Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-10-19
How HELMICK Per.
formed a Social Duty
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Ii ELMlCK had moved into town near
i i " three years before he decided to
take Mrs. Helmick and Johnny out to
revisit the suburb where for 10 months
ne ha1 scraped and saved and denied
himself all little luxuries to buy house
on the installment plan. The house
eventually disappointed him. 1t prom
ised well at first and made specious
SHOW OF being all that suburban house
snouiu be, but by degrees it dropped
'ne mask and one by one its faults and
shortcomings became apparent, so that
'it7was more in anger than in sorrow
mat Helmick sold his house and took
nat. II 1t had not been for Knox it is
doupiful whether he would ever have
gone back-even for a day. :i
Knox and Helmick had been neIph-
bors, united in the firmest bonds Of
suburban brotherhood, which is to say
'hat they had borrowed each others
garueh implements without any feel
ing oil restraint, had been partners at
WHIST every evening on the 5:45 train
nome, had voted as unit in the vii
Siage affairs. Their wives had found each
other extremely congenial, too.
For the first year after the Helmicks
ieft the suburb the intimacy between
the two families was kept up to some
extent. The Knoxes visited the fiat two
or three times, and once or twice the
,aoies met downtown by appointment
Tor shopping and matinee purposes.
linen 1t gradually waned. Mrs. Hell
mick's health became delicate. and aft
er little Johnny WIS born she was, of
course, kept at home so much. Hell
mick used to say that he would go down
to Laurelhurst some time, but there
was always something else to do, and
then Laurelhurst seemed to have be-
come about as remote as the pyra-
mids. Once Heimick had Dragged of
the short time 1t took to reach the lit
tie suburb. "Thirty-six minutes in
comfortable, roomy train, with piano.
rama unfolding itself before your eyes
at the rate of 40 miles an hour, and you
b are there" he would say. away from
the dust and dirt and ceaseless hurry
and turmoil of the city, where you can
hear the glad throbbing of natures
heart responsive to the mellow MARBLE
of the birds" Now he says: "Oh,
darn a suburb, anyhow!"
y One morning, however, Helmick met
Knox in the street and Knox re-
preached Helmick bitterly. "Of course,
If you've made up your mind that we
are no longer the sort of people you
care to associate with, it's a different
matter" said Knox. ."We don't want to
contaminate anybody, and, another
thing, we don't want to show any I'M
seemly haste about the matter. Let's
see, this is 1900, isn't it? Well, do you
think you can manage to get down to
Laurelhurst about 1910? If that would
be inconvenient you might set date
yourself, only my wife says she'd like
TO see that boy of yours before he goes
to college"
"Why, that's so,' said Helmick; you
: haven't seen the boy, have you? Great
Scott, how time flies! Say, that's too
bad! Do you know. Knox, we've been
coming down so times, and every time
something or another has happened to
prevent us. But I'll tell you what we'll
do. Wen be down next Sunday, sure,
the whole tribe Of us, if you're going
to be home. Just to think that you
haven't seen that kid yet! Well, I'll
Tell you, you ought to seehm; he's just
about the smartest young man that ever
happened-and gritty. If you had boy
like that, Knox, you'd be fixed for life. ="
81 suppose So" said Knox, rather in
differently. "You know best about it,
/, though
"Sure thing. wouldn't trade John.
ny for Laurelhurst. And you bet he
thinks papa's all right. He and papa
are old chums, want to tell you. Say
the other day he got loose and ran
away three blocks before they knew
where he was. Like to have scared
the wife into fit And when they
found him what do you think the lit
tie runt said? Said he was going tc
find papa. What do you think of that
for two and a half?'
"Children are great stuff" said
Knox. "Well, then, We'll expect you
and the lady-and Johnny-down or
Sunday. Now, understand that this
is your last chance to square your
self"
Helmick told his wife about thu
meeting with Knox and the engage
ment he had made. But, do you know
somehow Knox seems altered. III
wasn't cool exactly and know h
n wants us to come down the wors
~ way. and yet You know how en-
b thusiastic and sympathetic Knox al
wavs used to be about everything
4 That was one thing always Liked
= about him. Well, he seems to hav'
lost interest in some way-if yo'
I. kndw,what I mean. i was telling hin
s: about Johnny, for instance. and HI
h soemed to be trying to keep from
Il yawning and he hurried away at las
ouite abruptly. But that may hav'
been a fancy and I'm pretty sure w
q shall enjoy our visit
81. .aPeople who haven't got children o
their own very seldom take the inter
est in them that their own father
d and mothers do" remarked Mrs
Z, Helmick, wisely. y
CnIH r
+; uolmick. swell, I'd kind of like to Sc
The old place again anyway
accordingly, on Sunday little John
was dressed in his little whit
IA. nora dress and the Helmicks went t.
Laurelhurst.
:. was horribly poky place, Helm