The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1900-12-19

her opinion. Altogether zhe spoke Of /
my dnsultory and purposeless career
As Is IL were the very thing she had
been Ia search OF. and she apologized |
with great delicaey for venturing to Of,
fer me a position in which pecuniary
reward would not be at all equal to my
Geserts. Then she named. really
handsome salary and paused for my re-
ply.
Now. the fact Is that / would have
welcomed such haven, and, above all,
| would have sacrificed much for the
sake of sharing any sort of work in
which Miss Glendon was engaged. but
/ am honest in the main, and this thing
was not possible. / told Miss Glendon
frankly that / was filter to be an in
mate of her home than the head of it:
that ! was utterly broken down and
prematurely in my second childhood
and that. in brief. the institution could
not fail into worse hands than mine il
the manager were chosen by chance
out of the directory.
1t appeared that my friend had pre-
pared her for this reply He had told
her that was bit the worse for past
anxiety and unwisely worried about
my health, but that there was really
nothing the matter. All needed was
a little encouragement.
Accepting. this view, Miss Glendon
proceeded to encourage me. She told
me how well | was looking, and, as a
matter of fact, l actually did look as
rugged as an OK. In earlier years |
was very strong, and the muscular
shell still stood, as the bark of a tree
will sometimes stand when the heart
of it is dust. Fifty times while she
was talking to me l had to shake my
wits together and with spasmodic ef-
fort remember where | was and what
had happened, yet talked as straight
as tight string, as my friend inform
! ed me afterward, except" he added,
'1or that foolishness about your health"
The upshot of it was that l became
the manager of that institution, and
my act was a crime. was no more fit
for it than a deaf man to lead an or
chestra. However, the novelty of it
buoyed me up for a few days, so that
none of my subordinates knew that l
was out of my wits.
The work was really extremely at
tractive to one who had come out de-
| feated from the selfish strife of money
| winning, and if | had been only little
! less battered and worn l would have
been a fairly efficient person. Even as
| l was, the force within me might have
| proved sufficient but for the increasing
! rush of work incident to the coming
! holidays.
Miss Glendon had high ideas of the
Christmas time, and her plans for max
ing it memorable in the home Were
we'll considered. but exceedingly com
! prehensive. Moreover, she looked tO
me for suggestions, and l was becom-
ing increasingly eager to serve hel
well.
But when a mans mind is in such g
condition that he can't depend upon re
meinbering his own name if asked fol
it in hurry there is little use in ex
pecting him to lay plans or even to car
ry out those of another person. l be
gan to worry about the matter, tC
dream of it and to talk aloud about it
to my own great shame.
Then | resigned and was laughed a
my success had passed her utmost ex
pectations. SO nothing remained bu
to go on, a wooden automaton tina
must run its course and then drol
I where it stood.
And it didn't want to break down
Let me assure you that | had no appe
tite for such a performance. l strov'
hard against it and wore out in striv
ing the very strength | needed.
On Christmas day l was at my yer.
worst. l wandered from room to room
giving orders that others seemed t
think were rational, though had littl
understanding of them myself. w
had many visitors, and ! greeted them
and they said pleasant conventions
things, as if they noticed nothing amis
in me.
And then, as it seemed to me SUD