They had learned to take tips, for
instance; and more than one of the girls went away to the city to
nameless and terrible destinies.
These summer boarders all had money. Young and old, it flowed from
them in a continuous stream. They did not have to plow and reap--they
bought what they wanted; and they spent their time at play--with
sailboats and fishing tackle, bicycles and automobiles, and what not.
How all this money came to be was a thing difficult to imagine; but it
came from the city--from the great Metropolis, to which one's thoughts
turned with ever livelier interest.
Then, one August, came a man who opened the gates of knowledge a
little. Manning was his name--Percival Manning, junior partner in the
firm of Manning & Isaacson, Bankers and Brokers--with an address which
had caused the Prescott family to start and stare with awe. It was
Wall Street!
Mr. Percival Manning was round and stout, and wore striped shirts, and
trousers which were like a knife blade in front; also, he fairly
radiated prosperity. His talk was all of financial wizardry by which
fortunes were made overnight. The firm of Manning & Isaacson was one
of the oldest and most prosperous in the street, so he said; and its
junior partner was in the confidence of some of the greatest powers in
the financial affairs of the country. And, alas! for the Prescott
family, which did not read the magazines and had never even heard of a
"bucket-shop"!
Adam, the oldest brother, took Mr.
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