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know what you are and thinks you re just a business man he gets to shooting off his mouth about or literature or foreign trade conditions and you just ease in something like when i was in college course i got my b a in and all that oh it puts an awful in their but there wouldn t be any class to saying i got the degree of stamp from the mail order university you see my was a pretty good old but he never had much style to him and i had to hard to earn my way through college well it s been r to be able to associate with the finest gentlemen in i j at the clubs and so on and i wouldn t want you to drop out of the gentlemen class the class that are just as red blooded as the common people but still have power and personality it would kind of hurt me if you did that old i know sure all right ill stick to it i i i forgot all about those i was going to take to the chorus i ll have to but you haven t done all your home work do it first thing in the morning six times in the past sixty days had you will not do it first thing in the morning do it right but to ni t he said well better and his smile was the rare shy radiance he kept for paul ted s a good boy he said to mrs oh he is who s these girls he s going to pick up are they nice decent girls i don t know oh dear ted never me anything any more i don t understand what s come over the children of this i used to have to tell papa and everything but seems uke the children to day have just slipped away from all control i hope they re decent girls course ted s no longer a kid and i wouldn t want him to get mixed up and everything george i wonder if you t to take him aside and tell him about things she blushed and lowered her eyes well i don t know way i figure it no sense suggesting a lot of things to a boy s mind think up enough she was by but i der it s kind of a hard the wonder thinks about it on course papa with you he all this is he says t decent oh he does does well let me you that whatever henry t thinks about morals i mean thou course you can t beat the why what a way to talk o papa simply can t beat him at getting in on the ground floor of a deal but let me tell you whatever be springs any ideas about things and then i know i think just the opposite you may not regard me as any great but believe me i m a regular college president compared with henry t t yes sir by i m going to take ted aside and tell him lead a strictly moral life oh will you when when what s the use of trying to pin me down to when and why and where and how and when that s the trouble with women that s why they don t high class they haven t any sense of when the proper opportunity and occasion arises so it just comes in natural why then i ll have a friendly little talk with him and was that i stairs she ought to been asleep long ago he the living room and stood in the that glass walled room of chairs and ng couch in which they on sunday outside only the l ts of s house and the dim of s favorite elm broke the softness of april night good visit with the boy getting over way i did this morning and restless by i will have a few days alone with paul in i that devil but ted s all right whole family all right and good business not many fellows make four hundred and fifty practically half of a dollars easy as i did maybe we all get to it s just as much v d fault as it is theirs t to get like i do v but wish i d a same as my grand but y then wouldn t have a house like this i oh dan j he thought of paul of their youth together of the girls they had known when had from the state university twenty four years ago he had intended to be a lawyer he liad been a in college he felt that he was an he saw himself becoming governor of the state while he read law he worked as a real estate he saved money lived in a boarding house on egg on the lively paul who was certainly going os to europe to study next month or next year was his refuge till paul was by who laughed danced and drew men her plump and gaily b s evenings barren then and he found comfort ia paul s second cousin a sleek and gen who showed ha capacity by agreeing with the ardent i that of course he was going to be governor some where him as a country boy said that he was ever so much than the young had been bom m the great city of an in one hundred and five years old with two hundred thousand population the queen and wonder of all the state and to the boy george so vast and and luxurious that he was flattered to know a girl by birth in of love there was no talk between m he knew that	42
if he ms to study law he could not marry for years and ir distinctly a nice girl one didn t kiss her one didn t ink about her that way at all unless one was going to ha but she was a con she was always ready to go walking always content to hear his on the great things he was going to do the distressed poor whom be would defend against the unjust rich the speeches he would make at the of thought which he would correct one evening when he was weary and soft minded he saw that she bad been weeping she had been left out of a party given by somehow her head was on hb shoulder and he was kissing away the tears and she raised her bead to say now that we re engaged shall we be married soon or shall we wait engaged it was his first of it his for this brown tender woman thing went cold and fearful but he could not hurt her could not abuse her trust he something about waiting and ed he walked an hour trying to find a way of telling her that it was a mistake often jn the month after he got near to telling her but it was pleasant to have a girl m his arms and less and less could he insult her by that he didn t love her he himself had so doubt the evening before his marriage was an and the morning wild with the desire to flee she made him what is known as a good wife she was loyal industrious and at rare times merry she passed from a feeble disgust at their closer relations into what promised to be ardent but it drooped into bored routine yet she existed only for him and for the children and she was as sorry as worried as himself when be gave up the law and on in a of real estate poor tl t time than i have reflected standing in the dark sun parlor i wish i could ve had a whirl at law and politics seen fl t could do well maybe i ve made more money as it v i he returned to the living room but before he settled i he smoothed his wife s hair and she iq happy a id i somewhat surprised fe chapter vii he solemnly finished the last copy of the american while bis wife sighed laid away her and looked at the designs in a women s magazine the room was very still it was a room which observed the best heights standards the pay walls were divided into artificial by of white pine from the house had come two much carved rocking chairs but the other chairs were new very deep and in blue and gold striped velvet a blue velvet faced the fireplace and behind it was a table and a tall with a shade of golden silk two out of every three houses in heights had before the fireplace a a mahogany table real or imitation and a piano lamp or a reading lamp with a shade of yellow or rose silk on the table was a of gold chinese fabric four magazines a silver box containing and three gift books large expensive of fairy tales illustrated by english artists and as yet by any save in a corner by the front windows was a large cabinet eight out of every nine heights houses had cabinet among the pictures hung in the exact of each gray were a red and black imitation english hunting print an imitation print with a french of i morality had always been rather suspicious and a hand colored photograph of a room rag rug i i maiden spinning cat before a white nineteen out of every twenty houses in heights had either a hunting print a madame la print colored photograph of a new england house a photograph of a rocky mountain or all four it was a room as superior in comfort to the parlor of s boyhood as his was superior to his father s was in the room that was interesting there wa s that was offensive it was as and as as a the fireplace was by ashes or by brick the brass fire irons were of polish and the were like in a sh desolate lifeless things of commerce against the wall was a piano with another piano but no one used it save the hard of the contented them their store of records made them fed wealthy and and all they knew of creating music was the nice of a needle the books on the table were and laid in rigid not one of the carpet rug was curled and nowhere was there a stick a torn picture book an old cap or a and dog at home never read with he was enough at the office but here he crossed his legs and when his story was interesting he read the best that is the to his wife when it did not bold him be scratched his ankles and his right ear bis left thumb into his po et his the and the keys on one end of his yawned rubbed his nose and found errands to d he went to put on his slippers his elegant of seal shaped like shoes he it lip ao apple from the stood by the in the an a e a day keeps the doctor away he mrs for the time in fourteen so an apple is nature s best yes it trouble with women is they have sense to form regular habits i always and eating between meals george she looked up from her reading did you have a light lunch to day like you were going to i did this malicious and attack astounded	42
him well maybe it wasn t as li t as went to lunch with and didn t have much chance to diet oh you needn t to grin like a if it wasn t for me watching out ud an eye on our diet i m the only member of this family that the value of for breakfast i stooped over her story while he and down the apple one thing i ve done cut down my smoking had kind of a nm in with in the office he s getting too dam fresh ill stand a good deal but in a while i got to assert my authority and i jumped him j said well i told him just exactly where he got off kind of a day makes you fed restless that sound in the the mrs yawned with it and grateful as he how about going to bed eh suppose and ted will be in till all hours funny kind of a day not terribly warm but yet i d like some day i m going to take a long trip f pi j ji yes we d enjoy that she yawned i he looked away from her as h tr ie i ij wish to have her go with him as he lodged doors and tried f windows the it so that the would open in the morning he sighed a little heavy with a lonely feeling which perplexed and frightened bim so absent minded was he that he not remember which window catches he had and through the darkness at perilous chairs he crept back to try them all over again his feet were loud on the steps as he md of this great and treacherous day before breakfast he always to up state village boyhood and shrank from the complex demands of bathing deciding whether the current shirt was clean enough for another day whenever he stayed home in the evening he went to bed early and got ahead in those dismal duties it was his luxurious custom to while sitting in a of hot water he may be viewed to night as a plump smooth pink robbed of the importance of in breast high water his cheeks with a safety like a tiny lawn and with melancholy dignity the water to recover a slippery and active piece of he was to dreaming by the caressing warmth the light fell on the inner surface of the tub in a pattern of wrinkled lines which slipped with a sparkle over the as the clear water trembled lazily watched it noted that along the of his the radiance on the bottom of the tub the shadows of the air clinging to the hairs were as strange he patted the water and the reflected li t ca sized and leaped and he was content and childish he played he shaved a down the calf o one plump leg the drain pipe was dripping a and lively song he was enchanted by it he looked at the solid tub the beautiful the walls of the room and felt virtuous in the possession of this splendor he roused himself and spoke to his bath things come here you ve done he the treacherous soap and defied the nail brush with oh you would would he himself and himself and rubbed himself be noted a in the and thrust a finger through it and marched back to the bedroom a grave and citizen there was a moment of gorgeous abandon a flash of such as he found in traffic driving when he laid out a dean collar discovered that it was in front and tore it iq with a magnificent sound most important of all was the preparation of his bed and the sleeping porch it is not known whether he enjoyed his sleeping because of the fresh air or because it was the standard thing to have a sleeping porch just as he was an a and a member of the chamber of commerce just as the priests of the church determined his every religious belief and the controlled the republican party decided in httle smoky rooms in washington what he should think about and germany so did the large national fix the surface of his life fix what he believed to be his individuality these standard advertised wares hot water were bis and proofs of excellence at first the signs then the for joy and passion and wisdom n r j s y parlor but none of these advertised of and success was significant than a sleeping porch with below the rites of for bed were elaborate and ng the blankets had to be tucked in at the foot of j bis cot also the reason why the maid hadn t tucked in the blankets had to be discussed with mrs the rag rug was adjusted so that his bare feet would strike it when he arose in the morning the alarm clock was wound the hot water bottle was filled and placed precisely two feet from the of the cot these tremendous to his determination one by one they were announced to mrs and smashed through to at last his brow cleared and in his rang power but there was yet need of courage as he sank into just at the first exquisite the car came home he into why the devil can t some people never get to bed at a reasonable hour so familiar was be with the process of putting up his own car that be awaited each st like an able condemned to bis own rack the car y cheerful on the the car door opened and shut then the door slid grating on the sill and the car door again the the climb up into the and once more before it was shut off a final opening and of the car	42
of known in and rome were talking ia s library s a city with gigantic gigantic buildings gigantic machines gigantic meditated i hate your city it has all the beauty out of life it is one big railroad station with all the taking tickets for the best dr said placidly roused i m hanged if it is you make me sick with your p about don t you any other nation is is anything more than england with house that can afford it having the same at the same tea hour and every retired general going to the same at the same gray stone church with a square tower and every in saying right you are to every other prosperous ass yet i love england and for just look at the in france and the love making in italy is excellent per se when i buy an watch or a ford i get a better tool for less money and i know precisely what i m getting and that leaves me more time and energy to be individual in and i remember once in london i saw a picture of an american in a ad on the back of the saturday evening post an elm lined snowy street of these new houses some loi of em or with roofs and the kind of street you d find here in say in open trees grass and i was there s no other country in the world that has such pleasant houses and i don t care if they are it s a standard no what i h t in i s of thought and of e f jf of the piece are the dean kind industrious family men who use every known brand of and cruelty to the prosperity ol their the worst thing about these is that re so good and in their work at least so intelligent you can t hate them properly and yet thou minds are the enemy then this i have a notion that is a better place to live in than or or or or it is not and i have lift in most of than murmured df well matter of taste personally i ih a city with a future so unknown that it my imagination but what i particularly want you said dr are a middle road liberal and you haven t the slightest idea what you want i being a know act what i want and what i want now is a drink at that in the and henry t son were in suggested the thing to do is to get your fool son in law to put it he s one of these patriotic when he a piece of property for the gang he makes it look like we were of love for the dear and i do love to buy respectability reasonable wonder how long we can it up we re safe as long as the good little boys like george and all the nice respectable labor leaders you and me are rugged there s swell for an honest here a whole city working to provide cigars and chicken and dry for us and to our banner with indignation oh fierce indignation whenever some like this fellow comes honest a smart like me ought to be ashamed of himself if he didn t milk cattle like them when they come around for iti but the gang can t get away with grand like it used to i when i wish we could fix some way to run out of town it s him or us at that p t t hundred and forty or fifty t were asleep a vast shadow in the beyond the railroad tracks a young man who for six months had sou t work turned on the gas and killed himself and his wife at that moment the poet owner of the book shop was finishing a to show how was life amid the of but how dull it was in so obvious a place as and at that moment george f turned in the last turn that he d had enough of this worried business of falling asleep and was about it in earnest instantly he was in the magic dream he was somewhere among unknown people who laughed at him he slipped away ran down the paths of a midnight garden and at the gate the fairy child was waiting her dear and tranquil hand his cheek he was gallant and wise and well beloved warm ivory were her arms and perilous the brave sea glittered i z l chapter viii the great events of s spring were the secret buying of real estate in for certain street officials before the public announcement that the avenue car line would be extended and a dinner which was as he rejoiced to his wife not only a regular society spread but a real sure enough affair with some of the keenest and the brightest bunch of little women in town it was so absorbing an occasion that he almost forgot his desire to run ofi to with paul he had been born in the village of had risen to that social plane on which hosts have as many as four people at dinner without planning it for more than an evening or two but a dinner of with from the s and all the cut glass out staggered even the for two weeks they studied and the list of guests of course we re up to date ourselves but still think of us entertaining a famous poet like a fellow that on nothing but a poem or so every day and just writing a few down fifteen thousand a year yes and do you know the other evening told me her papa speaks three languages said mrs that s nothing so	42
do i american and i don t think it s nice to be funny about a matter like that v l think wonderful it must be to speak three languages so useful and and with people like that i don t see why we invite the well now is a mighty up and coming yes i know but a admit a hasn t got the class of poetry or real estate but just the same is mighty deep ever start him about say that fellow can tell you the name of every kind of tree and some of their and latin names tool besides we owe the a dinner besides we got to have some for audience when a bunch of hot air artists like and get going well dear i meant to speak of this i do think that as host you ought to sit back and listen and let your guests have a chance to talk once in a while oh you do do sure i talk all the and i m just a business man oh i m no like and no poet and i haven t anything to spring well let me tell you just the other day your dam comes up to me at the to know what i thought about the school bond issue and who told him i you bet your life i told little i certainly did he came up and asked me and told him all about it you bet and he was dam glad to listen to me and duty as a host i guess i know my duty as a host and let me tell you in fact the were invited on the morning of the dinner mrs was now george i want you to be sure and be home early tonight remember you have to dress i see by the advocate that the general assembly has to quit the world movement did you hear what said you must be home in time to dress to night hell i m dressed think i m going down to the office in my b s i will not have you talking before the children and you do have to put on your i guess you mean my i tell you of all the that was ever invented three minutes later after had well i don t know whether i m going to dress ot not in a showed that he was going to dress the discussion moved on now george you mustn t forget to call in at s on the way home and get the ice cream their delivery wagon is broken down and i don t want to trust them to send it by all right you told me that before breakfast i well i don t want you to forget ill be working my head os all day long training the that s to help with the dinner all anyway an extra for the feed could perfectly well and i have to go out and buy the flowers and fix them and set the table and order the and look at the chickens and arrange for the children to have their per upstairs and and i simply must depend on you to go to s for the ice all i m to get it all you have to do is to go in and say you want the ice cream that mrs ed yesterday by and it will be all ready for you at ten thirty she to him not to the ice cream from s he was surprised and then by a thought he wondered whether heights dinners were worth the hideous io toil involved but he repented the in the excitement of the materials for now this was the of obtaining under the reign of and he drove from the severe streets of the modern business into the tangled of old town jagged blocks filled with and on into the once a pleasant orchard but now a of lodging houses and exquisite chilled bis and stomach and he looked at every policeman with intense innocence as one who loved the law and admired the force and longed to stop and play with he his car a block from heal s saloon worrying well rats if anybody did see me they d think i was here on business he ed a place curiously like the of days with a long greasy bar with in front and mirror behind a pine table at which a old man dreamed over a glass of something which resembled and with two men at the bar something which resembled beer and giving that impression of forming a large crowd which two men always give in a saloon the a tall pale with a diamond in his stared at as he stalked up to the bar and whispered i d friend of s sent me here like to get some gin the gazed down on him in the manner of an outraged bishop i guess you got the wrong place n friend we sell nothing but soft drinks here he cleaned the bar with a rag which would itself have done with a little cleaning and glared across his mechanically moving elbow the old at the table the say listen did not listen die i z l aw say listen will say lis sen the decayed and drowsy voice of the the agreeable of beer threw a spell of over the moved grimly toward the crowd of two men followed him as delicately as a cat and say i want to speak to mr see him for i just want to talk to him here s my card it was a beautiful card an engraved card a card in the black and the red announcing that mr george f was estates rents the held it as	42
though it weighed ten pounds and read it as though it were a hundred words long he did not bend from his dignity but he growled see if he s around from the back room be brought an immensely old young wan a quiet sharp eyed man in tan silk checked hanging open and burning brown mr mr said only but bis in and contemptuous eyes s soul and be seemed not at all impressed by the new dark gray suit for which as he had admitted to every acquaintance at the club had paid a hundred and twenty five dollars glad meet you mr say i m george of the company i m a great friend of s well what of it say i m going to have a party and told me you d be able to fix me up with a little gin in alarm in as s eyes grew more bored you to about me if you want to answered by bis head to indicate the entrance to the back room and strolled away crept into an apartment containing four round io tables eleven chairs a and a smell he waited thrice he saw through humming hands in pockets him by this time had modified bis morning vow i won t pay one cent over seven dollars a to i might pay ten on s next weary entrance he could you fix that up and just a minute s sake just a in growing me ness went on waiting till casually reappeared with a of n what is known as a iq his long white hands twelve he snapped say but say cap n thought you d be able to fix me up for eight or nine a bottle twelve this is the real stuff from canada this is none o your spirits with a drop of extract the honest merchant said twelve bones if you want it course y understand i m just doing this anyway as a friend of s j sure i understand gratefully held out twelve dollars as ha y stuffed the bills into bis radiant v t and away he had a number of out of concealing the under his coat and out of hiding it in his desk ah afternoon be and chuckled and over his ability to the boys a real shot in the arm to night he was in fact so that he was within a block of his house before he remembered that there was a certain matter mentioned by his wife of ice cream from s he explained well it and drove back j was not a he was the of r coming out parties were held in the white and gold ball r of the at all nice the guests the five kinds of and the seven kinds of cakes and all really smart dinners ended as on a in ice cream in one of the three the the round like a cake and the long brick s shop had pale blue of plaster roses attendants in and glass shelves of kisses with all the refinement that in of eggs felt heavy and thick amid this professional and as be waited for the ice cream he decided with hot at the back of his neck that a girl customer was at him he went home in temper the first thing he heard his wife s agitated l did you to go to s and get the ice cream say look do i ever forget to do things yes well now it s dam seldom i do and it certainly makes me tired after going into a pink tea joint like s and having to stand around looking at a lot of half naked yoimg girls all up like they were sixty and eating a lot of stuff that singly ruins their oh it s too bad about i ve noticed how you hate to look at pretty with a jar realized that his wife was too busy to be impressed by that moral indignation with which rule tbe world and he went humbly t stairs to dress he had an impression of a dining room of cut glass candles polished wood lace silver roses with the awed swelling of the heart suitable to so grave a business as giving a dinner he the temptation to wear his dress for a fourth time took out an entirely fresh one his black bow and rubbed his patent leather with handkerchief he glanced with pleasure at his and silver he smoothed and patted his ankles transformed by silk from the sturdy of george to the elegant limbs no of what is a he stood before the pier glass bis trim dinner coat his beautiful triple trousers and murmured in by i don t look so bad i certainly don t look like if the back borne could see me in this they d have a fit he moved down to mix the as he ice as he squeezed as he collected vast stores of bottles glasses ai d at the sink in the he felt as as the at s true mrs said he was under foot and and the maid hired for the evening brushed by him him shrieked door as tbey through with but in this bi moment he ignored them be des the new bottle of n his cellar consisted of one half bottle of a quarter of a bottle of italian and one hundred drops of orange he did not possess a a was proof of the symbol of a and disliked being known as a even more than he liked a drink he mixed by pouring from an ancient boat into a he poured with a noble dignity holding his high beneath the powerful globe his face hot his shirt front a glaring white the copper sink a red gold he tasted the sacred essence	42
leaned back on their heels put their hands in their trousers pockets and proclaimed their views with the of a prosperous male eating a thoroughly statement about a matter of which he knows nothing whatever now ni tell you said way i figure ft is this and i can speak by the book because i ve talked to a lot of doctors and fellows that ought to know and the way i see it is that it s a good thing to get rid of the saloon but they ought to let a fellow have beer and light observed what isn t generally realized is that it s a dangerous to the rights of personal liberty now take this for instance the king of i think it was yes it was in march he issued a against public of live stock the had stood for without the slightest complaint but when this came out they or it may have been but it just goes to show the dangers of the rights of personal liberty that s it ho one got a ri t to personal liberty said jones just the same you don t want to forget is a mighty good thing for the working classes keeps em from wasting their money and lowering their said yes that s so but the trouble is the manner of insisted didn t understand the right system now if i d been running the thing i d have arranged it so that the himself was and then we could have taken care of the workman kept him from drinking and yet not ve interfered with the rights with the personal liberty of fellows like ourselves they their heads looked at one another and stated that s so that would be the the thing that me is that a lot of these will take to sighed they more violently and groaned that s so there is a danger of that oh say i got hold of a swell new receipt for home made beer the other day you take ted let me tell you rats thing to do is to jones insisted i ve got the receipt that does the business begged oh say tell you the story but went on resolutely you take and save the shells from peas and pour six of water on a of shells and boil the mixture till mrs turned toward them with yearning sweetness hastened to finish even his best and she said gaily dinner is served there was a good deal of friendly argument among the as to whidi should go in last and while they were crossing the hall from the living room to the dining room made them laugh by thundering if i can t sit next to and hold her hand under the table i won t play i m goin home in the dining room th stood embarrassed while mrs fluttered now let me see oh i was going to have some nice hand painted place cards for you hut oh let me see mr you sit there the dinner was in the best style of women s magazine art the was served in apples and everything but the invincible resembled something else ii the men found it hard to talk to the women was an art unknown on heights and the of offices and of had no but under the inspiration of the conversation was each of the men still had a number of important things to say about and now that each had a loyal listener in his dinner partner he burst out i found a place where i can get all the i want at ei t a did you read about this fellow that went and paid a thousand dollars for ten cases of red eye that proved to be nothing but water seems this fellow was standing on the comer and fellow comes i to him they say there s a whole of stuff being across at what i always say is what a lot of folks don t realize about and then you get all this awful poison stuff wood vi nd everything v course i believe in it on principle but i don t propose to have anybody telling me what i got to think and do no ever stand for but th all felt that it was rather in bad taste for jones and he not as one of the wits of the occasion anyway to say in fact the thing about is this it isn t the cost it s the not till the one required topic had been dealt with did the conversation become general it was often and said of that fellow can get away with murder why he can pull a raw one in mixed company and all the ladies u laugh their heads o e but me if i anything that s just the least bit off color i get the for now them by crying to mrs youngest of the women i managed to pinch s out of his pocket and what say you and me across the street when the folks aren t looking got something with a gorgeous awful important to tell you the women and was stirred to like say folks i wished i dared show you a book i borrowed from now george the ideal mrs warned him this book isn t the it s some kind of an report about about customs in the south seas and what it doesn t it s a book you can t buy v g lend it to you me first insisted sounds i jones announced say i heard a good one the other day about a and their wives and in the best accent he resolutely carried the good one to a	42
slightly ending it but the the dr ed back into cautious reality had recently been on a lecture tour among small towns and he chuckled awful good to get back to i certainly been seeing some towns i mean course the folks there are the best on earth but those main street are slow and you fellows can t hardly appreciate what it means to be here with a bunch of live ones you bet jones they re the best folks on earth those small town folks but oh what conversation why say they can t talk about anything but the weather and the ne ford by that s right they all talk about just the same things said don t they though they just say the same things and over said v yes it s really remarkable they seem to lack all power of looking at things they simply go over and over the same talk about and the weather and so on v k n still at thai you t blame em they haven t got any intellectual such as you get up here in the city said that s right said i don t want you to get stuck on yourselves but i must say it keeps a fellow right up on his toes to sit in with a poet and with the that put the con in but these with nobody but each other to talk to no wonder they get so and in their speech and so up in their thinking jones commented and then take our other advantages the these sports think they re all get out if they have one change of bill a week where here in the you got your choice of a dozen dis rent any evening you want to name sure and the inspiration we get from rubbing up against high class every day and getting jam full of said same time said no sense these too easy fellow s own fault it he doesn t show the to up and beat it to the city like we done did and just speaking in confidence among friends th re jealous as the devil of a city man every time i go up to i have to go around to the fellows i was brought up with because i ve more or less succeeded and they haven t and if you talk natural to em way we do here and show and what you might call a broad point of view why they think you re putting on side there s my own martin runs the little general store my used to keep say bet he don t know there is such a thing as a as a dinner jacket if he was to come in here now he d think we were a bunch of of why i swear he wouldn t know what to yes sir they re jealous agreed that s so but what i mind is their lack of culture and ap of the if b excuse me for being now i like to give a high class lecture and read some of c best poetry not the new stuff but the magazine things but say when i get out in the tall grass tho e s nothing will take but a lot of old stories and and that if any of us were to indulge in it here he d get the gate so fast it would make his head it up fact is we re mighty lucky to be living among a bunch of city folks that recognize artistic things and business punch equally we d feel pretty if we got stuck in some main street and tried to wise up the old to the kind of life we re used to here but by there s this you got to say for em every small american town is trying to get population and modern and dam if a lot of em don t put it across i somebody starts a telling bow he was there in and it consisted of one muddy street em one and nine hundred human well you go back there in and you find and a swell little hotel and a first class ladies ready to wear shop real perfection in fact you don t want to just look at what these small towns are you want to look at what they re to become and they all got ao ambition that in the long run is going to make em the finest spots on they all want to be just like however intimate th might be with t as a neighbor as a of lawn and monkey they knew that he was also a famous poet and a distinguished agent that behind his were literary mysteries which they could not penetrate but to night in the gin confidence he admitted them to the i ve got a literary problem that s worrying me to death i m doing a series of for the car and i want to make each of em a real little r lar s i m ail for this that is the or nothing at all and these are as thin as i ever yoa might think it d be harder to do n all these heart topics home and fireside and bnt they re you can t go wrong on em you know what sentiments any decent go ahead must have if be plays the game and you stick right to n but the poetry of now there s a literary line where you got to q ea up new do you know the who s really the american g the fellow who you don t know his name and i don t but his work ought to be preserved so s future generations can judge our t and to day	42
talking talking white he dam fool to be eating all this not and discovered that he was again the sickly of melted ice cream on his plate there was no magic in his friends he was not uplifted when produced from his treasure house of the information that the symbol for raw rubber k c which turns or c h suddenly without precedent wa not merely bored but admitting that he was bored it was ecstasy to escape from the table from the torture of a straight chair and oo the in the living room the others from their fitful talk their expressions of being slowly and painfully smothered seemed to be suffering from the toil of social life and the horror of good food as much as all of accepted with relief the suggestion of bridge recovered from the feeling of being boiled he at bridge he was again able lo endure s si i t wn p i beside a lake in it was as and he had never seen yet he ll the mountains the tranquil lake of evening that paul s worth all these put together ihe muttered and i d like to get away from everything even did not rouse him mrs was pretty and was not an of women except as to their tastes in furnished houses to rent he divided into real ladies working old and fly chickens he over their charms but he was of opinion that all of them save the women of bis own family were different and mysterious yet he had known by instinct that could be a her eyes and lips were moist her face from a broad forehead to a pointed chin her mouth was thin but strong and and between her brows were two and wrinkles she was thirty perhaps or younger gossip had never touched her but every man naturally and instantly rose to when he spoke to her and every watched her with between games sitting on the spoke to her with the requisite gallantry that heights gallantry which is not but a terrified flight from it you re looking like a new fountain to night am i kind of on the yes i get so sick of it well when you get tired of you can run off with uncle george if i ran away oh well anybody ever tell you your hands are awful pretty she looked down at them she pulled the lace of her sleeves over them but otherwise she did not heed him she was lost in was too languid this evening to pursue his duty of being a though strictly moral male he back to the bridge tables he was not much thrilled when mrs a small woman proposed that they try and do some and table you know can make the spirits come honest he just the ladies of the party had not emerged all evening but now as the sex given to things of the spirit while the men against base things material they look command and cried oh let sl in the the men were rather solemn and foolish but the quivered and adored as they sat about the table they laughed now you be good or tell when the men took their hands in the circle with a slight return of interest in life as s hand closed on his with quiet firmness all of them over intent they startled as some one drew a strained breath in the dusty light from the hail they looked unreal they felt mrs and they jumped with unnatural but at s hiss they sank into subdued awe suddenly they heard a knocking they stared at s half revealed hands and found them lying still they and pretended not to be impressed w with gravity is some one there a is one knock to be the sign for y s a and two for no a now ladies and gentlemen shall we ask the guide to put us into with the spirit of some great one passed mrs jones be ed oh let s talk to we studied him at the reading circle you know who he was certainly i know who he poet where do you think i was raised from her r the fellow that took the cook s tour to hell i ve jt i never through his po try but we learned about him in said page mr you ought to get him easy mr you and he fellow poets said fellow poets rats where d you get that stuff pro tested t suppose showed a lot of speed for an old not that i ve actually read him of course but to come right down to hard facts he wouldn t stand three if he had to down to practical literature and turn out a poem for the newspaper every day like does that s so from those old birds could take their time priest i could write poetry myself if i had a whole year for it and just wrote about that old fashioned like wrote about d hush now ill call him o laughing eyes forth into the the and bring hither the spirit of that we mortals may list to his words of wisdom you forgot to give um the address avenue fiery heights hell chuckled but the others felt that this was and besides probably it was making the but still if there did happen to be something to all this be to talk to an old fellow belonging to way back in early times a the spirit of had come to the parlor of george f he was it seemed quite ready to answer their questions he was glad to be with them this evening out the messages by through the till the spirit knocked at the right letter	42
asked in a learned tone do you like it in the we are very happy on the hi er plane we are glad that you are studying this great truth of replied the circle moved with an awed creaking of stays and suppose si pose there were something to this had a different worry suppose was really one of these had for a literary always seemed to be a regular he belonged to the road church and went to the and liked cigars and and stories but suppose that secretly after all you never could tell about these dam and to be an out and out would be almost like being a no one could long be serious in the presence of ask how jack shakespeare and old the they named after me are along and don t they wish they could get into the game be and instantly all was mirth mrs jones shrieked and desired to know whether didn t catch cold with nothing on but his wreath the pleased made humble answer but the discontent was him l and heavily in the darkness he pondered ft t we re all so and think we re so smart there dr be a fellow like i wish j a s om e of pieces i t t without explanation the impression of a cliff and on it in against menacing clouds a lone and austere figure he was dismayed by a sudden for his friends he grasped s hand and found the comfort of human warmth habit came a warrior and he shook himself what the deuce is the matter with me this evening he patted s hand to indicate that he hadn t meant anything improper by it and demanded of say see if you can get old to us some of his poetry talk up to him tell him com sa va s a little the lights were on the women sat on the fronts of their chairs in that determined su whereby a wife that as soon as the present speaker has she is to remark brightly to her husband well dear i think pa it s about time for us to be saying good for once did not break out in efforts to keep the party going he had there was something he wished to think out but the had started them off again why didn t they go home why didn t they go home though he was impressed by the of the statement he was only half enthusiastic when the united is the only nation in which the government is a moral ideal and not just a social arrangement true true weren t they ever going home he was usually delighted to have an inside view of the momentous world of but to night he scarcely listened to s revelation if you want to go above the class the is a mighty good buy couple we s a and mind you this vas a fair square they took a stock car and they slid up the hill on high and fellow told me good boat but were they planning to stay all night they really were going with a of we did have the best time most a friendly of all was yet as be he was i got through it but for a while there i didn t hardly think i d last out he prepared to taste that most delicate pleasure of the host making fun of his guests in the of midnight as the door he yawned chest out shoulders and turned to his wife she was beaming oh it was nice wasn t i know they enjoyed every minute of it don t you think so he couldn t do it he couldn t mock it would have been v like at a happy child he lied you best party this year by a long shot wasn t the dinner and honestly i thought the chicken was you to the queen s taste best chicken i ve tasted for a s age didn t it and don t you think the soup was simply delicious it certainly it was best soup i ve tasted since was a but his voice was away they stood in the hall under the electric light in its square box like shade of red glass bound with she stared at him why george you don t sound you sound as if you hadn t really enjoyed it sure i course i george what is it oh i m kind of tired i guess been pretty hard at the need to get away and rest up a little well we re going to in just a few now dear then be was pouring it out robbed of i think it d be a good thing for me to get up there early but you have this man you have to meet in new york about business what man oh sure him oh that s ail off but i want to hit early get in a little catch me a big by a nervous artificial laugh well why don t we do it and can run the house between them and you and i can go any time if you think we can afford it but that s i ve been feeling so lately i thought maybe it might be a good thing if i kind of got off by myself and sweat it out of me george don t you want me to go along she was too in earnest to be tragic or insulted or anything save and and flushed to the red of a boiled of course i i just meant remembering that paul had predicted this he was as desperate as she i mean sometimes it s a good thing for an	42
old like me to go off and get it out of his system he tried to sound paternal then when you and the arrive i figured maybe i mi t up to just a few days ahead of you i d be ready for a real bat see how i mean he her with large sounds with smiles like a popular preacher blessing an congregation like a humorous his of eloquence like all of masculine she stared at him the joy of festival drained from her face bo i you when we go on don t i add anything to your fun he broke suddenly dreadfully he was hysterical he was a baby yes yes yes hell but can t you i m shot to pieces i m all i got to take care of myself i tell you i got to i m sick of everything and everybody i i got to it was she who was mature and now why of course you shall run off by why don t you get paul to go along and you boys just fish and have a good time she patted his reaching up to it while he shook with helplessness and in that moment was not by habit fond of her but clung to her strength she cried cheerily now up stairs you go and pop into bed well fix it all up ill see to the doors now for many minutes for many hours for a bleak he lay awake shivering reduced to primitive terror that he had won freedom o lie could do with anything so unknown and so as freedom i z l chapter x no in bad more resolutely in than the arms in which paul aod had a flat by sliding the beds into low the were converted into living the were each containing an electric range copper sink a glass and very a maid everything about the arms was excessively modern and everything was compressed except the the were calling on the at the arms it was a venture to call on the interesting and sometimes was an blown high she condescended to be good she was nervously amusing her comments on people were and of accepted that s so you said and looked she danced wildly and called on the world to be merry but in the midst of it she would turn indignant she was always becoming indignant life was a plot against her and she e it furiously she was to night she merely hinted that jones wore a that mrs t s singing resembled a ford going into high and that the hon mayor of and candidate for was a fool which was quite true the and sat doubtfully on stone hard chairs in the small living room of the flat with its mantel with a fireplace and its strip of heavy gilt fabric upon a glaring new player piano till mrs shrieked come on let s j put some in iti get out your fiddle paul and i ll try to make dance decently the were in earnest they were for the escape to but when mrs hinted with plump does paul get as tired after the winter s work as does then remembered an injury and when remembered an injury the world stopped till something bad been done about it does he get tired no he doesn t get tired he goes crazy that s you think paul is so reasonable oh yes and he loves to make out he s a little lamb but he s stubborn as a mule oh if you had to live with him i you d find out how sweet he is he just to be meek so he can have his own way and me i get the credit for being a terrible old but if i didn t blow up once in while and get something started we d die of dry rot he never wants to go any place and why last evening just because the car was out of order and that was his fault too because he ought to have taken it to the service station and had the battery looked at and he didn t want to go down to the on the but we went and then there was one of those impudent and paul wouldn t do a thing i was standing on the platform waiting for the people to et me into the car and this beast this conductor at me come on you move why i ve never had anybody speak to me that way in all my i was so astonished i just turned to him and said i thought there must be some mistake and so i said to him perfectly pleasant were speaking to me and he went on and at me yes i you re keeping the whole car from he said and then i saw he was one of these dirty ill bred that kindness is wasted on and so i stopped and looked right at him and i said i beg your pardon am not doing anything of the kind i said it s the people ahead of me who won t move up i said and more let me tell you young man that you re a low down foul mouthed i said and you re no i certainly intend to report you and well see i said whether a lady is to be insulted by any drunken bum that chooses to put on a ragged uniform and i d thank you i said to keep your filthy abuse to yourself and then i waited for paul to show he was half a man and come to my and he just stood there and pretended he hadn t heard a word and so i said to him well i said oh	42
i m not a bit proud of or of paul about his horrid love affairs he was silent he maintained his bad temper at a high level of outraged nobility all the four blocks home at the door he left in self and the lawn with a shock it was revealed to him i wonder if she was right if she was partly right must have him to it was one of the few times in his life when he had his eternal excellence and he perceived the summer night the wet grass then i don t i ve pulled it off we re going to have our and for paul i d do anything they were buying their tackle at brothers the sporting goods with the help of fellow member of the was completely mad he and danced he muttered to paul say this is pretty good eh to be buying the stuff eh and good old himself coming down on the floor to wait on say if those fellows that are the north lakes knew we were going dear up to they d have a fit eh well come on brother i mean here s your we re a couple of easy marks wheel let me at i m going to buy out the store he on rods and gorgeous rubber hip on tents with windows and folding chairs and ice boxes he wanted to buy all of them it was the paul whom he was always vaguely protecting who kept him from his drunken desires but even paul when a with poetry and discussed flies now of course yoa boys know he said the great scrap is between dry flies and wet flies personally i m for dry flies more sporting that s so lots more sporting who knew very little about flies either wet or dry now if you ll take my advice you ll stock up well on these pale evening and silver and red oh boy there s a fly that red ant you bet that s what it a fly rejoiced yes sir that red ant said is a real honest to god fly oh i guess mr won t come a when i drop one of those red on the water asserted and his thick wrists made a motion of casting yes and the salmon will take it too said who had never seen a salmon salmon say paul can you see uncle george with his on em in some morning bout seven they were on the new york bound for without their families they were tree in a man s world in the smoking of the y outside the car window was a of with the gold of mysterious lights was immensely conscious in the sway and clatter of the train of going of going on toward paul he pretty nice to be hi d g eh the small room with its walls of colored steel was filled mostly with the sort of men he as the best meet real good there were four of them on the long seat a fat man with a shrewd fat face a knife edged man in a green hat a very young young man with an imitation and facing them on two leather chairs were paul and a old fashioned man very cunning with wrinkles bis mouth they all read new s or trade boot and shoe journals journals and waited for the joys of conversation it was the very young man now making his first journey by who began it say i had a wild old time in he say if a fellow knows the ropes there he can have as wild a time as he can in new york i bet you simply raised the old ned i figured you were a bad man when i saw you get on the train chuckled the fat one the others laid down their papers well that s all right guess i seen some things in the you never seen i complained the boy oh bet you did i bet you up the milk like a little devil then the boy having served as introduction they ignored him and charged into real talk only paul sitting by himself readily at a story in a newspaper failed to join them and all but regarded him as a an eccentric a person of no spirit which of them said which has never been determined and does not matter since they all had the same ideas and expressed than witli the same ponderous and assurance if it was not who was delivering any given verdict at least he was on who did deliver it at that announced the first they re selling quite some in guest are everywhere i don t know how you f fed about pr but the way it strikes me is that it s a mi ty thing for the poor that hasn t got any will power but for fellows like us it s an of personal liberty that s a fact has got no right to interfere with a fellow s personal liberty the second a man came in from the car but as all the seats were full he stood up while he smoked his he was an he was not one of the old families of the they looked upon him and after trying to appear at ease by examining his chin in the mirror he gave it up and went out in silence just been making a trip through the south business conditions not very good down there said one of the council is that a fact not very good eh no didn t strike me they were up to normal not up to normal eh no wouldn t hardly say they were the whole council nodded and not hardly up to snuff well business conditions ain t what they t to be out west	42
neither not by a long shot that s a fact and i guess the hotel business feels it that s one good thing though these that ve been charging five a day yes and maybe for a rotten room are going to be dam glad to get four and maybe j ve you a little service that s a fact say hotels i hit the st francis at san for the first time the other day and say it certainly is a first class place you re ri t the st francis is a place absolutely ai that s a fact i m right with you it s a first class place but say any of you fellows ever stay at the in i don t want to knock believe in wherever you can but say of all the rotten that pass off as first class hotels that s the worst i m going to get those one of these days and i told em so you know how i am well maybe you don t know but i m accustomed to first and i m perfectly willing to pay a reasonable price i got into late the other night and the s near the station i d never been there before but i says to the driver i always believe in taking a when you get in late may cost a little more money but it s worth it when you got to be up early d t morning and out selling a lot of and i said to him oh just drive me over to the well we got there and i up to the desk and said to the clerk well brother got a nice room with bath for cousin bill you d a thought i d sold him a second or asked him to work on he hands me the cold boiled stare and i friend see and he ducks behind the they track of the rooms on well i guess he called up the credit association and the american security league to see if i was all right he certainly took long enough or maybe he just went to sleep but finally he comes out and looks at me like it hurts him and i think i can let you have a room with bath well that s awful nice of you sorry to trouble you how much it set me back i says real sweet cost you seven a day friend he says well it was late and anyway it went down on my if i d been it instead of the firm i d a the streets all night before i d a let any tavern stick me seven great big round dollars believe so i lets it go at that the clerk wakes a nice young i hop fine lad not a day over nine years old fought i at the battle of and doesn t know it s yet i thought i was one of the i guess from the way he looked at me and van me up to some i thing i found out afterwards they called it a room but first f i thought there d been some mistake i thought they were i putting me in the salvation army collection at per each and every i i ve heard the was pretty now when i go to i always stay at the or the la first class places say any of you fellows ever stay at the at how is it oh the is a first class hotel twelve minutes of conference on the state of hotels in south bend flint fort worth wi and jaw prices the man in the hat observed the tooth on his heavy watch chain i d like to know where they get this about clothes coming down now you take this suit i got on he pinched bis four years ago i paid forty two fifty for it and it was real sure value well here the other day i went into a store back home and asked to see a suit and the fellow out some hand me downs that honest i wouldn t put on a hired man just out of curiosity i asks him what you charging for that he says what d you mean that s a swell piece of goods au wool like hell it was nice vegetable wool right off the plantation it s all wool he says and we get sixty seven ninety for it oh you do do you i says not from me you don t i says and i walks right out on him you bet i says to the wife well i said as long as your strength holds out and you can go on patting a few more patches on p a s well just pass up clothes that s ri t brother and just at hey the fat man protested what s the matter with i m selling d you realize the cost of labor on is still two hundred and seven per cent above they that if their old friend the fat man sold then the price of was exactly what it should be but all other clothing was too expensive they admired and loved one another now they went profoundly into the science of business and indicated that the purpose of a or a brick was so that it might be sold to them the romantic hero was no longer the knight the wandering poet the the nor the brave young district attorney but the great manager who had an analysis of problems on his glass desk whose title of nobility was go and who devoted himself and all his young to the purpose of selling not of selling	42
anything in particular for or to anybody in particular but pure selling the shop talk roused paul though he was a player of and an unhappy husband he was also a very able of tar he listened to the fat man s remarks on the value of house organs and as a method of up the boys out on the road and he himself offered one or two excellent thoughts on the use of two cent on then he committed an against the holy law of the of good fellows he became they were entering a city on the outskirts they passed a steel mill which in scarlet and orange flame that licked at the at the iron walls and sullen my lord look at that beautiful said paul you bet it s beautiful friend that s the steel plant and they tell me old john made a good three million bones out of during the the man with the hat said reverently i didn t mean i mean it s lovely the way the light that picturesque yard all uttered with right out of the darkness said paul they stared at him while paul has certainly got one eat little eye for picturesque places and quaint sights and all that stuff d of an author or something if he hadn t gone into the line paul looked annoyed sometimes wondered if paul appreciated his loyal the man in the hat well personally i think keep their works awful dirty bum but i don t suppose there s any law against calling em picturesque if it gets you that paul returned to his newspaper and the conversation moved on to trains what time do we get into asked i think we get in at no that was last year s wait a minute let s see got a time table right here i wonder if we re on time sure we must be just about on time no we aren t we were seven minutes late last station were we straight why i thought we were ri t on time no we re about seven minutes late that s right seven minutes late the porter entered a negro in white jacket with brass buttons how late are we george growled the fat man deed i don t know sir i think we re about on time said the porter folding and tossing them up on the rack above the the council stared at him gloomily and when he was gone they i don t know what s come over these nowadays they never give you a civil answer that s a fact they re getting so they don t have a single bit of respect for you the old fashioned was a fine old he knew his place but these young don t want to be or cotton oh no they got to be lawyers and professors and lord knows i tell you it s a pretty serious problem we ought to get together and show the black man yes and the yellow man bis place now i haven t got one of race prejudice i m the first to be glad when a so long as be stays where he belongs and doesn t try to the authority and business ability of the white man that s the i t and another thing we got to do sa man with the hat whose name was keep these damn foreigners out of the country thank the lord we re putting a limit on these and have got to learn that this is a white man s country and they ain t wanted here when we ve the foreigners we got here now and learned em the principles of and turned em into regular folks why then maybe we ll let in a few more you bet that s a fact th observed and passed on to lighter topics they rapidly car prices oil stocks fishing and the prospects for the in but the fat man was impatient at this waste of time he was a and free of illusions already he had asserted that he was an old he one he leaned forward gathered in their attention by bis expression of sly humor and grumbled oh hell boys jet s cut out the formality and get down to the stories i y ana id thi tbey became very lively and intimate paul and the boy vanished the others slid forward on the long seat their thrust their feet up on the chairs pulled the stately brass nearer and ran the green down on its little to shut them in from the uncomfortable strangeness of night after each bark of laughter they cried say hear the one about was and when the train stopped at an important station the four men walked up and down the platform under the vast smoky train shed roof like a stormy sky imder the elevated beside of ducks and sides of beef in the mystery of an unknown city they strolled abreast old friends and well content at the long drawn like a mountain call at dusk hastened back into the smoking and till two of the morning continued the droll tales their eyes damp with cigar smoke and laughter when they parted they shook hands and chuckled well sir it s been a great sorry to bust it up mighty glad to met you lay awake in the close hot tomb of his berth shaking with remembrance of the fat man s about the lady who wished to be wild he raised the shade he lay with a arm tucked between his head and the pillow looking out on the sliding of trees and village s like points he was veiy i chapter xi had four hours in new york trains the one thing wished to see was the	42
hotel which had been built since bis last he stared up at it muttering twenty two hundred rooms and twenty two hundred that s got everything in the world beat lord their must be well suppose price of rooms is four to eight dollars a day and i suppose maybe some ten and four times twenty two hundred say six times twenty two hundred well anyway with and everything say between eight and fifteen thousand a day every day i never thought i d see a thing like that some of course the average fellow in has got more individual than the here but i got to hand it to new york yes sir town you re all some ways well old i guess we ve seen everything that s worth while howl we kill the rest of the time but paul desired to see a always wanted to go to europe and by thunder i will too some day before i pass out he sighed from a rough wharf on the north river they stared at the stem of the and her and lifted above the dock house which shut her in by wouldn t be so bad to go over to the old country and take a at all these ruins and the place where shakespeare was born and think of being able to order a drink whenever you wanted one just range up to a bar and out loud a and the police not bad at all what like to see over there v i did not answer turned paul was standing with clenched fists bead drooping staring at the as in terror his thin body seen against the summer glaring of the wharf was again what would you hit for on the other side paul at the steamer his breast heaving paul oh my while watched him anxiously he snapped come on let s get out of this and hastened down the wharf not looking back that s considered the boy didn t care for seeing the ocean boats after all i t he d be interested in em thou he and made sage speculations about horse power as their train climbed the and from the summit be looked down the shining way among the pines though he remarked well by when he discovered that the station at the end of the line was an aged freight car s moment of impassioned release came when they sat on a tiny wharf on lake awaiting the from the hotel a had floated down the lake between the logs and the shore the water was transparent thin looking flashing with a guide in black felt hat with flies in the band and flannel shirt of a peculiarly daring blue sat on a log and and was silent a dog a good country dog black and gray a dog rich in leisure and in meditation scratched and and slept the thick sunlight was lavish on the bright water on the rim of gold green the silver and and across the lake it burned on the sturdy shoulders of the mountains over everything was a holy peace silent they on the edge of the wharf swinging their legs above the water the immense tenderness of the place sank into and he murmured i d just like to sit here the rest of my life and and sit and never hear a or in the or and ted just sit he patted paul s shoulder how does it strike you old oh it s dam good there s something sort of eternal about it for once understood him their rounded the bend at the head of the lake under mountain slope they saw the little central of their hotel and the of log cottages which served as they landed and endured the critical examination of the who had been at the hotel for a whole week in their cottage with its high stone fireplace they hastened as expressed it to get into some regular he they came out paul in an old gray suit and soft white shirt in shirt and vast and flapping trousers it was excessively new bis spectacles belonged to a city and his face was not hut a city pink he made a noise in the place but with infinite satisfaction he his legs and say this is getting back home eh they stood on the wharf before the hotel he winked at paul and drew from his back pocket a of tobacco a forbidden in the home he took a beaming and his head as he at it maybe i haven t been hungry for a of eating have some they looked at each other in a grin of understanding paul took the at it they stood quiet their jaws working they solemnly one after the other into the water they stretched with lifted arms i and arched backs beyond the came the shuffling sound of a far os train a leaped and back in a circle they sighed together they had a before their families came each evening they planned to get up early and fish before breakfast each morning they lay till the breakfast bell pleasantly conscious that there were no efficient wives to rouse them the mornings were cold the fire was kindly as they dressed paul was clean but in a good sound in not having to till his spirit was moved to it he every spot and fish scale on his new trousers all morning they or the dim and lighted among rank and moss sprinkled with crimson bells tbey slept all afternoon and till midnight played with the guides was a serious business to the guides they did not gossip the thick greasy cards with a ferocity menacing to the x and joe paradise king of guides was sarcastic to who halted the game even to scratch at midnight as paul	42
and he to their cottage over the wet grass and pine roots in the darkness rejoiced that he did not have to explain to his wife where he had been all evening they did not talk much the nervous and of the club dropped from them but when they did talk they slipped into the intimacy of college days once they drew their up to the bank of water a stream walled in by the dense green of the the sun roared on the green but in the shade was sleepy peace and the water was golden and rippling drew his hand through the cool flood and mused we never thought we d come to together no we ve never done anything the way we thought we would i expected to live in germany with my s people and study the fiddle that s so and remember how i wanted to be a lawyer and go into politics i still think i might have made a go of it i ve kind of got the gift of the anyway i can on my feet and make some kind of a on most anything and of course that s the thing you need in politics by ted s going to law school even if i didn t i guess it s worked out all right s been a fine wife and means well yes up here i figure out all sorts of plans to keep her amused i kind of feel life is going to be different now that we re getting a good rest and can go back and start over again i hope so old boy say it s been awful nice to sit around and loaf and and act regular with you along you old horse thief well you know what it means to me saved my life the shame of emotion overpowered them they cursed a little to prove they were good rough fellows and in a mellow silence whistling while paul they back to the hotel though it was paul who had seemed who had been the protecting big brother paul became and merry while sank into he uncovered on of hidden weariness at first he had played to paul and for him sought amusements hy the end of the week paul was nurse and ted with the condescension one always shows a patient nurse the day before th r families arrived the women guests at the hotel oh isn t it nice you must be so excited and the and paul to look excited but they went to bed early and when appeared she said at once now we want you boys to go on playing around just as if we weren t here the first evening he stayed out for with the guides and she said in placid merriment my i you re a regular bad one the second evening she groaned good heavens are you going to be out every single the third evening he didn t play he was tired now in every cell funny doesn t seem to have done me a bit of good he lamented paul s as a but i swear i m and than when i came up here he had three weeks of at the end of the second week he began to feel calm and interested in life planned an expedition to climb mountain and wanted to camp at box car pond he was curiously weak yet cheerful as though he had his veins of poisonous energy and was filling them with wholesome blood he ceased to be irritated by ted s with a his seventh tragic affair this year he played catch with ted and with pride taught him to cast a fly in the pine silence of fond at the end he sighed hang it i m just beginning to en ay my but well i feel a lot better and it s going to be one great year maybe the real estate board will elect me president instead of some old fashioned like on the way home whenever he went into the he felt guilty at his wife and angry at being expected to feel guilty but each time he oh this is going to be a great year a great old year i chapter xii all the way home from was certain that he was a ed man ie was converted me wa s going to cease worrying about business he was going to have more put reading a nd g finished an heavy cigar be was going to stop smoking he invented a new and perfect method he would buy no tobacco he would depend on it and of course he would be ashamed to borrow often in a of he flung his cigar case out of the smoking window he went back and was kind to his wife about nothing in particular he admired his own purity and decided absolutely simple just a matter of will power he started a magazine about a scientific ten miles on he was conscious that he desired to smoke he his head like a going into its shell he appeared uneasy he two pages in bis story and didn t know it five miles later he leaped up and sought the porter say george have you got a the porter looked patient have you got a time table finished at the next stop he went out and bought a cigar since it was to be his last before be reached he finished it down to an inch four days later he again remembered that he had stopped smoking but he was too busy catching up with his to keep it remembered be determined would be an excellent no sense a man s working his fool head off i m going out to the game three times a we besides fellow ought to si the home team he did go	42
you you re a orator and a good and there was no formal entertainment provided for the last evening had planned to go home but that afternoon the of suggested that and w a have tea with them at the inn were not to his wife and he earnestly attended them at least twice a year but they were sufficiently to make him feel important he sat at a glass covered table in the art room of the inn with its painted on bark and being artistic in dutch caps he ate insufficient and was lively and naughty with mrs who was as smooth and large eyed as a cloak model and he had met two days before so they were calling each other and said say boys before you go seeing this is the last chance i ve got it in my room and here is the best little in the like us say with wide flowing gestures and followed the to their room mrs shrieked oh how terrible i when she saw that she had left a of sheer oa the bed e w tucked it into a i while don t mind us we e a couple o little for ice and the bell boy who brought it said and glasses or mixed the in one of those dismal white water which exist only in when they had finished the first round she proved by think yon boys could stand another you got a coming that thou she was but a woman she knew the complete and perfect of drinking outside hinted to say w a old it comes over me that i could stand it if we didn t go back to the wives this handsome but just kind of stayed in monarch and threw a party george you with the tongue of wisdom and el wing s wife has gone on to let s see if we can t gather him in at half past seven they sat in their room with wing and two up state their coats were o their open their faces red their voices emphatic they were finishing a bottle of and imploring the bell boy say son can you get us some more of this they were smoking large cigars and dropping ashes and on the carpet with windy they were telling stories they were in fact in a happy state of nature sighed i don t know how it strikes you but personally i like this loose for a change and kicking over a couple of mountains and climbing up on the north pole and waving the the man from a grave intense i guess i m as good a husband as the run of the mill but god i do get so tired of going home every evening and nothing to see but the that s why i go out and with the national guard i guess i got the little wife in my but what i wanted to do as a kid know what i wanted to do wanted to be a big s what i wanted to do but chased me out on the road and here i m settled down settled for life not a oh who the devil started this funeral talk how drink and a er drink wouldn do s ay yea cut the sob stuff said w a you boys know i m the village come oa now sing up said the old to the young i am dry i am dry said the young to the old so am i so am i they had dinner in the of the hotel somewhere somehow they seemed to have gathered in two other comrades a of fly paper and a they au drank from tea ci s and th were humorous and never listened to one another t wh w a the italian waiter say he said innocently i want a couple o el ears sorry sir we haven t any no ears what do yoa know about turned to says the ears are all out well be said the man from with difficulty hiding his laughter well in that case just bring me a and a couple o o french potatoes and some peas went on i suppose back in dear old sunny it the get fresh garden peas out of the can no sir we have very nice peas in italy is that a fact do you hear that they get their fresh garden peas out of the garden in italy by you live and learn don t you you certainly do live and learn if you live long enough and keep your strength all right just shoot me in that with about two of french on the deck afterward wing admired you certainly did have that poor going w a he couldn t make you out at in the monarch herald found an which be read aloud to applause and old colony theatre shake the old dogs to the the t of bathing in and his oh this is the straight steer the of the are the bunch that ever hit town steer the feet get the card board and twist the pupils to the show ever you will get on your in this fun the sisters are sure some and will give you a run for your is one of the lads and slips you a dose of real laughter shoot the up and down to and west for graceful they run i under the wire and will blow the in their laugh something doing boys listen to what the bird sounds like a show to me let s all take it in said but they put off departure as long as they could tbey were safe ihey sat here legs firmly crossed under the table but they felt unsteady they were afraid of the long and slippery floor of	42
the under the eyes of the other guests and the too attentive when did venture tables got in their way and they sou t to cover embarrassment by heavy at the as the girl handed out their hats they smiled at her and hoped that she a cool and expert judge would feel that they were gentlemen they at one another who owns the bum lid and you take a good one george take what s left and to the check girl they stammered better come along high wide and fancy evening ahead all of them tried to tip her urging one another no here i got it right among them gave her three dollars smoking cigars they sat in a box at the show their feet up on the rail while a of twenty worried and respectable swung their legs in the more chorus and a made vicious fun of jews in the they met other lone a dozen of them went in out to bright blossom inn where the blossoms were made of dusty paper along a room low and like a cow stable no longer wisely used here y as served openly in glasses two or three clerks who on pay day longed to be taken for danced with girls and girls in the narrow space between the tables whirled the a young man in sleek clothes and a slim mad girl in silk with hair flung up as aa flames tried to dance with bet he along the floor too to be guided his steps to the of the music and in staggering he would have fallen had she not held him with kindly he was blind and deaf from era he could not see the tables the faces but he was overwhelmed by the girl and her young warmth when she had returned him to his group be remembered by a connection quite that his mother s mother had been scotch and with head thrown back eyes closed wide mouth indicating ecstasy he sang very slowly and richly but that was the last of his and jolly companionship the man from said he was a bum singer and for ten minutes with him in a loud heroic indignation they called for drinks till the manager insisted that the place was closed all the while felt a hot raw desire for more brutal amusements when w a what say we go down the line and look over the g he agreed savagely before they went three of them secretly made with the professional dancing who agreed yes yes sure darling to everything they said and forgot them as they drove back through the outskirts of monarch down streets of small brown wooden cottages of workmen as as they rattled across districts which by drunken night seemed vast and perilous as they were borne toward the red lights and violent and the women who was frightened he wanted to leap from the but all his body was a fire and he groaned too late to quit now and knew that he did not want to quit there was they felt one very humorous incident on the way a from said monarch is a lot than you haven t got any joints like these here raged that s a dirty you can t find in believe me we got more houses and an all kinds o than any in the state he realized th were laughing at him he desired to fight and forgot it in such e q as he bad not known since college in the morning when he returned to his desire for rebellion was partly satisfied he had to a contentment he was irritable he did not smile when w a complained ow what a head i certainly feel like the wrath of god this morning say i know what was the trouble i somebody went and put in my last night s n was never jf hie family to one and wing i t was no t of it it ad an y s they have not been discovered i z l chapter xiv this ii ml w g of was pointed president of the ted states but t m less i tested pi han i p the local n though he was a lawyer and a of state university was candidate for mayor of on an alarming labor ticket to oppose him the and on a with a perfect record for mr was supported by the banks the chamber of commerce all the decent newspapers and george f was leader on heights hut his district was safe and he longed for his paper had given him the beginning of a reputation for so the r central committee sent him to the seventh ward and south to address small of workmen and clerks and wives uneasy with their new he acquired a fame enduring for weeks now and then a was present at one of his meetings and the though they were not very large indicated that george f had addressed cheering throng and man of affairs had pointed out the of once is the section of the sunday advocate times there was a photograph of and a dozen other business men with the leaders of and commerce who back he deserved his glory he was an excellent he had faith he was certain that if were alive he would be for mr w g unless he came to and for he did not by silly r resented honest industry represented and you could take your choice with his broad shoulders and vigorous voice he was obviously a good fellow and of all he really liked people he almost liked common workmen he wanted them to be well paid and able to afford high rents though naturally they must not interfere with the reasonable profits of thus nobly endowed and high by the discovery that he was	42
of such men that it s the most stable the greatest of our cities new york also has its thousands of real folks but new york is cursed with foreigners so are and san oh we have a golden of cities and with their renowned with its great and soap and with steel city and and that open their gates on the bosom of the ocean like and other magnificent sister cities for by the last there were no less than sixty eight glorious american with a population of over one hundred and all these cities stand together for power and purity and against i foreign ideas and with with with los with with a good live wire from or or is the of every like fellow from or fort worth or but it s here in the home for manly men and womanly women and bright that you find the largest proportion of these regular and that s what sets it in a class by itself that s why will be remembered in history as having set the pace for a civilization that shall endure when the old time killing ways are gone forever and the day of earnest efficient shall have dawned all round the world i some time i hope folks will quit handing all the credit to a lot of eaten out of date old european and give proper credit to the famous that dean fighting determination to win success that has made the little old city celebrated in every land and wherever milk and are believe me the world has fallen too long for these worn out countries that aren t producing anything but and scenery and that haven t got one per hundred people and that don t know a loose leaf from a slip over and it s just about time for some to get his back up and for a show down i i tell you and her sister cities are producing a new type of there are many between and these other and i m glad of iti the extraordinary and sane of stores offices streets hotels clothes and new throughout the united states shows how strong and enduring a type is ours i always like to remember a piece that wrote for the newspapers about his lecture it is doubtless familiar to many of you but if you will permit me take a chance and read it it s one of the classic poems like if by or s the man worth while and i always carry this of it in my note book when i am out upon the road a poet with a s load i mostly sing a hearty song and take a and along a handing out my fine of brand of sweet sunshine and and stable lines of and jokes to and other folks to and feel i ain t like other and then old major satan a who s always he gives his tail a lively and gets in quick his dirty work he fills me up with my hair the backward way he he makes me than a hound on sunday when the folks ain t round and then b i would prefer to never be a a round in cars and smoking fifty cent cigars and never more i want to i simply want to be back home a and ham with folks who whom i am but when i get that lonely spell i simply seek the best hold no matter in what town i be st paul or k c in washington in or and at that inn it my dome that i again am right at home if i should stand a spell in front of that first class hotel that to the loves to across from some big if i should look around and and wonder in what town i was i swear that i could never tell for the crowd be so swell in just the same fine sort of they wear at home and all the queens with on their beans and all the fellows standing round a always i ll be bound the same good jolly kind of bout politics and stuff and players of renown that nice talk in my home then i entered thai hotel i d look around and say well for there would be the tame news stand same v i and grand same of famous brand i d find at home i ll and when t saw the jolly bunch come in for eats at lunch and up in to large of french why then i d stand right up and i ve never left my home at and all i d sit me down beside some in brown upon a chair of and murmur to him in a rush bill tell me good how is your stock a out then we d be two solid a like giddy of weather home and wives lodge brothers then for all our lives so when sam satan makes you blue good friend that s what i d up and do for in these states you you never leave your home sweet home yes sir these other are our true s in the great game of vital living but let s not have any mistake about this i claim that is the best partner and the growing partner of the whole i trust i may be if i ve a few to back up my claims if they are old stuff to any of you yet the tidings of like the good news of the bible never become tedious to the ears of a real no matter how oft the sweet story is told i every intelligent person knows that more milk and cream more paper boxes and more lighting than any other city in the united states if not in the world but it is not so universally known	42
that we also stand second in the manufacture of butter sixth in the giant realm of and and somewhere about third in cheese leather tar breakfast food and our greatness however lies not alone in prosperity but equally in that public spirit that forward looking and brotherhood which has marked ever since its foundation by the fathers we have a t indeed we have a duty toward our fair city to announce the facts about our high schools by their complete plants and the finest in the bar none our magnificent new hotels and banks and die paintings and carved marble in their and the second national tower the second hi est business building in any inland city in the entire country when i add that we have an of miles of paved streets and all the other signs of civilization that our library and art museum are well supported and in convenient and buildings that our park system b more up to par with its handsome adorned with grass shrubs and then i give but a of the unlimited greatness of i believe however in keeping the best to the last when i remind you that we have one car for every five and seven persons in the city then i give a rock practical indication of the kind of progress and which is with the name but the way of the righteous is not all roses before i close i must call your attention to a problem we have to face this coming year the worst menace to sound government is not the but a lot of who work under cover the long haired who call themselves and and non and and god only knows how many other trick names teachers and professors constitute the worst of this whole gang and i am ashamed to say that several of them are on the faculty of our great state university the u is my own and i am proud to be known as an but there are certain there who seem to think we t to turn the conduct of the nation over to and those th and all their milk d the american business m a n is generous til a fault but one thing he does demand of all teach ers and and if we re going to pay them our good money they ve got to us by selling and ing it up for rational pro i and when it comes to these mouth fault finding cynical teachers let me tell you that during this golden coming year it s just as much our duty to bring influence to have those fired as it is to sell all the real estate and gather in all the good we can not till that is done will our sons and daughters see that the ideal of american manhood and culture isn t a lot of sitting around the rag about their rights and wrongs but a god fearing successful two regular who belongs to some church with and piety to it who belongs to the or the or the to the or or or knights of or any one of a score of of good jolly laughing lend a handing royal fellows who plays hard and works hard and whose an to his critics is a square boot teach the and smart to respect the he man and get o ut and root for uncle samuel u sa promised to become a recognized orator he entertained a of the men s of the road church with irish and chinese dialect stories but in nothing was he more clearly revealed as the prominent citizen than in his lecture on brass facts on real estate as delivered before the class in methods at the y m c a the advocate times reported the lecture so fully that said to you re getting to be one of the in town seems s if i couldn t pick up a paper without reading about your well known eloquence all this ought to bring a lot of business into your office good work ke it go on quit your said feebly but at this tribute from himself a man of no mean fame he expanded with delight and wondered bow before his he could have questioned the joys of being a solid citizen i z l chapter xv his march to greatness was no t without g fame i not t they not asked to join the da country club nor lo at him fretted he didn t care a fat for all these but the wife would kind of like to be among those present he nervously awaited his university class dinner and an evening of furious intimacy with such social leaders as charles the i l the banker the tool and the fashionable interior he was their friend as he had been in college and when he en them they still called him but he didn t seem to encounter them often and they never invited him to dinner with champagne and a butler at their oo ridge all the week before the class dinner he thought of them no reason why we shouldn t become real like all true american and spiritual ou the of the men of the class of was thoroughly the dinner committee like a once a week they sent out no old man are you going to be with us at the friendship feed the of the good old u have ever known the of turned out strong are we boys going to be beaten by a bunch of skirts come on fellows let s work up some real genuine enthusiasm and all together for the dinner yet i elegant eats short talks and memories shared tc of the brightest days of life the dinner was held in a private room at e union club the was a dingy building three old	42
dwellings knocked together and the entrance hall resembled a cellar yet the who was free of the of the club entered with embarrassment he nodded to tbe an ancient proud negro with brass buttons and a blue tail coat and through the ball trying to look like a member sixty men bad come to the dinner they made islands and in the hall they packed tbe and the comers of the private dining room they tried to be intimate and enthusiastic they appeared to one another exactly as they had in college as raw whose present and wrinkles were but jovial put on for the evening you haven t changed a they the men whom they could not recall tbey addressed well great to see you again old man what are you still doing the same thing some one was always starting a cheer or a college song and it was always into silence despite their resolution to be they divided into two sets the men with dress clothes and the men without extremely in dress clothes went from one group to the other though he was almost frankly out for social conquest he sought paul first he found him alone neat and silent paul si ed i m no good at this and well look who s here now up and be a finest bunch of boys earth say you seem kind of what s matter oh the usual run in with come on let s in and forget our troubles he kept paul beside him but worked toward the spot where charles stood warming bis admirers like a furnace had been the of the class of not only captain and hammer but and in what the state considered he had gone on had captured the construction company once owned by the best known family of he built state railway he was a heavy shouldered big man but not there was a quiet humor in his eyes a up smooth quickness in his speech which and warned and in his presence the most intelligent or the most sensitive artist felt thin blooded and a little shabby he was particularly when he was or labor very easy and and gorgeous he was he was a peer in the rapidly american aristocracy inferior only to the haughty old families in an old family is one which came to town before his power was the greater because he was not by scruples by either the vice or the virtue of the older tradition was being placidly merry now with the great the and the land owners and and who had and went to europe squeezed among them he liked s smile as much as the social advancement to be had from his favor if in paul s company he felt ponderous and with mc he slight and he heard say to the banker yes we ll put up sir s love for tides became a rich relish you know he s one of the big iron in england horribly well off old say george is getting than i am the shouted take your seats fellows shall we make a move said casually to right how s the old planning to sit anywhere special george come on let s some seats come on i read about speeches in the campaign bully work after that would have followed him through fire he was busy during the dinner now cheering paul now approaching with hear you re going to build some in now noting how the failures of the class sitting by themselves in a group looked up to him in his association with the nobility now warming himself in the society talk of and they spoke of a dance for which had decorated her house with thousands of they with an excellent imitation of of a dinner in washington at which had met a a princess and an english major general called the princess and let it be known that he had danced with her was thrilled but not so with awe as to be silent if he was not invited by them to dinner he was yet accustomed to talking with bank and who entertained poets he was bright and with say remember in junior year how we a sea going hack and chased down to to the big show madame brown used to put on remember how you beat up that that tried to run us in and we pinched the pressing sign and took and hung it on s door oh those were the days those agreed ware the days had reached it isn t the bo you in but the you make that counts when the men at head of the table broke into song he attacked it s a shame shame to drift apart because our business lie in different fields i ve enjoyed talking the good old days you and mrs must come to dinner some night vaguely yes indeed like to talk to you about the growth of real estate out beyond your i might be able to t you os to a thing or two possibly we must have together just let me know and it will be a great pleasure to have your wife and you at the said much less vaguely then the s voice that ous voice which once bad roused them to cheer defiance at or or come on you all together in the long felt that life would never be sweeter than now when he joined with paul and the newly recovered hero in ax who who the u i the invited the to dinner in early december and the not only ted but after ing the date once or twice actually came the thoroughly discussed the details of the dinner from the purchase of a bottle of champagne to the number of to be placed before each person did they mention the matter of the other guests	42
to the last out for giving paul the benefit of with the good old would like paul and better than some boy he insisted but mrs interrupted his observations with yes perhaps i think try to get some and when she was quite ready she invited dr j t the and a respectable lawyer named with glittering wives nor belonged to the or to the club neither of them had ever called brother or asked his on the only human people whom she invited raged were the and at times became so that longed for the refreshment of s well old pie face what s the good word immediately after lunch mrs began to set the table for the seven thirty dinner to the and was by order home at four but they didn t find anything for him to do and three times mrs do please try to keep out of the way i he stood in the door of the his lips ing and wished that or sam or somebody would come along and talk to him he saw ted about the corner of the house what s the matter old man said is that you thin one ma certainly is on the i told her and i would soon not be let in on the to ni t and she bit me she says i got to take a bath too but say the men will be some to little in a dress the men i liked the sound of it he put his arm about the boy s he wished that paul had a so that ted might marry her yes your mother is kind of round all right he said and they and si together and went in to dress the were less than fifteen minutes late ed that the d q would see the and their waiting in front the was well and plentiful and mrs had brought out grandmother s silver worked hard he was good he told none of the jokes he wanted to tell he listened to the others he started off with a let s hear about your trip to the he was he found opportunities to remark that dr was a benefactor to humanity and profound scholars charles an inspiration to ambitious youth and mrs an to the social circles of washington new york paris and numbers of other places but be could not stir them it was a without a soul for no reason that was clear to was them and they spoke laboriously and unwillingly he concentrated on carefully not looking at her lovely and the silken band which supported her frock i suppose be going to europe pretty soon again won t you he invited i d like awfully to run over to rome for a few weeks i suppose you see a lot of pictures and music and and everything there no what i really go for is there s a little on the where you get the best in the world oh i yes that must he nice to try that yes at a quarter to ten discovered with profound regret that his wife had a headache he said as helped him with his coat we must lunch together some time and talk over the old days when the others had labored out at half past ten turned to his wife pleading said he had a time and we must said they wanted to have us up to the house for dinner before long she achieved oh it s just been one of those quiet evenings that are often so much more than noisy parties where everybody talks at once and doesn t really settle down to nice quiet enjoyment but from his cot on the sleeping porch he heard her weeping slowly without hope for a month they watched the social columns and waited for a return dinner invitation as the hosts of sir the were all the week after the dinner received sir who had come to america to buy coal tlie new him on ireland naval the rate of exchange tea drinking the of american women and daily life as lived by english county families sir seemed to have heard of all those topics the gave him a dinner and miss pearl editor of the advocate times rose to her highest read aloud at breakfast table the original and oriental the strange and delicious food and the both of the distinguished guests the charming hostess and the noted host never has seen a more affair than the dinner dance given last evening by mr and mrs charles to sir as we fortunate one were privileged to view that d foreign scene nothing at or the sets of foreign could be more lovely fit is not for nothing that is in matters social rapidly becoming known as the inland in the country though he is too modest to admit it lord gives a to our smart such as it has not received since the ever memorable visit of the earl of not only is he of the british but he is also on s leader of the british metal as he comes from a favorite haunt of robin hood though now we are informed by lord live modem of inhabitants and important lace as well as other we like to think that perhaps through his veins runs some of the blood both red and blue of that earlier lord o the good the the lovely mrs never was more fascinating than last evening in her black net gown relieved by dainty bands of silver and at her exquisite waist a glowing cluster of ward roses said bravely i hope they don t invite us to meet this dam sight rather just have a nice quiet little dinner with and the at the club they discussed it amply i s pose well have to call lord	42
from now on said it beats all get out meditated that man of how hard it is for some people to get things straight here th call this fellow lord when it ought to be sir is that a fact well l sir eh that s what you call um eh well sir i m glad to know that later he informed his it s b a goat the way some folks that just because they h pen to lay up a big go entertaining famous foreigners don t have any more idea n a rabbit how to address em so s to make em feel at that evening as he was driving borne be passed and saw sir g a large pop eyed whose of yellow gave him an aspect sad and doubtful drove on slowly oppressed by he had a sudden and horrible conviction that the were laughing at him he betrayed his depression by the violence with which be informed bis wife folks that really tend to business haven t got the time to waste on a bunch like the this society stuff is like any other if you devote yourself to it you get on but i like to have a chance to visit with you and the children instead of all this chasing round they did not speak of the again it was a shame at this worried time to have to think about the ed was a of who had been a failure he had a large family and a feeble business out in the of he was gray and thin and he had always been gray and thin and unimportant he was the person whom in any group you forgot to introduce then introduced with extra enthusiasm he had admired s good fellowship in college bad admired ever since his power in real estate his beautiful and wonderful clothes it pleased though it him with a sense of responsibility at the class dinner he had seen poor in a shiny blue business suit being in a comer with three other failures he had gone over and been cordial why young ed i i hear you re writing all the in now bully they recalled the good old days when used to write poetry embarrassed him by say i to think of how we been drifting apart i wish you and mrs would come to some night just let me know and the wife and i want to have you at the house he forgot it but unfortunately ed did not repeatedly be to inviting him to dinner might as well go and get it over groaned to bis wife but don t it simply you the way the poor fish doesn t know the first thing about social etiquette think of him me instead of his wife sitting down and writing us a regular well i guess we re stuck for it that s the trouble with all this class brother he ted s next plaintive invitation for an evening two weeks off a dinner two weeks off even a family dinner never seems so appalling till the two weeks have disappeared and one comes dismayed to the hour they had to change the date because of own dinner to the but at last they gloomily drove out to the in it was miserable from the beginning the had dinner at six thirty while the dined before seven permitted himself to be ten minutes late let s make it as short as possible i think we ll duck out quick i ll say i have to be at the office extra early to morrow he planned the house was it was the second story of a wooden two family dwelling a place of baby carriages old hats hung in the hall smell and a family bible on the parlor table ed and his wife were as awkward and as usual and the other guests were two dreadful families whose names never caught and never desired to catch but he was touched and disconcerted by the way in which praised him we re mighty proud to have old george here to of course you ve all read about hb and in the s and the boy s good looking too eh but what i always think of is back in college and what a great old he was and one oi the best in the class tried to be jovial he worked at it but he could find nothing to interest him in s the of the other guests or the drained stupidity of mrs with her spectacles skin and tight drawn hair he told his best irish story but it sank uke cake most moment of all was when mrs peering out of her fog of nursing eight children and cooking and tried to be i suppose you go to and new york right along mr she well i get to fairly often it must be awfully interesting i suppose you take in all the well to tell the truth mrs thing that me best is a great big at a dutch in the they had nothing more to say was sorry but there was no hope the dinner was a failure at ten rousing out of the stupor of talk he said as cheerily as he could we got to be starting ed i ve got a fellow coming to see me early to morrow as helped him with his coat said nice to rub up on the old we must have lunch together p i q mrs sighed on their drive home it was pretty terrible but how mr does admire poor seems to think i m a little tin and the best looking man in well you re certainly not that but oh you don t suppose we have to invite them to dinner at our house now do we i hope not see here now george	42
you didn t say anything about it to mr did you no honest i didn t just made a bluff about having to lunch some time well oh dear i don t want to hurt their feelings but i don t see how i could stand another evening like this one and suppose somebody like dr and mrs came in when we had the there and thought th were friends of ours for a week they worried we really ought to invite ed and his wife poor devils but as they never saw the they forgot them and after a month or two they said that really was the best way just to let it slide it wouldn t be kind to them to have them here they d feel so out of place and bard up in our home did not speak of the ain i z l chapter xvi the certainty that he was not going to be accepted by the made feel guilty and a little absurd but he went more regularly to the at a chamber of commerce luncheon he was regarding the wickedness of strikes and again he saw himself as a prominent citizen y his clubs and associations were food comfortable to his spirit of a decent man in it was required that he should belong to one two or three of the and pro lunch clubs to the the or the to the red men knights of knights of and other secret orders by a high degree of sound morals and for the constitution there were four reasons for joining these orders it was the thing to do it was good for business since lodge brothers became customers it gave to americans unable to become or such as high worthy and grand to add to the commonplace distinctions of colonel judge and professor and it permitted the american husband to stay away from home for one a week the lodge was his his pavement he could shoot pool and talk man talk and be and was what he a all these reasons the gold and scarlet banner of bis public ments was the background of routine lists of to rent the of and and stimulated him like brandy but eveiy morning he was sandy week by week he accumulated he was in open with bis outside and once though her charms had always kept liim polite to her he at miss for changing his letters but in the presence of paul he relaxed at least once a week they fled from maturity on saturday they played as a you re a or they all sunday afternoon st ing at village to sit on high at a counter and drink coffee from cups sometimes paul came over in the evening with his and even was silent as the lonely man who had lost his way and forever crept down roads spun out his dark soul in mu c nothing gave more and publicly than bis labors for the sunday school his church the road was one of the largest and richest one of the most and in the was the reverend john drew ma d d ll d the ma and the d d were from university the ix d from college he was eloquent and he presided at meetings for the of or the elevation of domestic service and confided to the that as a poor boy he had carried newspapers for the saturday edition of the evening advocate he wrote on the manly man s religion and the dollars and sense value of christianity which were printed in bold type surrounded by a border he often said that he was proud to be known as a business man and that he certainly was not going to permit the old satan to all the and punch he was a thin rustic faced yoimg man with gold spectacles and a bang of dull brown hair but when he hurled himself into he glowed with power he admitted that he was too much the scholar id poet to imitate the monday yet he had once awakened his fold to new life and to larger by the challenge my brethren the real cheap is the man who won t lend to the lord he had made his church a true community it contained everything but a bar it had a nursery a thursday evening supper with a short bright missionary lecture ward a a motion picture show a library of books for young though unfortunately no young workman ever entered the church except to wash the windows or repair the furnace and a sewing circle which made short little for the children of the poor while mrs drew read aloud from earnest novels though dr drew s was his was gracefully as he said it had the most features of those noble monuments of grand old england which stand as of the eternity of faith religious and civil it was built of cheery iron spot brick in an improved style and the main had lifting from electric in lavish on a december morning when the went to church dr john drew was unusually eloquent the crowd was immense ten brisk young in morning coats with roses were bringing folding chairs up from the there was an in musical conducted by of the y m c a who also sang the cared less for this because some person had taught young mr to smile smile smile while he was singing but with all the af of a h tor he it had the intellectual quality which distinguished the road congregation from the on smith street at this abundant harvest time of all the year dr when though stormy the sky and laborious the path to the yet the hovering and spirit back o er all the labors and desires of the past twelve oh then it seems to me there sounds behind all our	42
that always please pay attention just say with god all things are possible whenever you feel discouraged and will you read the next if you d pay attention you wouldn t lose your gigantic bees that in a of started from his open eyed nap thanked the teacher f ff the privilege of listening to her splendid teaching and staggered on to the next circle after two weeks of this he had no suggestions whatever for the reverend dr drew then he discovered a world of sunday school journals an and busy domain of and which were as as practical and forward looking as the real estate columns or the shoe trade magazines he bought half a do n of them at a religious book shop and till after midnight he read them and admired he found many tips on appeals for new members and getting prospects to sign up with the sunday school he particularly liked the word prospects and he was moved by the f the moral springs of the community s life lie in its sunday schools its schools of religious instruction and neglect now means loss of spiritual vigor and moral power in years to come facts like the at followed by a straight arm appeal will reach folks who can be laughed or into doing their part admitted that s so i used to skin out of the sunday school at every chance i got but same time i wouldn t be where i am to day maybe if it hadn t been for its training in in moral power and all about the bible great literature have to read some of it again one of these days how the sunday school could be organized be learned from an article in the westminster bible class the second vice president looks after the fellowship oe the class she chooses a to help her these become every one who comes gets a glad hand no one goes away a stranger one member of the group stands on the and by to come in s most of all appreciated the remarks by william h in the sunday school times if you have a sunday school class without any and get up and go in it that is out interest that is uncertain in attendance that acts like a fellow with the spring fever let old dr write you a invite the bunch for si the sunday school journals were as well rounded as they were practical they neglected none of the arts as to music the sunday school times advertised that c known to thousands through his sacred had written a new entitled yearning for you the poem by harry b is one of the you could ne and the music is beautiful critics are agreed that it will sweep the country may be made into a sacred song by the hymn words i heard the voice of say even manual training was considered noted an ingenious way of the of christ for pupils to make tomb with rolling door use a square covered box turned down pull the cover forward a little to form a at the bottom cut a square door also cut a circle of to more than cover the door cover the circular door and the tomb thickly with stiff mixture of sand flour and water and let it dry it was the heavy circular stone over the door the women found rolled away on morning this is the story we are to tell in their the sunday school journals were thoroughly efficient was interested in a preparation which takes the place of exercise for men by building up nerve the brain and the system he was to learn that the selling of was a and strictly industry and as an expert on he was pleased by the communion company s announcement of an improved and satisfactory throughout including hi ly polished beautiful ny tray this tray all noise is lighter and more easily handled than others and is more in with the furniture of the church than a tray of any other material he ed the pile of sunday school journals he now there s a real world ashamed i sat in more fellow that s an ic in the community shame if he doesn t take part in a real religion sort of christianity you might say but with all reverence i some folks mi t claim these sunday school are un dignified and and so on always some to spring things like that i knocking and and tear ing down so much easier than building up but me i hand it to these magazines they ve brought f into c and that s the to the critics the more manly and practical a fellow is the more he ought to lead the christian life me for it cut out this carelessness and and where the devil you been this is a fine time o night to be coming in i z l chapter xvii these are but three or four old houses in heights and in heights an old house is one which was built before the largest of these is the residence of william washington president of the first state bank the mansion preserves the memory of the nice parts of as they appeared from i to it is a red brick with gray and a roof of slate in courses of red green and yellow there are ii i one with copper the other crowned with the porch is like an open tomb it is by granite pillars above which hang frozen of brick al side of the house is a huge stained glass window in the shape of a but the house has an effect not at all humorous it the heavy dignity of those who ruled the generation between the and the	42
brisk and created a by gaining control of banks mills land mines out of the dozen contradictory which together make up the true and complete none is so powerful and enduring yet none so to the citizens as the small still dry polite cruel of the william and for that tiny the other labor and die most of the castles ot the are gone now or decayed into boarding houses but the mansion remains virtuous and aloof of london back bay square its marble steps are daily the brass plate is reverently polished and the lace curtains are as and as william with a certain awe and called m for a meeting of the sunday school committee with stillness they followed a maid through of tion rooms to the library it was as the library of a solid old banker as s side whiskers were the side whiskers of a solid old banker the books were most of them standard sets with the correct and touch of dim blue dim gold and glossy calf skin the fire was exactly correct and a small quiet steady fire reflected by polished irons the oak desk was dark and old and altogether perfect the chairs were gently s inquiries as to the of mrs miss and the other children were softly paternal but had nothing with which to answer him it was to think of using the how s tricks which gratified and and men who now had seemed successful and and sat and politely did observe opening his thin lips just wide enough to dismiss the words gentlemen before we b n our conference you may have felt the cold in here so good of you to save an old man the journey shall we perhaps have a so well trained was in all the that a good fellow that he almost disgraced himself rather than make trouble and always there ain t any officers hiding in the waste basket the words died choking in his throat he bowed in obedience so did rang for the maid the modem and luxurious had never seen any one ring for a servant in a private house except during meals himself in hotels had rung for bell boys but in the house you didn t hurt s feelings you went out in the hall and shouted for her nor had he since known any one to be casual about drinking it was extraordinary merely to his and not cry oh this me right where i and always with the ecstasy of youth meeting greatness he that little face there why he could make me or break me if he told my banker to call my that quarter sized and looking like he hadn t got a single bit of to i wonder co we throw too many fits about from this thought he shuddered away and listened devoutly to s ideas on the advancement of the sunday school which were very dear and very bad bis own suggestions i think if you the needs of the school in fact going right at it as if it was a problem of course the one and need is growth i presume we re all agreed we won t be till we build up the biggest dam sunday school in the whole state so the road won t have to take anything anybody now about up the campaign for ts they ve already used and given to the that the most members and they made a mistake there the were a lot of and like poetry books and illustrated instead of something a real live kid would want to work for like real cash or a for his course i suppose it s all fine and to illustrate the lessons with these decorated book marks and drawings and so on but when it comes down to real he getting out and up customers or members i mean why you got to make it worth a fellow s while now i want to propose two first divide the sunday school into four armies depending on age everybody gets a military rank in his own army according to how many i he brings in and the that lie down on us da t bring in any they remain the and rank as and everybody has got to e and all the rest of that just like a r make em it s worth while to get rank then second course the school has its committee hut lord nobody ever really works good nobody works well just for the love of it the thing to do is to be practical and up to date and hire a real paid press agent for the sunday school some newspaper fellow who can give part of his time sure you said think of the nice bits he could get in not only the vital facts about how fast the sunday school and the collection is growing but a lot of humorous gossip and about how some fell down on his pledge to get new or the good time the sacred class of girls had at their party and on the side if he had time the press agent might even the lessons themselves do a little for all the sunday schools in town in fact no use being toward the rest of em providing we can keep the on em in he might get the papers to course i haven t got a literary training like here and i m just how the pieces ought to be written but take suppose the week s lesson is about jacob well the press agent might get in something that would have a fine moral and yet with a trick that d get folks to read like fools the old man makes and see how i mean that d get their interest now	42
course mr you re and maybe you feel these would be but honestly i believe they d bring home the bacon folded his hands on his comfortable little and like an aged may i say first that i have been very much pleased by your analysis of the situation mr as you it s necessary in my position to be and perhaps endeavor to maintain a certain standard of dignity yet i think find me somewhat in our bank for example i hope i may say that we have as modem a method of and as any in the city yes i fancy find us quite of the shifting spiritual of the age yes oh yes and so in fact it pleases me to be able to say that though personally i might prefer the of an earlier era finally gathered that was willing suggested as part time press agent one on the advocate times they parted on a high plane of and christian did not drive home but toward the of the city he wished to be by himself and over the beauty of intimacy with william washington a snow evening of ringing and eager lights great golden lights of cars sliding along the packed snow of the li ts of little houses the glare of a distant wiping out the stars lights of neighborhood stores where friends well pleased after the day s work the green light of a police station and radiance on the snow the drama of a wagon beating like a terrified heart the crystal sparkling street driver not a but a policeman proud in uniform another policeman dangling on the step at the back and a glimpse of the prisoner a murderer a a cleverly ed i an enormous church a ri d spire dim li t in the and cheerful of choir the quivering green light of a s then the lights of down town cars with tail lights i te arched to like frosty mouths of electric signs and little dancing men of fire pink and scarlet music in a cheap up stairs dance hall lights of chinese painted with blossoms and with hung against of gold and black small dirty lamps in small the smart with rich and quiet light on crystal and and of polished wood in velvet hung windows high above the street an unexpected square hanging in the darkness the window of an office where some one was working late for a reason unknown and a man in an ambitious boy an oil man suddenly become rich the air was shrewd the snow was deep in all s and beyond the city knew were of snow drift among wintry oaks and the ice enchanted liver he bis city with passionate wonder he lost the accumulated weariness of business wo and he felt young and he was ambitious it was not enough to be a an jones no th re bully singly lovely but they haven t got any no he was going to be an delicately coldly powerful that s the stuff the in the velvet not let anybody get fresh with you been getting careless about my cut it out i was first rate at in college on anyway not bad had too much of this and good fellow stuff i why couldn t i a bank of my own some day and ted succeed he drove happily home and to mrs be vas a will i washington but she did not notice it young on the advocate times was appointed press agent of the road sunday school he gave six hours a week to it at least he was paid for giving six hours a week he had friends on the press and the and he was not known as a press agent he procured a of about and the bible about class jolly but and the value of the prayer life in the sunday school ted s system of military ranks quickened by this spiritual refreshment it had a boom it did not become the largest school in the central church kept ahead of it by methods which dr drew as unfair un american and but it climbed from fourth place to second and there was rejoicing in heaven or at least in that portion of heaven included in the of br while had much praise and good he had received the rank of colonel on the of the school he was pleased by on the street from unknown small boys his ears were to ruddy ecstasy by hearing himself called colonel and if he did not attend sunday school merely to be thus exalted certainly he thought about it all the way there he was particularly pleasant to the press agent be took him to lunch at the and had him at the for dinner like many of the young who about cities in apparent contentment and who express their in was shy and lonely shrewd face with joy at and he mrs if you knew how good it is to have home eats and liked other all they talked about ideas they discovered that they were true th were sensible about it they agreed that all were that this was and while there t to be universal of se great britain ana tbe united oppressed sm ill s keep a navy e q to t he o f all the rest of the but they were so that they predicted to s irritation that would some day be a third party which would give trouble to the and shook hands with three times at parting mentioned his extreme fondness for within a week three presented accounts of s sterling labors for religion and all of them mentioned william washington as his nothing had brought quite so much credit at the the club and the his friends had always congratulated him on his but in their praise	42
was doubt for even in speeches the city there was and like writing poetry but now jones shouted across the dining room here s the new of the first state the eminent of supplies chuckled wonder you mix with common folks after holding s and the was at last willing to discuss buying a house in when the sunday school can was finished suggested to say how about doing a little for drew personally grinned you trust ihe to do a little for himself mr there s hardly a week goes by without his ringing up the paper to say if well chase a up to his study hell let us in on the story about the swell sermon he s going to preach on the wickedness of short skirts or the of the don t you worry about him there s just one better in town and that s this that runs the child welfare and the league and the only reason she s got drew beaten is because she has got some brains i well now i don t think you ou t to talk that way about the doctor a preacher has to watch his interests hasn t he you remember that in the bible about about being in the lord s business or something all ri t get something in if you want me to mr but have to wait till the ng editor is out of town and then the city editor thus it came to pass that in the sunday advocate times under a picture of dr drew at his with eyes alert jaw as granite and rustic lock an inscription a wood twenty four hours immortality the rev dr john drew m a of the beautiful road church in lovely heights is a soul he holds the local record for during his an average of almost a hundred sin weary persons per year have declared their resolve to lead a new life and have found a harbor of refuge and peace everything lips at the road church the are to the top of dr drew is especially keen on good singing bright cheerful hymns are used at every meeting and the special sing services attract lovers of music and from all parts of the city on the popular lecture platform as well as in the pulpit dr drew is a renowned word painter and during the of the year he receives literally scores of speak at varied functions both here and elsewhere let dr drew know that he was fm this tribute dr drew called him and shook his band a great many times during the meetings of the committee bad hinted that be would be charmed to invite to dinner but had murmured so nice of you old man now almost never go out surely would not refuse bis own said to drew say doctor now put this thing over strikes me it s up to the to blow the three of us to a dinner you bet cried dr drew in his way some one had once told him that be talked like the late president and say doctor be sure and get mr to come insist on it it s i think he sticks home too much for his own health came it was a friendly dinner spoke gracefully of the and value of to the community they were he said the of the fold of for the time departed from the topic of sunday and asked about the progress of his business answered modestly almost a few months later when he had a chance to take part in the street s deal did not care to go to bis own bank for a loan it was rather a quiet sort of deal and if it had come out the public might not have understood he went to his friend mr he was welcomed and received the loan as a private venture and they both in their pleasant new association after that went to church regularly t i a spring sunday mornings which were obviously meant for ing he announced to ted i you boy there s no stronger of sound than the church and no better place to make friends help you to gain place in the community than in your own church home i i z l chapter xviii though be saw them twice daily though he knew and amply discussed every detail of their yet for weeks together was no more conscious of bis children than of the buttons on his coat sleeves the admiration of made him aware of she had become secretary to mr of the leather company she did her work with the of a mind which details and quite understands them but she was one of the people who give an impression of being on the point of doing something desperate of leaving a job or a husband without ever doing it was so hopeful about s that be became the playful parent when he returned from the he peered into the living room and has our been here to night he never s protest why ken and i are just good friends and we only talk about ideas i won t have all this nonsense that would spoil everything it was ted who most worried with conditions in latin and english but with a triumphant record in manual training basket ball and the organization of dances ted was struggling through his senior year in the east side high school at home he was interested only when he was asked to trace some subtle ill in the of the car he repeated to his tut father that he did not wish to go to college or law school and was equally disturbed by this and by ted s relations with little next door though she was the daughter of that fact mill that horse	42
faced priest of private was a in the sun she danced into the house she flung herself into s lap when he was reading she his paper and laughed at him when he e that he hated a er as he hated a broken contract she was seventeen now her ambition was to be a she did not merely attend the showing of every feature she also read the motion picture magazines those extraordinary symptoms of the age of and illustrated with portraits of young women who had recently been girls not very skilful girls and who unless their every had been arranged by a could not have acted in the of the central magazines quite seriously in with pictures of riding breeches and the views on and politics of beautiful suspiciously beautiful young men the plots of about pure and kind hearted train robbers and giving directions for making into celebrated authors these authorities studied she could she frequently did tell whether it was in november or december that the renowned screen and began his public career as chorus man in oh you naughty on the wall of her room her father reported she had pinned up twenty one photographs of actors but the signed portrait of the most graceful of the heroes she carried in her young bosom was bewildered by this worship of new gods and he su that smoked he the from iq stairs and beard her with ted he never inquired the agreeable child dismayed him her thin and face was sharpened by hair her l skirts were short her stockings were rolled and as she i after ted above the caressing silk were q es of soft knees which made uneasy and wretched that she i should consider him old sometimes in the veiled life of his dreams when the fairy d came to him she took on the semblance of ted was mad as was mad a thousand sarcastic did not check his for a car of his own however he might be about early rising and the of he was in with three other boys he bought a ford built an amazing body out of tin and pine round comers in the craft and sold it at a profit gave him a and every saturday afternoon with seven and a bottle of in his pockets and perched on the seat he went roaring os to distant towns usually and he merely and with a wholesome and violent lack of delicacy but now and then after the color and scent of a dance th were silent together and a little and was worried was an age father he was affectionate ignorant and rather wistful like most parents be enjoyed the game of waiting till the victim was clearly wrong then he justified himself by well ted s mother spoils him got to be somebody who tells him what s what and me i m elected the goat because i try to bring him up to be a real human being and not one of these and of course they all call me a throughout with the eternal human genius for arriving by the worst possible at tolerable bi tt loved his son and wan ned to his n p i w i h i f t or mm if e could have been ted was planning a party for his set in the senior class meant to be and jolly about it from his memory of high school pleasures back in he suggested the games going to boston and with for and word games in v you were an or a quality when he was most enthusiastic he discovered tliat they weren t paying attention they wo e only him as for the party it was as fixed and as a union club hop there was to be dancing in the living room a noble in the dining ro n and in the hall two tables of bridge for what ted called the poor old dumb that you can t get to dance hardly more n half the time every breakfast was by on the no one listened to s about the f weather or to his throat clearing comments on the he said furiously if i may be permitted to your private conversation hear what i said oh don t be a spoiled ted and have just as much right to talk as you mrs on the night of the party he was permitted to look on when he was not helping with the ice cream and the he was deeply eight years ago when v had a high school party the children had been now they were men and women of the world very men and women the boys condescended to they wore evening clothes and with they accepted from silver cases bad beard stories of what the club called on at parties of girls their in the of and and a te in what was as to tiie stories these children to bim and cold the girls wore misty coral velvet or cloth of gold and around their dipping hair were shining wreaths he had it upon urgent and secret inquiry that no were known to be iq stairs but certainly these eager bodies were not stiff with steel their stockings were of silk their slippers costly and unnatural their lips and their eyebrows they danced to with the boys and with apprehension and unconscious envy worst of them all was and of all the boys was ted was a flying demon she slid the length of the room her tender shoulders swayed her feet were as a s she laughed and to dance with her then be discovered the to the par the boys and disappeared occasionally and be remembered of their drinking together from hip pocket he round the house and in each of the dozen cars waiting in the street	42
he saw the points of light from from each of them heard high gi es he wanted to them but standing in the snow peering the dark comer be did not dare he tried to be when he had returned to the front hall he the boys say if any of you are thirsty there s some ale oh i thanks they condescended he sought his wife in the and exploded i d like to go in there and throw some of those young out of the house i they talk down to me like i was the butler i d like to i know she si ed only says all the tell me unless you stand for them if you get angry because they go out to their cars to have a drink they won t come to your house any more and we wouldn t want ted left out of things would we he a that he would be e to ted left out of and in tn polite le t ted be left out but he resolved if he found that the boys were drinking he would well he d hand em something tliat would sur em while he was trying to be agreeable to young he was earnestly at them twice he caught the of time but then it was only twice dr in he had come in a mood of solemn parental patronage to look on ted and were dancing moving together like one body gasped he called was a whispered and explained to that s mother had a headache and needed her she went oft in tears looked after them furiously that little getting ted into trouble and little the conceited old gas bag acting like it was ted that was the bad later he on ted s breath after the civil farewell to the guests the row was terrific a thorough family scene like an and without thundered mrs w t ted was defiant and in confusion as to whose side she was taking for several months there was coolness between the and the each family their lamb from the wolf next door and still spoke in periods about and the but they kept away from mention of their families whenever came to the house she discussed with intimacy the fact that she had been to come to the house and tried with no success whatever to be and with bet m all i ted to as they hot of and an of nuts in the of the royal store it gets me why doesn t just pass out from being so eveiy evening he sits there about half asleep and if or i say oh come on let s do something he doesn t even take the trouble to think about it he just and says this suits me right here he doesn t know there s any fun going on anywhere i suppose he must do some thinking same as you and i do but there s no way of telling it i don t believe that outside of the office and playing a little bum on saturday he knows there s anything in the world to do except just keep sitting there sitting there every night not wanting to go an not wanting to do anything thinking us are sitting there if he was frightened by ted s was not sufficiently frightened she was too safe she lived too much in the neat room of her mind and she were always under foot when they were not at home conducting their cautiously radical courtship over sheets of they were off to lectures y authors and philosophers and to his wife as they walked home from the bridge party it gets me how and that fellow can be so they sit there night after night whenever he isn t working and don t know there s any fun in the all talk and discussion sitting there sitting there night alter night not wanting to do anything i m crazy because i like to go out and play a fist of cards sitting there thai round the bored by ling through the perpetual surf of family life new swelled s father and mother in law mr and mrs t their old house in the district and moved to the hotel that boarding filled with red furniture and the sound of they were lonely there and every other sunday evening the had to dine with them on chicken discouraged and ice cream and afterward sit polite and restrained in the hotel while a young woman played songs from the german then s own mother came down from to spend three weeks she was a kind woman and she congratulated the v on a nice loyal home body without all these ideas that so many seem to have nowadays and when ted filled the with out of pure love of and she rejoiced that he was so handy around the house and helping his father and all and not going out with the girls all the time and trying to pretend he was a society fellow loved his mother and sometimes he rather her but be was annoyed by her christian patience and he was reduced to when she about a quite hero called your father you won t remember it you were such a little fellow at the time my i remember just how you looked that day with your brown curls and your lace collar you always were such a dainty child and kind of and sickly and you loved pretty so much and the red on your little and all and your father was taking us to church and a man stopped us and said major so many of the neighbors used to call your father major of course he was only a	42
private in the war but everybody knew that was because of the jealousy of his captain and he ought to have been a high officer he had that natural ability to command that so very very few men have and this m an came out into the road and held up bis hand and stopped the and said major be said there s a lot of the around here that have decided to su rt colonel for and we want you to join us meeting people the way you do in the store you could help us a lot well your father just looked at him and said i c shall do nothing of the sort i don t like his politics be said well the man captain smith th used to call him and heaven only knows why because be hadn t the shadow or of a right to be called captain or any other title this captain smith said well make it hot for you if you don t stick by your friends major well you know bow your father was and this smith knew it too he knew what a real man he was and he knew your father knew the political situation from a to z and he ought to have seen that here was one man he couldn t impose on but he went on trying to and and trying till your father spoke up and said to him captain smith he said i have a reputation around these parts for being one who is amply qualified to mind hb own business and let other folks mind and with that be drove on and left the fellow standing there in the road like a on a log was most exasperated when she revealed his boyhood to the children he had it seemed been fond of had worn the loveliest little pink bow in his curls and his own name to he heard though he did not hear ted come on now kid stick the lovely pink bow in your curls and beat it down to breakfast or will jaw your head off s half brother martin with his wife and youngest baby came down from for two days martin bred cattle and ran the dusty general store he was proud of being a american of the good old yankee stock he was proud of being honest blunt ugly and disagreeable his favorite remark was how much did you pay for that he regarded s books s silver pencil and flowers on the table as and said so would have with him but for his wife and the baby whom and fingers at and addressed i think this baby s a bum yes sir i think this little baby s a bum he s a hum yes sir he s a bum that s what he is he s a bum this baby s a bum he s nothing but an old bum that s he is a bum into a aged eleven was demanding that she be wed to go to t he p a t the ed i m ck pf having to three generations damn me in g t o m i m in r n an r t to p t f ra me on me a nt j p it and ip from ni body and to ke it up for good lord how long he enjoyed being sick in february he was delighted by their consternation that he the rock should give way he had eaten a questionable dam for two days he was and and esteemed he was allowed to oh let me without he lay on the sleeping porch and watched the winter sun slide along the curtains turning their ruddy to pale blood red the shadow of the draw rope was dense black in an ripple on the canvas he found pleasure in the curve of it sighed as the fading light it he was conscious of life and a little sad with no before whom i to set his face in resolute he beheld and half admitted that he beheld his way of life as mechanical mechanical s a brisk selling of badly built houses mechanical religion a dry hard church shut off from the real life respectable as a top hat f and dinner pa a nd bridge and c save i l friend back ash to essay the test ot he turned uneasily in bed he saw the years the brilliant winter days and all the long sweet which were meant for meadows lost in such he thought of about of men he of making business and waiting in dirty hat oo knee yawning at fly being polite to office boys i don t hardly want to go back to work he prayed i d like to i don t know but he was back next day busy and of doubtful temper chapter xix the street company planned to build air shops in the of but when they came to buy the land they found it held on by the company the agent the first vice president and even the president of the company protested against the price they mentioned their duty toward they threatened an appeal to the courts though somehow the appeal to the courts was never carried out and the officials found it wiser to compromise with copies of the correspondence are in the company s where they may be viewed by any public com just after this deposited three thousand dollars in the bank the agent of the street company bought a five thousand dollar car the first vice president built a home in woods and the president was appointed minister to a foreign country to obtain the to tie up one man s land without letting his neighbor know had been an unusual strain on	42
it was necessary to introduce about planning and stores to pretend that he wasn t taking any more to wait and look as bored as a player at a time when the failure to secure a key lot threatened his whole plan to all this was added a nerve quarrel with his secret associates in the deal they did not wish and to have any share in the deal except as rather agreed of the business ought to strictly represent his principles and not get in on the buying he said to s rats i m going to see that bunch of holy get away with the and us not in old henry well i don t to do it kind of double crossing it ain t it s triple crossing it s the public that gets double crossed well now we ve been and got it out of our systems the question b where we can raise a loan to handle some of the for ourselves on the q t we can t go to our bank for it might come out i could see old he s close as the tomb that s the stuff was glad he said to invest in character to make the loan and see to it that the loan did not appear on the books of the bank thus certain of the which and obtained were on of real estate which they themselves owned though the property did not appear in their names in the midst of closing this splendid deal which business and public confidence by giving an example of increased real estate activity was overwhelmed to find that he had a person working for him the one was the outside for some time had been worried about he did not his word to tenants in order to rent a house he would promise which the owner had not it was suspected that be of furnished so that when the tenant left he had to pay for articles which had never been in the house and the price of which put into his pocket had not been able to prove these suspicions and though he bad rather planned to discharge he had never quite found time for it now into s private room charged a red faced man panting look here i ve come to raise m ry hell and unless you have that fellow pinched i what s calm down o man what s trouble here s the sit down and take it easy they can hear you all over the this fellow you got working for you he me a i was in yesterday and signs the lease all o k and be was to get the owner s signature and mail me the lease last night well and he did this morning i comes down to breakfast and the girl says a fellow had come to the house right after the early delivery and told her he wanted an envelope that bad been by mistake big long envelope with in the comer of it sure enough there it was so she lets him have it and she describes the fellow to me and it was this so i to him and he the poor fool he admits it he says my lease was all signed he got a better from another fellow and he wanted my lease back now what you going to do about it your name is william w k oh yes that was the garrison house sounded the when miss came in he demanded gone out yes sir you look through his desk and see if there is a lease made out to mr on the garrison house to can t tell you how i am this happened needless to say fire the minute he comes in and of course your lease stands but there s one other thing i d like to do i ll tell the owner not to pay us the commission but apply it to your rent no straight i want to to be frank this thing shakes me up bad i suppose i ve always been a practical business man probably i ve told one or two fairy stories in my time when the occasion called for it you know sometimes you have to lay things on thick to impress but this is the first time i ve ever had to accuse one of my own of anything more than pinch ing a few honest it would hurt me if we ted by it so let me band you the commission he walked through the february city up a of and the sky was dark above dark brick he came back miserable he who the law had broken it by concealing the crime of of the but he could not see go to jail and his wife suffer worse he had to discharge and this was a part of office routine which he feared he liked people so much he so much wanted them to like him that he could not bear insulting them miss dashed in to whisper with the of an approaching scene he s here mr ask him to come in he tried to make himself heavy and calm in his chair to ke his eyes stalked in a man of thirty five e with a want me said yes sit down continued to stand i that old nut has been in to see you let me explain about him he s a regular and he sticks out for every cent and he practically lied to me about his ability to pay the i found that out just after we signed up and then fellow comes along with a better offer for the and i felt it was my duty to the firm to get rid of and i was so worried about it i up there and got back the lease honest	42
mr i didn t intend to pull anything crooked just wanted the firm to have all the wait now this may all be true but i ve been having a lot of complaints about you now i don t s you ever mean to do wrong and i think if you just get a good lesson you up a little turn out a yet but i don t see how i can keep you on leaned against the cabinet his hands in his pockets and laughed so i m well old vision and i m to but i don t want you to think you can get away with any than thou stuff sure i ve some raw a little of it but how could i help it in this office now by god young man tut tut keep the naughty temper down and don t because everybody in the outside office will hear you they re probably listening ri t now old dear you re crooked in the first place and a damn in the second if you paid me a decent salary i wouldn t have to steal off a blind man to keep my wife from starving us married just five months and her the girl living and you us flat broke all the time you damned old thief so you can put money away for your of a son and your fool of a daughter wait you ll by god take it or i ll so the whole office will hear it and crooked say if i told the attorney what i know about this last street steal both you and me would go to jail along with some nice clean pious high up guns i well looks like we were coming down to cases that deal there was nothing crooked about it the only way you can get progress is for the broad men to get things done and th got to be rewarded oh for s sake don t get virtuous on me as i gather it i m fired all ri t it s a good thing for me and if i catch you knocking me to any other firm hi all i know about you and henry t and the dirty little that you of industry pull off for the bigger and and get chased out of town and me you re right i ve been going crooked but now i m going straight and the first step will be to get a job in some office the doesn t talk about bad luck old dear and you can stick your job up the sat for a long time alternately raging have him arrested and yearning i wonder no i ve never done anything that wasn t necessary to keep the wheels of progress moving day he hired in s place the of his most injurious rival the east side homes and ment and thus at once annoyed his and acquired an excellent man young was a merry playing he made welcome to the office thought of him as a son and in him had much an abandoned race track on the outskirts of a dot excellent for factory was to be sold and asked to bid on it for him the strain of the street deal and his disappointment in had so shaken that he found it hard to sit at his desk and he proposed to his look here folks do you know who s going to trot up to for a couple of days just week end won t lose but one day of school know who s going with that celebrated business george f why mr ted shouted and oh maybe the men won t paint that town red and once away from the familiar of home they were two men together ted was young only in his of and the only apparently in which had a larger and more grown up knowledge than ted s were the details of real estate and the phrases of politics when the other of the had left them to themselves s voice did not drop into the playful and otherwise offensive tone in which one addresses children but continued its and monotonous and ted tried to imitate it in his tenor you certainly did show up that poor boot when he got about the league of well the trouble with a lot of these fellows is they simply don t know what they re talking about they don t get down to facts what do you think of ken ill tell you it strikes me ken is a nice lad no special faults except he too much but slow lord why if we don t give him a the poor dumb bell never will and just as bad slow yes i guess you re right they re slow they haven t either one of em got our that s right th f re slow i swear i don t know how got into our bet if the truth were known you were a bad old egg when you were a kid i wasn t so bet you weren t ill bet you didn t miss many tricks well when i was out with the girls i didn t spend all the time telling em about the strike in the knitting industry they roared together and together lighted cigars what are we going to do with em consulted i don t know i swear sometimes i feel like taking ken aside and putting him over the and saying to him young me lad are you going to marry young or are you going to talk her to death here you are getting on toward thirty and you re only making twenty or twenty five a week when you going to develop a sense of responsibility and get a raise if there	42
s anything that george f or i can do to help you call on us but show a little speed anyway well at that it might not be so bad if you or i talked to him t he might not understand he s one of these he can t come down to cases and lay his cards on the table and talk straight out from the shoulder like you or i that s right he s like all these that s so like all of em that s a fact th sighed and were silent and thoughtful and h the conductor came in he had once called at s office to ask about houses h are you mr we going to have you with us to this your boy yes this is my son ted well now what do you know about here i been thinking you were a yourself not a day over forty hardly and you with this great big forty why brother i ll never see forty five again is that a fact wouldn t hardly a t it yes sir it s a bad give away for the old man when he has to travel with a young whale like ted here you re right it is to ted suppose you re in college now proudly no not till next fall i m just kind of living the rent the once over now as the conductor went on way huge watch chain against his blue chest and ted gravely considered they arrived at late at ni t they lay in the morning rejoicing pretty nice not to have to get up and get down to breakfast they were staying at the modest hotel because business j always stayed at the but they had dinner in the and crystal room of the hotel ordered blue point with a tremendous with a tremendous of french potatoes two pots of coffee apple pie with ice cream both of and for ted an extra piece of pie r i z i hot some feed young ted admired you stick around witli me old man and you a good they went to a musical comedy and each other at the matrimonial jokes and the jokes they the arm in arm between acts and in the glee of his first release from the shame which fathers and sons ted chuckled did you ever hear the one about the three and the judge when ted had returned to was lonely as he was trying to make alliance between and certain interests wanted the race track plot most of his time was taken up in waiting for calls sitting on the edge of his bed holding the asking wearily mr not in yet didn he leave any message for me all right i ll hold the wire staring at a stain on the wall reflecting that it resembled a shoe and being bored ty this twentieth discovery that it resembled a shoe lighting a then bound to the with no tray in reach wondering what to do with this burning men and anxiously trying to toss it into the at last on the no message eh all right call again f one afternoon he wandered through snow ge s of which be had never heard streets of small houses and cottages it bim that he had nothing to do that there was wanted to do he was lonely in the evening en he dined by himself at the hotel he sat in afterward in a chair with the arms lighting a cigar and looking for some one vo would come and play with him and save him from in the chair next to him showing the arms of u wag a half familiar man a large red faced man with pop eyes and a deficient yellow he seemed kind and insignificant and as lonely as himself he wore a suit and a reluctant orange tie it came to with a crash the melancholy stranger was sir instinctively rose how re you sir member we met in at s s my name real estate oh how d you do sir shook hands embarrassed standing wondering how he retreat well i you been having a great trip since we saw you in quite british and and all over the place he said doubtfully looking at how did you find business conditions in british v or i i pose maybe you didn t look into em scenery and and so on v scenery oh capital but business conditions you mr re having almost as much as we are sir was speaking warmly now so business conditions not so good eh business conditions weren t at all what i d hoped to them eh no no not really good that s a shame well i suppose you re waiting for somebody o take you out to some big sir oh no to tell you the truth i was wondering what i could do this evening don t know a soul in n i wonder if you h pen to know whether there s a good in this city good why say they re ing grand opera right i guess maybe you d like that eh eh went to the opera once in london garden sort of thing shocking no i was if there was a good was sitting down his chair over shouting say sir i supposed of course you had a of waiting to lead you out to some god forbid but if you haven t what do you say you and me go to a there s a of a at the bill in a picture right o just a moment while i get my coat swollen with greatness slightly afraid lest the noble blood of change its mind and leave him at any street corner with sir to the palace and in silent bliss sat beside	42
kings against of gilded oak he enjoyed the crowd pretty women good solid fellows who were liberal he gasped he stared and turned away and stared again three tables off with a doubtful sort of woman a woman at once and withered was paul and paul was supposed to be in selling tar the woman was tapping his hand at him and giving felt that he had encountered something involved and paul was talking with the eagerness of a man who is telling his troubles he was concentrated on the woman s faded eyes once he held her hand and once blind to the other guests he his lips as though he was pretending to kiss her had so strong an impulse to go to paul that he could feel his body his shoulders moving but he felt desperately that he must be and not till he saw paul paying the check did he to the piano by friend of mine there me just say to him he touched paul s shoulder and cried well when did you hit town paul glared up at him face oh george thought you d gone back to he did not introduce his companion pe ed at her she was a pretty weakly woman of forty two or three in an hat her was thorough but where you staying the woman turned yawned examined her she seemed accustomed to not b g introduced paul grumbled inn on the south side alone it sounded furiously paul turned toward the woman smiling with a fondness sickening to want to introduce you mrs this is my old acquaintance george growled while she oh i m very pleased to meet any friend of mr s i m sure demanded be back there later this evening paul i ll drop down and see you no better we better lunch together to morrow all r t but i ll see you to night too paul ill go down to your hotel and wait for r i i chapter xx he sat smoking with the piano clinging to the warm refuge of gossip afraid to venture into thoughts of paul he was the more on the surface as secretly be became more apprehensive felt more hollow he was certain that paul was in without s knowledge and that he was doing things not at all moral and secure when the yawned that he had to write up his orders left him left the hotel in leisurely calm but savagely he said inn to the driver he sat agitated on the slippery leather seat in that chill which of dust and perfume and he did not heed the snowy lake the dark and bright comers in the unknown land south of the the office of the inn was hard bright new the night clerk harder and brighter y he said to mr paul here is he in now then if give me his key wait for him can t do that brother wait down here if you had spoken with the deference which all the of good fellows give to hotel clerks now he said with i may have to wait some time i m s brother ill go up to his room d i look like a thief his voice was low and not pleasant with considerable haste the clerk took down the key protesting i never said you looked like a thief just rules of the hotel but if you want to on his way up in the wondered why he was here why shouldn t paul be dining with a married woman why had he lied to the clerk about being paul s brother in law he had acted like a child he must be careful not to say foolish dramatic things to paul as he settled down he tried to look and placid then the thought suicide he d been that without knowing it paul would be just the person to do something like that he must be out of his head or he wouldn t be confiding in that that dried up oh damn how gladly he d that of a woman she d probably succeeded at last and driven paul crazy suicide out there in the lake way out beyond the piled ice along the shore it would be ghastly cold to drop into the water to night or throat cut in the flung into paul s it was empty he smiled feebly he pulled at his choking collar looked at his watch opened the window to stare down at the street looked at his watch tried to read the evening paper lying on the glass tc looked again at his watch three minutes had gone by since he had first looked at it and he waited for three hours he was sitting fixed chilled when the turned paul came in paul said been waiting little while well well what just thought i d drop in to see bow you made out in i did all right what difference does it make why paul what are you sore about what are you my affairs for why paul that s no way to talk i m not into nothing was so glad to see your ugly old that i just dropped in to say well i m not going to have anybody following me around and trying to me i ve had all of that i m going to well i m not i didn t like the way you looked at may or the way you talked well all right then if you think i m a then i ll just butt i don t know who your may is but i know good and well that you and her weren t talking about tar ng no nor about playing the if you haven t got any moral consideration for yourself you ought to	42
have some for your position in the community the idea of your going around places into a female s eyes like a love sick i can understand a fellow slipping once but i don t pr se to see a fellow that s been as with me as you have getting started on the downward path and os from his wife even as a one as to go woman chasing oh you re a perfectly moral little husband i am by god i ve never looked at any woman except since i ve been married practically and i never will i tell you there s nothing to it don t pay can t you see old man it just makes still t of resolution as he was of body paul threw his on the and crouched on a cane chair oh you re an old and you know less about morality than but you re all right but you can t that i m through i can t go s any longer she s made up her mind that i m a devil and lar torture she it it s a game to see how sore she can make me and me either it s find a little comfort any comfort anywhere or else do something a lot worse now this mrs she s not so young but she s a fine woman and she understands a fellow and she s had her own troubles i suppose she s one of these whose husband doesn t understand her l i don t know maybe he was killed in the war up stood beside paul patting his shoulder making soft noises honest george she s a fine woman and she s had one hell of a time we manage to jolly each other up a lot we tell each other we re the pair on earth maybe we don t it but it helps a lot to have somebody with whom you can be perfectly simple and not all this discussing and that s as far as you go it is not go say well i don t can t say i like it with a burst which left him feeling large and shining with generosity it s none of my business ill do anything i can for you if there s anything i can do there might be i judge from s letters that ve been forwarded from that she s getting suspicious about my staying away so long she d be perfectly capable of having me and of coming to and into a hotel dining room and me out before everybody i ll take care of ill hand her a good fairy story when i get back to i don t i don t think you better try it you re a good fellow but i don t know that is your strong point looked hurt then irritated i mean with with women i mean course they got to go some to beat you in business but i just mean with women may do a lot of rough talking but she s pretty shrewd she d have the story out of you in no time well all right was still pathetic at not being allowed to play secret agent paul soothed course maybe you mi t tell her you d in and i me there why sure you bet don t i have to go look at that property in don t i ain t it a shame i have to stop os there when i m so anxious to get home ain t it a regular shame i ll say it is say it s a do one shame fine but for glory s sake don t go putting any fancy fixing on the story when men lie they always try to make it too artistic and that s why women get su and let s have a drink i ve got some gin and a little the paul who a second took a second now and a third he became red eyed and he was and in the found tears crowding into his eyes he had not told paul of his plan but he did stop at between trains for the one purpose of sending to a with had to come here for the day ran into paul in he called on her if for public appearances was over over painted and resolutely for private misery she wore a filthy blue dressing gown and torn stockings thrust into pink satin her face was sunken she seemed to have but half as much hair as t and that half was she sat in a amid a of boxes and cheap magazines and she sounded when she did not sound but was ly well well old dear having a good loaf while away that s the idea i ll bet a hat never got up till ten while i was in say could i borrow your just dropped in to see if i could borrow your bottle we re going to have party want to take some coffee oh did you get my card from saying i d run into paul yes what was he doing how do you mean he his overcoat sat on the arm of a chair you know how i mean the pages of a magazine with an irritable clatter i suppose he was trying to make love to some hotel or girl or somebody hang it you re always letting on that paul goes round chasing skirts he doesn t in the first place and if he did it would be because you keep at him and at him so much i hadn t meant to but since paul is away in he really is in i know he has some horrible woman that he writes to in didn t i tell you i	42
the leading of the bird of paradise company playing this week at the and the mayor of the hon thundered when we manage to this celebrated off his lovely of beautiful and i got to admit i right into his and told him how the appreciated the high class artistic performance he s giving us and don t forget that the of the is a and will appreciate our patronage and when on top of that we out of his duties at city hall then i fed we ve done ourselves proud and mr will now say a few words about the problems and duties by rising vote the decided which was the and which the guest and to each of them was given a of president noted by brother h g the avenue each week in four were privileged to obtain the pleasures of generosity and of by goods or services to four fellow members chosen by lot there o was laughter this week when it was announced that one of the was joy the everybody i can think of a good to be buried if his is a free funeral through all these the were on chicken peas potatoes coffee apple pie and american cheese did not lump the presently he called on the visiting secretary of the club a rival organization the secretary had the distinction of possessing state car license number the secretary admitted that he drove in the state so low a number created a sensation and though it was pretty nice to have the honor yet traffic remembered it only too dam well and sometimes he didn t know but what he d almost as soon have just plain or something like that only let any try to get number away from a live next year and watch the fur and if they d permit him he d wind up by calling for a cheer for the and and the all together i sighed to professor be pretty nice to have as low a number as everybody d say he must be an important wonder how he got it ill bet he and dined the of the license to a f are you well addressed them some of you may feel that it s out of place here to talk on a strictly and artistic subject but i want to come out and ask you boys to o k the proposition of a for now who e a lot of you make your mistake is in assuming that if you don t like classical music and all that you ought to oppose it now i want to confess that though i m a literary by profession i don t care a rap for all this long haired music i d to a good band any time than to some piece by that hasn t any more tune to it than a bunch of fighting cats and you couldn t whistle it to save your but that isn t the point culture has become as necessary an and advertisement for a city to day as or bank it s culture in and art galleries and so on that brings thousands of visitors to new york every year and to be frank for all splendid we haven t yet got the culture of a new york or or boston or at least we don t get the credit for it the thing to do then as a live bunch of go is to to go right out and it pictures and books are fine for those that have the time to study em but they don t shoot out on the road and this is what little old can put up in the way of culture that s precisely what a does do look at the credit and get an with first class and a swell conductor and i believe we ought to do the thing up brown and get one of the highest paid on the market providing be ain t a hun it goes right into and new york and washington it plays at the best to the most and people it such class as a town can get in no other way and the who is so short sighted as to this proposition is passing the chance to impress the glorious name of on some big new york that might that might establish a branch factory i could also go into the fact that for our daughters who show an interest in music and may want to teach it having an ai local organization is of great benefit but let s keep this on a practical basis and i call on you good brothers to it up for culture and a world beating they applauded d l to a rustle of president proclaimed we will now proceed to the annual election of for each of the six offices three had been chosen by a committee the second among the for vice president was s he was surprised he looked self conscious his heart he was still more agitated when the counted and said it s a pleasure to announce that will be the next assistant i know of no man who stands more for and enterprise than good old george come on let s give him our best long as they a hundred men crushed in to slap his back he bad never known a higher moment he drove away in a of wonder he into his office to miss well i guess you better congratulate your been elected vice president of the he was disappointed she answered only yes oh mrs s been trying to get you on the but the new said by chief say that s great that s perfectly i m to death congratulations called the house and to his wife heard you were trying to get me	42
say you got to hand it to little this time better talk careful you are now addressing the vice president of the oh v pretty nice is the new president but when he s away little takes the and em and the no matter if they re the governor himself and listen it puts him in solid with big men like and george paul ii i yes sure paul and let turn know about it ti t away listen paul s to jail he shot his wife he shot this noon she may not live i z l chapter xxii he drove to the city not blindly but with unusual care at corners the of an old woman plants it kept bim from facing the of fate the attendant said you can t see any of the prisoners till three thirty hour it was three for half an hour sat looking at a and a clock on a wall the chair was hard and mean and people went through the office and he thought stared at him he felt a it d ance which broke into a of thb machine which was grinding paul paul exactly at half past three he sent in his name the attendant returned with says he don t want to see you you re you didn t give him my tell him it s george wants to see him george i told him all ri t all he said he want to see you then take me in anyway nothing doing if you ain t his lawyer if he don t want to see you that s all there is to it but my god say let me see the he s busy come on now you reared over him the attendant hastily to a you can come back and try to morrow probably the poor is off his nut drove not at all carefully or sliding past the s curses to the city hall he stopped with a grind of wheels against the and ran up the marble steps to the office of the hon mr the mayor he the mayor s with a dollar he was instantly inside demanding you remember me mr vice president of the for you say have you heard about poor well i want an order on the or whatever you call um of the city prison to take me back and see him good thanks in fifteen minutes he was down the prison corridor to a cage paul sat on a cot twisted like an old beggar legs crossed arms in a knot biting at his clenched fist paul looked up as the keeper the cell admitted and left them he spoke slowly go be on the couch beside him i m not going to be i don t care what happened i just want to do anything i can i m glad got what was coming to her paul said now don t go jumping on i ve been thinking maybe she hasn t had any too easy a time just after i shot her i didn t hardly mean to but she got to me so i went crazy just for a second and pulled out that old revolver you and i used to shoot with and took a crack at her didn t hardly mean to after that when i was trying to stop the blood it was terrible what it did to her shoulder and she had beautiful skin maybe she won t die i hope it won t leave her skin all but just afterward when i was through the for some cotton to stop the blood i ran a httle yellow duck we hung on the tree one christmas and i remembered she and i d been awfully happy then hell i can t hardly believe it s me here as s arm ti about bis shoulder paul sighed i m glad you came but i thought maybe you d lecture me and when you ve com a murder and been brought here and there was a big crowd outside the e house all staring and the took me through it oh i m not going to talk about it any more but he went on in a monotonous t ri ed insane to t him said why you got a on your yes that s where the hit me i get a lot of fun out of too he was a big fellow and they wouldn t let me help down to the paul quit it listen she won t die and when it s all o ver you and i ll go off to again and maybe we can get that may to go along ill go up to and ask her good woman by and afterwards see that you get started in business out west somewhere maybe they say that s a lovely city paul was half smiling it was who now he could not tell whether paul was but he on till the coming of paul s lawyer p j a thin busy man who nodded at and hinted if and i could be alone for a moment wrung paul s hands and waited in the office till came out look old man what can i do he begged nothing not a thing not just now said sorry got to hurry and don t try to see him i ve bad the doctor give him a shot of so he ll sleep it seemed somehow wicked to return to the office felt as though he had just come from a funeral he drifted out to the city hospital to inquire about she was not likely to die he learned the bullet from paul s huge old army revolver had smashed her shoulder and torn upward and	42
they were famous ones too did not seem to care about telling good story which would enable a fellow to forget his troubles he sighed he noted a book the three black by joseph ah that was something like it it would be an adventure story maybe about up on the old house at night he tucked the book under his arm he down stairs and solemnly began to read under the piano lamp a twilight like blue dust into the shallow fold of the thickly wooded hills it was early october but a frost had already stamped the trees with gold the spanish oaks were hung with patches of wine red the was brilliant in the darkening a pattern of wild flying low and above the hills wavered against the serene evening penny standing in the comparative clearing of a road decided that the shifting regular flight would not come close enough for a shot he had no intention of hunting the with the ing of day his had an habitual indifference strengthened him there it was again discontent with the good common ways laid down the book and listened to the stillness the inner doors of the house were open he heard from the kitchen the steady of the a demanding and he to the window the summer evening was and seen through the wire screen the street lamps were crosses of pale fire the whole world was while be and ted in and went up to bed silence in the sleeping he put on his hat bis lighted a cigar and walked and down before the house a worthy figure humming silver threads among the gold he casually ed might call up paul then he he saw paul in a s uniform but while he he didn t believe the tale it was part of the of this evening if she were here would be isn t it late george he in forlorn and freedom fog hid the house now the world was a chaos without turmoil or desire through the mist came a man at so feverish a pace that he seemed to dance with fury as he entered the of glow from a street at each step he his stick and t it down with a crash his glasses on their broad ribbon against bis stomach saw that it was stopped his vision and spoke with gravity there s another fool george lives for who i am i m traitor to poetry i m drunk i m talking too much i don t care know what i could ve been i could ve been a field or a james maybe a i could ve to this just made it up glittering noise of and and respectable boys hear that i made that up don t know what it beginning good verse s garden and write cheer up poems all could have too late he darted on with an alarming plunge seeming always to pitch forward yet never quite falling would have been no more astonished and no i s bad a ghost out of the fog carrying his head he with vast he poor and forgot him he into the house deliberately went to the and it when mrs was at home this was one of the major household crimes he stood before the covered eating a chicken leg and half a of and grumbling over a cold boiled he was thinking it was coming to him that perhaps all life as he knew it and vigorously practised it was futile that heaven as by the reverend dr john drew was neither probable nor very interesting that he hadn t much pleasure out of making money that it was of doubtful i worth to rear children merely that they might rear children who would rear children what was it all about what did he want he into the living room lay on the hands behind his head what did he want wealth social position travel servants yes but only incidentally i give it up he sighed but he d id know that he wanted the presence of paul ling and f rom that he stumbled into the ion that he thi fairy l jn the t f there had been a woman whom he loved he would hav e fled to her hum his forehead on h er knees he thought of his miss he thought of the prettiest of the girls at the hotel shop as he fell asleep on the he felt that he h ad found something i n life and t h at had made a j thrilling with g that was d b normal he had forgotten nest morning that he was a conscious rebel but he was irritable in the office and at the o clock of calls and visitors be did something he had often desired and never dared he left the office without excuses to those slave drivers his and went to the he enjoyed the right to be he came out with a vicious to do t he pleased as he approached the table at the club laughed well here s the said yes i saw him in his said professor it must be great to be a smart gi like moaned he s probably stolen all of i d hate to leave a poor little piece of property lying around where he could get his hooks on they had p something on him also they had their clothes on ordinarily he would have been delighted at the honor implied in being ed but he was suddenly he sure maybe i ll take you on as office boys he was impatient as the jest rolled on to its of course he may have been meeting a girl they said and no i think he was waiting for bis old sir he exploded oh spring it ring it you what s the	42
great joke george is while a grin went round the table revealed the shocking truth he had seen out of a motion picture at noon th it up with a hundred variations a hundred ihey said that he had gone to the during business hours he didn t so much mind but he was annoyed by that brisk lean red headed explains of jokes he was too by the lump of ice in his ass of water it was too large it spun round and burned his nose when he tried to drink he raged that was like that lump of ice but he won through he kept up his till they grew tired of the jest and turned to the great problems of the day he reflected what s the matter with me to day seems like i ve got an awful only they talk so much but i better steer careful and keep n mouth shut as they lighted their cigars he got to get back and on a chorus of if you wiu go spending your mornings with lady at the he escaped he heard them he was embarrassed while he was most agreeing with the coat man that the weather was warm he was conscious that he was longing to nm with his troubles to the comfort of the fairy child he kept miss after he had finished he searched for a topic would warm ha office into friendliness where you going on your he i think i ll go up state to a farm do you want me to have the lease copied this afternoon oh no hurry about it i you have a great time when you get away from us in the she rose and gathered her p oh nobody s here i think i can get it copied after i do the letters she was gone utterly the view that he bad been trying to how was miss mo knew there was nothing he said the agent who lived across the street from was giving a sunday his wife who loved in music and in clothes and laughter was at her wildest she cried well have a real party as she received the guests had uneasily felt that to many men she mi t be now he admitted that to himself she was y mrs had never quite approved of was glad that she was not here this evening he insisted on helping in the kitchen taking the chicken from the warming oven the from the ice box he held her hand once and she didn t notice it she you re a good little mother s now trot in with the tray and leave it on the side table he wished that would give them that would have one he wanted oh he wanted to be one of these you read about parties wild lovely girls who were independent not necessarily bad certainly not but not tame how he d ever stood it all these years did not give them true they with mirth and with several by jones of any time wants to come sit on my lap i ll this sand to beat but they were respectable as sunday evening bad ted a place beside on the piano bench while he talked about while he listened with a fixed smile to her account of the she had seen last wednesday while he hoped that she would hurry up and finish her description of the plot the beauty of the leading man and the luxury of the setting he studied her slim waist with raw silk strong brows ardent eyes hair parted above a broad she meant youth to him and a charm which he thought of how a companion she would be on a long exploring mountains in a pine grove high above a valley her touched him he was angry at for the incessant family all at once he with the fairy girl he by the conviction that they had always had a romantic attraction for each i suppose you re leading a simply terrible life now you re she said you bet i m a bad little fellow and proud of it some evening you slip some in hb coffee and across the road and iii show you how to mix a he roared well now i might do you never can tell well whenever you re ready you just hang a out of the window and i ll jump for the gin every one at this in a pleased way stated that he would have a physician hb coffee daily the others were diverted to a discussion of the more agreeable recent but drew back to personal things that s the prettiest dress i ever saw in my life do you honestly like it like it why say i m going to have put a piece in the paper saying that the dressed woman in the u s is mrs e now you stop me but she beamed let s dance a little george you ve got to dance with me even as he protested oh you know what a rotten i am he was to his feet ill teach you i can teach anybody her were moist her voice was jagged with excitement he was convinced that he had won her he clasped her conscious of her smooth warmth and solemnly he in a of the one step he into only one o two pet le i m not doing so bad em like a regular stage i he and she answered busily yes yes i told you i could don t take long for a moment he was robbed of c with fearful he sought to keep time to the music but he was ed again by her enchantment she s got to like me make he vowed he tried to kiss the beside h ear she	42
like a oh no i mean not really well i ll bet you he glanced at her smooth hands her and caught the her hands together with a a slim white which delighted him and i do love to play i mean i like to drum on the piano but i haven t had any real training mr used to say i would ve been a good if i d had ai training but then i guess be was just flattering me i ll bet he wasn t i ll bet you ve got t i do you hke music mr you bet i do only i t know s i care so much all this classical oh i do i just love and those do yoa honest well of course i go to lots of these but i do like a good ri t up on its toes with the fellow that plays the bass fiddle it around and beating it i with the bow oh i know i do love good dance music i love to dance don t you mr sure you bet not that i m very dam good at it thou oh i m sure you are you ought to let me you i can teach anybody to dance would you me a lesson some time indeed i would better be careful or iii be taking you up on tliat i ll be to your flat and making you give me that lesson ye es she was not offended but she was non he warned himself have some sense now you don t go making a fool of yourself again and with be i wish i could dance like s of these young fellows but tell you i feel it s a man s place to take a full you might say a share in the world s work and conditions and have something to show for his life don t you think so oh i do and so i have to sacrifice some of the things might like to tackle thou i do by play about as good a game of g df as the next fellow oh i m sure you do are you married yes and of course duties i m the vice president of the club and i m running one of the of the state association of real estate boards and that means a lot of work and and practically no gratitude for it oh i know public men never do get proper credit they looked at each other with a high degree of mutual respect and at the apartments he helped her out in a manner waved his hand at the as though he were presenting it to her and ordered the boy to and get the keys she stood dose to him in the and he was stirred but cautious it was a pretty sat of white and soft blue walls mrs with pleasure as she agreed to take it and as th r walked down the hall to the she touched his sleeve oh i m so glad i went to it s such a to meet a man who really understands oh the some people have showed me he had a sharp instinctive belief that he could put his ann around her but he himself and with excessive politeness he saw her to the car drove her home all the way back to his office he raged glad i bad some sense for once curse it i wish i d tried she s a a a lovely eyes and darling lips and that trim waist never get like some women no no no she s a real lady one of the brightest little women i ve met these many understands about public topics and but it why didn t i try he was harassed and puzzled by it but he found t hat he was turning toward as the girl who c disturbed him he had to her was the l st girl on the right in the shop she wa black haired smiling she was perhaps or twenty she wore thin salmon colored which exhibited her shoulders and h r black he went to the for his hair trim as always he felt at his neighbor the building shop then for the first time he his sense of guilt it i don t have to go here if i don t want to i don t own the these got nothing on do one well get my cut where i well want to i don t want to hear anything more about it i i m through standing by people unless i want to it doesn t get you anywhere i m the shop was in the of the hotel largest and most modem hotel in marble steps with a rail of polished brass led from the hotel down to the sh the was of black and white and crimson with a ceiling of gold and a fountain in which a massive forever emptied a scarlet forty and nine girls worked desperately and at the door six colored to the customers to care reverently for their hats and to lead them to a place of waiting where on a carpet like a isle in the stretch of stone floor were a dozen leather chairs and a table heaped with magazines s porter was an gray haired negro who did him an honor hi y esteemed in the land of greeted him by name yet was unhappy his bright particular girl was engaged she was doing the nails of an dressed man and ing with him hated him he thought of waiting but to stop the powerful system of the was and he was instantly into a chair about bim was luxury rich and delicate one was having a violet ray treatment	42
kind of a count or something kind of a no account i guess you mean who s telling this and he said he knew my a s papa s folks in and they had a big house right on a lake doubtfully maybe you don t believe it sure no really sure i do why not don t think i m you honey but every time i ve noticed you i ve said to myself that kid has blue blood in her veins did you honest honest i did well well come on now we re what s the darling little name it ain t so much a much of a name i always say to ma i say ma why didn t you name me or something with some class to it s v dow i think it s a name i bet i know your well now not necessarily of course oh it isn t so well known t you mr that travels the kitchen ko i am i m mr the real estate oh excuse me oh of course you mean here in with the of one whose feelings have been hurt oh sure i ve read your they re swell um well you might have read about my speeches course i i get much time to read but i guess you think i m an awfully silly little i think you re a little darling well s one nice about this job it gives a girl a chance to meet some awfully nice gentlemen and improve her mind with conversation and you get so you can read a s character at the first glance look here please don t think i m getting fresh he was hotly reflecting that it would be humiliating to be rejected by this and dangerous to be accepted if he took her to dinner if he were seen by friends but he went on don t think i m getting fresh if i suggest it would be nice for us to go out and have a little dinner together some evening i don t know as i ought to my gentleman friend s always wanting to take me out but maybe i could to night there was no reason he assured himself why he shouldn t have a quiet dinner with a poor girl would benefit by association with an educated and mature person like himself but lest some one see them and not he would take her to s inn on the of the city they would have a pleasant drive this hot lonely evening he might hold her hand no he wouldn t even do that was ber bare showed it only too dearly but he d be hanged if he d make love to ber merely because she expected it his car broke down had happened to the and he had to have the car this evening furiously he tested the ark stared at the hb did not seem to stir the sulky car and in disgrace it was hauled off to a with a renewed thrill he thought of a was something at once wealthy and wicked about a but when he met her on a comer two blocks from the hotel she said a why i thou t you owned a i do of course i but it s out of commission tonight oh she remarked as one who had heard that tale before all the way out to s inn he tried to talk as an old friend but he could not pierce the wall of her words with interminable indignation she her to that fresh head and the things she would do to him if he persisted in saying that she was better at than at at s inn they were unable to get anything to drink the head waiter refused to understand who george f was they sat steaming before a vast mixed and made conversation about when he tried to hold s hand she said with bright friendliness careful that fresh waiter is but they came out into a treacherous summer night the air lazy and a little moon above let s drive some other place we can get a drink and he demanded sm e some other night but i promised ma i d be home early to night it s too nice to go home i d just love to but ma would give me fits he was trembling she was everything that was young and exquisite he put his arm about her she against his shoulder and be was then she ran the steps of the inn singing come on well have a nice drive and get cool it was a night of lovers all along the highway into under the low and gentle moon were and dim figures were clasped in he held out hungry bands to and when she patted them he was grateful there was no sense of struggle and he kissed her and simply she responded to his kiss they two behind the stolid back of the her hat fell off and she broke from his embrace to reach for it oh let it he implored my hat not a he waited till she had pinned it on then his arm sank about her she drew away from it and said with maternal soothing now don t be a silly mustn t make just sit back and see what a swell night it is if you re a good boy maybe iii kiss you when we say night now give me a he was about lighting her and inquiring as to her comfort then he sat as far from her as possible he was cold with failure no one could have told that he was a fool with more vigor precision and intelligence than he himself displayed he reflected that from the of the rev	42
dr john drew he was a wicked man and from the int of miss an old b who had to be endured as the penalty attached to eating a large dinner you aren t going to go and get are you she he wanted to her he i don t have to take anything off this dam well let s get it over as quick as we can and home and kick ourselves for the rest of the night he me why you baby why should i be now listen listen to uncle george i want to put you wise about this with your all the time i ve had a lot of with and let me tell you it doesn t pay to at the i house in which she lived he said and but as the drove off he was praying oh my i chapter xxv he awoke to stretch as be listened to the then to remember tbat everything waa wrong that be was determined to go astray and not in the least enjoying the process why he wondered should be be in what was it all about why not be sensible step all this running around and enjoy himself with his family bis business the fellows at the what was he getting out of rebellion misery and shame the of being treated as an offensive small boy by a like and yet always he came back to and yet whatever the misery he could not regain contentment with a world which once doubted became absurd p only be assured himself he was through with this chasing after girls by he was not so sure even of that if in miss and he had failed to find the lady kind and lovely it did not prove that she did not exist he was hunted by the ancient thought that somewhere must exist the not impossible she who would understand him value him and make him happy mrs returned in august on her previous he had missed her and of her arrival he had made a f te now though he dared not hurt her by letting a hint of it appear in his letters he was sorry that she was coming before he had found himself and he was embarrassed by the need of meeting her and looking joyful he down to the station he studied the lest he have to speak to acquaintances and his uneasiness but he was well trained when the tr n in he was out on the platform peering into the chair cars and as he saw her in the line of s moving toward the he waved his hat at the door he embraced her and announced well well well by you look fine you look fine then he was aware of here was something this child with her absurd little nose and lively eyes that loved him him great and as he clasped her lifted and held her till she be was for the moment back to his old steady sat beside him in the car with one hand on the wheel pretending to help him drive and he shouted back to his wife bet the kid will be the best in the family she holds the like an old professional all the v le he was the moment when he would be alone with his wife and she would patiently expect him to be ardent there was about the house an theory that he was to take his alone to spend a week or ten days in but he was by the memory that a year ago he had been with paul in he saw himself returning finding peace there and the presence of paul in a life primitive and heroic like a shock came the thou t that he actually could go only he couldn t really he couldn t leave his business and would think it sort of funny his going way off there alone course he d decided to do whatever he pleased from now on but still to go way off to he went after meditations with his wife since it was inconceivable to e q laid that be was going to seek paul s spirit in the he employed the lie over a year ago and scarcely used at all he said that he had to see a man in new york on business he could not have explained even to why he drew from the bank several hundred dollars more than he needed why he kissed so tenderly and cried god bless you baby from the train he waved to her till she was but a scarlet spot beside the brown presence of mrs at the end of a steel and aisle ending in vast barred gates with melancholy he looked back at the last of all the way north he the guides simple and strong and daring jolly as they played in their wise in as the forest and shot the he particularly remembered joe paradise half yankee half indian if be could but take up a claim with a man like joe work hard with his hands be free and noisy in a flannel shirt and never come back to this dull decency or like a in a northern canada plunge through the make in the a grim and why not he do it there d be enough mon at home for the family to live on till was married and ted self supporting old henry t would look out for them honestly why not really live he longed for it admitted that he longed for it then almost believed that he was going to do it whenever common sense nonsense folks don t run away from decent families and partners just simply don t do it that s then answered well it t take any more nerve than for paul to go	42
to jail and how i d like to do six gun frontier town sleep under the stars be a regular man with he men like joe paradise so he came to again stood on the wharf before the again into the delicate and water while the pines the mountains glowed a leaped and fell in a sliding circle he hurried to the guides as to his real home his real friends long missed they would be glad to see him they would stand up and shout why here s mr he ain t one of these ordinary he s a real in their and rather cabin the guides sat about the greasy table playing with greasy cards half a dozen wrinkled men in old s and easy old felt hats they glanced up and nodded joe paradise the man with the big how do back silence t for the clatter of stood beside th n veiy lonely he hinted after a period of highly concentrated playing guess i might take a band joe sure sit in how many you want let s see you were here with your wife last year wa n t you said joe paradise that was all of s welcome to the old home he played for half an hour before he spoke again his head was with the smoke of pipes and cheap cigars and he was weary of pairs and four of the in which they ignored him he flung at joe working now n q e like to guide me for a few days well soon i ain t engaged till next week only thus did joe recognize the friendship was offering him paid up his losses and left the rather joe raised his head from the of smoke like a seal rising from surf come round t morrow and down to his three neither in his cabin fragrant with of pine nor along the lake nor in the sunset clouds which presently behind the mountains could find the spirit of paul as a presence he was so lonely that after supper he stepped to talk with an ancient old lady a gasping and steadily old lady by the stove in the hotel office he told her of ted s future triumphs in the state university and of s remarkable till he was for the home he had left forever through the darkness through that northern pine walled silence he down to the lake front and found a there were no in it but with a board sitting awkwardly and at the water rather than he made his way far out on the lake the lights of the hotel and the cottages became yellow a cluster of glow worms at the base of mountain larger and ever more was the mountain in the star darkness and the lake a pavement of black marble he was and dumb and a little awed but that freed him from the of being mr george f of and freed his heart now he was conscious of the presence of paul fancied him rescued from prison from and the brisk of the business playing his at the end of the he vowed i will go on ill never go now that paul s out of it i don t want to see any of those damn people i was a fool to get sore because joe paradise didn t jump up and me he s one of these too wise to go and talking your arm off like a but get him back in the mountains out on the trail i that s real living i i z f joe repeated at s cabin at nine the next morning greeted him as a fellow joe how d you feel about the trail and getting away from these dam soft and these women and all all right mr what do you say we go over to box car pond they me the ck there isn t being used and camp out well all right mr but it s nearer to fond and you can get just about as good fishing there no i want to get into the real all right we ll put the old on our backs and get into the woods and really i think maybe it would be easier to go by water lake we can go all the way by boat boat with an no sir bust the quiet with a not on your life i vou just throw a pair of in the old and tell em what you want eats be ready soon s you are most of the sports go by boat mr it s a long walk look here joe are you to oh no i guess i can do it but i haven t that far for sixteen years most of the sports go by boat but i can do it if you say so t guess joe walked away in sadness had recovered from his wrath before joe returned he pictured him as warming up and telling the most entertaining stories but joe had not yet warmed up when they took the trail he persistently kept behind and however much his shoulders ached from the pack however sorely be panted could hear his guide panting equally but the trail was ng a path brown with pine needles and rough with roots among the the the sudden groves of he became again and rejoiced in when he to rest he chuckled guess we re it up pretty for a couple o old birds eh admitted joe this is a mighty pretty place look you can see the lake down through the trees i tell you joe you don t appreciate bow lucky you are to live in woods like this instead of a city with grinding and and people the life out of	42
you all the time i wish i knew the woods like you do say what s the name of that little red rubbing his back joe regarded the flower well some folks call it one thing and some calls it another i always just call it pink flower ceased thinking as turned into blind he was in weariness his plump legs seemed to go on by without guidance and he mechanically wiped away the sweat which stung his es he was too tired to be glad as after a mile of road through a swamp where flies hovered over a hot waste of brush reached the co d shore of box car pond when he lifted the pack from his back he staggered from the change in balance and for a moment could not stand ra he lay beneath an tree near the guest and felt sleep running through bis veins he awoke toward dusk to find joe cooking bacon and eggs and for supper and his admiration of the returned he sat on a stump and felt joe what would you do if you had a lot of mon would you stick to guiding or would you take a claim way back in the woods and he independent oi people for the first time joe brightened he bis a and i ve often thought of if i had the money i d go down to s falls and open a shoe store after supper joe a game of but refused with and joe went to bed at eight sat on the stump facing the dark pond save the guide there was no other fl human being within ten miles he was than he had f ever been in his life then he was in he was worrying as to whether miss wasn t paying too much for paper he was at once and missing the persistent at the table he was wondering what was doing now he was wondering whether after the summer s maturity of being a ted would get busy in the university he was thinking of his wife if she would only if she wouldn t be so satisfied with just settling down i won t i won t go back i ll be fifty in three years in thirteen years i m going to have some fun before it s too late i t i will he thought of of of that nice widow what was her name the one for whom he d found the flat he was in imaginary conversations then i can t seem to get away from thinking about folks thus it came to him merely to run away was folly because he could never run away from himself that moment he started for in his journey there was no appearance of but he was and four days afterward he was on the train he knew that he was back not because it was what he longed to do but because it was all he could do he again his dis that he could never run away from and family l and office because in his own brain he bore the office and the i family and every street and and of m going to oh i m going to st art something he tried to make it i z l chapter xxvi as he walked through the train looking for familiar faces he saw only one person whom he knew and that was the lawyer who after the blessings of being in s own class at college and of becoming a had turned had headed farmer labor tickets and with admitted though he was in rebellion naturally did not care to be seen talking with such a but in all the be could nd no other acquaintance and he halted was a slight thin haired man rather like except that be hadn t s grin he was reading a book called the way of all flesh it looked to and he wondered if could possibly have been converted and turned decent and patriotic why he said looked up his voice was curiously kind how do been away eh yes i ve been in washington washington d how s the old government making out it s won t you sit down thanks don t care if i do well been quite a while since i ve had a good chance to talk to you i was sorry you didn t turn up at the last class dinner thanks how s the coming going to run for mayor again seemed restless he was the pages of his book he said i might as though it didn t mean anything in particular and he smiled liked that smile and hunted for saw a bang up m new york the good morning at the hotel they re pretty b i danced there one evening oh like dancing naturally i like dancing and pretty women and good food better than anything else in the world most men do but i thought you fellows wanted to take all the good eats and everything away from us no not at all what i d like to see is the meetings of the garment workers held at the with a dance isn t that reasonable mi t be good idea all right well shame i haven t seen more of you recent years oh say hope you haven t held it against me my you as mayor going on the stump for you see i m an organization republican and i kind of felt there s no reason why you shouldn t fight me i have no doubt you re good for the organization i remember in e you were an unusually liberal sensitive i can still recall your saying to me that you were going to be a lawyer and take the cases of the	42
to come and her face flushed her dead voice something of the shrill energy of the old she wound up with a furious it s the blessing of god himself that paul should be in prison now and torn and by punishment so that he may yet save his soul and so other wicked men these horrible after women and lust may have an example had and twisted as in church he dared not move during the sermon so now he that he must seem attentive though her flew past him like birds he sought to be calm and yes i know but it is the essence of religion to be charitable isn t it let me tell you bow i figure it what we need in the world is liberality if we re going to get anywhere i ve always believed in being broad minded and liberal you liberal it was very much the old why george you re about as broad minded and liberal as a blade i oh i am am ii well just let me tell you just let me tell you i m as by liberal as you are religious anyway you i am our says i sustain him in the bet you dot with paul s money but just to you how liberal i am i m going to send a check for ten to this in am because a lot of fellows are saying the poor and free love and th re trying to nm out of town and they re ri tl they ought to run him out of town i why he if you can call it preaching in a in the house of you don t know what it is to find god to find peace to behold the that the devil out for our feet oh i m so glad to see the purposes of god in paul me and stop n and paul s getting his good and for the cruel things he did to me and i hope he dies in prison was up hat in hand growling well if that s what o you call being at peace for heaven s sake just warn me you go to war will you vast is the power of to the wanderer more than mountains or the shore devouring sea a city its character cynical holding behind apparent changes its essential purpose though had deserted his family and dwelt with joe paradise in the wilderness though he had become a liberal though he had been quite sure on the ni t before he reached that neither he nor the city would be the same again ten days after his return he could not believe that he had ever been away nor was it at all evident to his acquaintances that there was a new george f save that he was more irritable under the incessant ng at the club and once when observed that ought to be hanged oh rats he s not so bad at home he eh across the newspaper to his wife and was delighted by s new red o and announced no class to that iron have to build me a nice frame one and appeared really to be engaged in his newspaper had conducted a e food against commission houses as a result he had been given an excellent job in a commission house and he was making a salary on which he could marry and who wrote stories commission without knowing what they were talking about this september ted had entered the state university as a in the college of arts and the university was at only fifteen miles from and ted often came down for the week end was worried ted was going in for everything but books he had tried to make the team as a light half back he was looking forward to the basket ball season he was on the committee for the hop and as a an among the he was being rushed by two but of his studies could learn nothing save a oh these old of teachers just give you a lot of about literature and one week end ted proposed say why can t i transfer over from the college to the school of and mechanical you always that i never study but honest i would study there no the school hasn t got the standing the college has fretted i d like to know how it hasn tl the can play on any of the i there was much explanation of the dollars and cents value of being known as a college man when you go into the law and a of the lawyer s life before he was through with it had ted a united states among the great lawyers whom he mentioned was but ted i thought you always said this was a that s no way to speak of a great man s always been a good friend of mine fact i helped him in college i started him out and you might say inspired him just because he s sympathetic with the aims of labor a lot of that lack liberality and broad think he s a but let me tell you there s mighty few of em that in the he does and he s a friend of some of the strongest most men in the world like lord this this big english nobleman that s so well known and you now which would you rather do be in with a lot of greasy and laboring men or i to a real fellow like lord and get invited to his house for parties sighed ted the next week end he came in with say why couldn t i take instead of the course you talk about standing maybe there isn t much in mechanical but the they got	42
seven out of eleven in the new to i chapter the strike turned into two can s and red began late in with a walk out of girls and in protest against a of wages the newly formed union of workers went out partly in sympathy and partly in demand for a forty hour week they were followed by the union industry was tied up and the whole city was nervous with talk of a strike a strike a general strike citizens trying to get calls through strike breaking girls danced helplessly every that made its way from the to the freight stations was guarded by a policeman to look beside the driver a line of fifty from the and machinery company was attacked by rushing out from the pulling drivers from the seats and while girls cheered from the walk and small boys heaved bricks the national guard was ordered out colonel who in private life was mr secretary of the put on a long coat and stalked through crowds a in hand even s drum the shoe a round and merry man who told stories at the club and who strangely resembled a dog was to be as a but ferocious captain with his belt ti t about his comfortable little and his round little mouth as he to chattering groups on move on there i can t have any of this every newspaper in the city save one was against the when the news stands at each was stationed a a young embarrassed citizen soldier with eye glasses or clerk in private life trying to look dangerous while small boys get de tin soldier and striking drivers inquired tenderly say joe when i was fighting in france was you in camp in the states or was you doing exercises in the y m c a be careful of that now or you ll cut yourself there was no one in who talked of anything but the strike and no one who did not take sides you were either a courageous friend of labor or you were a fearless of the rights of property and in either case you were and ready to any friend who did not hate the enemy a milk plant was set each side charged it to the other and the city was hysterical and chose this time to be publicly liberal he belonged to the sound sane right thinking wing and at first he agreed that the crooked ought to be shot he was sorry when his friend defended arrested and he thought of going to and explaining about these but when he read a t even on their former wages the girls had been hungry he was troubled all lies and figures he said out in a doubtful for the sunday after the road church announced a sermon by dr john drew on how the would end strikes had been about church going lately but he went to the service hopeful that dr drew really did have the information as to what the divine powers thought about strikes beside in the large glossy velvet was whispered hope the gives the hell i ordinarily i t believe in a preacher into political matters let him stick to straight religion and save souls and not stir up a lot of discussion but at a time like this i do think he ought to stand right up and out those to a f are you well yes well said the rev dr drew his rustic bang with the intensity of his poetic and during the series of which have let us be courageous and admit it the business life of our fair city these past days there has been a great deal of loose talk about scientific of scientific now let me tell you that the most c thing in the world is science take the attacks on the established of the creed which were so popular with the a generation ago oh yes they were mighty fellows and great of they were going to destroy the church they were going to prove the world was created and has been brought to its extraordinary level of morality and civilization by blind chance yet the church stands just as to day as ever and the only answer a christian needs make to the of his simple faith is just a pitying and now these same want to replace the natural condition of free competition by crazy systems which no matter by what high sounding names th are called are nothing but a naturally i m not labor courts against men to be striking or those excellent in which the men and the get together but i am the systems in which the free and of is to be replaced by cooked up scales and and government and labor and all that is not generally understood is that this matter isn t a question of it s and only a of love and of the practical application of the im a factory instead of of workmen the the goes among them smiling and they smile back the elder and the younger brothers that s what they must be loving brothers and then strikes would be as inconceivable as hatred in the it was at this point that muttered oh said he doesn t know what he s about it s just as clear as mud it doesn t mean a thing maybe but looked at him doubtfully through all the service at him doubtfully till was no the had a parade for tuesday but bad forbidden it the o said when drove west from his office at ten that morning he saw a drove of shabby men heading toward the tangled dirty district court house square he hated them because they were poor because they made him fed damn wouldn t be common	42
workmen if tbey had any p he con he wondered if there was g to be a riot he drove toward the starting point of the parade a of limp and faded grass known as street pa halted his car the park aod streets were with men in blue shirts old men with c them them stirred like a boiling pat moved tjie i could hear the soldiers monotonous orders keep move on tm keep your feet warm their stolid good temper the crowd tin soldiers and dirty dogs servants of the c but ihe grinned and answered only sure that s tight keep moving thrilled over the hated the who were the pleasant ways of pro admired s t for the crowd and as captain drum that rather puffing shoe dealer came by respectfully great work captain don t let em he watched the from the many of them bore with they can t stop our peacefully walking the tore away the but the in their leaders and off a thin between steel lines of soldiers saw with dis that there wasn t going to be any violence interesting at all then be among the beside a young workman was smiling content in front of him was professor bead of the history department in the state university an old man and white known to come from a family why a swell like him in with l the and good they re fools to get mixed up with this bunch they re parlor but they have got nerve and nothing in it for them not a cent and i don t know s all the look like such tough nuts look just about like anybody else to me the were turning the parade down a side street they got just as much right to march as anybody they own the streets as much as drum or the american grumbled of course they re they re a bad element but oh i at the club was silent during lunch while the others fretted i don t know what the world s coming to or their spirits with captain drum came swinging by splendid in how s it going captain inquired oh we got em stopped we worked em oh on side streets and separated em and they got discouraged and went home fine work no violence fine nothing groaned mr drum if i had my way there d be a whole lot of violence and i d start it and then the whole thing would be over i don t believe in standing back and wet nursing these fellows and letting the drag on i tell you these are nothing in god s world but a lot of throwing and and the only way to handle em is with a club that s what i d do beat up the whole lot of em heard himself saying oh rats they look just about like you and me and i certainly didn t notice any drum complained oh you didn t eh well maybe you d like to take charge of the strike just colonel what the he d be glad to hear about it drum strode on while all the table stared at what s the idea do you want us to give those hell hounds love and kisses or what said jones do you defend a lot of that are trying to take the bread and butter away from our families raged pro said nothing he put on stem ess like a mask his jaw was hard his short hair seemed cruel his silence was a ferocious thunder while ihe others assured that they must have misunderstood him looked as though he had understood only too well like a judge he listened to s no sure course they re a bunch of but i just mean strikes me it s bad policy to talk about em doesn t he s got the fine italian band and that s why he s colonel drum is jealous of him well said professor you hurt s feelings george he s been out there all morning getting hot and dusty and no wonder he wants to beat the tar out of those sons of said nothing and watched and knew that he was being watched as he was leaving the club heard protesting to don t know what s got into him last sunday drew preached a sermon about decency in business and kicked about that too near s i can figure out was vaguely frightened he saw a crowd listening to a man who was talking from the of a kitchen chair he stopped his car from newspaper pictures he knew that the speaker must be the notorious preacher of whom had spoken was a gaunt man with hair weather beaten cheeks and worried eyes he was pleading if those girls can hold out living on one meal a day doing their own washing starving and smiling you big men ought to be able saw that from the was watching him in vague he started the car and me i drove on while s hostile seemed to him all the way there s a lot of these was to bis wife that think if go od strike they re a bunch of now of course it s a fight between business and the destructive element and we got to the n s out of an they challenge us but if i see why we can t fight like gentlemen and not go calling em dirty dogs and saying they ought to be shot down why george she said placidly i thought you always insisted that all ought to be put in jail i never well i mean some of em of course leaders but i mean a ought to be minded and liberal i out things like but	42
i thought you always said these so called people were the worst of rats i woman never can understand the different of a word depends on how you mean it and it pay to be too about anything now these honest they re not such bad e ie just foolish they don t understand the con of and pro t the way we business men do but sometimes i think they re about like the rest of and no more for wages than we are for profits george if people were to bear you talk that of course i know you i what a wild crazy boy you were i know you don t mean a word you say but if le that didn t understand you were to hear you talking they d you were a regular what do i care what anybody thinks and let me tell you right now i want you to distinctly i never was a wild crazy kid and when i say a i mean it and i stand by it and honest do you think pe le would think i was too liberal if i just said the were decent of course they would but don t worry dear i know you don t mean a word of it time to trot up to bed now have you enough covers for to night on the porch he she doesn t understand me hardly understand myself why can t i take things easy way i used to wish i could go out to s my s house and talk things over with him no pose saw me going in wish i knew some really smart woman and nice that would see what i m trying to get at and let me talk to her and i wo if s t t thin k i ve just because i m broad minded and liberal looked at me i z l chapter miss came into bis private office at three in the afternoon with mr there s a mrs on the wants to see about some r and the are all out want to talk to her all right the voice of was clear and pleasant the black of the seemed to hold a tiny animated image of her eyes delicate nose gentle chin this is mrs do you remember me you drove me up here to the and helped me find such a nice flat bet i what can i do for you why it s just a little i don t know that i t to bother you but the doesn t seem to be able to fix it you know my is on the top floor and with these autumn rains the roof is beginning to and i d be awfully glad sure ni come up and take a look at it nervously when do you expect to be in why i m in every morning be in this afternoon in an hour ot so ye es perhaps i could give you a cup of tea i think i ought to after all your trouble fine i ll run up there soon as i can get away he meditated now there s a woman that s got refinement after all your trouble give you a cup of tea she d appreciate a fellow i m a fool but i m not such a bad c get to know me and not so much a fool as they the great strike was over the beaten except that seemed less cordial there were no visible effects of s treachery to the dan the oppressive fear of criticism was gone but a loneliness remained now he was so that to prove he wasn t he about the office for fifteen minutes looking at blue prints explaining to miss that this mrs scott wanted more money for her house had raised the asking price raised it from seven thousand to eighty five would miss be sure and put it down on the card mrs scott s house raise he had thus established person and iu ms p ee sauntered out he took a particularly long to start his car he kicked the the glass of the and the holding the wind shield spot t he drove happily os toward the district conscious of the presence of mrs as of a brilliant light on the horizon the leaves had fallen and they lined the of the streets it was a day of pale gold and faded green tranquil and lingering was aware of the meditative day and of the of blocks of wooden houses little shops lots needs up needs the touch that people like mrs could give a place he as he rattled through the long crude airy streets the wind rose keen and in a blaze of well he came to the flat of she was wearing when she admitted him a frock of black cut modestly round at the base of her pretty throat she seemed to him immensely he glanced at the and colored prints in her living room and you ve fixed the place nice takes a clever woman to know how to make a home all right you really like it i m so glad but you ve neglected me you promised to come some time and learn to dance rather oh but you didn t mean it perhaps not but you might have tried well here i ve come for my lesson and you might as well to have me stay for i both laughed in a manner which indicated o he didn t mean it but first i guess i better look at that she climbed with him to the flat roof of the a detached world of wooden walks water jn a he at things with his toe and sought to	42
impress her by being learned about copper the of passing pipes a lead collar and sleeve and flashing them with copper and the advantages of over ot roof you have to know so much in real estate i she ed he promised that the roof repaired within two days do you mind my from your he asked heavens he stood a moment at the looking a land of hard little with large and new apartment small but brave with brick walls and beyond them was a hill with a of yellow clay like a vast wound behind every apartment beside each dwelling were small it was a world of good little people comfortable industrious in the light the was and the air was a sun tinted pool it s one fine you get a great view here right up s hill said yes isn t it nice and t n so dam few appreciate a view don t you go raising my rent on that account ob that of i was seriously there are so few who respond who to views i haven t any feeling of poetry and beauty that s a fact tbey haven t he breathed admiring her tenderness and the absorbed airy way in she looked toward the bill chin lifted lips smiling w l guess i d better the so tb ll get on the job first thing in the morning when be had te making it and and masculine be lodged doubtful and sighed s pose i d better be ob you must have that cup of tea first well it would go pretty good at that it was luxurious to in a deep green r chair his legs thrust out before him to glance at the black chinese stand and the colored photograph of mount which he had always liked so much while in the tiny kitchen so near mrs sang my queen in an intolerable sweetness a contentment so deep that he was wistfully discontented he saw by moonlight and beard plantation to the he wanted to be near her on of helping her yet he wanted to remain in this still ecstasy languidly he remained when she in with the tea he smiled up at her this is awfully nice for the first time he was not he was quietly and securely friendly and friendly and quiet was her answer it s nice to have yon here you wore kind helping me to find this little home th agreed that the weather would soon turn cold they agreed that was they agreed that art in the home was they agreed about everything they even became bold th hinted that these modern young girls well honestly their short skirts were short they were proud to find that they were not shocked by such frank ed i know understand i mean i don t quite know how to say it but i do think that girls who pretend they re bad by the they dress really never go ai farther th give away the fact that they haven t the instincts of a womanly woman j t l and bow ill sh e had used him tt a i h use d him of l of f d ne of the strike see how it was course was to have those beggars licked to a as anybody else but no reason for not seeing their side for a fellow s own sake he s got to be broad minded and liberal don t you think so oh i do sitting on the hard little couch she clasped her hands beside her leaned toward him absorbed him and in a glorious state of being appreciated he proclaimed so i up and said to the fellows at the club look h e i do you belong to the union club i think it s no the tell you course they re always asking me to join the union but i always say no nothing doing i don t mind the e but i can t stand all the old oh yes that s so but tell me what did you say to them oh you don t want to hear it i m probably yon to death with my troubles you wouldn t hardly think i was an old i sound like a kid oh you re a boy yet i mean you can t be a day over forty five well i m not much but by i begin to feel middle aged sometimes all these and all oh i know her voice him it him like warm silk and i feel lonely so lonely some days mr we re a sad pair of birds but i think we re pretty nice i yes i think we re lots than most people i know they smiled but please tell me what you said at the well it was like this course is a friend of mine they can say what th want to they can call him anything they please but what most folks here don t know is that is the bosom of some of the biggest in the world lord you know this big british nobleman my friend sir told me that lord is one of the biggest guns in england well or somebody told me do you know sir the one that was here at the p know him well say i know him just well enough so we call each other george and and we got so together in that must have been but she shook a finger at him i can t have you getting have to take you in wish you well saying you see i happen to know what a big noise is outside of but of course a prophet hasn t got any honor in	42
his own country and his old hide he s so blame modest that he never lets folks know the kind of an he travels with when he goes abroad well during the strike drum comes up to our table all up fit to kill in his nice cap n s uniform and somebody says to him the strike well be up like a pigeon and he so s you could hear him way up in the reading room yes sure i told the strike leaders where they got off and so went home well i says to him glad there wasn t any violence be says but if i hadn t kept my eye would ve been all those fellows had in their they re rats i says i ed em all over and didn t have any more n a i says course i says they re foolish but they re a good deal like you aad me after all and or no it was you know this famous poet great pat of mine he says to me here he says do you mean to say yon advocate these strikes i was so with a whose mind worked that way that i swear i had a good mind to not explain at all just him oh that s so wise said mrs but i explains to him if you d done as as i have on chamber of commerce c and all i says then you d have the right to but same time i says i believe in treating your opponent like a well sir that held i always call didn t have another word to say but at that i guess some of em kind o t i was too liberal what do you think ob you were so wise and i love a man to have the courage of his but do you think it was a good after all some of these are so cautious and that they re prejudiced against a fellow that talks ri t out hi meeting what do you care in the long run they re bound to re a who makes them think and with your for you what do you know about my reputation for oh i m not to tell you everything i but seriously you don t realize what a famous man you are well though i haven t done much this fall too kind of by thi paul business i guess but do you know you re the first person that s undo what i was getting at listen to me will fat nerve i ve got yon oh and shall i call you george don t you think it s awfully nice en two people have so much what i call it so much that they can all these stupid and understand each other and become acquainted right away like ships that pass in the ni t i certainly i certainly he was no longer in his chair he ed about the room he dropped on the couch beside her but as he awkwardly stretched his hand toward fragile fingers she said brightly do give me a would you think poor was dreadfully naughty if she smoked lord no he had often and pondered smoking in but be knew only one woman who smoked mrs sam his neighbor he lighted s looked for a place to the burnt match and ed it into his pocket i m sure you want a cigar you poor she do you mind one oh no i love the smell of a good cigar so nice and so nice and like a man find an ash tray in my bedroom on the table beside the bed if you don t mind getting it he was embarrassed by her bedroom the broad couch with a of violet silk curtains striped with gold chinese and an amazing row of slippers with ribbon wound shoe trees and stockings across them his manner of bringing the tray had just the ri t note of easy friendliness he felt a like try to get funny about seeing her bedroom but i take it casually he was not casual afterward the of companionship was gone and he was restless with desire to touch her hand but whenever he turned toward her the was in bis way it was a shield between them he waited til she should have finished but as he rejoiced at her quick crushing of its light on the she said don t you want to give me another and hopelessly he saw the screen of pale smoke and her graceful hand again between them he was not merely curious now to find out whether she would let him hold her band all in the purest friendship naturally but with need of it on the surface appeared none of all this drama they were talking cheerfully of of to of once he said delicately i do these i hate these people that invite themselves to meals but i seem to have a feeling i m going to have supper with the lovely mrs to night but i suppose you probably have seven dates already well i was thinking some of going to the yes i really think i ou t to get out and get some fresh air she did not encourage him to stay but never did she him he considered i better take a she let me stay there is something doing and i mustn t get mixed up with i mustn t i ve got to beat it then no it s too late now suddenly at seven brushing her away her hand stop me you know we here we are a couple of lonely birds and we re awful happy together i ami never been so happy	42
do let me stay i ll gallop down to the and buy some stuff cold chicken maybe or cold turkey and we can have a nice little supper and afterwards if you want to chase me out i ll be good and go like a lamb yes it would be nice she said nor did withdraw her hand he squeezed it trembling and toward his coat at the he bought preposterous stores of food chosen on the principle of from the store across the street he to his wife got to get a fellow to sign a lease before he leaves town on the midnight won t be home till late don t wait up for me kiss good night he e back to the oh you bad thing to buy so much was her greeting and her voice was gay her smile he helped her in the tiny white kitchen he washed the he opened the olive bottle she ordered him to set the table and as he trotted into the living room as he hunted through the for knives and forks he felt utterly at home now the only other thing he announced is what you re going to wear i can t decide whether you re to put on your evening gown or let your hair down and put on short skirts and make believe you re a little girl i m going to dine just as i am in this old rag and if you can t stand poor that way you can go to the for dinner stand you he patted her shoulder child you re the and the loveliest and woman i ve ever come now lady if take the duke of s arm we will in to the oh you do say the when they finished the he thrust his bead out of the window and reported it s turned awful chilly and i think it s going to rain you don t want to go to the wish we had a i wish it was like all get out to night and we were m a funny little old fashioned cottage aod the trees like everything and a great big log fire and tell let s draw this couch to the and stretch our feet out and pretend it s a wood fire oh i think that s pathetic you big but they did draw up to the and pro md feet against it his clumsy black shoes her patent leather li ers in the they talked of themselves of how lonely she was how bewildered he and how wonderful that ey had found each other as they fell silent the room was than a country lane there was no sound from the street save the of the of a distant freight train self contained was the room warm secure from the world absorbed a n in r and were a y and when he reached at dawn the rapture had to contentment serene ami full of memories i z l chapter the assurance of s friend g fortified s j at the he became v was silent the others at the table came to accept as having for no visible reason turned they argued with him and be was and enjoyed the spectacle of bis interesting he even praised pro said that was carrying a joke too far but argued not fact i tell you he s got one of the keenest in tbe country lord said oh tbe hell is lord what you always bim in for you been bim for tbe last six weeks protested jones george ordered him from you can get those english u ir by mail for two apiece suggested that s all right now lord be s one of tbe biggest in english political life as i was saying of e i m myself but i appreciate a like because interrupted harshly i wonder if you are so i find i can manage to run my own business without any and like in it the of s voice the hardness of his jaw disconcerted but he recovered and went on till they looked bored then irritated then as doubtful as y he t of i with a stir he remembered her every aspect his arms for her i ve found her i ve dreamed of hei all these years and now i ve found he he met her at the in the morning he drove out to her flat in the late afternoon or on evening he was believed to be at the he knew her financial affairs and advised her about them while she lamented her feminine ance and praised his and proved to know much more about bonds than he did th had and laughter over old times once they and he raged that she was as as hb wife and far more when he was but that passed safely their high hour was a tramp on a g december afternoon through snow drifted meadows down to the icy river she was in an cap and a short coat she slid on the ice and shouted and he panted her with ter slid on the ice he was afraid that they would be seen together in it is impossible to lunch with a s without the fact being known before ni in every house in your circle but was beautifully discreet however y she might turn to him when they were alone she was gravely detached when they were abroad and he hoped e would be taken for a jones once saw them emerging from a and let me make you with mrs now s a r who knows the right to come to mr jones though he was a man of morals and of machinery seemed satisfied his fear not from any especial fondness her but from the habit	42
of vi was that his wife would l am of the affair h e was certain that she knew specific about tn p ti s he d something indefinite for years she had been bored by anything more than a kiss yet she was hurt by any in his irritable interest and now he had no interest rather a be jo faithful to he was distressed by the sight of his fe s slack by her and of by the tattered which she was always meaning and always forgetting to throw away but he was aware that she so loi to him caught all his he heavily tried to check them he couldn t they had a tolerable christmas was there engaged to mrs was tearful and called her new son was worried about because he had ceased complaining of the state university and become suspiciously he wondered what the boy was planning and was too shy to ask himself slipped away on christmas afternoon to take bis present a silver box to when he returned mrs asked much too innocently did you go out for a little fresh air yes just drive he after new year s his wife proposed i heard from my sister io day george she isn t well i think perhaps i ought to go stay with her for a few weeks now mrs was not accustomed to leave home during the winter except on violently demanding occasions and only the summer before she had been gone for we nor was one of the husbands who take casually he liked to have her there she looked after his clothes she knew bow his ought to be and her made him feel secure but he could not drum even a dutiful oh she doesn t really need you does she while he tried to look he felt that his wife was watching him be was filled with visions o do you think i d go she said you ve got to decide honey i can t she turned away sighing and his forehead was dan till she went four days later she was curiously still be affectionate her train left at noon as he saw it grow small the train shed he longed to hurry to no by i won t do he vowed i won t go near her for a week but he was at hei at four he ao had once con in a progress but and sane was for that fortnight borne on a current of desire and very bad and all the of new acquaintances those furious new who demand so much more attention than old friends each morning he gloomily recognized his of the evening before with his head throbbing his tongue and lips from he counted the number of drinks he had taken and groaned i got to he had ceased saying i will for however resolute he might be at dawn he could not for a sin e evening check his drift he had met s friends be had with tbe ardent haste of the midnight people who drink and dance and rattle and are ever afraid to be silent been adopted as a member of her group which they called the bunch he first met them after a day when he had worked particularly hard and when he hoped to be quiet with and slowly her admiration down the hall he could hear shrieks and the grind of a as opened the door he saw fantastic js figures dancing in a haze of smoke the tables and chairs were against the wall oh isn t this she at him had the loveliest idea she decided it was time for a party and she the bunch and told em to gather round george this is was in the less desirable a of both at once and she was po forty her hair was an ash and if her chest was flat her were ponderous she greeted with a welcome to our little midst says you re a real he was e q to dance to be boyish and gay with and be did bis best he her about the room into les into the into chair legs as he danced he surveyed the rest of the bunch a thin young woman who looked capable conceited and sarcastic another woman whom he could never quite remember three and slightly young men fountain clerks or at least bom for that profession a man of his own age immovable self satisfied of s presence ti when be bad finished his dutiful dance took him aside and begged dear wouldn t you like to do something for me i m all out of and the bunch want to couldn t you just down to s and get some sure he said trying not to sound sullen in tell you ni get to drive down with you was pointing to the thin sarcastic young miss greeted him with an how do mr tells me you re a very prominent m a n and i m honored by being allowed to drive with you of course i m not accustomed to with society people like you so i don t know how to act in such miss talked all the way to s to her he wanted to reply oh go to the devil but be never quite himself to that reasonable he was the existence of the whole bunch he bad heard of darling and she s so clever her but they had never been real to him he had pictured as living in a rose tinted waiting for lam free of all the of a when returned he had to endure the patronage of the young clerks they were as ly friendly as miss was hostile they called him old and shouted come on now shake a leg boys in coats boys as young	42
as ted and as as chorus men but powerful to dance and to mind tbe and smoke and he tried to be one of them he cried good work but his voice apparently enjoyed the con of the dancing she to their bland and casually kissed them at the end of each dance hated her for the moment he saw her as middle aged le studied tee the hei the flesh her chin the muscles of ha youth were loose and drooping between dances she sat in the largest chair her her admirers to come and talk to her she thinks she s a blooming growled she to miss isn t my little it s a plain old maid and dog flat oh god i wish i was home i wonder if i can t make a now his vision grew however as he applied himself to s raw but vigorous he blended with the bunch he began to rejoice that and the most nearly of the youths seemed to like him and it was important to win over the surly older man who proved to be a railway clerk named the conversation of the bunch full of to people whom did not know apparently they thought very comfortably of themselves they were the bunch wise and beautiful and amusing they were and accustomed to all the luxuries of dance balls and and in a superiority to people who were slow or they oh did i tell you what that of a said when i came in late yesterday oh it was per ly oh but wasn t t d say he was simply what did say to him think of the nerve of bob trying to get us to come to his say the nerve of him can you beat it for nerve some nerve i call it did you notice how was dancing wasn t she the limit was to be heard agreeing with the miss that persons who let a night go by without dancing to music were and poor fish and he roared you bet when mrs don t you love to sit on the floor it s so he began to think extremely well of the bunch when he mentioned his friends sir lord william washington and he was proud of their interest he got so thoroughly into the spirit that he didn t much mind seeing drooping against the shoulder of the youngest and of the young men and be himself desired to hold s hand and ed it only because looked angry when he went home at two he was fully a member of the bunch and all the thereafter he was bound by the the exceedingly wearing demands of their life of pleasure and freedom he had to go to their parties he was involved in the agitation when to everybody else that she hadn t meant what she d said when she d said that and way why was going around saying she d said it never was a family more on learning one another s movements than were the bunch all of them knew or indignantly desired to know all the others had been every minute of the found himself explaining to or just what he had been doing that he should not have joined them till ten o clock and for having gone to dinner with a business acquaintance every member of the was to to every other at least once a why haven t you called me up was asked not only by and but presently by new ancient friends and c and if for a moment he had seen as and sentimental he lost that impression at s dance mrs had a large house and a small husband to her party came all of the bunch perhaps thirty five of them when th were completely under the name of old was now a of the bunch since each month it changed half its and he who could recall the days of a fortnight ago before mrs the food had gone to and had got sore at was a venerable leader and able to condescend to new and and at s did not have to work at being hostess she was dignified and sure a dear fine figure in the black frock he had always loved and in the wider of that ugly house was able to sit quietly with her he repented of his first at her feet and happily drove her home next day he bought a violent yellow tie to make himself young for her he knew a little sadly that he could not make himself beautiful be beheld himself as heavy of but be danced be dressed be to he as young as she was as young as she seemed to be as all whether to a religion love or find as by magic that though hitherto these have not seemed to exist now the whole world is filled with their fury so once he was converted to discovered agreeable opportunities for it everywhere he had a new view of his sporting neighbor sam the were respectable people industrious people prosperous people whose ideal of happiness was an eternal their life was by of and kisses th and their set worked all the week and all week looked forward to saturday night when they would as they expressed it throw a party and the thrown party grew and up to sunday dawn and usually included an extremely rapid expedition to nowhere in particular one evening when was at the found himself being lively with the friendship with men whom he bad for years to mrs as a rotten bunch of tin horns that i wouldn t go out with not if they were the last people on earth that evening he had come home and about in front of the off the walk the ice like made by the steps of by during	42
the recent snow came up still a george cold again to night what do you hear from the wife r i she s fine but her sister is still pretty ck say better come in and have dinner with ns to night george oh oh thanks have to go out suddenly he could not endure s of the more interesting about totally uninteresting problems he scraped at the walk and sam appeared working hard exercise cold for you to night well just about still a say while she s away i know you don t care much for fights but the and i d be awfully glad if you could come in some night think you could stand a good for once stand it young i bet old uncle george can mix the best in these united that s the way to talk look here there s some folks coming to the house to night and some other live ones and i m going to open up a bottle of pre war gin and maybe well dance a while why don t you drop in and it up a little just for a change what time they coming he was at sam di s at nine it was the third time he had entered the house by ten he was calling mr sam old at eleven they all drove out to the old farm inn bat in the back of s car with once he had tried to make love to her now he did not try he merely made love and dropped her head on his shoulder told him what a was and accepted as a decent and weu trained r with the assistance of s bunch the and other companions in forgetfulness there was not an evening for two we when he did not return home late and with his other faculties he yet had the s gift of being able to drive when he could scarce walk of down at and allowing for approaching cars he came into the house if and were about he got past them with a hasty greeting horribly aware of their level young glances and hid himself upstairs he found when he came into the warm house that be was than he had believed his head whirled he dared not ue down he tried to out the in a hot bath for the moment his head was dearer but when he moved about the his calculations of distance were wrong so that he dragged down the and knocked over the so with a clatter which he feared would betray him to the children chilly in his dressing gown he tried to read the evening er he could follow every word he seemed to take in the of things but a minute afterward he could not have told what he had been reading when he went to bed his brain flew in circles and he hastily sat up struggling for self control at last he was able to lie still feeling only a little sick and dizzy and ashamed to hide his condition from his own to have danced and shouted with people whom he despised i to have said foolish things sung songs tried to kiss silly girls he remembered that he had by his roaring familiarity with them laid himself open to the of youths whom he would have kicked out of his office that by dancing too he bad exposed himself to from the of women as it came back to him he i myself l ut be i m ei had he was even about it after when he was to be grave and paternal with his at break fast at be was less sure he did not deny he had been a fool he saw it almost as clearly as at mid t but anything he struggled was better than going back to a life of barren at four he wanted a drink he kept a in bis desk now and two minutes of battle he had his drink three drinks be began to see the bunch as tender and amusing friends and by six he was with them and the tale was to be told all each morning bis bead a little less a bad head for drinks had been bis but the was crumbling presently he could be drunk at dawn yet not feel particularly wretched in his or in his stomach he awoke at no regret no desire to escape the toil of keeping up with the merriment of the bunch was so great as his of social inferiority when he failed to keep up to be the of them was as much bis hi now as it had been to at making money at playing at driving at at climbing to the set but occasionally he failed he found that and the other young men considered the bunch too polite and the who kissed behind doors too as from heights down to the bunch so the young from the of the bunch to times with yoimg women whom they picked in department stores and at hotel once tried to accompany them there was a car a bottle of and for bim a shrieking cash girl from and s he sat beside her and worried he was apparently expected to jolly her along but when she sang out hey quit crushing me he did not quite know how to go on they sat in the back room of a saloon and had a headache was confused by their new looked at them wanted to go home and had a drink a good many drinks two after the surly older man of the bunch took aside and look here it s none of my business and god knows i always lap up my share of the but don t you think you better watch yourself you re one of	42
these enthusiastic that always things d you realize you re throwing in the as fast as you can and you eat one right another better cut it out for a while said that good old was a prince and yes he would cut it out and thereafter he lifted a and took a drink and bad a terrific quarrel with when she caught him affectionate with next morning he himself that be should have sunk into a position where a like could rebuke him he perceived that since he was making love to every woman possible was no longer his one pure star and he wondered whether she had ever been anything more to him than a woman and if had spoken to him were other le talking about him he suspiciously watched the men at the club that noon it seemed to him that they were uneasy they had been talking about him then he was angry he became he not only defended but even made fun of the y m c a was rather brief in his answers afterward was not angry he was afraid he did not go to the n t of the club but hid in a cheap and while he a ham and egg and coffee from a cup on the arm of his chair he worried four days when the bunch were having one of their best parties drove them to the which had been laid out on the river after a the streets had frozen in smooth ice down those wide endless streets the wind rattled between the rows of wooden houses and the whole district seemed a frontier town with chains on all four was afraid of sliding and when he came to the long slide of a hill he crawled down both on round a comer came a less cautious car it it almost them with its rear in at their escape the bunch shouted oh baby and waved their hands to the agitated other driver then saw professor crawling up hill staring at the he was sure that him and saw kiss him as she you re such a good at lunch next day he with out last night with my brother and some friends of his what driving slippery s glass thought i saw you the avenue hill no i wasn t i didn t see you said hastily rather perhaps two days afterward took to lunch at the hotel she who had seemed well content to wait for him at her flat had begun to hint with melancholy smiles that he must think but little of her if he never introduced her to his friends if he was unwilling to be seen with her t at the he thought of taking ber to the ladies of the but that was too dangerous he would have to introduce her and oh people might and he con on the she was unusually smart all in black small black hat short black coat loose and swinging and austere high black velvet frock at a time when most street were like evening gowns perhaps she was too smart every one in the gold and oak of the was staring at her as followed her to a table he uneasily hoped that the head waiter would them a discreet place behind a pillar but they stationed on the aisle not to notice her admirers she smiled at with a lavish oh isn t this what a looking had difficulty in being lavish la return lor two tables away he saw all through the meal watched them while watched himself being watched and tried to ke from s i felt like a to day she i love the don t you it s so live and yet so so r ned he made talk about the the service the food people he recognized in the all but there did not seem to be anything to talk of he smiled at her fluttering be agreed with b that was so hard to get along with and young such a silly lazy kid really just no good at all but he himself had nothing to say he considered ing her his about but oh it was too much work to go into the whole thing and explain about and everything he was relieved when he put on a he was cheerful in the familiar of his at four o clock called on him was agitated but began in a way how s the boy say some of us are getting up a scheme ve d kind of like to have you come in on fine shoot you know during the war we had the element the and walking and just the plain common dead to rights and so did we for quite a while after the war but folks forget about the and that gives these a chance to begin working again especially a lot of these parlor well it s up to the folks that do a little sound thinking to make a conscious effort to keep these fellows some gay back east has organized a called the good citizens league for just that pose of course chamber of commerce and the american and so on do a fine work in keeping the decent people in the saddle but re devoted to so many other causes that they can t attend to this one problem properly but the good citizens league tie g c l they stick right to it oh the g c l has to have some other purposes here in i think it ought to support the park extension project and the city planning committee and then too it should have a social a being made up of the best people have dances and so on especially as one of the best ways it can put the on is to apply this social	42
business to folks big enough so you can t reach em otherwise then if that don t work the g c l can finally send a little around to inform folks that get too that th got to to decent standards and quit shooting off mouths so free don t it sound like the organization could do a great work we ve already got some of the strongest men in town and of course we want you in how about it was uncomfortable he felt a back to all the standards he had so vaguely yet so desperately been he i suppose you d especially light on fellows like and try to make em you bet your sweet we would look here old i i ve never for one moment believed you meant it when you ve defended and the and so on at the club i knew you were simply those poor like j at least i certainly hope you were if oh well sure course you might say was i conscious of how feeble he sounded conscious of s mature and eye you know where i i m no labor i m a business man first last and all i the but but honestly i don t think means so badly and you got to remember he s an old friend of mine george when it comes right down to a struggle decency and tbe of our homes on the one hand and red ruin and those lazy dogs for free beer on the other you got to give up even old he that is not with me is against me ye es i suppose how about it going to join us in the good citizens league i ll have to think it over all right just as you say was relieved to be let off so easily but went on george i don t know what s come over you none of us do and we ve talked a lot about you for a while we figured out you d been upset by what happened to poor and we forgave you for any fool things you said but that s old stuff now george and we can t make out what s got into you personally i ve always defended you but i must say it s getting too much for me all the boys at the club and the are sore the way you go on deliberately and his bunch of hell hounds and talking about being liberal which means being and even saying this preacher isn t a professional free love and then the way you been carrying on personally joe says he saw you out the other night with a gang of all to the and here to day coming right into the with a well she may be all right and a perfect lady but she certainly did look like a pretty gay skirt for a fellow with bis wife out of town to be taking to lunch didn t look well what the devil has come over you george strikes me there s a lot of fellows that know more about my personal business than i do myself now don t go getting sore at me because i come out like a friend and say what i think instead of behind your back the way a whole lot of em do i tell you george you got a position in the community and the com expects you to live up to it and better think over the good citizens league see you about it later he was gone that evening dined alone he saw all the of i good fellows peering through the window on him fear sat him and he told himself that to night he would not go to s flat and he did not go till late i z l chapter xxx the summer before mrs s letters bad with desire to return to now they said nothing of returning but a wistful i suppose everything is going on all right without me among her dry of weather and hinted to that he hadn t been very urgent about her coming he worried it if she and i went on raising like i been doing she d have a fit i got to get hold of m i got to learn to play around and yet not make a fool of myself i can do it too if folks like let me alone and stay away but poor kid she sounds lonely lord i don t want to hurt d tliat they missed her and her next letter said happily that she was coming home he persuaded himself that he was eager to see her he bought roses for the house he ordered for dinner he had the car cleaned and polished all the way home from the station with her he was adequate in his accounts of ted s success in basket ball at the university but before they reached heights there was nothing more to say and already he felt the force of her wondered whether he could remain a good husband and still out of the house this evening for half an hour with the bunch when he bad the car he upstairs into the familiar warmth of her presence help you your bag no i can do it slowly she holding up a small box and slowly she said i brought you a present just a new cigar case i know if you d care to have it she was the lonely girl the brown appealing sod whom he had married and he wept for pity as he kissed her and t oh honey honey care to have it of course i do i m awful proud you brought it to me and i needed a new case badly he wondered how	42
he would get of the case he bad bought the week before and you really are glad to see me why you poor what you been worrying about you didn t seem to miss me veiy much by the time be had finished his of lying they were firmly bound again by ten that evening it seemed in that she had ever been away there was but one difference the problem of remaining a respectable husband a heights husband yet seeing and the bunch with he had promised to to that evening and now it was impossible he about the in thrusting out a hand to lift the but never quite daring to risk it nor could he find a reason for slipping down to the store on smith street with its he was laden with till he threw it off with the speculation why the deuce should i fret so about not being able to she can get along without me i don t owe her anything she s a fine girl but i ve given her just as much as she has me oh damn these women and the way they get you all tied up in for a be was attentive to his wife took her to the to dinner at the thai the old weary and shifting began and at least two evenings a week he spent with the bunch he still made of going to the and to committee meetings but less and less did be trouble to have his excuses interesting less and less did she a to believe them he was certain that she knew he was with what called a crowd yet neither of them acknowledged it in matrimonial geography the distance between the first mute recognition of a break and the admission is as great as the distance between the first faith and the first doubting as he began to drift away he also began to see her as a human being to like and dislike her instead of accepting her as a comparatively part of the furniture and be that husband and wife relation which in years of married life had become a separate and real he recalled their high lights the summer in virginia meadows under the blue wall of the mountains their tour through and the of and the birth of their building of this new house planned to comfort them through a happy old age they had said that it might be the last home either of them would ever have yet his most softening remembrance of these dear moments did not keep him from barking at dinner going out f few hours don t sit up for me he did not dare now to come home drunk and though he rejoiced in his return to high morality and spoke with gravity to and about their drinking he at s and meditated that a fellow couldn t ever learn to handle himself if he was always by a lot of women he no longer wondered if wasn t a bit worn and sentimental in contrast to the ia as swift and air borne and radiant a fire r i t f ing to the hearth and however he i wife with tan is then mrs tore the decent cloak from her q and tbe astounded male discovered that she v a small determined rebellion of her own they were beside the fire place in the evening george she said you haven t given me the list of your household expenses while i was away no i haven t made it out yet very we must try to keep down p i es this year that s so i don t know where all the money goes to i try to but it just seems to i suppose i ou tn t to end so much on cigars know but what i ll cut down my smoking maybe cut it out entirely i was thinking of a good way to do it the other day start on these and they d kind of disgust me with smoking oh i do wish you would i it isn t that i care but honestly george it is so bad for you to smoke so much don t you think you could reduce the amount and george i notice now i you come home from these and all that you smell of you know i don t worry so about the side of it but you have a weak stomach and you can t stand all this drinking weak stomach i guess i can carry my about as well as most folks well i do think you ought to be careful don t you see dear i don t want you to get sick sick rats i m not a baby i guess i ain t going to get sick just because maybe once a week i shoot a that s the trouble with women they always so george i don t think you ought to talk that way i m just speaking for your own good i know but all that s the trouble with women they re always and and bringing things up and then they say it s for your own good l why that s not a nice way to talk to answer me so well i didn t mean to answer short but talking as if i was a not able to one without calling for the st mary s a fine idea must have of oh it isn t that it s just i don t want to see you get sick and my i didn t know it was so don t forget to give me those household accounts for the time while i was away oh what s the use of taking the trouble to make em out now let s just em for that period why george	42
in all the years we ve been m failed to keep a complete account of every penny we ve no maybe that s the trouble with us what in the world do you mean oh i don t mean anything only t p an dam sick and tired of all this routine and at the office arid expenses a t h om e and and and and wearing f out w over a lot of v that doesn t really mean a one thing ii and good lord t think i m made for i could have been a good orator and t and and worry don t you suppose i ever get tired of i get so bored with ordering three meals a day three hundred and sixty five days a year and my eyes over that horrid sewing machine and looking after your clothes and s and ted s and s and everybody s and the and and going down to the to market and bringing my basket home to save money on the cash and everything i well with a c tain astonishment i suppose maybe you do but talk about here i have to be in the office every single day while you can go out all and see folks and visit with the neighbors and do any thing you want to i yes and a fine lot of good that does me i just talking over the same old things with the same old crowd while you have all sorts of interesting people coming in to see you at the office interesting old that want to know why i haven t their dear precious homes for about seven times their value and bunch of old the everlasting out of me because don t receive every cent of their by three g m on the second of the month interesting just as interesting as the small now george i will not have you shouting at me that way well it gets my goat the way women figure out that a man doesn t do a thing but sit on his chair and have with a lot of and give em the glad eye i guess you manage to give them a glad enough eye when they do come in what do you mean mean i m chasing i should hope not at your now you look here you may not believe it of course all you see is fat little george sure handy man around the the furnace when the furnace man doesn t show up and pays the but dull awful dull i well you may not believe it but there s some women that think old george isn t such a bad they think he s not so bad looking not so bad that it hurts anyway and he s got a pretty good line of and some even think he a wicked at dancing yes she spoke slowly i haven t much doubt that when i m away you manage to find people who properly appreciate you well i just mean he protested with a sound of denial then he was into semi honesty you bet i do i i find plenty of folks and nice ones that don t think i m a weak baby that s exactly what i was you can run around with anybody you please but i m supposed to sit ho e and wait for you you have the chance to get all sorts of culture everything and i just stay home well almighty there s nothing to prevent your reading books and going to lectures and all that is there george i you i won t have you shouting at me like that i i don t know what s come over you you never used to speak to me in this way i didn t mean to sound but it certainly makes me sore to get the blame because you don t keep up with things i m going will you help me sure anything i can do to help you in the culture line yours to oblige g f very well then i want you to go to mrs s new thought meeting with me next sunday afternoon mrs who s which mrs the field for the american new thought league she s going to speak on the sun spirit before the league of the higher illumination at the ob new thought thought with a the it sounds like why is a mouse when it that s a fine for a good to be going to when you can hear drew drew is a scholar and a pulpit and all that but he hasn t got the inner as mrs calls it he hasn t any in for the new era women need now so i want you to come as you promised the branch of the league of the higher met in the smaller at the hotel a rained apartment with pale green walls and plaster wreaths of roses and refined frail g t chairs here were gathered sixty five women and ten men most of the men in their chairs and while their wives sat rigidly at attention but two of them men were as re devout as their wives th were newly rich who having bought houses hand pictures and were now a refined ready made philosophy it had been a with them to buy new thought christian science or a good standard church model of in the flesh mrs n fell somewhat short of a prophetic aspect she was pony built and plump with the face of a haughty a button of a nose and arms so short that de ite her most indignant she could not her hands in front of her as she sat on the platform waiting her frock of	42
and green with three strings of glass beads and large folding eye glasses from a black ribbon was a of refinement mrs was introduced by the president of the league of the higher illumination an young woman with a yearning voice white and a she said that mrs would now make it plain to the simplest intellect how the sun spirit could be cultivated and they o had been about one would do well to treasure mrs s words because even and everybody knew that stood in the van of and new thought progress didn t often have the opportunity to sit at the feet of such an in and as mrs who had lived the life of wider usefulness through and in the silence found those secrets of mental control and the inner key were immediately going to and bring peace power and prosperity to the unhappy nations and so friends would tb for this precious studded hour forget the illusions of the seeming real and in the of the deep lying pass along with mrs to the realm beautiful if mrs was rather than one would like one s and yet her voice bad the real professional note it was refined and it was calm it flowed on without one till was her favorite word was always which she pronounced ways her principal gesture was a but thoroughly blessing with two fingers she explained about this matter of spiritual there are those of those she made a linked sweetness long drawn out a far os delicate call in a twilight minor it the restless husbands yet t them a message of healing there are those who have seen the rim and outer seeming of the there are those who have and in enthusiasm possessed themselves of some and portion of the there are those who thus but not penetrated and by the go always to and that they possess and are possessed of the and the but this word i bring you this i that those that are not utter are not and that is in its essence always always always whole and it proved that the essence of the sun spirit was truth but its and were face always the day with the dawn laugh with the of the who that all works together in the of the wheel and who answers the of the souls of the th a glad it went on for about an hour and seven minute at the end mrs spoke with more vigor and now let me suggest to all of you the advantages of the and oriental reading circle v ch i represent our object is to unite all the of the new era into one whole new thought christian science and the from the one new li t the is but ten a year and for this mere the members receive not only the monthly magazine pearls of healing but the privilege of sending right to the president our mother any questions regarding spiritual progress matrimonial problems health and well being questions financial difficulties and they listened to her with attention they looked genteel they looked out they politely and crossed their legs with and in expensive linen handkerchiefs blew their noses with a delicacy altogether and refined as for he sat and suffered when they were out in the air again when they drove home through a wind smelling of snow and honest sun he dared not speak they had been too near to these days mrs forced it did you enjoy mrs s talk well i what did you get out of it oh it starts a person thinking it gets you out of a routine of ordinary thoughts well hand it to she isn t ordinary but honest did that stuff mean anything to you of course i m not trained in and there was lots i couldn t quite grasp but i did feel it was inspiring and she speaks so readily i do think you ought to have got something out of it well i didn t i swear i was astonished the way those women it why the they want to put in their time listening to all that when they it s certainly better for them than going to and smoking and drinking i don t know whether it is or personally i don t see a whole lot of difference in both cases they re to get away from themselves most everybody is these days i guess and i d certainly get a whole lot more out of it in a good lively dance even in some than sitting looking as if my collar was too tight and feeling too scared to spit and listening to her words i m sure you do you re very fond of no doubt you saw a lot of them while i was away look here you been doing a hell of a lot of and around lately as if i were leading a double life or something and i m damn sick of it and i don t want to hear anything more about iti why george do you realize what you re saying why george in all our years together you ve never talked to me like that i it s about time then lately you ve been getting worse and worse and now finally you re cursing and swearing at me and shouting at me and your voice so ugly and hateful i just o oh rats quit i i wasn t shouting or ing either i wish you could heat your own voice maybe you don t realize how it sounds but even so you never used to talk like that you sin ly couldn t talk this way if something dreadful hadn t happened to you his mind was hard with r he found that he wasn t particularly it	42
was only with an effort that he made himself agreeable well i didn t mean to get sore george do you realize that we can t go like this getting farther and farther apart and you and to me i just t know what s going to he had a s pi for her bewilderment he thought of how many deep and tender thin would be hurt if they really couldn t go on like this but his pity was and he was wouldn t it maybe be a good thing if not a divorce and all that o course but oi a little mon independence while she locked at him he drove on in a dreadful silence d l chapter when he was away from her while he kicked about the and t the snow off the running board and examined a cracked connection he repented he was alarmed and astonished that he could have out at his wife and thou t fondly how much more lasting she was than the bunch he went in to that he was sorry didn t to be and to inquire as to her interest in but in the darkness of the he that he d gone and tied himself up to all over again he had some satisfaction in taking it out on hang anyway why d she gone and got him into these mix and made him all and nervous and too many cut em he wanted peace for ten days he did see nor to her and instantly she put upon him the which he hated when be bad stayed away from her for five days taking pride in his and how greatly must miss him miss reported mrs on the like t speak t you some r airs was quick and quiet mr oh george this is i t seen you for we s days iu tray you aren t sick are you no just been terribly rushed i i think be a big revival of building this year got to got to work hard of course my i want you to you know i m terribly ambitious for you much more than i am for myself i just don t want you to forget poor will you call me soon you please do i n t call you again he meditated poor but ou tn t to me at the office she s a wonder sympathy ambitious for me but i won t be made and compelled to call her up till i get ready dam these women the way they make demands be one long old time before i see her but i d like to see her to night sweet little thing oh cut that son now you ve broken away be she did not again nor he but after five more days she wrote to him have i you you must know dear i didn t mean to i m so lonely and i need somebody to cheer me up why didn t you come to the nice party we had at s last evening i remember she invited you can t you come around here to morrow evening i shall be alone and hope to see you his reflections were numerous it why can t she let me alone why can t women ever learn a fellow hates to be and they always take advantage of you by yelling how lonely they are now that isn t nice of you young she s a fine square straight girl and she does get lonely she writes a swell hand nice looking plain refined i guess m have to go see her well thank god i got till to morrow night free of her anyway she s nice but hang it i won t be made to do thin t i m not married to her no nor by going to ob rats i suppose i better go see her thursday the to morrow of s note was full of at the table at the club talked of the good league and it seemed to deliberately left him out of the invitations to join old mat the general utility man at s office had troubles and came in to groan about them his oldest boy was no good his wife was sick and he had with his brother in law also had troubles and since was one of his best had to listen to them mr it appeared was suffering from a peculiarly interesting and the had him when came home everybody had troubles his wife was simultaneously thinking about the impudent new maid and worried lest the maid leave and desired to her teacher oh quit you never hear me about my troubles and yet if you had to run a office why to day i found miss was two days behind with her accounts and i pinched my finger in my desk and was in and just as unreasonable as ever he was so vexed that dinner when it was time for a escape to he merely to his wife got to go out be back by eleven should think oh you re going out again again what do you mean again haven t hardly been out of the house for a week are you are you going to the got to see some people though this time he heard hb own voice and knew that it was though she was looking at him with wide eyed reproach he into the hall jerked on his and gloves and went out to start the car he was relieved to find cheerful and brilliant in a frock of brown net over gold you poor man having to come out on a night like this it s cold don t you think a small hi ball would be nice now by there s a woman with i i think	42
we could more or less stand a if it wasn t too long a one not over a foot he kissed her with careless he forgot the of her demands he stretched in a large chair and felt that he had beautifully come home he was he told her what a noble and misunderstood man hi was and how superior to and the men of their acquaintance and she bending forward chin in charming hand agreed but when he forced himself to ask y s things with you she took his duty question seriously and he that she too had troubles oh all right but i did get so angry with she told that i told h that was an awful and told me had told her and of course i told her i hadn t said of the kind and then found had told me and she was simply furious because had told me and of course i was just boiling because had told her i d told her and then we all met iq at s his wife is away thank oh there s the in his house to dance on and we were au of us simply furious at each other and oh i do hate that kind of a mix t don t you i mean it s so lacking in refinement but and mother wants to come and stay w h me for a whole month and of course i do love her i suppose i do but honestly shell my style something dreadful she never can learn not to comment and she always wants to know e i m going i go out evenings and if i lie to her she always around and around and finds out where i ve been and then she looks like patience on a monument till i could just scream and oh i must tell you know i never talk about myself i just people do don t you but i feel so stupid to night and i i must be you all this but what would you do about mother he gave her masculine advice she was to put off her mother s stay she was to to go to the deuce for these valuable she thanked him and they into the familiar gossip of the of what a sentimental fool was of what a lazy was of bow nice could be course lots of people think he s a regular old when they meet him because he doesn t give em the ad hand the first crack out of the box but when they get to know him he s a but as they had gone each of these before the conversation staggered tried to be intellectual and deal with general he said some thoroughly sound things about and and h but it seemed to him that general topics interested only when she could apply them to or themselves he was conscious of their silence he tried to stir her into chattering again but silence rose like a gray presence and hovered between them i he labored it strikes me it strikes me that is maybe will get a job then silence desperately he what s the trouble old honey you seem kind of quiet to am i oh i m not but do you really care whether i am or not care course i do do you really she on him sat on the arm of his chair he hated the drain of having to appear fond of her he her hand smiled at her and sank back george i wonder if you really like me at all course i do silly do you really precious do you care a bit why certainly you don t suppose i d be here if i didn tl now see here young man i won t have you to me in that way i i didn t mean to sound i just in injured and rather childish tones it makes me tired the way everybody says i sound when i just talk natural do they expect me to sing it or something who do you mean by everybody how many other ladies have you been look here now i won t have thb i humbly i know dear i was only i know it didn t mean to talk hu it was just tired forgive bad but say you love me say iti i love you course i do yes you do oh darling i don t mean to be rude but i get so lonely i feel so useless nobody needs me nothing i can do for anybody and you know dear i m so active could be if there was something to do and i am young aren t i i m not an old thing i m not old and stupid am i he had to assure her she his hair and he had to look pleased under that touch the more demanding in its softness he was impatient he wanted to flee out to a hard sure man world through her delicate and caressing fingers she may have t something of his she left him he was for the moment relieved she dragged a to his feet and sat looking up at him but as in many men the of a dog the of a frightened child rouse not pity but a surprised and cruelty so her humility only annoyed bim and he saw her now as middle aged as beginning to be old even while he detested his own thoughts they rode him she was om he he noted how the soft flesh was into folds beneath her chin below her eyes at the base of her a patch of her throat had a minute like the from a rubber old	42
she was younger in years than himself yet it was sickening to have her yearning up at him with rolling great eyes as if he shuddered his own aunt were making love to him he fretted inwardly i m through with this around i m going to cut her out she s a dam decent nice woman and i don t want to hurt her but it ll hurt a lot less to cut her right out like a good clean operation he was on his feet he was speaking by every rule of self esteem he had to prove to her and to himself that i it was her fault i suppose maybe i m kind of out of sorts to night but honest honey when i stayed away for a while to catch on work and everything and figure out where i was at you ought to have been and waited till i came back can t you see dear when you made me come i being about an average bull headed my tendency was to resist listen dear i m going now not for a while right now and then sometime well see about the future what do you mean dear about the future have i done something i t to oh i m so dreadfully he resolutely put his hands behind him not a thing god bless you not a thing you re as good as they make em but it s just good lord do you realize i ve got things to do in the world i ve got a business to attend to and you might not believe it but i ve got a wife and that i m awful fond then only during the murder he was committing was he able to fed nobly virtuous z want us to be friends but i can t go on this way feeling i got to come u here every so often ob darling darling and i e always told you so carefully that you were absolutely free i just wanted you to come around when you were tired and wanted to talk to me or you could enjoy our parties she was so reasonable she was so gently ri tl it took him an hour to make his escape with nothing settled and horribly settled in a barren freedom of icy northern wind be sighed thank god that s over poor poor darling but it is over i m free i chapter his wife was up when he came in did you have a good time she i did not i had a rotten i got to george how can you oh i don t know what s come you good lord there s nothing come over me why do you look for trouble all the time be was warning himself careful stop being so disagreeable course feels it being left alone here all evening but he forgot his warning as she went on why do you go out and see all sorts of strange people i suppose you ll say you ve been to another committee meeting this evening i ve been calling on a woman we sat by the and each other and had a whale of a good time if you want to know well from the way you say it i suppose it s my fault you went i probably sent you did well upon my word you hate strange people as you call em if you had your way i d be as much of an old stick in the mud as little you never want to have anybody with any to em at the house you want a bunch of old that sit around and gas about the weather you re doing your level best to make me old well let me tell you i m not going overwhelmed she bent to his ui and in answer she mourned oh dearest i don t think that s true i don t mean to make you old i know perhaps you re partly right perhaps i am slow about getting acquainted with new people but you think of all the dear good times we have and the supper parties and the and all with true masculine he not only convinced himself that she had injured him but by the of his voice and the of his attack he convinced her also and presently be had her for bis having spent the evening with he went iq to bed well pleased not only the master but the martyr of the household for a distasteful moment after he had lain down be wondered if he bad been altogether just ought to be ashamed her maybe there is her side to thin maybe she hasn t had such a time herself but i don t care good for h to get q a and i m going to keep free of her and and the fellows at the club and everybody i m going to nm my own in this mood he was particularly objectionable at the club next day they were addressed by a who had just returned from an three months study of the political systems divisions resources and of france great britain italy and he told them all about those subjects together with three funny stories about european of america and some spirited words on the necessity of keeping ignorant foreigners out of america say that was a mighty talk real he said but the grumbled i of air and what s the with the they aren t all ignorant and i got a we re all descended from ourselves oh you make me said mr was aware that dr a i was sternly listening from across the table dr was one of the most important men in the he was not a physician but a surgeon a	42
romantic and sounding occupation he was an intense large man with a boiling of black hair and a thick black the newspapers often his operations be was professor of in the state university he went to dinner at the very best houses on royal ridge and he was said to be worth several hundred thousand dollars it was to to have such a person at him he hastily praised the s wit to but for dr s benefit that afternoon three men shouldered into s office with the air of a committee in frontier days they were large resolute big men and they were all high lords in the land of dr the surgeon charles the and most of all the white bearded colonel snow owner of the advocate times in their presence felt small and insignificant well well great pleasure have chairs what c n i do for you he they neither sat nor offered observations on the weather said colonel snow we ve come from the good citizens league we ve decided we want you to join s you don t care to but i think we can show you a new li t the league is going to combine with the chamber of commerce in a campaign for tbe open shop so it s time for you to put your name down in his embarrassment could not recall his for not wishing to join the league if indeed he had ev definitely known them but he was passionately certain that he not wish to join and at the thought of their forcing him he a stirring of anger against even these princes of commerce sorry have to think it over a little he that means you re not going to join george something black and and spoke from now you look here l i m damned if i m going to be into joining anything not even by you we re not anybody dr b an but snow thrust him aside with certainly we are we don t mind a little if it s necessary the g c l has been talking about you a good deal you re posed to be a sensible clean responsible man you always have been but here lately for god knows what reason i hear from all sorts of sources that you re running around with a loose crowd and what s a whole lot worse you ve actually been and some of the most dangerous in town like this fellow colonel that strikes me as my private business possibly but we want to have an understanding you ve stood in you and your father in law with some of the most substantial and forward looking interests in town b ke my friends of tbe street company and my have given you a lot of well you can t the citizens to go on you if you intend to side with precisely the people who are trying to us was frightened but he had an instinct that if lie yielded in this he would yield in he protested you re colonel i believe in being and liberal but of course i m just as much the and and labor and so on as you are but fact is i belong to so many now that i can t do em justice and i want to think it before i decide about into the g cl colonel snow condescended oh no i m not why the doctor here heard you out and one of the finest types of republican just this and you have entirely the wrong idea about thinking over joining we re not begging you to join the g cl we re permitting you to join i m not sure my but what if you put it off it u be too late i m not sure well want you then better think quick better think the three formidable in their stared at him in a silence waited through he thought nothing at all he merely waited while in his echoing head i don t want to join i don t want to join i don t want to all right sorry for yon said colonel snow and the three men turned their backs as went out to his car that evening he saw coming down the block he raised his hand in tion but ignored it and crossed the street he was c ain that had seen him he drove home in sharp discomfort his wife attacked at once george dear was in this afternoon and she says that says the committee of this good citizens league especially asked you to join and you wouldn t don t you think it would be you know all the pet le belong and the league stands i know what the league stands it stands for the of free speech and free thought and everything i don t propose to be and rushed into joining any thing and it isn t a question of whether it s a good league or a bad league or what the hell kind of a league it is it s just a question of my refusing to be told i got to but dear if you don t join people might you let em but i mean nice rats i matter of fact this whole league is just a it s all these other that start os with such a rush and let on they re going to change the whole works and pretty soon they peter out and everybody forgets all about em i but if it s the now don t you think you no i don tl oh please quit ng me about it i m sick of hearing about the confounded g c l i almost wish i d joined it when first came around and got it over and maybe i d	42
ve come in to day if the committee hadn t tried to me but by god as long as i m a free bom independent american now george you re talking exactly like the german furnace man oh i am am ii then i won t talk at all he longed that evening to see to be strengthened by her sympathy when all the family were up stairs he got as far as to her apartment but he was agitated about it and when the answered he mind i ll call later and hung up the i z l if had not been certain about s avoiding him there could be little doubt about william washington next morning when was driving down to the office he overtook s car with the great banker sitting in solemnity behind his waved and cried i looked at him deliberately hesitated and gave him a nod more contemptuous than a direct cut s partner and father in law came in at george what s this i hear about some song and dance you gave colonel snow about not wanting to join the g cl what the you trying to do wreck the firm you don t suppose these big guns will stand your them and springing all this liberal you been getting off lately do you oh rats henry t you been reading bum fiction there ain t any such a thing as these plots to keep folks from being liberal this is a free country a man can do anything he wants to course th ain t any plots who said they was only if folks get an idea you re scatter and you don t suppose they ll want to do business with you do you one little about your being a would do more to ruin this business than all the plots and stuff that these fool could think in a month of sundays that when the old the mary appeared and suggested hb buying a parcel of land in the new section of said hastily too hastily no no don t want to go into anything new just now a week later learned through henry that the officials of the street con any were planning another real estate and that and wing not tbe company were to handle it for i figure that is kind of about the way folks are talking about you of course is a rock old die hard and he probably advised the to get some other george you got to do something and in a rush agreed all nonsense tbe way pet him but still he to join the good league the next time he was asked and in resignation he waited he wasn t asked they ignored him he did not have the courage to go to the league and beg in and he took refuge in a boast that he had gotten away with the whole city nobody could dictate to how be was going to think and he was as by nothing when the of miss suddenly left him thou her reasons were excellent she needed a rest her sister was sick she might not do any more work for six months he was with her successor miss what miss s given name was no one in the ce ever knew it seemed improbable that she had a given name a lover a puff or a she was so this t pale industrious that it was vulgar to think of her as going to an home to eat she was a perfectly and machine and she ou t each evening to have been off and shut in her desk beside her too slim too frail pencil points she took swiftly her was perfect but became y when be tried to work with she made him feel and at his best beloved daily jokes she looked inquiring he longed for miss s return and thought of writing to h then he heard that miss had a week after leaving him gone over to his dangerous con and wing he was not merely annoyed be was why did quit then be did she have a my business is going on the rocks and it was got the street deal rats sinking ship gray fear loomed always by him now he watched the young and wondered if he too would leave daily he fancied ts he noted that be was not asked to at the annual chamber of commerce r jones gave a large party and he was not invited he was that he bad been he was afraid to go to lunch at the club and afraid not to go he believed that be was cm that when he left the table they whispered about bim everywhere he heard the rustling whispers in the of es of in t e bank when he made a in bis own in his own home he what th were saying of bim all day long in conversations he caught them why say he s a regular vou got to admire the fellow for his nerve the way he turned liberal and by just runs his life to suit himself but say he s that s what he is and he s got to be shown he was so that when be rounded a comer and chanced on two acquaintances talking his heart leaped and he stalked by like an when he saw his neighbors and jones together he peered at them went indoors to escape their and was certain that they had been whispering whispering through all his fear ran defiance he felt stubborn sometimes be decided that be bad been a very devil of a fellow as bold as sometimes he planned to call oo and him what a he was and never got beyond the planning but just as often when he heard the	42
soft whispers bim he good lord what have i d ie just played with the bunch and called down drum about being such a high and ty never catch me people and trying to make them t my ideas he could not stand the strain before long he admitted that he would like to flee back to the security of provided there was a decent and creditable way to return but be would not be forced back he would not he swore eat dirt only in spirited engagements with his wife did these turbulent fears rise to the surface she complained that he seemed nervous that she couldn t understand why he did not want to drop in at the for the evening he tried but he could not express to her the facts of his rebellion and punishment and with paul and lost he had no one to whom he could talk good lord is the only real friend i have these days he sighed and be clung to the child played floor games with her all evening he considered going to see paul in prison but though he had a pale note from him every week he thought of paul as dead it was for whom he was longing i thought i was so smart and independent cutting out and i need her lord how t need he raged m j a a i m p can t t a all sh e sees i n is ge ng r st like other folks se tell me f wa s all right then he broke and one evening late he did run to he bad not dared to hope for it but she was in and alone only she wasn t she was a courteous brow lifting ice woman who looked like she said yes george what is it in even and tones and he crept away whipped his first comfort was from ted and they danced in one evening when ted was from the and ted what this i from she says her says you raised by old hot dog give em stir on up old is asleep down on lap kissed him ber hair against bis chin and i think you re lots than why is it that is such an old the man has a good heart and honestly he s awfully bright but be never will to st on the gas after all the training i ve given him don t you think we could do something with him dearest why that isn t a nice way to speak of your papa observed in the best heights manner but he was happy for the first time in weeks he pictured himself as the liberal strengthened by the loyalty of the young generation they went out to rifle the ice box if your mother caught us at this we d certainly get our come and became maternal scrambled a number of eggs for them kissed on the ear and in the voice of a brooding it beats the devil why like me go on nursing these men thus stimulated was reckless he encountered of the ca and choir leader of the road with one of his damp bands imprisoned s thick while he brother we haven t seen you at church very often lately i know you re busy with a multitude of details but you mustn t forget your dear friends at the old church home shook os the affectionate clasp liked to bold hands for a long and well i guess you fellows can run the show without me sorry got to beat it g day but afterward he if that white worm had the nerve to try to drag me back to the old church home then the holy must have been doing a lot of talking about me too he heard them whispering dr john bo drew even william washington the independence ont of him and he walked the alone afraid of men s cynical and the of i z l chapter he tried to explain to his wife as they prepared for bed bow objectionable was but all her answer he has such a beautiful voice so spiritual i don t think you ought to speak of him like that just because you can t appreciate music he saw her then as a stranger he stared at this plump and woman with the broad bare arms and wondered how she had ever come here in his chilly cot turning from aching side to side he of he d been a fool to lose her he had to have somebody he could really talk to he d oh he d if he went on about thin by himself an d us to e her to understand well rats no use uie for married people to drift apart after all these years rotten shame but nothing could bring them together now as long as he refused to let bully him into taking orders and he was by not going to let anybody bully him into anything or him or him either he woke at three roused by a passing and struggled out of bed for a drink of water as he passed through the bedroom he heard his wife groan his resentment was he was in inquiring what s the trouble i ve got such a pain down here in my side oh it s it tears at me bad shall i get you some don t that would help i funny last evening and yesterday and then it passed away and i got to sleep and that woke me up her voice was laboring like a ship in a storm he was alarmed i call the doctor no no go away but maybe you might get me an bag he stalked to the for the ice	42
bag down to the kitchen for ice he felt dramatic in this late night expedition but as he the of ice with the dagger like pick he was cool steady mature and the old friendliness was in his voice as be patted the ice bag into place on her there there be better now he retired to bed but he did not sleep he heard her groan again instantly be was up soothing her still pretty bad honey yes it just me and i can t get to sleep her voice was faint he knew her dread of doctors and he did not inform her but he down stairs to dr earl and waited shivering trying with eyes to read a magazine till he heard the doctor s car the doctor was and he came in as though it were sunny well george little trouble eh how is she now he said busily as with tremendous and rather cheerfulness he tossed his coat on a chair and warmed his bands at a he took charge of the house felt and as he followed the doctor up to the bedroom and it was tbe doctor who chuckled oh just little stomach ache when pe ed through her door begging what is it what is it to mrs the doctor said with amiable after his examination kind of a bad old pain eh i ll give you something to make you sleep and i think you ll feel in the morning ill come in right after breakfast but to lying in wait in the lower hall the doctor sighed j i don t like the feeling there in her belly there s some and some she s never bad her out has she um well no use worrying i ll be here first thing in the morning and meantime shell get some rest i ve given her a good night then was caught up in the black tempest instantly all the which had been him and the spiritual through which he had struggled became pallid and absurd before the ancient and overwhelming realities the standard and realities of sickness and menacing death the long night and the thousand steadfast of married life he crept back to her as she away in the languor of he sat on the edge of her bed holding her hand and for the first time in many weeks her band abode in his he draped himself in his and a pink and white couch cover and sat in a wing chair the bedroom was in its half light which turned the curtains to lurking robbers the dressing table to a castle it of of linen of sleep he and woke and woke a hundred times he heard her move and sigh in slumber he wondered if there wasn t some brisk thing he could do for her and before he could quite form the thought he was and aching the night was infinite when dawn came and the waiting seemed at an end he fell asleep and was vexed to have been caught os his guard to have been aroused by s entrance and her agitated oh what is it his wife was awake her face sallow and lifeless in the mom ing light but now he did not compare her with she i was not merely a woman to be contrasted with other women v but his own self and though he might her and l her it was only as he might and himself inter st without the expectation of changing f or any real desire to the eternal essence with he again and he who p the of the by wailing he ordered early breakfast and wanted to at the newspaper and felt heroic and in not looking at it but there were still crawling and hours of waiting before dr returned don t see much change said i ll be back and if you don t mind i think i ll bring in some world famous for consultation to be cm the safe side now george there s you can do have keep the ice bag might as well leave that on i guess and you you better beat it to the office instead of standing around her as if you were the patient the of lot more than the women they always have to horn in and get all the credit for feeling bad i their wives are now have another nice of coffee and under this derision became more matter of fact he drove to the office tried to dictate letters tried to and before the call was ed forgot to he was at a quarter after ten he returned home as he left the down town traffic and sped the car his face was as grimly as the mask of tragedy his wife greeted him with surprise why did you come back dear i think i feel a little better i told to off to ho office was it wicked of me to go and get sick he knew that she wanted and she got it they were curiously happy when be heard dr s car in front he looked out of the window he was with was an in man with turbulent black and a dr a i the surgeon q uttered with anxiety tried to conceal it and hurried down to the door dr was casual don t want to fm man but i thought it mi t be a to have dr her he as toward a master nodded in his and strode up stairs tbe living room in agony except for his wife s ts there had never a major operation in the family and to him was at once a miracle and an of fear but i and came down again he knew that everything was all right and he wanted to laugh for the two doctors were exactly like	42
the bearded in a musical comedy both of them their bands and looking foolishly sagacious dr ae i m sorry old man but it s acute we ought to operate of course you must decide but there s no question as to what has to be done did not get all the force of it he well i st we could get ha ready in a o days probably ted t to come down from the university just in case anything happened dr growled if you don t want to set in well have to right away i must advise it strongly if you say go ahead for the st mary s at once and we ll have ber on the table in quarters of an hour i i of course i suppose you know what but great god man i can t get her clothes ready and everything in two seconds you know and in ber state so wrought up and weak just throw h hair brush and and tooth brush a bag that s all shell need for a day or two said dr and went to the galloped desperately up stairs he sent the t out of the room he said gaily to his wife well old thing the thinks maybe we better have a little aad get it over just take a few not half as serious as a confinement and you ll be all right in a she his hand till the fingers ached she said patiently like a child i m afraid to go into the dark all maturity was wiped from her eyes they were pleading and terrified will you stay with me darling you don t have to go to the office now do you could you just go down to the hospital with me could you come see me this evening if everything s all right you won t have to go out this evening will you he was on his knees by the bed while she feebly ruffled his hair he sobbed he kissed the lawn of her sleeve and swore j old honey i love you more than anything in the i ve kind of been worried by business and everything but that s i all over now and i m back again are you george i was thinking lying here maybe it would be a good thing if i just went i was wondering if anybody really needed me or wanted me i was wondering what was the use of my living i ve been getting so stupid and ugly why you old fishing for compliments when i ought to be packing your me sure i m young and handsome and a regular village cut up and he could not go on he sobbed n they found as he brain was curiously clear and swift he d have no more wild evenings he realized he admitted that he would regret them a little grimly he perceived that this had been his last despairing fling before the contentment of middle age well and he grinned it was one good party while it lasted and how much was the operation going to cost i ought to have fought that out with but no damn it i don t care how much it costs i the was at the door even in his the who admired all was interested in the kindly skill with which the attendants slid mrs upon a and carried her down stairs the was a huge white thing mrs moaned it me it s just like a just like being put in a i want you to stay with me ill be right up front with the driver promised no i want you to stay inside with me to the attendants can t he be inside sure ma am you bet there s a fine little camp stool in there the older attendant said with professional pride he sat beside ha in that cabin with its cot its stool its active little electric and its quite displaying a girl eating and the name of an but as he flung out his hand in hopeless cheerfulness it touched the and be why george i won t have you cursing and swearing and i know awful sorry but all fish hooks look how i burned my hand it hurts it hurts like the why that damn is hot as it s hot as it s n the hinges of look you can see the so as they drove l to st mary s hospital with the nurses already laying out the for an to save her life it was she who consoled bim and kissed the place to make it well and though he tried to be and mature he yielded to her and was glad to be the whirled under the carriage entrance of the hospital and instantly he was reduced to a in the nightmare succession of cork halls endless doors open on old women sitting up in bed an the room a young contemptuous of husbands he was to kiss his wife he saw a thin dark nurse fit the ber mouth and nose he at a sweet and then he was driven out and on a high in a he sat dazed longing to see her once to that he had always loved her bad never for a second loved anybody w looked at anybody else in the be was a of a object in a bottle of it made him very sick bat be could not take his eyes from it he was more aware of it than of waiting his mind floated in ab ance coming always to that horrible bottle to it he opened the door to the right to find a sane and he realized that he was into the room in one ance he took in	42
dr strange in ite gown and head bending over the steel table with its and then nurses holding and cotton and a thing just a chin and a of in the midst of which was a square of sallow flesh with a a little bloody at the edges from the a cluster of like clinging he ut the door with it may be that his repentance of the night and had not eaten in but this of ber who had been so shook him utterly and as he crouched again on the stool in the he swore faith to his wife i to to business to the to faith of the of good fellows thai a nurse was soothing au perfect she ll come out fine shell be out from the soon and you can see her he found h on a curious bed her face an yellow but her purple lips moving slightly then only did he really believe that she was alive she was muttering he bent and heard her sighing hard get real foe he laughed he beamed on the nurse and proudly confided think of her talking about by i m going to go order a hundred of it ri t from was out of the bo in seventeen days he went to see her each afternoon and in l they drifted b to i nt once he hinted something of his and the and she was by the view that a wicked woman had her poor george if once he had doubted his neighbors and the supreme charm of the good he was convinced now you didn t he noted see coming around with any oc dropping in to chat with the but mrs brought to tbe hospital her wine with real wine jones spent hours in picking out the kind of novels mrs liked nice love stories about new york and a pink bed jacket and bis merry brown eyed of a wife the prettiest in all the stock of and all his friends ceased about him suspecting him at the they asked after her daily club members whose names be did not know stopped him to inquire how s your good lady getting on felt that ha was swinging from bleak down into the rich warm of a pleasant with cottages one noon suggested you planning to be at the hospital about six the wife and i ht we d drop in they did drop in was so humorous that mrs said he must stop making her laugh because honestly it was her as they passed down the hall demanded george old you were about something here a back i don t know why and it s none of my business but you seem to be feeling all again and why don t you come join us in tlie good citizens league old man we have some times together and we need your advice then did almost tearful with joy at being instead of at being permitted to stop fighting at being able to desert without his of himself cease utterly to be a domestic he patted s shoulder and n ct day be became a of the good two weeks no one in the league was more violent regarding the wickedness of the crimes of labor the perils of and the delights of morality and bank accounts than was george f i chapter i xxiv i the good citizens league had spread through the country but nowhere was it so effective ana well esteemed as in cities of the type of commercial cities of a few hundred thousand inhabitants most of which not all lay inland against a background of and mines and of small towns which ended upon them for ge art social philosophy and to the league belonged most of the prosperous citizens of they were not all of the kind who called themselves regular besides these hearty fellows these r of prosperity there were the that is the who were richer or had been rich for more generations the of banks and of the land owners the lawyers the fashionable doctors and the few young old men who worked not at all but reluctantly remaining in collected ware and first as though they were back in paris all of them agreed that the must be kept in their place and all of them perceived that american did not imply any equality of wealth but did demand a wholesome of thought dress painting morals and in this they were like the ruling class of any other country particularly of great britain but they differed in being more vigorous and in actually trying to produce the accepted standards which all classes everywhere desire but usually despair of the longest struggle of the good citizens league was b against the open sh was secretly a struggle against all union labor it was an movement with evening c in and history and and daily article i in the newspapers so that newly arrived foreigners learn that the true blue and one hundred per cent w y of settling labor was for workmen to trust and love their en q the league was more than generous in which agreed its aims it be ed the y i ca to raise s two thousand fund for a new building and charles the at how great an foe manly the good old y had been in their own and the and mi ty r mb ford snow of the advocate times was clasping the band of of the y m c a it is true that a when li ed you must come to one of oi t meeting the ferocious the hell would i do that for i ve got a bar of my bat this did not appear in the public prints league was of to tbe american at a time when certain of tbe lesser and	42
boyhood he found out something which can bo longer be concealed in fact be discovered the inward n nature of a man whom we have accepted as a real and as one of us gentlemen i cannot trust my voice to say it so z have written it down he ed a large and on it in huge c was the legend george oh you i the cheered they laughed they wept they threw y rolls at they cried speech oh you y president continued that gentlemen is the awful thing has been concealing all these years when we thought he was just plain george f now i want you to tell us taking it in turn what you ve always supposed the f stood for f they suggested and face and and and and and by the of their knew that he had be taken back to their hearts and happily he rose i boys i ve got to admit it i ve never worn a wrist watch or parted my name in the middle but i will confess to my only justification is that my old thou otherwise he was perfectly sane and packed an awful hen it came to the city at named the after the family old dr i boys in my next d call it ni see to it that i get named something really practical something that swell and yet is good and something in fact like that grand old name so familiar to every household that bold and almost overpowering name jim he knew by the cheer th at be was secure again an d v j t m han nt good fellows henry dashed into the office george big says the bunch are dissatisfied with the way and wing handled their last deal and they re willing to with was pleased in the that the last of his rebellion was healed yet as he drove home he was annoyed by such background thoughts as bad never weakened him in his of ii v u mj that he ft ii i t ip q h wc t well he d carry out one more deal for them but as soon as it was practicable maybe as soon as old henry died he d break away from all association from them he was forty eight in twelve years he d be sixty he wanted to leave a clean business to his course there was a lot of money in for the people and a fellow had to look at things in a practical way only he he wanted to tell the group what he thought of them oh he couldn t do it not now if he offended them this second time they would crush him he was conscious that his line of progress seemed confused he wondered what he would do with his future he was still young was he through with all he felt that he had been into the very net from which he had with such fury escaped and jest of all been made to rejoice in the they ve licked me licked me to a finish he the was peaceful that evening and he enjoyed a game of with his wife he indignantly told the that he was content to do things in the good way the day after be went to see the of the street company and th made plans for the secret purchase of lots the road but as he drove to his office be ed i m going to run things and figure out things to suit myself i retire ted bad come down from the for the week end he no longer spoke of mechanical en and he was about his opinion of bis he seemed no more reconciled to and his chief was his set on saturday evening he took to a dance at woods had a glimpse of her in the seat of the car brilliant in a scarlet cloak over a frock of silk they two had not returned when the went to bed at half past eleven at a indefinite time of late night was awakened by the ring of the and gloomily crawled down stairs was speaking george isn t back yet is ted no at least his door is open th ou t to be home said the dance would be over at t what s the name of those pe le where they re going why tell the truth i don t know it s ome of ted s out in woods don t see i t we can do i ll iq and ask if she knows name turned on the light in ted s room it was a brown boyish room disordered worn books a high school photographs of basket ball and ted was decidedly not there mrs awakened observed that she certainly did not know the name of ted s host that it was late that was but little better than a born fool and that she was sleepy but she remained awake and worrying while on the sleeping porch struggled back into sleep through the incessant soft rain of her remarks it was after v en he was aroused by her shaking him and calling in something like horror what is it come here quick and see be quiet she led him down the hall to the door of ted s room an pushed it gently open on the worn brown rug he saw a of rose colored ling e on the chair a girl s silver and on the pillows were two sleepy heads ted s and s ted woke to grin and to with defiance good let me introduce my wife mrs good god from and from bis wife a long wailing you ve gone and we got married last evening	42
bath mat was wrinkled and the floor was wet daughter took in the morning now and then he on the mat and slid against the tub he said furiously he snatched i his of cream he with a of the brush furiously he his with a safety it pulled the blade was dull ha oh oh damn iti he through the cabinet for a packet of new blades reflecting as invariably be cheaper to boy one of these and your own blades and when be discovered the packet the round box of of he thought ill of his wife for putting it there and very well of for not saying damn but be did say it afterward when with wet and ao fingers be tried to remove the horrible little d n by ud ci q dining paper from the new then there was the i t b em oft pondered never of what to do with the old blade mi t the of his young as usual he tossed it on top of the with a mental note that some day be must r n the at sixty other blades that also temporarily there he finished his is a increased by his headache y iii by the in hia when be was done his round face smooth and and his from water he reached for a the family were wet wet and and all of them wet he found as he blindly snatched them his own face hia wife s s ted s s and the lone bath with the huge of then george f did a thing he wiped his face on the guest it was a embroidered trifle which always hung there to indicate that the were in the best society no one had ever used it no guest bad ever dared to guests took a comer of the nearest regular he was raging by here they go and use iq the every one of em and th use em and get em all wet and ing and never put out a dry one for me of course i m the and then i want one and i m the person in house that s got the test bit of consideration for other people and thou and consider there may be others that may want to use the after me and he was the chill into the bath tub pleased by the of that desolate flapping sound and in tlie midst his wife serenely trotted in observed dear are you doing are you to wash out the why needn t wash out the oh e you didn t go and use the did you ft b not that he was to for tbe time in we he was wife to look at her mrs f ms definitely m had from the of ha mouth to the of her and her neck bat the thing that marked her aa having passed the line was that she to had before her husband and no longer about not having she was in a dow and which and unaware of b ng fat she had become ao to married life that in her full she was as aa an ie was a good woman a kind woman a t woman but no one save perhaps her te ou at all interested in her or aware that she was alive after a rather of all the domestic and a of she to for having an headache and he recovered to the search a b v j which had he pointed been among his clean he waa amiable in the conference on the brown suit what do you think he at the clothes on f ht their bedroom while she moved about and patting her and to us e never seeming to get on with her dressing how about it shan i wear the brown another it looks awfully nice on you i know but it needs m it does t certainly could stand being pressed all ri t va it wouldn t hurt it to be d n by but the coat doesn t need no in having the dam suit pressed the coat need it that so but the certainly need it all right look at them look at those wrinkles the certainly do need that s so oh why couldn t yon wear the brown with the blue trousers we were wondering what we d do with good did you ever in all my life know me to the coat of one suit and the of another what do you i am a well why you put on the dark gray suit to day and in at the and leave the brown trousers well they certainly now where the devil la that pay suit oh yes here we are he was able to get the other of dressing with and calm his first was the b in which he resembled a small boy wearing a at a he never put on b s without thanking the god of progress that he didn t wear ti t long old fashioned bin father in law and partner henry his second was and back his hair it him a tremendous forehead two inches beyond the former hair line but most wonder working of all was the of his spectacles there is character in q the se i the of the school teacher the twisted silver framed j of the old s i had huge circular of the very best glass i the ear pieces were thin of gold in them he was the modem man one who gave orders to clerks and drove a car and played occasional and was in regard d n by to his bead suddenly not but and you noted his heavy blunt nose his t and long upper lip his	42
and be some blooming kind of a or or some damn lord and ted s just as he wants to go to and he doesn t want to go to only one of the three that knows her own mind is can t understand how i ever came to have a pair of children like and ted i may not be any a james j shake but i do know my own mind and i do keep right on along in the office and do you know the latest far as i can figure out ted s new bee is he d like to be a actor and and here i ve told him a hundred times it hell go to and law and make good i ll set him up in business and just exactly as bad doesn t know what she wants well well come you ready yet rang the bell three minutes ago before be followed his wife stood at the i most window of their room this settlement heights was on a rise and though the of tl d was three miles away had between three and thousand inhabitants now be could see the top ot d n by ij oe second tower an five stories its shining walls rose a april sky to a le like a streak of fire int ity was in the tower and it bore its strength lightly as a tall soldier as stared the was soothed from bis face his lifted in reverence ah he was that s one si tl but he was in by the of the his love of it renewed he the tower as a ire of the of business a faith passionate es common men and as he down to he the ballad oh by by by as thou it were a hymn melancholy and noble d n by chapter n of s and the with his wife ca the she was too e to fed and much too not to show their bedroom into it gave on the it served both of them as dressing room and on the nights gave iq the duty of manly and retreated to the bed t to curl his toes in the warmth and at the gale the room a modest and pleasant color scheme after one of the best standard of the did the tor most of the houses in the walls were gray the white the rug a serene blue and very much like mahogany was the furniture the with its great clear mirror mrs s dressing table with toilet articles of almost solid silver the plain twin beds between a small table holding a standard bedside lamp a for water and a standard bed side book with colored particular book it was cannot be ascertained since no one had ever c it the were sim but not hard triumphant modem which had cost a great deal of money the was of exactly the proper scientific surface for the contents of the room the windows were urge sod opened with the beat catches and and holland shades not to crack it was a among right out of houses foe medium tn only it had to do with the d n by is nor any one if people bid lived j ud loved here md at t lain in a sunday morning there were no signs of it it the air of being a very good room in a very good one expected the to come in and make it ready for people who stay but ie ni t go without never think of it again every second in ts bad a bedroom pre this tbe was five it was all as competent and g as this bedroom it had the best of taste tbe best of a simple and and the latest ut the place of candles and along the bedroom were three for electric lamps concealed by little brass doors in the balls were the and in the living room foe the piano for the fan the trim dining room its admirable oak its glass cupboard its waiter walls its modest scene of a salmon e q i a pile of had which supplied the electric and tbe y in fact there was but one thing wrong with the w it was not a borne of a morning came and in to breakfast but things were mysteriously to day as he trod the upper hall he looked into s bedroom and what s the use of giving the family a bi house when they don t appreciate it and tend to business and get down to he upon them a brown of twenty two just out of given to solid d n by i duty and and god and the of tbe gray sports suit was now wearing ted a boy of seventeen still a baby at ten with radiant red hair and a thin skin hinted of too and too mai ice cream did not show his vague irritation as he md in he really disliked being a family tyrant and his was as as it frequent he shouted at it was the only pet name in his c dear and with he recognised his wife and he flung it at every he a of coffee io the hope of his stomach and his soul his stomach ceased to fed as thou it did not to him but began to be conscientious and and there returned to the doubts regarding life and and business which had at him his dream life and the slim i had fled had for six been at tbe leather t with a prospect of becoming secretary to mr and thus as defined it getting some good out of your college education till you re ready to marry and settle down but now said father i was	42
talking to a of mine that s working for the associated oh there s the sweetest little babies that come to the and i feel as though i ought to be doing thing worth while like that what do you mean worth if you get to be and maybe you would if you kept up and didn t go off to and every evening i guess you ll find five or forty bones a week worth know but oh i want to i wish i were d n by i in a settlement house i if i could get one of tbe stores to let me put in a welfare department a nice rest room and and chairs and so m and so forth or i could you look the first thing you got to understand fa that ah this and and settlement work and is nothing in god s but the entering for the sooner a man he isn t going to ba and he needn t expect a lot of free and all these free and and for his unless be em the sooner hell get on tlie job and pro produce produce i that s what the country needs and not an this stuff that just les the will power of the working man and gives his a lot of notions above their and if you d tend to business instead of and all the when i was a young man i made op my mind what i wanted to do and stuck to it and thin and that s why i m where i am to day and what do you let tbe girl chop the toast up into these little tor can t get your fist em half cold anyway i ted junior in the great east side school had been making like sounds of interruption he now say you going to ted i will you kindly not interrupt us m n talking about serious aw said ted ever since somebody j up and let you out of college you been these nut conversations about what and so ao are going to i want to use tbe car to y h you may want it protested oh you do mr i m going to it oh papa you said maybe d drive us down to and mrs car d n by i your sleeve is in the butter th hurled ted you re a perfect pig about the coarse you re not a ted could be bland you just want to it off ri t after dinner and leave it in front of some skirt s house all evening while you sit and gas about and the you re going to marry if they on well ou tn t to let you have iti you and those jones drive like the idea of your taking the torn on place at miles an aw do you get that stuff you re so dam scared of the car that you drive np bill with the ont i do and always talking about bow you know about and little told me you said battery fed the you my good woman you don t know a from a not was ted lofty with her he was a natural a maker and of machines he in for the came that ll do sung in mechanically as he lifted the satisfying first of the day and tasted the of the times ted n honest i don t want to take the old boat but i promised couple o is in my class i d drive em down to the of the chorus and i don t want to but a gentleman s got to keep his l well my you and your engagements in high oh ain select since we went to that hen let me you there a private school in the state that got as swell a bunch as we got in this year two that their are say d n by gk i hi to hive z ax of my own like of the almost rose a car of your don t you want a and a house and lot pretty nearly takes the a boy that cant pass his latin like any other boy ou t to and he expects me to ve him a car and i a and an maybe as a reward for the hard work he puts in going to the with well see me giving you later after ted persuaded to admit that she was merely going to the that evening to see the dog and cat show she was then ted planned to the car in front of the store across from the bad be would pi it op there were arrangements leaving the k and having the filled ud passionately of the great god they the patch on the inner and the lost ted observed that her friends were a of a bunch stuck op four his friends she indicated were disgusting imitation sports and horrid little shrieking ignorant girls further it s disgusting of you to smoke and so on and so forth and clothes you ve got on this morning they re too utterly honestly simply disgusting ted balanced over to the low mirror in the his and his suit the latest thing in t was skin tight with trousers to the of his tan boots a chorus man pattern of an agitated check and across the back a belt which nothing his was an enormous black silk his hair was ice back without when be went to school he would add a cap with a long like a blade of all was his waistcoat saved for b for for a real fancy of with of a decayed red the points long d n by so on the	42
lower edge of it he wore a high button a button and a pin and none of it mattered he was and swift and flushed hia eyes which he believed to be candidly eager but he not over gentle he waved his band at poor and yes i guess we re pretty ridiculous and and i rather guess our new b some it and while youve admiring your let me tell you it might add to your manly beauty if v ml some of that egg off your momentary victor in the greatest of great y wars which is the family war ted looked at ber then shrieked at for the love o quit pouring the sugar bowl on your com when and ted were gone and groaned to his wife nice family i must i don t to be any lamb and maybe i m a little at breakfast sometimes but the way they go cm i simply can t stand it i swear i fed like going off place where i can get a little peace i do think after a man s spent his lifetime trying to give his a chance and a decent education it s pretty to bear them all the time ing like a of and de er and never curious here in the papa it says never silent for one mom seen the morning p yet no dear in twenty three years of married life mrs had seen the papa her husband just times lots of news terrible big in the south hard all right but this say this is beginning of the end for those fellows new york assembly has passed bills that ought to completely the and there s an strike in new york and a lot of boys are taking their places that s the and d n by k hum in s thi this de be dead right by all these paid with german gold anyway and we got no business interfering with the irish or any other foreign government keep our hands strictly off and another well from russia that is dead that s fine it s beyond me why we just in there and kick those out that s so said mrs and it says here a was mayor in preacher tool what do you think of he searched f an attitude but neither as a republican a an nor a real estate did he have any doctrine about preacher laid down for him so be granted and went on she looked sympathetic and did not bear a later she would read the the society columns and the department store what do you know about still doing the as heavy as ever here s what that woman says about last ni t never it with the big big s flattered than when are to partake of good cheer at the distinguished and of ur and l u they were hit night set in its and one of the crowning royal ridge but merry and despite it mighty and its for their home wai thrown open last night for a dance in of un t notable guest j of the wide hall ii lo in its proportions that it made a perfect its floor reflecting the above its polished surface even the delights of dancing before the opportunities for i t tes that the to in tiie long library before the fireplace or in the drawing room with its deep its shaded lamps fast made for a whisper of pretty all a or d n by b die mm could take a cue ud s m t game that and there ms more a great deal in the best style of miss pearl the popular editor of the advocate times but not abide it he he wrinkled the he protested can you beat iti i m willing to hand a lot of credit to when we were in college together he was just as hard up as any of us and he s made a million good out of and hasn t been any or t any more than was necessary and that s a good house of his it ain t ai stone walls and it ain t worth the ninety thousand it cost him but it comes to talking as though and all that set of his are any blooming bunch of of it makes me timidly from mrs i would like to see the inside of their house thou it must be lovely i ve never been i lots de o times to see about business in the evening it s not so i wouldn t to go there to dinner with that gang of of hi and iii bet i make a whole lot more money than some of those tin that spend all th got on dress suits and haven t got a decent suit of to their h l what do you think of mrs was strangely unmoved by the from the real estate and building column of the advocate street j k to thomas april x and this morning b was too to her with from and d n by he rose as he looked at lier his eye seemed than usual suddenly maybe of shame to not keep in touch with folks the we mi t try inviting them to some evening oh thunder let s not waste our good time our little bunch has a lot liver times than au those just compare a real human like with these birds like all hi talk and dressed like a you re a great old girl hon i he covered his of softness with a complaining don t let go and eat any more of that poison nut don t let go and eat any more of that poison nut for heaven s sake try to keep her from i tell	42
you most folks don t ai how tint it is to have a good and regular habits be back bout usual time i guess he kissed her he didn t quite kiss he laid l a her cheek he hurried out to the muttering lord wliat a family and now is going to get pathetic on me because we don t train with this oat t oh lord sometimes i d uke to quit the whole game and the office worry and detail just as bad and i act and i don t mean to but i get so dam d n by to george f as to most citizens of i bis car was poetry and tragedy love and tbe office was his ship but the car his perilous excursion ashore among tbe tremendous of each day none was more dramatic starting the engine it was slow on cold mornings there was the long anxious of tbe and sometimes he had to into tbe of tbe which was so very interesting that at he would chronicle it by and calculate how each drop bad cost bim this morning he was darkly red to find something wrong and he when the mixture e sweet and strong and the car didn t even brush the door i and q with many by as he backed out of the he was confused he morning i to sam with more cordiality than he had intended s green and dutch house was one of three in that block tm road to the left of it was the residence of mr samuel secretary of an excellent firm of his was a comfortable house with no manners whatever a wooden box th a a broad porch and paint as a dis of mr and mrs as from house came midnight music and ter there were of and st d n by r s rides tb with many of during be announced firmly i m not strait and i don t mind seeing a fellow throw in a drink in a but n en it comes to trying to get away with a lot of hell raising all the like the l q el do it s too rich for my od the other side of lived in strictly modem house whereof the lower part was dark red brick with a the upper part of pale like flattered day and the roof red was the great scholar of the the authority on everything is the world except babies cooking and he ms a of arts of college and a of in of he was the manager and of the street company he could on ten hours notice appear before the board of or the state and prove with figures all in rows and with from and new that the street car company loved the public and over its that all its stock was owned by and and that whatever it desired to do would owners by increasing and the poor by lowering rents ah bis turned to they desired to know the date of the battle of the definition of the word the future of the mark the translation of or the number of of coal tar he awed by that be often sat up tin t reading the figures and in government or with at the author s mistakes the latest volumes of and bat s great value was as a spiritual despite hia strange he was as strict a aod as firm a as george f he con d n by a tbe men in the faith where knew by passionate instinct that their system of industry and man ben ms perfect dr proved it to than out of and tlie of tt had a good deal of honest pride in being the of such a and in ted s intimacy with at sixteen was interested in no save those regarding the ages and of i stars bat as put it she was her father the difference a light man like sam and s really fine character like was revealed in i an was young f v a f ei t he wore bis on the back of bis head and bis red face was wrinkled with ter but was old a man of forty two he was tall broad thick bis spectacles were in the f of his long face his hair was a tossed mass of greasy blackness he puffed and as he talked his key against black he of p he was altogether and and to real estate and the of he added an of this he was in front of hia house the pass between tbe and tbe broad walk stopped his car and leaned out to shoot i over and stood with one foot up do the fine morning said li ting us second cigar of the day yes it a mi ty fine morning said ring coming along fast now it s real spring now all right said still cold ts had to have a blanket od tbe s p ut h last night d n by it t any too last ni t said but i t te well have any more real odd now no but still hon was snow at yesterday said the scholar and yon the they had out west three days ago thirty inches of snow at and two years ago we had a snow ri here in on the twenty fifth of ril li that a fact say old man what do you think about the republican candidate they for don t yoa it about we had a real administration in my opinion what the country needs first and s a good sound business like conduct of its we need is a business administration said tm ad to bear you say i certainly am glad to bear you say i didn t	42
know how you d fed about it with ab your with es and so on and i m lad you fed that way what the country just at this present juncture a college president nor a lot of ng with affairs but a good sound economical administration that will ve us a to have something like a decent yes it generally realized that even in china the are giving way to more practical men and of you can see what that is that a fact weu well i feeling calmer and much about the way were going in the world it s been nice to stop and a second i ll have to get down to the office now and sting a few so long old man sm you t so long they bad labored these solid b d n by m fate the on iti wh la and and comfort had been a of rank and and along the were a wooded vacant lots and tbe of an old it waa to tbe were lit with like of green fire tv of down a and tbe earth at tbe ai be would at or at a he was to the eye the perfect office going a man in a correct brown hat and ct a d ea a large driving a good along a but hi him was some of love tor his nd his bis tbe winter was over the time was come for tbe tbe to was g he dawn be was cheerful be stopped on smith street to leave tbe brown and to the like familiarity of tbe fortified him tbe si t of tbe red iron the tile and rage tbe window full of tbe most agreeable ac a spark with tire of gold and he waa flattered by tbe with moon and most of came out to serve him mr said moon and a person of importance one whose name busy not one of these flying around in he admired the of tbe dial o by admired tbe s m a r tn of the sign a in time gas to day t cents tbe e of the at it into the and the moon te d n by m asked moon in a manner the independence of the great the of a familiar gossip and re for a man of t in the community like george f a up who you for candidate mr t too early to make any yet after all i still a good month and two no three he almost three well there s more than in all before the republican and i fed a t to an open mind and ve all the a show look em all over and size on up and then decide carefully that s a fact mr bnt ten you and my stand on this is tht same as it was four years ago and a l years ago and be my stand four years from now yes and years what i ten everybody and it can t be too generally understood is that we need first last and all the time is a j that s ri tl how do those front look to you be much work for if locked after th car the way you do i do try and have some sense knit it paid his bill said oh keep the change and drove off in an ecstasy of honest self appreciation it was with the manner of a good that he shouted at a looking man who was waiting for a car ive a lift as the man climbed in condescended dear down town whenever i see a fellow waiting for i i always make it a practice to give a lift of course be looks like a bum there were f that were so generous with d n by tbe of e no a of fact i i to my tbe id t it a to the of and it n goat a on and his horn be tbe victim to find tbe ri t m ed on tbe company m oa tm to only nm the road can ml ity cold on a morning waiting on a comer with tbe wind at us that s ri l tbe street car company care a what und of a deal they give m something ought to happen to em was bat of ft won t d to knocking the and not oe tbey like these want tbe way these workmen bold x die for hi b a crime and of the on yoa and me that have to pay a fact e service on all their lines along fast yes it now the victim bad no no and ml into a great and devoted to the game of beat ing can to tha comer a a chase between the of the and tha jagged row of past ai tbe tapped a rare me and d n by and in the be of the of for he noticed nothing but ud the to rent signs of rival to in he raged or rejoiced with nervous and to day the light of ring ma so that be lifted his head and saw he admired each district along his route to the the and shrubs and winding irregular of the one story shops on smith street a are of plate and new yellow brick and and to the immediate needs of east side tlie market in dutch patched with iron and stolen with crimson nine feet tall ad p tobacco and powder old along ninth street s e like aged linen wooden castles tamed into boarding with muddy walks and hedges by cheap apartment and stands conducted bland across the belt of railroad with bi ti water and tall producing milk paper boxes	42
cars then the the darting traffic the and of marble and polished granite it was big and in anything in jewels muscles wealth or words he was for a q moment the and almost unselfish lover of he thought of the factory of the river with its strangely banks of the hills to the north and all the fat and big and comfortable herds as he his passenger he cried i fed pretty good this d n by as starting the car was the drama of ft before he entered his office as he turned from avenue round the into third street n he peered ahead for a space in the line of cars he just a space as a rival driver slid into it ahead another car was leaving the and up holding out his hand to the pressing on him from behind an old woman to go ahead avoiding a which bore down on him from one side with front the t steel of the car in front he cramped bis wheel slid back into the vacant space and d inches of room to bring the car with the it was a adventure executed with satisfaction he locked a thief proof steel on the front wheel and crossed the street to his real estate office oo the ground floor of the building the building was as as a rock and as df as a fourteen stories of yellow pressed brick with clean i lines it was filled with the c of lawyers doctors for machinery for wheels for wire for stock their gold signs shone on the windows the entrance was too modem to be with pillars it was quiet shrewd neat along the third street side were a western union telegraph office the blue shop s shop and the mon company could have d his office from the street u customers did but it made him feel an to go the corridor of the building and enter by the back door thus he was greeted by the villagers the little unknown pet ie inhabited the and the doubtful looking lame man conducted the d n by and were in no way they in a valley interested only in one another and in the building their main street was the hall with its stone floor severe marble ceiling and the windows of the shops the place on he street was the building shop but this was one embarrassment himself he the e shop in the and every time he passed the ten times a day a he felt to his own now as one of the greeted with honorable by the villagers he marched into his office and peace and dignity were him and the morning s dis all tbey were heard again the out de f ms talking on with tragic of that firm manner which say i think i got just the house that would suit you the house in oh you ve seen it how d it strike you oh oh i see as marched into his private room a with semi of oak and at the back of the office be reflected how hard it was to find who had own that he was going to make were nine members of the staff besides and partner and father in law henry who came to the office the nine were the outside m a n a man given to and the playing tf pool old mat general utility man of rents and of broken silent gray a mystery to have been a crack real man with a firm of his own in haughty resident out at the an enthusiastic person with a d n by d aa die and and fill h u it and par aft be looked from own cage into ae main room a a good smart s a bat calf and ad hie ot tint ring was in die stale office air be admired die office witb a pleased tbat be created sore be was by tbe dean w a of it and tbe air rf bustle but to day it seemed die floor like a the metal die faded maps on die bard plaster walk tbe di n of pale o tbe and of painted is it was a vault a id where and ter were raw sin he any satisfaction in die new water and it was tbe very best of water up to date and ri t it bad cost a great deal of money i in a virtue it possessed a non conducting a water jar hy a nm and machine painted in two tones of gold he looked down the stretch of floor at tbe water and assured that no of tbe building had a more expensive we but he could not the feeling of social it had given him he y i d like to beat it off to the woods ri t now and loaf all day and go to s again to ni t and play and ai much as i fed like and drink a hundred and nine thousand bottles of beer he si ed he read his he shouted meant miss and be n to dictate was his own of his first letter d n by send it to his yours if twentieth to band and in reply say look j afraid it oa like this we ll lose the sale i had iq on day before yesterday and got right down to cases and think i can assure no change that all my experience be is all right means to do business looked into his n d which is fine that sentence seems to be a little miss make a le sentences out of it if you have to period new paragraph he is perfectly willing to pro rate the and strikes me am	42
dead sure there will be no in getting him to pay for title so now for heaven s sake let s get busy no make that so now let s go to it and get down no that s enough you can tie those sentences a little when yon pe em miss your this is the version of his i ch he received from miss that co homes for bids avenue ft d st n e north american dear mr your letter of the twentieth to hand i ny tin awfully afraid that if we go on like well naturally lose the had up on the carpet day before yesterday and got right down to cases all my experience that he means to do business i have also looked into his financial record which is fine he ii perfectly willing to pro rate the special and will be no difficulty in getting him to pay for title h sa trot d n by ac aad i it college hand ov thia a good oa a i never to a die d quit to ot but i b cant or i write a l with a i the ic tbat ma tbe to be and sent oat to a p p it was ly of tbe best rf tbe day rf to talk u s oo tbe development of and hand house organs as poured by tbe new of poets of bu he had written out a and be it dow like a poet and say old ham i i m to know on i do a favor no i know re ia b a book not a where yon hang up the old but a love for the wife and and maybe for the out be be mire and that b e j i a i the garden sa did ever to think that we re here to yon that s bow we make a living don t pay ns for our lovely beauty now take a sit ri t down at tbe carved mahogany and u in a line telling us just what you want and if we can find h well c down your lane with tbe good tidings and if we can t we won t you to save your just fill out the blank enclosed on request will also send regarding tore properties in heights silver grove and all east side districts yours for service p s just a hint of some we for that came in to day d n by room tree handy car line down and balance liberal cheaper than l a artistic two family all oak trim gas log big ai a bargain at f i i iso over with its need of sitting and thinking instead of around and making a noise and really doing something sat back in his revolving and beamed on miss he was conscious of her aa a girl of black hair against cheeks a which was from loneliness him she waited tapping a long precise point on the desk he half identified her with the fairy of his dreams he imagined eyes meeting with recognition touching her lips with t reverence and she was any more mist he granted that winds it up i guess and turned heavily away for all his wandering thou ts they had never been more than this he often reflected forget how old said a wise bird never goes making in his own office or bis own home start trouble sure but in three years of married life he had peered y at every graceful ankle every soft shoulder in thought he had them but not once had he respectability by now as he calculated the cost of the house he was restless again discontented about nothing and everything ashamed of his ud for the d n by chapter iv it ma a of artistic fifteen after the purple prose of k form letter the at de came in to a sale and submit an advertisement of l who sang in and was at over games of hearts and maid he had a tenor voice hair a li a s hair considered it in a man to seen new picture of the kid little devil di but domestic confidences were as as a girl say i think i got a of an ad for the mr why don t we try in poetry honest it d have wonderful power and palaces yoa you just bride and well tbe home do yoa get u like home sweet home yes yes yes yes of i get it ob i we d better use something more ir i and like we lead others or why not now come i in poetry and and ao that when it the bat with a development like the oat we better stick to the more ch see how i mean i all this man d n by by a tragedy familiar to the world of art the ea um of served only to the talent of the george f he grumbled to that tan col d voice of s gets on my nerves yet he was aroused and in one he wrote do you respect your loved the of are over do yoa know for certain that jou have done your but for departed you haven t they tie in the beautiful lane ae strictly up to date burial place in or near where look from dotted ik the fields of sole company building be rejoiced i guess that ll show and us something about modern r he sent mat to the s to dig oat the names of the of which displaying for rent signs of other he talked to a man who desired to lease a for a	42
pool room he ran over the list of were about to he sent thomas a street car played at real estate in spare to on ride street prospects were unworthy the of but he had his d n by ment of and these him ow of be bad in discovering a new of he stopped smoking at least once a he went with it tbe solid be was admitted tbe of tobacco co u made laid oat plans to check tbe vice off his of and tbe of to eveiy he met he did in fact stop smoking two months before by ruling out a j e noting down tbe hour and minute of each smoke and ng tbe intervals between be had t down to three cigars a d he bad lost the a ago be had invented a of leaving his cigar case and in an unused drawer at the bottom of uie file in the outer office iti just be h to go in there ad d r long making a fool of before my own he reasoned by tbe of three days be was to leave us desk walk to the file uke o tt and u t a without knowing that he it this morning it was revealed to him that ft had been too easy to open tbe file lock it that was tbe inspired be out and locked his cigars bis and even us box rf safety and tbe key to tbe file drawer be ud in his desk but tbe of it made him to that he recovered the k walked with forbidding dignity to the file took oat a ci and a match but only match if de goes out ith by have to stay later when the go oat be took one more match from tbe file and a and a came in for a at be had to offer them ia conscience protested why you re smoking with but be it ni q l vm busy now of come by and there was no bj d n by lt yet hb tint be had the fed noble and very when be called up be was in his moral unusually eager be was of paul than of any one on earth except and his ter they bad been class mates in the state university but always be i of paul with his dark his precisely parted hair his nose glasses q his his love of music as a younger brother to be and protected paul had gone into his father s business after be was now a and small of pre paper but believed and announced to the world of good fellows that paul have been a great or painter or writer why say the letters that boy sent me on his trip to the they just absolutely make you see the place as if you were g believe me he could have given any of these authors a whale of a run for their money yet aa the they said only no do i said say what the is the trouble can t you get me why certainly answer oh speak mist mist lo s george how s old fair to how re weu what do you know ob nothing where you been a round what s up how bout lunch s noon be an ri t with me i guess club d n by a meet yon a ii a s long hia morning ms not into witb and were s calls from clerks were incessantly and five and bath at dollars a month advice to mat on getting money out of tenants had no money virtues as a real as the servant of in tlie department of fitting homes for families and shops for of food and diligence he was honest be k t bis of and complete he had with and titles and an for prices his shoulders were broad enough his voice hu of hear humor enough to establish him as one of the ruling caste of good fellows yet his to mankind was pop lessened by his large and ignorance of all architecture save the types of turned out by q all landscape save the use of roads grass and six ordinary shrubs and all the commonest of he serenely believed that the one purpose of the real estate business was to make money for george f true it was a good advertisement at and all the varieties of annual to which good fellows were invited to speak of unselfish public service the s obligation to keep the trust of his and a thing called whose nature was but if you bad it you were a high class and if you hadn t you were a a and a fly t these virtues awakened confidence and enabled to handle bigger but tbey imply that d n by were to be and refuse to take twice the value of a house if a was such an idiot that he didn t jew you down on the price spoke well and often at these of about the s function as a of the development of the community and as a prophetic clearing the pathway for inevitable changes whidi that a real estate could make mon by which way the town would grow this he called in an address at the be had admitted it is t once the duty and the privilege of the to know about his own and its where a surgeon is a on every vein and mysterious cell of the human body and the engineer in all its phases or every bolt of some great bridge o er a ty flood the must know his inch by inch and all its faults and virtues be did know the market price by inch of c tain districts of he did not	42
know whether the police force was too or too small or it was in alliance with gambling and he knew the means of buildings and the relation of to but he did not know how many there were in the bow they were trained and paid or how complete their i he sang the advantages of of to homes but he did not know he did not know that it was worth while to know whether tbe d were properly heated lighted furnished he did not know how the were and though he one of the bo ts of is that ve pay our teachers that was because he had read the statement in the advocate times himself he could not have given the average salary of teachers in or else d n by he bid it said tbat in die and die q prison were not scientific he had with at the of a report in die notorious the radical lawyer that to throw boys and young girls into a pen crammed with men suffering from s and insanity was not the way of he bad the by that think a ou t to be a hotel make me sick u people t like a jail let em and keep oat of it these reform always that was the beg and the end of his into s and and as to the vice districts be brightly expressed it those are that no decent man with besides fact you it s a to and to decent to have a district tou can raise em away from our own homes as to however had thou t s great deal and his opinions may be co as follows a good labor union is of value because it keeps oat radical which would destroy no one ou t to be forced to belong to a union however ad labor a who to force men to join a union should be hanged in fact just between there t to be any allowed at all and as it s the best way of fi the every business man ought to belong to an association and to the chamber of commerce in union there is strength so any selfish who doesn t join the chamber of commerce ought to be forced to in nothing as the expert on whose vice families moved to new to live there for a generation was more innocent than in the science of sam he did not know a bearing from a he knew nothing about of drinking water and in the mat d n by ten of and he was as as he mis he often referred to the of the in the he sold he was food of it was that no european ever bathed some one had told him when he was twenty two that all were and he still them if a y wanted him to i which had a always spoke about it before accepting the house and selling it laid out the development when be and dipping meadow into a flat with small boards di laying the names of imaginary streets he put in a complete it made him feel iq mr it enabled him to sneer at the martin which had a and it provided a for the page in which he announced the beauty and of the only flaw was that the bad outlet so that waste remained in them not very the was a the of n li was a suggestion that though be did hate men recognized as was not too honest and prefer that era should not be in with them as and themselves but attend to their it was si posed that the were agents for serving the real but the feet was that and wo owned two per cent of the the president and agent of the street owned pa cent and a gang a a tobacco old who enjoyed dirty politics business and at bad ten per cent which and the d n by had to him fixing health and fu iii and a of the state but ms be thou he did not practise the of be praised thou lie did not obey the laws against be paid his debts he contributed to the the red cross and the y m i c a he followed the custom of his and cheated only as it was by and he never descended to thou as be to paul course i don t mean to say that every ad i write is literally true or that i always believe everything i say i give some a good strong you you see it like this in the first place maybe the owner of the exaggerated he pot it into my hands and it t my place to go proving my a and then most folks are so dam that they expect a fellow to do a little lying so if i was fool to never the i d get the credit for lying in i got to n own bom like a lawyer defending a his duty it to bring out the poor s good points why the judge himself would out a lawyer that even if they both knew the was but even so i don t out the truth like or or the rest of these fact i think a that s willing to deliberately up and profit by lying on t to be shot s value to his was better shown this morning in the at thirty and was a real estate he was a before he he consulted lawyers and all of their d n by were willing to be and give him he was a bold and he desired nothing more than complete safety in his freedom from attention to details and the thirty or forty per cent profit which according to all a deserves for his and	42
foresight he was a man with a cap like of shut gray and clothes which no matter how well cot seemed shaggy below his were hollows as silver dollars bad been pressed a them and had left an particularly and always consulted and in his slow six months ago had learned that a in the district known as was talking of opening a butcher shop beside his looking the of adjoining of land found that owned his present shop but did not own the available lot he advised to purchase this lot for eleven thousand dollars though an on a basis of rents did not indicate its value as above thousand the rents declared were too low and by waiting they could make come to their price this was vision he had to into buying his first act as agent for was to increase the rent of the battered store building cm the lot the said a number of rude things but he paid now seemed ready to buy and his delay was going to cost him ten thousand extra dollars the reward paid by the community to mr for the virtue of a had vision and who understood talking points ic key situations and the of came to the he was fond of this morning and called him old tho a man and solemn seemed to care less foi d n by and for vision but met him at the street door of the office and guided him toward the private room with affectionate little cries of this way he from the file the entire box of and forced them on his guests he pushed their chairs two indies forward and three inches back which ive an not then leaned back in his desk chair and looked plump and jolly but he spoke to the with firmness well we been having some pretty offers from and a of other folks for that lot next to your store but i persuaded brother that we ou t to ve you a shot at the property first i said to it d be a rotten shame i s if went and opened a combination and meat market right next door and ruined nice little business leaned and his voice was it would be lock if one of these cash nd carry chain stores got in there and started cutting prices cost till tb got rid of com petition and forced you to the snatched his thin hands from his pockets pulled his thrust his hands back into his in the heavy oak chair and tried to look amused as he struggled yes they re bad competition but i guess you the pulling power that personality has in a business tbe great smiled that s so just as you feet old man we thought we d give you first chance ah ri t now look here i know fr a fact that a piece of same size right near sold for less n eighty five hundred n t two years ago and here you fellows are asking me twenty four thousand dollars why i d have to i wouldn t mind so much paying thousand why good god mr you re d n by a its value and threatening to ruin me if i don t tale i don t like way of z don t like it one little supposing and i were enough to to ruin any fellow human don t you suppose we know to our own ad fi sh interest to have in but all this is beside the point you what well do we d come down to twenty three thousand five thousand down and the rest on and if you want to the old and i guess i can get here to up for a building on good liberal terms heavens man we d be glad to oblige we don t like these foreign any better n you but it iso t reasonable to us to sacrifice eleven thousand a more just for u how about it you willing to come down by warmly taking s part persuaded the mr to reduce his price to twenty one dollars at the right moment snatched from a the agreement he bad bad miss type out a week ago and thrust it into a hands he shook his fountain pen to make certain that it was flowing handed it to and watched him sign the work of the world was being done had made over nine thousand dollars bad made a and dollar commission had by the sensitive of modem been provided with a building and soon the h y inhabitants of would have meat them at prices a little than those down town it had been a manly battle but after it drooped this was the only really amusing contest he had been there was nothing ahead save details of ap be muttered makes me to think carrying off d n by so moat of the profit i did all the work the old what else have i got to do to day like to a good trip something he sprang by the of g with d n by s preparations for leaving the to its daring tlie hour and a half of his lunch period were less than the plans for a general european war he fretted to miss what time you going to well make sure miss is in then e q ain to her that if calls up she s to tell him i m already having the title traced and oh b the way remind me to morrow to have trace it now if anybody comes in looking for a cheap house remember we got to stove that road place ob somebody if you need me ii be at the m be back by two he the cigar ashes off his he placed a difficult letter on the pile	42
of unfinished work that he might not fail to attend to it that for three now he had placed the same letter on the unfinished he on a sheet of yellow paper the see apt h gave him an agreeable feeling of having seen about the apartment house doors he discovered that he was smoking another cigar he threw it away protesting dam it i thou t you d quit this dam smoking i he returned the cigar box to the file locked it t hid the key in a more place and raged t to take care of and need more exercise walk to the every sin e do every noon cut oat this all the time the resolution made him fed after vl he that this noon it was too to walk d n by it took uttle more time to car and it late die traffic it would have taken to walk the aad a halt block to the club a be drove he with the of at the a stranger dropped into the o could not have told he wai in a ot or or or but to every inch was and stirring as be noted that the building across the way was three stories lower therefore three beautiful than his own building as always when he passed the shoe shine parlor a story hut which beside the granite and red brick of the old resembled a bath house under a cliff he commented ou t to get my shoes thb afternoon keep forgetting it at the sin office furniture shop the national cash register agency he for a for a type writer would add and as a poet for or a ta at the men s wear shop he took his left hand ol die wheel to touch his and thou t of him as one t ties and could pay for em too by and at the united store with ha crimson and gold he reflected wonder if i need forgot going t cut down my fool smoking he at his bank the and national and considered how and he was to bank with so an establishment his n t came la die clash of when he was halted at the comer beneath die lofty second national tower his car was with in a of steel restless w cavalry the d n by l ind moving and poured by on the farther comer et c on sun dated skeleton of a new building and ont oi this flashed the in of a familiar face mad shouted h are you in affection and slid on with the traffic as the policeman lifted his hand he noted how quickly his car picked he felt and powerful like a of polished darting in a vast machine as always he ignored the next two blocks decayed blocks not yet from the and of the of while be was passing the five and ten cent store the house hall with its lodge rooms and die offices of fortune and he of ham money he made and he boasted a little and worried s little and did old familiar sums four hundred this morning from the deal but taxes let s see i t to pull out ei t thousand net this year save fifteen hundred of not if i pot and let s see six hundred and forty last and times six forty makes let see six times is seventy two hundred and oh make ei t thousand now that s not so bad mi ty few fellows pulling down ei t thousand a year ei t good hard iron bet there isn t more than five per cent of the people in the whole united states that make more than does by i right at the top of the heap i way expenses family wasting and always dressed like and sending that a month to mother and all these and ng me for every cent they can get the effect of his scientific was that be at once wealthy and poor and in the of these be bis car rushed into a d n by and the d a u which be hid for a week he hb by being and noisy and by at the will neat pay for in di it waa a pretty thing a with an to be attached to the of ua car it was not only as the on the a uttle en t the touch of to a i but a time by bim halting the car to light a match it would in a month or two save ten ai be drove on be at it nice always wanted tne he said wistfully the one a needs too then be remembered that he bad i smoking dam iti he ok i suppose m ut a in a and be a great convenience for other ml t make just the difference in getting with some that would pot over a sale and looks nice there certainly b a nd ty uttle gives the last of refinement and i by i guess i can h if i want not going to be the only member of this that never has a ain luxury i laden with treasure after three and a half of romantic adventure he drove iq to the the b not and it a but it b in perfection it has an active and smoke room it b represented by and and hi the pool and the i a tenth of the try to reduce but of lis three thousand members use it at n au in to d n by a j cards stories meet and entertain at dinner it is the largest club in the d and its hatred is the union which au members of	42
the call a rotten dull ve old hole not one good in the place you couldn t hire me to join show that no member of the has ever refused to the union and of those who are elected six seven per cent resign from the and are thereafter heard to say in the drowsy of the union the would be a pretty good if it were more ve the club building is nine stories hi brick with roof garden above and of huge the with its thick pillars of stone its pointed and a brown tile floor uke baked bread is a combination of and the members rush into the as they were and hadn t much time for it did enter and to the group standing by the be how s the boys how s the boys well fine th q ed back the coal dealer the ladies ready to wear tor s department store and professor joseph k owner of the business college and y public speaking business english writing and commercial law thou admired this and appreciated as a mighty smart s s good q it was to that he turned with mr was pre of the a weekly local of a national or promoted sound business and friendliness fellows he was also no less an than esteemed l e t in the and order f and it was that a he would d n by be a candidate for ruler he was a jolly man given to and to with tlie arts he called cm the actors and artists when they came to town gave them addressed by their first names and sometimes succeeded in bringing them to the to give the a free entertainment he was a large man with hair e and he knew the latest jokes but he played dose to the chest it was at his party that had sucked in the of to day s restlessness shouted how s the old how do fed the morning after the lu t oh some that was a regular party threw hope yon haven t forgotten i took that last little jack he was three feet from that s all ri t what iii hand you next time el say notice in the er the way the new stood q to the you bet i did that was fine eh nice day yes it s one mighty fine ring day but nights still cold you re ri t they had to have la blankets last ni t out on the say turned to the got ask about i went out and t me an ii for this noon and good i said while even the learned professor a man with a and and a pipe commented that makes a cigar lighter gives tone to the finally decided i d me one got the best on the market the clerk said it was five for it just wondering if i got what do th charge for em at the store asserted that five dollars was not too great a not for a ready which was d n by and provided with connections of the veiy best quality i always say and me i base it on a pretty fairly extensive the best is the est in the run of course if a fellow wants to be a jew about it he can get but in the long nm the e t thing is the best you can now you take here just th day i got a new top for my old boat and iq and i paid out a hundred and twenty six fifty and of course a lot of fellows would say that was too much lord if the old folks they live in one of these towns state and th singly can t get the way a city s mind and then of course they re jews and they d lie right down and die if tb knew had up a hundred and twenty bones but i don t figure i was stuck george not a t t looks brand new now not that it s so old of course bad it less n three years but i give it bard never drive less n a hundred miles on sunday and oh i t really think you got stuck in the the best is you might it s unquestionably the s ri t said that s the way i look at it if a fellow is iq to what call fl y y y n f the and mental activity that s going on with a bunch of live wires like the and here in the z a c why he s got to his nerves i having the best nodded his head at every fifth word in the roaring and by the conclusion in s renowned humorous vein he was enchanted still at that george don t knows you can afford it i ve heard business has been kind of under the eye of the ment since you stole the tail of park and sold it i you re a great little but when it comes to bow about this report that you stole the black steps off the post office and sold em for high grade d n by hi t patted s back us arm that s an t but i want to know is s the that t that coal for his i guess that ll hold you for a while george said ill you boys what i did hear s went into the wear at s to buy him some and before she could f his neck d a slips her some know the size says mrs and the clerk says men that let their wives buy for em always wear madam how that s pretty good eh how s	42
that di i guess about fix you george i i sought for amiable in answer he stopped stared at the door paul was coming in cried see you later boys and hastened across he was just then neither tlie sulky child of the ing porch the domestic tyrant of the breakfast table the of the conference nor the good fellow the and r of the club he was an older brother to paul swift to defend him admiring him with a proud and love passing the love of women paul and he shook hands they as as thou they had been parted three not three days and they said how s the old horse thief all right i guess how re you you poor i m first rate you second hand o cheese reassured thus of their hi fondness granted you re a fine you ten minutes snapped well you re lucky to have a chance to lunch with a gentleman they grinned and went into the where a line of men bent the along a of marble as in religious d n by own in the mirror voices thick satisfied along the walls bounded ceiling of bordered while the lords of the d ty the of and law and f and t laid down the law for that the day was warm indeed of iq ring that wages too high and the on too low that babe the eminent player of was a noble man and those two nuts at the this are a pair of ordinarily his voice was the and most of all was silent in the presence of the t dark ce of be ms ward he desired to be quiet and firm and the entrance of the was the the spanish mission and the reading room in chinese but the of tb was the dining room the of s it was lofty and half with an a somewhat gallery and t believed to illustrate the of the open beams had been hand at s car body works the hinges were of hand wrought iron the studded with wooden and at one end of the room was a and stone which the club s asserted to be not only larger than any of the in european castles but of a t more scientific it was much as no fire had ever been omit in il half of the table seated or men usually sat at the one near the door a including his neighbor t tbe poet and agent and jones whom d n by s in wa the best in a club within the and merrily called tin to day aa he passed their table the necks greeted him come on sit you n paul too to feed with poor folks afraid somebody might stick for a bottle of george strikes me you are get ting awful he thundered you bet i we can t afford to have by being seen with you and guided paul to one of the small tables beneath the gallery felt guilty at the privacy was vex bad form but he wanted paul to that morning he had lighter and now ordered nothing but english mutton chop peas de dish pie a bit of cheese and a pot of coffee with cream adding as he did invariably and oh and you might ve me an of french potatoes when the chop came he vigorously it and it he always and his meat and vigorously before il paul and he took up the spring like of the the virtues of the electric and the of the new york state assembly it was not till was thick ao with mutton that be flung out i wound iq a nice little deal with this that put five hundred good round in my pocket pretty nice and yet i don t know s the matter with me to day maybe it s an attack of or staying up too late at s or maybe it s just the s work up but i ve felt kind of down in the mouth all day long course i wouldn t beef about it to the fellows at the table there but ever feel that way paul kind of comes over ine here i ve much done all the things i ought to si my family and a good house and a six car and i a and i hav i t any vices d n by l fm that oat by the w and i to the and day to keep in trim and i only associate with good decent and yet even t so i know that i m it was out by shouts from the tables by mechanical love making to the by as the coffee filled him with and he was and and it was paul with bis thin voice pierced the fog lord george don t it s any to ae to find that we that think so all fired aren t getting much out of it you look as if me to report you aa yoa know what my own life s been know old man i to have been a and i m a of and oh i don t want to but you know as as i do about bow inspiring a wife she is t instance last evening we went to the there ms a big crowd waiting in the as at the tail end she began to push ri t it with her sir how dare you manner h sometimes i look at her and see bow she s always so made and of perfume and loi ing tor trouble and kind of always i tell tm a lady damn i want to kill well she keeps me after her feeling good and ashamed till she s almost ip to the velvet rope and ready i to	42
could cot their beads you d find that one third of cm are i satisfied with wives and and and their a d n by one fed of but wont admit h and are miserable and know it tbe game and they re bored by wives and think their are fools at least when they come to forty or for five they re bored and they bu and d go why do you pose there s so many why do you so mat substantial right into the war think it was all patriotism what do yon think we were sent into the world to have a soft time and what is it boat on beds of ease think man was just made to be happy why not i ve never discovered that what the man really was made we know not in the bible alone but it stands jo a man down and do his duty if it does bore him sometimes is nothing but a well he a in and what do you advocate come down to if a man is by his wife do yon seriously mean he has a ri t to her and take a or even kill good lord i don t know ts a man and x know the solution of if i did i d be the one that had tbe cure for living but i do know that about ten times as many people find their lives dull and dull as ever admit it and i do believe that if we out and admitted it sometimes instead of nice and patient and loyal for sixty years and then nice and and dead for tbe rest of eternity why maybe possibly we nd make life more fun they drifted into a of was uneasy paul was but not quite sure about be was bold now and then suddenly agreed with paul in an contradicted all his d n by of ind patience at each he had a curious reckless joy he said at last hat c paul you do a lot of talking about in the face but you never kick why you nobody does habit too but i ve been of oat mild oh don t worry old pillar of it s hi proper it seems to be settled now isn t it though of course keeps for a nice in new york and atlantic with the bright lights and the and a bunch of to dance with but the and the are going to lake aren t we why couldn t you and i make some say business in new york and get to four or five days they do and just loaf by ourselves and and and be natural ideal admired not for fourteen years had he taken a holiday without wife and neither of than believed they could commit this audacity many members of the did go without their wives but they were to fishing and hunting the sacred and of and paul were and bridge for either the or the to have changed habits would have an of imposed discipline which would have shocked all ri and why don t we just put our foot down and say we re going on ahead of you and that s all there is to it i nothing criminal in it simply say to you don t say anything to simply why she s almost as much of a as you are and if i told her the truth she d believe we were going to meet some in new york and even she never you the w does but she d worry she d say don t you want me to go to with you i shouldn t dream of going unless d n by me and you d give in to save her feeling i the left have a shot at duck pins daring the game of duck pins a form of was silent as came down the steps of the not more than half an hour after the time at which had sternly told miss he would be back paul si look here old man ou tn t to talked about way i did rats old man it lets off steam ob i after spending all noon at the stuff i m conventional enough to be ashamed of ii my life by out with my fool troubles old paul nerves are kind of on the bum i m to take you away i m going to this thing i m going to have an important deal in new york and and sure of need you to advise on the roof of tbe building and the deal will fall and be nothing for us but to go on ahead to i paul when it comes t down to it i care whether you bust loose or i do like having a for being one of the bunch but if ever needed me i d it and come out for you eveiy time not of course but what you re course i don t mean you d ever do that would put that would put a decent portion on the but see bow i mean i m kind of a clumsy old and i need your fine hand we oh i can t stand all on the job i s don t take any wooden money see you s d n by chapter vi hb forgot in of not details after a return to his office which to have staggered on without him he drove a prospect out to view a four flat in the district he was d by the s admiration of the new lighter thrice its novelty made him use it and thrice he hurled smoked from the car protesting i got to quit smoking so	42
blame much their ample discussion of every detail of the ter led to speak of electric flat irons and bed for being so old fashioned as still to use a water bottle and he announced that he would have i the sleeping porch at once he had enormous and poetic admiration thou very little understanding of all mechanical devices they were his of truth and beauty regarding each new intricate metal two jet machine gun be learned one good sounding phrase and used it over and over with a delightful feeling of being and the customer joined him in the worship of machinery and they came up to the and began that examination of slate roof doors and seven inch blind nailed began those of hurt surprise and readiness to be persuaded to do something they had already decided to do v ch would some day result in a sale on the way back picked up his partner and law henry t sod at bis kitchen cabinet wo and d n by th drove throng south a hi i region new of tile with wire ass windows surly old red brick stained with tar hi i water big red like and on a of side tracks far wandering freight cats from the new york central and e the great northern and the southern pacific and orange groves they talked to the secretary of the ry an i tr li artistic project cast iron fence c they drove on to tbe company and the manager l a on a car for mon and were fellow members of the and no felt ri t if he bought anything from another receiving a but henry growled ot t with em i m not to crawl around ing not from nobody it was one of the differences i between the old fashioned lean yankee rugged i stage type of american business and the smooth efficient up to the minute and otherwise modem whenever put your john on that line was as much amused by the as any proper englishman by any american he knew himself to be of a breeding altogether more and sensitive than s he was a he played he often smoked in stead of cigars and when he went to he took a room with a private bath the thing is he to paul these old lack the that you got to have to day advance in civilization could be carried too far perceived manager of the was a frivolous of was a sound and standard ware from that great department store the state wore he wrote long letters about d n by planning and singing and be u m be was known to in his pocket of in a foreign language all this was going too far i was the of and land the extreme br w e between ai the state defending the and domestic and sound business were and his friends with this just estimate of himself and with the promise of a on s car he returned to his in h but as be went the of the building he sighed poor old paul i i got to oh damn l damn just because they make more than i do they think they re so superior i wouldn t be found dead in their old union i somehow to day i don t feel like going back to work oh he calls he read the four o clock mail he signed his morning s letters he talked to a tenant about he fought with young the outside was always that be deserved an increase of commission and to day he complained i think i ought to get a if i put the sale i m chasing around and working on it every single evening almost frequently remarked to his wife that it was better to con your office help along and keep em happy stead of on em and em get more work out of em that way but this led lack of appreciation hurt him and he turned on look here let s get this clear you ve got an idea somehow that it you that do all the selling where d yon get that stuff where d yon think you d be if it wasn t tor d n by t oar a yon our lists of and all the ts we find for yon all you got to do is follow iq our and dose the deal the hall porter could sell yon say you re engaged to a girl but have to put in your after well why the devil shouldn t you what do you want to do sit around holding her hand let me you if your girl is worth her salt shell be ad to know you re out bustling making some to furnish the home nest instead of doing the the kind of fellow that about working that wants to his evenings reading or and exchanging a lot of nonsense and ne girl he ain t the kind of man with a future a nd with vision that we want here how about it ty a y you want to make money and be a member of the is or do you want to be a with no inspiration or was not so to and as usual on bet i want to make mon l that s why i want that i don t want to get fresh bnt this is a fall for it the floor ing a rotten and the are full of cracks exactly i meant to a with a for his oa it hard problems like that that inspire him to do his best besides matter o fact non i are against as a matter of principle we like yon and we want to you so you can get married	42
of a bnt of there was no doubt ind as a had to the his ted to a twin six and an established position in the gentry the bad won from his family by of a new car as they realized that he to buy one this year ted lamented oh the old boat as if it d had and scratching its off mrs said raged if you re too much of a hi and you belong to the box ton and so on why you needn t take the car out this evening ted explained didn t mean and dinner dragged on with normal domestic t to the inevitable at which protested come come now we can t sit here all evening give the girl a to clear away the table he was what a family i i don t know bow we au get to ing this way like to go off some place and be able to think paul wear and loaf and he said cautiously to his wife i ve been in with a man in new yoa wants me to see him about a real estate trade may cot come off till summer hope it doesn t break just when we and the get ready to go to be a shame if c couldn t make the tr together do use tying now escaped immediately after dinner with no save an why don t you ever stay home in the living room in a of the ted settled down to his home study i and the of d n by x v see lay as old milton and and and au y beau be protested ob i guess i stand it to see m show if they had scenery and put on a lot of dog but to sit down in cold blood and em these how do they get that way mrs yes i wonder r of course i don t want to fly in the face of the professors and everybody but i do think there things in shakespeare not that i lead him much but i was young the used to show me passages that weren t really they t at all nice iq from the comic in the advocate they his favorite literature and art these illustrated in which mr hit mr with a rotten egg and mother corrected father s by means of a rolling pin with the solemn face of a breathing heavily his open mouth he nightly through every picture and during the he detested he felt that m the subject of shakespeare he wasn t really an authority the advocate the evening advocate nor the of the chamber of commerce had ever had an oo the matter and until one of them had he found it hard to form an original opinion but even at risk of in strange he could not keep out of an v er s y ill tell you why you have to study shakespeare and those it s because they re required for college entrance and that s all there is to personally i don t see myself stuck em into an up high system like we have in this state be a good deal better if took english and learned how to write an ad or that would pull but there it is and s no talk argument or about it i with you ted is you always want to do something different if you re to law and yoa i never had chance to but see that yon d n by to lay in all the and latin cm oh i don t see what s the use of law or even finishing hi school x don t want to go to specially honest there s lot of that have from that don t begin to make as much money as fellows that went to work early old that teaches latin in the high he s a what is it from and he sits all night reading a lot of greasy books and he s always about the value of languages and the poor make but eighteen hundred a year and no would think of working for that i know what i d like to do i d like to be an or own a big or else a fellow was telling me about it yesterday i d like to be one of these fellows that the standard oil company sends out to china and you live in a am and have to do any work and you get to see the world and and the ocean and everything and then i take that s the real you t have to to some frosty faced old dame that s trying to show off to the principal and you can study any subject you want to just listen to these i dipped out the of swell courses he snatched from the back of his half a hundred of those home study courses which the energy and t of american commerce have to the science of education the first displayed the portrait of a man with a pure brow an iron jaw silk and hair patent leather standing with one hand in his and the with forefinger he was an audience of men with gray heads and every other sign of wisdom and above the picture was an in symbol no or torch or owl of but a row of the text ran d n by in a tom st the who da yon think i into the other evening at the de why old to be dead or io my old ur we to call the dear fellow one time be wai so timid he waa of the and never got credit for the be did at the de and if be ordering a feed with all the from	42
to and of being by like be to be at die little damp where we in old he waa bowing them around like he waa a i what we teach you i how to your lodge how to how to to a lady to o how to make how to big to how to create a personality how to become a rational powerful and original how to be a man i i him what be waa doing laughed and said say ou i you re wondering what s come over me you ll be glad to know fm now at the old shop and right on the high road to and and i look forward with con to a twelve car and the wife it things hum in the best and the getting a first d n by ck i how it i ui of a that to teach people how to talk and od their feet how to answer how to a before the how to hit a bank for a loan how to hold a big audience with wit humor anecdote inspiration etc it was by the orator f i was too but i wrote on a with and address to the for the sent on trial back if you are not there were eight lessons in plain language could understand and i studied just a few hours a nigh then started on the wife soon found i could talk right to the and get due credit for an the good work i did they began to appreciate me and advance me fast and say old what do you think they re paying ma sow per and say i find i can keep a big audience fascinated speaking on any topic as a friend old boy i advise to send for no obligation and free art w f author of the course in is easily the foremost figure in practical literature h a of some of our leading extensive author of poetry etc a man with tbe unique per of the master he is ready to give you all the secrets of his culture and force in a few easy lessons that will not interfere with other occupations co desk wa you a or a d n by so was again a would enable bim to with authority in or real estate had indicated a solid citizen and regular fellow t to think about culture by mail he began with hesitation well sounds as if it the ground it certainly is a fine thing to be able to i ve sometimes thought i had a little talent that way myself and i know dam well that one reason why a old back number like can get away with it in real estate is just because he can make a good talk even he hasn t got a thing to and it certainly is the way they get out all these courses on topics and subjects nowadays ill tell you no need to blow in a lot of good money on this stuff when yon can get a rate course in and and all that ri t in your own school and one of the biggest buildings in the entire that said mrs comfortably while ted complained but th just teach a lot of old that isn t any practical use the manual training and and and dancing and in these you can get all kinds of stuff that would come ic handy say listen to this one can you play a part if you with your mother sister or be t girl and some one passes a remark or improper won t yon be ashamed if tou cant take lier part well can you we teach and self t y mail pupils have written saying that after a few lessons they re bigger and heavier the start with simple movements practised before your mirror holding out your hand for a coin the breast stroke in swimming etc before you it you are striking guarding and just as if you had a real opponent before d n by c baby i wouldn t uke ted tu die i d like to take one i know in that s always shooting off his month and catch him the ideal most thing i ever tl just suppose i was walking with or and somebody passed a remark or used in language what would i do why you d bust the record for the hundred yard i i d stand ri t up to any that passed a remark on my sister and i d show him look here young if i ever catch you fitting the ts out of you and do it holding out my hand for a coin before tool w ted dear mrs said placidly it s not at ad nice your talking of fighting this well almighty that s a fine way to and i was walking with you ma and passed a remark nobody s going to pass no remarks on nobody observed not if they stay home and study and mind their own affairs instead of around a lot of and fountains and places where nobody s any business to but if they mrs well if they did i wouldn t do them the of any to them i besides never do you hear these that get followed and insulted and all but i don t believe a word of it or it s their own fault the way some women look at a person i certainly never ve been insulted by mother just si you were just d n by can t suppose can t im ne i can imagine thin l the ideal certainly your mother can imagine things and think you re the only member of this that s got an imagination demanded but what s the use	42
of a lot of never gets you no sense supposing there s a lot of real facts to take into look here q i mean just just yoa in your and some rival real estate man some that hated came in i don t hate any but suppose you don t intend to suppose anything of the there plenty of fellows in my profession that stoop and hate their but if you were a little older and understood business instead of always going to the and running around with s lot of fool with their dresses up to their knees and powdered and painted and and god knows what all as if were chorus girls then you d know and you d pose that if there s any one thing that i stand for in the circles of it is that we ought to always speak of each other only in the terms and a of brotherhood and cot and so i certainly can t si pose and i can t imagine my any not even tha and there s no if and or but about iti but if i going to i wouldn t require any ducks or swimming strokes before a mirror or any of these and suppose you were out some and a called you vile think you d want to and d n by like a you d just lay out odd at least i certainly hope any of mine aod then you d dust os your hands and go on about your business and that s all there is to it and you arm t going to have any by mail either but yes i just wanted to show how many different kinds of correspondence courses there are instead of at the they teach us in the hi but i thought they t in the school that s they stick you up there aod some big stiff himself the s out of you before you have a chance to learn not but anyway listen to some of these others the were truly one of the rousing tie second announced that mr p r formerly making only i a week in a shop writes to us that since taking our course be is now pulling down as an physician and the third that miss j l recently a in a is now getting tea real dollars a day teaching our system of breathing and mental control ted had collected or sixty from annual books from sunday school fiction and journals of discussion one benefactor implored don t be a be more and make more money you can or sing yourself into society i by the secret principles of a newly discovered system of music teaching any one man lady or child can without exercises q training or long drawn out study and without waste of time money or energy learn to by note piano or drum and learn si t sin hie next under the wistful appeal finger big confided you red blooded men d n by aod this b the profession yon have been for there honey in it big money and that rapid change of scene that and compelling interest and tion which your active mind and adventurous spirit of being the chief figure and directing in ing strange mysteries and crimes this wonderful profession you into contact influential men cm the basis of equality and often calls n you to eveiy where maybe to distant all paid no education required oh boy i i guess that wins the fire bride wouldn t it be swell to travel ev d e i e and n some famous ted i think much of that likely to get hurt still that study t be pretty there s no reason why if pat minds to it the way hay have to in a factory they couldn t figure out some scheme so a person wouldn t have to monkey all this and exercises that you get in music was impressed and he had a parental feeling that they two the men of the family understood each other he listened to the notices of box whidi t short story writing and in the memory mo tion picture acting and the soul and spanish and en and window and well well sou t for adequate of his admiration i m a son of a i knew this correspondence school business had become a mighty profitable game makes real estate like two but i realize it d got to be such a key must rank ri up with and always figured d come along with the brains to not leave education to a lot of d n by s s and in but make a big out of h yes i can see how a lot of these courses might you i must ask the fellows at the if they ever bat same time ted you know how i mean some i don t know as they d be able to jam you through these courses as fast as they claim they can oh sure of course ted had the immense and of a boy who is y listened to by his concentrated on him with grateful affection i can see i t an influence these courses might have oa the works course i d never admit it fellow like myself a state u it s only decent and patriotic for him to blow his bom and the ma er but of fact there s a lot of valuable time lost even at the u studying poetry and french and subjects that never t in anybody a cent i don t know but what these correspondence courses might prove to be one of the most important american inventions trouble with a lot of folks is they re so blame material	42
they don t see the spiritual and mental side of american they think that inventions like the and the and no that was a invention but they think these mechanical in are all that we stand for whereas to a real he sees that ir and movements and ro n and and are compose oar deepest and truest wealth and maybe this new principle in education at home may be another may be another i you ted we ve got to have vision think those courses are terrible tlie philosophers ed it was mrs who bad made this discord in spiritual harmony and one of mrs virtues was that except during parties when d n by she was into a hostess she took care of the house didn t bother the by thinking she went on firmly it sounds awful to me the way those poor young to think they re leaning something and nobody round to help them and two learn so quick but me i always was slow but just the same attended to her get just as much ing at home you don t think a fellow any more because he blows in his father s hard earned mon and around in chairs in a swell with l and and table covers and those do you i i m a college man i there is one d you mi t make thou i certainly do protest any effort to get a lot of fellows out of shops and into the professions they re too crowded already and we do for workmen if all those go and get educated ted was leaning back smoking a d without reproof he was for the moment sharing the high thin air of s q as though he were paul or even dr he hinted well what do you think then wouldn t it be a good idea if i could go ob to china or some place and study or something by mail no and tell you why son i ve found out it s a mi ty nice thing to be able to say you re a ba some that doesn t know what you are and thinks you re just a business man he gets to shooting os his mouth about literature or foreign trade conditions and you just ease in something like when i was in college course i got my ba in and all that oh it puts an awful in their but there wouldn t be any class to i got the degree of from the mail order r you see my was a pretty good old d n by but be never bad much style to him and i had to waa dam hard to my way college well it s been worth it to be able to associate with the finest in at tbe and so on and i wouldn t want you to drop out of tbe gentlemen class tbe class that are just as red blooded as the common people but still have power and personally it would kind of hurt me if you did that old i know all right ill stick to it i forgot all about those i was go to take to the ill have to but you haven t done all your work do it first thing in tlie morning times in tbe past sixty days had you will not do it first thing in the l do it right but to ni t he said well better and his was the rare shy radiance he kept for paul ted s a good he said to mrs ot be is who s these is he s g to pick up are they nice decent girls i don t know ob dear ted never me anything any more i don t understand s come over the children of this i used to have to tell f pa and everything but seems like the children to day have just ed away from all control i th re decent girls course ted s no longer a kid and x wouldn t want him to get mixed up and everything george i wonder if you t to take him aside and him about she blushed and lowered ber eyes well i don t know way i figure it no sense a lot of to a boy s mind think up d n by by but i wonder it s und of a wonder thinks about it with you he all this is he says decent he does does well let me you that t thinks about morals i mean course you can t beat the why a way to talk of y can t beat him at getting in on the ground of a deal but let me tell you he any ideas about higher things and education then i know i think just the q yon may not regard me as any great but me i m a regular college president with t i yes sir by vm going to take ted aside and tes him why i lead a strictly moral life oh will you when when when what s the use of trying to pin me down to when and why and where and how and when that the trouble with that s why they make high they any sense of when the proper and occasion arises so it just comes in why then i ll have a friendly little talk with him and and was that up stairs she t to been asleep long ago he through the living room and stood in the that glass walled room of chairs and swinging in which they on sunday out only the lights of s and the dim presence of s favorite elm broke the softness of april	42
by ashes or by the fire irons were of polish and the wm like in a shop desolate lifeless of against the wall was a with another piano lamp bat no oat used it save the hard of the contented them their store of records them feel wealthy and and all th knew of creating music was the nice of a needle the books on the table were and laid in rigid not one comer of the carpet rug was curled and nowhere was there a stick a torn book an old cap or a and dog at home never read with he was concentrated at the office but here be crossed his le and when his was interesting he read the best that is the to his wife when it did not hold him he scratched his ankles and bis right ear thrust his left thumb into bis pocket his silver the cigar utter and the keys on one end of his yawned rubbed his and found errands to do he went upstairs to put on his his elegant sl d n by of seal shaped uke shoes he np an tbe which stood by the in the an apple a day keeps the doctor away he mn for quite the first time hi fourteen hours s so an is nature s best es it with women is never have sense to form regular habits i always and between meals she looked i her reading did yon have a li t to day like you were going to i this and ui attack astounded him maybe k wasn t as light a went to lunch with paul and didn t have much chance to diet oh you needn t to grin like a if it wasn t for me watching out and an eye on our diet i m the member at this family that the value of for but i she stooped over her story he and ed down the apple one thing i ve done cut down ray had kind of a nm in with in the office he s getting too dam fresh ill stand for a good deal but once in a while i got to assert my authority and i jumped him i said i told him just exactly where he got off kind of a day makes you feel restless that sound in the world the mrs yawned with it and looked grateful as he how about to bed eh and ted will be in all und of a day not terribly warm but yet i d like some d i m going to take a long trip d n by we d she he from her u be that he did not wish to have her go him as he locked doors and tried windows and set the beat r so that the open in the he si a little heavy with a and him so absent minded was be that he could not remember window he had and the darkness at unseen perilous chairs he t back to try them all over again his feet were loud m the aa he ed upstairs at the end of this great and day of before he to iq state boyhood and shrank from the demands of bathing deciding whether the current shirt was dean lor another day whenever be stayed home in the evening he went to bed early and got ahead in those dismal duties it was his luxurious custom to sitting in a of hot water he may be viewed to ni t as a plump smooth pink robbed of the of q in breast high water sending his with a safety like a tiny lawn and with melancholy the water to recover a slippery and active piece of so he was to dreaming by the caressing warmth the light on the inner surface of the tub in a pattern of wrinkled lines which sl with a green sparkle over the as the dear water trembled lazily watched it noted that the of his less the radiance on the bottom of the tub the shadows of the air to the hairs were as strange he patted the water and the reflected light by leaped and he ms content and he played he shaved a down the calf of one leg the was a and song he was en by it he looked at the solid tub the beautiful the of the room and felt virtuous in the possession of this splendor he roused himself and to his bath things come you ve done he the soap and defied the nail brush with di you would would he himself and and rubbed himself he noted a hole in the and thrust a finger it and marched back to the bedroom a grave and there was a moment of gorgeous abandon a flash of such as he found in traffic driving when he out a dean collar discovered that it was in front and tore it iq with a magnificent sound most of all was the preparation of his bed and the sleeping it b not known whether he enjoyed his ing porch because of the fresh air or because it was the standard thing to have a sleeping porch as he was an a and a member of the chamber of commerce just as the priests of the church determined his every religious belief and the ed the party decided in little rooms in washington what he should think about ment and germany so did the large national fix the surface of his life fix what he to be his individuality these standard advertised wares hot water were bis and proofs of excellence at first the signs tbe tar and passion and wisdom d n by but of these of and was more significant than a sleeping porch with a parlor	42
and full of those are saying now that i the go show that i in it for coin well now listen folks i m going to give those birds a they can stand ri t up here and tell me to my face that i m a and a liar and a only if they do if they dot don t faint with surprise if some of those rum get one good swift from with all the kick of flaming behind the i well come on who says who says monday is a and a don t i see anybody standing up well there you are now i guess the folks in this man s town will quit listening to all this from behind the ice i guess quit listening to the that pan and roast and kick and beef and out filthy d n by of yoa n with every grain of and you got and all for christ and n and at that the radical lawyer and dr the t whose report on the destruction of had made the name of known in and rome were talking in i s s a with power gigantic machines gi meditated i hate your city it has all the beauty out of life it is one big railroad station with all the people j taking tickets for the best dr said placidly roused i m hanged if it you make me with your about don t you suppose any other nation is is anything more than england with every house that can it having the same at the same tea hour and every retired general going to exactly the same at the same gray stone church with a square tower and in saying right yon to every other pro ass yet i love england and for look at the in france and the love making in italy is excellent per se when i buy an watch or a ford i get a better tool for less money and i know precisely i m getting and that leaves me more time and energy to be individual in and i remember in london i saw a picture of an american in a ad on the back of the saturday evening post d snowy street of these new houses d n by loi of cm or with low and the kind of street yoa d find here in say in open trees grass and i was there s no other try in the world that has pleasant houses and i don t care if they are it s a standard no what i fight in is of t and of course the traditions of competition the real of the piece are the dean kind industrious family men who use every known brand of and cruelty to the ity of their worst thing about these is that they re so good and in their work at least so you can t hate them properly and yet are the enemy then this i have a notion that is a better place to live in than or w or or it is not and i have lived in moat of them murmured dr well matter of taste personally i prefer a with a future so that it my tion but i particularly want yon said dr are a middle road liberal and yon haven t the test idea what you want i being a know exactly what i want and i want now is a drink at that moment in the and henry t in conference suggested the thing to do is to get your fool son in law to put it over he s one of these patriotic when he a piece of for the gang be makes it look like we were of love for the dear and i do love to bi reasonable wonder how long we can keep it we re safe as long as the good little boys d n by like george uie nice respectable labor leaden think you and me are rugged swell for an honest here a whole to provide cigars and chicken and for us and to our banner with indignation oh fierce indignation whenever some like this comes honest a smart like me ought to be ashamed of himself if he didn t milk cattle like them they come around for but the gang can t get away with grand like it used to i i wish we could fix some way to run this fellow out of town it s him or at that moment in three hundred and for m fifty thousand ordinary fe le were a vast shadow in the beyond the railroad tracks a young man who for six months had sought work turned ob the gas and killed and his wife at that moment the poet owner of the book was finishing a to show how was life amid the of but bow dull it was in so obvious a place as and at that moment george f turned in bed the last turn that he d had enough of this worried business of falling asleep and was about it in earnest instantly he was in the magic dream he was somewhere unknown le who laughed at him he ran down the paths of a midnight garden and at the gate the fairy child was waiting her dear and tranquil hand his cheek he was and wise and well warm ivory were her arms and b moon tbe brave sea d n by chapter viii great events of s spring were the secret of real estate in for certain street officials before the public that the avenue car line would be extended and a dinner which was as he rejoiced to his wife not only a regular society spread but a sure bi brow	42
affair some of the keenest and the brightest bunch of little women in town it was so absorbing an occasion that be almost forgot his desire to nm off to with paul thou he bad been bom in the village of had risen to that social plane on which hosts have as many as four people at dinner planning it for more than an or two but a dinner of twelve with from the s and all the cut out staggered even the tor two they studied and the list v guests of course we re iq to date ourselves but think of us entertaining a famous poet like a that on nothing but a poem or so very day and just writing a few down fifteen thousand bet a and do you know the other evening told me her papa q three languages said mrs that s so do i american and i think it nice to be about a matter like that d n by i it most be to three and useful and and with people that i t me invite the well now b ml i and know admit a got the dam of poetry or real estate but just the same fi mi ty ever start him about say that can yoa the name of every kind of tree and of their greek and latin names tool besides we owe the a dinner sides we got to have some for when a of hot air artists like and get going well i meant to at i do think that as boat you ou t to sit back and and let your guests have ft to talk once in a oh you do do i talk all the and just a business man oh i m no like and no poet and i haven t anything to wed let mr you just the other day your dam comes t to me at the club to know what i t about school bond issue and who tm him i yon bet your life i told little i he up and asked me and i told him all about iti you and be was dam ad to listen to me duty as ft i guess i know my duty as a host and let me y o a id fact the were on the of the mrs was now george i want you to be sure and be home early u remember have to i see by the that the assembly to quit the world meet d n by los did you bear i said yon must be in time to dress to i m i m going down to tbe office in my b s i will not you before tbe and you do have to put on your dinner jacket i guess you mean n i tell you of all tbe tint was ever invented minutes later after had well i don t know whether i m going to dress or in a manner which showed that he was going to dress tbe discussion moved on now george you mustn t forget to call in at s on the way borne and get the ice cream wagon b tn down and i want to trust hum to send it by a i ri tl you told me that before w i don t want you to forget iii be working my head off all day training the girl that s to help with the din an anyway an extra girl foe tbe feed could well and i have to go out and buy tbe and fix them and set tbe table and order the and at the chickens and arrange for the to have supper and and i simply must depend on you to go to s for tbe ice cream ad tl i m going to get it ad you to do is to go in and say you want the ice cream that mrs ordered yesterday by one and it be all ready for you at ten thirty she to him not to forget tbe ice cream from s he was surprised and then a t he wondered heights were tbe d n by io ua involved but he repented the e in the e of buying the materials for now this was the manner of obtaining under ths of and he drove from the streets of the business into the of old town jagged blocks filled with and on into the once a pleasant orchard but now a of lodging and exquisite chilled his and stomach and he looked at every policeman with intense innocence as one who loved the law and admired the force and longed to stop and play with them he his car a block from s saloon well rats if anybody did see me they d think i wai here on business he entered a place curiously like the of days with a long greasy bar with in and mirror behind a pine table at which a dreamed over a ass of something which resembled va and with two men at the bar drinking resembled beer and giving that of forming a large crowd two always in a saloon the tall pale with a diamond in his stared at as he stalked to the bar and d of sent me here like to get some gin gazed down on him in the manner of an outraged bishop i guess you got the wrong place my friend we nothing but soft drinks here he cleaned the bar with a which would itself have with a little cleaning and across his mechanically moving elbow the old at the table the listen did not listen d n by aw say tlie decayed and drowsy v ce of the the agreeable of beer threw a q ell	42
of over tbe moved grimly toward the crowd of two men followed him aa as a cat and say i want to to mr see him for i want to talk to him her s card it was a beautiful card an engraved card a card in the black and the red announcing that mr george f was estates rents the it as though it ed ten pounds and read it aa though it were a hundred words he did not bend from his q but he growled see if he the back room be t aa immensely old man a quiet sharp eyed man in tan silk shirt checked open and burning brown mr han mr said only but his and soul and he seemed not at n impressed by tbe new dark gray suit for which as he had admitted to every acquaintance at the club had paid a hundred and twenty five dollars clad meet mr say george of the i m a great friend of well what of it say i m going to have a party and told me d be able to fix me up with a little in alarm in as s eyes grew more bored you to about me if you want to answered by his head to indicate tbe entrance to the back room and strolled away crept into aa q containing four round d n by io and a h waited thrice be saw hands in pockets him by this time bad modified his i wont p one cent over seven a to i t p ten on s next weary entrance he could you fix that t and just a minute s sake just a in growing me went on waiting casual with a of what is known as a in long white hands twelve he snapped say but say cap o t you d be able to fir me up f ei t nine a bottle this is the real stuff from canada this is none o your spirits with a drop of extract the honest merchant said twelve if yon want it course y understand i m just doing anyway as a friend of s i understand gratefully out dollars he felt honored by contact with greatness as yawned stuffed the bills into his radiant rest and away he had a number of out of concealing the bottle under his coat and out of hiding it in his desk all afternoon be and chuckled and ed over his to ve the boys a real shot in the arm to night he was in fact so that he was within a block of his house he that there was a certain matter mentioned by his wife of ice cream from ha dam it and drove back was not a be was tlie of most coming out parties were held in the and gold bad room of the at all nice the guests the five kinds of and kinds d n by log f cakes and all really dinners ended as on a in ice cream in one of the three the the round like a cake and the brick s bad pale blue of plaster attendants in and ass shelves of kisses with all the refinement that in of eggs heavy and thick amid this professional and as he waited for the ice cream be decided with hot at the back of his neck that a girl customer was at him be went home in a er the first thing he heard was his wife agitated did you remember to go to s and get uie ice cream look do i ever forget to do things yes i often dow it s dam seldom i do and it makes me tired after going into a pink tea joint like s and to stand around looking at a lot of half naked young girls all up like they were sixty and eating a lot of stuff that ruins oh it too bad about i ve noticed how yoa to look at with a jar realized that his wife too bo to be by that moral indignation with which rule the and be went humbly np stairs to dress he had an re on of a dining room of cut glass candles polished wood lace silver roses with the awed of heart suitable to so grave a business as giving a he the to wear his dress shirt for a fourth took out an entirely fresh uie his black bow and his patent leather with a handkerchief he with pleasure at his and silver he smoothed and patted his ankles transformed by silk from the sturdy of george to limb d n by of b called a he stood before the his trim coat bis triple and in by i look i certainly don t look like if the home see in this they d have a he moved down to mix the as be md ice as he squeezed as he collected vast of bottles passes and at the sink in the he as as the at heal s sa true mrs said be was under foot and and the maid hired for the evening brushed him him as they through with but in this bi he ignored the new bottle of gin his cellar consisted of one half of a quarter of a of italian and one hundred drops of orange he did not possess a a wai of the symbol of a and liked being known as a more than he liked a drink he mixed by pouring an ancient oat into a he poured with a noble holding his beneath the powerful ob his face hot his shirt a glaring the co er sink a red gold he tasted the sacred now by if that pretty near one fine old i kind of	42
a and yet like a hey want a little tap the folks come bustling into the dining room moving each a of an inch rushing back with on her face her gray and silver lace party frock protected by a mn at him and him certainly well in a loose i think the d n by iii tbe filled him with whirling behind which he was aware of to rush places in fast to kiss to sing to be witty he sought to his lost dignity by announcing to i m to stick this of in the be sure you don t any of em be sure now don t go putting anything on this top veil be he was y his voice was thin and distant wheel with he commanded be sure now and into the safety of the he wondered whether be could persuade as slow a bunch as and the to go some place aft dinner and raise and maybe dig iq he perceived that he had of which had been neglected by the time the guests had come including the inevitable late couple for whom the others waited with painful a great gray had the purple in s head and he had to force the tumultuous greetings to a host on the guests were i doctor of y furnished and to the street the coal dealer equally ful in the and in the club the agent for the car who lived across the and jones owner of the lily white which justly itself the biggest in but naturally the most distinguished of all was t who was not only the author of which daily in sixty seven leading new gave him one of the largest of any poet in the world but also an and the creator of that add de ite the search d n by ing and hi morality of his verses they were humorous and easily understood l any child of twelve and it added a neat air of to them that th set not as verse but as prose mr was known from coast to coast as with them were six wives more or less it was hard to early in the evening as at first glance they all looked alike and as they all said oh t this nice i in the same tom of to the eye the men were less similar a hedge scholar tall and horse faced b trifle of a man with soft and mouse like hair his profession as poet by a silk cord on his eye masses broad with black en a bald and young man who showed his taste by an evening waistcoat of figured black silk with glass buttons jones a steady looking not very memorable person with a colored ache yet they were all so fed and clean all shouted with such that th seemed to be cousins and the strange thing is that the longer me knew the women the less alike they seemed while the longer one knew the men the more alike their bold appeared the drinking of the was as a as the mixing the company waited uneasily agreeing in a strained manner that the weather had been warm and slightly cold but still said nothing about drinks became but when the late couple the had arrived hinted folks do you think you could stand breaking the law a little they looked at the recognized lord of language pulled at his eye glass cord as at a bell r f e be cleared his throat and said that which was the custom tell you george i m a law abiding man but they do say is a regular and of course he bigger n d n by its am and i just cant figure out do if he tried to force me into anything was roaring well take a chance when held iq his band and went on so if and you insist park my car on the wrong side of the street i take it for granted that s the crime you re there was a great deal of laughter jones asserted mr is amply too you d think be waa so how did you guess it wed you all just wait a moment while i go out and get the keys to your cars through a of merriment be t the shining promise the mi ty tray of passes with the cloudy in the ass in the the men oh have a and this gets me ri t where i and let me at but a man and not unused to woes was stricken by the thou t that the might be fruit with a he looked as a moist and out a glass but as be tasted it he oh man let me dream it but don t slumber i two hours before had convicted a newspaper sat alone and paused and and scratched my head and sighed and and groaned there are who d the m time that den that a sage a the and old si on i u never miss their i the can use that leaves my head at merry mom as dear as any babe new drank with the others bis moment s depression was gone be perceived that these wo e the best in the he wanted to give them a thousand think could stand another he cried die wives refused with d n by but the men q g in a wide s sooner than have you get sore at me george you got a little coming said to each of them and each squeeze it squeeze when beyond hope the was empty they stood and talked about the men leaned back on their heels t their hands in their trousers pockets and proclaimed their views with the of a prosperous male repeating a statement about a matter of	42
he knows nothing whatever now you said way i figure it is this and i can by the book because i ve talked to a lot of doctors and that ought to know and the way i see it is that it s a good thing to get rid of the saloon bnt th ought to let a fellow have beer and light observed what isn t generally realized is that it s a to the rights of per liberty now take this for instance the king of i think it was yes it was in march i a he issued a against public of live stock the had stood for without the slightest con but when this came out they or it may have been but it just goes to show the dangers of the rights of that s it no one got a right to personal liberty aid jones just the same want to forget is a mighty good thing for the working classes keeps em from wasting their and lowering yes that s so but the trouble is the manner of insisted didn t under the right system now if i d been running the thing d n by lu have it so that the waa and then we could have taken care of the workman kept him from and yet not we interfered with the rights with the personal liberty of fellows like ourselves they their heads looked at one and stated that s so that would be the the thing that me is that a lot of these will take to si l more violently and groaned that s so there is a danger of that oh say i got hold of a swell new receipt for home made beer the other day you take let me tell you mine to do is to jones insisted i ve got the receipt that does the begged oh say tell you the story but f ink went cm resolutely you take and save the shells peas and pour six of water on a of shells and boil the mixture till mrs turned toward them with yearning sweetness hastened to finish even his best and she said gaily dinner is served was a good deal of friendly argument among the men as to should go in last and while they were crossing the bad from the living room to the dining room made them by thundering if i can t sit next to and hold her hand under the table i won t play vm goin home in the dining room they stood embarrassed mrs fluttered now let me oh i was going to have some nice hand painted place cards for you but ob let me see mr you t there hie dinner was in the best style of women s art the was served in and everything but the invincible chicken resembled l e d n by ii the men found it bard to to the was an art unknown on and the of offices and of had do but the of the was violent each oi the men still had a number of in things to say about and now that each had a in his dinner partner he burst out i found a place where i can get all the i want at t a did you read about this that went and paid a thou band dollars for cases of red ye that proved to be ing but water seems this fellow was standing on the and fellow comes up to him they say there s a whole of stuff being it what i say what a lot of folks d xi t bout and then you get all this awful poison wood and everything course i in it m in but i don t propose to have anybody telling me i got to think and do no american ever stand for that but all that it was rather in bad taste for jones and he not recognized as one of the wits of the to say in fact the whole thing about it this it isn t the cost it s the not till the one required tc ic bad been dealt with did become general it was often and y said of that can get away with why be can pull a raw one in mixed company and ao the ladies their heads off but me if i crack out s just the least bit off i get the for now ted them by to mis youngest of the women i managed to s out of d n by and say yoa and me across the street when tbe aren t got with a awful to tell tbe women ed and was stirred to like say folks i wished i dared show you a book i borrowed now george i the ideal mrs warned him this bo a the it s some kind of u report about about customs in the seas and what it doesn t say it s a book you can t lend it to you ue insisted sounds jones announced say i heard a good one tbe other day about a and their wives and in the best accent he resolutely carried the good one to a ending ed it but the the back into cautious reality had recently been on a lecture tour among the small towns and he chuckled awful good to get back to i certainly been seeing some i mean course the folks are the best on earth but those main street are slow and you fellows can t hardly a te what it means to be here with a bunch of live you bet i jones they re the best folks aa earth those small town folks but	42
straight across the boards and yo know what ow that the agent that i call be tliat prince d n by there t be just one that writes em must be a big board of ink in conference but anyway now him he doesn t write for he writes for regular he writes for me and i tip my to the only thing is i wonder if it the goods coarse like all these poets this prince fellow lets his idea run away with him it makes elegant reading but it don t say nothing i d never go out and bt prince tobacco after reading it because it doesn t tell me anything about the stuff it s just a bunch of faced him oh you re have i got to you the idea of style anyway that s the kind of stuff i d like to do for the but i simply can t so i decided to stick to the straight poetic and i a shot at a ad for the how do you like this the long white trail ia and it s over die hills and far away for every man or woman that hai red blood in his veins and on his lips the of the it s away with dull and a fig for care glorious it s more a moment s it s life for you and me i this great new truth the makers of the car have considered as much as price and style it s fleet as the smooth as the glide of a swallow yet powerful as the of a bull elephant class in every line listen brother t you ll never know what the high art of is till yon try the i yes mused tbat s got an elegant color to it if do say so but it got the originality of of the with and d n by chapter ix ms fond of hia friends he loved the of host and certainly you re going to have chicken the ideal and he appreciated the of t but the vigor of the was gone and the more he ate the joyful he felt then the of the dinner was destroyed by the of the id heights and the other prosperous sections of e in the young married set there were mai women who had nothing to do though they had few servants yet with gas electric and dish and and kitchen walls were so convenient that they had little and of their food came from and they had but two one or no children and despite the that the great war had made work respectable their husbands objected to their wasting time and getting a lot of ideas in social work and still more to causing a money that they were not they worked perhaps two hours a day and the rest of the time they ate went to the motion went window went in and to read magazines thought of the lovers who never appeared and accumulated a splendid restlessness which they got rid of by their husbands hie husbands back oi these the perfect specimens at the dinner had been d n by his s new frock it was be too too low too thin and much too he appealed to honest what do you think of that went and bought yon think it s the limit what s eating yoa i call it a little dress ob it is mr it s a sweet frock mrs dow do yon see youve an aa clothes i raged while the guests and peeped at ber shoulders s all right now said i m authority so i know it was a waste of money and it makes me tired to see you not wearing out a whole of clothes you got already i ve my idea about this before and know good and well you didn t pay the least bit of i have to camp on your trail to get you to do anything was much more of it and tb all assisted all bat everything about him was dim his stomach and that was a bright scarlet disturbance had too much t to eat this stuff he groaned while be went on eating while he down a chill and of the ice cream brick and cake as as he felt as thou he had been stuffed with clay us body was bursting his throat was bursting his brain was hot mud and only with agony did he continue to and shout as became a host on heights he would for his guests have fled and walked off the of food but in the haze which filled the room they sat forever talking talking he dam fool to be eating all this not mouth ful and discovered that he was again the sickly of melted ice cream on plate there was no magic in his friends he was not uplifted when from his treasure house of the that the d n by symbol for raw rubber which turns into or b r not merely bored but admitting it was ecstasy to escape from from the torture of a straight chair and on the in the living room hie others from th r fitful talk of bang slowly and painfully smothered seemed to be suffering from the toil of social life and the horror of good food as much as all of them accepted with ae suggestion of bridge recovered from the of being boiled he at bridge he was again able to endure s inexorable but he pictured with paul beside a lake in it was as and imaginative as he had never yet be the mountains the tranquil lake of evening that boy paul s worth all these put together he muttered and i d like to get away from even did not	42
rouse bim mrs was pretty and was not an of women except as to their tastes in furnished houses to rent he divided them into real ladies working women old and chickens he over charms but he was of that all of them save the women of his own family were different and mysterious yet he had known by instinct that could be af her eyes and lips were moist face from a broad forehead to a pointed chin her mouth was thin but strong and and between her brows were two and pas wrinkles she was thirty perhaps or younger gossip had never touched her but every man naturally and instantly rose to when he spoke to her and every woman watched her with between games sitting on the spoke to her with the requisite gallantry that ta d n by i s is not but a terrified t from it you re like a new to night am i kind of on the yes i get sick of it well when yon get tired of yon can run off george if i ran away oh anybody ever tell you your bands are awful pretty she looked down at them she pulled the lace of her sleeves over them but otherwise she did not heed him she was lost in was too languid this evening to pursue bis duty of being a strictly moral male he back to the tables re was not much thrilled when mrs a small woman proposed that th try aod do some and table know can make the spirits come honest he just the ladies of the par had not all evening but as the given to thing of the while the men against base material they took command and cried oh let sl in the the men were rather solemn and but the quivered ud adored as they sat about tiie table they buried now you be good or in when the men took their hands in the circle with a t return of interest in life as mi s hand on his with quiet firmness an of them over intent they startled as some one drew a strained breath in the li t n the hall they looked they mn and they with unnatural but at s hiss they sank subdued awe suddenly they heard a knocking they stared at s half revealed hands and them lying still they and pretended not u d n by z with li me there a one knock to be the for a and two for no a t ow ladies and gentlemen shall we ask the guide to pat us into communication with the spirit of great one passed over mrs jones begged ob let s talk to we studied him at the reading circle you know who be certainly i know who he tlie wc poet where do think i was raised from her and y the fellow that took the cook s tour to hell i ve i never through his but we learned about him in die u said i page mr you ou t to get him easy mr you and be fellow poets said poets where d you get that stuff protested i pose showed a lot of an old not that ive actually read him of course but to come ri t down to hard facts he wouldn t stand three if he had to down to practical literature and torn out a poem for the er eveiy day like that s so from those old birds could take their time priest i could write poetry if i had a whole year for it and just wrote about that old like wrote about demanded hush now i iii call him ing forth into the the and bring hither the of that we mortals may list to his words of wisdom you to give um the address avenue fiery ts hell chuckled but the others that this was and besides it d n by lar fast making the but if there h to be to all this be to talk to an old to way ba in early tunes a the of bad to the of george f he it seemed quite ready to answer ht was glad to be with them this evening oat the by throng the till the spirit knocked at the t letter asked in a learned time do like it in the we are very happy on the hi plane we are ad that are this great truth of replied the circle moved with an awed creaking of stays and shirt fronts there were something to this had a different si was rally one of these had for a literary always seemed to be a r he belonged to the road church and went to die and liked and and stories but suppose that secretly after all you never could about these dam and to be an out and out q would be almost like being a no could l ig be serious in the presence of ver a bow jack and old the named after me along and don t they wish they could get into the he and instantly ao was mirth mrs jones and desired to know whether didn t catch cold with nothing va but his wreath hie pleased made humble answer but the discontent was him again and heavily in the darkness he pondered i we re all so and think we re so smart d n by a like i i d md of ui pieces x pose i ever will now he had without the on of a and on it in against menacing clouds a lone and austere figure he was dismayed by a sudden t for friends he grasped s hand and the of human warmth habit came a and he	42
shook himself what the deuce is the with me this he patted s hand to indicate that be hadn t anything improper by it and demanded of say see if can get to us some of his poetry talk iq to him tell him com a m a little the u ts were on the sat on the fronts of chairs in that determined suspense a wife that as soon as the present speaker has finished she is to remark to her husband dear i think it s time us to be saying good ni t for once did not out in efforts to keep the party going he bad there was something he wished to think out but the had started them a again why they go home why they go thou be was by the of the statement he was only half enthusiastic when the united is the only nation in the is a moral ideal and not just a social arrangement true true weren t they ever home he was usually ted to have an inside view of the momentous world of but to ni t he listened to s if yoa want to go above the class the is a mi ty good ie weeks d n by go and yon this was a square test they a stock car and they slid up the on hi and fellow told me good boat but were th planning to stay all they really were going with a flutter of we did have the best most friendly of all was as be he was reflecting i got through it but for a there i didn t hardly think i d last out he p to te that most delicate pleasure of the host making fun of his guests in the of i s the door closed he yawned chest out shoulders and turned to his wife she was beaming oh it was nice wasn t it i i know they every minute of it don t you think so he couldn t do it he couldn t mock it would have been like at a hi y child he lied yon best par this year by a long shot wasn t the dinner and honestly i t the was delicious i you to the queen s taste best chicken i ve tasted for a s age didn t it and don t yon think the was simply it certainly it was best soup i ve tasted since was a but his voice was away tliey stood in the hall under the electric light in its square box like shade of red ass bound with she stared at why george you don t you sound as if you hadn t really enjoyed it sure i did i course i did what is it oh i m kind of tired i guess been hard t the office need to get aw and rest up a little d n by well we re going to in a few we now dear then he pouring it out robbed of i think it d be a good thing for me to get up early but you have this man yoa have to meet in new york about business what man oh sure him oh that all off bat i want to hit early get in a little fishing catch me a big by a nervous artificial why don t we do it and can run the house between them and you and i can go any time if you think we can afford it but that s i ve been feeling so lately i thou t it mi t be a good thing if i kind of got off by and sweat it out of me don t you want tne to go along she was too in earnest to be tragic or insulted or save and and flushed to the red of a boiled of course i do i i just meant remembering that fat had predicted this he waa as as she t mean sometimes it s a good thing for an old like me to go off and get it out of bis system he tried to sound paternal then when and the arrive i figured maybe i t i to just a few days ahead of i d be ready for a real bat see bow i mean he her with large sounds with smiles like a preacher blessing an congregation like a humorous let his of like all tf masculine she stared at him the of festival drained from her face do i bother you when we go on i add any thing to your fun he suddenly dreadfully he was l he was a baby yea yea hell but can t yoa d n by i t i m shot to pieces i m bo i got to take an of i tell you i got to i m ck of nd even i got to it she who was mature and now why of you shall run os by why you get paul to go along and you boys just fish and have a good time she patted his reaching up to it while he shook and in that moment was not merely by habit fond of her but clung to her strength she cried cheerily now up you go and p into bed well fix it all iq ill see to the doors for many minutes for many hours for a bleak eternity he lay awake shivering reduced to primitive terror that be had won freedom and wondering what he could do so and ao as freedom d n by chapter x no i tn had in than the in paul had a flat by sliding the beds into low the were converted into the were	42
ct each an range a copper link a f am and very m maid everything about the was e modem and everything was c o m p a the the were calling on the at the it as a venture to call on the sometimes z a was an active blown hi i when she lo be good she was nervously her co ta on people were and of accepted that s you said and looked she danced wildly and called on the world to be merry but in the midst of it she would indignant she was always becoming indignant life was a t against her and ihe i she was to ni t she hinted that wore a that mn t s ain ing resembled a ford going into hi and that the hon mayor of and candidate tor was a tool was quite true the and sat on hard chain in the small living room of the flat with its with a fireplace and its strip of heavy t fabric upon a player piano mrs come on a d n by pot ia get out your fiddle paul and to duke dance decently the were in earnest they were for die to but when mrs hinted with paul get as tired after the winter work as does then remembered an injury and when remembered an injury the world stopped till had been done about it does be get tired no he doesn t get tired he just that s you think paul is so reasonable oh yes and be loves to make out he s a little but he s stubborn as a ob if bad to live with him t you d find out bow sweet be he just to be so he can have his own w and me i get the credit for being a terrible old but if i didn t blow once in a while and get something started we d die of dry rot he never wants to go any and why last evening just because the car was out of order and that was his fault too because be ou t to have taken it to the service station and had the battery at and he didn t want to go down to the on the but we went and then there was one of those and paul wouldn t do a thing i was standing on the platform waiting for the to let me into the car and thb beast this conductor at me come on you move up i why i ve never had anybody to me that way m all my i was so astonished i just turned to him and said i t there must be some mistake and so i said to him perfectly pleasant were yoa to me and he went on and at me yes i keeping the whole car from he said and then i saw he was one of these dirty ill bred ho that m wasted on and so i and ri t at him and said i beg your pardon i am not doing anything of the kind i said it s the people ahead of me who move iq and let me tell you d n by man that you re a down t i said and you re no i certainly intend to report you and well sec i said a lady is to be insulted by any drunken bum that chooses to put on a ragged uniform and i d thank you i said to keep your filthy abuse to yourself and then i waited for paul to show he was half a man and come to my and he just stood there and pretended he hadn t heard a word and so i said to him well i said oh it cut it i paul groaned we all know i m a and n a tender bud and let let it go at that let it go b face was wrinkled like the her voice was a dagger of brass she was full of the joy of and bad she was a and like every she in the to be in the name of virtue it go if people knew bow things i ve let go oh quit being such a bully yes a fine figure you d cut if x didn t bully you d he noon and play your fiddle till tl you re bom la and you bom and you re born cowardly paul oh now don t s that you don t mean a word a protested mrs i will say that and i mean every n e last word of ob now the ideal mrs was maternal and she was no than but she seemed bo at first she was placid and and mature where at forty five was so and u t that you knew that she was older than she looked the idea of talking to poor paul like paul is r tl we d both be we d be hi the if i him up i why now george and i were saying bow hard paul s been working all year and we were thinking it would d n by lie if the nm ob hy i ve george to go up to ahead of the rest of ua and get the tired of bis system before we come and i think it would be if could manage to get aw r and him at this of his plot to escape paul was startled out of in he rubbed his fingers his bands yes i you re you can let george go and not have to watch him fat old never at another got the the i haven t i was fervently defending his when paul ted	42

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