The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-06-24
BY George AIDE.

tCopyright, 1906, by George Ade.} .-
I'm THE morning of our hurried
y pack up and get away from
Luxor we lost Mr.. Peasley. 1T
was a half hour before the sailing OF
the boat, and we were attempting to
lock trunks, call in the porters, give
directions as to forwarding mail and
tip everybody except the proprietor all
at the same time.
This excruciating crisis comes with
every departure. The fear of missing
the boat, the lurking suspicion that sew
eral articles have been left in the lower
drawers or under the sofa, the dread Of
overlooking some worthy mental who Is
entitled to baksheesh, the uneasy con-
viction that the bill contains several
overcharges-eall these combine to pro-
duce a mental condition about half way
between plain "rattles'' and female
hysteria;, And then, to add to the
disappeared. 80.
All hands were needed-one to boss
the porters, another to round up the
tippees, another to audit the charges
for "extras,' another to make final
search for razor strops and hot water
bags (of which we had left a trail
from Chicago to Cairo). Instead Of
duties we were Looping madly about the
hotel looking for Mr.. Peasley. We
asked one another why we had invited
him to join the party. We called him
all the names we had invented on the
trip to fit his unusual personality. One
of these was a g lat-headed fush."
don It know what "fush' is, but the
more you study it and repeat it over to
Yourself the more horrible becomes the
full significance of the word. Also
we called him "swozzie,' which
means chump who has gone on and
on, exploring the furthermost regions
of idiocy. until even his most daring
companions are left far behind. We
called Mr.. Peasley "wall-eyed
has lost all sense of shame. Ordinary
abuse and profanity became weak and
Ineffective when pitted against words
of this scathing nature.
Reader. if you have lifelong friend
and you feel reasonably sure that you
never could quarrel with him or be out
o of Pa of snail m1s hm Ii aa fault Nth
long trip with him In foreign lands
You will be together 50 much of the
time that finally each will begin to hate
the sight of the other. There will come
off days, fraught with petty annoy
ances, when each will have fretful
desire TO hurl cameras and Su1tcaSeS at
his beloved playmate. Suppose your
lifelong friend has some little eccen-
tricity of manner or speech, some
slight irregularity Of behavior at the
table or a perverted and stubborn con-
viction which reveals itself in every
controversy. You may have over
looked this defect for years because YOU
met him only at intervals, but when
you begin to camp with him you dis
cover every one of his shining faults.
And how they do get on your nerves!
Next to matrimony, perhaps, travelling
together is the most severe test of COM
patibility.
We liked Mr.. Peasley. Looking
back over the trip, we can well believe
that the expedition would have been
rather tame if deprived if his cheering
presence. But he was 50 full Of initial
tive and so given to discovering BY
ways Of adventure that he was always
breaking in on the program and start
ing little excursions Of his own. He
was a very hard man to mobilize. If
we had solemnly agreed to get to-
gether for luncheon at 0 CLOCK, three
of us would be waiting at the food gar
age while Mr.. Peasley would be mile
away. trying to buy a 81 Abyssinian
war shield for $2.75.
+ i. I.
And where do you suppose he was on
the morning we were making our fren-
zied departure from Luxor9 We found
him in the barber shop, having his hair
cut! A native stood alongside Of him,