Page:The Gentle Grafter (1908).djvu/111



EFF PETERS was always eloquent when the ethics of his profession was under discussion.

“The only times,” said he, “that me and Andy Tucker ever had any hiatuses in our cordial intents was when we differed on the moral aspects of grafting. Andy had his standards and I had mine. I didn’t approve of all of Andy’s schemes for levying contributions from the public, and he thought I allowed my conscience to interfere too often for the financial good of the firm. We had high arguments sometimes. Once one word led on to another till he said I reminded him of Rockefeller.

“‘I know how you mean that, Andy,’ says I, ‘but we have been friends too long for me to take offense, at a taunt that you will regret when you cool off. I have yet,’ says I, ‘to shake hands with a subpoena server.”

“One summer me and Andy decided to rest up a spell in a fine little town in the mountains of Kentucky called Grassdale. We was supposed to be horse 99