tions; and no small
proportion were the applications of individuals, who either had great
need, or were very cunning, or both.

The private appeals were of great variety. "Cobbler" Horn was amazed to
find how many people were at the point of despair for want of just the
help that he was able to give. It was past belief how large a number of
persons he had the opportunity of saving from ruin, and with how small a
sum of money, in each case, it might be done. What a manifold disclosure
of human misery and despair those letters were, or seemed to be! Some of
them, doubtless, had been written with breaking hearts, and punctuated
with tears; but which?

"I had no idea there was so much trouble in the world!" cried "Cobbler"
Horn, in dismay.

"Perhaps there is not quite so much as your letters seem to imply, sir,"
suggested the secretary.

"You think not?" queried "Cobbler" Horn.

"I feel sure of it," said the young girl, with a knowing shake of her
head. "But we must do our best to discriminate. I should throw some of
these letters into the fire at once, if I were you, Mr. Horn."

"But they must be answered first!"

"Must they, sir? Every one?" enquired the secretary, arching her dark
eye-brows. "Why it will cost you a small fortune in stamps, Mr. Horn!"

"But you forget how rich I am, Miss Owen. And I would rather be cheated a
thousand times, than withhold, in a single instance, the help I ought to
give."

"Well, Mr. Horn, I'm your secretary, and must obey your commands, whether
I approve of them or not."

She spoke with a merry trill of laughter; and "Cobbler" Horn, far from
being offended, shot back upon her a beaming smile.

They took the letters as they came. Concerning some of the applications,
"Cobbler" Horn felt quite able to decide himself. Appeals from
duly-accredited philanthropic institutions received from him a liberal
response, and so large were some of the amounts that the young secretary
felt constrained to remonstrate.

"You forget," he replied, "how much money I've got."

"But--excuse me, sir--you seem resolved to give it all away!"

"Yes, almost," was the calm reply.

There was but little difficulty, moreover, in dealing with the
applications on behalf of local interests. It was the private appeals
which afforded most trouble. Every case had to be strenuously debated with
Miss Owen, who maintained that not one of these importunate correspondents
ought to be assisted, until "Cobbler" Horn