The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1897-09-10
A BROTHERS. KEEPER

others. there is plenty OF keen wretch
edness in store for him. If he gets up
after bad blow and is actively miser-
able and somewhat hateful and resent
full, he can yet be happy. But self i'm
notation is not natural, and anything
unnatural brings its own punishment.
Another person and other people can
not be the center of the universe for
very long. There may come jar that
will put You out of plumb for bit, but
you swing back to your normal posi-
ton.
The Jar that came to Osborne was
hard one. The girl to whom he was en-
gagged told him that her parents were
forcing her to marry certain rich
man. Now parents in these days do
not force one to marry anybody, but
Osborne would have believed whatever
the girl had chosen to tell him. He be-
lieved this and thought she was beau
tiful, suffering martyr, and there was a
tragic scene, which she did cleverly,
and parting. After that Osborne lost
even ambition, which had been ruling
passion almost above his love. The girl
was mean enough, too, to keep his mis-
cry alive by writing to him now and
then bewailing her gilded captivity.
Life, he told himself, was henceforth
vain thing, only fit to be used in the
service Of others. 1t is not easy to serve
others picturesquely in the army. There
are no needy and no fallen ones, be-
cause when they fall they cease to be in
the army. So Osborne bethought him
of his brother Alexander.
Alexander lived on q ranch, as Os-
borne had done. He was II years old
At 16 Osborne had been the support of
widowed mother and two children.
He had had no boyhood in particular
It had all been work making the ranch
pay Only those who have tried it
know what that means Alexander was
not afflicted after this fashion. He lived
on his new stepfather and was envious
of his brother.
Now, when Osborne brought Alexan-
der ON to San Antonio the first evening
of his arrival he spoke to him thus:
''There's first class school right in the
town, Alex" [Silence. "Iwant you to
study hard, youngster. to make up for
the time you've lost up there in the will
derness.
Alex braced his feet against the porch
railing and tipped back his chair. 1T
strikes me I've lost more fun than about
anything else. 1t amt fair, Herbert.
You've been having picnic for the last
eight years, while I've been Shaving in
the fields, and DOM see it in the light
Of settling down right away to digging
at books. want a swing"
If nature is ambitious, it cannot be
altered. The ambition may transfer its
object from self to some one else, but it
will not die. Osborne's had transferred
itself to his brother. So his heart sank.
But he had learned federation. "Well,
I'll give you three months, but you
must study to make up for ii"
"Three months nothingl What's the
matter with Skip
IA good deal is the matter. You'll
be nearly Is in six months, and you
don't know as much as the average boy
of ID. Of course I'm not blaming you
for that. You haven't had fair
chance" Osborne forgot that at Is he
himself had passed the competitive ex-
animation.
81 guess I haven't-at that or any
thing else"
Young Osborne had gone barefoot all
his life and had never had whole new
suit Of clothes to his back or dime to
call his own. Osborne gave him dane
ing pumps and various seemly suits
and reasonable allowance.
But he thought the allowance small.
"Say, Herbert, can't make out with
that measly ten. Make it ID, will your"
he complained.
"No," said Osborne.
Osborne's "noes" were always def
mite, but Alexander persisted. "Why
not? You've a lot more than you need. !"
81 know best about that. Ten dollars
is enough, and it's all can give you.
I've your education to pay for, recol-
lect You've no expenses outside Of an
occasional theater ticket and tennis ball
or you shouldn't have"
."You always did catch all the
plums," said Alexander.
Then the mail orderly gave Osborne
a letter from the girl. Osborne locked
himself in his workroom and read it
and believed every word of it. And
living-even for others-seemed hard
thing for the next few days.
Alexander felt his oats promptly. He
excelled at baseball, he learned tennis
and dancing by magic and he rode
we'll Osborne had never been SO popu-
lar. He had served the Mammon Of
ambition exclusively until he had
transferred his allegiance to the god Of
love- Since then he had been martyr
land martyrs are more pleasing in
stained glass than in life. And now he
returned to the first cult, and ambition
filed him. He rejoiced in his brothers
beauty, which was of the BERTHE Cecil
type, in his magnificent stature, in his
agility and his athletics. He mounted
him on the finest horse to be had in
that part Of the country-and wore q
shabby uniform himself all winter. He
read with him for two hours daily and
was well pleased when the boy remem-
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