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Samuel Jones was an energetic as well as a very careful young man. He
had inherited a small sum of money from his father. It was his purpose
to use so much of this as was necessary in completing his education; the
remainder was to be carefully invested as a nest egg for the reserve he
intended to create which he spoke and thought of as The Dam. The idea
back of this name was that if the Dam were big enough and were full it
would keep the mill going for some time should the springs run dry.
Sam was careful in other ways also. He laid careful plans each morning
so that no time need be wasted. If the day was cool he put on a heavy
suit; if cloudy he wore rubbers and carried an umbrella. If the
temperature rose suddenly after such a beginning and the sun shone
brightly, he had at least done his part and this consoled him for the
suffering he must endure. This disposition subjected Sam to the ridicule
of his unmarried sister, Tilly, who acted as his housekeeper. Tilly was
of a very different build. No one ventured to call Tilly careful—she was
conspicuously careless. She had a pretty foot and loved to buy new
shoes, but she often dressed in a hurry, and her shoes, having been
discarded in a hurry, were not readily matched. In consequence, she
sometimes appeared at breakfast with a shoe upon the right foot and a
slipper on the left. This impropriety filled Sam with anguish. Perhaps
this difference in disposition was one of the reasons for their
affection, for they were very fond of each other and they led a very
happy life.
Sam had a poor opinion of college men. Part of this low rating was no
doubt prejudice and part was due to the fact that he was not a college
man himself. He saw very clearly, however, that many college men acquire
only a fine polish. The process fails to get enough paint on the rough
wood of the foundation to hide the coarse grain which shows through in
all its crudity. He had also taken note of his own rather brusque
manner, and laid it, correctly, to the lack of those opportunities which
come to the college man unsought. Anxious to repair this defect he
became precise and a trifle stilted. This Tilly was not slow to notice
and criticize. Tilly loved college boys and their ways. She listened
with attention to their songs and was up on all their pranks. Their
escapades amused her and she forgave their faults. She knew them well
for they lived in a college town.
Back of all Sam’s spur to action was a love of chemistry. He became
enamoured of it in High School where Steele’s Fourteen Weeks was the
text-book. Beginning by pouring vinegar on baking soda in his mother’s
kitchen, he had managed to study carefully a good many chemical
substances so that his knowledge was much broader and deeper than that
obtained by most college students. As the lumberman notices all the
straight trees large enough for sawing so Sam tagged all objects with
formulae. Water was H_{2}O; vinegar C_{2}H_{4}O_{2}; Cream of tartar
(CHOH COOH, CHOH COOK); and sugar C_{12}H_{22}O_{11}. After the death of
their mother Sam had fitted up a laboratory in the attic and hung out
the shingle of an analytical chemist. The income obtained in this way
being too small he conceived the idea of adding to it by the concoction
of various specialties, and Jones’ Talcum Powder, Jones’ Velvet Cream
and Jones’ Tooth Paste made their appearance on the shelves of
neighboring druggists and were spoken of in terms of praise by those who
had used them. These had been supplemented by various perfumes which
found favor with the weaker sex and became the foundations of a business
which was steadily increasing. Into this scene of happiness and peaceful
prosperity Fate dropped several bombs.