“‘6s ’81 registered—’81 coupon. 5.20s ’62 registered—coupon. What’s bid?’
“Here and there from flanking chairs come sputtering bids or offers:
“‘Ten thousand at 3/8, buyer 3.’
“‘I’ll give an 1/8, seller 3, for the lot.’
“‘¼, buyer 30, for fifty thousand.’
“‘¼, regular, for any part of five thousand.’
“First Voice. ‘Sold,—five hundred.’
“The presiding officer repeats the sale and terms, the secretary makes his registry, and a new bond is started.
“Sometimes when 5.20s are called, there is at first only one voice which rings the changes on ‘I’ll give 115. I’ll give ’15 for a thousand,—’15 for a thousand.’ Presently, however, before any response follows the offer, a member in a distant corner, either carelessly or maliciously, shouts out, ‘I’ll give ’14 for a thousand,—’14 for a thousand.’
“The Vice-President plies his hammer: ‘Fine Irving—fine Irving fifty cents.’ The Roll keeper proceeds to make his little note of it, and Irving, who has violated the rule, founded on common sense, which forbids a member from making a bid below or an offer above the one which has the floor immediately subsides amid the laughter of his neighbors.