Indianapolis Times, Volume 35, Number 183, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 December 1922 — Page 8

8

A Hoosier Chronicle By MEREDITH NICHOLSON First Novel in thè Times Series of Fiction Storics by Indiana Writcrs (Copyririst, 101?. by Merodati Nlcholecm.)

&E "I don’t kr,ow that any good can of kecping thè lottar, Daniel. I we mlght ne well tcar lt up. and 1 know what lt is, and l’ve Been studying lt for a couple of days Hi'lthout seeing where any good can Berne of holding lt. You mlght burn Ht In thè grato there and weil both 3§ w lt's out of thè way. I guess Hhat person fcela that ho dono lils Bwhole duty In maklng thè offer and ■ho won’t be ilkely to bother anv mora. ■That conscience waa a long tlme got- ■ tlng waked up. and hnvlr.tr dono that Imuch lt probably wer.t to sleep agaln. ■ There's nothlr.g eìeeps ns sound as ■a conscience, I reckon, and I shouldn’t Ibe a bit surprlsed lf mine took a nap I occaslonally. Better burn that little I doeument, Daniel, and well be rld of f lt and try to forget lt.” "No; I don’t believe I’d do that," he sald alowly. "It mlght be better to hold on to lt, at least untll thè estate le cioè ed up. You can’t teli what’s behlnd lt,” And then, groplng for a plauslble rear >n, he added: “The author of thè letter may be In a posltion to annoy Bylvia by flllng a clalm e gai net thè Professor’e estate, or somethlng of that kind. It's better not to destroy thè only thlng w© have that mlght help lf that ehould occur. I believe lt's best to hold on to lt tlll thè estate’s eettled." This was pretty lame, as he reallzed, but hla caution pleaeed her, and she acqulesced. She waa anxious to leave no ground for any on© to rob Sylvia of her money, and lf thè re was any remote possiblUty that thè letter mlght add to th© glrl's seeurity sh© wa wlllIng that lt hould he retained. She sent Dan out lnto thè bank for an envelope, and when lt waa brought, sealed up thè letter and addressed lt to Dan In her own hand and marked lt private. “You take good care of that, Daniel, and when you get thè estate closed up you burn lt." “Yes, lt can do ho harm to hold lt a little whlle," h® eold wlth affected lightness. Dan Jolned Mrs. Owen and Sylvia at thè cottage later. He wa to see them off In thè momlng and he ©xerted hlmself to make Sylvta’s last evenihg In Buckeye Lane bs happy as posslble. The cottage was to be left In thè care of th old eervant untll lt could be dispose,! of; Mary herself was to be provided for In some way— Sylvia and Mrs. Owcn had deelded that thls was only fair and right. Aster tea Mrs. Owen sald she had lettera to write and carrled her portfolio to thè library for thè purpose. Dan and Sylvia belng thus left to themselves, he propose<l a etroll aerosa thè campus. “There's somethlng about a campus,” he sald, as they start ed out; — “there’s llkenesn In all of them, or maybe lt’s eentlment that binda them * together. Wellcstày speaks to Yale, and thè languag© <Jf both ls understood by Madison. Ah —there's thè proof of lt now!” (Int*ger vita©, aceleri eque purus!) A dozn studente lounglng on thè steps of thè library had begun to slng thè Latin woriìa to & fornillar air. Dan followed In his deep bass to thè end. "The words are thè words of Horace, but thè tune ls thè tune of RII wlth thanks to Dr. Fleming," he remarked. "It’s that sort of thlng that college worth whlle. lil wager those are seniore, who slready feci a 11%le henrtache hecause thelr college years are so nearly over. I'm gettlng to be an old grad myself. but those songs stili glve me a twlnge." "I underetand that.” sald Sylvia. lil soon he savlng good-by to girla I may never se© agaln, or when I meet them at a reunlon In fìv© or ten years. theyil be dlfferent. College ls only thè beglnning. aster all." "It’s only thè beglnnlpg. but for some fellows lt's thè end, too. lt seares me to se© how mnny of my c’assmates are already caught In thè undertow. I wonder sometimes whether I’m not golng under myself." Sylvia tumed to erari hlm. "I rather Imagine that you'r© a strong swlmmer. It would surprtse me lf you dldn’t do somethlng pretty l.lg. Mrs. Owen think* you wtll; she’s not a person for any on© to dlsappolnt." “Oh, she hes a way of thlnklng in larga totale of people she likes, and sh© does llk© me, must rbly.“8h has reai Illusione about me,” tattgbed Fylvio. “She has an Idea thet colleges do thlngs by magic; noi I’m afrsld she will fmd out that th© wand dldn’t touch me." "You dldn’t need th© wand's magic,” he onswered, "for you are a woman cf genius." "Whlch sounda well. Mr. Harwood: no one ever usel such words to me before! I’ve leamed one thlng, though: that patlence and work will make up for a good many lacks. There ere some thlngs I'm golng to try to do." They loltered In thè qulet paths of thè campus. "Brlght CoUege Years’’ followed them from thè singers at thè library. If there’s any sentlment In man or woman thè air of a sprlng night In our mld-westem country will cali lt out. The pianeta shone bethrough thè leaves of maple and elm; and thè young grass was lrrogular, untouche-d as yet by thè mower—as we 11 ke lt heet who love our Madison! A week-old moon hung In thè sky—ampie tight for thè flrst hay-rfde of thè eeason that ls moving toward Water B&bble to thè straine of gultar and banjo and boy and girl volces. lt's unaccountable that there should be so much music In a sophomore—or mayb© that’s a fratemlty affair—Sigma Chi or Delta Tau or Deke. Or maykap those lads wear a "fijl" pin on thelr waistcoata; I seem to recali sprlng hay-ridea as an expreeslon of “Fljl” splrlt In my own days at Madison, when I myself was that partlcular blltho Ilellenlst wlth thè gultar, and scornful of all Barbarlansl Bylvla was a woman now. Aeons srtretched between to night and that aftemoon when she had opened thè door for Harwood in Buckeye Lane. Hla chivairy had been deeply touch ed by Mrs. Owen’s dlsclosure at thè bank. and eubeequent refiectlon had not Ilghteced thè burden of her confldence “I suppone.” she was saylng, in hr voice that was deeper tharTmoat

women's volces, and musical and agreeable to hear, —“I suppose that college ls deslgnod to save us all jf. lot of hard knocks: I wonder if lt does?” “If you’re asking me personally, I’il say that there are lumps on my brow where I have bumped hard. In splte of my A.B. degree. I'm dtsposed to think that college only postpones th® day cf our awakening; ve've gotto Bhoot thè chutes anyhow. It ls so wrltten.”Sh® laughed at his way of puttlng it. "Oh, you’re not so mueh older that you can frlghten me. People on th® toboggan always seem to be having a good tlme; thè percentage of those whoee car Jumps thè track lsn’t for* midabte." "Just enough fatalltles to fiavor thè statlstlcs, The senlors over there ; have stopped slnglngf, I dare stiy they’r® talking about llfe In large capitai lettera.” “Well, there are plenty of chance©. I'm rather of thè opinion that we’re i all her© to do somethlng for somebody. Nobody’s lise is Just his own. Whether we want lt that way or not. we are all links In th© chaln, and lt’s our business not to b© thè weakest," "I'm an lndlviduallst," he sald, "and I'm very largely concerned la seelng wh&t Daniel Harwood, a poor young lawyer of mediocre abilitles, can do wlth thls thlng we hear mentioned as Ufo." “Oh, but there's no suoh thlng as an Individualità; thè Idea ls purely aoademlc’" and she laughed agalu, but i less llghtly. “We’re all debtors to somebody or somethlng—to thè World itself, for example.” ”F>>r thè stara up there, for gra-ss j and trees, for thè moon by night and j tho sun by day—for th© gracloua glft ; of frlendsf" “A little, yes; but they don’t oount so much. I ow© my debt to thè peopl^—reai human belngs, who may not he as lucky as I. For a good many thousand years people have been at work trylng to cheer up thè World—brighten lt and mak© lt a better place to live In. I ow© all those people lt’s not merely a little somethlng; lt’s* a tremendous lot, and I must pay thes© othor human belngs who don’t know what they’r© entitled to. You have felt that; you have felt tt Just as I have, I’m suro." “You are stili In college, and that ls what undergraduates are taught to cali Ideai, Miss Garrfson. I hope you will hold on to them; I had min©, but I’m conscious of late tha.t I’m loslng my grlp on them. lt’s inevitable. In a rnan’s llfe. lt’s a good thlng that women hold on to them longer; without woman’s falth In such thlngs thè world would be a Jad old clnder, tumbllng nimlessly around thè v'old.” Bh© stopped abruptly In th© path, very tali and sllm In thè dusk of starllght and moonlight. He had been carrylng his hat In his hand and he leaned on his stick wonderlng whether she were really In earnest, wliether he had dlsplcased her by th© halfmocklng tene in whlch he had ©poken. They had made thè complete Circuit of thè campus severa! tlmes and ! Sylvia sald lt was tlme to go back. | Mrs. Owen greeted them cheerily from I th© Uttle veranda. They wer© to start for Boston In thè mornlng, and Har- ì wood was to etay In Montgomery a day or two longer on business connccted with thè ©stato. "Don’t lot my ad phiìosophy keep you awake, Mr. Harwood!—l’ve glven hlm nll my Ufo program, Mrs. Owen. 1 think lt has had a d©pre©s!ng lnfluence on Idra. "lt’s merely that you have roused me to a sense of my own generai worldltr.ess and worthlessness.” lir replied, laughlng us they hook hands. "I guess Sylvia can teli you a good many thlngs, Daniel," sald Mr. Owen. "I wleh you’d cali Myers—he’s my Seymour farroer—on thè long dlstance In thè momlng, and teli hlm not to think I won’t be down to look at his coni when I get back. Tel! hlm I’v© gon© to college, but lil be right down there when I get home.’’ CHAPTER xVIII Harwood reached th© capitai on thè aftemoon of thè second day aster Mrs. Owen and Sylivia had gone East. and went at once to thè Boordman building. Miss Farrell was foldlng and seallng lettera hearing Bassett’s signature^ "Hello, Uttle stranger; I*d begun to think you had met wlth foul play, as thè hero say In scene two, act three, of ‘The Dark Swltch-Lantern’ —all week at thè Park Theater at prices wlthln thè reoch of all. Business has been good, lf you prese me for news, but that paper mlll hasn’t had much attentimi slnce you depart ed thls llfe. Everybody’s saylng ‘Stop. Look, Llsten!’ \Vhen In doubt you “Bay that, —thè whlte aprons In thè one-arm lunch rooms say lt now when you klek on thè slze of thè buna. You will flnd your lettera In thè left-hand drawer. I told that collector from thè necktie foundry that he needn’t wear hlmself to a shadow carrylng bilia up here; that you pald all your bllls by check on thè tenth of thè month. As that was thè 29th, you’d better frame some new by-laws to avold other breaks Uke that. I can’t do much lying at my present salary." She stood wlth her hands clasplng ber belt, and continued to enllghfen hlm on current history as he looked over his lettere. "That young AHn Tb.atcher has been making llfe a burden to me In your laroented absenoe. Wanted to know e very few hours lf you had come back, and threatened to cali you up on thè long dlstance at Montgomery, but I told hlm you were trylng a murder case over there, and that lf he dldn’t want to get nalled for contempt of court he’d better not lnterrupt thè proceedlngs.” “You’re speaklng of Mr. Alien Thatcher, are you, Miss Farrell?” asked Harwood, In thè tone to whlch thè gir) frequently drove hlm. “The same, like £h© mlnd reader you are! Say, that boy lsn’t stuck on ycu or anything. He carne up nere yesterday aftemoon when thè boss was òut and wanted to talk thlngs over. He seemed to think I hadn’t anything to do but b© a slster to hlm and hear his troubles. Well, I’ve got embarrassments of my own, wlth that true sport his papa ee.ndlng me an offer of a hundred per rtionth to work frg hlm. One hundrì'd dollars a month In advancel Tbls, Mr. Hax-

DOIXGS OF THE DIJFFS—

. R J O A J J CBE HOME FOR DIMMER HAVE To 3AV- WAS ) VouRSELF, SUPPOSE HE \ 1 OOH*T KbIOVJ ( AìW'TBEEH HERE VJÌ HER I HAVE A COUPLE OF HE MORE AGREEABLE J OLlvlA- HE HEDiD WT { WHCRE HE. S, ii.ru-r! Rir HT \ TbGOOU I THAH HEWA3 LAST / SAIO HE WOOID - HOH 9 PO ] THATS ITf IS A ’ | amo woh*t be Home night p not be Home for. vootvhmk* hfì / l peuevc Hllcall- I rT^— ( M ‘ SS UNTI L ABOUT NIME DINNER- 1 CALLED ’ O (i 'LI cÌIL HtS OWE - .CAN’T jf / UIM AT TH£ OFFICE OFFICE ? | —* ±r *.Yb, ——-1 '

||j ii j in

TIIEM DAYS TS GONE FOREVEB—

TOMI6KT- AMO TMGM U)€\L Set? -VOO’RG ALU) MS o>o TD GA3TEK.TAÌAÌ VOUS • Tì.e oc-

IT-Erv fTDC SaYA /'no-no - Y Un-eoar-- ìli ( (tfO-O ER NE>MT \y*>LrLw) THE DOOR / POST *. J j ; (SSUSmI \ ■ WHEN MARSHAUOTEY WALKEfc WENT TÓ RELEASE TtiglÉ Two tramps who are eat fn<k “me town /nto debt OTEY FOUND HE CODLD NOT UNLOCX THE RLìSTY I bIME V OL£> JAIL LOCK STAfILg/ n-eahkkvick J

wood. ls private and confldentlal. I guess I haven’t worked at thè Statehouse without leamlng a few tricks in thls mortai vale of politica." She had caleulated nloely thè eflßect of thl shot. Harwood mlght treat her, as she sald. like a stepchlld wlth a harellp, but occaslonally she made hlm sit up. He sat up now. He remarked wlth thè diplomano uncon-

OUT OUR WAY—By V

THE OLD HOME TOIYN—By STANLEY

cera that lt waa beat to employ wlth her; — "Refused tho offer, dld you, Miss Farrell?” "I eertalnly dld. As between a fat old sport like Ed Thatcher and a gentleman Uke Mr. Bassett, money doesn’t count—not even with a p. w. g., or poor working girl, Uko me. Huahl—are ve quita alonr* Sha

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

ILLIAMS

Spoar This On Your Saxaphone

bent toward thè door (tramatioally. "What he waa playing for, as neat as a hatpin In your loved one’a eye, waa some faets about thè boss’ committee work In that last sesslon I worked at thè Statehouse. Cute of Thatcher? Well, not eo awful brightl He doean’t know what he's up against lf he think Mori. Bassett can be caught on Uypaper, and you can be dead nur©

It Smacks of Mysteiy

' Éjgr ("eooowe U Y TrTT~ r How nwo AdßCr usscH j ' \ ONTIL A J J j MAD ,F )T J AFTER- J & ( WUTTATT TILL A \ 3 Bwtxo \ (.ANO HOW Do h \ aM, i 410h3 ) \ vjuuj® ) ■ J'

S 9AV HOPI KEA CST AU'eAY, vtoP/sETtfeßeETAticnHEe U PvrrOkjG starcH iti g -m* mb'k-t thae \ *, O - 1 - 9HIPPIKJG :i MY9OCKS?- I Alti'T U ©kle OF Votili’ \ J® 'ZzL'TZ'T* H l?' a ?L* OP£ VJA '-^ R! \ XH CT -ro OVHR A seT OF- Y'OOGtfTA JY ALIEVJ . /ibumi A PaTAmas wrm MV ;s vjASvitUs machhie*tuaT . aavm&V wJ'srrr A s ** ACT DOkJt U&T M TirrtY F\ UtUVTOBY. NiGor AJJ tAVUkI MOWE YOU'RE TRY IT OUT VjrTU / CEtJT ■MV OF ?>uT9 AH ED SE! AviVMORH OF s~J\ VOU FtUH V BS^CK - /;| ovi MY COaARS SO I CAN l HY SVAiRTS / ; BuoVS - ©RINiGiLÌQ \ 3 OF COFAPINKIY

I’m not golng to sprlnkla th* sugar to catch our boss wlth. All that Transportation Committ** business was just as atralght as thè way homo. but ” Miss Farrell tappad her mouth datntlly with her fingere to stille an Imaginary yawn. "But Uttle Rose brought down her shorthand notebooka marked *M. B. pereonaL’ and thè boa and I burned them yes-

FRECKLES AND HIS FRIENDS —By BLOSSER

OUR BOARDING HOUSE— By AHERN

terday momlng aarly, right there tn that grate In his room. That’s what I think of Mr. Ed Thatcher. A pearl nadriaco for my blrthday ought to be about right for that” Harwood had been drtnking thls in as he opened and sorted his lettera He pauaed and stared at her abeently. "You referred to a calier a moment ago—thè gentleman who annoyed you

DEC. 11, 1922

—By ALIAIAN

—By AL POSEN

so much on thè talephone. Wa* Ito cali him or anything: llka thatT' (To Be Continomi) Phantom Freighta Slxty thousand dollars of phantom froJghts were paid on thè teel In tha Federai Bank building in Chicago*— Uray Silver baio ra Sanata Agrigniturai Oocunittea.