 | Eli Perkins (at large) |  |
A SAD MAN.
Coming up from Broad Street in
the cars yesterday I met a poor disconsolate
Wall Street broker. His
heart seemed broken and his face
was the picture of despair. I had
been usher at his wedding a few
months before, when he seemed the
picture of happiness; so, smiling, I
asked:
“Why, Charles, what has happened; what makes you
look so sad?”
“Oh, Eli!” he sighed, “I am all broken up. I have
met with a dreadful misfortune.”
“What is it, Charley?” I asked sympathetically.
“Ohoooo, dear Eli, I cannot—cannot tell you,” and
then he sobbed again, “Ohhooooo!”
“But what is it, Charley? Perhaps I can comfort
you.”
“No, Eli. I am so discouraged I want to die.”
“Are you ruined, Charley? is your money all gone?”
“Oh, no, Eli, not so bad as that; but Nellie, my dear
wife, is dead,” and then he broke down again.
“Cheer up, Charley, there may be some happiness
left yet. Do not die now,” I said.
“No, Eli, I am all broken up—ruined! I don't take
with my poor, angel wife. I dream of her all the time
—in the morning and at night, and—by the way, Eli,
how did you say Erie closed to-night?”
“Erie is down and they are `all off,' Charley.”
“Well, that's cheering,” he sobbed, “for when I got
`short' of Nellie, I went `short' of the whole market,
and it's very consoling in my grief to find things looking
so cheerful on the street. And what did you say
about Pacific Mail, Eli?”
“Flat as a flounder. The bears have got the whole
market, Charley.”
“Well, that's cheering, too, Eli. That is indeed
cheering, to think my losses are compensated — that
when the angels had a `call' on Nellie I should have
a `put' on Uncle Daniel Drew. It is so consoling to
be able to `cover' your losses, you know. Oh, Nellie
was such a comfort to me! but we can't have everything
in this world, Eli. We can't always have the
whole market our own way. If we take our profits, we
must bear our losses. Now let us have a little of Jules
Mumm's extra dry, to drink to the memory of my
poor dead—goodness! Eli, I 'll make $5,000 on that
Erie `put' as easy 's drinkin a sherry cobbler!”
| Eli Perkins (at large) | |