Arizona republican., 1907-11-22
The Friendship of Man
 By ". B. ". FERGUSON

I never liked John owen. He seem- ed to me a supercilious cad. He came from Kentucky with long hair, violin and some vague idea of becoming g great virtuoso. He had a soft South ern voice which he seldom used, but his eyes were the noisest things i'm aginable Jimmy Beggs. the cartoon ist. introduced me to owen, and for his. Begg's sake I tried 10 like him 1 tried and failed. I invited him to dine with me. He declined. I tried to call on him. but I never could find where he lived. By chance. whenever I ran across him at tn little Bohemian restaurants, he immediately hoisted the signal cable crossing; don't an- chor." and I promptly headed for the open sea. And meanwhile his noisy eyes seemed to be asking me why a wooden-faced business man should mix in with Bohemia's genius.
 When gave Beggs my careful opin- ion of owen he found occasion to call me a Representative ass. Simplicity and directneSs of style are apparent even in Begg's famous cartoons. He said he liked owen. frowned. I have known Beggs through fifteen strenuous years, and my liking has survived his many lapses from moral dignity. l al- so knew Jimmy's way of extending his hand in the dark. But when he said that he would always like owen, I smiled. I remembered that he had discovered the "only girl in the world some time ago; that she had all kinds of a mortgage on his caring ability bot hn +n nGL- hnr some day to be a famous artists wife. I know my friendship for him survived my own marriage. but then-well, Beggs was different. He was a one thing-at-a-time man.
 I had listened many a night to his rawlings over Helen" Who the girl was did not know, but of her quality 1 was assured in harmony. Everything he did was for "Helen's" sake. He had wonderful ideas about mans unworthi- ness and the altitude of woman. That alone kept his tongue silent. Many a time I prodded him with sarcasm, urg- ing him to propose. but he always said he wasn't worthy of her. That he would have to sweep his soul clean and generally square himself in his own sight He talked like a criminal in stead of a successful, happy go lucky artist who has reaped his harvest of wild oats long ago. Begg's love was his religion, so I comforted myself with the truth that his friendship for owen could not last. When Helen came in at the ooor, owen would exit via the transom. I was quite sure of the truth and when business called me from the city I went happy in the as- surance that Begg's disinterested friendship would again revert to me.
 Business engrossed me. I was away over six months. The Beggs-Owen entente cordiale" had been pigeon holed in the interim, but on my return the atmosphere of the city recalled it to my memory. Almost the first per son I met on Broadway was Jimmy Beggs. I half expected that he had married the "only girl in the world when my back had been turned: it would have been characteristic of him I thought I was right. and sadly no- ted that marriage had not been all roses. He plainly showed that the double harness galled him. There were lines on his face I did not like to sec. drawn across his forehead like Jaut wires. I was not the old Jimmy Beggs.
 As if by instinct we linked arms, fell into step and finally drifted into an tie cafe. We discussed dinner and commonplaces and then when the wine came could bear no longer the mes