The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-12-17

breaking up the session, 81 obseryed
that West lent Smith $50. II was
consid erable sum, and j feared that
Smith would not be able to retu..l it.
as he had agreed to do on the follow
ing Saturday
Borrowing separates friends, especi.
|! ally when they are so unequally fa-.
Vored by fortune as were Smith and
West. 1t was evident that West might
be of great service to the younger man,
particularly if the latter continued to-
tribe With a pen. would have been
very sorry to see a pitiful maj tier Of
money destroy their mutual regard
Ihe thought worried me during the
week. On Saturday endeaYored to
lind Smith in order to learn whether
he had succeeded in obtaining the,
money M me which he had expected as the
return of certain literary labors. In
case he had been disapp pointed it was
my intention to advance him the money
in order that he might pay West
promptly, as agreed, I waited for
Smith in the counting room of. a mag
aZine from which, as / understood, q
small sum was due him, but he did
not COME. Then, with considerable hes
1taton-for / dreaded meeting his wife
e. went to his home, high up in
tenement house on LiSpenard street.
weary, heavy-eyed girl of ii met
me at the door. Her coarse dress
was covered with bits Of thread and
& the rawlings of cheap cloths So many
pins We're stuck into the front of it
that think IF she had run against a
wall, it might have killed her. After
some. delay and embarrassing explana-
ton i was admitted into the front
room of the tenement, where / found
Mrs. Smith. Her appearance core
sponded closely with that of the girl.
A number of coarse dresses in various
stages of manufacture We're streWn5
about the room.
Mrs. Smith had been a pretty girl,
but hard work had worn her almost to
skeleton. She viewed me at first
with evident suspicion I saw the
look that West had described But it
faded presently, and her face took on
q much more amiable expression. She
sent the girl out of the room. Then,
turning to me with an air Of one who
has taken a great resolution, she said q.
You are friend of Mr.. Vests.
{ -
husband alone. He ought to know
that John can't afford such company.
John has been out of work almost
year, and l have had to support the
family by dressmaking- dressmaking
down here where can scarcely make
money enough to pay that girl at the
end Of the week. And yet John goes
and sits half the night with this Mr..
West, drinking beer and paying for his
share of it. And he is beginning to feel
above honest work He says there are
other ways of making money in this
world. II there are wish lie would
find one of them, and find it mighty
quick.
My hair began to stir at the roots. T.
tried to remember whether I had ever
let Smith pay for my beer
understood, said /, s1that YOUR
husband was earning money by writ
ing. Are not these clippings Of arti-
cles that he has writteny
I picked up two or three that lay on
a table in the middle of the room.
They We're marked in pencil with the
date on which they had been written.
as was Smiths custom. The very first
one saw was little thing which I
happened to know had been written by
a member Of the staff of the magazine
in which it had appeared
will spare the reader the remain
der Of my interview with Mrs, Smith,
/ gave her such assurances as could.
and made my escape at the earliest
possible moment. Then went to the
office Of the electric lighting company
already referred to, where 1 learned
that Smith had been discharged for
lncorrigible lying. His great idea had
been patented by somebody else about
two years before, and had been in use
in the plant before Smith had come
to work there.
found Smith that evening before
he saw West and forced from him
what would have been confession If
the man had been able to tell the truth.
was convinced that he had never
written a line for publication. He
owed West not $50, but $780, but the
student Of character still held him fol-.
an honest man and expected to be re-
paid.
told Smith that if he borrowed anY
more money from West, or spent any !
more of his wife's money in my pres
ence. or failed to use his best endeay-
ore to5secure employment, I would ex-
pose him ;and / think that made
some Impression upon him.
But | did not disclose his iniuuity to
West. for / knew that to do it would
destroy great work of fiction al
ready far advanced. I would not have