Waterbury Democrat., 1902-12-03
THE DESERTlON OF
BRADY AND HARRIS
BY HUGH S. FULLERTON.

/ ~ charge Of the goods and chat
tells Of Brady and Harris, now con
tanned i'll suite %. the Rengaard
apartment building, / purpose re-
lating the circumstances which led
to the conditions now nrerailing in
suite % and the story Of the deser-
4 ton Of Brady and Harris.
We three lived-that is, slept and
kept our belongings-in suite % for
more than two years. We dwe1t to-
gether in comparatively peace and
almost absolute freedom. Twice
each year we had an accounting, and
Strengthened out our bewilderingly
involved finances by the simple
+ process of canceling all claims on
each other We criticised each other
after the manner of brothers-frank-
ly, and as frankly disregarded the
criticisms.
Brady was a, poet, and what was
more important from unitarian
standpoint, he could cook. Harris
was an artist, and I was (and in
deed still amy a newspaper man.
We three eked out an existence more
or less pleasurable by toiling on
daily papers, and gratifed our high
er ambition las far as our finances
per1nitted) outside of business hours.
This qualification of higher ambi-
tions led to a voluminous if not 1u-
cratiye correspondence with maya,
zine publishers.
There was fourth partner-Jones,
copy reader-but Jones was not
of kindred spirit, and departed,
leaving unpaid bills. We three, Bra
x, the tall, angular poet Harris, the
ninutive artist; and I, were the
c5>1rter members of the commune
which ~~~'etad in suite %. -.
e IN t seginning we three met at
small French hotel presided over
by Verjcn. Brady, whom knew by
name because he had published an
ode to her hair or her eyes or some
thing when I was reading copy down
in New York. was then editing a
children's page, and Harris was
drawing "news pictures" on a fran
tic afternoon publication. Harris
work consisted principally of draw
ing blood spots on floors, scenes of
atrocious murders and the knives
with which the murders were COM
mitted. His spare time was spent in
outlining lingerie for the Fashion
column" of the supplement. He had
wonderful ideas of lingerie, but he
had aspirations to paint-to "get
into legitimate art" as he said.
We three were drawn together
from the first, attracted because we
were opposite in almost everything,
and, before long, we began to aspire
to an establishment of our own.
We planned each to save a portion
of his weekly wage, to deposit the
sums in my tobacco jar, and when
the. sums aggregated 900 to pur-
chase furniture and into an
apartment. Then CO. need the
search for an apartr =. Brady
wanted to live in the suburbs where
the birds and trees and sunlight
would give him Inspiration He
remained firm in his desire, although
we pointed out the woes of walking
many miles after midnight, and ar
gued that he always wrote his po-
ems in the middle of the night, -Har-
ris wanted 'ear1y light" and limited
at the desirability of having a sky
light in the apartment, not knowing
skylights always leak. I was dele-
gated to find the. apartment, and
shirked assignments many after
moons in search of an ideal place. I
desired to please both Brady and
Harris, but searched on in localities
| where a restaurant and i green gro
Ger were within easy walking dis
tance. Eventually I discovered
suite 22.
The advertisement read:
"To rent-Elegant steam heated apart
Tnent. Electric light, gas range, tile bath,
refrigerator, fine view of park. Janitor on
| PREMISES :-i.. 4.-
Then new difficulty arose. The
tobacco jar was not half full, and
Brady confessed he had appropriat-
| ed money to buy books. Brady was
a Bibliomaniac. After we read the
| books and stole some of them we
| pardoned him.
| Then Harris needed a new dress
coat to attend his sisters wedding,
md the treasury.was again depleted
md finally I went on vacation and
'vened up the score by appropriate
,ng enough money to keep me at a
summer resort for an entire week
We were by turns fearful lest
| some one should discover the won
derful attractions Of suite 20 and se-
cure it. Every Sunday we read the
advertisements, and whooped with
/ Joy when we found suite % I'M
rented.
Late that fall, after many financial
disappointments, we purchased far
niture on the installment plan and
/ took up or, abode in suite %
There W. five rooms, bath and
a kitchen. ccepted the dark, snug,
inside roc nth one window OPEN
ing on let court. ] made the
] choice not . much because I was
unselfish as that I worked at night
and slept during the day. Even
now, since Brady and Harris have
deserted, I sleep there. It is a plain
/ little room, with its walls covered
with deep red burlap. | always
hated figured papers because when
sleep will not come the figures take
on strange shapes, and the spectacle
Of little red monkeys pkucking flow
ers from the walls and throwing