The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-03-17
HEMMINGWAY'S TALE


as this story:
'fYou remember Tommy Masters, don t
your
eyes" said Mac; 'ereaI pretty boy, with
limited number of ideas. Heavy on
spouting Shakespeare and light on all
points of judgment and moral principle"
Exactly Came home from college and
married Marian Westly and moved down
to Coalfeld, where his father has mines.
Had been engaged to the girl long before
/ he went away"
'fWas he, thought never heard of that
before" said the doctor. 81 used to won
der what made the Westly girl stay out of
society,"
Yes; she thought pile of Tommy. It
was kind of family arrangement all
around. Marian Westly was a good girl,
too-best in the town, in my opinion.
One OF those thoroughgoing, substantial,
homelike bodies who will always keep a
hearth bright and know a dozen recipes
for torpid liver or bad cold. A thou
sand times too good for Tommy Masters,
as know now and suspected them
1t seemed to me that at this point Hem
mingway barely caught and held back q
sigh, but he continued steadily.
well, Tommy came home from college
and staid around the store good deal.
You remember his father owned stock
with us then. He drew his allowance reg
ularly, and used to help him out when
he ran short before the LIST. One day he
came to me, looking very serious. He
said he wanted advice, and took me into a
little room up stairs, where none of it
would get away. I always liked the boy
somehow. He was good natured and fresh
looking, though rather light on ideas, as
Mac says.
"WeIl he told me long story, and the
upshot of it was he wanted to get out of
his engagement with Marian Westly. He
had met another girl while he was at
school, "a regular sumner, he said, and
the photograph he showed me was of an
uncommonly pretty girl, must admit-a
round faced, curly headed little creature,
posed like an actress. He had met her at
private theatricals and had done heavy
business to her Miss. He was always
stagestruck, as Mac says. He said that he
was dead gone on her, and from parts of
a letter which he showed me judged that
the gone business was mutual.
''They had arranged matters for the fI-
turs beautifully. She was only IL and
was going to adopt the stage as profess
sion, and he was to do likewise. They
would join forces in due time and win
fame and fortune together.
81 ransacked the different corners of nv
head and raked out all the things I had
been reading about the tawdry tinseI of
the stage and the unhappy marriages
among the profession as contrasted with
the substantial benefits of a quiet homo
and solid business, and I put them at
him as strong as 1 could. I told him that
the girl might be pretty, but that was
sure she was frivolous and not worth a
finger of Marian Westly; that she was nice
enough no doubt to f1irt with, but when
man married he wanted a woman who
would make his home cheerful be moth
er to his children and comfort to his par
ents in old age
Il hAlv, -
why Hemmingway, with such generous
ideas of marriage, had himself remained
bachelor, but ] said nothing.
''WelI, go on, old man. What next? He
took your advice and married the Westly
girl?''
Yes said Hemmingway, che did,
more's the pity. He wrote and broke off
with Little Nell, as he called her, and
moped around the store for week or two,
looking at me reproachfully Whenever /
passed him. He got over it, though, when
we went out to Colorado trout fishing, and
married Miss Westly and settled down in
Coalfield that fall. 1 thought everything
would be all right then, and it was. I
guess, for a time. Then the other girl
went on the stage and made great hit in
New York. Tommy heard of it and was
wild. He saw a picture of her in some
paper and fash article about her beauty
and talent. His highest ambition had al
ways been to be the husband of that kind
of a woman.
"He came up one day and brought the
article along, and soon were alone
together began to abuse me for, as he put
it, having ruined his life. 1 don't know
what 1 said. 1 didn't say much. was
too badly taken down. Then about six
months afterward, his wife came up to see
me. She had found out all about the
other girl and was sure that Tommy still
loved her. 1 half suspect that Tommy
himself had told her as much. She was
sure Tommy had letters from the woman,
and she feared that he answered them in
secret She was very unhappy. What
should she do?
81 wanted to tell her to go home to her
people and let that young Ounce go to the
devil but 1 didn't, and believe Matched
up some kind of lie about Tommys be-
ing young and would no doubt come
around an right before long. She went
back, and I haven't heard of them since-''
There was,a moments pause, which was |
broken by theNdoctor.
''Well, Hemmingway, he said with
IN air of one who has something of i'm |
p0rtance to tell, E'you can set your mind |
1T rest on that Nscore. I came through |
CoaIfeld yesterday, and saw Tommy, and |
he took me out to see his wife and week |
Did baby. They are as happy and con- |
tented as doves, and he is the proudest |
daddy you ever saw"
What" interrupted Hemmingway, |
you don't say sop
Yes, and, as to that actress business, I |
got an inkling of it when he was up here, |
md yesterday L pumped Unexpectedly |
,asy, of course. She was married six |
months ago to an old man who has already |
had two wives and has been following her |
around ever since she came out. Tommy's |
Disguised with the stage and
sending to business like a man.
''WeIl, we'll, said Hemmingway,
praise him from whom all blessings
low P'-Brooklyn Eagle.
A Refined Taste.