Show BACK SEAT I II Not long ago n a man named amazed the frugal people of the east I with the plenitude of his money and the careless way In which he spent it ft It seemed good to him one night to light his cigar with a bill and he told the gaping observers that he care so much for the smoke but he wanted to see what the flame of a burning bill would look like Twelve years ears ago was a railway engineer and he Invented a safety coupling device Congress enacted a law requiring all Interstate railroads to be equipped wIth safety couplers Too many brakemen had been killed and crIppled in c coupling with the old link and pin and it was necessary to make their employers take care caro of them The employers care much which of several offered de devices devices vices they selected so long as it In Insured insured the safety of their men And It happened they took the coupler So that he and the company which he organized did a great deal of f all became very rich For the past five years in income come has been two hundred thousand dollars dollarE annually But when he saw fIt to fling his money to the discredit of the firm to which lie he was related his associates told him he would have to get out of the business And they paid him a quarter of a million dollars for his share And now says he Is going to ParIs to teach the people there how to let go of cash In a graceful and fluent manner In about another year we look for back on the seat of an engine cab He wIll be firing on one of the lines that bought and is still using his patent coupler That will be the finish of a very very foolish man But when they get that way way there Is nothing to save them And it Is unfortunate for has done much for the good of his race But as the old Davy lamp was to the British miner what the lifeboat was to the sailor what an anesthetic Is to the has been to his fellow workmen Mankind c can n but ex express express press pity that one of such value should have so poor jUdgment as to fling away the fruits of his genius |