The Brick Moon and Other Stories by Edward Everett Hale
page 18 of 358 (05%)
page 18 of 358 (05%)
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of us. I baked the brick of that tunnel on the line with
my own kilns. Ingham, I have made more brick, I believe, than any man living in the world!" [1] "Every man," says Dr. Peabody, "should have a vocation and an avocation." To which I add,"A third." "You are the providential man," said I. "Am I not, Fred? More than that," said he; "I have succeeded in things the world counts worth more than brick. I have made brick, and I have made money!" "One of us make money?" asked I, amazed. "Even so," said dear Orcutt; "one of us has, made money." And he proceeded to tell me how. It was not in building tunnels, nor in making brick. No! It was by buying up the original stock of the Cattawissa and Opelousas, at a moment when that stock had hardly a nominal price in the market. There were the first mortgage bonds, and the second mortgage bonds, and the third, and I know not how much floating debt; and worse than all, the reputation of the road lost, and deservedly lost. Every locomotive it had was asthmatic. Every car it had bore the marks of unprecedented accidents, for which no one was to blame. Rival lines, I know not how many, were cutting each other's throats for its |
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