STIGLER RUNS AMUCK
About this time Betty was taken sick, so that I used to go into the
Ãlite Restaurant for my lunches. This was a place frequented by a number
of business men. Stigler was in there one day when I got in, talking
with some of the people who regularly dined there. If ours wasn't a dry
town, I should have said that Stigler had been drinking; for, the minute
he saw me, he flushed, and an ugly expression came into his face.
"There he is," he cried to his friends, pointing at me, and he spoke in
a voice loud enough for me and everybody else in the place to hear.
"There he is! A pretty little chap he is--oh, so nice that he is!--to
stab his competitor in the back. D--d young whelp!" he said _to_ his
friends, but _at_ me. "What do yer think of a feller that goes behind
yer back to hurt yer character? I'd sooner a feller'd come out in the
open and fight. D--d character assassin!"
His friends looked rather embarrassed. I sat down at the table,
apparently not paying the least attention to him, but my head was in a
whirl. Then I gave my order to Kitty. I suppose Kitty had another name,
but everybody knew her as Kitty. She was a pretty little Irish girl, who
had come to our town about five years ago, nobody knew from where. Old
Collier, the big, fat, kindly old Frenchman who ran the place, at once
had given her a job. He was too big-hearted to inquire why she came by
herself and why her eyes showed signs of sleeplessness and weeping. He
not only gave her a job, but, in a few weeks, had taken her into the
family. She at first became known jokingly as Kitty Collier, and soon
everybody thought of her by that name. She thought the whole universe
revolved around genial old Pierre, who really regarded her as he would
his own daughter.
When Kitty first came into the town Betty at once had become her friend;
and in fact Betty had been quite severely criticized for making a friend
of a girl whose character was unknown. Kitty thought a lot of Betty and,
in consequence, of me also.
"I'll bring ye some nice steak," said Kitty with her pretty brogue, and
unobtrusively patted my back. She sensed the unhappy position I was in.
When she came back, Stigler was saying in a loud voice: "There are some
people--and their name ain't White, either--that ought to be ridden out
o' town!"
Crash! Kitty had dropped her plate, and, to the surprise of every
one--especially to me,--she walked over to where Stigler was sitting,
gave his hair a vigorous pull, and said:
"Arrah, now, ye dir-rty blackguard, ye're not a gintleman yerself, an'
ye doan't know one, if ye see one. Mr. Black, there, is too much of
gintleman to sile his hands on the likes o' you, but _I'm not_!" and
with that she gave him a resounding box on the ear.
Stigler jumped up with an oath, while old Pierre ran from behind the
counter; Stigler, black with rage, Pierre almost crying with vexation.
Stigler caught Kitty by the arm and angrily swung her around, and
then--I forgot myself. I rushed at him and caught him fairly under the
jaw. He fell back among the tables; and then some people caught hold of
us, and held us both back. Finally Stigler walked out of the restaurant,
without another word, while I sat down at the table to eat my steak; but
I was trembling all over with the excitement and could eat nothing.
I felt that there was nothing I wouldn't do to be able to run Stigler
out of the town. Why he should be so bitter against me I didn't know,
unless it was that my business was slowly growing. Of course he had been
fond of Betty, but surely he was all over that.
Old Barlow came over to the store, having heard of the fracas.
"Look here, Black," he said, "I want you to forget that fracas. Forget
Stigler as much as you can. If you see him, don't speak to him; but just
drive ahead and 'saw wood.' If he likes to waste his energies in
thinking up ways of getting revenge, why, let him do so. Just keep your
attention on your business and you'll have a successful business when he
is forgotten. No man can build a successful business on spite. No man
can increase his bank account while he's trying to make his business a
weapon to secure revenge against some one else. I have seen so many
business men spoil themselves because they began to worry over
competition, and, instead of just seeing how they could improve their
methods of business they spent good time in seeing how they could fight
one individual competitor. Success to-day isn't made by downing the
other fellow, but by building up one's own efficiency in business
methods. There's room for you and Stigler and me in this town--in fact,"
he said with a smile, "we are going to have a little more competition
yet."
"Where?" I asked, surprised.
"In Macey Street."
Macey Street was a busy little street connecting High and Main.
"Who is it?"
"I don't know; but I understand it's one of a chain of stores."
"What kind of goods are they going to handle?"
"Kitchen goods, same as you."
"H'm," I said with a grin, "I guess I'll have to go into the
agricultural implements business and compete with you!"
"Go to it! Good luck to you!" But he knew that I couldn't do that, for I
hadn't the money to put in the necessary stock; and, besides, Mr. Barlow
had had that business for years.
When I told the Mater about it, she replied: "It seems to me
unreasonable to say that, because Mr. Barlow has had that business for
years, you should avoid it; but I really hope you won't try for it,
because Mr. Barlow is such a good friend of yours, and his friendship
and the help which he has given you is worth more to you than what you
might earn from selling those goods. If you did, he might retaliate and
sell electrical goods, and, you know, you are getting quite a name for
those."
It was a fact; we _were_ selling quite a lot of electrical
goods--indeed, I believed we were going to build up a very substantial
business in them before long. I was thinking of making a special
department of them, and hiring a girl to be in charge of it. I knew
that many people would think it funny to have a girl in a hardware
store, but, just the same, I had a hunch that a girl could handle that
kind of goods better than a man.