Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-05

through all the degrees; and a cowboy once
shot at me on his unlucky day"
"Oh. your titles clean. That record gives
you all the rights Of native
Raridan waved away the waiter who had
been lowering near, and who now went
over to the electric switch and threatened
them with light. -
That's too good to lose" Raridan said,
nodding toward the west in explanation.
Warrick Rarfdan was socially speaking.
the most available man In the Clarkson
Blue Book. He was a graduate in law who
did not practice, for he had, unfortunately.
been left alone in the world at twenty-six
with an income that seemed wholly ade-
quate for his immediate or future needs.
He maintained Office, which was fairly
well equipped with the literature of his
profession. but this was merely to take
away the reproach of his buster fellow citi-
Gems; 1t was not thought respectable to be
an idler in Clarkson, even on reputable an
tecedents and established credit. But Rari-
dams office was useful otherwise than in
providing it's owner with place for re-
ceiving his mail. 1t was the rendezvous
for variety of committees to which he
was appointed by such unrelated bodies as
the Clarkson Dramatic Club and the Dioce-
san Board of Missions Of the Episcopal
Church. He had never, by any chance,
been pointed to as a model young man,
but religious matters interested him spo-
radically, and he was referred to facetiously
by his friends, when his punctilious relf-
gious obseryances were mentioned, as
fine type of the cheerful Christian" He
appeared every Sunday at the cathedral,
which was the fashionable church in Clark
son, where he passed the plate for the aims
and oblations of the well-dressed congrega-
ton; and he said of himself, with conscious
humor, that he thought he did it rather
well.
He was capable of quixotsm of the most
whimsical Sort He had, for a. year, taken
his meals at a cheap boarding house in
order that he might maintain two Indian
,Af nf oil 40 fayra
when, at the end of the first year, they ran
away and resumed tribal relations with
their brethren He chaffed himself about
ii to his friends
1T was wrong for me- he would say,
''to try to pervert the tastes Of those
young savages. I nearly ruined my
own digestion to buy them white mans
Injuries; / wore out my old clothes that
they might not go naked; and all they
learned was to smoke cigarettes"
1t was not enough to say that Wary
Raridan could lead a german or tie an
Ascot tie better than any other man on the
Missouri river; for he also the best In
formed man In that same strenuous valley
concerning the traditions of the Engl sh
stage, and was a fairly good actor himself,
as amateurs go. He had an almost fatal
cleverness, which made him impatient of
the restraints of college, and he left in his
sophomore year, owing to difficulties w tn
the mathematical requirements Good
books had abounded in h 8 fathers house,
and he was from boyhood a persistent
though erratic reader He threw himself
with enthusiasm into the study of the rise
of monastic orders, and from this he
changed lightly to the newest books
psychology. There were many ways in
which he could be entertaining. He had
slight literary gift, which he cultivated for
his own amusement His humor was fine
and keen, and he occasionally wrote screeds
for the local papers, or mailed, apropos of
something or nothing, pleasant jngles to
his intimate friends.
Tt1a
girl had received courteous attention unless
she carried home a portfolio of verses writ
ten in her honor by Wary Rarid in. He
gave, indeed, an impression of great frivol
ity, but there were people who took him
seriously and lawyers who knew him wei
said that he might win success in his pro-
fession If he would apply himself He had
once appeared for the people in suit to
compel the street railway company to pave
certain streets, as provided by the terms of
Its franchise, and had gained his point
against the best lawyers in the state. This
accomplished, he refused an appointment
as local counsel for a great railway and
with characteristic perverseness spent tie
following summer managing an open-air
mission for poor children.
Saxton greatly amused and enter
tanned by Raridan. Even those of his fell
low-townsmen who did not wholly approve
Wary Raridan, admitted IS entertaining
qualities, and Saxton, who was painfully
conscious of his own shortcomings and
knew that he had not usually been cons
cred worth cultivating, found himself re-
spending with unwOnted Iightness to Rar
dams fnconsequential talk Few people had
ever thought 1t necessary TO take pains
with John SaXton, and he greatly enioyei
the novelty of this intercourse with man
of his own age who was not bore. The
bores, as Saxton remembered from his col
lege days, had taken advantage of his good
nature and marked him for their own, AMI
with keen realization of tn S he had often
wondered in bitterness whether they did
not classify him correctly.
TN wager that if you stay here year
you'll never leave" said Raridan, as they
went downstairs together. I've been
about a good deal, and know that we who
live here miss lot of comfort and amuse-
ment which go as a matter of course In
older towns. But there's a roominass and
expansiveness about things out here that l
Ike, and believe most men who strike 1t
early enough like it, and are lonesome for