The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1906-07-20
snow. If You ooald only write po-

stry
"Pct.ry be-t be- your pardon, but
do yog know that / think you are very
tooiishe' and Harry Furber shrugged
his shoulders, jabbei his hands into
his pockets, ami thought the question
decided.
Il wish | could get you 10 appreciate
the artistic. L is a great thing 10
love ant
My goodness. l love you, ana that
IS enough Tor me, | can so 10 the
theater and pick a good play every
time ! see one. At the exhibit, | can
admire the best pictures. / like beau
tilul singing. | can read a good story
or a good book, but poetry-and you
now want NE TO write some
"YJl are TOO intensely practical"
And you don't Ike intensely prac-
tical' people
They are very nice to have around. -
Then | may come around as usual,
you won't deny ms that"
"Oh, no; you are always welcome"
Then Furber took his leave. As he
went Gown the steps OF the Koessler
mansion, he ME- Robert Phelan, but
he did not look at him. Phelan was
a poet.
The had been at Harvard tOgeth~
er. Both had very indulgent fathers.
PhelaA lad written poetry for the
"Monthly," and In his senior year had
been chosen to be its literary editor.
After graduating he had still continued
TO write poetry, and OnCe his contribu-
ton aau been accepted by an eastern
magazine.
Fulber had been a little of every
thing in college, and in the end had
turned out to be not much Of anything.
He had made many friends, had a good
time, managed to get a diploma, and,
he asked: What more could anyone
wanl?' Immediately after graduation,
Furbar, the elder, had taken his son
into his office, intent on teaching him
the grain business. Furber was a
h1illN IlANH hLpNI VI AiluilSN III VII
cage. Harry Furber was appointed to
be one of the representatives of the
firm in the pit, and he had soon
learned to bid in on the wheat with the
best OF them.
But Ruth KOessler was his stumbling
block, and Phelan, the poet, was the
hard thing he bumped against every
time nc stumbled, Together, Furber
and Phelan had begun to call upon
Ruth. Ruth said she liked both of
them, but she had gradually devel-
oped a sense for the artistic, and Fur
Der was not artistic, but Phelan was
a poet, and SO he must be artistic. He
could talk all about ancient Greece and
Rome, and could quote much from the
classics.
Furber knew the original source Of
these lectures, and although he liked
to hear Ruth talk, he would not stand
for anything that came from his rival.
And nov she wanted him to write po-
etry.
1t was the middle of the forenoon,
and things had quoted down in the
pit. The market was holding steady.
and Furber was wondering what eff
feet the war in the east would have
on the years crop.
He walked up out of the pit and sat
again. He sat and thought 81 Ine
talk they had had the day before
Then a smile something akin to the
kind he wore when he had done some
thing very well, stole across his face.
He pulled a pad Of paper from ms
pocket, and for half an hour he seemed
to be struggling with something in his
mind, once in awhile writing down
something, and the men in the pit
continued to loaf and talk automobiles,
and prices in wheat still held steady.
Then. when the half hour was up,
he smiled again, reread what he had
written, and then looked about him
hello. there, Ripley he called.
"I have got a scheme" Furber said.
.I want you to get up there in the
nit anG introduce me as the great and
only YOU understand, Then | VIII
get NO and speak my piece
"AlI right" and Ripley went over
to a long, inclosed desk, where several
men we're writing, and spoke a lew
wards to them. Then he came back to
the pit and took a position where he
could be heard by all.
"Gentlemen," he said, Il am about tc
iatroduce to you our far-famed, grea'
and only illustrious friend and co
worker. Furber, the poet" and Kip
ley stopped to get his breath an
everyone a%pplauded.
He has composed a poem in you
; honor-your honor. say, the honor o
all OF US" and he stopped again, AM
l there was some more cheering.
> Now, gentlemen, want you to CIV
? vour best attention. The show begin
right away"
. A chair was brought, and Furbel
y with the sheet of paper in one hant
got uD into it, blushing like a htti
. girl making her first appearance at
4, sunday-Schoo Christmas tree Inc
he began:
@ There's a bull upon the market
And the bear is waxing hot,
In the East the Japs are hShtlhs'
In the wheat the rust Is out
So the bear IS waxing not
"