The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-12-09
vANDERLUST IN REAL LIFE

EdQ 4SN uAe3 -iilto siAS Sun
ject of letters the vanities and nonsense
of them, their value for evasion or direct
ness their crue,ties ard kindnesses, the
parts that they have played IL the TRACE
dies and the comedies of life. Carlton
finished his glass and set it down with
unwonted deliberation Its my opin-
ion," he said. slowly. that nine-tenths CT
the letters written are insincere in part
at least"
Evidently you-include the letters of
r,omen." Darragh. the youth, said with
fine wisdom.
'.Youngster. what l know of the letters
Of womtn'-Carlton was looking fixe3iy
at Darragh-"leads me to believe that
theirs are in the remaining tenth. And
/ hope you may never fiod it otherwise :"
Darrash. very properly, made no reply;
there was really nothing to be said. We
looked at Carlton rather hopefully, al
though not one of US expected anything.
Carlton is known for the hold he has
upon his tongue. But his comment had
led our talk into the still sidestream of
personalities. Saunders. who was sprawl
ed out to his length on the chimney seat
peered through the tobacco smoke with
cynical eye and said:
Granted that womens letters are sin
cere. that is. in certain instances, there
was the faintest suggestion of nod to-
ward Carlton, which Carlton lost, as he
was looking at his pipe, how many shin
ing examples of sincerity IN letters-men
Ietters-are known to any of us here?
OF course. / don't mean letters from
11r-ot |
letters day after day signed your faith
fully or most sincerely yours. the or
binary penu.timate line of correspondence,
which | know lack sincerity, either be-
cause I know the writer's o. the circum-
stances in which the letters have been
written. rs so easy TO read between the
lines o. most letters" He lighted cigar
rette and settled himself back among the
cushions The only really sincere COM
r-anications I receive are part in print
and have Please remit at the bottom
The persons who send these are SINGER
fly personified.'
My observation of letters ssid ms
ley with a yawn, has caused me to d.
vide them into two classes, interesting
and uninteresting If am amused /
has amused me. there has probably been.
at least, a sincere desire on the part of
the writer to amuse me. and / accept
that and am amused"
You've voiced what, in measure. I've
felt about letters Barnes said from the
depths of his chair. "1n the ones which
amuse me | always seem to see the effort
OF the writer to be amusing"
This may be due to the frequency with
which the sacred personal letters of the
illustrious dead have been published of
late" Willing said Perhaps those who
write the letters Barnes receives are liv-
fng in the fond hope Of yielding a volume
or two of correspondence for the edifca
ton of those who remain after the cur
tain has fallen upon their personal play.
While we had been talking, Vanderpool.
the civil engineer, had sat in silence. his
elbows upon the arms of his chair, his
hands clasped, and his gaze upon the
rug. There was a pause after Willing
spoke. and it was broken by Vanderpool.
Il want to tell you people a little
story he said. without lifting his gaze.
at has TO do with letter. | have the
letter here, and I want to read it to you.
] don't intend 10 make any comment upon
II and ] dons say IT answers any of the
statements you've made. Perhaps L
should have read It before all these COM
ynents were made. However, III make
preamble TO the letter, and You may read
It your own way. You don't know the
man in the story; / will not tell you his
name. only this much; 1 know a man; l
knew him al college, and liked him. as
Gid everyone else. / left college two
:. ears ahead of him and soon after he
was graduated / heard of him in the
west He had always seemed to have n
hankering for the west, for the wi,dness,
the unrestraint of it. He used to say
that cities did not appeal to him wheth-
er they were eastern or western: lie want
ed to be out in the rough. open air. free
part of it. I heard of him in British Co
iumbia. prospecting. mining. living by his
good, honest wits, but avoiding the cities.
save as many placeswhekthofli e?'Cygo
save as way-places 6n his journey toto
the open, and apparently he cared pre-
cious little whittier that journey tended.
He was Just the sort of a man for the
wild. free life of the northwest. He was
a man in the superlatfve sense of com
panionship. reliability. pluck. and endur
ance. and with these for assets. l don't
think he ever had much so do in the dirty
little leather-thronged pouch he after
ard showed me-empty; he went UP ana
dow nthe west. seeking. seeking. fortune.
perhaps. l hope he finds her
We'll. after he had knocked about the
silded, If not golden. region of the north
west. he came back to New York and
dropped IN upon NE one day in my office.
lie might have come out OF the clouds.
When l asked him what he was doiIg in
New York, he said he wanted TO see what
a real city looked like. 1t was then he
Showed me the little pvucn. and. turning
II upside down. shook its emptiness over
my desk. SO much for four years in the
west he said with a CORY sort Of laugh.
But III hit her yet / asked him il this
meant that he was going back to his
quest He replied that he didn't know;
that he had thought of settling down in
a civilized community, IN New oYrk, il
possible So we, some friends OF mine and
his. hunted around for a job for him. He's
a good engineer. knows his profession.
whether he likes it or not. and there was
q chance fo- him. Blu, oerore anything
could come of 1t. he stopped at my office
q week after his first visit. and said he
was going away. I just can't stand it.
he said. I'm not the city kind. at least
not Yet. Lord man. I'd smother here.
crawling about among these buildings
Flooding down 10 my work In the morn
ing ard Flooding back AT night Every
day would he Just like the one before it
1 believe I'd die here IN SIX months. \
man can't see about him in this town