul where he got the
ae ‘Some sheep laid it, I suppose,” Paul
peptied, » whereat there w as another roar of
ie
“ Where’ '3 the nest ?” another asked. .
“Oh, you fellows must ‘¢: our own
‘lambs. Ta am no ‘shepherd { for. anybody but
ys
Ay hat are you Boing to do with that
‘Jamb?’” Cohen
“Use himasa Oa
“Baitl What ay “you expect to catch
with such bait?”
” was the
s,eh! Do you ‘hn Wall street
brokers wil bite at such ba:
oy Don't they lite bn ‘lambs ?'"
and he doked up with h an innocent
au
crowded, That attracted others, and some
of them opened the inner door and inspect-
ed the other two rooms, They found them
neatly furnished wi all the latest con-
veniences for offic
wonder who “iS backing this thing,”
said Broker Caldwell.
“ T guess it’s one of Meyer's traps,” said
‘oh
Caldiw: ell looked at him as if a new light
ad suddenly flashed upon him,
That's iethae t’s it !” he said, as if fully
consinged ut whom does he expect to
catch w ith that boy?”
«Th what puzzles mes Tam ‘going
to wateh “the game an e how it works,
It’s something new in Wall street. Paul
jsut more than seventeen years old at the
A ‘No, but he is an unusually bright one,
“e es, and that’s why Meyer has set him
w
mp But business men won't deal with the
10.
Zon, there are a lot down here who dro)
money every day like children throwing
crumbs to the sparrows in
Meyer will. work off stuff on thein through
this boy. You'll see [ am right.”
That conversation took place betweer
Brokers. Cohen and Caldwell in the little
back room while the crowd w ere laughing
and chatting in the front office, They wen
out finally | to tell the others what they had
sen and heard down in Paul Clayton's
one “lamb” found in an egg struck
everyone as the funniest thing the street
had ‘ever heard of inalong time. Staid
old brokers heard it, and laughed uproar-
it. Old bankers laughed, and
one worth millions sai
“That boy understands, WW. all street bet-
ter (han, many older ones,
’ assented another.
trap si et by someone else,
“rT hear one Mey er has set him up,” re-
marked, pnot
t you believe it. Meyer is fond of
a joke, "put he never Jet's one cost him any
more than a cigar ora k.”
The “Jamb" was talked of all through
the street among the brokers. The idea of
a “sheep's egg” struck them as something
12 laugh over, and as all men are fon
ugh, it kept going for days, Scores of
a kers applied for eggs at L’aul’s office;
but he laughed and said he was hatching
them himself.
aul Claytou was but seventeen years
old, bright, witty, handsome and of a well-
=
“But he isa
had grayish
blue eyes that seemed to Tasks one through
when serious, and to dance and flash when
merry, His frank open face had won him
the good will nt hun reds of brokers when
he was errand por for Meyer & Co., whom
he served faithfully for two
a widowed mother and a little etifteen- “year
with
Bya
lucky stroke he doubled ten dollars ona
eal one da} that was the foundation
of his fortune, “Vie kept at it fora year till
he had made enough fora start on his own
account, It was not much, but he knew
ecould do better that way than while
running errands for Meyer &
Such was the boy whom the brokers had
dubbed the “lamb” in the sense that he
was believed to be the bait set up by
Meyer to catch them, Meyer denied
the accusation and so Paul, but few
believed them, Still tis watched him
and tried to sell him securities that were
almost worthless, which he innocently
failed to buy,
“CHAPTER Il.
“THERE'S NO TELLING WHAT A ‘LAMB’
MA DO) IN WALL. STREET”—THE
“ tans WORK,
D. r day passed and still no one
could s see ae Paul Clayton was doing any
business, Yet he was never found idle, He
was either
writing or else talking with brokers who
came i to guy him about sheep's eggs.
ne day Broker Cohen dropped in and
asked it he had any “‘lambs” on hand,
** Only one,” he said.
ow. We is he?"
“Tiere I am—and I'm hungry.”
“What do you want to cate
“Pp, J. & D. shares. Got any?”
“ “Yes sare you buying that D
Ww fat are son paying for it?”
“Sixty-thre
“How many ‘shares do you want?”
“ AllI can get.
“T’'ve got one thousand, ”
“ Bring ‘em in,
“ Ilow are you paying for them?”
“ Cash—by check.”
“ “Certified
No. You present the shares with the
chi veel”
“ Oh, margin, eh ?”
“Yes, on that Stock.”
Cohen went up to his office and got the
shares. Paul looked them over and gave
him a check for sixty: -three thousand dol-
lars on Burrill’s Bank, to be paid only on
presentation of one thousand hares of
D, stock. Cohen took the shares fund
the check to the bank and got the money.
ne bank was buying that sto yok for him
on a ten per cent. margin— is the bank
paid out ninety cents of its oh eh
every ten cents deposited by Paul »
the way customers often deal in sto A
slight decline wipes out the margin, Ww vhile
a Jittle a (vance in the price of the stock
makes a
‘oben went back to his office in some
doubt as to whether Paul was backed
Meyer, He knew that Meyer had plenty
of money and never did business on mar-
gin. It was known, too, that Meyer & Co,
never had any dealings with “ Burrill's
ity
“
for
at's
wonder how much margin Paul has
up,” he said to himself, “I'll try. an-
oon one thousand shares on him and Ree
if he can em. He said he'd take
all he cou
Ile Seoured | nother block of the stock
from Dekle and took them down to Paul.
aul paid him in the sume way.
Do you want any more?” hea sked.
“ Yes, I'll go another thousand,” was the
“Trait an hour later he got them.
“Who are you buying that stock for,
Clayton?” Cohen asked.
“Business—a ‘lamb,’” he replied,
“*T consider it a poor investment.”
Paul shri ured ly his shoulders,
“ But if it ‘lamb’ it makes no dif-
ference. to you, t ca
Paul smiled but made no rep!
“\Want any more?” Cohen Psa,
“Not to day.” ~
To test the matter Cohen went to Meyer
and asked if he wanted to buy any DP, J. &
D, stock.
““No—T want to sell it,”
“So do I,”
was the reply.
returned "Co hen, “Do you
know w ho i is g baying giv
“No, id I wouldn’t tell you till
Thad sold at “and they both lau,
About fen days later the stock uence. to
go up—sl but steadily—and soon
reached “0. “gomebody was buying it on
the quiet. Then Cohen came Je. Paul an
asked f he had any of the st
have the shares you ‘sold me,” he
replie ed.”
oye to sell them?”
9,
“iow came you to buy that stock,
Paul?”
“Oh, I thought there was a ‘lamb’ in
it,’ "he iaughe
“Tth ought you were a ‘lamb’ when you
boug' ht
was —I am a ‘lamb' yet.”
Cohen laughed.
“Do you think it will go any higher?” he
asket d.
“TI don't know
“Bat what qo" you think?”
“ “1 think I don’t ‘know anything about
‘Cohen laughed again and went out, Ie
was met at r by a very pretty,
black- -eyed girl: whom he_ knew
office. He stepped
er pass, and:went on down
the corridor, But when a few paces away
he stopped and looked back at. her, as ifin
admiration of her beauty, He saw her go
up to Paul at his desk, Jean over and say
something to dim i in a low tone of voice.
Paul quickly t up a pen and wrote
something ona ‘sheet of paper.
at_it and nodded her retty
smiled and laid a hand on his sho
He glanced up at her as though she w ere
a beantiful picture, said something to her
at which she gentl sla app. ped him on the
shoulder and turne:
The next moment she came out and trip-
ped along the corridor to the head of the
stairs that led down to the oftices where she
was em
Broker ¢
had about as much curiosity as the average
LD
ee
woman, he said to himself:
studying financial reports, -
2
d-
ohen saw all that, and as he ~~